幸福不止这碗北川拉面，还有陪伴我们一起吃面的人 | Rebuilding life after the quake

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Ma Fuzhong was born in Gansu Province in 1977. Now he is the owner of the time-honored Beichuan Halal Snacks restaurant. Business is very good and most customers are old acquaintances of the owner. They know each other so well that they can easily spot the changes in each other's appearances over the last decades.

马福忠于1977年生于甘肃。他现在，是北川老字号“清真小吃”的老板。这家拉面馆的生意非常红火，顾客络绎不绝。而且，大部分都是熟客。客人主人一相见，都感到特别亲切，脱口便能说出几十年前对方年轻时的样子。

The restaurant is one of the few businesses that are older than the new town of Beichuan. It has been the locals' favorite for more than 20 years.

这家拉面馆，是如今北川县少见的，比新城区岁数更大的店铺。二十多年来，它一直是北川最受欢迎的小店。

Ma came to Beichuan in 1999 at the age of 22. Although the place didn't impress him at first. "It was drizzling, and the sky was gloomy. The paths were rough, and I was overwhelmed by the high mountains, which made me scared," Ma recalls. He didn't expect to meet his future wife or stay for the rest of his life in Beichuan. "Living here for some time, I began to feel that the place was so blessed with picturesque scenery," said Ma. "The drinking water flowed down the mountains. Right on the left of the old restaurant, there was a natural hot spring at the foot of the mountain."

1999年，22岁的马福忠来到北川。但他对这个地方的第一印象并不好。“当时天上下着小雨，天是灰蒙蒙的，路也不好走，四周都是大山，我心里特慌。”他回忆道。但没想到，他就在这里遇见了自己的太太，从此安居乐业，没再回到故乡。“呆得久了，我才觉得这里山清水秀，环境特好。”马福忠说，“大家喝的水都是山上流下来的。原来的老饭馆出门，左边的山脚下就是温泉，热气腾腾的。”

The "old restaurant" he mentioned had been run by Ma's father-in-law since 2000, who started the business by selling rice noodles on a cart. After the market was regulated, the old couple rented a facade shop on the edge of town. They kept selling rice noodles, as well as hand-pulled noodles and homemade dishes.

他口中的老饭馆，是2000年起岳父经营的餐馆。最开始，岳父在农贸市场推着手推车卖米粉。市场整顿之后，岳父岳母在县城边缘的山脚下租了一间门面正式开起了店。除了米粉，还卖拉面和炒菜。

"My father-in-law doesn't talk much. But people say that he is an honest man." On the edge of the town, there were few customers. But before long, the restaurant became famous for both the delicacy and the integrity. New customers became regulars. Little by little, the restaurant began to expand.

“岳父话很少，但认识他的人，都说他特别诚恳。”虽然位置偏僻，刚开始没有多少客人。但因为味道好吃，货真价实，渐渐多了许多回头客。一间门面变成了两间，店的规模渐渐扩大。

Ma started to help his father-in-law at the restaurant, knowing nothing about the business at first. But he had harbored an interest in cooking since his childhood, so he learnt quickly. In just one year, he became very good at it. Everything was running smoothly, until the disaster in 2008.

马福忠帮助岳父打理饭馆。刚开始他什么都不会，但因为从小对学厨感兴趣，一边开店一边做，一年之后，就什么都会了。大家一门心思把生意做得红红火火，谁也没料到2008年的那场变故。

"When the earthquake happened, I wasn't in Beichuan. I was 150 km away in Santai County, Mianyang City visiting an old classmate," Ma recalled. "We were walking in the street when everything started shaking and everybody was running." Ma wasn't able to get through to his family, nor did he anticipate the severeness of the situation, thinking the quake had only struck Mianyang and not Beichuan.

“地震发生的时候，我不在北川，而是在150公里之外的绵阳市三台县见同学。”马福忠回忆道，“我们正走在街上，整条街晃起来，所有人都往外跑。”当天夜里，马福忠和他的同学，还有当地人都搬着板凳坐在街上，谁也不敢进屋。家里的电话也打不通。那时他没有料到事态的严重性，以为只有绵阳地震，和北川无关。

Things changed when he heard two old men chatting about hearing of the destruction in Beichuan from the radio. "I was somehow prepared, because my home was right at the foot of the collapsed mountains," said Ma. "But I dared not picture it."

直到两个一同避难的老人在聊天中不经意透露，广播里说，北川县没有了。“当时我有一定心理准备，毕竟家就在垮塌的山脚下，”马福忠说，“但我不敢多想。”

"Perhaps they were wrong." With that tiny hope, Ma made his way home the next morning. The Mianyang bus station was in chaos. Everyone was in a frenzy trying to get somewhere. He queued for a long time and asked for a ticket to Beichuan.

抱着也许老人说错了的微弱希望，第二天一早，马福忠就踏上了回绵阳市区的大巴。车站一片混乱，到处都是赶路的人潮。到了绵阳市区，他排了老长的队，跟售票员说要一张去北川的车票。

"Beichuan?" said the ticket clerk, "Beichuan is history."

售票员说：“去什么北川呀，北川都没有了。”

"My vision was so blurred that I didn't know where I was going." Somehow, Ma managed to get on a vehicle and rush to his wife's uncle's. There he was reunited with his wife and son who barely escaped: "Except for their eyes, they were covered in black dust from head to toe. We all broke into tears." It was his wife's uncle that rushed over on a motorcycle and brought them from the ruined town.

“我当时眼睛都是花的，不知道方向在哪里。”后来，马福忠终于拦到一辆车赶去附近妻子的舅舅家，在那里，见到了死里逃生的妻子和孩子。“他们两个人除了眼睛是亮的，身上全是黑色的灰尘。一看见我，我们就抱头痛哭。”原来，是妻子的舅舅骑着摩托车加步行，把他们从几乎被夷为平地的北川县带了出来。

Ma's father-in-law broke his foot escaping, but all five family members survived. The same couldn't be said for many other families. With nearly 70% of the old town buried in debris, it was impossible to find home and after the reconstruction, they settled down in the new town. Ma would now support his family as a migrant worker.

马福忠一家，除了岳父逃生时脚部受伤，家里五口人一个不少，是当地少见的幸运儿。但老北川百分之六、七十的面貌都看不见了，被泥石流掩埋，想回去，已经不可能了。重建后，一家人在新城区安顿下来，马福忠偶尔出去打工，维持生计。

Things finally became stable again in 2015, when Ma had enough savings, and he began to think about reopening the restaurant: "I always wanted to inherit the skills of my in-laws." That August, Beichuan Halal Snacks opened for business.

2015年，马福忠的生活终于稳定下来，积累了一定本钱。他考虑重开饭馆：“我一直想把岳父岳母的手艺继承下来。”8月，“北川清真小吃”正式开张。

Ma wanted to call it "Old Beichuan Halal Snacks", though his wife thought it would make the customers feel sad. In the end, they only added "time-honored" next to it.

马福忠曾想把店名改成“老北川清真小吃”，但妻子觉得这样会让客人触景伤情。最终，他们只是在店名旁加上了“老字号”几个字。

After the opening, the regulars returned. It was just like old friends getting together again, everybody was happy: "The taste never changed. It's the same as usual."

开张之后，老顾客都来了，不用点菜，有什么就吃什么，好像老朋友相聚。大家都很高兴。“这个味道从来没变过。以前是什么味道，现在还是什么味道。”

The family gets up at 6 a.m. every day, and closes the restaurant at 9 p.m. Things never get easier even though they've hired 3 workers. Ma thinks, however, that: "My life has been enriched. I'm really satisfied."

每天六点多起来，晚上八九点收摊，雇了三个帮工还忙不过来。但马福忠觉得：“现在我的生活特别充实，特别满意。”

The green belts in new Beichuan remind Ma of the landscape of the old town. In the afternoons when business is not busy, he takes his children out to play. Sometimes, he revisits the old town alone. Ten years have passed and many things have been erased, including the home built from scratch by his in-laws. Now it is the beef noodles of Ma's that connects the present and the past.

北川新城区的绿化带特别多，让马福忠想起过去的山清水秀。下午，店里不忙的时候，他就带着孩子出去玩。偶尔，他还是会独自回老北川看看。十年间，很多过去的痕迹都消失了，包括岳父岳母曾经一点一滴建立的家园。最终，只有马家的一碗牛肉面，还能将两个时空联系起来。

"We should feel grateful for surviving," Ma said. His daughter was born in the new town after the earthquake, and he hopes that the smile on her face will last forever.

“我们能活下来，就特别感恩了。”马福忠说。他的小女儿是在震后的新城区出生的，他希望她能够永远欢笑。

Cameraman:Du Peng

Filmeditor: Qi Mantong, Xia Xiaojun

Storywritten by: Zhu Siqi

Englisheditor: Andrew Robert Corless

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