Chapter 33 Appendix: Revisiting the Death of Lao She

Shu Yi This time, when I went to Taiwan, I found that Taiwanese people are generally interested in Lao She's death, but they know very little about Mr. Lao She's death. Basically, we still stay at the level of our understanding more than ten years ago. The problem has already been solved by us. At the symposium on cross-strait literature held by the "Central Daily" supplement in Taipei, Taiwanese writer Mr. Jiang Mu spoke, saying that he always believed that Mr. Lao She's death was caused by homicide for three reasons: 1. There was no water in his stomach after his death; 2. There is no mud under his feet; 3. Shoes and socks are on the shore. The conclusion is that he did not commit suicide by drowning, but was murdered and transported the body to the Taiping Lake.

I said at the meeting: There has long been a consensus on this issue. The background is the brutal persecution of the "Cultural Revolution", and the specific cause of death is suicide by drowning.I cited five reasons, briefly explained, and said that I wrote two more detailed articles, which can be referred to. One is called "Father's Last Two Days" and the other is called "The Call of Death". I published a special book called "The Death of Lao She", which is more detailed, and Taiwan has already had a pirated copy. There was no time for discussion at the meeting.It seems that I did not convince Mr. Jiang Mu.After I returned to Beijing, I saw him publish an article on the Changhe edition of "Central Daily" titled "Being Simmered in the "Cultural Revolution"——Did Lao She commit suicide? 》The article still repeats the statement of "homicide", which makes me feel that the problem is not that simple, and it is still necessary to discuss it again.

In fact, the reason why the discussion of "homicide" and "suicide" is necessary is not so much for unraveling the mystery of Lao She's death, as it is more meaningful for understanding Lao She. Mr. Bing Xin said so - Traits Once, while chatting with Mr. Bing Xin, she suddenly said: "I know your dad, he must have jumped into the river to die!" I asked, "How do you know?" She said without hesitation: "It's written in his works that many good people commit suicide and jump into rivers." The second generation in the portrait, old man Qi Tianyou, did not go home after being humiliated, but went straight to the outside of Xizhi Gate and plunged into the moat.

The shopkeeper Wang in the image, after suffering all the tortures in the world, said a series of intriguing words, such as saying to his little granddaughter: "Come on, ask grandpa to see it again!" "Say goodbye to grandpa!" "In case I die at night!" What!" Finally, he hanged himself and died. Like the little scorpion and the big eagle in "Cat City Tale", the latter cut off his head and hung it on the street in order to wake up the masses. Like the platoon leader Wang and Captain Shi in "Cremation", the former shot himself after being seriously injured, while the latter ran out of bullets and set himself on fire.

Like Mrs. Qian in the movie, a good wife and loving mother, her husband was arrested, and one of her sons was killed in battle and the other was killed. She didn't cry or speak, and she bumped her son's coffin to death. Like "Lao Zhang's Philosophy", this is Mr. Lao She's first novel. When it was written, the author was only 26 years old. Its heroine, Li Jing, is a lovely and quiet girl. Die by suicide. Before writing about Li Jing's suicide, there is such a foreshadowing in the novel: "When people are in danger, they often think of the most unimportant or mysterious places. Those who want to jump into the river not only cry and laugh at the water, but sometimes ask: What is the universe? What is life?... Then ask yourself The result of the answer made him more determined to die."

This is talking about suicide, and it happens to be jumping into a river. Mr. Bing Xin's words are extremely correct and accurate.She knew Mr. Lao She well.They are old friends who know each other well. Of course, there is no need to equate the fate of the protagonist in a writer's works with his own fate; but these descriptions are after all his own thoughts, so the writer's own life experience is often found in the characters in his works. This is a reference that cannot be ignored.Even, to a certain extent, the works are the footprints of the writer himself. On the surface, they are discontinuous and chaotic, one here and one here, but overall, a general trend can be found.

From this point of view, works are quite reliable "predictors" of writers' fate. Whether it is an incoherent trajectory or a fate predictor, the corresponding points in the work are all too useful for writer researchers. After all, the works are the writer's sixth sense, they come from him, they are born by him, and they have an invisible and intangible but real inner connection with him. This is why it is important to pay attention to the suggestive nature of the work. Integrity, remonstrance, drowning, martyrdom --philosophy If you search carefully, you can find many monologues in Mr. Lao She's self-reports, mainly in prose and letters.

These monologues are an out-and-out reflection of his thoughts, his outlook on life and death, and his philosophy of life. These monologues are extremely important, in fact, they are the key to understanding Lao She's ending. In 1941, during the Anti-Japanese War, literati suggested setting up a Poet's Day, which was really successful. For this reason, Mr. Lao She wrote a short article entitled "Poet", which was published in the "New Shu" on May 31 of that year. Newspaper.There is such a passage in it, which talks about the characteristics of poets: "His eyes want to see the truth and the beauty of mountains and rivers; his heart wants the progress of the world and everyone's happiness. His heart is the same as that of a sage, so I'm afraid he doesn't bother, or it's too late, to care about the rags of clothes, or seeing people. You have to bow to say hello. That’s why he is called a lunatic, a lunatic. This lunatic can ignore those small actions that are insignificant, and he will not relax at all when it comes to big things. When others are happy and singing and dancing, he will It is extremely unpopular to warn everyone. When everyone laughs happily, he will cry bitterly. When there is a disaster in the society, he will remonstrate with himself, throw himself into the water, and die as a martyr!"

This last sentence is simply talking about himself—when there is a disaster in the society, he will use his body to remonstrate, he will throw himself into the water, and he will be martyred! It's all too accurate, that's what it is. I have met many well-meaning friends, and they said to me: The old man is too violent, in fact, bear with it, hide and hide, and after those terrible few days, he broke through. Hearing this, I always retort directly: You don't know him, no, he must die.If you live past August 24, you won't survive September 24, if you live past September 24, you won't survive September 24 of the next year!

His temperament, his character, and his beliefs determine his fate. In 1944, during the most difficult period of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army planned to surround and attack Chongqing from the direction of Dushan, Guizhou. Chongqing was in an uproar, and they all prepared to retreat westward and flee to Xikang. My friend Xiao Boqing asked Lao She: "What should you do?" He blurted out: "To the north is the Taotao Jialing River, and there is my home!" After the word spread, friends wrote letters one after another to inquire about the facts. Mr. Lao She replied in his letter to Mr. Wang Yeqiu:

"The plan of jumping into the river is a truth, and it is also a truth. If unfortunately the enemy really invades, where and how can we escape? Pengzi said that he and his family can temporarily take refuge in Guang'an. How safe is Guang'an? You can't see it at all! You don't have to run anymore, it's better to wait; the Jialing River is so close and covered!" The Jialing River is close and covered! This is a tearful smile of a Chinese literati with integrity. It is playful, tragic, sad and indignant, full of Lao She flavor. Don't think that Mr. Lao She is a person who despises life, as if he is about to give up his life at every turn.It's not like this.With the enemy at hand, he was prepared to do his best.His oath can be found in hundreds of thousands of words!Everyone knows that he is the biggest "anti-Japanese faction", and he is a desperate and pragmatic anti-Japanese faction.He abandoned his wife and son and escaped from Jinan alone, came to Wuhan and Chongqing, and joined the torrent of the War of Resistance. He became the general director of the All-China Anti-Japanese War Association of Literary and Art Circles.In his letter to Mr. Tao Kangde at 10 o'clock in the middle of the night on March 15, 1938, he said: "I miss my wife and children. I feel so sorry for them. But in desperation, I thank her. I must work hard to be worthy of her. The relationship between a man and a woman is to swear to each other with tears in their eyes. Serve the country. A man is a soldier, and a woman is also a soldier, and they must dedicate their most noble emotional life to this era of blood and swords. The husband does not belong to the wife, and the wife does not belong to the husband. Both he and she belong to the country." Such a letter is full of enthusiasm, full of nostalgia for life, and is a hymn to life. When such a caring, interesting, and flesh-and-blood person said that he was going to commit suicide, it was obvious that something huge had happened, or that something huge had occupied his entire mind. This matter is integrity. Mr. Lao She has a similar adage, which was written in a short article called "Idiot" just after the end of the Anti-Japanese War: "Who knows how useful this integrity is? But, for ourselves and for the righteousness of the nation, we would rather die of poverty, die of illness, or be killed than lose it easily. In the past eight years, we have put Treating death as life, and treating invaders and threats and lures as enemies is for the sake of that bit of integrity. We seem to be very stupid. But the best and kindest things in the world are almost done by stupid people!" This Lao She-style motto really accompanied Mr. Lao She to finish his life, marking a complete and complete end to his life. right and wrong judgment, independent thinking --premise Whether it is integrity, drowning, martyrdom, or self-admonition, the premise is to judge right and wrong, and the premise of non-judgment is independent thinking: without it, there is nothing. Mr. Lao She was one of the earliest martyrs of the "Cultural Revolution". A reasonable question: so early on, can he see that something is wrong? You must know that at that time, the vast majority of people could not clearly see the "Cultural Revolution". On the contrary, they all followed Mao Zedong sincerely and sincerely, thinking that they were wrong, that what they wrote was poisonous weeds, and that they needed to be completely reformed.Among the group of writers, there is probably only Mr. Mao Dun. With his rich experience in the party, he has different judgments about right and wrong, and he decided not to participate or cooperate.His veteran status also has a natural protective effect on him.His case can be regarded as a rare exception. So, what about Mr. Lao She? From the very beginning, he kept a clear head and held a completely different view on the "Cultural Revolution". This is very peculiar. But, it's true.August 21, 1966 was Sunday. On this day, I went home and had a serious conversation with my father with my elder sister Shu Yu. This day was only two days away from the 23rd day of August when he fought, and only three days away from the 24th day of August when he committed suicide. Seriousness refers to the content; the form is still casual, it is an authentic family-style chat. I, that year, was thirty-one years old, and my eldest sister was twenty-nine years old. The conversation we had with our father was a conversation between adults.In the eyes of our father, we have always been children; however, on the outside, he never treats us as children. This is probably because he was influenced by foreign countries and treated us as an equal early on, shaking hands with us Li, call us by our scientific name instead of nickname, as if implying to us that you are an independent existence, and I respect you. As a person of the "May 4th" era, he has deep-rooted democratic ideas. His famous saying is: "Children are not allowed to speak, resulting in many small family revolutionaries." The conversation that day was started by the "Red Guards" taking to the streets to "sweep the four olds". After Mao Zedong received the Red Guards on "August 18th", "sweeping the four olds" was surging.We talked to my father about things in the street. For example, the plaque of the time-honored shop on Wangfujing Street had been smashed, and even the big mirror in the "Silian" barber shop was covered with a large white paper by the students. Looking in the mirror has become a stink of the bourgeoisie. Shu Yu said: "Dad, you haven't put away your gadgets first..." For small craftsmen, small antiques and small antiques are placed in Baoduo Pavilion in the living room. They may also be "four olds". Her father didn't allow her to continue, and said five words firmly and loudly, one word at a time: "No, I will never accept it!" All future words belong to him. Thoughts flew out of his mind, continuous, probably well-thought-out, with very clear views and no effort, as if the dishes prepared in the kitchen were brought out one after another.My eldest sister and I can only accept it, and we can't intervene at all.There was a cold scene between this part of his thoughts and that part of his thoughts, and the room was a little strangely quiet, which deepened our impression on the contrary. "Who gave them the power?" ... (He asked knowingly, who launched the "Red Guards". Was he asking? No, he was angry, he was resisting!) (Besides, asking this way is also taboo, which is also clear.) "Historically, the Cultural Revolution in foreign countries has always destroyed culture, and cultural relics have been greatly damaged." ... "He's going to die again!" ... "Especially those who are strong and innocent." He told the stories of two old friends of his, both true stories. One died in the "Three Antis and Five Antis" movement, and the other died in the "Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries" movement.He had his first and last name when he said it, but unfortunately, we can't remember it. It seems that a surname Ji didn't officially reflect on them, but there was a little clue, that is, he had hinted at them just now. Doubt, in the end, both of them fell into Shichahai on their way home. It's all suicide. It's all water. They are all admonitions. All martyrdom. They are all strong. All innocent. It's all protest. What does it mean that the listener has no intention and the speaker has intention? This is the best and best example! Before the voice of this party fell, he died.In fact, that is the case. Coincidentally, I was the first to know the news of my father's disappearance. I immediately told my elder sister first. We exchanged glances, and secretly exchanged ideas: he has gone. Because, we immediately remembered what he said plainly three days ago.As if he had already told us. Sure enough, his body was found in Taiping Lake on the morning of the 24th. His clothes, cane, and glasses were neatly placed on the shore, and he walked towards the lake step by step on the reed leaves and aquatic plants, letting the lake swallow him up, choking to death, and he was only ten meters away from the shore.He has his business card in his pocket, with his name on it: Shu Sheyu, Lao She. From the first second, I was absolutely convinced that after a day and a night of brutal beatings, humiliation and a thrilling and staunch direct resistance, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the water. There is no second choice.Or, conversely, if there was a second choice, it would never be him! Because, he has already seen through the matter. Because, he had already designed the ending for himself. He has been to Shichahai --prelude On February 18, 1987, I had the opportunity to interview a Muslim leader, Imam Ma Songting, who told me some very important details. The old man Ma Songting and Mr. Lao She are old friends for many years, and the friendship can be traced back to the early 1930s in Jinan.During the Anti-Japanese War, Imam Ma presided over the religious affairs of the Chongqing Grand Mosque, organized the Islamic Association for National Salvation, and had very close contacts with Mr. Lao She.In response to the request of the Islamic National Salvation Council, Mr. Lao She and Mr. Song Zhizhi created the drama "The State Is Supreme", which was staged in many places in the rear.The starring actress Zhang Ruifang was once affectionately called "our Zhang Ruifang" by the Hui people.The old man Ma Songting was mistakenly labeled as a "rightist" in 1957. He was depressed and lived in a miserable situation. At the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution", the elderly were even more uneasy, and often sat by the river for a long time. One day in early August, he and his wife came to the shore of Shichahai again, and sat there sullenly until dusk.Suddenly, looking up, he saw Mr. Lao She walking slowly along the bank alone with a cane.Old Man Ma took him to sit with him. As soon as Mr. Lao She opened his mouth, the old man and his wife were taken aback.He is very candid.He said he couldn't figure it out, was very depressed, and wanted to "go". "Brother Ma, we may not be able to see each other anymore!" Lao She took the old man's hand and felt his heart.He has no scruples when facing his old brother whom he hasn't seen for many years, instead he can speak directly to him. The old man Ma was speechless, stood up and walked with him, and saw him off. Mr. Lao She said: "Go home, I'm leaving..." Shichahai is still some distance away from home, unless he comes specially, it will not be easy.Mr. Lao She came here specially. He seems to be choosing his destination. He remembered the choice of his two martyred old friends who were strong and innocent. The memories of Mrs. Ma and Mrs. Ma shocked me. Before the storm hit his head, he was ready to end his life, including the method and place. Imam Ma Songting's memory is really powerful, it completely blows away the last bit of fog in the mystery of Lao She's death. It shows that throwing water is just the last touch, but the big frame of the picture has already been outlined. It shows how much greater man is than the animals, because man can plan and arrange his own death. It shows that even without the criticism on August 23, the tragic ending is doomed. It shows that Shi BuHui and Ning Bending don't all sum up his death. All because he is a very sober person.He saw disaster, not just disaster for himself. He finally chose Taiping Lake, an unknown wild lake outside the city, where fishermen raised and fished.He is very familiar with Taiping Lake.From 1920 to 1922, he worked as a trainee in the northern suburbs in this area, specializing in private schools in the northern suburbs outside the city, and his office was very close to Taiping Lake.This experience led him to create his first novel "Lao Zhang's Philosophy".In the 1930s, he bought a house for his old mother in Chenggenli, which corresponds to Taiping Lake, with ten large north rooms and a large yard.In the 1950s, Beijing Normal University built a new campus on the north side of Taiping Lake, where he worked as a part-time professor and taught novels to students in the Chinese Department.It's very quiet here, no tourists. Mr. Lao She became the first martyr in Taiping Lake.On that day, hundreds of people came to hear the news, and the news quickly spread throughout Beicheng.After Mr. Lao She, Taiping Lake became a place of martyrs of the "Cultural Revolution". For several consecutive days, dozens of people jumped into it every day. All of this was something that others could not arrange for him. It was his original intention, with source, root and reason. His good friends Mr. Ba Jin, Mr. Bing Xin and many others cried bitterly when they heard the news. Foreign writers took the lead in writing articles and novels mourning him. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but he didn't know all of this. He left and realized his philosophy-when disasters happen, remonstrate, drown, and die. This tragic and tragic choice still shakes people's hearts, deeply, heavily, and for a long time, making all kind-hearted people cry when they think of it... and finally understand the meaning of his death in the bitterness. Full portion.