Chapter 12 (Eight)

We fell to Shanghai, and the most difficult days were after the Pearl Harbor incident and before the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.In addition to teaching at the missionary university, Zhong Shu added two more students (one surnamed Zhou, one surnamed Qian, and one surnamed Fang).But our life is getting harder and harder.Just talking about firewood and rice is not an easy task. The flour that the Japanese distribute to the citizens is black, and the impurities are sifted out, and half of it is bran;The black sand is easy to pick out, and the yellow and white sand is mixed in the pot, so we have to use tweezers to pick it out.Hearing that there are rice sellers along the street, no matter how expensive it is, you have to buy it quickly.Popular songs in Shanghai at that time:

Then there was a shout: "Do you want rice?" (read: "Dumi?") There is not too much rice.Because you can't live by eating bouillon. But rice cannot be eaten raw, and the coal factory always pushes it out of stock.Finally got coal briquettes, asked for three hundred catties, but was only willing to send two hundred catties.Our bamboo coal baskets can only hold two hundred catties.Sometimes there is too much mud mixed in the briquettes, and they cannot burn;If anyone sells firewood or steel charcoal, don't miss it.Once the coal factory sent 300 catties of coal dust, which I regarded as the most precious.Minced coal is pure coal, which takes up less land than briquettes. With coal ash mixed in, coal cakes equivalent to four to five hundred catties of briquettes can be made.The coal stove has to be so thin that it saves coal.To burn firewood, you have to make your own "running stove", and you have to chop and break the thick firewood.There is also a charcoal stove for burning charcoal.Kerosene and a kerosene stove are also must-haves.Various fuels are used accordingly.I was a substitute teacher in elementary school, and I wrote scripts, all for Chai and Mi.

Zhongshu's second and third younger brothers had left Shanghai one after another. Zhongshu didn't have a job that could support him while staying in Shanghai. One summer, someone brought a load of watermelons.We thought it was definitely not for sending us off, so we asked our cousins ​​to move up to the third floor.After a while, Zhongshu's student called and asked if the watermelon had been delivered.The cousins ​​moved the watermelon down again.Yuanyuan was very surprised.Such a big melon!And so much!In the past, when we bought watermelons at home, we had to buy two or three loads of watermelons.Yuanyuan has never seen such a day.She watched her father distribute the watermelons upstairs, and she still kept a lot of watermelons, and she was very impressed.In the evening she said to her father solemnly:

"Father, these watermelons are all yours! ——I am your daughter." Apparently she felt that she was "honoured"!Her pride made us laugh.Poor Zhongshu actually has a daughter who is proud of him. A round stomach can eat watermelon, and I let her eat many other things.Zhongshu loves to tease her, provoke her, and bully her. Whenever there is something to eat, he always says: "Baby no eat." She gradually understood, and always pays attention to her mother's face.Once my father said "Baby no eat", she looked at her mother's face and burst out her first self-made English sentence: "Baby yes eat!" She was about six years old at the time.

Before the victory, there were rumors that the U.S. military would bomb Shanghai in a "carpet style", and people who had fled from Shanghai fled Shanghai one after another.In the early spring of 1944, my father brought my eldest sister, third sister and brother-in-law back to my hometown in Miaotang Lane, Suzhou. This summer vacation, my seventh sister and brother-in-law took their two sons to their hometown in Suzhou for the summer vacation.I was too busy to get away, so I asked Yuanyuan to go to Grandpa's house with their family.At that time, Yuanyuan was seven years old, and she was with her two cousins ​​and four cousins ​​at her grandfather's house.The backyard of my hometown has been deserted, and a group of children are "kicking the sky and making wells" in the deserted garden, only round and gentle.She didn't dare to climb the tree when others climbed it, so she stood under the tree and watched.I was very naughty when I was young, and I was very bold in climbing trees and going up houses; Yuanyuan was naturally quiet, with slow hands and feet, very much like the "clumsy hands and feet" that Zhongshu called himself.

The wires in my hometown in Suzhou have been in disrepair for a long time, and the power plant has no power supply, so I have to use kerosene lamps at night.A group of children are afraid of ghosts when it gets dark and dare not move in the dark.Yuanyuan is fearless, her cousins ​​need her bodyguards.She is also quite fatherly.I am most afraid of ghosts. Zhong Shu never knew how to be afraid of ghosts since he was a child.He and Zhong Han lived in Liufangsheng Lane, Wuxi in the early years, and that house was known as a haunted house.Zhong Han was afraid of ghosts, Zhong Shu frightened him, "The ghost is coming!" Zhong Han was so frightened that he screamed "Ah!!!!"He told me about it with glee.

Once, my third sister and seventh sister took a group of children to Xuanmiao Temple in Guanqian Street to play.Suddenly Yuanyuan disappeared.The third sister was so anxious that they "divided the soldiers into three groups" and searched separately.They actually found her in the hall of Xuanmiao Temple, and she was walking into the hall with a Taoist priest.The Taoist didn't recruit her, but she was the one who stared at the Taoist "investigating things to know".When she saw the Taoist priest's hair curled up on top of her head, she thought it was an old woman; but the old woman had a mustache all over her face. Isn't this even more strange than "everyone is smart"?She was separated from her family in a daze.

My sisters and sisters all blamed me for always hugging and supporting Yuanyuan, protecting the child from losing his wits.I fully admit it.When Yuanyuan and I walked on the road, we would always hold hands; when we got on the tram, we would always let her sit on top of me.Yuanyuan is three or four years old, and she always says that she has never taken a tram, so I think she is ignorant.Once I carried her on the tram and sat down, I said: "Isn't this a tram?" She sat on me, hooked my neck and whispered in my ear: "Sit on the butt." She wanted to sit next to her. On the seat, that is the tram ride.Only then did I understand why she had never taken a tram.

Yuanyuan's performances in Suzhou were all three-point dull, not like me but like Zhongshu. Yuanyuan left Suzhou and returned to Shanghai this time, and never saw her grandfather again.My father died in Suzhou at the end of March 1945, and the War of Resistance Against Japan was not over yet. During this period, Zhongshu’s frequent friends included Chen Linrui (Shi Hua’s father), Chen Xihe, Li Jianwu, Ke Ling, Fu Lei, Xu Yanmou who was like an elder brother, poet friend Mao Xiaolu, and so on.Xu Senyu (Hong Bao), Li Bake (Xuan Gong), Zheng Zhenduo, Li Xuanbo, etc. admired him from the older generation, and his younger friends included Zheng Chaozong, Wang Xindi, Song Tifen, Xu Guozhang, etc.Li Bake, Zheng Zhenduo, Fu Lei, Song Tifen, and Wang Xindi often entertain friends at home.At that time, eating with friends was not only a pleasure for the eyes, but also an enjoyment of the mouth and body.

Poverty and disease are always linked.During this period, Zhong Shu fell ill every year.Yuanyuan went to school for one month, and she took a break from school for a few months. In the six years of elementary school, she never attended a full semester of classes.After the victory, in the winter of 1947, the knuckle of her right index finger was swollen, which was found to be bone tuberculosis.At that time there was no cure for the disease.This kind of disease is called "Liu Zhu" or "Liu Zhu" in traditional Chinese medicine. According to medical books, "it occurs in the joints or hollows of the bones, and it is difficult to recover." With a small tear, I said, "I'm going to kill you all." I hurriedly comforted her and said, "You have chosen a good time, and now you are not afraid of getting sick. As long as you have a good rest and recuperate, you will be fine." The doctor fixed the fingers A few joints, ask the child to rest on the bed, not get out of bed, take vitamins A and D, and eat nourishing food.Ten months later, the disease was completely cured.The doctor told me it was luck.When a child gets this disease, it often turns to the feet and then to the head, and the child dies.Yuanyuan recovered from her illness and gained a lot of weight.A big stone that I have been pressing on my heart in my sleep and dreams has finally landed.But I was also sick. I had a low-grade fever every day and lost a pound a month. The cause could not be found.Zhong Shu was very anxious.When we accepted the appointment from Tsinghua University in 1949, he said: "Change the air, maybe you will be cured if you change the place." Sure enough, after one year in Tsinghua University, my low-grade fever disappeared.