Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

I once said that what I wish in this life is to watch a colorful spring, drink a cup of pleasing tea, and be a woman who has washed away her lead.Life is alive, it should be like this, indifferent to the heartstrings, cultivating causes and reaping fruits. Sanmao is different from me and many people, she is a legend.Therefore, her emotions, her journey, and her future destination will all be written with passion and brilliance.And she also has to experience a story that ordinary people can only see in dramas or books. The story of the Sahara is worth savoring and recalling in Sanmao's life.Perhaps in this world, there is no drama that can be performed so realistically and vividly.Sahara, let Sanmao understand that life needs to be experienced in person before it can be considered truly lived.When she crossed the entire Sahara Desert one day, she realized that the scenery of the world had been seen through, she had nowhere to go, and she had a reason to stop running.

The desert in the morning is a little more tender and quiet than the night.The sky soaked by the morning glow waits for this barren land to become the most beautiful scenery.The slanting long wind woke up the dream that had been sleeping all night.Everything will start, and those who come here have no choice. Sanmao and Jose came to the court to inquire about applying for marriage.Before deciding to marry Jose, Sanmao told him that they not only have different nationalities, but also have different personalities, and they may quarrel or even fight after marriage in the future.Moreover, independent personality and inner freedom cannot be lost.If she can't fully be herself, or has the slightest restraint, she won't get married.Jose replied Sanmao, what he loves is her free and easy personality and her independent spirit.

They were greeted by a Spanish secretary with silver hair.Here, no one has done the marriage formalities, because the Saharawi marriages here are all in accordance with their own customs.The old man turned over a lot of legal books and came to a complicated result. "Certified marriage, ah, here--this, you need a birth certificate, a single certificate, a residence certificate, and a court announcement certificate... This lady's document must be issued by Taiwan, and then the Chinese embassy in Portugal will translate the certificate. The certificate is over. Then transfer it to the Spanish Consulate in Portugal for notarization, then go through the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then transfer it here for review. After the review, we will announce it for 15 days, and then send it to the court in Madrid where your previous household registration is located..."

Sanmao, who hated filling out forms and going through formalities the most in his life, became impatient when he heard Mr. Secretary say this.She asked José if it was possible not to get married after such a complicated procedure.Jose became impatient, he begged the slow-moving Mr. Secretary, hoping that he could help faster, he couldn't wait any longer. How could the secretary know how many years Jose had waited for this beautiful woman in front of him.Seeing that she was about to become his bride, there were so many inexplicable obstacles.Later, Mr. Secretary told them that it would take three months to complete all the procedures.This means that Sanmao and Jose will get married after three months.

For Jose who has been waiting for seven years, three months is not a long time.What's more, in these three months, he can get along with Sanmao day and night, which is better than the distance between them in the past.But because it gave him hope, Jose was still very anxious before the dust settled. For the next three months, Jose worked hard to earn money every day and made furniture by himself.And Sanmao, introduced by the retired commander of the Foreign Legion, often went to the nearby desert with a radius of hundreds of miles to run with the big truck selling water.Carrying a bag and a camera, photograph the strange and colorful folk customs of the Sahara.And record it into words for her to read carefully for the rest of her life.Only by going deep into the desert, watching the beautiful scenery of sunrise and sunset, and antelopes galloping, can you rest your mind and forget the hardships of real life.

But at the moment, the most important thing is how to survive in the desert and how to run that humble home.Sanmao began to buy things for the family, such as mattresses, rough straw mats, pots and pans, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and many other necessary items.Things in the desert are so expensive that there is no reason to speak.Sanmao looked at the stack of banknotes that Jose gave, and there was not much left.The father's money was deposited for a fixed period and could not be used.In the future life, she needs to be more frugal in order to be safe every day. For a bucket of water, Sanmao had to walk a long way under the scorching sun to reach the home that seemed to never arrive.The gas ran out, and she didn't have the strength to drag the empty bucket to town to change it.I had no choice but to borrow a neighbor's tin charcoal stove and squat outside the door to fan the flames until I was choked by the smoke and burst into tears.This daughter who grew up in the palm of her parents' hands has finally tasted the most bitterness in life.But Sanmao is not discouraged. She feels that it is also a valuable thing to have more life experiences.

Jose worked day and night to earn more money.In that family, Sanmao was often alone, listening to the weeping wind outside the window alone, or watching the dust fall quietly.No television, no radio, no books, no wardrobe, no drawers.Sit on the floor to eat, sleep on a mattress on the floor of the room, write and find a board and put it on your lap.Calls come only when luck is good. In the cold night, there is only one white candle, shedding tears alone. Whenever He Xi catches the night traffic bus back to the construction site and closes the door, San Mao can't help crying.She ran to the rooftop, saw his figure, and rushed down to catch up with his steps.How many times, panting, she said to He Xi almost pleadingly: "Can you stay? Please, there is no electricity today, I am very lonely."

Jose's eyes were red, and they just stood there in the cold wind.In the end, he left cruelly, waving at Sanmao under the starry sky far away.So helpless, just to earn a little more living expenses.Going home alone, facing the gloomy hut, the cold wall, and the proud Sanmao, I couldn't help crying weakly. The beautiful Sanmao Sahara Desert, this magical place like a dream, has given Sanmao a lot of suffering.She had to pay unparalleled perseverance and hardship to survive.But Sanmao never regretted coming here, nor did she complain. She let herself get used to everything here.She believes that now she is changing herself for Sahara, and one day Sahara will change for her.

The setbacks in life made Sanmao know how to cherish more.With a meager amount of money, you can't buy materials for making furniture.Sanmao begged for a few discarded wooden boxes, and when he got them, he hired a donkey cart to drag them home, looking at them like treasures, for fear that the neighbors would pick them up.Jose used his spare time to start making furniture under the scorching sun according to the design selected by Sanmao. The scorching sun makes the sky and the earth spin.Seeing Hexi exhausted his physical strength and working in silence, Sanmao was proud of having such a husband.This man who never knew how to be romantic, moved Sanmao with every bit of life.At this moment, Sanmao felt that he knew Jose again.She believed that there was no one else in this world who could share joys and sorrows with her like this.The harsh environment of the desert will drain all a person's enthusiasm.

If it is said that Sanmao is persevering for his beliefs, while Jose is for love.They are all great people doing admirable things.When Sanmao saw Jose's hands that were blistered and bleeding from the nails, not only was he heartbroken, but also ashamed.She blamed herself why she couldn't learn from the Sahawis and sit on the mat all her life, so why bother to use that kind of furniture.But Jose knew Sanmao well, and he hoped to make her live as comfortably and gracefully as possible in this harsh desert. Later, Sanmao found out that the wooden box he begged for was originally used to hold the coffin.Two big living people, living in the cemetery area, using coffin boxes as furniture.After Sanmao knew about it, she thought it was a happy accident. She cherished these planks even more, and felt sorry for Jose's work.

Except for working hours, Jose always refused to stop and kept beating on the roof.Sanmao finally fulfilled Jose's dream many years ago.It is at home every day, guarding the pots and pans, washing his hands and making soup for him.Sanmao said: "In the process of life, whether it is Yangchun Baixue or green vegetable tofu, I have to taste what it is like, so that I will not be in vain!" But do we know that in the desert, green vegetable tofu has also become Unforgettable delicacies. Jose enthusiastically tapped and tapped, and finally got a warm return.By the time they got married, that home already had a bookshelf, a table, a long row of hanging wardrobes in the bedroom, a coffee table in the kitchen, and new colorful striped curtains... Although, these things, for many In human terms, it is as small as dust.But in the Sahara, it is a beautiful and holy temple. One day, alone in the afternoon, Sanmao accidentally saw some old photos.The self in the photo is wearing a long dress, fur coat, black hair rolled up, long earrings, smiling like a flower, elegant and beautiful.After reading it, Sanmao sat down on the ground, "At that time, my mood was like a dead body, and the soul was led to the lookout platform to see his relatives, feeling helpless." But Sanmao always firmly believes that this kind of sadness that feels like a world away will not last forever.As long as you use a broad and gentle heart, you can grow plants and flowers in the wilderness.One day, when she was tired from walking, she found a Bodhi plant in the boundless desert.And she wants to do that, under the bodhi tree, a woman who quietly watches the vicissitudes of life. After all, there is no poetic feeling of gentle breeze and drizzle, and no elegant rhyme of green willows and peach blossoms.Looking up, there are thousands of miles of yellow sand, wind and dust billowing, a simple house with only one person, empty against the cold wall. Tonight, the person she was waiting for has not returned yet.