Chapter 13 postscript

When I was a child, there was a long-term worker in my hometown in Yuanhua Town, Haining, Zhejiang Province, named He Sheng.He is crippled, a hunchback, but only half of the right side is bent, and his appearance is particularly strange.Although he is a long-term worker, he does not do heavy work, just sweeping the floor, dusting, and taking the children to school.When my brother's classmates saw him, they clapped their hands and sang: "Hesheng and Sheng are half-hunchbacked, tell him three times to get angry, and then three times to turn somersaults, turning around like a paralyzed pan." In the dialect of my hometown, it refers to a broken bamboo basket for washing rice.

At that time, I always held Hesheng's hand and told those college students not to sing, and once I cried because of this, so Hesheng has always been very kind to me.On snowy and rainy days, he always carried me to school because his back was half-hunched and he couldn't carry it.He was very old at that time, my father and mother told him not to hold him, lest he slip and fall and both of us would fall, but he must hold him. Once, when he was very ill, I went to see him in his little room, and brought him some refreshments.He told me about his life experience. He is from Danyang, Jiangsu. His family owns a small tofu shop, and his parents arranged a kiss for him with a beautiful neighbor girl.The family has saved for a few years and is about to marry him.In December of this year, a rich man asked him to grind rice noodles for rice cakes.The rich man also opened a pawn shop and a soy sauce garden. There is a big garden at home.Grinding tofu is similar to grinding rice noodles.The rich man's house needs to grind the stone glutinous rice during the New Year, and the work of grinding the flour is done in the back hall of the rich man's house.I have seen this kind of grinding a lot. After only a few days of grinding, there is a circle of faint footprints on the underground brick next to the mill, which was stepped by the person who pushed the mill.The customs in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River are similar, so I understood when he said it.

Because there is a rush, the time to grind rice noodles is often ten or eleven o'clock in the evening.That day he finished his work, it was already very late, and just as he was about to go home, many people in the rich man's family shouted: "There is a thief!" Someone told him to go to the garden to help catch the thief.As soon as he ran into the garden, he was beaten with sticks, and called a "thief's bone," and several clubbed him so badly that he was covered with bruises, and several ribs were broken, which is how his half-hunch came about.He took several sticks on his head and passed out. When he woke up, there were many gold and silver jewelry by his side, which were said to be found from him.Someone found some gold, silver and copper coins under the rice noodles in his bamboo basket, and sent him to the county magistrate's office.The stolen goods were all there, and he couldn't tell the difference. He was beaten dozens of times and sent to prison.

Even if he was a thief, it wasn't a big crime, but he was locked up for more than two years before he was released.During this period, his father and mother were furious, and his fiancée was married to the rich young master as his successor. After he came out of the prison, he knew that all of this was framed by the rich young master.One day when he bumped into him on the street, he took out the sharp knife that had been hidden by his side and stabbed the rich young master a few times.He didn't run away either, and let the guards catch him.The rich young master was only seriously injured, but did not die.But the rich man's family kept bribing the county magistrate, master and jailer, trying to kill him in prison, so as not to seek revenge after he came out.

He said: "It's really blessed by the Bodhisattva. In less than a year, the master came to be the main hall of Danyang County. He saved my life." The master he said was my grandfather. My grandfather Wen Qinggong (he was originally from the "Mei" character generation, but he used the name "Wen Qing" when he entered school and took exams), was named Cangshan, and the elders in his hometown called him "Mr. Cangshan".He was promoted in the Yiyou year of Guangxu, and a Jinshi in the Bingxu year. He was immediately sent to Danyang to be the county magistrate.Soon the famous "Danyang teaching case" happened.

Mr. Deng Zhicheng mentioned this matter in Volume 5 of "The History of China Two Thousand Years": "Tianjin treaty allowed outsiders to preach, so believers traveled all over China. Scumbags joined the religion, relying on outsiders as amulets, and were not bound by officials. The people were angry with the arrogance of the priests, and blamed them for their secretive actions. Disputes arose The church people may be killed or injured, and the foreign priests will use the excuse to blackmail them, extort huge sums of money, and even blame the officials, threatening the Qing court to punish them with felonies. There are tens of millions of lesson plans, and here is the biggest one: "...Danyang lesson plans.In August of the seventeenth year of Guangxu...Liu Kunyi and Gang Yizuo, this year...the churches in Danyang, Jinkui, Wuxi, Yanghu, Jiangyin, and Rugao in Jiangsu were burned one after another, and personnel were sent to investigate...the case of the Su family , Danyang was the first to cause trouble, and the county’s Cha Wenqing was screened out to participate in the revolution..." ("Guangxu Donghualu" Volume 105)

The so-called "participation in revolution", "participation" means "participation in impeachment".Before my grandfather was sent to the revolution, there was some negotiation.His boss told him to behead the two men who first burned the church, so that they could explain to the foreign priests.If I follow the order, the boss will not only not participate in the impeachment, but will also play the role and tell the emperor that my grandfather is capable of doing things well, so he can be promoted.But my grandfather sympathized with the people who burned the church, and informed the two leaders to escape, and reported to the superiors: This incident was caused by foreign priests oppressing good people, causing public outrage, hundreds of people rushed to burn the church, and there was no leader.Then he resigned from office, and the court ordered "dismissal" as a punishment.

Since then, my grandfather has lived in his hometown, entertaining himself with reading and writing poems, and has also done many public welfare undertakings.He edited "Haining Cha's Poetry Banknotes", which had hundreds of volumes, but died before the engraving was finished (these engravings were stored in two rooms, and later became toys for our cousins).At the time of the funeral, Danyang sent more than a dozen gentlemen to offer sacrifices.At that time, the two who led the burning of the church came crying and praying all the way.According to my father and uncles, those two men walked one mile, kowtowed to each other, from Danyang to my hometown.Although Danyang is not very far from my home, I don't really believe in this statement now, but I certainly believed in it when I was a child.But those two people were very grateful, and of course it was possible to kowtow and come here in the last few miles.

When I went to Taiwan some time ago, I met my cousin, Mr. Jiang Fucong.He was the director of the Palace Museum at the time, and he was a classmate of my second uncle at Peking University.He told me something about my grandfather, and he said it very well.That's all I didn't know.In 1981, I went to Danyang for a visit, and the leaders of the local people’s government warmly welcomed me. The local newspapers published articles praising my grandfather’s achievements in opposing imperialism and safeguarding the interests of the people. He Sheng said that after my grandfather took over as magistrate of Danyang County, he re-tried every prisoner in Xun Prison and learned of He Sheng's grievances.But it is true that he stabbed people, and it is inconvenient to squeeze him out.But if he is not released, he will definitely be killed in prison.When my grandfather resigned from office and returned home, he simply quietly brought him here and raised him in my house.

He Sheng didn't die of illness until the Anti-Japanese War.My father and mother never told anyone about his deeds.When He Sheng told me, he thought that his illness would not be cured that time, and he even cried while talking, but he didn't tell me not to speak out. This matter has been hidden in my heart.It was developed based on this real event, commemorating an old man who was very kind to me when I was young.I still don't know what Hesheng's last name is, and Hesheng is not his real name.Of course he doesn't know martial arts.I just remember that he often didn't say a word for a day or two.My parents are very polite to him and never ask him to do anything.What he does in my house, besides taking me to elementary school, is to go to the well to pick up some well water on weekdays, and fill the seven stone jars in the kitchen.Even the rice noodles for making rice cakes during the Chinese New Year, the family went outside and hired someone to grind them, instead of asking them to grind them raw.

This novel was written in 1963, when "Ming Pao" and Singaporean "Nanyang Siang Pau" co-published "Southeast Asia Weekly" attached to the newspaper. This novel was written for that weekly magazine, and the title of the book was originally It's called "Plain Heart Sword". April 1977