The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

"There was a period of time after the spring planting and before the rice harvesting, when the farm work in the fields was not so busy. The villagers would use this time to do something else. Therefore, during this period of time, there were more people who said that matchmakers were married, married relatives and daughters, went to the mountains to collect medicine, and visited relatives and friends. During this time, there was a lot of carpentry work, so I was always very busy, going out before dawn, and when I came back from dinner in the evening, it was already dark. Therefore, I miss Aunt Xiu very much, but I have never had time to see her.

That evening, as soon as I got home, my mother said to me, 'Aunt Xiu has a family, she is a rich family, and today they have come to marry, and the gifts sent alone are two large boxes, which are still pulled by ox carts. So I asked, 'What is the strange thing?' said my mother, 'I am not good enough to go with it, but I heard from your aunt that there are cloth and sheets, and good cigarettes and wine, and that there is a big bag of gold and silver ornaments and Guangyang, and I am afraid that the two old men will not be able to spend more than a decade or two of them blooming.' ’

When I heard this, it was like having someone stab me in the heart with a sharp knife. I know that Xiugu loves me, and she should be mine. However, there was nothing I could do to free her. I was so annoyed that I couldn't stay in the house, so I went for a walk by the river in front of my door.

The night was deep, and the river was flowing slowly and silently. The banks of the river are covered with grass, and on the other side of the river is the hillside, and the hillside is the Banpotou Mountain. Banpotou Mountain is very high and dangerous, before liberation, there are often people who go up the mountain to collect medicine, but after liberation, people are busy with the work in the fields and fields all day long, and few people go up the mountain to collect medicine anymore, but some people also go into the mountains to cut firewood, but they do not need to go far to cut firewood. In the past, my father and I went up the mountain to collect medicine, but there was no road in the mountain, so I followed my father from the edge of the cliff to grab wild vines and climb up the mountain. Once, my father took me to the top of the mountain, and there was a cave at the top of the mountain, and the entrance of the cave was very large, but the hole was not very deep, just enough for a family. I heard my father say that the cave was dug on the top of the mountain by people of some dynasty in order to escape the war.

Thinking like this, a thought suddenly flashed into my mind, I want to take Xiugu to the top of the mountain to be husband and wife. As soon as the thought came to me, I felt a wave of excitement. So, I waited until it was dark and sneaked into the village, slipped to her door, and knocked softly on her window. When she heard someone knocking on the window, she alertly asked, 'Who is it?' and I whispered, 'It's me, Xiugu.' She heard that it was me, and asked, 'What's the matter?' and I said, 'Urgent.' She said, 'Wait a minute.' ’

After a while, she got dressed, opened the door gently, and came out of the courtyard, and asked, 'What is the matter, so urgent?' and I said, 'Let's go to the river.' So we both walked out of the darkness toward the river, one after the other. When we came to a wooded edge by the river, we hugged each other. I said, 'I haven't seen you in a long time, and I miss you so much.' She said, 'I miss you too.'" But I'm about to get married. I said, 'I heard my mother say that today people have come to give a bride price and come to get married.' She said sadly, "The date is set, on the 20th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar after the beginning of autumn, and on the 22nd day of August of the solar calendar." ’

I counted the days, and there was still a month to go until August 22nd. I said, 'Come with me, let's elope and run away from home.'" She was stunned and asked, 'Where are we going?' I said, 'Let's go up to the mountain, and there's a cave where we live, and there's no gossip or annoying eyes, and we're free to love as much as we want.' ’

But she immediately said, 'What about the kid?' yes, and the kid. For a woman, the child is her life, even more important than her life. I thought about it for a moment and said, 'Let's take the kids with us.'" She still seemed hesitant and said, 'There is nothing on the mountain, how can we live, what do you eat?' I said, 'There are caves, there are streams, and there is land, and we can live on the mountains, cultivate the land, and be self-sufficient.' She was silent for a long time, and after a long time, she said, 'This matter needs to be reconsidered.' ’

I sent her home, and then I went home too. I was lying in bed because I couldn't sleep, so I was thinking about it all the time. In the end, I decided that I should go up to the top of the hill again to see if there were any people living there.

The next day, I carried a basket on my back, put the machete, rope, and the day's food in the basket, and went out before dawn. We crossed the river from the single-plank bridge and began to go up the hill, and after walking through a large forest of trees, there was no road up the hill. I could only rely on my memories to find my way along the edge of the cliff and among the wild grass. The mountain was steep and difficult to walk, and I climbed almost all the way up the mountain. There were some places where I couldn't even climb, so I tied an iron hook with a rope and hooked it to the tree on the mountain, hooked the tree above, and pulled the rope to climb up. After climbing a high slope, I continued to walk forward, and when I encountered a vertical high slope, I hooked the tree above with a rope, and then climbed up, and in this way, I don't know how many twists and turns along the way, and how much effort I exerted, until I finally reached the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was covered with half-man-tall wild grass, but to my surprise and surprise, there was a clearing on the top of the mountain, and there were two thatched huts in the clearing, which must have been built by people who went up the mountain to collect medicine. The thatched hut had not been built very long, one room was empty, and in the other room there was a bed made of wood with some wild grass on the bed. I think that with these two thatched huts, Xiugu and the children can live there.

I went back into the cave at the top of the mountain. There are about ten square meters in the cave, but it is very messy and dirty, and there is a lot of feces, probably because the people who collect medicine use this place as a toilet. I figured we had to clean it up and make a gate for the entrance to the cave so that it could be used as a storehouse and a spare house.

Out of the cave, I stood on the top of the hill and looked around, looking around to see where I could open up land for farming and where I could open up roads. After a while, I came to the stream that flowed down from the top of the mountain. I wanted to know where the stream came from and how it came about, so that I could judge whether it could flow uninterrupted all year round. I followed the water of the mountain spring to the edge of a cliff, and when I saw the mountain spring, I flowed over the edge of the cliff, but I could not see the spring of the mountain spring.

I sat down on the edge of the mountain spring and stream, took out a bag of rice and ate it from my back basket. This rice pot is made from a small kang when making rice. After the rice is shoveled, a layer of rice will be left under the iron pot. This pot is crispy and hard, and it also does not spoil easily. Therefore, people in the mountains often use it as dry food. After eating the pot, I came to the mountain spring stream, picked up some clear spring with my hand and drank two sips.

By this time, the sun had passed overhead, and it was time to rush back. I estimated that it took about five hours to walk from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and the whole journey was about 20 miles. If you take a normal road, you only need to walk for two or three hours on a twenty-mile road, but it takes a lot of time to walk this mountain road. However, I guess the way down the hill might go a little faster.

I trotted all the way down the hill, but when I got to the steeper and more dangerous places, I still had to be very careful. Fortunately, there are some vines on the side of the road, and you can grab the vines and slide down the slope or cliff, so it is relatively fast to go down the mountain. In the afternoon, when the sun was about to set, I went back home.

In the evening, Xiugu and I went on a date by the woods by the river, and I told her all about the way up the mountain, but she still seemed very hesitant, because there was no food, no bedding, no pots, no beds, nothing, and the road was far away, the road was steep, and it would take a whole day to go back and forth. I told her that as long as we went up to the mountain, everything would come slowly. Because those two thatched huts show that someone has already lived on the top of the mountain, and it is not a short time. Listening to my words, Xiu Gu still couldn't make up her mind, and said that she still had to think about it again.

Xiugu's indecision made me feel very disappointed, but I knew that she was afraid to go up the mountain, because she had never been up the mountain, and imagined life in the mountain to be very hard and terrible, but she did love me with all her heart. Thinking about it like this, I feel like I still have hope.

The days to come are like a day, and I don't think it's time for Aunt Xiu to marry again. There are rumors everywhere in the village that Xiu Gu married a dry old man, and it is also said that her in-laws received a lot of bride price. A few days before the day of marriage, Sun Youliang came to Wu's house in an ox cart, discussed with the Wu family about welcoming his relatives, and had lunch at Wu's house. I wasn't at home that day, and I heard the news from my mom later.

That night, when I was walking back along the field path after finishing my work from the village, I suddenly saw a man standing on the path at night. But from the clear moonlight, I felt that it was a woman. Before I could see who it was, the man suddenly rushed towards me, picked me up and started crying. I said, 'Aunt Xiu, what's the matter?' she cried, 'that guy surnamed Sun is here again today, and in a few days I'll be getting married, and I'll never see you again.' ’

I said, 'Why don't I take you up the mountain?' and let them fly so that none of them knows.'" But she asked, 'What about the boy?' and I said, 'Take it with you.' She listened and nodded vigorously. I said, 'You have everything you need to take with you, keep the kids at home and wait, and I'll come to your house tomorrow night after dark and take you up the mountain.' She stopped crying and said, 'Then I'll wait for you.' ’