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.

遇见他，正是十三四岁情窦初开的年纪。

那天，她帮母亲到井边打水，忽然一失手，装满水的木桶，如一块高空坠落的石头，直线下坠，然后就是“扑通”一声沉闷的响声。

她吓了一跳，急切地把头探到井口，眼睁睁看着深井里的木桶，一点一点沉没。她急得眼泪汪汪，抬起头时，看见了他。

清瘦的他，站在井栏边，咧嘴冲她一笑，将一只同样粗大的木桶，“扑通”一声甩进井里，一桶灌满水的桶提了上来，一把甩在她面前。

“把它担回家吧。”

望着他微笑的脸庞，她内心全是感激。

那是他们第一次相遇，彼此心间都有一种朦朦胧胧的甜蜜感。后来，她知道他住在村的另一头，是刚刚落户的外乡人，年龄长她几岁，内心生出无限憧憬。

再后来，他们常常在井台边相遇。彼此只是笑笑，再也没有只言片语。

一年后的一天午后，她忽然从旁人口中知道，入伍新兵的名字里有他，内心陡然间落满尘土，灰蒙蒙的。再到井台边打水，那颗突突跳动的心，总是无法平静。她想对他说，只求在最美的年华遇到你，最终还是三缄其口，无功而返。

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)

他参军后，她那颗心便无法安置。此后，到了婚嫁的年龄，见他依旧没有回来，她一狠心，嫁了他人。只是在出嫁前夜，她跑到井栏边，狠狠地痛哭一场，再无他念。

20世纪50年代末，他从部队转业回来，因为家庭成分的问题，很快被打成“右派”；再后来，又被关到村子的牛棚里受苦。夜里，她偷偷跑去看他，送去热饭热菜，跟他说说宽心话。那时，她已经是两个孩子的母亲，而他还是孑然一身。村里的风言风语很快将她淹没，虽然她不在乎，可是他在乎。

每次见她来，他总要劝上一番。最终，他还是牵连上了她，很快，她也被以“莫须有”的罪名关入牛棚。

那段时间，应该是她今生最美的时光。一墙之隔的他和她，有了说悄悄话的机会。斗争还在继续，他和她不时被人揪出来，戴着高帽游街。每次只要被游街的人能活着回来，他们就觉得那是一种胜利。夜晚，他们会唱歌来庆祝，并用最温暖的话语鼓励对方继续活下去。

有一次，他被人揪出来，再也没有回来。事后，她才知道，他不堪折磨，投井了。得知这个消息，她死活都不相信，哭得死去活来。再后来，想想两个未成年的孩子，她的心终于软下来，不再寻死觅活。

“文革”结束后，她平反昭雪，重获新生。她去看那口老井，发现井口周围杂草丛生，一片荒芜。因为这里死过人，再也没有人愿意来提水，那口老井，废弃不用了。之后，村里开始用自来水，高高的水塔在村头竖起来。有人建议把那口水井填平了，因为村里不时传出谁家的鸡狗掉进井里淹死的传闻。有一次，村里一个小孩在井栏边玩耍，差一点失足落入井里。村委会经过研究，决定采纳大家的建议。

村长带人填井那天，她横在井栏边，死活不让大伙动手。她哭着喊着说：“不要填，不要填，我愿意用钱买下来。”经过一番争执，村长终于答应了，但村民不答应。最后，她只好建一座院子，把井围起来，不让他人靠近。

那时，她家里异常拮据，她先是用荆棘在井栏边扎起一个带刺的篱笆，然后东拼西借，建起一个土院子，还在院子里建了一座土屋。

那段时间，家里人都说她疯了，鬼迷心窍，丈夫和她闹翻，离了婚，子女和亲戚也不愿意和她来往，她干脆搬进这座院子住下来，直到白发苍苍。

住在这座院子里，每天太阳升起来的时候，她都要坐在井栏边，对着那口水井，说一会儿悄悄话。她目光安详，神情安然，阳光洒落在脸上，一脸金灿灿的笑容。

（摘自《只求在最美的年华遇到你》 西苑出版社）

井水之爱

文|侯拥华