The Phoenix in the Mountain

Willow Wang

Description

The book is about female status, ability, wisdom, family education, village life, and culture in distant Chinese rural places from the 1990s to the early 2000s. It is a book on a certain part of the countryside culture and life of the Chinese.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Date de parution: 27 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781543770414
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2022 Willow Wang . All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.



www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore


Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN
978-1-5437-7040-7 (sc)
978-1-5437-7041-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919041



10/27/2022
To Readers and Clarence
I started writing these stories in 2018 for the most important people in my entire childhood—my grandmother and my parents. Unfortunately, Grandma passed away in 2018 and Dad in 2019. And so the story ends abruptly in chapter nine. Since then, I have been exploring the meaning of an ordinary person’s life, the meaning of life, and the value of a woman among all human beings.
In the past three years, many changes have taken place. People have led well-off lives, and China has entered a new stage of speedy development. Unfortunately, however, millions of people worldwide lost their precious lives to the pandemic. As a result, most of us have had to bear loss, death, fear, and uncertainty.
All the words of love left unsaid, plans not started, dreams unfulfilled, and farewell words unspoken were lost in the river of time when it was torn apart in seconds. Carnival is always followed by countless disappointments, thus the ups and downs of life replay every day. A fleeting dream is like a floating life—too hasty. At this point, I found the story already has the meaning of life. I want to continue to share the stories with you, my love, and I hope you’ll have a happy childhood.
I want to show you all my experiences and suggestions on how to keep working hard to make progress. I hope you can have the ability to deal with all kinds of changes, and as an independent individual can exist on the planet. We may be too small and negligible to the world, but we shall try to create our own history.
I’m not a professional writer, so don’t expect me to write a beautiful story using beautiful language. There are plenty of books out there. You can find any number in any library or bookstore. The language of this book is very simple, and so are the stories. But the story is the most important gift I want to give you because everyone has his or her root, like a tree, and it is my root. I hope you find this root in your story. It is the source of our nourishment. It would be of real value if the book could teach you something. Simple truth and the greatest love are what I describe as the meaning of this book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I, at this moment, show my great gratitude to my mother, who keeps encouraging me when I am disappointed and want to give up, and then professor Yuan, who always offers me timely support and precious chances to realize my self-value. Secondly, Jen Robins, my senior publishing consultant, managed to help me publish my stories with great patience, professional suggestions, and precious kindness. Without her assistance and encouragement, things wouldn’t go so smoothly. And finally, Clarence, my son, since his birth, he has been showing his lovable, intelligent, and good behavior. Clarence makes me know how to love and how to live with burdens.

CONTENTS
Chapter 1 A Question
Chapter 2 School Day
Chapter 3 Pocket Money Day
Chapter 4 Class on Saturday
Chapter 5 Disease and Children’s Day
Chapter 6 Recitation Day
Chapter 7 Class Outing Day
Chapter 8 Special Course Day
Chapter 9 Summer Holiday
Chapter 10 Journey Day (1)
Chapter 11 Journey Day (2)
Chapter 12 Summer Activity Day
Chapter 13 Preparing Day
Chapter 14 Fairing Day
Chapter 15 Back Home Day
Chapter 16 Tobacco Transportation Day
Chapter 17 Reader’s Day
Chapter 18 Coal Transportation Day
Chapter 19 Pasture Day (1)
Chapter 20 Pasture Day (2)
Chapter 21 The Phoenix in the Mountain

Chapter One
A QUESTION
It’s sunny. The trees are getting greener, and the birds are playing and singing around the top of the trees. Hannah is watching a cicada. Her cousin Kun, holding a breath, is moving towards the trunk step by step. Singing on the dry trunk, the little guy doesn’t know of the coming danger. A play between the hunter and prey is going to happen. At the crucial moment, Hannah decides to save the cicada. So she runs over, creating noise on purpose, helping the guy flee away quickly. In order to relieve Kun’s annoyed feeling, Hannah begins to talk.
Hannah: I want to go to school with you tomorrow!
Kun: Silly you. Oh, my cicada!
Hannah: I will go to school with you.
Kun: Where did you get the information?
Hannah: Mom and Dad. They talked about me. And I heard “read” and “age.”
Kun: Then that’s the matter.
Hannah: What’s the matter?
Kun: Cheney knitted a sweater for her father last year. And Corey—
Hannah: Corey is stitching a pair of shoes, and she has finished one of them. I saw it this morning.
Kun: All right! It’s time to get the herd together!
Hannah: But—
Kun: No buts. You scared away my cicada just now, so you shall tell Uncle that you want to pick up the firewood.
Hannah: Why me? It’s your turn!
Kun: Listen, another matter: a girl should forget horseback riding!
Hannah: Dad won’t allow you!
Kun: Yes? I bet.
As the sun goes down, it is time to drive the cattle back home. Along with the sunset, the livestock and their owners start to move forward to the mountaintop. Hannah is tired, but she cannot stop to have a break, so she grasps the tail of her cattle to go after it by its strength. The air is full of a foul smell, and some parts of the earth are wet with excrement and sweat.
Now and then, there is a cool and musical wind blowing from the cliff. Hannah feels a kind of special mood. It is mixed with freedom, hope, and enjoyment. Overlooking trees and farms from the distant and high mountain road, Hannah finds that the landscape is lovely. But surprisingly, the fine moment reminds the little girl of her cousins who used to stand beside her, enjoying the free and cool wind; however, all ended two months ago.
In the farmland, a man is playing music by blowing a tree leaf. He sits down on the land’s edge, continuing his work. Now and then, he has a look over the mountain. What attracts Hannah is that the music is often played between lovers. Then Hannah finds that Kun is staring at the man with rage.
Hannah: What’s there? Is there something special?
Kun: I’ll tell Father!
Hannah: What is he looking for over the mountain?
Kun: Damn, he’s looking for you.
Hannah: Me? I don’t know him.
Kun: Corey.
Hannah: Sister Corey? Who’s he?
Kun: Damn! They spent a whole afternoon together, talking about boring things when I was away cutting down firewood in the woods.
Hannah: How did you hear this?
Kun: His brother told me. He met them laughing and talking when he went there to drink water.
Hannah: What did they laugh at?
Kun: Nothing! You imp.
Late that night, Uncle Wilson is drunk, cursing the person that Hannah and Kun had talked about. Uncle Wilson also cursed his family, from his grandparents to his parents. With great wrath, Uncle Wilson would have a fight against the man and his father if there had been no so-called law. Grandpa, unusually, said nothing; he sat down there, inhaling his pipe as if the cigarettes were his sworn enemy.

Hannah can’t control her curiosity, so she wants to pry into the reason from her parents. But her parents are both angry too. So, as an obedient girl, she dares not to ask them a question or even speak a word. Instead, quietly, she listens to their talks in the corner of their living room.
Dyvan: We should also learn from the lesson.
Afen: Yes, preventing such things in advance would be good.
Dyvan: I want to know your ideas.
Afen: I think we’d better let Hannah start school; knowledge is important.
Dyvan: I have been thinking about it recently.
Afen: Then have you decided?
Dyvan: Yes, but it’s very tough. You know, we haven’t asked them to register her name in the booklet—
Afen: I’ll go to the bureau the day after tomorrow.
Dyvan: Take your time. You know she will be seven in November this year.
Afen: Right. But she is taller than other girls her age. Besides, a two-month gap isn’t obvious.
Dyvan: All right. I know my girl well; she likes to read.
Afen: Like father, like daughter.
Dyvan: Of course. She’s my greatest work. I believe she won’t let me down. But you know that Father may not agree with us.
Afen: I know. But it’s important.
Dyvan: Father will blame us. But let’s set that aside and have a look at her performance.
Afen: Well, I shall take out the money for the boy. We’ll pool money for her, OK?
Dyvan: You decide. Besides, the boy’s leather shoes aren’t essential compared with the girl’s study.
Afen: Money is tight. It’s time to require Brother to pay back our money now.
Dyvan: Wait a period. They are hard these times. Even more, they are suffering a big loss.
Afen: They should call their girl back.
Dyvan: How? A pure reputation is vital for a girl to marry a good person.
Afen: I’m sure he dared not to hurt her.
Dyvan: That’s true. But people always like gossip. So the honor goes on crutches while discredit flies apace.
Afen: He should pay for this.
Dyvan: His intention is to marry her. But nobody has the thought that he could match her. Moreover, he has a two-year younger brother, and his father is lame. So there is no reliable support for this famil