First, in Changsha

Changsha, the place where Qu Yuan wandered, the place where Jia Yi cried, the place where I worked for a short time during the Northern Expedition, I came again after 12 years.

What about the old friends of the Northern Expedition? Probably gone. Guo Liang was beheaded, Xia Xi fell ill and died, and many people fought in the north...... The object of my visit was Tian Shouchang, who ran the "Anti-Japanese War Daily."

Shouchang was only freed after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War and the "August 13th". After "August 13", he moved from Nanjing to Shanghai, and I once met for a while. I went to the front line with him and Xia Yan several times to fight against the enemy generals. Before Shanghai became an isolated island, he returned to Changsha and started a small daily newspaper with his bare hands.

The newspaper is in the front building of a movie theater. Although there is a large hall room, it is only used as a passage or a place to eat. Everyone was gathered in a long room at the east end, which was sympathetically biased. The space is small, there are many people, and the office and reception room are all in it. There were also a few quilts piled up on one wall, and needless to say, it was doing the task of the dormitory again at night.

Although it was morning, it should be a quiet time in the general newspaper office, and there were already a lot of people gathered here. Some are talking, some are tying and wrapping. Shouchang sat under the window facing the street, swiping his pen like lightning to write the original manuscript.

Shouchang warmly welcomed me, and the first thing he said to me was: Ah, you came just in time, we were going to eat "Li Hesheng" at noon today.

This "Li Hesheng" has been a friend of God for a long time. It is a famous old sect restaurant in Changsha, and it is said that the façade is not particular at all, but the dishes are too good to be described. Shouchang recommended to me many years ago: if you go to Changsha, you must invite me to eat "Li Hesheng".

Shouchang introduced all the people in the room for me, including Liao Mosha, musician Zhang Shu, Shouchang's two younger brothers, the third and fifth masters, the eldest son Hainan, an uncle, and a movie star Hu Ping, a female reporter Xiong Yuelan and so on.

"Okay, let's go, eat Li Hesheng, let's go together!" Shouchang waved his hand and shouted.

So we were surrounded by a huge team and marched towards Li Hesheng.

Like a pair of triumphant generals, Shouchang and I, shoulder to shoulder, walked at the forefront.

As I walked, I explained my presence to him. I said that I had come here for refuge, and I didn't want to go to the Political Department, so I planned to go to Nanyang to raise funds and do our cultural work.

Shouchang was silent for a while, and then expressed a different opinion. He thinks that I am taking a separatist line, an evasion, and a retreat. He said: We are calling for unity, and we should show sincerity. In fact, today we must not make use of political connections, otherwise, it will not be easy to get all the work done.

I replied with a slight rebuttal: It seems that you are much more political than I am.

2. One of the five Lun

There are a lot of sweet potatoes sold on the streets, Hunan people call them cold potatoes, Guangdong people call them sand fruits, this thing seems to be only produced in Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong three provinces. It's something I loved to eat when I was a kid and I haven't seen it in years.

I was so happy that I spent two cents to buy two large bunches of them, ready to mention Li Hesheng as a fruit after eating.

After walking on the street for a while, I really lived up to my reputation on a rather chaotic back street, and saw the old shop that I had been friends with for a long time. It's old, I'm afraid it's already a hundred years old. There is actually a building, but it seems that even the back is hunched.

When I went upstairs, it was still early, and the buildings were still empty.

Shouchang was probably afraid that I would be disillusioned or despised by me, and he began to do voluntary propaganda again: after a while, you can see that the seats here are to be waited.

In fact, I am not disillusioned at all, let alone despise. I walked on the floor that seemed to be a little shaky, and I fell to the ground with a solemn thought of respecting the elderly.

In a building, there are two large round tables, with wide tabletops, long chopsticks, and large spoons, giving full play to the three characteristics of Hunan noodles.

The dishes are on the table, in addition to beef and beef shutters, there are also fish and chicken, and it doesn't seem to have any special taste, but it is also playing the three characteristics of Hunan cuisine: salty, spicy and more. Shouchang likes to eat beef shutters, although the portion is enough, and he calls it a double portion.

There were quite a few visitors, and when we were nearing the end of the meal, the upstairs and downstairs were full of people, and at the door of one of our rooms, there were already a number of people waiting there.

Shouchang pointed to such a grand occasion and said: Look, how is it? Well deserved?

"Sure enough, it lives up to its name." I said this, but I was peeling the sweet potato, and the snow-white sweet potato heart had already entered my mouth: "Ah, your sweet potatoes here are so good! Sweet and tender! ”

"Do you like this thing?"

"When I was a child, I liked to eat, and after I left Sichuan in the second year of the Republic of China, I only ate it in Guangzhou 12 years ago. But Guangdong's has a lot of dregs, and Sichuan's is not so sweet and tender. ”

"If you like to eat, that's good, this is always the time to eat cold potatoes."

When he walked out of Li Hesheng, he ran into two friends, one was Cao Rubi, and the other was his wife Liang Shude, who came to the newspaper to get the news. Cao Rubi, I met in Shanghai, and his wife was the first time I met, and it was said that she was from the Lingnan Church School and was working as the secretary of the Changsha Women's Association. But the lady was of short stature, with a pair of glasses of considerable depth on her round chestnut face, and looked rather like a schoolgirl.

Shouchang discussed with them, and he pulled Shude over and said to me: Shude is our best friend, they live in Liufangling outside the south gate, the room is spacious and the place is quiet. Shude is willing to entertain you to stay. I'm sure you'll have a great stay.

On the outside, it seems that Shouchang, who is beyond everything, cares about me so thoughtfully. He not only allowed me to enjoy the famous food and fruits, but also solved the problem of accommodation for me. I am truly grateful to him in my heart. It's no wonder that people in ancient times counted their friends as one of the five Lun.

3. Liufangling

Liufangling! I don't know what era and what poet ordered the name, not only the literal is very poetic, but also the ability to beautify the reality. There is no "fang" around here, and there are no "ridges", just a cluster of common slum-like urban tails. But in the middle of it stands a new building that is not very clever in the style of Chinese and Western, and that is the residence of Cao Rubi and his wife.

It is a row of three-room brick houses with a floor. They only rented the north side downstairs. One front room is grand and one back room is smaller. The front room is used as a living room, and the back room is used as a bedroom. They set up a bed for me in the back corner of the living room, and borrowed a screen from a friend to separate them. The place is indeed magnificent, quiet, and more attentive to the owner, so that I believe that anyone will live comfortably.

It was here that I stayed in Fangling, and the next day I met with Mr. Xu Teli.

Xu Telao also returned to Changsha from Yan'an at that time, and I have heard many young friends say that Xu Telao's spirit is very good, he is not old at all, and he can do three or four hours as soon as he makes a report.

It's a pity that I'm not a painter and can't paint such a good old man. The old man was short, but so sturdy, and he was wearing a gray cotton military uniform made in Yan'an. Almond's face is so ruddy, his eyes are so bright, his sparse beard is so frank, his mouth is so smiling with a few missing teeth, and his long gray hair is so draped. Isn't this the visualization of "honesty" itself?

As soon as the old man appeared in the antechamber, another old man appeared like a ghost. That was Wu Zhihui, one of the reactionary Shangshan Four Hao. The visualization of that huge, bloated, dirty, filthy "hypocrisy"! If anyone were willing to draw these two old men together, it would be one of the best teaching materials for contrast.

The old man made me very happy, and to my surprise he approved of my departure to the South Seas. He said: Propaganda for the reactionaries is absolutely not allowed. I'll also give you a concrete step. If you get the money, it's best to set up a southwest college near Hengshan to promote the revolutionary education of the youth. That's the way to go.

The old educator said this to me in a chop manner, and his voice was so strong, like that of the common people in the village, and so deafening. I suddenly had a fantasy: As soon as the Southwest College was established, wouldn't it form an ideal garden for revolutionary youth?

However, later facts proved that the elder was still a little too optimistic. In the world of reactionaries, where can you be allowed to do revolutionary education? This is certainly a matter of later importance, but there are also things that can be proved to be less than later. The old man lives in Changsha and is not so free, and he often has a special tail behind him. Soon after, he could not live in Changsha, so he had to go north.

Liufangling! Which poet gave you such a good name?

Fourth, the unbalanced scale

In Changsha, I was a little depressed.

The situation is in turmoil, and my state of mind is also in turmoil in other senses.

I really don't want to be a Feng woman anymore, and after Xu Telao's words, I added a weighty copper to this tendency.

But the average friend also adds weight to a relative tendency.

Friends in Wuhan kept sending letters and telegrams urging them, some exhorting them, and some of them severely reprimanding them.

Chen Cheng also sent several brief telegrams, and through Huang Qixiang and others, he said that he must invite me back, and all issues can be discussed in person. He even said that the three halls would not be organized until I went back. If I don't go back, the third hall will be hanging there.

In addition to conveying these opinions, Huang Qixiang kept sending letters several times, and his wording was sometimes so harsh that it was: If you want to joke again, then everyone will not regard you as a friend. History will not forgive you in the future!

But can there be any hope for the work to be promoted? Needless to say, the situation in Nanjing and Shanghai, the situation in Guangzhou and Wuhan is also needless to say, and what about Changsha in front of us? Isn't everything the same as not being done, not being able to do it, and still whitewashing the peace?

At that time, the chairman of Hunan was Zhang Zhizhong, and Yan Yangchu of the Peace Church was in full swing. What kind of rural education do they want to run, and what kind of model counties do they want to set up? One night I sat at the banquet at the chairman's residence, and it was because of Zhang's introduction that I met our fellow villagers for the first time. I can't imagine that the "Sichuan rat", who is a bit like a nun, has such great ambitions: he can improve the countryside and make the people of Hunan wear leather shoes!

It's a pity that the Japanese are too fond of jokes, and sometimes they have to fly a few planes to raid this peaceful and prosperous paradise. The first time (probably February 10th) was to bomb the Changsha station, and only then did the alarm be released when the plane ran away and the house burned.

Since this "aftermath", Changsha has also begun to "actively air defense". On each street, a "bomb room" was built at the end of a dozen shops. It was built of wooden planks, but it was a man high, and a layer of sandbags was piled on top. So it is said that it is in "air defense". The citizens of Changsha have given these new buildings a very reasonable use - temporary thatched houses.

There is an even more tragic tragedy looming in front of us!

Isn't the Anti-Japanese War Daily a tragedy in itself? Although he relied on Shouchang and other friends to support himself, he was actually doing "rice cooking". White newspapers are a problem, printing costs are a problem, that is, the food expenses of colleagues are barely perfunctory, and the salaries are not to be said. Subsidies are not available, but controls are uninvited. For the sake of unity, everyone has to swallow their anger.

The most tragic thing happened about a week after I arrived in Changsha. A newspaper colleague's family had a tragedy of mother and son committing suicide because of difficult life.

Whose sin is this? Whose sin is it that a zealous and patriotic cultural person is not only forced to suffer from poverty and illness, but also to the destruction of his family?

The criminals all had a pair of bloody hands, but on these bloody hands they always wore a pair of white gloves. Who can go and shake their hands with peace of mind?

My state of mind is on an unbalanced scale, and I really can't control it, so that it is not turbulent, no longer turbulent.

Fifth, make the wine scolding

I really admire Shouchang's patience. He was in a much more difficult situation than I was, but he did his best to encourage and comfort me.

He called on the cultural circles of Changsha to convene a large-scale welcome party for me, and sometimes mobilized friends to invite me to dinner, invited me to give speeches, invited me to write, and sometimes accompanied me to listen to Hunan opera, enter cafes, and visit Yuelu Mountain. I have hung the tomb of Huang Xing, the tomb of Cai Yi, and also the temple of Qu Zi and the temple of Taifu Jia (Yi), all of which he went to by himself or asked a friend to be a guide and accompany me.

Once, he dragged me to visit Hu Ping's home. That's a poor home! The house is in a slum, and the interior is also very untidy. The star is sick, the star's old mother is also sick, and only a seven or eight-year-old little brother entertains us. This should be considered a tragedy, right?

There is a coffee shop downstairs in the newspaper building, and every night, after everyone's urgent action is over, they go there and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or two. Sometimes it's a partnership, sometimes it's me who invites them. I heard that Hu Ping was born as a waitress in that coffee shop, so the waitresses there seem to be a little conceited: it seems that everyone has the hope of becoming a movie star in the future.

Shouchang is the North Star here, as soon as he enters the door, it is really "where he lives and the stars arch", and the waitresses will come to surround him and bet their hopes on him.

There are braised chicken wings there, Shouchang loves to eat them, and I always have to eat more than a dozen of them at a time, but I like to eat my cold potatoes as usual.

Once, at the door of the coffee shop, I bought two cents of cold potatoes and prepared to share them with everyone, and then I took some back to Liufangling. I usually buy cold potatoes for two cents, and the amount is a lot, but this time it is pitiful. I asked the old man who sold cold potatoes:

"Why are there so few cold potatoes for two cents today?"

The old man was very leisurely to make up the weight, and said with a smile, "I'm afraid you won't be able to take it." ”

made Shouchang, who was standing on the side, laugh, and he used this little interjection as humorous material to tell many people in the future.

Shouchang encouraged me and comforted me like this, it took a lot of painstaking work, but I should never have been, I was very sorry for him once, and I couldn't live with many friends.

It was one week evening, and I asked Shouchang to prepare two tables of light meals at a friend's house, so that everyone could have a good time. Friends bought several bottles of tiger bone wine. I myself am an impulsive person, and I can't control it for a while, so I toast to each of my friends at the two round tables.

Tiger bone wine, it looks and tastes, it looks a bit like Wujiapi. Whether there are really tiger ashes in it, and what the tiger's ashes do, I don't know. But the wine was really strong, and after the two tables were served, I was drunk. Then I criticized everyone in the room, and I rebuked them more and more violently, until I lost consciousness completely.

When I woke up the next morning, I found myself sleeping in the west room of the newspaper building, and the third master and Hainan were taking care of me. When I asked about the night, they refused to say anything at first, but later the third master told me.

He said that I scolded all the people, pointing at the men as male politicians and pointing at the women as female politicians. Scolding everyone for playing with flowers, not taking root at all, and only looking at the upper level, not the lower level. He also said that I also scolded myself, slapped myself three times, and scolded myself again and again for being a politician, a politician, a bastard politician!

The third master and Hainan were faintly proud, and they said: We are very good, and we have not been scolded.

6. Into hell

Liqun stayed in Wuhan, and for about three days, a letter always came, either directly or indirectly, informing me of some news. At first, she was going to study in the north, but then her friends kept her and didn't let her go. A letter from about 10 days later said: Soon she will also come to Changsha. I was looking forward to it, but the second letter said that I couldn't come, and that it would take a few days. Every time I write a letter, I almost have to mention everyone's meaning, asking me not to leave Changsha too anxiously and go south no matter what.

I left Liqun because of the anguish of another sense of spirituality. I'm glad she's coming; Wait, I had to wait patiently.

In February, it was the 26th, and it had been 20 days since I left Wuhan. On the morning of this day, I walked out of my apartment in Liufangling, on the side of the road, and was about to hire a foreign car and go into the city to find Shouchang, when I suddenly saw Shouchang sitting on a foreign car and coming towards me. As soon as Shouchang saw me, he stopped and shouted at me: Friends from Wuhan are here!

Shouchang jumped out of the car, and I found that Liqun was sitting in the back car that was blocked by him. I couldn't help but feel my heart pounding, and at the same time, I also saw Liqun's face suddenly flush and bury his head in it.

Together, they returned to their apartment. Liqun brought a lot of letters, including those of Zhou Gong and others.

Liqun told me verbally: Chen Cheng made it clear to Zhou Gong that he wanted me to go back immediately, and everything could be discussed. He also said: The candidate for the deputy director is no longer a problem, and that Liu Jianqun has caused some peach incident, and he has already gone to Chongqing.

Liqun did not express her own opinion, but I saw that she had brought none of my luggage with me in Wuhan, and there was no doubt that she was in favor of me going back quickly.

I hesitated and didn't immediately express my opinion.

Shouchang urged on the side: What else is there to consider? I don't go to hell, who goes to hell! Friends are waiting at the gates of hell, are you going to stay in heaven alone?

"So, are you willing to go to hell?"

"Of course, you won't be left alone!"

"All right," I replied with determination, "let us go and suffer." However, my question is simple, you can go at any time. What about you? It's up to you now. ”

Shouchang laughed, turned around and said to Liqun: "Do not disgrace your mission!" After all, the power of women is great, and the power of love is great! ”

Liqun blushed again and buried his head again.

As a result of the discussion, Shouchang asked to give him a day or two of spare time to explain the "Anti-Japanese War Daily" clearly, and he was also ready to invite one or two friends to go with him. In this way, we decided to take the morning train on the 28th and go to Wuhan together.

That night, Shouchang invited many people to eat Li Hesheng again. Like me, Liqun also loves to eat sweet potatoes from Hunan. She was born in Beijing and has been in Shanghai for several years, and she has not only never eaten sweet potatoes, but has never seen them. Liqun said: This is really a civilian food, the skin is like a sweet potato and can be peeled by hand freely, and the content is really like a pear.

The weather was fine the next day, so I crossed the river with Liqun and enjoyed a swim in Yuelu Mountain. After living for 20 days, I actually became an old Changsha. Jia Yi wants to cry here, I'm afraid that I still want to be an official. I'm leaving, but I think Changsha is worth nostalgia: it seems to be a paradise.

Take the morning train on the 28th. Accompanying are Shouchang, Sanye, and Zhang Shu. There are also many friends who see them off at the station.

In the song of "March of the Volunteers", the train started.