Chapter 14 (ten)

After liberation, China took on a new look and became a new China.But my husband and I are always "intellectuals from the old society".We have always been law-abiding and law-abiding citizens. In the summer of 1949, my wife and I were hired by our alma mater, Tsinghua University. On August 24th, we took our daughter with us and boarded the train. We arrived at Tsinghua University on August 26th and started working in New China. I have forgotten what courses Zhongshu taught, but he mainly guided graduate students.I am a part-time professor, because according to Tsinghua's old regulations, husband and wife cannot be full-time professors at the same school.Part-time jobs are wages calculated by the hour, and the wages are very small.I call myself a "casual worker".Later, Tsinghua abolished the old regulations, and the head of the department asked me to be a full-time worker, but I only wanted to be a "casual worker".Because I haven't been reformed, I can't adapt, and I can escape from the meeting under the name of "casual worker".The women's club holds study sessions, but I don't attend because I'm not a housewife.I don't participate in the study meeting held by the teaching staff, because I don't have a full-time job, just a "casual worker".In response to the needs of the department, I added one or two courses, which was actually enough for full-time duties, but in order to avoid meetings, I insisted on doing "casual work" until the "Three Antis" movement.

Yuanyuan already has the scientific name Qian Yuan.She was just an insignificant girl before her grandfather discovered the "seed of reading".We "rebelled" and didn't want her to be named by ranking, but only changed her nickname to her scientific name.When she left Shanghai, she was twelve years old and had just finished the first grade of junior high school.She got on the train with her parents, holding a doll in one hand, and a small handbag in the other, which contained the doll clothes she cut and sewed herself.There are a few taels of gold in the doll's belly, and she holds it carefully.She looks like a child, already very sensible.

After arriving in Tsinghua, she planned to study in the high school attached to Tsinghua University, but the school insisted that she start from the first grade.I saw that junior high school students had many meetings, and they always held meetings in the afternoon.Ah Yuan had just recovered from her illness, and the afternoon rest was still very important, so I let her suspend school, and I taught her homework by myself.Ah Yuan helped his father do some odd things, such as registering student scores and so on.She often found little things that Dad didn't see.For example, a certain male and female student are friends, because their textbooks use distinctive purple ink.The two were indeed a pair of friends, and later married.She was serious about being Dad's assistant.

After Zhongshu worked in Tsinghua University for a year, he was transferred to work in the Translation Committee of Mao Xuan, lived in the city, returned to school on weekends, and was still in charge of graduate students.The leader of Mao Xuan Translation Committee was Comrade Xu Yongying, and it was Comrade Qiao Guanhua, a classmate of Tsinghua University, who introduced Zhongshu to this job.On the appointed day, after dinner, an old friend specially hired a rickshaw to come from the city to congratulate.After the guest left, Zhongshu said to me in fear: "He thought I was going to do a 'South Study Room Walk'. This job is not easy to do. I don't want meritorious service, but I want no fault."

"No success, no fault", he thought he had done it.Even so, he did not escape the knife stabbed in the back.If it weren't for the "Cultural Revolution", the materials in the archives were published on big-character posters, and he still doesn't know what he did.Regarding this unwarranted public case, I mentioned it in "Bingwu Dingwei Chronicle" and in it.We love playing Sherlock Holmes.The two detectives worked together to find out and confirm that the framer was so-and-so.Zhong Shu has nothing to do with the world, yet he will still be hated by others. I am very worried.Zhongshu comforted me and said, "Don't worry, he may not be able to follow his heart." Zhongshu's words were correct.This sentence added a bit of wisdom to me.

In fact, it is unnecessary to "bogey" him.Zhong Shu always obeys the leader very docilely at work; among his colleagues, he can cooperate without standing out or competing for the first place, and he is willing to help, which is also very useful.He has worked under the leadership of Comrade Xu Yongying for many years, and has become a good friend from a trusted subordinate.Under the leadership of Comrades He Qifang and Yu Guanying, he selected and annotated Tang poems. The young comrades he worked with are all alive, and they will definitely agree with me.Zhongshu only wanted to do his job well so that he could steal time to read his books.He works efficiently and steals a lot of time, which he cherishes most.I think the matchmaker did him a great favor unintentionally, by keeping him from any decency and allowing him to "plow his field" in silence.

Zhongshu went to live in the city, and he didn't ask me to take care of Ah Yuan, but he asked Ah Yuan to take good care of his mother, and Ah Yuan very responsibly agreed. Our old Li mother is old and sick. Once she was sick and went home.It snowed heavily that day.In the evening, Ah Yuan said to me: "Mom, it's time to pinch the coal. I've picked out all the cat feces in the briquettes." She knew I would never let her pinch the coal.So she carried me behind my back to remove the cat feces covered by the snow in the snow. She knew that my mother was afraid of touching cat feces.But her tender fingers shouldn't be cold, Zhongshu should still ask me to take care of Ah Yuan.

One night she had a low-grade fever, and I forced her to go to bed early, but she dared not disobey.But she said: "Mom, you still have to go to Wende's house to listen to music." Mr. Wende often invites students to listen to music, he always reserves the best seat for me, and picks out my favorite records, Ah Yuan does as usual come with me. I said, "I'll go myself." She hesitated for a moment and said, "Mom, aren't you afraid?" She knew I was afraid, but she didn't tell me. I put on the airs of an adult and said, "Don't be afraid, I will go alone."

She obediently went to bed and lay down.But she didn't sleep. I went out alone, and when I came to the small bridge connecting a piece of wasteland, I was too scared to cross it.I backed up and forward, two times, three times, the front was so horrible that I had to back home.Ah Yuan was still awake.I just said "no".She didn't say anything.She is very good. It's ridiculous to say, Ah Yuan is so small, I have her company, just like Zhong Shu accompanied me, I don't feel afraid when I walk across the small bridge.There is still a reason for Zhongshu to ask his daughter to take care of his mother.

Ah Yuan didn't go to school, so he broke away from his classmates.But she is not alone. She is very happy in Tsinghua Garden alone.In the book she wrote on the hospital bed, there are chapters describing her life, so I won't repeat it here. I bought textbooks for the second and third grades of junior high school and taught her mathematics (mainly algebra, but also geometry and trigonometry), chemistry, physics, English grammar, etc.Zhongshu corrected her Chinese and English compositions every weekend.The algebra became more and more complicated, and I wanted to be lazy, so I said to Ah Yuan: "Mom can't keep up, so you can do it yourself, can you?" She was very obedient and taught herself without a teacher.One day I asked her if she could learn by herself, and she said yes.After a few days, I was worried and asked her to tell her if she had any difficulties, otherwise I would really be unable to keep up.She said with confidence that she would.I bought an additional set of textbooks for her reference.

Yuan Yuan entered the first grade of senior high school at Beiman Girls' Middle School (then known as the No. 12 Girls Middle School) in the fall of 1951, and got full marks in algebra.She went to live in the city.She made many friends at school and came to our house on weekends to play.My husband and I have only one precious daughter, and her daughter's friends have also become our little friends.Later, Ah Yuan got an incurable disease and was admitted to the hospital. Her middle school friends came to the hospital to visit her from far and near.I never imagined that the friendship between teenage girls could last so long!They are still my friends. Ah Yuan lived on campus, and I was the only one left at home, and we only had family reunions on weekends.In the winter of this year, the "Three Antis" movement began.Someone asked why Mr. Yang didn't attend the meeting in the department.I said I was afraid of not being qualified enough.From then on, I made sure to go to meetings, and earnestly participated in the "Three Antis" or "Take off your pants, cut your tail" or "Take a bath" movement. Zhongshu also participated in sports in the city and took a bath.But Mao's election translation committee is only a very small unit.There was a group of people in the first year, but only Zhongshu and seven or eight assistants remained after one year.A movement needs a large number of people to be powerful; a few people cannot achieve success.The movement at Tsinghua University is massive.The students asked Mr. Qian to go back to school and take a bath.I went to the city and asked for two weeks off on his behalf, so that he could go back to school and study hard before he "takes a bath". Zhong Shu is just as good as Ah Yuan, he returns to school and attends various meetings with me, studying hard.He took a medium tub and I took a small tub, both in one pass.Next came the "Loyal and Honest Movement", and I explained all the issues that should be explained on his behalf.I am very loyal and honest, no matter whether it is a problem or not, I will explain everything clearly as soon as I can remember.So, one day Zhongshu and I lined up with teachers from the same school, and a party representative shook hands with us one by one and said, "The party trusts you." We were all washed up.After the "department adjustment" in 1952, both of them were transferred to be researchers in the foreign language group of the Institute of Literature.The establishment of the Institute of Literature is temporarily under the New Peking University, and the work is directly led by the Central Propaganda Department.The Institute of Literature and Literature was formally established on February 22, 1953. In 1952, after the adjustment of the colleges and departments, they moved within a time limit.On October 16 of this year, my family moved from Tsinghua University to the Zhongguan Garden of New Peking University.When they moved, both Zhong Shu and Ah Yuan were in the city.I moved a house by myself.Everything was moved without regard for our precious cat.Zhongshu and Ah Yuan accompanied me back to the old residence on weekends, caught the cat and put it in a big and deep cloth bag.I carried it on my back, and the two of them comforted the cat all the way.I just felt the cat shivering in the bag.When it arrived at the new home, it still ran away.We are all sad. The work of the Maoist Translation Committee came to an end at the end of 1954.Zhongshu went back to work. Mr. Zheng Zhenduo is the director of the Literature Research Institute and the head of the classical literature group.Mr. Zheng knew that the foreign language group was full, and Zhong Shu couldn't get in.He said to me: "Come back from Mocun, seconded our classical group, and annotate Song poems." Zhongshu was wronged.He is not a major in Chinese classical literature.He studied and taught foreign literature in college.He was transferred from Tsinghua University to the Institute of Literary Studies, also belonging to the foreign language group.He is not willing to give up the study of foreign literature and select and annotate Song poetry.However, he understood Mr. Zheng's intentions and praised his wisdom.Zhongshu was willing to be wronged and could bear it, so he was seconded to the classical literature group and never returned to the foreign language group. The "Three Antis" was the first reform movement for the old intellectuals, and it "touched the soul" for us.We are closed-minded and stubborn, thinking that "the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change", and people cannot be changed.But we were shocked to find that the "mobilized masses", like electrified robots, all acted in unison with the buttons, and they were no longer individuals.People have changed.Even the "intellectuals from the old society" have changed to varying degrees: some are not completely changed, some are about to change but cannot be changed, and perhaps some are secretly unchanged. There was an obvious change in me, I am no longer afraid of ghosts.But my change is not up to standard at all.