作品原文

王奎山 《别情》

莽子回部队那天，小娥进城送他。
到了车站，看看离开车的时间还早，两个人就在车站前的广场蹲着说话，说着说着，莽子就不说了，只是痴痴地看着小娥。小娥说：“你别这样痴痴地看我好不好，一副馋相！”莽子就笑了。莽子说：“你要不痴痴地看我，咋知道我痴痴地看你呢。”莽子突然小声说：“我想再亲你一下。”小娥说：“你疯了?”然后，小娥就站了起来。莽子也只好站起来。莽子站起来后，就在那里来回地走动。后来，莽子仿佛下了决心似的，说：“这趟车不走了！夜里10点多还有一趟。”小娥说：“说得好好的又不走了，一会儿一个点儿。”莽子坏笑了一下，说：“等天黑了，我得再亲你一下再走。不再亲你一下，走了也不安生。”两个人就逛商场。逛商场的时候，莽子看到那些城里的情侣们手挽手地走，也想学人家的样儿，但试了几试也没敢伸出手来。后来又逛公园。公园里的长椅上，一对对的恋人相依相偎着，有的还搂着抱着亲嘴。小娥一看这阵势，吓得扭头就走。莽子见小娥一个劲地往回走，有些发急，就大声地叫：“娥儿，娥儿！你甭走，你甭走嘛！”莽子说的是山里的土话，又用了那样大的声音，结果引得旁边的游人哈哈大笑。
两个人重新回到了火车站的广场。小娥说：“5点多有一趟车，你还是走了算了。”莽子发狠地说：“不走，坚决不走！非坐10点多那趟车不可！”
小娥想了想，提出了一个问题：“你走了，我咋办?黑更半夜的。”
莽子说：“你不会住旅社嘛。”
小娥说：“说得轻巧。没个十块八块的，你住得上旅社?”
莽子说：“十块八块就十块八块，又不是掏不起。”
小娥白了他一眼，说：“烧包！”莽子嘿嘿地笑。
突然，有人叫：“莽子！莽子！”两个人一扭头，见是莽子他爹。莽子不知道发生了什么事，忙问：“爹，你咋来了?”
爹说：“不是说好上午9点的车嘛，咋还没走?”
莽子脸一红，说：“没买上票。”
爹说：“你娘见娥儿一直没有回去，恐怕出事，就让我来接一下。”
莽子一下子火了：“大天白日的能出啥事！”
爹见莽子火了，嗫嚅着说：“是你娘硬叫我来的嘛。我也说没事，你娘硬叫我来。”
莽子没好气地说：“你回吧！”
爹说：“既然来了，我回个啥?等送你上了车，我跟娥儿一块儿回。”
莽子听爹如此说，知道自己的计划彻底破产了，就气鼓鼓地站起来，径直往售票厅买票去了。小娥忙跟了上去。
在莽子排队买票的时候，小娥看着四下里乱哄哄的，就假借往莽子手里塞手绢，把自己的小手悄悄地递给了莽子。不料，莽子却不领情，一下子将她的手拨出好远。小娥笑笑，往他腰里捣了一下，重新把自己的手递了过去。这一次，莽子没有拒绝。莽子抓住小娥的手紧紧地握，小娥疼得直吸气，也不动，就那样让莽子握。
莽子是坐5点多那趟车走的。
临进站的时候，莽子没头没脑地说了一句：”咱乡下人，办个事真难哪！”爹瞪了莽子一眼，说：”难啥?从乡里到城里有汽车，从城里到部队有火车，难个啥?要搁往先……”
小娥偷偷地笑了。

作品译文

Another Kiss
Wang Kuishan

When Mangzi returned to the army, Xiao's went to the city to see him off.
When they got to the railway station, the booking office was not yet open. Since it was too early to buy a ticket, Mangzi and Xiao's squatted down in the square outside the station and started chatting. A moment later, Mangzi suddenly stopped talking and gazed at Xiao's blankly.
"Will you stop staring at me in that foolish way," said Xiao'e. "You look so greedy!"
Mangzi burst out laughing, "If you hadn't been staring at me in that foolish way, how could you have seen me staring at you in that foolish way?"
"Aren't you ashamed?" she spat at him.
Then, Mangzi abruptly said in a low voice, "I really want to kiss you again."
"Are you crazy?" said Xiao'e, rising to her feet. Since she had stood up, Mangzi had to follow suit.
After he stood up, he began to walk back and forth on the same spot. Then he said, as if he had made up his mind, "I won't take the next train!"
"Why not?" asked Xiao'e.
"I won't take the next train," he said. "I will take the night train. There's a train after ten o'clock."
"You have made all the arrangements, and now you say you won't take it. One idea after another!"
"I'll take the night train instead," he smiled cunningly. Then he added in a low voice, "When it's dark, I can give you another kiss. If I don't kiss you again before I go, I won't feel good when I leave." With this, without waiting for her reply, he stroke toward the avenue. Knowing his stubbornness, Xiao'e could only catch up and accompany him.
They went window shopping. While window shopping, Mangzi saw city lovers walking hand in hand, and several times he wanted to do the same, but he fell short of stretching out his hand. Later on they went for a stroll in a park. In the park, lovers sat leaning on each other or snuggled up in each other's arms. Some simply hugged and kissed each other on the lips in broad daylight. Seeing all this, Xiao'e, scared, turned and hurried back to the entrance. When Mangzi saw her leaving so quickly, he did not know what to do. "Xiao'e, Xiao'e! Stay! Do stay!" He shouted with the accent of a mountain village and in such a loud voice that he sent all the tourists nearby into hearty laughter.
Worn out by the slow passing of time, they returned to the square outside the railway station in mid-afternoon.
"There's a five o'clock train," said Xiao'e. "You might as well take that one."
"No. I definitely won't take it!" Mangzi said angrily. "I will only take the one after ten o'clock!"
"But what should I do after you leave? It's going to be midnight," she said after she thought for a moment.
"Can't you stay in a hotel?"
"You make it sound so easy," said Xiao'e. ‘A night in the hotel will cost at least eight or ten bucks."
"No big deal. We can afford it anyway," he said.
"What a swollen head!" She threw a supercilious look at him, and he started to laugh.
Suddenly they heard someone calling, "Mangzi! Mangzi!" When they looked in the direction of the voice, they saw Mangzi's father. Not knowing what had happened, Mangzi asked at once, "Dad, why are you here?"
"Didn't you say you were taking the nine o'clock train? Why are you still here? asked the father.
"I couldn't get a ticket," Mangzi said, his face reddening.
"Your mom thought it was already late, and Xiao'e hadn't returned home," his father said. "She was worried that something might have happened, so she asked me to come and pick her up."
Mangzi immediately lost his temper. "It's daytime! What could have happened?"
Knowing his son was upset, the father said haltingly, "Your mom insisted that I come. I also said everything would be all right. But she insisted."
"Go back!" Mangzi was none too friendly.
"Why go back?" said his father. "Since I'm here, I'll see you off and go home with Xiao'e."
Hearing that, Mangzi knew his plot had fallen through. Fuming with anger, he rose to his feet and went straight to the booking office. Xiao'e immediately caught up with him.
Seeing the booking office in noisy disorder while Mangzi was lining up for his ticket, Xiao'e offered her little hand to him under the pretext of thrusting a handkerchief into his hand. Unexpectedly, he rejected it, brushing it far away from him. Smiling, she poked him in the stomach and gave her hand to him again. This time, he took it, clutching it tightly and firmly for a long time. Her hand hurt so much that she started to take deep breaths, but instead of withdrawing it, she allowed him to grasp it that way.
Mangzi eventually took the five o'clock train.
Shortly before he boarded the train, he suddenly said, "Everything is so hard for us country folks!"
"What's hard?" his father threw a questioning look at him. "The bus takes you from our village to the city, and the train takes you directly from the city to the army. What's hard about that? If—"
Xiao'e threw a secret smile at Mangzi.