Serial 丨 Feng Zikai Self-Description 03 in the lifting

Author: Feng Zikai Author/Paint ▏ Zhong Guisong eds

Publisher: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore

My father was the last person to raise the subject during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. I was only four years old when he was lifted, and I vaguely remembered some of them, listened to people's legends about some situations, and wrote this note. We have to start from the beginning:

My family lived in Shimen Bay in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The previous generation is no longer known, only know that my grandfather's name is Xiaokang, Xingba, and he opened a dye shop here, called Feng Tongyu. The shop did not burn down until the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan. My grandfather died early, and my grandmother, Shen Shi, gave birth to a daughter and a man, my aunt and father. My grandmother was literate and used to lie by the opium lamp and read books such as "White Fur". When dozing off, the corners of the book are often burned. I also saw these burnt books in my childhood. She also loves fun. When she was acting in the town, she always came to the scene and asked someone to move a high chair first, and everyone knew that this was Feng Ba Niangniang's chair. She hired someone who could blow up and teach my aunt and father to sing at home. The four xianggongs who were close to the Shen family often criticized her behind her back: "The old lady of Fengba fainted and taught her son and daughter to sing the emblem tune. "Because at that time singing was the business of inferior people. But my grandmother heard it and didn't care. Later, when I read "The Six Records of Fusheng", I felt that my grandmother was quite like that Yunniang.

My father was involved in the competition at the age of twenty-six or seven. The big competition, that is, the examiner, is held once every three years in the Hangzhou Gongyuan, and the time is always in the autumn. There was no train at that time, so I took a boat. The canal runs directly to Hangzhou, about 80 or 90 miles. Spend a night in the boat and arrive the next day. So I rented a "lower place" near the Gongyuan and waited to enter. His grandmother told him: "Huo Quan, when you get to Hangzhou, don't bury your head and work hard, go play with the West Lake first." Open-minded, the article is naturally colorful. "But my father was always worried, because my grandmother was very good and strong on the one hand. He once said to someone, "If there is no flagpole on the grave, I will not go." "At that time, it was stipulated that if a person was lifted, two flagpoles could be erected on the ancestral grave. Not only are the family relatives decent, but even the ancestors who have died are glorious. My grandmother must have erected a flagpole to go to the grave, that is, to make my father raise a man in her lifetime. I thought about how heavy my father's mood was at that time, who was interested in playing West Lake?

Every time I came home after the exam, I waited at home for the gospel. After the News of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was determined that there was no examination this time, so he had to drink at home, read books, smoke opium, study for three years, and then go to Dabi. After three times, nine years, my grandmother grew older and often fell ill. I thought about how anxious my father's heart was at that time! But when he was thirty-six years old, he did pass the exam. At that time, I was four years old, and my grandmother hugged me and squeezed me in the crowd to watch him worship the North Que, and the scene was faintly in my eyes. The situation at that time was like this:

My father returned home after the exam, sullen and unhappy every day, sleeping early and getting up, and having no heart for tea and dinner. The grandmother lay in bed and asked the doctor to take her medicine. One day, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was the time to issue the list [], the manager of the dye shop, that is, my cousin uncle, named Yaqing, everyone called him "Mazi Three Uncles", arrived at the store in the morning, on a whim, saying that he would go to NangaoQiaotou to wait for the "report ship". Everyone laughed at him in a daze, and he ignored the pipe and went straight to himself. His son, named Lesheng, was a naughty child (I have another record of this person) and went with him. The father and son stood on the South High Bridge for a while, and saw a fast boat coming, and the gong kept sounding. He asked, "Who hit?" The man on board said, "Feng, Feng! Lesheng fled first, and the three uncles of Mazi ran after him. The others didn't know it, and they all said, "Lesheng has run into trouble again, and his old man is arresting him." ”

The three uncles of Mazi ran back and broke into the store, shouting in their mouths: "The spring is in the middle!" It's in the spring! "Father is lying in bed. The third uncle of Mazi shouted to his bed, and his father hated him and replied, "Don't be fooled, it's the fourth brother, not me!" "The fourth brother is one of my cousins, named Fengjin, the character Huanjiang, who went to Dabi with his father that year. But not long after, the newspaper boat had turned into the back river, and the sound of the gong came to my house. "Feng Jie Feng! Harvest seal! "A large group of people followed. My father then got up in his clothes and went downstairs to wash himself. When my grandmother heard the news, she also helped her get up from the sick.

My house was to the east, so I set up a table in the hall to the north, lit incense candles, and waited for the new lord to come to worship the North Que. The three uncles of Mazi ran to the city, saw the dumplings and rice dumplings, and took them back to entertain the reporters. Those who sell dumplings and rice dumplings are by no means calculating with him. Because they all want to make friends with the families of the upstarts. But then the price was always paid. Father put on a red hat, put on his coat and walked out, knelt three times to the north, and then opened the seal. The grandmother plucked a golden ear from her head and picked the seal open, and the gold ear was given to the informant. The reporter took out the "golden flower" and inserted it on the head of the father, and then on the head of the mother and grandmother. This golden flower is made of paper and is very light. It is said that when the emperor sent it, it was real gold, and after hand, he changed the silver flower, then the copper flower, and finally the paper flower. But no matter what, in short, it is glorious. When I performed this set, my house was crowded with people. Because Shimen Bay has not been lifted in decades, this time is particularly rare. I was four years old, held by my wet nurse, huddled in the crowd to watch the hilarity, although it was inexplicable, but I still retained a vague impression.

Two reporters stayed and lived upstairs to write "newspapers". The newspaper was written in red paper, with Song characters: "Good News Guifu Laoye Feng High School Gengzi Xin Ugly Enzheng and Section Eighty-seventh Lifter." "I hung four sheets at home, and my relatives sent two to each family. This "grace and government" is the last subject, and after that, the examination was abolished and the school was run. Originally, after winning the lift, and then going to Beijing to "try", you can become a soldier and become an official. It is not easy to cross the threshold, and it is very difficult to cross; once you step in, it is easy to take the test, because the number of people is very small, and most of them are admitted. But my father passed the exam in the last subject, so he was not allowed to take the test, there was no official to do, so he had to set up a school at home to teach apprentices and sit on a cold bench. This is a postscript. It is said that after the person who wrote the newspaper returned, my family held a "congratulatory" ceremony. The house is narrow, the stove head is removed, all whitewashed, hung lights, colored. The governors of nearby counties, as well as relatives and friends from near and far, came to congratulate him and send congratulatory gifts. This celebration is a lucrative income. Some people want to "climb high", especially heavy. When the guests entered the door, there were three cannons outside, and the music inside was blown. The guest prostrates and the host returns the salute. After the ceremony, invite guests to eat the "Running Horse Table". The runner of the horse table, no matter when, invited him to eat a table of wine. In this way, it is a simple and solemn way to avoid a large feast. Three days after the opening of the congratulations, my grandmother went downstairs to see her every day, and her illness seemed to be getting better. My father worked hard and relied on opium. But after all this excitement, my grandmother finally became more and more ill. The father hurriedly erected a flagpole on the ancestral grave. Before long, my grandmother was critically ill. As he lay dying, he asked his father, "Is the flagpole on the grave erected?" The father replied, "It's all right." Grandmother passed away with a smile. So the hanging and mourning were another uproar, no less than when the congratulations were opened. Everyone said, "What a blessing this old lady is!" I remember when my grandmother was lying on the corpse bed, my father took a stack of paper and shone it in front of her closed eyes, and said with tears: "Mom, I haven't shown you the article yet." Its voice whimpered, and the smeller wept. Later, I learned that this was the manuscript of the article that my father had taken in the examination. At that time, the eight strands of text were no longer used instead of the policy, entitled "Han Xuan Emperor Believed in Rewards and Punishments, Comprehensive Verification of Nominal Truth" and "Tang Taizong Alliance Turks yu Benqiao, Song Zhenzong Alliance Khitan in Lanzhou Theory".

My father was thirty-six years old and died of lung disease at the age of forty-two. In the past five or six years, his life has been very lonely. Every day, except for the disciples, he only drank alcohol, read books and smoked opium. He doesn't eat fat meat, and it's rare to eat some extremely fine ham. In autumn, I love to eat crabs, so I bought a lot from the market, kept them in a tank, and ate one every night. On the occasion of Tanabata, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Chongyang Festival, four or five of us sisters also have to eat. After school in the afternoon, he always spent time in the opium museum opened by Shen Zizhuang nearby. After a late drink, smoke opium at home until deeper, and then eat dinner. My three sisters ate with him. I ate a peeled egg and a bowl of winter vegetables. The peeled eggs were cut into three portions, one for the father, and two for the sisters. I went to bed early at a young age and was not eligible to participate. Father's life had to be so miserable. Because the income of the dye shop is limited, the bundle is even more meager, and the "official" of the two large stores (oil trucks and pawnshops) send one or two hundred yuan a year, and there is no other income. My father himself lived a miserable life, but his people and relatives were stained. All the relatives of his generation are called grandmothers, and the next generation is called miss young masters. There is no shortage of people who take advantage of this position to make a blessing. I am the young master of the Concubine Sect. Chu Laowu, who often came to work as an errand boy, took me to the street, and the people on the street saluted, the cake shop sent me cakes, and the fruit shop sent me fruits, always returning with a full load. But this is not a little glory, and when I was nine years old, my father died, and we became a family of orphans and widows.