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Although the road of life is long, its most important sections are often covered in only a few steps, especially while one is young.
His works have steadily gained relevance in China, for the simple reason that the questions he raised have yet to be resolved. 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.
“I’ve made the hour-long trek to see them in the city a few times, but the elder members of her family don’t seem very enthusiastic about our match, and they haven’t shown their faces around here even once. They probably think we’re uncultured, with our dark skin. I’m darker than her, but as far as education goes, she’s like me—she can’t read much, but she’s got a good heart!”
Liu Qiaozhen had brushed her teeth. This might seem like a mundane event, but as soon as she was seen doing it, news spread through the village like wildfire. To the villagers, teeth-brushing was something only cadres and scholars did—why would ordinary folk and country bumpkins bother with it? Gao Jialin brushed his teeth; Gao Sanxing brushed his teeth; Liu Qiaozhen’s little sister, Qiaoling, brushed her teeth and no one seemed to notice, but when illiterate female commune member Liu Qiaozhen brushed her teeth, everyone commented on how strange it was.
The crowd dispersed as Liu Liben shouted. The women and children left first, then the old men followed, rushing to gather up their night-soil-collecting baskets and awkwardly extricate themselves from the scene. Two tears welled up in her eyes as Qiaozhen held on to the washbasin. “Father, what are you scolding me for? Brushing my teeth is hygienic—what’s so bad about that?” “Fuck hygienic! You’re an ordinary country girl. Now you’re foaming at the mouth, and the whole village will laugh at you for wasting money! You shame our ancestors!” “I don’t care. Brushing your teeth isn’t some great
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Liu Liben panicked. He realized he had gone too far—he hadn’t treated his children like this for many years. He quickly tried to mollify her: “Dad was wrong, don’t cry. If you want to brush your teeth, do it at home by the stove. Just don’t run to the riverbank! Everyone in the village will laugh.” “Let them laugh! I’m not afraid of anything! I want to brush them outside!” Qiaozhen replied firmly.
