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It would have been an exaggeration to call Qin Guan the Qin Village phoenix. Villagers considered him a good-looking boy, just like a golden pheasant occasionally flying out of the forest, showing off its shiny feathers to the hunters.

Qin Guan was not aware of their thoughts. He just liked to play with his little friends and his brothers and sisters. There was nothing interesting going on in the countryside in the winter. Most young people just stayed at home and played cards. Qin Guan liked to play with teenagers though.

There were so many interesting things to do, including but not limited to, riding a goat in reverse, provoking cats and dogs, and digging into hibernating snakes’ holes. They didn’t return until it was dark. Qin Guan led the dirty monkeys back home. His grandma wiped the dirt off their clothes with a broom, warning them, "Don’t go out in the evening. There are no lights out there, you will sprain your feet in the dark!"

At the dining table, Qin Guan proudly showed the two magazines to his grandparents, who were sitting at the head of the table. Smiles formed on their wrinkled faces. Our grandson is in a book! Good for him!

There was always a rich festive atmosphere in the countryside during the Spring Festival. On the 23rd day of the twelfth month of the lunar year, Qin Guan’s grandma boiled sweet potato sugar into sweet sugar balls and put them into flour bags. Every family member could take some in their spare time. (When the author was in primary school, there were stands selling sugar balls at the entrance of her school for 0.05 yuan each. This has disappeared nowadays, but she still misses it.)

On the 28th day of the twelfth month of the lunar year, with the help of other women of the family, Qin Guan’s grandma steamed large buns with dates. There was about one catty in one bun, which meant that the new year was coming silently.

On the 30th day, there were firecrackers booming everywhere. Everyone stayed up late on New Year’s Eve to welcome the new spring of 2000.

Their happiness lasted till the 5th day of the first month of the new lunar year. There was a general commotion at home. Qin Guan’s youngest uncle had to carry sand as punishment for the administrator of the village.

Qin Guan’s grandpa sat in a chair engraved with the Eight Immortals, looking at his children calmly. He knocked his pipe against his shoe sole to clean the ashes and added more tobacco. He continued to smoke.

Qin Guan’s eldest uncle, father and aunt were standing before him, waiting for his orders silently.

Grandpa cleared his throat and called over his grandchildren, who were hiding behind the curtain door. "Come on in and hear about your uncle’s affairs."

Led by Qin Guan, the boys and girls walked in obediently and stood in a line behind their parents.

Taking a posture of ancestral worship, grandpa cleared his throat and said, "Your fourth brother was cheated into joining a religious group several months ago. He said that the hierarch could cure patients and feed them, so he didn’t go to the hospital and he stopped working in the fields. He even asked his child to stay at home instead of going to school. I took the child home and asked your mother to take him to school."

His sons and daughter were surprised. Our brother joined a heresy and you’re so calm about it? They were shocked by his next words.

"I thought it was serious, as his wife was also in the group. I thought the family would break apart, so I reported it to the local police station at the entrance of the village..."

Reported it to the local police station... Reported it to the local police station... Cold sweat ran all over their bodies. Father is so impartial and incorruptible!

"It was no big deal. They just had to do social service for disrupting the peace. They had to dig sand pits east of our village for half a year. No prison sentence or anything."

Prison might have been better. They wouldn’t have stayed in prison for that long.

Before Qin Guan’s father could say anything, his grandpa grew serious. "It was a heresy! Those guys were evil!"

Everyone fell silent. It was a crime to join a heresy. Luckily, Qin Guan’s grandpa was shrewd.

His uncles thought the subject was not up for discussion, so they did not press it. Their kids felt nothing. They were just laughing.

Qin Guan took a deep breath in secret. Luckily, his grandpa had saved his uncle in this life. If he had been cheated and gone to the capital, nobody could have rescued him.

Meanwhile, his uncle was griddling sand. The village head was in charge, and he was happy to get so much free labor. It seems like there will be an increase in production. I’m going to be one step away from becoming mayor.

......

After the Spring Festival, Qin Guan’s parents returned to Y city. His uncle and aunt were busy working in the fields, so Qin Guan, the eldest grandson, was the only one left in his grandma’s yard.

After his rebirth, Qin Guan found himself enjoying more the extra time he stayed with his grandparents. He felt unparalleled warmth.

Night fell. Qin Guan’s grandma was sewing on the warm kang under the dim light, narrating her and grandpa’s love story.

Their story was worth hearing a hundred times. It was no modern love drama. It had the special reserved manner and warmth of old times.

When they had been young, Qin Guan’s grandma had been the daughter of a country gentleman, while his grandpa had been a nobody. The distance between them had been more or less the same as that between a noble girl and a farm laborer.

It had been love at first sight.

Following her family’s orders, his grandma had stayed at home. His grandpa had sneaked glances at her whenever he’d buy grains for his boss, but he’d kept her in his mind constantly.

He had been 15 at the time, and she had been 14.

Qin Guan’s grandpa had tried his best to narrow the gap between them. He had begged an old shopkeeper to teach him how to read, keep books and calculate. During those troubled times, using the silver coins in his jute bag, he had dared ship in grains for the shop by sea.

Through his efforts, his grandpa had managed to eventually own his own grain shop. When he and Qin Guan’s grandma had gotten married, he had been 19 and she had been 18.

They had helped each other in times of poverty and lived to old age in conjugal bliss. They had gone through hardships together, always hand in hand. They had led the same life both in times of peace and during tough days. They’d had no regrets and never left or forsaken each other.