Erquan Yingyue (short story) Zhang Baotong

Because of Ah Bing's stubbornness and stubbornness, he offended many tea house owners and rich people, so no one asked him to play anymore. If no one invites him, he has no source of livelihood. So, he had no choice but to return to the Lei Zun Palace, where his father was originally located, to take shelter temporarily. Wang Daochang used to be his father's apprentice, and when he saw that Ah Bing was poor and helpless, he made room for him to live in in the temple.

Lei Zun Hall is a Taoist place, the temple is old, few people come, so, it is rare to get help and funding from outsiders, and the source of life in the temple mainly depends on the few acres of paddy fields next to the temple. So, life in the temple was hard and poor. But life in the temple is also quiet and rarely noisy. After finishing work and eating, you can sit under the big tree in front of the temple and play the piano and play music.

However, one day in the late autumn and early winter of this year, Ah Ping suddenly suffered from an eye disease. His eyes were red and swollen, and he couldn't stop crying. Because there was no money in the temple, the eye disease was never treated. Later, the redness and swelling subsided, but it left the sequelae of myopia, photophobia and tears, and if you don't pay attention to it, you will get sick when you catch a cold or are overworked. As soon as I got sick, my eyes were so uncomfortable that I couldn't open them, and I went to several hospitals but couldn't be cured.

Originally, there were only two people in the Lei Zun Palace, Wang Daochang and A Bing. Wang Dao is old and weak, and he can't do too much heavy work, but now, Ah Bing is sick again, and sometimes he can't even open his eyes when it's serious, so in this way, the work in the field has been affected. There is no one to do the work in the field, the harvest is not good, and in the next year, life is gone. Unable to do so, they had to make a living by selling the temple's belongings.

However, such days do not last long. The treasures in the temple were quickly sold out, and the king saw that there was no way to make a living, so he left and went to other temples to find a way to live. Ah Bing couldn't stay in the temple anymore, so he picked up the erhu, pipa and flute and walked out of the door, and began his career as a performer in the streets and alleys.

Ah Ping returned to Qingning Street. Qingning Street is still the same, but Ah Ping is not as good as it used to be. Although it has only been three and a half years since he left Qingning Street, he is already full of wind and frost, old age and decrepitness, messy hair, sloppy beard, especially his eye disease is often sick, and it is getting worse and worse, sometimes it is serious, his eyes can only squint, it is difficult to open. Dressed in a dirty and wide gown, he sat in the open space at the corner of the street, repeatedly playing the song of "The Ancient Road of the Sunset" with his erhu. When some idle people heard his tune, they went up to him, and when they heard it, they threw a penny into his felt hat when they were happy. Hearing the sound of someone throwing money, he bowed down gratefully, said a word of thanks, and then continued to pull the erhu.

On this day, he had just sat at the corner of the street for a short time when someone came over and wanted to drive him away because he was disturbing him playing the violin. He couldn't get up and leave. At this time, the spiked Yang Laoqi happened to come from the other side of the street, and when he saw someone picking up Ah Bing, he hurried over, patted Ah Bing's shoulder, and said, "Ah Bing, it's really you." As soon as Ah Bing saw that it was Yang Laoqi, he said, "I went to your street to look for you just now, and when I saw that you were not there, I said that you had moved out." Mr. Yang said, "I don't have nails now, and I opened a small shop at the entrance of West Street." As soon as I had eaten some food, I came out of the restaurant and heard someone playing the harp. I felt that the sound of the piano was very familiar, as if you played it. So, just come and have a look. I didn't think it was really you. Then, he looked at Ah Bing, frowned, and said, "Ah Bing, what's wrong with you?

Ah Bing told Yang Laoqi about his illness and leaving the Lei Zun Palace. Yang Laoqi knew that Ah Bing hadn't eaten yet, so he pulled Ah Bing to the restaurant to eat. Then, let Ah Bing sit in front of his shop and play the piano and perform. But Mr. Yang's shop is very small and remote, and the people around him are all poor. Although the poor also like to listen to music, they have no money in their hands. Therefore, Ah Bing can't always stay here and wait for the rabbit. And most of the time, he sat on the side of the dock on the streets of the town. There are many people here, and there are many rich people, and it is impossible to say that any one who is happy will throw a few silver coins or copper plates into his hat, so that he can eat and live for a few days.

During the day, I went out to play and perform, and the days were full and busy, but when I returned to the house at night and slept in bed, the past would be unbearable to look back on. Listen to Yang Laoqi said that there are people in the town who live in the Wu family, saying that Ah Hong fell into the rich nest, and was pampered and loved by the lord all day long, his face was white, and the people were gorgeous. Therefore, he wondered if Ah Hong would be disgusted with poverty and love for happiness and happiness. But he felt that Ah Hong was not that kind of person at all, she must have been watched and protected, and she did not have the freedom to come and go at will.

This reminded him of the day before the Qingming Festival, when they went to Xiaoling Mountain together to ask for a spirit and make a wish. He felt that Ah Hong was not the kind of person who was greedy for wealth and forgetfulness at all. She must have been locked in a deep house compound, or taken to a foreign land, watched and protected, and her mobility was involuntarily. He could imagine that the days of being confined were actually pitiful and pathetic, but he didn't know where she was, and there was no way to save her.

Nostalgia and longing for Ah Hong have almost become a way of distraction for him at night and in his leisure time, and a kind of spiritual comfort for his suffering. When he was depressed and lonely, he came to the long night, sat by the river, looked at the bright moon that was gradually moving away, and kept pouring out the boundless melancholy and sorrow in his heart with erhu.

Although he was in love with Ah Hong, he really let him meet Ah Hong, and he didn't know if he really had such courage, because he was no longer the Ah Bing he used to be. The wind, frost, rain and snow in the past few years have made him suffer from the premature aging of the cangsang, and he has completely turned into a look called Huazi, especially the terrible eye disease has been ruthlessly destroying him, making him in a semi-blind state. He really couldn't imagine how Ah Hong would feel and what kind of expression he would have if he saw him.

He missed Ah Hong day and night, but he was afraid to see Ah Hong, so he never went to Wujia Village again. Moreover, he also knew that he wouldn't see Ah Hong when he went there. Because he always misses Ah Hong, the life scene when they were together in the past has become the best memory in his mind. That afternoon, when he came back from the canal wharf to perform his arts, he couldn't help but stop in front of the small attic on Qingning Street. Everything in front of this door is still the same as in the past, and when people look at it, they feel like they are in the past.

At that moment, the door opened. However, the person who came out was not Ah Hong, who was dressed in red and had a smiling face, but an old woman who was over half a hundred years old and well-dressed. The old woman came out of the house, and when she saw Ah Bing standing in front of the door in a daze, she looked at Ah Bing with suspicion and asked him who he was looking for. He hurriedly shook his head and said that he would not look for anyone. So saying, he walked out into the street.

I walked through the street, crossed the small bridge, and came to Cuihua's house. When Cuihua saw Ah Bing's appearance, she said in surprise, "Ah Bing, why are you like a flower child?" Ah Bing sighed sadly and said, "It's bad for the eyes, it's not curable, there's no way." Then, I asked Cuihua's sister-in-law about Ah Hong. Cuihua's sister-in-law said to Ah Bing, "Ah Hong came back once during the Chinese New Year last year, asked you how you were doing, and said that she was sorry for you and asked you not to hate her." ”

Ah Bing was silent for a long time, and then asked Uncle if he no longer lived here. Cuihua's sister-in-law said that since marrying Ah Hong to the Wu family, Ah Hong's father has lived in Taohong Courtyard almost all day long and rarely returned home. The money in his hand was quickly spent, and he borrowed a lot of money from others, but he couldn't pay it back, so he mortgaged the house to others. I heard that people are now suffering from tuberculosis, living in an abandoned broken boat by the river, coughing and vomiting blood all day long, no one cares about it, no one asks, and I heard that there will not be more days to live. As he spoke, he sighed and said, "It's all retribution." ”

After Ah Bing left Cuihua's sister-in-law's house, he walked towards the pier. Standing on the top of the pier and looking at the river, I saw several broken boats parked on the riverside beach far from the pier. The boats were so dilapidated that they could no longer walk in the river, so they had long been abandoned by their owners, and were only used as shelters for those who came from other places to beg for food. Ah Ping walked up to a broken boat and saw a child with unkempt hair and a black face playing in the sand on the beach, so he asked the child if he knew that there was an old man living here. The boy immediately pointed to the most dilapidated boat and asked him if he was the one who owed a lot of debts.

Entering the boat, there was a half-tattered mat in the leaky cabin, and a skinny, bony little old man was half-dead inside, beside which was a canned food box and a dirty magnetic bowl picked up from the garbage heap. There was some water in the canning box, and in that magnetic bowl was a steamed bun with green mold.

He called out to the man, "Uncle." The man moved slightly, and his voice echoed very weakly, "It's Ah Bing, right?" Ah Bing immediately squatted in front of the old man and replied loudly, "I'm Ah Bing." The old man was glad, as if he were about to say something, but before he could speak, he coughed sharply, and, breathlessly, breathlessly.

Ah Bing said to the old man, "Uncle, I'll take you home." The old man coughed violently, and said with great difficulty, "Where are you going? Where is there a home?" But Ah Bing still struggled to pick up the old man and walked towards the sunny street. Ah Bing carried the old man to a rented hut, put the old man on his small bed, and then began to light a fire and cook.

After eating, it was dark, and Ah Bing sat in front of the door and pulled up the erhu. The old man listened to the music of the erhu and called Ah Bing to him and said to Ah Bing, "I can't do it, I won't live for a few days, you go and call Ah Hong back, let me see you again." ”

Early the next morning, Ah Bing rushed to Wujia Village by boat. When he came to the door of the Wu family's deep mansion, Ah Bing knocked on the door vigorously. The door opened, and the man who was the housekeeper opened it, and when he saw that it was Ah Bing, he hurried to him and said, "What, you want to come here to make trouble again? Go away quickly, or I will let the dog bite you." Ah Bing immediately said in an explanatory and pleading tone, "Ah Hong, her father is dying, and I want Ah Hong to go back and take a look." ”

But the housekeeper said, "The fourth aunt is too not at home," and then pushed Ah Bing to the ground and closed the door. Ah Bing got up from the ground and slammed the door hard while shouting, but there was no reaction from inside. Ah Bing couldn't, so he had to go back.

Back in the hut where he lived, Ah Bing could only tell Uncle Ah Hong that Ah Hong had gone to another place and could not be contacted for a while, so he could not come back. Uncle looked up to the sky and sighed, and said to Ah Bing ashamedly, "I'm so dizzy, I shouldn't marry Ah Hong to the Wu family." Rich people don't look at us poor people at all. However, Ah Bing thought that he had woken up too late. Two days later, in the morning, the old man swallowed his breath. Ah Bing borrowed money to buy a coffin and hired a few people to bury the old man in the cemetery where his father was buried.