MAO DUN

Rainbow

…..
Mei lowered her head and said nothing. The words, “inspect the dry goods store,” pierced her like a knife. The earthshaking patriotic cries at Shaocheng Park, which had seemed so remote to her this afternoon, now turned out to be directly related to her personal problem. In the future, she would have to be the proprietress of a store that secretly sold Japanese goods. This prospect intensified her misery. That day when she heard people shout “Patriotism,” she hadn’t given it a second thought, for she knew she had never sold out her country. Now her complacency was gone. Suddenly, she felt like a notorious traitor.

…..


Spring Silkworms

…..
Far up the bend in the 
 canal a boat whistle broke the silence. There was a silk filature over there too. He could see vaguely the neat lines of stones embedded as reinforcement in the canal bank. A small oil - burning river boat came puffing up pompously from beyond the silk filature, tugging three larger craft in its wake. Immediately the peaceful water was agitated with waves rolling toward the banks on both sides of the canal. A peasant, poling a tiny boat, hastened to shore and clutched a clump of 
 reeds growing in the shallows. The waves tossed him and his little craft up and down lik a seesaw. The peaceful green countryside was filled with the chugging of the boat engine and the stink of its exhaust.

…..