Chapter 46 Empty Nest

Lao Liang had his left hand on his waist, and his right hand was holding on to the bookshelf, and he was looking at the books arranged on the shelf.I silently looked at his back with raised shoulders, and thought with emotion: He is old, we are all old, it will be more than thirty years in a flash! He was my roommate and classmate in college. He studied history and I studied literature.We hit it off very well and we both like to make friends, so our room is the busiest one in this dormitory building.After graduation, we both received scholarships to study in the United States. Although I was in the central region and he was in the west, we kept writing letters and we always went together during the holidays.After getting our Ph.D. degrees, we returned to China at the same time, but his grades were better than mine—he brought back a very capable and beautiful wife Meibo who grew up in the United States.It was only after I returned to China that I married a classmate Hua Ping who was a middle school teacher at that time.Lao Liang and I teach in the same university, and we live very close together, and the two wives get along very well. Therefore, the children born in the same year in our two families are named after each other's children by the two wives after their own names.My daughter's name is Chen Mei, and his son's name is Liang Ping.

On the eve of liberation, an old professor called us together in the middle of the night and mobilized us to leave this dangerous old capital by tomorrow's "rescue professor" plane.Meibo, who was already in a panic, urged Lao Liang to accept the invitation, packed his simple luggage in a hurry overnight, and left with his son.Hua Ping said calmly, "What are we afraid of? We are Chinese after all, and the Communist Party is stronger than the Kuomintang. I will die on Chinese soil!" We stayed, and we broke up with Lao Liang's family from then on. . In the kitchen on the other side of the corridor, there was a sound of cooking and a tangy smell from time to time. My wife and daughter were busy in the kitchen.Lao Liang took out a copy of "Baixiangshan Poetry Collection", put it on the table, turned his head and smiled and said to me, "It smells so good! In my home in the United States, I will never smell this kind of fragrance."

He sat down on the chair opposite.I saw that not only was his back bent badly, but his eyeballs were also a little swollen. I said, "Don't you cook Chinese food?" He said: "After Meibo died, I seldom cook by myself, it was very troublesome, and it was not interesting to eat alone." I said, "Then Liang Ping and his wife won't come back?" He smiled: "Hey, his wife is an Italian-American, unlike us Chinese who cook when they come here—you know this—I have to cook it for them!" At this time, my granddaughter Xiaowen came back from school. She ran in and saw a guest in the room, so she gently put down her schoolbag and walked to me shyly.I pushed her to Lao Liang and asked her to call "Grandpa Liang", and she called out in a low voice, and then came back to me.But Lao Liang pulled her over, looked at her from head to toe, and said with a smile, "You really look like your mother! When I left, your mother was just as old as you. Where's your father?" Xiaowen said : "My father is on duty in the office tonight..." Lao Liang seemed not to hear, but he stood up and said, "I almost forgot, here is a little something I gave you..." Then he opened his belt He came in a bulging black bag and pulled out a can of espresso, a pack of Camels and a computer the size of a palm.While putting these things on the table, he said to me: "This can of coffee is for your family; this cigarette is for you, or the old brand you like to smoke; this computer is for my little one." Meizi's..." He handed the computer to Xiaowen and said, "I didn't know you, I didn't bring you a gift, let's talk about it next time. You can play with this computer, but don't bring it to math class, I heard No?" Xiaowen happily said thank you, took the computer and ran to the kitchen.

The daughter came out of the kitchen, lifted her apron and wiped her hands, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Uncle Liang, I need this computer. Did you give Dad cigarettes again? We managed to force him to quit smoking.He smoked a lot in the cadre school in those years, there was no fire in the room below, and he often suffered from bronchitis..." His wife called from the kitchen: "Xiao Meizi, you ran away again, see if you need to add water to the rice cooker!" The daughter laughed and said, "Here we come, here we come," turning around to leave. Old Liang took a breath and said, "Bringing up the cadre school, you had a hard time in those years, right? In the summer of 1966, didn't I come back to China? That day I was inquiring about your residence in your reception room, and I happened to meet one of you. When Professor Help came back from the "Siqing", as soon as he arrived at the school gate, a group of students with red armbands gathered around and pulled you off the truck, put on tall hats, painted black faces, and walked towards the square Going up, I was so scared that I ran away. When I came back that year, I didn’t see anyone, so I went back to the United States and told Meibo about your situation, and she cried all night..."

At this time, the daughter who was still standing at the door came in with a smile and said, "Uncle Liang, aren't you good at cooking? Come and be our staff." Old Liang also smiled and walked behind her up. ... The day Lao Liang saw my blackface was only the beginning of ten years of catastrophe!From then on, I ransacked the house, searched for books, lived in the cowshed, and wrote inspections... I slowly stood up, subconsciously opened the rectangular paper bag on the table, took out a pack of Camel cigarettes, and pulled out a cigarette. To smoke, I found a box of matches and struck them—a burst of flames suddenly appeared in front of my eyes, and under the flames were a lot of burning cards...that was my reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles in the past 20 or 30 years. Road, I spent hundreds of thousands of hours to collect the information... I lit the cigarette, took a few puffs, and subconsciously waved the thick smoke in front of me with my hand, as if trying to get rid of the illusion in front of me.

Xiaowen suddenly ran in, snatched the cigarette from my hand, pressed it out on the cigarette tray, pouted and said, "You're secretly smoking again! Mom and grandma both smelled smoke in the kitchen. Tell me to take care of you!" I smiled and twisted her mouth and said, "That's good, when you come back, there will be a few more people who take care of me." She slapped my hand down and said with a smile , "Originally, my mother said that the organization transferred us back from the southwest to take care of you, no, to take care of you!" Lao Liang came in and asked, "What are you guys doing? Come, Xiaowen, read this poem to me." As he spoke, he handed the opened "Baixiangshan Poetry Collection" to Xiaowen.

Xiaowen glanced at us shyly, and read it word by word: Pianpian, male and female, gave birth to four children in a nest between two rafters. At this point, she raised her head and asked Old Liang: "The word 'liang' means Your surname is 'Liang', right?" Lao Liang patted Xiaowen on the shoulder, and praised loudly, "You are amazing, you can recognize so many characters, and you can read them so well!" I laughed, "I'm in the third grade of elementary school, and I should be able to recognize thousands of characters." At this time, Xiaowen has already read: Leading to the garden branch, raising its wings, not looking back, flying with the wind, male and female singing in the air, shouting and not returning, but chirping in the empty nest, mourning all night, Lao Liang suddenly put his head in his hands, and whispered to himself Nian: "But into an empty nest, chirping all night sad...but into an empty nest..."

After Xiaowen finished reading the poem, seeing that Lao Liang hadn't raised his head, he quietly put down the book and looked back at me.I nodded to her and she walked out quietly. I shouted loudly: "Old Liang, how long are you going to stay this time?" He woke up with a start and sat up straight, as if he had forgotten the part where Xiaowen was asked to read the poem.He sighed and said, "I'm leaving tomorrow, my situation doesn't allow me to stay for a long time." I didn't speak, just looked at him. He looked down at the hands he shook and said, "It's a long story, but we have to start from the beginning! During our first ten years in the United States, Meibo also went out to work, and we saved money to buy a car, a house and everything Necessary household utensils... These are all necessary conditions for starting a family in the United States, and the most important thing is to save for Liang Ping's college expenses... But when Liang Ping finished college, found a job, and got married, I Retirement age has also been reached, and... and Meibo has passed away."

As if to comfort him, I said, "You're retired, so you can spend your free time studying." He smiled wryly, "Writing a book? I must write a book. I don't have a lot of pension, but I have to pay a lot of income tax! I rent the empty rooms above our house to a few college students. I only eat a little simple meal every meal. Even if I make a little meal, I only wash my pots, spoons and dishes every few days! Fortunately, there is a Korean student who studies Ming history and often comes to ask me some questions. He is here Just cook for me and wash the dishes for me, that’s what he pays me, but he also eats with me, that’s what I pay him again…”

I interrupted him, "Didn't you mention writing a book?" He smiled sadly again: "Yes, in order to live, I must get some royalties. You don't know how difficult it is to publish a book in the United States now, and I don't know how to write novels. It is extremely difficult for a novel to sell well. It is even more difficult to ask a famous writer to write a book review.I picked a topic that is novel and not easy to 'reveal', which is "The Eunuch System in China".This time I came back to China to collect materials. I didn’t expect that many libraries in Beijing have not been sorted out, and some cannot get in without a letter of introduction... I want to visit Shanghai tomorrow, and my nephew in Beijing can’t stay at home for a long time. , the couple and their two children only have one and a half rooms, and giving up half of the room to me will of course cause them a lot of inconvenience, although they insist that living at home is much more economical than staying in a hotel... well, let’s not say Alright, old Chen, how are you doing now? "

I smiled and wanted to reach for the cigarette again, but I immediately controlled myself and said: "Hua Ping is not bad. She has been teaching in middle school. Of course, there were a few years when things went wrong. Now she is fine. She has retired, but she still has to go to school often. Originally, I couldn't teach after five or seven years... I was transferred to work in the library, and I collected a lot of information cards.Six or six years later, those cards of mine, along with the previous ones, were also burned!After that, the situation was the same as that of most intellectuals, but I still survived, and I never lost my faith!I always look far into the rosy sky! ... I have been idle for twenty years, but now that the policy has been implemented and I have reached the retirement age, I am busy instead!I said that I can't take major classes, but the school insists that I lead graduate students. Fortunately, these graduate students are very solid and hardworking, but their foreign language skills are weak, and they can't read foreign language reference books. They have been delayed for more than ten years, and the youngest among them is also in his thirties..." Lao Liang looked at me with reminiscence eyes and said, "We are at their age, and we have already become professors and department heads." I said, "That's exactly what they said—they are trying to get back the lost time. I am the same, I wish I could give them everything I know so that they can connect 'Qing Huang', but the two In the past ten years, I myself have fallen behind. I can’t understand many terms in the new books sent by foreign countries, let alone foreign authors and genres. Next spring, I will go to the United States with a delegation. I really don’t know. Know how to deal with it! At the same time, I still have endless articles to write, newspapers and periodicals to read, letters to answer, and I am so busy all day long that I am dizzy!" Lao Liang suddenly stood up and said, "It's good to be busy, it's better than staying in the 'empty nest' all by myself..." My daughter came in with a plate full of cutlery, and I stood up too, and Lao Liang and I lifted a square table against the wall to the middle of the room.After the daughter placed the cups and chopsticks, she and her wife went in and out to set up a table of hot dishes.My daughter arranged for Lao Liang, me and her mother to occupy one side, and she and Xiao Wen sat side by side opposite Lao Liang, picked up the Moutai bottle, and said with a smile, "I haven't seen you for 30 years. Tonight, my mother will accompany Liang." Uncle has a drink, it’s not good for dad to drink too much, let’s have a little less.” The wife hurriedly said, “Uncle Liang doesn’t know how to drink, and Moutai is very powerful. I asked him to take this bottle of wine back as a gift. Let’s all have a little less, please feel free to do so!” Lao Liang snatched the wine bottle over, poured a full glass, raised his neck and drank it, poured another full glass for himself, and helped me and me The wife poured half a glass.Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he read aloud: Ganzi deliberately grows up tomorrow. His face was flushed, and sweat dripped from his forehead to his ears.His wife hastily snatched the wine bottle from his clenched hand, and said, "Eat vegetables, drinking too much wine on an empty stomach will hurt you!" The daughter hurriedly put the wine bottle in his wife's hand on the window sill. .Lao Liang sat down dejectedly, picked up his chopsticks, looked at his wife and daughter with swollen eyelids, and said, "You not only take care of Lao Chen, but also me! It would be great if someone took care of it!" This meal was not at all like a gathering of friends after a long absence. Lao Liang didn't say a word, as if he wanted to use the food to block many words in his heart, and we didn't dare to say anything. Xiaowen looked at this and that in amazement, quickly finished a bowl of rice, and then slipped back into their room. When his wife and daughter put away the food and put the fruit plate and fruit knife on, Lao Liang was already fully awake. He took the handkerchief, wiped his pale face, and was about to speak, when there were consecutive knocks at the door. A few car horns.Old Liang looked up out of the window and said, "By the way, my nephew called a taxi for me. He said that it would be inconvenient to take a bus into the city at night..." The daughter quickly stood up and said, "Uncle Liang, don't you let me go to the city." Busy, I went out and told the driver to wait for a while, you can leave after eating the fruit." Then he ran out. Lao Liang ate the few slices of pears his wife had peeled for him in two bites, and stood up.Picking up the leather bag, he reached out to the window sill to get the bottle of wine. His wife pressed his hand and said with a smile: "This bottle is not full, and I will bring you a whole bottle when old Chen Mingchun arrives in the United States." He didn't say anything, I helped him put his coat on, and we went to the door, and just as our daughter came back, Lao Liang suddenly asked, "Where's Xiaowen?" The daughter said, "She's probably asleep." Lao Liang said, "I'll go see her." The daughter brought Lao Liang into their room, and turned on the light beside the bed. There was a small cot next to a double bed behind the bookshelf. Xiao Wen wrapped the quilt tightly and was sleeping soundly.Lao Liang lowered his head and kissed her lightly.His wife laughed and said, "You still love children that much. Does Liang Ping have children?" Old Liang sneered and said, "No, his daughter-in-law finds it troublesome, so she doesn't want it, but she also has two Persian cats!" The daughter interrupted with a smile, "Look at how crowded our room is! This is the study room of Mom and Dad, so we took it." Old Liang turned off the light, walked out, turned to us and said, "How full is your 'nest'!" The driver pushed the rear door open from the inside.Lao Liang got into the car with his back arched, but he rolled down the window and said to his daughter, "Xiao Meizi, it's very cold outside, you can go in with Mom and Dad." The red light at the rear of the car disappeared as soon as we turned a corner. My daughter held our shoulders and pushed us back. We didn’t speak, but we seemed to see Lao Liang flapping his weak wings like an old swallow in front of us. Fly slowly towards the distant empty nest.