Chapter 19 Chapter 19

School is over!In fact, it is no different from a holiday, but from the unquiet meaning contained in these two words, the hearts of the whole town feel strange.A wooden platform was built in front of the school, covered by the shade of elm and beech trees, and the sun was covered by heavy clouds, making the weather look miserable, like a funeral scene.A white paper five or six feet long was taped to a tree trunk, with the words "National Salvation Speech" written on it dripping with ink.Everyone knew what was going on, and they told each other, and they all came to listen. After a while, two or three hundred people gathered.

If one were to extol the efficacy of newspapers, this is clear evidence: if there were not dozens of Shanghai posters brought by ships every day, the people of this town would be kept in the dark as to what kind of situation their country was in. Status, what happened, relying on dozens of Shanghai posters, they know that the crazy war in Europe has stopped; they know that the new international situation will be decided openly at the Versailles Peace Conference; There is great hope that all the fetters imposed by the foreign powers on China have already been demanded by the Chinese representatives at the peace conference to abolish them.These news constituted a hazy good situation, which flashed before the public; "The good situation has already been seen, and the time to keep our feet on the ground is certainly not far away." Thinking like this, the public seems to feel that the "burden of the Chinese people" on themselves has been lightened by half.But that future was hazy after all, and some subsequent news shattered it. "Public decision" is the words of a dream; whoever has the strength deserves to speak, and only speaking is a word! "Abolishing all shackles" is out of the question right now; it is quite possible to add a few more shackles!There is power in the world, but there is no justice!There are traitors in China, but no politicians!These grievances condensed and stagnated, and finally exploded: this is the fierce demonstration movement of students above the junior college level in Beijing.They wounded high officials and set fire to mansions; they were arrested in ranks, but they showed unanimous indomitable spirit.A feeling was common among people everywhere: Beijing students are doing what the public wants to do.Students from all over the country were especially excited. They stopped classes, organized student unions, and rose up to make large-scale publicity.As a result, strikes by workers and businessmen happened one after another, and railway workers who were in charge of transportation were also rumored to be on strike jointly.This kind of situation has never happened in China; it can be said that this is the first time that the Chinese people are aware of the country, and it is a new era in which the hearts of the people are united and they express their will to resist a big event.

Although most people in this town don't know how far they are from Beijing, most of them are angry.The only way to express anger is to sigh at the newspaper, or hit the table next to the speaker; but this is indeed sincere, and there is nothing false.Zhao Juren, who has always advocated that more things are worse than less things, also commented in the teahouse: "This group of guys only know how to enrich themselves; what is the benefit of the country and the people, they have never dreamed of it! This time the students are well punished. If you kill a Two, that's better, so that people can see how well traitors can do it!" Gao Xiaoli, through the resolution of the teaching staff, went on strike for three days in order to sympathize with the people everywhere and arouse patriotism.

The weather was extremely sweltering, and people felt suffocated in breathing.The dirt floor is sticky.The heavy clouds piled up and got thicker.The dreadful rainy season is about to begin.Hundreds of audience members gathered in front of the stage, their faces as gloomy as the sky; among them were a few flamboyant girls who were used to laughing and joking passing by in the city streets, but now they stopped laughing and only leaned on each other gently say.More than a dozen students each took a stack of mimeographs and distributed them to the public; the public took them to read, which was the "summary" of Japan's 21 conditions for China.The proposal of the twenty-one conditions made China set up a special day of national humiliation, and on that day, all localities held meetings to commemorate, express their shame, and try to work hard. It has been four years since then; most of the recent diplomatic disputes have also been caused by This; but what is its content, everyone seems at a loss.It is that thing that is in my hand now, so of course I just concentrate on reading it.Some illiterate people heard others murmur, and knew that the monster was written on the paper, so they folded it and hid it in their pockets; they seemed to think that one day they would cut open its heart and lungs to see!

A bell rang, and Jiang Bingru stepped onto the stage and began to give a speech.His speech focused on narrative, explaining the reasons for the so-called "May 4th Movement" by Beijing students in sequence, without emotion, but with the power of excitement.At the end, he said: "Now, the industrial, commercial, and academic circles in various places have sacrificed their work, business, and studies to express their meaning in unison! How many items are included in the meaning, and what those items should be, I will not say. , I don’t need to say it, because everyone understands it as well as people from all walks of life in other places. The problem before us is: How to implement our ideas? How to use our strength to implement our ideas?” Bingru stepped down after saying this.There was no loud clapping of hands in the audience, nor the casual chatter of a group of people on this side and a group of people on that side. There was only a silence that was so depressed that it was about to burst.

The second person on stage was Ni Huanzhi.Recently, his anger seems to be stronger than anyone else; although his body is in the south, his mind is flying to Beijing, he joins the student team, the students run, the students cry, the students are imprisoned, starved, his soul seems to have a portion.On the one hand, he resented the cowardice and despicableness of the ruling powers, and the corruption and injustice of the great powers. On the other hand, he also deplored the obstinacy and weakness of his compatriots.Everyone sees the affairs of the nation-state the same as other people's affairs. Let some greedy and shameless people not be elected by everyone, but those who have the cheek to take on the important responsibilities of the world, to arrange and do business. How could it be so bad!It should be completely changed, and everyone should shoulder the affairs of the nation-state on their shoulders, which is the real way to survive! ——In the past few years, he didn't like to read newspapers, and he was not happy to remember the success or failure of some warriors. At this time, he felt that he should correct it; he must understand the status quo, so as not to ignore it; The fate of the nation-state is intertwined, and it is not only the private affairs of the warriors. ——He can't wait to get close to all Chinese people, tell them this meaning, and let them wake up immediately.At this moment, when he was on stage to give a speech, although there were only a few hundred people in the audience, he had the same enthusiasm as he faced the whole Chinese people.His breathing was very short, and there seemed to be a surge of air in the chest compartment, which hindered his speech, so that what he said was not as smooth as he thought in his heart.His eyes were full of excitement and stern light; it could also be said to be a pleading expression, he begged all Chinese people to wake up quickly; it could even be said to be a crying expression, he cried that China had reached the point where it could not cheer up and be despised by its powerful neighbors the point.His right hand is stretched forward, dancing in the air, to help the power of speech; the palm is open, in a gesture of shaking hands, as if to mean "people of our same fate, let's shake hands!"

He took on Bingru's words and said that only when the people unite can they implement everyone's wishes.The stronger the unity and the greater the strength, the more we can resist the greedy big powers from the outside and control the thieves from the country at home.He believes that everyone is not awakened and united. Because they don’t understand the pros and cons, no one tells them so earnestly;At this moment, he himself is shouldering the important task of speaking in this way, so he tried his best to speak; it seems that talking is not enough, but it is a pity that he has no way to show his heart to the public.But he was not disappointed, thinking that at this moment tomorrow, the hundreds of people in front of the stage will surely become responsible citizens and a new force in the national salvation movement; because they listened to what he said, and when they went back, they had to concentrate on thinking and think hard. Naturally, it will bring out his experience that he didn't explain clearly.He forgot that the person standing in front of the stage was the person who suspected the school and spread rumors the year before. At this moment, he only felt that ordinary people also have a kind of plasticity.

He stood on tiptoe, raised his body, with a kind of unmoving spirit; his usual gentle expression disappeared somewhere, and in exchange for passion and sadness; his voice was provocative; he said: "Don't think that we This is just a township, which has nothing to do with the overall situation. If all the towns and towns across the country come to their senses, what purpose can they not achieve! At least their authorities will be more cautious; Even the backcountry has jumped out. Greedy foreign countries will at least reduce the bad habit of not taking China seriously; because people in the villages and towns know to rise up and fight, it can be seen that China is not a China with a few bureaucrats. Everyone present , don’t take yourself lightly, let’s take on the responsibility of saving the country! Didn’t you see it in the newspaper? The first goal of the people everywhere is to punish some bureaucrats who flatter the country. Be careful, this is only the first step, not the last One step; we still have many goals for the future. But this first step must be done first, immediately. What if we can’t do it? Scary! We don’t pay taxes, we take direct resistance!..."

Suddenly, a dense drizzle came, and the rain shone obliquely on the heads of the audience, and many people covered their heads with their sleeves and turned around.A low-pitched clamor rose from the scattered crowd, saying the following words in an injustice tone: "We also have a strike!" "Traitors are really hateful, I don't know what kind of heart they have!"" Not paying taxes is a solution, our towns and cities have the same real strength!" They hurriedly followed the road home. Huanzhi on stage did not lose enthusiasm because some of the audience dispersed.When the rain came, it was human nature to stand in the open and eager to escape. He completely forgave them; but the thought of forgiveness was buried in the bottom of his consciousness and did not come up obviously.For himself, the water dripping from the tree landed on his clothes, on the top of his head, on his cheeks, and on his eyelashes. The feeling of wetness and coolness made him feel like a man of lofty ideals willing to risk hardships; he seemed to dislike the rain Not big enough, it would be better if it was violent rainstorm, and it would be better if it was hail the size of goose eggs.He closed his eyes, let the water droplets on his eyelashes merge with the water strips on his cheeks, then raised his voice and continued: "It is generally said that the people have the spirit of the people, and the people should have a kind of arrogance, a kind of arrogance. The people of our country have always been too lacking in arrogance." It’s too shameless; the strong neighbors use us to slaughter us, we let it go, and the authorities treat us as gifts, so we let it go! The hearts of the people have been destroyed, so that there is no trace left. But no! Now the people of all places are united to save the country It is tragic and passionate, which shows that the hearts of the people are still preserved here. It has been stagnant for a long time, and it is more vigorous and irresistible when it is vented. I know that this venting will open up a new situation for China..."

"Huanzhi come down, the rain is getting heavier and heavier, they are all scattered," Jiang Bingru said, looking up; thick drops of water dripped on his face full of emotion, and there were several places on the shoulders and chest of the old crepe gown. Large wet marks on teacups. "They're all gone?" Huanzhi answered involuntarily; only then did he see the backs of twenty or thirty people staggering towards him in the vertical rain as thick as shoe soles, and none of them faced him in front of the stage.He patted his wet hair, stepped off the stage slowly, and shouted repeatedly: "It's a pity, it's a pity that it's raining, it's raining, and you haven't said anything yet."

He said this to Lu Sanfu.At this time, Lu Sanfu was standing within the threshold of the school gate.The vertical streaks of rain did not fall on his new white canvas suit; he was thanking the rain for a short while, canceling a lecture he did not like.But he replied like this: "It doesn't matter, there are many opportunities to speak; it doesn't have to be on the stage today, and you can speak in the streets and alleys in the future. Anyway, it is also to express my opinion." "Yes, you can talk about the streets and alleys; when the rain stops, we will go out separately!" Huan Zhifa was so excited as if he saw a new road, ignoring his wet clothes against his body, and sketched his chest and arms Outline.He also said: "There are quite a few teahouses here. People drink tea there all day long. It is a good place for speeches; we should also go to the teahouses." Bingru hates teahouses the most, and has never stepped into a teahouse since he came back from Japan. Hearing what Huanzhi said now, of course he agrees, but he doesn’t want himself or his companions to go into a teahouse to give a speech on saving the country. , and urged Huanzhi to say, "Let's go inside and take off our wet clothes." The drops of water dripping from the tree were as big as soybeans, and Huanzhi seemed to feel that this was a bit of joy; he looked at the space in front of the stage where hundreds of audience members had been standing just now, but now it was covered with rain, and then he Bingru and Sanfu returned to the school. Huanzhi was wearing an old shirt again, Bingru took off his old crepe gown, and they sat together in the lounge.It seems that the school has never been so quiet today; only the sound of rain is heard, like countless crabs spitting foam, and the monotonous sound of tin water falling.As if they had done a grand event, they talked about what happened and what happened afterwards with a kind of not-so-weary weariness.Bingru said: "Today's situation doesn't seem to be bad. The people here have such a temper, they keep laughing and joking, and if you say something so bloody, they always feel that it has nothing to do with them. I'm afraid it will be like this today. Give us Pour a spoonful of cold water. But no, they are listening there today, listening very earnestly." ① Use white iron or moso bamboo to catch the rainwater from the eaves, and collect it into the upright white iron pipe or moso bamboo pipe to flow underground. This is "water falling". "Du Luoluo" is an onomatopoeia. ——Author's note. "They took the twenty-one articles, and they all stared at the thing we printed. And they all took it back, and no one just threw it away." Lu Sanfu said this, showing a complacent expression, as if It's the same when he usually praises a certain athlete for how high he can jump and how fast he can run. "After all, we are also citizens, and we all have the righteous indignation of the citizens." Huanzhi explained in this way, thinking about the gratifying situation in which many people have awakened with their heads held high and their chests held high after being enlightened by the prophets.Who is the Illuminati?He thought that a man like him, no matter what, was a passing citizen.It's good to pass the test; is the responsibility of instructing others still worthy of it?He clapped his hands together and sighed, "Alas! We were wrong before; we were so focused on the school and forgot about other responsibilities!" "How do you say that?" Bingru seemed to understand what Huanzhi meant, but she didn't quite know. "Our vision is too narrow. We only see a school and a group of students; other than that, it seems that there is nothing else in the world. Sometimes we think about the big problems of the world and the country; but the thoughts of comforting ourselves follow up immediately, Thinking that we are creating healthy and perfect people, and only after our work is completed, there is nothing that the world and the country can't solve! It seems that the world and the country are a static thing, waiting there, waiting for us to finish the work, decorate it Well, here it goes. What a ridiculous notion!" "Indeed, it's a bit ridiculous. How can the world stand still and wait for you!" The air in the country has been violently turbulent for the past few days, and Jiang Bingru naturally felt the shock; and hearing Huanzhi say this, he doesn't care about his own special school. Faith, can not help but feel lost. Huanzhi nodded and went on to say: "If you are really ambitious, you should broaden your horizons. Just looking at a school and a group of students is not enough. You have to keep your eyes open to the public. How to awaken the public? It is an equally important task as how to run the school well and teach the students well. The general public has already taken on social responsibilities, and the students are preparing to take on them in the future. If you give up the former, you will teach the students no matter what Well, in the future there will always be dragged down, stuck in the mud together to get things done. I now believe that is the case." "This reminds me of Dr. Xu's comments I heard in the city in the past years." Bingru had a comprehensible smile on her face, and asked Huanzhi, "Didn't I talk to you? Dr. Xu said that schools and society cannot be separated." relationship; the school should have a great wish to assimilate the society, to achieve this level is the success of the school; if it can’t be done, it will be assimilated by the society, education and so on are just nice terms, and the effect is equal to zero! I At that time, I thought this was a bit extreme; for example, repairing an old house and gradually replacing it with new materials? School education is dedicated to making new materials. But now I think so, all materials have to be re-made, otherwise it will always be Great and solid buildings cannot be built. We must assimilate society directly, and let the general public come to be our students!" "Today we started the first lesson. The situation is very optimistic. We have never done it before. It's not that we don't have the strength. If we don't do it, we have to. Now that our laziness has been tested, we will not be lazy in the future. " "It's not a matter of doing it, it's a matter of doing it," Bingru muttered in Huanzhi's tone. At this time, the rain stopped, and the eaves were still dripping.The sky was still clouded, but it shone like silver.Unexpectedly, Bingru and Huanzhi raised their heads to look at the sky at the same time, as if thinking that behind this silvery light was the sun shining brightly, and a ray of comforting thoughts sprouted in their hearts.Lu Sanfu was also a little happy; the rain stopped, and the regular class of running in the fields would not be interrupted every day. When Huanzhi came home, he wore an old borrowed shirt and walked into the house. A damp and musty smell pierced his nostrils (this house is a hundred-year-old building). Like the national flag, two bamboo poles are hung crosswise.He couldn't help sighing and thinking: Alas, the dream of a new family is far from the reality!But a new kind of excitement dominated him, making his exclamation only faint and indifferent. He had something to tell Peizhang, so he walked into the bedroom. The child is a boy and has been born for more than five months.In the past ten days or so, at night, he just refused to sleep soundly, and then he became dizzy and opened his small mouth to cry again.The body temperature is normal, and there is no other phenomenon. It seems that there is no disease.I only suffer from the mother who hugged him to sleep; patiently yelled at him, nursed him, and put all my heart on wishing him to sleep peacefully, so I seldom had the chance to sleep peacefully.Now the child fell asleep.Gently put him on the bed, and she felt a little tired herself, so she lay down next to him.Gradually, the eyelids closed, and a deep breath sounded. Huanzhi looked at Peizhang who was asleep, his eyes were closed into a line, surrounded by a blue halo, showing some thin purple tendons; his face was pale, no longer had the luster of a girl; his mouth was slightly opened, and his lips were only a little red meaning.Then he calmly thought about the thoughts that he couldn't get rid of recently: It's only been more than a year, but it seems to have changed to ten years later, and it's really fate playing tricks in the middle!It's so pitiful for her to sacrifice like this; look at the haggard color, and it's not just the color that is haggard! He thought about it in turn: "In any case, I have no reason to hate her. Although her temperament and hobbies have changed, although they are not very cute, the reason for the change is not her; Destroyed! I ought to caress her wounds, and comfort her pains; I must take the hardest ways, if it is good for her. As for my own pleasures, I might as well leave them alone; It's a selfish mediocrity." His eyes shifted to the child clinging to the mother's chest.Now the child is sleeping deeply, and his face is absolutely quiet, which is very different from the crying face at night (the mouth that is open is almost half of the face, and the horizontal wrinkles form a ridiculous intricate).The complexion is tender red.The folded mouth sucks from time to time, it must be breastfeeding in the dream.He thought: "Such a small life is like a plant's bud. It is unpredictable how beautiful its material will be and how cute its posture will be. For him, it is not worth sacrificing a mother's wish and comfort." Thoughts of love sent his hands to touch the child's face, forgetting everything else for a moment. The vigilant mother woke up, sat up, looked at Huanzhi sleepily and said, "Are you back?" Huanzhi sat down next to her; this was the right time for tenderness, because the children who were often obstructive temporarily relaxed them; and he had something to tell her, so sitting side by side would be more comfortable.He said: "I just came back. Today's lecture, there are quite a few people who came to listen." "Hmm. Why, you're wearing such a dress?" "During the speech just now, my clothes were all wet. I borrowed this from Mr. Lu." "It's all wet? It's uncomfortable to be wet. Did you bring back your wet clothes?" Feeling a little bored, he answered her question, returned to his own thread and said: "The people who came to listen today all expressed well. They were resentful, but they were silent; resentment is contained in silence, which is different from the superficial They are patriotic when they are worried. They listened to our speech, swallowed every word, and engraved it in their hearts. This was unexpected to me. I always thought that people in this town might not be able to pay attention to national affairs. ——We are too I am no longer close to society, so I have such a misunderstanding of society. Let me tell you, a piece of good news: from now on, we must regard society as important as school, we not only teach students, but also teach society!" He said I was very excited, as if I had discovered some big plan that was sure to succeed, and I just had to follow through.Of course, what he expected from her was approval of his grand plans, or criticism, or some input that would refresh his spirits and make his plans more sound.However, she didn't respond at all, and what she followed up was a very casual sentence that she didn't quite understand what he meant: "Are you going to open cram schools for adults?" This was too shallow, and what he said meant much more than she expected; he had a strong aversion to such shallowness.But he suppressed his disgust, and just shook his head and said, "No. We don't just teach you a few words and a little common sense; we want to teach you something more profound and profound." "Is that so?" She glanced at him lightly, her expression was that she didn't want to find out further, and it's okay to pass without asking for a deep understanding.Suddenly she remembered something, with a disgusted expression on her haggard face, she got up and went to the wardrobe, and opened the door angrily.She was looking for something, but after searching through the pile of messy clothes that she had been too lazy to sort out for a long time, she couldn't find it. He thought sadly: She didn't ask what it was like to teach people something deeper and deeper, because she was who she was now!If she was just married last year, she would not let go of such an important and interesting topic.However, continuing to talk would have the same effect as waiting for her to ask questions before answering, so he said in a pleading tone: "You might as well find something later, and listen to me when I finish." But she had found what she wanted in the cupboard drawer.They are a pair of small shoes, with a tiger face embroidered on the yellow satin surface and toe cap, with red eyebrows, black pupils and white-rimmed eyes, a flat green nose, and a red beard that has been trimmed off. Silk is used as the material, and a tail made of yellow satin sticks up from the heel of the shoe, and something like cotton wool is probably stuffed in the shoe.She handed him the little shoe, and asked deliberately with a look of contempt: "Look at this, isn't it pretty?" "Ah? This stupid..." He took the little shoe in his hand and swallowed the words at the same time.When he saw this handicraft of uneven color and poor shape, he couldn't help but criticize it as vulgar and vulgar, but he immediately guessed who made it, so he shrank in the middle of speaking.Instead, he asked softly, "Didn't your mother do it?" "Who else? I would never do something like this!" "Take it lightly, please. She made clothes for children?" He stood up and walked to the door of the room, looked through the outer room and the middle, and looked straight at the door of his mother's room: he thought anxiously that there was another small dispute to be resolved. "Of course it's for the child. She's had it for me for days; and because it's like that, I keep it in the drawer." "What about now?" He turned around and approached her, looking at his mother's old Tezawa in his hand with admiration, he kept away from the stupid and vulgar thoughts, only felt that there was a lot of love and hard work in it. "She said to me today: May is coming soon. From the beginning of the first day, I must put my pair of tiger shoes on the children. How strange!" "There's nothing I can see through." "No, I don't want him to wear it. I'd rather let him go barefoot than wear such weird things!" She was quite stubborn.He had known it several times in matters as trivial as this.He was very emotional, but not angry, and said commercially: "It's just that not wearing it will make her old man unhappy." "But after wearing it, the strange appearance will make me unhappy!" He fell silent.His mind became confused, and he thought vaguely: "The thoughts and behaviors of the elderly are often unceremoniously denied and ridiculed by the younger generation. This is such a scene. Who is wrong? It can be Say that both sides are right. But the sorrow is on the side of the old man!" This was just an explanation, and for a moment he couldn't think of how to deal with the situation in front of him. After looking at her serious face, and then at the child sleeping on the bed, his eyes finally fell on the colorful tiger's head on the little shoe in his hand. It was raining again outside the window.