Little matchmaker
(Non-Fiction)
Text/Zheng Xiaolin
When I was a child, I was about ten years old and accidentally became a matchmaker. There is a sister Su Qiong in my neighbor, seven years older than me, she is seventeen years old, and her brother's friends are older than her, and they often go to her house to play, and this fifth brother Wang fell in love with Sister Su Qiong. Su Qiong is very beautiful, there is a nickname called "Saibeimen", she is the largest Sichuan theater in Chengdu is the entry disciple of the famous Sichuan opera Danjiao Jinghua, I have seen her play "Mu Guiying Fights the Goose", "Copy Red", "Pick up the Jade Bracelet"...... But Su Qiong's mother resolutely disagreed, and wanted to break up this pair of mandarin ducks, the reason is that the fifth brother's family was a big capitalist before liberation, and there is a street in Chengdu that is his family's house, and his house is in the wide and narrow alley of the west gate, there is a Zhu door with copper nails, and there are two stone lions at the door, Sister Su Qiong took me to the fifth brother's house.
It is said that Su Qiong's mother opposes her daughter falling in love with the son of a capitalist, in fact, the parents who were born in the fifth category will oppose it, because the rich and the children of the capitalists will be discriminated against, not to mention that the fifth brother's family also has overseas relations, although he is very elegant, polite, and also very beautiful and neatly dressed.
Su Qiong's mother came to tell my mother everything, she said: "This kid does have a good character, but with such a high background, Su Qiong will be unlucky in the future!" And our Su Qiong is a popular actor, with a bright future, we can't let this kid be ruined! "And my mother is also on Su Qiong's side. Later, the fifth brother will be in the future for a long time.
One day I was playing in the back of the courtyard, I heard someone call me, and I looked at the fifth brother, he asked about Su Qiong's situation, and then asked me: Can you help me bring a letter to Su Qiong, I said yes, he handed me a sealed brown paper envelope, and said that Xiaolin should hide it, I said: I know, don't let Su Qiong's mother and my mother see it. He nodded, and walked away sadly. I hurried home and hid the letter in the pocket of my cotton coat in the large Nanmu cabinet in my house.
Sister Su Qiong didn't come home until Saturday afternoon, and I secretly handed the letter to her, and I saw that she was also sad, and I didn't know what to say, so I went to play by myself. In this way, I helped the fifth brother to hand over a lot of letters, because Sister Su Qiong's family is good to me, she is the eldest sister, the following four younger brothers, those two older than me, I call the third brother and the fourth brother, the third brother treats me as his own sister, he is a literary young man, has a large collection of books, has been lending me books, I embarked on the road of literature with him for a big reason. I want to inquire at any time when I want to take the exam for the fourth brother of the troupe, because the fourth brother is studying martial arts in another troupe.
Finally one day, my mother brought a tall young man to my house, and then went to call Su Qiong's mother, Su Qiong's mother came to my house with a photo of her daughter, there are stills and life photos, but they are all very star-like. I couldn't help but talk to the two of them while watching the kid, and I knew that it was the train driver of Chengtie after speaking Shaanxi dialect. This kid is almost 1.8 meters tall, very strong, but he is not as beautiful and elegant as the fifth brother, this kid has a bad life, he is very happy to see him holding a photo of Sister Su Qiong, but he does not know that he was defeated in the hands of a ten-year-old girl.
My mom thought I was too young to be sensible and didn't guard me much, but then she told me to go outside and play. I waited anxiously for Sister Su Qiong to come home, and finally on Saturday, I told the train driver about the train driver while there was no one around. The next morning, she lied that she was taking Xiaolin to the troupe to watch the rehearsal, so she took me straight to the house of Fifth Brother Ximen.
The fifth brother's home is actually a very magnificent deep house compound, the vermilion gate stone lion outside is not to say, enter a courtyard, there are flowers and stone mountains in the courtyard, and there is an osmanthus tree, and the right wing room where he lives. He has two rooms of his own, a living room and study on the outside, and a bedroom on the inside. Of course, in the living room, the fifth brother asked me to tell me about my mother's matchmaking, and the two of them discussed it in the back room. I looked curiously at the living room of the dilapidated capitalist, and sure enough, there were Qing Dynasty Chinese-style mahogany furniture, a table of eight immortals, a blue and white porcelain cup filled with boiling water for me to drink, a delicate chiming clock, and a Bogu shelf, on which there were several antiques, calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and a landscape. But only the seven or eight rooms in the front yard were their own, and the larger backyard and garden had become a miscellaneous courtyard, where many families lived.
After a while, Fifth Brother and Sister Su Qiong came out, their eyes were red, and they must have cried. The fifth brother said that Xiaolin must be hungry, so let's go buy something to eat. At that time, it was very difficult, and we asked for food stamps to buy food, but in fact, we only bought a few baked cakes and we went back to my fifth brother's house.
From that day on, Sister Su Qiong fought against her mother, she lived in the troupe and didn't even go home on Saturdays, her mother was even more ruthless, and went directly to the leader of the troupe and her daughter's master Jinghua, saying that if Su Qiong didn't listen to her, she would die to show her daughter, Su Qiong was helpless and afraid of being expelled, so she had to promise to cut off relations with her fifth brother, but she asked her mother to promise not to talk about the train driver, and now she didn't say anything about the matchmaker, let her be quiet.
Later, the driver came to my house to inquire and learned that Su Qiong was determined not to meet him, so he had to give up. The ten-year-old girl secretly rejoices that she wants to be a brother-in-law who pleases her eyes!
One day he bought some snacks and sweets for Su Qiong's mother, and personally came to the door to say that he would never bother her from now on, and she would find a well-born worker, peasant and soldier by herself. From then on, he didn't go to Su Qiong's house anymore, and he didn't go to the troupe. But because he was a friend of the third brother, the third brother often went to see the fifth brother. One day I asked the third brother, why haven't I seen the fifth brother for a long time? The third brother said that the fifth brother almost committed suicide, and I said why? The third brother replied: Say you don't understand either!
Later, there was a ballroom dancing brother Li in our yard to organize a group of young men and women in the courtyard, there was a young demobilized soldier in his factory called the associated Changlai, one day I saw the sudden Su Qiong, immediately fascinated, I was convinced, begged the little brother's parents to come forward to say the matchmaker, Su Qiong's mother heard that she was born poor, a demobilized soldier, and worked in the national defense unit of the mailbox factory, and met her own conditions and agreed.
Later, Sister Su Qiong and Guan got married. In fact, this association can neither catch up with the train driver, nor catch up with the fifth brother, just like the saying: choose choose and choose, choose a leaky lamp.
Several years have passed, Sister Su Qiong gave birth to two daughters, and the fifth brother still does not get married. At that time, I was also seventeen or eighteen years old, and Sister Su Qiong could tell me what was going on, I said why didn't I persuade him, she said that your third brother often persuaded him, but he was silent, and I said that the bell had to be tied to the bell, and you should persuade him personally. Later, the third brother arranged for them to meet once, and Sister Su Qiong persuaded the fifth brother bitterly, and he finally agreed to consider marriage.
In March 1977, I went back to Chengdu, but at that time I was married and pregnant with a child, the reaction was too big and vomited badly, so I went back to my parents' house to recuperate, I heard that Sister Su Qiong was seriously ill and was hospitalized, I said that I came back last summer and was fine, Su Qiong's mother also made back to the pot meat, cold dishes, and other dishes and soups, knowing that I would drink, and specially prepared a bottle of sorghum liquor for me to get drunk! Why did you stay hospitalized in just a few months?
Su Qiong's mother said with tears in her eyes: Xiaolin, Su Qiong has been a stuffy person since she was a child, she doesn't say anything, her dead man is addicted to gambling, gambles the family's savings, sells her watch, and wants to sell Su Qiong's new Phoenix brand bicycle, she completely collapsed, she cried out and begged him: You sold the car, how can I go to work! I beg you! I beg you! God, help me, I still have two daughters, how can I survive...... Oh my God...... Oh, my God! He later passed out and fell to the ground.
From that day on, she didn't think about eating and drinking, and she was getting thinner and thinner day by day, and later went to check that she had tuberculosis, and this tuberculosis had escaped into her brain, which was too serious. I wanted to go and see Su Qiong, but my mother didn't allow it, and Su Qiong's mother didn't allow it, saying that she was afraid that I would cry and miscarry. Finally, one night she said that she was almost gone, and her man was nowhere to be seen, so she probably went to play cards. Her four younger brothers and Su Qiong's mother were going to the hospital, and I was crying to go, and in the end, the third brother persuaded me: Xiaolin is obedient, you really can't go, she is already scary like a skeleton, what should you do if something happens to your child? You are Uncle Zheng's pearl, how can I explain to him? Xiao Lin must listen to the third brother......
Su Qiong died that night, and she couldn't speak for the first two days of her death, but just stretched out two fingers to her mother, Su Qiong's mother knew that she couldn't rest assured of her two daughters, and patted her chest and said: There is me, there is their third uncle, your daughter is grown...... She finally took her last breath and went, only thirty-three years old.
A few days after Su Qiong was buried, that afternoon I found out that there were guests at the third brother's house, and there was a voice, his house was on the second floor, and I was sitting in the courtyard reading a book. After a while, Su Qiong's mother came to my side and pulled a bamboo chair to sit down, and said: Xiaolin, your fifth brother is here, and he is talking to your third brother, tomorrow, he will go to your sister's grave.
I couldn't say anything, just wept silently......
Later, the fifth brother went out, stood in front of the railing and saw me in the yard, nodded at me, and I also nodded to him, we didn't say a word.
And at this moment, the moon season in the courtyard is still in full bloom, the spring breeze is still blowing the green willows, the birds are still tactful in the branches, everything is human and wrong, only the people have passed away, and the past is like smoke......
(February 2019)
Zheng Xiaolin (female), pen name: Lin Zi, born in Chengdu in May 1951, settled in Xichang Xinhua Commune in 1969 as an educated youth, and was transferred to Xichang Agricultural Machinery Factory as a mechanical worker in 1972. He has always loved poetry, both classical and modern, and in October 2018 published the 60-poem quatrain book "Lin Quanji". He is now a director of the Xichang Writers Association.