The original text of "Green Branches and Green Leaves" by Liu Shaotang

It’s midday in July, and it’s as hot as fire from the sky. He Manzi was tied to the pillar of the grape trellis by his grandfather, and he was tied with a thief's buckle.

The year was 1936. He Manzi was six years old. He had a shaved gourd head and a wooden comb on his head. He went bare buttocks at the beginning of summer. His eyebrows were sunburned so that only faint traces were left. The bridge of his nose was cracked. His whole body looked like... I just climbed out of the chimney, and even my eyes were darker than before the beginning of summer.

Grandma asked Auntie Wangilian, who lives next door to the east, to make a red doudou for He Manzi. There were also a lot of flowers and plants embroidered on the doudou with colorful thin threads. A man goes with clothes and a horse goes with a saddle. He Manzi will surely stand out among his friends when he puts on this red trousers. However, He Manzi didn't wear it for a day.

He Manzi ran wild on the canal beach all day long, facing the poisonous and hot sunshine on his head, and wrapped his body in a bag. Firstly, there was no wind, and secondly, he was sweating. If he couldn't wear it for a day, most of his body would suffer from prickly heat. Furthermore, none of the little girls in the village who were as old as him had such bright flowers and flowers. When he wore it, he would look like a man or a woman, and the little girls would scratch their faces with their fingers. He was so ashamed that he found a field mouse's nest and crawled into it; the little boys also beat gongs and drums and called him "little girl", saying that he would never be able to hold his head up.

He Manzi didn’t wear red clothes. Grandma was so angry that she scolded him through gritted teeth. She held a rolling pin in her hand to slap him, and threatened to deprive him of food for three days. It turns out that this doudou is very particular. He Manzi is a cute boy, and his grandma is always afraid that the Prince of Hell will send Bai Wuchang to seduce him away. It is said that the Prince of Hell is very patriarchal, so He Manzi wears a red bag and disguises himself as a woman, and the Prince of Hell is too dim to see the truth, so he I can't get rid of the evil thoughts that seduces my soul and threatens my life.

He Manzi’s grandma, everyone calls her Aunt Yi Zhangqing; she is tall, with big feet, bronze complexion, and a bright voice. She can scold people within a radius of twenty or thirty miles, and she dares to say I can't find an opponent who can withstand several rounds. Aunt Yi Zhangqing scolded people like rain hitting plantains. She made long and short sentences, four or six styles, and cursed like a drum for a whole day. She did it in one go without losing her voice. She can also fight, and even if she is fifty or sixty years old, three or five young men are not enough for her to fight.

Her house is located on the bank of the North Canal, with the river outside the door. Once, a large sailboat from outside the river passed by the door. It was also time to rest. A lady named Yizhang Qing stood letting ducks in the shade of an umbrella outside the fence. When she saw a few trackers naked, wearing only a waistband and their trousers rolled up over their heads, she shouted: "Stop!" The trackers carried a brazier on their heads and hauled it for a hundred and eighty miles, facing water and headwinds. They didn't even stop to tiptoe, and all of them were hungry. Madam Yi Zhangqing's shout was ignored by them all. Seeing that they didn't even raise their heads or pay attention to them, Yi Zhang Qing became even more angry and yelled again: "Put on your pants!" There was a young and ungrateful tracker who glared at Yi Zhang Qing. He glanced at it and said angrily: "I've never seen anything in my age. If you don't like it, close your eyes and turn away!" Aunt Yi Zhangqing became angry, rolled up her cuffs, and showed two dings on her wrists. The jingling brass bracelets rushed down the river slope with a gust of wind, blocking the trackers in front of them. He poked their noses with his hands and said, "I can't let you sting the eyes of our eldest daughter and our little daughter-in-law!" The young tracker, who was a fool, pushed Aunt Qing ten feet with his hand and said, "A good dog doesn't block the way!" This stirred up a hornet's nest. Aunt Yi Zhangqing was furious, and the boss slapped her ear to the ground. The young tracker was like the wind blowing on his tent, twisting it three times and twisting it three times. His face was covered with flowers, his mouth and nose were bleeding, and he fell down. On the hot beach, I breathed out slowly and loudly, moaning loudly and softly. When several trackers saw that their companions had been beaten, they whistled up; with a bang, the Yi Zhangqing lady broke off a river willow as thick as the mouth of a tea bowl, waved it with the sound of the wind, and swept away the trackers. Going down to the river is like cooking Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and everyone falls into the water. Aunt Yi Zhangqing refused to give up. She stood by the river and couldn't stop cursing, and she didn't allow the trackers to climb up the shore. The big sailing ship lost its power, the helm was cracked, and she couldn't control it, so it was spinning on the river. Opened the grinding.

On this day, He Manzi’s grandfather came back. Aunt Yi Zhangqing was chattering to the old man about this and that. The old man had a sullen face, humming and haha, and had a lawsuit on his forehead. Aunt Yi Zhangqing was so angry that she complained to the old man, and she sued He Manzi smoothly. shape. Grandpa was a fiery person, and in a fit of rage, he tied He Manzi to the pillar of the grape trellis with a thief's buckle, so he couldn't run away, let alone fly. Moreover, a cardboard box was thrown in front of him. There were one hundred square characters in the box, as well as a slate and a slate pen, and he was ordered to write down these one hundred characters during this long rest.

This does not trouble He Manzi. However, for the first time in his life, he lost his freedom. He felt aggrieved and depressed. His eyes were dull, his hands were lazy, and he had no interest in writing at all.

About the author:

Liu Shaotang is a famous Chinese native literature writer, one of the representative writers of the "Lotus Lake School" and the founder of the "Grand Canal Native Literature System". He began publishing works at the age of 13, and was the youngest member of the Writers' Association when he joined the Writers' Association. Influenced by the writers Sun Li and Sholokhov, he embarked on the road of rural literature. The themes of his works are mostly based on rural life in the Jingdong Canal (Northern Canal) area. The style is fresh and simple, and the local color is rich. His works have won many domestic awards and national commendations; many of his works have been translated into foreign languages ??and have had international influence.

In the spring of 1950, because he was called a "child prodigy" by the poet Yan Ming, the title of "child prodigy writer" gradually spread and was recognized by the public. Because his hometown Rulin Village is close to the North Canal, he was also called the "Son of the Grand Canal" ".