Chapter 85 absolute sincerity

Tsinghua was established in the American way after Boxer indemnity. Some Tsinghua students did not fully agree with it at the time.Wen Yiduo published an article "Americanized Tsinghua" before graduation, saying: "I will leave Tsinghua, my alma mater for ten years. If I have a parting message, I only have these few words to say to him. I said: Tsinghua is too old. Americanized! Tsinghua should not be Americanized, because the so-called American culture is not worthy of our acceptance! What is American culture? Generally speaking, materialism; , luxury—material prosperity, personal prosperity... I know everything in Tsinghua University clearly. I dare to say that what I said about Tsinghua University is not wrong.”

Since Wen Yiduo was listed as a sealant, there has been an endless stream of customers, and the eldest son Wen Lihe is quite disgusted by this.Once, Wen Lihe asked his father if he was making a fortune for the country. Wen Yiduo was not angry after hearing this, but said sadly: "Lihe, I will remember your words for the rest of my life." Wen Yiduo is happy to support and support the latecomers.Once, a certain student asked Wen Yiduo to borrow four volumes of his manuscripts of "The Long Compilation of the Book of Songs". Wen lent the manuscripts to him without even asking his name.When He Shanzhou was doing the selection and annotation of reference materials on the history of literature in the Han Dynasty, Wen contributed his own manuscripts and let him choose.

Some students asked Wen Yiduo to write a thesis.Wen said: "I advise young friends not to talk about creation for the time being, but to read books for 20 years before talking." When the student Zheng Linchuan was in his third year of college, he heard that Wen Yiduo liked to listen to strange talks when evaluating students' grades, so he planned to write a book report denying the existence of Qu Yuan.After hearing this, Wen Yiduo said to him: "I have read a lot, but unfortunately there are still problems with my attitude and methods. Yes, I have always encouraged my students to think independently, dare to express different opinions, and stand the test of not being afraid of absurdity." , to strive for wonderful achievements through the ages. However, you must first have a correct attitude, and you will find the correct method. Can you deny the historical fact of Qu Yuan’s existence?"

In 1942, Zheng Linchuan rushed to write his graduation thesis and asked Wen Yiduo for information.Wen asked him to live in Sijiaying for a period of time, and to look up information at the Institute of Liberal Arts.Zheng thought that the husband must have a secret book to teach him, so he went happily.But for half a month, Wen didn't give any guidance, but let him read it by himself.Zheng was very anxious, so he made up a reason and prepared to return to the city.In the afternoon of this day, Wen gave Zheng the materials on Tang Dynasty poets that he had compiled for many years, and asked him to copy them, and told him that if he studied Tang poetry in the future, he could send these materials to him.Zheng was very moved.Wen said: "Why didn't I give it to you earlier, and wait until today, half a year later? I deliberately let you go through a process of arduous exploration, so that you can understand the difficulty of learning. You think you have collected too little in half a year. You should know how many years of painstaking effort the teacher has put into these materials. You should know that learning is like your Sanxiang's "daughter red" (a kind of Hunan embroidery), which is woven with needles and threads for many years, not like running around the rivers and lakes. It came out of nowhere by juggling. If you understand the difficulty of learning, you will be able to practice it yourself, and you will not criticize or negate other people's achievements at will."

In the spring of 1943, Ji Zhenhuai wrote an article on the textual research on the number "seventy-two" that often appeared in ancient books. write this article.When the article was published, Wen insisted on signing the names of the three people, and said in the appendix that he was just "gossiping a little more and acting as a copy of Xu Xu once." In his youth, Wen Yiduo didn't have much affection for Lu Xun.In his letter to Liang Shiqiu, he mentioned "people who are not close to me in my generation", and the first one is Lu Xun. In 1944, Kunming literary and art circles held a party to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Lu Xun's death, and Wen Yiduo also attended.Wen Xian bowed deeply to Lu Xun's portrait, and then said: "Now I confess to Lu Xun: Lu Xun was right, we were wrong! When Lu Xun suffered and suffered, we were all still enjoying the blessings... If we all had the kind of Lu Xun Bones, even if there is only a little bit, China is not like this!... As time goes on, Lu Xun becomes more and more great. Today, on behalf of the university professors who returned from Britain and the United States, at least myself, I deeply regret to Mr. Lu Xun!"

In 1944, it was rumored that the UN General Assembly would dismiss Wen Yiduo and others, and that the secret agents were preparing to assassinate them.Several students from the United Nations University were very anxious and asked Wang Yi to go to Wen's house to persuade Wen Yiduo.One quiet night, Wang Yilai came to Kunhua Middle School to find Wen Yiduo. He was in the bedroom, gnawing steamed buns in one hand and rubbing a millstone in the other. After being silent for a long time, Wang explained the purpose of his visit: "As your student, I ask you to take good care of yourself, because there are too few people who speak the truth today, and we cannot afford the loss of our respected elders." Pu Pu fell down: "This is the attitude of being a human being... I think many young people are too cold... people always have a heart and blood... I don't understand politics, but today we still have to consider our own safety Is it? I am very grateful,...but I still have to be a human being, and I still have a conscience..."

After the "December 1" tragedy, Wen Yiduo urged students to resume classes, and many students who admired him were quite dissatisfied with him and even abused him.One winter morning, when Wang Yi visited Wen’s house, Mrs. Wen Gaozhen was lying ill on the bed. Wen was engraving a seal, bent over, took off his glasses, sighed, and said in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible: “Now I just realized that what we people are afraid of is not only the right, but also the left. Young people are too impatient, wishing that the new democratic China will come at once—in fact, we intellectuals—including me—— This is true. In the past, I believed in all young people. Now I know that there are all kinds of people in young people, but young people are still very cute. It doesn’t matter if we make mistakes. None of us have experience in political struggle. Lovely, lovely. Young people who have the misfortune to be spies, and we try to win them over as much as we can."

In 1946, student Huang Fuhai bid farewell to Wen Yiduo, and Wen wrote his farewell message for him.When signing, Wen Gai stamped a self-engraved seal "Traitor", and explained: "Why is it called 'Traitor'? Because I want to be a traitor in the old world!" One day in the spring and summer of that year, Wen Yiduo was rushing to write an article, and his youngest daughter pestered Mrs. Wen Gaozhen to make a noise. Wen couldn't concentrate on writing, so he beat her daughter in a fit of anger.The daughter cried even harder, and the nanny Zhao Ma felt sorry for the child and murmured to Wen.For a while, Wen was angry, his daughter cried, his wife tried to persuade him, and Zhao's mother complained, making a mess.The second son Wen Lidiao heard the sound and came over to criticize his father, saying: "You talk about democracy outside every day, why beat people at home! What kind of democracy is this?" Facing his son's criticism, Wen was stunned for a moment.After a while, he said to his son seriously: "I was wrong today. I shouldn't beat my little sister. I was educated like this when I was young. I hope you don't treat your children like this in the future!"

Wen Yiduo commented on himself: "I am naive, but if I hadn't been naive, there would have been no May 4th Movement at that time. Young people are naive and emotional, it is the naive disease of young people, sometimes it is not shameful Yes, especially in a period of enlightenment, childishness is the forerunner of emotion, and only when emotion is impulsive can power be released. Therefore, some people are afraid that they have overcorrected, but I think it is even more necessary to overcorrect, because only through overcorrection can they appear powerful.”