后娘的心/李文明(赵金基译）

程思良

后娘的心/李文明
　　
　　石老五打工回来，已经中午了，他饿着肚子往家赶，主要倒不是想后续的老婆，让他一直放心不下的，是老婆死后就自闭了的十岁的小女。不知道这可怜的孩子在后娘手里变成什么样了。想到这里，他恨不得一步迈进家门。
　　推开家门，一股热腾腾的米饭味道立刻钻进石老五的鼻子。他发现女儿的前面是黑乎乎的炖雪里蕻叶子，而老婆的前面却是白嫩嫩的炖豆腐。后娘的心这不明摆着么，他的心一阵刺痛，上去就给了老婆一巴掌：“算我瞎了眼！”
　　刚见面的喜庆气氛被这一巴掌打散了。老婆在一边暗暗地流泪，女儿早吓得躲到院子外面去了。石老五后悔自己看错了人，当初要不是看中她的善良，怎能把孩子放心地交给她呢？可如今……唉，后娘哪有好的？离婚！他不能容忍这狠毒的女人和自己生活在一起。
　　晚上，他唤女儿回家。一向沉默的女儿开口说：“爸爸，别跟妈妈离婚好吗？妈妈对我很好，是你看错了，妈妈做的就是雪里蕻炖豆腐，我把碗里的豆腐都吃了，她把碗里的雪里蕻都吃了，我们还没等换菜碗呢，你就进来了。”
　　原来是这样！他狠狠地捶了下自己的脑袋，怎么这么昏呢？这么好的老婆，怎么能怀疑呢？他抱起女儿，飞快地跑回家，他要给老婆道歉……
　　
　　
　　Step-mother’s Heart
　　
　　By Li Wenming
　　
　　It was already lunch time when Shi Laowu, though hungry, was in a hurry to return from the working site to his home. It wasn’t that he was missing his newly-married wife, but that he was worrying about his 10-year-old daughter, who had closed herself in since her mother died. Poor girl! What would she be like in her step-mother’s hands? With this he couldn’t wait to step indoors at once.
　　Pushing the door open, a smell of hot rice slipping into his nose, Shi Laowu found a dish of dark yellow potherbs before his daughter while a dish of pale tender beancurd before his wife. What a cruel step-mother’s heart! He was stung bitterly. “It’s my fault!” With this he banged her with a slap.
　　Gone with the slap was the happy atmosphere of a family reunion. The wife was sitting at table with a silent sob. The daughter scared was hiding somewhere outside the yard. Shi Laowu was regretting his marriage with such a woman. Without her kindness at first sight, how could he have made up his mind to marry this woman on the behalf of his kid? “But now…oh! All step-mothers are the same. I’ll divorce her!” He couldn’t bear to live with this cruel woman.
　　When evening came, he called his daughter back home. “Dad, don’t divorce mom, will you? She’s very kind to me, but you’ve wronged her. Mom cooked beancurd stewed with potherbs; I ate all beancurd on my plate while she ate all potherbs on hers. You came in before we changed our plates.” She uttered, breaking her long silence.
　　That was the case! “What a bastard I am!” He threw himself a bang on the head. “She’s a good wife! Why shall I distrust her?”
　　Holding his daughter in arms, he hurried into home, with intent to apologize to his wife.
　　

尚舟

欣赏