屋漏偏遇连天雨

Leaky house never safe from rain

周兴和的母亲就死于那个寒冷的冬天。

Zhou Xinghe's mother died in that cold winter.

她死时是1969年农历正月十八的早晨。

She died on the morning of the 18th day of the first lunar month in 1969.

这时，周兴和的大女儿刚出生40多天。

At this time, Zhou Xinghe's eldest daughter was just over 40 days old.

母亲的病其实已经拖了好长时间了。刚开始她还能起床给一家人做饭，干点轻微的家务事。渐渐地，她开始不能吞食东西，就是吃点东西也不停往外呕吐。但她也是和所有的农村人得了病一样，采取的还是那个老办法——拖。在拖的过程中，全靠父亲上山扯把草药给她治疗。但这些草药全不管事。越往后，母亲的病越发沉重起来，逐渐地她不能起床，呻吟的声音越来越大，最后连喝口水都很困难了。

His mother's illness had actually been delayed for a long time. At first, she was able to get up and cook for the family and do light chores. Gradually, she began to be unable to swallow anything, and would not stop vomiting anything that she ate. But she, like all the country people fell ill, took the same old approach - to drag on. In the process of dragging on, it was up to Xinghe’s father to get some herbs and brew the herbal medicine for her. But these herbs didn't do anything. Gradually, she got sicker and could not get out of bed. Her moans grew louder and louder. At last, it was difficult even to take a drink of water.

“兴和呀，你妈的病这样拖下去总不是个办法呀！”兴和上坡时，队里的人都对他这样说——但兴和又什么办法呢？他不但没当家，而且身上连一分钱也没有呀！

"Xinghe, it is not a good way for your mother's illness to drag on!" That's what the team member told him as Xinghe went to work - but what could Xinghe do? Not only was he not in charge in the family, but he had not a cent with him!

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万般无奈，最后，父亲不知求了多少人，说了多少好话，终于在乡上信用社贷了点款，把母亲送进了医院。到了医院一查，叫兴和和他父亲绝望的是，她已经是食道癌晚期，无可医治了！哭天无路，入地无门，无钱手术，无钱住院，在医院待了几天，医院也不愿再治，最后他们也只好采取那惟一的办法——抬回家去拖！

Helpless, Xinghe’s father begged to many people, said many good words, finally loaned some money in the township credit cooperatives, and sent Xinghe’s mother to the hospital. After examined in the hospital, what made Xinghe and his father despair was that, she already was in the later period of esophagus cancer, incurable! There was nothing they could do, no money to operate, no money to be hospitalized; after in the hospital for a few days, the hospital would not treat any more, and finally they had to take the only way - back home to drag on!

这其实就是让她躺在自家的床上，在万般痛苦的折磨中等死了。

This was to leave her lying in her own bed, dying in agony.

望着在病痛中倍受折磨的母亲，兴和常常含着眼泪守在她的床前，心如刀绞痛苦万分。作为儿子，他恨自己无能，不能分担母亲的痛苦；恨自己无钱，不能送母亲到更好的医院治疗；恨老天不长眼，如此残忍地就要夺取母亲的生命——这时，他母亲才50多岁啊！

Looking at his mother in the pain and suffering, Xinghe would often sit by her bed with tears in his eyes, his heart aching with anguish. As a son, he hated himself for not being able to share his mother's pain; he hated himself for not having enough money to send his mother to a better hospital for treatment; he hated god for not having eyes, and for taking his mother's life so cruelly - at this time, his mother was in her fifties!

屋漏偏遇连天雨。

A leaky house is never safe from rain.

过了年不久，母亲终于拖不下去了，断了最后那口气。

After the Spring Festival, Xinghe’s mother finally can not go on, and breathe her last.

兴和至死也记得，他母亲死时的那种惨况：饱受病痛折磨、无药可医的母亲，已经面色焦黄骨瘦如柴了，只能是躺在床上没日没夜地呻吟着。到最后，她呻吟的次数越来越少，呻吟的声音越来越微弱了。父亲只能束手无策地守在母亲床前，兴和只能无言无望地守着母亲流眼泪。母亲临死时那绝望的眼神，那嘱咐兴和微弱的声音，永远像刀刻般留在他的心底。

Even to the end of his life, Xinghe remembered how terrible his mother had been at the time of her death. Suffering from the sickness and no prescription, her face was waxen and she was so thin and sick that she could only lie in bed moaning and groaning day and night. In the end, she moaned less and less, and her moans grew fainter and fainter. Xinghe’s father can only helplessly guard in the mother's bed, and Xinghe can only helplessly see his mother and shed tears. His mother's dying eyes and faint voice of entrustment were caved in his heart like a knife.

穷人的命真的就这么不值钱么！

Is the poor man's life really so worthless?

劳累一生的母亲，没过上一天吃饱饭的日子，就这样凄然地走了。

The mother who worked hard all her life, did not have a day to eat a full meal, so sadly went away.

埋葬母亲几个月后，按当地农村的规矩，周兴和当时已经独立成家，应该分家自己过日子了。就在这年四月间，小春还没收，在父亲和他的草药徒弟、兴和的师兄夏瑞安主持下，他和兄弟分了家。

A few months after his mother's burial, since Zhou Xinghe was already married and, according to the local village rules, it supposed to live separately. In April of that year, and under the host of Xinghe’s father and his herbal apprentice, Xinghe's senior fellow apprentice brother Xia Rui’an, Xinghe and his young brother divided up the family property and lived apart.

家是这样分的：兴和已经成家了，应该谦让兄弟一点，分得偏房一间；因为兄弟还没成家，为了将来能够找到媳妇，分得正房一间。这些年，家里欠生产队的超支款300多块，母亲医病贷公社信用社的300块，共计欠外债600多块钱，因周兴和是家里的老大，这些外债全部由兴和负责偿还。家里粮食只有两三斤，父亲和兄弟还要过日子，自然就不再分了。

The family property was divided in this way: Xinghe had already married, so he should be modest to his brother and just get the wing room. Because his young brother had not married, in order to be able to find a wife in the future, he got the principal room. Over the years, the family owed the production team more than 300 yuan of overexpenditure, and their mother’s medical loan of 300 yuan to the commune credit cooperative, a total debt of more than 600 yuan; because Zhou Xinghe was the eldest brother in the family, these debts were all in charge of repayment by Xinghe. The family only had no more than 1.5kg grains, and the father and young brother still needed to live, so the grains were naturally not divided any more.

分就分吧，但这样的分法显失公平，兴和心里当然有看法——但谁叫自己是家里的老大呢？兴和抬头看了看苍老的父亲，再看了看年幼的弟弟，他的心里很酸涩很难过。他想起母亲临死前对他的嘱咐，想起母亲临死时望着他那可怜巴巴的眼神，他不再想争什么说什么。环视一遍家徒四壁的这个家，即使争，又能争个什么呢？他默默起身走到外面，坐在坝子边的石头上半天没说一句话。

The division was OK, but such division was unfair; of course, Xinghe had thoughts - but he was indeed the eldest brother of the family. Xinghe looked up at his old father and then at his younger brother, and his heart was very sour and sad. He remembered his mother's dying words to him, the poor look in her dying eyes, and he no longer wanted to argue. Looking around the hoouse of the four walls, there was nothing to argue. He silently stood up and went outside and sat on the stone beside the yard for a long time without saying a word.

分家那天，一家人连分家饭也吃不起，兴和两口儿还无粮下锅，刚出生的女儿也饿得哇哇大叫。没有办法，还是等到下午生产队分了半瓢豌豆，兴和趁天没黑，把豌豆磨成面，掺了些菜叶才和妻子煮熟吃了顿晚饭。

On the day of division, the whole family could not even afford to eat the division meals. Xinghe and his wife had no food to cook and their newborn daughter was crying with hunger. In the afternoon, the production team gave half a ladle of peas. Xinghe grinded the peas into flours before dark and mixed some vegetable leaves to cook with his wife and have dinner.

兴和分到的这间偏房，还不到30平米，阴暗狭小又矮又破，睡觉、煮饭、堆柴草全在一起，连两个人面对面过路都要侧着身体才能通过。房子破烂窄小，没有吃的用的，这些都还罢了，最要兴和小命的，是那欠下600多块钱的债务，不知要猴年马月才能还得清哪！那时，兴和拼死累活上坡干一天活路，还挣不到1角钱；家里一年到头辛辛苦苦喂头猪，只能卖50多块钱！600多块钱，兴和算了算，要几十年才能还得清哪！对于年仅15岁的周兴和来说，这笔钱无疑就是个数不清的天文数字，更像一座沉重的大山，在好多年里都压得他简直喘不过气来！

This wing room divided to Xinghe, was less than 30 square meters, dark and narrow, low and broken; the place for sleeping, cooking, and firewood stacking was all together, even when two people passed by face to face, it had to side the body to pass. The house was small and dilapidated, and there was no food or appliance, which was still acceptable. The deadliest thing was the debt of more than 600 yuan, which he did not know how to pay off at all! At that time, Xinghe worked arduously uphill for one day and just earned less than 10 cents. The family fed a pig so hard all year round that can only be sold for over 50 yuan! More than 600 yuan, Xinghe calculated, it would take decades to pay it back! For Zhou Xinghe, who was only 15 years old, this sum of money was undoubtedly a countless astronomical figure, more like a heavy mountain, which had weighed him out of breath for many years!