A Carpeted Stairway

By Zhao Shengji

Once I visited a friend who lived on the top floor of a five-story apartment. As soon as I walked into the building, I noticed that there was something different—all the staircases were carpeted. I stepped on the soft carpet all the way to his home. “What a fancy place you’re living in! Even the staircases are paved with carpets!” I said admiringly. “You bet. There is a story behind it,” my friend said with a grin. “Aha, what’s that?” I was curious. I took a seat and listened.

He began his story:

One evening, I heard a knock at the door, and when I opened it, there was an old lady who lived at the east end on the third floor. She was in her sixties, and was one of the two old ladies living there, with the elder one, her mother, almost hitting ninety. Everyone in the building knows them. The mother is a fusspot, while the daughter is dutiful who would spare no effort to please her mother. I invited her in and showed her to a seat. After greetings, she began to tell me about her mother.

Her mother was widowed in her twenties, and she was her only child. Her mother had been a self-reliant person when she was young, and was still very independent and strong-willed even at an old age. Although her mother always says that she can live by herself, it concerned the daughter that her mother may not be able to move freely at this age, so she moved here to look after her. But recently, her mother had found it extremely difficult to fall asleep at night, and she would wake up at the slightest sound, so she often stayed awake all night long.

Then the daughter got to the point, and said, “To make sure she could fall asleep, I want to have the stairway carpeted.”

I was a bit shocked, and asked, “Is that really necessary?”

She replied, “Well, I’m afraid so. She is so sharp-eared that she could even be bothered by the footsteps on the stairs outside.”

I didn’t say anything for a while as her words sank in.

To persuade me, she continued, “All the other neighbors downstairs have agreed, and as you live on the top floor, you’re the last one I come to. May I ask for your opinion?”

How could I say no to such a filial daughter? I answered immediately, “Of course I agree.”

On the next day, she hired someone to pave carpets all over the stairway.

When I came out of my friend’s room, although the staircases were fully carpeted, I still walked cautiously downstairs, so as not to disturb the mother and to show my respect for the filial daughter.

(FromChinese Commercial News, September 20, 2020. Translation: Zhu Yaguang)

去拜訪一位朋友，他家住在一幢五層小樓的頂樓，剛進入樓道就發現有些與眾不同：樓道的臺階上鋪著地毯。我踩著松軟的地毯，一步步來到他家。剛進門，我就羨慕地說：“你們這樓真高級啊，樓梯都鋪著地毯。”朋友笑著說：“僅是我們這個單元，其他單元沒這個待遇。”我好奇地問：“這是為什么？”他說：“這里面有故事呢。”我落座，朋友講起這里面的故事。

一天傍晚，有人敲門，我開門一看，是三樓東戶的老太太。這家住著兩個老太太，一個八十多歲，一個六十掛零，她們是母女。樓上樓下的都知道，母親愛挑剔，女兒則是個孝女，對母親百依百順。來的是這家的女兒。我趕緊把她讓進屋，請她坐下，寒暄之后，她說起了母親。

她說，母親二十多歲守寡，只有她一個孩子，年輕時要強，而今老了還是那個倔脾氣，雖然嘴上說不要人照顧，可畢竟年歲大了，行動有些不便，我這個老閨女只好靠上了。最近母親患了嚴重的失眠癥，稍有聲響就無法入睡，經常整夜整夜地睡不著。

說到這里，她才說上了正題。她說：“為了母親能睡個安穩覺，我想把整個樓道都鋪上地毯。”

我不理解，納悶地問：“你這是何必呢？有這么嚴重嗎？”

她說：“你有所不知，老母親耳朵特別好使，樓道里的腳步聲都能聽到。”

我聽得入了神，半晌沒說話。

她以為我不同意，就接著說：“樓下的各位住戶都同意了，您住最高層，所以最后才到您家征求意見，不知您同不同意？”

面對如此孝女，我還能說什么，我立即說：“同意，同意。”

第二天，她就請來工人師傅，把樓道里所有的臺階都鋪上地毯。

從朋友家出來，雖然樓道鋪著地毯，但下樓時我還是將腳步放輕，生怕打擾了老太太，也表示對孝女的敬意。（摘自《菲律賓商報》2020年9月20日）