The Woman in the Mountains (novella) Zhang Baotong

Although these houses are dilapidated, they are surrounded by mountains and rivers. The fastest updated house is flanked on both sides of a hillside, and between the two slopes there is a stream flowing in front of the house. But the stream is very small, like a drainage ditch in the town, and is a branch of the stream on the other side of the mountain. In front of the village, where the stream flows, there is a large verdant bamboo forest. The bamboo forest is elegant, verdant and lush, like a green barrier in front of the village. When the breeze blows, you can smell the faint fragrance of bamboo leaves.

The village is small and quiet, and there is no one to be seen. Some of the houses have not been inhabited for years, as if they have been abandoned. Some of the houses have even become ruined walls, a scene of wind and rain. Qiao Ling took me to a house with two or three rooms and told me that this was her family's old house. But the house was so dilapidated that the walls were tilted and the roof had collapsed with a hole. If there is a strong wind of three or five magnitudes, the house is probably going to collapse. The iron lock on the door of the house was embroidered, and the wooden door was so rotten that it could kick the door into a big hole. I wanted to look in from the window, but the dust on the window was so thick that I couldn't see anything clearly.

Seeing this, Qiao Ling said with emotion, "I thought that I was just a child when I lived here, but in the blink of an eye, it has been almost twenty years since I left here. I said, "Yesterday we were children, but now we look at it again, we are middle-aged." I don't know how many years I will have, and I will pass away. ”

Qiao Ling said, "When I was a child, I always looked forward to growing up, but what is good about growing up? We always can't get the things we dream, and the things we don't want are always chasing you." Or does it make people feel more and more bored the more they live?"

I said, "Actually, life is very boring, because boring will keep tossing and turning and find a lot of trouble for yourself." For example, if you want to fight for power and profit, you want to get married, you want to become famous and start a family, and you want you to hate me and love me. Only when you die will you understand that in fact, people live desperately all their lives, and in the end they still have nothing. ”

Qiao Ling said, "Life is actually a dream, this dream is like the moon, you can only see it, but you can't reach it." I said, "Sometimes a dream is not the moon, and although you can catch it, it will run away immediately, and you will have to catch it again." For example, the two of us meeting is a dream, but the dream will disappear quickly, but we can be together again. In fact, people live to realize one dream after another. If you don't have this dream, it's really boring to live. She nodded with a smile and said, "What you say is the abyss, and you deserve to be a writer." ”

We talked as we walked. I said, "Your family is all registered in the city, why do you still have a house in the village?" Qiao Ling said, "My father said that when he retires, he wants to return to the village to farm." I said, "When he retires, he probably won't want to farm anymore." Qiao Ling said, "I'm a farmer, I don't even want to farm, and besides, who is still farming when younger people are younger?"

Qiao Ling led me up the river in front of the village. There was a narrow path by the stream, which led steeply towards the mountainside. I asked, "Is there still a person living on the mountain?" said Qiao Ling, "and this path leads to a long place, and you can't walk twenty or thirty miles." The girl in my neighborhood lives in the mountains. I said, "The people who live there must be poor, right?" Qiao Ling said, "That's nature, the more people live in the mountains, the poorer they become." This is the law of nature. Otherwise, the girl would rather stay with her sister and brother-in-law than live in her own house. I said, "Then I'd like to go into this mountain and have a look." "Because the more you live in the mountains, the poorer you are, but the more sincere and kind people are, and the people are simple.

Qiao Ling said, "Then I'll take you to see, I haven't been there for many years." However, the closest place is also three to five miles away. I said, "It's only twenty or thirty minutes away." Let's go and come back quickly, and don't delay you coming back for dinner. ”

Because the path up the mountain is always beside the stream, the grass on the way is wet, and sometimes you have to step on the rocks in the stream and jump through the shallow water. After walking for a while, a middle-aged man in shabby clothes came down from the mountain and asked Qiao Ling, "Are they here for your father?" Qiao Ling said, "Here they are." As he spoke, the man walked away briskly. Qiao Ling said, "This is my cousin. ”

As we walked towards the mountains, it began to rain. Although it didn't rain much, it soaked the ground in a while. We hurriedly started running back. After a while, they returned to the village. At this time, the rain began to fall heavily, and it crackled down on the forest and the walls of the houses. We stood under the eaves and watched as the rain and mist floated from the stream, slowly permeating the bamboo forest and the edge of the village. It feels like you're in a dream.

After spending a while under the eaves at the entrance of the village, we came to Jianjian's house. Except for the built-up house, the rest are adults, all of them are old people and relatives on both sides. Everyone sat around a small table, smoking incessantly, and the whole room was filled with smoke. Jiancheng's mother saw us coming in and brought me a glass of boiled water. I don't like to drink boiled water, and I'd love to hear how they got married. However, they are just like relatives and friends, and they say all that is inconsequential.

But after a while, the meal was ready. Qiao Ling helped Jiancheng's mother start serving food to the small table. The small table is not large, at most it can only hold seven or eight small plates and small plates. Just now, there were eight small plates on the small table, and it was full. I glanced at the dishes, one plate was tofu with shallots, one plate was fried peppers with shredded potatoes, one plate was fried green peppers with tomatoes, and one plate was fried tofu with chili. I won't talk about some of them. Anyway, the potatoes, peppers, tofu and tomatoes were mixed back and forth, although it was a banquet, there was not even a meat dish, and there was no wine, and the tea was drunk. I wondered: although you can't buy meat in the mountains, liquor is sold in every small shop.

Because there were many relatives who came, and the table was small, seven or eight big men sat at the small table in crowd. According to the regulations, women are not allowed to sit at the table, but can only sit by the pot and eat. Originally, the host also let me sit at the table for the sake of politeness, but I was self-aware and couldn't join in the fun, so I said that I was not hungry and didn't want to eat. So, while they were eating, I stood outside and watched the scenery in the rain. Qiao Ling saw me come out, and she also came out with a job to accompany me. She said to me apologetically, "Later, we'll go back and I'll cook for you." ”

After eating, the guests dispersed. The rain is not falling either. Qiao Ling's father hurried to leave. Her father didn't seem to greet her when he left, which made Qiaoling feel very bad. Seeing that everyone else was gone, Qiao Ling and I also left the village.

Walking on the road, I asked Qiao Ling what the result of her marriage was, and she said that she didn't know either, and she didn't have to ask anyone. And I said, "Is this how you people in the mountains hold banquets?" and she said, "Everyone is like this, what's the matter?" I said, "It's too simple, it's not nice to say, let alone a banquet, and even a normal light meal in the city is better than this." If you invite someone to dinner, you have to have a meat dish. Not only do you have no meat, you don't even have wine, how can you call it a banquet?" Qiao Ling said, "but that's how we are here. ”