True
Story
6,000 Steps to
Paradise 2
1,
A Stone Ladder
2, A Beautiful
Bride
19 November 2006
It
all started in 1942, when the most part
of China was under Japanese occupation.
But Sichuan, protected by the tall
mountains surrounded, was untouched by
the war, and the life in villages carried
on as it had always been.
A
Sichuan mountain village
In
one of Sichuan mountain villages, there
was a Liu family living next to a river.
And Liu family had a six-year old boy
named Guojiang who had recently lost his
first baby tooth. One day, as he played
with ants in dirt, his mom was inside the
house cooking lunch for him and the whole
family. Then all of a sudden, a spell of
pitch pipes broke the silence, followed
by clamours of gongs and bellows of
drums, which reminded his mom that Wu’s
son was having a wedding with Xu’s
daughter from a neighbouring village.
Judging by the sound, she believed Xu the
Bride must had arrived. Feeling excited,
she halted cooking and walked out of the
door to find Guojiang. "C’mon boy,
let the bride touch your mouth, then new
tooth will grow sraightway."
So
following the time-honoured village
tradition, Jiangguo was led to the front
of the bride’s sedan. Slowly, a finger,
that was white and smooth as if crafted
out of marble, motioned out of the
curtain, and slipped into the boy’s
mouth. Either the boy was too nervous or
simply too hungry, he had his mouth water
running. Felt ashamed of himself, he
tried to do the right thing by sucking
the finger dry, yet when he did so, he
only bit the finger hard.
A
bride's sedan
Xu
the Bride was hurt and tried to pull the
finger, but it got stuck between the boy’s
teeth. Embarrassed by the farce, she
lifted a corner of the curtain to give
the boy a reproached stare.
As
the boy looked up, he caught sight of
her. The beauty and grace of the bride
stunned him greatly that he was convinced
she must be a fairy princess. So there he
was, standing in front of the sedan, with
his mouth wide open, gawking at her,
which effectively brought the whole
wedding procession to a brief pause. And
he kept in this way long after the sedan
was gone.
"Hi
boy, ease off a bit," a neighbouring
woman advised him, laughing. "Be a
good boy, you may then find a wife
exactly like her."
Ever
since then, the villagers found a lot of
fun in questioning this little boy with
regard to his future bride. And the boy
always replied in deadly earnest:
"Someone just like Auntie Xu."
3,
A Forbidden Love
(References:
numerous Chinese newspaper reports, TV
programs and online medias)
Pre 6,000
Steps to Paradise-Part 1 |
Next: Under
One Roof
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