A century of poverty

Chapter 68: Seeing a Doctor, Earthquake!

When the third sister arrived in Guanli, she first went to the second sister's house.

Zhang Yuexian, who was engaged to a woman from Hezuo Village, heard that his fiancée had returned and went to visit his second sister. His third sister told him that she had returned to see a doctor. Zhang Yuexian said, "That's easy. I have a cousin who works in Tangshan. He knows a famous and good doctor. I'll take you to Tangshan to see him. I guarantee he can cure you."

The second sister thought this was a good opportunity and immediately agreed to let the third sister go to her husband's family home, where her boyfriend would take her to Tangshan for medical treatment.

Zhang Yuexian brought his third sister home, and his parents agreed. However, the two were still young, Zhang Yuexian was nineteen and his third sister was twenty, and they were not mature enough. So they decided to have Zhang Yuexian's older brother take them to his uncle's son's house and let his older cousin figure out a solution.

The three of them went to their cousin's house that day and explained their purpose. Their cousin agreed, "I'll have my driver pick you up tomorrow so you can go see a doctor."

Sure enough, the next day, a jeep came to pick them up and take them to see the old Chinese medicine doctor.

The elderly traditional Chinese medicine doctor, over seventy years old, inquired about the cause of the third sister's illness and took her pulse. "Your qi is trapped here; a few acupuncture needles will cure it." He immediately used large silver needles to perform acupuncture on acupoints in the stomach area. After three consecutive days of three acupuncture sessions, the illness was indeed cured; a two-month-long ailment was cured with just three acupuncture needles.

The third sister returned to the second sister's house and recounted the treatment process. She said the illness was cured without spending any money. The second sister said that the fact that it didn't cost money was due to a favor. Since they couldn't find his cousin, they would buy shoes and gifts and go to Hezuo Village to thank Zhang Yuexian's parents and have them convey their gratitude to his cousin.

After leaving Zhang Yuexian's house, the two sisters went to visit their third aunt, who lived a few gates away. She was their third grandfather's third daughter and had been widowed for many years.

On the afternoon of July 27, 1976, the sun was still more than a meter high and about to set. Orange-red clouds were set off behind the trees, the leaves were still, and there was not a breath of wind.

I was squatting on the eastern edge of the large ditch, facing home, washing a new shirt I'd only worn two days ago. Suddenly, the ditch water surged, splashing onto me as it rushed ashore. Huh? How strong must the wind be to push the water onto the bank? Has the wind suddenly picked up? I looked west, but there was no wind. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath my feet—it was an earthquake! I grabbed the basin, shouting, "Earthquake!" and ran home. When I reached the front door, my mother was helping my grandmother out of the house.

"There was an earthquake, and it was quite a big one," Mom and Grandma said.

Instantly, everyone in the village rushed out of their houses, and the place became noisy.

The panicked people stood outside for a while, and when it was time to prepare dinner, every family began to cook.

I draped my shirt over the wire mesh. Strangely, by this time the chickens would have already gone into their coop, but today a flock of roosters and hens were jumping on top of the coop, craning their necks and looking around restlessly. The pigs had already been fed, but they weren't going into their coop and were wandering around the yard.

It was restless in the evening, but when it was time to sleep, everyone went to bed.

In the early hours of the 28th, people were awakened by the earthquake and ran outside. Young and old alike couldn't fall back asleep. There were two minor aftershocks, and people ate their meals, went to work, and went to school as usual. By noon, when they returned home, news about the earthquake had spread.

People learned of the earthquake from the loudspeaker; the epicenter was in Tangshan, and it caused damage.

The village's brigade and teams took this very seriously, requiring every household to build an earthquake shelter and sleep in it at night, with no one allowed to enter the house.

It started raining, and schools were closed due to the earthquake. Liu Zhenyi arrived, worried about his daughter-in-law who had gone to the pass, and regretting his harsh words. He urged his father to send his third sister back to the pass for treatment, as it was the epicenter of the earthquake, and houses had collapsed. He wondered how they were doing!

He had a severe stutter; even blinking and pouting, he couldn't utter a single word for a long time. I felt anxious and distressed watching him. I grabbed a handful of damp grass, went outside, lifted the plastic sheet, and crawled into the earthquake shelter, which resembled a giant seedbed, to twist rope. The earthquake shelter was cramped; you couldn't even sit or kneel high enough. The raindrops pounded on the ground, feeling as if they were hitting my head, shoulders, and back, making me uneasy.

Just then, someone lifted the plastic sheet door and climbed in. I saw it was my second brother and said with annoyance, "What are you doing in here?"

"The southeast corner isn't secure. Let me check and press it down, can you help me pull it?"

"I don't care!" He grabbed the open bundle of straw and a few strands of rope and crawled out.

I went outside, but still didn't want to go back inside. I wandered around the front and back of the house, already soaked from the rain, shivering from the cold. I went inside to find some dry clothes, and returned them to the grain storage corner behind the east door.

The loudspeaker broadcasts earthquake updates every day, keeping us on edge. My eldest and second eldest sisters' houses aren't in good condition, and with my third sister away for medical treatment, the situation is even worse. My second eldest sister's house was already in a precarious state. My eldest sister has five daughters, the oldest being the same age as me, and the rest are all younger than me. I wonder if they managed to escape during the earthquake.

The train service was suspended, and I didn't know if letters would even get through. I wrote anyway and sent them out. A long time passed, but I received no reply, no news at all.

The wait was long, but finally my second sister wrote. They were all doing well. The house collapsed, but no one was hurt. My third sister recovered and will be going back soon. We felt a little relieved; it's good that everyone is alright.

The house collapsed, and it was very badly damaged. Our three main rooms and three side rooms also collapsed, and we don't know what happened to many of our belongings inside.

Finally, my third sister returned, wearing a navy blue sweater and still sporting her signature braided hairstyle. She was better and looked more energetic, but she had developed a certain air about her that I couldn't quite understand.

Father inquired with concern about the house, and indeed the house and courtyard wall had collapsed: "I went back to the courtyard to take a look, and it's a complete mess. I don't know what to do. With our house and courtyard, the last time I ran to the front courtyard early in the morning, if the main house and side rooms collapsed, they would definitely be hit, either dead or injured."

"Da Zhuang's family, the courtyard is small, San Zhuang and Si Zhuang both got hit..."

"Oh dear—I can't say for sure, I might get hit too!" Grandma chimed in.

My third sister told us about the terrifying scene. The first evening, she saw a blue light flashing in the northwest, and strange noises that were very frightening. Then the earth began to shake, and things swayed and then bounced forward, like a winnowing basket shaking from side to side and then bouncing forward, throwing chaff out. You can imagine how the houses and walls were ever intact.

How high can a large rock be bounced up like a ball?

Zhang Chunyuan was in Beihe when he walked to the sorghum field of the second team. He was so shaken that he couldn't stand up and flattened a patch of sorghum.

Many houses and walls collapsed, and people were gripped by the panic of aftershocks, with most spending the night in their yards.

In the hazy early hours of the morning, an even bigger earthquake struck, destroying all the houses, leaving not even a meter-high wall standing.

Amidst the torrential rain, the crashing of walls, the billowing dust, and the mingled shouts and wails of people, the disaster struck. People felt utterly lost, as if the end of the world had arrived.

The commune cadres didn't panic. Several of them grabbed megaphones and shouted along the street, "Don't panic! Everyone, don't panic! Quick! Quick! Run to the north mountain! Everyone, get to the north mountain!"

The elderly man cried out, "I'm not going anywhere; I'd rather die at home."

"Carry the old man on your back and go! No one can refuse!"

Heavy rain poured down overhead, and water gushed across the ground. Men, women, and children cried and ran towards the north mountain. Some were wrapped in blankets, while others were shirtless. They ran towards the north mountain in a panicked and numb manner.

Pigs, sheep, and dogs were also running around in the crowd, bumping into people's legs...

"Ouch! My goodness!" They ran chaotically to the north mountain and climbed to the top.

"How did you get out?" we asked our third sister.

"The earthquake that happened the night before didn't collapse the east wall of my second sister's house. We were sleeping inside, and when we woke up early in the morning, the violent shaking woke us all up. My second sister's husband was holding Xinmin, and my second sister was holding Xinhui. I jumped down to open the door, but I couldn't open the latch no matter what I did. My second sister's husband said, 'Get up,' and handed the child to me. He took two steps back and then, bang! kicked the door open. We ran out," my third sister said.

"Hmm—this is dangerous!" Grandma couldn't help but shift her body slightly.

"As soon as we arrived at the courtyard, the house collapsed—the roof came down. At this time, the whole village was in chaos. We stayed in the courtyard, and my second sister found a piece of plastic sheet about the size of a pot lid on the firewood pile. She wrapped the two children in the middle, and we held it up. After a while, we heard people from the commune coming. Meng Yintang from my third aunt's family was also among them. They all told us to run to the north mountain. My second sister found the children's blanket and fled to the north mountain with the crowd."

"What are you going up Beishan for?" Fourth Sister asked.

Third Sister: "When we got to the top of Beishan Mountain, the rain didn't let up at all. The sky was overcast like a water jug, as if endless water was about to pour down. People sat together, huddled together. Second Sister put a small blanket under our bottoms. We were okay, with some plastic sheeting over our heads, but we were already soaked through. Water was dripping from under the blankets we sat on. We hadn't brought much with us, so we just let the heavy rain pour down on us and the water drip from below."

People were silent, probably thinking they were going to die here.

They'd been squatting on the mountain all day, some of the brigade and team leaders were there too. The rain hadn't stopped, and the children couldn't take it anymore. Third team leader Shi Changhai said, "Whatever! Let's go! I'm going to my wife's house to make pancakes. Even if I die, I'll at least have a full stomach!" He went down the mountain to his home and brought back a bowl of pancakes. Other families who couldn't hold on also went home to get some food.

They spent the night on the mountaintop, and by dawn the next day, the rain had stopped. They descended the mountain and returned to their homes, now devoid of houses.

Mom: "People are suffering!"

"Then the aftershocks were quite strong and continued. When we went down the mountain to go home, my second brother-in-law used a door panel to build a makeshift bed in the yard and erected a wooden shed. Almost every household did the same."

Inside the shed, my second sister was cooking. A small iron basin held the bowls. I sat on the "bed," holding Xinhui in one arm and the basin in the other, and the bowls inside were still bounced quite a distance.

"We've never experienced or even heard of such a big earthquake before. In the past, people would say that the ground shook when the cabinet rattled. We've never seen anything this strange!" Grandma said.

Dad said, "I have to go back and check. There are still things at home. The house has collapsed, so I need to take care of the things."