Under the Hawthorn Tree Read Free

Yichang county each village had a large army detachment, and the head of the village was actually the army unit’s Party secretary, so the villagers called him ‘Village Head Zhang’.
    The group walked down the mountain, arriving first at Mr Zhang’s home which was located at the river’s edge. His wife was at home and welcomed them, asking them to call her Auntie. She said that the rest of the family was either in the fields or at school.
    Once they were all rested, Mr Zhang began to arrange where they would stay. Two teachers, Mr Lee and Mr Chen, and the student Good Health Lee, were to live together with one family. The other, Mr Luo, would only be here for a short while, providing guidance on the writing – within a day or two he would need to return home to get back to school – so he would just squeeze in somewhere. One family had agreed to give one of their rooms to girls, but they only had space for two.
    â€˜Whoever is left over can live with me,’ Mr Zhang said, deciding to set an example. ‘I don’t have any spare rooms, I’m afraid, so that girl will have to share a bed with my youngest daughter.’
    The three girls looked at each other, dismayed. Jingqiu took a deep breath and volunteered. ‘Why don’t you two live together? I’ll stay at Mr Zhang’s.’
    There were no activities planned for the rest of the day so they had time to settle in and have a rest. Work would start officially the next day. As well as interviewing the villagers and compiling the text, they knew that they would be working in the fields with the poorest farmers, experiencing peasant life.
    Mr Zhang led the others to their new homes, leaving Jingqiu with Auntie Zhang. Auntie took Jingqiu to her daughter’s room so that she could unpack. The room was like the other rural bedrooms she had been in, dark with a small window on one wall. It had no glass, just cellophane pasted to the frame.
    Auntie switched on the light, dimly illuminating the room which was about fifteen square metres, tidy and clean. The bed was bigger than a single bed but smaller than a double. With two it would be tight, but adequate. Newly washed and starched, the sheets, more like cardboard than cloth, were spread tightly across the bed, on top of which lay a quilt folded into a triangle, the white lining turned out at two corners. Jingqiu pondered how it was folded and couldn’t for the life of her work it out. Feeling a little flustered, she thought she would use her own blanket so that she wouldn’t have to struggle to refold the quilt the next morning. Students who were sent to the countryside to live with lower and middle-ranking peasants knew they were to take their cue from the protocol used by the 8th Route Army during the civil war: use only that which the peasants use and return everything intact.
    On the table by the window was a large square of glass used to display photographs, which Jingqiu knew was considered decadent. The photos lay on a dark green cloth. Curious, Jingqiu walked across the room to take a look. Auntie pointed to each photo in turn, explaining who everyone was. Sen, the eldest son, was a towering young man who looked completely unlike his parents. Maybe he’s the odd one out, she thought. He worked at Yanjia River post office, and only came home once a week. His wife was called Yumin, and she taught at the village primary school. She had delicate, refined features and was tall and thin – a good match for Sen.
    Fen was the eldest daughter. She was pretty, and Auntie told Jingqiu that after graduating from middle school Fen went to work in the village. The second daughter was called Fang. She looked very different from her sister, her mouth protruding, and her eyes smaller. Fang was still studying at Yanjia River Middle School, and only came home once or twice a week.
    While they were talking Mr Zhang’s second son, Lin, came home. He was there to fetch