The Old Story of the South of the City "Rolling on a Donkey"

My husband, a lazy gambler, went to the Lins' home as a wet nurse after giving birth to a pair of children. Her husband gave up her daughter, and her son is said to have fallen into the river and drowned. It was several years before Ma Song realized that Ma Song had been making new clothes for her son Xiao Shuan and bringing new shoelaces home. A few years later, Ma Song came home with her husband on a snowy day. Maybe there were many things about horses in those days.

2. Original text

The person who changed the green basin used the handle of his blue cloth duster and tried to use the big green basin glazed on both sides, saying:

"Listen! Listen to this! What's that noise! Where can I find this green basin? Jiangxi porcelain! Please add it again! "

Mother exchanged a pile of newspapers, three pairs of old leather shoes and two broken iron pots for his four small benches and a washboard; Ma Song will take out a small green pot to mix cucumbers.

As for me, I'm clinging to the bench. The person who changed the green basin shouted for her mother to add more things. An old cotton-padded jacket with two piles of broken books, he also said:

"By the way, you."

Mom said, "Don't change it!" Tell Ma Song to bring the things in. I was in a hurry to buy and sell, but I couldn't make a deal. I want to return the stool to him. Who knows, the one who changed the green basin shouted:

"Take it! Change one! " He waved and said gloomily, "Alas! Who let it not open today! "

Four small benches were placed in the shade of the big tree across the hall, and Ma Song took the four of us-me, Zhu Zhu, my brother and Yan Yan-to sit on the new bench and tell stories. Yan Yan is small, huddled beside Ma Song, sitting, leaning and eating her fingers.

"How old is your little embolus?" I asked.

"About your age, nine years old!"

Xiao Shuan is Ma Song's son. She is telling us the story of her hometown these two days; The ears of wheat in the field grew, the grass on the hillside grew, and the small embolus picked the dog's tail flower and inserted it in the corner of the cow. She still has a thick sole in her hand, tied tightly with thick hemp rope, which is made for small embolus.

"So he is also in the third grade?" I asked.

"Country people have you this kind of good life? He is showing this cow to people at the price of adults! " She stopped her work, raised the awl and scratched her hair a few times. She said to herself, "I'm going home this year, and my heart is always in a mess." She said wait a minute, I don't know what happened.

"What about your girl?"

In fact, I already know the story of that girl, and Ma Song has told it several times. Like her brother, Ma Song's daughter is four years old this year. She gave birth to a girl before coming to the city to be a wet nurse, and soon came to our house to be a wet nurse for her brother. Her milk is good, and her brother eats white and fat. As for her girl, when she first came to my home for a trial job, she asked her husband to take her back to her hometown and nurse her. I ask once and she tells me once, but I won't get tired of it.

"Girl, she paid for milking others!" Ma Song said.

"Will it be yours in the future?"

"My girl doesn't belong to me? Do you belong to your mother? " She asked me.

"Then why don't you milk yourself? Why did you come to my house as a wet nurse? Why did you give the money you earned to others? "

"Why? In order to-say you don't understand, we country people have a hard time! Xiao Shuan's father is a loser and keeps hitting me. When I am cruel, I will come out as my grandmother to make money! "

I still remember the day when she first came. It was a winter. She is wearing a shiny red cotton-padded jacket with a white lining. She stuffed her nipple into her brother's mouth. He sucked and sucked, ate a meal of milk, fell asleep at once, and woke up for a long time without crying. Let her be a wet nurse.

Three days later, her husband came, pulling a donkey and tying it to the trunk in front of the door. He has a long face and yellow teeth. How ugly! Mom got paid, and the passbook said: four yuan a month, two pairs of silver ornaments, clothes for the four seasons, and a new bed. It will be a year and four months before you can go home.

Ma Song wore a red cotton-padded jacket, wrapped her child in an old flower quilt and gave it to her husband. Seeing her husband and children coming out, she cried, turned her back and lifted her skirt to wipe her tears, and looked up for a long time.

Lao Zhang in the matchmaker's shop advised Ma Song to say:

"Don't cry, be careful to put the milk back."

Ma Song stopped crying. She gave the money to Lao Zhang and the rest to her husband. She said many words to her husband, who said:

"Don't worry."

He walked away with the child in his arms and the donkey.

In April of one year, Huang Banerya came again, and he wanted to take it back, but Song Nai could not bear to part with his younger brother, and his mother was going to have a baby again, so she stayed. Ma Song counted a lot of ocean money and gave it to her husband. He put the money in his blue wallet, tinkled it, and led the donkey away.

After that, he would come twice a year and tie the little donkey to the corner of the yard, leaving donkey dung balls all over the floor. Fortunately, one day, he will be allowed to leave When the donkey rolled down, it was a big sack, which contained either big peanuts or big dates. He gave them to his master and his wife, my father and mother. There are many in the countryside.

I can't imagine what our family would be like if Ma Song really went back to his hometown. Who will get up early and braid my hair for school? Who provides dinner for Yan Yan? My brother was beaten by his father. Who will protect him? Zhu Zhu peed. Who will wipe it? We can't live without her!

But if she often wants to go home, she has asked us several times recently: "shall I go back to our hometown?"

"Don't!" Except Yan Yan, who can't speak, we are all unanimously opposed.

In spring, my brother had measles, and he refused to drink reed root soup with his mouth closed. We surrounded our little brother with red rashes on his nose and eyes. Mom said:

"Well, don't take medicine, just call your wet nurse back! Go home! Ma Song! Give your clothes and toys to your little embolus and little girl! "

Ma Song pretended to go toward outside walk and said:

"Let's go! Go home! Go home and find our little embolus and our little daughter! "

"I drink! I drink! Don't go! " The younger brother opened his hand piteously and asked for the bowl of reed root soup in his mother's hand, and drank half of it in one breath. Ma Song love dearly, immediately snuggled up to his brother, put his head on his brother's hot rotten face and said:

"Don't go! I'm not leaving! I still want our brother, not a little embolus, not a little girl! " Then, her eyes were red, and her brother gradually fell asleep in her coaxing.

A few days ago, a young man named Aunt Ma Song came. He came to stay for two days and wanted to find a job. He will braid the lampshade of the electric light at the gate with wire to prevent the light bulb from being stolen by thieves. Ma Song asked him:

"When you come to Beijing and see that I believe in embolus, will you?"

"hmm." He seemed startled and stared at his eyes. "I didn't see it. I came from my uncle's house in Liucun! " "

"Oh." Ma Song pondered for a while, then asked, "Are you from your uncle's house? Well, our girl gave Liu Cun's gold to her mother. Have you heard that children are very strong? "

"Oh?" He was surprised, "no-I haven't heard of it. Yes, don't worry! "

Stop, he can say again:

"Aunt, if only you could go back to your hometown, you haven't been back for three or four years!"

When the young man left, Song Nai told his mother that she was hesitant and uneasy after listening to her nephew.

Mother comforted her and said:

"I don't think your nephew is serious. Listen, he calls your home one minute and his uncle's home the next.

If his own words are wrong, how can he know about your child? "

Ma Song still don't trust, she said:

"Since the beginning of this year, my heart has gone wrong and I have had several dreams!"

She called a fortune teller to explain her dream. She asked me to write for her again on the day of worship. I have memorized the place name of her hometown:

Fengcun, Niulanshan, Shunyi County, delivered a letter from Feng Daming to my husband as scheduled.

"How good it is to learn! You can write letters at the age of nine, and you can't lose them when you go out! "

"What does the letter say?" I took a pen and spread a piece of manuscript paper to try to be brave.

"You can write ah, home size can be safe? Small embolus should be careful when grazing cattle in the wild. Don't try to play in water. I made two pairs of shoes and a pair of trousers. Don't forget to send money then! Give too much and too little. The money I got back is almost 200 yuan, and the second part of the back slope will be redeemed to save the land of the old people.

And I am safe here, just thinking about my children, and I am relieved to bring the embolus to me when I come next month. Also, ... "

"This letter is too long!" I stopped her from talking endlessly. First of all, let dad write! "

These days, when the letter written by her father was sent, Ma Song was very happy. Now, she asked her brother,

"If Xiao Shuan comes, will your new bench be given to him?"

"here!" My brother stood up at once.

"I'll give it, too." Zhu Zhu said.

"Xiao Shuan is here, why don't you go to primary school with me?" I said.

"That's great, as long as your mother agrees to let him live here."

"I'll say it! My mother listens to me very much. "

"Small embolus is coming, you don't laugh at him, eiko, but you can laugh at people! He is a countryman, but he is indigenous! " Ma Song said, it seems that the small embolus will arrive later. She looked at me again and said:

"Eiko, he must be taller than you. It's been four years, how tall he has grown! "

Ma Song happily picked up Yanyan and put it on her knee. Her knees twitched and she sang her song:

"An egg is an eggshell with a brother inside. Brother came out to sell vegetables, and there was a grandmother in it. Grandma came out to burn incense and there was a girl sitting inside. The girl came out to light a lamp and burned her nose and eyes! "

She sang, grabbed Yan Yan's little finger with her hand and pointed to her nose and eyes. Yan Yan giggled.

Ma Song sang Allegro again:

"Sophora japonica, Sophora japonica, set up a platform under Sophora japonica. The girls are here, but my girl hasn't come yet; At some point I came, riding a donkey, holding an umbrella, naked, holding a bun ... "

The sun is tilted, and the golden light is shining in my eyes through the cracks in the leaves. With the singing of Ma Song, I cocked my head to avoid the dazzling sunshine, and suddenly I saw a mass of black moving outside the alley mouth. I raised my hand to cover the sun and looked carefully. That's really Lu, and it's slow. The donkey driver's blue cloth half coat is covered with loess. Yo! Isn't that yellow teeth? I called Ma Song:

"Look, someone is riding a donkey!"

Ma Song stopped singing and turned to stare blankly. "

Huang gnashed her teeth. "Oh!" Xiao Lv stopped in front of us.

Ma Song didn't speak or stand up. Her smile just now is gone. She looked at her husband sullenly, as if waiting for something.

Huang gritted his teeth and didn't speak, but he slapped his clothes and the loess flew. I despise him! Cover your nose with your hand. He took off his straw hat and fanned it. I don't know who to tell:

"It's so hot!"

Ma Song this just seems to be unbearable, q:

"Where are the children?"

"Go-go to his aunt's house." He raised his feet and brushed his shoes again, without looking at Ma Song. His white socks turn yellow, which are also made in Ma Song. His socks, like shoes, have several layers of foundation, and they are taken out with fine stitches.

I looked at the big sack on the donkey's back and wondered what was in it this time. Huang Baner took off his pocket and untied it. He took out a handful of roasted dates from it and handed them to me. They bite crisp, spicy and fragrant.

"Eiko, you take Zhu Zhu Shang Xiaohong to their house to play, hang up the dates and give more to others." Ma Song said.

I left with Zhu Zhu. Looking back, Ma Song was carrying four new benches in one hand, Yan Yan was carrying them in the other, and her brother was pulling her skirt. They are walking on their way home. Huang took the donkey by the hand and walked into my house. He must stay for another night. His donkey rolled all over the ground, and the flowers and plants his father planted were going to be destroyed again.

We came back from Xiaohong's house. It was getting dark and we didn't eat much jujube. Xiaohong put them on with a rope and hung them around my neck.

When I came in, I saw Ma Song and her husband standing at the door. Huang Baner sat in a daze on our new bench, burying his face in tears, and did not dare to make any noise.

The food has been put in the room. Mom is feeding Yanyan, frowning, sipping her mouth, shaking her head and sighing, which is quite wrong.

"Mom," I whispered, "Ma Song is crying!"

Mother gently waved to me and forbade me to speak. What is so important?

"Ma Song's little embolus is dead," my mother told me in a hoarse voice. She turned to her father and said, "Alas! I've been dead for a year or two, and I haven't said anything yet. No wonder Ma Song is always upset these days. She must call her husband to ask. Her nephew's visit is very interesting. Two things happen at the same time, how can people suffer! "

Dad shook his head and sighed, and there was nothing to say.

I'm sorry to hear that, too. I don't know what the other thing is, and I dare not ask.

Mom asked me to call Ma Song, and I think this is a serious matter. At the door, I dare not yell at her as loudly as I do every time. I gently shouted:

"Song Nai, mom called you!"

It is not easy for Ma Song to stop crying and go into the house. Mother said to her:

"You go home with him tomorrow. You haven't been home for several years."

"Children are gone, I also go back to do? Don't go back, don't go back to die! " Ma Song said with red eyes and took the spoon from her mother's hand to feed Yan Yan, as if it meant that she would stay in our house.

"Who gave your girl? Can you get it back? "

"How cruel!" Ma Song gnashed her teeth with hate. "I took it back that year, and even before I left Hadmen, he gave the child to someone else. He said I wouldn't stay if I didn't want other people's money! "

"If you give someone with a name, there is a place to find it."

"It is said that it was given to a carriage driver. Father and mother are forty years old and have no children. Who knows if what he said is true or not! "

"Ask clearly and find again."

So this is the same thing. The little embolus and the girl, Song Nai, who treated us as adults, are gone. Ma Song makes many clothes and shoes for them every year. Who did her husband give them to? ! Whose baby is wrapped in a Japanese floral quilt? I want to ask how Xiao Shuan died, but I dare not ask when I look at Song Naihong's swollen eyes.

"I think you should go back." Mother tried to persuade her again, but Ma Song shook her head and said nothing, although she shed tears.

She fed Yan Yan spoonfuls, and Yan Yan also ate one mouthful, but her eyes were fixed on Ma Song. Because Ma Song has never been like this.

Ma Song still fetched water to bathe the four of us, and everyone sprinkled thick prickly heat powder on his face and neck, so he put his brother and Yan Yan to bed. It's just that she can't bear to sing her song today. She just fanned them to sleep. Everything is as usual, except that she didn't eat today and left her husband at the door to ignore him. As for him, he is making a fire with flint and smoking a long pipe. Xiao Lv may be hungry. He was lying on the ground, and suddenly he raised his neck and shouted. How ugly! Yellow tooth opened a bag of hay and handed it over. When it saw the food, it rolled and stood up. The little hoof trampled down two or three Hosta flowers planted by my father at the edge of the flower pond. The donkey is eating hay, its nose is twitching, and its teeth are blinking. No wonder, who does the nanny's husband look like? It's him! Why did Ma Song marry Huang Baner, you stupid donkey!

Get up the next morning and look out the window. The donkey left, leaving a pile of dung balls on the ground, and Ma Song was cleaning them up.

She looked up and saw me and beckoned me out.

I ran out, Song Nai told me:

"Eiko, don't run around. Come out with me later. You can read. Help me find a place. "

"Where to?" I'm surprised.

"Go to the Hadmen area to look for it-"She cried again, lowered her head, put donkey dung in the dustpan, and tears fell on it. "Find a girl."

"Very good." I promised.

Song Nai and I sneaked out, and my mother coaxed my brother to play in the room. Soon after leaving the door, Ma Song regretted it:

"I should take my brother with me. If he can't see me coming back, I will cry. He has never left me for a moment! "

For this reason, Ma Song lived in my house year after year, so I dare to ask:

"How did the little embolus die? Ma Song. "

"Didn't I tell you that there is a river under the back slope of fengcun? ……"

"Yes, you said, be careful when telling Xiao Shuan to herd cattle, and don't just play with water."

"He fell into the water and died, so he couldn't herd cattle. It turned out to be the year when your mother gave birth to Yanyan. "

"At that time, Huang Ban-well, what did your husband do?"

"He said he would go to the fields, and it would be strange if he didn't go to the hut in Houpo to play with money! Little embolus must have been hungry for a day and couldn't find anything to eat, so he was kicked out. You can't go to the river on the back slope unless you go to the hut. "

"Also, why did your husband give the little girl away?"

"Isn't it more reassuring to send someone? It's a girl anyway. It's worthless If the little embolus is not dead! Girl, I don't want it. Now I can't help but get her back. I want to spend it. "

Ma Song said, we walk from Maomao Hutong, passing through Ministry of War, Zhongjie and Xijiaomin Lane, and East Jiao Min Lane is Hadmen Street. On the way, I suddenly remembered another sentence.

"Ma Song, don't you regret losing two children when you come to our house?"

"I regret it-Houhai should bring our little embolus into the city and study with you."

"Are you looking for a girl to go home?"

"hmm." Song nai promised blindly, but she didn't catch what I said.

We walked to the gate of China Bank in Xi Jiaotong People's Lane. Ma Song stopped on the stone steps, where a passerby stopped to sell food. He put up a wooden shelf, put a square plate on it, then opened the lid and made a food with yellow flour.

"Ma Song, what is he doing?"

"Ah?" Ma Song looked at the brick floor, speechless. She looked up and said, "That's called snowballing. Steamed yellow wheat, wrapped in brown sugar and rolled with mung bean powder. It smells good. Do you want to eat? "

This kind of food is called snowballing, which is very interesting. How can I not eat? I swallowed and nodded. Song Nai took out money and bought me two. She bought a few more, carefully wrapped in a handkerchief, and I said:

"Is it for girls?"

Out of Dongjiaomin Lane, I saw the bustling Hadmen Street, but which way should I take? We stood at the gate of Tongren Hospital in America. Ma Song's back was soaked with sweat. When she lifted the bamboo slips and looked around, her shoulders shook.

"Go that way," she pointed diagonally across the street, where there was a row of shops that were not buildings. After passing several houses, I saw a carriage line. It was dark inside, and someone was sitting around the door. Ma Song asked the man:

"I want to ask you, there is a big brother driving a carriage, and there is a girl in front. Do you? "

The man strangely eyed Ma Song and me:

"Where are you from?"

"An old man asked me to give him a message."

The man pointed to the alley next to him and said:

"At home, the one at the end of the alley is."

Ma Song was very excited and thanked the man directly. Then she took my hand and walked to the alley. This is a dead end and a small black door. Although the door was closed, it opened with a push, and there were two or three children playing with mud in the yard.

"Sorry, find someone!" Ma Song shouted.

One of the children shouted at the room several times:

"Grandma, someone is looking for it."

An old lady came out of the room. She is deaf and may be almost blind. She didn't see us standing at the door, nor could she hear the children talking. She didn't come to the door until they pointed at us. Ma Song shouted:

"How many families live in this yard?"

"Ah, Zhou is a family." The old lady covered her ears with her hand before hearing it.

"Do you have a girl?"

"Yes, are you looking for your mother?" She pointed to three boys.

Ma Song shook his head, knowing that something was completely wrong. Before the old lady finished, she said:

"Wrong person!"

We walked outside from Hadgate and saw three carriage lines, all of which made people shake their heads.

We had to retrace our steps. Ma Song did not say a word on the way. It took a long time to remember something and said to me:

"Eiko, are you tired? Shall we take a bus? "

I shook my head and looked up at Ma Song. She pinched the meat between the two sections with her hand and closed her eyes. She is a little unstable and seems to faint. She asked me again:

"Hungry?" He said, opening the towel bag and taking out the snowball he just bought. The mung bean powder on it has been soaked in yellow wheat. I said, "Roll on the donkey!" Take it and put it in your mouth.

I said to Ma Song:

"I know why I told the donkey to roll. Your donkey is rolling on the ground, and there is always such a pile under your ass. " I showed her one, "Is it like a donkey dung ball?"

I want to make Ma Song laugh, but she doesn't laugh, just say:

"Eat!"

Half a month later, Ma Song said that she had traveled all the carriages in Beijing, and there was no trace of the girl.

In the shade, I can't hear the story of Xiao Shuan herding cattle on the back slope of fengcun. I can't see the thick soles in the horse's hands, and I don't ask my father to write a letter of peace. She always turns the silver bracelet around and looks at it without saying a word.

Winter is coming again, and yellow teeth are coming again. Ma Song left him in the next room all day without talking to him.

It was a snowy night. After dinner, we crowded in front of the window to see the yard. Ma Song turned on the electric light in the yard, and the light shone on the snow, flat and bright. The sky is still snowing, spreading layer by layer. Song milk feeds frozen persimmons, and my Chinese class is called Snow:

One by one,

Two, three, four or five,

Six, seven, 89,

Fly into the reed flower and disappear.

The teacher said that this poem was written by an emperor who could not write poetry, and the last sentence was answered by his courtiers.

But it reads smoothly and sounds good.

Mother made Yan Yan's red satin cotton-padded jacket under the lamp, and the cotton was torn small and thin, spread layer by layer.

Mom said:

"Call your husband, the letter was written by my master secretly. Please go home with him and come here again next year when you have a son. It's immortality, wealth, little embolus and wench. What a way! You can't help but have children from here! "

Ma Song without words, mother asked again:

"What do you think?"

Ma Song this just say:

"Well, I'll go home and settle accounts with him!"

Both father and mother laughed.

"What about these children?" Ma Song said.

"Are you afraid that I have wronged them?" Mom said with a smile.

Ma Song looked at me and said:

"You learn, don't bully brother! Don't keep telling him and your father that he is still young.

My brother fell asleep in the chair. He is very naughty now. He often climbs to the table and rummages through my schoolbag.

Ma Song put her brother to bed. She gently took off her shoes for fear of waking him. She sighed and said, "If you don't see me tomorrow morning, you may cause trouble." She said to her mother: "The child has a bad temper, tell the master not to hit him easily;" Yan Yan has a little cough these two days. You'd better give her pear stew with rock sugar. I took Eiko's hair nest back to do it, and someone brought it to Beijing; Zhu Zhu's socks need mending. And ... I think I still ... alas! "Ma Song didn't say that finish, so don't say that.

Mother took out her passbook and showed it to her father, giving her a lot of money. She casually took the money, counting, sad smile:

"Let's go!"

"Go to bed early and get up early tomorrow." Mom said.

Ma Song opened the door and looked at the sky.

"That year, it snowed heavily on the day I came to Beijing for four years."

Her red cotton-padded jacket has long since been taken off, and the old quilt has been replaced with a hairpin for combing her hair, and the soles of her face and lining are covered with small bolts.

"Mom, will Ma Song come back?" I lay in bed and asked my mother.

Mother motioned me to keep my voice down. She was afraid that I would wake my brother. She gently said to me:

"Eiko, she is going back now. Maybe it will come again next year when it snows, holding a new doll. "

"At that time, she will give us a nanny? Then you have a little sister.

"Children talk nonsense!" My mother scolded me seriously.

"Who will braid my hair tomorrow morning?" My hair is yellow and short, so it is difficult to comb it. Every morning, I always yell at Ma Song, and she will scold me, "I'm used to it. I'm going to get on the sedan chair tomorrow. It's so urgent. How cold it is! "

"Get up early tomorrow. Before you leave, you can quickly braid your hair by Jeanmasson." Mom said.

I woke up at dawn and heard a rustling sound outside the window. I suddenly remembered something. I quickly got up and ran to the window to look out. The snow stopped and Xiao Lv was tied to the trunk. When it moved, the snow on the branches shook off and fell on the donkey's back.

I put on my clothes gently and went out to find Song Nai in the next room. She was shocked to see me get up so early. I said:

"Ma Song, braid my hair."

She is very kind today. Don't nag me

Xiao Lv had a big breakfast. Huang gnashed his teeth and led him to the gate, with bedding as thick as a sofa chair on the donkey's back. It must be comfortable to ride.

Ma Song is ready. She wore a big wool scarf around her head and twice around her neck. She said to me:

"I won't wake your mother, porridge stew on the fire! Eiko, study hard. You are a big sister. Be like a big sister. " Then she sat cross-legged on the donkey's back, which was amazing!

Huang patted the ass of the donkey and walked forward. There were clear hoof prints on the thick snow. Huang gnashed his teeth and chased the donkey and shouted, "Go, go, go, go."

A string of small bells hung around the donkey's neck, making a beautiful sound in the fresh air after snow.