Chapter 17 Afterword to "Plum Blossom"

Afterword to "Plum Blossom" Bad luck with this volume of poems!I have hit the wall several times for it, and I am almost desperate.Now, thanks to the good intentions of the owner of Kaiming Bookstore, he has promised to print it and let me fulfill my responsibility to my deceased friend. I am really grateful! Occasionally, I read the preface before the volume, and it reads February 1924 at the back; it was already four years ago.And Wuyu's death happened the year before.After the preface was written, it was published in the "Literature Xunkan" of "Current Affairs News".Even if someone saw it at that time, it should have been forgotten by now, right?It is said that Wuyu's coffin is still parked somewhere in Shanghai; but the sun and the moon are passing so fast, and the personnel turnover in the past five years, even the relatives and friends in Wuyu, his name has become a little blurred, right?Thinking of this, I felt a little inexplicably lonely.My last meeting with Wuyu was on the upper floor of Shanghai Ximen Sanli (?).At that time, he was studying Western painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, and lived in a pavilion in a small alley near Wannian Bridge.I got there first, and then I went to Sanli with him.During that summer vacation, I came to Shanghai from Wenzhou to play; because the poem he handed me in the spring had not yet been revised, so I also sent him a letter while visiting.When we met, his thin, dark, smiling face was still the same as Chun Jian; since I knew him, his face has been like this.I never imagined that after a short time, he would suddenly leave us! ——But I got the letter very late in Wenzhou, and I remember it as if it was a month or two after his death; at that time, I was still busy revising the manuscript and planning to send it to him.

He doesn't seem to have any relatives or friends, at least in Shanghai.No one can tell clearly about his illness and the date of his death, and I am still at a loss; I only know that the illness is extremely severe and there is no money for proper treatment.It is said that several students from the same town pooled money to do the funeral.Most of them have no money, so they can only collect them hastily.The coffin is posted somewhere.His family wanted to transport it back, but they didn't have the money—although it was only a few dozen yuan.Both his father and his friend Lin Xingmin hoped that the manuscript would fetch some money.Unfortunately, I hit a wall four times, and I still keep it in my hands; four years have flown by like flies.Naturally, I also have to bear some responsibility for conformity.Until now, the sale is for sale. Thinking of Wuyu's thin coffin, in the humidity of the south, in the dust for several years, I don't know what it looks like!In fact, a pile of rotting bones is nothing to cherish; but after all, human beings are human beings, knowing that it is obsession, but it is not easy to break it.

Wuyu's father visited me in Wenzhou, probably in the spring of 1922.One can tell at a glance that this is an honest mainlander.He said sadly that his family had spent a lot of money to study in Wuyu.Who knew it would be like this?He said that now Wuyu still has a family to support, and the cost of transporting the coffin is really hard to figure out.I heard that he has some manuscripts, please take pity on him, give him some ideas!I agreed at the time; who knew that the delay would be all these years!Later he also entrusted a person who did not know me to write a letter to ask me.I had already left Wenzhou at that time, and because I didn't have a clue about the matter, I forgot to reply for a while, and I haven't heard from it since then.Now that I think about it, it's really disturbing.

I mentioned Mr. Lin Xingmin briefly in the preface, he is really a respectable friend!He is the one who is most enthusiastic about everything; he is the one who constantly urges me for four years.When I was in Wenzhou, he came to visit me from his hometown Yuhuan specially for the sake of Wuyu, and he copied the manuscript of this poem that I had deleted and corrected, and cataloged it, which is the manuscript that is now being printed. up.When I went to Wenzhou, he also went to work in various places in Hankou and Ningbo; he often sent me letters, in which he always asked about this poem manuscript.Last year he went to Nanyang, and he sent a letter to remind me before he left.He said that Wuyu has been dead for several years, and the only remaining volume of poems has not yet been printed. It is really hard to let go; please try somewhere else, how about it?After he arrived in Nanyang, there is no news so far. The sea and the sky are far away, and I don't know where he is.Now I want to send a letter from his home to let him know that the manuscript is ready for printing; he will be very happy.As the old saying goes, "If you die for a lifetime, you will see friendship;"

He is in Wuyu, for the past five years, it has been like a day, it is really impossible for human beings! Those who care about this poem are Bai Cai and Zhou Liaoyin.Mr. Bai wrote a novel called "The Son of the Poetry", which is in memory of Wuyu, and this poem is mentioned in it.I was still in Wenzhou at that time.He forwarded this novel to me from Uncle Ping and attached a letter, urging me to try to get it printed.He and Uncle Ping were not acquainted with each other. Because of this, he often corresponded with Uncle Ping, and later also with me.This is also a coincidence.I told Xingmin again, and Xingmin also wrote several letters to him.According to Xingmin, he once planned to pay for the printing of this poem; but later, because of printing his own poem, the power was too late, so he had to let it go.It's a pity that this poem is about to go to press now, and he has been dead for three years, so he can't see it!Mr. Zhou Liaoyin, according to Xingmin, is also Wuyu's good friend.Xingmin said that he would write a preface to this poem and a biography without corners.But he also said that he was always wandering, not sure; as long as there is a chance to print this poem, there is no need to wait for his article.I know he is somewhere in Nanyang now; the road is so long, I have no choice but to wait for him.

The end of spring and the beginning of summer are the best days in Beijing.I re-read the manuscript, looking for old dreams, feeling a little autumnal in my heart. Made on May 9, 1928. (Originally published in Issue 236 of "Literature Weekly" on July 22, 1928)