The sun tomorrow morning

I used WeChat to send the book manuscript designed by the store manager and said, "Can you hurry up?" "The manager of the printing shop is very young, and tuantuan's round face is very happy. The hall was clean and tidy and orderly. He smiled at me and I smiled too. In the past two years, I have always repeated this sentence, can I be faster?

On early winter nights, outside the large floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the street facing the store, people hurried past from time to time. Ladies' long trench coats, men's trendy sneakers, in the drizzle and neon of early winter, dangling out of the feeling of the movie lens. The streets of downtown Shanghai have a special charm and are easy to make people think... A skinny teenage boy in someone else's old clothes, with cloth shoes on the soles of tires, should have swung around in this area as well.

Eighty or ninety years have passed.

Jiang Danping once served as the director of the Anhui Provincial Zhiqing Office, and the old Zhiqing called him Director Jiang. Director Jiang joined the underground party in Shanghai at the age of 15, and went to northern Jiangsu to join the New Fourth Army at the age of 17, engaged in long-term technical reconnaissance against the enemy, and went blind in both eyes in 2003. More than five years ago, because I wanted to write someone else's story, I met Director Jiang for the first time at his home in Nanjing. The old man in his 90s talked, his memory was clear, his spirit and emotions were pure and full, and I said you should write a memoir. At that time, Director Jiang was hesitant.

The second meeting was in September 2019, and Director Jiang was 96 years old. We talked for a full 4 and a half days. Back in Shanghai, when sorting out those recordings, the first topic that came up was Director Jiang's past as director of the Zhiqing Office. His special identity and personal perspective are invaluable for studying this world-famous history. "My Past as director of the Zhiqing Office of Anhui Province" was published in the 3rd issue of Century magazine in 2020, which caused a great response. After that, it's a bit overwhelming.

A young soldier dressed in a coarse over-the-knee military uniform studied, marched, fought, and deciphered codes in the base area of northern Jiangsu; in 1949, he took over Shanghai with the troops; in 1967, he was sent to Anhui in the chaos to be responsible for the work of the province's intellectual youth... This is a figure marching in the tide of the times, and the traces of his life in this life are so vivid and vivid, always attentive and always undistracted. These memories, in the past two years, have been published in 6 oral histories. Director Jiang said that the advent of these articles brought him inner happiness and comfort is indescribable, and it has also fulfilled all his wishes in this life.

Director Jiang is affectionate. He cherished his past, thanked the guides on his life path and all the leaders and comrades who inspired him and helped him, and when he told those stories of the distant past, unreservedly praised those noble characters that would never fade in his heart, he always burst into tears. It would shake my heart. Eternal love keeps him in another world that gives him warmth and strength forever. The so-called do not forget the original intention, keep in mind the mission, this is it!

In the past two years, friends who have also published or written have asked me, how did you meet him? Or, how did he meet you? That means that such successful cooperation opportunities are almost unattainable for both witnesses and writers. Director Jiang often said that we were friends for the new year, and I could understand everything he wanted to say. He hadn't seen my face, but our hearts were connected. We have each experienced an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, a very hot summer and a very cold winter, and the pain of illness from time to time. Director Jiang is always optimistic and calm, as if every day is quietly and confidently waiting for the sun tomorrow morning.

I told the young store manager that this collection of essays called "Centennial Traces" was a birthday gift for a 98-year-old man. After the 80s, he laughed and giggled, talking about filial piety as a junior. I said, yes yes, I'm also rare.

There were philosophers of the past who said in advance of their high birthdays that they should stop at rice and expect tea. Taking this auspicious word, I sincerely wish Director Jiang health, longevity, happiness and auspiciousness. (Sun Xiaoqi)