My Girlfriend Catherine (novel) Zhang Baotong 2016.3.21

7. A trip to the North Mountain

In the morning, I had just returned from a run with Catherine from a run by the river when I saw my mom and dad talking to my cousin. When we came back, my cousin showed me several drawings for Catherine and I. These are some renderings of the bathroom.

My cousin said, "You can choose which one is better, and after the New Year, we will come and start the work." ”

It turned out that my mom was going to make a bathroom in my room. Because I told my mom that Catherine had a habit of bathing every day, and she wasn't used to squatting and urinating. But I didn't expect my mother to fix the bathroom for us so soon.

Catherine and I went through all the drawings, and in the end we both chose the one that was simpler, but looked pretty good. Then Catherine asked her cousin, "How much does this cost?"

My cousin said, "About 20,000." ”

Catherine said, "Isn't it too much?"

My cousin laughed and said, "I know you're going to bargain." But you can rest assured. We are all relatives, and I don't earn a penny except for wages and materials, but only to help. ”

When Catherine heard this, she immediately said, "Thank you then." ”

My cousin said, "You can be my cousin's sister-in-law, and you will be my brother-in-law in the future." We are all family, so we don't have to be so polite. ”

At this time, Catherine said to my mother, "Mom, we'll pay for it." "Of course, we still have to pay Catherine, because I don't have any money.

But before my mother could speak, my cousin said, "If you don't give them a house or a car, let them save hundreds of thousands of dollars and 20,000 yuan at once, and if you don't let them out, where will you let them put their face?"

Hearing this, I took Catherine's hand and said, "We don't care about this, let's go, let's go to dinner, and I'll take you to Beishan in a while." However, when I got to the door, I suddenly remembered that Catherine usually used the kind of electric bather, and did not use a gas-burning water heater, so I said to my cousin, "You should buy the electric water heater, and you must buy a better quality." ”

My cousin said, "I see." ”

After eating, I took Catherine to North Mountain.

Beishan is the deep area of the mountain behind our home, and the border with Linxian County, there are seven or eight miles of road. The trail is deserted, the mountains are covered with pine forests, and the mountains are a winter scene.

Hand in hand, we walked on a rough path like two cheerful orioles. Passing by a dense pine forest, I said to Catherine, "In March and April, there are many white and pure mushrooms like little umbrellas that grow in the forest, which are picked and dried and stewed with chicken, which are very delicious." ”

Catherine lamented, "But, by that time we were too busy to come here." ”

After following the path over several mountains, you will come to the North Mountain. This is a high mountain range, there is a large body of water between the mountains, surrounded by mountains, we call it Yunling Reservoir, in fact, it is more like a lake.

Standing on the top of Yunling, I pointed to the mountains and rivers in front of me and said to Catherine, "The scenery here is different in spring, summer, autumn and winter, but the most beautiful is spring." Especially in April, the rain is continuous, and the mist clouds that fill the lake are very spectacular. When the fog clears, you can see red rhododendrons all over the mountain. The bright red of the luxuriant tide was like a blazing flame, as if it had burned the mountains in front of me. ”

Listening to my story, Catherine was fascinated and excited, and said to me, "It's so beautiful! ”

I said, "Of course, when I was in my second year of junior high school, I went to my aunt's house with my mother and passed by here, and it's been more than ten years now." ”

We went down from the top of the hill to the lake. The lake is surrounded on three sides by steep slopes of mountains, and only on the east side is a gentle strip. During the rainy season, when the water rises, it becomes flooded, and in the summer, when the rain decreases, it is exposed. So, it's overgrown with rushes.

The lake is full of water vapor, the air is clear, quiet and windless, the scenery is clear and remote, full of artistic conception of the world. It reminds me of a description by Henry David Thoreau in Walden: A lake is the most beautiful and expressive form of a landscape. It is the eye of the earth, and he who looks at it can measure the depth of his own nature. So, I recited, "The best qualities of our nature, like the frost on the fruit, can only be preserved if we treat them with the utmost care." However, we lack such gentleness in our dealings with ourselves and with each other. ”

Catherine said, "This is a famous quote from Thoreau." So she echoed me with a quote from Walden, "As I enjoy the love of the four seasons, I believe that nothing can make life a heavy burden for me." ”

I said, "When we retire, we'll build a log cabin by this lake, and live and think like Thoreau." ”

Catherine said, "Every day I sit at the door in the sun, from sunrise until noon, among the pines, hickory trees, and cochinese trees, in the silence and stillness of undisturbed silence, in contemplation." ”

After saying that, we both laughed proudly, like two immortals who have been outside the world, idling in the carefree of dreams.

From the lake back to the top of the hill, because the slope was steep and slippery, I took Catherine's hand, and did not dare to be careless for fear that she would not walk well and slip or fall.

Back on the trail, we started walking back. At this point, Catherine said to me, "I've called my mom and said we're getting married. ”

I asked, "What did your mother say?"

"My mom said she'd be coming to Xi'an from Los Angeles next week. "Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and we will return to Xi'an on the third day of the Lunar New Year as soon as we finish the New Year. Actually, I went back and said that it was fine, but Catherine was busy substitute and teach others.

I asked, "What should I do when I see your mother?"

Catherine looked at me and said, "You're going to propose to me in front of my mother." ”

I said, "That's nature." ”

Catherine asked, "Do you know how to propose?"

I'm a graduate student in English literature, and of course I know that, and I said, "I'll buy you a red rose, and I'll give it to you, and say, 'Dear Catherine, marry me?"

Catherine said, "Not exactly, you are going to put on a suit and tie and take a ring, and you will get down on one leg in front of my mother, and say to me solemnly, 'Dear Catherine, marry me?"

I asked, "Which finger should I wear the ring on?" ”

Catherine said sarcastically, "My graduate student in English literature, don't you know this yet?"

I blushed a little and said, "I've only seen these things in books, but I haven't practiced them, so I really don't know which finger to wear them on." Because it seems that the middle, index and ring fingers can be worn. ”

Catherine said, "According to the Western tradition, the left hand signifies that God has given you luck, and it is connected to the heart, so the ring should be worn on the left hand." Worn on the index finger means that you are unmarried or want to get married, worn on the middle finger means that you are in love, worn on the ring finger means that you are engaged or married, and worn on the little finger means that you are still single. ”

I said, "Then I should wear it on your index finger to show that I want to get married?"

Catherine said, "Remember, don't put it on me wrong." ”

I said, "If I'm mistaken, you stick the right finger out." I can't be mistaken. ”

But Catherine said, "That's a very strict thing, you must not make a mistake in front of my mother, then I will be too shameless." So, you're going to rehearse it now for me to see. ”

I said, "Okay. So, I straightened my clothes, got down on one leg, looked at her, and said, "Honey, will you marry me?"

Catherine smiled at me and said, "Honey, I do." ”

So, I put a straw ring on her index finger. I said, "How?"

She said, "Good. ”

I smiled and said, "I didn't expect that it would be much easier to marry a foreign daughter-in-law than to marry a Chinese daughter-in-law." ”

Catherine gave me a blank look and said, "Not necessarily. ”

I said, "Why? Isn't that so?"

Catherine said, "That's because I love you, and if I didn't love you, I wouldn't marry you even if you had a building." ”

At this time, thin snowflakes began to float in the air, and the snowflakes were so thin that they could not be seen at first, they could only be felt, but when the snowflakes became denser and denser, people realized that the sky had begun to snow. Moreover, in the distance, there was a dense sound of firecrackers in the sky. From the dense sound of firecrackers, you can clearly feel that the New Year is approaching. I wonder how many days the lower children are in a hurry to get on the road, because in a few hours there will be Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.

Then I suddenly remembered Catherine's mother, how sad she must have been when she saw that her daughter was going to stay in China, so I said apologetically, "My mother was always afraid that you would take me to the United States, but your mother was able to put you in China." ”

"However, I still have my sister Elizabeth, and fortunately she is not far from my parents. ”

I said, "But every child is a parent's heart." ”

Catherine seemed to have tears in her eyes and said, "But there is no way, who told me to fall in love with a Chinese man?"

This reminds me of a saying that the Chinese often say: the little white rabbit has a long tail, and he forgets his mother when he marries his daughter-in-law. However, when you say this, do people appreciate how much sacrifice the girl's parents made because they gave their daughter to your family?