The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

The old man led us through the half-man-high grass and up to a slope. There are patches of corn and vegetable patches along the roadside. The potatoes in the field were thick, but the corn was sparse, some of them half a man tall, and some of them were just out of the ground. From here, when you look up, you're close to the top of the mountain. Skirting a small slope, it is under the top of the mountain. There is a very simple adobe tile house here. There were only two or three rooms in the house, but at the end of the house there was a pigsty and a small warehouse. The house is built against the top of the hill, making the top of the hill a natural shelter from the wind. There is an open space in front of the house, which is about the size of half a basketball court. A mountain spring stream flowed through the open space in front of the door. On the edge of the clearing is a deep ditch, and under the ditch are vegetable and corn fields. At the edge of the ground are patches of woods.

When we came to the flat ground in front of the house, a big yellow dog came running and barking at the stranger, and several hens looked at us in fear and cackled. The owner waved his hand at the big yellow dog, and the dog stopped barking, but looked at the stranger with inexplicable curiosity. Someone threw some bread at the big yellow dog. The big yellow dog began to wagging its tail as it ate. Someone started taking pictures and videos of the two elderly men. The flash flashed at the two old men. The man didn't care, but the woman was startled, hurriedly hid behind the man, and said, "Your bright, murderous bloodline, don't fix it." ”

The guide said to her, "Don't be afraid, this is a lamp for photography, and it is not a man-eating tiger." With that, the woman became less scared and stood next to the man and let the camera and camcorder take pictures. After taking pictures, the team members took out some delicious apples and oranges from their backpacks, as well as ham, sausages and instant noodles and gave them to the elderly. The old man didn't seem to have seen any of these things, so he put them all away as if he had accepted a gift from someone else, and then went into the kitchen and began to cook for everyone.

The team members began to set up tents on the flat ground in front of the house, and some stood on the flat ground in front of the house and looked around at the scenery. At this time, the sun had stopped above the western mountain, staining the clouds around the mountain peak red. Under the skylight, the mountain peaks are like waves, the mist is misty, in front of you is a piece of Danxia flowing clouds, you can see the top of the mountain above the sea of clouds, such as in the fairyland. And the valley floor and the deep stream are silent. In the silence you seem to be able to hear your own heartbeat.

While others were setting up tents, I went to the kitchen and watched two old men cooking for us. It was dark in the house, and it took a while to see what was inside. But the fire soon began to burn in the stove, and the fire was lit up, and the kitchen cutting board and a large water tank could be seen. There was also a large pile of pumpkins and potatoes in the corner. The walls of the kitchen had long since been blackened by the smoke of the fire.

A woman is cooking by a large pot stove. The stir-fried dishes are potato chips and water spinach. She was cooking a fire while she was stir-frying. The light of the fire shone on her face, reflecting her face red. Her face was wrinkled, like the ravines and ravines ploughed by the rake of years. However, the old man had a kind face, a good look, and a gentle temperament, and must have been very beautiful when he was young. I said to the woman, "Auntie, I'll help you light the fire." The woman immediately waved her hands and said, "I can't do it, I can't do it." You are honored guests. ”

The man put a small iron pot on the stove made of a few stones, and began to burn the fire, and when the water in the pot boiled, he began to put rice in it. The rice looked very coarse, with some husks and bran. So, when the rice is sprinkled in boiling water, the husks and bran are still floating on the water.

I asked curiously, "Uncle, are you still growing rice yourself?" said the old man, "You have planted two or three acres." I said, "Why don't you see?" said the old man, "on the slope below the stream." I'll take you to see it when I have time. Then I asked, "Why don't you go down to the mountain, and it's so lonely and inconvenient to live on this mountain." The old man said, "It's nothing, I'm used to it." ”

When the woman finished stir-frying, she began to steam the bun with cornmeal. By the time the buns were ready, it was already dark outside. The old man set up the small wooden table in the big room and lit the kerosene lamp. However, only a few people could sit at the small wooden table. So, everyone took turns eating in three batches. Although the rice used by the old man to cook porridge is relatively coarse, the noodles of steamed buns are also very thick, and the corn is not ground into powder, the rice made is fragrant and delicious.

While eating, some people asked about the identity of the old man and some curious things. The old man was refreshed and cheerful, and did not hide it at all, and told them all about it happily. It turned out that they eloped together from Changle Village, Zhongshan Town, at the foot of the mountain, 50 years ago, at that time, the man Liu Guojiang was only 19 years old, and the woman Xu Chaoqing was 29 years old, and she was a widow with four children.

This is the top of the 1,500-meter-high half-slope mountain. Before going up the mountain, I heard some old people say that some people went to the top of the mountain before liberation, but there were wild boars and monkeys, as well as tigers and black bears on the mountain, and there were cases where people were eaten by tigers, so almost no one has been to the top of the mountain in recent years. However, what they tell seems to be an old legend or story, because for many years, no one has come to the top of this mountain again.

It was late at night, but it wasn't very dark at the top of the mountain. The full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival hangs big and round in the sky, as if it is above our heads, and we can touch it with just one hand. The sky is very blue, the sky is very bright, and you can see Chang'e very clearly, you can see the laurel tree. The stream flowed under the ditch in front of the house, and the clear sound seemed to echo in our dreams. The members of the expedition sat in a large row on the grassy slope in front of the house, contemplating the moon above the deep stream of the peaks. No one made a sound for a long, long time, as if he was afraid that he would wake up from the night's dream.

Actually, I know people are thinking about that wonderful and legendary love story that I just heard. The story is simple and heavy, yet so incredible. I've watched "Romeo and Juliet" and "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", but in the face of this heart-wrenching love story, those loves seem to be inferior. The reason why I say this is because whether it is Romeo and Juliet, or Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, their love is only in the period of passionate love, and they have not passed the test of marriage, nor have they passed the test of a lifetime of marriage. If they are married, and have lived together for decades, when they are seventy or eighty years old, will they still love each other as they did when they were in love? Maybe they will still love each other, but can they still give up earthly pleasures for each other, and keep a simple and faithful vow with their lover?

However, the two old men we meet today gave up everything for love, and even spent more than 50 years to carve out 6,208 stone steps with steel drills and axes in order for their beloved to go down and up the mountain safely, paving a touching road of love. Yes, 50 years of perseverance, more than 6,000 ladders of life, love is not idle clouds and wild cranes, not flowers before the moon, but on the cliff of life constantly excavated and integrated. More than 20,000 sun, moon and stars have witnessed the increasingly scarce classic love of contemporary times.