Chapter 736

The elderly woman was taller than the frail old man, had short hair cut just above the ears, neatly combed back with a black comb headband.

She stood by the concrete road beside the village brigade office of Linhe Brigade, staring blankly at the village she hadn’t visited for thirty or forty years.

Except that the gray-walled, black-tiled brigade office was much older than the new one she remembered, the village was no longer as she recalled.

After they got off, the tricycle turned around and sped away.

It was lunch time, and few people were on the street. A passing woman who didn’t recognize the elderly pair or the young man saw them standing helplessly on the road, looking at Jiang Village.”

The elderly woman glanced at her, smiled faintly. Her aged face still bore a few hints of Jiang Ning’s features—Jiang Ning actually looked somewhat like this old woman.

The old woman’s demeanor was gentle. She spoke in the local Shuibu dialect, “I’m looking for my brother.”

The woman, realizing she was a person from the village, laughed heartily, “Oh! So you’re our village auntie! Big changes, huh? These changes just happened in the last couple years. It wasn’t like this before.”

—-

Jiang Hongjun’s home was only separated from the village entrance’s old store by Jiang Ning’s house and the old granary. The old granary was built back when the collective economy was in place — it was where the entire brigade stored their rice. Not only was it huge, but it was made entirely of stone, considered a landmark building in Linhe Brigade. Even though it was no longer used as a granary, it could still stand for many more years.

The two homes were close by. When Grandma Chunhua shouted loudly at the door, Jiang Hongjun’s family could hear it clearly. That shout also called out several families living further back, who came out to see which grandaunt had returned. Some elders still remembered Grandaunt Jiang and hurried out to take a look.

When Grandaunt Jiang got married, Jiang Hongjun wasn’t even born yet. He had never met her but had heard about her from Grandpa Jiang.

Grandpa Jiang was usually a man of few words, rarely talking with others at home. But in Jiang Hongjun’s memory, every second day of the lunar new year, Grandpa Jiang would look up towards the other side of Wugong Mountain — a city none of them had ever been to — where Grandpa Jiang’s sister lived, their grandaunt.

Yet, their grandaunt never once returned.

Hearing the shout, Jiang Hongjun hurried out, crossing over the raised platforms, stepping over stone courtyard walls house by house, until he reached the village entrance’s old store platform. Looking at the elderly couple on the platform, his face was full of warm smiles, “You must be my grandaunt… Grandaunt, right?” Then he looked at the other elder, “This must be Granduncle, and this is my cousin, right?”

Though the raised platforms were connected, each house had its own courtyard. The children and young people, impatient with going up and down the steps, often climbed over the walls instead, but the two elders definitely couldn’t do that. They were supported down from the old store platform at the village entrance, then back up to Jiang Hongjun’s platform.

Jiang Hongjun’s and Jiang Hongbing’s two buildings were built together, sharing a single staircase in the middle. On the left was Jiang Hongjun’s house, and on the right was Jiang Hongbing’s. Both were white walls with black tiles. Even after many years, their homes were still considered new and beautiful in Jiang Village. Outside each courtyard door grew a peach tree and two chestnut trees.

These two buildings were not part of the old memories of Grandaunt Jiang.

Between 1958 and 1961, a major flood hit the area, submerging all the houses in the lower land. So, in families with many brothers in the village, new houses were built on higher ground. 

Only Grandpa Jiang’s family, because he was young at the time and had lost his father early, and his mother with bound feet couldn’t work, plus having two young siblings to raise with no support in the village, were forced to build a small mud house down below the raised platform.

Later, as more children were born, village houses were built lower, leading to the current raised platform area.”

Uncle Jiang’s full name was Jiang Daguo. Back then, people didn’t care much about formal names, just calling him Daguo.

Jiang Hongjun nodded repeatedly, “Yes, Grandaunt. I’m the eldest, Jiang Hongjun. Next door is my second brother Jiang Hongbing’s house. Hongbing went back to his wife’s family.”

There were very few houses below the raised platform, except for the mud house below the Jiang family that had been turned into a pigsty. A few houses in front belonged to widows with no men in the village. Their children grew up and built houses in the lower areas, which were always flooded during floods. 

The soil-and-stone-tile house where Father Jiang later lived was only built on the raised platform after Grandpa Jiang grew up and got a job as a forest ranger.

In the countryside, that’s how harsh and realistic life was.

Below that were Father Jiang’s and Jiang Hongbing’s houses, clearly visible from the raised platform.

Looking at the four-story big house built by the roadside in the distance, Grandaunt Jiang nodded, “Really good.”

When Grandaunt Jiang married far away, Jiang Guoping was still young and didn’t have a formal name yet, so she didn’t know Father Jiang’s name and just nodded.”

Grandaunt Jianf had thought her brother also lived nearby but didn’t expect him to live on the wild mountain. She felt a pang of sadness.

The wild mountain had existed since she was a child — it was a sent-down youth point. Usually, if it was late, the youths wouldn’t dare go out because wolves came down at night. For safety, the sent-down youth points would lock their doors tightly at night, and even during the day they went out in groups. Many who couldn’t survive the chaotic times were buried on the wild mountain.

Now hearing her brother actually lived there, her eyes reddened. It was New Year, and she couldn’t let anyone see her cry, so she just smiled and wiped her eyes with a cheap red handkerchief someone had brought back from a wedding for two mao.”

Even back then, forest ranger jobs were rare and hard to get. Even now, any rural job that pays a salary is precious.

Grandpa Jiang’s job as a forest ranger had attracted many jealous people wanting to find fault and replace him.

Grandaunt Jiang always thought her brother would be a forest ranger for life but now he wasn’t on the mountain but down below.

During New Year, while others reunited, forest rangers needed to stay vigilant, patrolling constantly. Besides the collective ancestral worship on New Year’s Eve, people also went to the mountains for rituals during the holidays. In dry winter weather, a single spark could cause a wildfire. So even on New Year’s Eve, Grandpa Jiang would eat early then hurry back to patrol the mountain.

It was the second day of New Year now, and Grandpa Jiang wasn’t on the mountain. There was only one possibility — he was no longer a forest ranger.

Jiang Hongjun said, “Grandpa hasn’t been a forest ranger for many years now.”

Hearing the job passed to her younger brother, Grandaunt Jiang relaxed. She had worried someone had schemed to take her brother’s position, but now with her young brother as the forest ranger, it was clear Grandpa Jiang retired and passed the job down.

Grandaunt Jiang nodded and asked, “Why did my big brother stop being a forest ranger and give it to my little brother? How is his health?”

Her big brother had worked hard to support the family when young.

Grandaunt Jiang feared most that her brother’s health would fail. She was nearly sixty years old and worried if she didn’t return to see him soon, she might never see him again.

Grandpa Jiang from the previous life suddenly passed away this very year.

Uncle Jiang’s eldest daughter-in-law had already washed her hands and came out from the kitchen, her face full of smiles as she called them respectfully in greeting.

The eldest daughter-in-law clearly looked like a kind person.