The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

I still stay at home all day like I used to do laundry, cook, carry water, Collecting firewood, my younger brother is already old and doesn't need me to take care of it, but my mother began to teach me to sew clothes, do needlework, make shoes with soles, often tell me some words about how to serve men and please men, tell me some things that can be done and what can not be done when I go to my mother-in-law's house, and tell me some ancient and modern stories, nothing more than whose woman stole a man, was caught and raped, was beaten and scolded, and my reputation was bad, and in the end no one wanted it, and even said that some women finally had a bad reputation and couldn't survive, so they jumped into the river and committed suicide.

I used to hear my mother and other women talking and talking about these things and stories, because the women used to talk about them together, except for the soles of their shoes and doing needlework. And I am often with my mother, so I naturally hear a lot of such things and stories. But my mother specifically said these things to me, and the meaning was naturally different, she was teaching me how to be a smart and virtuous woman who made men like.

Time passed quickly, and I remember that as soon as the year was over, there was still half a year before my wedding, and my family began to prepare a dowry for me. My mother sewed quilts for me, made clothes, and bought me some rouge and powder. These are packed in a red camphor box, and they are also locked. The keys were carried by my mother herself. Once, my mother changed her clothes and forgot her keys in her pocket. Curious, I opened the box with the key. It was found that the box also contained baby clothes and pillows, as well as a book. I wondered, I didn't go to school, I couldn't read, why did my mother put me in the book, so I opened the book, and there were many pictures in it, all of which were of men and women naked and happy together. My face burned violently immediately, and then I understood why men and women should get married and sleep together, and why women would have children as soon as they got married. It made me feel more worried and scared about getting married and getting married.

But I am a woman, and a woman is water, and she will be spilled out and married in the end. This is fate, unchangeable. Because I also know that once a woman is old and cannot get married, she will be discriminated against and beaten by her parents and family, because they want to kick you out, make room and house for your younger brother, and marry and have children for your younger brother. In order to make room for my brother, I had to get married.

The day of the 16-year-old wedding has finally arrived. The afternoon before, our house had been cleaned inside and out, with big red letters on the inside and outside of the door. The people who came to help filled the two rooms of the house. On the day of my wedding, my mother woke me up before dawn, dressed me up, combed my hair naked, pulled up two braids and coiled them behind me, and stuck a silver hairpin in them. My mother opened the box, took out a bright red shirt, light blue pants and embroidered cloth, and asked the aunts and aunts who helped to put them on for me one by one, and said to me with tears, 'Xiu'er, when you get over there, listen to your mother-in-law and listen to the men, don't make them angry, fight for breath, and give birth to a big fat son for their family next year.' Let the parents' faces also shine. ’

After cleaning up, soon after, the sound of banging gongs and blowing suona was heard from a distance. My heart began to beat faster. But my mother kept comforting me and said, 'Don't panic, you're an adult now, you have to show a little bit of it, don't be scared like a girl.' Listening to my mother say this, I felt that I had really grown up, and I was no longer the carefree girl I used to be. I'm someone's daughter-in-law now.

The sound of banging gongs and blowing suona is getting closer and closer, and my heart seems to be being pulled tighter and tighter. After a while, the sound of gongs and suona suddenly stopped, and the crackling sound of firecrackers began to sound. Then the bridegroom entered the house and began to bow to my parents, and then handed over a red greeting note. An elder from the village began to take me to bow to the ancestral shrine and elders, and then someone put a hijab on my head and carried me onto a sedan chair. That's when I started crying loudly. Soon, however, firecrackers rang out, as did gongs and suona. The sedan chair began to move, and began to lead me to a strange place.

The sedan chair walked all the way, and the sound of gongs and suona sounded all the way. I sat in the sedan chair and began to wipe my tears, because my mother said that I couldn't cry anymore when I got to the other side, and if I cried again, it would make the family unhappy. On this day of great joy, you can't make people unhappy. So, I thought about other things, thinking about my childhood, thinking about my youth, thinking about matchmaking and marriage, thinking about being a wife to someone else, giving birth to a child, and even thinking about that book. Yes, if you go over there, you will be someone else's person, and that side will become your own home, and the original home will become your mother's home. It's a bit unacceptable to me. But there is no way, because I am a woman.

After walking for more than 20 miles for an hour or two, I don't know how long I walked, I heard the sound of firecrackers not far away. I knew I was about to arrive at my new home, Changle Village. ”

At this point in the story, the sun is already in the west. When I looked at my watch, it was already past 1 o'clock, and when I looked ahead, we had finished hoeing a large field of corn. I felt a little tired, not only my arms were heavy and sleepy, but my legs were also a little sore, and my waist was a little painful. However, seeing that Aunt Xu was still working, I said, "Aunt Xu, you are so old, you are not tired after doing this long work?" Aunt Xu said, "How can you not be tired? As she spoke, she stopped, took a deep breath, and added, "When I was young, I started working on such a large area before dawn, and I could finish it before dark, but now I can't do it too quickly, and I can't do it too long, and after a day's work, my body feels so tired, and sometimes I can't sleep at night." ”

I said, "You are old, and you should be happy, why don't you go down to the bottom of the mountain and live with your son, instead of staying on this mountain and suffering hardships?" Going down the mountain, I didn't feel used to it. I said, "When you go down the mountain, you can only take care of your old age, you don't have to work like this anymore, and your life is convenient." The old man said, "The mountain is quiet, there is not so much trouble, and the mood is better." ”

After hoeing one by one, I think it is time for Aunt Xu to stop and go cooking. If I was at home in Chongqing, I would have already started my afternoon shift, and I was very hungry. However, Aunt Xu did not leave, but began to hoe the field next to her. And the piece of land next to it is as big as the ground that I just hoeed, and I am afraid that I can't finish hoeing until dark. So, I asked the old man, "When are you going to have lunch?" I said, "How many times a day do you eat?" she said, "twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening." I asked, "What time do you eat in the morning?" and what time do you eat in the evening?" and she couldn't tell the time, because they didn't have a watch, so she said, "When I'm done in the morning, I'll come back and cook and eat, and I'll cook and eat again in the afternoon until it gets dark." I asked, surprised, "I haven't eaten for a long time, and I don't feel hungry?" she shook her head and said, "Get used to it." ”

But I was so hungry that I couldn't stand it, and I was too tired to stand it. So I told the old man that I had something to do with going back to the house, so I put down my hoe, went barefoot to the ground, took up the tartar, went to the stream, washed my feet, rubbed on the grass, put it on, and went to the other side of the house.

When I got to the door, Rhubarb came running from there, shaking his head and tail at me. I went inside, took out a loaf of bread and a bottle of honey tea from my travel bag on the small table, and began to eat and drink. Rhubarb stood in front of me, his eyes fixed on the bread in my hand, wagging his tail at me. I knew he was hungry too, so I broke half a loaf of bread and put it to his mouth. It snatched the bread in one gulp, ate half of it in two strokes, licked the crumbs on the ground, and fixed its eyes on my hand. I stroked its head with my other hand and said, "Rhubarb, it's so pitiful that you were born into a poor family and starved with your master. "No, if it's in the city, the owner will probably keep it as a son and grandson, and will buy it the best dog food. As I spoke, I fed it the half of the bread in my hand as well.

I wanted to defecate and tore some toilet paper and went to the toilet. The toilet is right next to the pigsty. However, when I went to the door of the toilet, there was no door, the light was very dim, and inside was a toilet made of bricks, and there were two planks of wood across the trough, and the planks did not look strong, and if the planks were broken, people would fall into the urinal. Otherwise, in the morning, I would have watched people not go into the toilet, but ran to the side where there was no one to make it easier. I quickly left the toilet and ran to the wooded meadow over there to relieve myself. I want to let me live here, and if nothing else, I am very unaccustomed to just urinating.

After washing my hands and returning to the house, I thought that Aunt Xu was still hoeing in the field, so I took two loaves of bread and walked towards the cornfield. When Rhubarb saw that I had bread in his hand, he followed me, but when I stepped out of the flat ground in front of the house and went down the path down the slope, he stood on a high place and looked at me.

When I came to the ground, I shouted to the old man, "Aunt Xu, you're hungry, come, eat something." The old man said, "Not hungry." "I went into the field and handed her a loaf of bread. She was afraid that she was also hungry, so she dropped her hoe, wiped her hand on her apron, took the bread, and went to the edge of the field as she ate, and sat down on the grass. She said, "What kind of thing is this? I said, "It's bread." Then she asked, "What is it made of?" and I said, "it is made of flour." She said, "The people in the city are just so smart." ”