Gao Yubao

Author: Gao Yubao
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: From the founding of the People's Republic of China to 1966, China experienced a peak period in the creation and publication of long novels. Over a decade, a large number of works were produced, among which dozens had a widespread impact and reached the height of their time. These works adhered to the principles of socialist realism, using heartfelt enthusiasm and simple artistic methods to celebrate the arduous struggles and vibrant spirit of the Chinese people during different historical periods, including the War of Liberation, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the construction of socialism. They represented the highest achievements of long novel creation during that period and held an extremely important position in the history of contemporary Chinese literature. With their unique charm, they influenced generations of readers and, after being tested by time, have been passed down to this day.
Inspired by the hardships he and the poor endured in the old society, the author was moved to write a book about the heroic battles, bloodshed, and sacrifices of revolutionary soldiers in liberating the entire Chinese people, as well as the tragic fate of the martyrs. He wanted to ensure that the suffering people who had been liberated and future generations would never forget the sacrifices of those who shed blood and the crimes of the Japanese invaders and the reactionary Kuomintang forces in killing the poor and revolutionary comrades. It was with this mindset that the long novel Gao Yubao came into being.
On the east side of the Fucheng County mountains, farmers were busy with spring plowing. Suddenly, a group of men and women ran from the mountain pass. They hurriedly asked, "What's the rush? What's happened?" The people who came said, "It's not good! Run! The Japanese soldiers have gone to Dashiqiao to fight bandits, but they didn't catch any. They're coming back this way. Along the way, they've been killing and burning, doing all sorts of evil things. Many people from our village have been captured. Run!"
The farmers, seeing the panicked refugees, looked at each other in fear, unsure of what to do. At this moment, two men came out of the village office in Taiping Village. One was dragging a "civilized cane," and the other had a bald head. As they approached the crowd, they saw the refugees passing by. The one with the cane squinted with his triangular eyes, and the bald old man cracked his three-toothed smile. The two of them laughed triumphantly. Almost at the same time, they said, "It's done, it's done. When the Imperial Army comes, it'll be all better."
The farmers, seeing the cane-dragging man was the tyrannical village head Zhou Chang'an and the bald man was Wang Hongyan, quickly hid.
Zhou Chang'an, the tyrannical village head, lived in Huangjiadian and was a puppet village head. Everyone used to call him "triangular-eyed" because he was unreasonable. When he squinted his eyes, he looked like a hanging man. No one in the northern and southern villages dared to oppose him. His family was wealthy, and he was also a notorious local bully. His father, Zhou Chunfu, was even more formidable and was known to everyone as "Old Zhou Skin-Scraper." This Old Zhou Skin-Scraper didn't know what tricks he played, but every year he hired five or six assistants. By the time autumn came, the assistants had all run away from the hard work. When they went to ask for their wages after the harvest, Old Zhou Skin-Scraper refused to give them a cent. He said, "You didn't finish your work, so how can you expect grain? There's no such thing as a free lunch! Go report to the Imperial Army. I'll be waiting here." The assistants were afraid of him and his son, so they didn't dare to report. Their year of hard work was wasted.
After the Japanese invasion, Zhou Chang'an became the puppet village head and became even more tyrannical. Wang Hongyan, whose real name was Wang Hongye, was a livestock dealer and a greedy man. Because he was always greedy for money, people called him "Wang Hongyan." To make more money, he sent even the best cattle and horses to the slaughterhouse, and countless good animals died under his hands. Everyone hated him and gave him the nickname "Death Bringer." Later, Wang Hongyan settled in Sunjiatun and became close with the tyrannical village head Zhou Chang'an.
After the Japanese invasion of Northeast China in 1931, he also became wealthy, buying over a hundred acres of good land. He stopped dealing in cattle and horses and stopped farming, renting out the land to tenants while he and his wife and daughter sat at home eating. He often drank and had fun with the village head, not knowing what schemes he was up to.
That day, the two of them were happily talking about something when the village head's son came running, carrying a schoolbag and a big black dog. The boy had a large head and wore a small hat and was dressed in fine clothes. He ran to the tyrannical village head and threw a letter in front of his father, saying, "Here's the letter! I looked everywhere at home but couldn't find you. You're here." The tyrannical village head quickly picked up the letter and asked, "What letter?"
The mischievous boy turned his big head and said, "You don't know? Read it yourself. Don't you have eyes?" He turned around and left. The tyrannical village head hurriedly asked, "Where are you going?" The mischievous boy turned and hit his schoolbag on his shoulder, saying, "Going to school!" He left with the big black dog.
Wang Hongyan quickly asked, "Village head, village head, look, it's a letter from your brother!" The village head read the letter and laughed heartily, saying, "I knew it! This time the Imperial Army is suppressing the bandits, and it must be your second brother leading the way. You still don't believe it? Look, isn't this his letter?"
Seeing that it was indeed a letter from Zhou Changtai, Wang Hongyan was overjoyed. He clapped his hands and patted his bald head, saying, "Oh, really! Tell me, what does it say?"
The village head smiled, saying, "He says the Imperial Army has won the suppression of the bandits and is returning to Wafangdian tomorrow. They will pass through our village, so we must prepare a warm welcome."
"Hahahaha!" Wang Hongyan laughed. "Of course!" The village head said, "Wang Dongjia, you are the head of Sunjiatun, and I am the village head of Taiping Village. This time, you can't embarrass me. Our mountain village has never had an Imperial Army troop pass through. We must prepare properly. Especially those poor tenants in your village—without a Japanese flag, how can we welcome the Imperial Army? You must tell the families without flags to make them quickly. Tomorrow, one person from each family will go with the flag to welcome them. The village head and I will lead the procession. You must also come. First, notify the families to make the flags, then come to my house immediately to discuss the banquet arrangements. We must also prepare for the soldiers of the Imperial Army. Don't just laugh! If we do well, both of us will benefit; if we do badly, you'll have to be careful! I'll report to the village head."
Sunjiatun was a poor village with about thirty or forty households, except for Wang Hongyan's family, which was wealthy. The second poorest family in the east was the Gao family, with the head of the household being Gao Xuétian. They lived in three dilapidated rooms, farmed nine acres of land, raised one pig, and had no other livestock. Only six acres of land could produce enough grain, while the other three, near the riverbank, rarely yielded a harvest in three or five years. The Gao family barely earned enough grain to pay taxes, and with seven mouths to feed, they often went hungry. Their elderly father, who was over seventy, was also sick. A few days ago, his condition was severe, and they had even prepared a white coffin. The family was truly in despair.
Now, the old man's condition had improved slightly, and he was coughing while lying on the bed. A woman in her thirties, with a pale and thin face, came in from the outer room, holding a bowl of medicine and walked to the old man, saying, "Father, it's time to take your medicine." The old man picked up the bowl and was about to drink when a boy of about five ran in from outside, saying, "Mom, I'm hungry! I want to eat! I want to eat!" He reached out for his grandfather's medicine bowl.
Gao's wife quickly pulled the boy over, held him in her arms, and cooed, "Yucai, your grandfather is taking medicine. Your dad went to borrow grain (take a loan), and Mom will make more for you to have a full meal later."
Suddenly, someone shouted outside, "Every household, listen! The village head's order: households without a Japanese flag must make Japanese flags quickly! Tomorrow morning, one person from each family will take the flag with the village head and I to welcome the Japanese Imperial Army. Anyone who disobeys will be handed over to the Imperial Army for punishment!"
Gao's wife heard Wang Hongyan call it a Japanese flag and was startled but didn't say anything. The old man, who was lying on the bed and taking medicine, quickly put down the bowl and asked, "What is the village head shouting?"
Gao's wife said, "The village head is calling for a Japanese flag! Tomorrow, Japanese soldiers will come! Oh, what do we do?" Hearing this, the old man was furious, saying, "What army is it? If we don't have one, we won't make it."
"Can we not?" Gao's wife said, "The village head just said that anyone who doesn't obey the village head's order will be handed over to the Imperial Army for punishment." Distressed, she put Yucai down and went to the outer room, complaining about the village head while frantically searching through the scraps of cloth on the bed for a piece of fabric.
There was no whole piece of cloth! Just as she was in a dilemma, a girl of about thirteen or fourteen came in from the courtyard, asking, "Mom, what are you looking for?"
Gao's wife saw her daughter Yurong carrying a basket of bitter greens and said, "Oh, child, the village head ordered a Japanese flag. Didn't you hear? What do we do?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Yurong, where is our white flour bag? Find it and make one!"
Yurong was about to go to find it when her mother said, "Yurong, where is Yubao? He hasn't come back yet?"
Yurong said, "He's herding pigs on the mountain. The pigs haven't eaten yet."
"Oh, he's alone on the mountain with so many wolves! Go check!"
"Mom, don't worry, the brother of the neighbor in the east courtyard, Yu Zhicheng, and the neighbor from the back street, Zhou Yongxue, and the children in our village are all on the mountain. My second uncle is also there working for his landlord. There's nothing to worry about."
She said this and took out more than twenty roasted magpie eggs from the vegetable basket, saying, "Mom, Yubao and Zhicheng are eating roasted magpie eggs on the mountain again. I ate a few too. These are the magpie eggs Yubao asked me to bring back."
Yucai heard that his brother had brought back roasted magpie eggs and excitedly ran out from the inner room, snatching two from his sister's hands and running to the small street to play.
Gao's wife saw the roasted magpie eggs and was not happy. She quickly asked, "Who climbed the tree to get these? Was it Yubao?"
Yurong nodded and said, "Yes."
"Yurong, go to the mountain and watch him. Don't let him climb trees. Those are so high! They're so dangerous!"
After a moment, she said, "You find the flour bag and wash it. I'll go to your aunt's house in the east courtyard to borrow some red dye."
A group of poor children who picked grass and herded pigs were singing and playing together on the east mountain. These children were always together. They picked grass together in the daytime and then put on costumes to perform plays. At night, they would go to the back street to listen to Uncle Zhou Dechun tell them the story of "Huyingqing Fighting the Arena." One of the children had a pocket full of small pebbles and a slingshot in his other pocket. When he ran, the pebbles would "clatter-clatter" loudly.
That day, he had darkened his face with black mud, holding a pig-herding stick, and was playing the role of "Huyingqing" in the story. Yu Zhicheng was a bit older and played "Meng Qiang," while Zhou Yongxue played "Jiao Yu." The three children took tree branches as swords and shields and performed the "fighting the arena" scene from the story. They were playing happily when, from a distance, a man in his late twenties, strong and sturdy, stood in the field and suddenly shouted, "Yubao! It's noon! Hurry home with the pigs! We're finishing work!"
The child playing "Huyingqing" heard his uncle calling him and shouted back, "I know!" He quickly ran to the river to wash his face and then parted ways with the other children. Yubao followed his uncle home.
Yubao penned the pigs, ran into the house, and saw his mother cutting the flour bag. His sister brought a bowl of red dye from the inner room. Yubao quickly asked, "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Making a Japanese flag. The Japanese soldiers are coming to our village tomorrow."
Hearing this, Yubao's black eyes turned red with anger. Before his mother finished speaking, he rushed in and said, "Mom, we won't make a Japanese flag. They're the Japanese soldiers. Why should we welcome them? Have you forgotten how last year your uncle was driving a carriage to Wafangdian for his landlord and had his arm broken by the Japanese soldiers?"
"Child, speak softer! Your uncle's father just came back from Dashiqiao. He said many people in that area were killed by the Japanese soldiers!"
Yubao said, "We won't go to welcome them. We won't make it!" Saying this, he ran over and snatched the flour bag, spilling half a bowl of red dye.
Gao's wife got angry and slapped Yubao on the back, saying, "Oh, my dear heavens! Can't you speak softer? If Wang Hongyan in the west courtyard hears you, he'll report to the village head, and it'll be bad! The ancients said, 'People follow the law like grass follows the wind.' You were told to make a flag, and you dare not?"
Northeast China had been occupied by the Japanese, and what could a poor family do? The village head said that tomorrow, one person from each family would go with the village head to welcome the Japanese army, and no one could refuse. Yubao's father had gone out to borrow grain and might not come back today. His sister was timid, so his mother had told her to go to her grandmother's house in the afternoon to hide. Tomorrow, only Yubao would be there.
"Mom, I won't go. I can't welcome the Japanese soldiers."
"Ai! Child, don't cause trouble. If you don't go, the village head will come looking tomorrow. What will we do?"
Yubao quickly said, "I have a solution: I won't get up tomorrow morning. If the village head or the head comes looking for me, you can say I'm sick."
"If he insists on sending you?"
"Mom, haven't you heard what my grandfather said? Officials don't refuse sick people. When the village head comes, I'll lie in bed and groan, and he won't be able to force me to go."
His mother had no choice but to agree.
In the middle of the day, when people were returning home for lunch, they heard that the Japanese soldiers were coming the next day and, having heard Yu Diankui come back and say that the Japanese soldiers were killing, looting, and burning, everyone was terrified. In the afternoon, they had no heart to work and the entire village was busy burying things. The women in the village, all under thirty and over fifteen or sixteen, had already gone to hide in distant relatives' homes. Sunjiatun had few women left, but Yubao's father was not back, his grandfather was too sick to get out of bed, and he was holding two children. Gao's wife had no choice but to send Yurong to her grandmother's house first and tell Gao Xuédé to hide outside as well, to come back only after the Japanese had left. She herself stayed at home, waiting for her husband to return.
The next morning, the village head gathered everyone in the village to Sunjiatun. Wang Hongyan had already gathered the villagers in the street. The two groups stood together. The village head asked Wang Hongyan, "Have all the households in your village arrived?"
Wang Hongyan said, "They all came, except for Gao Xuétian's family."
The tyrannical village head Zhou Chang'an squinted his triangular eyes and said, "How come? Gao Xuétian's family has so many people, and not a single one came. Does he dare to defy my order? Now the Imperial Army is here, we can't fail to welcome them."
Wang Hongyan said, "Just now, I went to his house, and Gao Xuétian was out borrowing grain and hasn't come back. Gao Xuédé is working as a laborer in the southern village, and his daughter has gone to her grandmother's house to take medicine for her grandfather."
The village head rushed in, "What about Yubao?"
"He's sick."
"What? He's sick? I saw him herding pigs yesterday, and today he's sick? That's not right. I'll go see. That little rascal is good at pretending to be sick."
With that, he picked up his civilized cane and went to Yubao's house.
As soon as he entered the house, he heard Yubao groaning, "Aiyoh, aiyoh."
Zhou Chang'an saw that Yubao was still lying in bed, groaning in pain, and it looked like he was really sick. He also saw the old man lying in bed groaning. The village head quickly called Yubao, "Get up! What illness can't you go?"
Yubao didn't say anything. His mother covered him with a blanket and said, "He's cold. He was up all night last night."
"Hmph! You poor brats are always sick. He can't go, you go!"
"Village head, look, the old man is sick, the child is sick. His father and his uncle aren't at home. There's also a five-year-old child. How can he go?"
The neighbors came into the house to plead with Gao's wife. The village head squinted his triangular eyes and dropped his civilized cane to the ground.