Part 1: The Story of the Countryside People

1. The Hometown of Deer

(1) A place for salt merchants to breathe a sigh of relief

Luming, formerly known as Lukuit, was located in Buxia Village, Mingjian Township, Nantou County. Buxia Village is composed of two major villages, the eastern half is Buxia with lower terrain; the western half is Luming with a relatively high terrain.

Since ancient times, "people will not go hundreds of miles to sell firewood, nor will they go thousands of miles to sell rice", because people do not engage in unprofitable transactions. However, salt is an irreplaceable daily necessity, so salt merchants must set off from Lugang in Changhua and work hard to carry salt to sell in the Nantou area, even deep into mountainous, like Puli. On the way, there is a resting place for merchants, where many people are used to replacing worn-out straw sandals. Over time, a small hill of straw sandals is formed, which is why this place is called "Grass Shoes Dun", which is today's Caotun.

Nantou County is famous for its many mountains, salt merchants from Lugang must travel long distances and cross mountains and ridges; Although facing the lush green mountains, most of them have no intention of watching. They only know that for the sake of life and sales, no matter how deep mountains and wild fields are worth moving forward. The business route always twists and turns along the foot of the mountain, which is generally not particularly difficult; However, shortly after departing from Changhua County, when they arrived at Qingshui Rock in Shetou Township, they had to face a severe test.

To be honest, how could those "people at the foot of the mountain" who want to make money from the "mountaintop people" escape the challenge of mountaineering? The test is to carry heavy loads and cross the mountain road. The mountain road is called the "Eighteen Bends Ancient Road". It starts from Qingshui Rock and is a typical narrow road. The gravel road winds up without railings. Cars cannot pass, only for pedestrians to walk on, especially at the end of the ancient road, which is even steeper. They carried heavy burdens, overcame difficulties and obstacles, and arrived at the top panting. Facing the suddenly enlightened new scene, they not only felt relieved, but also felt like they had regained their vitality. Here they entered Nantou County, and immediately a small Tudigong Temple came into sight. However, during the Qing Dynasty, here was still a dense and lush forest. Slowly descending eastward, this village was called Lukuit. If it's a clear day with thousands of miles of sky, here they could point to the magnificent Central Mountains, as well as Yushan and Alishan located on the southeast side.

(2) Renamed from Lukuit to Luming

From the undeveloped period until the Qing Dynasty, the Lukuit area was always a place with dense forests. The most common animals wandering or jumping among the woods are wild deer, mountain Qiang, monkeys, bamboo pheasants, pangolins, civets, and hares. This place originally had two adjacent ponds, which later merged into one and became known as Hulu Pond or Hulu Cave; The pronunciation of 'Hulu' is exactly the meaning of 'gourd' in Chinese. The term "Kuit" in Minnan language originally meant a cave or depression, while the "water Kuit" in Minnan dialect means a "pond". This gourd shaped pond is a place where wild deer and other animals drink water on weekdays, so this place and this pond are both referred to as "Lukuit". The pronunciation of "Lu" precisely means "deer" in Chinese. If we only talk about "deer", the name "Lukuit" means: deer cave, or deer's nest, is also a deer's drinking pool.

The north of Lukuit is a row of barrier hills -- Hengshan. The village in the south was famous for producing deer skin, so it is called Pizai Liao and later renamed Jinzi Village. Walking southeast from Lukuit for about thirty minutes, there is a shop at the eastern exit of the forest. Therefore, the area was named "Linkoudian". Later, the government of the Republic of China changed "Linkoudian" to "Lankoudian" because "Lin" and "Lan" have the same pronunciation in Minnan -- Lankoudian is a neighboring village of Lukuit, where Minggang Elementary School is located. It is also the place where Lukuit's children attend elementary school.

Now, I can only imagine that during the Qing Dynasty, Lukuit was a forest of green shade, dense vegetation, birds singing and fragrant flowers, and colorful falling flowers. Under the forest were the footprints of wild deer. However, not long after, after years of "deer hunting", by the end of the Qing Dynasty, wild deer had almost been completely hunted. Moreover, as a result of the residents' efforts to open up the mountains and forests, the trees in the plains have been cut down and cultivated into dry fields, except for Hengshan, which still retains forest land. At first, there were probably very few villagers here, but later outsiders gradually moved in, and the entire village was built in orderly rows of bungalows. Before the installation of tap water, Hulu Pond was a place where villagers could freely carry water home for drinking.

The Nationalist government recaptured Taiwan, and the place name of Lukuit was changed to "LuMing"; The lucky preserved word "Lu" means "deer", which is enough to witness the past living environment and appearance of the residents here.

Part 1: The Story of the Countryside People

1. The Hometown of Deer

(1) A place for salt merchants to breathe a sigh of relief

Luming, formerly known as Lukuit, was located in Buxia Village, Mingjian Township, Nantou County. Buxia Village is composed of two major villages, the eastern half is Buxia with lower terrain; the western half is Luming with a relatively high terrain.

Since ancient times, "people will not go hundreds of miles to sell firewood, nor will they go thousands of mi...

Table of Contents
Author's Preface | 03
Part 1: The Story of the Countryside People | 09
1. The Hometown of Deer | 10
(1) A place for salt merchants to breathe a sigh of relief.......10
(2) Renamed from Lukuit to Luming ....................................11
2. Villagers' Lives | 12
(1) Simple and hardworking villagers....................................12
(2) 18 Bend Ancient Road .....................................................14
(3) The Competition between Chinese and Japanese.............15
(4) Jintian Temple and Hulu Pond .........................................20
(5) My Rural Childhood ........................................................24
3. Greed, anger, and delusion within the clan | 31
4. Happy New Residence | 38
5. Feng Shui and Family Luck | 44
6. Experience the supernatural | 48
7. Things change and stars shift | 57
8. Hope deer come again | 59
9. The spirit of hard work | 70
Part 2: Behold A Rainbow | 75
Chapter 1 Listening to the speech and meeting Feng Qing | 76
Chapter 2 Discovery | 80
Chapter 3 First Date | 82
Chapter 4 Collision with a Wall | 89
Chapter 5 Who said the Yellow River is vast, but a small boat can cross it | 92
Chapter 6 Brings Her Beautiful Memories | 94
Chapter 7 Economic Topics | 96
Chapter 8 Destruction | 100
Chapter 9 Please Choose | 108
Chapter 10 Conflict | 118
Chapter 11 Moving to accommodation on the mountain | 122
Chapter 12 Third Party | 131
Chapter 13 Swearing | 133
Chapter 14 Two Weeks | 136
Chapter 15 Termination | 142
Chapter 16 Suspicious | 149
Chapter 17 Playing Basketball | 153
Chapter 18 New Semester | 158
Chapter 19 Beautiful photo | 163
Chapter 20 To Annoy the Benefactor | 169
Chapter 21 Tired but futile | 175
Chapter 22: Family Emotions Near Collapse | 180
Chapter 23 Gradually Becoming Clear | 188
Chapter 24 Hospitalization and Vase | 201
Chapter 25 Letters Expressing Sincere Feelings | 208
Chapter 26 Before and After Oral Exam | 213
Chapter 27 Shock | 215
Chapter 28 Second Date | 219
Chapter 29 Completing Military Service and Attending a Doctoral Program | 226
Chapter 30 The deadline for choosing a spouse has arrived | 229
Chapter 31 Marry | 230
Chapter 32 Confirmation of Constellation Views | 235
Chapter 33 New Stage, New Journey | 241
Postscript | 245

Table of Contents
Author's Preface | 03
Part 1: The Story of the Countryside People | 09
1. The Hometown of Deer | 10
(1) A place for salt merchants to breathe a sigh of relief.......10
(2) Renamed from Lukuit to Luming ....................................11
2. Villagers' Lives | 12
(1) Simple and hardworking villagers....................................12
(2) 18 Bend Ancient Road .....................................................14
(3) The Compe...