Duyên Phận

Chap 2 Nụ Cười Xót Xa

TRUYỆN DỊCH

Khi gả về nhà anh, chị mười sáu, anh lên năm tuổi. Anh là con độc đinh, cha mẹ quý hơn vàng, chỉ tiếc anh quá nhiều bệnh tật...

When she became the daughter-in-law in their family she was 16 and he was 5. Being the only child, he was the most valuable treasure of the family. The only problem was that he suffered from multiple health issues...

2. Nụ cười xót xa/ A Bitter Wry Smile

Bà mẹ chồng trẻ tuổi của chị không phải là người khắt khe khó tính. Bố chồng chị ở xa cũng chẳng cần chị tam khấu cửu bái, ra vào dạ vâng.

His young mother was not that type of notoriously strict mother-in-love the girl had heard of. His father worked away from home. And so the young wife did not have to comply with such old-time daily routines as frequent bows and continual greetings.

Anh vâng lời mẹ gọi chị là chị gái.

The five year old boy, as required by his mother, addressed his newly-wed sixteen year old wife as elder sister.

Hằng ngày, ngoài việc giúp mẹ chồng chăm ruộng rau và làm khi xong việc nhà, chị cắt thuốc cho chồng, sắc thuốc, may áo cho chồng, giặt giũ, cho chồng chơi, cho chồng ngủ, ...

The girl spent her days taking care of the vegetable garden. After completing the household work she would prepare and decoct herbal medicine for her husband. She would make, mend, modify and wash his clothes. She walked him around for playing and kid games. She sang lullabies to send him comfortably to sound sleeps.

Có lúc anh ho suốt đêm, sốt cao, chị thức cả đêm chườm khăn hạ sốt, cho anh uống nước, uống thuốc.

Sometimes the boy kept coughing the whole night and was hot due to fever. And so she had to stay up overnight beside his bed to relax the heat, give him water, and help him timely take the herbal extracts.

Trong tim chị, anh như một đứa em trai.

From the bottom of her heart, she treated him the way she did to her younger brothers back home.

Hàng xóm láng giềng gặp chị, chị thường cúi đầu lặng lẽ, không nói, vội vã đi qua.

The image of her among the neighbors of the family was: a silent bride, someone who hardly looked up, and someone who avoided social interactions.

Không biết là ứng với quẻ xăm của Phật, hay nhờ chính sức mình mà anh vượt qua được bệnh tật.

No one could say whether it was the family's compliance with that Buddhist fortune stick or he was predestined to live on that his health was improving day by day.

Với sự chăm chút của chị, anh lần lượt chiến thắng mọi cơn bệnh tật lớn nhỏ: ho gà, viêm màng não, lở loét,...

Thanks to the nursing from his wife, the boy gradually overcame the health issues, for example whooping cough, a brain and spinal cord issue (currently known as meningitis), and some skin issues.

Dần dà, những tình cảm anh dành cho chị vượt quá tình cảm anh dành cho mẹ mình.

His affection for her became stronger with the time. It was even greater than that he felt about the mother.

Giữa những kẽ hở lúc bận rộn, hoặc khi anh đã ngủ say, chị thường khóc nước mắt nóng rồi thờ thẫn tự hỏi mình: "Đây là hôn nhân của mình ư, đây là chồng của mình ư?".

In her rare free time, or when she was watching his sleeps, she sometimes was deep down with self-pity. The frequent question she asked herself was if she was truly married and if she was married to that physically vulnerable child.

Đến tuổi anh đi học, chị may cho anh một chiếc cặp xách, dắt tay anh đến lớp. Những đứa trẻ trong và ngoài thôn thường vây lấy chị hát to: "Cô con dâu, con cô dâu, làm cái gì? Tắt đèn, thổi nến, lên giường ngủ..."

When he began school, she selected good fabrics to make a school-bag for him, and she walked him to the school gate on school days. Some mischievous kids they came across on the road kept trolling her. They chanted, "A daughter-in-law. Her son. What do they do? Turn down the lamps? Blow off the candles? And go to bed."

Chị không biết trong lòng mình là nỗi đau hay nỗi buồn. Cúi gằm xuống, mặt đỏ lên, rồi trắng bệch, rồi đỏ.

Surrounded with those provokes and defamations, she was in huge confusion. She could not tell if that was pain or misery. She kept her face low. Her face turned red, then totally colorless, and red again.

Một buổi tối, anh nằm trong chăn nói:
"Chị ơi, em yêu chị!".

One night when they were in the cotton blanket, he turned to her and mumbled, "Sister, I love you!"

Chị lại là vợ. Vợ lại là chị.

Oh no. There was a wife who was a sister. And a sister who was a wife.

Chị nhìn gương mặt ngây thơ non nớt của anh, im lặng. Lần đầu chị cười xót xa. Nụ cười không hẳn toàn là hạnh phúc. Nụ cười mang cả khổ đau...

She remained silent, looking at his innocent face. A face that was very close. She smiled. A smile of wry. The type of smile he saw for the first time. A smile that was very close. A smile of incomplete happiness. A smile loaded with both distress and pains...

(End of Part 2)