Explore Chapter 5 of "生死场" with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
Ping'er was hired as a shepherd boy. He chased the flock all over the hillsides. The mountaintop seemed to blossom with tiny flowers, greening over! And then turning red! The children gathering wild vegetables up there - Ping'er was forever teasing them. He'd single out a sheep to snatch the greens from their baskets. Sometimes he'd pick a big, sturdy one and come riding along like a man on horseback! The little girls would cry out in fright, seeing him like a monkey perched on the sheep's back. Since taking up herding, Ping'er's talents had gradually flourished. He drove the sheep to desolate spots, rallying all the village children to practice riding. Every day, the flock lay scattered across the wilds, as sluggish as pigs.
On the way home, with the vast white expanse ahead, he sat atop the very last sheep like a general commanding his troops. He flicked his whip playfully, swelling with pride.
That day, as Ping'er was playing on a sheep's back, the creature bolted wildly through the gate, giving him no chance to jump off - making him look like a crazed monkey frolicking on the sheep's back. Another time, on a rainy day, he knocked a child down while riding through the gate. The master struck him off the sheep with a firewood rake. He kept at it, as if flogging a lifeless lump of flesh.
On the first day, few coops were sold. That evening, they carried them all back. Mother Wang rattled the rice jar. "Told you to keep more rice for eating, but you had to sell them... What are we going to eat now?... What are we going to eat?"
One morning, ten coops sold! Only three larger ones remained, piled to the side. Father counted the bills in his palm while Ping'er ate his rice ball.
They went to the cloth stall nearby and squatted by the stand, eating the steaming food. Ping'er ate first; Father was still pouring vinegar over his own bowl. To Ping'er, this food was a marvel! A bowl of tofu pudding was pure bliss to his little gut! Round-eyed, he gulped down the whole bowl in no time!
Ping'er shot a glance at his father and handed over the bowl. He sucked up the tofu pudding with great, noisy slurps. Zhao San was different. His eyes stayed on the unsold coops as he ate, slowly, slowly, until he finally finished. He said, "Ping'er, can't finish yours? Pour a bit into my bowl."
Ping'er poured out a meager amount for his father. After paying, Father went to mind the coops. Ping'er lingered still, the boy greedy for the last dregs of broth, tilting his head back, pressing the bowl to his face as if to drain every last drop.
When market-goers passed and showed interest in the coops, Zhao San would say, "Buy one! Only ten coppers."
In the end, no one bought the three remaining coops. Two went to Father; the last one jutted out from Ping'er's back. Passing the cattle market, Ping'er pointed and cried, "Father, our green ox is over there!"
As he spoke, Zhao San felt an inexplicable pang in his heart. Back home, he said to Mother Wang, "Just saw that green ox in the market."
"It belongs to someone else now. No point talking about it." Mother Wang was in a sour mood all day.
Gradually, Zhao San learned to haggle over the coops. He took to calling out to customers from his spot by the wall! He often bought Ping'er a couple of red and green sugar drops too. Soon, they didn't even bother bringing rice balls.
He earned a few coppers each day and gave them to Mother Wang, but she was never pleased, tucking the money away as if by accident.
Mother Wang insisted absolutely that the boy become an apprentice. "What are you doing trailing after your father selling coops?" she said.
The coppers invigorated Zhao San. Even at midnight, he'd be weaving coops. He said to Mother Wang, "Why don't you learn this too? It's a trade. We could make more."
But Mother Wang would just go to bed, as if displeased with his coop-weaving. As if she opposed the very idea.
Ping'er felt for his father. He was willing to carry an extra coop. Father said, "No more! That's enough!"
Passing Er Li Ban's door, Ping'er took Bowlegs into town too. Ping'er asked his father for coppers to buy his friend two pieces of fried bread. Then they went to where a gong was clanging under a small canopy and pushed into the crowd. For a copper each, they peered into the Western peep show, a street-side shadow play. You looked through a tiny glass lens that fit only one eye. Inside, a magnified picture moved - soldiers fighting, guns blazing, quickly replaced by another scene. The showman sang as he narrated: "Here's another fight between foreigners. Look at the Russians storming the city - what a ruckus! Countless dead..."