大东The moment when Rendu thrust a sharp knife into the bound pig, a spurt of red blood would gush out.
大东明子曾经跟这位正经人要过铜蜻蜓看看。他拿到小英子家门前试了一试，果然！小英子的娘知道了，骂明子：
大东“要死了！明子！你怎么到我家来玩铜蜻蜓了！”
大东小英子跑过来：
大东“给我！给我！”
大东她也试了试，真灵，一个黑母鸡一下子就把嘴撑住，傻了眼了！
大东下雨阴天，这二位就光临荸荠庵，消磨一天。
大东有时没有外客，就把老师叔也拉出来，打牌的结局，大都是当家和尚气得鼓鼓的：“×妈妈的！又输了！下回不来了！”
大东他们吃肉不瞒人。年下也杀猪。杀猪就在大殿上。一切都和在家人一样，开水、木桶、尖刀。捆猪的时候，猪也是没命地叫。跟在家人不同的，是多一道仪式，要给即将升天的猪念一道“往生咒”，并且总是老师叔念，神情很庄重：
大东……一切胎生、卵生、息生，来从虚空来，还归虚空去。往生再世，皆当欢喜。南无阿弥陀佛！
大东三师父仁渡一刀子下去，鲜红的猪血就带着很多沫子喷出来。
大东…… ……
大东Mingzi frequently went to Xiaoyingzi's home, which was surrounded on three sides by water, except on the western side, where there was a small path to Biqi Nunnery. They were the only inhabitants in this spot. Around the isolated courtyard were planted six large mulberry trees, which blossomed and bore mulberries every summer; three bore white berries, the other three purple ones. Near the house was a vegetable garden growing melons, beans and other vegetables all year round. The lower part of the courtyard's wall was built with bricks while the upper part was of compacted earth. The main door was painted with tung oil, on which was pasted a couplet for the Spring Festival. Inside was a large courtyard. On one side were a cowshed and a rice-husking shed and on the other a pigsty, a chicken coop and an enclosure for ducks. A stone mill stood in the open air. The house was to the north, its walls also made of bricks lower down and compacted earth higher up. The roof was covered with tiles and straw. Obviously, the building had been recently repaired for the timbers were still white. In the centre of the house was a main hall where the gold paint on the portrait of the House God had not yet turned black. On both sides of the hall were bedrooms, which had windows fitted with square transparent glass, rarely used in the countryside. Under the eaves of the house was a pomegranate tree on one side and a cape jasmine on the other, both of which had grown as high as the eaves. Every summer, when red and white flowers blossomed on these trees, they were very beautiful. The fragrance of the cape jasmine flowers was strong and could be detected even in Biqi Nunnery if the wind blew in that direction.
大东明子老往小英子家里跑。小英子的家像一个小岛，三面都是河，西面有一条小路通到荸荠庵。独门独户，岛上只有这一家。岛上有六棵大桑树，夏天都结大桑葚，三棵结白的，三棵结紫的；一个菜园子，瓜豆蔬菜，四时不缺。院墙下半截是砖砌的，上半截是泥夯的。大门是桐油油过的，贴着一副万年红的春联：
大东向阳门第春常在，
大东积善人家庆有余。
大东门里是一个很宽的院子。院子里一边是牛屋、碓棚；一边是猪圈、鸡窠，还有个关鸭子的栅栏。露天地放着一具石磨。正北面是住房，也是砖基土筑，上面盖的一半是瓦，一半是草。房子翻修了才三年，木料还露着白茬。正中是堂屋，家神菩萨的画像上贴的金还没有发黑。两边是卧房。隔扇窗上各嵌了一块一尺见方的玻璃，明亮亮的——这在乡下是不多见的。房檐下一边种着一棵石榴树，一边种着一棵栀子花，都齐房檐高了。夏天开了花，一红一白，好看得很。栀子花香得冲鼻子，顺风的时候，在荸荠庵都闻得见。
大东The family was small: Uncle Zhao, Aunt Zhao and their two daughters— Dayingzi and Xiaoyingzi. They had no sons. In recent years, since there had been no disease, locusts, drought or floods, life had been very prosperous. Their produce was enough to supply them with all sorts of foodstuffs. They also rented ten mu of land from the temple. In one mu of their own fields, they had planted water chestnuts. This was probably Xiaoyingzi's idea, because she was very fond of them. Another mu was planted with arrowheads. In addition, they had many chickens and ducks. The income from the eggs and duck feathers alone bought a year's supply of salt and cooking oil.
大东Uncle Zhao was a jack of all trades, not only skilled in farm work, but also in repairing boats, building walls, baking bricks, cooping tubs, splitting bamboo and weaving jute rope. As strong as an elm tree, he never coughed or suffered from a backache. He was kind to everybody and remained silent all day long. Aunt Zhao also enjoyed good health. Although fifty years old, she still had keen eyesight. She was always neatly dressed with her hair combed. She too busied herself from early morning till late night, cooking food for the pigs, feeding the hens and ducks, salting vegetables(the dried radishes she salted tasted delicious), milling beancurd, weaving reed baskets and so on. In short, they were a good match, both being very industrious.
大东Aunt Zhao often cut paper flower-designs for the villagers. It was a tradition that, when a wedding ceremony was held, the parents would stick red paper flower-designs on their daughter's dowry. In order to bring good luck and to make the dowry appear more magnificent, the paper-cuts were usually made with charming characters or designs, such as "a phoenix flies toward the sun", "live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss", "may your descendants flourish for ten thousand generations" or "boundless happiness and longevity". Aunt Zhao's paper-cuts were very popular. Even villagers from far away invited her to make them for them.
大东"Aunt Zhao, we've fixed our wedding ceremony for the sixteenth of this month. When will you come to help us?"
大东"I'll come early in the morning the day before."
大东"You must come on time!"
大东"Certainly! Of course!"
大东The two daughters resembled their mother very much, especially in their eyes, with the black and white sharply contrasted. They looked like clear water when still and shooting stars when moving. The two sisters were always immaculately dressed. According to local custom, at fifteen or sixteen years of age, every girl should comb her hair into a bun. How smoothly they styled theirs, with the red wool, black hair and white hairpins! Whenever Aunt Zhao took her two daughters to a fair, everyone turned to look at them.
大东这家人口不多。他家当然是姓赵。一共四口人：赵大伯、赵大妈，两个女儿——大英子、小英子。老两口没有儿子。因为这些年人不得病，牛不生灾，也没有大旱大水闹蝗虫，日子过得很兴旺。他们家自己有田，本来够吃的了，又租种了庵上的十亩田。自己的田里，一亩种了荸荠——这一半是小英子的主意，她爱吃荸荠，一亩种了茨菇。家里喂了一大群鸡鸭，单是鸡蛋鸭毛就够一年的油盐了。赵大伯是个能干人。他是一个“全把式”，不但田里场上样样精通，还会罩鱼、洗磨、凿砻、修水车、修船、砌墙、烧砖、箍桶、劈篾、绞麻绳。他不咳嗽，不腰疼，结结实实，像一棵榆树。人很和气，一天不声不响。赵大伯是一棵摇钱树，赵大娘就是个聚宝盆。大娘精神得出奇。五十岁了，两个眼睛还是清亮亮的。不论什么时候，头都是梳得滑滴滴的，身上衣服都是格挣挣的。像老头子一样，她一天不闲着。煮猪食，喂猪，腌咸菜——她腌的咸萝卜干非常好吃，舂粉子，磨小豆腐，编蓑衣，织芦篚。她还会剪花样子。这里嫁闺女，陪嫁妆，瓷坛子、锡罐子，都要用梅红纸剪出吉祥花样，贴在上面，讨个吉利，也才好看：“丹凤朝阳”呀、“白头到老”呀、“子孙万代”呀、“福寿绵长”呀。二三十里的人家都来请她：
大东“大娘，好日子是十六，你哪天去呀？”——“十五，我一大清早就来！”
大东“一定呀！”——“一定！一定！”
大东两个女儿，长得跟她娘像一个模子里脱出来的。眼睛长得尤其像，白眼珠鸭蛋青，黑眼珠棋子黑，定神时如清水，闪动时像星星。浑身上下，头是头，脚是脚。头发滑滴滴的，衣服格挣挣的。——这里的风俗，十五六岁的姑娘就都梳上头了。这两个丫头，这一头的好头发！通红的发根，雪白的簪子！娘女三个去赶集，一集的人都朝她们望。
大东Though the two sisters looked alike, their personalities were entirely different. The elder sister was very gentle and quiet. Like her father, she rarely spoke. In contrast, the younger one had a glibber tongue than even her mother. She talked eloquently for long periods until her elder sister complained, "You just twitter from morning till night..."
大东"Like a magpie!"
大东"You admit it yourself! It really upsets me!"
大东"Are you feeling restless?"
大东"Yes, I am!"
大东"There are other reasons besides me!"
大东There was a deep meaning in her words. Dayingzi already had a fiance, at whom she had once stolen a glance. He was an honest, good-looking young man, whose family was well-off. She was quite satisfied with the match, which had been arranged by the parents of both sides. The wedding date, however, was still undecided. Dayingzi had seldom gone out in the past two years, always busying herself preparing her dowry. She could both cut and sew dresses by herself, but her embroidered floral patterns were still inferior to her mother's. Having seen a bride in the town some days ago, she complained that the way her mother made her designs was too old-fashioned. The townspeople had adopted new ways, and their embroidery was just like real flowers and plants. This put her mother on the spot. Coming to her rescue, the "magpie" shouted, "I can recommend someone to you."
大东姐妹俩长得很像，性格不同。大姑娘很文静，话很少，像父亲。小英子比她娘还会说，一天叽叽呱呱地不停。大姐说：
大东“你一天到晚叽叽呱呱——”
大东“像个喜鹊！”
大东“你自己说的！——吵得人心乱！”
大东“心乱？”
大东“心乱！”
大东“你心乱怪我呀！”
大东二姑娘话里有话。大英子已经有了人家。小人她偷偷地看过，人很敦厚，也不难看，家道也殷实，她满意。已经下过小定，日子还没有定下来。她这二年，很少出房门，整天赶她的嫁妆。大裁大剪，她都会。挑花绣花，不如娘。她可又嫌娘出的样子太老了。她到城里看过新娘子，说人家现在绣的都是活花活草。这可把娘难住了。最后是“喜鹊”忽然一拍屁股：“我给你保举一个人！”
大东It was Mingzi. When he had studied at school, he had accumulated half a volume of drawings, which he liked very much. After joining Biqi Nunnery, he continued to look at it frequently, and at times, copied them on the reverse side of pages torn from an account book. By and by he could draw well. Xiaoyingzi added, "He can draw. And what he draws is just like the real thing!"
大东Then, Xiaoyingzi invited Mingzi to her home and prepared some ink, brush and paper. After a little while, he had produced some designs.
大东"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Looking at his drawings, Dayingzi exclaimed in delight. "With such designs I can use the new styles."
大东The second layer of stitches were put among those of the first ones, so that the colour was varied gradually from dark to light without any break. The method her mother employed failed to eliminate the clear contrast between dark and light.
大东Being both a servant and adviser of Mingzi, Xiaoyingzi urged him, "Draw a pomegranate flower! Draw a cape jasmine flower!"
大东这人是谁？是明子。明子念“上《孟》、下《孟》”的时候，不知怎么得了半套《芥子园》，他喜欢得很。到了荸荠庵，他还常翻出来看，有时还把旧账簿子翻过来，照着描。小英子说：
大东“他会画！画得跟活的一样！”
大东小英子把明海请到家里来，给他磨墨铺纸，小和尚画了几张，大英子喜欢得了不得：
大东“就是这样！就是这样！这就可以乱孱！”
大东——所谓“乱孱”是绣花的一种针法：绣了第一层，第二层的针脚插进第一层的针缝，这样颜色就可由深到淡，不露痕迹，不像娘那一代绣的花是平针，深浅之间，界限分明，一道一道的。小英子就像个书僮，又像个参谋：
大东“画一朵石榴花！”
大东“画一朵栀子花！”
大东She then went out to pick these blossoms from the trees and handed them to him to copy. After much practice Mingzi could draw a variety of flowers. Looking at these, Aunt Zhao was very pleased and patted his head saying, "What a clever boy you are! I hope you will be my adopted son."
大东All at once, Xiaoyingzi encouraged him by squeezing his shoulder, "Go on, call her 'Mother'! Quick! Quick!"
大东Mingzi fell to his knees and kowtowed to Aunt Zhao. From then on, he regarded her as his adopted mother.
大东Before long, three pairs of embroidered shoes made by Dayingzi were passed round the whole district. Many young girls came to admire them, even from as far as thirty li away, some on foot and others by boat, all praising her profusely, "Oh, what a beautiful design! They're not embroidered flowers, they're fresh ones!"
大东Bringing paper with them, many begged Aunt Zhao to do them a favour, namely, to ask the young novice to draw some flower designs for them. Some wanted them for door curtains, decorative streamers or embroidered shoes. Whenever Mingzi came to draw flowers, Xiaoyingzi made a snack for him— boiling two eggs, steaming a bowl of taros or frying some dumplings with lotus-root starch.
大东她把花掐来，明海就照着画。
大东到后来，凤仙花、石竹子、水蓼、淡竹叶、天竺果子、腊梅花，他都能画。
大东大娘看着也喜欢，搂住明海的和尚头：
大东“你真聪明！你给我当一个干儿子吧！”
大东小英子捺住他的肩膀，说：
大东“快叫！快叫！”
大东小明子跪在地下磕了一个头，从此就叫小英子的娘做干娘。
大东大英子绣的三双鞋，三十里方圆都传遍了。很多姑娘都走路坐船来看。看完了，就说：“啧啧啧，真好看！这哪是绣的，这是一朵鲜花！”她们就拿了纸来央大娘求了小和尚来画。有求画帐檐的，有求画门帘飘带的，有求画鞋头花的。每回明子来画花，小英子就给他做点好吃的，煮两个鸡蛋，蒸一碗芋头，煎几个藕团子。
大东So her elder sister could have more time to prepare her dowry, Xiaoyingzi did all the extra farm work. Of course, Mingzi gave her a hand.
大东The busiest work was transplanting seedlings, irrigating the paddy-fields with a waterwheel and weeding the fields. Other hard jobs were harvesting the rice and threshing the grain on the threshing ground. It was impossible for a single family to accomplish all this unaided, so they all helped each other by working collectively in each other's fields in turn. The helpers got no pay, but were rewarded with six meals a day of meat and wine. Working together in the fields, they sang ballads accompanied by the beating of gongs and drums. It was very lively.
大东At other times of the year, when the farm work was not so heavy, each family worked separately.
大东At the third weeding, the rice seedlings had already grown high. Working in this vast expanse of green, Xiaoyingzi sang:
大东The cape jasmine flowers blossom in six petals,
大东There is a bridge before my door.
大东On hearing her clear voice, Mingzi knew at once it was Xiaoyingzi, and raced to the spot. He bent his head and began to weed as soon as he was with her. Usually, it was also his job to lead the buffalo to the water for a mud bath. According to local custom, after taking off the yoke and allowing the beast to take a drink of water, the animal was led to a muddy pool where it would frolic until covered with mud to protect it from mosquito bites.
大东Two people working a waterwheel for half a day could secure enough water for irrigation. Mingzi and Xiaoyingzi stood side by side treading the wheel rhythmically, singing softly the various ballads learned from Rendu.
大东The Zhao family had no threshing ground of their own, so after the harvest, they threshed their wheat at Biqi Nunnery. When Uncle Zhao ate his meal, Mingzi worked in his place for a while. Flourishing the whip to urge on the animal, he called out the work signal, "Ge tan de..."
大东Though this did not mean anything, it was very pleasant to hear. When Mingzi sang it, Aunt Zhao listened and said in admiration, "What a sweet voice the boy has!"
大东"So pleasant to hear!" Dayingzi chimed in, putting down her knitting.
大东"He's the best singer in the thirteen provinces," Xiaoyingzi remarked proudly.
大东因为照顾姐姐赶嫁妆，田里的零碎生活小英子就全包了。她的帮手，是明子。
大东这地方的忙活是栽秧、车高田水、薅头遍草，再就是割稻子、打场了。这几茬重活，自己一家是忙不过来的。这地方兴换工。排好了日期，几家顾一家，轮流转。不收工钱，但是吃好的。一天吃六顿，两头见肉，顿顿有酒。干活时，敲着锣鼓，唱着歌，热闹得很。其余的时候，各顾各，不显得紧张。
大东薅三遍草的时候，秧已经很高了，低下头看不见人。只听见非常脆亮的嗓子在一片浓绿里唱：
大东栀子哎开花哎六瓣头哎……
大东姐家哎门前哎一道桥哎……
大东明海就知道小英子在哪里，三步两步就赶到，赶到就低头薅起草来。傍晚牵牛“打汪”，是明子的事。——水牛怕蚊子。这里的习惯，牛卸了轭，饮了水，就牵到一口和好泥水的“汪”里，由它自己打滚扑腾，弄得全身都是泥浆，这样蚊子就咬不透了。低田上水，只要一挂十四轧的水车，两个人车半天就够了。明子和小英子就伏在车杠上，不紧不慢地踩着车轴上的拐子，轻轻地唱着明海向三师父学来的各处山歌。打场的时候，明子能替赵大伯一会，让他回家吃饭——赵家自己没有场，每年都在荸荠庵外面的场上打谷子。他一扬鞭子，喊起了打场号子：
大东“格当嘚——”
大东这打场号子有音无字，可是九转十三弯，比什么山歌号子都好听。赵大娘在家，听见明子的号子，就侧起耳朵：
大东“这孩子这条嗓子！”
大东连大英子也停下针线：
大东“真好听！”
大东小英子非常骄傲地说：
大东“一十三省数第一！”
大东As the wheat the temple collected from its tenants was also dried on the same ground, Mingzi often guarded the threshing ground with Xiaoyingzi. Sitting close to each other on a stone roller, they listened to frogs croaking and grasshoppers making the sound "sha..." or they looked at the fireflies flitting before them and the shooting stars in the sky.
大东"Ah, I've forgotten to tie a knot in my belt!" cried out Xiaoyingzi suddenly.
大东The local people believed that if one tied a knot in one's belt while watching a shooting star one's wish would come true.
大东Gathering water chestnuts was Xiaoyingzi's favourite occupation. When autumn was over, the leaves of the water chestnuts had withered. Then the nuts could be pulled out. This was why she liked this work. Besides, water chestnuts grew in the mud, so to find them she had to go barefooted. When she trod on a hard knob she would reach into the mud and pull out a purplish-red water chestnut. She liked doing this and made Mingzi help her, and often trod with her bare foot on his purposely.
