The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

I didn't go out to work the next day, but packed up at home. I took out all the dozens of yuan I had saved over the years, went to the market town of Zhongshan, and bought a small barrel of kerosene, five boxes of matches, two catties of coarse salt, and a bag of rice and a large piece of bacon. In order not to let my family know, I hid all these things under the bed in my cabin. Then, tie up your carpentry tools, machetes, rope, wire, clothing, and quilts. However, there were too many of these things to take away at once, so I decided to take them away in two batches.

Soon, it was getting dark, but I had to wait until the dead of night to make sure that no one could see or see what we were doing. I waited in bed until I heard the sound of the nightingale chirping in the mountains, and I quietly locked the door and left the house. The night is dark, the river is quiet, and the evening breeze blows in bursts, making people feel a little cool. Looking towards the village, it was pitch black and there was no light. I wasn't thrilled at all, I felt like a thief. Because I know that if I leave today, I will never be able to come back, which is equivalent to parting with my family and relatives, from my worldly life, and staying in the mountains forever, never to see the light of day again. Still, my steps were determined to move towards the village.

I came to the door of Wu's house and gently knocked on Aunt Xiu's window. The lights in the house came on immediately, and then the courtyard door opened softly. I followed Xiu Gu into her room, where the children were all dressed neatly and lying on the bed. And next to the bed lay a cloth bag and a roll of bedding. Before I could speak, Aunt Xiu woke up the children one by one, got them out of bed, and stood in front of the door. I put the bedding on my back, put the cloth bag on my arm, and walked out of the room.

Xiu Gu quietly followed me out of the yard with her four children, and then walked briskly towards the river. My heart panicked like a thief, for fear that others would see it, so we walked fast. We walked to the river together and crossed the small wooden bridge with the children, and I felt a little relieved, because after crossing the river, we were at the foot of the half-sloped mountain.

Originally, I wanted them to stay here and I went home to get some things, but it was not easy to go up the mountain with so many things, so I didn't go home again, so I took Xiu Gu and the children directly up the mountain by moonlight.

Originally, it was very difficult to go up the mountain, but how difficult it must be to go up the mountain with a woman and four children! The children walked in the forest for a while, and then they could not walk, so they cried out, 'Mother, I want to sleep.' At first it was a child crying and shouting, but after a while, the children were crying and shouting, 'Mom, I can't walk, I want to sleep.' Xiu Gu coaxed them and said, 'Hold on a little longer, and you will reach the top of the mountain in a while.' But after a little more walking, before he reached the top of the mountain, the boy made a fuss and refused to go any further. Xiugu frightened them and said, 'Whoever does not leave, will stay and let the tiger eat it.'" When the children heard about the tiger, they were so frightened that they did not dare to go away. However, as we continued to walk into the mountains, the forests became deeper and denser, and from time to time there were the sounds of birds and pheasants fluttering in the forest, and even the sound of wild beasts howling in the mountains, which was very frightening. Don't say the children are trembling and shouting, 'Mommy, I'm afraid. Even Xiu Gu was so frightened that her body trembled. In order to give them courage, I walked in front with a machete in my hand.

The road on the mountain is very difficult to walk, very dangerous, because there is no road on the mountain at all, sometimes you walk along the edge of the cliff, and there is a cliff around you, if you don't walk well, you slip down, and people die. Not to mention taking children, even in broad daylight, an adult has to be careful when walking such a road. For safety, I first put my things on the ground, carried the children one by one to the top of the cliff, and then came back and pulled Xiugu towards the cliff. When Xiugu and the children have gone up to the top of the cliff, I will come back to get my things. When crossing the single-plank bridge, the children saw that the small bridge was only a few tree trunks between the two cliffs, and it was pitch black below, and they could not see the bottom at all, and could only hear the sound of the stream flowing under the deep cliffs, which frightened the children to go up. I carried them across the bridge one by one. In fact, even when I walked on this single-plank bridge, I was scared and frightened. But at that time, I didn't know how I had the courage to carry the children across the bridge one by one, and then pull Xiugu across the bridge as well. The hardest part is to climb the vertical cliffs. I first grabbed the wild vines, climbed to the top of the cliff, and then threw the rope down, and asked Xiugu to tie the rope around the children's waist and hang them up one by one. Finally, I hung the things and Xiugu up.

After a whole night's walk, when we reached the dense forest below the summit, it was already dark and we could clearly see above the summit. At this time, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and after a brisk walk, they came to the front of the two thatched houses. The children were very happy, but Xiugu's brows were tightly furrowed. Because what she saw was mountains of dense forests and wild grasses, and she didn't know if she could live in such a place.

The children were tired and sat on the floor, crying out that they were hungry, but we couldn't cook, because the stove and food were still under the bed in my house, and Aunt Xiu only cared about bringing some valuables, but did not bring food for the children. I looked around the top of the hill and there was nothing to feed my hunger. So, I said to Xiugu, 'Wait, I'll go down the mountain and get it.' Xiu Gu looked at me and said, 'But you're tired all night and don't take a break?' I said, 'No need to rest.' So saying, I trotted all the way down the hill.

When I got back to the edge of the village, it was noon. My mother was expecting dinner, and when my mother saw me coming back, she asked strangely, 'You didn't go to work today?' and I said, 'I'm a little unwell today, so I'll come back early.' My mother served me a meal and said to me, 'Have you heard about the accident at Aunt Xiu's house?' I said, 'No, what's wrong?' Mother said, 'Last night, I don't know where Aunt Xiu went with the children, her mother-in-law and father-in-law didn't see anyone early in the morning, and they were so anxious that they sent people everywhere to find them.' However, I have not found it until now. I didn't say anything, I was in a hurry to eat, I wanted to finish early and go up the mountain early, and Xiugu and the children were still hungry on the top of the mountain. I was so hungry that I ate two large bowls of rice in a row.

After eating, I put the bowl on the table and went back to my hut, thinking that I would have to bring an iron pot and chopsticks to the mountain, so I asked my mother for two yuan, went to the small shop at the head of the village, and bought a small iron pot for one yuan, and spent five dimes to buy ten bowls and a pair of chopsticks. I had five dimes left, so I bought ten oil cakes. Then, I hurried home.

At this time, my mother was still washing clothes by the river, and my father went to work in the fields by the mountain. I put what I had just bought into a basket, put it on my back, carried the bag of rice on my shoulder, and then carried the roll with my hand, and went out. I carried a lot of things, and they were very heavy, but thinking that Aunt Xiu and the children were still hungry and waiting for me, I walked briskly across the embankment, crossed the wooden bridge, and entered the mountains.

After walking in the mountains for about an hour, I couldn't walk anymore. Yes, I've been tired all day and all night, and I have so many things on me, how can I walk. So, I decided to take the futon and basket up the mountain first, so that I could come back tomorrow to get the rice, because the rice was so heavy. In order to prevent the rice from being spoiled by wild animals, I tied the rice to a tree and made a conspicuous mark on the side of the tree.

Carrying the basket and the bedding on my back made me feel much lighter and I was able to walk much faster. It was about time for the sun to go west, and I was at the top of the mountain. When the children saw me coming back, they all ran towards me. I took the cake out of the basket and gave it to them. But there were only ten oil cakes, and I wanted to give them to Xiu Gu and the four children two each, but Xiu Gu saw that the children were rushing to eat them, and they had to eat them after eating, so she gave her two oil cakes to the eldest and the second child. Because the eldest Yuqin is eleven years old, and the second Yuxia is also nine years old, it is the time for them to grow their bodies. When the seven-year-old third Yumei saw that her two sisters had eaten one more, she wanted to ask her mother for it, so Xiu Gu asked Yuxia to break half of the oil cake and give it to Yumei.

Seeing that Xiugu hadn't eaten a single oil cake, I picked up some firewood from all around, lit it and burned it, and then took out a few sweet potatoes from the back basket and roasted them. Xiu Gu began to spread the bunk on the bed in the thatched hut so that the children could sleep on it. After eating the oil cake, the children fell asleep, so they squeezed into bed one by one and fell asleep.

When the sweet potatoes were baked, I ate one, and four more pieces for Xiugu to eat. Because she hadn't eaten all day. But Xiugu only ate two, and kept the remaining two for the children to eat. Next, we started making our beds in another thatched hut. There was no bed in this thatched hut, and Xiugu had already found some hay to spread on the ground. So we spread the blankets I had brought with us on the hay and fell asleep. ”