A century of poverty

Second Grandma respected the elderly and loved the young. She worked diligently and lived a simple life, always yielding to Third Grandma and taking the lead in doing the hard and tiring work.

Xiaodie is seven years old, and Xiwang is four. Every day, her son and daughter surround her, and although life is hard, it is full of hope.

Once, Xiwang was sick and didn't come to the table for a whole day. The old man came to his second grandmother's room to see his grandson. As he got up, he left a few coins: "The child isn't faking illness. Go to 'Tiandetang' and buy him a packet of noodles to make a bowl of soup."

Third Grandma saw it all.

After eating the soup, Xiaodie basked in the sun in the yard, filled with hope. Xiaodie wore a turquoise-blue homespun blouse and dark blue homespun trousers. Hope wore a dark blue homespun outfit. The two sisters were simply dressed, clean, and fit well.

I hope her big head will have her hair cut neatly around the edges, with a peach-shaped baby hair on top, and her bright, adorable eyes.

"Selling steamed buns! Freshly steamed meat-filled steamed buns!" came the shout from the second-in-command of "Tiandetang" selling steamed buns from the west wall.

Upon hearing the commotion, Third Grandma led her sons, Copperhead and Ironhead, and several daughters dressed in floral cotton clothes, heading north towards the main street.

Just then, the second son of "Tiandetang" was carrying steamed buns up the big slope.

"Stop!" Third Grandma called down Baozi Lao Er and put a stack of copper coins on his carrying pole.

"Take these buns, eat up, there's plenty." Several children surged forward, surrounding the bun basket. Er Yatou sat on the carrying pole carrying the buns, eating them while swinging her legs.

Hope stood inside the gate tower, leaning out to look down at the street, while his older sister, Xiaodie, stood behind him.

Grandma San looked back at the gate, and the two children ran back into the house.

"Mom, Mom! I want to eat steamed buns." He hoped to get some from his mother.

Grandma looked on hopefully: "Where are the steamed buns?"

Xiaodie told her mother that her third aunt had brought several children to eat steamed buns on the street.

Second Grandma's eyes reddened.

Over the years, seeing how other mothers and children lived, and how her own mother and children lived, she swallowed it all in silence. Those men were busy running businesses, and every time they came back, they had bulging bags on their shoulders. They always complained that business was bad and they weren't making money. She knew in her heart that if she didn't speak up and worked hard, they would just pick a fight with her. She was just a woman who had never even left the house; what could she do? She could only endure it.

She hugged her son, stroked his back, and tears streamed down her face.

The sensible girl said, "Mommy, I don't want the steamed buns anymore, please don't cry." She kept wiping her mother's tears with her little hands, while Xiaodie wiped her eyes beside her.

The villages of Zhaozhuangtuo and Liuzhuangtuo are adjacent and connected. The residents of the two villages belong to two different administrative villages because their surnames are Zhaozhuangtuo and Liuzhuangtuo respectively.

Liuzhuangtuo and Zhaozhuangtuo are a contiguous area of ​​land at the foot of the mountain, extending east to Dongshankou and west to the east bank of the Beihe River at Zhangzhuangtuo. A main road leading south from Beishankou passes through this land.

A ditch formed by water flowing down from the north mountain meets the gully formed by the water flowing down from the north mountain about one mile north of Zhangzhuangtuo. This section is called Dadaogou (Great Road Ditch).

Zhangzhuangtuo is located in the middle of the five villages, and is also half a village further south than the east and west villages. The two steep slopes facing the East River to the east of the village are covered with miscellaneous trees.

From Dadaogou, there is a small path leading to Zhaozhuangtuo and Liuzhuangtuo on the east side. It intersects with the rural road north of Zhangzhuangtuo and enters the village. Leaving the village south, crossing the East River, and passing west of Lizhuangtuo's house, it goes through the South Pass to Shimen Railway Station.

The northern part of the village is a hutong (alleyway). The western part of the central section is called Xidang Street, and the eastern part is called Xiaodongguan.

Two families of younger generations lived on Xidang Street, one was the "Xichemen" family, and the other was the family of Mr. Zhang Zhenru, located north of the road. The Moutou family lived at the bottom of the millstone on the north side of the road, and further west were the fields of Zhangzhuangtuo.

Across the Xihe River, which flows from north to south, lies Wangzhuangtuo on the west bank.

To the east of the main road in the village is a "watchtower house," and to the southeast of the watchtower house is the "Horse God Temple," with a large stone platform on its foundation. The open space in front of the two houses, together with the village road, forms a spacious area. This is the information center and gathering place of Zhangzhuangtuo, where people often linger after meals during the off-season.

To the east of the Mashin Temple is a steep, tree-lined slope facing the river.

Daoxi is Nandang Street.

In Daonan lived a large family. Some members farmed, some worked outside, and others made tofu and ran a noodle shop called "Tiandetang." Therefore, they were collectively referred to as the people of Tiandetang.

Further south is "Nanlaofen," the ancestral burial ground of the entire Zhangzhuangtuo people. Below Nanlaofen flows the Donghe River, which runs westward.

The ancestral graves on the riverbank cover several acres and are cultivated by capable villagers.

The land belonging to families without descendants, along with the ancestral graves, was rotated among capable families for cultivation. After the harvest, a "feast" was held every few years, where the best fruits were enjoyed. At that time, all Zhang family descendants, regardless of gender, from inside or outside the village, could attend the feast, eat and have fun together, and gather in harmony and laughter.

The location is in the square in front of the house and the temple of the horse god.

Preparations for this grand event begin a day in advance. This year's treats include plenty of large steamed buns and braised meat.

Early in the morning, people from all around come here to set up stalls and do business, with people coming and going, shouts rising and falling, and even beggars come to join in the fun.

The elderly and children in the village dressed up in new clothes early, just like on a holiday, and happily came out of their homes to chat, play, and watch the festivities.

In front of the house were several large pots, steaming hot and fragrant.

Several large tables were set up in the square, and hundreds of people from the village busily brought out large bowls of steamed buns and braised meat, shouting, "Look! Look! It's oily! It's oily!"

Moo-tou's mother sat with her daughter "Anwen" and son "Moo-tou," while Second Grandma sat with her daughter Xiaodie and son Xiwang. Anwen had grown into a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, and Moo-tou was also in his teens; both children looked to be about the same height as their mother.

Grandma's two daughters were still children. Although the sisters lived in the same village, they rarely saw each other. Today, they took this opportunity to sit together and chat.

Moo-tou's mother, with her sharp eyes, pointed to someone in the crowd and said, "Isn't that your Third Uncle? When did he get back?"

Second Grandma: "I don't know, they didn't tell me when they came back."

Moo-tou's Mom: "By the way, did your husband come back a few years ago?"

"No, when did you come back?" Second Grandma stared at her cousin with wide eyes in surprise.

"It's been quite a few years since then. It was before my brother-in-law was alive, when General Zhang from the Northeast led his troops to conquer the interior. Your uncle left home to join the army. After General Zhang's victory, your uncle rode a tall horse back with two followers. He had only said a few words in front of the temple when he was summoned back by a fast horse."

"So you're back but not home yet?"

"Um!"

No wonder we didn't know.

"The old man came and left so suddenly that no one told you."

"Oh, so my master isn't dead, he's still alive."

"Yeah, I heard it from the people in Beiyuanzi."

Second Grandma was overjoyed: "I'm going home to tell Grandpa, so the whole family knows that Grandpa is alive."

When they got home, the second grandmother and her family went to the old man's room first to tell him and Jingtian that their eldest brother was still alive and had come back.

After hearing this, the old man said, "Don't believe everything you hear. Don't take these things seriously unless you see them with your own eyes."

Second Grandma: "I saw his third uncle at the meeting just now. When did he get back?"

The old man said, "After he got home yesterday and lit the lamp, he came back and discussed with me that the oil mill had to close down. The 'Manchukuo' was established in Northeast China, and Japanese soldiers often swagger around with their swords. People are terrified, not knowing when they will invade the interior. Changli is so close to Shanhaiguan."