Chapter 2843 Strolling Through the Village

Tan Shuangxi's village bore the straightforward name "Outside-the-Field Village"—a designation that told everyone it lay close to the salt field without actually belonging to it.

Outside-the-Field Village was an administrative village comprising ten paijia, each roughly equivalent to a natural village. The first pai, where the Tans lived, was the largest and housed the village office. Because the original population here had been greater, fewer migrants had been settled in this area. Two-thirds of residents were still "old households." As Tan Shuangxi walked down the streets, the Hokkien dialect common around Maniao filled his ears.

He had heard from the elders that his people and the salt field's stove households had all come from Fujian. The difference was that the stove households had arrived by imperial decree and received salt pans and troughs. His ancestors, by contrast, had come "seeking a living" as "migrant farmers," able only to reclaim whatever wasteland they could find in the surrounding area.

Lingao had plenty of wasteland, but unfortunately no decent rivers. The rainy season brought floods; the dry season parched the crops. Those who came seeking a living could barely sustain themselves by drawing water from the Maniao River for irrigation.

Tan Shuangxi's childhood had been hard, though not the hardest. His family could afford to build irrigation channels—during dry seasons, they could draw river water to their fields. The worst off had to haul water from the river by ox cart or shoulder pole every day. The labor was so grueling that people often coughed up blood or passed bloody urine from the strain.

After the Australians came, initially only the salt field benefited. Great windmills went up, and the villagers watched salt sellers grow rich. The people of Outside-the-Field Village were green with envy, but without salt pans and troughs, they couldn't join the cooperative. They could only continue selling their labor and doing backbreaking work, watching as stove households bought new clothes and built new houses, their wives and children all looking presentable. Everyone envied them deeply. Women wanted to marry into the salt field. The village boys seethed with resentment.

Only after the Senators sent people to clarify taxes and establish the Heavenly Land Society did life in Outside-the-Field Village begin improving day by day. Tan Shuangxi didn't know much about the specifics—he had joined the army after the first county-wide assembly. But every time he came back, his hometown always gave him that feeling of "old face, new appearance."

Most houses were newly built—white walls and black tiles, with the wall bases painted dark. The effect was both elegant and practical for hiding dirt. Every household had a courtyard enclosed by hedges, planted with vegetables and fruit trees. The village roads were even paved with stone—something only the most prosperous salt field villages had possessed in the past.

Since he was back after so long, Tan Shuangxi wanted to visit old acquaintances. The village had many childhood playmates and teenage friends. But as he asked around, he found that these people had either left for work or moved their entire families to town. Very few remained.

Yet every household he visited stood empty. It made sense: with such fine weather, all the able-bodied adults would be in the fields. Who would stay home?

He walked and stopped, eventually reaching the small river at the village entrance. In the past, when security was poor and bandits roamed frequently, a fortress gate had been built here. It was locked every evening, with someone keeping watch around the clock to raise the alarm.

But today when he arrived, no militia stood guard. Only some old folks and women sat in the gateway doing odd tasks, watching children and chattering. Seeing Tan Shuangxi approach, they all greeted him.

Tan Shuangxi knew his return had made him a "notable figure" in the village. The village's "news center" would absolutely not let him escape without conversation.

He didn't mind being the "focal point"—or rather, he quite enjoyed it. Tan Shuangxi had been "one of the crowd" for decades. Even in the military, only recently had he become the focus of attention for an entire platoon.

He quietly tugged at his shirt hem, making his old uniform look more pressed. In truth, he had already bought himself a new blue "national dress" suit and a fashionable Dutch fine linen white shirt in Bairen Town. But every time he went out, he deliberately wore his old uniform.

Military uniforms were replaced twice yearly during peacetime. A year of crawling through mud, training, and standing duty wore them to tatters by the time they were retired. But anyone who could bring back an old uniform on leave would immediately become the village's center of attention. So before each trip home, soldiers would wash their uniforms clean and have the women workers at the barracks service center carefully mend them. Some even had them re-dyed.

Such an old uniform, whether given as a gift or worn as casual clothes at home, looked imposing. Speaking carried more weight too. As for veterans, they wore their old uniforms at every opportunity—symbols of their past glory—and hung their medals and commendations from them. Even those without combat medals could at least display the "Service to the Senate and the People Commemorative Medal" and length-of-service pins that every veteran received. A chance to show off a bit.

Tan Shuangxi naturally didn't need such medals to "pad things out." He had two Second-Class Merits and one Second-Class Valor. As for Third-Class Merit and Valor awards, he had several. Other medals too. He could hang a whole chestful if he wanted. To avoid seeming too deliberate or showy, he had simply sewn a "Chengmai Campaign" commemorative armband onto all his old uniforms.

When everyone greeted him, he sat on the long bench by the fortress gate. Smiling, he waved off the Big Production cigarette the old man offered:

"I'm the junior here—how can I smoke your cigarettes? Have mine instead!" He pulled out a pack of White Holy Ship and passed them around.

Unlike the women who were merely chatting for companionship while doing chores, the old men gathered at this "news center" by the fortress gate were all village "prominent figures"—mostly "respected elders" whose families were well-off enough to support them gathering daily for "old pa tea."

The elder who had offered the cigarette was called Old Chen. His family had originally been small landlords in the village—fifty or sixty mu, prospering because they had three sons and plenty of labor. They counted as a "leading household." But in those days, they too had been tormented by officials and bandits. After the Australians came, they had thrived by becoming "model households" for the Heavenly Land Society. Those in the village who resented his family said the Chens were "always first to eat whatever's hot."

Of course, what he had eaten wasn't "shit" but the "dividend" of being first to take a risk. Because they produced more grain and earned more money, the Chen family had flourished in recent years. First, through the model household connection, he had become village head. Then his somewhat literate second son earned a C-grade diploma and, through the Heavenly Land Society's recommendation, entered the Maniao Agricultural Training Center. After graduating, the young man became a manager at Nanbao Farm.

Now Old Chen was quite puffed up. With his son a "cadre," he was practically a "titled elder." Though he was no longer village head, nearly every village cadre—besides the resident policeman—deferred to him and consulted him on matters both large and small.

"White Holy Ship, eh? Shuangxi, you've really moved up in the world." The lead elder smiled as he spoke, pulling a box of matches from his pocket. He lit up and took a deep drag, as if savoring the "taste of money" embodied in this luxury product.

"What moving up?" Tan Shuangxi laughed. "Been out fighting for years. Come back and my farming skills have gotten rusty."

"Farm work is nothing to be proud of," Old Chen said. "Break your back for a year and it can't match three months of city work! Folks in the village are all thinking about transferring their land and heading to the city for jobs. Take yourself—a few years of soldiering and you've built up quite a family estate. If you'd relied on your parents and brother working the land, several generations couldn't have earned this much."

"It's all thanks to the Senate," Tan Shuangxi said. "Without the Senate, we'd still be scraping dirt and hauling salt water!"

"They used to say good iron doesn't make nails, good men don't make soldiers. But once the Australians came, soldiering became a fine occupation!" another old man remarked.

"Join the Ming army, and you couldn't even get a complete uniform." Old Chen sighed. "The military men in the local garrison dressed like beggars. Couldn't even get enough to eat. That kind of soldiering really was pointless. Not like now—they leave as mud monkeys and come back polished into proper people!" He looked at Tan Shuangxi with envy and resentment mingled in his eyes.

Tan Shuangxi had seen such looks plenty of times. This village wasn't like others composed of migrants from various places. Most were old families who knew each other's roots. Envying those who had and mocking those who didn't was simply the norm. In a sense, Tan Shuangxi's very existence had greatly affected Old Chen's prestige in the village.

But Old Chen absolutely didn't dare defy "Senate authority," and Tan Shuangxi was the physical embodiment of that authority in the village. He wasn't an ordinary soldier—he had returned with platoon leader duties. According to the local policeman, he would soon become a full officer.

So alongside his envy and jealousy, Old Chen had to show some deference. Feigning concern, he asked: "Shuangxi! You're twenty-five now, right? Not young anymore. Hasn't your family arranged a match for you? Even your younger brother is almost settled!"

"They've been trying, but I need military approval to marry now," Tan Shuangxi deflected. "Besides, with just a few days of leave, there's not enough time for matchmaking and dating..."

"Dating and all that—that's newfangled stuff," a woman doing chores nearby chimed in. "When my father found me a family, we didn't even meet. Not three days later, I was married! Until the veil was lifted, I didn't even know if my groom had a long face or a short one!"

"It was supposed to be parents' orders and matchmaker's words," the village's old scholar said with a laugh. "This matchmaking and dating is new fashion the directors brought. Though it changes our customs, it's actually a good thing. If the marriage turns out badly later, the couple can't blame parents or matchmaker."

"If they're unhappy, nowadays people can divorce," someone added. "Just go to the town office together and that's that. Caiwang's wife—married less than a year and she's already making a fuss about divorcing. Her family came to counsel her, but it was no use!"

"Caiwang is usually so honest and upright. He's never done anything shady. His family's conditions aren't bad either..." Tan Shuangxi was puzzled.

Caiwang was one of the few childhood friends still remaining in the village. On this visit, he had only heard from his parents that Caiwang was still farming here, unmarried. He hadn't expected there was such a story behind it!

(End of Chapter)