再会文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
许地山文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
靠窗棂坐着那位老人家是一位航海者，刚从海外归来的。他和萧老太太是少年时代的朋友，彼此虽别离了那么些年，然而他们会面时，直像忘了当中经过的日子。现在他们正谈起少年时代的旧话。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
“蔚明哥，你不是二十岁的时候出海的么？”她屈着自己的指头，数了一数，才用那双被阅历染浊了的眼睛看着她的朋友说，“呀，四十五年就像我现在数着指头一样地过去了！”文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
老人家把手捋一捋胡子，很得意地说：“可不是！……记得我到你家辞行那一天，你正在园里饲你那只小鹿；我站在你身边一棵正开着花的枇杷树下，花香和你头上的油香杂窜入我的鼻中，当时，我的别绪也不晓得要从哪里说起；但你只低头抚着小鹿。我想你那时也不能多说什么，你竟然先问一句‘要等到什么时候我们再能相见呢’？我就慢答道：‘毋须多少时候。’那时，你……”文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
老太太截着说：“那时候的光景我也记得很清楚。当你说这句的时候，我不是说‘要等再相见时，除非是黑墨有洗得白的时节。’哈哈！你去时，那缕漆黑的头发现在岂不是已被海水洗白了么？”文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14187.html
老人家摩摩自己的头顶，说：“对啦！这也算应验哪！可惜我见不着芳哥，他过去多少年了？”
“唉，久了！你看我已经抱过四个孙儿了。”她说时，看着窗外几个孩子在瓜棚下玩，就指着那最高的孩子说：“你看鼎儿已经十二岁了，他公公就在他弥月后去世的。”
他们谈话时，丫头端了一盘牡蛎煎饼来。老太太举手让着蔚明哥说：“我定知道你的嗜好还没有改变，所以特地为你做这东西。”
“你记得我们少时，你母亲有一天做这样的饼给我们吃。你拿一块，吃完了才嫌饼里的牡蛎少，助料也不及我的多，闹着要把我的饼抢去。当时，你母亲说了一句话，教我常常忆起，就是‘好孩子，算了罢。助料都是搁在一起渗匀的。做的时候，谁有工夫把分量细细去分配呢？这自然是免不了有些多，有些少的，只要饼的气味好就够了。你所吃的原不定就是为你做的，可是你已经吃过，就不能再要了。’蔚明哥，你说末了这话多么感动我呢！拿这个来比我们的境遇罢：境遇虽然一个一个排列在面前，容我们有机会选择，有人选得好，有人选得歹，可是选定以后，就不能再选了。”
老人家拿起饼来吃，慢慢地说：“对啦！你看我这一生净在海面生活，生活极其简单，不像你这么繁复，然而我还是像当时吃那饼一样——也就饱了。”
“我想我老是多得便宜。我的‘境遇的饼’虽然多一些助料，也许好吃一些，但是我的饱足是和你一样的。”
谈旧事是多么开心的事！看这光景，他们像要把少年时代的事迹——回溯一遍似地。但外面的孩子们不晓得因什么事闹起来，老太太先出去做判官；这里留着一位钁铄的航海者静静地坐着吃他的饼。
A Reunion
Xu Dishan
“Brother Weiming, weren’t you twenty when you went to sea?” She counted the years on her fingers and then looked up at her childhood friend with eyes that had been dulled by years of earthly experience. “Ah, forty-five years have slipped by, as quickly as I count them now.”
The old man stroked his beard and replied approvingly, “Yeah, how time flies! I still remember when I went to say goodbye to you, you were feeding your pet deer in the garden. I came up to you and stood under a blooming loquat tree, where the fragrance of the flowers mixed with the scent of your hair oil drifted into my nose. At that moment, I was so overwhelmed with the sadness of parting that I didn’t know what to say. And you seemed wholly concentrated on your pet, you lowered your head and your hand stroked the little animal. You must have felt it so hard to open your heart to me then, but you nonetheless managed to blurt out, ‘How long will it be before we can meet again?’ And I only replied softly, ‘It won’t be long anyway.’ Back then, you…”
The old woman cut him short, saying, “That moment is also fresh in my memory. Didn’t I respond by saying, ‘We won’t meet again until black ink can be washed white’? Haha, now just look how sea water has bleached your hair, once so black and shiny!”
The old man stroked the top of his head, saying, “Right! Seems that came true after all! But it’s such a pity I can’t see Brother Fang again. When did he pass away?”
“Oh, long ago. Now you see I have four grandchildren.” She looked outside the window, where a few children were playing under a gourd trellis. Pointing at the tallest one, she said, “That’s Ding’er, he’s already twelve. His grandpa died a month after he was born.”
Just at that moment, the housemaid brought in a plate of oyster pancakes. The old woman gestured for him to try one, “Brother Weiming, I know these are your old favorite, we made them especially for you.”
“When we were young, I remember, your mother once treated us with such pancakes. You took one, wolfed it down, and then complained it had less oysters and other ingredients than mine. You even tried to snatch the one from my hands. Your mother stopped you and said some words that have been etched in my mind ever since: ‘Leave it alone, there’s a good boy. The ingredients were all mixed evenly in the batter, but when it’s poured out into the pan, how can anyone make sure each pancake contains exactly the same amount? No, some must have more than others. As long as they taste good, nothing else matters. The cake you eat might not have been prepared especially for you, but now that you’ve eaten it, you can’t ask for another.’ Brother Weiming, you don’t know how impressed I was with that last sentence! The same can be said about opportunities in life. We are often faced with more than one opportunity, and we are allowed to make our choice. Some make the right choice, some don’t. But once you’ve picked one, you can’t then choose another.”
The old man took up a pancake and, taking a bite, said, “Right! You see, I’ve spent all these years on the sea, living simply, unlike the complicated life you’ve experienced. Yet just like how I felt after eating the pancake back then, I am full and contented all the same.”
“I feel like fate has favored me all the time. Yet even though my ‘pancake of opportunity’ has more ingredients, and may be more delicious, I have the same feeling of contentment as you do.”
How they enjoyed going over these past events! It seemed as if they would trace back over everything they’d experienced together in their childhood. In the meantime, however, the children outside seemed to have started a quarrel of some kind or another and the old woman had to go to act as the judge. Left here alone inside the room was the hefty old sailor, sitting quietly, savoring his pancake.
（李运兴 译）
