Chapter 24 in the haze of wolves

In Jinmen under the iron hoof, August 1937 was condensed by the cold light of the bayonet. Lin Huiyin's family, Jin Yuelin and two other professors from Tsinghua got off the train from Beiping, and the situation before them was even worse than they had imagined.Japanese soldiers with live ammunition were everywhere in the station. The Japanese army set up machine guns on the overpass. Every passing passenger was severely interrogated. Beat them on the head and body.Five-year-old Xiaojie was so frightened that he cried and hid in his grandmother's arms.Most of the people who fled from Beiping were concentrated here.The square at the station was packed with people, but the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

The walls facing the street are covered with black-letter slogans such as "China-Japan Friendship", "East Asia Co-Prosperity", and "Building a New Order in Greater East Asia". The cicada on the ground was also silent. Back at Hongdao’s home in the British Concession, it was a little safer here, but I was often woken up by the sound of guns and guns in my sleep.They didn't dare to stay for a long time, Jinpu Road has become a dreadful way, so they decided to take a boat to Qingdao first, and then go south. In early September, they set out from Newport on a British merchant ship and sailed into the vast sea.When the ship arrived in Yantai, the battle clouds were already densely covered there. The Chinese and Japanese troops were confronting each other in Yantai.Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng didn't dare to stay here, so they immediately took the bus to Weifang, stayed in Weifang for one night, and took the first train from Qingdao to Jinan early the next morning.

The Jiaodong Peninsula was also devastated. Trains were running on the Jiaoji line, and Japanese planes roared past from time to time.Every time at this time, the train stopped immediately, the alarm was sounded, and men and women ran out of the train in a panic.The Japanese plane flew so low that the red "sun" mark on the fuselage could almost be seen.The younger brother innocently asked: "Mom, is that Uncle's plane?" Lin Huiyin said: "No, that is the plane of the Japanese devils." The younger brother said, "Why didn't uncle fly a plane to beat them?"

Lin Huiyin said: "Uncle will come." The train stopped and stopped like this, and arrived in Jinan at three o'clock in the afternoon. All the hotels in Jinan were full. Liang Sicheng went to the Education Department of Shandong Province. With their help, he finally found a hotel with good conditions by the Daming Lake. After staying in Jinan for two days, they continued southward, passing through Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan, and arrived in Changsha in mid-September. In Changsha in September, the weather is as hot as a steamer.After getting off the train, they ate a few pieces of Rongjiang watermelon at a small stall, and the heat receded a bit. They rented two houses near the train station.This is a two-story gray brick building, the landlord lives downstairs, and there is a dark patio behind the building.

After settling into a house with four walls, Lin Huiyin's mother was almost physically and mentally exhausted. Her health was already bad, and she couldn't support it anymore.Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng had to learn to do housework such as cooking and washing clothes.Fortunately, there is no war in the south of the Yangtze River, so they can still feel at ease. At this time, many friends from the cultural and educational circles in Peiping also came to Changsha one after another. Most of them were professors from Peking University and Tsinghua University.The home that Lin Huiyin had just settled in immediately became the center of gatherings for friends.Friends often come here to discuss the war situation and the situation at home and abroad. Sometimes at night when we chat excitedly, we sing songs of national salvation together.Sometimes they sing in Chinese, sometimes in English, and Liang Sicheng always acts as the conductor.The baby also learned several songs, singing "Go forward, don't back down" every day.

One afternoon in late November, a large number of planes suddenly appeared in the sky, and my younger brother shouted from the balcony: "Mom, Mom, look at Uncle's plane is coming." Liang Sicheng ran to the balcony, covered his forehead with his hands and looked up into the sky, thinking it was a Chinese plane, he picked up his younger brother and said happily, "It's really Uncle's plane coming." At this time, the crow-like fleet screamed and dropped black bombs. Before Liang Sicheng could react, the bombs exploded downstairs. He rushed to the house with his younger brother in his arms. Lin Huiyin picked up the baby and supported his mother. Downstairs, the doors and windows had been shaken, and there were glass shards everywhere. Just at the corner of the stairs, another batch of bombs exploded in the courtyard. Lin Huiyin was knocked down by the air wave and rolled down the stairs to the courtyard. The family fled to the street, the street was filled with black smoke, several houses were on fire, and people were crying in panic.

Not far from where they lived, there were temporary air-raid shelters dug by Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai University.When their family was running there, the plane dived again, bombs roared, and one of them landed beside them. Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng tightly guarded the two children. There was only one moment when they looked at each other in despair. A bomb didn't go off. After the plane left, they pulled out the few pieces of clothing they had from the scorched earth, and the house they had just resettled was reduced to a pile of rubble. For a long time, the family of five lived in a friend's house .Later, together with Jin Yuelin, they lived in Changsha Bible College.

Soon, Shen Congwen, Cao Yu, Xiao Qian, and Sun Fuyuan also came to Changsha from Wuhan.In the early morning of that day, they stepped on the heavy snow and got together at Lin Huiyin's house. Shen Yuequan, the younger brother of Shen Congwen, who was the commander of the regiment in the army, was wounded in the battle with the Japanese army. He came to Changsha Hospital from Hangzhou for treatment. At this time, his injuries had recovered and he was about to return to the front line. When he saw his brother, he was very excited. He asked Shen Congwen how many friends he had from Peking. When I came to Changsha, I expressed my willingness to invite everyone to have a meal in the name of Shen Congwen to fulfill the friendship of the landlord.

Two days later, Shen Congwen invited Lin Huiyin, Liang Sicheng, Zhang Moruo, Jin Yuelin, Yang Zhensheng, Wen Yiduo, Zhu Ziqing, Xiao Qian and others, and Shen Yuequan held a banquet in the "Sanxiang Restaurant" to entertain the guests.During the banquet, his younger brother also introduced the "August 13" battle in Shanghai. Everyone was encouraged by what he heard, and burst into applause from time to time. At the end of November, Lin Huiyin's family left Changsha for Kunming. They took a bus to Kunming via Xiangxi.This is a primitive and barbaric land, all the way to Changde, Taoyuan, Huxi, Jishou, Huang, west out of Sichuan, Guizhou.

Fenghuang is the hometown of Shen Congwen, and Lin Huiyin has already experienced the mountains and rivers here in his novels.Fenghuang City is located in the mountain valley at the border of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces, surrounded by mountains, and the magical craftsmanship can be seen everywhere. The dense virgin forest has pulled out an ancient barrier for this stone city.The Tuojiang River flows from the Tongjiang River in Guizhou to the northeast of Hunan, passes through the north of Fenghuang City, and then flows northeast to the famous Wushui River in western Hunan.On the river surface of the Tuojiang River in the east of the city, a bridge is overlaid, and the houses on the west side of the bridge are overlapped, forming a small street with blue tile roofs in the middle. At the bend of the river downstream of the bridge, there is a Longevity Palace. You can enjoy the view from the bridge. Imaging of the Wanshou Palace Tower.There are many clear springs in the city, and the spring water seeps out from the cracks in the rocks. People chisel fireplace-like spring wells on the rock walls, and fern-shaped plants grow all over the spring wells, reflecting the surrounding green and secluded green.The day they arrived in Fenghuang was a rushing day, and the mountain roads leading to the city were full of people in costumes. These were mountain people from the Miao, Yao, Dong, and Tujia ethnic groups, some carrying burdens, some carrying a pannier.The car couldn't drive, and the horn was honking desperately.

The most vivid ones are the mountain girls of the Miao nationality who come from the waterway to rush to the market. Their heads are wrapped with handkerchiefs bigger than a bucket, and they wear silver earrings the size of a bowl. The clothes they wear are Dong brocade woven from the cocoons of wild silkworms. There are many silver nails pressed on the skirt.Brave young men are holding long poles, and on the bow are piles of mountain products they sell, including colorful pheasants, wild boars with tusks, and brown mountain muntjacs.Lin Huiyin said to Liang Sicheng: "This Shen Congwen really brought his Xiangxi to life." The fresh and unfamiliar scenery also excited the two children. They simply found a small hotel to stay in Fenghuang, and spent two days enjoying the unique scenery of this small town in western Hunan. When he arrived in Huang County, Lin Huiyin suddenly contracted pneumonia and had a high fever of 40 degrees. There was nowhere to live in the city, and the small hotels were crowded with refugees. Liang Sicheng was walking on the dark and muddy street in a melancholy mood. Suddenly, a melodious piano sound came from a small hotel. Eight cadets of the Air Force Academy lived there, and they were also waiting for the bus to go to Kunming. Sicheng told them that Huiyin was ill and had nowhere to live. There was no hospital in the entire county, so Liang Sicheng found a female doctor who was studying in Japan and knew Chinese herbal medicine in the same car, and prescribed Chinese medicine to Lin Huiyin. After half a month, Lin Huiyin's fever subsided, and the family bid farewell to the eight students who had been together day and night. And the female doctor continued on their way. They Xiao Xing overnight.After getting up in the morning, Liang Sicheng quickly packed up the bedroll.Every time I go to a place, the first thing to do is to find those small inns that "stay before it is too late, and watch the sky early when the cock crows", leave the two children in the car, sit on the luggage, and take care of motion sickness grandma. The car they were traveling in often "broke down".Once, the car drove to the top of a steep mountain and stopped suddenly. It was late at that time. Lin Huiyin, who had just recovered from a serious illness, was almost frozen to death in the bitter cold wind, and the passengers were also very scared. Because there are often bandits here, everyone keeps complaining. Liang Sicheng not only knew how to drive, but also understood mechanical principles, so he took the initiative to repair the car with the driver to find out what was wrong with the car.He put the handkerchief into the gas tank, and the handkerchief was still dry when he brought it up, it turned out that the gasoline had burned out.There was no village in front of this place, no shops in the back, and he couldn't spend the night in the car, so he and the driver greeted the passengers and pushed the car slowly down the mountain.When the sun was setting, suddenly a village miraculously appeared beside the road, and everyone jumped for joy. After passing Guiyang, Anshun and Zhenning, the world-famous Huangguoshu Waterfall is in front of you.The thunderous sound of water could be heard from a long distance away. The car stopped at the side of the road two kilometers away from the Great Falls, and everyone rushed to follow the roaring sound of water. A water curtain with a width of more than 30 meters soars into the sky and hangs on the cliff. It makes waves with its height and makes a loud noise. There was an uproar, and the misty water mist turned into several long rainbows, hanging in the air, looming, full of phantoms. Many vigorous young people have already boarded the Natural Bridge along the stone steps beside the water curtain.Standing under the Baizhang stone cliff, Lin Huiyin was fascinated by the waterfall flying over the distant peak, listening to the roaring sound of water, and said to Liang Sicheng who was standing beside him: "Sicheng, I feel that the most powerful person in the world is Water, not stones, they will stand up straight on the cliffs with no roads, and jump down from the top of the cliff without hesitation, making the moment of shocking the stone become eternity, and people can understand a kind of spiritual gap." Liang Sicheng said: "Do you remember what my father said to us before his death? Disappointment and depression are the most terrifying enemies in our lives. We will not allow them to invade for the rest of our lives. Humans also need the bravery and fearlessness of water." The car started slowly amidst the sound of roaring water, passing through Pu'an, going down to Fuyuan, heading to Qujing, the spring city of Kunming is far away, and there will be a new world of life there. Lin Huiyin drew a detailed map of the places he traveled all the way in the car, and handed it to Xiao Bingbing to identify, so that she could remember the distance traveled. The car drove slowly in the picturesque mountains, and Lin Huiyin kept hearing the thundering sound of the Huangguoshu Waterfall, and a resolute white flag waved on the wall of her heart. That is not a white flag of life surrendering to death.