Realm - Xia Yan and Zhou Yang: "Okay", "Okay", "Alive is Lucky"

(Xia Yan and Zhou Yang in Zhaoqing, Guangdong in 1979)

Although Xia Yan and Zhou Yang have very different personalities from each other, they have a sense of being connected to the same fate. In 1964, the Ministry of Culture rectified the wind, and Zhou Yang made Xia Yan suffer a lot. But in the "ten years of catastrophe" that followed, they were all lucky people who died nine times.

The two first met after the disaster in 1977. On that day, Zhou Yang was accompanied by his wife Su Ling into the courtyard of Beijing's Nanzhu pole Hutong, which was occupied by several families, and Xia Yan was already hanging up a crutch to greet him at the door. Their hands were clasped tightly together, and they looked at each other wordlessly for a long time.

Ten years of life and death are uncertain, and when they say goodbye, they can't help but have a sense of being separated. On that day, Luffy, who came with her, wrote down the scene:

They walked into the house, and Xia Gong walked hard to the chair, he lowered his cane, bent his legs, and sat down. Then a big yellow cat came up and lay on his lap...

Comrade Zhou Yang and Comrade Su Lingyang sat on two small wooden benches. Zhou Yang: "Okay?"

"Fortunately, to be alive is to be lucky."

"Yes."

(Lu Fei, "Xia Gong is a Big Book", "Remembering Xia Gong")

After that meeting, Xia Yan, Zhou Yang, Zhang Guangnian, Li Ji, and others went to Guangzhou together at the invitation of the leaders of the Guangdong Provincial PARTY Committee. During the trip to Guangzhou, Xia Yan and Zhou Yang got along harmoniously, and Xia Yan also took advantage of the opportunity to write down " Although full of sorrow and suffering, I am old and strong, and I am proud of the past, for consolation", which attracted a round of applause from everyone. And when Xia Yan proposed that he wanted to go back to Beijing and say, "I miss my cat", Zhou Yang's tears suddenly filled his eyes again. Under the persuasion of everyone, Xia Yan still spent the New Year in Guangzhou.

In 1988, Xia Yan, who was nearly ninety years old, summoned Zhang Guangnian, Chen Huangmei, Feng Mu, Wang Meng, Gu Jun, and others in his home to discuss the preparation of "aftermath" for Zhou Yang, who had fallen into a deep coma. Xia Yan meant: Zhou Yang would not be able to afford it in the end, and he should prepare for the aftermath as soon as possible. The so-called preparation for the aftermath is mainly to draft a eulogy and a "life", so as not to catch Zhou Yang by surprise once he leaves.

(Yan Ping's "Meditations on the New Chinese Literary Circle" Reading Notes)