She was fond of Strauss, KFC, and Brazil Espresso. Dressed in decent grey professional skirt suit, she was busy working in a modernized office mansion. That was her life before meeting me. Ever since our dating all those have vanished.
我知道她听施特劳斯,吃肯德基,喝巴西现磨,穿着得体的灰色套裙在写字楼里自在地忙碌。但那只是以前。后来,她与我相恋,这一切便消失了。
It was in 1997 when I started my so-called "great business". She followed me wholeheartedly. That summer came early. Flowers dyed the town dazzlingly red. We stayed in the outskirts, in a small room of a condo known as an illegal structure of this city. Wind blew through all the four walls into the room, then home of her and me.
记得是1997年。那一年,我开始了自己所谓的事业,她跟着我,义无反顾。那个夏天来得特别早,花儿染得城市一片彤红。我们住在市郊,一个属于非法建筑的小屋,四壁透风。那是我们暂时的家。
In order to save money, we walked to our store downtown every day. Lunches were always simple like doggie food, worth no more than 1.5 yuan for each of us. We walked back home at the end of the day, so beat that all we wanted was collapse into bed. It seemed that we made it through one whole year this way.
为了省钱,每天我们步行至市区的店铺,中午买两份一块五毛钱一碗的凉皮,晚上再步行回来,累得骨头散架。好像,整整一年,都是那样熬过来的。
Those days were bitter. Business was my totem; love was her belief. Both supported us from falling apart.
那是一段艰苦和心酸的日子。那时,事业是我的图腾,爱情是她的信仰。那是支撑我们没有倒下去的全部。
We walked home late one day. She sat at the bed edge, washing her feet in a bucket on the floor. I went to the landlord for boiled water to make instant noodle. When I got back carrying a thermos bottle, she fell back into the bed sound asleep, feet in water. She must have been extremely exhausted. One of her hands was under her body. I heard her light snore.
有一次,记得很晚了,我们步行至临时的家,她坐在床沿洗脚,我去房东那里讨开水泡面。当我提着暖水瓶返回时,我发现,她已经睡着了。她保持着一种疲劳至极的姿势,两只脚仍在脸盆里泡着,人却已斜倒在床上。她的身体压着自己的一只胳膊,于是,有了轻微的鼾声。
I tiptoed to the bed and tried to flip her over so that she would be in a more comfortable position. I stared at her face, which was a young and pretty one and yet so wearied and exhausted.
我轻轻地走过去,想翻动一下她的身躯,让她睡得更舒服。我盯着她的脸,那是一张年轻美丽的脸,此时却写满疲惫。
I saw one mosquito on this pretty face.
在这张脸上,我发现了一只蚊子。
That summer my city was like a huge steamer box. We put off one day to another the plan to buy a mosquito net, just to save money. I knew mosquitos were flying all about in our room, but I seemed not to be bothered. So exhausted when I got back each day, I doubted if I would wake up even though someone cut a piece of flesh off my body, let alone mosquito bites.
那个夏天,城市像个巨大的蒸笼,可为了省钱,我们一天天向后推着买蚊帐的时间。我知道屋里到处都是蚊子,但我好像感觉不到。那样劳累的身体,睡下了,别说蚊子,切下一块肉,我都怀疑自己能不能醒来。