Chapter 52 dreaming unnamed lake

Peking University is celebrating its 90th anniversary.For a person, the 90th anniversary is a very long period, the so-called octogenarian.Since ancient times, only a very small number of people can live to this age.However, for a university, the 90th anniversary may be just kindergarten.Peking University will definitely continue to exist for 200 years, 300 years, 1000 years, or even longer.Compared with such a long time, isn't the 90th anniversary the kindergarten stage? There is another calculation method for our school history, which is to count from the Taixue in the Han Dynasty.This is by no means my invention, and there are many precedents abroad.In this way, our school history will extend to over two thousand years, ranking first in the world.Even if it is two thousand years or so, our Peking University will continue to exist, maybe 3000, 4000 years, who dares to say no?Compared with the future history, living for two thousand years can only be regarded as the sun in the sky, and our school is far from reaching the age of octogenarians.

Where does the history of a university exist?In the written record, in the actual building, of course yes.However, it also exists in people's memory.Relatively speaking, the time that exists in people's memory is limited, but it exists after all, and this existence is more specific, more vivid, and more soul-stirring.In the past 90 years, the number of graduates from Peking University cannot be counted, and everyone has their own memories of their alma mater.Among these people, many are very prominent in modern Chinese history.Without these people, the way modern Chinese history is written may change.This is of course only a very small number of people.The vast majority of other people, although their popularity varies, have also made their own contributions to the construction of the motherland in their own jobs.Their personal circumstances were intricate and their jobs varied.However, I believe that there is one thing in common: none of them has forgotten their alma mater, Peking University.The alma mater is like a big magnet that attracts their hearts, so that the thread of their memories will always be hung with the alma mater: hanging on the majestic red building, hanging on the lake tower shadow of Weiming Lake, hanging on Yanyuan There are different scenery in four seasons: peaches, apricots and vines in spring, green leaves and red lotus in summer, red leaves and yellow flowers in autumn, green pines and auspicious snow in winter; even the Xiu Huang of Linhuxuan, the ancient pines on the shore of Red Lake, and the big library at night. The shadows of the lights, the sound of reading books floating on the green grass, all of these are the threads of memories of the alumni, and their dreams will always linger on the shore of Weiming Lake. There is a famous poem in Shakuntala:

No matter how far you go, you will never leave my heart, No matter how long the shadow of the tree at dusk is, it cannot be separated from the roots. Aren't Peking University alumni exactly like this! As for myself, in my life of more than seventy years (I’m just talking so far, I don’t want to make a conclusion), except for being a high school Chinese language teacher for a year and working abroad for a few years, the only job is It has been more than forty years since Peking University, and it has occupied more than half of my life.When I returned to my old capital in late autumn of 1946, the school sent someone to pick me up at the station.The car was driving on the ten-mile long street, the wind and rain, the street lights were dim, and I felt a little sad from it.It has been more than ten years since I left my old capital. I am in a foreign land thousands of miles away. As an overseas wanderer, I often describe to myself the joyful scene of reunion.Who would have thought that the reunion would be so miserable!Two lines of poems came out of my heart involuntarily: "The west wind withers the green trees, and the fallen leaves are all over Chang'an (Chang'an Street too). "I have a late autumn in my heart that is deeper than late autumn.

When I arrived at the school, I was placed on the third floor of the Red Building.During the Japanese occupation period, the Japanese gendarmerie was stationed in the Red Building, and the basement was the place where executions and murders were carried out. Legend has it that there are ghosts screaming in it.I never believed in ghosts.However, at that time, there were only four or five people living in the whole red building with five floors up and down. In addition, the electric lights were not bright, so there really seemed to be ghosts floating in the dark of the corridor.Walking through the long corridor, hearing the echo of my own footsteps, I doubt that I am in the world.

However, what I am afraid of are not real ghosts, but fake ghosts. These are the Kuomintang secret agents who never admit that they are devils, and the local hooligans gathered by them to act as thugs.At that time, the Kuomintang reactionaries were in the dying stage.The Democracy Square of Peking University, known as the Liberated Area of ​​Peking, became a thorn in their side and a thorn in their flesh.The Red Building is also the barrier of the Democracy Square, so it became the target of their attack.They sent hooligans to make trouble near the red building during the day, and they wanted to wait for an opportunity to attack at night.The number of people living in the red building gradually increased.Everyone be vigilant and pay attention to movement.I remember that several times I even wanted to block the main passage of the Red Building with chairs to prevent bad guys from rushing in.This tense atmosphere lasted for quite some time.

After a period of time, the demons finally failed to break into the red building, but Peiping was liberated.I was really refreshed at this time.This incident markedly divided my life into two phases.Since then, my memories have been clearly divided into two stages: the first stage is the rampant evil spirits, and the dark clouds are overwhelming the city;There is a difference between the two, the difference between the cloud and the mud.Peking University soon moved to the famous Yanyuan outside the city. Of course, I also moved here with the school, and I lived there for nearly forty years.It is self-evident that the thread of my memory will hang on the top of the Red Building and in two completely different worlds.

I have lived here for 40 years, facing the shadow of the lake light tower of Weiming Lake every day.Do I still have any threads of memory to hang on the shadow of the lake tower?Others don't think so, and I don't think so either.The window of my house faces the pagoda by the Unnamed Lake.As soon as you look up, you can see the towering spire piercing the blue sky.The buildings are lined up with each other, and the green trees are vivid. All these are living reality. When you open your eyes, you can see it clearly. How can you remember it? However, things change.Just as there is no completely flat and straight road in the world, the road under my feet cannot be completely flat and straight.After the ghosts and monsters appear and the sky is bright again, new monsters and monsters may still appear.I was in the beautiful Yanyuan, together with some honest and kind people, and experienced a huge storm with demons dancing wildly and black clouds overwhelming the city.This is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese people (I hope it will also be unprecedented)!I was locked up with some kind and upright people for eight or nine months.However, he finally survived like "Phoenix Nirvana".It is a pity that many beautiful things in Yanyuan have been destroyed.The creepers on the walls of many buildings, the lilacs with a lifespan of one or two hundred years, the famous Xifu crabapple in Beijing, and the vines that have prospered for three or four hundred years have all been firmly, thoroughly, cleanly and completely wiped out. wiped out.Why have some beautiful flowers and trees in the world turned into "counter-revolutionaries" and heinous criminals just like people?I could not understand.

I myself managed to survive.However, these flowers and trees, which are deeply loved by people, can never be seen again.If they have a soul (I hope they do), this soul will never leave the beautiful Yanyuan.On a night when the moon is white and the wind is clear, they will also linger in the shadow of the lake light tower by the Weiming Lake!If they can remember, the threads of their memories will also hang on Weiming Lake!It's a pity that I'm not a living god, and I have no way to bring death back to life.They are gone, gone forever.Here is a line from an old drama: "To meet, unless it is a reunion in a dream."

Today, this nightmare has long since disappeared without a trace.Once again, I experienced a situation where the demon appeared and the sun was shining again.As I said above, for nearly forty years, I have been living in Yanyuan and by the Weiming Lake, so there is no need to hang my strands of memory on the Weiming Lake.However, those lovely flowers and plants that have been eradicated come from time to time.My strands of memory, which should have been cast aside, came in handy again.It hangs on the verdant creepers, on the fragrant lilacs, on the red and green begonias, and on the lush wisterias.In this way, like those alumni who left their alma mater, I also dreamed of Weiming Lake.

Although we still have various difficulties at present, our future road will become wider and wider.When we recall the past today, it is not just a nostalgia for the past.We recall the past for the future.May the alumni of Peking University all over the world: domestic, overseas, male, female, old, and young, never cut off your memory of your alma mater. May you dream of Weiming Lake forever. We all come to celebrate the centenary of our alma mater in ten years time. "Nung, moon and new moon!" January 3, 1988