The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

This time I went down the mountain, and I also mustered up a lot of courage. I think that when I went up the mountain in the past, I was a 29-year-old young daughter-in-law, but now I am in my 70s and an old woman. Don't talk about me, it's just that the guys are all in their 60s. I remembered that he was only 19 years old when he first went up the mountain, so young, but now his hair is gray and the top of his head is bald. We held hands and went all the way down the mountain. Although I haven't been down the mountain for many years, and the people are much older, I think the way down the mountain is much easier. We talked as we walked. Everywhere he went, the lad told me how he had built the road here, and how he had been wounded there. Of course, I know better than anyone the hardships and adventures he has put into building this mountain road over the years.

When I walked in front of the cloud ladder more than 30 meters high, I was frightened by the steep rock cliff and did not dare to go down for a long time. The young man took me by the hand, and let me hold on to the stone pit, and step by step down the cliff to the bottom of the cliff. I descended to the bottom of the cliff with trepidation, and then stood in front of the cliff face, thinking about how the young man had risked his life to dig the ladder up and down. Not to mention that this ladder has to be excavated, it is so dangerous and difficult every time. Thinking about it like this, I started to cry.

The stone staircase was built all the way to the edge of the alder forest. In fact, from the bottom of the mountain to the edge of this alder forest, the road begins to become steep and dangerous. But the trail was built all the way down the mountain. Because there was no road in this dense alder forest, and some places were very difficult to walk, but now it has been built into a smooth and convenient path.

I went down the hill and crossed the bridge. The bridge was originally just a small wooden bridge, and it was very scary to walk on it, but now it is a wider wooden bridge. Not far from the bridge, by the river, is the house built by Liu San's family. It is a bungalow made of bricks and tiles, and it is brand new.

My son was very happy to see me and his father back, although the third daughter-in-law was not so beautiful, but she was honest and looked virtuous and capable. It makes me happy. When I came to my son's house, there happened to be a guest at home, and an old man named Zou Jiaming saw me and said to me, 'Aunt Xiu, don't stay in the mountains, come down to live in the mountains.' I know you're thin-skinned and afraid of what people say. However, after many years, no one said anything. A few years ago, I heard that you were on the top of the slope, the mountain was high, and there were tigers, and I had never been there. ’

Another younger villager said to me, 'Auntie, you still have to come down to live in the mountain, you two are old, if you have any diseases, you can go to the health center.' However, on the top of that mountain, the road is so difficult and so far that if either of you were sick, there would be no way to see it. ’

My son also said to me, 'Mom, come down and stay with Daddy.' You two elders have lived on the mountain for many years, and you are old, so it is time to go down to the bottom of the mountain to enjoy two days of happiness. But I smiled and said, 'I'm used to living in the mountains, and I think it's better to live in the mountains.' The two of us are in good health now, and when your father and I are old and can't walk, we will come down the mountain to live. ’

The daughter-in-law made the rice, which was rice, salted fish and water spinach. These are all meals that we have a hard time eating in the mountains. We hurried through our meals and began to walk back.

On the way up the hill, the young man said to me, 'Let's come down and stay, and the children have prepared their houses for us.' Besides, we're old, you're 77 years old, and I'm 67 years old, and I'll live for many more years?' I said, 'but I still want to live with you in the mountains.' I haven't been down the mountain for many years, and I feel embarrassed to see people. Otherwise, let's live in the mountains for a few more years, and when we really can't walk or do anymore, we'll come down to live. The young man said, 'I can live wherever you want, and I will live with you wherever you want, as long as you are happy.' When I heard this, I said to him, 'I remember that you have been so good to me all your life.' ’

As we talked, we walked out of the alder forest and began to walk up the steep stone steps up the high slope. I said to the young man, 'You have been digging stones and building roads for decades, do you know how many stone steps you have excavated?' and the young man said, 'I don't know, I only know how to build roads, and I have never counted them.' So I said to him, 'Let's start counting now, and if people ask about you, how many stone steps have you hewed, young man, how many stone steps have you had, how many stone steps are there along the way, and you might as well tell people your innocence.' The lad said, 'Yes, we'll count them now.' ’

So, the two of us held hands and walked up the stone steps, counting the stone steps, 'One, two, three, four, five, six....... In the past, because the way up the mountain was very difficult and dangerous, we only had to climb the mountain, and we had to worry about safety. But now that the young man has repaired the mountain road, it is much safer to walk on it. So, we can walk and enjoy the scenery around us. To be honest, I have walked this mountain road a few times, but I hardly have an impression of the scenery in the mountains, but I remember which place on the road is so difficult to walk, which place is so dangerous, and I don't know which place has a beautiful scenery and which place is so beautiful. However, this time, when we went down and up the mountain, the two of us walked hand in hand and watched, and we felt that the scenery on the mountain was very beautiful, just like walking in a fairyland.

'Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty......' 'One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred...... 'One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, six thousand, ......' When we went up to the last ladder and walked through the last stone steps, the last number we counted was 6208. That's a big number! When we counted it, we were amazed. I really don't know if I count them, and it's scary to count. The more than 20 miles of mountain road from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and the more than 6,000 stone ladders in this mountain road, were all dug out by the young man with a shovel and an axe. After 50 years of hard work, he has only one wish, that is, to let me go down and up the mountain safely, and not fall on my heels again. He built this mountain road for me, and he dug this ladder for me.

After a day of walking, I felt so tired and had some pain in my feet. When he got back to the house, he sat me down and rested, boiled hot water, and brought me to wash my feet. Wash your feet. He said that I was old and tired from going down the mountain, so he wouldn't let me do any more things, so he went into the kitchen and started cooking. After eating, it was dark, we went to bed early, and began to recall the scene when we first went up the mountain, and felt that we are living a better life now, the children are older, the girls are married, the boys are also going to be sons-in-law, and we all have grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so we don't have to worry about anything. ”

After a while, Uncle Liu came back with a large bottle filled with honey, put it on the table, and said to me, "This is the honey produced by the bees I raised, you can take it back and taste it." I refused to ask for it, saying, "It's not easy for you to do anything in the mountains, so you can keep this honey for yourself." There are a lot of these things in Chongqing supermarkets, and they are easy to buy. However, Uncle Liu said, "This is a little bit of our heart, you can accept it." "Seeing Uncle Liu so polite, I had no choice but to accept it.

At this time, Uncle Liu said to Aunt Xu, "What time is it, you haven't cooked yet?" Aunt Xu heard this and said with a smile, "I only cared about talking to people and forgot about cooking." Then he went to cook. I said to Aunt Xu, "Don't be busy, I have some instant noodles here, let's eat them." With that, I went into the kitchen, lit a fire in the corner, boiled water in a small iron pot, and when the water boiled, I put three packets of instant noodles in the pot together, and then poured the caviar and dried vegetables into the pot, and after boiling, one person served a bowl, and began to eat with Fuling mustard.

While eating, I said to Uncle Liu and Aunt Xu, "You should really go down to the bottom of the mountain to live, not only is life convenient, but also, even if you are old and have any emergency, you can go to the hospital for treatment." But on this mountain, no matter how serious the illness is, there is no way. ”

"She didn't want to go down to the mountains to live, and she didn't want to see the people in the village. She didn't want to go down the mountain, so I stayed with her. She's old, and I can take care of her for as long as I can. Both of us agreed that whoever left first would be buried on the mountain, and then go down the mountain to live with our son, and after the death we would be transported up the mountain to be buried with our wife. Aunt Xu said, "When the baby is older, she can take care of herself, so you don't need us to take care of it." Except for ourselves, there is nothing we can't let go, and we can just bury ourselves together on this mountain when we die. ”

They respect and love each other in this life, never abandon each other, always stick to it, and when they die, they will be buried together on the mountain. I really admire their love.

After eating, Uncle Liu said to me, "You are going down the mountain tomorrow, I won't do anything today, so I will accompany you everywhere to see the scenery." So, I followed Uncle Liu and walked around the mountain along the path to watch.