Bagua
Sunlight streamed into the low wooden house. The furniture, though old, was spotless. The whole family was gathered around the table. The little brother was slurping candy, and the second sister wasn't such a bad girl anymore.
Li Guorong lay on the wooden bed and sighed deeply, thinking, "There's no place like home."
Li Guolan ran excitedly to Li Guorong with the red cloth in her hand and asked, "Is this really for me, little sister?" Li Guorong sat up and replied, "Of course it is. I'm not going on a blind date right away. I heard he's the son of a worker, so I have to dress nicely. Hurry up and get ready."
Upon hearing this, Li Guolan took a red cloth and several eggs and went to her neighbor's house to borrow a sewing machine.
Li Guojian quietly approached, "Little sister, can you teach me how to catch bamboo rats?" Li Guorong asked, "Didn't you say there weren't many bamboo rats on the mountain?"
Li Guojian slapped his thigh and said, "Even a little bit is still meat, we can't let the Qian family benefit for nothing."
Li Guorong was a little reluctant to say it. Although Qian Mancang's image as the perfect man in her heart had been shattered, she had also liked him, and doing so would be a bit unkind.
"Oh, my silly sister, you can't even afford to eat at home, yet you still have the mind to worry about others." Li Guorong beckoned, and Li Guojian leaned in, the two of them whispering to each other for a while.
Li Guojian's eyes lit up. "I understand. I'll take my brother there right away. We'll have meat for dinner tonight."
Li Guorong stood up and looked at the continuous mountain peaks. In his previous life, he always wanted to return to his hometown, but the treasures in the mountains were not inexhaustible, and making money in this isolated mountain village was as difficult as the Shu Road.
What should she do? Flipping through the books in her hands, she realized that studying was also a difficult path for her. What was she good at?
Neighbor Xiaohua ran over, "Sister Guorong, you're back! Going to the market?"
Li Guorong's eyes lit up. That's right, she could go to the market. In her previous life, she supported her family of three by setting up a street stall. Now was the perfect time. As long as she could get some trendy clothes and hair accessories from the south, she could make a fortune. She looked down and counted the money in her hand. She only had 1,200 yuan. It seemed like a lot, but it was far from enough to buy more goods.
Xiao Hua called out again, "Sister Guorong, are you going?"
"They're here." Li Guorong rushed downstairs, eager to check on the situation.
Most of the people at the market carried a basket on their backs, and the majority of those coming and going sold food. The skewers, cold noodles, and fried rice balls made my mouth water. I had thought that selling food at the market would earn me some money, but now it seemed unlikely.
There weren't many clothes and shoes, and they were all village styles. The fabrics were also unattractive and the patterns were not good. There were also not many hair accessories and hair ties. Li Guorong was very excited. If he had some of these items, wouldn't he be able to make double the money?
She and Xiaohua sat down and ate a plate of fried potatoes. The seasoning wasn't as plentiful as in later generations, but the potatoes were really delicious. If they could live like this every day, it would be very comfortable. But the money just didn't last long.
Li Guorong rushed home, and his mother, Wu Cuihua, asked worriedly, "Why do you look so listless? Stay home for a few days?" Li Guorong threw himself into his mother's arms and said sullenly, "I don't want to study anymore, I want to earn money."
Wu Cuihua stroked her daughter's head and said, "You can earn money by studying. Look at your aunt." Li Guorong didn't dare to look up. She wasn't good at studying at all and couldn't concentrate on her studies.
Wu Cuihua could only sigh and say, "Whatever."
Li Guorong sat at the table, carefully flipping through the books Lin Shaocheng had given her. In the mountains, the only way to make money was to rely on the mountains for sustenance.
Page after page of pictures, this one seems familiar, that one seems familiar too, this one... she suddenly sat up straight, this one looks familiar, it's next to her father's grave.
Paris polyphylla has a single, erect stem with 5 to 10 leaves whorled at the top of the stem in an umbrella-like pattern. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate. The rhizome is thick, yellowish-brown, creeping, and has annular markings and fibrous roots.
A rich aroma of meat wafted from outside the bedroom, making Li Guorong's mouth water. It turned out that his second and eldest brothers had made a good haul and bought pork.
The family quickly shared the meat at the table. After finishing their meal, Li Guorong gave his two older brothers a look, and the three of them quietly went to the backyard.
Li Guorong said, "I found a kind of herb last time but didn't pick it. I think it's ready to be picked now."
Li Guoqiang hesitated, "It's a bit dangerous up in the mountains, and the nearby villages are always digging for medicinal herbs, so they might have already been taken." Li Guojian disagreed, saying, "Anyway, the work in the fields is already done, what if we can earn some money?" Unable to persuade the two, Li Guoqiang had no choice but to agree.
The three men took shovels, hoes, and baskets and went up the mountain. When someone in the village saw them going up the mountain, the news spread like wildfire to every corner of the village.
The lower part was a touch of green, and the green became more lush as you went up the mountain, which also meant that few people ventured there. However, in less than half a month, the path leading to the hanging coffins was covered with weeds, and the paper money had disappeared.
Li Guoqiang led the way, cutting grass with a sickle and scouting the path, while occasionally keeping an eye on his younger brother and sister to make sure they didn't get into any trouble.
Li Guorong gripped his hunting rifle tightly; it was a lifesaver.
Wang Ergou from the neighboring village, along with several sons of the coffin bearers, came over. They were all burly men. "Running up the mountain?" he asked.
Li Guojian said with a big smile, "No, we're going to sweep Dad's grave." He then showed them the basket on his back, which indeed contained yellow paper.
The group looked at each other, wondering if it was true. Wang Ergou said, "Then you guys go and burn it."
The three Li siblings continued their arduous ascent up the mountain. Behind the pile of wild grass, several groups of people were hiding. Wang Ergou said to a few of them, "It seems they're going to burn paper money."
Another leader asked, "Really? You saw it?"
Wang Ergou nodded, "There's yellow paper inside, and this is the road to his family's cemetery." The child of the coffin bearers next to him nodded.
Several groups of people had no choice but to go into the woods to see if there were any wild fruits, hoping to at least have some harvest.
Just as the children carrying the coffin were about to leave, Wang Ergou said, "Let's follow them from a distance."
"Why, boss?"
Wang Ergou flicked him on the forehead, "Are you stupid? What if you're lying to us?"
It was an hour later when Li Guorong and his group reached the mountaintop. They were all sweating slightly. Below them was his father's coffin, hanging on the cliff. Li Guorong lay on the ground, carefully examining the herbs. They matched the characteristics, and now the leaves had spherical flowers in the middle that had split open, indicating that they were now ripe.
The eldest and second eldest brothers looked at their little sister expectantly. Li Guorong nodded and said, "It's a medicinal herb, be careful with the roots." Just as the eldest and second eldest brothers were about to dig it up, Li Guorong stopped them, "I want to burn some paper money for Dad, so he can bless our family with good fortune and make a lot of money!"
The smoke, carrying their longing, slowly rose into the sky, as if heading to another world. Everyone made wishes in their hearts, about love, family, and the future.
Several children carrying the coffin saw the black smoke from the burning paper money and, disgusted by the bad luck, pulled Wang Ergou away. But Wang Ergou felt something was off. Was it really just burning paper money? There was no time for burning paper money in the village, and it didn't have to be done in front of the grave; it could be done at the entrance of the village.
As plump roots were dug out, the three men showed satisfied expressions. After digging out three baskets, they excitedly went down the mountain, and the narrow path turned into a wide road.
The three siblings, including the youngest brother Li Guoliang, were almost asleep when they finally saw the three return. They shouted, "There's a super handsome guy here to play with you, sister!"
Upon hearing this, Li Guorong grabbed his basket and ran home as fast as he could.
Lin Shaocheng jogged over to Li Guorong's side, took the basket off her back, and raised an eyebrow. It was Paris polyphylla. Ever since Li Guorong made a lot of money last time but didn't dig for medicinal herbs, he had thought she had stopped digging.
Li Guorong's face was flushed, whether from running or excitement, it was hard to tell. She asked in a strong voice, "You asked me to come and play? Have you been waiting for a long time?"
Lin Shaocheng smiled. Li Guorong was always so full of energy, as if he would never get tired. Even when he was unhappy, he could figure things out on his own after a little encouragement. He was like the warm winter sun in Beijing. He pulled out two movie tickets from his pocket. "I want to invite you to see a movie."
Li Guorong looked at the movie ticket, Waterloo Bridge, how come he had never heard of this movie in his past life?
Lin Shaocheng noticed her confusion. "It's a foreign film."
Li Guorong was a little worried, "Won't I understand it? It's all gibberish, and I can't understand it either."
Lin Shaocheng was a little embarrassed. He hadn't expected that Li Guorong didn't like watching foreign films. This was one he had gone to great lengths to get. "It should be dubbed in Chinese. If you don't want to watch it, how about we go for a walk in the mountains?"
Li Guorong's eyes widened. Movie tickets were expensive, but he was willing to go even if it was in a foreign language. "Go, of course I'm going. Wait for me to change my clothes."
When Leslie Cheung reappeared, he was wearing a blue floral dress. The dress was neither new nor old, but it was well-preserved, giving him a fresh and refined look.
Lin Shaocheng mounted the bicycle, and Li Guorong jumped on sideways. Her skirt fluttered in the wind. Li Guorong clung tightly to Lin Shaocheng's back, unable to resist raising her head to let all the villagers see her smugness.
Several children chased after the bicycle, shouting "Ah ah ah ah!" Bicycles were still a rarity in this small village at the foot of the mountain. The young women and wives found topics to talk about, sometimes about Lin Shaocheng's fashionable and practical clothes, sometimes about Li Jiaxin's new cloth being used to make skirts, and sometimes about Li Guorong's new dress bought from the state-run store.
Wu Cuihua had just finished weeding in the field and hadn't even gotten home when she was stopped by the intelligence team at the village entrance.
"Sister Cuihua, your youngest sister is so successful. She can earn money and found a boyfriend from the city. He looks really rich."
Wu Cuihua was unaware of this matter. These past few days, she had been busy finding a partner for her eldest sister and hadn't yet started looking for one for her younger sister.
Another person said, "Wow, your family has made something of itself! The eldest sister married into a working-class family, and the younger sister married someone from the city."
"So that's why I broke up with Manhe the other day, turns out he climbed up the social ladder." The sourness was palpable.
Wu Cuihua chuckled and said, "The children decide for themselves. Aren't they all in free love these days?"
"That won't do, the family has to make the decisions." A bunch of aunties chimed in, making more noise than ducks in the river.
While the group was making a lot of noise, Wu Cuihua secretly slipped behind them and hurried home.
Li Guojian and Li Guoqiang were sorting out the medicinal herbs for the day, preparing to collect them from Old Man Li later.
Wu Cuihua put down the basket and hurriedly asked, "Where is my little sister? Who did she go out with? Do you know that person?"
Li Guoqiang shook his head. He didn't even see her when he got home. It was his younger brother who told him that his younger sister had gone out.
Li Guojian chuckled, "My little sister went to see a movie with someone from Beijing; he's a big boss."
Wu Cuihua was furious and slapped Li Guojian on the back. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You knew where he lived, yet you dared to let your little sister go with him. What if he's a human trafficker? The girl has to be from around here. I don't agree."
Li Guolan returned wearing a new dress and said, "The capital is much more prosperous than ours. If I could go to the capital, I could meet Chairman Mao."
Upon hearing this, Wu Cuihua's face scrunched up; she needed to think about it.
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