《女人和土匪》 （英译本）（46）

Chapter 46

Liu Lijing trembled in the cold wind. He had said goodbye to a few Kuomintang soldiers last night, and planned to go back to Guiyang to visit Dai. It was cold at midnight. He covered himself with all blankets, but still felt cold. He was thirsty, but dared not get up because of the cold weather.

In this state someone lifted up his blankets. It was a flat face with a lot of acnes on it. Beside her was a thin and bending man. They seemed to come for garbage collecting. They were not aware that a bandit commander stayed under the blankets. Thus, when the blankets were uncovered, they were surprised.

Liu was annoyed at this. He felt cold and his teeth even trembled in the cold wind. He glared at the couple. Then, the woman covered him with the blankets. In fact, this hut belonged to the ugly woman and man. Yesterday, the other bandits even discussed with Liu whether to kill the two beggars. But Liu thought they could stay safely in this place because of the couple, who was their camouflage. They had no reason to kill them.

The ugly woman and man had no children. They stayed together willingly. They lived a savage-like life. The PLA soldiers paid no attention to this place. And the couple seemed to care about nothing but some rock salt for their food.

Once, Liu and the other bandits were eating snake meat in the open air, and they carelessly sprayed some salt on the ground. Liu found the woman staring at the rock with salt on it, her nose moving steadily. Liu was puzzled. Did she want to have some snake meat? It did not seem so. Later, they left and Liu cast a glance backwards. He found she put the sprayed salt on a bamboo leaf and tasted it greedily. Liu realized that salt was precious to the people in the mountains.

Liu felt sympathetic for the couple. Then, one day he got some salt out of his bag and thrust it into the hands of the woman. The couple was then lying by a fire, eating some wild plants in a pot. The woman was surprised at the salt, and her hands trembled when she got the salt from Liu.

Liu realized that the couple might want to ask if the salt should be exchanged for by some other things. Should they give him corn for this precious thing?

Liu said to the woman, “This is for you, free.”

The woman seemed not to believe it, licking her lips uneasily.

Liu said to the man, “The salt is given to you for nothing.”

Then, the woman shouted happily, “He gave the salt to us. Take it, silly man!”

The man had a sense of ecstasy at this. He snatched the salt and murmured, “Let me have a look at it!”

The couple was wild in happiness. The woman said to the man in a coquettish way, “Put it away, silly man!” She was really glad, staring at Liu gratefully for such a trivial thing.

Liu was worried that his whereabouts would be detected by the PLA soldiers if the couple went out. So, he ordered them to stay in the hut and nearby. He threatened them with killing.

The couple seemed not to want to go anywhere else. They were happy with their hut and the salt. Liu was sorry for occupying their hut. So, he took out a silver coin and said, “Is this enough to rent your hut?”

The woman replied, “Yes.”

Liu gave the coin to her. She rubbed it a while on her dress. This might be the first silver coin she had gotten in her life. Liu felt the hut smelly. Then, they put some straw and pine needles on the ground. That did make the hut smell better.

There were many lice in the hut. They pestered Liu here and there. Thus, Liu had to catch them and squeezed them to death one by one. In time, his clothes and hair were stained with the blood of lice.

Nevertheless, this place was safe. The villagers nearby seldom came here. It was an ideal hiding-place in Liu’s eyes.

The other bandits had left and Liu was alone in the hut. He got ill at this time. He did not know what illness it was. While he was in this state, his blankets were lifted up. He felt this couple might want to kill him, but he had no strength to fight against them. The woman stared at him, and then ordered the man to act. But she just opened his mouth, and the man got some corn porridge into Liu’s mouth.

Liu was amazed at this. He had killed many people. He seemed to care nothing but himself. Now, the couple’s acts moved him, indeed. He had much treasure with him, but the couple had never thought of getting it. They just wanted to rescue him. Liu murmured, “Water…I need water…”

The man went out in a hurry and soon he got back a bowl of cool and sweet crook water. He fed Liu with the water. It was holy water in Liu’s heart.

The woman said, “He is having typhoid. Please get him some herbs in a while.”

The man replied, “It’s still dark outside.”

The woman remarked, “We must save him at once.”

The man said, “There are many cobras in the caves.”

The woman said, “Never mind. I’ll go with you.”

They fed Liu some more porridge, and tucked the blankets for him. Then, they put out the lamp and left. There were howls of beasts in the mountains. Liu thought he would die and felt sorry that he had no chance to see Dai again. But he thought he should live on for Dai. In order to protect himself, he put his pistol beside him.