Chapter 11 Section 6

I don’t know if it’s because the road from the back mountain to the front mountain is relatively flat, or because I’ve had a full lunch, or because I just took a bath in the pond, or maybe a combination of the three. In short, Dr. Man seems to be very energetic , carrying Ding Yi on his back, he walked leisurely on the mountain road without any haste.Ding Yi said with admiration: "You are so strong, you don't think I'm heavy at all?" "I've carried anything heavier than you." "You went out to study a long time ago, why do you still need to memorize things?"

"It's because I need to recite things when I go out to study." "Then what are you carrying?" "Carry firewood, yams, charcoal, and many, many things." "Why do you carry these things?" "Because I can't afford the tuition fee, I have to carry these things to offset the tuition fee." A thin figure appeared in front of her, with a bundle of firewood on her back that was bigger than her body. She seemed to be able to hear the crackling sound of bones being bent, and felt pain in her heart. Her throat was tight for a while before she pretended to be relaxed. "Where did you go to school when you were a kid?"

"Bai Jiafan." "Is it far from here?" "Ten miles." "Why don't you go to school in Manjialing?" She knew she had asked a stupid question as soon as she finished asking. Sure enough, he dismissed the answer. She had no choice but to find the steps by herself: "I can understand that Manjialing doesn't have a middle school, but there isn't even a primary school?" "Who wants to come here and be a teacher?" "Can't you people in Manjialing find someone to be a teacher?" "They are illiterate, how can they be teachers?"

"Then you have been studying outside since elementary school?" "Ok." "Aren't you afraid of walking such a long way to study alone?" "What are you afraid of? I grew up in the mountains, and I have seen wolves, tigers and leopards. I am not afraid of anything, except that I have no money. Besides, my sister sent me to school." It was the first time she heard him say that he had a sister: "You have a sister? I thought you were the only child." "I was not an only child, and I had an older brother, but my older brother died."

She was startled: "How did you die?" "Probably appendicitis." "Appendicitis can kill a person?" "There is no hospital in the mountains. His stomach hurts. My parents massaged him, made him drink salt water, and asked the old man on the mountain to exorcise evil spirits, but nothing worked. I had to send him to the county seat, but it was too late." She quickly slipped off his back, as if this would ease the pain in his heart.After walking for a while, she asked carefully, "But even then, you are not an only child. Didn't you just say you have a sister?"

"My sister is a woman." "Women are not human?" "Women are going to get married. After getting married, the household registration is transferred and they are not counted as members of my family." She felt that she couldn't explain clearly to him. She was talking about family relationship, but he was talking about household registration. Isn't this talking nonsense?According to his concept, her family doesn't even have an only child, isn't that too discriminatory against women? But she knew there was no point in arguing with him. Maybe people in Manjialing didn't treat their daughters as human beings. He had accepted this concept since he was a child. How could he not think so?If she had grown up in Manjialing, she would probably think the same way as him, and would not consider herself a human being.

She asked, "How many sisters do you have?" "Three." "Huh? Why didn't I see any of them?" "They're all married." "Don't they come back to visit their parents during the holidays?" "They are all married, and they still run to their mother's house. Aren't they afraid of being laughed at by others?" "What's the joke?" "Only those whose husbands and in-laws don't want to see each other will run back to their mother's house." "Then your older sisters are loved by your husband and in-laws?"

He was silent for a while before he said: "My elder sister's husband and in-laws don't like her, they always beat her." "She ran back to her mother's house?" "How can she run back? For such a long journey, she has no travel expenses, and she doesn't know the way, so she can't even go back to her mother's house if she wants to beg for food along the way." "Then you go to see her?" "What do you think? She's dead." She was taken aback again: "Dead? How did you die?" "It's difficult to give birth to a child and die."

"There are still people dying in childbirth? Medical care is so advanced." "In the mountains, what is developed?" "What about the child?" "Dead too." "Then her husband is so pitiful, his wife and children are gone." "He married another wife and had a son." "Your eldest sister gave birth to a girl?" "Ok." She immediately felt that something was wrong: "Is it because your brother-in-law wanted a son and killed your elder sister?" He said nothing. She suggested: "Then you should ask the Public Security Bureau to investigate, and you can't let your eldest sister die in such an unexplained way."

"The corpse is cremated, how can we investigate?" The two walked in silence for a while, and she asked, "Where's your second sister?" After she finished asking, she regretted it, fearing that he would say "dead" again.Fortunately, this time he didn't mention death: "Second sister married and went to the back mountain." "Is it the back mountain where we took a bath just now?" "No, that's the back mountain of Manjialing. Women from Manjialing cannot marry people from Manjialing." He pointed to the high mountains in the distance, "My second sister married there."

"Is Houshan higher than Manjialing?" "Of course, Manjialing is just a ridge, and it's only a threshold for those big mountains." She was dumbfounded, God, the threshold of Manjialing almost killed her, how high should those back mountains be?Marrying in the past may lead to death, climbing to death, giving birth to a child, life and death, appendicitis pain to death, there are too many opportunities to die, everywhere.She didn't dare to ask about his second sister's situation, fearing that she would hear terrible news, so she asked something else: "Where's your third sister?" "Third sister married to the county town." She breathed a sigh of relief: "Her life should be okay, right?" "What can you do? Men in the city are useless, don't learn well, have bad optics, gamble, and play tricks." "What do you mean by flowers?" "You don't understand flowers? It's just..." He couldn't seem to find the exact definition. "Are you trying to play tricks? Are you in love with other women?" "Well, that's what it means." "Then why doesn't your third sister get a divorce?" "How do you live when you get divorced? The daughter who gets married will go back to live with her natal family when she is unhappy, and will be raised by her natal family." "Then what to do?" "I've already warned my third brother-in-law. If I hear my third sister say it again, I will abolish him." She thought of his reputation as "a surgical knife", and shivered. She heard that the surgical scalpel was extremely sharp. It would not be a problem for him to abolish a person, and he might not leave a scar, so that his third brother-in-law would be troubled from now on. Can't get up. "Don't ruin your future for a messy man," she praised, "You are so kind to your sister." "It's my sister who is so kind to me. I can go to school because of my sister." "Where are your parents?" "They have to go to the mountains and go to the fields, so they don't have time to care about me. My sisters sent me to school and raised my tuition fees. My sisters got married to raise my tuition fees." She said consolingly, "Get married early, get married late, and you always have to get married." "But you don't have to marry into a fire pit just for money." This topic is very heavy, and she dare not ask any more questions. She guessed that she was going to his house soon, but she didn't want to go back so soon, she wanted to be alone with him, and if he went back to his house, he wouldn't talk to her much.She suggested: "Do you have any fun places here? You take me to play?" "No." She lost all interest after being splashed with cold water by him, so she had to go home with him honestly, but he suddenly suggested, "Let me take you to see the Woman Tree." "Woman tree? Does it look like a woman?" "You'll know it when you see it." He took her to climb the mountain for a while, and came to a place where there were no people. He pointed to a big tree with luxuriant branches and said, "That is the woman tree." She looked carefully for a long time, but couldn't figure out why the tree was called "Woman Tree". So, he asked suspiciously: "This tree doesn't look like a woman at all. Why is it called a 'Woman Tree'?" Without answering, he climbed to the tree, picked a fruit, and showed it to her. She took it and found that it was a small eggplant-like fruit. She couldn't figure it out, so she asked him: "I don't think this fruit looks like a woman at all. Is it true that women especially like to eat it?" "This fruit cannot be eaten." "Then why is it called the 'Woman Tree'?" He took the fruit, broke it in two, and pointed to the broken part to show her: "Isn't it like a woman here?" Only then did she realize something, what he was talking about was a hollow in the center of the fruit, from where it was broken, it looked like a woman's lower body.Her face was a little hot, she threw the thing away, and said, "You men are so boring." "How is this boring? This is passed down from the ancestors, and it is a gift from nature." Seeing such a poetic word "gift from nature" popping out of his mouth, she felt a little funny: "What gift from nature?" "This is 'female fruit'. It's not ripe yet," he said with gestures. This is their woman." She froze for a while, realized what he meant, and couldn't help but blushed: "You guys are so disgusting." "Is it not disgusting to sleep with other women when your own woman is not in front of you like you people in the city?" She asked curiously: "Manjialing men never betray their women?" "never." This was so touching, she then asked: "Then are they happy to get a divorce?" "never heard of that." She really wanted to ask if he was like the man in Manjialing, who only married one woman in his life, and only had one woman in his life, but she was too embarrassed to ask such a personal question, so she just asked mischievously: "Do you have a woman here?" tree, is there a man tree?" She asked casually, thinking that the answer must be "no", but he replied proudly, "Why not? Where there are women, there are men, just like there are women, there are men." She imagined a big tree full of men's things, and thought it was too funny, so she was embarrassed to ask him to take her to see it, but he took the initiative to say, "Do you want to see the man tree?" "Where?" "above." She looked in the direction of his finger, and it seemed to be the "Arafat headscarf". She was a little timid: "Why is it so tall?" "Of course the man tree grows on a high place." She murmured to herself, could it be that the trees in Manjialing also have the idea that men are superior to women, and that male trees must grow higher than female trees? He said decisively: "If you look at the tree of women, you must look at the tree of men." She didn't know if this was a manifestation of the idea that men are superior to women, and she said a little timidly: "I really want to see it, but I have to climb a mountain." "I can carry you on my back." "Row." It took a long time for the two of them to carry and climb for a while before they heard him say, "We're here!" To her great disappointment, there was no male root on the tree. It was just an ordinary-looking tree, which seemed to be weaker than the female tree, with thin branches and leaves whirling in the wind. She pretended to be angry and said, "So you are here Lie to me! What kind of 'man tree' is this?" "This is the 'Man Tree'!" "It's nothing like that." "Like what?" She was a little guilty, and her face was red. He asked uninterestedly: "It's not like what?" She couldn't answer. He didn't explain it to her like he explained the woman tree just now, but asked repeatedly: "It's not like what?" She guessed that this "man tree" was made up by him to make a fool of her, and she was really angry this time: "You are too bad! I will ignore you!"