The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

"Half a month later, Aunt Xiu gave birth, and I helped pick up the child, a girl. I was very happy, but Xiugu said regretfully, 'It would be nice to be a boy.' I said, 'Why do we have to have a boy?' she said, 'We all have three girls, and we should have a boy.' I knew she was still thinking about the dead child, so I said to her, 'It's okay, you can have another boy next time.' ’

On this day, I think it's not good for Xiugu to eat pickles and bacon every day, and I want to get her something fresh to change the taste. Early in the morning, I went out with a rabbit catcher. When I got home from hunting a rabbit, I saw that there was no one on the bed in the house. I was startled and ran outside to find Xiugu. Only then did I see Xiu Gu carrying the child on her back and digging wild vegetables in the grass by the stream.

I said to her, 'A woman has given birth to a baby and has to stay in bed for a month, but you have only been out of bed for a few days and have come out to dig wild vegetables, so it is easy for you to fall into trouble, so go back to the house quickly.' Xiu Gu smiled, "I'm so busy that I'm in a hurry to sit in the house, so I'll go out and dig some wild vegetables so that I can stew meat for you to eat." I said, 'I haven't had a baby, so what do you do to eat so well?' Xiu Gu said, 'But you do everything inside and outside the house, and it's so hard and tiring at the end of the day.' ’

By this time, she had already dug up half of the blue wild vegetables, so I carried the basket and took her hand and walked back. After killing the rabbit and washing the wild vegetables, I asked Xiugu to cook the hare and stew the wild vegetables, eat sweet potato polenta, and eat corn tortillas, which felt like the New Year.

After a hundred days, I said to Aunt Xiu, 'Shall we go home?' and I wanted my parents to see their granddaughter. It just so happened that Xiu Gu also wanted to see the child, so we took the child down the mountain.

This time I went down the mountain and went home, which was the first time after Xiugu went up the mountain. This is not easy for her. She was afraid to see the people in the village, but she missed her children very much. So, I arranged to go down the mountain at noon time. Usually, I usually walk four hours down the mountain, and at least five hours down the mountain with Xiu Gu and the child. So, after we finished eating in the morning, we started to descend the mountain.

This is the first time that Xiugu has entered my house, and she takes this matter very seriously, and before going out, she changed into the beautiful clothes she wore when she got married, and combed her hair carefully in front of the mirror. It was the first time she had done so since she went up the mountain. I laughed at her and said, 'Dress up so beautifully, don't let people grab it halfway.' She said, 'I don't have the face to meet people, and I make myself sloppy and sloppy, but I'm afraid that people will say what she looks like.' ’

Although Xiugu doesn't usually dress up, when she dresses up, she really looks like a bride. I took her hand, carried the basket on my back, held the baby, and went down the mountain with her. When I went down the hill, it happened to be one o'clock at noon, and the children just came back from school for lunch. After crossing the small wooden bridge, we entered the boundary of Changle Village. Xiu Gu became nervous. However, fortunately, at noon, everyone ate at home, so there was no one on the roadside or by the river.

When I got home, as soon as I entered the door and saw that my parents were eating in the house, I shouted, 'Mom, Aunt Xiu is back.' My dad and my mom got up from the table at once. My dad said, 'Aunt Xiu, are you okay?' and Aunt Xiu nodded at her father, called 'Dad', and then shouted 'Mom' to her mother. The mother walked up to Xiugu from the table, took the child, kissed the child with her mouth, and asked, 'How many days?' Xiugu said, 'It's been a hundred days.' ’

The daughters also put down their jobs all of a sudden, hugged in front of Xiugu together, and called 'Mom'. Xiu Gu stroked the children with her hand and asked, 'Are you doing studying?' and the children nodded and said, 'Okay.' My brother and sister also got up and shouted to Xiugu, 'Sister-in-law. Xiu Gu smiled at them and said, "You have all grown up." The mother held the baby for the father and the younger siblings to see. Everyone looks like they like it. Dad kept saying, 'Good.'"

My sister cooked two more dishes and brought them up and put them on the table. Dad said to Xiugu, 'I don't know if you came down, you didn't prepare, and you didn't have to buy meat.' Xiu Gu said, 'Jiang Yanzi caught a wild boar and a few hares, and I can eat meat every day.' ’

After eating and saying a few words, it is time for us to leave, and if we leave late, it will be dark when we return to the mountains. As soon as it gets dark, it can be dangerous to walk the mountain road. When my mother saw that we were leaving, she asked my brother to catch the hen that was laying eggs in the house, and put her feet in my back basket. The whole family came out of the house to see us off, and Xiu Gu said to the children, 'Listen to grandpa and grandma.' The children said, 'Yes.' Dad said to Xiugu, 'Come back often.' Xiu Gu said, "I know." ’

I carried the basket on my back and carried the baby all the way up the mountain. Xiu Gu followed. However, when she walked to a steep slope not far from the top of the mountain, Xiugu did not step on it properly, and suddenly fell from the middle of the slope and slipped to the bottom of the slope. Fortunately, the bottom of the slope is not very deep, otherwise, you would have died. I heard the sound of Xiugu sliding behind me, and when I looked back, I was so frightened that my heart jumped out of my throat. I immediately put the baby on the flat ground, slid down the slope to the bottom of the slope, and pulled Xiugu up.

Xiu Gu was so frightened that her face changed color, and she lay on the ground for a long time without standing up. I lifted her trouser leg and saw a large break in her knee, bleeding profusely. And the elbow was also broken, and it was bleeding. So I picked some leaves and put them on her knees and arms. The blood didn't bleed much, but she couldn't stand up in pain. I helped her get up from the ground and walked slowly up the slope.

She gritted her teeth and began to walk step by step, but slowly. When I helped her up the hill, I made her sit under a tree, picked the child up from the ground, and said, 'You sit here, I'll take the baby and my things home, and then I'll come and pick you up.' Xiu Gu frowned and said, "No, I'm so scared to stay here alone." I couldn't help it, so I let Xiu Gu help me walk forward slowly. When I got to a very difficult place, I first put the child in a basket and sent it to the slope or cliff, and then walked back to help Xiugu to walk up.

Since Xiugu's leg was injured and it was difficult for her to walk, we stopped and walked very slowly. By the time we reached the top of the mountain, the moon was already hanging over the treetops on the side of the mountain. As soon as I got home, I picked up my flashlight and went out into the woods to get herbs for her. But Xiugu wouldn't let me go out, saying that there were wild boars and tigers in the woods at night, and that I had to look for herbs tomorrow morning. However, I saw that she was very badly injured and still oozing blood, and if the bleeding and inflammation were not stopped immediately, by tomorrow, it would be inflamed and rotten. So, with a machete in one hand, a flashlight in the other, and a black tiger, I walked towards the mountains and forests.