春江水暖鸭先知
Duck knows first when the river becomes warm in spring
寒冷的冬天终于就要过去。
The cold winter will be over at last.
粉碎“四人帮”后的第二年，即使在川北偏僻山中的小山村，也可以嗅到一丝春的气息了。
In the second year after smashing the “Gang of Four”, even in the remote mountain village in the north of Sichuan, people could smell the spring.
第一缕春风，来自遥远的安徽凤阳县小岗村。这一年，小岗村的农民吃够了大呼隆生产方式的苦头，他们实在活不下去了，20多户村民冒着坐牢的风险，在一盏煤油灯下秘密串通后，在一张纸上按上了密密麻麻几排手印。他们做出了一个胆大包天的决定：划分集体的土地，实行家庭联产承包责任制。随后，在当地领导装聋作哑默许之下，这股包产到户的星星之火以燎原之势，迅速在各地农村悄悄蔓延起来。
The first spring breeze came from Xiaogang Village in Fengyang County, Anhui Province. This year, the farmers of Xiaogang Village had suffered enough from the headlong method of production. They could not live any longer. So, more than 20 households of villagers risked to be in jail, secretly communicated under a kerosene lamp and stamped several rows of fingerprints on a piece of paper. They made a bold decision: to divide up the collective land and implement the household contract responsibility system. Subsequently, under the tacit acquiescence of local leaders, this small spark of land contract started a prairie fire quickly and spread quietly in the countryside.
周兴和是个嗅觉极其敏锐的人。
Zhou Xinghe is a man with a keen sense.
不甘寂寞的他又蠢蠢欲动起来。
Unwilling to be quiet, he was tempted to do something again.
1974年初，由于他做草药、票证等小生意，又被“群专”组织没收了物品，在公社又被挂牌游街后，他这死心塌地“走资本主义道路的坏分子”，更是在当地声名狼藉，连小生意也无法再做下去了。“民不畏死，奈何以死惧之。”一不做二不休，周兴和想了几天，他既没有抱石投河，也没有找人拼命，他怀揣几块钱，告别妻儿，一咬牙远走他乡了。走出家门，他睡车站，蹲屋檐，有时在外地打几天短工，有时在别处做点能挣钱的小生意，挣点钱后再偷偷回家给妻儿买点吃的用的。
At the beginning of 1974, as he was engaged in the small businesses such as herbal medicines and certificates, confiscated by the "mass special organization", and paraded in the commune, he became even more notorious as an "evildoer taking the road of capitalism". Thus, even the small businesses could no longer be carried on. "The people are not afraid of death. How could they be feared by death?" Zhou Xinghe thought for a few days, but he did not throw himself into the river with stones, nor did he find anyone to risk his life. With a little money in his pocket, he said goodbye to his wife and children and went away. Out of the house, he slept in the station, temporarily lived under other’s roof, sometimes worked for a few days in other locality, or did some small business to earn money in other places, and then secretly went home to buy food and utensil for his wife and children.
“中山大队的那个周兴和，不安心在生产队劳动，长期在外当流窜犯！对这样屡教不改的人，早就该专他的政了！”公社革委会领导在大会上把周兴和作为反面教育典型，他们指使“群专组”的人，“这样的人，要把他抓回来，不行就送到公安局关起来！”
"That Zhou Xinghe of Zhongshan Team did not set his mind on working in the production team and was on the run for a long time! It shall dictate him who refused to correct one's errors despite repeated education!" The commune revolutionary committee leaders took Zhou Xinghe as a negative education model in the conference, and instigated the "mass special organization" that "such a person, you shall catch him back, or send to the public security bureau to shut him up!"
“那个周兴和，十四五岁就拖家养口的，也不容易。他不偷不抢，也没危害社会呀。”公社里有人动了恻隐之心，“把他抓回来关起，他家里大大小小几个娃儿要吃饭，都饿死了啷个整啰！”
"It was not easy for Zhou Xinghe to feed his family since he was fourteen or fifteen years old. He does not steal or rob, nor does he harm the society." Someone in the commune commiserated Zhou Xinghe, "If taking him back and shutting him up, his wife and children still needs to eat, and who shall be responsible if they all starve to death!"
“那就勒令他限期回来，交给生产队劳动管制，不准乱走乱动！”
"Then, order him to come back within a certain period of time, hand over to the production team for labor control, and prohibit the disorderly walk or wander!"
到了1976年夏天，“反击右倾翻案风”开始了，阶级斗争风声更是紧了起来。公社革委会通过各种手段，勒令周兴和回到了生产队，他们既要继续批判他头脑中的“资产阶级思想”，又要限制他的人身自由，不准他乱走乱动，在农村接受“劳动改造”。
By the summer of 1976, the "backlash against right-leaning revolts" had begun, and the class struggle became even more intense. By various means, the commune revolutionary committee ordered Zhou Xinghe to return to the production team. They should not only continue to criticize his "bourgeois ideology", but also restrict his personal freedom, forbidding him to wander around and requiring him to accept the "labor reform" in the countryside.
可桀骜不驯的周兴和，即使回到生产队劳动，他也不可能是个安分守己的角色。那时，生产队限制一个人只能在自留地里种一窝菜，按规定他一家5口人只能种5窝，他却别出心裁地将南瓜和其它菜苗嫁接起来，然后在嫁接处用土埋起来再生根，让瓜藤继续往前生长。结果，他种的1窝菜变成了无数窝，产量比其他人多好几倍。生产队干部来检查，那真是哭笑不得，然而争论一番也只好不了了之。你说，他到底种的是几窝菜呢？
But the rebellious Zhou Xinghe, even coming back to the production team to work, could not be a role of peace and order. At that time, the production team limited that each person was able to plant one vegetable in the private plot, so according to the regulation his family of 5 person could plant 5 vegetables, he grafted the pumpkin and other vegetable seedling, buried with earth in the grafting place to take root again, so that the vine continued to grow forward. As a result, his one vegetable grew into countless vegetables, producing several times more than others. When the production team cadres came to check, it was really funny and annoying, but after the argument it came to no conlcusion. How many vegetables did he plant, you tell me?
那时，农村还有一件说来令人不可置信的荒唐事：社员家里自己养的猪产生的猪粪，都要全部交到生产队，交不够数量的要扣工分！为了防止养猪户“偷”自家的粪，队里有时甚至在养猪户猪圈里做上记号。但，这样一来，自己家那点自留地里要施肥怎么办呢？周兴和自有对付他们的办法：往粪坑里掺水、添渣、重做记号，他鬼点子多的是！他要保证自己自留地能用上肥料，多收一点瓜菜来填喂大人小孩的肚皮。
At that time, the countryside also had an unbelievable and absurd thing: the pig excrement produced by the member's family raised pig shall all be handed over to the production team, and it shall deduct the workpoints if the quantity was insufficient! In order to prevent the pig farmers from "stealing" their manure, the team sometimes even marked in the farmer's pigsty. But then, how to fertilize their own private plot? Zhou Xinghe had his own way of dealing with them: he added water and slag to the cesspool, and made another mark. He was full of tricks! He just wanted to make sure his private plot to be fertilized. He wanted to harvest more melons to feed the children and adults of his family.
被监督劳动的周兴和，这时似乎已是死猪不怕开水烫，生产队的干部对他真还无可奈何。
Zhou Xinghe, who was under the labor supervision, seemed to have no fear, and the cadres of the production team had nothing to do with him.
还好，山外终于有风徐徐吹到了魏河两岸。
Fortunately, the wind finally blew in from the outside to the nanks of Weihe River.
这风，夹杂着一丝大地回暖的气息。
The wind was mixed with a hint of earth warming breath.
春江水暖鸭先知。
The duck knows first when the river becomes warm in spring.
不知是从那一天的哪一个早晨开始，周兴和从生产队的大喇叭里嗅出了一点别的气味。那坡上的大喇叭，除了仍在继续叫着要“反击右倾翻案风”外，也在反复叫着要“抓革命，促生产”了。再往后，从许多迹象中，周兴和隐隐约约感到农村有些政策快要变了。在赶场过河船上，有人谈论起了集体生产不会长久了，将来说不定土地还会划归各家各户耕种；谈论起了某领导在某场合说过，搞活农村经济不算投机倒把，个人搞点副业不算资本主义；特别是到后来，社会上竟风传起来邓小平可能要复出的消息！凭着直觉，周兴和感到属于他的机会就要来了。
From a morning of a day, Zhou Xinghe sniffed out a bit of other smell from the loudspeaker of the production team. The loudspeaker on the slope also repeatedly called to "keep the revolution, and promote the production", in addition to still continue to call to "backlash against right-leaning revolts". Later, from many signs, Zhou Xinghe felt vaguely that some rural policies were about to change. As they crossed the river on the boat for the fair, there was people talking that the collective production would not last long, and that the land might one day be farmed by individual households; they talked about a certain leader had said on a certain occasion that, to invigorate the rural economy was not the speculative profitmaking, and the individuals to do some side business was not capitalist; especially later, the society unexpectedly spread the news that Deng Xiaoping might come back to be in power! With his intuition, Zhou Xinghe felt his chance was coming.
是的，周兴和的感觉是对的。随着时间推移，农村合作化以来有些根深蒂固的东西，到了1978年初，似乎开始慢慢松动起来：农民在自留地种菜不再限制窝数，养鸡养鸭不再限制只数，到场上卖点鸡蛋小菜，市管会的人也开始睁只眼闭只眼了。
Zhou Xinghe’s intuition was correct. As time went on, something ingrained in rural cooperation began to loosen in early 1978: the farmers were no longer limited for the number of vegetables they could grow on their private plots; the chickens and ducks raised were no longer limited in number; the eggs and vegetables were sold on the fair, and the municipal management committee started to turn a blind eye.
夜深人静，这时的周兴和有些坐卧不安起来。有好多个夜晚，妻子和孩子们都睡了，他从床上爬了起来，一个人走到院坝里，坐在坝子边那块石头上，望着远处朦胧的山野，望着山顶上那弯游移的山月，一坐就坐到半夜。
In the dead of night, Zhou Xinghe was a little restless. In many nights, his wife and children were asleep, he climbed out of bed, went to the yard, sat on the rock in the yard, looked at the distant hazy mountains, looked at the curved wandering moon over the mountain top, and sat until midnight.
多年在外东颠西跑，他见的东西多了，经历的事情也多了，由此他得出了一个结论：如果说，就在这偏僻的山窝里当个循规蹈矩的农民，他家永远就只能在这里当贫困户，欠生产队的钱他永远不可能还清，家里大人小孩也只能是永远饿肚皮的命。即使将来上头政策变了，把土地划给各家各户耕种，自己和妻子就是拼死累活地干，最多就是能够买回盐巴煤油，全家人求得个温饱。但，那也只会像自己的祖辈一样，守着眼前这一亩二分地终老一生，孩子们一辈子也只能当农民，继续在这里受穷受苦——不行，只有离开山里，到外面去闯荡一番，说不定还能闯出一条生路来！
Over the years of running around, he saw so many things, and experienced so much, so he came to the conclusion: if keeping being a conventional farmer in this remote mountain area, his family would only be the low-income family here forever, the money he owed to the production team could never be paid up, and the adult and children at home would also be hungry forever. Even if the policy changed and the land was allocated to each family for farming, he and his wife would have to work very hard, to just afford to buy the salt and kerosene for the whole family to feed themselves. However, it was just similar to his ancestral generations, to keep the small land at present and finish a lifetime, and his children would also be farmer all their lives and suffer poor here - no way, only to leave the mountains, go outside to make a living, perhaps it can make another way to live!
不成功便成仁。周兴和骨子里就是那种宁折不弯、倔犟如牛的秉性。
Success or death. Zhou Xinghe is stubborn and persistent in nature.
远处山坳里透出一丝晨光，近处的竹枝草叶轻轻地摇曳起来。既然大地就要回暖，自己还像一只蛤蟆一样，蛰伏在洞里干什么呢？
In the distance, there was a glimmer of morning light in the col, and in the nearby, the bamboo branches and grasses swayed gently. Why was he dormant in his cave, like a toad, when the earth was about to thaw?
周兴和站了起来，深深吸了一口早晨这清新的空气，他跃跃欲试，蠢蠢欲动起来。
Zhou Xinghe stood up and took a deep breath of the fresh air in the morning. He was itching to try.
