Life

by Lu Yao

Although the road of life is long, its most important sections are often covered in only a few steps, especially while one is young. —Liu Qing

Traditional rural culture tells one, in no uncertain terms, the right way to live. How to exist in the cities, however, is an open question.

There was no need to hide the fact that for the past ten years he had devoted his life to reading, precisely to avoid following in the footsteps of his father, a “master of the land” (or, to put it another way, a slave to the land).

Meek people rarely get angry, but once they’re angry, they lose control.

Dispirited, Old Deshun sighed. “I heard that she married a businessman from Tianjin. She didn’t want to, but her father forced her . . . Tianjin, it seemed like the end of the earth! From then on I never saw my beloved again! And I never took a wife, ever. Marrying the wrong wife is like drinking cold water—tasteless and dull.”

I wish you were a winged wild goose Free to love all corners of the sky Wherever you can best survive Is where you should make your roost

People ought to have ideals, even fantasies, but one can’t deny real life in the blind pursuit of something unachievable.

Her love was as hot as fire and as gentle as water, and it would wash away all of his distress.

When he saw Jialin look up, he beamed and said, “Any tears left?” The wrinkles on his face crept back toward the corners of his eyes, and he shook his snow-white head back and forth. “Oh child, don’t be afraid of coming back here—hard labor’s not so bad. But you’ve lost your gold! Qiaozhen, she really is a piece of gold!” “Grandfather, I’m so depressed. Please, let’s not talk about this. I know that I had a piece of gold and that I threw it away like a clump of dirt. Now it feels like life has no meaning and I might as well die.” “Nonsense!” Grandfather Deshun stood up suddenly. “You’re only twenty-four years old, how can you have such shameful thoughts? If I thought like you do, I’d have died a long time ago! I’m almost seventy, with no son or daughter, a bachelor all my days. But my heart still beats, and I plan to keep it going a few more years! You’re still young and tender. Even though I have no wife or children, I still think life has meaning. I’ve loved and I’ve suffered, I’ve used these two hands to do hard labor, I’ve planted the five crops, I’ve planted trees, I’ve repaired roads . . . Don’t these things also create a meaningful life? To use a word you young people like, it’s called happiness. Happiness! You young people don’t realize, but when I pick the fruit from my trees and give it to the children, my heart is so . . . happy! How much of my fruit did you eat when you were little? You’re too young to understand, but when I plant a tree, I think about how when...

My boy, don’t lose heart! A strapping young lad such as yourself shouldn’t fear falling. Just don’t stop climbing, or else you really will be as dead as mutton.”