The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

I've been on this mountain for several days, and tomorrow is the last day of the Golden Week, so I have to go down the mountain early tomorrow morning, rush to Zhongshan Town in the afternoon, and take the shuttle bus to Chongqing. In the evening, you can go back home. This way I can go to work early the next morning. Actually, I would love to stay on this mountain for a few more days so that I can learn more about the love story of Uncle Liu and Aunt Xu. However, my mobile phone was out of battery, and there was no signal on this mountain, so I couldn't ask the unit leader for leave. If I don't get home tomorrow night, my wife and daughter will be very upset, because they will know that I am out on an expedition, and that if they don't hear from me, they will think that something might happen to me. Also, if I didn't show up in the office during work hours, the leaders and colleagues of the unit would call me and ask about it. So, I can't stay here any longer. But I'm sure I'll come back in the future, maybe with my wife and daughter, and let them experience this love ladder and listen to this love story.

I heard that I was going down the mountain tomorrow, and in the morning, Uncle Liu woke me up from my sleep at four o'clock, and then took me along a path covered by wild grass into the dense forest, and walked in the dense forest for about twenty minutes until I came to a rock on the edge of the mountain forest. This is the easternmost point of the summit of Banpotou. At the bottom of the mountain is a bottomless deep cliff, and on the opposite side is the mountain and sea that stretches to the horizon. But at this time, because the sky was still very dark, the deep cliffs and mountains and seas were still dark as far as the eye could see. None of us said a word, just sat on the edge of the cliff and looked out into the darkness of the east.

The wind is calm and the trees are quiet, as if only the silence of the night can be heard. After a while, there was a glimmer of light at the end of the sky, allowing people to see the outline of the mountains on the horizon. Gradually, a faint red light appeared in the darkness of the sky, like a very thin dark red ribbon. However, the ribbon slowly widened and deepened, turning into a dark red glow. As the glow slowly expanded into a large patch, a red sun emerged from the darkness, began to vibrate and leap upwards, and quickly jumped out of the dark clouds, and then continued to leap towards the sky. This process lasted for about a few minutes, and did not stop until the red sun leapt into the sky. At this time, the east is already a piece of fish belly white, and the sky under the white fish belly is already bright.

When the sun slowly rose and the light shone on the deep mountains and valleys in front of us, I realized that the sky had begun to brighten. I stood at the edge of the canyon, greedily admiring the endless morning scenery in front of me. After a while, the morning mist in the mountain stream began to rise, spreading in all directions. The wind blew from a great distance, blowing the mist in all directions. The mountains and peaks and waves also began to be vaguely confused, giving people a sense of mystery. Originally, the scenery in this mountain will not change, but the clouds and mountain wind can make the scenery in this mountain sometimes clear, sometimes confused, sometimes full of golden light, sometimes full of desolation. Because of the different weather and temperatures, every day in this mountain will be different, and sometimes it will be different from time to hour.

After watching the sunrise in Higashiyama, we walked back while looking at the scenery. Back in the house, after breakfast, Uncle Liu asked me to sit in the house, and he hurried out by himself. Aunt Xu, on the other hand, was making straw sandals out of a bench and some thatch. I asked Aunt Xu, "It's also very convenient to buy shoes now, why do you want to make these straw sandals yourself?" Aunt Xu said, "These straw shoes are light and easy to wear, and they don't cost money." When it rains and when it goes down, it is convenient to wear these straw sandals. If it is worn out, it is not wasted. ”

I watched Aunt Xu playing straw sandals and asked, "When did Uncle Liu repair this road down the mountain?" Aunt Xu stopped what she was doing, thought for a while, and said, "It was a few years ago." However, although the road was repaired, he still tinkered with the mountain road from time to time. Anyway, when he arrives at the farm, he can't be idle, and he always has to walk around the road and tinker. I said, "I heard Uncle Liu say that he has been building this road for nearly 50 years. Aunt Xu said, "We have been on the mountain since 1955, and it has been almost 50 years now. He has been building roads all these years, and he has never stopped. ”

I said, "What is the difference between you walking on the road of his cultivation?" Aunt Xu smiled and said, "Of course it's different, every step we take, every stone step we go up, is the young man spent a lot of effort to cultivate." He built it for me and for his children. ”

Speaking of which, Aunt Xu talked about her love story with Uncle Liu again.

Aunt Xu said, "Time flies so fast." Within a few years, I gave birth to four children in a row. After a few more years, we sent our children to school at the bottom of the mountain and let the parents help raise them. By the time we were in our 50s, our parents had passed away and our daughters had married. A few years ago, the young man said that he had repaired the path, and that the dangerous places were paved with stone steps, and that he wanted me to go down the mountain and take a look. It just so happened that Liu San got married and became a son-in-law for others, and lived at the foot of this mountain. Liu San's name is Liu Mingsheng, and he is the third son born to me and the young man. When the other children got married, I didn't go down the mountain, I was afraid of seeing people. Now that the road has been repaired and my son is married again, it is a double happiness, and the young man will take me down the mountain to see Liu San's daughter-in-law and their home.

I think I should have gone down down and had a look. I haven't been down a few times since I was 29 years old, and now I'm in my 70s, and we don't know how long it took for my dad and mom to pass away, and the young man came back down and told me. Thinking that my parents raised me so big, I really wanted to go and burn a piece of paper for them, but I never went down the mountain. This time, I should have gone down the mountain to take a look, and I heard the young man say that the changes under the mountain have changed a lot, and it is completely different from the past, and that many families in the village have built buildings. But I'm not interested in the changes under the mountain, I just want to see Liu San's daughter-in-law and their home.