DESCRIPTION

Yongzheng's family live from crop growing. Already undergoing a plight, a swarm of locusts ruin their harvest twice. Ever since, the father misbelieves the fields. He decides to sell them, an alternative that leads to slaying of both husband and wife. Yongzheng, six-year-old, is the only witness, but trauma makes him recluse. An enigma arouses about how to catch the criminals. The novelette mingles pain of a curse and the drawbacks of lacking dialogue in cross-generation marriage. It's an emotional family drama. THE SILENCE SAGA is a mainstream novella written for reflection. A narrative full of enigmas, but simple to read, both by adults and by children. It describes the deepest of human emotions and thoughts. On the other hand, it portrays the effects of community practices on family decisions, even in the face of misfortunes. The narrative reveals the relationship between traumas, beliefs and curses. In terms of category, the novella fits into fiction, drama, mystery, crime and suspense. It is a great suggestion for the meeting of distressed souls in search of a way out.

CHAPTER 1

THE ANONYMOUS HAMLET in Leshan, southwest China had just darkened. As quiet as a pond, was the most silent place a human could recline the head. Now and then, villagers heard howls across the night. And the morning brought a life-going scenario. Living bush stood around the homes. Tight paths here and there, the place half looked like a forest and half like a savannah; also half a mountainous land and half a flat land.
Day and night villagers drove their lives as untroubled as sky birds. The trees, the grass, the sand, the birds and the insects distinguished the setting from any other place in the whole world. The hamlet smelled of mud with each breath, being the landmarks, the narrow-crossing water streams and sole ponds.

Out of urban features, as if belonging to another country, farming equipment roared downhill to the plains, a light walk away from the homes. Villagers woke up to massacre their bodies on crop growing, the labor that fed stores in the city. While motor vehicles were highly rare, seasonally retailers drove to the hamlet after beans, soya, maize and rice.
The hamlet nurtured Yongzheng, a boy whose name, the father gave in tribute to Yongzheng Emperor. With little height, the boy hid behind the bush. The voice, though, cut miles across the wind.

Yongzheng's family house wasn't beyond a pint-sized hut, made out of bamboo and thatch; the yard, the tiniest. The floor and the wall inside were finished with clay, which made the interior cozy for winter evenings. They kept the hut closed around the clock, unless wanted to unveil their hardship. Dave, an old donkey, had been serving the family for so long before Yongzheng was born.

Two hours after the family returned from the fields, Yingtai, Yongzheng's mother, stretched out under the hut shadow. Meanwhile, Yongzheng played around with the wood made toys.
"Yongzheng!" said Yingtai. She held a thin stick and went on beating the ground. "You must stop now."
"Yes, mother." Yongzheng lifted the buttocks off the ground and made-as-if.

Yingtai, married at seventeen, her husband looked like an uncle and her kid like the younger brother. Anger was just for the Englishman to see. Bees buzzing one another sounded much louder than her voice as she enforced commands over the beloved one. Deep inside she tolerated all the childishness the kid did.
"You heard me say can't take your toys to the farm tomorrow, heh?" Yingtai rose up. "You get inside now!"
"I'm going." Yongzheng yawned as he walked to bed. "How about father?"
"He won't recline until he's sacked the seeds we're taking in the morning."

The chapter continues..