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    [原创][小说]【牌坊】
    【牌坊】(本文得XuFuren先生義務從英文原著翻成中文, 特在此鳴謝)


    惨白!入目皆是一片惨白!

    两天前,这儿还是满院喜庆的大红色。

    仅仅两天!

    于我,这已是一辈子。

    我披着凤冠盖头来到这里。

    现在,新婚的第二天,我成了寡妇。

    我知道这不容我置喙。父母之命,媒妁之言,才是一切。

    我也知道我的夫君重病缠身。这场婚姻只是为了冲喜。成亲的喜气能带来奇迹,赶走让他长年咳血的病魔,很多人如此坚信着。

    一切都是徒劳。

    恐怕唯一的影响,是洞房的劳累加速了他的死亡。

    我被送入洞房,大红盖头遮住我的面庞。在那里,我静静等待他被抬进来。红纱被揭起,我眼前的年轻人有着哀伤的眼神和鬼魅般惨白的面容。他依照吩咐褪去我的华服,在粗重的呼吸声和咳嗽声中上了我。他尽力了,但终是力有不逮。当他最后喘息着倒在我的胴体上时,我依然是一个处女。

    清晨,他死在了我的臂弯里。

    我知道这意味着什么,我守寡了。

    我知道我理当哭得撕心裂肺,但我不能。我如何能为一个之前素未谋面,而新婚早晨便已猝死的丈夫垂泪。我怜悯他,但并不哀伤。

    我一直奇怪父亲为什么选择将我嫁入梁家。我家虽不富裕,但也小康。两个哥哥都已经成家立业。父亲膝下三女,我是最年长的。喂饱全家数口人虽非易事,但家中至少炊烟不断。父亲是位秀才,在村头的私塾教书,有着稳定而微薄的收入,因学识和名望受人尊敬。我面目姣好,健康贤惠,是任何人家理想的媳妇。抑或是被嫁入豪门作妾,丰厚的嫁妆也可以让父亲和两个妹妹衣食无忧。但是他选择了梁家,无甚家产,唯有一个重病的儿子。

    我不明白。

    现在我明白了。

    桌上摆放的三件事物点明了他的用意:八尺白绫,剪刀一对,鸩酒一瓶。

    至少,他给了我选择。

    作为一位父亲,他怎可如此残忍?

    他怎可以明知这悲惨的结局,依旧将女儿推向火坑。

    现在我明白为什么他每次经过牌坊的时候会抬头凝视,脸上流露出一种奇特的,交织着嫉妒与愧疚的神色。牌坊,一种拱门形纪念建筑,由皇帝下令为表彰贞洁的妇女而立,用以荣耀她的家族。她可以是宁死不被玷污的黄花闺女。她可以是在赤贫中照顾死去丈夫双亲数十年的未亡人,在终年后得彰孝道。更极端的例子是,她可以是一个在夫君死后自裁以示忠贞的年轻寡妇!人们将荣耀她,她的家族将被景仰。如果这个事迹上达天听,又一座牌坊将被立起,永远铭记她的贞烈!

    除了名声,朝廷这一激励妇女贞行的政策也会带来实质的好处。父亲的教职在他的余生将不可动摇!

    这也意味着我的两个妹妹以后有机会找到更好的人家,因为她们的姐姐已经对贞洁作出了完美的表率!

    我的父亲选择梁家,是因为他知道梁生命不久矣。

    他策划,目送我,他的亲生骨肉,一步步迈进火坑。

    当我终于醒悟而理清了这一切的时候,我浑身颤抖,倒不是出于不可置信。

    我不是第一个因为家族利益和荣耀被牺牲的女孩了。

    在我们村里,就有二十三个这样的牌坊。每座冰冷的建筑背后都有一个无助女人的冤魂在飘荡。

    我甚至不能选择在照顾他双亲的贫穷生活中老去。他有两个已经成亲的兄弟,他们足以肩负赡养的义务。而我的义务就是作为一个心碎的妻子死去,为了两边家族的荣耀。

    我可以听到他们的动静。

    他们就坐在窄小的前厅里边喝茶边等待着,同时确保我没有任何机会逃跑,只能遂他们所愿。

    他们不用担心,天地间我无处可逃。纵然逃脱成功,亦无人会收留我。如果我被追回,我只会让家族蒙羞,然后作为不忠的妻子和忤逆的女儿在村外沉塘。

    我甚至知道如果我继续犹豫下去,结果会怎样。

    他们会闯进来,缚我双臂,强行灌我鸩毒或把我缳首梁下。

    他们有足够的人手:他的父兄,我的父兄。我的二哥被支走,因为他可能护着我。但我知道,就算在这里,他最终也只能屈服,眼睁睁看着他的三妹死去。

    于我,这已是绝境。

    甚至,家族的荣耀背后站着整个村子。村民可以向周遭吹嘘炫耀又一座新牌坊,而嫉妒的邻村又会寻找新的牺牲来平衡。

    我玉指抚过桌上的三件不祥之物。

    我不再哭泣,因为我深知,倾天下的泪水亦救不了我。

    我唯一的心愿是我的两个妹妹,翠儿和敏儿不会重蹈覆辙。

    敏儿年纪尚小,但是翠儿一两年间就将适龄。想到这些可能重现在她身上,我全身一个激灵。我知道这次我的死亡令他们得偿所愿,食髓知味的他们不会介意再多牺牲一个。

    我从床边的衣柜里取出一只木鸡,那是翠儿在我离家时给我的纪念。这是我们唯一的玩具,我依然能想起我们一起快乐玩耍的光景。我也回想起一些只有她和我知道的事情。。。

    我告诉他们我愿意饮鸩,他们都松了一口气。我唯一的要求是:把木鸡带回给我的妹妹。当她想我时,她可以把玩它,记起她的姐姐是如何光荣地死去的。得偿所愿的他们很痛快地答应了。

    我微笑着跪下分别向着亲家父母和我的父亲三叩首。带着冷冷的快意我看到泪水在他两颊滑落。因为我深知如果有机会重来,他依然会毫不犹豫地将我逼进死路。科举不中,仕途无门,耀祖无望,我是他找回尊严和荣誉的唯一途径。

    我原谅了他。他永远不能理解自己在做什么,他只是做了应该做的,自以为这是最好的结局。

    我将木鸡递给他,自己走回洞房。坐在床沿,我轻抚我与夫君曾经共枕的锦被。我无法爱他,但我知道他也是受害者,死于被贪婪和无知蒙蔽了双眼的人们的假仁假义。

    他们无疑会将我们同穴而葬。无所谓了。我活着的时候没有爱过任何一个男人,又在意什么死后墓中与谁并肩呢?

    我拧开盖子一饮而尽。

    我躺回床上等待着。这应该不会太久。。。

    (尾声)

    他们把木鸡交给翠儿,也告知她姐姐倩儿的光荣殉死。翠儿面对这消息面无表情,静静地回到她与倩儿和敏儿共度童年的小屋。在木鸡肚里她取出深爱她的姐姐留下的血书,记载着谎言背后的真相。

    两个月以后,翠儿失踪了。他们知道她一定是逃跑了。但为了家族的颜面,他们编造了一个她被河水冲走,尸骨无存的传言。那天终于来了,皇帝下旨为表彰贞洁的寡妇新立一座牌坊。家族和整个村子都是一片欢腾。村里的长者们一口应承下施工的费用,为的是可以夸耀本村有着邻里最多的牌坊。但他们浮华的陶醉是短暂的。施工还未开始,革命的消息就传到了村里。皇帝已经被推翻了,圣旨下的牌坊自然也再无意义。

    多年之后,翠儿一身起义军的戎装军衔出现在乡民眼前。她下令在村中长者们的面前炸掉了所有的牌坊。

    (终)


    後記: (簡譯)

    許崇光(音譯)先生有關客家風俗的一書中指出: 明, 清兩代的封建思想追隨者因遵從宋儒「餓死事小, 失節事大.」的邪說,
    對婦女殘害極大. 男人可以三妻四妾, 妻死可以續弦, 女子則一定要從一而終, 甚至要她們殉夫才顥得她們三貞九烈, 而父母亦教女有方. 朝廷亦往往表彰守寡終老或殉死者, 御賜牌坊以榮其鄉里; 於是父母迫死自己女兒以爭鄉里之羨者比比皆是. 甚至一眾坐於廳堂以待女兒殉節的「好消息」. 一面冷冰冰的無情石牌坊, 竟比骨肉親情珍貴! 單在梅州一小城, 已有136座如此的牌坊!
    其實在很多的牌坊之下, 都是欲哭無淚的冤魂!
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    在线情况
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      原英文版本

      Paifang (memorial archway edifice)

      White! Everything is white!
      What a contrast from the all-red coloring just two days ago.
      Two days!
      For me, it is the whole lifetime
      I was sent here as a bride.
      Now, I am a widow from a marriage of one night.
      I knew I had no choice, that in matters of matrimony, my father is the only one who has any say.
      I knew he was sick, the man selected to be my husband. The marriage was supposed to bring miracle for recovery; a belief held by many that the festive atmosphere would scare away the evil spirit causing his long coughing and blood spitting.
      It did not work.
      If at all, the tiresome ceremony hastened his death.
      I was sent into his room, my face covered by a piece of red silk. There I waited until he was carried in. The red silk was lifted and I saw a young man with such sad eyes and a face pale as a ghost. He did what he was told to do, helping me to undress, mounting me amid his gasps for air and incessant coughing. He tried hard, but the task was beyond him. When he finally collapsed on my naked body, panting, I was still a virgin.
      He died in my arms in the morning.
      I knew what it meant: that I had become a widow.
      I was supposed to cry my heart out. I could not. How could I cry for a husband whom I had never met before in my life and who died on me the morning after we were wed. I felt pity for him, not grief.
      I had wondered why my father chose this family to marry me into. We were not rich but far from dirt poor. My two elder brothers had reached adulthood, taken wives. True, my father had three daughters, I being the eldest and it was never easy to feed so many mouths. But there was always food on the table. My father is a scholar, teaching in the village school, respected for his knowledge and high morality and could count on a stable though meager income. I am good-looking, healthy and have learned all skills needed to become a good wife, or a concubine to some wealthy men who would not care about dowry and might even improve the lot of my father and my two younger sisters. But he chose the Liang family, of little means and with only a very sick son.
      I could not understand.
      Now I do.
      The three things put on the table of my room speak of his intent: an eight feet rope, a pair of scissors and a flask of poison.
      At least, he gave me a choice.
      How can a father be so cruel?
      How can he marry off his daughter who has been filial all her life, knowing well this will be the bitter end?
      Now I understood why he stared at those Paifangs every time he passed them, a strange expression on his face, a mixture of envy and guilt. The Paifangs, memorial archway edifice erected at the order of the Emperor for any women of exceptional chastity to glorify the family she belonged to. She might be a woman who preferred death than dishonor. She might be a young widow who would live in abject poverty for decades caring for the parents of her deceased husband and died in old age with her name sublime. Better still, she could be a young widow who upon the death of her husband, took her own life as a mark of loyalty! People would glorify her and her family would be looked upon with awe and respect. And if the case was heard by the Emperor, another Paifang would be erected, making her immortal!
      It would also mean material gain from the imperial court as a policy to encourage chaste behavior among womenfolk and an inviolable right to secure a teaching post for the rest of the father’s life!
      It would also mean that my other two sisters could be ensured to find eager offers for their hands as their sister had been exemplary in chastity!
      My father has chosen Liang as my husband because he knew Liang would die.
      And he has made sure that I, his own flesh and blood, will follow.
      I was shocked when my mind finally woke up to this but it did not really surprise me.
      I was not the first daughter so sacrificed for the benefit and glory of the family.
      In our village alone, there were twenty-three such Paifangs. There is a ghost of a helpless woman under each of those cold structures.
      I cannot even hope for the sad fate of living out my life in poverty and take care of his parents. He had two brothers and their wives who were more than sufficient to take up the tasks. My responsibility was to die a heart-broken wife and preserve a good name for both families.
      I can hear them now.
      They are sitting in the small front hall, drinking tea, waiting and making sure I will do what they expect me to do while cutting off any chance of me running away.
      They do not have to worry. There is nowhere in the land for me to run to. If I can really succeed to run away, no one will shelter me. If I am caught, I will bring disgrace to both families and will be drowned at the deep pool outside the village for being a disloyal wife and a disobedient daughter.
      I know what they will do if I do not choose quickly.
      They will come in, tie me up and force me to take poison or just hang me on the ceiling beam. They have enough men out there to do it: his father, his brothers, my own father and my eldest brother. My second brother has been sent away as there is a chance he may fight for me. But I know even if he is here, he will eventually have to submit or being overpowered and just have to watch helplessly his sister die
      There is no escape me.
      The whole village is in this altogether for besides family prestige, the village can also boast another Paifang has been erected, outshining surrounding hamlets, which in time will try to do better by another sacrifice.
      I brush over the three instruments of death on the table with my fingers.
      I am no longer crying as I know all the tears in the world cannot save me.
      My only wish is that my two younger sisters, Cui-er and Min-er, will not suffer the same fate.
      Qian-er is still too young to understand this but Cui-er will be of marriageable age within one to two years. A shudder goes through my body as I imagine what can happen then. I know they are not beneath to repeat this once they get want they want from my death.
      I go to the bedside cabinet and take out a wooden cock, the gift Cui-er has given me as a keepsake before seeing me out of the family threshold. It is the only plaything we have and I can still remember the happy times we play together with it. I also remember something that only she and I know…

      I tell them that I would take poison and there are signs of relief on every face. I only make one request: sending the wooden cock back to my sister as I know she will miss me and she can remember her sister who dies in honour whenever she holds the toy in her hands. They are too eager to agree as they have already got what they want.

      I smile and fall on my knees and kowtow three times to my parents-in-law and then to my father. It is cold comfort to me to see tears streaming down his face as I know if he is given the chance to choose again, he will still send me to this end without the least hesitation. Failing to succeed in open examination to become an official serving the emperor and thus bring glory to the family-name, I am the only route for him to secure respectability.

      I forgive him. He can never understand what he is doing and he only does what is meant to be done, thinking this is the best thing that can happen.

      I hand him the wooden cock and go back to my own room. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I put my hand on the sheets on which my one-night husband and I have lain. I cannot love him but I know he is also a victim in this case, of the hypocrisy of a people blinded by ignorance and greed.

      They will bury me with him, no doubt. It does not matter now. I have never loved any man in my life and it does not make any difference as to who will lie next to me in my grave.

      I take the lid off the bottle and down its contents.

      Then I straighten myself on the bed and wait. It should not be long…

      (Epilog)

      Cui-Er got the wooden cock after they told her that her sister, Qian-Er had died in honour. Cui-Er, numbed by the news, quietly returned to the small room where she had shared with Qian-Er and Min-Er since childhood. Then, from a hidden hollow inside the wooden cock, she fingered out the letter written in blood by her beloved sister, telling her what had happened.

      Two months later, Cui-Er disappeared. They knew she must have run off. But in order to keep a good face, they circulated that she must have drowned in the river and her body carried downstream. The Imperial Edict came finally, authorizing the erection of a new Paifang in honour of the chaste widow. The families were overjoyed and so was the village. The village elders agreed to take up the cost as they now could boast they had the most numerous Paifangs in the vicinity. But their euphoria was short-lived. Before construction work could begin, the news of revolution reached the village. There would be no more emperors and hence a Paifang bestowed by an overturned emperor had lost all its meaning.

      Cui-Er turned up, many years later in the uniform of an officer in the Revolutionary Army. She ordered all the Paifangs blasted away in front of the village elders.

      (End)


      Postscript:
      According to a book about the lives of Hakka villages and the lives of women then by scholar Xie Zhong-guang, it was stated that the scholar gentries of the Ming and Qing dynasties, followers of the teachings of the Sung Confucius masters, it was better to be starved to death than to lose one’s chastity. This applies especially to women and any woman who died protecting her chastity is the most honourable while the men could visit brothels and take concubines freely. This includes widows who are not allowed to remarry after their husbands died and in many cases, these women were forced to commit suicide to prove they were loyal wives. As an encouragement, the imperial court would bestow titles and the right to erect Paifangs so that everyone would know how glorious these families were. Paifangs mushroomed. In the small city of Meizhou alone, there were 136 of these.
      The families of the widows were often willing accomplices of this cruel acts, either for material benefit or respect from peers.
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