重新有人的村子

小林，你家民宿今天又住满了吧？我早上看见门口停了好几辆车。

Xiao Lin, your guesthouse is full again today, isn't it? I saw quite a few cars parked outside your door this morning.

满了，周末都是这样。陈叔，你还记得十年前吗？那时候这条街上一个人都没有。

Full. Weekends are always like this. Uncle Chen, do you remember ten years ago? Back then there wasn't a single person on this street.

怎么不记得。大家一家一家地搬走，都去城市找工作。学校关了，商店也关了，最后村子里只有我们几个老人，晚上一点声音都没有。

How could I forget. Family after family moved away, all off to the cities to find work. The school closed, the shops closed too, and in the end only a few of us old people were left in the village. At night there wasn't a sound.

我们家也是那时候搬走的。我在城市住了十几年，去年才回来开这个民宿。现在网上很多人想看真正的村子，愿意花钱来住几天。

My family moved away back then too. I lived in the city for over ten years and only came back last year to open this guesthouse. These days a lot of people online want to see a real village, and they're willing to pay to stay a few days.

我就是想问你这个。你觉得，村子这是恢复了吗？

That's exactly what I wanted to ask you. Do you think this means the village has come back?

当然是。你看，现在回来了七八家人，有开民宿的，有在网上卖茶和水果的。街上有人了，几个老房子也重新有人住了。这不是恢复是什么？

Of course it has. Look, seven or eight families have come back now. Some run guesthouses, some sell tea and fruit online. There are people on the street, and a few of the old houses have people living in them again. If that's not recovery, what is?

我觉得不是。游客来了，看一看，照几张照片，住一两天就走了。你们在网上给他们看的，是村子的样子，不是村子的生活。以前村子里有孩子，有学校，大家互相都认识。现在呢？周末很热闹，星期一早上又安静了。

I don't think it is. The visitors come, look around, take a few photos, stay a night or two and leave. What you show them online is the look of a village, not the life of one. The village used to have children, a school, everyone knew everyone. And now? Weekends are lively, and by Monday morning it's quiet again.

你说得也对，周末和平时确实不一样。可是陈叔，如果没有游客的钱，谁回得来呢？家里的一点茶，一年卖的钱不够我儿子上学。是民宿让我能住在这里的。

You have a point. Weekends and weekdays really are different. But Uncle Chen, without the visitors' money, who could come back at all? The little tea my family grows sells for less in a year than my son's schooling costs. It's the guesthouse that lets me live here.

那你儿子呢？他在哪儿上学？

And your son? Where does he go to school?

在附近的城市，每天坐车去。可是他晚上回家，周末也在家。他知道自己是这个村子里的人，这跟完全搬走不一样吧？

In the city nearby. He takes the bus every day. But he comes home at night, and he's home on weekends. He knows he belongs to this village. That's not the same as moving away completely, is it?

是不一样，有人当然比没有人好，这个你说得对。可是冬天呢？冬天游客少，去年冬天就有两家关了门，回城市去了。要是有一天游客不来了，你们还会留下来吗？

No, it's not the same. People are certainly better than no people, you're right about that. But what about winter? In winter there are few visitors. Just last winter two families closed their doors and went back to the city. If one day the visitors stop coming, will you all still stay?

别人我不知道，我会留下来。我回来不只是为了钱。我是在这条街上长大的，我希望我儿子以后也记得这里。恢复可能很慢，可是一定要有人先回来，不是吗？

I can't speak for the others, but I'll stay. I didn't come back only for the money. I grew up on this street, and I want my son to remember this place too. Recovery may be slow, but someone has to come back first, don't they?

好吧，可能你是对的。村子不是一天变空的，也不会一天就恢复。那我就在这条街上慢慢看着吧，看人是不是一年比一年多。

All right, maybe you're right. The village didn't empty out in a day, and it won't come back in a day either. So I'll just stay on this street and watch, and see whether there are more people every year.