The Woman in the Mountains (novella) Zhang Baotong

Qiao Ling had just boiled water to wash her hair, and water was still boiling in the iron pot. At this point, she began to roll out the dough. I helped her light the fire. I asked her, "Why is your husband doing, why didn't you see him?" Qiao Ling said, "He is digging gold in the mountains on the other side of Yunling." I said, "You still have gold here?" she said, "there's gold found over there in Yunling, and a lot of people are mining there." I said, "So you can get rich in no time." "Because I once went to Henan Taiyao to help someone write a report. I know that the people over there are mining, and that many of the farmers over there have become rich from mining.

Ke Qiaoling said, "There doesn't seem to be much gold in the mountains on our side, and the government has contracted that place to others." Those people are selling the mines over there. 500 yuan for a mine. My family Fusheng is a partner with the villagers to make a hole. However, some bosses alone have chartered more than 10 holes and hired some people to help him mine. However, if you are unlucky, you will not find any gold in the cave for several days. ”

After a while, the water boiled, Qiao Ling rolled out the noodles, cut the potatoes, and started to begin. I asked Qiao Ling, "Your husband left without eating in the morning?" Qiao Ling said, "He left at dawn in the morning, and he didn't have time to eat, so he only brought some cakes to eat on the way." I said, "You're not going to bring him food?" she smiled and said, "No, it's a long way there, more than ten miles away." ”

After eating, Qiao Ling wanted to take me to see the scenery. She changed into that beautiful dress again, and walked with me down the hillside path. As we walked past a cornfield, we saw a peasant woman who looked like she was thirty-seven or eighteen years old hoeing in the sun. Qiao Ling whispered to me, "This is that girl's sister." Hearing this, I looked at the woman carefully. The woman's clothes and trousers were quite shabby, especially her appearance was very old, her face was sad, her hair was as messy and dull as hay, and there was no trace of a young woman's aura and beauty. At first glance, she is a woman who is working hard.

I said to Qiao Ling, "She is much older and more miserable than her sister. Not at all as young and beautiful as her sister. Qiao Ling said, "She is only twenty-six or seventeen years old this year, and she is only four or five years older than her sister. I said, "But she looks twenty years older than her sister." Qiao Ling said, "That's right, she has given birth to three babies, and she is doing all the heavy work at home." Her sister is the treasure of the family, and she never does the work in the fields except cooking and sweeping the house. ”

At this time, the woman saw us and shouted to Qiao Ling, "Where did you find a boyfriend, so handsome and gentle." Qiao Ling's face couldn't help but turn a little red, and said, "If I had this life, I wouldn't marry into this mountain." This is a city boss I used to know, and he came to see the scenery here. The woman said, "What is there to see in our mountains except for mountains and mountains?" Qiao Ling said, "People live in the city, and the high-rise buildings are unbearable, so they want to see the scenery in our mountains." Then she said, "You should go home for breakfast." The woman said, "It's still early, let's do it a little longer." Qiao Ling said, "Your husband is a big man, why don't you let him work in the field, don't raise him to be like a city person." The woman sighed and said, "He doesn't want to do it, and I can't help it." ”

Over a hill, we came to a hillside not far away. The slopes of the hill are sparsely populated with pine trees and shrubs, while around them are large patches of wildflowers and grass. Among the green grass, red, purple, orange and yellow flowers bloom all over the hillside. It's not surprising to watch.

I wanted to run into the flowers to pick some beautiful flowers for Qiaoling, but she took my hand and wouldn't let me go into the flowers, saying that the flowers and plants were full of thorns and thorns, and she was afraid that she would prick my legs and stab my hands. So, we sat on the edge of the grassy slope and watched the beautiful flowers in the sea of flowers.

We appreciate the flowers, the delicate and delicious flowers easily remind us of our past years like flowers and water, that beautiful time is called youth. Each of us spends our youth in it. In retrospect, there are not many scenes in our youth that make us move and nostalgic, but the feeling of youth will make us remember and yearn for it forever. Because youth is the period of our life that blooms and blooms. Although the spring is green and autumn is yellow every year, the flowers bloom and fall every year. However, people's youth is extremely short-lived, and they will never return. Therefore, when viewing the scenery and enjoying the flowers, you will inevitably have a sense of sadness.

However, life is like this. The flowers are beautiful, and we have been beautiful, and the flowers are light, and we have been light. Although time has passed and youth is not there, we are still thinking about letting the orange tree in our dreams bear fruit and let the last rose in summer bloom in our hearts. Our longing and yearning for beauty will always be more beautiful and lasting than this flower scene.

I used to admire the flowers, and I could recognize many of them, but I was not familiar with many of the flowers here, so I pointed to the different flowers and asked her for their names. But Qiao Ling didn't know their names. Because she just looked at them often, but never wanted to know their names. Because knowing their names doesn't affect her viewing them. She told me that many old people who had lived in the mountains all their lives would not be able to call them by name. Mountain people are very practical, they will remember the names of things that are useful to them, and if they don't use them, no matter how beautiful they are, they will not remember their names.

Looking at this beautiful flower, I said to Qiao Ling, "You are the flower of this mountain, although it is beautiful, but it grows in this mountain." Therefore, you can only let the sun watch, let the moon see, let the mountains see, and not let many people come to watch. "In fact, the women in this mountain are not the same as this flower, hidden in the deep mountains and unknown to people, so they can only marry a man they don't like and live silently for a lifetime. And Qiaoling was arranged and forced by her father to marry her husband.

She shook her head, and said, "I am this life, what can I do?" I said, "and you have been growing up in the township, and you have never had a beloved there?" she sighed, and looked far, far away, and said to me, "When I was twenty-four years old, I contracted a small shop with my three-year-old child in front of the town's master. There I met a student at the school. He was only twenty-one years old. He came to my shop every day, several times a day, sometimes to buy something, sometimes specifically to talk to me. The kid was white and gentle, and he was very likable. But he didn't buy it for himself, but for my children. The more he came, the more we got acquainted. Once, he took my hand and said I was so pretty. Of course I knew what he was thinking, but I thought he was still a student, and he was a few years younger than me, so I didn't take his words seriously. One day, however, he told me that when he graduated, he would marry me. I laughed and said I was both married and had children. But he said that I should divorce and take the children with him to live with him. Because he is a teacher after graduation, he will be paid every month. I didn't take his words seriously, but he was serious. He came to see me as soon as he got out of school, and when he said that he hadn't seen me for a day, his heart felt like he had lost his soul. That night, I left him to eat with me. After dinner, he didn't go back to school for evening self-study, so he kept talking to me. Until the school was about to close, I urged him to hurry back to the dormitory. However, he put his arm around me and said he wanted to sleep with me. So, I left him behind. Later, we were really inseparable from each other, and he came to my small shop every two or three days to stay overnight, and then told his dormitory classmates that he slept at a relative's house. However, time passed quickly, and half a year later, he graduated and was assigned to teach in an elementary school on their side. He took me to their house. Their home was far away, deep in the mountains, and they were very poor. I really want to live with him. However, in order to do so, a divorce is required. I told my parents that I was going to get a divorce. But my father disagreed. I can't do anything about it. However, at that moment, the student brought me a letter with a photograph in it. But I didn't receive this letter, but I didn't know who got it, tore it up, and gave it to my husband. That day, when I came home from outside, my husband showed me the letter. When I read the letter, I knew something bad was wrong, for the boy said that he wanted me to be too happy to live, and that I wanted to come to him as soon as possible. Even the things about our intimacy and cohabitation together were spoken. At this time, I had been in trouble for two or three months because of the divorce, but none of my father and family agreed to support me. I had no choice, so I said to my husband, you have read this letter, and everything is known, if you can tolerate it, there should be no such thing, if you can't tolerate it, we will leave. When my husband heard me say this, he didn't say anything more. It can be said that being with that student is the real love of my life. Because I had never loved a man before. ”