屋漏偏遇連天雨

Leaky house never safe from rain

周興和的母親就死于那個寒冷的冬天。

Zhou Xinghe's mother died in that cold winter.

她死時是1969年農(nóng)歷正月十八的早晨。

She died on the morning of the 18th day of the first lunar month in 1969.

這時，周興和的大女兒剛出生40多天。

At this time, Zhou Xinghe's eldest daughter was just over 40 days old.

母親的病其實已經(jīng)拖了好長時間了。剛開始她還能起床給一家人做飯，干點輕微的家務(wù)事。漸漸地，她開始不能吞食東西，就是吃點東西也不停往外嘔吐。但她也是和所有的農(nóng)村人得了病一樣，采取的還是那個老辦法——拖。在拖的過程中，全靠父親上山扯把草藥給她治療。但這些草藥全不管事。越往后，母親的病越發(fā)沉重起來，逐漸地她不能起床，呻吟的聲音越來越大，最后連喝口水都很困難了。

His mother's illness had actually been delayed for a long time. At first, she was able to get up and cook for the family and do light chores. Gradually, she began to be unable to swallow anything, and would not stop vomiting anything that she ate. But she, like all the country people fell ill, took the same old approach - to drag on. In the process of dragging on, it was up to Xinghe’s father to get some herbs and brew the herbal medicine for her. But these herbs didn't do anything. Gradually, she got sicker and could not get out of bed. Her moans grew louder and louder. At last, it was difficult even to take a drink of water.

“興和呀，你媽的病這樣拖下去總不是個辦法呀！”興和上坡時，隊里的人都對他這樣說——但興和又什么辦法呢？他不但沒當家，而且身上連一分錢也沒有呀！

"Xinghe, it is not a good way for your mother's illness to drag on!" That's what the team member told him as Xinghe went to work - but what could Xinghe do? Not only was he not in charge in the family, but he had not a cent with him!

萬般無奈，最后，父親不知求了多少人，說了多少好話，終于在鄉(xiāng)上信用社貸了點款，把母親送進了醫(yī)院。到了醫(yī)院一查，叫興和和他父親絕望的是，她已經(jīng)是食道癌晚期，無可醫(yī)治了！哭天無路，入地?zé)o門，無錢手術(shù)，無錢住院，在醫(yī)院待了幾天，醫(yī)院也不愿再治，最后他們也只好采取那惟一的辦法——抬回家去拖！

Helpless, Xinghe’s father begged to many people, said many good words, finally loaned some money in the township credit cooperatives, and sent Xinghe’s mother to the hospital. After examined in the hospital, what made Xinghe and his father despair was that, she already was in the later period of esophagus cancer, incurable! There was nothing they could do, no money to operate, no money to be hospitalized; after in the hospital for a few days, the hospital would not treat any more, and finally they had to take the only way - back home to drag on!

這其實就是讓她躺在自家的床上，在萬般痛苦的折磨中等死了。

This was to leave her lying in her own bed, dying in agony.

望著在病痛中倍受折磨的母親，興和常常含著眼淚守在她的床前，心如刀絞痛苦萬分。作為兒子，他恨自己無能，不能分擔(dān)母親的痛苦；恨自己無錢，不能送母親到更好的醫(yī)院治療；恨老天不長眼，如此殘忍地就要奪取母親的生命——這時，他母親才50多歲?。?/p>

Looking at his mother in the pain and suffering, Xinghe would often sit by her bed with tears in his eyes, his heart aching with anguish. As a son, he hated himself for not being able to share his mother's pain; he hated himself for not having enough money to send his mother to a better hospital for treatment; he hated god for not having eyes, and for taking his mother's life so cruelly - at this time, his mother was in her fifties!

屋漏偏遇連天雨。

A leaky house is never safe from rain.

過了年不久，母親終于拖不下去了，斷了最后那口氣。

After the Spring Festival, Xinghe’s mother finally can not go on, and breathe her last.

興和至死也記得，他母親死時的那種慘況：飽受病痛折磨、無藥可醫(yī)的母親，已經(jīng)面色焦黃骨瘦如柴了，只能是躺在床上沒日沒夜地呻吟著。到最后，她呻吟的次數(shù)越來越少，呻吟的聲音越來越微弱了。父親只能束手無策地守在母親床前，興和只能無言無望地守著母親流眼淚。母親臨死時那絕望的眼神，那囑咐興和微弱的聲音，永遠像刀刻般留在他的心底。

Even to the end of his life, Xinghe remembered how terrible his mother had been at the time of her death. Suffering from the sickness and no prescription, her face was waxen and she was so thin and sick that she could only lie in bed moaning and groaning day and night. In the end, she moaned less and less, and her moans grew fainter and fainter. Xinghe’s father can only helplessly guard in the mother's bed, and Xinghe can only helplessly see his mother and shed tears. His mother's dying eyes and faint voice of entrustment were caved in his heart like a knife.

窮人的命真的就這么不值錢么！

Is the poor man's life really so worthless?

勞累一生的母親，沒過上一天吃飽飯的日子，就這樣凄然地走了。

The mother who worked hard all her life, did not have a day to eat a full meal, so sadly went away.

埋葬母親幾個月后，按當?shù)剞r(nóng)村的規(guī)矩，周興和當時已經(jīng)獨立成家，應(yīng)該分家自己過日子了。就在這年四月間，小春還沒收，在父親和他的草藥徒弟、興和的師兄夏瑞安主持下，他和兄弟分了家。

A few months after his mother's burial, since Zhou Xinghe was already married and, according to the local village rules, it supposed to live separately. In April of that year, and under the host of Xinghe’s father and his herbal apprentice, Xinghe's senior fellow apprentice brother Xia Rui’an, Xinghe and his young brother divided up the family property and lived apart.

家是這樣分的：興和已經(jīng)成家了，應(yīng)該謙讓兄弟一點，分得偏房一間；因為兄弟還沒成家，為了將來能夠找到媳婦，分得正房一間。這些年，家里欠生產(chǎn)隊的超支款300多塊，母親醫(yī)病貸公社信用社的300塊，共計欠外債600多塊錢，因周興和是家里的老大，這些外債全部由興和負責(zé)償還。家里糧食只有兩三斤，父親和兄弟還要過日子，自然就不再分了。

The family property was divided in this way: Xinghe had already married, so he should be modest to his brother and just get the wing room. Because his young brother had not married, in order to be able to find a wife in the future, he got the principal room. Over the years, the family owed the production team more than 300 yuan of overexpenditure, and their mother’s medical loan of 300 yuan to the commune credit cooperative, a total debt of more than 600 yuan; because Zhou Xinghe was the eldest brother in the family, these debts were all in charge of repayment by Xinghe. The family only had no more than 1.5kg grains, and the father and young brother still needed to live, so the grains were naturally not divided any more.

分就分吧，但這樣的分法顯失公平，興和心里當然有看法——但誰叫自己是家里的老大呢？興和抬頭看了看蒼老的父親，再看了看年幼的弟弟，他的心里很酸澀很難過。他想起母親臨死前對他的囑咐，想起母親臨死時望著他那可憐巴巴的眼神，他不再想爭什么說什么。環(huán)視一遍家徒四壁的這個家，即使爭，又能爭個什么呢？他默默起身走到外面，坐在壩子邊的石頭上半天沒說一句話。

The division was OK, but such division was unfair; of course, Xinghe had thoughts - but he was indeed the eldest brother of the family. Xinghe looked up at his old father and then at his younger brother, and his heart was very sour and sad. He remembered his mother's dying words to him, the poor look in her dying eyes, and he no longer wanted to argue. Looking around the hoouse of the four walls, there was nothing to argue. He silently stood up and went outside and sat on the stone beside the yard for a long time without saying a word.

分家那天，一家人連分家飯也吃不起，興和兩口兒還無糧下鍋，剛出生的女兒也餓得哇哇大叫。沒有辦法，還是等到下午生產(chǎn)隊分了半瓢豌豆，興和趁天沒黑，把豌豆磨成面，摻了些菜葉才和妻子煮熟吃了頓晚飯。

On the day of division, the whole family could not even afford to eat the division meals. Xinghe and his wife had no food to cook and their newborn daughter was crying with hunger. In the afternoon, the production team gave half a ladle of peas. Xinghe grinded the peas into flours before dark and mixed some vegetable leaves to cook with his wife and have dinner.

興和分到的這間偏房，還不到30平米，陰暗狹小又矮又破，睡覺、煮飯、堆柴草全在一起，連兩個人面對面過路都要側(cè)著身體才能通過。房子破爛窄小，沒有吃的用的，這些都還罷了，最要興和小命的，是那欠下600多塊錢的債務(wù)，不知要猴年馬月才能還得清哪！那時，興和拼死累活上坡干一天活路，還掙不到1角錢；家里一年到頭辛辛苦苦喂頭豬，只能賣50多塊錢！600多塊錢，興和算了算，要幾十年才能還得清哪！對于年僅15歲的周興和來說，這筆錢無疑就是個數(shù)不清的天文數(shù)字，更像一座沉重的大山，在好多年里都壓得他簡直喘不過氣來！?

This wing room divided to Xinghe, was less than 30 square meters, dark and narrow, low and broken; the place for sleeping, cooking, and firewood stacking was all together, even when two people passed by face to face, it had to side the body to pass. The house was small and dilapidated, and there was no food or appliance, which was still acceptable. The deadliest thing was the debt of more than 600 yuan, which he did not know how to pay off at all! At that time, Xinghe worked arduously uphill for one day and just earned less than 10 cents. The family fed a pig so hard all year round that can only be sold for over 50 yuan! More than 600 yuan, Xinghe calculated, it would take decades to pay it back! For Zhou Xinghe, who was only 15 years old, this sum of money was undoubtedly a countless astronomical figure, more like a heavy mountain, which had weighed him out of breath for many years!