Home Categories Essays Zhang Ailing's Prose

Chapter 18 hit

Zhang Ailing's Prose 张爱玲 588Words 2018-03-18
I saw a policeman beating someone on the Bund, for no reason, just on a whim. The one who was beaten was a 15- or 16-year-old kid in fairly clean clothes, with cotton-padded jacket and trousers tied around his waist.The whip used by the police, I didn't look carefully, it seems to be the rope loop on the head of the baton. "Woo!" Pull it down, again and again, forcing the child to the base of the wall.The child could run without running, looking up at him, frowning, squinting, like a countryman who cannot open his eyes in the field sun, and seems to be smiling.Things come too abruptly, and people who lack stage experience often have no time to adjust their facial expressions.

I've never had much sense of justice.If I don't want to see something, I have the ability to not see it.But this time, I couldn't help but look back again and again, my chest was filled with breath, and when I hit it, I felt my heart contract.After the beating was over, the policeman walked over here, and I stared at him viciously, wishing for knives to fly out of my eyes, and wishing I could express my full contempt and anger, my abhorrence of a leprosy patient.However, he only felt that someone was paying attention to him, and he tightened the belt around his waist triumphantly.He is a northerner with a long face and a big mouth, and he is not ugly.

He walked to the door of the public restroom, grabbed a shabby-looking man in a long robe, and didn't beat him immediately, but just stared at him, holding the stick with one hand.The man wanted to tell a joke in the midst of his panic and annoyance, and asked, "Sir, why do you want me to go to jail?" Probably because my mind has not been trained, at this time I didn't think about the class revolution. In a fit of anger, I just wanted to be an official, or the chairman's wife, so that I could step forward and give the police a slap in the face. In Li Hanqiu's novels at the beginning of the Republic of China, at this time should jump out a righteous Western missionary teacher, or the concubine of the chief of security (the heroine's handkerchief is handed over, and the hero's old lover.) It doesn't matter if you are innocent once in a while. It's not good to be naive.

Press "Left Key ←" to return to the previous chapter; Press "Right Key →" to enter the next chapter; Press "Space Bar" to scroll down.
Chapters
Chapters
Setting
Setting
Add
Return
Book