"Hometown" is a short story written by Lu Xun in 1921, which has been selected and compiled in primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks. The characters in his hometown are most familiar to everyone than Yan Tu, his real name is Zhang Yanshui, and he has also really existed.
In Lu Xun's eyes, the young man's leaping earth is simply an idol worshipped by Lu Xun, he is simple and innocent, cute and cute, can pick up colorful shells, can catch all kinds of birds, the most powerful is in the watermelon field on summer nights, with a fork to stab the running monkey.
Twenty years later, both were middle-aged when they said goodbye, and when they saw the leap earth again, Lu Xun could hardly recognize it.
He wrote in His Hometown: "When he grew up, his round purple face had turned gray and yellow, and his face was covered with deep wrinkles; the area around his eyes was swollen red, and his hands had become thick and clumsy and cracked, like pine bark." ”
In Lu Xun's eyes, the free elf's young leaping earth had become a breathing piece of wood.
And the "white moonlight" in Lu Xun's heart for many years also faded.
What exactly did Yan Tu and Lu Xun go through each other? What do their descendants have to do with each other?
Today, I will tell you the story of Yan Tu and Lu Xun and the descendants of the two families.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > teenager Lu Xun and Yan Tu</h1>
When Lu Xun was 10 years old, his grandmother died in the Waxing Moon, and the family just happened to be the turn to do the big sacrifice, ushering in the busy indissoluble, doing the big sacrifice in Shaoxing can be a very important celebration, and the general sacrifice on weekdays is different, the whole family will elect a family as the main priest, prepare a rich sacrifice, hold a grand ancestor sacrifice ceremony, and the sacrifice instrument is also brand new. So Lu Xun's mother called Zhang Fuqing (Yan Tu's father) to help take care of some of the family's rough work.
These large and small sacrificial vessels can be worth a lot of money, and there are many people with miscellaneous hands, and they need a special person to watch. "Let my son come and help me see, he is very clever and honest." When the New Year came, Yan Tu and his father went to the Zhou family to help the workers, and when they came to the big family for the first time, Yan Tu was a little overwhelmed, he hid in the kitchen and refused to come out, and he did not dare to take the initiative to greet people he did not know. Lu Xun couldn't wait to meet this new friend. He had long heard that leaping earth could catch birds.
Seeing the young Lu Xun, Yan Tu was no longer shy, and the two teenagers of similar age soon became good friends who talked about everything. "I heard that you will catch birds, let's go and catch them" Lu Xun begged for leaping soil, and The leaping earth said, "Not now, we have to wait until the snow day, sweep a clearing on the sand, use a short stick to support a large bamboo plaque, sprinkle the grain, and when the birds come to eat, we will pull the rope tied to the stick far away, and cover the bird under the bamboo plaque." Yan Tu then invited Lu Xun to play in their countryside in the summer and go to see the watermelon together to prevent Him from stealing food. The ordinary game played by the low-level teenagers in nature on weekdays is a strange thing in the eyes of the young master in the city. Although the two teenagers have been together for a short time, they regard each other as the best playmates in their hearts.
Unfortunately, the first month passed quickly, and the great festival ended, and Zhang Fuqing returned to the countryside with the leap soil. The two children who got along well heard that they were going to be separated, and cried loudly and refused, and the small hands of the two people held tightly and did not let go. The Zhou family's grandmother had no choice but to forcefully break open two tight little hands, Lu Xun was forcibly carried into the inner chamber, and Yan Tu was also dragged out of the Zhou family's door by his father.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > the gap between middle-aged Lu Xun and Yan Tu</h1>
Twenty years apart, the two were middle-aged when they said goodbye, Lu Xun was full of joy looking forward to the two people renewing their childhood friendship, thinking that the two people had not seen each other for so long, there must be a lot of words to say, did not expect to see the leaping earth, Lu Xun could hardly recognize it, the leaping earth was wearing a worn-out felt hat, wearing a thin cotton coat, the gray-yellow face was covered with wrinkles, the eyes were swollen and red, and the hands were covered with calluses.
Lu Xun greeted excitedly: Brother Yan Tu, you are here. A look of joy and desolation flashed on Yan Tu's face, and after a while he finally respectfully shouted, "Lord." This old man made Lu Xun suddenly understand that the few in front of him were no longer the leap soil of their youth, and the simple and beautiful friendship between the two people no longer existed. Yan Tu came to the front of the Zhou family, listened to the tofu Xi Shi across the street, said that when he was a child, Xun Ge was now married to the wife of the third room, and the Daotai lord who went out of the eight caravans, where there was still a little excitement, only trepidation remained. What those young and ignorant people did were now thought to be ignorant and unruly offenses.
Lu Xun asked about the recent situation of The LeapIng Soil, the Leaping Earth shook his head and sighed, it is very difficult, the 5th child will also help, but always do not eat enough, and not peaceful, everywhere to money, the harvest is bad, pick to sell always have to donate money several times, fold the book, do not sell. And it can only rot. Lu Xun could feel the bitterness in Yan Tu's heart, and there were accusations against society, numbness and helplessness to life, and disappointment in the future, so that this suffering was complex and could not be expressed in words.
In fact, Lu Xun also has unexpressible suffering, although the Zhou family is still a large family in the eyes of the bottom people, but it has really been irretrievably ruined, otherwise it would not even sell the dilapidated furniture in the ancestral house. This time the family went north, not knowing when they would be able to return to their hometown, and in the distant Beijing, what the future would be, Lu Xun was as confused but helpless. These sufferings are also complex and cannot be expressed in words, and even if they are said, the leap earth will no longer understand.
Lu Xun and Zhang Yanshui were separated in this way, and there was no chance to meet again. Yan Shui's son Shui Sheng and Lu Xun's nephew Hong'er got along with each other, and Although Lu Xun saw that although he was relieved, in such a turbulent society, could they belong to different classes and maintain the hope of friendship for a long time? He didn't know.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > ill-fated, Zhou Zhang's two families broke off contact</h1>
After the separation, the life of the Yantu family became more and more miserable, the 5 children were difficult to raise in this era of war and chaos, the whole family always did not eat enough, 6 acres of thin land, the grain planted was not much, the tax was heavy, and it was impossible to maintain life whether it was sold or not. In 1934, the Central Plains and Jiangnan area were suddenly hit by a severe drought, and for several months the water did not fall, the river port dried up, the field seedlings died of drought, the peasants saw the autumn harvest desperate, the family fled to a different place, and what is more, the hanging beam committed suicide or threw themselves into the river to die. The leap soil had no choice but to sell the thin fields and worked hard everywhere to get by. In 1936, he unfortunately contracted back sores, and the family, which was originally difficult to make ends meet, could no longer afford medical expenses, and the earth died in hardship. At the age of 20, his son Zhang Qisheng (the "aquatic" in the novel in his hometown) took up the burden of supporting the whole family.
In 1934, the Central Plains and Jiangnan drought, the victims were displaced, Lu Xun after moving to Beijing, life is not good, as a professor at Peking University, relatively prosperous economically, but mentally under great pressure, every day through the pen of battle with the corrupt government and right-wing writers, but also often face the threat of military and police agents, in 1936, in Shanghai died of illness, coincidentally in the same year as Zhang Yanshui. Lu Xun's nephew Zhou Fengsan ("Hong'er" in the hometown novel) ended his young life with a pistol at the home of his traitorous father, at the age of 20. Hong'er, it is no longer possible to receive an invitation from Aquatic to play at his house. Zhou Zhang's two families have since broken off contact.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="24" > the founding of New China, and the descendants of the Leap Land successfully counterattacked</h1>
After the death of Zhang Qisheng (闰土), Zhang Qisheng (水生) took over the burden of raising the whole family, not only to raise his elderly mother but also to support four younger siblings. He was young, in addition to farming, he also gave others short-term work, and at night he made bamboo utensils at home to subsidize the family, and he did everything he could to make for this family. But after successive conquests, the people did not have a good life, and the floods and droughts alternated between them.
Zhang Gui would have been like his ancestors and his father Aquatic, who was oppressed at the bottom of society and could never turn over, fortunately, when Zhang Gui was 16 years old, New China was founded, and the life of the toiling masses finally had hope. Zhang Gui's fate also has the opportunity to be rewritten. He participated in the New China Literacy Movement and entered the winter school to start reading and literacy, and he was very diligent and hardworking, often reading until late at night. In 1953, the Lu Xun Memorial Hall was completed, and considering the relationship between his Zhang family and Lu Xun, the director of the memorial invited Zhang Gui to work at the memorial hall. Zhang Gui was very nervous, he had not read for several years, could he be competent for this research job? The curator's words dispelled his concerns, "To say that there are more people who recognize words than you can recognize words, but if you want to talk about relationships, no one is closer than your relationship with Mr. Lu Xun."
Zhang Gui in his youth
After arriving at the memorial hall, Zhang Gui read a large number of books and articles of Lu Xun while reading and literacy, and finally became an expert in the study of Lu Xun. In 1973, the Lu Xun Memorial Hall in Shaoxing was completed, and Zhang Gui was invited to serve as the deputy director of the memorial until his retirement. The fate of the descendants of the Leap Earth was completely changed and they successfully counterattacked.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > half a century later, the two families reunited</h1>
In 1965, Zhang Gui received an important task to go to Shanghai to participate in the burial ceremony of Lu Xun's tomb. At the same time, Zhang Gui was delighted to learn that Lu Xun's wife Xu Guangping and Lu Xun's only son, Zhou Haiying, would also participate in the funeral ceremony of Lu Xun's grave. Finally, I can meet Lu Xun's descendants! It has been exactly 45 years, since the last time the two families were separated, there is no new China, where can there be this meeting.
Lu Xun's son Zhou Haiying
After the Zhou and Zhang families re-established contact, the exchanges became more and more frequent, and the communication between them was never interrupted. Although he is in different cities and will send gifts and congratulations to each other every New Year's Festival, although Zhou Haiying is 4 years older than Zhang Gui and is a generation behind according to the generation, he takes care of Zhang Gui like a brother.
Zhang Gui and Zhou Hainian Xu Guangping Zhou Jianren took a group photo
Zhang Gui sometimes said humorously and emotionally: Since my great-grandfather worked for the Zhou family, until now, it has been four generations, and now, I am also working for the Zhou family, working for Mr. Lu Xun, and spreading his ideas.
Zhang Gui meets With Zhou Haiying
Now that Zhang Gui has retired from the Lu Xun Memorial Hall, Zhou Haiying also died of illness in Beijing in 2011, but Zhang Gui's son and daughter and Zhou Haiying's son Zhou Lingfei have become good friends again, and the two families have become more and more intimate.
"A glass of wine in the spring breeze of Tao Li, ten years of rain in the night of the rivers and lakes" Counting up, lu Xun and The first acquaintance of Lu Xun and Yan Tu Zhang Yanshui has passed a century. If the friendship between Lu Xun and Yan Tu was based on the joy of playing when they were teenagers, "where are the people who came to play with the moon together, and the scenery is still faintly like last year", then the exchanges between the descendants of the two families of Zhang Zhou are based on their respective labor posts for the construction of new China, on the basis of the same interests, hobbies, beliefs and values.