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刘万里 《军嫂》
霞姐当了民办教师，哥当兵去了西藏，相隔几千里，他们就靠鸿雁来传递彼此的思念。
霞姐每次收到哥的信，脸上就荡满幸福的光芒。这幸福的光芒使我充满了好奇。我说，霞姐，让我看一下信。霞姐的脸一下就红了，小娃子家，你不懂大人的事。我说，我也有女朋友了，起码也是大人了。霞姐咯咯笑了，她笑起来很迷人。
霞姐所在的小学离家很近，每天放学她就直奔我家，帮我家做饭洗衣服，忙农活儿。那时，我父亲瘫痪，母亲又多病，我们家能撑到今天这全靠霞姐。
霞姐和哥相约每月写一封信，但霞姐已是三个月没收到哥的信，那段日子霞姐看上去很憔悴。霞姐每次见了我就问，你哥给你写信没有？我说没有。霞姐有点失望。
霞姐每天在村口等邮递员，见了邮递员她就满脸高兴地迎上去问，有我的信吗？邮递员说，没有。后来，霞姐又问，问得邮递员也有点不好意思，他说，你不用等了，一有你的信我就马上给你送来。
那天，霞姐给学生教王维的《九月九日忆山东兄弟》，当她念到“独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲”时泪水悄悄地滑落了，这时窗外邮递员扬起了手中的信，霞姐接过信，心却在评评地跳。一下课，霞姐跑回宿舍，关上了门。霞姐出来时脸若桃花，学生就说老师好漂亮。
一放学，霞姐直奔我家，她公布了一个爆炸性的消息，哥准备春节回家过年。我们全家沉浸在喜悦中。霞姐掏出笔在墙上的日历上画一个圈，我知道那是哥回来的一天。
随着春节的临近，霞姐每天在我家都是幸福地忙着，忙着准备年货，忙着洗被子和衣服……但随着春节的临近，还是没见哥回来。大年三十，飘起了雪。霞姐站在村口直到深夜，她成了一个雪人。我说，霞姐，你不要等了，哥一定又有特别任务回不来了。霞姐说，再等等。在静静的夜里，我听到霞姐泪水落地的声音。
哥最终没回来。哥后来来信说，因临时执行任务，等执行完任务时已是大年三十。但回家的心是那么迫切，他就准备春节那天回家，不巧的是大雪封山，他又下不了山了。
哥每年春节说要回来，结果都没回来。不知不觉五年过去了，哥后来转成志愿兵，但还是没能回家。哥和霞姐依然是靠书信传递思念。
后来，我考上了军校，离开了霞姐。
那年寒假，霞姐对我说，我准备到你哥部队去结婚，结婚的日子你哥都定下来了，你愿意去送我吗？一直都想到哥部队去看看，我立马答应了。霞姐说，明天就出发，要赶在大雪封山之前。
第二天，我们在家人的欢送下出发。我们先坐火车，后坐班车，到达唐古拉山脚下时，已是大雪飘飘。部队的首长热情地接待了我们，他说我哥在山上执行任务，立马派车送我们上山，这时大雪铺天盖地而下，公路转眼间就消失了。
霞姐说，天快黑了，几十里山路太危险了。首长说，今天是你们大喜的日子，这怎么行？霞姐说，我已等了八年，何必在意这一天。
霞姐的“洞房”设在部队最好的一间房子里，兵们都围来闹洞房，首长接通了山上的电话，一头拿在哥的手里，一头拿在霞姐的手里。首长对着话筒喊道，结婚典礼正式开始，一拜天地。霞姐拜了天和地。二拜父母。霞姐向首长拜了拜，部队是他们的家。夫妻对拜，霞姐面对唐古拉山拜了。首长按下“免提”按钮问我哥，你现在对新娘最想说的一句话是什么？哥说，谢谢她对我的理解！首长说，说点带刺激的。哥说，我永远爱我的新娘。兵们说，大声点，我们没听见。哥又说了一遍。这时我看见霞姐已是泪流满面。首长把话筒递给霞姐，说，有什么悄悄话，你们慢慢说。首长手一挥，兵们都走了。
这是一个不眠之夜，直到天亮时，她才迷迷糊糊躺了一下。迷迷糊糊中她听到了铲雪的声音，她起来推开窗，看到了兵们正在公路上铲雪。霞姐一阵感动，她感到她是世上最幸福的人，她拿起铁铲也加入了他们的队伍。霞姐铲得那么专注那么执著，她手上磨起了泡，磨出了血，一朵又一朵的血花滴落在洁白的雪花上……
在山的那头，哥也在铲雪，他铲了整整一夜。哥一直勾着头在铲雪，直到两队快汇合时，哥还一直勾着头在铲。这时，霞姐已看见了哥，两人相隔只有几十米远了，霞姐想喊，泪水却滚了出来。这时哥抬起头，也看见了霞姐，看见了霞姐头上的红丝巾像一面旗在飘舞，那红丝巾是哥上高中时省吃俭用才给霞姐买的。哥踩着积雪扑了过来，雪齐腰深，霞姐也扑了过去，两人在雪中拥抱了……
作品译文
A Soldier’s Wife
Xia, whom I called Sister Xia as a respectful title, became a village schoolteacher, while my brother joined the army and went to Tibet. Now thousands of miles apart, they could exchange their feelings only through letters.
Sister Xia’s face would beam with happiness whenever she received a letter from my brother. Her happy beams aroused my curiosity. “Let me read your letter, Sister Xia,” I said.
“Little boy, it’s grown-ups’ stuff. You know nothing about this,” she said, flushing.
“I have a girlfriend, too,” I told her. “At least I can be counted as a grown-up.”
She chuckled. She looked really charming when she chuckled.
Sister’s Xia’s elementary school was close to my home. When she finished work every day, she went directly to my home, did the laundry for us and helped with our farm work. At that time, my father was paralyzed and my mother was in poor health. It was Sister Xia who helped my family carry through until today.
Sister Xia and my brother had agreed that they would write to each other once a month, but there was this period of three months when she received nothing from him. During that period she looked really fragile. Every time she met me she would ask, “Has your brother written to you?”
I would say no and she would look disappointed.
Sister Xia would go and wait for the postman at the village entrance. When he appeared, she would go up to him, all smiles, and ask, “Is there any mail for me?” He would say no.
She kept asking him in the same way, and that kind of embarrassed him, so he said, “You don’t have to wait here. If there is any letter for you, I will send it to you right away.”
That day Sister Xia was teaching Wang Wei’s “Missing My Brothers in Shandong on September 9;” tears rolled down her cheeks quietly when she was reading “I’m a lonely stranger in a strange place; / I miss my loved ones more on holidays.” At this very moment, she saw the postman waving a letter at her outside the window.
Sister Xia’s heart pounded as she received the letter. As soon as class was over, she rushed back to her dormitory and locked herself in. When she came out, she looked like a peach blossom, and her students said she was very beautiful.
When she finished work that day, she hurried over to my home to announce breaking news: my brother was coming home for the Chinese New Year. My whole family was soaked in joy. Taking out a pen, Sister Xia drew a circle on the calendar, which I knew was the day my brother was coming home.
New Year was approaching, and Sister Xia was happily busying herself with the holiday shopping, washing the quilt covers and clothes, and so on. New Year was arriving, but my long expected brother was not home yet. On New Year’s Eve, it started snowing. Sister Xia stood at the village entrance waiting for my brother until midnight, when she finally turned into a snow-woman.
“Sister Xia,” I said, “let’s go back. My brother must have received another special task that keeps him from coming.”
“I’ll wait a little while longer,” she said. In the quiet of the night, I could hear the sounds of her tears falling onto the snow.
In the end my brother did not come home. His letter arrived later, explaining that he had received an unexpected assignment. By the time he finished it, it was already New Year’s Eve. He still wanted to come home so eagerly that he decided to set out on New Year’s Day, but a heavy snowfall buried all the mountain paths, so again he just could not get down the mountains.
My brother said he was coming home for the Chinese New Year every single year, but he never did. Five years passed without our knowing it. Then he became a volunteer instead, but still he never came home. He still had to communicate with Sister Xia through letters.
Later, I was admitted into a military academy after an examination, so I had to say goodbye to Sister Xia.
When I returned home for my first winter vacation, Sister Xia told me, “I’m going to the army. Your brother and I are going to get married. Your brother has picked the date. Are you willing to take me there?” I had long wanted to go to the army for a visit, so I said yes without hesitation.
“We’ll set out tomorrow so that we can get there before the snow seals the mountain passes,” she said.
Our family members gave us a warm send-off the next day. We first took a train, then changed to a coach, until we got to the Tanggula Mountains. Snow was blackening the sky when we arrived at the foot of the mountains. We were warmly received by the chief, who said my brother was on a mission up on the mountains. Immediately he got a jeep to take us up there, but instantly, the roads all disappeared in the heavy snowfall.
“It’s getting dark,” said Sister Xia. “It’s dangerous to drive ten miles on the mountain roads in such weather.”
“But it’s your wedding day today,” said the senior officer. “How could we let you stay apart?”
“I have been waiting for eight years,” said Sister Xia. “Why would I mind another day?”
The best room in the barracks was turned into Sister Xia’s wedding chamber. All the soldiers swarmed in to tease the bride and the bridegroom, who was still on the mountains. The senior officer arranged a phone connection for the young couple, with Sister Xia holding a receiver on one end, my brother on the other.
The chief shouted to the receiver at the top “The wedding ceremony now begins! First, the of his voice. bride and the bridegroom kowtow to heaven and earth!”
Sister Xia kowtowed to heaven, then to earth.
“Second, the bride and the bridegroom kowtow to their parents!”
Sister Xia kowtowed to the senior officer, for her new home was the barracks.
“Third, the bride and bridegroom kowtow to each other!”
Sister Xia kowtowed to the top of the Tanggula Mountains.
The senior officer then pushed the speaker button and asked my brother, “What’s the first thing you wish to tell the bride right now?”
“I want to thank her for understanding me,” said my brother.
“Something more exhilarating than this!” demanded the senior officer.
“I’ll love my bride forever!” said my brother.
“Louder!” said the soldiers. “We can’ t hear you.”
My brother repeated his words. Then I saw fat tears rolling down Sister Xia’s cheeks. The senior officer handed the receiver to Sister Xia and said, “Take your time and enjoy your whispering.” He swayed his hand and the soldiers soon disappeared.
It was Sister Xia’s sleepless night. She did not doze off until daybreak, but just then she heard snow shoveling outside. She got up and opened the window only to see the soldiers shoveling the waist-deep snow off the road. Sister Xia was deeply touched. She felt she was the happiest person in the world. Picking up a shovel, she joined the soldiers. She kept shoveling single-mindedly until blisters appeared on her hands. Her blisters broke, and like flowers, the red blood dropped all over the white snow.
At the other end of the road, with a hung head, my brother was also shoveling the snow. He had been doing it throughout the night and he did not raise his head even when the two teams almost met. At this time, Sister Xia could already see my brother. They were only some thirty meters apart. Sister Xia wanted to call out, but tears streamed down her cheeks instead. Now my brother looked up and caught sight of Sister Xia, too. He saw the red scarf on her head flapping like a flag. It was the silk scarf he had bought for her in high school with the money he had saved penny by penny.
My brother rushed through the snow over to Sister Xia, as she dashed toward him. They flew into each other’s arms in the waist-deep snow…
