Erquan Yingyue (short story) Zhang Baotong

One day at the end of 1949, when he returned from begging in the country, he heard that the town was bustling. Some are setting off firecrackers, some are shouting slogans, and many people are happily singing and dancing Yangge. He wondered what was going on, but it wasn't a festive season, what were people doing here? Before he could ask, someone grabbed his hand and said, "Ah Bing, this is the People's Liberation Army calling." This People's Liberation Army was the New Fourth Army of the year, the army of our poor people, and it was specially designed to turn over and make revolutions for our poor people. The People's Liberation Army is here, this is the world of our poor, wait for a good life. ”

Hearing this, Ah Bing was a little skeptical, he didn't believe that once the People's Liberation Army came, the poor would be able to live a good life, because in all dynasties, the rich and noble could live a good life, and the poor had been poor for generations. So, while listening to the people's celebrations, he walked back down the street. As soon as I entered the courtyard, I heard the landlord man shouting from afar, "Ah Bing, where have you been, the son of the old Luo family in the north of the town is now the division commander, and when he passed by the street in a jeep just now, his own house didn't enter, so he came to look for you, and waited for you for a long time, and I didn't see you come back, and they couldn't wait, saying that they still had a task, so they took the car and left." Ah Bing didn't know the old Luo family in Zhenbei, and when he heard this, he asked, "Why is he looking for me?" The man smiled and said, "People say you saved his life." Ah Bing then remembered and said, "Are you talking about the detachment commander of the New Western Army?" The landlord man said, "No, he is now a division commander, and I heard that there are more than 10,000 officers and soldiers under his command alone." ”

Ah Bing was naturally excited in his heart, and asked the landlord man again, "He didn't leave a word?" The landlord man said, "People ask you how you are doing now, and I say no, you live by begging on the street, and your body is also very weak." The teacher sighed and said that your piano played really well. But I said you haven't played the piano since Anon died. As soon as the teacher heard that Anon was dead, he shed tears, saying that the woman was so good, and said that he wanted you to play the violin well, and that New China needs an artist like you very much. As he spoke, the landlady handed a cloth bag to Ah Bing and said, "When the man leaves, let me leave this cloth bag for you." He also said that when he came back from the battle, he would come to visit you again. ”

Ah Bing took the cloth bag and touched it, and it was a few pieces of ocean that were hard and erect. In his life, he has accepted this amount of money from others twice, once from Ah Hong, and again from the PLA division commander. He held the heavy silver coin in his hand, and a tear of gratitude welled up from his eyes.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the poor people in the small town became the masters of their homes and lived a happy new life. However, for Ah Bing, a blind man who has lost his ability to work, life has not changed much. He still lives a life of poverty and helplessness, living by begging all day long. Without the help of someone, Ah Bing can only rely on crutches to explore the way, struggling to walk; without no one to take care of him, Ah Bing can only rely on begging to survive, and he is helpless in food and clothing. Because he is a famous artist in Wuxi, the local people still sympathize with him, as long as he begs to come to the door, they will give him a bowl of rice to eat. However, his clothes were dirty and torn, and there was no one to help wash them. So, the clothes are full of lice.

On this day, he was sitting in front of his yard door basking in the sun, while constantly scratching his back with his hands. At this time, two people came from the side of the alley, also carrying a wire tape recorder. One of them asked him, "Are you Mr. Hua Yanjun?" Ah Bing didn't react for a long time, because people called him blind Ah Bing, and no one had ever called him by his scientific name. But he soon understood that the people who came to look for him, so he asked, "What are you looking for me?" and the man said, "My name is Yang Yinliu." Mr. Cao Anhe and I are both from the Central Conservatory of Music, and Premier Zhou Enlai sent us to visit you. ”

"Premier Zhou?" Ah Bing looked a little excited and surprised, and full of doubts: Yes, how could the prime minister of a country know that he was blind Ah Bing? Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe sat in the open space opposite Ah Bing, and then said to Ah Bing, "A few days ago, the premier called our academy and said that a military region chief who had reported to the Central Committee told him that there was a Taoist artist in their hometown of Wuxi, named the blind Ah Bing, who could play many beautiful music, among which the "Song of the Heart" can be described as a swan song for the ages. He also said that you are very famous in the local area, and that you are old and infirm, poor and sickly, and that if you do not record your songs in time, those precious songs will be lost. Therefore, after hearing the report, Premier Zhou called our dean, and the dean sent me and Mr. Cao Anhe to record your tune. ”

As soon as Ah Bing heard that it was a guest from a distant capital, and that it was sent by the prime minister of the country, he hurriedly let the guest into the house. The room was small, with a tattered bed, and a broken mat spread on a square table, on which some begged rice was dried. Seeing this, the two guests couldn't help but sigh and couldn't help shedding tears.

Ah Bing never expected that his concert would attract the attention of the Prime Minister of the Republic, and he also sent someone to record him, his heart was full of emotion and surprise, but he said, "I haven't played the erhu for two or three years, and I haven't played the sepa, and my skills have been deserted for too long." Also, I can't use any of my instruments. "Because the strings on his instrument were bitten by rats two or three years ago. Hearing this, Mr. Yang Yinliu knew that Ah Bing could not have the money to buy musical instruments, so he immediately went to the musical instrument store on the street to buy him erhu and sepa. But Ah Bing still didn't immediately agree to let Yang Yin record them, he said, "You see that my body is sick and weak like this, how can I play and play again? Besides, I have been desolate for too long, and I am afraid that if I can't play well, I will be ugly in front of you experts and professors." ”

In fact, Ah Bing didn't want to play the recording, and there was another reason. One day two years ago, after A Bing's serious illness, his physical strength recovered, and when he was bored, he picked up the erhu and wanted to pull the "Yixin Song" again. However, when he picked up the erhu, he found that the strings of the erhu had been bitten off by the rats, and when he picked up the sepa, the strings of the sepa were also bitten off by the mice. A Bing, who believes in Taoism, believes that this is the punishment of "heaven" for himself. In this way, he made a retrospective of his whole life, and found that all these disasters and encounters he experienced were closely related to music. But no, if he hadn't gone to Yangzhou with that troupe to perform, he wouldn't have lost Ah Hong; if he hadn't made a living by singing and performing, he wouldn't have fallen seriously ill and lost his sight; if he hadn't gone to the streets to engage in anti-Japanese singing and propaganda to save the country, the detachment commander of the New Fourth Army would not have asked him for help, and he wouldn't have lost Ah Nong, who depended on him for his life. Therefore, the root cause of his many disasters is music. It was then that he swore to heaven that he would never play again.