。
“是的。”
她那时坐在村口的凉亭里面。
“你从哪里来？”
妇人静黩了一时答：
“我是向那里去的；早晨我以为自己会走的。”
老人怜悯地也没有多说话，就给她找了两位轿夫，一顶没篷的轿。因为那是下秧
的时节。
下午三四时的样子，一条狭窄而污秽的乡村小街上，抬过了一顶没篷的轿子，轿
里躺着一个脸色枯萎如同一张干瘪的黄菜叶那么的中年妇人，两眼朦胧地颓唐地闭
着。嘴里的呼吸只有微弱地吐出。街上的人们个个睁着惊异的目光，怜悯地凝视着过
去。一群孩子们，争噪地跟在轿后，好像一件奇异的事情落到这沉寂的小村镇里来了。
春宝也是跟在轿后的孩子们中底一个，他还在似赶猪那么地哗着轿走，可是当轿
子一转一个弯，却是向他底家里去的路，他却伸直了两手而奇怪了，等到轿子到了他
家里的门口，他简直呆似地远远地站在前面，背靠在一株柱子上，面向着轿，其余的
孩子们胆怯地围在轿的两边(14)。妇人走出来了，她昏迷的眼睛还认不清站在前面的，
穿着褴褛的衣服，头发蓬乱的，身子和三年前一样的短小，那个八岁的孩子是她底春
宝。突然，她哭出来地高叫了：
“春宝呀！”
一群孩子们，个个无意地吃了一惊，而春宝简直吓的躲进屋里他父亲那里去了。
妇人在灰暗的屋内坐了许久许久，她和她底丈夫都没有一句话。夜色降落了，他
下垂的头昂起来，向她说：
“烧饭吃罢！”
妇人就不得已地站起来，向屋角上旋转了一周，一点也没有气力地对她丈夫说：
“米缸内是空空的……”
男人冷笑了一声，答说：
“你真在大人家底里生活过来了！米，盛在那只香烟盒子内。”
当天晚上，男子向他底儿子说：
“春宝，跟你底娘去睡！”
而春宝却靠在灶边哭起来了。他底母亲走近他，一边叫：
“春宝，宝宝！”
可是当她底手去抚摸他底时候，他又躲闪开了。男子加上说：
“会生疏得那么快，一顿打呢！”
她眼睁睁地睡在一张龌龊的狭板床上，春宝陌生似地睡在她底身边。在她底已经
麻木的脑内，仿佛秋宝肥白可爱地在她身边挣动着，她伸出两手想去抱，可是身边是
春宝。这时，春宝睡着了，转了一个身，他底母亲紧紧地将他抱住，而孩子却从微弱
的鼾声中，脸伏在她底胸膛上。
沉静而寒冷的死一般的长夜，似无限地拖延着，拖延着……
A Slave Mother
Rou Shi
He was a dealer in animal skins which he bought from hunters in the countryside and
sold in town. Sometimes he also worked in the fields; early each summer he turned
farm-hand, transplanting rice for other people. As he had learned to transplant the
seedlings in wonderfully straight rows, the peasants always asked him to help them. But he
never made enough money to support his family and his debts mounted with each passing
year. The wretchedness of his life and the hopeless situation he was in caused him to take
to smoking, drinking and gambling, and he became vicious and bad-tempered. As he grew
poorer, people stopped lending him money, even in small sums.
With poverty came sickness. He grew sallow: his face took on the sickly colour of a
brass drum and even the whites of his eyes became yellow. People said that he had
jaundice and urchins nicknamed him “Yellow Fellow”. One day, he said to his wife,
“There’s no way out of it. It looks as if we’ll even have to sell our cooking pot. i.m
afraid we have to part. It’s no use both of us going hungry together.”
“We have to part? ...” muttered his wife, who was sitting behind the stove with their
three-year-old boy in her arms.
“Yes, we have to part,” he answered feebly. “There’s somebody willing to hire you as
a temporary wife, …” ◢本◢作◢品◢由◢◢網◢提◢供◢下◢載◢與◢在◢線◢閱◢讀◢
“ What?” she almost lost her senses.
There followed a brief silence. Then the husband continued, falteringly,
“Three days ago, Wang Lang came here and spent a long time pressing me to pay my
debt to him. After he had left, I went out. I sat under a tree on the shore of Chiumous Lake
and thought of committing suicide. I wanted to climb the tree and dive into the water and
drown myself, but, after thinking about it, I lost courage. The hooting of an owl frightened
me and I walked away. On my way home, I came across Mrs. Shen, the matchmaker, who
asked me why I was out at night. I told her what had happened and asked her if she could
borrow some money for me, or some lady’s dresses and ornaments that I could pawn to
pay Wang Lang so that he’d no longer be prowling after me like a wolf. But Mrs. Shen
only smiled and said,
“ ‘What do you keep your wife at home for? And you’re so sick and yellow!’
“I hung my head and said nothing. She continued,
“ ‘Since you’ve got only one son, you might find it hard to part with him. But as for
your wife…’
“I thought she meant that I should sell you, but she added,
“ ‘Of course she is your lawful wife, but you’re poor and you can’t do anything about
it. What do you keep her at home for? Starve her to death?’
“Then she said straight out, ‘There’s a fifty-year-old scholar who wants a concubine
to bear him a son since his wife is barren. But his wife objects and will only allow him to
hire somebody else’s wife for a few years. I’ve been asked to find them a woman. She has
to be about thirty years old and the mother of two or three children. She must be honest
and hard-work