In 1993, I submitted my retirement report, and a leader in the hospital said that I had a nervous disease. Nanyun advised me not to be angry, I have no time to be angry, I have seen too much in the past few decades, the leader must still have a high trick in the back, told me that retirement can only get eighty-five percent of the salary, according to my more than forty years of service and level, I am a little confused, I went to the hospital department to inquire. At that time, three deans were present, and a young personnel department leader talked to me: he said that the report in the hospital reflected my situation and was fighting for 100 percent salary, but the above did not agree. He took out a copy of the biology professor's retirement regulations and said that it was sent by the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee. The first article above reads, in the old society engaged in professional pension 100 percent, I asked him I began to work in Peking Opera at the age of eight, that time was the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, is it considered to be a professional in the old society? The young man looked at me in silence. The second article says that the pension of the full associate professor is 100 percent, and I say that the salary I was assessed as three hundred and fifty yuan since I entered the Peking Opera In 1957 is now a first-class, so which grade should I count on this regulation? He remained like a wooden chicken without uttering a word. He also pointed to the place where the hook was drawn on the ordinance, that I had two children, which did not meet the family planning. I said there was no family planning back then. My two sons are ten years apart, we are already consciously planning family planning, not to mention that they are older than you, how can this be linked to the present? It is rare that this young man's endurance is to sit there without making a sound. I think he was young and didn't understand post-liberation policy.
All this is not what he can do, the leaders of the Peking Theater just kill chickens to show the authority to the monkeys, and the result of Tong Xiangling's disobedience is so.
Before I retired, although my youngest son Shengtian had a job driving an elevator at the Seventh Heaven Hotel, his wish to sing opera was not fulfilled. He thought that the work of driving an elevator would soon be eliminated by automation, and he had always dreamed of becoming a Peking Opera actor, so I told him about the hard work of Peking Opera actors, and Shengtian was not moved. He is good in stature, looks, and has a good voice, so it is better to learn vocal music and singing, so that he can learn quickly and earn money, but he thinks that Peking Opera is more tasteful. The son has a reason, and there are not many young people who are willing to work hard to learn drama, and Shengtian can also learn drama to succeed his father, so I agreed to Shengtian quit his job, and we father and son fought together. Shengtian is a little older and needs to strengthen training, every day I asked his old colleagues Zhang Jingen and Comrade Qi Yingqi in the hospital to give him basic skills such as leg training and playing with handles.
More than a year later, when we were performing in Hubei, I wanted him to practice it, and I asked Nanyun to co-perform "Sitting Palace" with him. He had never been on stage and had no conditions to sing once. Put on his makeup and wait for him to take the stage, I didn't dare to sit in the audience, but just stood in the courtyard and looked in through the window of the theater. He has no timidity on stage, unlike the first time on stage, he is quite sophisticated, and it is difficult for him to act down. I was very happy that Shengtian was indeed like the first time I appeared on stage as a child, and I had confidence in him. However, his biggest problem was that he did not have the opportunity to practice on stage, and I asked the leaders of the academy and the regiment whether I could transfer him to the regiment; Regardless of the salary, as long as he is given the opportunity to practice, they promise to have a chance to try it. I stepped up my efforts to make Shengtian practice hard.
(Tong Xiangling and his wife Tong Shengtian and film and television star Mr. Chen Xuming)
Once, Nanyun and I were invited by Shandong Weifang Feng and others to perform, and Shengtian also followed, and our troupe also performed "Wise Tiger Mountain" there. On the last day, the leader of the troupe came to me and said that the "Wise Tiger Mountain" drama was originally scheduled to be performed six times, but now it can only be performed once, the train collective ticket is not easy to change, and the whole group has to stay in Weifang for three days, and the cost is too large. Find a factory willing to undertake, but put forward a request, I must and Nanyun perform a "Sitting Palace". There are difficulties in the regiment, and I am obliged. At noon the next day, it was said that there was also a "Sitting Officer" in the matinee, because the young lead actor He Shu had an illness in his voice and could not perform, could he temporarily let Shengtian substitute. Shengtian has only been on the stage once, and I dare not agree to the temporary rescue. Unexpectedly, Shengtian dared to accept it, and it was fully performed.
Later, the group asked me to teach Shengtian to sing the ShaojianBo singing section in "Wise Tiger Mountain", and if he could do it, he could perform the whole drama. Our father and son were extremely happy and practiced hard for a summer. After that, the leader of the regiment said that instead of finding someone who would do nothing, it would be better to find a good one. Receiving or not receiving is the right of the leader, but it is not too much to say that Shengtian will not be excessive, and nothing will be able to sing "Sitting in the Palace" for the young master? I told Shengtian that he had lost his last chance and he didn't say a word and silently walked into the room. The volume is amplified as the song is played. I understood that the child was venting his inner pain, so as to declare that my family was isolated from Peking Opera.
With little to come, Shengtian became silent, neither interacting with the outside world nor having anything to say to us, except to eat, shutting himself in his house all day. This change made me and Nanyun extremely worried. He was struggling in pain, how could we not know? As the parents of Peking Opera actors, but unable to help their qualified sons realize the ideal of becoming Peking Opera actors, why should our hearts not be bitter?
At this time, the eldest son, Presumer, also lost his job because the factory was on the verge of closure. At that time, he was not divorced, and his eldest daughter-in-law was also working at the Peking Opera. The whole Peking Opera House, the goers took turns over and over again, just once without her. As soon as we retired, we immediately gave her a waiting to retire. As soon as I got home, our kids were all at home. What a disaster.
Every day I can't stay in this way, no matter how good our work is, my children have no food to eat. At that time, I could still afford it, and everyone could drink porridge. But this can't work, the children always have something to do, they have to have a way to live. At that time, I wouldn't open the back door, and I couldn't find any way, so I thought about it for half a day. The youngest son was locked in the house all day, ignoring no one. The eldest son was out all day looking for trouble. I guess what should I do about this?
I know the weight of the child in Nanyun's heart. Nanyun's personality is internal, and her emotions are never exposed, but from her aging and emaciated countenance, I know that in addition to her daily household chores, the problem of the child's way out is always pressed on her weathered heart.
I am the head of the family, and in the face of all this happening in the family, I am full of sorrows, but I can't do anything about it. In the quiet of the night, sitting alone in the room, I smoked one cigarette after another, but my mind recalled most of the life I had walked, and what the children had said, their lives would go on with us. I used to disagree with the children's words. Now facing the reality that I know that the unfortunate life of the children is caused by my unfortunate life, and I have an unshirkable responsibility for this, so should I let their unfortunate life continue? I am not a good father to my children, I only care about their warmth and clothing, and I rarely worry about their future. They are deeply involved with us, and what if the path of life does not follow us? More than half a hundred years old, I only understood, I have given Peking Opera all my life, but I am ashamed of the children!
(To be continued)