Chapter 6 Before discrete

one The bleak autumn rain outdoors is getting heavier and heavier.The dripping sound of the eaves leak is like the tears of a mourner, all dripping.Although the wall clock on the wall had struck nine quarters ago, the air in the room on the first floor and the ground floor was still as dark as dawn, stiflingly dark.From time to time, a gust of cool wind blows; a sycamore tree outside the window at the back, being shaken by the wind, gradually vibrates the sound of water droplets accumulating rain on the branches. The downstairs front room, which was originally small, felt even more cramped because of the messy piles of wooden boxes in the middle.On a round table in the middle, many books, torn newsprints and the like were arranged vertically and horizontally, waiting for the owner to organize there.Ding Lingling, the doorbell at the back rang, and a very thin young man in his late twenties came into the front room which was piled with luggage.An aunt (maid) in her thirties who was following him poured tea and said to him:

"They're upstairs unpacking." The young man smiled sadly at her, nodded, took off a raincoat, hung it on the wall, took out a foldable chair from the pile of wooden boxes, and sat down .After Auntie went back to the kitchen at the back, he stared blankly at the books in the wooden box, his eyes suddenly became rosy.After a slight click, a vein appeared on his forehead, and two blushes appeared on his cheeks.He took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth. He sat silently for another three to five minutes.Finally, when he took out a cigarette to smoke, he turned his face to the second floor and called out twice:

"Hairu! Hairu! Kuang! Kuang!" There was a sound on the escalator in the middle of copper, copper, copper, and two children in Japanese clothes ran down. Before they got off the escalator, they yelled loudly in Japanese: "Uncle Yu! Uncle Yu!" Hai Ru wore a black overalls and slowly followed behind his two children.The two children approached the place where the young man surnamed Yu was sitting, and each jumped on his lap to sit. A younger brother said to the young man surnamed Yu in incomplete Japanese: "Papa and Mama are going back far, far away—to go."

Hairu also took out a chair from the pile of wooden boxes, and after sitting down, he asked the surname Yu: "Quality husband, are you going to Beijing, or are you going back to Zhejiang?" Yu Zhifu held the two children in his arms, raised his head and replied: "Beijing is so bad that there is no other way to think about it. I still decided to go back to Zhejiang." As he spoke, he coughed again. "Did Ji Sheng go to your place?" Hairu asked him again.The stockman shook his head and replied: "No, where did he go?" "When he went out, I asked him to find you and come here for lunch."

"Where is my fellow patient?" "Si Jing went out with Ji Sheng. If Ji Sheng didn't come to your place, he probably went to find a house for Si Jing!" When Hairu said this, his wife brought from Japan was holding a child under one year old in her arms.Also went downstairs, among the group of people who joined their conversation.Seeing that the two older children were crowded on the bodyguard, she yelled at the older one, "Bei Bi, don't go away!" Handing the child in her arms to Hairu, she said to the hostess again: "There are only a few days left, have you decided?"

"Wan Nuan, I have decided to go back to Zhejiang." "After the date of departure has been decided, I want everyone to stay together for a few more days!" "Isn't that right? From now on, we will always leave less and leave more. When you arrive in Sichuan, you probably won't come out again. I don't know how my illness will change after winter." "You're fine. Huo Jun's illness is worse than yours. Mr. Zeng went to look for a house for him. I don't know if he can find it or not?" When Shifu and Hairu's wife were talking about these things in Japanese, Hairu held the child in her arms and stared at the rain outside with her eyes wide open.

"When we set off, the sky should be fine! You can't compare with me, this road is very long!" The stockman said to Mrs. Kuang again.Seeing the rainy feet on the outside of the coat, the madam also said in a long voice: "Ah! This rain really makes people impatient!" The doorbell at the back door rang again, and everyone's eyes turned to the accountant who came from the back to the front room where they were sitting.Walking in were a dark-faced gentleman in a western suit and a short-sighted young man in bearded hair with a slightly hunched back.The latter's complexion was thin and blue, and he could be seen as a patient at a glance.Seeing the two of them coming in, Hairu asked:

"Have you found a house yet?" They both replied: "I found it!" "I found it!" It turned out that Zeng Jisheng was wearing the western clothes, and Huo Sijing was wearing the beard.Huo Sijing left home and wanted to go to Japan, but he fell ill in Shanghai and spent all his travel expenses, so he stayed in Zeng Jisheng and Kuang Hairu's house on the first floor and the ground floor.Now Zeng and Kuang are oppressed and have to leave, so Huo Sijing, who lives there, has to find another house to move.Although Yu Zhifu lived in another place, his residence was even more pitiful than that of Zeng and Kuang, and he was in the same situation as Zeng and Kuang. To go home to recuperate, in fact, he, Zeng and Kuang both had unspeakable grief and anger.

two Zeng, Kuang, and Yu were all classmates in succession when they were studying in Japan.Although the three people's personalities and family backgrounds are different, their love of righteousness and wealth, and their love of literature and art, are all the same. Because their education is a little deeper than others, they are completely different from others in the world. I don't understand.Their contemporaries who used hypocritical and despicable means to gain an upper hand in society, they are all bitter.Therefore, their speeches have to be attacked by others at every turn.In the past one or two years, they have tried their best, raised their arms, and shouted wildly, trying to save the situation. However, the snobbery in society is like the wind in the grass. The result of their desperate struggle is not worthy of the rich and powerful. People punched.The publishers of their magazines and works, who at first invited them because they had something to offer, but seeing that their way was blocked and had no other choice, became harsh on them too.At first, it was for their pocket expenses, food, clothing and shelter, but later they used the method of dredging the bottom of the pot to remove the pocket expenses, food and clothing, and now even the place to live is a problem.It turned out that the hometown of this dealer had been hit by severe drought and floods for two years, so a large number of his fellow villagers came to rely on him for a living.He was a self-proclaimed gentleman of Mengchang all his life, so he naturally put Zeng, Kuang, Yu and many small peasant workers from his hometown among the diners, and treated them equally.However, the income of a book publishing industry is limited after all, and the number of investors from villagers in famine years is endless.Therefore, the supply of Zeng, Kuang, and Yu had to be reduced day by day.The three of them suffered from austerity in food, clothing, and housing, and their bodies gradually weakened.Now that they have no other choice, they have no choice but to go to their hometowns.It used to be Hunan, Kuang was Sichuan, so Zhejiang.

Just when they were forced to go back to their hometown helplessly, their junior Huo Sijing came.Si Jing's family is poor.This time, he came back from Tokyo for the summer vacation.Half a month ago, when he returned to Japan after the summer vacation, he sold all the family property and only got 60 yuan for the travel expenses to the East.An old widowed mother who could not be sold, he sent her to a relative's house.But poor people were unlucky. When Si Jing went to Shanghai—he was a fellow villager of Yu Zhifu—he caught a cold and became a lung cancer.His travel expenses of 60 yuan were used up in a few days. Zeng, Kuang, and Yu felt sorry for him. Four or five days ago, because he spent a lot of money in the hospital, they invited him to the room on the first floor. to live in the same house.

However, Zeng, Kuang, and Yu, for the sake of their own lives, decided to leave Shanghai together, and there was already a date for their departure.So Huo Sijing, who lived by them and was homeless, had to go elsewhere to find a house to recuperate before they set off. three Zeng, Kuang, Yu, Huo and Kuang's wife and children were in that room, after lunch, the rain still kept falling.Because Yu Zhifu was getting cold and he didn't have a jacket on his body, he walked out of the room on the ground floor and went back to the barracks where he lived in the rain, trying to sleep under the quilt. to get hot.This warehouse, like a shelter for refugees, has recently been filled with fellow villagers of the industry.Because Yu Zhifu was afraid of meeting and talking with those many people, as soon as he arrived at the stack, he went upstairs from the pile of books, took off his raincoat, and fell asleep under the quilt.He went to bed only to get warm by lying in the quilt, so even though he was lying in the quilt, he couldn't fall asleep in the end.His eyes looked at the roof, his ears listened to the autumn rain outside the window, and his heart was full of sourness.His thoughts are flying around in the air: "My child raised in my hometown! You should grow up by now. Don't you hate me, my woman who lives in Yue's family? Ah, I really don't want to go back to my hometown! But being treated like this It's not worth it to torture and starve to death in Shanghai..." The wind intensified, and a gust of rain drifted across the gray glass window. The stockman glanced at the window, sighed, and continued his meditation: "Poor Hairu, how do you take care of your son and wife? Poor Ji Sheng and Si Jing, you don't even have children and wives! Ahhh! I have both of you poor, and I am still myself. The whole family is here. In the autumn wind, September's clothes are not cut... The vast future is like a sea of ​​worries, sending morpheme and fast whips....Ah, Huang Zhongze, at that time, there was still one Bi Qiufan, and now there is not even half of Bi Qiufan!... Today's love is not what it used to be, don't put your heart and soul into being a lyricist....I'll go teach! However...when teaching, you have to be despicable and dirty to form a party. I'll go pull a cart! Ahhh, This pair of hands, these hands with only a layer of skin and bones left, how can they move? ... 啌啌, ... 啌啌, ... 啌啌啌啌啌..." He coughed for a while, his mind emptied, and a few seconds later, he heard a few people downstairs saying: "Mr. Yu upstairs, why didn't you leave? He left, so we can have more space!" Hearing this sentence, a person's face turned red.The relatives of the distributors who spoke downstairs seemed to think that he hadn't come back, so they confide in their hearts.And who would have thought that the unlucky man overheard these few whispers by chance.He wanted to play tricks and avoid such a blatant insult, so he had no choice but to pretend that he was not upstairs.It's a pity that his throat is very itchy now, but he has to hold back from coughing.After enduring it for a few minutes, he suppressed the coughing again and again.However, the last cough, no matter what, couldn't be suppressed anymore. Instead, it was like a waterproof embankment burst.After he coughed a lot, his face was flushed and his body felt tired.Lying down with his eyes open for a while, he fell into a deep sleep.ah ah!This time the person fell asleep, if he didn't wake up again, what a blessing it would be! Four In the morning of the next day, the autumn rain cleared up, and the sky after the rain was even more lovely blue. The rain on the repaired road washed the sand away from the night. Although there was a cool wind blowing in the air, there was no flying on the ground. It's dusty.It was about ten o'clock in the morning, Yu Zhifu was wearing a linen gown, and walked to Kuang Hairu's place on the road to eat.Because in the warehouse where he lived, he didn't usually cook. When everyone was hungry, they would get some wheat to eat.Yu Zhifu has been pampered since he was a child, and he can't eat wheat food no matter what.Most of his illness was caused by the lack of a meal here, so he would rather run a few miles - he had no money to take the tram - to eat at Kuang Hairu's place.Moreover, Kuang and Zeng will leave in a few days, and there may not be another chance for the three of them to get together in the future, so Yu Zhifu wants to stay with them all the time. Yu Zhifu walked slowly to the place where Kuang and Zeng lived near Jing'an Temple, and saw a rickshaw parked at the back door.The stockman opened the back door, and when he walked up to the hall, he saw Kuang, Zeng and Mrs. Kuang standing there blankly.The two children stood beside their mother in silence.The stockman broke into this silent scene, greeted them, and was silently stunned.After a few minutes, Huo Sijing, who was plopping upstairs, came down with a rattan basket.He walked to the place where the four of them were standing, put the rattan basket around, and said to Kuang, Zeng and the others in a dejected manner: "I'm sorry for disturbing you for so many days. I'll send you off when you board the ship. Let's have a few more talks before we disperse!" As he spoke, he took a closer look at his near-sighted eyes, then turned back and said to the stockman: "You haven't left yet!" The quality man replied vaguely: "I can leave at any time. After everyone has left, why am I still living in Shanghai by myself? I will go back after sending them on board." The stockman pointed to Kuang and Zeng with his face. Huo Sijing said "I'm sorry", then bowed his head and walked slowly onto the rickshaw by the back door. Mrs. Kuang did not send it out because she was in tears.The other three people and the children all sent his car out of the road and came back when they were out of sight.After returning, the four of them sat silently for a while, and Hai Rucai quietly said to the hostess: "One has gone. Ah! After we board the ship, you are the only one left to take the train home from Shanghai. Aren't you afraid of loneliness? You should go first. We have more people so that we can take you to the train. .” Shifu replied very gloomyly: "It doesn't matter who goes first and who gets to go. It's just that our struggle for the past two years will be equal to zero. Ahhh! Thinking about it, it's like dreaming here. When we first published the quarterly magazine, compared with now, it's What a farewell! The manuscript of this quarterly magazine, go and get it back before they have copied it!" Kuang Hairu replied quietly again: "I'm also thinking this way, how to publish an announcement in the weekly newspaper?" "What notice do you want to publish, just stop it." The hostess said angrily.Hairu went on to say: "We don't publish the notice, because we are afraid that people will not know our suffering, and say that we have a head but no tail." The hostess simply gave up on himself and said: "People know our suffering, what's the use? Do you still want to revive the quarterly and weekly newspaper?" Only Zeng Jisheng heard these words, but he didn't make a sound, he just touched the scrofula on his face. After lunch, they each talked a lot of empty words, and finally everyone burst into tears.After all, the hostel did not go back to sleep in the prison-like warehouse that night. Fives The day before Zeng and Kuang set off on the boat, the weather was gloomy and it looked like it was going to rain.In the first-floor and ground-floor house near Jing'an Temple, at eleven o'clock in the morning, a table of fish and meat offerings was placed on the round table.In the first corpse, there are a few quarterly magazines of Xiu series, a bundle of weekly newspapers and daily magazines.A pair of giant candles that weighed a catty were lit below. Zeng, Kuang, Yu, and Huo, all slightly drunk from drinking, worshiped there.Hairu bowed down, kowtowed a few times, and said loudly: "The God of Poetry, please come to receive the food. We are not strong enough to sacrifice our lives, so we want to flee back to our hometowns to protect our bodies. But Gods of Art, we have suffered a lot for you We have absolutely no intention of rejecting you. It doesn't matter if the world criticizes us, we just ask you to understand us and say something for us, saying, 'They are faithful to art.' We weak-willed people, Tomorrow, things will be scattered. I don’t know if we are still on this earth? Or in the land of death? Our common work does not benefit us materially, but it has trained us spiritually. You are as persevering as the ancient heretics. Before we separate today, we plan to burn our own work with our own hands, so as not to be ravaged by ignorant tyrants in the future." These few words, because when Leo said them, they were very serious, which made everyone want to cry or laugh.After the four of them worshiped, a large pile of quarterly books, weekly newspapers and daily periodicals were burned in the courtyard.A few pieces of paper ash flew into the air and reached the eaves.The four of them stood silently around the fire, only hearing the roaring flames there. September 1923 Originally published in "Oriental Miscellany" on January 10, 1926 Fortnightly No. 3 Volume 1 No. 1