Chapter 37 Chapter 1

With a total length of 6,380 kilometers, the Yangtze River is the third longest river in the world.The two major turning points in my life are from having a home to being homeless, crying all the way, and going up the river.I had just graduated from elementary school when I boarded a troop carrier from Wuhu and fled to Hankou; now, at the end of August 1943, I traveled up the river from Chongqing to Jiading (formerly known as Jiadingfu) in western Sichuan, and I had just graduated from middle school. At noon on the day I boarded the boat, my father, who was described by my mother as being so busy with "his heels hitting the back of my head", actually saw me off in person.It was about 30 miles from home to Chaotianmen Wharf. As soon as the car passed Xiaolongkan, the sky began to rain with lightning and thunder.I carried the standard luggage for long trips back then, a small suitcase and a luggage roll; the luggage roll was rolled into an oval shape with blankets and clothes wrapped in blankets, an enamel washbasin was buckled on top of it, and an oilcloth was added outside.Tie it tightly with thick hemp rope (in 1976, I saw the same luggage roll on the luggage tray of a European airport. It came from Pakistan. It seems that this is a global wisdom. Spread it out and it is a home. ).

From Chaotianmen Wharf to the side of the boat.There seemed to be endless slippery stone steps.The rain was really pouring down, before we went on deck.The water from the awning splashed down the sampan, and no umbrella could stop it.The white linen gown that Dad was wearing was completely soaked.A column of water flows from the hair to the shoe.I don't know what happened to me at all, I just remember trying my best to hold back the crying that shook my whole body, watching him thank my seniors, get off the diving board and go ashore, and quickly disappear in the rain. Over the years, I can't remember that trip to the Yangtze River. I only remember the heavy rain and my father who was soaked all over the body.

I followed everyone to put the luggage on the semi-dry steerage floor, opened it, covered each other and changed the wet clothes.When the bell was ringing, they went to the front cabin to get food and sat in their respective berths to eat.Soon it was dark, and the lights were only for lighting. The darkness in the cabin merged with the night on the river, and gradually the voices of the people stopped, leaving only the laborious sound of the engines of the Shangshui Riverboat.The vast river, where am I? Before the dawn of the next day, I woke up from the dream: in the dream, a strong man's voice shouted, "Lean to the bushes on the right, the sooner the better, the ghost plane is coming!" I was helping my mother change her body I went out of the cabin door and couldn’t find my eighteen-month-old second sister who was just toddler—before I let go, she was still between my brother, Zhang Dafei and the other student team, and the wounded soldier sitting in the back. Walking staggeringly...When he woke up, he was surrounded by unfamiliar faces sleeping soundly.Six years later, on the same river, I shed another tear of parting.

At dusk, the ship berths at Yibin Wharf, and the Minjiang River comes from the north to join the Yangtze River. Lu Qiaozhen's classmate, Feng Jialu, is from a Yibin family. That night, we had a big meal for the six of us and stayed at her home.That was the first time I saw the prosperity and stability of Sichuan, known as the land of abundance.After dinner, go for a walk in the city, and go to the Christian Inland Mission and other places.The local gentry houses and business houses I have seen have a cultural atmosphere passed down from generation to generation, which is more confident than the Chinese mainland culture I saw in Hunan in the early days of fleeing.

The surface of the river that sailed back from Yibin was narrower, and the boats on the water were also much smaller.It was the fall of August at this time, and the river surged and the torrent was turbulent. Several times, the boat retreated a little instead of advancing, and some passengers exclaimed.I leaned on the stern of the boat, thinking that no one would see me, and shed tears of homesickness for a long time.I have been a weak person since I was a child, and I need protection everywhere.Nankai Middle School is three miles away from home, and there has never been a day of "freedom". When filling out the college entrance examination volunteers, they did not fill in any near Chongqing.But now, just the word Shapingba is so cute, it is too late to regret leaving home.At this time Lu Qiaozhen quietly came to me and said, "Just now a boy said, why does your new classmate keep crying? It's no wonder the Yangtze River is going to rise like her crying." Then she said, "I came here last year. I also cried for a while, but now my heart is much calmer in the second year.” During the three years before she graduated in 1946, she was my best friend, and she was my best friend. There is nothing that cannot be understood.