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[wenzili]

(2) An Awesome Old Lady

In the year of 1963, to restore the green vegetation of the bare mountains, our local authorities introduced �Planting trees to beautify our hometown�.

Since then, every spring thousands of official staff and students have been busy planting trees in those hills and mountains previously deforested.

Dong Shan mountain was one of the most favorable places to deal with.

Unfortunately, those newly planted saplings were always damaged by some wandering livestock or naughty children.

To ensure the healthy growth of the trees, a lady about 50 years old had been hired to safeguard the trees.

She was one of the poorest residents in our vicinity and famous for always being listed as number one in the local relief bulletin.*

She lost her husband when she was young and had taken great pains to bring up four children.

Since she was always in need, the authorities entrusted her to take the responsibility of looking after the trees in Dong Shan Mountain.

In this way, she could get regular financial support.

It really was a wise appointment, since she was a dedicated person with a thunder-like voice.

If she shouted on one side of the mountain, the vibration resonated so it could certainly be felt on the opposite side.

To thank the community for their giving of relief, she undertook this endeavor.

She got up before sunrise and attended the mountain every day.

�Yoo��Xu��Ho��� her constant shouts, which fluctuated in tone, had not only frightened those nibbling livestock, but also scared those birds inhabiting the top of the mountain and made them hastily flutter and escape their nests.

She never stopped her patrolling from early morning until mid-night.

She could hardly tell who was the good guy coming for fun, without intent to damage the trees, and who was the bad guy collecting firewood, so she solved it simply, forbidding any child to climb to the Dong Shan Mountain without the company of their parents.

Whenever she found the children�s track, she immediately ran after them and, with her arms stretched out, drove them away loudly.

�Yoo�..Xu�.!� �How dare you! Go away immediately!�

Therefore, like a monster�s howling, her shouting always thrilled us, even from miles away.

Sometimes, she met some tough hooligans who just ignored her warnings and firmly refused to leave.

In this case, she never withdrew her demand and bravely advanced with her deafening shouting, until those challengers gave up and ran away like a group of frightened rats.

It has been said: in an extreme case, to drive some pigheaded juveniles away, she even gestured at taking her trousers off.**

Thanks to her guardianship and nursing, the trees were growing up steadily.

The bald mountain was dressed up by lush trees.
The old lady�s shouting was also submerged in green bush.

In the mean time, children were scared of her thunder-like shouting and their parents hated her non-discriminatorily driving their children away.

They all stealthily gave her a wicked nickname, known as �Lady of the Echoes�.

* "Relief bulletin" is an announcement of the relieved results, including the details of whom and how much the relief money had been given to. Which is publicly pasted in the bulletin column of local community.

**It was one of the superstitions told to the children in our hometown.
It has been said: if someone steals a glance at a nude heterosexual adult, he or she would stop growing and become an unlucky dwarf all his or her life.�

(To be continued by Part 3: The Vicissitudes of Her Life)
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