Chapter 19 Section 6 Escape from Hankou to Xiangxiang

The government ordered the evacuation of residents and refugees from Wuhan. Factories, military and political facilities, and schools were all moved south to Guizhou and Sichuan. Chongqing has officially become the capital. Those who fled must go southwest along Xianggui Road as soon as possible. My father worked hard and found a ancestral hall, the Sulfur Bi Hall, in Yongfeng Town, Xiangxiang, Hunan.The local people promised him that the ancestral hall could house a thousand students. From Hankou to Xiangxiang in Xiangtan County, it is more than 500 miles.The students and teachers set off from Hankou, hitchhiked with cars, walked without cars, and traveled for about a month to Yongfeng Town.

My father found a car and took my mother, another teacher's mother, a wife, me and the remaining two younger sisters to Hunan.On the way, catching up with the school queue, my brother walked behind the queue, my uncle told my brother to get in the car and squeezed out a seat beside the driver's seat. The next day at a station, my father came from behind. He asked my brother why he was taking the bus. My uncle said, "There is space in the bus. You only have one son. Let him take the bus!" My father said, "We take Many of these students who came out are only children, and their families handed over their only sons to us, and they want to keep one species, why do they walk, and my only son should take a car?" He ordered the car to catch up with the team, and told my brother to go down and follow the team. .

This migrating procession travels during the day and stops at a station at night.Along the way, we stayed in countless hotels.The students were arranged to live in auditoriums, classrooms or playgrounds of various schools. The local garrison would distribute a little straw and rice. Everyone slept on the straw, and they could have some boiled radish or cabbage for each meal. After my brother was kicked out of the car and walked with the team, I kept arguing all day long to follow him: "Why can my brother go, but I can't? Why should I take the car?" They had no choice but to let me go with the team.

After walking for less than a day, I slept on straw until midnight and developed a high fever. I was sent back to my mother early the next morning, and I dare not mention it again. Before the lunar calendar, we went to Xiangxiang and found that there are many different dialects in Hunan alone, and Xiangxiang is different from other counties and cities in Hunan. Xiangxiang is the hometown of Qi Baishi, which is very local.Huanbi Hall is several tens of miles away from Xiangxiang.In Yongfeng Town, it is the ancestral hall of a royal family in the Ming Dynasty.This ancestral hall is so big that there are nearly a hundred houses.Not only can it accommodate students, but it can also attend classes.Our family moved into another ancestral hall together with our family members: Fujiatang.

This is the first time we have a home after escaping from Nanjing. Only then did we dare to tell our mother the truth about the death of sister Jingyuan. When we were in Hankou, my father lied that he had asked Aunt Han to accompany the first batch of teachers and students. Evacuated to Hunan.So far, she was told about Cousin Pei Lianju and Zhang Dafei joining the army.After she found out, she was greatly saddened, her illness relapsed, and she stayed in bed for a long time before recovering.