By Hou Yonghua

Love Story at a Well

By Hou Yonghua

She met him at the age of 13 or 14, an age when a teenager begins to be curious about romantic love.

That day, she helped her mom fetch water from the well. She accidentally dropped the wooden bucket after filling it with water. Like a stone falling from a high place,the bucket plummeted into the water with a dull plop.

Taken aback, she hurriedly bent her head forward to the mouth of the well, but she could do nothing but watch the wooden bucket sink into the water bit by bit. She was so anxious that her eyes were brimming with tears, and just as she looked up, she saw him.

A lean boy was standing by the well. He grinned at her,and then threw a similar wooden bucket into the well with a plop. After filling the bucket with water, he lifted it up and dropped it in front of her.

“Carry it back home.”

Watching his smiling face, she was full of gratitude.

That was their first encounter—it left a sparkle of happiness in both of their hearts. Later, when she found out that he was a few years older and a non-native whose family had just settled at the other end of the village, sincere feelings began to ripple through her heart.

Afterwards, they always came across each other at the well. Without exchanging a single word, they just smiled at one another.

One afternoon a year later, she was told that the boy’s name was on the list of new army recruits, and her heart immediately turned grey, as if covered with dust. When she came to fetch water at the well again, her heart was leaping madly, and she could hardly compose herself. She wanted to tell him that all she desired was to meet him in her most beautiful years, but she didn’t speak out and went back without changing anything.

After he joined the army, she felt restless. When she reached marriageable age, he still hadn’t come back, so she had to bite the bullet and marry someone else. On the night before her wedding, she went to the well and had a good cry, after that she gave up all hope.

遇見他，正是十三四歲情竇初開的年紀。

那天，她幫母親到井邊打水，忽然一失手，裝滿水的木桶，如一塊高空墜落的石頭，直線下墜，然后就是“撲通”一聲沉悶的響聲。

她嚇了一跳，急切地把頭探到井口，眼睜睜看著深井里的木桶，一點一點沉沒。她急得眼淚汪汪，抬起頭時，看見了他。

清瘦的他，站在井欄邊，咧嘴沖她一笑，將一只同樣粗大的木桶，“撲通”一聲甩進井里，一桶灌滿水的桶提了上來，一把甩在她面前。

“把它擔回家吧?！?/p>

望著他微笑的臉龐，她內心全是感激。

那是他們第一次相遇，彼此心間都有一種朦朦朧朧的甜蜜感。后來，她知道他住在村的另一頭，是剛剛落戶的外鄉(xiāng)人，年齡長她幾歲，內心生出無限憧憬。

再后來，他們常常在井臺邊相遇。彼此只是笑笑，再也沒有只言片語。

一年后的一天午后，她忽然從旁人口中知道，入伍新兵的名字里有他，內心陡然間落滿塵土，灰蒙蒙的。再到井臺邊打水，那顆突突跳動的心，總是無法平靜。她想對他說，只求在最美的年華遇到你，最終還是三緘其口，無功而返。

At the end of 1950s, he came back to the village after demobilization, however, due to the social stratification of his family, he was labeled a “Rightist”, and then later,he was penalized to be locked up in the cowshed. At night,she secretly went to see him, brought him hot meals, and comforted him with soothing words. At that time, she was already the mother of two children, yet he was still single.Shortly after that, she found herself drowning in slanderous gossip spreading across the village. Although she didn’t care about it, he did.

At each of her visit, he would try hard to persuade her not to come again. Yet eventually, she was involved in his case, and soon, she was also jailed in the cowshed with a fabricated charge.

That was probably the most beautiful time in her life. Partitioned by just a wall, they had the chance of whispering to each other. With class conflict still going on, they were often pulled out and paraded through the streets wearing a tall paper hat with some insulting words scribbled on it. Whenever they returned alive after being paraded, they felt that it was a victory. At night, they would sing to celebrate, and exchange the warmest of words to encourage each other to never give up.

One day, after he was dragged away, he never returned.It wasn’t until later did she find out that he couldn’t bear the torment and drowned himself in the well. When she heard the news, she didn’t believe it whatsoever, and she cried her heart out and wanted to end her life, but thinking of her two children made her heart soften.

When the Cultural Revolution came to an end, her grievances were finally redressed, and she embarked on a new journey in her life. She went to visit the old well, only to find that weeds had grown wild around it. As someone had died in the well, no one wanted to fetch water from there any longer, and the old well was gradually deserted.Later, tap water began to be supplied in the village, and many tall water towers were erected, and thus some people suggested to back fill the well, as there were rumors that the poultry and pets raised by villagers were often drowned in it. It wasn’t until a child from the village nearly slipped and fell into the water when playing at the well that the village committee decided to adopt the villagers’ suggestion.

When the day came, she lay down in front of the well to prevent others from taking action. “No, please don’t back fill it. I’d like to buy it with my own money.” She wailed. After some debates, the village head finally agreed, but the othervillagers refused to give in. Eventually, she had to build a courtyard surrounding the well to keep others away from it.

At that time, she was extremely hard up, so at first, she set up a fence for the well with some thorns, and then, she scraped up some money together to build a clay courtyard with a mud hut inside.

During that period of time, her family claimed that she was mad and possessed, and her husband divorced her after a big fight. Her children and relatives also cut off ties with her; thus, she simply moved into the courtyard all alone, until her hair turned grey.

When she was living in the courtyard, and whenever the sun rose, she would sit by the fence and mutter something to the old well for a while. She gazed at it peacefully, with a tranquil look on her face. The sun shone brightly on her cheeks, covering them with a golden sheen.

(From Meeting You in My Most Beautiful Years, Xiyuan Press.Translation: Zhu Yaguang)

他參軍后，她那顆心便無法安置。此后，到了婚嫁的年齡，見他依舊沒有回來，她一狠心，嫁了他人。只是在出嫁前夜，她跑到井欄邊，狠狠地痛哭一場，再無他念。

20世紀50年代末，他從部隊轉業(yè)回來，因為家庭成分的問題，很快被打成“右派”；再后來，又被關到村子的牛棚里受苦。夜里，她偷偷跑去看他，送去熱飯熱菜，跟他說說寬心話。那時，她已經是兩個孩子的母親，而他還是孑然一身。村里的風言風語很快將她淹沒，雖然她不在乎，可是他在乎。

每次見她來，他總要勸上一番。最終，他還是牽連上了她，很快，她也被以“莫須有”的罪名關入牛棚。

那段時間，應該是她今生最美的時光。一墻之隔的他和她，有了說悄悄話的機會。斗爭還在繼續(xù)，他和她不時被人揪出來，戴著高帽游街。每次只要被游街的人能活著回來，他們就覺得那是一種勝利。夜晚，他們會唱歌來慶祝，并用最溫暖的話語鼓勵對方繼續(xù)活下去。

有一次，他被人揪出來，再也沒有回來。事后，她才知道，他不堪折磨，投井了。得知這個消息，她死活都不相信，哭得死去活來。再后來，想想兩個未成年的孩子，她的心終于軟下來，不再尋死覓活。

“文革”結束后，她平反昭雪，重獲新生。她去看那口老井，發(fā)現井口周圍雜草叢生，一片荒蕪。因為這里死過人，再也沒有人愿意來提水，那口老井，廢棄不用了。之后，村里開始用自來水，高高的水塔在村頭豎起來。有人建議把那口水井填平了，因為村里不時傳出誰家的雞狗掉進井里淹死的傳聞。有一次，村里一個小孩在井欄邊玩耍，差一點失足落入井里。村委會經過研究，決定采納大家的建議。

村長帶人填井那天，她橫在井欄邊，死活不讓大伙動手。她哭著喊著說：“不要填，不要填，我愿意用錢買下來。”經過一番爭執(zhí)，村長終于答應了，但村民不答應。最后，她只好建一座院子，把井圍起來，不讓他人靠近。

那時，她家里異常拮據，她先是用荊棘在井欄邊扎起一個帶刺的籬笆，然后東拼西借，建起一個土院子，還在院子里建了一座土屋。

那段時間，家里人都說她瘋了，鬼迷心竅，丈夫和她鬧翻，離了婚，子女和親戚也不愿意和她來往，她干脆搬進這座院子住下來，直到白發(fā)蒼蒼。

住在這座院子里，每天太陽升起來的時候，她都要坐在井欄邊，對著那口水井，說一會兒悄悄話。她目光安詳，神情安然，陽光灑落在臉上，一臉金燦燦的笑容。

（摘自《只求在最美的年華遇到你》 西苑出版社）

井水之愛

文|侯擁華