中国乡下春节奇遇

文/Gisselquist Graham Gilbert（美） 译/张佳艺

2011年1月，适逢我在新疆石河子大学学习汉语的假期，新疆正天寒地冻，于是我选择了南下。从乌鲁木齐到上海的火车长达44小时，多亏一位友善的乘务员帮我将无座票升为硬卧票，漫长的旅途才好过些。我还记得她用英语低声说“请保持安静”“不要说话”，因为如果所有无座乘客发现有空余卧铺，那占位场面就太壮观了。在上海和浙江短暂停留、拜访过老友和学生后，我立即踏上了开往福州的火车。

在这趟火车上，我遇到了一位黄姓朋友。他四处奔波，兜售各类水龙头。他精力充沛，语速很快，谈天说地，还告诉我K次列车为什么安全。聊到生日时，我发现他只比我大几天，但已经结婚了，有一个两岁的女儿，却还全国各地四处奔波。他让我叫他黄哥，后来我便这么称呼他。我们互留了电话。他还邀请我去他泉州的家，这让我感到很不错也很方便，因为泉州是我去福州后的下一站。

我在福州时，经常和黄哥发短信，他非常期待我去泉州找他。去泉州前，我们一起制订了去他家的计划。我一直以为他住在市里，但实际上他住在市郊（不清楚离市中心究竟有多远）。我坐上出租车，给司机看黄哥发来的地址。司机开了很久，最后停在两条主路的交叉路口。我心里有些忐忑，但司机坚定地说就该停在这儿。我给黄哥打了一通电话，他说马上就会来接我。大约一个小时过后，黄哥开着朋友的车来了。继续开了半小时后，我们终于到了他所在的村庄。

第一晚我住在旅馆，次日清晨，黄哥骑着摩托车来接我。我还记得支付费用时，真的很难理解前台说的方言，更别提办理流程了。我买了一箱罐装饮料，然后和他一起回家。黄哥和他的爸爸、妈妈、妻子和女儿一起住在一栋两层农舍中。房子很大，一层有厨房、浴室、客厅和两间卧室。二层是一间很大的贮藏室。我不太清楚墙体材质是什么，可能是刷有砂浆的石头吧。屋顶是露天的，约20厘米见方、几米长的石板只是简单搭在了墙上。显然这不是一栋防震建筑。

黄哥的祖父母为我腾出了卧室。第二天早上，我和他的祖母去挖淀粉类的块茎，然后磨碎，用水搅拌，等待淀粉沉淀，倒出水，摊开晾干。

那天，黄哥接完电话后很生气，他的商业伙伴没有支付所售零件的款项，而他还需要付款给零件厂。记不清是当天晚上还是第二天晚上，黄哥去索要欠款。那天晚上愁容不展的妻子和母亲告诉我黄哥拿到了支票，但因为太晚了，所以支票无法兑现。可问题是，工厂在催这笔钱，如果他不付给工厂钱，厂长就会报警将他逮捕。他家里人想让我借给他25000元，虽然我心存怀疑，但面对才把我带到家里做客的人，实在不忍拒绝。

我们坐上了家用摩托车。车子一路咆哮冲进城，路上停在一户人家那里，他借了一沓现金。很快，我们又再次驶向自动取款机。我取出钱后，他的妻子把钱存到了黄哥的银行账户。回到他家后，他们向我保证，黄哥第二天会带着支票回来，我也将拿到我的钱。

第二天晚上，黄哥回来了，蓬头垢面，疲惫不堪。他告诉我支票还有一点问题，但我会很快拿到钱的。当晚是除夕夜，本该愉快的夜晚显得有些压抑。但我们后来还是去了当地寺庙，看着烟花从山谷中升起、绽放。

接下来的几天，黄哥家门庭若市。这是春节期间的传统，源源不断的亲戚到访，但没人带着好脸色，黄哥遭到了劈头盖脸的数落。每个人都用闽南语讲话，让我也觉得很不自在。

正是在这期间，我爱上了“铁观音”。每次有客人来家里，他们都会打开一包茶叶，倒进茶具里泡茶。我听不懂方言，也没什么能做的，所以就为他们倒茶。我慢慢轻车熟路，用壶盖把握倒出的茶量。倒茶时用食指抵住壶盖，确保每人杯里都有茶。

几天后，黄哥从亲朋好友那里借了钱来还我。那段期间，我目睹了乡下的婚礼与葬礼。两者都很有趣，婚礼比我在城市参加的要更为传统。

总而言之，这是一次充满趣闻逸事的乡下经历。虽然美好的春节留有遗憾，但人们的善良毋庸置疑。

It was January 2011 and I was on break from studying Chinese at Shihezi University in Xinjiang. Xinjiang was freezing cold and I was headed south. The 44-hour train ride from Urumqi to Shanghai went relatively smoothly thanks to a very friendly train stewardess who helped me upgrade my noseat ticket to a hard sleeper. I still remember her telling me, in English and under her breath, to “Be quiet” and “don’t talk” because if all the other noseaters found out that there were sleeping berths available there could have been a scence. After a few quick stops in Shanghai and Zhejiang to visit old friends and students I was on train to Fuzhou.

On the train to Fuzhou I met a guy named Huang. He was traveling around selling faucets and other water spigots. He was full of energy and talked quickly about everything under the sun including why the K train we were on was very safe. We compared birthdates and it turned out he was only a couple of days older than me, but he was already married with a two-yearold girl. He asked me to call him Huang Ge and so I did. We exchanged telephone numbers and he invited me to his house in Quanzhou which I thought was very nice and convenient because it was my next stop after Fuzhou.

HuangGe and I texted back and forth while I was in Fuzhou and he seemed really keen on having me come visit him in Quanzhou. Once I got to Quanzhou we made plans for me to go to his house. I had always assumed that he lived in the city, but as it turned it he lived somewhere outside of the city (how far outside the city wasn’t clear). I got in a taxi and showed the taxi driver the address HuangGe had sent me. The taxi drive was long and the driver dropped me off in the middle of nowhere at the intersection of two major roads. I was a bit worried, but the taxi driver insisted this was the correct place and I called HuangGe and he said it was fine and he’d be there soon to pick me up. I waited for about an hour at this place until HuangGe showed up in his friend’s car and we continued the drive another 30 minutes to his village.

I spent the first night at a hotel and in the morning HuangGe came and picked me up on his motorcycle. I remember trying to pay for the hotel, but it was really hard to argue when everyone is speaking in a dialect you can’t understand. I bought a case of canned drinks and we headed over to his house. HuangGe lived with his mom, dad, wife and daughter in a two story farm house. It was big with the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and two bedrooms on the first floor. The second folor was used for storage and was just one big room. I don’t know what the walls were made up of, but it was probably stone covered in mortar, but the roof was exposed so I could see that. The roof was made up of these stone slabs about 20 cm square and several meters long that looked to be resting on the walls. This was not a building built to withstand earthquakes.

HuangGe’s grandparents gave up their bedroom for me and the next morning I went out with the grandma to dig up some starchy tuber. I helped the family grind up the tuber and mix it with water. We waited for the starch to settle out before pouring off the water and spreading the starch out to dry.

During the day HuangGe was making angry phone calls and told me that, not only, a business partner hadn’t paid him for some parts that he had sold, but that the factory he bought the parts from needed to be paid to. Whether it was that night or the following night I can’t remember, but HuangGe left to go and try and get a check for the money that was owed to him. On the night he left his very nervous looking wife and mother told me that he got the check, but HuangGe was unable to cash it because it was late. The problem was that the factory was demanding the money now, and if he didn’t give it to the factory owner the boss would have him arrested. They asked me to loan him 25,000 RMB, and while I was a bit skeptical it is difficult to turn down the people who have taken you into their house for the past few days.

We got on the family motorcycle and roared into town stopping along the way at someone else’s house to pick up a wad of cash. After the quick pit stop we raced off again to the ATM where while I withdrew money the wife deposited it into HuangGe’s bank account. We went back home and I was assured that tomorrow HuangGe would come back with the check and I’d get my money.

In the evening of the next day HuangGe came back looking tired and disheveled. He told me there was some problem with the check and I would get my money soon. It was Chinese New Year’s Eve and what should have been a fun night was very subdued, but we did go to the local temple and

watched fireworks being set off valley.

The next several days in the house were very tense. A steady stream of relatives came in to visit as is tradition after Chinese New Year, but no one was happy. HuangGe got yelled at a lot and I felt very out of place because everyone was talking in MinNan dialect.

It was during this time that I fell in love with Iron Buddha tea. Every time a visitor came over they would open up a little packet of tea, pour the tea leaves into the covered bowl, and start brewing tea. Because there wasn’t anything I could, or understand, I poured tea. I got pretty good at smooshing the tea down with the lid, holding the lid on with my index finger while maintaining pouring tea, and making sure everyone’s cup always had tea in it.

After several days HuangGe was able to borrow enough money from friends and relatives to pay me back. While I was waiting there was a wedding and a funeral in the village. The wedding seemed much more traditional than the weddings I have attended in cities.

All in all, it was very interesting experience in the countryside. The people were incredibly kind.