Chapter 99 Kunming Rehabilitation

During Huiyin's stay in Chongqing, the channel back to Lizhuang was interrupted. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in order to control the hidden reefs and dangerous shoals of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River Shipping Bureau was constructing blasting and clearing the river along the way, and the flight between Chongqing and Lizhuang was suspended. Jin Yuelin and other old friends knew about Huiyin's illness, and wanted to take Huiyin to live in Kunming for a period of time to recuperate.They discussed that as long as it could make Huiyin happy, even taking a risk was worth it.Lao Jin found a house near Zhang Xiruo's house. The house had large windows and faced the large garden of the former residence of Yunnan warlord Tang Jiyao.There are several tall and straight eucalyptus trees in the garden, with their whirling branches swaying in the wind.Lao Jin lives in one of them, and Huiyin can live here after arriving in Kunming.

In February 1946, after Huiyin and Sicheng became merchants, they set off for Kunming. Fatigue from flying and discomfort at high altitude, Huiyin fell ill when he arrived in Kunming.But the bliss of being with friends outweighs the physical discomfort.Zhang Xiruo and his wife insisted that Huiyin live in their home for the first few days.Huiyin met many friends here, and each of them had the feeling of being reunited after the catastrophe and coming back from the dead.In a letter to Fei Weihai, Huiyin expressed his happiness and excitement: The heartfelt joy brought to me by this reunion even exceeded my greatest expectations when I was alone in Lizhuang.It took us 11 days to figure out the various trivial situations in everyone's life in Kunming and in the special circumstances of Lizhuang, so that the conversations of the friends gathered here can continue.But the deep love and understanding that kept us connected was re-established faster than anyone had predicted.In two days or so, we fully knew everyone's emotional and academic current situation.We freely discussed the political situation of the country, the family economy, the ups and downs of the people and groups in the war, and it was easy to understand why each other felt and thought about those things.Even though the conversation was warm and boundless, the several people agreed with each other, filled with the warmth of mutual trust, and the sudden reunion in this eventful autumn made everyone full of gratitude and excitement...

Only now did I understand that when those poets of the Tang and Song Dynasties who lacked travel tools were on their way to relegation, they suddenly met friends unexpectedly in some small inn or boat, or somewhere in a temple where monks entertained them. That kind of happiness, how they confided in the long talk! Our time may be different from theirs, but this gathering is very similar.We are all old, have experienced poverty and disease, endured long wars and isolation from news, and now face a great national rise and a difficult future. In addition, we met far away from our homeland, in a place where circumstances forced us to live.Longing to return to the place where we spent the happiest time in our lives is just like people in the Tang Dynasty miss Chang'an and people in the Song Dynasty miss Bianjing.We are bruised and bruised, and we have suffered so badly that new qualities, good or bad or whatever, have emerged in us.We have not only experienced life, but also been tested by hard life.Our bodies have been badly damaged, but our beliefs remain the same.Now we are convinced that the pain and pleasure in life are actually the same thing.

When Huiyin felt better, she moved to the residence arranged by her friends. Huiyin likes to stay in front of the window very much, looking at the beautiful garden, the unique blue sky of Yunnan and the green mountains in the distance.She felt that all this was very similar to the effect she was familiar with when she studied stage design in the studio of Professor Gordon Kray in the United States in her early years.The afternoon sun was shining brightly, and the shadows of the trees outside the window were mottled and reflected on the ceiling, moving slowly with the sunlight.