One
Although it has entered the last year of the seventies of the twentieth century, in the minds of the young people of Paradise Commune, love is still a strange, mysterious, and shameful word. Therefore, at the "Against Comprador Marriage" meeting held in the auditorium of the commune, when the speaker, the new secretary of the Youth League Committee, said this term aloud, the audience was stunned. Then, the boys playfully squeezed each other's eyes, "hehehe", and laughed out loud; The girls hurriedly hung their heads, blushed, laughed and secretly exchanged shy looks.
Only the very delicate-looking girl sitting by the window in the corner of the wall, Shen Huangmei, the leader of the Ninth Squad of the Heaven Brigade, did not smile. She was pale, and her big melancholy eyes stared out the window in confusion. It was as if nothing had been heard, and everything had nothing to do with her. But suddenly, her eyelashes fluttered, trying to get rid of the glittering thing that had wet it. - "Love", a word she did not understand, was so strongly stirring her girl's heart at the moment. She felt humiliation, grief, and an unspeakable trepidation. She remembered her sister, her sister Cunni, whom she would always resent and miss. Alas! If there were no leopards in life, nothing that happened, how good it would be! My sister will definitely sit next to her and laugh like a boy without any fear. After the meeting, I would put my arms around her, go to the supply and marketing store together, pick up two orange-red threads, and go home to embroider pillows......
Of the five sisters, was the luckiest. She came to earth just in time for a bumper harvest in her hometown in 1955. On the day of the full moon, the family effortlessly made a table of wine. The young father, Shen Shanwang, picked up the baby wrapped in the little flower quilt and said excitedly:
“…… I sent Linghua to the delivery station, took the time to go to the credit union to save the money, and when I came back, Mao Wa'er landed! The firstborn is so fast and so smooth, no one can imagine it! Some people say that the name is Shunni, and I think that a poor farmer like us has gone into the bank to deposit money for the first time in the world! At this time, she was born, and she should be called Cunni. When she grows up, life may be better!"
His happiness from the bottom of his heart was infectious to everyone who came to congratulate him. At that time, he was the vice president of the "Gushanzhuang Cooperative", optimistic, capable, and full of courage and strength that was not afraid of heaven and earth. The piece of pear on the hillside that he grafted was a bumper harvest for the first time. Wheat and corn are still self-sufficient except for public grains. In the small village of more than 20 families, everyone is as happy as he is, and he is full of confidence and looks forward to a better future.
Five years later, when the Wild Sister was born, the situation was very different. The "Backer Village Cooperative" has been changed to the Ninth Squad of the Heaven Brigade of the Paradise Commune. The beautiful name "Heaven" was given by the secretary of the county party committee himself. It is taken from the meaning of "communism is heaven, and the people's commune is the bridge". At that time, all the members, including the captain Shen Shanwang, were convinced that entering "heaven" was only a stone's throw away, and they only had to cut down the collective Yamanashi tree, along with the ginkgo and chestnut in front of and behind each house, without regret, and send them to the commune-run steel mill overnight, as if once the wonderful whirring earthen furnace erupted with brilliant steel flowers, then they could easily cross the "bridge" and enter communism. But the result was a pile of iron lumps that had turned tens of thousands of loads of trees to ashes, and had no effect other than firmly occupying the farmland. And wheat and corn have not even recovered their seeds due to drought; The potatoes planted by sawing down the pear trees grew about the thickness of Cunni's fingers. Linghua came back from begging for food from other places with a soon-to-bego child, and Shen Shanwang had been removed from his post for "attacking Daban Steel". He looked at the weak second daughter who was croaking to the ground, and a wry smile appeared on his swollen face: "Alas, who told her to catch up with this famine year? What a ridiculous girl! ……”
Perhaps thanks to the nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding, Cunni finally grew up vigorously. It is true that eating leaves also grows meat, and drinking cold water also grows strength. Her sixteenth birthday had not yet passed, and she had already developed into a strong, plump girl. A mulberry flat shoulder replaced the sick mother who gave birth to three younger sisters in a row, and helped the father to pick up the burden of the family. The hardest job of the year, picking pine hairs down the mountain for the state-run forest farm, her work was the third highest among women. Every day before dawn, I came back with the stars, swallowed a bowl of potatoes or corn paste, and fell asleep as soon as I put my head next to the pillow. Although the family's overspending figures always increase unabated when the dividends are paid at the end of the year, and she can't even get a penny of cash, she always happily doesn't know what it means to be worried. I was happy, and I hugged my sister, hugged my sister's slender body with my plump breasts, and gently hummed a mountain song that my mother sang when she was young.
There are often some strange things in life, which are very accidental but have obvious roots; It's surprising and unremarkable. For example, deformities, no matter how horrific the limbs are, can also find physiological causes, just because people are rare and strange. That's what happened between Cunnie and the little leopard.
Little Leopard is the only son of the noble uncle of the village owner, named Xiaobao, the same year as Cunni. This young man with a strong physique has a frightening strength to do his work. Once picking loose hair, catching up with a winter rain, the noble aunt slipped in front of her, and the flat shoulder was also broken. Xiaobao came over to help his mother, put the two loads of loose hair together, beat him shirtless, gritted his teeth, and picked him down the mountain. Once the scales are passed, three hundred and five pounds! Everyone was surprised to say that Xiao Baozi is really capable, he is simply a little leopard! It's so famous for shouting.
In the early spring of '74, the cadres of the team went to the commune early in the morning to approve the old master Confucius, and all the strong laborers went to the reservoir construction site. The custodian Xiang Er Ye left Cunni to help him tidy up the warehouse. The old man instructed the girl to do her work, and at the same time nagged:
"The cadre came down and walked around, and pointed with his hand: 'Here!' This is a busy year. Torrent down, tom! Rush to the sky! Next year, the cadre came again and pointed with his hand: 'There!' …… Don't look at the feng shui leylines either!"
"Didn't you say 'the fool moves the mountain'?" Cunni replied unintentionally.
"Moving mountains can fill your stomach, and that's done! …… Come, sift this pile first, slow down, don't sprinkle it! …… Look at this corn, the roots of the pear tree are growing, skinny, who knows if it can sprout?" The old man complained about the corn seeds again.
"Didn't you say 'take food as the key link'?" The girl still replied without a heart. I thought to myself, although working with the old man, although light, is far less lively than picking up soil with young friends in the reservoir.
At this time, a sturdy figure appeared at the door of the warehouse: "I'll do some work!" Second Master Xiang. ”
"Little leopard!" Cunnie shouted happily, "Didn't you twist your foot yesterday while carrying a rock?"
Second Master Xiang said: "Go home and rest!"
"I'm uncomfortable resting." The little leopard smiled innocently and said, "As long as you don't carry the burden, you won't be able to do some light work!" As he spoke, he picked up the wooden shovel and helped Cunni through the sifting.
Second Master Xiang happily squatted aside and smoked a cigarette, remembering that he was going to call a carpenter to repair the plowshare, so he said a few words and left. The work of emptying warehouses and sifting seeds is really not the same thing in the hands of two diligent nineteen-year-old young people. Not long after, the seeds were packed into sacks, and the dried potatoes were dried on the field. The little leopard said, "Rest!" So he spread his jacket on the sack and lay down.
Cunni wiped her sweat and sat on the sack opposite. Her padded jacket had also been taken off early, and she was wearing a sunflower green sweater. This is the mother's dowry. Although it has been dismantled and washed countless times, several different colors of thread have been added, and they are too small to tighten on the body. But among the young girls of Team Nine, it is still an enviable luxury.
The little leopard stared at her sun-lit and ruddy face, stared at her plump breasts, and felt a strange itch in her heart. It stirs him up and makes him afraid. So, he said without words:
"The day before yesterday, Wuzhuang showed a movie, you didn't go?"
"It's so far away, I won't go!" She lowered her head, as if to avoid his hot gaze, as she removed the thread that had dragged down from her cuffs.
Wuzhuang is a brigade in a neighboring county, and it has to climb two mountains to go there. A young man like a little leopard has to walk for more than an hour. It's not a rich team, and last year it was only three or eight out of ten jobs, but this has made the members of Heaven envious. What the young people especially yearn for is that walking along the highway west of Wuzhuang, less than 30 miles, is a railway station. During the Spring Festival last year, Little Leopard asked a few friends to go there to see the train. After running back and forth for a long time, I waited at the station for two hours, and finally saw the grass-green buses speeding through the small station and felt satisfied. Almost none of the members of Team Nine have this kind of eye plight. As for taking the train, only Accountant Xu, nicknamed Blind Man, had such an enviable experience.
"I don't want to go either! "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare", "Southern Expedition and Northern War", I have watched it 800 times! I memorize every sentence! ......" The little leopard stretched and sighed, "If you don't look, what are you doing?" The playing cards were broken, and I asked someone to go to the commune supply and marketing store to open the back door, but I haven't bought them until now!"
In addition to watching movies and scoring 100 percent, the young people here have nothing to do after work. The team ordered a newspaper from the province, and only Xu Blind could use it for meetings. He always pronounced "Confucius Day" in the newspaper as "Confucius Day", and of course no one would correct the only intellectual in the team. In the past, mountain songs were sung here, but now they are already among the "yellow" and are not allowed to be sung.
Suddenly, the little leopard sat up excitedly: "Hey, I heard Xu Blind say that he had watched foreign movies before. Hey, that's what it looks like!" He snorted and laughed again, "There's ...... up there."
"What's there?" Seeing his tasteful appearance, Cunni couldn't help asking.
"Hee-hee-hee,...... I don't say. The little leopard blushed and laughed alone.
"What's there? Say!"
"Did...... Don't scold!"
"You say."
"Yes—" He smiled again, smiling and bent over. Already expecting something bad to say about him, reached out and grabbed a handful of dirt grains. Sure enough, the little leopard mustered up the courage to shout: "There are men and women hugging each other and kissing each other!" Hey, hey, hey......"
"Phew! Dirty!" Cunni blushed suddenly, and brushed the ground to scatter the soil particles in her hand.
"Really, Xu Blind said!" The little leopard dodged.
"Don't be ashamed!" Another handful of sprinkles. Grains of earth with corn crumbs fell on his shoulders and around his neck. He also returned his hand, and a handful of dirt particles landed accurately on Cunni's untied neckline. The girl stiffened her face and scolded, "Damn it! You! ……”
The little leopard laughed wryly, stripped off his spine, and wiped his iron pimple pecs with his shirt. Cunnie also pouted and began to take off her sweater, shaking out the soil particles that stuck to her chest. …… In an instant, the little leopard froze as if electrocuted. His eyes stared at him, his breathing suddenly stopped, and a rush of hot blood rushed to his head. It turned out that when the girl took off her sweater, she lifted her shirt, revealing half of her fair, plump and elastic breasts. ……
Like a wild leopard out of a stream, the little leopard pounced on it. He completely lost his mind and desperately hugged her tightly. The girl was taken aback and raised her arm to block it. But when the hot, trembling lips pressed against her moist lips at once, she felt a mysterious dizziness, her eyes closed, and her outstretched arm went limp. All attempts to resist vanished in an instant. A primitive instinct that burns like fire in the blood of this pair of young men and women, who are materially poor and spiritually desolate, but physically very strong. Traditional etiquette, the dignity of reason, the danger of breaking the law, and the shame of the girl, everything was burned to ashes at this moment. ……
Two
Thin corn sprouts sprouts. After hoeing over and over, the fourteen-year-old began to notice that her sister had changed: she no longer laughed carefree, and often sat alone on the edge of the bed in a daze, and spoke to her as if she had not heard a word; Sometimes I saw her pale face, bowing her head and wiping away tears, and sometimes she was blushing and laughing alone. …… The strangest thing is that one night, the wild sister woke up and found that her sister's bed was empty. When I asked her the next day, she was so anxious that her face turned red and white for a while, and she insisted that the wild girl was dreaming.
At this time, my mother's waist was sick. Dad was busy going to his uncle's house in Wuzhuang to borrow money, and Zhang Luo asked for a doctor. It's a mess at home. No one cares to pay attention to the changes in Cunnie. Only the desolate sister, in her immature heart, faintly felt that there was a terrible calamity that would befall her sister's head.
Disaster inevitably came. Moreover, it is far more terrifying than Aramei imagined.
It was the time when the corn grew half a person tall, and the members who were tired of the day gathered at the team headquarters after dinner to listen to the blind man chanting "Confucius Day" with a kerosene lamp. Before the meeting was over, the desolate sister had already slipped home, took care of her three younger sisters to sleep, and went to sleep herself. But after a while, I was awakened by a commotion: shouting, laughter, beatings, cries, curses, mixed with the barking of dogs in almost the whole village and the echoes of the mountains, never before so lively. The desolate girl turned on the lamp in a panic, and the terrible noise got closer and closer, and she actually reached the outside of the gate. Suddenly, my sister rushed through the door, disheveled and disheveled, and threw herself on the bed crying. Then, the little leopard, with his bare back and his hands tied behind his back, was escorted into the door by the militia battalion commander. Under the light of a few snow-bright flashlights, Huang Mei saw that there were blood marks on his body that had been whipped by tree branches. He knelt upright, ashamed, and let his pale-faced father scratch his mouth. The mother was already slumped on the stool, covering her face and whimpering. Outside the door, almost the entire village of adults and children was surrounded by darkness. Gossip, scolding, laughing, ridicule and emotion. …… The frightened and trembling desolate sister finally understood: my sister did the ugliest and ugliest thing in the world! She burst into tears. She felt immensely ashamed, humiliated, resentful, and resentful. My dearest sister brought disaster to the whole family and misfortune to her. The self-esteem of the woman who first came was not yet formed in her young mind, and therefore she was particularly sensitive, and especially easily bruised. The desolate girl cried loudly, and her tears of sadness were like a river bursting its banks. While humming in a muffled voice that he couldn't hear clearly: "Shameless! The one who lost the whole family...... Shameless, disgrace the whole team! …… Shameless! Shameless! ! ……”
Things went into the middle of the night.
Later, she fell asleep. In the haze, I heard the voice of the captain dispersing everyone, the voice of the noble uncle and the noble aunt pleading with their parents to apologize, and the voice of Xiang Erye's persuasion and reminder, "Don't be embarrassed for the child's family, in case she can't think about it!" ......" Mom's scolding gradually turned into a whispered comfort. The desolate girl finally fell asleep on the tear-soaked pillow, and was constantly disturbed by nightmares. In the midst of her last nightmare, she suddenly heard two hurried cries from afar:
"Save people! Save people! ……”
The desolate girl jumped up violently, and the east was already bright. There is no sister in the bed, and there is no mother guarding her. She suddenly got up, ran out barefoot, and followed the figure in front of her to the three-acre pond at the edge of the village. Sister, who has been fished up by everyone, is lying there upright. Died so quickly, so easily!
The mother hugged her sister and cried hoarsely, screaming like crazy. How many times have I been pulled up by the villagers and collapsed to the ground. The father sat on the edge of the pond, staring at the calm water in distraction, motionless, as if it were a dry stump.
The morning glow reflected on Cunni's wet face, making her pale face ruddy again. Her expression was very serene, very calm, without a trace of pain, protest, complaint, or grievance. She paid the highest price for her blind impulses, and now she has washed away her shame and sin. Of course, her death was too worthless. But is there anything about life for her? Before plunging into the abyss of death, she still had time to think about the thing that she had to think of, which was to take off the sun-green torn sweater on her body and hang it on the tree. She left her sister, the only treasure that this world had given her, with her body temperature and the fragrance of youth. ……
It's not over yet. About half a month later, there was a desolate cry from Uncle Jiagui's house,—— two public security officers took the little leopard away. Once again, the whole village was shaken. They came from the fields and stood by the roadside, staring in fear and silence at the pair of glittering things on the wrists of the little leopard. Only the noble couple followed their only son with tears and snot.
"Comrade, comrade!" Shen Shanwang put down his hoe and chased after him. The captain of the fifties had seen a little bit of the world. Although the death of his daughter made him suddenly age by ten years, and he became more indifferent to life. But at the moment, his sense of responsibility prevents him from being silent. He said to the public security officer: "Comrade, we didn't sue him!"
The public security officer glared at him sternly and said contemptuously: "Go, go, go!" What to sue or not! Rape to death! What to sue or not! ……”
The little leopard was very calm, raising his head and looking around blankly. Suddenly, as soon as he stopped, he sprang up and rushed towards the barren slope opposite.
"Stop! Where to run!" The public security officer drank and hurriedly chased after him.
But the little leopard ran desperately, and his chaotic footsteps trampled down the weeds and thorns. At last he threw himself down on the new grave of Cunni, and wept, clutching his hands and digging his fingers deep into the moist loess. The police officer came and drank a few times before he stopped crying. Then, kneeling straight in front of the grave, he respectfully kowtowed three times.
Three
After the meeting was dismissed, Aramei walked out of the door of the commune hall with a heavy heart. The Paradise Commune is the corner of the county, and the Paradise Nine Team is the corner of the corner. She looked at the sunset hanging low in the pine forest, worried that she would not be able to get home before dark, so she categorically gave up the plan to go to the supply and marketing cooperative, walked straight through the wheat field from the back street, and walked briskly up the hill.
"Shen Huangmei, wait! Let's go together!" Behind him, there was the shout of Xu Rongshu, secretary of the Youth League branch. His family lives in the eighth team, and the ninth team is only separated by a three-acre pond. Of course, the desolate girl would love someone to accompany her on this long mountain road, and this mountain col is very desolate in the winter evening. But she didn't want to be a young man on the same road, especially Xu Rongshu. So he hesitated slightly, but instead quickened his pace. When Eiki caught up at the end of the wheat field, she moved away vigilantly, keeping a distance of four feet between them.
Sister Cun's death did not just leave her with an sunflower green sweater. It left on her mind a shame and fear that she could not get rid of. She took over her sister's mulberry flat burden prematurely, and her delicate body was overwhelmed to carry the burden of the family, and her immature heart was also overwhelmed with the weight of the spirit. She feared and hated all the young men, and never talked to them when she saw them, and avoided them. She even despised her female companions who were not afraid and hated the lads. She became an unapproachable and withdrawn girl.
However, youth is irresistibly coming. The yellow complexion on her face had faded, revealing a ruddy and soft glow; The eyebrows grow thicker; The dry eyes also became black and white, and watery. She felt her breasts swell, her shoulders and back gradually plumped, and she was already a little uncomfortably taut in her sister's sunny-green sweater. A fresh, secret joy often rose in her heart. When I saw the flowers blooming, I felt that the flowers were so beautiful, so I couldn't help but pick one and put it on my head; When I heard the birds, I also felt that the birds were so good, and I couldn't help but listen to them for a while. Everything was beautiful: the leaves, the crops, the weeds, the dew on the grass...... everything around her thrilled her. She often secretly looked at herself in her mother's broken mirror, and even when she was fetching water by the pond, she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction at her slender figure. She began to laugh with her female companions, and during the Chinese New Year, she also asked them to hold hands and visit the commune's supply and marketing stores. Although he was still wary of the boys, he gradually felt that they were not so annoying. …… At this moment, Xu Rongshu appeared in her life.
When she was very young, she met Rongshu. It was when she was in the first grade of the elementary school in Team 8, and the boys bullied her, and a male classmate of the same age as Sister Cun ran to fight and wipe away her tears with his cuffs. Later, because her mother gave birth to her youngest sister, she dropped out of school before finishing the second grade. When she was carrying her little sister on her back to cut pigweed near Sanmu Pond, Rongshu saw that she always secretly left her companions, snatched the sickle in her hand, quickly cut a big hug, threw it in her basket, and hurriedly walked away. After two years, the sound of gongs and drums came from the eighth team, and Huang Mei took her sisters to see it, only to see that he was wearing an oversized new military uniform and wearing red flowers, and went to be a soldier along the path on the edge of the three-acre pond.
It wasn't until a Youth League branch meeting last year that she saw Rongshu again. He had just been demobilized from the army a few days earlier. Entering the door of the conference room of the brigade, he glanced at everyone shyly, just like the girls who had just joined the group, and quietly sat down in the corner of the room. At this time, several activists who knew him well surrounded him and insisted that he talk about his fighting life. I saw that his face was flushed with embarrassment, and he hurriedly excused himself and said: "I have been a peace soldier for a few years, and I have never fought a war, what are you talking about!" ...... "does not have the mighty spirit of a revolutionary soldier in the minds of young people." But for some reason, this aroused the favor of the desolate girl, and when the election group branch committee voted and read Xu Rongshu's name, she bravely raised her hand straight to express her sincere wish.
When it came to the next regimental branch activity, the newly appointed branch secretary Xu Rongshu put forward his different ideas, which caused the dissatisfaction of the deputy secretary of the party branch who had been the commander of the militia battalion.
In the past, the activities of the Youth League of the Commune of Paradise, apart from meetings, had only one content: labor. - Prepare some heavy work such as manure accumulation and lifting stones in advance, and hold meetings first, and then work. This unpaid labor is often carried out very late. But Rong Shu broke this rule, saying: "Young people have their own characteristics. I recommend: watch a movie tonight!" When everyone heard it at first glance, they were stunned. Then he burst into laughter and applause. He was so thoughtful that he had already booked a ticket in advance at a factory near the commune (one of his comrades-in-arms had been demobilized to this factory), had a short meeting, and then led everyone away. The boys and girls were in groups of three or five, happy and laughing, and some of them boldly hummed mountain songs, which was like a festival. For the first time in her life, Huang Mei sat on a chair with a backrest and armrests and watched a movie comfortably. And that night, for the first time in her life, a young man walked into her sweet dream. He is a bit like the actor who led the young man to repair the reservoir in the movie, and more like her secretary of the Youth League branch. He smiled innocently, said something to her, and was very close to her. When she woke up, the moonlight shone beside her bedside, gentle and clear. For the first time in her life, there was a sweet tenderness in her heart. But I immediately felt panic because of this. "What's going on?" She thought to her chagrin: "Alas, alas! Thankfully, it was just a dream! ……”
However, when she became the leader of the group, Rongshu really came to her often. Wild Girl's attitude was as serious and cold as ever. He was never invited into the house, outside one door and inside another, keeping a distance of four feet. It's just a matter of announcing the opening of a meeting and the like, asking questions and answering questions, and doing business as usual. After speaking, Rongshu left, and the desolate girl always had to pretend to do things and secretly watch him go away from the door. She vaguely hoped that he would talk a little longer, come in and sit down, and talk about something else. and afraid that he would do so. This ambivalence develops more and more as contact increases. One day, she came home late, and her little sister said to her, "Brother Rongshu has been here!" It just so happened that my mother had just come back and hurriedly asked, "What is he doing here?" The father said, "He came to me." Ask me about grafting Yamanashi, how many years can I bear pears? How much can you charge for an acre of mountain land? I said, isn't that the road of capitalism? He said, this is not called capitalism, that's what the newspaper says! This kid! ……”
The father seemed to shake his head disappreciatively, but the arasa realized that he had a crush on this young man, and she was secretly happy in her heart. However, the mother's face was ugly, and she frowned and said, "He's a man who doesn't have a lot of peace!" ……”
Arama had long heard that Eiki had quarreled with the captain of Team 8 (his uncle) over the matter of restricting the members of the club from raising chickens, and some people said that he was too crazy and disobeyed the leadership, etc. But she never cared. Today Mother said this, which made her angry. I wanted to say a few words, but I saw that my mother's suspicious eyes were always staring at me. I had to eat with my head down, pretending not to care. After dinner, my mother was muttering to my father in the room, and she heard this sentence coming from the crack in the door: "There is already gossip! Beware of her going down the path of Cunni! ……”
The desolate girl only felt like she had been stabbed in the heart, and threw herself on the bed and cried. She resented her sister for doing the kind of ugly thing that could not be washed away even if she died; resentful mother does not understand her daughter's heart; She resented herself even more, why did she like a young man? How undeserved, how shameful! "Shameless! Fell in love with a man! …… Shameless!!" She scolded herself hatefully, burying her face deep in the quilt to prevent her sad cries from coming out.
She made up her mind to ignore him from tomorrow onwards! What's the matter, let him find the deputy team leader! Will he feel strange and aggrieved? Let him go, right? Who made him a man......
It didn't take long for her to really hate Rongshu. It was occasionally at the team headquarters that I heard Xu Blind say: "Rongshu, this kid really doesn't know the height of the sky, and he quarreled with the deputy secretary again!" Someone asked, "For what?" Xu Blind said, "Hmph! He's going to avenge the little leopard!"
"What?!" The desolate girl was taken aback and almost cried out. The little leopard was sentenced, it was self-inflicted, and the crime deserved, and it was not an unjust, false, or wrongful case that could not be overturned. - This is almost the common opinion. It is impossible for the wild girl to have another opinion. Because of her sister's death, she has only more hatred for the little leopard. But how could Rong Shu, a Communist Party member, a secretary of the Youth League branch she respected, speak for a bad person like Little Leopard? He sympathizes with the little leopard? Or what benefits do you get from a wealthy couple? …… She was trembling with anger and was going to question Rongshu in person. But when she was by the three-acre pond and saw Rong Shuhan walking towards her with a smile, that courage disappeared suddenly. How can that be said? How can you tell him? So he hurriedly turned around, pretended to go somewhere else, and went home in a big circle. Then she regretted it again.
In this way, I was angry with him, hated him, ignored him, feared him, and involuntarily missed him...... Alternately changing and contradictory. This is the heart of a nineteen-year-old rural girl.
If this is called love, then it may be difficult for young men and women living elsewhere to understand. But Wild Girl is in the corner of this corner of Team Nine. The girls here, at the age of the wild girl, most of them have had the same secret love, contradictions and pain as Rongshu and the wild girl. Soon however, everything will disappear and there will be peace. - A relative or someone came and gave him a sunflower or magenta sweater, and after some similar bargaining, they came to an agreement. Then, one day, this relative or someone brought a young man, and then accompanied the two parties who did not dare to look at each other to Wuzhuang or somewhere, and took a group photo. When the agreed day came, she left her parents and left this corner. ……
This is a path that people here are accustomed to and recognized as justified, but which the speaker of today's General Assembly has described as a "comprador marriage". What else does he say about "love"! Sister and little leopard, is that called "love"? No, no! That's shameful and illegal! So, is there any other way?—— Huangmei felt at a loss. She couldn't help but think of Eiki. At this moment, he was behind her, silently accompanying her. The female companions who came to the meeting all went to the supply and marketing cooperative. On the silent mountain road, there were only the two of them. She heard her own pounding heartbeat.
Suddenly, Rongshu stood still, looked around, and sang in a deep voice:
I love this blue ocean,
How vast is the maritime frontier of the motherland! ……
Aramei was startled. But listening to it, the passionate and unrestrained singing voice infected her. I couldn't help but turn my head and smile approvingly.
"Looking at this pine forest on the mountain, I think of the sea! I remembered my days on a warship......" he said with a smile to himself, "and when I look at the sea, my heart feels broad." If only the folks could see the sea, how nice it would be!"
Aramei listened with a smile. Her vigilance was quietly lost.
"Wild girl, have you gone to Front Street? There are no people who sell eggs and vegetables on the market! You know? Rural policies need to be changed! The hillside land must be returned to the mountain and pear trees planted. Uncle Shanwang's good style is going to play a role again! Plant a sapling on your own plot first! ......" he said messily and excitedly, "Aunt Shanwang is not in good health, so she can cut some wattles and weave baskets at home in exchange for some pocket money." Your eldest sister can go to work next year! Two little sisters can herd a few sheep! …… I had a comrade-in-arms who worked as an officer in the commune, and he told me that the documents of the Central Committee would soon be conveyed to make the peasants rich...... You don't believe it!"
His eyes shone with optimism, and his voice was like a gurgling stream, intimate and touching. Aramei didn't believe these words. She never had any hope of becoming rich, or even thought about it at all. Ever since she was sensible, words like affluence have always been criticized in association with capitalism. What thrilled her was that Eiki knew her family so well and cared so much. That's what he used to answer her coldness, guardedness, and resentment! She felt guilty and felt a fever on her face. ……
"Yes! If you don't get rich, you will live a poor life all your life, and you won't be able to talk about anything!" He shook his head with deep emotion, "Just take the little leopard as an example, can you blame him all?" Poor, backward, uneducated, stupid! Plus the old feudal! Honest eight-footed young man, go to jail! Your sister is even more wronged! ……”
As soon as he said this, the girl immediately felt humiliated. She glared at him indignantly and yelled, "Don't say that!" Don't talk about my sister! ……”
She struggled to hold back the tears that were about to flow, and rushed to the top of the mountain, letting go and striding down. It makes the tree inexplicable.
Four
Approaching the door, it was already completely dark. Her mood gradually calmed down. The little sister pounced on her from afar. Immediately afterwards, the mother also came out, with a beaming smile on her face. This makes Aramei feel strange. Poor, hard-working and sickly mothers aged prematurely. Especially the death of her sister, in addition to sorrow, her face only had a stunned expression. What happened to make her so happy?
"Quick, go look at your bed!" Mother almost burst out laughing.
On the bed was a new tuft of sweater, sky blue. An alluring glow under a dim kerosene lamp.
The wild girl grabbed it in her hand, and before she could feel its softness and warmth, she immediately shook it off as if she had been electrocuted. She shouted in surprise, "Who's?"
"Yours!" Mother is pouring steaming polenta from a pot. He glanced at her brightly and said, "Your second aunt sent it." ……”
"Second aunt!? ......" The desolate sister shuddered, her legs were weak, and she sat on the edge of the bed and froze. The second aunt came not long ago, and muttered to her mother for a long time, constantly looking her up and down. She sensed that there seemed to be some mystery in her eyes. Sure enough, now I'm sending a sweater!
Mother sat down next to her and said in a rare soft voice: "It's the second uncle and their third team in Wuzhuang, who is three years older than you." His brother works as a worker at the Beiguan Railway Station and gets more than 50 yuan a month......"
Aramei felt cold sweat crawling slowly on her back. She was trembling, her ears were buzzing, and she couldn't hear anything clearly.
"I don't want it!" She struggled and shouted, "No! I don't want it!"
She threw the sweater at her mother, but she still smiled and grabbed her and said, "I don't want you to come through the door now!" Come to meet and send clothes during the Dragon Boat Festival. Sixteen sets of ...... Get engaged, and give another 500 yuan in cash!"
"No, no, no!" A sense of shame suddenly rose to the heart of the desolate girl. She felt the horror of suffocation. She didn't know what to do, she could only let the tears of grievance flow out quickly, and she could only angrily shake off her mother's soothing arm and run away.
At the door, stood her father, who was in a heavy mood, and her three sisters, who were staring at her with wide eyes. She covered her face, rushed out the door, and stood in the courtyard, leaning against the half-collapsed earthen wall of the pigsty, and wept loudly.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" The mother hurriedly followed and took her hand, "Sister Huang, you are a sensible child. What do we have? Mom is sick, and the three younger sisters just know that they want to eat with their mouths open. There is no feed for pigs, and they have been fed for more than half a year, and they haven't even fished it back! Save a few eggs and carry them to the street, chasing people around, panicking like a thief. Last year's dividends were overspent again, and not a single cent of cash was received. I want to buy you a pair of socks ......."
The mother also sobbed and counted: "Your sister is not angry, who does this family rely on?" It's really not okay if the house doesn't flip next year. If you are in debt, how can you have money? The second aunt said that as soon as the five hundred yuan arrived, it would ......"
"Money, money!" The girl shouted excitedly, "You sell your daughter as a thing!" ……”
The mother choked suddenly. Weak, she slowly sat down on the ground holding on to half of the earthen wall. "Sell your daughter as a thing!" This sentence pierced her heart so much, and it was so familiar! Who shouted with the same anger as his daughter at the same age as his daughter? Who is it?—— alas! It's none other than herself! ……
It was in the winter when the land reform team entered Wuzhuang, and on the night when Linghua went to see the opera "The White-Haired Girl", she met Shen Shanwang, a simple and handsome young long-term worker. From that moment on, she suddenly understood the meaning of the word "lover" in the mountain songs she usually sang. Nineteen-year-old Linghua not only bravely participated in the meeting of the landlords, but also bravely went to the cornfield at night to meet her lover. However, she was originally engaged to the small owner of the grocery store in Beiguan Town by her parents. When the man heard the news, he sent fifty silver dollars, insisting that they get married within the year. Linghua cried and made a fuss, openly admitting that she had taken a fancy to the poor boy in the villa, and openly announced that she would go into the mountains with him to suffer, and would never return to her "old feudal" mother's house for the rest of her life! The parents were stunned, and they scolded and beat them behind closed doors. She cried, she made a fuss, rolled on the ground, and threw silver dollars all over the ground. shouted angrily: "You guys are going to sell your daughter as a thing!"
It was an era when the anti-feudal fire had burned out the "orders of parents and the words of matchmakers" along with the landlord's land deeds and debts. A wall chart promoting the Marriage Law was posted at the door of the township government. Liu Qiaoer on the stage and the child daughter-in-law in the same village are both role models for Linghua. The honest and handsome Shen Shanwang is waiting for her with a beautiful and happy future. Linghua has the courage to break through the feudal shackles!
"They, they want to sell their daughters as things!" The next day, in the newly painted township office, there was no need for anything else, just her Linghua's words! With a smile of encouragement, the land reform team gave her and Shanwang a marriage certificate printed with a portrait of Chairman Mao. ……
I never thought that today, after 30 years, my daughter would use this sentence to scold herself?
"What's going on? How did the days go back again?......" Shocked and confused, she slowly raised her head and looked up at the night sky in the twilight of winter. A few cold stars glowed bleak and dim, staring at her mockingly. She shuddered as if she had suddenly received some revelation, beat her chest and began to cry bitterly. While muttering to himself:
"Retribution, retribution! It's called retribution!"
Tears welled up in her dry eyes. It is full of bitterness in the depths of the soul. She hated the desolate sisters, hated Cunni, hated their father. She hated her own hard life, hated the land she had come to with a youthful and joyful vision, a land that had given her nothing but sorrow after most of her life's hard work! ……
Instead, the desolate girl calmed down and comforted her mother, saying, "Mom! On the streets of the commune, there is no one selling eggs and vegetables! You can chop some wattles and make a basket of earth to sell. My sister can go to herd sheep. Yamada changed to a fruit tree, and his father is a good style! …… We must make our peasants rich! Eiki said that the central government has this document......"
"Documents, documents! Today this, tomorrow that! See more! Enough is enough! We're still poor! Wild girl, Mom doesn't want you to live like Mom for the rest of your life!" The mother sobbed, but gradually calmed down, "Child, you are a sensible girl. Mom can see that Rongshu has a heart for you, and you also look at him and like him. But if you think about it, you can't eat enough, these are all empty! Your mother regrets that she shouldn't have ...... Alas! Now I have retribution......"
The wind stopped. Mother's weakened body is clinging to the wild girl. Mother and daughter sat silently, each immersed in their own thoughts.
"Mom, go back!" Wild girl whispered. Her eyes were fixed on the cottage of Team Eight, searching for one of the houses, "I still have something to ......"
Then, she stubbornly walked in the direction of Sanmu Pond. What happened just now made her suddenly smart and mature. All prejudices, including things that she strongly resented such as avenging the little leopard, now felt reasonable. She believed that Rongshu would tell his truth. He knows many, many things, even the sea! So, what is there to doubt about the document that he firmly believes in to make the peasants rich? He'll definitely come up with the best idea and tell her what to do!
On the water surface of the three-acre pond, a gentle heating blows. This is the first message of the earth's rejuvenation! It silently soothed the withered grass by the pond, and quietly wiped away the tears of the girl who came in a hurry. Is it finally really coming, to this corner forgotten by love?
Originally published in Shanghai Literature, No. 1, 1980, won the 1980 National Outstanding Short Story Award
| | Zhang Xian (1934-1997) was a member of the Chinese Writers Association and chairman of the Jiangsu Film Association. In 1958, he was classified as a rightist decentralized labor because of an unpublished novel "Troubled Youth", and after his rehabilitation in 1979, he won the National Outstanding Short Story Award in 1979 and 1980 with "Memory" and "The Corner Forgotten by Love", and novels such as "The Survivor" and "The Red Silk Thread That Earns Continuously" with the theme of women's fate were translated into English, Japanese, German, French, Russian and other languages, and the film and television scripts "The Corner Forgotten by Love", "The Well", "Hunan Girl Xiao Xiao", "Tang Ming Emperor" and other novels have won many awards at home and abroad. |