Winter impending, there is a new scene in the rural market: under the width of the sky and the glare of the sun, through the roaring of the gale and the far-off smoke of houses, people wrapped in thick clothes, stalls lining on the frozen earth…

But one scene refuses to change, which is one of the peculiarities of the rural market ---causality, both of people and of goods. A farmer can still pick some fresh vegetables from his own vegetable plot and bring them to this market to change for some tobacco; a girl can still knit some lovely knitwear and bring them here to change for some pocket money, a woman can still bake some tasty cookies and bring here to change for housekeeping subsidy. The farmer, pipe in hand and with leisurely grin, uses a chatting tongue to bargain with the would-be buyers. The girl, proud of her delicate handcraft, and standing in a corner with face pink, tries to cry out these artwork but yields out of shy. To the woman, by comparison, the piece of feminine shy is overwhelmed by her frankness and outgoing. Now with a big smile she is calling the passers-by to have a taste of her cookies.

Hence it is rare to see goods here stacked in a large quantity, neatly and gracefully just like that in the supermarket where the waiters are either standing straightly while keeping one eye on you or answering you with coolly courtesy. In the rural market, however, you are embraced with the true nature, the true people, and the true life, the embrace from the vegetables with mud and dew to the aged weigh beam, to the warm words conveyed between familiar buyers and sellers, to the peddlers, sitting on their hunkers with a countenance carved in time and tide, worn out by life but still struggling for hope…

In the distance, the mist still veils; the fields keep silent; in the bare trees, persimmons swing…the world is slumbering. Only the rural market and the people in it remind you that there is still something vital and animated, and you are not alone in the vast and deserted land.

Thanks for your reading and consideration. I am looking forward for your reply.

Author's email address: forestinthesea@sina.com