故事叙述富有的喜欢生物硏究的英国青年亨利，32年走进神奇的贵州山区，他宣扬真爱，制止血腥与残杀…传播主的福音，受到众多山里基督徒的裸拜和崇敬！
本故亊用基督的仁愛精神与共产党人血腥的“阶级斗争”相对比，彰显仁愛的力量：当共产党人要驱逐亨利牧师时，桀骜的双溪坪教徒爆发了反抗……许多扑朔迷离的山村故事，皆在此书中！
Zongming Zhang
张宗銘 著
Translated by Tangjin Xiao
肖唐金 译
In fact, for Dai Min the most face-losing thing was the visit back to her parents. She knew she had no face to meet her parents, brothers and sisters, and other peers in the village. She knew her parents would get some land in this movement. But she couldn’t meet them. There was a clear dividing line in class between them. She didn’t want to bring trouble to them.
Poor Dai Min! She came out of a poor family, but now fate brought her back to poverty and disgrace. Yet she still thought she had once lived a glorious life. She said contentedly to her sons:
“Don’t hate your daddy! I won’t hate him, either. I feel thankful for him. It is he that gave me much glory and fame. You know few of us Buyi women have any chance of living such a living. Your father gave me face. Face matters much to women, especially Buyi women!”
Dai Min couldn’t forget the day of her engagement. Master Zhang Jitao came in a car. He walked on a stick, wore foreign dresses and a bowler hat, and had a watch with a gold chain in his pocket. The betrothal payment was 500 silver coins worthy of tens of mu of land. The gifts were unusual as well. Instead of a pig leg and a few pieces of cloth, she got a pig and 5 stacks of cloth and satin. How much face the engagement brought to her and her parents!
Dai Min couldn’t forget the day of wedding. The wedding company was big enough to attract a lot of attention from the other villagers. It was true that Zhang Yunchang didn’t treat her well. It was true that he sometimes mocked her as an ignorant minority woman. But she didn’t hate him. To her, he just wanted to lose his temper somewhere. Most men did this to their wives. He gave her much face for their marriage. If she could live another life, she would be willing to relive such a living.
Zhang Yong couldn’t bear the food of wild plants. One day he discussed with Zhang Zhong about the visit to their grandparents in Huaxi. It was not far from Qingyan to Huaxi. It was only a few kilometers apart. Why not get some grain from their grandparents?
Zhang Zhong thought it a good idea.
At noon Zhang Yong refused to eat the rough wild plants. He told his mother, “My brother and I are going to our grandparents this afternoon. We are going to have a big meal there and bring back some rice and corn.”
Dai Min was shocked at this. She trembled and scolded them, “How could you lose face in such a way?”
She cried. This was the first time for her to cry so sadly after the death of her husband. She pointed at the frightened sons, sobbing, “If you didn’t care about face, Mom would die.”
Seeing the pitiful mother, the two boys vowed, “We would never get to our grandparents’ home if we didn’t live a decent and respectable living.”
Zhang Zhong couldn’t understand why mom didn’t go begging if there was no alternative. He felt that mom was waiting for a man.
At that time daddy was alive and stayed in town. One night the bandits entered the village. At midnight Zhang Zhong woke up and heard mom whispering to a man with a foreign accent Mom laughed a light laugh. She seldom did that. The dog Lai Fu barked, but didn’t bite. Who could come into the house without fearing the dog?
The next day Zhang Zhong was back from school. While having his meal, he asked mom, “Did daddy come back home last night?”
Mom looked at him in surprise. She was uneasy, murmuring, “Did you see him last night?”
Zhang Zhong had wanted to describe last night’s scene, but then he remembered his father’s bad treatment to mom. He didn’t go on. He was puzzled: Who was Mom waiting for in poverty? How was that man?
