The Woman in the Mountains (novella) Zhang Baotong

She quickly walked up to me, still smiling at me. I stopped in front of her and shouted mischievously, "Where's the woman, leave the money for the road." Far from being afraid, she laughed out loud and replied, "If you don't want money, you have a life." I laughed too, and said, "Then don't blame me for taking you to the cottage to be the lady of the village." She said, "Well, I just don't want to stay at home and suffocate me." ”

Seeing that she was not frightened, I smiled and said, "You are so bold, walking alone in this deep mountain ravine, and you are not afraid that the bad guys will rob you?" She said, "I have not walked back and forth in this deep mountain ravine several times a month, when have I met bad people." I said, "Didn't you meet today?" she laughed even harder, and said, "I'm afraid you're not as strong as I am as weak a scholar from the city." I said, "Why do you dare to say that I am a weak scholar from the city?" she said, "Look at you like this, and the song you just sang." Let me tell you, I'm half the city. I don't see that yet. ”

Hearing this, I was stunned and asked, "Why are you half from the city? Are you still half from the city?" she explained, "My hukou is in a commercial town, and I belong to the town, but I am married to a rural person." So, sometimes I live in my mother's house in the town, and sometimes I go back to the country to live in my own house. I was even more puzzled and asked, "You are a town hukou, why do you want to marry a peasant in the mountains?" she sighed long and said, "Because I have not had a job since I graduated from junior high school, my father was confused at that time, so he promised me to others, because we were married to a baby when we were young." I said, "Do you regret it now?" Judging by her dress and temperament, she was a very good woman even in the city. It is not difficult to marry any ordinary worker. However, she married a peasant in the mountains. This made me feel very puzzled, even very sorry. So, I said, "Then you didn't expect a divorce?" and she sighed in discouragement, and said, "How can you never leave?" However, my father did not agree, and after two or three months of trouble, it was still useless. ”

Then she asked me, "You're from Xi'an?" and I said, "Yes, I work in an educational institution." She said, "People travel to Beijing and Shanghai, so why do you want to drill into our ravine?" I said, "I like to go to sparsely populated places, and I want to be quiet." And then I often have to write some essays and want to experience it with you. As I spoke, I showed her my membership card. She looked at my membership card and said in a surprised tone, "So you're a writer, that's amazing." We also have a great writer here, named Jia Pingwa. I said, "Then I don't dare to compare with others, but they are famous writers at home and abroad." I'm just a nameless amateur author. She said, "What have you written? Let me see." I also like to read books when I'm fine. I said, "It's all a little carving skill, not enough to worry about." I'll bring you some next time. ”

That's how we got to know each other, like déjà vu, like we knew each other at first sight. As we walked and talked, I took some raisins and dried almonds out of my duffel bag for her to eat. As she ate her raisins, she said to me in a complimenting tone, "You sing very well!" I said, "You sing well, too!" and she said modestly, "My classmates run a singing hall in the town, and sometimes they call me to come and sing for a while." If you like, I'll take you with me one day, free of charge. I said, "I'm here to see the scenery, so I'm not going to the cabaret." The scenery in the mountains is really good. When she saw me looking at the flowers and grass on the hillside, she said to me, "If you want to see the scenery, there are more flowers blooming on the hill on our side than this, and they are even more colorful." When I heard this, I said happily, "Then I really want to go over there." She immediately said happily, "Then I'll take you there now." ”

After walking along the path by the mountain stream for a while, I saw the stream rushing out of a hole. So she led me down to the side of the road, jumped over the shallow rocks and into the cave. The cave is about forty or fifty meters long, four or five meters wide, and more than two people high. From this side of the cave, you can see the other side of the cave at a glance. The brook that flowed down from the mountains flowed through this hole. The afternoon sun was hot, but it was very cool in the cave. We sat on the rocks by the cave and wanted to rest in the cave for a while.

I took two large apples out of my travel bag, washed them in the stream, gave her one, took out two more loaves of bread, gave her one, and sat in the cave and ate them. I haven't had lunch since I got on the bus early in the morning. Eating apples and bread, I said to her, "When I was in Xi'an, I heard that you people in the mountains are very poor, and that some families only cover a quilt at night, and that some big girls and little daughters-in-law have no clothes to wear and are naked all day long. So, I wanted to go here and find some literary material. ”

As soon as she heard this, she was stunned for a moment and said, "That's nonsense. No matter how poor the people in the mountains are, it is impossible to have no clothes to wear and no quilt to cover. Now the people in the mountains are slowly getting richer, and some families have built houses with magnetic sheets. "I was a little disappointed by her words, because I went to the mountains to find a very poor place, to stay for a while, and to write a work that would resonate. Because the poorer the place, the more good themes are hidden. Since there is no such poor place in the mountains, the purpose of my entry into the mountains must change. So, I said, "I'll go to your house first." Is there a hotel over there?"

She smiled very strangely at me, and said, "Where is there an inn in the mountains, and if there is an inn, who will stay there?" I smiled self-deprecatingly, and said, "If there is no inn, I will have nowhere to stay at night." She said, "Don't worry, when you get to our house, you won't have a place to live." ”

After passing the cave, we walked to the path on the side of the mountain. We talked as we walked, watching her beautiful dress gently blowing in the mountain breeze, and watching her long hair draped beautifully behind her, and we thought she was actually quite beautiful. She spoke in a very soft tone, very nice, and I felt that I was really lucky to meet such a young country woman today.