"Central Guard" by Li Yi

February 15, 2009 9:28 Taizhou

Milan, for Lin Mei's grandfather, was always like a mystery. He only knew the mystery, but he couldn't guess the bottom of the mystery.

Milan, he said, must still be alive, somewhere in the world. He had a question, a question that had been hidden in his heart for forty or fifty years, and wanted to ask her in person, otherwise he would die blind.

The "Liang Zhu" play score found in Lao Luo's home, the only guide for us is the Red Sleeve Drama Society. Of course, time flies, quicksand shatters gold, and this society is long gone. In order to find information about the Red Sleeve Society, we visited the Municipal Local History Office. The question of local history can only be answered here.

Chen Chao, the old editor-in-chief of Fang Zhiban, received us, listened to our introduction, said that he seemed to have a little impression of this company, and took out a copy of the "Taizhou Drama Chronicle" to check.

"Yes." Editor-in-Chief Chen pointed to one of the pages and showed it to me.

A few very simple words: Red Sleeve Drama Society, founded in the thirty-first year of the Republic of China (1942), funded by Huangyan Road Bridge businessman Lin Kedao, rented a small stage of the Yanlai Tea House, performed women's Yue opera, the main plays are "Loutaihui", "Panfu Sofu", "Jasper Hairpin", "Sable Cicada" and so on. In 1951, it was merged into the Huangyan County Yue Opera Troupe.

"Lin Kedao?" Lin Mei was surprised, "Isn't that my grandfather?" Hearing Grandpa mention it, he said that our ancestors were Taizhou merchants and had opened a theater garden. ”

"It turns out that the Red Sleeve Drama Club was opened by your family." I laughed. Secretly thinking, it was no wonder that he later got into a relationship with the secret agent, the young master was a secret agent of the Kuomintang, and he was not yet a secret agent nest. Thinking like this in my heart, of course, I can't say this with my mouth.

Where is Yanlai Tea House? Editor-in-chief Chen told me that it was actually the Liang family compound at the eastern end of Mazhi Street. It was an old famous teahouse on the street, and the business was hot. On the eve of the liberation of Taizhou, Boss Liang ran away, no one took over the operation, it was ruined, and later accepted by the people's government, and the land reform was divided into small rooms assigned to residents to live.

Asked about the other situations of the Red Sleeve Drama Society, Chen Editor-in-Chief shook his head and said, It has been too long, the little drama club, and no one has studied it, of course, there is no information. He suggested that we go to the Liang Family Compound and the former Huangyan County Yue Opera Troupe to find some elderly people to investigate, and maybe there are any clues.

So I first went to the Liang family compound on Mazhi Street. This is a courtyard-style Minqing building, which became the center of street cultural activities after the overall renovation and transformation of Mazhi Old Street the year before, and was hung with signs of various associations. There are many elderly people around the downstairs table and table, or playing chess, or rubbing mahjong, a few who love elegant arts such as calligraphy and painting, pouring a pot of tea in the upstairs literary and art room, exchanging experiences happily, and getting some comfort in the noise.

The stage is still there, in front of the main east wall of the compound, it has also been transformed, grand, gorgeous, but there are not many plays every year. When the festival is over, small theater troupes from other places will be invited to perform for three or four days, and important festivals such as "June 1st" and "National Day" will be encountered, and several small literary and artistic evenings will be held here.

But now the drama is good, the party is good, there is no such taste. I can't help but imagine that the red-and-pink women of the Red Sleeve Drama Club sang on this stage, without microphones and dazzling lights. Midsummer night, small theater stage, outdoor tea party, long shirt short horse, watermelon hat, off-stage, babbling, a raised hand and a foot, a glance, a heartfelt cheer... It is like a slow ship of time, docked in black and white days, frozen.

This is enough to prove that I am a nostalgic person, so that those secret histories have an instinctive temptation for me. Lin Mei's grandfather, his persistent and eccentric ideas, the dead Lao Luo, the "Liang Zhu" play score and the Red Sleeve Drama Society, the "secret agent" and the "catch the secret agent", the sixties that seem to be not far away and seem to be far away... Every clue that takes me back in time draws me more and more to me, and of course, the mysterious "Milan".

Asked a lot of old people, all love can not help. The reason is that the old people who were adults before liberation should now be at least seventy-five years old, and there are very few people who have come to the activity center at this age, only three or four, most of them are not very clear, they can say clearly, they only know that this place was originally a teahouse, as for the drama club, there is no impression.

Later, an old man helped us, he said that he had an uncle, ninety years old, had been living in Mazhi Street, was a teacher, had no hobbies in his life, just a cup of tea, his mind was still clear, maybe he knew.

Just took us there, and I really know.

The old man recalled that in the years before the liberation, there was indeed a team called the Red Sleeve Drama Society singing in the Yanlai Tea House, and he also knew the owner of the drama club, Lin Kedao, but Lin Kedao died at the end of 1948, and died of lung disease.

Slowly, the conversation box opened, and a lot of related and unrelated words were said. He said that there are two pillars of the Red Sleeve Drama Club, one is Fan Xuemei, Xiao Huadan, very lively and playful, and after liberation, he entered the County Yue Opera Troupe; and there is also a Qingyi, called Dong Yalan, whose stage name is "Yiyelan", dignified and elegant, very popular, but she suddenly disappeared in 46 years, and later heard that she went to Shanghai to sing opera, and has never seen it again.

Talking about the young master of the Lin family at that time, the old man still had the impression, looking very tall, white and pure, Sven, polite, and looked like a scholar, a typical intellectual.

Lin Mei saw the old man praising her grandfather and happily closed her mouth. To be honest, I really can't imagine which of Lin Mei's genes she inherited from her grandfather Bai Jing Sven.

Back to the point. Is the missing Dong Yalan "Milan"? Where did she go after 1946? Why is the seal on the "Liang Zhu" play "Milan" the secret agent code name? Instead of the stage name "Ichiba Orchid"? The only clue fell to Hua Dan Fan Xuemei, and perhaps this partner of that year would know some inside information.

But things did not go so smoothly, the old Yue opera troupe after repeated adjustment and withdrawal, like a building block was beaten to pieces, the original those old artists to change careers, change the group, has been difficult to find.

I complained to Lin Mei why she didn't get more information about Milan from her grandfather, such as directly telling Milan's real name and former work unit, which would save much effort. Lin Mei explained that Milan is a "special person" who stays on the mainland, nine times out of ten, has long since changed his identity to live, and there are some things he can't say, for fear that we will accidentally slip out of our mouths and cause her trouble. When he sent Lin Mei here, he thought I would know more, but unfortunately I didn't know anything. I understand the old man's concern, his understanding of the mainland, I am afraid that it is still stuck in the past few decades. Even if Milan was once a spy, now she is also a dying old woman, and may have already looked down on the world, and the world has also looked down on her.

After several twists and turns, it was difficult to find two retired old employees of the Yue Opera Troupe, but in exchange for disappointment and confusion.

Fan Xuemei, no one knows, no one has heard of it, as if it did not exist.

Are you sure?

OK, pretty sure.

I was momentarily confused and turned around, as if I were back at the starting point again.

Who is "Milan"? Who is "Milan"?