On October 30, 2018, the famous martial arts writer Jin Yong passed away at the age of 94.
Jin Yong was born in the "Haining Cha family", this family was once very prominent, known as "a seven-soldier, uncle and nephew five Hanlin".
Even in modern times, there have been two great literary heroes, Jin Yong and Mu Dan. Jin Yong's original name was Zha Liangyong, and Mu Dan's original name was Zha Liangzheng, and they were brothers of the same ethnic group.
Jin Yong not only has many brothers in his own family, but also many brothers. His father, Zha Shuqing, had two wives, five sons and two daughters with his first wife, and four sons and two daughters with his second wife, so Jin Yong had 8 brothers and 4 sisters (including half-siblings).
The 13 children of the Cha family went to their own places when they became adults, and only the seventh brother, Zha Liangnan, stayed in his hometown to work as a farmer and guarded the old mansion "Heshan Fang" (that is, Jin Yong's former residence).
But the strange thing is that as Jin Yong's half-brother, Zha Liangnan only saw the second brother Jin Yong when he was 3 and a half years old, and in the following 72 years, he waited for Jin Yong to return to his hometown to get together, but he never got his wish, until Jin Yong died 3 years ago, this wish was completely in vain.
Jin Yong is a traditional literati, and people like him should attach great importance to the "clan". Although Cha Liangnan and he are not compatriots, they are the same father, and they inherit the incense of the Cha family.
After becoming famous, Jin Yong also came to Zhejiang five times, but why would he rather "go through the door of the house five times and not enter", rather than return to his hometown where he was born to have a look and take a look with his brother Zha Liangnan?
To say that there is no hidden emotion in this is certainly unlikely.
Jin Yong's biological mother was xu yong, the first wife of Zha Shuqing, and had 5 sons and 2 daughters, namely: Zha Liangheng, Zha Liangyong (Jin Yong), Zha Lianghao, Zha Liangdong, Zha Liangyu, and Zha Liangxuan and Zha Liangxuan.
Jin Yong's stepmother was called Gu Xiuying, she was originally a maid brought by Xu Lu from her mother's family, after Xu Lu's death, she was married by the "master" Zha Shuqing as a house filler, and gave birth to 4 sons and 2 daughters, namely: Zha Liangcheng, Zha Liangnan, Zha Liangbin, Zha Lianggen, Zha Liangqi, Zha Liangmin.
It is not difficult to see that Jin Yong ranks second in the big room, and Zha Liangnan is also ranked second in the second room. But after all, they are brothers, when it comes to ranking, Zha Liangnan still regards Jin Yong as the second brother, and himself as the seventh brother, according to local customs, Jin Yong can call him "Liumao Brother".
In 1937, due to the influence of the situation, the 13-year-old Jin Yong left his hometown of Haining, and soon after, his birth mother Xu Lu died on the way to escape.
In 1943, Zha Liangnan was born, at this time Jin Yong was 19 years old and still wandering outside. As the second brother, he was not at home when the seventh brother was born, and naturally did not see the face of his younger brother Zha Liangnan.
It was not until July 1946 that Zha Liangnan, who was already 3 and a half years old, met his second brother Jin Yong for the first time, which was also the only time the brothers met.
Jin Yong went home that time to get an important thing, and when he was parting, he once took the hand of his stepmother Gu Xiuying and said: "I am making a living in Hangzhou, Hangzhou is close to home, I will come back often, you must take care of this home, I am still waiting to eat sugar fried rice cakes with you." ”
Although Gu Xiuying was Jin Yong's stepmother, she was only a few years older than him. When Jin Yong was young, Gu Xiuying was still just a subordinate of the Cha family, serving Jin Yong like an ancient young master.
During that time, Jin Yong called Gu Xiuying "sister", the two often went out to play together, and when it was sunny, they would go to the wild hand in hand to catch butterflies, and on rainy days, Jin Yong would lie on Gu Xiuying's back and fight an umbrella.
It can be said that putting aside the difference in status, Gu Xiuying is more like Jin Yong's "green plum bamboo horse", but since marrying Zha Shuqing, the "big sister" Gu Xiuying has been promoted to stepmother, and they can no longer play and play like they did in childhood, and they are a little more embarrassed when talking.
The return home in July 1946 was the first and last time Jin Yong returned to his hometown after leaving home at the age of 13. Although he promised Gu Xiuying that he would often come back to see, he did not cash in, so in the impression of his younger brother Zha Liangnan, the second brother Jin Yong always had only a vague figure, after all, they had only met once, and he was only 3 and a half years old at that time.
In an interview in his later years, Zha Liangnan even said: "That time I did not see my second brother, because I was too young to remember clearly." ”
Jin Yong spent several years in Hangzhou when he was young, and even married a local girl named Du Zhifen. As he himself said, "Hangzhou is very close to Haining", but why didn't he always go home to see it, so that his brother Zha Liangnan regretted it all his life?
After Jin Yong's death in 2018, 75-year-old Zha Liangnan gave an interview to the media, saying that he still heard bad news from his son-in-law, who saw it from his mobile phone.
That is to say, as Jin Yong's brother, Zha Liangnan knows that his brother died later than most netizens, which also shows from the side that the brothers do not have much contact.
The Cha family was once a Member of the Wang ethnic group, but after the founding of New China, Jin Yong and Zha Liangnan's father, Zha Shuqing, were rated as landlords and executed, resulting in the fall of the family road.
At the most difficult time, Zha Liangnan's mother, Gu Xiuying, had to give one of her own children to others to raise, and secretly sold several ancestral properties of the Zha family to subsidize the family.
At that time, she had to raise her remaining four children and provide tuition for the four young children born to Zha Shuqing and his first wife, Xu Lu.
At the same time, Jin Yong's life was actually not very good, when he had already ventured into a career in Hong Kong, had just divorced his first wife Du Zhifen, and only a few years later, he met his second wife Zhu Mei.
Jin Yong learned of his father's death many years later, and once in an interview, he once said, "Of course, I am very sad about my father's death, but I do not hold a grudge, which is an inevitable tragedy in turbulent times." ”
But in Zha Liangnan's view, it is precisely because of his father's death that Jin Yong has a hatred for his hometown and relatives, and he hates his stepmother and younger siblings for not protecting his father, so he will always refuse to step into the door of the ancestral house and refuse to see his brother Zha Liangnan.
Is there any truth to this speculation? I'm afraid it's far-fetched. Because although Jin Yong "refused to see" Zha Liangnan, he also had less contact with him, but had a lot of contact with other brothers and sisters.
For example, the eldest brother Zha Lianghao, Jin Yong has been with him many times, his sister Zha Liangxuan, who is one year younger than him, is also deeply impressed by the second brother Jin Yong, and the third brother Zha Lianghao, who settled in Shanghai, has eaten with Jin Yong several times.
If Jin Yong refused to return to his hometown and see his brother because he "resented his relatives for not protecting his father", then he obviously should resent those older brothers and sisters more than Zha Liangnan, the seventh brother who was only 8 years old when his father died.
The real reason is actually not difficult to imagine, although Zha Liangnan is Jin Yong's brother, he was not born by a mother. And Jin Yong's own half-siblings have as many as 6, their ages are not much different, whether from the perspective of blood or growth experience, the feelings must be deeper, so Jin Yong and several siblings of the same mother often get together, but they are relatively cold to the siblings of the half-mother, which is also the common sentiment of people.
But to say that Jin Yong has no feelings for his half-brother is not in line with the truth. According to Zha Liangnan's recollection, when his family built a building in the 90s, Jin Yong specially gave him tens of thousands of yuan.
Tens of thousands of pieces in the 90s were enough to build a small two- or three-story building, so in fact, the building where Zha Liangnan now lives was funded by the second brother Jin Yong.
Being able to help this shows that Jin Yong still recognizes him as a younger brother, but compared with several siblings of the same mother, the importance is not so strong.
In 1981, Jin Yong was received by the central high-level, that is, that year, Zha Liangnan learned that the famous martial arts writer was actually his second brother.
Since then, he has waited for his second brother Jin Yong to return to his hometown to see, but unfortunately, until the death of his mother Gu Xiuying in 1989, he did not achieve his wish.
When Gu Xiuying was dying, he specially called Zha Liangnan over and said to him, "Don't leave the old house, wait for your second brother to come back..."
His mother's last words, Zha Liangnan, were always remembered in his heart, so even if the ancestral house was later destroyed, he still insisted on living in it with his wife despite the advice of his daughters and nephews, because he had been looking forward to the day when Jin Yong would be able to return to his hometown and return to this hometown that still had temperature.
Unfortunately, this day did not come, and it will never come.
According to Zha Liangnan, he and his second brother Jin Yong were most likely to get together in December 1992. That winter, Jin Yong suddenly visited his hometown of Haining, and also visited the primary school where he had attended, and took photos with some teachers and classmates.
After learning the news, Zha Liangnan was very excited, and quickly pulled his wife to clean up the old house inside and out.
Unfortunately, after Jin Yong finished the primary school, he went straight back to the hotel where he was staying, as if he had forgotten his hometown "Heshan Fang" in Yuan Hua Town, Haining.
From morning to night, the expression on his face also changed from joy to disappointment, he knew that his brother would not come, although he had appeared in Yuan Hua Town during the day, and the brothers had "passed by" like this.
In 1996, Jin Yong also accompanied the famous physicist Yang Zhenning to Haining Yanguan to watch the tide, which was only 15 kilometers away from his hometown "Heshan Fang", but unfortunately Jin Yong still did not return.
Zha Liangnan, who has not been able to wait for the second brother, has also tried to write letters to Jin Yong, and has received several replies intermittently, but the content of the replies is mostly very brief, and mainly asks his parents about that year. Gradually, Zha Liangnan and Jin Yong even exchanged few letters.
Since the 1980s, Jin Yong has visited Zhejiang five times, each time not far from the ancestral residence "Heshan House", but he has never stepped into the ancestral house.
In an interview with the media, Jin Yong also indirectly responded to this question, saying that although the ancestral house was hung up as "Jin Yong's former residence", it did not belong to him alone, but all the descendants of the Cha family, and he could not drive others out of the ancestral house because he was famous.
Judging from this response, Jin Yong always refused to return to his hometown, perhaps because he did not want to make too much movement, and he was even more unwilling to accept the act of hanging the ancestral house under his name.
Although Zha Liangnan himself has never seen his second brother Jin Yong since he was 3 years old, his youngest daughter Zha Wanmin has seen the second uncle.
It was 1998, and 16-year-old Zha Wanmin went to Hong Kong as a Jiaxing delegation to conduct an interview and took the opportunity to visit the second uncle Jin Yong's home.
In Jin Yong's mansion, Zha Wanmin deliberately asked at the right time: "Second uncle, you can go back to your hometown to see, your parents are looking forward to it, my sister and I are also looking forward to it." ”
Jin Yong listened for half a moment, and after a long time he replied quietly: "Where did I go to live?" ”
The well-behaved Zha Wanmin sensed that the atmosphere was not right, and Jin Yong was obviously not worried that he would have no place to live after he returned, but said that there was nothing worth his nostalgia in his hometown, so Zha Wanmin did not respond, and the two uncles and nephews tacitly agreed with each other.
A few years later, Zha Liangnan's eldest daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he was so anxious that he found his half-sister Zha Liangxuan, hoping to contact Jin Yong through her, and then entrust Jin Yong's relationship to find a doctor to treat his daughter, but there was no follow-up. A few months later, Zha Liangnan's eldest daughter died.
This incident caused criticism in the local area, and many people in the town felt that Jin Yong was too desperate, and his niece was sick, so how could he not ignore it?
However, Zha Liangnan did not resent the second brother because of this, he only had regrets about the death of the eldest daughter, and for the second brother, he was always as eager to meet as before.
But this wish was eventually completely shattered with jin Yong's death, and the moment he heard the death of his second brother, Zha Liangnan couldn't help but shed tears. He and Jin Yong had almost no intersection, but blood was thicker than water, and no matter how Jin Yong treated him, they were brothers of the same father.
After Jin Yong's death, Cha Liangnan was interviewed, and he said he had not received a notice from Hong Kong to ask him to attend the funeral. If the other party does not contact him, he will not rush to visit, even if it will make him regret for the rest of his life.
Zha Liangnan did not go to Hong Kong in the end, and he and his brother Jin Yong, who had waited for 72 years, have been separated from yin and yang ever since.
Now that 3 years have passed, 78-year-old Zha Liangnan is still guarding the ancestral home "Heshan House" in Haining's hometown, and his wish to see Jin Yong's side can only be realized when he goes to the underground mansion a hundred years later.