Erquan Yingyue (short story) Zhang Baotong

No matter how difficult the days are, they always have to go on. New 『Ω┡ . Ah Bing still follows the woman every day, pulling the erhu while walking in the streets and alleys of Wuxi, but Ah Bing's physical condition is getting worse day by day. Fortunately, with the careful care of a woman, his life is barely passable. Like the people at that time, he thought that as long as the Japanese devils were driven out of China, life would slowly get better.

Finally, the Japanese really surrendered, and the War of Resistance against Japan was won. However, although the Japanese devils have been driven away, the lives of the common people are still miserable, and people do not see any hope. Therefore, every time Ah Bing plays the "Song of the Heart" again, the tune and mood become deeper and more melancholy. In fact, the ups and downs of life have made him develop a strong, unyielding and indomitable personality. Although poverty and disease had tormented him for many years, he had been fighting tenaciously. However, the results of the struggle and struggle, apart from adding some heroic and tragic pride to his life and experience, did not make his life itself much changed and improved. On the contrary, the struggle and resistance also consumed too much of his mind and energy. So, when his struggle and resistance are rewarded with a tragic end, then the blow can be fatal.

On an autumn night in 1947, I don't know who told the secret service of Ah Bing that he had saved the head of the New Fourth Army to the spies of the town office. Because the commander of the New Fourth Army Detachment named Luo Yilong is already the commander of the Taihu Detachment of the People's Liberation Army, and he is an important person. The town office immediately sent someone to arrest Ah Bing and put him in the detention center of the town office. The agents of the town office used various methods to harshly interrogate and coerce Ah Bing, demanding that Ah Bing clarify his relationship with Luo Yilong and that he admit that he was a collaborator. But Ah Bing only said that he had saved a New Fourth Army that had blown up a Japanese munitions ship at that time, but he did not know the name of that man, nor did he know that he was a communist. When the agents saw that he was stubborn, they hung him up and tortured him. At this time, Ah Bing was already a fifty-four-year-old man, and he was frail and sickly, so he could withstand such torture, so after some hanging and beating, Ah Bing fell into a coma.

When the agents of the town office saw Ah Bing unconscious, they hurriedly lowered Ah Bing from the torture rack and splashed cold water on his face to make him sober. However, Ah Bing was unconscious for two or three days. When the people in the town office saw this, they called a doctor to rescue Ah Bing. After taking injections and medicines, Ah Bing can be regarded as breathing.

The people of the town office knew that Ah Bing had been walking through the streets and alleys to play the piano for many years as an adult, and no one knew anyone in the whole of Wuxi, and if he had suffered misfortune because he had saved the New Fourth Army in the past, it would definitely damage the reputation of the town office. Therefore, after Ah Bing woke up, he recovered a little, and then released Ah Bing. When Ah Bing returned to his hut in a dazed and staggered manner, he saw that the house was empty and cold, and there was no movement or sound of the woman.

Because of his weak and drowsy body, Ah Bing touched the side of the bed, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep. I don't know how long I slept, Ah Bing felt that his body had recovered somewhat, and he felt a little drinking, so he called out loudly, "Anon Anon". However, there was no response from the woman. Ah Bing wondered where the woman had gone, why hadn't she come back for so long. Just thinking like this, the man from the house came and brought a large jar of water to him, and said to him, "Ah Bing, don't be sad, Ah Nong is gone. ”

Then, after Ah Bing was arrested by the town office, the woman ran to the front of the town office all day long crying and asking the town office to release people. However, the town office threatened her that Ah Bing had committed the capital crime of being a gangster, and it was useless for her to cry and make trouble. Hearing this, the woman stopped crying. Later, she didn't know who she had heard, saying that the person they had saved was a ** official, and there were thousands of soldiers and horses under his hands alone, so she was going to find the ** official, so that the family could lead the troops to save Ah Bing. So, the woman took a boat to the side of Taihu Lake and ran for two or three days, but she didn't even see a ** shadow. On the day she returned, the woman said that her stomach hurt so badly that she didn't want to eat or move, so she lay down on the bed. At midnight, the woman screamed with a terrible pain in her stomach. When the landlord heard the news, he hurried to the doctor, but by the time the doctor arrived, the woman was no longer dead.

For a blind man who had suffered a lot of hardships and had just gone through the hardships and physical devastation of prison, what would his life be like if he was bereaved and widowed at such an age?

After a whole night of grief, the next morning he asked the landlord to take him to the woman's grave to burn paper. The woman's grave was on the edge of a barren hill slope not far northwest of the town. He couldn't see it, but he could imagine it, because when he was a child, he used to gather firewood and play. The cool autumn breeze is cold and cold, and the surroundings of the cemetery always give people a sense of indifference and slaughter. He burned the paper money piece by piece, as if burning the pitiful hopes in his heart. He knew that as the fires in front of him were extinguished, his future life would also be reduced to ashes piece by piece.

After coming out of prison, Ah Bing's body and mind had been severely damaged, but the woman's death gave him another devastating blow. Due to excessive grief, Ah Bing didn't eat or drink all day, he was like a chicken, he was seriously ill, his health deteriorated extremely, and he couldn't even walk the streets and alleys to play the piano and perform his arts, and more importantly, as soon as the woman died, he felt that his heart was dead. Therefore, I no longer play the piano and play the piano.

Losing his woman, his life suddenly fell into a chaotic and disorderly situation, and without a woman to lead him, it was very inconvenient for him to even go out and walk, so he could no longer play and perform in the streets and alleys of Wuxi while walking with the erhu. In fact, his physical condition is extremely weak, not to mention playing the violin for a day and a half, even if he plays one or two tunes, he is so tired that he is wheezing and weak.

In this state, Ah Bing felt that his days were numbered at the end of poverty, and he had no way to make a living, so he had to live by begging. The life of begging is much more difficult and difficult than the life of playing the violin, and I am much more ashamed and helpless. In the past, although Ah Bing, who was an artist, was poor, he did not worry about food and shelter, and his clothes were neat, but now although Ah Bing is still wearing that pair of sunglasses and that felt hat, he is sloppy and staggering, and the whole scene is a decay scene of the last years of wind and candles.

When acquaintances saw him like this, they asked him, "Ah Bing, how did you get this look?" Ah Bing sighed, "It's old, it's no longer good." The acquaintance asked him again, "Why don't you play the piano?" he shook his head helplessly and said, "People are old, they can't play anymore." People began to say reassuring things to him, and after a long time, they stopped caring about him.

Such a sloppy and embarrassing life is lived day by day, as if it is forever boundless. In fact, for a blind man who lives by begging in the dark, life seems to have long since run out of hope. Therefore, all he thinks about is to live one day at a time, as long as he has food to eat, he can sleep well and be content. Of course, he often has some good dreams, dreaming that he plays the violin for people in the town, playing "Listening to Song" and playing "Cold Spring Wind Song", but what he wants to play most is the "Yixin Song". However, for him, even playing the violin has become an unattainable dream.

(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotion" documentary, short prose, life essays and short stories, and is uploading "Idol" (II) Dream Shattered)