Chapter 10 Chapter nine

The University of Hong Kong held a freshman dance on weekends, and the students were mixed with different races, and some older foreign staff and teachers also came to participate.Zhang Ailing was leaning in a dark corner alone, holding a glass of soda in her hand. She only had a blue and white dress with ordinary tailoring, which was definitely not outstanding in such a freshman ball.So she hid in a corner with peace of mind, watching those rich female students from Nanyang, wearing headbands and fluffy dance skirts, dancing with some Hong Kong youths who had received Western education and behaved completely Westernized.

Fatima enthusiastically led a boy to a group of girls who did not have a partner and said, "Hurry up! A girl's youth is counted in seconds! Don't waste our time!" Zhang Ailing was standing by the window, and Fatima stood beside her and asked, "Why don't you dance?" She spoke in a strange tone, mixed with a foreign accent, I don't know if it was Shanghainese or Cantonese, and it was funny at first. . Zhang Ailing asked back: "Why don't you dance?" Fatima's big eyes were shining brightly, and she said with a smile, "Good question! Because I have lent out my male companion! Hey! You are taller than me, and you are my male companion!"

Zhang Ailing said with some embarrassment: "I can't dance!" Fatima immediately retorted: "Great! I can't walk!" Zhang Ailing felt that this girl was simply wonderful. Fatima introduced her family to Zhang Ailing: "My mother is from Tianjin; my father is from Ceylon! They sell jewelry and have a shop on Nanjing Road! My mother ran away from home before marrying my father." Zhang Ailing quickly went on to say: "Oh! My mother ran away from home after marrying my father!" Her friendship with Fatima (Zhang Ailing later changed her name to Yanying) lasted a lifetime.

The two girls like to enjoy the old streets of Hong Kong together.They were leaning against the railing of the Star Ferry Ferry, the sky was dim, and a salty smell of the sea was blowing towards them with the humid sea breeze, accompanied by the singing of seabirds.Suddenly, a black man on the ferry casually played the saxophone he carried with him. Both Zhang Ailing and Fatima turned around to look at it. The freely dancing fingers, the narcissistic happiness, and the melody blended with the tide and the whistle on the boat. together.For the first time, Zhang Ailing felt that her life was still free. She found the rhythm of her breathing, and a strong throbbing made her believe that she had enough reasons to live.

All the hurt and pressure of the past three years seemed to have been evaporated by the hot and humid sea breeze in Hong Kong and taken away. She felt like crying, because she believed that there was still a future.She turned to face the sea so that Fatima could not see her.She looked into the distance, not far enough, she had to look farther. At the end of 1941, the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong.The girls were driven by the school to the basement to avoid the bombing, but Yanying was missing.Zhang Ailing and the dormitory supervisor looked for her everywhere.Her roommate said that she went to watch a movie in Sheung Wan, and the warden was furious: "She is crazy! Don't you know there is a war?"

Finally, they heard the song "Over the Rainbow" coming from the dark bathroom. Suddenly, there was a sound of bullets breaking the glass, and the singing stopped. The housekeeper's yelling echoed in the dark and empty bathroom: "You idiot, lunatic, get out of the shower immediately!" Yan Ying shouted: "With soap bubbles?" Zhang Ailing, who was standing beside the dormitory supervisor, lowered her head and tried her best to hold back her laughter. Yan Ying's indifference seemed to be a mockery of everyone's horror. In the early morning, the air is still, and tired people fall asleep in one warehouse.

Zhang Ailing curled up, covered with magazines and newspapers.The bombing was far and near, and the ground shook from time to time. At most, they opened their eyes or moved their bodies, and then continued to sleep. The war could not disturb them. Zhang Ailing's chin shivered from the cold. She opened her eyes and saw a man and a woman sitting on two round stools near the door. It wasn't cold, and the bombs couldn't be heard. In the school hospital, Zhang Ailing, who was a nurse, saw the cruel consequences of the war.The afternoon sun was shining directly on the face of a dying patient, his mouth was open as if to be scratched.Zhang Ailing stood in front of him, looking at him reluctantly, not knowing what to do, but the truth was that she walked away without doing anything.

The long table for eating has become a temporary hospital bed, and all the injured street refugees are sent here. Flies are flying on their heads to bite the rotten wounds, and they become food for flies and maggots.Zhang Ailing had to pass them over and over again every day. She felt that the whole world was full of sores and pus, and she hated it from the bottom of her heart. Several female students sat behind the screen and flirted with the male nursing students, but no one paid any attention to these patients.Flirting was the only way to pass the long hours. Eileen Chang kept drawing pictures, one after another, all of which are the various poses of people.

At night, Zhang Ailing signed on the duty board at the door, and then went to the kitchen behind with a jug of milk in her arms. She passed one hospital bed after another, and everyone half-stretched up to look at her helplessly. She was cold. With a face, there is no reaction at all. An isolation screen isolates not critical patients, but a pair of young student nurses who are already on fire.The white robes on them seemed no longer pure, the woman moaned and pushed straight, while the man's skills were on par, and there was no intention of stopping at all.There was a rather wide gap in the screen, which unobtrusively exposed the only real thing in the war-eating and drinking men and women.Zhang Ailing didn't seem to see it when she passed by.

The life of the female student behind the screen had a new beginning, and the dying patient finally passed away in the middle of the night, which can be regarded as an end of relief. Hong Kong still fell, and the University of Hong Kong was forced to suspend classes.Zhang Ailing's three and a half years of hard work were burned to ashes in this war, leaving no traces, so she had to return to Shanghai.Originally, she was the first in grades, got a scholarship, and could be recommended to Oxford, but now all of them are in vain.Zhang Zijing is going to enter Shanghai St. John's University, and Zhang Ailing also wants to go to the university to make up her diploma.But it was a war, my mother was in Singapore, and her whereabouts were unknown, and my aunt was laid off by a foreign company, so no one could take care of her.

Zhang Zijing plucked up the courage to intercede with Zhang Zhiyi for her sister.Zhang Zhiyi kept silent all the way, Zhang Zijing didn't know if he would get angry or pretend he didn't hear it at all, the more he said, the more he muttered: "My sister has grown up! She has become beautiful! She thinks a lot! She also cares about family affairs!" He is helping Eileen Chang make up good words, and he can't make it too outrageous.But these few words did arouse Zhang Zhiyi's feelings as a father. After four years, he didn't know what kind of appearance Zhang Ailing had become, whether he would be more like him or Huang Yifan. Zhang Zhiyi finally said: "Tell her to come back!" Zhang Zijing almost thought he heard it wrong, so he quickly agreed while the lingering sound was in his ears. Zhang Ailing hesitated outside the house, she was forced to be on the knife's edge, and a thousand people were unwilling, so she still had to go in.Standing in the living room, she heard the sound of pacing on the floor, and even the sound of falling chairs. Zhang Ailing knew sensitively that her stepmother was at home, and she felt sorry for herself, and she wanted to go back to their feet to beg for help. The autumn sun shines through the window behind her, she is wearing a floral dress and a sweater, her hair has grown, and the childishness on her face has faded.Zhang Zhiyi couldn't say that he didn't have any lingering anger towards her, nor could he say that he didn't have any guilt or miss. After thinking about it, he asked, "Your brother said you have something to ask me?" Zhang Ailing looked up at Zhang Zhiyi, her father wanted her to beg him personally, she was extremely unwilling.When she saw her father, all the horrific memories of her being imprisoned for half a year came back to her mind. The thought of running away flashed through her mind, but due to reality, she had to hold on to her determination that could collapse at any time. Zhang Ailing simply said the most embarrassing thing first, and felt more at ease: "I know this is unreasonable. I haven't contacted my family for several years, and I will ask for money as soon as I come back! I just didn't expect that the trouble for a long time was still about studying. It seems that God does not give this life, no matter how good the exam is, I will be stopped in several battles! It is true, I have tried my best! Please don’t make it difficult, Dad!" When she was waiting almost desperately, Zhang Zhiyi said, "You sign up for the entrance exam first. I'll ask your brother to send you the tuition fee." This was the last time Zhang Ailing went home, and it was also the last time she saw her father.