Three bodies

After the deaths of Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining, the superior quickly dealt with the incident as an ordinary work accident. In the eyes of everyone at the base, Ye Wenjie and Yang Weining had a very good relationship, and no one had suspected her.

The new political commissar of the base soon took office, and life returned to its usual tranquility. The little life in Ye Wenjie's womb grew up day by day. At the same time, she also felt the changes in the outside world.

On this day, the leader of the guard platoon asked Ye Wenjie to go to the gate.When she walked into the sentry box, she was surprised: there were three children here, two boys and one girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, all wearing old cotton-padded jackets and dog fur caps, they looked like locals.The sentinel told her that they were from Qijiatun, and they heard that there are learned people on Radar Peak, so they wanted to ask some questions about their studies.Ye Wenjie thought to herself, how dare they go to Radar Peak?This is an absolute military restricted zone, and the guard post only needs to warn those who approach without authorization once before they can shoot.The sentinel saw Ye Wenjie's doubts and told her that she had just received an order that the security level of the Red Bank base had been lowered. As long as the locals did not enter the base, they could come to Radar Peak. Several local farmers had already come yesterday to send dishes.

A child took out a junior high school physics textbook that had been turned over very worn out. His hands were black and cracked like tree bark. He asked a middle school physics question with a strong northeast accent: the textbook said The free fall started to accelerate all the time, but in the end it always fell at a constant speed. They thought about it for several nights, but they couldn't figure it out.

"You ran so far just to ask this?" Ye Wenjie asked.

"Miss Ye, don't you know? The college entrance examination is coming up!" the girl said cheerfully.

"College entrance exam?"

"It's just going to college! Whoever studies well will be able to go to college with high test scores! It was a year ago, and you don't know?!"

"Not recommended anymore?"

"No, anyone can take the exam, even the children of the 'five black classes' in the village!"

Ye Wenjie was stunned for a long time, this change made her very emotional.After a while, she realized that the children holding books in front of her were still waiting, so she hurriedly answered their questions, telling them that it was due to the balance of air resistance and gravity; , you can come to her anytime.

Three days later, seven more children came to see Ye Wenjie. Except for the three who came last time, the other four came from farther villages and towns.Fifteen children came to see her for the third time, together with a teacher from the town middle school. Due to lack of staff, he taught physics, mathematics and chemistry. He came to ask Ye Wenjie some teaching problems.This man was over half a century old, his face was full of weather, and he was flustered in front of Ye Wenjie, and his books fell on the floor.After walking out of the sentry box, Ye Wenjie heard him say to the students: "Boys, scientists, this is a serious scientist!" After that, children came to ask for advice from time to time. Sometimes there were so many people that they couldn't stand in the sentry box. With the consent of the leader in charge of security at the base, the sentries took them to the dining room of the cafeteria, where Ye Wenjie set up a small blackboard to give lectures to the children.

On New Year's Eve in 1978, it was completely dark after Ye Wenjie got off work. Most of the people at the base had gone down the mountain during the three-day holiday, and there was silence everywhere.Ye Wenjie returned to her room, which used to be her and Yang Weining's home, but now it was empty, only the child in her womb accompanied her.In the cold night outside, the cold wind in Daxing'an Mountains howled, and the sound of firecrackers from Qijiatun in the distance could be faintly heard in the wind.Loneliness was like a giant palm pressing down on Ye Wenjie. She felt that she was getting smaller and smaller, and finally shrank to a small corner that the world couldn't see... At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and Ye Wenjie opened the door first. Seeing the sentinel, behind him there were a few fires of pine nuts flickering in the cold wind. The torches were held by a group of children. Their faces were red from the cold, and there were icicles on their dog fur hats. After entering the house, they felt a chill.There were two boys who suffered the most from the cold. They wore very thin clothes, but they wrapped something in two thick cotton coats and held something in their arms. When they opened the coats, there was a large porcelain basin with sauerkraut and pork stuffed dumplings. Steaming.

That year, eight months after sending the signal to the sun, Ye Wenjie was in labor. Due to the abnormal fetal position and her weak body, the base health center was unable to deliver the baby, so they sent her to the nearest town hospital.

This was actually Ye Wenjie's hell. She encountered dystocia and fell into a coma after severe pain and hemorrhage. She could only see three scorching and dazzling suns slowly turning around her, scorching her cruelly.After this scene lasted for a long time, she thought in a haze that this might be her eternal destination, this is her hell, the fire of hell made up of three suns will burn her forever, this is her reason for that Punishment for super betrayal.She was plunged into intense fear, not for herself, but for the child—was the child still in the womb?Or follow her into this hell to suffer eternal pain?I don't know how long it took, the three suns receded gradually, and after a certain distance, they suddenly shrunk and turned into crystal flying stars. The surroundings became cooler and the pain lessened, and she finally woke up.

Ye Wenjie heard a cry next to her ear, she turned her face with difficulty, and saw the baby's pink and wet face.

The doctor told Ye Wenjie that her bleeding amounted to more than 2000 milliliters. Dozens of farmers in Qijiatun came to donate blood to her. Many of them had children who she had tutored, but most of them were strangers, just listening to the children and their parents. If it weren't for them, she would be dead.

The following days became a problem. Ye Wenjie was weak after giving birth, and it was impossible for her to take care of the child by herself at the base, and she had no relatives or reasons.At this time, a couple of elderly people from Qijiatun came to the base leaders and said that they could take Ye Wenjie and the child home to take care of them.The man was originally a hunter, and he also collected some medicinal materials. Later, the surrounding forests became less and less, so he started farming, but people still called him Qi Hunter.They have two sons and two daughters. The girls are both married. One son is serving as a soldier in other places, and the other lives with them after getting married. The daughter-in-law also just gave birth to a baby.Ye Wenjie hadn't been rehabilitated at this time, and the leaders of the base were very embarrassed, but there was only one way, so they asked them to take Ye Wenjie home from the town hospital in a sled.

Ye Wenjie lived in this Daxinganling farm for more than half a year. She was weak after giving birth and had no milk. During this period, Yang Dong grew up eating Baijia milk.The one who feeds her the most is the daughter-in-law of Headhunter Qi, named Dafeng. This robust girl from Northeast China eats sorghum rice scum every day, and at the same time nurses two babies, and the milk is still prosperous.Other lactating daughter-in-laws in the village also came to feed Yang Dong. They liked her very much and said that the baby had her mother's aura.Gradually, Headhunter Qi's house became a gathering place for the women in the village. Young and old, married and eldest daughters, they all liked to come here for nothing. They were full of envy and curiosity towards Ye Wenjie, and she also found herself There are plenty of womanly things to talk about with them.I can’t remember how many sunny days Ye Wenjie hugged Yang Dong and sat with the women in the village in the yard surrounded by white birch pillars. There were children playing and a big lazy black dog beside him. The warm sunshine embraced all of them. .Every time she pays special attention to those who are holding copper pipes and pots, the smoke from their mouths is soaked in sunlight, and like the fine hair on their plump skin, it emits a silvery soft light.Once, one of them handed her a long cupronickel smoke pot to "relieve fatigue". After she took only two puffs, she was dizzy and made them laugh for several days.

Ye Wenjie didn't have much to say to the men, and she couldn't understand what they cared about every day. The main idea was to plant some ginseng while the policy was relaxed, but she didn't dare to do it.They all respected Ye Wenjie and were polite in front of her.She didn't care about it at first, but after a long time, when she saw how those men beat their wives roughly and flirted with the widows in the village, and said those things that made her blush at half a sentence, she finally realized Feel the preciousness of this respect.From time to time, some of them would send the hares and pheasants they caught to the head hunter Qi's house, and also bring many strange and simple toys made by themselves to Yang Dong.

In Ye Wenjie's memory, these days don't seem to belong to her, they seem to be fragments falling from other lives, flying into her life like a feather.This memory has been condensed into European classical oil paintings. It is very strange that it is either Chinese painting or oil painting. There are too many blank spaces in Chinese paintings, but there is no blank space in Qijiatun life. Like classical oil paintings, it is full of rich and unresolved open color.Everything is strong and warm: the fire pit covered with thick Ulagrass, the Kanto smoke and Mohe smoke in the copper smoke pot, the thick sorghum rice, the 65-degree sorghum wine... But all of them are peaceful Flowing in peace, like a stream on the edge of a village.

Those nights were the most unforgettable for Ye Wenjie.Headhunter Qi's son went to the city to sell mushrooms. He was the first person in the village to go out to earn money, and she lived with Dafeng.At that time, there was no electricity in Qijiatun. Every night, the two of them stayed by an oil lamp, Ye Wenjie read, and Dafeng did needlework.Ye Wenjie always unconsciously brought the book and her eyes close to the oil lamp, and often her bangs would squeak when they were baked. At this time, the two of them would look up and smile at each other.Dafeng has never had such a thing, her eyes are very good, and she can do fine work by the light of the charcoal fire.Two children less than half a year old slept on the kang next to her. Their sleeping appearance was intoxicating, and the only thing that could be heard in the room was their even breathing.Ye Wenjie was not used to sleeping on the kang at first, and always got angry, but later she got used to it. In her sleep, she often felt that she had become a baby, lying in someone's warm embrace. This feeling was so real that she cried several times after waking up. Flowing all over her face—but that person wasn't her father and mother, or her dead husband, she didn't know who.

Once, when she put down her book, she saw Dafeng put the sole of her shoe on her lap and stared blankly at the lantern.Finding Ye Wenjie looking at her, Dafeng suddenly asked:

"Sister, why do you think the stars in the sky don't fall?"

Ye Wenjie took a closer look at Dafeng. The oil lamp is an excellent painter, who created this classical oil painting with solemn tones but also bright: Dafeng is wearing a cotton jacket, with a red bellyband and a round arm exposed, and the oil lamp highlights her The image, painted with the most striking color in her most beautiful parts, subtly concealed the rest in darkness.The background is also hidden, and everything is submerged in a soft darkness, but you can still see a dark red halo when you look closely. This halo is not from the oil lamp, but from the charcoal fire on the ground. You can see, The bitter cold outside had begun to carve beautiful ice patterns on the windows with the warm moisture inside.

"Are you afraid of the stars falling?" Ye Wenjie asked softly.

Dafeng smiled and shook his head, "What are you afraid of? They are so small."

Ye Wenjie finally did not give an astrophysicist's answer, she just said: "They are all far away, and they cannot fall."

Dafeng was already very satisfied with this answer, and went back to sewing.But Ye Wenjie's mood was ups and downs. She put down the book, lay down on the warm Kang surface, slightly closed her eyes, and imagined the entire universe around this hut, just like an oil lamp hiding most of the hut in darkness. .Then, she replaced the universe in Dafeng's heart.At this time, the night sky was a huge black sphere, just the size to hold the world in it, with countless stars inlaid on the sphere, glittering with silver light, each of them was no bigger than the round mirror on the old wooden table beside the bed .The world is flat, stretches far and wide in all directions, but always has an edge.This large plane is covered with mountains like Daxing’an Mountains, and it is also covered with forests. There are villages like Qijiatun dotted in the forest... This toy box-like universe made her feel very comfortable. Gradually, the universe came into being. From imagination to dreamland.

In this small mountain village deep in the Greater Xing'an Mountains, something in Ye Wenjie's heart gradually melted, and a small clear lake formed on the ice field of her heart.

After Yang Dong was born, more than two years passed in tension and calm at the Red Bank base.At this time, Ye Wenjie was notified that her and her father's cases had been completely rehabilitated; soon after, she received a letter from her alma mater, saying that she could go back to work immediately.Along with the letter came a large amount of remittance, which was the repaid salary after the implementation of the policy by the father.At the base meeting, the leaders finally called her Comrade Ye Wenjie.

Ye Wenjie faced all this calmly, without excitement or excitement.She is not interested in the outside world, and would rather stay in the secluded Red Coast base forever, but for the sake of her children's education, she still left the Red Coast base where she thought she would spend her whole life, and returned to her alma mater.

Walking out of the deep mountains, Ye Wenjie was full of the feeling of spring. The harsh winter of the "Cultural Revolution" was indeed over, and everything was recovering.Although the catastrophe has just ended, looking up at the ruins, countless people are silently licking their wounds, but in people's eyes, the dawn of a new life in the future has appeared.There are students with children in universities, bookstores are sold out of Chinese literary masterpieces, technological innovation in factories has become the most remarkable thing, and scientific research has been shrouded in a halo of sacredness.For a while, science and technology became the only key to open the door to the future. People approached science sincerely like elementary school students. Although their struggles were naive, they were also down-to-earth.At the first National Science Conference, Guo Moruo announced that the spring of science had arrived.

Is this the end of madness?Science and sanity are starting to come back?Ye Wenjie asked herself more than once.

Ye Wenjie never heard from Trisolaran until she left Hong'an Base.She knew that she would have to wait at least eight years to receive a reply to her message from that world, not to mention that after she left the base, she no longer had the conditions to receive an alien reply.

It was such an important thing that she did it quietly by herself, which created a feeling of unreality.As time went by, this sense of illusion became stronger and stronger, and that incident became more and more like my hallucination, like a dream.Can the sun really amplify radio waves?Did she really use the sun as an antenna to send information about human civilization into the universe?Have you really received information from alien civilizations?The bloody morning when she betrayed the entire human civilization really existed?And that murder...

Ye Wenjie tried to numb herself at work in order to forget the past—she almost succeeded, a strange self-preservation instinct made her no longer recall the past, and no longer remember her past contact with alien civilizations, and the days passed. This passed day by day in peace.

After returning to her alma mater for a while, Ye Wenjie took Dongdong to her mother, Shao Lin.After the tragic death of her husband, Shaolin quickly recovered from her insanity and continued to survive in the political cracks.She kept up with the situation and chanted slogans, and finally got a little reward, and later stepped onto the podium in the "resumption of classes and revolution".But at this time, Shaolin did something unexpected and married a persecuted senior official of the Ministry of Education. At that time, the senior official was still living in the "cowshed" labor camp in the cadre school.Shaolin has her own thoughts on this. She knows in her heart that the chaos in society cannot last long. The young rebels who are currently seizing power have no experience in managing the country at all. The old cadres who are now sidelined and persecuted will come to power sooner or later. ruling.Later facts proved that her gamble was correct. The "Cultural Revolution" was not over yet, and her husband had partially recovered his position. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, he was quickly promoted to the rank of deputy minister.With this background, Shao Lin quickly rose to the top when the intellectuals received courtesy again.After becoming a member of the Academy of Sciences, she cleverly transferred from her original school and soon became the vice president of another prestigious university.

The mother Ye Wenjie met was a well-maintained and educated female image, without any trace of past suffering.She warmly received Ye Wenjie's mother and daughter, asked her how she came here all these years with concern, marveled at how smart and cute Dongdong is, and explained Ye Wenjie's favorite dishes to the nanny who cooked in detail...all of this was done well. So decent, so skilled, so just right.But Ye Wenjie clearly felt the estrangement between them, they carefully avoided sensitive topics, and did not talk about Ye Wenjie's father.

After dinner, Shao Lin and her husband sent Ye Wenjie and the children away for a long time. The vice minister said he wanted to have a word with Ye Wenjie, so Shao Lin went back first.At this time, the deputy minister's face changed from a warm smile to a cold one in an instant, as if tearing off a mask impatiently, he said:

"You are welcome to come here often with your children, but there is one thing, don't come to pursue old accounts. Your mother is not responsible for your father's death, and she is also a victim. It's your father, who is a bit perverted for his beliefs , going all the way to the dark, abandoning the responsibilities to the family, and causing you mother and daughter to suffer so much."

"You have no right to talk about my father," Ye Wenjie said angrily, "This is between me and my mother, and has nothing to do with anyone else."

"It's really nothing to do with me," Shao Lin's husband nodded coldly, "I'm conveying your mother's meaning."

Ye Wenjie turned her head and saw that Shaolin was peeking over the corner of the curtain in that high-rise building with a courtyard.Ye Wenjie silently picked up Dongdong and left, never going back again.

Ye Wenjie investigated the four Red Guards who killed her father in many ways, and found three of them.All three of them are educated youths returning to the city, and none of them have a job now.After learning their addresses, Ye Wenjie wrote them a simple letter and asked them to go to the playground where their father was killed and have a talk.

Ye Wenjie had no intention of revenge.On that morning when the sun rose at the Red Coast base, she had avenged all human beings including them, and she only wanted to hear the confession of these murderers and see even a little bit of humanity return.

After class that afternoon, Ye Wenjie was waiting for them on the playground.She didn't hold out much hope, and it was almost certain that they would not come, but at the appointed time, three old Red Guards came.

Ye Wenjie recognized the three people from a distance, because they were all wearing green military uniforms that are now rare.After getting closer, she found that this was probably the clothes they wore at the critique meeting back then. The clothes had been washed white and had conspicuous patches.But other than that, these three women in their thirties had no similarities with the three heroic Red Guards back then. What disappeared from them was obviously more than youth.

Ye Wenjie's first impression was that, compared with the uniformity of the past, the differences between them have become larger.One of them became very thin, and the clothes she wore back then were a little too big, her back was a little bent, her hair was yellow, and she already showed a bit of old age; the other became very thick, and her clothes covered her body. Her clumsy body could not be buttoned, her hair was disheveled, her face was dark, and all the feminine delicacy had obviously been worn away by a hard life, leaving only roughness and numbness; the third woman still had some The shadow of her youth, but one of her sleeves is empty, dangling as she walks.

Three old Red Guards walked up to Ye Wenjie and stood in a row facing her—they also faced Ye Zhetai in the same way—trying to recreate their long-forgotten dignity, but their devilish spirit back then The power was clearly gone.The skinny woman had a mouse look on her face, the thick woman's had nothing but numbness, and the one-armed woman's eyes were looking up at the sky.

"Do you think we dare not come?" The stout woman asked provocatively.

"I think we should meet each other, the past should be settled." Ye Wenjie said.

"It's over, you should have heard of it." The thin woman said, her voice was high-pitched, as if there was a kind of panic that came from nowhere at all times.

"I mean spiritually."

"Then you are ready to listen to our confession?" the stout woman asked.

"Shouldn't you repent?"

"Then who will confess to us?" said the one-armed woman who had been silent.

The stout woman said: "Three of the four of us have signed the big-character poster of the Tsinghua High School, from the big series, the big review to the big fight, from the 'First Division', 'Second Division', and 'Third Division' From 'Linkage', 'Xijiao', 'Dongjiao', to 'New Peking University Commune', 'Red Flag Combat Team' and 'Dongfanghong', we have experienced the whole process of Red Guards from birth to death."

The one-armed woman went on to say: "During the Hundred Days of Fighting on the Tsinghua campus, there were four of us, two in 'Jinggangshan' and two in 'April 15'. I once rushed to the soil of 'Jinggangshan' with a grenade Building a tank, this hand was crushed by the wheels of the tank, when the flesh and bones were mixed into mud on the ground - I was only [-] years old at that time."

"Later we went to the vast world!" The thick woman raised her hands and said, "Of the four of us, two went to Shaanxi, and two went to Henan, both of which are the most remote and poor places. But after a long time, after a day of farm work, I was too tired to wash my clothes; lying in a leaky thatched hut, listening to the wolves howling in the distance, I slowly returned from my dream to reality. We stayed in the backcountry , It’s really making people say nothing every day, and the earth and the earth should not respond.”

The one-armed woman stared blankly at the ground and said: "Sometimes, on the barren hills and trails, I met former comrades-in-arms of the Red Guards or enemies in the fighting. , looking at each other speechlessly."

"Tang Hongjing," the burly woman said, staring at Ye Wenjie, "it was the girl who slapped your father's head with the worst belt and drowned in the Yellow River. The flood washed away some of the sheep in the team. The team secretary He shouted to the educated youths: Young revolutionary generals, it’s time to test you! So, Hong Jing and three other educated youths jumped into the river to catch sheep. It was still ice flood and there was still a layer of ice floating on the water! The four of them They were all dead, who knew whether they were drowned or frozen to death. When I saw their bodies...I...I couldn't fucking speak..." She covered her face and began to cry.

The thin woman let out a long sigh with tears in her eyes, "I went back to the city later, but what happened when I came back? I still have nothing. The educated youths who came back have a hard life, and people like us can't find a job at the last time. There is no job and no money. No future, nothing left."

Ye Wenjie was completely speechless.

The one-armed woman said: "Recently there is a movie called "Maple". Is it? The adult said no; the child asked again: Are they enemies? The adult said no; the child asked again: Then what are they? The adult said: It is history. "

"Did you hear that? It's history! It's history!" The stout woman excitedly waved a big hand at Ye Wenjie and said, "Now is a new era, who will remember us and take us seriously? Everyone will soon Will forget about it!"

The three old Red Guards left, leaving Ye Wenjie alone on the playground. On that rainy afternoon more than ten years ago, she stood here alone, looking at her dead father.The last words of that old Red Guard kept echoing in her mind...

The setting sun cast a long shadow on Ye Wenjie's thin body.In her heart, the little hope for the society that had just emerged evaporated like dew under the scorching sun, and the slightest doubt about the super betrayal she had made disappeared without a trace, and the higher civilization in the universe was introduced into her heart. The human world has finally become Ye Wenjie's unwavering ideal.