The Ladder of Love (Part II) Zhang Baotong 2017.10.10

Before sunset, I had been digging sweet potatoes in the field with Uncle Liu for most of the day, and after squatting on the ground for a long time, I felt very tired in my legs, some of which could not be supported, and my back hurt badly. Although I was only in my early forties, I still felt a little unbearable to work in the field for a long time.

So, I said I wanted to go back and get something, so I went back to my house, opened my travel bag, took out beef jerky, bread and honey tea, and ate slowly. After eating and drinking, I lay down in bed and tried to sleep for a while, because I was so tired that my body ached and my mind was sleepy.

I lay on the bed and slept for a while, but immediately a question flashed in my mind: Uncle Liu voluntarily went to her house to help work in order to fall in love with Aunt Xu, and was subjected to gossip and cold ridicule from others, endured the anger and scolding of her parents, took her to elope away from home, lived in a cave on the top of the mountain, built a tiled house, dug a ladder, raised four children who were not his own, and often went down the mountain to bring his own food and goods to the mountain. It seems that his love for her transcends earthly affection, like the devout holiness and eternal affection that Christians have for their Lord. However, love in the world will be tired, aging, and changing. It is often said that it is easy to fall in love and difficult to stay together, no matter how strong the love is, it cannot compete with the erosion of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, and no matter how deep the love is, it cannot resist the consumption of time. However, this worldly philosophy cannot explain the love between the two of them.

Isn't the love between the two of them too unrealistic? Because in the real society, there is no love for no reason at all, and one person's love for the other person is conditional and purposeful. Love and marriage are all about matching and breaking even, and if one person clearly takes advantage and the other party obviously suffers a big loss, then this kind of love and marriage will not last. If a man has to pay such a big price in order to like a woman, will he feel that he has suffered too much and regret it, so he chooses to escape or divorce? This situation can be said to abound in today's society, sparse and commonplace. Therefore, I think the love between Uncle Liu and Aunt Xu is really too different from the concept of love in today's society. They have no sweet words, no mountain alliances and sea oaths, almost nothing, just plain care and support. Their love is firm and natural, unpretentious, unpretentious, pure and noble, which has long surpassed love itself, and has been deduced into the highest state of love that is old and stays together for a lifetime.

We long for true love in the world, for sincere love, but we often doubt the existence of this kind of love. And the true love of Uncle Liu and Aunt Xu has set up a monument for us. And the testimony of this monument is the staircase of more than 6,000 stone steps. It conclusively conclusively confirms the existence of true love in the world.

I got out of bed and went back into the cave at the top of the mountain. The cave is dark, but once you enter it, you can see the contents of the cave very quickly. I walked to the corner of the hole again and looked at the smooth, bare steel chisels that had been polished. These dozens of steel drills are like dozens of pens with bald nibs, writing a difficult and long love story for more than 50 years. I think such a touching and great love story will definitely move the world and live on forever.

After dinner, I still let them talk about their love. This time it is mainly about the story of building the ladder of love. Originally, I wanted Uncle Liu to speak, but Uncle Liu felt a little tired, because he didn't sleep much last night, and he did most of the day's farm work today, and he was really tired. So, I asked Aunt Xu to continue to talk to me.

Aunt Xu talked about Uncle Liu's construction of the stone road down the mountain, she was very emotional, she picked up Uncle Liu's palm for me to see, touched the calluses on Uncle Liu's hands, and shed tears in distress, saying, "When he comes back every day, the palms of his hands are either blistered with blood or peeled." I look distressed. I told him to forget it, you don't have to repair it again, and you will suffer a big loss. But the young man always said that when the road is repaired, it will be convenient for you to go down the mountain, and it will be safe. Actually, I've never been down a mountain a few times in my life. ”

Uncle Liu stretched out his hand, wiped away his tears for Aunt Xu, and said, "If I can still move, I will repair the road quickly, and when we are old, it will be good to go down the mountain together." "Seeing the two of them feel sorry for each other as if they were no other, immersed in their two-person world, I feel a little embarrassed.

Wiping away her tears, Aunt Xu said, "When the work in the field is not so busy, he will go to repair the road." He put a steel drill, an axe, and rope in a basket, and a few boiled potatoes, and after an early meal, he went out. He came to the steep slope and the stone wall, and began to drill holes with steel drills, and cut out the stones, and then, with a machete, cut down the weeds and woods on the hillside, dug a path with a shovel and a pickaxe, and then carried the hewn stones and stone steps to the path piece by piece, and paved them neatly and firmly, and built a stone ladder that extended upwards step by step. He worked all day and didn't come back at noon. When you are hungry, you will nibble on a few potatoes, and when you are thirsty, you will drink a few sips of mountain spring water. It wasn't until the sun was about to go down that I started to go home.

I had gone down the mountain, and I knew that the way down the mountain was difficult to walk and difficult to repair, so every time he came down the mountain, I was very worried that I would send him to the bottom of the first ladder, and when the sun was about to set, I would go to the edge of the cliff to meet him. He didn't want me to be tired, he didn't let me see him off, he didn't let me greet him, but I didn't feel at ease if I didn't.

That day, it rained at noon and I thought he would be back soon. However, he did not return. I was waiting for him at home. When the rain stopped, he still didn't come back. I don't think he'll be back sooner. So I carried the baby to the stream to wash my clothes. It was raining, and the sun was not visible. I stayed inside, wondering if his clothes were getting wet from the rain. It's late autumn, and the temperature in the mountains is already a little cool, and if your clothes get wet with rain and let the cold wind blow, it's easy to get sick. So, before it got dark, I carried the baby to the cliff to pick him up.

After the rain, the path was wet and full of fallen leaves, and the cold wind blew from one side of the mountain to the other. The leaves of the trees were blown by the wind and kept falling. I came to the edge of the cliff of the ladder, looked down, and cried out, 'Young man, young man is back to the house.' But there was not a single movement on the path below. I just stood on the edge of the cliff and waited. It was very windy and cold on the side of the cliff. The babies are starting to have runny noses. However, I didn't want to go back to the house. Because I'm worried about why the lad hasn't come back yet. I waited a long time on the edge of the cliff, and when it was almost dark, the lad should have returned, for he knew that I would be waiting for him on the edge of the cliff, and that I would not be at ease if he did not come, so he would always come back before the sun went down.

It was getting dark, and I couldn't hold my breath when I didn't see him come back. So, I carried the baby on my back, grabbed the pit and pedals that the young man had carved out in the stone wall, and went down the ladder step by step to the bottom of the cliff. I didn't know I would have the courage to walk down from the vertical downward stone wall. If I miss, not to mention that my own life will be lost, even the baby on my body will die. But I was so bold, for I didn't think of anything but the fear of the young man.

I walked briskly down the repaired stone staircase, shouting, 'Young man, young man. But after walking a long way and shouting for a long time, I heard no echo from the young man. I was getting more and more scared, afraid that something would happen to him. As expected, at the bottom of a steep slope that had not yet been repaired, I saw the young man. He was lying on his back at the bottom of the slope, beside him a freshly hewn stone, a meter long and a foot wide. And on the slope not far from him, there was a mark that slid down the slope. He slipped down the slope and fell to the bottom of the slope.