my Altay

"The Snow Rabbit Only Twenty Centimeters From Spring" is the first collection of essays I read Li Juan.

I had never heard the name Altay before,

Because of this book, I know that Altay is in Xinjiang, the living area of Kazakh herdsmen.

Li Juan's mother opened a grocery store in the Altay Mountains.

Initially, the Kazakhs were limited in Chinese, and Li Juan's family did not speak Kazakh.

Li Juan's mother, who was born a businessman, used a unique way to

Memorize the names of all customers and neighbors, simple and clear vocabulary,

Selling things that buyers want but can't name.

When Li Juan came home from Urumqi to help look at the store,

I met a young man who came to the door and named him to buy "Bird" cigarettes.

Li Juan said no, the young man said: Yes, there are, there and there,

Following his fingers: Acacia cigarettes.

The little girl next door came to buy "Bang Bang".

Li Juan, who was confused, gave her a hammer and shook her head. She still shook her head with a nail.

I have to say: there are no firecrackers to sell, and no walnuts to sell.

The little girl simply leaned over to the counter to get the bottle of liquor in the shape of a grenade.

When they were picking wild forest fungus in the summer pastures,

In order to communicate clearly with the herdsmen, Li Juan's mother translated it into the resounding and memorable "Kala Mushroom".

There are even more random flips; "gold fish (goldfish)" "big tail beautiful bird (peacock)".

Li Juan worked in Urumqi, went home on vacation, and bought two pocket rabbits at the market.

The person who sells the rabbit guarantees that the rabbit will always be this big,

In less than two months, two pocket rabbits grew into giant rabbits,

They ate everything, making their family even poorer. One day the rabbit ate meat and died.

Mother and grandmother asked Li Juan to stop shopping and come back. As long as she comes home, it will be fine.

She bought a lot of things one after another, but her mother and grandma didn't like it very much.

Li Juan made fun of these and she took three trains to get home, and the things she bought in Urumqi were not useful.

When my grandmother was young in her hometown in Sichuan, she raised a big yellow cat.

To repay the gambling debt, the gambler's grandfather sold all the household items, and finally sold the cat to the release shop.

The cat ran back on its own. Grandma and the children were overjoyed.

When the cat was sold for the second time, my grandmother tried to persuade me not to sell it, but the cat was still sold, and she returned home by herself.

The third time, the big yellow cat was sold to a market more than fifty miles away and never came back.

But my grandmother is still affectionately in the yard every day, and the cat's drinking bowl is filled with water and waits for it to come home.

"My Altay" is Li Juan's work from 2022 to 2009.

Divided into the first part, "In Memory", she recorded the trivial fragments of her life.

The next part, "In the Corner", is about the trajectory and mood of her moving life with her mother and grandmother in northern Xinjiang.

"Country Ball" this,

Li Juan wrote about her feelings for the Kazakh boy Messila,

Understand the impossible distance between Han girls and Kazakh boys,

Here, I don't know what else to regret.

Yes, I have no love. But am I really not?

So when I saw that person walking towards me, what was it that instantly surged in my heart?

He had white teeth and bright eyes.

He came towards me as if he had come straight towards me from the very beginning.

I went to meet him, walked and ran - how can you say that I have no love?

Li Juan realized that although her body was carrying the weight of survival,

But also clearly feel the dance in the body.

Altay's life is not so civilized and convenient. In Li Juan's writings, his humor is almost absurd.

But behind the words, is the most sincere respect for life.

my Altay

Author: Li Juan

Publisher: Dongmei Publishing Co., Ltd.

Publication date: 2019/08/27