The Ladder of Love (Novella) Zhang Baotong

At noon that day, I came home and my parents and younger siblings were having dinner and saw me come home like Hanako. They were all taken aback. My dad immediately said, 'How did you do this?' like Hanako. But my mother wept bitterly, and she didn't let my father talk about me, so she asked me, 'Where have you been these days?' Why haven't you heard anything for two months?' I didn't want to say, so I lowered my head. Seeing that I wouldn't speak, my mother asked, 'Are Aunt Xiu and the children okay?' and I said, 'It's okay.' My dad was annoyed and said, 'What a fart, look at you like this, can they be okay?' I've already thought about it, I'm a dead pig anyway, I'm not afraid of boiling water, whatever they say.

My sister brought me a bowl of rice, and my mother immediately scrambled two eggs for me. My fifteen-year-old brother was also looking at me with a silent gaze. This made me feel very ashamed, because my parents raised me, but I couldn't do my filial piety for them, but caused them so much trouble. After eating, my mother stuffed me with 20 yuan. I resolutely refused to ask for it. My father said to my mother, 'What is the use of the money you give him, there are no people in the mountains, where can I buy things?' and then he said to me, 'Take what you need in the house, and let your mother buy what you don't have.' ’

I took the wild walnuts and wood pulp powder I had brought from the mountain out of the basket and placed them on the table. Immediately he said, 'If you have a hard time, don't take anything from the mountains into the house.' I said, 'These are wild things, I can't finish them, so I'll bring you some of them.' My mother said to me aggrievedly, 'The Wu family said that you took Xiugu and the children away, and they hated it so much, and when they saw me and your father, they gritted their teeth with hatred and scolded the children we taught for abducting their daughters-in-law. None of the people in the village looked at us squarely. And he said, 'Don't say these things, let them say whatever they want.' Hearing this, I couldn't get rid of it.

I filled a basket full of corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, and used some for seeds, as well as vegetables and grain. To dig and plant in the mountains, you need a rake and a hoe. I took the hoe and the rake and looked at my father, because there was only one of these farm tools in the house, and if I took them, the family would be gone, and the family would not have much money. However, my father said, 'Take it and take it, everything that is lacking in the house will be easy to do, and we can buy it again immediately if we don't have it.' Mom said, 'As long as you and the children are okay, we'll be relieved.'" I put all the things I needed on the mountain into a basket, and what could not be put in the basket was tied together with rope so that I could carry it in my hand. Then I picked up another bag and went to the house where the grain was stacked, and filled the bag full of grain.

When I was about to leave home, my brother borrowed a large piece of bacon from someone else's house, put it in my basket, and then took the grain from my shoulder, carried it on his own shoulder, and said to me as he gave it to me, 'Brother, Changle Village has opened a school, and your children should go to school too.' I was stunned for a moment, and as I walked, I thought, what should we do! Xiugu and I can stay in the mountains, but the children can't stay in the mountains, and they will have to start a family in the future, especially in the new society, and they can't do without culture. So I asked my brother, 'How did you go to school?' because I had only been in school for two years and I didn't know anything about the new school. My brother said, 'There is a central primary school in Zhongshan Town with six grades, you should know that. It's just that the primary school in Changle Village only has first, second, and third grades. I asked, 'Yuqin is eleven years old and can still go to school?' and the younger brother said, 'It's nothing, there are still twelve-year-old girls in the village who are only in the first grade.' I asked, 'When does school start?' and my brother said, 'The first year students start recruiting students in the spring after the new year.' I said, 'Got it.'" My brother sent me all the way down the hill across the river before breaking up with me.

When we broke up, I said to him, 'I can't take care of my parents anymore in this life, so you have to worry about it more.'" When the younger brother heard this, he said, 'Are you really going to stay at the top of the mountain for the rest of your life?' and I didn't know what to say, so I nodded. But the younger brother said, 'It's been so long, people have forgotten about it, no, you can stay in the mountains for another half a year and a year, and come back.' Anyway, Aunt Xiu and the children have become our family, and his Wu family can't help you. I said, 'I'm nothing, it's just that Xiugu is a woman's family, and she has a thin face, and she can't listen to other people's gossip or look at other people's contempt.' The younger brother said, 'The flow of time will wash everything away, and in another half a year and a year, I am afraid that no one will remember it.' Besides, everyone else has a long mouth, and they just let them say it, and there are a lot of things about you. I thought about it and said, 'I'll talk about it then.'" ’

After breaking up with my brother, I went all the way up the mountain, but the words of my parents and younger siblings kept ringing in my ears, which made me feel extremely relieved. Originally, I was afraid to go home, fearing that my parents would be very angry when they saw me, and would scold me harshly and even kick me out of the house. However, I didn't expect my parents to be so good to me, and everything was for my sake. And my brother and sister didn't blame me in the slightest, which made me very grateful and touched. As I thought about it, tears welled up in my eyes. I don't know what else I can do for my parents. Moreover, to my surprise, my mother and younger brother both mentioned Aunt Xiu and the children, and it is clear that they have regarded Aunt Xiu and the children as our family. And this is what I used to worry about the most, because my father and mother firmly disagreed with me marrying Xiugu, saying that she was a widow with four children, ten years older than me, and a woman who was a widow.

I really wanted to tell Xiugu all about this, so I walked fast along the way. Even though I carried so many things on me, because I felt warm in my heart, I felt that I had inexhaustible strength in my body. Walking through a dense forest, and about to reach the last ladder, I saw a man standing on the cliff above the ladder, looking this way. I know it's Xiugu greeting me. So, I sang "Seventeen Wanglang" loudly, "I got up early in the morning to go to Wanglang, and my lang was sick and slept on the gums......

When Xiu Gu heard the singing, she shouted at me, 'Young man. I replied, 'Old mother.' And she cried out, 'Young man. I replied, 'Mommy.' By this time, I had come to the cliff. She dropped a rope, and I tied the bag and basket to the rope and hung it one by one. Then, with my bare hands, I pulled the vine next to me and climbed upward.

When I got up to the cliff, she patted the dust off my body, and I took her in my arms and kissed her, saying, 'Miss me.' She smiled and said, 'I missed me before I left all day, I don't believe it.' I pointed to the heart and said, 'If you don't believe me, listen here.' She really leaned on my heart and listened, and said, 'I believe it.'" ’

She picked up the basket on her back, and I carried the grain, carrying the farming tools, and began to walk towards the top of the mountain. As she walked, she asked, 'Are our parents okay?' and the first time I heard her talk like that, I happily said to her, 'Our parents care about you and the children.' She looked very happy and asked, 'What did they say?' and I said, 'My mother asked you how you were doing with the children? Xiu Gu was so happy that tears flowed from her eyes, and she said, 'We will be kind to them in the future.' As he spoke, we held hands and sang as we walked, "I got up early in the morning to go to Wanglang, my Lang was sick and slept on the gum, and I went to Wanglang with my left hand, and I didn't taste Lang Lang with my right hand, and I asked Lang Lang what he wanted to eat, and Lang agreed: I don't want any delicious food, I just want to shake hands until dawn." ’

In the evening, when we slept together, I told her about my home. When she talked about her children's schooling, she began to worry again, because she didn't know whether to put her children in Wu's house or in my house. I said, 'Of course it should be placed in our family, you are our daughter-in-law, and the child will naturally be our family's child.' Why should our children be placed in other people's homes?' said Xiugu, "but the children are all surnamed Wu." I said, 'The surname Wu is the surname Wu, but they are still our children.' When Xiu Gu heard this, she leaned her face against my chest and said, "As long as it is placed in your house, I will be relieved, I am just afraid that my in-laws will make trouble." I said, 'It's no use for them to make trouble, you're already part of our family anyway.' But Xiu Gu said, "But we are not married yet." I said, 'They slept together all day, and they didn't care if they were married or not.' Now no one in the village knows where we have gone, so they don't care if we get married or not. Xiu Gu said, "Anyway, I and the child are handed over to you." ’”