A century of poverty

Chapter 13 Xiaodie's Wedding, Li Tian's Tragic Death

One morning on the eve of the Lunar New Year, after the autumn chill and frost, and before the winter snow.

A wedding car was parked in front of Grandma's house.

Inside the house, Xiaodie, dressed in a red wedding gown, tearfully bid farewell to her mother. For so many years, the three of them, mother and sons, had relied on each other for survival, enduring hardship. Today, as she was leaving home, she was reluctant to part with her mother and younger brother.

The second grandmother wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and instructed her daughter: "When you go to your husband's family, you must listen to your mother-in-law and be diligent."

The groom lifted the red veil: "The red veil hides her shy beauty, as we ride in the carriage with light steps—" He then placed the veil on Xiaodie's head.

"The auspicious time has arrived!" She stepped forward and helped Xiaodie walk out. Grandma Er couldn't stop her tears from flowing as she got into the car.

Second Grandma: "Come back and visit Mom often!"

The old man muttered to himself, "It's good that he's gone! It's good that he's gone!"

The crowd watched the wedding car head east—until it disappeared after going down the east slope.

Back inside, the room, which had been filled with laughter and chatter just moments before, with guests reciting auspicious greetings, suddenly felt eerily quiet. He sighed, "Alas—it's true what they say, 'A son's marriage brings joy to the whole house, a daughter's marriage brings emptiness to the whole place!'"

Suddenly, a sharp whistle rang out. The puppet soldiers, blowing their whistles, went from house to house urging people to assemble at the temple platform to hear the commander's instructions!

Zhang Fulin, the puppet village chief, stood on the temple platform, with Japanese men behind him carrying Japanese swords and rifles, and Japanese soldiers and security regiments standing on both sides of the platform.

Zhang Fulin began his speech: "Fellow villagers, the Imperial Japanese Army is protecting the railway for the sake of 'East Asian Co-prosperity.' What do they want us to do? We'll contribute our strength and do the work! Go to Zhugezhuang and dig the communication trenches."

The crowd began to stir, and the villagers whispered among themselves, "What kind of road ditch are you digging? It's just harming the Chinese people. We're not going, we can't go."

The fake village head's expression changed: "Young and strong men, whoever is drawn cannot refuse. They must come with me to Zhugezhuang first thing tomorrow morning."

A Japanese officer approached, his gaze sweeping menacingly over the crowd. He began dragging people out one by one, including Zhang Litian. Then, with a swift movement, he drew his katana: "One less tomorrow, dead, dead!"

Since the Japanese invaders entered Shanhaiguan, the people of eastern Hebei have been plunged into misery. This area was a crucial railway transport line connecting the puppet Manchukuo regime to Beijing and Tianjin. Due to its unique geographical location, the Japanese maintained even tighter control over the area, and the people along the railway line suffered particularly terribly.

Under the secret leadership of the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army, a wave of anti-Japanese fervor swept across the land. Unable to bear the trampling of the Japanese invaders, the people rose up in uprisings. At one time, the anti-Japanese forces numbered 100,000, but were scattered by the Japanese and puppet troops during their westward reorganization.

Those who remained continued fighting, and together with the militia, they destroyed the Tianjin-Shenyang Railway, cutting off the Japanese supply lines.

This greatly alarmed Colonel Yamada, the Japanese commander stationed in Luan County. He urgently summoned advisors from Luan, Lu, Chang, and Le counties, as well as the puppet village chiefs of Luan and Lu, to a meeting in Luan County. The old Japanese officer Yamada spoke aggressively, and the Japanese advisor declared: "The Eighth Route Army has disrupted the Imperial Japanese Army's transport lines. They must be repaired quickly. To ensure the safety of future railway transport, 'traffic safety ditches' should be dug along the railway line in this area. All village chiefs must go back and do this."

After the meeting, Zhang Fulin, the fake village head, returned to the village and found Zhang Yikun, the head of the village committee: "Tomorrow, you and I will jointly convene a meeting of the villagers. You will lead the villagers to dig a traffic ditch by the railway."

Zhang Yikun looked troubled: "Brother, I've been vomiting and having diarrhea these past few days, I really can't lead this team. With you there to take measurements, nothing will happen. Please, for the sake of us both being from Xichemen, grant me permission. I'll remember this favor."

Zhang Fulin rolled his small eyes and said with a stern face, "I'll do you this favor today, since we live in the same village, but there won't be a next time."

Zhang Yikun nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right, thank you, brother."

Today, Zhang Fulin led a group of laborers forcibly brought from Zhangzhuangtuo, including more than a dozen young and strong men such as Zhang Litian, Zhang Yilu, and Zhang Zhiguo.

On the north side of the railway, laborers from several villages stretched out in a long line, one after the other. Every ten meters or so, a Japanese soldier with a gun patrolled and supervised them. The people, with bitter faces, wielded picks and shovels, working in suppressed resentment.

Zhang Litian needed to urinate, so he put down his shovel and went to relieve himself in the bushes to the north. Just as he stood up and reached for his belt, a large, brownish-yellow wild rabbit suddenly appeared before him. He immediately stopped needing to urinate and pounced on the rabbit. With each pounce, the rabbit hopped away, seemingly in no hurry to run. Perhaps this rabbit had a problem and couldn't run fast? Zhang Litian was overjoyed, forgetting the Japanese soldiers watching him with guns at the ready. He was solely focused on catching this large rabbit and taking it home. He chased the rabbit, getting further and further away.

When the Japanese soldiers on duty saw someone trying to run away, they shouted in Japanese and raised their guns to aim. Zhang Litian was so focused on chasing the rabbit that he didn't hear anything else, and even if he did, he couldn't understand the Japanese.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Several gunshots rang out. Zhang Yilu turned his head and saw Zhang Litian fall to the ground.

Upon hearing the gunshot, the rabbit scurried away.

Seeing that things were going badly, Zhang Yilu called out to his fellow villagers, "We have to go check this out." Zhang Xiaosheng, Zhang Zhiguo, and several others walked together towards where Zhang Litian had fallen. The rest of the villagers and their neighbors put down their shovels and hoes and rushed over.

The Japanese soldiers blew their whistles and began to assemble in this direction. The puppet village head, Zhang Fulin, rushed over and shouted, "Go back! Go back! All of you go back to work! I'll handle things here—"

He turned to the Japanese soldier and bowed and scraped, saying, "Sir, sir, I will obey your orders."

The Japanese soldiers used guns to force the laborers back.

In the evening, Zhang Yilu and several others from the village carried Zhang Litian's body back to his home. Zhang Gaoshi couldn't accept the sight of her husband's purplish-black blood on his head and chest; he had gone out that morning full of life, but by nightfall he was dead and brought back home.

"Why? Why?!" she wailed.

Zhang Yilu told her what had happened.

How could she face such a disaster? She cried out, "I'm going to confront them! They went out to work for them in the morning, and by nightfall they were beaten to death and brought back like this!"

Old man: "Which side of the story are you looking for?"

Zhang Gaoshi: "I'm looking for Zhang Fulin!"

The old man said, "Zhang Fulin was working for the Japanese."

Zhang Gaoshi: "So you just beat him to death for nothing?"

The old man said, "What can you do about it? The Japanese didn't kill anyone in vain, did they?"

Zhang Gaoshi fell silent. Yes, ever since the Japanese devils entered China, look at the ravages they've caused these past few years, who can reason with them?

The old man, suppressing his grief, found someone to bury his third son's body.

At dawn, the old man, wearing a felt hat and a cotton-padded coat, sat in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, leaning against the millstone, looking up at the sky and thinking about the wars, separations and deaths he had experienced in his life.

I just saw my granddaughter off to her wedding yesterday.

Today, we buried the tragically deceased San'er again.

In times of war, things are unpredictable.

In the darkness, Zhang Jingtian, leaning on crutches, walked towards his father. The sudden death of his third brother filled him with sorrow. Of the four brothers, he was the only one left disabled in their father's eyes. If possible, he would give his life to bring back one of his brothers.

Seeing that it was almost dawn and his father hadn't come inside, he came out and said softly to his father, "Father, let's go back inside. It's the coldest time of day right before dawn."

The old man looked at his youngest son, who was on crutches, and said, "Go back to the house."