Ronan's Moonlit Journey Chapter 2

I stopped the car once to eat and find the toilet. The car door is open and Ronan can get in and out as he pleases. He didn't dare stray too far from their car. There were at least fourteen such cars parked on the road, and Ronan couldn't tell them apart. Looking forward and back, I saw people in those cars getting out of the car doors. When they got to the road, some people crossed the ditch and walked into the wheat field. The old lady, who was older than my grandmother, appeared and was carried to the other side of the ditch. Her white hair can be seen from afar. Later, the old lady was carried out from behind the haystack, and two more people crossed the ditch to pick her up. Ronan asked his mother: "What are they going to do?" His mother said: "Go to the toilet." Ronan asked: "Where is the toilet? Why didn't I see it?" His mother said: "Behind the haystack." After the old lady, people came one after another. Went over there, crossed the ditch, and turned around the haystack. Ronan saw them starting to unbutton their pants halfway, and then walked over with them in hand. Everyone behind the haystack came out. Waited for a while. Now some people are walking towards the haystack, and they don't know how to unbutton their pants. Ronan realizes that they are men. In other words, the person who just went to the toilet was a woman. While the women went to the toilet, the men were waiting. They looked at the haystacks in fascination while chewing dry food, drinking water or smoking. My mother and grandmother have been there, and now it’s my father, grandfather and brother’s turn. Ronan wants to go too. He wants to see the toilet behind the haystack. Suddenly the sun appeared, illuminating the other side of the haystack golden. There are no toilets at all, no walls, doors, windows, seats or pits. There was a large area of   wet mud on the ground, and the low-lying areas were filled with urine. There were scraps of wiped paper all around, and a few pieces of paper were blown by the wind and ran on the wheat field in front.

Before my mother got off work, people from her workplace came. People from her workplace put up slogans on the door of my parents’ room. I recognized my mother's name "Lu Hongying" and the word "knock down", and I knew that my mother was also knocked down. Grandpa sent the people from my mother’s work unit to the stairs and told them to leave and come back next time. He fetched a basin of water and wiped the paste next to the slogan. There was no sign and the door was stained with paste. Grandpa brought another bottle of paste and pasted the raised areas of the slogan. Grandpa used a bed-sweeping brush to smooth the slogans. The slogans on our doors are more beautiful than those on other people’s doors. Later, the slogan became old, and my grandfather asked me to stand on a stool and trace each word again with a brush. Grandpa said this is called red drawing practice.

Drawing red exercises(4)

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, their car parked on the embankment of Hongze Lake. Then it started moving, but very slowly. The convoy was blocked by migrant workers digging the river. Planks were placed on the dug road, and wheels passed carefully. The surrounding ground was dug up and completely changed. Ronan never knew that he could dig so deep------even deeper than the air-raid shelter in the yard of the coal store across the street when he was six years old (see "Digging Three Feet Under"), the color of the soil It's a gray-yellow color I've never seen before. Maybe it has something to do with the light at the time. Migrant workers also have this kind of yellow on their backs, faces and arms. Although they are different, they belong to the same category.

Migrant workers stood below (on both sides of the car), looking at them with tools for digging the river (hoes, spades, poles, nooses and baskets). They are also looking at migrant workers. As cars passed slowly, they saw migrant workers stretching for miles. Migrant workers also apparently saw dozens of cars and hundreds of car windows. The contact lasted an hour or two. Many years later, Ronan was finally able to view this experience from the perspective of a migrant worker. Dozens of cars, hundreds of windows, thousands of city dwellers, as well as red flowers, red flags and various slogans (although they have become dusty after a long journey). Ronan could completely understand why they stood still, silent, and glowed yellow.

Now we have three good guys and three bad guys. Dad, mom and brother are the bad guys. Grandpa, grandma and I are good people. There are just as many good guys and bad guys in our family. Later, my grandfather also became a counter-revolutionary, which is historical. There are not as many good people in our family as there are bad ones. There are two more bad guys than good guys in our family. Grandma and I are good people, and Grandpa and my brother are bad people. Mom and dad are bad guys too. Dad said that my brother was not very enlightened and was not a bad person, unlike him. My brother is a good person with low consciousness, at least half a good person. My brother is half a good guy and half a bad guy. Sometimes he is a good guy and sometimes he is a bad guy. Grandma said, I won’t be this good man and will give it to your brother. Grandma said, I am a bad guy just like your grandfather. She wants to be a bad guy herself and a local mistress. Now I am the only good person in our family. Grandma's kindness cannot be given to her brother. If left to his brother, he would be a semi-good person. Why is it that a semi-good person is not as enlightened as I am? I am a good person.

There was water everywhere, yellow and black water, on both sides of the car windows. It was as if their car was driving on water. Wavelet couldn't see the wheels or the road under the wheels. He saw only water. The picture on the car window is even more monotonous. It can be divided into three parts from top to bottom: sky, field and water. The water was closest to them and the bank could not be seen on this side.

About three vehicles, separated from the convoy, were headed for a specific destination. Ronan's car was the second one. Behind the third one were trucks, eight or nine separate from the truck convoy. There are still more than a dozen vehicles in the newly formed fleet. The road surface changed from asphalt to gravel. When it was getting dark, there was another separation: Ronan and his car drove onto a side road. Three trucks followed behind, carrying all the belongings of the families on the bus in front. The road surface changed from gravel to loess.

It was very bumpy. Every time the car seemed to be falling into the water. Wavelet looked at the water outside the left window for a while, and then looked at the water outside the right window for a while. Grandma kept saying: "How good is this!" The transistor radio in grandfather's hand kept ringing, and it hadn't stopped since leaving Nanjing. At this time, the local radio station was received. Listening was hit or miss as the car swerved from time to time.

It was completely dark inside the carriage. The sky is the brightest with three numbers on the car window. The middle field was dark and heavy. The brightness of the water is somewhere in between - more yellow and black seeping in.

My father and mother went to the May 7th Cadre School and usually didn't go home. Our family has as many good people as bad people again. Grandma is not a good person by choice, but she can't be a bad person by choice either. Neither the good guys nor the bad guys do it voluntarily. My brother is half a good person, but there are still more good people than bad people in our family. Only grandpa is the real villain, a historical counter-revolutionary.

The car stopped. The father left them and got out of the car. When he came back up, he was followed by two men in coats. "We're here," said the father, and introduced the visitor to the family: the cadres of the production team where they were going to settle - the production captain and the militia platoon leader.

The whole family got up and prepared to go down. On the one hand, I have to greet the village representatives - the captain and platoon leader, and on the other hand I have to say goodbye to the other people in the car (they haven't arrived yet). Also thank the driver. After carrying their things and taking care of the young and old, the family finally went downstairs and found that their grandfather had disappeared.

Grandpa will go to the neighborhood committee in a few days to explain the problem. When he came home, he said, Damn it, damn it, and he threw things. Grandpa stamped his feet and sighed. Later he sat at the table and read the newspaper. I pay attention to my grandfather's every move. This is the task assigned to me by Aunt Wu. She said that grandpa might have a bad account. She asked if we had any small jars at home, which were black and round. I found it and gave it to her. Aunt Wu said it was a kimchi jar. It's black and round, but it's not a kimchi jar, Aunt Wu said. It's a bit like a pickle jar, but not a pickle jar. Grandpa would use it to hold a heavenly account, a shell gun, or gold bars. I said I didn’t recognize the gold bar. Aunt Wu asked me to give her everything I didn’t recognize.