Wang Ying was laughing so hard she could barely stand it. The women and elderly ladies around her were also all clutching their stomachs with laughter. Old Lady Xu sat right in the front row on a little stool, laughing so much that her gapped teeth were fully visible.
“Why are you talking about Gousheng? I think Gousheng acted the best! Gousheng, later Great-Grandma will make pancakes, and you come eat!”
“Little Douzi did great too—his walking is unsteady, but that just makes it more realistic.”
“Zaohua, your daughter nailed it! Your man Mancang really does act like that at home, hahaha…”
…
The kids had initially been a bit timid, but seeing that the audience was only laughing and no one was criticizing them, they gradually relaxed and started letting loose.
Tian Gousheng mimicked his mother’s demeanor to perfection, standing with hands on hips like a stout teapot: “Look at you! Drinking cold water and not even washing your feet, playing in mud and then putting your hands in your mouth—just like your father!”
Next to him, the little girl jutted out her belly and lay down on a clean spot: “Who said I put my hands in my mouth after playing in the mud? I did not! It’s Old Dog from our brigade who does that—touches his feet then his mouth. He’s gonna get athlete’s foot… no, mouth foot!”
Little Douzi was still diligently pretending to have a stomachache. Gousheng grew anxious, spinning in circles: “Honey, what should we do? Should we go find a doctor?”
The little girl, now lying down, began scratching at the calluses on her feet: “See a doctor for what? Just drink some soot from the bottom of the pot. Here, I’ll go scrape some.”
She then flung her callus-covered hands and went through the motions of scraping the bottom of the pot.
The audience had completely lost it with laughter.
The girl kept scraping, and in her enthusiasm, she “scraped a hole” in the imaginary pot.
Tian Gousheng then pinched his voice and started scolding the man, imitating his mother’s tone to a tee.
“Hahahahahaha!”
“This kid Gousheng is amazing—so spot on!”
“Zaohua’s kid is great too, scraping the pot until it broke, hahahaha!”
“Zaohua, did your husband really scrape a hole in the pot at home? The way this kid acted it out—it looked way too real!”
…
All the parents were laughing uncontrollably—except Zaohua, who laughed a bit awkwardly.
Not for any other reason, but because her daughter mimicked her husband too well!
The way she scratched her feet—it was like her man Mancang was molded straight out of her!
Waaaah, this is so embarrassing!
She was going to give Tian Mancang a good scolding when she got home! He was never allowed to scratch his feet again! If the kid ever saw him doing it again, she’d chop his feet off! She’d been humiliated in front of the whole village—what a disgrace!
The kids on stage were all quite young. Probably because Wu Guihua had told them to act like their family members, their lines were vivid recreations of their parents’ behavior—completely unfiltered.
Wang Ying stood to the side, eyes curved with amusement, and watched the whole performance.
The little girl had scraped some soot and was now trying to feed soot-water to Little Douzi, whose head was full of lumps. Little Douzi had been thirsty anyway, so he gulped it down.
Then he blinked his big eyes and stared blankly.
Tian Gousheng panicked and whispered a reminder: “You’re supposed to faint! How are we gonna keep going if you don’t faint? Hurry up and faint!”
But Little Douzi didn’t get it. His attention had long since wandered, and he had already forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.
Gousheng was going crazy. He wished he could get up there and faint in Douzi’s place.
The little girl was also waiting for Douzi to faint so she could pretend to cry, but Douzi just wouldn’t faint.
Instead, he grinned with his tiny rice-grain teeth, all carefree: “Sister, I want more water!”
Gousheng was nearly bursting with frustration, while the audience below had already bent over laughing.
Little Douzi’s mother saw her son hadn’t had enough water and was about to run toward her with his stubby legs. She quickly ducked away: “Go back and keep acting!”
If he ran over now, the whole play would fall apart.
Douzi’s mother was terrified he’d mess up the villagers’ fun, so she kept dodging him.
Little Douzi, feeling wronged, let out a sob and was about to cry.
Just then, quick as lightning, Tian Gousheng rolled his eyes dramatically and shouted, “Oh heavens! I’ve been poisoned!”
After he said that, he collapsed onto the ground with a thud and lay motionless.
The crowd: “Hahahahahahahaha!”
The little girl was stunned. This… this part wasn’t in the script!
Wu Guihua was already laughing so hard that tears were coming out. She had taken Wang Ying’s advice and gathered a group of little actors, and somehow through all the chaos, they had actually created some truly original comedic moments.
The little girl didn’t know what to do, but then Little Douzi, seeing Gousheng faint, seemed to remember what he was supposed to be acting.
He also flopped down with a thud, pretending to faint right next to Gousheng.
Worried about the dirty ground, he even collapsed directly on top of Gousheng, squishing the already “fainted” boy, who let out a muffled “ow.”
The little girl: ???
Well, things had gone this far—what else could she do but keep going?
She dramatically threw herself down on the two “bodies” on the ground: “Oh heavens! My children… my husband! How could you leave me like this?!”
What followed was a full-blown mourning scene. As she wailed, she also began tossing clumps of dirt onto the two of them, pretending to bury them.
Halfway through the “burial,” it was Tian Gousheng’s turn to deliver a line. But the little rascal refused to get up—just kept lying there on the ground.
“It’s all my husband’s fault! He scraped his foot calluses and then scraped the pot. That’s what poisoned my children. Fellow villagers, remember this—soot from the bottom of the pot is poisonous. Not even the gods can save you. If you’re sick, you need a real doctor!”
After delivering that line, Tian Gousheng let his head flop to one side, tongue sticking out, perfectly acting out a “death with eyes wide open.”
“Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”
The joyful atmosphere hit its peak. Wu Guihua led everyone in a chorus of chirpy applause.
The three little actors, faces red from shyness, scrambled up from the ground. Now that it was over, they suddenly felt embarrassed and all rushed into their mothers’ arms under the wave of praise.
Wiping away her tears of laughter, Wu Guihua stepped forward and read aloud the speech Wang Ying had prepared.
In short, it was a public health message: urging everyone to seek proper medical treatment when they’re sick and to stop scraping the bottom of pots for soot. The soot, being exposed to fire and carbon, is not clean. Believing it can cure illness is just a folk remedy with no basis. If someone has diarrhea or feels unwell, it may not be something simple, and they should see a real doctor. Also, people shouldn’t believe in superstitions like “soot wards off evil”—if it can’t even cure sickness, how could it drive away spirits?
Thanks to the play beforehand, everyone’s attention was focused, and they truly listened to what Wu Guihua said.
They applauded loudly for Wu Guihua and even began asking eagerly:
“Guihua, when’s the next session? Maybe you could hold it in the evening next time, so my husband can come too.”
“Yes, yes, Guihua, your performance was excellent! Next time, let us know in advance—I want to get here early and grab a good seat!”
“If you ask me, we should keep doing this in winter too—it’s way more fun than just sitting through boring lectures!”
“It’s just like watching a movie! Honestly, I think it’s even better than a movie!”
…
Wu Guihua was surrounded by a gaggle of chattering women, all with the same core message:
They wanted more.
Wu Guihua laughed heartily. “Soon, soon—we still need to rehearse! This whole idea came from Doctor Wang Ying. If you all like it, we can turn it into a whole series!”
As soon as they heard it was Wang Ying’s idea, everyone became even more convinced of what Wu Guihua had said earlier.
“No wonder you were so articulate, Guihua. If it came from that girl Ying, then we’re all convinced! We won’t be drinking pot soot anymore!”
“Even if we wanted to, I bet my Gousheng wouldn’t let us. These past few days, the little rascal doesn’t even need to be told to wash his feet anymore.”
“That’s actually pretty nice. Guihua, don’t play favorites—our little Shitou isn’t bad either!”
“Exactly! Don’t forget my girl Pan’ya!”
“And my Xiaozhuang…”
…
Eventually, it turned into a competition between the parents.
Initially, Tian Zaohua had felt a bit embarrassed—her daughter playing a man, and even acting out such awkward family details—she had planned to talk to Wu Guihua afterward and ask for a more dignified role for her girl next time.
But now that everyone was fighting for a part…
Tian Zaohua wiped her face and squeezed into the crowd: “Guihua, my daughter acted pretty well, right? You better save us a spot next time!”
As for any requests? She didn’t mention a thing.
As long as her daughter got a role, that was enough!
And her husband being embarrassed?
Let him be embarrassed! Who told him to scrape his feet all the time!
Scraping foot calluses, scraping foot calluses—why doesn’t he just scrape them into his own rice bowl!? Serves him right!
This lively scene quickly spread throughout the brigade. Now Tian Gousheng walked around with his chest puffed out, full of pride and swagger!
Tian Youfu only heard about the event later, but when he did, he was delighted.
Back when the women’s director tried to hold meetings, it was nearly impossible to get people to come. And even when they did, they didn’t pay attention—just gossiped or worked on sewing. But now? Just get the little kids to act, and there’s no way these women wouldn’t show up to see their own children perform!
They’d probably be lining up to come!
Tian Youfu said: “Director Wu, this idea of yours is brilliant! You should keep it in mind—when it’s time for our brigade to harvest dates, any kid who performs well gets an extra half a jin!”
Giving out sugar or grain might be too much, but half a jin of dates was doable. After all, it came from the brigade’s own stock. Every year, there were plenty of dates that fell and couldn’t be picked up in time. They could give some to the kids as a sweet little reward.
Wu Guihua was overjoyed with this unexpected bonus.
Tian Youfu hadn’t specified how many would get the prize, so it seemed he meant that as long as a child performed decently, they’d get it.
Half a jin of dates—no small matter! It would be a reward earned by the children themselves, and the whole event was sure to become even more festive.
With this wonderful opportunity, Wu Guihua immediately went to consult with Wang Ying again for the next steps.
When she arrived, Wang Ying had just finished eating with Old Lady Xu.
They’d had braised pork ribs with potatoes, corn, and beans, topped with a few coarse grain rolls. The rolls soaked in meat broth were rich and fragrant. The pork ribs were tender and falling apart, and the potatoes were so soft they couldn’t be picked up with chopsticks. Wang Ying used a spoon to scoop up the mashed potatoes like a potato and meat soup. The beans were delicious too. Old Lady Xu no longer skimped on oil—she’d stir-fried the beans beforehand, and the shriveled skins were especially tasty and tender.
Wang Ying was full and drowsy.
Old Lady Xu, on the other hand, was holding the sewing machine ticket, admiring it endlessly. “This ticket looks so official! Just look at this print—it’s nothing like the regular ration tickets!”
Wang Ying said, “Xu Shuang means to ask when you’re free, so we can go buy the sewing machine.”
Old Lady Xu was so excited she couldn’t sit still. “I’m always free—it depends on your time! But this thing is big, isn’t it hard to carry home?”
Wang Ying tilted her head, “If it’s hard, we’ll just borrow the team’s donkey cart. We’ll figure something out.”
No one’s ever died from holding in pee. If a donkey cart doesn’t work, they’d find another way. It’s a major item anyway, and a bit of transport cost wouldn’t hurt.
Old Lady Xu was so thrilled she paced back and forth, then couldn’t resist anymore.
“I’m going out for a stroll!”
She had to go show off a bit to her close friends.
Before, she kept a low profile because they were well-off and had jobs—it was easy to attract envy.
But a sewing machine was different! Not just the village, even the commune barely had any!
If she told people now, not only would no one be jealous, many would come over just to flatter her. Even if they didn’t want to borrow it, they’d at least want to touch and admire it.
