tall woman and her short husband
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Feng Jicai
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There is a small tree in your yard with a bare trunk. You have been used to it for a long time, but one day it suddenly became twisted and twisted, and the more you looked at it, the more awkward it became. But as time goes by, you will start to like it, as if it is the way it should be. If one day it suddenly becomes straight again, you will feel unspeakably uncomfortable. It's monotonous, boring, simple, like a stick! In fact, it is just returning to its original appearance, so why are you so awkward again?
Is this a habit? Hey, don’t underestimate “habits”! It is omnipresent in everything in the world. Even though it is not a legal rule that must be abided by, it will still cause you trouble and misfortune. However, don't complain about being tied up by it. Sometimes you will follow its rules unknowingly. For example: Do you dare to speak loudly and arrogantly in front of your superiors? Can you express your opinion freely in front of an old man? When taking a group photo, you can ask celebrities to stand aside, but you stand in the middle and smile? No, of course not. Don't talk about this. When you marry a wife, do you dare to marry someone who is ten years older than you, bigger than you, or a head taller than you? Don't get angry with empty words, there is such a pair in front of you -
二
She is seventeen centimeters taller than him.
She is 1.75 meters tall and stands out among women; her husband is only 1.58 meters tall and was nicknamed "Wu Dalang" when he was in college. His earlobes were as level as hers, but they looked like they were halfway between them!
Let’s talk about their appearance: This woman is dry, thin, and flat, with a face like an unpainted table tennis paddle. The facial features are barely visible, but they are small and flat, like a bas-relief; the chest is not bulging at all, the waist is slender and stiff, and the hips are flat, like a stiff washboard. Her husband was like a stubby rubber roller; plump, solid and shiny; everything on his body - his calves, mouth, nose, and finger pads, seemed to be small round and elastic balls of flesh. His skin was soft and smooth, like fine leather. The excess oil shines under the skin, and the abundant blood reveals a delicious reddish color from the skin. His eyes were like a pair of small light bulbs with sufficient voltage. His wife's eyes were like a pair of black glass balls. When two people are together, there is no harmony, only contrast. But they still seemed to be tied together, inseparable all day long.
Once, when their neighbor's family was having a reunion dinner, the old man of the family drank too much, and he took the opportunity to put a long and empty wine bottle on the table with a short can of canned pork. Asked the whole family: "What do you think this is?" He announced the answer without waiting for others to guess, "It's the tall woman downstairs and her young men!"
The whole family burst into laughter and continued laughing until they were chatting after dinner.
How did they become a couple?
This has long been a concern for dozens of households in the Tuanjie Building. Ever since they moved into this building when they got married, all the old residents in the building have given him curious and puzzled looks. However, some people like to keep question marks in their stomachs, while others can't help but speak out. The talkative people started talking about it. Especially when it rains, when they go out, the tall woman always holds an umbrella. If something falls on the ground, it is most convenient for a short man to pick it up. Some idle women in the building looked at this ridiculous scene and pointed at it. The uncontrollable laughter rumbled in his throat. The boredom of adults is the best way to encourage children's mischief. Some children burst into laughter as soon as they saw them, shouting: "The pole is long, the board is wide..." They ignored them and never got angry or paid attention to the children's noise. Perhaps for this reason, he has maintained a rather cold relationship with the people in the building. The few people who don't like to meddle in other people's business, when you meet them on your way to and from get off work, at most you just nod and say hello.This makes it difficult for those who are really interested in them to know more? For example, what is their relationship like? Why combine them? Who will settle with whom? There is no official answer, just guessing.
This is an old-style apartment building. The rooms are large, sunny and bright, and the corridors are wide and dark. Outside the building is a large courtyard, with a small gatehouse at the entrance. There is also a family living in the gatehouse, and the head of the household is a tailor. The tailor is an honest person; but the tailor's wife is an energetic woman who travels from house to house and likes to gossip. She likes to pry into the private affairs and privacy of other people's homes. She knows everything about the relationship between husband and wife, disputes between sisters and sisters, hard work and salary in every family in this building. If she doesn't understand something, she will try her best to find out; this thirst for knowledge can turn stupid people into talented people. Her ability in this area is even more extraordinary than ordinary people. Not to mention observing words and colors, she can see people's hidden thoughts; just by smell, she can know who eats meat regularly, and can deduce the income of the family. For some reason, since the 1960s, this type of people have been recruited as "street activists" in every residential area. This legitimizes their desire to interfere with others, and their abilities and interests are also brought into play. It seems that the Creator really will not waste every talent.
Even though the tailor's wife is capable, she cannot know the reason for the union of this strange and incompatible couple who walks around in front of her every day. This distressed her. It was as if her talents had met a powerful challenge. But based on her experience and hard thinking, she finally came up with the most convincing truth: one of the couples must have some kind of physical defect. Otherwise, no one would find a partner who is one head taller than themselves. Her basis is solid: the couple has been married for three years and has no children yet! So everyone in the Unity Building believed in the tailor's wife's wise judgment.
never shows mercy to anyone, it defeated the tailor’s wife! The tall woman is pregnant. People's eyes kept glancing at the tall woman's gradually protruding belly. This belly is very obvious due to its high height from the ground. No matter whether people are surprised, doubtful, or confused, the tall woman's child is born. Whenever the couple goes out when it's sunny or rainy, the tall girl holds the child in her arms, and it falls to the short man to hold an umbrella. People saw his funny look on his rounded calves, holding an umbrella half-raised, and following closely behind. They were still as curious as they were about the fact that they had become husband and wife and were so inseparable. There are still various theories that sound reasonable, but there is no confirmation from this couple. These statements are like birds that have nowhere to land, flying all over the sky.
The tailor's wife said: "These two people must have something shady to do. Otherwise, why wouldn't they get close to others? The pus on their bodies will come out sooner or later, just wait and see!" Sure enough, one night, the tailor's wife heard the sound of breaking things in the tall woman's house. She hurriedly knocked on the door of the tall woman's house on the pretext of collecting the cleaning fee for the courtyard. She expected that the hidden danger that had been hidden between the couple for a long time had finally erupted. She wanted to see with her own eyes how the couple turned against each other and capture the most vivid details. The door opened, and the tall woman came forward with a smile. The short husband was also smiling in the room. There was a smashed plate on the floor - this was all the tailor's wife saw. After she hurriedly collected the cleaning fee and came out, she couldn't figure out what happened between the couple for a long time. There was no quarrel when they broke the plate, but they were as happy as a happy event. Weird thing!
Later, the tailor’s wife became the street residents’ representative of the Tuanjie Compound. When she assisted the household registration police in checking household registrations from house to house, she finally found the answer to the question that had troubled her for many years. A conclusive and irrefutable answer. It turns out that this tall woman and her short husband both work at the Research Institute of Chemical Industry. The short man is the chief engineer of the institute, and his work time amounts to 180 yuan! Mrs. Gao is just an ordinary laboratory technician with an income of less than 60 yuan, and she was born in a family of postmen who work hard and make little money.Otherwise, why would she marry a man shorter than herself? For status, for money, for a good life, yes! She immediately told this precious information to the restless women in the Unity Building. People always interpret the world according to their own way of thinking, and try their best to make everything equal to their own understanding. Therefore, everyone believed what the tailor's wife said. The mystery that had remained in people's hearts for many years was suddenly revealed. Everyone suddenly realized: It turned out that the short man was a rich man with insufficient congenital characteristics, and the tall woman was a poor woman who had an eye for money and was blessed in life. When people talk about this tall woman who looks like a big ocean horse but is lucky, there is often an air of anger in their tone. Especially the seamstress wife.
三
The good or bad of a person's fate cannot be judged for a while, but we have to wait and see.
In 1966, the Unity Building was like a shrunken world. Disasters came to the world, each had its own misfortunes and blessings, and all the residents in the building had their opportunity to "turn around." Life is full of great changes and sudden changes. The short man was the chief engineer, but he encountered misfortune. His home was ransacked, his furniture was moved, he was beaten, and he was imprisoned in a cowshed.
The disaster did not end with this. Some people said that for many years, he worked in the research institute during the day, went home at night and secretly wrote the research results into a book, planning to escape the country and join a rich distant relative. Dedicating national scientific and technological information to foreign capitalists - this absurd statement is actually believed by many people to be true. At that time, the world was in a state of chaos, and everyone was losing their normalcy. They would rather be ignorant or cruel, and they also had many bizarre delusions, and they wished they could find Hitler around them. The people at the institute clung to the chief engineer, scaring him, beating him, and applying all kinds of pressure. They also forced the tall woman to hand over the manuscript that no one had seen, but to no avail. Someone came up with the idea to bring the two of them to the courtyard of the Unity Building to hold a denunciation meeting; everyone was afraid of being embarrassed in front of relatives, friends and acquaintances, which was also a kind of pressure. When all kinds of pressure have failed, you might as well try this approach, maybe it will work.
That day, the Unity Building was as lively as it has ever been -
In the afternoon, a group of people from the Institute came to the institute. They used a thick hemp rope to pull a horizontal sign between two trees in the courtyard, with the name of the dwarf written with a cross on it. The inside and outside of the courtyard were filled with aggressive slogans, and eighteen pieces of paper were used to announce the "crime" of the dwarf on the courtyard wall. The meeting was planned to be held after dinner, and the institute also sent an electrician to pull out the wires in the courtyard and install four large light bulbs of 500 candlepower.
At this time, the tailor's wife had been promoted from the street representative to the security director. She was very powerful, very proud, and much fatter. She was very busy that day. She led several women in the building and worked hard, painting slogans, pouring tea and water for the revolutionaries in the institute, installing lights and electricity from her house! It’s like her family is holding a happy event!
After dinner, all the residents in the building were summoned to the courtyard by the tailor's wife. Four big lights turned on, illuminating the courtyard as brightly as a stadium at night. Many figures seemed to be magnified dozens of times and projected on the walls. This figure was all silent and motionless, and even the children did not dare to move around casually. The tailor's wife led some people and also put on a red armband on her left arm. This armband was the most prestigious at the time. They guarded the door and did not allow outsiders to come in.
After a while, a large group of people from the Chemical Engineering Research Institute, also wearing armbands, escorted the tall woman and her short husband, shouting slogans all the way, and came in a mighty manner. The short man wore a sign on his chest, but the tall woman did not. They were escorted to the front of the stage and stood side by side with their heads bowed. The tailor's wife ran up and said, "This guy is too short, and the revolutionary masses behind him can't see it. Let me think of something for him!" As she said this, she twisted the two pieces of meat on her shoulders with impulsiveness, brought a soap box from home, turned it upside down, and asked the short man to stand up. In this way, he was as tall as his wife, but at this moment, few people were interested in the disproportionate height of the doomed couple. The
conference is held according to the popular format.The meeting was announced and slogans were shouted, followed by impassioned speeches by the critics who had entered their roles, and slogans were shouted again. The pressure was enough, and he began to extract a confession from the tall woman. As a result, people gathered around the "manuscript" and attacked the tall woman with quarrels and quarrels. You asked, I asked, he asked; screamed, roared harshly, shouted hoarsely; shouted loudly, pushed hard, chased after...but the tall woman just shook her head. Shaking his head sincerely. But sincerity is the cheapest; believing in sincerity means denying everything in the world.
Whether it was grumpy men who jumped up and threatened her with their fists, or some scheming people who came up with a few clever and deceptive words to ask her, she all gave her a sincere and decisive shake of her head in rejection. If this continues, the criticism meeting will have no results, no achievements, or even an end. The people at the research institute are in a bit of a dilemma. They are worried that this will be a success and that they will come to the project in a hurry and come back disappointed.
The tailor's wife stood aside and listened for a long time, and the more she listened, the more boring she became. She was illiterate, had no interest in any "manuscripts", and felt that the people in the institute were speaking incomprehensibly. She suddenly ran to the stage, raised her left arm with a red armband, pointed at the tall woman and asked angrily:
"Tell me, why did you marry him?"
This sudden question made everyone in the institute startled. I don’t know if there is any wonderful connection between the security director’s question and the things they are concerned about.
The tall woman was also stunned. She didn't know why the tailor's wife raised this question. This issue is not of concern to the world. She raised her thin face, which had been tortured for months and looked like a wrinkled withered leaf, with a look of surprise on her face.
"Okay! If you don't dare to answer, I'll tell you for you! Did you marry this guy because he was rich? Who would want such a dwarf if you don't have money!" the tailor's wife said loudly. There was a bit of pride in her tone, as if she was the one who knew the foundation of this tall woman best.
The tall woman did not nod or shake her head. She seemed to suddenly understand everything about the tailor's wife. There was a arrogant, mocking, and stubborn light in his eyes.
"Okay, okay, you're not convinced! This guy is finished now, let's see if you can still rely on me! I know what's going on in your heart!" The tailor's wife slapped her chest, waved her hand, and there were several other women cheering beside her. She was really proud of herself.
The people at the research institute were confused. If you don't understand something like this, it's better to just stay confused. Don't look at these women's nonsense, but they made the venue lively all of a sudden. Without this atmosphere, how would criticism end? So the people at the institute did not stop him and allowed the women to go into battle and show off their power. Just listen to these women shouting:
"How much money did he give you in total? What good things did he buy for you? Tell me!"
"You are not satisfied with two hundred yuan a month, and you want to go abroad. You are beautiful!"
"Is Deng Tuo his backer?"
"One day when you called Beijing, who did you call? Was it ' Sanjia Village '?"
Whether the meeting was a success or not all depends on the atmosphere. The person who presided over the criticism meeting at the institute saw the right opportunity and took advantage of the excitement of the meeting. He led people to shout a series of slogans loudly, and then quickly ended the meeting. Then, the people from the institute searched the tall woman's house again, prying open the floor and knocking off the walls, but found nothing. Finally, they escorted the short man away, leaving only the tall woman.
The tall woman stayed in the house all the time, but went out alone at night. She didn't expect that although the lights were turned off in the tailor's house, which was the concierge of the building, the tailor's wife kept watching her from the window. When he saw her going out, he followed her closely. After leaving the courtyard gate and walking two blocks to the west, he saw the tall woman crossing the street and stopping in front of a house, knocking lightly on the door a few times. The tailor's wife hid behind the telephone pole on the street, holding her breath and staring wide-eyed, as if waiting to catch the rabbit that came out of the hole. She wanted to catch someone, but she was more nervous than the person she wanted to catch.
There was a click, and the door opened. An old woman gave away a child.Just listen to the old woman say:
"Is it done?"
didn't hear what the tall woman said.
It was the voice of the old woman again:
"The child has eaten enough and has already slept. Go back quickly!"
The tailor's wife suddenly remembered that this old woman's husband's family was originally a childcare provider for a tall woman, and her full interest suddenly disappeared. At this time, the tall woman turned around and led the child back. There was no words along the way, only the sound of her mother and her feet. The tailor's wife hid behind the telephone pole and did not dare to move. After they walked some distance away, she went home alone.
Early the next morning, the tall woman's eyes were obviously red when she led her child out of the building. No one in the building dared to talk to her, but everyone saw her red and swollen eyelids. Especially those who had participated in the criticism meeting last night, felt a strange and guilty feeling in their hearts, and turned away from her eyes.
四
The short man was taken away on the day of the self-criticism meeting and was never released. Later, according to the mysterious tailor's wife, the short man had some serious problems and went to jail. The tall woman became the wife of a prisoner in custody, and fell to the bottom of life. Naturally, she was not worthy of living in a spacious room like the one in the Unity Building, so she was forced to exchange housing with her tailor wife's family. She moved to a lonely hut about ten meters away from the building. This is not bad, as it saves me from having to bump into the residents in the building so often and not being able to talk to each other, which is quite embarrassing. But people in the whole building could see the lonely hut and her lonely figure through the windows. I don’t know where she sent her children. She only occasionally took them home to stay for a few days. She lived a lonely and heavy life in silence. For someone in her thirties, it was hard to tell from her appearance that she was still young. The tailor's wife made a conclusion:
"I think this girl can wait for another year at most. If the dwarf doesn't come out, she will have to remarry. If it were me - divorce and remarry now, why wait for that dwarf? I would just let him out. Humans are not Man, the money is gone!"
A year later, the short man still hasn't been released, and the tall woman still lives quietly, going to and from work, lighting the stove, and carrying a big yellow straw basket to buy groceries. This happens every day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year... But one day, the short man reappears. It was the season after autumn. He was wearing thin clothes and had a short crew cut. His appearance had changed. His whole body seemed to be smaller, and his skin had lost its luster and color. When he came back, he went straight to the door of his house in the building, but was sent to the front door by the new head of the household, an honest tailor. The tall woman was squatting at the door chopping firewood. When she heard his greeting, she stood up and looked at him blankly. The couple, who had not seen each other for two years, were both stunned by the obvious changes in each other. One is withered and the other is haggard; one looks taller and the other looks shorter. The two looked at each other for a moment, then quickly turned around. The tall woman turned around and ran into the house, and did not come out for a long time. Then he squatted on the ground, picked up the ax and chopped firewood, and split the two large baskets of wood into thin wooden strips. It seemed as if something intense and unbearable would break out between the two of them if they faced each other for just a moment. After that, they went to work together and came home from get off work together, everything was the same as before. People in the building couldn't find anything strange about them, and their interest gradually dwindled. Whether there are them or not, it has nothing to do with anyone else.
One morning, something happened to the tall woman. I saw the short man running out of the house in panic. After a while, an ambulance came and took the tall woman away. For several days in a row, the concierge was always empty, and the lights were dark at night. More than twenty days later, the short man and a stranger came back carrying a stretcher. The tall woman lay on the stretcher and walked into the small concierge. From then on, the tall woman never left the house. The short man went to work as usual, and when he came back in the evening, he would always light a small stove in a hurry, and then carry a straw basket to buy vegetables. This straw basket is the one that the tall woman used every day a year or two ago. Now it seemed too big in his hand, and the bottom almost touched the ground.
When the weather warmed up next year, the tall woman came out of the house. Her face, which had not seen the sun for a long time, was as white as a layer of powder. The body that had just stood up was leaning left and right.She was holding a bamboo stick in her right hand, her left arm was bent in front of her chest, her left leg was stiff, and she had difficulty walking. It was immediately obvious at a glance that her illness was cerebral thrombosis. From that day on, the short man helped the tall woman walk twice in the courtyard every morning and evening. They walked slowly and hard. The short man held his wife's bent arm firmly with both hands. He was too short, and when he lifted her arms, he had to hunch his shoulders upwards. It was very difficult for him, but he smiled in order to encourage his wife. The tall woman couldn't lift her left foot, so he put a hemp rope around the tall woman's left foot and held the other end of the rope in his hand. Every time the tall woman wanted to lift her left foot, he would lift the rope vigorously. This scene was strange, pitiful, and quite spectacular. The people in the Unity Building couldn't help but be moved when they saw it. When these people met them again, they couldn't help but nod proactively and kindly to them...
五
Tall women are not lucky enough to stay with their short but beloved husbands for a long time. Death is as ruthless as life. Life broke her down and death dragged her away. Now only the short man is left.
It was only after the tall woman left that Lucky came back to kiss the short man’s forehead. The policy was implemented, the confiscated items were returned to him, and the deducted wages were paid to him. Only the house occupied by the tailor's wife has not yet been replaced. There were eyes on him again in the Unity Building, waiting to see the news in his life. It is said that many people from the institute came to help him renew his marriage, but he declined them all. The tailor's wife said:
"I know what he wants. Look at me!"
The tailor's wife has spent her prime years and has become much more modest now. When the power is taken away from the body, a smile must be put on the face. She carried a photo of a beautiful, young woman in her arms and went to the concierge to find the short man. The woman in the photo is her niece.
She was sitting in the short man's house, looking around at the furniture and objects in the house, while proposing marriage to the short rich man. She was smiling broadly and was talking enthusiastically when she suddenly noticed that the short man was silent and his face was ashen. Behind him hung a photo of his wedding with the tall woman. The tailor's wife didn't dare to take out the photo of her niece, so she resigned voluntarily.
Several years have passed, and the short man is still single and widowed. He only picks up his children from outside on Sundays to keep him company. People in the building looked at his short and lonely figure, thinking about his various incidents over the past ten years, and gradually seemed to realize the reason why he insisted on such a single life... When it rains, when the short man goes to work with an umbrella, he still half-raises the umbrella, maybe out of habit. At this time, people had a strange feeling, as if there was a long and large space under the umbrella, which was empty and could not be filled by anything in the world.
* This novel was published in the 5th issue of " Shanghai Literature " in 1982. It has been translated into many languages. In 1984, the Russian translation was published in "Chinese Modern Novels: Wang Meng, Chen Rong, Feng Jicai" published by Moscow Izvestia Publishing House. It was one of the first two novels translated into Russian by Feng Jicai. In 1989, Shanghai Art Film Studio adapted the novel into an animated film "Tall Woman and Short Husband" directed by Hu Yihong. The film was nominated for the Best Art Film at the 10th China Golden Rooster Award in 1990.
Feng Jicai, born in Tianjin on March 25, 1942, is a contemporary Chinese writer, painter, and social activist.
In 1961, he graduated from Tanggu No. 1 Middle School. In 1962, he began to publish paintings and art criticism articles in newspapers and periodicals. In 1974, he co-authored the novel "Boxing of Boxing" with Li Dingxing. In 1979, he published the novels "The Crossroad Paved with Flowers" and "Ah! 》《 carved pipe 》. In 1980, he won the 1979 National Outstanding Short Story Award for "The Carved Pipe". In 1981, he published the essay " mountaineering work ". In 1982, he served as vice chairman of the Tianjin Writers Association; in the same year, he published the novel "The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband". In 1984, he published the novels "Visitors on a Snowy Night" and "神whip". In 1986, the novella "The Divine Whip" won the third National Outstanding Novella Award. In 1987, he served as a member of the Seventh Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; in the same year, he published a collection of essays "Pearl Bird".In 1988, he was elected as the executive vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy, and chairman of the Tianjin Federation of Literary and Art Circles. In 1995, he was elected as the East Asia Vice President of the International Folk Art Organization; in the same year, he published the novel "Stones Talk". In 1998, he won the 6th October Literature Award for his novel "Stones Talk". In 2000, he published the novel collection "The Wonderful Man in the World". In 2003, he published a collection of prose essays "Listening to Russia" and a collection of paintings "Famous Artists·Famous Products". In 2006, he completed the art theory monograph "Literati Painting Debate". In 2007, he published the collection of essays "The Soul Can't Kneel" and "A Dog's Paradise". In 2009, he published the anthology "High-quality Mianshan Gods and Buddha Statues", a collection of novels and essays "Scattered Flowers", and the academic book "Disappearing Patterns". In February 2011, "Feng Jicai's Painting Collection" was published. In September 2012, the collection "Feng Jicai's Texts" was published. In 2016, he published the novel collection "Strange People in the World" (full version). In 2018, the novel "Monocular Telescope" was published.
