十五岁时做父亲
Being a father in his fifteen
周兴和的父亲一天天更衰老了。
Zhou Xinghe's father grew older every day.
他母亲身体也越来越是消瘦。近一两年来，她常常感到全身无力、胸口发堵、心慌气紧、吞咽困难，做什么事都力不从心了。
His mother was getting thinner and thinner. For the past year, she had often felt weak, her chest was clogged, her heart was tense, and had difficulty in swallowing; she could not do anything.
这时，他母亲不知是心血来潮，还是她预感到了什么，出人意料的是，她在同兴和的父亲商量后，竟主动和村里一户王姓人家攀起亲来。让他们没想到的是，王家人商量了一阵，竟然同意了这门亲事！
At this moment, his mother might have a whim or a premonition, and unexpectedly, after consulting with Xinghe's father, she took the initiative to marry a family of Wang in the village. To their surprise, the Wang family consulted for a while and agreed to the marriage!
父母给周兴和谈的是本队的姑娘王琼华。
It was Wang Qionghua, a girl of the same production team, who was arranged by Zhou Xinghe’s parents for him to be his wife.
周兴和刚开始并不知道这件事，当他听到旁人议论后，感到十分意外和不解，他还远远不到婚娶的年龄啊！这一年他刚失学不久，在生产队才劳动了一年。
Zhou Xinghe did not know about this at first. When he heard others talking about it, he felt very surprised and puzzled. He was far from old enough to get married. This year he had just dropped out of school and had only been working in the production team for one year.
“兴和呀，男大当婚，女大当嫁。我们给你谈了门亲事，可能你已知道了。”当母亲和王家人把事情商量好后，她才告诉周兴和，“人一辈子就是那么回事，成家立业生儿养女。王家的条件比我们好，但人家没有嫌弃我们，愿意把姑娘嫁过来——我看，趁我们两个老的还在，听我们的话，把她接过门来吧。”
"Xinghe, upon growing up, every male should take a wife and every female should take a husband. We arranged you about the match, and perhaps you have known it already." After his mother and the Wangs had settled the marriage, she told Zhou Xinghe, "That's what happens in everyone’s life. You get married and start a family and have children. The Wangs are better off than we are, but they have no grudge against us, and they are willing to marry the girl to you - I suppose we can take her to our household while me and your father are alive."
周兴和低头不语。
Zhou Xinghe bowed his head and did not speak.
“像我们这种家庭条件，哪里还能东挑西选的。”母亲见兴和不做声，她接着对兴和说道，“你父亲年纪一天天大了，也不能上坡做活路了；我呢，这身体也一天不如一天；你兄弟也还小，还做不得事。人家那王家姑娘，我们是看到长大的，人老实本分又勤快，接过门来还能帮家里做些事情呢！”
"In a family like ours, there is no choice." When his mother saw that Xinghe was silent, she kept saying to him, "Your father is growing old and can no longer work uphill; as for me, my health is getting worse every day; your brother is too young to do anything. We have seen the girl of Wang family grows up from child; she is honest and diligent, and can help do something at home after you are married!"
“我还小，人家要笑话……”周兴和嗫嚅着回答。
"I am still a child; I’ll be a joke to others..." Zhou Xinghe replied meekly.
“14岁了，不小了！”母亲理直气壮对他说，“解放前，人家八九岁接媳妇的多的是，十三四岁就当爹当妈了！看什么笑话？一辈子接不到媳妇，一辈子打单身汉，才叫人家看笑话呢！”
"Boy of fourteen years old is not a child any more!" His mother confidently said to him, "Before liberation, many people had wives when they were eight or nine years old. They became parents when they were thirteen or fourteen years old! What's the joke? Never have a wife, be a bachelor all your life, that is a joke!"
“以后学校复课了，我还想读书……”
"I still want to study when the school resumes..."
“现在到处都乱哄哄的，还读得成什么书！就算学校复课了，哪个上坡做活路呢，一家人都喝西北风呀！……”
"There's such a mess all over the place, there is no place to study! Even if the school resumes, who shall go uphill to work in our family? Shall all the family live on air? ..."
周兴和那个时候还小，父母的这个决定，他至今依然有些不解：或许，父母是想借此讨好王姓大家族，在和王家攀上亲戚后，将来在村上少受些欺负；或许，是怕他们百年之后，儿子无人关照找不到媳妇，像村上不少男人一样打一辈子光棍吧！
Zhou Xinghe was young at the time, and he is still puzzled by his parents' decision until now. Perhaps they wanted to curry favor with the Wang family so that they could be less bullied in the future after joining up with the Wang family. Perhaps, they were afraid that after they died, their son was not looked after and can’t find wife, just like many men in the village to be a bachelor all his life!
这一年，周兴和才刚满14岁，王家姑娘才15岁。
That year, Zhou Xinghe was just 14 years old, and the girl of Wang family was only 15 years old.
是的，他母亲说得没有错，在山区农村，男女早婚现象其实是司空见惯的。媒妁之言，父母之命，双方家长谈好后，就顾不上儿子或女儿个人的感受了。那时，男女结婚也不一定非得要到公社去办什么结婚登记，双方家长商定一个日子，最后请来生产队干部和几个至亲至友，摆桌简单的酒席让大家吃一顿，然后男方把姑娘领进家里就行了。姑娘进了男方家，名正言顺就成了男方家里的媳妇，就和男方的小伙子住一起，就开始共同生活，共同生儿育女了。
His mother was right. In mountainous villages, early marriage between men and women was actually quite common. With the matchmaker's words and parents' orders, the parents of two families arranged the match without regard to the feelings of their son or daughter. At that time, men and women did not have to go to the commune to do the marriage registration; both parents agreed on a date, invited the production team cadres and a few close relatives and friends, set a table for everyone to eat a simple banquet, and then the male took the female into the home. When the female entered the male's house, she became the wife of the man, lived with the young man, and began to live and have children together.
自然，这样由父母捏合成为夫妻的男女，特别还是少不更事的男女，是不能奢谈什么感情基础、情趣相投的，更谈不上什么“爱情”之类的东西了。让儿女们结合，在大人心目中无非就是“男大当婚，女大当嫁”的传统习俗，无非就是家族传宗接代的需要，承担起继承香火的责任罢了。
Naturally, men and women, especially those of a young age, who have been brought together by their parents to become husband and wife, had no basis of their feelings or hobbies, let alone of such things as love. In the eyes of adults, the marriage between their son and daughter was nothing more than the traditional custom that "Upon growing up, every male should take a wife and every female should take a husband". It was nothing more than the need for the family to carry on the family line and assume the responsibility of inheriting the family heritage.
“我嫁到兴和家时，那时大家都穷，周家也没给什么聘礼，他家里给我扯了两件衣裳，就把我接过门了。”时隔几十年，笔者在采访周兴和先前的妻子王琼华时，尽管她年纪已大了，但对当时的情形还记忆犹新。
"When I got married to Xinghe, everyone was poor and Zhou's family didn't give me any betrothal gifts. He gave me two clothes and took me into his house." Several decades later, when I interviewed Zhou Xinghe's former wife Wang Qionghua, although she was not young, she still remembered the situation clearly.
就这样，没有什么繁琐的仪式和复杂的手续，王琼华就嫁到了周家，和周兴和成为事实婚姻，和他朝夕相处了。农村生活单调枯燥，山里天又黑得早，两个懵懵懂懂的少男少女住在一起，难免日久生情，出乎他们意料的是，第二年春天，王琼华竟然怀孕了！
In this way, without any fussy ceremony or complicated formality, Wang Qionghua got married with Zhou Xinghe and got along with him day and night. Rural life was dull, and the sky in the mountains got dark early, the ignorant young boy and girl lived together, and gradually had feelings with each other; in the next spring, Wang Qionghua was pregnant!
人类繁衍生息是天经地义的事，是不以人的意愿为转移的。
Human reproduction is a matter of course, not subject to the will of man.
当王琼华怀孕后，让人焦虑的是，兴和母亲的却病一天天沉重起来。兴和小小年纪既要上坡出工，又要照顾母亲和妻子，常常是起五更睡半夜。可更要命的是，为给母亲医病，那时家里已经到了一贫如洗的境地。到了冬天，眼看妻子就要生产了，可家里连仅有的一点粮食都卖光了，要生孩子的妻子吃什么呢？
When Wang Qionghua became pregnant, Xinghe's mother became more ill day by day. At a young age, Xinghe had to work uphill and take care of his mother and wife, often getting up early in the morning and sleeping late at night. To make matters worse, in order to cure his mother's illness, the family had already reached a state of abject poverty. In the winter, when his wife was about to give birth, the family had sold out even a little grain they had. What did his wife to give birth eat?
“我生大女儿时，是娘家给了我5斤麦子，我吃过两顿面条。”王琼华说，“到后来生几个孩子坐月子时，能有点红苕皮、包谷面吃就不错了。兴和是家里的全劳力，要上坡做活路，娃儿些又小，有点好的也要留给他们，就是叫我吃，我也吃不下去呀……”
"When I gave birth to my eldest daughter, my mother's family gave me 2.5kg wheat, and I had two meals of noodles." Wang Qionghua said, "When giving birth to later children, it was good to have a little bit of sweet potato or corn flour. Xinghe was the full labor force in the family. He had to go uphill to make a living, and the children were small; if there was anything to eat, it shall be left to them. Even if I were asked to eat them, I would not be able to do so..."
王琼华生孩子的时间，是1968年腊月。
Wang Qionghua gave birth in the twelfth lunar month of 1968.
孩子哇哇坠地的哭声，虽说让周兴和有些手足无措，但对病中的母亲来说，或许还是个安慰吧。
The sound of the baby crying may have baffled Zhou Xinghe, but it may have comforted his ailing mother.
这时，王琼华才16岁，严格地说还处于生长发育的年龄；周兴和才15岁，也还处于懵懵懂懂的成长时期。可这对小小年纪的夫妻，尽管自己都还没完全长大，却要承担起当妈当爹沉重的家庭责任了。
At this time, Wang Qionghua was only 16 years old, technically still in the age of growth and development; Zhou Xinghe was only 15 years old and still in the growing years of his life. But this young couple, even though they were not fully grown, had to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of being a mother and father.
天色阴沉着，从山那边吹过来的风，带着深深的寒意，孩子哇哇的哭声，在这个小山村里传得很远。
The day was overcast, the wind blowing from the other side of the hill carried a deep chill, and the sound of baby crying was spread far and wide in this little village.
“周家又添人口了，生产队明年又多了个分口粮的人，周家又多了一张吃饭的嘴了。”村民们听见孩子哭声，抬头望望周家住的那个清冷的山坳，如此说道。
"The Zhou family added population, the production team had one more person to divide the rations in the next year, and the Zhou family had another mouth to eat." Said the villagers, hearing the cries of the baby and looking up at the cool col where Zhou lived.
抱起襁褓中的女儿，听着孩子的哭声，完全还没有当父亲思想准备的周兴和，虽有几分欣慰，但更多的是无奈和焦虑。
Picking up his infant daughter and listening to her cry, Zhou Xinghe, who had not yet been prepared to be a father, was somewhat pleased, but feeling more helpless and anxious.
