第三章：偷吃禁果的懲罰（下）

作家按語：《傳教士和他的女兒》（原書名：裸拜）！故事敘述富有的喜歡生物硏究的英國青年亨利，32年走進神奇的貴州山區，他宣揚真愛，拯救生命、製止血腥與殘殺…在邊遠的貴州山區建立了基督教堂，傳播主的福音，他的美德和仁愛精神，使他受到眾多山裏基督徒的裸拜和崇敬！作品引領喜歡旅遊和民族風情的歐洲人、美國人進入美麗的貴州山區，去領略那裏與世無爭的寧靜和鮮為人知的民族風情……中國解放後，當共產黨人要驅逐亨利牧師時，桀驁的雙溪坪教徒爆發了反抗……許多撲朔迷離的山村故事，皆在此書中！The Missionaryand His Daughter傳教士和他的女兒Zongming Zhang張宗銘 著Translated by Tangjin Xiao肖唐金 譯Since that time, Ah Cai had fallen attached to Qiusheng. He was not good at hunting. Never had he hunted a male deer. How could he have musk? In the mountains people knew musk could help avoid getting pregnant. And even the smell of the musk of a dead male deer could lead to the abortions of pregnant women, it was said.Ah Cai was crazy about Qiusheng’s smell. She thought that was the result of the musk. She had sex with him frequently later on.Ah Cai was good at treatment, but like the other women in the mountains she never cared about herself. Unless they suffered from some fatal illnesses such as gout, typhoid, migraine, malaria, snake bites and knife wounds, they wouldn’t look for treatment. Getting pregnant is a good thing for many women. How could they regard it as an illness? At this time Ah Cai showed no sign of being pregnant. She didn’t feel like eating sour things, nor did she vomit a lot.One day Ah Cai’s mom Ah Mei looked up from her weaver, and saw her daughter sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard in the morning sunlight. She had planned to ask her if she had cooked the rice, but then she found her chewing sugarcanes tastefully. It wasn’t normal for her to chew sugarcanes in the morning. She usually did that after lunch. Ah Mei examined her for a while and was shocked. She found her daughter’s belly protrude like a big iron pot. She shouted, “Ah Cai!”At this Ah Cai got frightened. She was afraid she had done something wrong at home. She came up to her mom’s weaver quickly. Ah Mei pointed at her belly, asking:“Did you have sex with Wei Lang?”Ah Cai shook her head, replying, “No. Why do you ask that?”“You haven’t had menstruation for months, right?”Ah Cai answered, “Yeah.”Ah Mei had never beaten her daughter, but she boxed her on the face this time, scolding, “You bitch! Did you have sex with Wei Lang?”“No, Mom.”At this word Ah Mei was terrified. She wept in front of the weaver, “If you had sex with Wei Lang, then you could get married earlier. That would be alright. But if you had sex with a man other than him, that would be a violation of the village rules!”The innocent Ah Cai realized that she had been deceived by Qiusheng. She was frightened and sobbed, “Mom, please help me!”Mom locked Ah Cai in the herb room and walked over 15 km to get back Mr. He. Ah Cai’s daddy was then helping others to expel evil spirits and get treatment. He was shocked at the news, too. He was sorry for that because he felt it was his fault. If he hadn’t been bitten by the snake, that thing wouldn’t have happened. Now the fate was going to separate his daughter from the family. What a misfortune!Daddy told Mom that the next day he woke up he found Qiusheng had hunted a young chamois. He knew this young man wasn’t kind-hearted. According to the local customs, female and young animals shouldn’t be hunted. If anyone did that, he wouldn’t be considered a real hunter. But Qiusheng had saved him. So, he didn’t warn her of that, nor did he mention this to others.Ah Cai remembered Qiusheng’s words. Didn’t he say that he had put musk in her private parts? But she got pregnant. She had been deceived! She was sorry for the mad love.Ah Cai began to think about remedies. Maybe she could ask Qiusheng to revoke his engagement with Ah Shuo. That took courage, to be sure. He had to ask Ah Shuo’s parents for forgiveness, and his parents must promise not to take back the engagement presents. Ah Cai could leave the village with Qiusheng for the time being. Once their child was born and could greet her parents, uncles and aunts, she could be pardoned. Ah Cai thought Qiusheng would agree to leave the village with her. Anyway, the engagement presents for her were three times as much as any other girl’s. On a market day Ah Cai had a secret dating with Qiusheng.Qiusheng was good at playing with girls. He put down Ah Cai with his feet the moment he saw her. He was eager to undress her. Ah Cai was a bit unhappy. She pushed him aside. Qiusheng’s cock erected in the sunlight, as if asking her, “It isn’t easy for us to get such a chance of being together. Why are you wasting the time?”Ah Cai was fed up with his cock. It seemed like a thing with poisonous bacteria, filthy and smelly. She gave it a beating at once. Qiusheng got terribly painful. Ah Cai cried:“I was pregnant!”She lifted up her dress and showed her belly, saying, “5 months. Do you know? Where is your damned musk? Show me your musk!”Qiusheng hesitated for a while before he replied. His cock still erected. He answered, “Shit! I forgot to bring it here.”“You don’t have musk at all. You have been deceiving me!”“Musk is expensive. I sold it the other day.”Ah Cai wept at this. She cried while stamping her feet, “Then why did you deceive me when in fact you had no musk? Damn! I am finished in your hands.”Qiusheng came up to her and consoled her, “Don’t think about musk now, dear. It’s bad for those unborn babies. The women with abortions would suffer later. The dead babies would haunt them for the rest of their lives. I don’t mean to hurt you, so I can’t give the musk to you. I don’t want to lose my honor as a hunter.”‘Then what should I do now?”“I’ll be responsible for you.”“Then go back and cancel your engagement with Ah Shuo, and leave the village quietly with me.”“But I must tell my daddy about that. I’d rather not get back the engagement presents but treat Ah Shuo’s relatives to a banquet as compensations.”At this word Ah Cai felt relieved. She fell into his arms happily. Without hesitations Qiusheng pressed himself on Ah Cai.Ah Mei was reluctant to have Ah Cai expelled out of the village or go away with the indecent Qiusheng. She fell ill. Ah Cai’s father felt regretful, too. He was unwilling to lose the heiress of wizardry. If Ah Cai left the village, then the two daughters-in-law would become the heiresses of the medical skills. They were not as smart as Ah Cai, and were not capable of handling the affairs well, such as prescriptions and spells against evil spirits. He Sandie was frustrated, for he was worried that the heirloom would be lost.Daddy was reluctant to let Ah Cai leave the village. His daughter was familiar with the herbs, mountains, fields and dosage room. Even after she got married, she could stay and carry on the business. He knew Qiusheng was not a good match for his daughter, nor was he willing to let Ah Cai leave with Qiusheng. He thought that the only remedy was Wei Lang.One day Wei Lang was sitting on the laps of Ah Cai. Daddy asked Wei Lang to come down and talked to him secretly. He told the truth, and hoped that Wei Lang could forgive his daughter and marry her as early as possible. Wei Lang felt awkward. He went back home and told his parents the truth.Wei Lang thought over and over. He felt he was cuckolded, and shouldn’t marry Ah Cai. His parents also felt the indecent affairs between Ah Cai and Qiusheng had stained the marriage to come. Wei Lang’s father was the village head. His daughter-in-law’s indecency was soon known nearby. Ah Cai’s father knew his daughter had done something indecent, so together with his two sons took the lead in driving Ah Cai out of the village.Ah Cai walked depressed out of the village. Her father and brothers had wood sticks in their hands. Daddy beat his daughter gently with his wood stick while crying:“It’s my fault. I didn’t discipline my daughter well. I have hurt the villagers. I am expelling my daughter out of the village. I will cut off the connections with her from now on.”In fact, Ah Cai’s daddy was heartbroken as he beat his daughter. He said to himself, “Sorry, daughter! If Daddy hadn’t stepped on the snake, you wouldn’t be in this bad situation!”Ah Cai knew her daddy and brothers drove her out for the village rules. She knew she had made them indecent, and might make it hard for her brothers to date with other girls. Her premarital sex was surely a loss of face for the family!The expulsion was a way to warn other girls and hunters who dared to have premarital sex. Ah Cai was driven out of the village by her family rather than the other villagers because of the good terms between her family and the other villagers. Nevertheless, the loss of face would make it hard for Ah Cai to come back home for the time being. She knew she would have to face her life alone later on. She found her daddy crying with tears welling up in his eyes. Ah Cai knelt down under a fir tree at the entrance of the village, sobbing:“Sorry, Dad and brothers! If I could come back home later, I would take good care of you. Please look after yourself well while I am away. Please look after Mom well, too.”Ah Cai knew her only hope was Qiusheng. She hoped that Qiusheng could come for her. That was what a manly hunter should do. He shouldn’t leave her and their baby alone. He should acknowledge his affairs with Ah Cai before the head of Zhongzhai Village. Of course, he would be expelled out of his village as well. But then he could stay together with Ah Cai. That was what lovers should face.Ah Cai waited patiently for Qiusheng in the mountains near Zhongzhai Village. Three days passed and he didn’t come. Another three days passed and he still didn’t come. Ah Cai knew Qiusheng was dishonest, but she cherished the hope. She was starved almost to death, but she believed that Qiusheng as a hunter wouldn’t break his promise.Ah Cai couldn’t go to Zhongzhai Village for Qiusheng, for she was worried that he would deny the affairs and the other villagers would take her for a leper or a woman with poisonous drugs. That would be a fatal blow to her, and probably she would have to suffer severe punishment!Ah Cai began to taste the bitterness of life. She was so hungry that she had to feed on the wild plants and fruits in the mountains such as strawberries and hawthorns. But the nutrition was so poor that she felt feeble all over. What’s worse, the baby in the womb needed nutrition, and she had no way to satisfy it. Ah Cai was sorry for the baby. Sometimes she just touched her own belly, consoling her child, “Be patient, dear! Your daddy will come for us and get us back home. We will have rice, pork, dried beef, and dried tofu with pig blood soon.”The baby seemed to understand her and stopped kicking about inside.Six days passed, yet Qiusheng didn’t come. She was starved. She knew she had been deceived by her lover. She had planned to ask the women and hunters from Zhongzhai Village about her lover, but she hadn’t done that for her face. Now she knew she couldn’t care about face any longer. She had done something indecent. She was a lusty woman in the eyes of many local people. She had to beg for her livelihood. Fate seemed to know her mind, and arranged for Henry to meet her on that day.There was a custom of greeting guests warmly in the mountains of Guizhou. Those kind strangers would be known in a blink in the villages nearby. The guests would bring fresh and exciting news from the outside world, and the locals would be glad to know those events. That was a glory of personal relationships in the eyes of the villagers.The people in the mountains were sometimes stubborn. They didn’t want to have the customers pay less for what they bought, nor were they willing to get more for what they sold. But they were hospitable, and were ready enough to treat their guests and even strangers to free meals. Smoked pork and preserved fish were delicacies in the mountains, but even strangers could taste them with the local wine from time to time. The villagers were stubborn yet not stingy.If someone killed a female, or pregnant, or young animal, he would be scolded. If a girl had premarital sex, she would be severely punished. If a young man worked with the local officials in collecting taxes badly, he would be belittled and punished.These were village rules. Ah Cai surely had violated a village rule. She had engaged with Wei Lang, but she had had sex with Qiusheng. That was indecent indeed.The villagers wouldn’t greet Ah Cai for that reason. She couldn’t get good food or warm welcome for sure. She was a bad woman according to them.Ah Cai was in trouble. Then, she met Henry, the British Christian who was willing to buy a basket of peaches for her for 10 copper coins.The moment Ah Cai got support from Henry, she knew this blonde-haired British was kind rather than evil. She also knew from the hunters of Zhongzhai Village that Qiusheng had been given a trial by the village head and other hunters, and that Qiusheng denied having sex with Ah Cai in the presence of his poor and old parents as well as the other solemn-looking villagers before the new wooden hut where his wedding would be held.Ah Cai collapsed at the news. The hunters of Zhongzhai Village told Ah Cai not to think too much about that. Anyway, Qiusheng, a dishonest and indecent hunter, wasn’t worth marrying and living a life with.The hunters and village head of Zhongzhai Village thought Qiusheng guilty, and wanted to give him a “holy trial”. Yet he denied the affairs in the name of his uncle, i.e. his mother’s younger brother. In the mountains mother’s brothers enjoyed high social status and deserved respect. Thus, Qiusheng wasn’t given the “holy trial”. But everyone else thought Qiusheng indecent and immoral since he had even killed a young or female chamois.Ah Cai felt relieved at these words. Nevertheless, she was aware that she had to face the hardships ahead. She felt regretful for what she had done. She was disappointed, shocked and helpless. She cried sadly…Now she smelled the meat in the pot. The baby inside her womb seemed to smell it, too. It gave her a kick. Ah Cai came round from her contemplations. She found someone skinning a roe-deer at the riverside. An idea of revenge struck her like a silver dagger. She murmured with gnashing teeth:“What an immoral person you’re, Qiusheng! I’ll cut off relationships with you today! I’ll remove your baby from my womb!”