The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

At noon, Uncle Liu came over from the house, and Aunt Xu said, "Have you slept well?" Uncle Liu said, "Okay." As he spoke, he took the pickaxe from Aunt Xu's hand and said, "You take some sweet potato seedlings back and get something to eat for the pig, it is so hungry that it is howling." When Aunt Xu heard this, she immediately said, "When I was busy in the morning, I forgot about feeding the pigs." So saying, he gathered the sweet potato seedlings scattered in the ground, and dragged them towards the house.

I said to Uncle Liu, "Those monkeys didn't sleep much all night." Uncle Liu said, "It's like this every time the bread is ripe, you can't sleep for at least one or two decades." I said, "Fortunately, there is rhubarb to call the police, if there is no rhubarb, you are afraid that you will have to stay on the edge of the ground all night?" Uncle Liu said, "It is dangerous to sleep on the edge of the ground, because there are not only monkeys and wild boars, but also tigers in this mountain." So I asked, "Then how do you know if a monkey, a wild boar or a tiger is coming at night?" said Uncle Liu, "and you can tell by listening to the barking of the dog." If a monkey or a wild boar comes, the dog barks towards the ground, and if a tiger comes, the dog hides in its nest and barks. I asked, "When did you start raising dogs?" Uncle Liu said, "I sent the children down the mountain." ”

Uncle Liu said, "The children are going to school, and I want to send the children down the mountain." I took the children all the way down the hill, and it was noon, and the children were so happy, jumping like little birds and running towards the village, even happier than the New Year. After crossing the single-plank bridge over the river, we went up to the embankment. The children were going to go to the village, and I pointed to the house by the river and told them that the house was in the house over there. The children were a little strange, so I said to them, 'The village is your old home, and your new home is in the house by the river.' ’

The children followed me towards the house by the river. When I was about to get to my house, there were two people from the village standing on the embankment, and when they saw me coming back from the mountain with my children, they greeted me and asked, 'Jiang Yanzi, where are you coming from?' I didn't want to talk to them, so I said with a straight face, 'From the sky.' Then they asked, 'What about Aunt Xiu and the old girl?' and I said, 'It's also in the sky.' So saying, I walked briskly past them with my child.

Back at home, Mom was cooking, and Dad went out to attend someone's wedding. My mother was very happy to see that I had come back with the three girls, so she said, 'Where's Xiugu?' and I said, 'Xiugu is still in the mountains.' My mother asked, 'Why didn't she come back?' and I said, 'She's thin-faced, she's not to be seen.' ’

My mother asked my sister to bring candy and peanuts to the children. When I saw the couplets and paper cutouts posted on the door, I knew that the New Year had passed. I asked my sister, 'What day is the New Year?' and she said, 'It's the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.' When my mother heard that I didn't know about the Chinese New Year, I started to stew and heat the bacon, salted fish, vermicelli and tofu that I hadn't finished eating. The children had not seen meat for many days, and as they ate the fragrant rice, they swept away all the meat and vegetables on the plate. At this time, my mother, sister, and I hadn't moved our chopsticks yet.

The mother sat at the table and watched the children gobble up their food, and said, 'I'm afraid the children haven't eaten meat for many days.' I said, 'There is no meat to eat on the mountain, except for grass, and trees, and then stones.' The mother stroked the head of the youngest girl, Yumei, with her hand, and said, 'What a pitiful thing!' and then the mother asked, 'What about the old man named Chensheng, why didn't he come?'

Listening to my mother's question, I lowered my head and did not answer. Mom asked the kids again. The children didn't answer either. My mother felt that something was wrong, and asked me again, 'Why didn't the old man come?' and I couldn't help it, so I said, 'He's gone, he fell into the dung pit and drowned.'" At first my mother didn't believe it, and then she cried, 'My old man, why is he gone?' I explained, 'we were all building houses, and no one cared about him, who knew that he had fallen into a dung pit and drowned.' Then I said, 'If it weren't for this, Xiugu would have come back with us today.' ’

Mom and sister both lowered their heads and didn't say anything, just ate in silence. Because the children have eaten all the meat and vegetables. My mother and sister could only eat white rice. But my mother wouldn't let me eat white rice, so she said to my sister, 'Go and fry another meat dish and cook tofu for your brother, your brother hasn't celebrated the New Year yet.' So my sister refried me a plate of bacon and tofu.

After eating, I asked my mother, 'Who has a dog, get me one, raise a beautiful crop, and don't let the monkeys come back to spoil again.' The mother thought for a moment and said, 'It seems that the female dog of the Chunlei family in the village has given birth to a litter of cubs, and I don't know how big it is.' So saying, he asked his sister to ask for one.

After a while, my sister came back with a puppy. The puppy is about three or two months old and can eat, but it still looks small. I took a piece of bacon and fed it to it. It eats quite happily. I said, 'It's great that it can eat.'" So he put the puppy in the basket. When my mother saw that I was leaving, she put half a bag of rice and some bacon, salted fish, vermicelli and tofu in my basket and said, 'Take it back and let Xiugu taste it well, so that she can have a good New Year.' ’

In the evening, before the sun set, I walked quickly to the cliff, and I saw Xiugu standing on the cliff waiting for me. I shouted, 'Mother. When she saw me coming back, she jumped and cried out like a child in the New Year, 'Come up.' So saying, he threw the rope down at me. I was amazed and said, 'How did you remember to bring rope?' and she said, 'I'm afraid you've fallen.' So I pulled the rope up to the cliff.

In the evening, we ate the bacon, salted fish, vermicelli and tofu that we had brought from home, and I also took out half a bottle of baijiu and filled it with two small bowls, and the two of us clinked glasses together. She drank some wine and had a smile on her face, which was very beautiful. As she sipped her wine, she said to me, 'I have it. I didn't understand what she meant, so I asked, 'What's the matter?' and she pointed to her stomach and said shyly, 'You're so stupid, you don't understand that.' I understood, and said, 'You said you had a baby?' and she nodded happily. I was so happy that I took her in my arms and kissed her.

After the children left, there were only two of us on the mountain. Suddenly, I felt that the mountain and the house were much quieter, and I could no longer hear the children's slapstick and laughter. All day long, the two of us were you looking at me, and I was looking at you, and we felt a little uncomfortable for a long time. Xiu Gu thinks about the child from time to time.