Chapter 53 Yiina

There are many opportunities to travel throughout the year. Traveling has a stressful side and a more enjoyable side.It is of course very interesting to see novel places and things, but I think the most enjoyable thing is: traveling not only makes me make many new friends, but also makes friends I have known before become more "intimate" because of getting along day and night. We are all busy with our own business, so we rarely have time to see each other, and even less time to chat.But if we are traveling together, the luggage is put away, the seat is settled, the train leaves, the plane takes off, and the person seeing us off is too far away to see... This period has already left the starting point and arrived at the destination. , is at your disposal.If you don't want to read or sleep, you will definitely talk to your companions. From the conversation, we not only gain knowledge, but also develop friendship.

Also, when traveling abroad, we often get to know our hosts very well.From their impressions of inquiry, our inquiring about customs and habits, gradually involving history, geography, landscape, characters, etc. They often talk very lively and speculative. However, when traveling abroad, there are many new places to visit, and there are also many new people who will arrive. In a hurry, time has passed, and the faces and scenery that are not deeply impressive often only leave a vague outline, and some even have names. I can't call out anymore.Only Ina, whom I met in Italy last spring, will always appear in my mind together with the crowd scenes with red flags fluttering in Italy, as well as water colors, mountain lights, tower shapes, and bridge shadows, until all the lights and shadows around her are gone. After fading away, her slender figure, clear voice, and gentle eyes are always vividly left in my eyes.But during the month I lived with her, because I don’t understand Italian, she doesn’t understand Chinese, I don’t understand French, and she doesn’t speak English very well, we never exchanged a word directly, let alone Said it was eloquent.Isn't this a very regrettable thing?

Ina is a comrade sent by the Center for Chinese Studies in Rome to accompany us when we visited Italy. She is slender, with long eyebrows and beautiful eyes. She is about 30 years old, and there is always a sweet and understanding smile on the corner of her mouth. .She is capable and calm in her work, and her busy expression and impatient face are never seen.She is with us like a breath of fresh air—when we chat and laugh among the crowd, we never see her in the middle, but when we want to ask a question or solve a problem, when we turn around, She is always close by, sending a pair of smiling eyes of help and a pair of strong supporting hands.

One of her legs had been injured and had been fitted with a prosthetic, which we would never have noticed had it not been whispered to us by an Italian friend.Because she walked with us all the way, climbing mountains and wading, boarding and disembarking from the car, she was as vigorous and agile as a good person, never showing tiredness or reluctance. I often sat opposite her in the train, looking at her lovely face, and always thinking how happy I would be if I could talk to her directly.But we also asked each other about some family situations through an interpreter.I gave her a Chinese name, she liked it very much, asked me to write the word Yina (transliteration) in her little notebook, and kindly gave me a picture of herself.

One day when we were about to leave Italy, she took the translator and sat beside me and asked me about my impressions of Italy. She said: "Most of the things you are visiting this time are big cities, universities, museums and places of interest. , what I saw was the ladies of the upper class and their families, and lived in big hotels... What I saw and heard was a luxurious scene, but you know that the actual life of our working people in Italy is extremely difficult." Later she He also talked about how unfortunate the children of poor families in Italy are.She recited a few poems by Italian Communist writer Luo Dali in a low voice, like "Qiqiao lives in the basement next to the gutter".Her eyes were fixed on the outside of the window, her lips trembled slightly, and her back moved to the touching place, and there were tears in her eyes.The setting sun shines on her golden hair, and her gentle face looks so quiet and strong!

I held her hand tightly, and I said: "Yina, I know that what we see is only a very small aspect... Our Chinese children have had such a painful past... Although I see Knowing no Italian, I will always remember the poems you recited." At noon on April 19 last year, we left Turin, Italy, and concluded our visit in Italy.Among the many people who saw her off, I was particularly reluctant to part with Na.We have said to her more than once a few days ago: "Yina, we will miss you very much on our journey." She frowned shyly, smiled slightly, and said, "Thank you, But, it doesn't matter, you will meet many Yina along the way."

But her prophecy did not come true. During the next two months of the journey, we never met a traveling companion who could be similar to Yina! "It's better to start with something that's hard to come by", our Yina is really a "beautiful woman"! July 16, 1959, Beijing. (This article was originally published in the 15th issue of "New Observation" on August 1, 1959, and later included in the collection of essays "We Woke Up Spring".)