The Woman in the Mountains (novella) Zhang Baotong

I saw the young and beautiful girl from Qiao Ling's neighborhood again. She was drying her clothes in front of the door, wearing a plain red gown, which was very refreshing and durable. This kind of red and green clothes can't be seen at all in the city, but in the clear mountains and green grass in the mountains and countryside, the Tao makes people feel fresh and bright, which is very attractive. In fact, a young girl is an alluring landscape in itself, and no matter what she wears, she will be beautiful.

She's really beautiful, and her gestures are very charming. I think if she were in the city, there would be a lot of capable men chasing after her. However, in this mountain, she can't see her true value at all. I feel sorry for her.

At this time, I also saw her brother-in-law, her brother-in-law must be the kind of man who is very good at enjoying himself, wearing a clean new shirt, casual trousers, and neatly trimmed hair, not at all like a farmer who wants to work in the field, like the son of a rich family. Therefore, he was much younger than his daughter-in-law, who was suffering in the field.

But Qiaoling said to me, "Don't look at him dressed like a boy, if anyone provokes him, he dares to fight with you with a knife." Therefore, no one in the village went to provoke him. I said, "He doesn't go out or go to the city to work?" Qiao Ling said, "It's not that I can't do without his sister-in-law." Afraid that if he wasn't there, others would abduct her. I said, "This girl will always leave him to marry, because they are not legally married." Qiao Ling said, "Just because he is too fierce, like a bully, no one dares to introduce this girl to someone." The year before last, before someone said that he wanted to match the girl, he ran to the door with an axe and scolded his mother, so scared that they didn't dare to open the door. ”

Qiao Ling's second sister-in-law came back from the field with a hoe, and when she passed by the door, she saw Qiao Ling talking to me, so she said, "The walnut collector is here, in front of Ning Wa's house." Qiao Ling said to me, "I'll go and call the walnut beater to come over and sell him the walnuts from my tree." So, I followed Qiao Ling to the door of a house, and I saw two young men in their twenties beating walnuts on a tree with two long bamboo poles. A guy went up to the tree, and a guy stood under the tree. The walnuts fell from the trees one by one and rolled everywhere.

Qiao Ling shouted to the young man under the tree, "Shoot walnuts." The young man put down the bamboo pole and walked in front of Qiao Ling. Qiao Ling said, "How much are the walnuts in my walnut tree worth?" and the young man said, "Let me see your walnut tree." Qiao Ling took him to a big tree not far away and said, "This is my walnut tree." "When I saw that the tree was very large, it took two people to hold the trunk alone, and it was at least 20 meters high, and the leaves and fruits were very dense. This is the largest walnut tree I've ever seen. The walnuts on this tree can sell for hundreds of dollars, to say the least.

The young man looked up at the tree and said, "Ten dollars." Qiao Ling said, "Ten yuan is ten yuan." So, the young man took out ten yuan from his pocket and gave it to Qiao Ling. After leaving the young man, I said to Qiao Ling, "Ten yuan is too much of a loss, if you beat down the walnuts yourself and sell them again, you can sell them for at least more than 100 yuan." But Qiaoling said, "What are you doing with that effort?"

When I walked by the cornfield, I saw that it was the corn ripening season, and the women in the village almost all got up early and spent the whole day in the field. However, Qiao Ling was leisurely and did not go to the ground. So, I asked Qiaoling, "What do you grow on your land?" she said, "You also grow corn." As she spoke, she pointed to a few hillsides and said, "There are two acres of corn on this side, and on the opposite hill there are four acres of self-carved wasteland, which are also planted with corn." I said, "Your family has so much land, why don't you work in the fields?" Qiao Ling said, "I grew up in the town since I was a child, and I have never been in the fields, and I have no interest in working in the fields." I said, "Then who does the work in your field?" Qiao Ling said, "He does it." I said, "Then you're not working?" she said, "and I sometimes run a shop in town and make clothes for other people." Then she added, "Don't look at the fact that the people in this field are busy all day long, but they don't make any money at all." You see, my second sister-in-law is only two years older than me, and she looks like she is forty years old. And the girl's sister, who is only three years older than me, do you think she is like an old woman? Such a woman is the most stupid and stupid, she has exhausted herself to death in her adult life, and she has grown old and made herself like a slave within a few years of marriage, and others look down on her, and her husband does not love or love, what do you say they mean in life?" I said, "You have a point in saying this, but what can they do if they don't do this? Qiao Ling said, "So, I won't be such a woman." I'm going to take my destiny into my own hands. I can do whatever I want. Even if I go out to beg, I don't live like this. ”

After breakfast, it was almost ten o'clock, Qiao Ling had just changed her clothes and was about to take me to see the scenery on the mountain beam that I passed by yesterday, but her cousin came with her child. Her cousin's name is Caiyun, she is quite tall, tall**, with a big ass, and her appearance is reasonable, but she looks a little old-fashioned. She was dressed in shabby clothes. There are two patches on the cuffs of the blouse and several patches on the knees of the pants. I just remember wearing patched clothes when I was a kid, but, twenty or thirty years later, I haven't seen anyone wear patched clothes for a long time. So, seeing someone still wearing clothes with patches reminds me of the poverty of my family when I was a child. There were a lot of people wearing clothes with patches at that time. But now, wearing clothes with patches is really uncomfortable to look at, not only embarrassing yourself, but also making others disrespectful to you.

She has three children, all girls. The eldest is six years old, the second is four years old, and the third is only two years old, still holding in her arms. In the city, the girl was always the treasure of the family, dressed up in fancy fashion and pampered, but her three girls were scruffier than the other, their clothes were torn and dirty, and they had runny noses, as if they had just been picked up from the garbage heap.