Xian Xinghai (short story) Zhang Baotong

By the time he heard the rooster crow again, it was already a little light. He watched the smoke drift through www.biquge.info the window and knew that his wife had started a fire in front of the door. He was still drowsy, but a sense of urgency to write a masterpiece in a hurry forced him. He knew that the third anti-Japanese war drama team led by Guang Weiran would leave Yan'an around April 15. He had to compose the music for the Yellow River Cantata as soon as possible, and he had to leave plenty of time for rehearsals for their debriefing performances.

He got up from his bed and ran to the top of a hill not far in front of the kiln, trying to sober his drowsy mind from the cool morning air. At this time, the sky was not yet fully bright, and the mountains and ravines were shrouded in a dim morning mist, but the east was already reddish, and the reddish was only a red line at first, but the red line soon turned into a red streamer, and when the sunrise began to spray out ten thousand golden rays, a red sun had jumped out of the gray sky.

At this time, he felt as if he had climbed to the top of the mountains along the banks of the Yellow River, and standing on the top of the mountains, he saw the suffering of the mother and children of the Yellow River, and the tragic experience of the Yellow River homeland trampled by the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders. Mountains and rivers are broken, the people are struggling to make a living, and the Chinese nation has reached the most dangerous moment. Looking at this exciting sunrise, Xian Xinghai couldn't help singing:

"I stood on the top of a high mountain, watching the Yellow River roll and run to the southeast.

The golden waves are surging, setting off a thousand waves;

The turbidity current is like a turn, forming a nine-song chain;

From the foot of Kunlun Mountain, run to the edge of the Yellow Sea;

Split the land of the Central Plains into two sides, north and south......"

He sang the song twice in a row, and then, with a shout of joy, ran down the hill until he entered the house. At this time, the wife had already made breakfast, a plate of steamed buns and a small bowl of pickles were placed on the small table, and the millet porridge was steaming thickly. Xian Xinghai, who had been tired all night, was already hungry, but he didn't care about eating at all, so he went to bed, picked up the pen, and worked hard to write.

His wife asked him to eat first, but he said, "Prepare me a few more pencils." The wife put down the work in her hand and began to find a few waste pencils from the cabinet that were too short to be shorter, and sat on the edge of the bed to sharpen them, but the pencils she sharpened were soon used up by Xian Xinghai, so she continued to sharpen them non-stop.

By the time they began to eat breakfast, it was past ten o'clock. Xian Xinghai asked Tian Chong, the soloist of the third anti-enemy drama team, and Wu Xiling, the conductor, to call over again, and let them watch the music score that had just been written and try to sing. He invited them to eat red dates and drink "coffee". However, this kind of "coffee" is made by his wife Qian Yunling after grinding soybeans and adding brown sugar. This is the highest etiquette for Xian Xinghai to entertain guests.

The two were eating red dates, drinking "coffee", and while trying to sing, they put forward their opinions. They invariably pointed out that the momentum in "The Yellow River Boatman's Song" is not enough to express the struggle and desperate situation of the boatman fighting with the huge waves.

Hearing this, the musician's brow furrowed for a moment, and he read the part of the manuscript again, and then suddenly tore the manuscript in his hand to shreds. This made Tian Chong and Wu Xiling stunned, they did not expect that he would tear the manuscript he had worked so hard to write to pieces, and they just hoped that he could make the necessary changes to the manuscript.

Tearing up the manuscript meant that he had to rewrite it and start from scratch. Xian Xinghai is this kind of perfectionist, he can't allow his work to be flawed, besides, he is creating a masterpiece that will last a lifetime.

Therefore, he asked them to retell what they saw and felt when they crossed the Yellow River, especially the majestic spectacle of the waves crashing on the shore through Hukou Waterfall, the sound was like thunder, the water waves splashed rapidly, and the turbidity waves were emptied, which once again deeply shook the musicians' souls. His mind immediately showed the majestic image of the boatmen marching forward bravely against the stormy waves. The struggle and desperate situation when they bravely crossed the Yellow River was like the Chinese nation at a critical juncture fighting against the Japanese invaders. "O helmsman, hold your wrist...... Don't be afraid! Sailing is like getting on the line of fire, uniting and rushing forward!"

He took out a dozen of the five-line grids that his wife had drawn for him, wrote "The Yellow River Boatman's Song" on the top, and began to compose the music for this poem again. In order to make the tune undulating and majestic, he sang and wrote the tune at the same time. However, it was written that there was a problem with his pipe. This pipe is the most inseparable item in his creation, without which he feels no thought, no inspiration. So, he asked his wife to take it outside to fix it. However, my pregnant wife ran for more than half an hour and came back to say that she had run all over Yan'an and had not found a shop to repair pipes. He had no choice but to fix it himself. He stopped his pen, found a thicker and longer brush, removed the wool from the brush, and sharpened the hole with a knife so that he could insert the smoke pot, and tried it, and it was not bad, so he continued to work hard while smoking.

Lunch was the most sumptuous meal of the day for Xian Xinghai. In addition to steamed buns and millet porridge, there is also a small bowl of rice and a few pieces of chicken. Being able to eat rice and chicken in Yan'an during the Anti-Japanese War can be said to be a super enjoyment. Xian Xinghai is a foreign student who has studied in France for seven years, and drinking coffee and eating chicken is rare and normal for him. However, when he first arrived in Yan'an, eating millet all day made him miserable and extremely unaccustomed to it. So, when someone asked him to compose a song for the lyrics, he asked someone else to give him chicken. He said, "If I don't eat a chicken every day, I can't even write a line of melody." For this reason, he and Seke, who has long hair in a shawl, Xiao Jun, who is wild and uninhibited, and Mada, who is taciturn, are listed as the "Four Famous Monsters" by the Yan'an cultural circles, and they are rumored to be a joke for a while.

However, rice is rare in Yan'an, so how can there be any chicken? It is already very good to be able to eat millet. Therefore, after a period of adaptation, Xian Xinghai not only learned to make "coffee" with soybeans and brown sugar, but also slowly became able to eat millet and artichoke.

Right now, this rice and chicken are obtained by his wife Qian Yunling with great difficulty. Because she knows that once Xinghai is inspired, she will write out her creations without eating or sleeping. And what he is creating now is a very large work, which usually cannot be written in a month or two. However, Xinghai has been rushing to write day and night, and if he doesn't eat well and provide him with sufficient physical energy, he can't guarantee that he can complete the task successfully and efficiently.

Xian Xinghai was eating rice and chicken, and he felt very bad when he saw his young wife, who was almost five months pregnant, eating millet porridge. He wanted to blame his wife for not cooking two different meals. However, he couldn't, because he knew that rice and chicken were very scarce and could not come easily. He also knew that his wife was thinking about him. Thinking about the six months since he came to Yan'an, he has indeed made a lot of achievements in music creation. But here is soaked in the silent dedication of his wife.

When he was not in love for the first time, Qian Yunling, who was a student of the "Xinghai Singing Class", washed his feet and changed his boots for him. This Hubei girl, who graduated from Shanghai Xinhua Art College and is nine years younger than him, is pure, selfless, intelligent and beautiful, which moves him and makes him admire. So, they quickly settled on a love relationship. After that, an incident happened that made him love her even more.

Qian Yishi, a well-known educator and progressive in China, died in January 1938, Mao Zedong sent a message of condolence, and Zhou Enlai delivered a eulogy for him. Xian Xinghai was ordered to compose an elegy. That day, it was Qian Yunling, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying. Under his questioning, Qian Yunling cried and told him that Qian Yishi was her father. Since then, he has not only regarded her as his beloved lover, but also as his beloved little sister. They got married in July and were invited to Yan'an Luyi in September. Xian Xinghai is the head of the music department, and Qian Yunling is a graduate student in the senior research class of the Lu Yi music department. In addition to her daily study and work, she also took care of Xian Xinghai's life.

Xian Xinghai put a piece of chicken in his wife's bowl, but his wife immediately put the piece of chicken back in her husband's bowl and said, "If you want to write a work in a hurry, what can you do without increasing nutrition? But Xian Xinghai said, "But you are already pregnant, and you not only have to go to and from work every day, but also make tea and cook for me, go out to run errands, and draw a five-line grid for me, which is also very hard." Nutrition is also needed. Xian Xinghai gave the chicken to his wife again. But the wife left the small table with the bowl, because she had run to many places to buy this chicken, and a fellow who knew her had gone to the countryside to buy it for her. So, how could she eat such a hard-won thing? She said, "These are the things I should do." Besides, no matter how hard I work, I don't have as hard as you. You haven't had a good night's rest for three days and three nights. If you don't supplement more nutrients, how can you hold on. ”

That afternoon, Chairman Mao sent guards to bring him a Parker pen and a bottle of Parker ink. Xian Xinghai was very moved, surprised and surprised, and asked the guard, "How does Chairman Mao know that my pen is broken?" The guard smiled, "Chairman Mao is a god, he knows everything." Xian Xinghai didn't believe it, and said, "How is this possible?" The guard said, "This morning, Chairman Mao went to Lu Yi, and I heard someone say that you are composing the "Yellow River Cantata", and you have also used several Jiao water pen nibs. Therefore, Chairman Mao asked me to send you this pen and ink. This was given to him by a foreign friend. Xian Xinghai was very moved and said to the guards, "Please tell the chairman that I will definitely write immortal works to thank him for his support to me." ”

When Qian Yunling came home from work, he showed the pen to his wife and said, "This is sent to me by the guards sent by Chairman Mao." Qian Yunling also said movingly, "In the morning, Chairman Mao came to Lu Yi and shook hands with me. Ask you what new works you have made recently. I'll just say that you are rushing day and night to compose music for the "Yellow River Cantata" of Guang Weiran, and you have used up several Jiao pens alone. Xian Xinghai blamed his wife and said, "Chairman Mao is so busy, you still tell him such a trivial matter." The pen and ink were given to him by a foreign friend. It's too much for me to go. Qian Yunling looked very self-reproachful and said, "As soon as I was nervous, I said this." However, Chairman Mao was very happy when he heard this, and asked me to take good care of you, so that you can complete this work as soon as possible. Xian Xinghai said solemnly, "I must write this work as an immortal work." ”

The Yellow River is a symbol of the Chinese nation. Depicting the image of the Yellow River and shaping the character of the Yellow River is the best way to artistically express the strong sorrow and emotion of the Chinese nation to resist Japan and save the country. Xian Xinghai's eyes were fascinated, and his whole body and mind were once again immersed in endless reverie. The long pot of smoke was smoking one by one with his thoughts and inspirations, and the smoke slowly swirled and drifted in all directions. In front of him, Tian Chong and Wu Xiling had told him the stories and scenes on the banks of the Yellow River. The mountains and rivers on both sides of the Yellow River are beautiful, the scenery is beautiful, and the people on both sides of the river live a peaceful and peaceful life. However, since the Japanese imperialists invaded and occupied China, the people on both sides of the strait have left their homes and fled in all directions. He also saw with his own eyes the sad scene of two peasants grieving together and telling about the national disaster and family feud. Two men, one from Hedong and one from Henan. The man from Hedong was a young man in his early thirties. He said that his house was occupied by Japanese invaders, his house was burned, and his wife was raped and killed by Japanese soldiers. The parents and children were separated while fleeing and have not been heard from since. The people in Henan are men in their forties. He said that the Japanese had killed all the people in their village, and the houses had been burned down by the Japanese. That day, he was not at home because he was out, so he escaped the murder. In order to kill the enemy to take revenge, these two homeless men went to the anti-Japanese front line in Shanxi together.

The majestic imagination and the real scene in the poem are intertwined, forming a tragic and magnificent historical picture. With the creation of the musicians, this picture has become a kind of resentment and tragedy, and has become a great driving force for the national liberation movement.

After another sleepless night, he was extremely tired, and to make matters worse, he felt that his fever had worsened, and he had a terrible cough at night. The reason why he has been able to stay at home and concentrate on writing for the past few days is because he has been sick and hospitalized. Otherwise, he will be very busy, teaching classes, conducting band rehearsals, and tutoring students. It is impossible to have so much time to concentrate on creation. One of the reasons why he was in a hurry was that he wanted to use the week-long hospitalization to complete all the music composition of the "Yellow River Cantata". (To be continued.) )