Chapter 48 small orange light

This was more than ten years ago. One afternoon before the Spring Festival, I went to the outskirts of Chongqing to visit a friend. She lives above the township hall in that village.Walk up a dark narrow staircase, enter a room with a square table, several bamboo stools, and a telephone on the wall, and then enter my friend's room, separated from the outside by only a curtain.She was not at home, and there was a note on the table in front of the window, saying that she had to go out temporarily and told me to wait for her. I sat down at her desk and picked up a newspaper to read. Suddenly, I heard the door of the outer room creak open. After a while, I heard someone moving the bamboo stool.I opened the curtain and saw a little girl, only about eight or nine years old, with a thin pale face, purple lips from the cold, short hair, wearing shabby clothes and a pair of straw sandals on bare feet, going up the stairs. I got on the bamboo stool and wanted to pick up the receiver on the wall, but I seemed to be taken aback when I saw me, so I withdrew my hand.I asked her, "Do you want to call?" She nodded as she climbed off the bamboo stool and said, "I want to find Dr. Hu at the ×× hospital. My mother just vomited a lot of blood!" I asked, "You know × X Hospital’s phone number?” She shook her head and said, “I was just going to ask the telephone company…”

I quickly found the number of the hospital from the phone book next to the machine, and asked her again: "I found the doctor, whose home should I ask him to go?" She said, "As long as you say that Wang Chunlin's family is sick, she will come." of." I got through the phone, she thanked me gratefully, turned around and left.I grabbed her and asked, "Is your home far away?" She pointed out the window and said, "It's just under the big yellow fruit tree in the mountain nest, and you can walk there in no time." Then, she climbed, climbed, and went downstairs. .

I went back to the back room again, read the newspaper front and back, and picked up a copy of "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty".I stood up bored, looking at the foggy mountain scenery outside the window, saw the hut under the yellow fruit tree, and suddenly wanted to visit the little girl and her sick mother.I went downstairs and bought a few big red oranges at the door, stuffed them in my handbag, and walked along the crooked stone road to the door of the hut. I knocked lightly on the board door, the little girl came out and opened the door just now, looked up at me, was stunned for a moment, then smiled, and beckoned me to go in.The room was very small and dark. Her mother was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, probably asleep. There were bloodstains on her head. Her face was turned inward, and only her face could be seen. messy hair, and a big bun on the back of the head.

There is a small charcoal stove by the door, and a small casserole is placed on it, slightly steaming.The little girl let me sit on the little stool in front of the stove, and she squatted beside me, looking at me non-stop.I gently asked: "Has the doctor been here?" She said: "Yes, I gave my mother an injection...she is fine now." She said again as if to comfort me: "Don't worry, doctor I’ll come tomorrow morning.” I asked, “Has she eaten anything? What’s in this pot?” She laughed and said: "Sweet potato porridge - our New Year's Eve dinner." I remembered the oranges I brought, and took them out and put them on the small table next to the bed.She didn't make a sound, just stretched out her hand to take one of the largest oranges, peeled off a section of skin on the top with a knife, and gently kneaded the bottom half with both hands.

I asked in a low voice: "Who else is there in your family?" She said: "There is no one now, my father has gone outside..." She didn't go on, just slowly took out the orange petals from the orange peel and put them next to her mother's pillow. The dim light of the fire gradually dimmed, and it became dark outside.I stood up and wanted to go, but she held me, took the big needle covered with twine with great agility, threaded the small orange bowl facing each other, like a small basket, and carried it with a small bamboo stick, and then I took a short piece of wax from the window sill, put it inside, lit it, and handed it to me, saying: "It's dark, the road is slippery, let this little orange light shine on you up the mountain!"

I accepted it appreciatively, thanked her, and she sent me out the door. I didn't know what to say, but she said again as if to comfort me: "Soon, my dad will definitely be back. Then my mother will be fine. "She drew a circle in front of her with her little hand, and finally pressed it on my hand: "We are all healed too!" "Obviously, this "everyone" includes me. I carried this nifty little orange light and walked slowly on the dark and damp mountain road.The hazy orange light can't really shine very far, but this little girl's calm, brave, and optimistic spirit inspired me, and I seemed to feel that there was infinite light in front of me!

My friend has already come back, and seeing me carrying the little orange lantern, he asked me where I came from.I said, "From... from Wang Chunlin's house." She said in amazement, "Wang Chunlin, that carpenter, how did you recognize him? Last year, several students from the medical school at the foot of the mountain were taken away as Communists. Wang Chunlin is also missing, it is said that he often delivers letters for those students..." That night, I left the mountain village and never heard from the little girl and her mother again. But since then, every Spring Festival, I think of that little orange lantern.Twelve years have passed, and the little girl's father must have returned early.Her mother must be well too, right?Because we "everyone" are "well"!

(This article was originally published in "China Youth Daily" on January 31, 1957, and later included in a collection of novels, essays, and poems. It was first published by Writers Publishing House in April 1980.)