Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Lost Life
On November 2, 1948, the currency reform failed.
On November 5 of the same year, Zeng Dada committed suicide.
Chiang Ching-kuo did not receive the letter left by Zeng Da until much later.
When Wang Puchen handed him the letter, he only put it on the table.
At that time, Wang Puchen stared at him with surprised eyes and asked him why he didn't look.
On weekdays, Wang Puchen would never question others like this.
Chiang Ching-kuo remembered that he said at the time, everyone is gone, what is the need to look at this.
Then Wang Puchen left without saying a word. After he left, Chiang Ching-kuo did not look at the letters on the table again.
It wasn't until the day he was about to leave for Taiwan that Chiang Ching-kuo picked up the letter.
He hadn't opened it before, and at first he was scared. I'm afraid that the letter is that Zeng Dada complains that he, who has always been the leader of the faith of so many people, can't do anything, and I'm afraid that he will blame him and let him continue to walk alone. Later, I really forgot. Or rather, I don't want to think about it anymore.
But when it was time to leave in the end, he always hoped to be accompanied by his things.
In fact, until the failure of the currency reform, he hoped to continue to work with Zeng Dada.
In the past, when the two of them talked about politics together, Zeng Dada always said that his methods were too aggressive and that he was not humane. But in the end, it was him who was the most ruthless.
At that time, I praised him for his faith, not afraid of life and death.
He did it.
If you can't reach it, you will die.
Chiang Ching-kuo sighed, but finally did not open the letter. At this time, he couldn't tell why he didn't want to face Zeng Dada's last words.
Keep your words to yourself.
It's been half a year since Zeng Da left, and it was still a snowy day when he raised his gun. Now outside the window, there is grass everywhere.
Maybe it's time to put it down. Then continue with your own plans and continue to hold on to your beliefs and doctrines. After all, everything has passed.
And that's exactly what he did.
After arriving in Taiwan, he worked hard to keep himself busier and busier. It seems that in this way, it is really possible to forget that person.
In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died.
Chiang Ching-kuo began to take over all things in Taiwan.
One night, on a whim, he wanted to see what Zeng Dada had left for him.
With some trembling, he opened the envelope, which contained only 40 words. A five-word poem, the square font made him suddenly convinced that the words left by the ancestor were like his person.
Most of the letter is blank.
Jiang Jingguo suddenly remembered that when he first met Zeng Dada, he stood in the middle of a group of people and talked endlessly, but now there are only 40 words left.
What he wanted to say to himself was only 40 words.
There is no resentment and grievances, grievances or accusations that you imagined.
But this person, who experienced anything calmly, pinched the letter and burst into tears.
The letter reads:
After years of detention of travelers, the old stranger.
The rain and snow are embarrassed, and the tears are covered in the wind and dust.
I still can't write poetry, and the words are ugly, don't laugh at me.
Don't read it, you can reach the pen.
In fact, he would rather he hate him and blame him.
But every word of the letter told him that he understood that person.
understands his helplessness and stubbornness. I also understand his disappointment and unwillingness.
Through the letter, he could think of Zeng Dada, when he wrote this poem, remembering that he laughed at him for being too beautiful and a little shy like a woman.
But he was never seen again.
He recalled that at that time, the two of them had made an appointment to climb a certain mountain in Nanjing together. But in the end, it still didn't happen.
So, Chiang Ching-kuo decided to climb Alishan once.
Picked a winter morning.
Without anyone to accompany him, he put Zeng Dada's letter in his pocket. When he reached the top, he deliberately looked down from above, and it was really picturesque.
It's just that he always thought that there should be two people standing on the top of the mountain like this, looking at the scenery below.
When he returned to his residence, it was already evening, and Chiang Ching-kuo burned the letter.
If he could, he would have preferred not to read the letter.
That night, he finally understood the reason why he had kept the letter away for so many years. In fact, he was still afraid.
I'm afraid that after reading it, there will be no other thoughts and hopes.
Chiang Ching-kuo died in Taiwan in 1988.