The Coded Letters
祖母去世后的第三天，孙子在顶楼里发现了一只旧皮箱。
Grandmother pass-away after (POSS) third day, grandson at top-floor inside discover (PERF) one (M) old leather-box.
Three days after his grandmother died, her grandson found an old leather suitcase in the attic.
皮箱里是几百封信。
Leather-box inside is several-hundred (M) letter.
Inside were several hundred letters.
有的信纸已经发黄发脆，最早的写于一九六二年，最晚的写到了二零零三年。
Some (POSS) letter-paper already turn-yellow turn-brittle, earliest (POSS) write at one-nine-six-two year, latest (POSS) write to (PERF) two-zero-zero-three year.
Some of the paper was already yellow and brittle; the earliest letter was from 1962, the latest from 2003.
所有的信都寄给同一位收信人——一位名叫林秀云的女士。
All (POSS) letter all mail-to same one (M) receive-letter person — one (M) name-call Lin-Xiuyun (POSS) lady.
Every letter had been sent to the same person — a woman named Lin Xiuyun.
信原封没动地寄回到祖母手里，又被她仔细整理好，放进皮箱深处。
Letter original-seal not-move (ADV) mail-return to grandmother hand inside, again (PASS) her careful organize good, put-into leather-box deep place.
The letters had been returned, unopened in form, to the grandmother's own hands, where she had carefully sorted them and laid them deep inside the suitcase.
李言是位翻译，懂法语、英语，最近也开始学德语。
Li-Yan is (M) translator, understand French, English, recently also begin learn German.
Li Yan was a translator. He knew French and English, and had recently begun on German.
他原本只想把这些信整理一下，留下来作为家族的回忆。
He originally only want (BA) these letter organize one-bit, keep-down-come as family (POSS) memory.
At first he only meant to sort the letters and keep them as a family memento.
他坐在顶楼的窗边，一封一封地慢慢读。
He sit at top-floor (POSS) window-edge, one (M) one (M) (ADV) slowly read.
He sat by the attic window and read them slowly, one by one.
祖母的字迹小而认真，每一个字都像是经过思考才落到纸上。
Grandmother (POSS) handwriting small and careful, every (M) word all like-is pass-through thought only-then drop to paper top.
His grandmother's handwriting was small and careful, every character settled on the page as if it had passed through thought first.
信的内容并不特别。
Letter (POSS) content not-at-all special.
The contents were nothing unusual.
天气、饭菜、邻居的孩子、菜园里又长出了什么。
Weather, meal-dish, neighbor (POSS) child, vegetable-garden inside again grow-out (PERF) what.
The weather, the meals, the neighbors' children, what had come up again in the vegetable patch.
可是读到第十几封的时候，李言觉得有些奇怪。
But read to tenth-something (M) (POSS) time, Li-Yan feel some strange.
But by the tenth or so, Li Yan felt something was off.
祖母总在最不重要的地方提到天气。
Grandmother always at most not important (POSS) place mention weather.
His grandmother always brought up the weather in the least important places.
“上个星期三晚上下了一场大雨。”
"Last (M) Wednesday evening fall (PERF) one (M) big rain."
“A heavy rain fell last Wednesday evening.”
“星期二早晨的雾比往年浓。”
"Tuesday morning (POSS) fog compared-to past-year thick."
“The Tuesday morning fog was thicker than in past years.”
“周四夜里风很大，连院子里的旧梯子都倒了。”
"Thursday night-inside wind very big, even courtyard inside (POSS) old ladder also fall (PERF)."
“The wind was so strong Thursday night, even the old ladder in the yard fell over.”
这些句子和前后的内容都没有关系，像是另外加上去的。
These sentence and front-back (POSS) content all not-have relation, like-is separately add up-go (POSS).
These sentences had nothing to do with what came before or after, as if they had been inserted from somewhere else.
他又翻了几十封。
He again flip (PERF) several-ten (M).
He flipped through several dozen more.
有一类菜谱也常常出现——做法写得极为详细，可是材料的份量总是不对。
Have one kind recipe also often appear — method write (COMP) extremely detailed, but material (POSS) portion always not correct.
A kind of recipe kept appearing — the method was extremely detailed, but the amounts of the ingredients were always wrong.
“加入半碗盐”，“煮七个小时”，“用七片晒干的茶叶”。
"Add-in half bowl salt", "boil seven (M) hour", "use seven (M) sun-dry (POSS) tea-leaf".
“Add half a bowl of salt,” “boil for seven hours,” “use seven dried tea leaves.”
没人会照着做，可是祖母每年至少写一次。
No-one will follow (CONT) do, but grandmother every year at-least write one time.
No one would have actually cooked from it, yet his grandmother wrote one out every year at least.
李言开始把这些奇怪的句子抄出来，按日期排好。
Li-Yan begin (BA) these strange (POSS) sentence copy-out, follow date arrange good.
Li Yan began to copy out these strange sentences and arrange them by date.
他在大学修过一门有关历史档案的课，对密码也有一些了解。
He at university take (EXP) one (M) regarding history archive (POSS) course, toward code also have some understanding.
In college he had taken a course on historical archives, and he knew a little about codes.
他怀疑，这些不是单纯的家书。
He suspect, these not-is simple (POSS) family-letter.
He suspected these were not simple family letters.
他还注意到，每一封信的开头都用一句普通的问候，可是这些问候的顺序很有规律——某些句子按月份的顺序循环出现。
He also notice arrive, every (M) letter (POSS) beginning all use one (M) ordinary (POSS) greeting, but these greeting (POSS) order very have pattern — certain sentence follow month (POSS) order cycle appear.
He also noticed that every letter opened with a plain greeting, but the order of those greetings was very regular — certain phrases cycled through in step with the months.
李言花了几个月研究，仍然没有完全破解。
Li-Yan spend (PERF) several (M) month research, still not-have completely crack-solve.
Li Yan spent months studying it and still could not fully crack it.
他决定去拜访林秀云本人。
He decide go visit Lin-Xiuyun own person.
He decided to go and visit Lin Xiuyun herself.
她还活着，住在南方一座海边的小城里，今年九十二岁。
She still live (CONT), live at south (M) seaside (POSS) small-city inside, this-year ninety-two year-old.
She was still alive, living in a small city by the southern sea, ninety-two years old.
火车开了一整夜，雨下个不停。
Train run (PERF) one whole night, rain fall (M) not stop.
The train ran all night and the rain did not stop.
林秀云的家是一栋老楼里的小公寓，门口摆着一盆茶花。
Lin-Xiuyun (POSS) home is one (M) old building inside (POSS) small apartment, door-mouth place (CONT) one (M)-pot tea-flower.
Lin Xiuyun's home was a small apartment in an old building. A potted camellia stood at the door.
开门的是她的孙女，她说奶奶最近身体不好，可是听到了来意，立刻同意见客。
Open-door (POSS) is her (POSS) granddaughter, she say grandmother recently body not good, but hear arrive (PERF) come-intent, immediately agree see guest.
Her granddaughter opened the door, said her grandmother had not been well lately, but agreed at once to receive him once she heard why he had come.
老太太坐在窗前的木椅上，眼睛已经看不太清，可是声音依然平稳。
Old-lady sit at window-front (POSS) wood-chair top, eye already see not-too clear, but voice still calm-steady.
The old woman sat in a wooden chair by the window, her eyes no longer very clear, her voice still steady.
李言把祖母的信交给她。
Li-Yan (BA) grandmother (POSS) letter hand-give her.
Li Yan handed her his grandmother's letters.
她伸出瘦瘦的手，轻轻摸了摸信纸，没有打开。
She extend-out thin-thin (POSS) hand, gently touch (PERF) touch letter-paper, not-have open.
She reached out a thin hand, brushed the paper lightly, and did not open them.
“这些信，我等了很多年。”她慢慢说。
"These letter, I wait (PERF) very-many year." She slowly say.
“I have been waiting many years for these letters,” she said slowly.
李言把自己的疑问全部讲了出来——天气、菜谱、问候的顺序。
Li-Yan (BA) self (POSS) doubt all tell (PERF) out — weather, recipe, greeting (POSS) order.
Li Yan told her everything he had wondered about — the weather, the recipes, the order of the greetings.
林秀云沉默了很久，然后微微一笑。
Lin-Xiuyun silent (PERF) very-long, then slightly one-smile.
Lin Xiuyun was silent for a long time, then smiled faintly.
“年轻人，你猜对了一半。”
"Young person, you guess correct (PERF) one-half."
“Young man, you've guessed half of it.”
“这些不是密码，可也不是普通的信。”
"These not-is code, but also not-is ordinary (POSS) letter."
“These aren't a code — but they aren't ordinary letters either.”
她讲述了一段李言从未听过的历史。
She tell-narrate (PERF) one (M) Li-Yan never hear (EXP) (POSS) history.
She told him a piece of history he had never heard.
六十年代到八十年代，社会还很乱，许多人遇到了大麻烦。
Sixty year-period to eighty year-period, society still very chaotic, many person meet arrive (PERF) big trouble.
From the 1960s into the 1980s, society had been turbulent, and many people had run into serious trouble.
有人被人陷害，有人需要躲起来，有人需要远走他乡。
Have-person (PASS) person frame-harm, have-person need hide up-come, have-person need far-go other-hometown.
Some were falsely accused, some had to go into hiding, some had to leave for distant places.
祖母和林秀云从二十出头开始，悄悄地帮助这些人。
Grandmother and Lin-Xiuyun from twenty out-of-head begin, quietly (ADV) help these person.
His grandmother and Lin Xiuyun had begun helping such people quietly when they were just past twenty.
她们提供住的地方、改了的名字、新的工作机会，甚至安排去其他城市的路线。
They provide live (POSS) place, change (PERF) (POSS) name, new (POSS) work opportunity, even arrange go other city (POSS) route.
They had provided places to stay, changed names, work opportunities, and even routes out to other cities.
为了安全，两人从不在电话里提，也不在见面时谈。
For (PURP) safety, two-person from-not at telephone inside mention, also not at meet-face time discuss.
For safety, the two of them never spoke of it on the phone, never even when they met in person.
“我们用信。”林秀云说。
"We use letter." Lin-Xiuyun say.
“We used letters,” Lin Xiuyun said.
天气，是路线——南北东西。
Weather, is route — south north east west.
The weather was the route — south, north, east, west.
菜谱，是人数和时间——盐的份量是人数，煮的小时是天数。
Recipe, is person-number and time — salt (POSS) portion is person-number, boil (POSS) hour is day-number.
The recipes were how many people, and when — the salt was the number of people, the cooking hours were the number of days.
问候的顺序，是确认对方收到了上一次的安排。
Greeting (POSS) order, is confirm other-side receive (PERF) last one-time (POSS) arrangement.
The order of the greetings confirmed that the other side had received the last arrangement.
“几十年，我们没说错过一次。”
"Several-ten year, we not say-wrong (EXP) one time."
“In all those decades, we never made a mistake.”
李言看着这只旧皮箱，眼前的一切忽然变得很重。
Li-Yan look (CONT) this (M) old leather-box, eye-front (POSS) everything suddenly become very heavy.
Li Yan looked at the old suitcase. Everything in front of him suddenly grew very heavy.
“祖母从来没告诉过我们。”
"Grandmother from never not tell (EXP) us."
“My grandmother never told any of us.”
“她不会告诉。”林秀云轻声说，“我们救了多少人，自己也数不清。可是说出来，对那些人，不公平。”
"She not will tell." Lin-Xiuyun soft-voice say, "we save (PERF) how-many person, self also count-not-clear. But say out-come, toward those person, not fair."
“She wouldn't,” Lin Xiuyun said softly. “How many people we saved, we couldn't count ourselves. But to speak of it — that wouldn't be fair to them.”
她沉默了一会儿，又说：
She silent (PERF) one moment, again say:
She was quiet for a moment, then said:
“你想发表这些信吗？”
"You want publish these letter (Q)?"
“Do you want to publish them?”
李言犹豫了。
Li-Yan hesitate (PERF).
Li Yan hesitated.
作为研究者，他知道这些信件的价值——它们是历史的活证据。
As-be researcher, he know these letter (POSS) value — they are history (POSS) living evidence.
As a researcher he knew what the letters were worth — they were living evidence of a piece of history.
作为孙子，他也明白祖母选择沉默的理由。
As-be grandson, he also understand grandmother choose silence (POSS) reason.
As a grandson, he also understood why his grandmother had chosen silence.
那天晚上，他在小旅馆里坐到天亮。
That day evening, he at small hotel inside sit until day bright.
That night, in a small inn, he sat until dawn.
回到城里之后，他没有动笔写任何文章。
Return-to city inside after, he not-have move-pen write any article.
After he returned to the city, he did not pick up a pen to write a single article.
他把皮箱重新锁好，放回顶楼。
He (BA) leather-box anew lock good, place-back top-floor.
He locked the suitcase again and put it back in the attic.
只在自己的笔记本里写了一行字：
Only at self (POSS) notebook inside write (PERF) one line word:
He wrote only a single line in his own notebook:
“她们做的事，比说出来要大。”
"They (POSS) do (POSS) matter, compared-to say out-come (need) big."
“What they did is larger than telling it.”