The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

Half a month later, I had just come out of the house that morning with tools on my back, and I was going to work for others in other villages, when I met Aunt Xiu. She stood in front of my house, and when she saw me, she handed me a handful of money and said, 'Jiang Yanzi, this is your salary.' I pushed her hand away and said, 'What is the wage?' and she said, 'You pay for our coffin.' I said, 'I don't want the money.'" She asked, 'Why not?' and I said, 'Your house has just died, and you are so pitiful, and I heard that you owe a debt to someone else.' She said, 'Then you can't go without pay.' I said, 'I really don't want it, or I should pay you back, you touched my teeth in the past.' Aunt Xiu was puzzled and said, 'When have I touched your teeth?' I said, 'You have forgotten, you have just entered our village in a big sedan chair, and my aunt hugged me and asked you to touch my teeth.' You touched my teeth, and then my front teeth came out. With that, I opened my mouth and pointed to my front teeth for her to see. She smiled and said, 'I remember, you bit my hand at the time.' I laughed and said, 'All right, you don't have to give this money.' With that, I walked away quickly.

After the man's death, Xiugu's life changed completely, and there were rumors everywhere in the village that she had a mole on the corner of her mouth, which was a Kefu mole. It is also said that a woman with this kind of mole looks bright and bright, it is a peach blossom life, this kind of woman is a flower, and there are many men who like her, and they often get into the affair between men and women, bringing bad luck and bad luck to their husbands. Therefore, the in-laws blamed the cause of her son's death on her, not only did not help her take care of the family and the child, but also disliked her. Xiugu is alone with four children, and she has to work in the fields all day. In order to make ends meet, she worked in the fields during the day, and at night she knitted straw sandals and sold them for money, and a pair of straw sandals could only be sold for 5 cents. Sometimes the pot could not be opened at home, so she carried her children to the mountains to collect charcoal (a wild mushroom), and often she could not even afford 3 cents a pound of coarse salt.

When I heard these rumors, I was very sad and always wanted to help her. However, I didn't dare, because I was afraid that others would gossip and tell jokes. One afternoon, when it was almost dark, I had just returned from work outside and was eating at home when I heard someone shouting for help by the river in front of my door. I hurriedly rushed out of the house and ran to the river, where I saw Xiugu struggling in the river, with her one-year-old son behind her. She was carrying water when she accidentally slipped off a stone slab into the river. I jumped into the river and swam towards her. I swam up to her and held out my hand to her, and she took my hand. I took her to the river, picked her up and put her on the stone steps that stretched out in the middle of the river, and then I went ashore. That's when I could clearly see that there was indeed a mole on the corner of her mouth. However, I think that she has this mole, not only is it not disgusting, but I also think that it makes her look more beautiful and cute.

Because her bucket had been washed away by the river, I went home and changed my clothes, and used my bucket to carry a load of water to her house. By this time she had changed her clothes and sat under the oil lamp and wept. When she saw me carrying water, she wiped her tears and came to pick me up, but I didn't let her do it, and poured two buckets of water into her water tank.

She walked up to me, smiled sadly at me, and said, 'Jiang Yanzi, I really want to thank you, you saved me and the baby's lives, and helped me carry water, which really made me feel sorry. I said, 'Folks, don't be so polite.' In the future, if you need help, just tell me. When she had finished speaking, I threw the pole and the two buckets at her house, because her buckets were gone, and the water was a problem, and she was afraid that she would not have the money to buy another bucket. When she saw that I had dropped the bucket, she shouted for me to take it away, but I said, 'We have a lot of buckets, so I'll leave this bucket for you.'" ’

People have feelings, and the more you care about someone, the more you have feelings for her. The more the two get in touch, the deeper the relationship will become. Ever since Xiu Gu fell into the river while carrying water, I was worried that she would fall into the river again. Because the stone steps stretched out in the river have been polished smooth and smooth, and the stone steps are still at a certain height from the water surface, they must squat down and press the bucket in the water to fill the water when drawing water, and the bucket full of water can be lifted up from the water without a certain amount of strength. Therefore, it is men who come to the river to carry water. But Aunt Xiu's family had no man, so she had to carry the water herself. But she is a woman, and she carries a child on her back, so it is inconvenient and dangerous to do such work. So, every night, as soon as I finished eating, I went to her house to help her carry water.

Once, as soon as I came to the river with a bucket, I saw several men standing by the river, smoking cigarettes and telling jokes. As soon as I got closer, they looked at me and dispersed. I asked them what they were talking about. They just smiled and didn't answer. When everyone else left, Uncle Gao said to me, 'Jiang Yanzi, don't be too stupid, the people in the village are talking about you. I was stunned and asked, 'What are you saying about me?' Uncle Gao said, 'You are in love with the daughter-in-law of the Wu family.' I said, 'It's nothing, I just look at her pitiful.' If it weren't for the fact that my house was close to the river, and hearing her shouts, she and the baby would have died, so I wanted to help her. Uncle Gao said, "Men help women, and when they help, they help together." You have to be careful!'

Later, I noticed that as soon as I walked through the village, some people pointed and poked at me, and some people greeted me sneeringly, saying, 'Jiang Yanzi, I heard that you have found an old mother and brought you four babies, so you will be happy.' When I heard that, I got irritated and said, 'What's the matter with you, what the hell is going on with you?'

That night, after I helped Aunt Xiu's family carry water, I saw Aunt Xiu sitting in the yard and cooking rice. Rice is to remove the bran of the millet, and this kind of work is as common as carrying water. However, this work is more troublesome and tiring than carrying water, and it is not a woman's work at all. However, Xiu Gu put the millet into a big stone nest, and held up the stone mallet with both hands to smash the millet, which seemed very difficult. So, without saying anything, I snatched the mallet from her hand and helped her to carry the rice. Soon, however, my mother came and called me home. As soon as I saw my mother's face, I knew that she had come to call me for a good time. Sure enough, as soon as I entered the house, my father raised a broom and threw it at my head. I put my arm over my head, and then, snatching the broom from his hand, threw it out the door.

When my father saw that he couldn't beat me, he pointed at me angrily and scolded, 'Are you afraid that you are crazy or dizzy, and at a young age, you are not ashamed to go into other people's widows' houses all day long. Didn't you hear the whole village laughing at you behind your back? I got irritated and said, 'I don't need a hair from their jokes.'" ’

My mother dragged me into their house and persuaded me, saying, 'Aunt Xiu is ten years older than you, she can be your old mother, and besides, she has a face like a husband, no matter how beautiful she is, this kind of person can't marry her wife, or the light one will be ruined, and the heavy one will be ruined, and if you don't see her, the man will let her die.' I didn't believe it, and said, 'It's just that she blames her for not having that life, and she got sick and died, how can you blame Xiugu? It's that she is ten years older than me, but I don't think so." ’

My mother said to me with a sad face, 'My little ancestor, you don't want to go to Aunt Xiu's house again, you let the people in the village gossip and don't say anything, even your father and I feel shameless.' You just listen to the adults, and I'll go to the matchmaker tomorrow and tell you a young and beautiful girl. I said, 'I'm seventeen or eighteen years old, I'm an adult, and I know what to do.' With that, he ran out of the house, wanting to help Xiu Gu with rice again. However, when I came to Aunt Xiu's house again, the door of her house was closed.

For several days, I came to carry water for Aunt Xiu's house in the evening, but the door of her house was closed and I couldn't knock on it, and every time I came to Aunt Xiu's house, I would attract some people to gather around to watch jokes and gossip. That afternoon, I came to Aunt Xiu's house again and knocked on the door. The door opened, but it was not Xiugu who came out, but Xiugu's mother-in-law, who stuck her head out of the house, glared at me coldly, and said, 'Why do you always come to seduce my Xiugu, you young man, do you have to make her reputation stink?'

I felt that I had never been so embarrassed, so I left the front of Aunt Xiu's house and walked towards my house. I met Aunt Xiu at the village market, and was about to ask her why she was avoiding me, but before I could speak, she said to me, 'Don't come to my house again, there are many rights and wrongs in front of the widow's door.' With that, he left in a hurry.

I know that Aunt Xiu doesn't like me, but she can't stop other people's gossip, not to mention that she is a widowed woman, so now her mother-in-law has come forward to stop her. So, I didn't feel like I needed to go on like this. After that, I never went to her house again. ”