Chapter 9 strange building, strange people

Ba Jin never returned to Fengxian Cadre School. He was made an exception to stay in Shanghai, which Ba Jin never dreamed of.Leaving the May 7th Cadre School under the strict management of the "Worker Propaganda Team", leaving the familiar wooden bed, and no longer having to work in the fields, this is undoubtedly a blessing among misfortunes for an elderly writer.Maybe it was because Ba Jin's situation during the "Cultural Revolution" was too sympathetic, or maybe the "Worker Propaganda Team" saw the actual situation of his family, so they lenient the poor old man.After Ba Jin dealt with Xiao Shan's funeral, he spent a depressing summer at home.

He still can't get out of the shadow of losing his beloved wife. Although there is a daughter and son-in-law by his side to take care of his daily life, even though his son has also recovered and was discharged from the hospital.But after losing Xiao Shan for a long time, Ba Jin has been depressed and melancholy.Old people often pass the empty time with silence.When he was free, he just sat on the rattan chair downstairs alone, facing the photo of Xiao Shan's death that he had added an exquisite frame on the table, recalling the bumpy road he and she had gone through.Ba Jin was always thinking about the last few days that Xiao Shan spent with him, and he remembered what she said to him intermittently: "I am not afraid of death, death is also a relief, what I am afraid of is if I go, what will you do?" ?..."

Now, Ba Jin is indeed alone.Looking at the upstairs and downstairs that have been ransacked many times, he couldn't help feeling sad and sad. "I can't live in depression all the time. If I always feel like this, I'm sorry for Yunzhen who is already under the Nine Springs!" In September, when the cool autumn wind gradually blew from the sky, Ba Jin had already been notified, Ask him to go to work in the familiar building on Julu Road in Shanghai every day.He knew that it was the place where he had worked for many years - the Shanghai Writers Association.Thinking of the office that was so familiar to him, Ba Jin couldn't help but feel a surge of passion in his heart.He secretly said to himself in his heart: "If you don't erupt in silence, you will perish in silence. I should struggle, and I must live and work as before. I want to live well. Jane is disappointed!  …”

Ba Jin went to work again. Building No. 675, Julu Road is in front of you.This is an Italian style garden building.Ba Jin came to work here as early as the early days of liberation. He knew that there lived a group of well-known modern Chinese writers here. Ke Ling, the author of For Peace, and so on.Ba Jin also knew that this building used to be the private garden of capitalist Liu Jisheng before liberation.Based on this, this small building with a peculiar shape is still a famous house on the famous Julaida Road in the French Concession.Since the original owner wanted to build it into a garden mansion for his beloved wife, he designed it according to the love legend of Cupid and Psyche in Greek mythology, and it became the famous Garden of Eros.Ba Jin remembered that after this mansion of love became the office building of the Shanghai Writers Association, many of his works were born here.The well-known domestic magazine that Ba Jin was the editor-in-chief was also published here. Before the terrible hurricane came, this was Ba Jin's ideal homeland - only inferior to the writing world of Wukang Road apartment.He knew that many literary works that had an impact at home and abroad were brought in by the postman through this door, and delivered in the form of magazines through this door, shaking the entire Chinese literary world.

But now it's gone beyond recognition.From a distance, Ba Jin saw that huge slogans were painted on the walls of the building again. Of course, they were all familiar slogans in that era.When Ba Jingang came downstairs, he met several acquaintances from the former Writers Association. They were all his former staff members, but now they became the owners of this building.Even in that era of red terror, these people understood his situation.They couldn't help but be surprised when they saw Ba Jin, because in the memory of these people, Ba Jin used to have black hair all the time, why is it that Ba Jin's hair is all white now in just a few days?None of them would have thought that Ba Jin was so emotional that Xiao Shan's death would deal such a blow to his spirit.

Ba Jin still walked up the mule-shaped staircase as before.Although not many people greeted him, he was already used to this cold atmosphere.When he was the main person in charge of the City Writers Association, those staff members who walked past him just now would take the initiative to smile at him and find something to say if they had nothing to say.Today, Ba Jin is no longer the Ba Jin of the past. Since that gunpowder-smelling summer in 1966, Ba Jin can no longer immerse himself in writing as before.He never thought that he would also be in bad luck. At the turn of spring and summer of that year, Ba Jin was suddenly ordered to go to Beijing to plan the upcoming emergency meeting of Asian and African writers there.He lived in the Jingxi Hotel for nearly a month. During this period, it was the eve of the great turmoil in China. Because he had already received instructions from relevant parties after coming to Beijing, Ba Jin tried not to go out for activities after coming to Beijing.He has many friends here, and he wanted to visit, but he couldn't help but hold back.He was aware of the terrible upheavals outside.He is planning and preparing for the conference here, buried in piles of documents all day long, and he doesn't want to be disturbed too much by the increasingly tense atmosphere outside.

Despite this, Ba Jin could still learn more or less about the situation in Beijing from the radio and the "People's Daily" that day.Not long after he came to Beijing, the country's "first Marxist-Leninist poster" was published in the media, and he soon discovered that conflicts between students and working groups occurred from time to time in some colleges and universities in Beijing.He began to hear some terrible gossip, especially Jiang Qing's internal speeches, which surprised Ba Jin even more.The social education movement that had not yet ended nationwide was suddenly replaced by the rampant rebellion of the Red Guards.

Jiang Qing's criticism of films and literature in the 1930s made Ba Jin often match his own works.Especially when he heard in Beijing that Guo Moruo had publicly stated to the media that he was going to burn all his previous works, Ba Jin became even more nervous.He couldn't help but think of the ,, that he wrote in the 1930s.If Guo Moruo's writings were to be tested in this campaign, would he be spared?Ba Jin was in a very nervous mood. Although he did not sensitively connect himself with the rising movement in Beijing, Ba Jin couldn't help but feel anxious because of the intense movement outside.

At the same time, he found that the movement of "sweeping ghosts and monsters" in society has also become surging.Although Ba Jin has already felt the imminent momentum of the mountain rain, he is a person who does not contend with the world after all.Ba Jin would never associate himself with the surging tide in society.He knows that he has devoted himself to writing articles for many years, even if he occasionally participates in some social activities, but Ba Jin is confident that he will never become the opposite of the mass movement one day. In that extremely hot summer, Ba Jin successively participated in various activities of the emergency meeting of Asian and African writers in Beijing, Wuhan and Hangzhou.He hoped to keep himself out of this movement as much as possible. At that time, Ba Jin's entire consciousness was how to participate in the activities of this important international conference from beginning to end.

However, no matter whether Ba Jin was in Beijing or later flew to the south of the motherland with a delegation of writers from various countries, he would always be troubled by the increasingly tense movement situation at that time.Beijing criticized the "Three Family Villages" of Deng Tuo, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha, and the wave of red guards from all over the country wantonly "destroyed the four olds", and at the same time broke the heart of this famous writer.Ba Jin, who experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, spent the first half of his life in turmoil. Now, he never dreamed that after more than 20 years of liberation, political movements one after another would eventually lead to such earth-shattering events. national mass movement.

Of course, it was Shanghai that made him particularly worried.Ba Jin would never have imagined that when he was ordered to travel around to work hard for the emergency meeting of Asian writers, some people in Building 675, Julu Road, Shanghai, were secretly planning to expose and criticize Ba Jin.Some people even dug out all the volumes of Ba Jin’s works written before and after liberation, and searched for his chapters and sentences that were incompatible with the political situation at that time, so as to find a "representative of the black line of literature and art" that shocked the whole country at the right time. ! Ba Jin is a sincere and kind person.His generosity and selflessness determine that he is not so sensitive to everything in the outside world. In mid-July, Ba Jin accompanied Asian and African writers to Wuhan, where he also met Chairman Mao Zedong.Soon he took a leisurely trip back to Shanghai.At home, Xiao Shan was very nervous about the current movement, but Ba Jin smiled at her and said, "Yunzhen, don't worry. The movement will never affect me. We must trust the party and the organization." what." After Xiao Shan listened to his words, her nervousness began to settle down. She knew that Ba Jin had been writing articles that kept pace with the times for many years, especially his interviews in North Korea and Vietnam. He was a writer who closely followed the pulse of the times. The "Three Family Villages" uncovered in Beijing are different.She knew that Ba Jin was someone who never wrote insinuations. Just before Ba Jin left Shanghai to go to Hangzhou to continue to participate in other activities of Asian and African writers, he met with Ye Yiqun, the main leader of the Shanghai Writers Association at that time.Although it was only in a hurry, Ba Jin could still feel that this old friend who had known him for decades was quite nervous at that time.However, Yiqun still handled things as calmly as before, and did not doubt his years of revolutionary experience just because a few big-character posters appeared in the Writers Association. However, what surprised Ba Jin was that on August 2, when he was still in Hangzhou, he suddenly heard the sad news from Shanghai: Ye Yiqun jumped from upstairs during the criticism of the rebels and fell to his death on the spot! The impact of Ye Yiqun's suicide on Ba Jin's heart cannot be described in words.Yiqun is an old leader and comrade-in-arms he has worked with for many years. No one knows Yiqun better than Ba ​​Jin.In any case, he could never have imagined that Ye Yiqun would be a "capitalist roader within the party" criticized by the rebels!Before his departure in Shanghai, despite the criticism of Ye Yiqun within the City Writers Association to the extent that posters were plastered inside and outside the building, Ba Jin could not accept the grim reality of Ye Yiqun's tragic death. Not long after Ye Yiqun committed suicide, Ba Jin also returned to Shanghai.He suddenly felt that the City Writers' Association building, which he was so familiar with and felt intimate in his heart, had become so strange overnight.He had to give up a series of writing plans that had been prepared before the emergency meeting of Asian and African writers.Ba Jin also began to devote himself to this movement known as "destruction". At that time, Ba Jin felt very uncomfortable, as if he had just stepped from a sunny world into a huge shadow.Although he did not see the scene of Ye Yiqun committing suicide by jumping off the building, he still imagined that horrible scene in his mind: a person so modest and prudent actually found himself in trouble at the very beginning of the Writers Association Movement. See.Ye Yiqun's head suddenly splashed red and white liquid on the hot concrete floor.It was from Ye Yiqun's tragedy that Ba Jin saw a terrible future. Ba Jin came to Julu Road Writers Association every day from the courtyard at No. 13 Wukang Road with the fragrance of magnolia, and his mood was always full of unspeakable tension.Because he had already noticed that the eyes of the rebels were turning to him, Ba Jin would feel a cold threat when he walked into the Writers Association building.For some reason, the smile on everyone's face when they saw him was replaced by a strange indifference.Almost no one took the initiative to greet him, and even if there were, it was just a few people who secretly gave Ba Jin a comforting look.He began to realize that his situation was quietly and unexpectedly changing, and Ba Jin could not understand these subtle changes around him.Fortunately, he could go home every night at that time, seeing Xiao Shan was the greatest comfort in his heart. "Don't mind, actually everything will be fine." Seeing that he was depressed in those days, Xiao Shan comforted him with concern from time to time.In that hot summer, she tried her best to keep Ba Jin warm. She knew that people need special care in this situation.Xiao Shan cooked all kinds of favorite snacks for him, and made cold drinks, and comforted Ba Jin to get rid of the unhappiness caused by the Writers Association as soon as possible. However, Ba Jin couldn't make himself feel better.This is because what he saw and heard was not just the tragic death of Ye Yiqun.At this time, the sad news of Lao She jumping into Taiping Lake came from Beijing again, which broke the hearts of the old man who had been friends with Lao She for decades.He never dreamed that Lao She would commit suicide by coming to a green lake after a critique was over. Ba Jin knew that Lao She, who had also studied in Europe, was an optimistic, open-minded and prolific writer.If he hadn't been forced into a desperate situation where he couldn't survive, he would never have chosen this kind of destination.It was also during this period that Ba Jin got acquainted with a group of famous writers before liberation, and they also stepped into difficulties.Wu Qiang, the author of "Red Sun" in Shanghai, Zhao Shuli, a Shanxi writer who wrote "Xiao Erhei Married", Liu Zhixia, the Shandong author of "Railway Entertainment Team", and some old writers he was familiar with and unfamiliar, all got involved for no reason. This horrible political vortex.When Ba Jin found out that some famous writers of the 1930s were being criticized in the newspaper, he felt very uneasy.He didn't know why those literary and artistic authors who had contributed to the party's literary and artistic line turned into monsters and ghosts overnight.From the death of Ye Yiqun before his eyes, he thought of the unfortunate news that came from all over the country.Ba Jin suddenly felt that he would not be spared either.Because shortly after the Ye Yiqun Criticism and Struggle Conference ended, a big-character poster pointing directly at him was posted on the wall outside the Municipal Writers Association building, "Ba Jin must confess his relationship with Ye Yiqun and Kong Luosun!" " Ba Jin really didn't expect the disaster to come so soon. He, Ye Yiqun and Kong Luosun are comrades and friends who have worked in the Association for many years.Ba Jin knew that the dead Ye Yiqun was a leading cadre with a strong political nature, and so was Kong Luosun.In any case, he would not believe that Ye and Kong would be the anti-Party and anti-socialist representatives of the black line, as the big-character posters said.However, if he were asked to explain his relationship with Ye Yiqun and Kong Luosun, what would Ba Jin say?Could it be that he will add insult to injury, will create something out of nothing, and really follow the caliber of the rebels, go and talk nonsense that Ye and Kong have some ulterior "anti-Party conspiracy"? No, can't!Ba Jin would never smear his friends for no reason at this time. Ba Jin has already boarded the second floor of the Writers Association.The place is still as gloomy as it was when he was under the "dictatorship" two years ago. Several rooms where the "gangsters" were once held are now temporary offices for the rebels.There are still fragments of those big-character posters on the walls of the corridor.As long as Ba Jin's eyes touch the traces of those big-character posters, he will inevitably feel pain in his heart. He remembered that on the second day after the Writers Association posted a big-character poster for himself, on the corridor on the second floor, another big-character poster for Xiao Shan was posted.He can't remember the specific content now, but he knows that in the summer and autumn of 1966, when the Red Guards rebelled everywhere, almost all the big-character posters posted for monsters and ghosts were inseparable from slander and untrue words.Ba Jin was not surprised that they attacked themselves for no reason.Because he had seen that after Ye Yiqun committed suicide, the rebels from the Writers Association attacked several professional writers, including Wang Xiyan, Wei Jinzhi, Ke Ling and the poet Lu Mang.And Ba Jin is one of the leading writers in the Shanghai Writers Association. If he doesn't go to hell, who will go to hell? What made Ba Jin feel aggrieved was that if the rebels had any resentment to vent to him, why would they vent it to his wife?He knew that everyone in the Writers Association knew that Xiao Shan was the editor of "Shanghai Literature" which belonged to the Writers Association.However, she is not an official member of the editorial board.Xiao Shan only works everywhere to draft manuscripts for the magazine, but she doesn't spend money in the editorial department.A female editor who does her work without receiving a penny, who will she offend?Posting Xiao Shan's big-character posters to the Writers Association is really too much.Ba Jin knew in his heart that the purpose of some people doing this was not so much to attack Xiao Shan, but to attack him indirectly.In his opinion, bombardment, no bombing, and death by death are not excessive.Who made him always stand at the center of the Chinese literary world after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and who made his novels still be the favorite works of hundreds of millions of readers and audiences all over the country for many years after liberation?Who made a short story he wrote in North Korea to be so influential, and after it was made into a movie, it shocked the whole country even more?Moreover, Ba Jin has countless social activities. Of course, his outstanding literary talent and social skills that make the literary and art circles look forward to are all eye-catching.