Chapter 44 Evening scene

In September 1937, Hu Shi, who was in the United States, contacted an American book company for Chen Duxiu, asking Chen to go to the United States to write his autobiography, but Chen declined on the grounds that "life is very simple and there is no need to go to the United States, and I am tired of meeting strangers." Chen Duxiu lived in no fixed place in his later years. After he was released from prison in 1937, he first lived in the home of his student Fu Sinian in Nanjing.But when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Fu's family went to the mainland, and Chen lived in the home of his student Chen Zhongfan.With the deepening of the Anti-Japanese War, he moved to Wuhan and then to Chongqing.

On August 3, 1938, Deng Zhongchun (Deng Jiaxian's second uncle), Chen Duxiu's classmate studying in Japan, searched many ways and found Chen Duxiu. He must let Chen live in his home.Chen Sui moved his family to Jiangjin County, southwest of Chongqing City.Unexpectedly, after arriving at Deng's house, Mrs. Deng turned them away because "the house is small", which made him very embarrassed, and said sadly: "If I hadn't brought a lot of luggage, I would have returned to Chongqing the next day." Fang Xiaoyuan, an old friend from the same village, was entertained by Fang Xiaoyuan, so he stayed temporarily in the small inn; on the 7th, he got sympathy from the landlord of the Guo's mansion in Dongmen, and moved out of a room in the building, lived in it, and chatted to settle down.Chen sighed, "It's so difficult to go out."

In January 1939, Chen Duxiu's family moved into the back house of "Yannian Hospital" run by Deng Zhongchun.But Mrs. Deng often speaks ill of them.Deng Jingkun, Deng Zhongchun's younger brother, explained the reason why Mrs. Deng hated Chen Duxiu in "The Chen Duxiu I Know": "My second sister-in-law is an old-fashioned mind. When she was in Peking University, she used to love Chen Duxiu to visit the Eight Great Alleys, and she liked to flirt with women. Pai couldn't get used to it. He was afraid that Chen would bring my second brother under his wing. Right now, he hated this old couple and his young wife so much, and often used vicious words to embarrass them. My second brother is notoriously afraid of guilt. Don’t dare to stop it.”

Deng Jingkun recalled: "In the summer of the 28th year of the Republic of China, the climate was hot. Chen Duxiu also imitated the locals, wearing nothing on his upper body and only a pair of shorts on his lower body. Several families lived together, men and women, old and young, just like at the beginning It’s the same as in the Hankou refugee camp. It’s really inconvenient. One day, my six-year-old son, who is usually very naughty, saw Chen Duxiu’s bald head and shirtless body. Ass. As a result, Chen Duxiu got very angry and blamed the children of our Deng family for being uneducated. I was not at home, and my second brother was in front of the doctor. My second sister-in-law was originally angry. After a few words, he immediately became furious, pointed at Chen Duxiu's nose and cursed: "You say that others are uneducated, you should look at yourself first! A sixty-year-old man marries a young lady as his wife, you What kind of upbringing is this? On a hot day, several families live together, men and women live in a large house, and you, an old bastard, walk around naked in the middle, what kind of upbringing is this?'..."

Chen Duxiu was stunned by the scolding, Pan Lanzhen loudly quarreled with Mrs. Deng, Deng Zhongchun hurriedly dropped the patient, ran into the yard, and sternly told Mrs. Deng to shut up.But Mrs. Deng refused to let her go, she beat her chest and stomped her feet, cried and cursed them to "get out".Chen Tieqing stared at the hysterical Mrs. Deng, two old tears rolled out of his eyes, and said sadly: "Don't be as knowledgeable as her, Lan Zhen, let's go!" After saying that, he pushed Pan Lanzhen to go upstairs.That night, Chen Duxiu left Deng's house with his whole family and lived in a warehouse on Santong Street.

Afterwards, Chen Duxiu accepted the help of Jiangjin capitalists Deng Chanqiu and Deng Xiekang's uncle and nephew, and moved to the Shi Family Courtyard in Heshanping, more than 30 miles outside the west gate of Jiangjin City.There are many children here and the courtyard is noisy, which is not conducive to Chen's recuperation and writing. It happened that Chen Duxiu bought the manuscripts of Yang Lucheng, a local former Qing scholar, by chance. Yang Zhi's posthumous work.Chen Duxiu agreed, and in August of the same year, he moved to the side room (stone wall courtyard) of Yang's house.The place is very simple, Chen's bedroom has no ceiling, the ground below is earth, and it has been in disrepair for a long time, and water often enters it in rainy days.There are only two wooden beds, a desk, a few stools, and a few suitcases and bookcases in the room.The only decoration is a piece of rubbings written by Yue Fei on the wall of the study "Give me back my rivers and mountains".

After Chen Duxiu carefully read all of Yang Lucheng's manuscripts, he thought that "most of them are just paraphrasing theories of the ancients, with little originality and little value", so he told Yang straightforwardly that he would no longer organize them for the Yang family.The Yang family has long been in decline, and Yang Qingyu had disputes with several brothers in order to support Chen Duxiu.After hearing Chen's words, Yang Qingyu was so angry that he almost stopped crossing the threshold of the Chen couple, and gradually stopped giving firewood, rice and vegetables.

Some people have interviewed Yang Mingxing, Guo Biqing, Wu Yuanzhen who lived with the Chen couple in Shiqiangyuan, and Hu Pinzhong and others who helped Chen cleanse himself and put on "old clothes" after his death.Guo Biqing said: "At first I didn't know that Mr. Chen was Chen Duxiu, but later I found out, and I didn't know what Chen Duxiu was doing. I only knew that Mr. Chen was a guest invited by my second master Yang, and he was a man of great culture. People often When I came to visit him from Chongqing and Jiangjin, it was all people who came and went. People outside thought that Mr. Chen was rich when they saw it, and even stole him once. In fact, we all know that Mr. Chen is a horse shit Outside, she was so poor, Mrs. Chen played mahjong with our daughters-in-law of the Yang family every afternoon and evening. money."

Yang Mingxing, the son of Yang Qingyu, said: "Chen Duxiu and his wife moved here in the spring of 1941. Not long after they moved here, Mr. Chen fell ill and had to be sent to Chongqing for medical treatment. There was no medical fee. Mrs. Chen had no choice but to ask Wu Yuanzhen to go to the city to bring a All the silver fox fur robes given to him by the senior officials were pawned. Sometimes the roof of the house could not be uncovered, so Pan Lanzhen returned my house to borrow rice." The Peking University Alumni Association first appointed Luo Han to take care of Chen Duxiu's life. After Luo Han was killed in an air raid by Japanese invaders in Chongqing in 1939, the Peking University Alumni Association entrusted He Zhiyu to continue to take care of Chen Duxiu.Both Luo Han and He Zhiyu have their own jobs, and it is impossible to be by their side all the time.Chen's stepmother, Xie, was also living with the Chens at this time. Pan Lanzhen was responsible for cooking, laundry and other housework. When her stepmother was blind, Chen had to deliver meals to her.

Chen Duxiu had no savings at all, and his main source of income was the remuneration he received for writing articles for newspapers and periodicals, but the amount was limited, and it was quite difficult to afford the living expenses of three people, as well as Chen's own medical expenses. It was barely enough to make a living. As a last resort, Chen Duxiu could only pawn and sell it.Bo Wenwei came to Jiangjin to visit Chen, and saw that his clothes were thin, so he took off his ermine jacket and gave it to him.This fur jacket and more than a dozen fur robes he received in prison were all pawned.In order to save money, Pan Lanzhen opened a small garden in the open space in the backyard and planted spinach, peppers, yams and other vegetables.In his spare time, Chen Duxiu often watered, fertilized and caught insects in the vegetable garden.

The skyrocketing prices made their life unsustainable. When Chen Duxiu heard that Chishui County in the southwest of Jiangjin and Jiang'an County in the upper reaches of Jiangjin were relatively low in price and relatively safe, he planned to live there.He wrote to Yang Pengsheng, a student who was a major general of the Kuomintang, for help, but Yang Ai couldn't help.And in Jiangjin, his good friend Deng Zhongchun can treat him at any time and exempt him from all medical expenses.Therefore, the plan to move had to be cancelled. It is said that when he was in Nanjing, his students Luo Jialun and Fu Sinian personally gave him money, but he insisted on refusing to accept it, which made them very embarrassing.When serving tea to see off the guests, he also said to the two of them: "You will be your high officials, and you will make your fortune. I don't want your relief." Chen Duxiu did not want to miss out on gifts for those who came here because of admiration and had no acquaintances.He also insisted on not receiving reward for meritorious service.In his later years, Chen engaged in philology research and wrote a "Primary School Literacy Textbook".It was originally scheduled to be published by the Ministry of Education of the Kuomintang government, and a total of 5,000 yuan was paid in advance.However, the book was not published until Chen died, so Chen has not allowed his family to use the 5,000 yuan. Yang Pengsheng knew Chen's temperament well, so he often tried to help Chen.He often wrote to ask Chen for notes, couplets, inscriptions, inscriptions, inscriptions, and even asked Chen to write an epitaph for his father and pay him fees; or simply send him money in an "unregistered" way. In October 1939, Chen "received exactly" the donation of 600 yuan that "Mr. X" asked Yang Pengsheng to forward. In March 1941, Chen Duxiu received a letter from Yang Pengsheng with a "thousand-yuan bill of exchange" attached. The letter also mentioned asking him to write couplets in large characters, but it did not explain the usefulness of the thousand-yuan remittance. In October, "Mr. X" sent him another 600 yuan in the same way. According to the archives of Zhu Jiahua in the Archives of the Institute of Modern History of the Taiwan Academia Sinica, the Kuomintang government learned of Chen Duxiu’s situation and asked Zhang Guotao to donate 14,000 yuan to Chen’s medical expenses three times in the name of Zhu Jiahua. The first time was 1,000 yuan, and the second time was 5,000 yuan. , the third time was directly approved by Chiang Kai-shek, which was 8,000 yuan. Peking University sent money to Chen Duxiu, and Chen felt uneasy. He once found a copy of "Lian Yu Lei Bian" and handed it to Deng Zhongchun, saying: "Peking University sent me money, but I didn't have anything in return, so I gave this mimeograph manuscript to Peking University." When Chen Duxiu took refuge in Jiangjin, the Kuomintang still monitored him, but Chen didn't care. In early March 1941, He Zhiyu, who taught at Jiangjin No. 9 Middle School, wrote to Chen that his middle school was being secretly monitored by Kuomintang agents.Chen Fuhan told He "don't need to be overly cautious" and said with relief: "Even if they are detectives, it doesn't matter. They are willing to investigate three things: (1) whether we have any relationship with the cadre faction (the CCP); (2) whether we have any Small organizations; (3) Are there any secret operations against the government. We have none. Be more cautious in words and deeds, what can he pry into?" From the death of his stepmother and eldest sister to the theft of the manuscript, the sadness of everything being ruined made Chen Duxiu's passion for pursuing the scholar's elegance even stronger.In his letter to Yang Pengsheng, he said: "My brother intends to ask four friends to write a small Dou Fang each, and each of the four female painters to draw a small Dou Fang, which will be decorated as four screens as a commemoration. A small piece, if Mrs. Sister-in-law likes to paint, if she paints a small piece, it may be complete. With permission, I will send the book on paper." When he was forced to spend his spare time due to illness, Chen Duxiu often practiced his brushes carefully, and discussed calligraphy with Ouyang Jingwu, Tai Jingnong and others.He sometimes went to the "China Inner Academy" run by Ouyang Jingwu in the east of Jiangjin County, and talked with Ouyang Jingwu about literature and art, calligraphy, chatting, or occasionally with old acquaintances from his hometown, Su Hongyi, an old Jinshi in his seventies, and others. play cards.While visiting Dongmen Park in Jiangjin Scenic Area, he also took a trip to the Kangzhuang area of ​​Ximen to enjoy the scenery.Backed by the green hills and facing the great river, the place is surrounded by thousands of peach blossoms and orange groves, and the scenery is beautiful.Every time he came to this place, he would linger on it and couldn't bear to leave. He often sighed involuntarily: "The scenery here is very beautiful, and a lifetime is enough to get this beautiful scenery!" In September of this year, Luo Zongwen, the new county magistrate, paid a courtesy visit to Chen Duxiu's home.He came to the Stone Wall Courtyard, saw Chen Duxiu, and saw that he was quite old.From his old-fashioned appearance, Luo could hardly see that Chen Duxiu was such an influential figure.Chen Duxiu talked calligraphy with Luo Da, and wrote a banner for him, which was the last four sentences of the second song of the Qilu "Qujiang Conversation" written by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Du Gong: "The butterfly who wears flowers sees deeply, and the dragonfly that touches water flies gracefully. ; The rumors and scenery flow together, and there is no contradiction in rewarding each other for the time being." Before the Spring Festival in 1942, after Chen Duxiu borrowed the copybook "Wu Rong Monument" from Ouyang Jing Wushang, he wrote a poem saying: "Guanxiu went to Shu, only the bottle and bowl, lying sick in the mountains, and there is little trouble. At the end of the year, the family is full of porpoise and ducks, and the old greedy alone envies it. Monument of Wu Rong." After seeing this poem, Zhu Yunshan, a good friend, couldn't bear it so much that he bought a few ducks to visit him, but he was alone at home, rolling on the bed because of a stomach attack, and the situation was very bleak.