● 陈晴山 Chen Qing-shan
   陈敏良 陈敏华（译）Trans. by Peter Chen, Michael Tan

　　这是二十年前的印象了。那时，我不过十二三岁的年纪，是在一
家私塾里，天天走读的。我最怕的是：白天在学塾里板起面孔，恶狠
狠的迫我背诵的先生，和晚上放学回来碰着站在巷口拦住我要考问的
五孙舍哥。她那苍白的颜色，突露的颧骨，两目炯炯的瞪视，至今忆
起，还有些可怕。

　　These are my recollections of twenty years ago. I am 
only twelve or thirteen, studying in a local private school 
and I walk to school every day . There are two things I 
dread most: during the day in school, I have to face the 
fearsome schoolmaster who bullies me into reciting whole 
passages; and in the evening after school, I am accosted at 
the entrance to our lane by Elder Brother 5th Sun-she who 
insists on interrogating me. Her ashen complexion, 
prominent bony forehead, with two glaring eyes, still give 
me the shudders whenever I think of her, even today.

　　当我走来给她看见的时候，她一定会说：“哥儿，你放学回来了
吗？”接着就要考问了。她的问题是：

　　Whenever she spots me, she will always say: "Hey kid, 
back from school?" followed immediately by her 
interrogation. Her question is:

　　“公主要不要嫁人，尼姑生了儿子没有？”

　　"Does the princess want to get married? Has the nun 
given birth?"

　　她见着人，总是这样的问，许多人不睬她，也就罢了；偏其于我
，是不行的。她会抢你的书包，不给你走，假如我不答应，或是说声
不知道。

　　Whenever she sees anyone, she always asks the same 
question. Many people just ignore her. But with me, that's
not acceptable. If I do not answer her or say I don't know,
she will grab my school satchel and refuse to let me pass.

　　“公主嫁给太子，尼姑生了一个和尚。”我当时不知怎样会想出
奇妙的答案，她也就算我完卷了。后来她老是这样的问我，我老是这
样的答，并不为难，不过，那苍白的颜色，突露的颧骨，两目炯炯的
总使人怕。

　　"The princess is married to the prince. The nun has 
given birth to a monk." I have no idea how I could come up 
with this ingenious answer which seems to satisfy her. 
After that she always put the question to me in the same way
and I always give the same answer. That is not difficult, 
but her pallid complexion, her bony forehead and her two 
glaring eyes are really frightening.

　　她是我们邻居五孙舍的女人，我们总叫她五孙舍哥。在我们P城
里，凡被称做孙舍的，一定是世家的子弟。女人跟着丈夫的尊称而系
以哥字，也是他们贵族的通例。

　　She was the wife of our neighbour the 5th Sun-she 
household. We all called her Elder Brother 5th Sun-she. In 
our township, whoever is from the Sun-she household is 
invariably someone of noble birth. Even the women folk are 
honoured with the same honorific title of "Elder Brother", 
in the same manner as their husbands are addressed. This is
a custom among the nobility.

　　听那些有年纪的人说，她在我们P城，本是数一数二的美人儿。
那一年闰二月，天妃庙赛会的时候，扮十二花神里面的牡丹娘娘的就
是她－－那时她还是女子；五孙舍因此看中了，就娶了她。

　　According to the elder folks in the township, she was 
one of the local top beauties. One year, during the 
celebration of the Temple of the Celestial Queen in the 
second month of the Lunar Calendar, she was the one who 
played the part of the Peony Fairy among the twelve who 
dressed up for the part of the Twelve Floral Fairies. She 
was then still a young girl. The 5th Sun-she was attracted 
to her and married her.

　　她嫁给五孙舍，被称为孙舍哥，左右邻居，对于她总表示相当的
敬礼。她自己为人也好，平日间待人接物，都很和蔼，没有一些儿骄
气，她家里有许多祖上的遗产，呼奴使婢，坐着穿吃，真的什么都不
用忧虑，只有一件缺憾，就是她嫁了几年，还不曾生个儿子，总觉得
美中不足，虽然旁人没因此就轻视了她。

　　When she was married to 5th Sun-she, she was addressed 
as "Elder Brother 5th Sun-she". All the neighbours always 
treated her with respect. She herself treated others very 
well. In all her dealings with everyone, she was friendly 
and completely without airs. Her family had a great deal of
inherited wealth, with servants and maids at their beck and 
call; no one had to work for a living. Truly no one had to 
worry about anything. There was only one thing of great 
regret; that is, after several years of marriage, she had 
not been able to beget a son. She had therefore felt 
something missing in the midst of plenty, although no one 
thought any less of her on account of this.

　　五孙舍待她也不错。一年里的医药费，都不知为她花了几多。什
么广嗣丹啦，毓麟散啦，乌鸡白凤丸啦，都是成箱的囤积。我记得七
八岁的时候，每天放学回来，就到她家里去讨那些装便药的纸匣子玩
，她有时也给我许多药丸的蜡壳。小孩子最怕的是药，心里只怪她为
什么这样的喜欢吃。

　　Moreover, 5th Sun-she did not treat her badly. God 
knows how much he spent on her medical expenses: "Prolific 
Posterity" pellets, "Birth of Unicorn" powder, "Black 
Chicken White Phoenix" pills, all these were stored at home 
by the trunkful. I remember when I was seven or eight, I 
would go to her house after school to ask for the medicine 
cardboard boxes as playthings. She sometimes gave me 
several pill containers made of wax. Children hate to take 
medicine and I used to find her strange that she should 
enjoy taking all that medicine.

　　她很爱小孩子；喜欢替小孩子服劳。她的手工很好，闲着无事，
总要做些小孩的鞋子，帽子；积得多了，家里一时又用不着，就拿出
来送给人家。那些孩子多自己忙个不了的母亲，都很沾她的恩惠。

　　She loved children; she loved to do things for them. 
Her handiwork was very good. As she had lots of time on her
hands, she would always sew children's shoes and caps. 
Since they were not needed in her own household, these soon 
piled up and she would bring them out to give to others. 
Those mothers who had many children and were too busy 
themselves were always extremely grateful to her.

　　许多妇人们，总不喜欢人家的孩子；尤其那孩子的便溺，只有自
己的母亲觉得不臭；她倒不然。一天晚上，母亲带我到她家里坐。她
要留我在那里睡，母亲说：“小孩子晚上会遗尿，很费事的。”她说
：“不怕，我喜欢这样。”终于因为我哭着不肯，才给我回去。

　　Many women do not care for other people's children, 
especially when they bed wet; it is only mothers who do 
not find their own children offensively smelly. She was not
like that at all. One night, mother brought me to her place
to visit her. She wanted to keep me back to stay the night.
Mother said, "Children will bed wet during the night; it's 
extremely troublesome." She said, "Don't worry about that, 
I like it that way." In the end, it was because I cried and
refused to stay that she did not insist and let me go home.

　　她为着自己没有儿子，觉得生活单调而乏趣。当伊和邻舍的妇人
们出去外面走的时候，她们都是右手抱着一个，左手牵着一个，还有
许多扯住衣角，要妈买糖，买泥娃娃的，不住的喊；她更觉得自己是
一个怎样孤独的人，虽然同伴们在欣羡她没有孩子的累赘，多么自由。

　　It was because she had no children herself that she felt
life lonely and boring. Whenever she was with the women in 
the neighbourhood walking out in the streets, the women 
would invariably be carrying a child with the right hand and
holding on to another with the left. Several women even had
children tugging at the corner of their dress, calling out 
non stop, pestering their mothers to buy candies or some 
clay dolls. When she saw all these she felt even more 
lonely, although the other women folk all envied her freedom
and not being burdened with children.

　　就是他——五孙舍——也何尝不是这样？他最怕是，初会或久别
重逢的朋友，见面定要问一声几位令郎。这是不关朋友们事的，他们
偏要使他红了脸答道没有，才肯罢休；虽然那些朋友，是当寒暄一样
的问，未必就留心听他所答的是有或没有。然而他，觉得一个懒读的
学生，在教室里被教师考问，都没有这样困难。

　　How could he——even 5th Sun-she himself ——not share 
the same sense of regret at having no children? This was 
what he feared most: whenever he saw friends whom he met 
for the first time or those whom he had not seen for some 
time, they always asked how many children he had. It was 
strictly none of their business, but they always persisted 
in asking until he had to blushingly admit that he had none.
These friends really did not see it as anything more than 
small talk and probably never even seriously listened to his
answer whether or not he had any children. Nevertheless, he
felt exactly like a lazy student who is not prepared for his
lessons and to be asked to answer a question by the teacher 
in class. Nothing could be more mortifying than this.

　　她很想买个小孩子养，但这在他们贵族里是不行的，四孙舍已经
有了两个儿子，六孙舍也有了三个。假如你真的是怕绝嗣，也只准就
他们里面拣一个过来承继，岂可异姓乱宗！然而他们兄弟是各立门户
的，她当然不愿这样的无形被兼并去；她的丈夫也不赞成。

　　She was very keen to buy a child for adoption. But this
was not something she could do in a family of nobility. The
household of 4th Sun-she already had two sons. 6th Sun-she 
too had three sons. If one were really worried that the 
family line will be extinguished, one would only be allowed 
to adopt a child from within the family. How could one 
allow in someone with a different family name and allow the 
ancestral line to be deranged. However, as both the 
brothers had already set up their own households (and 
received their share of their ancestral inheritance), she 
naturally did not wish to have any part of her own family's 
property to be virtually annexed into the families of the 
in-laws (by virtue of the adoption of their children). 
Besides her husband too did not support the idea.

　　“不孝有三，无后为大。”这个天经地义，谁都晓得，而况诗礼
传家的贵族的五孙舍！

　　"There are three unfilial acts; bearing no descendant 
is by far the most unforgivable." Every one knew this 
sacred principle, what more the intellectual and noble 
household of 5th Sun-she?

　　“一年一年，老是这样，你我都有了年纪了，当真要等着绝嗣吗
？祖宗的香火要紧，怎样对得住！”她的丈夫很严重的提出交涉了。

　　"It's the same year after year. You and I are both 
getting on in years. Are we really to have our line 
extinguished? Nothing is more important than tending to our
ancestors; how can we face them now?" her husband asked 
seriously, hoping to be able to start the negotiation.

　　“待要怎样？这是我们不能，并非不肯，有什么对住对不住？”
她辩论的态度倒从容。

　　"So what! It's only because we are unable, not because 
we are unwilling. What's there to face our ancestors?" she 
retorted with full composure.

　　“你不要连带着说我们。你自己不济事，关我什么？”他爽直的
说。

　　"Speak for yourself. Don't keep saying "we". You 
yourself are unable; what's that got to do with me?" he shot
straight back with alacrity.

　　“也许是你自己……”她想要反驳。

　　"Perhaps it's your ……" she was about to reply.

　　“胡说！”他声色俱厉了。“你以为这样可以卸责了吗？哼！”
他说了。掉转脸向外面。

　　"Rubbish!" he exploded angrily. "Do you think you could 
in this way shirk your responsibility?" With these words, 
he turned his back.

　　“那么——要——怎样？”她说完了这句，嘴唇还在颤动。

　　"In that case—— in that case——what then?" her lips 
were still quivering after she had spoken.

　　“总得想个办法。”他回过脸来，稍微和缓些。

　　"We have to find a way." He turned round, sounding a 
little more conciliatory.

　　“除非把我杀死了，你再娶。”她赌气着说。

　　"Perhaps you will have to kill me and then re-marry." 
she lashed out, feeling terribly wronged.

　　“那倒不必，娶一个小的不行吗？”她最怕的这一句，他竟说出
来。

　　"That won't be necessary. Why can't I take a 
concubine?" These were the very words she feared most and 
he had finally uttered them.

　　“……”她哭得泪人似的，再也说不出话。

　　" ……" she was full of tears and could speak no more.

　　他们俩从来不曾红过脸，自从这回闹了之后，彼此都着了创痕，
稍一冲突就决裂起来。起初还是“内言不出”，只有家里丫环、女仆
们知道。后来越弄越大，风声一播，早已惊动她那两位舅爷来了。就
是那多年分居，不相闻问的四孙舍、六孙舍，此时为着兄弟的情分，
也不得不出来排解。

　　The two of them had never had an angry exchange. Ever 
since this argument took place, both felt deeply hurt; even 
the slightest disagreement between them would explode into a
big fight. In the beginning, arguments were contained 
within the household and only the maids and female servants 
knew of them. Eventually, they became more and more serious
and the whole thing blew into a storm. The two other 
Sun-she brothers had already heard and were alarmed by the 
problem. Although 4th and 6th Sun-she had lived apart from
them for many years, for the sake of their sibling they had 
no choice but to come and help settle the matter.

　　两位舅爷都是身列黉门，读书明理的君子。“不孝有三，无后为
大。”他们所能背诵的书，也没有和五孙舍两样，大舅爷还把后妃不
妒忌而子孙众多的螽斯一篇诗，替妹子讲解，他举起右手五个指头，
攒簇的蠕动，形容那子孙蛰蛰的意思，这时候，五孙舍也不由得笑了
，究竟替她表同情的，还是四孙舍和六孙舍。

　　Both brothers were mandarin scholars, learned and 
rational gentlemen. "There are three unfilial acts; bearing
no descendant is by far the most unforgivable." The maxim 
was something which they had chanted so often and they were 
therefore not any different from their brother 5th Sun-she. 
4th Sun-she then explained the poem about the queen 
Zhong-si: how, by not being jealous of the king's 
concubines, she was blessed with innumerable children in the
end. In making the point to his sister-in-law, 4th Sun-she 
held out his right hand and started to wriggle his cluster 
of five fingers to depict the swarms of children. By this 
time, even 5th Sun-she was amused into laughter. When all 
is said and done, it was still 4th Sun-she and 6th Sun-she 
who sympathised with her.

　　“五弟也未免太躁急了，两口子都不上三十岁的年纪，真的就绝
嗣了吗”？四孙舍嘴里衔着旱烟管，带着鼻音的说。

　　"5th younger brother perhaps need not be over anxious. 
Both of you are not even over 30 yet. Can this really mean 
the end of the line?" said 4th Sun-she in a nasal tone, 
with the long Chinese pipe still in his mouth.

   “五哥当真是要儿子，我的文魁儿就让给你，反正是自家的侄儿
。”六孙舍接着说了，又看了四孙舍一眼。

　　"If 5th elder brother really want a child, my son 
Wen-dou can be given to you for adoption. He is at least a 
nephew from within the family." said 6th Sun-she as he 
continued on, but casting a glance at 4th Sun-she.

　　“我的文宗儿也可以，他还大了一岁。”四孙舍起劲的说，不像
先前了。

　　"So can my son Wen-zhong; he is one year older." 4th 
Sun-she quickly volunteered, after realising his younger 
brother's intention. He spoke suddenly with an excited 
voice, quite unlike the relatively detached posture he 
displayed a minute ago.

　　他们纷纷的你一句，我一句，她只是哭，她也知道自己理曲，妇
人的职务是什么？男子雪白的银子买来，雪白的米饭养着，为的是什
么？养只母牛，它会生犊；养只牝羊，它会生羝；下至于养只雌鸡，
也是要它生蛋，这些道理，她完全明白，然而眼泪只是要流，她自己
也没法制止，这才明白眼泪是不同人家讲道理的。

　　And so both of them carried on, alternately putting in 
their word, while she just cried. She herself knew the 
rationale. What is a woman's duty? The man uses the snow 
white silver to buy her, uses the snow white rice to feed 
her. For what reason? To keep a cow, so that it can bear 
calves; to keep a sheep, so that it can bear ewes: even a 
hen is expected to lay eggs. She understood all the 
rationale, but the tears continued to flow.

　　到底五孙舍自己有把握。他知道此时一切的空言都没用，只得改
变了方法，等他们都走了，他就和她单独媾和，她提出的条件是：

　　At the end, it was 5th Sun-she who knew exactly what to 
do. He knew that everything that was being said then was 
just empty talk. He had to change tack. Wait for them to 
leave and he would negotiate with her alone. The conditions
she laid down were:

　　（一）娶个小的，不得过于漂亮。
　　（二）不得拜堂告祖，及请人吃喜酒。
　　（三）名义只是小姨，不得称为五奶或五婶，五嫂等。
　　（四）每月除逢三八定期外，不得住宿偏房。

　　1. The concubine must not be too beautiful.
　　2. She must not be allowed to perform the ritual of 
ancestor worship, and no wedding dinner.
　　3. She must be addressed as "Little Sister" and not as 
"5th Mistress" or "5th Aunt" or "5th Elder Sister-in-law", 
etc.
　　4. No cohabitation, except for the designated days of 
the 3th and the 8th day of the month.

　　这些条件，男方都完全承认了。五孙舍有的是钱；P城有女子人
家，要的也是钱，许多“待价而沽”的现货，交易当然不是很难的，
不到一个星期，他就花了四百元，买了一个，——或竟可说是一只—
—又肥又白的。

　　The man agreed to all these conditions. What 5th 
Sun-she had was money. What the families in town with 
daughters wanted was also money. When there was such an 
abundance of goods available just waiting for the right 
price, the transaction was not difficult to consummate. In 
less than a week, he had spent four hundred dollars and 
bought someone --- or perhaps a "head" of someone --- plump 
and fair.

　　人情厌故喜新，这本难怪。虽然一个小家女子，怎比得上牡丹娘
娘！可是在五孙舍眼里，便是天仙化人似的，这么一来，那第四条的
条约，就有些靠不住了。在先还是照约的三八为期；后来渐渐的连到
四九，五十，一六，二七，这一条就等于洪宪时代的中华民国临时约
法了。

　　In matters of human relationship, it is quite 
understandable that one tires of the old and finds joy in 
the new. Although she was a young girl, how could she 
compare with the Peony Fairy? But in the eyes of 5th 
Sun-she, she was the beautiful Celestial Fairy in human 
form. Given this situation, condition No. 4 became somewhat
shaky. The agreement was originally the 3rd and 8th day of
each month. Later it gradually became 4th and 9th, 5th 
and 10th, 1st and 6th, and even 2nd and 7th. These were 
like the laws enacted by the Republican government during 
the Hongxian reign, enacted but never enforced.

　　她起初为着这个，着实也闹了几次，究竟丈夫说得有理，他说：
“我们娶妾，就是为着嗣续，难道抛荒了田园，会收获吗？”她觉得
自己也没有充分的理由可以反驳他，虽然心里是不服。

　　In the beginning, she rowed with him several times on 
account of this. But what her husband said was very 
rational. He said, "We took a concubine for the reason that
we want to continue our line. Do you think that by allowing
the field to lie fallow we will be able to harvest?" She 
did not feel she had any sound reason to rebut him, although
she still did not find it acceptable.

　　她渐渐的不说话了，这许是没人和她说的缘故；她渐渐的连丈夫
问着都不答应了，这许是她心里不高兴。有一次，大舅爷这里看她，
她只指着椅子，表示请坐的意思；问着什么，她总是做手势的示意；
这才知道她是哑了，大舅爷吩咐妹夫，快些替她去请医问药；五孙舍
是是的满口允承，过后也就懒理，反正她不说话，省得一天吵到晚，
医呢，要诊金的。药呢，那些广嗣丹、毓麟散、白凤丸，早已移置在
小姨房里，再也没有她吃的份了。

　　Gradually, she refused to speak. It was perhaps because
no one spoke to her. Gradually she did not even respond to 
her husband. It was perhaps she was not happy with him. 
One day her No. 1 brother came to see her; she merely 
pointed at the chair, as a sign of invitation for him to sit
down. Whatever you asked her, she would reply with gestures 
with her hand. They thought she had become dumb and her No.
1 brother asked her husband to seek the physician for a 
prescription. Superficially 5th Sun-she was full of promise
and agreement, but would not be bothered further afterwards.
Since she did not speak any more, there was at least no 
more quarreling the whole day. To consult a physician meant
money. As to medicine, those "Prolific Posterity" pellets, 
"Birth of Unicorn" powder, "White Phoenix" pills, these had 
all since been moved into the concubine's room. She no 
longer had any part of it any more.

　　她一句不作声，约莫有两年光景，一直等到那年正月，才开始说
话，这许是不祥之兆，这年三月，她的丈夫就死了。她开口说话，第
一句就是：

　　She never spoke a word for about two years. It was not 
until the 1st month of that year that she began to speak. 
This was perhaps a bad omen. In the same year, in 3rd month
her husband died. The first words she uttered were:

　　“公主要不要嫁人，尼姑生了儿子没有？”

　　 "Does the princess want to get married, has the nun 
given birth?"

　　她忽然会说话，家里的人，都觉得奇特。后来见她逢人总是这样
的问，有时自己一个人也是这样的嚷，才知道她是着了魔，横竖她不
打人，又不毁坏家具，总可置之不理就是，大舅爷虽有一次带着一部
易经来，替她镇压；又用自己点书的朱笔，在她额上点了一点，见得
无效，也就罢了。二舅爷胆子最小，最怕疯人，是不来的。“生是五
孙舍家的人，死是五孙舍家的鬼，女儿给了人家，还管她做什？”假
如她的父母在世，也只能这样说；而况是兄弟？

　　Every one in the household was amazed when suddenly she 
could speak again. But when they realised she asked 
everyone she met the same old question and sometimes even 
when she's alone, they knew that she was bewitched. At 
least she did not harm anyone and did not destroy anything 
in the house; nobody really bothered much. Her No.1 brother
once came with a copy of the "Yi-jing" to suppress the evil 
in her body; he also used his own red brush marker pen to 
mark a dot on her forehead. When he found that it did not 
work, he left it at that. Her No. 2 brother was the most 
timorous. He was most afraid of mad people; he would never 
come. "While alive, she's a member of the 5th Sun-she's 
household; when dead, she's the ghost of 5th Sun-she's 
household. When a daughter is married into someone else's 
household, why should we need to have anything more to do 
with her?" If her parents were still alive, this is all 
they could have said; what more the brother of parents.

　　她的丈夫，到死的那一天，还不曾有个儿子，他的小姨，在他死
后的第二年十二月，才生一个儿子在她自己的母家，他的木主上是写
着“嗣男文宗文魁同奉祀”几个字。为着这几个字，四孙舍和六孙舍
，还不知吵了几次，因为他们都很热心的要把个儿子让给死者。

　　Even up to the day of his death, her husband had no 
issue. His concubine finally gave birth to a child in her 
parents' home in the 12th month of the second year of his 
death. On his commemorative wooden tablet were written 
these words "Sons: Wen-zhong and Wen-dou jointly offer this
sacrifice" On account of these few words, 4th Sun-she and 
5th Sun-she had quarreled on several occasions, because they
both earnestly wanted their sons to be given to the 
deceased.

　　五孙舍哥呢？两位叔伯，待她都还算好。他们留着一间原屋给她
住，一个十余岁的毛丫头伴着，让她吃饱了饭，站在巷口去研究那公
主嫁人，尼姑生子的问题。

　　What about Elder Brother 5th Sun-she herself? It can be
said that the two brothers-in-law treated her well. They 
left the original house for her to live in, provided a 
ten-year old girl to keep her company, fed her adequately, 
while she continued to stand at the entrance to the lane 
pursuing the question of the princess' marriage and whether
the nun has given birth. 


关于作者……
　　本文作者为已故马华作家，活跃于二十年代。《荔子情》专栏隔
周三刊载他的旧作，由其子陈敏良、陈敏华两兄弟翻译成英文。

　　This article was written by a late Malayan Chinese 
writer who was active in the 1920s. This column appears 
every other Wednesday, featuring his works which are 
translated into English by his sons, Peter Chen and Michael 
Tan.