原标题：The Flavours of Life 生活的味道-第六章 妈妈的炸酱面（上）

这是Jenny的第67篇原创文章

Chapter 6 Mum's Zha Jiang Mian-1

第六章 妈妈的炸酱面（上）

Unfortunately, the new life that began with a New Year Eight Bowls banquet didn't last long. When my mother's older sister Yu-cui died of tuberculosis at age of 21 in Zhengyue, the first lunar month of 1955, it was also the end of the prosperous life enjoyed by the big family.

不幸的是, 新年八大碗宴席的生活并没有持续太久。妈妈的姐姐玉翠1955年正月死于肺结核时，只有21岁，也是大家庭富裕生活的终结。

Yu cui was the oldest child in the family. Before Yu-cui got married in 1953, she was a great helper to my Lao-lao as she was such a good home cook especially with steamed man-tou. She was also good at tailoring and other household chores. While Yu-cui was busy at the kitchen counter or the sewing basket, my mother Yu-qin and her younger sister Yu-lan had time to read and play in the yard. Yu-cui might have been saved by immediate medical care but her husband's family was so superstitious and uneducated that they hired a 'witch' to sing and dance and chant spells instead of taking her to the hospital.

玉翠是家里年龄最大的孩子。玉翠是1953年结婚的，结婚前她可是姥姥的好帮手。玉翠是个好厨师，特别擅长蒸馒头，她也精于裁缝和其他家务活。当玉翠在厨房灶台或针线筐旁边忙碌时，妈妈玉琴和小妹妹玉兰才可以有时间读书和在院子里玩耍。玉翠的病本可以被送到医院及时救治的，但是夫家迷信和无知，却雇了一个巫婆又唱又跳、念念有词来给她治病。

When my Lao-lao lost her daughter, she wept over her oldest granddaughter who was only 13 months then in her arms, whom she had to breastfeed along with her youngest son who was eight months, and murmured to herself:

姥姥失去大女儿玉翠时，玉翠的女儿也是姥姥最大的外孙女才13个月，而姥姥的小儿子是8个月，姥姥不得不同时哺乳最小的儿子和最大的外孙女。她怀抱外孙女，哭泣抽噎、喃喃自语：

I would rather not have my daddy who is an official

But rather have my mummy even she is a beggar.

宁舍那做官的爹

不舍那叫街（乞丐）的娘

After Yu-cui died, her in-laws believed that there had been a bad omen the previous autumn. Their grapevine in the yard collapsed after a rainstorm. The superstitious believe that when the grapes in your yard are fruitful, your family is prosperous; when the grapevine falls down, your family is going down too.

玉翠死后，婆婆家认为前一年的秋天就有不好的兆头。一场暴风雨后他们家院子里的葡萄架坍塌了。迷信认为院子里的葡萄丰收，家族就繁荣兴旺，葡萄架倒了，家里就会衰败。

Not only was their family doing badly, my mother's family were not doing well. The country had issued a new policy in September 1954 to combine private and state-owned businesses together.

不仅玉翠家的日子不好过，我妈妈家里也每况愈下。1954年9月国家颁发了新的公私合营的政策。

In early 1955, my Lao-ye found that officials from the local tax authority came to his shops more often than before. Every time they wanted to see his books and checked his goods or were just being fussy over nothing, saying you are evading tax. So finally in May that year, seeing the trend clearly, he decided to surrender. He wrapped all his stock from his shop and from my Lao-lao's shop with a big piece of fabric, and carried it to the tax office. He told them this was all he and his wife had and they now contributed them to the country. He said this was the end of his business. He quit. Later he realized how wise he was as he believed it was more noble to make the decision himself than have the officials come to confiscate all your belongings, which was exactly what happened to the other businessmen on Xie Jie.

1955年初，姥爷发现税务局的官员造访店铺的次数比以前多多了。每次他们不是想查看账簿、就是要检查存货，要么就是没事找事，说你偷税漏税。终于在那年5月，姥爷看到这个形势，决定投降。姥爷把他和姥姥两个店铺的全部货品用一大块布料包裹好，背到了税务局。姥爷告诉他们，这是他和妻子的全部存货，都捐给国家了。他说他不做生意了、不干了。后来姥爷意识到他太明智了，这样做比被官员没收了全部财产更有尊严，斜街上的其他生意都是这样接二连三被关闭的。

The family packed up and left their house on Xie Jie and returned to their house on Yan Dian Jie (Salt Shop Street). After the new China was founded, the name of the street had been changed to Min Sheng Jie (People's Life Street).

于是全家人打包收拾，离开了斜街的房子，又回到盐店街的老房子。新中国成立后，盐店街的名字被改为民生街。

With five children(my mum has one elder brother, two younger brother and one younger sister) and my Lao-ye's 65-year-old mother, my grandparents had to do something to feed them after losing their prosperous business. Although they had some savings, they couldn't zuo chi shan kong – do nothing but only eat, even the mountain of fortune would be emptied. But there were no good jobs available at this transition stage in the nation's growth so they went to chop stones at a quarry. That was a tough and tedious job for both of them. They held a round iron loop in one hand to tighten the huge stone and a big hammer in the other hand. They had to keep smashing the big stones into small pieces, some like a man-tou size, some like a walnut or a Chinese date, others into tiny stones; the smaller the better they were paid. For each cubic meter, they were paid for four yuan. Back then, one jin (half a kilo) maize flour was 9 fen (cent) and one jin wheat flour was 1 mao (10cents) and 7.9 fen. One sack of wheat flour is 50 jin (25 kilos). My mum now still remembers when you bought one sack of wheat flour with 10 yuan (dollar), you got 1.05 yuan(dollar) change.

家里五个孩子(妈妈有一个哥哥，两个弟弟和一个妹妹)，还有姥爷65岁的老母亲，姥姥姥爷不得不外出工作。尽管他们有一些积蓄但是不能坐吃山空啊。国家发展的过渡期，找不到合适的工作，所以他们都去采石场敲石头。这个工作对两个人来说都特别辛苦。他们一手拿着一个圆铁圈，套着大石头，另一只手拿着一个大锤子。他们不得不不停地敲打，把大石头敲成小石头，有些像馒头大小，有些像核桃或大枣大小，有些更小。石头越小付得工钱就越多。一立方石头，他们可以收到4元钱的工钱。那时候，一斤玉米面9分钱，白面是1毛7分9，1袋白面是50斤，妈妈现在仍清楚地记得10元钱买一袋白面，找零是1元零5分钱。

Every early morning they went out together to the quarry and my Lao-lao often came back early to prepare supper for the children. For lunch, my grandparents took dried maize man-tou or sweet potatoes wrapped in a handkerchief to wash down with a thermo of plain water. Sometimes my mother and her brothers went to help their parents do the work at the quarry. The couple worked for nearly six months at the dusty quarry and my Lao-lao developed a very bad backache.

每天清晨姥姥姥爷两个人一起出发去采石场干活，姥姥会早点回来给孩子们准备晚饭。中午饭，姥姥姥爷就吃用手绢包裹着干玉米面馒头或者红薯，就着暖瓶里的白开水。有时候，妈妈和她的兄弟们也去采石场帮忙干活。他们在灰尘肆孽的采石场干了近半年的时间，姥姥染上了严重的背痛。

My mother and her siblings helped out by picking up unburned charcoal at the state-owned factory canteens where there were piles of discarded charcoal. Some of the lumps were unburned and this could be used for their mother's kitchen and for winter heating. They also went to the mine and searched for coal waste. Each of them held a bamboo basket in one hand and an iron rake in the other. Every day they got up early and finished the job before school started. Nearly every home sent their kids to pick up coal waste then.

为了贴补家用，妈妈和她的兄弟们也经常去国营工厂的大食堂的厨房外面捡拾没有燃烧尽的煤炭，那里经常堆放着丢弃的煤炭。有些煤炭没有燃尽，可以拾回去自家厨房里用，或者冬天取暖。他们也去煤矿附近，捡拾煤渣。每个人都一手拎着竹篮子，一手拿着一个铁耙。每天他们早早起来先去拾煤渣，然后才去上学。那时候几乎家家都派孩子去拾煤渣。

To be continued!

——未完待续，敬请期待！

编辑：Lily 音乐及摄影：Ava

延伸阅读：The Flavours of Life 生活的味道-第五章 枣山（下）

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