In the summer of 1938, the battle situation in Hankou was tense. The turbid Yangtze River is rushing to the east in mighty force, and all kinds of refugees, who have experienced all kinds of sufferings in the world, are running in the opposite direction desperately.The plane with red plaster on its wings kept dropping bombs.The bomb made a heart-rending hiss and fell, and as soon as it fell into the water, it splashed a jet of water mixed with blood. A small white riverboat called "Minsheng", full of refugees, is sailing up the river to Chongqing.Black smoke rose from the chimney of the ship, and it slowly drove into the first beach of the "Seventy-two Beaches". The cliffs on both sides tightly squeezed the river in the middle.

The cabins and steerage were packed, and the decks were packed.At the bottom of the chimney, where the thick smoke was rising, there were fifty or sixty children, huddled tightly together at a loss.They have no home, no parents, and they are covered in soot and dust, as if they just came out of a coal pile. On both sides of the fast-moving Yangtze River, there are many strange rocks. The river is like an angry dragon, turning to the left for a while, and turning to the right for a while, twisting frantically between the two mountains.Passed a dangerous shoal, followed by another, and then went straight down.The boat bumped back and forth on the river, like a caterpillar struggling for its life.When the whistle sounded, everyone on board was too frightened to speak out, fearing that disaster would be imminent.

Every time they crossed a dangerous shoal, the people on the boat breathed a sigh of relief, as if they were taking a breath in the middle of a tense wrestling.Some people turned around to look at the rapids and waves on the shore, and saw people and buffaloes circling in the middle of the water, with only black hair tips exposed on the water surface, and two long horns that were spinning fast. Sometimes, a fully loaded boat going up against the rapids would shake violently, and the river water would rush in from the side of the boat, soaking everyone on deck. As soon as the sun went down behind the cliffs, a cold wind made the passengers shiver.Occasionally, a ray of sunlight leaks through the cracks in the rocks, casting a rainbow on the turbulent river, which is surprisingly beautiful.

On both sides of the river, there are green hills and steep slopes everywhere, each with its own name.They are in various poses, forming an endless scroll.Throughout the ages, how many people have praised the unpredictable beauty of the river, and how many people have chanted the magical legend about it.The relics of the tryst between King Huai of Chu and the Goddess of Wushan still exist.But these fleeing passengers no longer cared about these things. When the riverboat passed through the Wu Gorge and beat the peerless beauty——Goddess Peak, they were unmoved. The refugees have no leisure, no place to stand, and no way to lean on the fence to enjoy the scenery.All the passengers, old and young, high and low, were frightened by the danger and the uncertain future before them.Especially uncomfortable are the inconveniences of life.The people in the cabin couldn't get out because the deck was full of people and the luggage was piled up like a mountain.The people on the deck can't move, because there is no space!Even taking a breath, or standing with one leg upside down, was difficult.All the people are tightly packed together.However, the exhausted waiter still managed to prepare meals for the passengers.They walk barefoot.Those sooty and dusty feet scuffed everything they touched, leaving little cakes of mud on the rolls and bundles.Their feet did not touch the deck, and they had to step on whatever they saw—even if it was on the faces or bodies of the passengers.Those who were stepped on shouted and scolded, and the result was even more chaotic and miserable.

On the "Minsheng" wheel, no one is at peace. People are either troubled, angry or sad.The sight of the beautiful green hills on both sides of the strait did not inspire them.Life is too ruthless, it is really endless sins, endless sadness. Only one of the passengers appeared to be neither sad nor worried.Although he, like others, has suffered from war and suffered from hardships of travel. This person is Fang Baoqing, in his forties.Relying on a big drum, a pair of drum boards and a sanxian, he sang the big drum in the teahouse and talked about storytelling for dinner.He was a street performer, and spent most of his life traveling with his family all over the world.Now the whole family is still following him.His eldest brother was lying on the soot-covered deck, grunting "Ouch, Ouch" every time the ship shook.People call him a wimp.He's such a wimp, he doesn't do anything but cough and sigh all day long.The middle-aged woman with her chubby back leaning against the cabin wall, huddled with wimps and holding a bottle of wine, was Fang Baoqing's wife.She was raising her voice, tearfully cursing someone nearby.

Not far from Second Grandma Fang, half lying and half sitting leaning against her, looking pitiful and dirty, was Fang Baoqing's biological daughter Dafeng. On the deck beyond the rail, sat a fourteen-year-old girl.She is Fang Baoqing's adopted daughter Xiulian.Like her father, Xiulian sings in teahouses.There was a serene expression on her delicate face, and she was playing dominoes by herself.Every time the boat jolted, the wimp yelled, and Xiulian cursed, because the shaking of the boat messed up her dominoes.Her voice is small, not rough or wild. Fang Baoqing doesn't want to sit with his family, he likes to walk around.Listening to his brother calling and his wife nagging, he couldn't stand it.

Although Fang Baoqing is in his forties and has experienced a lot of ups and downs in storytelling and performing arts, his appearance and demeanor are still very simple - even the way he speaks, every movement of his hands and legs, he seems so kind.He's not stupid, otherwise, after so many years, he wouldn't be living so smoothly.He is as simple, innocent, mischievous, and sincere as a ten-year-old child.If he sticks out his tongue, cocks his shoulders, makes a funny face, or laughs like a fool, it's not a show, it's not a pretense.This is all believable.He did it to make himself happy.His affectation and sincerity are like a well-beaten raw egg, blending into one, and it is impossible to tell which is the yolk and which is the white.

The Japanese entered Peiping, and Baoqing took the whole family to Shanghai.Shanghai fell, and they went to Hankou again.Now that the enemy has advanced to the outskirts of Hankou, he and his family fled to Chongqing with the others.Peking is Baoqing's home.The big drums he sang are all in Beijing rhyme.It was very easy for him to stay in Peiping. He didn't have to suffer such a great crime and suffer so much, and became one of the millions of refugees.Baoqing looks simple and honest, almost illiterate.However, in Beiping, there are not many Gushu artists who can recognize a few characters, and he can be regarded as one of them.The enemy would never come to kill him, but he would rather leave behind his comfortable home and his beloved things than earn money to eat in a city with Japanese flags flying.He is innocent and simple.He didn't know if he was patriotic or not. He only knew that whenever he saw his own national flag, his throat and eyes would feel dry and he would panic, as if something was churning in his heart.

Among this group of people, the most opposed to leaving Peiping is the wimp.He was only five years older than his brother, but he felt that he was an elder and should be respected.First, he asked not to disturb the peace he had at home.He was afraid that he would die if he left home.He kept on humming in a very annoying way.In fact, he didn't feel uncomfortable at all, he just wanted to use this method to let Bao Qing know that his mind had not changed.Whether she leaves Peiping, Shanghai, or Hankou, Second Mistress doesn't care.All she objected to was that her husband always made the last-minute decision to leave, always making it impossible for her to pack everything she wanted to take with her.She never considered the difficulty or inconvenience of carrying things in wartime.Now, as she sipped her bottle, she thought of her old comfortable shoes and some worn socks, if only she had brought them!When everyone leaves, she also leaves, but she is really reluctant to leave everything behind!She likes to take a sip of it, but once she starts to drink it, she becomes more irritable, often not even listening to her tongue.

Baoqing couldn't stand his brother's calling, nor his wife's nagging.All day long he struggled to and fro along the deck, heaving with the hull.It's a real pain to walk around like this.If someone had shut their mouth so suddenly as he stepped over sleeping people, it would have bitten off the end of his big toe. He doesn't look like a busker at all.Not too pretty, not too ugly.He was as ordinary-looking as a clerk in a pawnshop or a department store.There was nothing extraordinary in his demeanor either, not at all like an entertainer.He is not like some good actors who can show their talents without putting on an air.Sometimes he shows a bit of the habit of an entertainer, which makes it even more difficult for people to guess what he is.

He is not tall, but strong and plump.Because of its stocky appearance, it sometimes appears dull and clumsy.But if he wanted to, he could be as alert and active as a monkey.When you walk with him, if you come across a puddle of water, you'll never know whether he's going to jump across it all at once, or step steadily into the water and get your shoes wet. His round head was always well-shaven.His eyes, ears, and mouth were so large that they seemed to hang loosely from his head.Fortunately, his eyebrows were black and thick, as if they were placed there for the sake of dignity.With it, the slack muscles on the face will not look ridiculous.They were like two black clouds in the sky, and when he flicked his eyebrows, it was thought that they would strike lightning. His teeth are straight and always show because he likes to laugh.The nose is very ordinary, but the lips are always so red and bright.Although there are already middle-aged wrinkles under the eyes, the red lips make him look much younger. Now he was walking barefoot around the crowded deck like those waiters.The boat was going very unsteadily, and he tried to avoid stepping on people, so he was barefoot.It is easier to be forgiven if you step on someone with bare feet than when you step on someone with heavy shoes. He rolled up his trouser legs, revealing his thick, white calves.He was wearing an old blue silk gown, holding the hem of the gown with his hands, so as not to sweep the faces of the people lying on the deck, and also to walk more swiftly. He held the corner of his clothes with one hand, and greeted his friends with the other.He is used to performing, and he can't help feeling that everyone around him is an audience, and he should smile at them and gesture friendlyly.So he held up his skirt with one hand, and beckoned the passengers to circle the boat with the other.The movement of his legs seems to be stepping across a stream, or "jumping and jumping".He is used to shaving his head every two or three days, and the melon seeds on his head are always so shiny and smooth.His bald head is his trademark.Those who have heard his drums all remember his bald head.His face was far less noticeable and acclaimed than his bald head.His head hadn't been shaved for more than a week now, and as he walked the deck he scratched his odious short stubble from time to time. Within a few hours of boarding "Minsheng", he recognized almost everyone on the same boat.Before long, he acted as if he had been the overseer who had built the ship.He is familiar with every corner of the ship, and he knows where everything is.He knew where to get a bottle of wine for his wife so she could sleep and stop pointing fingers at him.He also knew where to find a bowl of noodle soup, so that his wimpy elder brother could drink it and stop screaming.Just as a juggler can catch a rabbit or a bird out of the air, Baoqing can also find aspirin for passengers suffering from headaches or seasickness, and special medicine for those who wobble. He had no trouble finding out the details of the people on board, as if the captain knew them as well as he did.The captain was now an old friend of his too.He used a sanxian and a big drum (this is Baoqing's precious property) for thirty years to help him make friends.He and Xiulian rely on these musical instruments to earn money for food and support the whole family.These instruments can only be bought in Beiping.If it is bruised or crushed, you can no longer buy it.So as soon as he got on board, he entrusted these instruments to the captain.The captain didn't know him at all, and he had no obligation to take care of the sanxian and drums for a singer in a teahouse.Originally, he was too busy with the things he should take care of himself!But Baoqing seems to have a bit of magic power.Like a warm spring breeze, he quietly slipped into the captain's cabin, making the captain feel that it was a matter of great honor to keep the sanxian and the big drum for him.Baoqing "jumped and joined the official", and had to stop if he couldn't jump a few steps.Sometimes I want to stop myself.But most of the companions on the same boat called him.One person asked him for some aspirin, and the other for headache powder.Others grabbed him by the sleeve and asked him to tell a joke.If he wanted to borrow a deck of cards, or inquire about the time, he stopped right away.If he really couldn't find anything else to do, he would climb up the narrow iron ladder to the deck and look at the unattended children under the chimney, covered in soot. Baoqing has no son, he likes boys more than girls.It pained him to see these poor soot-covered children, mostly boys.Looking at them, his big round eyes suddenly became moist.Thinking of the touching stories he had told, he could feel the sadness of these poor little guys when they lost their parents in the chaos.He could also imagine how they had no food or clothing, were hungry and cold, had survived all the way from Shanghai and Nanjing, and now they were heading to Sichuan. He hoped to take out three or four hundred steaming meat buns for these sick-faced, dark babies to eat.But what can he do? He can't come up with anything.The only valuable possessions he had were his sanxian and drum, which were given to the captain for safekeeping. He wanted to sing a verse to the children, or tell a few stories.But his heart was churning and he couldn't speak.He went to the rivers and lakes to sell and sing, and the smile he learned over the years and the habit of making friends easily were useless in front of these children in distress.No, you can't treat them like you did on stage.He didn't say a word, just stood there dumbfounded.The black soot that fell from the puffing chimney slowly deposited a thick layer on his bald, hatless head. Seeing these children, he thought of his adopted daughter Xiulian.She was just seven years old when he bought her.The one who sold her was a skinny man who claimed to be her uncle, and offered her twenty yuan in cash.She looked just like these children then--sick and dirty and thin, and he was afraid she wouldn't live long. It was like yesterday.Now she is fourteen years old.He didn't know if she still remembered her real parents.Does she really regard him as her own father?Will she let a rich man abduct her to become a concubine, or will she make up her own mind to marry someone she likes?He often murmured these things in his mind. His business, his reputation, and the happiness of his family are all closely related to Xiulian.Of course she was only fourteen years old and knew nothing.But she couldn't stay fourteen forever, and if anything happened to her it would ruin his whole family. His whole family?When he thought of them, a wry smile appeared on his face.His useless elder brother, his wife who is always drunk, and that stupid daughter Dafeng!How could Xiulian be prevented from running away from such a home? Hearing cheers from the deck below, he woke up as if from a dream, and looked down.The passengers were all happy because the ship had passed the last shoal.There are only gentle hillsides on both sides of the river, and the river becomes open and calm.The little white steamboat was looking for a place to rest.Like an exhausted old woman, she sailed slowly and tiredly to the beach, and she really needed a rest.The ship dropped anchor.There are several huts built of reeds and bamboos on the shore. When the boat approached the shore, the sun in the western sky had already appeared golden red.For a moment no one moved.Those captains and pilots who sailed safely through the dangerous shoals, those waiters and passengers who watched them were too tired to move.Even the little white boat seemed too tired to move. Baoqing brushed the soot off his bald head, opened his mouth wide, and shouted to the children: "Come on, come on, everyone, take a bath." He pushed away the crowd, led the children across the diving board, and jumped into the water like a flock of ducks.