True
Story
6,000 Steps to
Paradise (4)
1,
A Stone Ladder
2,
A Beautiful Bride
3,
A Forbidden Love
4, A Life in the
Wilderness
26 November
2006
Deep in
China’s heartland in Sichuan province
bordering Guizhou and Chongqing, there is
a vast expanse of primeval forest. Deep
in the forest, there is a majestic
mountain called Middle Slope (半坡头) with its summit 1500 m
above the sea level. Deep in the mountain
where the dense foliage is cleft to a
broad open field, there was a hatched
cottage.
Next to
the cottage under a shed, there were
baskets containing wild walnuts, jujubes
and herbs; before the cottage on a
levelled ground, leaves of mujiang
trees spread out drying in the sun in
preparation for flour milling; around the
cottage along gentle slopes, there were
cornfields and vegetable patches growing
potato and sweet potato.
Somewhere
off in the distance, there was a lush
grove where beeboxes were placed and
swarms of bees buzzed in trees that bore
with wild fruits and had howler monkeys
perched in. Nearby in a hollow, bordered
with stones, a mountain stream rolled its
winding course through the shades. The
water was limpid, reflecting a green
glow. When the late afternoon sun slanted
golden gleams across the flow, a topless
young man straightened out his back,
hands griping a fish struggling to slip
out of his strong hold. "Pan!"
this 20-year old shouted at a 13-year
old. "Yeah, Uncle Guojiang,
here!" the 13-year old hurriedly
presented a wooden pan to allow the fish
to be tossed in.
Barefoot,
Guojiang jumped onto the shore and strode
towards the cottage, with three kids
hopping around him, and monkeys hopping
around the kids.
In front
of the cottage, a toddler was doing its
best to take a wobbly walk. Next to it,
Xu was busily plying her needle. Seeing
the group approaching, she stopped her
work and took over the pan to prepare a
fish soup dinner. Then the family of six
sat under the sky to have a meal, in the
company of the restless monkeys springing
around for leftovers, and a flock of
birds that from time to time shove the
hilltops.
Soon the
dazzling clouds paled - the sun in
mountains forever retired early and in
great hasty, even during summer season.
Having settled the children into bed,
Guojiang and Xu returned to the open.
Outside
was a field of silver. The moon had
climbed high in the sky, illuminating the
landscape with its humble and simple
reflection. The pair rested on the meadow
slope, viewing the murky outlines of the
hills. As Xu caught a glimpse of the dark
mass of forest looming in a short
distance, and heard down the shallows the
stream flew fast in turbulence, she asked
Guojiang, for the 101th time since they
fled the village to the abandoned cottage
in the wild, "You sure you have no
regrets?"
"Here
you come again," Guojiang got red in
the face. "Do you really want me to
rip open my chest to show you my
heart?"
"Shoo…"
Xu covered his mouth with her hand.
"I just think you’ve lost so
much..."
"I
only lost gossips, but I’ve got
you!"
Xu averted
her sight to the sky, where the stars
spangling sweep of the firmament
flickered in the black space, like tears
twinkling in her black eyes.
Little
they suspected at the time that their
simple happiness was soon to be tempered
and they would be forced to flee once
again.
One day,
the world suddenly turned gloomy above
and below as the clouds gathered thick
and dense, blocking the sun in all
directions. Moments later, a string of
freak claps of thunder exploded over the
little settlement and flashes kept
hurling down lightening balls, which
eventually tore open the sky. The rain
pelt down in wrath. Amid the intense
bombardments of thunder and shafts of
light, the mountain torrent rolled and
roared, and the violent spewing flood,
tumbling with white foams, shook the
foundation of the house, while a powerful
gust of wind ripped off the hatched roof
and tossed it down the gully.
By the
time the clouds rolled away and the sun
re-emerged, what was revealed in the
field sparkling like crystal was a
paradise lost. In the swirling mists and
vapours that lingered around, they
witnessed hopelessly their refuge was
reduced to a ruinous heap.
5,
A Hous on the Hilltop
(References:
numerous Chinese newspaper reports and
online medias)
China
stories are told at wenhousecrafts.com
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