1959.12 一双鞋

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A Pair of Shoes
JU I is a 25-year-old amateur writer of peasant origin, who since his graduation from junior middle school eight years ago has been employed as a teacher. This story originally appeared in the Communist periodical CHINA RECONSTRUCTS.

By Ju I
DECEMBER 1959 ISSUE
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BY JU I


TSUI-YING was in a quandary when she came back from the meeting. She kept roaming about the house and didn’t even answer when her mother asked what was the matter with her. The matter was that the Communist Youth League branch committee was calling on everyone to donate old shoes for use of the commune members digging a new reservoir, because working in all that water and mud was hard on shoes. Tsui-ying was a Youth League member and wanted to set an example for others, but since only she and her mother were at home, where was she to find men’s shoes? She thought of taking out the pair of cloth shoes she had just finished making. But people would be sure to ask, “Tsui-ying, where did you get those? There’s no man in your family.”

It was really a fine pair of shoes that Tsui-ying had just finished. They were for her fiancé, Shuang-hsi. She and Shuang-hsi had been going steady for several years now. They had planned to get married the previous year, but the wedding date had been postponed again and again because both were so busy. Not until the fifth of this month had they finally decided to have the wedding on the sixteenth.

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On the day that they settled the date, they went to a photographer’s shop and had a picture taken together. Then Shuang-hsi purchased a fountain pen for her as a gift. Tsui-ying had wanted to buy something for Shuang-hsi too, but she didn’t know what to get. Besides, she thought it just a bit vulgar to buy a gift in return. Then it occurred to her that Shuang-hsi’s mother was getting on in years and was finding it tiring to sew, so she decided to make him a pair of shoes.

Tsui-ying, who was known as a clever girl in the village, bought a foot of black cloth and one of fine white cotton and made a pair of uppers so sturdy that they would wear for years. Even more work went into sewing together the layers of cloth for the soles. The stitches were so neat and orderly that, whichever way you looked at them, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, they all seemed to be in rows. She made the stitches in the middle of the sole in a peony pattern.

Usually Tsui-ying could finish a pair of shoes in a day and a night. But these took her seven days. For one thing, she didn’t want people to know, so she couldn’t work on them too long in the daytime. Not even wanting her mother to know, she did it out of the latter’s sight.

When the shoes were finished, she locked them in her trunk. Now she would have to place them in front of everyone. Just thinking about it made her blush. “ Oh, well, I shouldn’t care about that too much now,” Tsui-ying reasoned. “The important thing is that the people at the work site need shoes. Let them laugh!” And she picked up the shoes and went out.

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When she arrived at the place where the shoes were being collected, she tossed her pair onto the table without waiting in line, saying, “ Please register them.”

“Who’s donating them?” asked the commune accountant, glancing at the shoes and then at her.

“I am.”

“You have shoes like these in your home?” the accountant asked with a smile.

“I didn’t steal them,” said Tsui-ying quickly, a faint red coloring her cheeks.

Fortunately for her, the people in line were getting impatient. “Register the shoes,” someone put in. “She could buy a pair, couldn’t she?”

The accountant let her go and turned to the others. Tsui-ying was about to place her pair on the pile when the old woman who was in charge of it took them from her hands and said admiringly, “You can’t buy shoes like these. Look at the stitches! What a lot of work they must have taken!” Her words brought several others over to look at the shoes. Afraid of being questioned further, Tsui-ying made up a story.

“That’s a pair my mother wanted me to make for my cousin. Since he doesn’t need them right now, I’m donating them to the reservoir builders.”

That stopped the jesting.

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When the shoes were taken to the construction site, all the old pairs were grabbed up in no time, but that one new pair sat there like an exhibition piece. No one would take them. The commune chairman offered them to several people, but met the same answer: “Tramping in mud and water is kind of hard on shoes. It’d be a pity to spoil new ones. Besides, this pair is much too fine. Better let somebody else have them.”

So it became a problem to give the shoes away. At the lunch break, they became the topic of conversation. “What handsome shoes! Whoever made them must be a very fine seamstress,” said one worker.

“The folks are donating their best shoes. Now we should really work hard,” observed another.

One young fellow joked, “I’ll bet some girl must have made those for her boy friend. Look, there are even peonies on the soles!”

“Go on.” The commune chairman waved the young man aside. “It’s already hard enough to give them away.” Then he turned to the others. “ I say, someone had better take these shoes. Since they were donated, we’d better accept the graciousness. Put them on and work hard as repayment. How about it?”

But no one would take them. Finally the young man who had noted the peonies came back and said to the chairman, “Give them to Shuang-hsi. He’s going to be married on the sixteenth. New shoes for the new groom!”

They had found the right person at last, and there was a burst of cheers and applause. Naturally Shuang-hsi refused, but the chairman said, “You take them even if you don’t want to wear them now. Put them on for your wedding day, as a souvenir of building the reservoir.”

Finding no more excuse, Shuang-hsi accepted the shoes. He wrapped them up in three layers of paper and put them beside his pillow at the worksite sleeping quarters.

But it was only on his wedding day that Shuanghsi finally put the shoes on. Not wanting to dirty them, he avoided walking in mud and even in those places where the dust was thick. When he met Tsui-ying at the commune registration office, he stepped just a bit higher than usual, hoping that she would notice them. But Tsui-ying had already seen the shoes from a distance and was amazed beyond words. “Is it really the pair I made?” she mused. “ It’s too much of a coincidence!”

Shuang-hsi caught her expression. “ These were given to me when I was working on the reservoir,” he said proudly. “See how fine they are! The girl who made them has a clever pair of hands.”

Tsui-ying couldn’t keep from smiling broadly.

“What are you smiling at?” It was Shuanghsi’s turn to be surprised.

“ It’s really something,” replied Tsui-ying. “I’ll tell you later.”





一双鞋
朱毅，25岁，农民出身的业余作家，八年前初中毕业后一直从事教师工作。这个故事最初出现在共产党的期刊《中国重建》上。

作者：朱一
1959年12月号
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作者：朱毅


翠英开完会回来后就陷入了困境。她在屋子里不停地走来走去，母亲问她有什么事，她也不回答。事情是这样的，共青团支部委员会号召大家捐出旧鞋，供公社社员挖新水库使用，因为在那些水和泥里工作，对鞋子很不方便。翠英是共青团员，想给大家做个榜样，但家里只有她和母亲，她到哪里去找男鞋呢？她想到了拿出自己刚做好的那双布鞋。但人们一定会问："翠英，你从哪里弄来的？你家里又没有男人。"

翠英刚做完的这双鞋确实很好。那是给她的未婚夫双喜的。她和双喜在一起已经好几年了。他们计划在前一年结婚，但由于两人都很忙，婚期一拖再拖。直到本月5日，他们才最终决定在16日举行婚礼。

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在确定日期的那天，他们去了一家摄影师的店里，一起拍了一张照片。然后双喜给她买了一支钢笔作为礼物。翠英也想给双喜买点东西，但她不知道该买什么。另外，她觉得买礼物作为回报有点太俗了。后来她想到，双喜的母亲年事已高，缝衣服很累，所以她决定为他做一双鞋。

翠英是村里有名的聪明姑娘，她买了一尺黑布和一尺细白棉，做了一双结实的鞋面，可以穿好几年。在缝制鞋底的布层时，更多的工作被放在一起。这些针脚是如此整齐有序，无论你从哪个角度看，垂直、水平或对角线，它们似乎都是一排排的。她把鞋底中间的针脚做成了牡丹图案。

通常，翠英可以在一天一夜内完成一双鞋。但这双鞋花了她七天时间。首先，她不想让别人知道，所以她不能在白天工作太长时间。她甚至不想让她的母亲知道，她在母亲的视线之外做这些事。

鞋子完成后，她把它们锁在她的箱子里。现在她必须把它们放在所有人面前。仅仅是想到这一点，她就脸红了。"哦，好吧，我现在不应该太在意这个，"翠英推断道。"重要的是，工地上的人需要鞋子。让他们笑吧！" 然后她拿起鞋子就出去了。

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当她到达收集鞋子的地方时，她没有排队就把自己的鞋子扔到了桌子上，说：" 请登记一下。"

"谁捐的？"公社会计问道，瞥了一眼鞋子，又看了一眼她。

"我是。"

"你家里有这样的鞋子？"会计笑着问。

"我没有偷它们，"翠英赶紧说，脸颊上泛起了淡淡的红晕。

对她来说，幸运的是，排队的人已经开始不耐烦了。"登记鞋子，"有人插话。"她可以买一双，不是吗？"

会计员让她走了，转身向其他人走去。翠英正准备把她的那双鞋放在那堆鞋上，负责的老妇人从她手中接过来，钦佩地说："这样的鞋你是买不到的。看看这些针脚! 它们一定花了很多功夫！" 她的话让其他几个人都过来看这双鞋。由于害怕被进一步询问，翠英编了一个故事。

"那是我妈妈要我给我表弟做的一双。因为他现在不需要，所以我把它们捐给了水库建设者。"

这句话让大家不再开玩笑。

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当这些鞋子被运到建筑工地时，所有的旧鞋很快就被抢光了，但那双新鞋却像展览品一样放在那里。没有人愿意接受它们。公社主席向几个人提供了这双鞋，但得到的答案是一样的。"在泥泞和水中行走对鞋子来说是很困难的。如果把新鞋弄坏了，那就太可惜了。此外，这双鞋也太漂亮了。最好让别人来穿。

于是，把鞋子送人成了一个问题。在午休时，它们成了人们谈论的话题。"多漂亮的鞋子啊! 做这双鞋的人一定是个很好的裁缝。"一位工人说。

"乡亲们正在捐赠他们最好的鞋子。现在我们真的应该努力工作了。"另一个人说。

一个年轻人开玩笑说："我打赌一定是某个女孩为她的男朋友做的。看，鞋底上甚至有牡丹花！"

"去吧。" 公社主席把那个年轻人挥到一边。"把它们送出去已经很困难了。" 然后他转向其他人。" 我说，最好有人拿这些鞋。既然是捐赠的，我们最好接受这种恩惠。穿上它们，努力工作作为报答。怎么样？"

但是没有人愿意接受它们。最后，那个注意到牡丹的年轻人回来了，对主席说："把它们给双喜吧。他将在16日结婚。给新郎的新鞋！"

他们终于找到了合适的人选，现场响起了一阵欢呼和掌声。双喜很自然地拒绝了，但主席说："即使你现在不想穿，你也要拿着它们。在你结婚的时候穿上，作为修建水库的纪念品。"

双喜没有再找借口，接受了这双鞋。他用三层纸把它们包起来，放在工地睡房的枕头边上。

但直到结婚那天，双喜才终于穿上这双鞋。由于不想弄脏它们，他避免在泥泞中行走，甚至避免在那些灰尘很厚的地方行走。当他在公社登记处见到翠英时，他的脚步只比平时高了一点，希望她能注意到这双鞋。但翠英已经远远地看到了这双鞋，惊讶得说不出话来。"这真是我做的那双吗？"她喃喃自语。" 这也太巧了！"

双喜抓住了她的表情。" 这是我在水库工作时得到的，"他骄傲地说。"你看它们多精致啊! 做这些东西的女孩有一双聪明的手。"

翠英忍不住大笑起来。

"你在笑什么？" 这回轮到双喜吃惊了。

" 真的是有事，"翠英回答。"我以后再告诉你。"