The literary era since 1979

Chapter 244: Jokes Are Not Nonsense
Yenching, editorial department of October.

Tian Zengxiang called Sui Lijun and a few others over, bringing bags and baskets of things, "Come out, come out, it's time to give out benefits!"

“What’s new this year?”

"What else can I buy? Hairtail fish and hairtail fish."

"Old Tian, ​​Xisi Fish Shop doesn't just have hairtail, it also has shrimp paste and dried shrimp skin. It would be great to get some of that."

Zhang Shouren, Yan Ming and others came over to collect their New Year's Day holiday benefits, including hairtail, candy, rice and flour.

Fangyan smiled without saying anything. Shrimp paste is made of small fish and shrimps from the sea, which are packed in a jar and sprinkled with salt and fermented. When you want to eat it, you just open the lid of the jar and it will smell fishy and stinky.

Some people just like it, just like eating stinky tofu.

"Shrimp paste is so smelly, it's not as good as hairtail."

Tian Zengxiang clapped his hands, "Line up, line up, one for each person, don't ask for it without authorization, come here, Yanzi, this is yours."

Fangyan asked, "What about Jicai's share?"

"It's ready, here!"

Tian Zengxiang said: "Should we send it to him now, or wait until he returns to Tianjin and let him take it back."

"Right now. I just need to talk to him about the manuscript."

Fangyan called his little apprentice, Sui Lijun, and went to the "small black room" specially prepared by the editorial department for the seconded authors.

"You are too polite."

Feng Jicai hurriedly poured hot water for the two of them.

"You're welcome."

Fangyan gave Sui Lijun a wink.

Sui Lijun understood what he meant. This was her master demonstrating in person, teaching her how to revise the manuscript with the author, and she immediately became fully alert.

Feng Jicai sat opposite them and took out paper and pen.

"Iwako, what do you think of the outline of "The Divine Whip"?"

"I think there is nothing wrong with the overall idea. We use the Boxer Rebellion in Tianjin to resist the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance as the historical background. After all, the modern history of Tianjin can be seen in the past 100 years. The city of Tianjin represents half of the modern history."

Fangyan glanced at the manuscript in his hand.

"That's right!"

"Tianjin is different from any modern city. At that time, this city was a mixture of Chinese and foreigners. There was a distinction between the 'upper' and the 'lower', which was the difference between old Tianjin and the concessions..."

Feng Jicai slapped his thigh.

The two then talked about the Boxer Rebellion, and Fangyan learned from Feng Jicai that his debut work was "The Boxer Rebellion".

When I was writing "The Boxer Rebellion", I wanted to incorporate the authentic Tianjin dialect, which is full of regional characteristics, into the novel.

However, it ended up in nothing, which is a pity.

"That's just right!"

Fangyan smiled and said, "You can definitely take this opportunity to add some colloquial Tianjin dialect into 'The Divine Whip'."

"That's what I thought."

Feng Jicai also laughed.

Sui Lijun listened and took notes. He said that if "The Magic Whip" was a success, he would write a collection of stories about the eccentrics in Tianjin, with the urban life in Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China as the background.

Each article focuses on the skills and deeds of a character, such as "Brush Li", "Clay Figure Zhang", "Holy Mother of Yellow Lotus"...

"Holy Mother of Yellow Lotus?"

Fangyan raised his eyebrows, showing interest.

"Yes, his name is 'Lin Hei'er', the leader of the Red Lantern Sect."

Feng Jicai said, "At that time, there was a saying that men practiced the Boxer Fist and women practiced the Red Lantern Fist, kicking open the bamboo forest and chopping down foreigners with swords."

After a pause, he continued, "During the Boxer Rebellion, this Holy Mother Huanglian led 3,000 people into the city. Once they entered the city gate, the 3,000 people stomped their feet together, the sound shook the ground, and dust covered the sky. The story of "trampling the city with red lanterns" spread in Tianjin..."

Fangyan was very surprised, because in "Once Upon a Time in China and America", he was a villain comparable to the leader of the White Lotus Sect.

But in fact, she was a courageous female hero who dared to resist the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

No wonder the fourth part is not as good as the first three parts of "Once Upon a Time in China". The adaptation is not random and the parody is not nonsense!
"But after all, what I want to write about most is 'Big Knife Wang Wu'." Feng Jicai took a sip of water.

Seeing Fang Yan nodded, Sui Lijun asked in a low voice: "Master, who is Big Knife Wang Wu?"

Feng Jicai said: "Big Knife Wang Wu, he is a great hero who is no less capable than Huang Feihong!"

"No, no, no, Huang Feihong is fictional, but Wang Wu the Great Sword is real."

Fangyan waved his hand and introduced himself to Sui Lijun.

The Broadsword Wang Wu was also called "Wang Zhengyi". He set up a school called "Wenwu Yixue" in Yanjing to teach martial arts and was honored as "the Great Hero of the Capital".

In addition to eliminating violence and pacifying the people, he was most famous for supporting the Hundred Days' Reform Movement led by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Tan Sitong. Moreover, he once tried every means to break into the prison and rescue Tan Sitong, but unfortunately failed. Later, Tan Sitong was killed, and he risked his life to collect his body and bury him with honor.

As he was talking, suddenly an idea came to him and he fell silent.

"Master?"

Sui Lijun was curious when she saw him lost in thought.

Feng Jicai took over the conversation and said, "During the Boxer Rebellion, Wang Wu the Great Sword also actively participated in the fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance, but he was outnumbered and was captured and killed by the Qing army. His head was hung on the city gate, and finally Huo Yuanjia took it back and buried the body together."

"That's right."

Sui Lijun looked as if she was suddenly enlightened, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Fang Yan standing there, silent and dumbfounded.

Feng Jicai also sensed something was wrong and called out softly.

"Yanzi, what's wrong?"

Fangyan came back to his senses and explained that he had just gotten an inspiration.

The first part of "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" describes the Chinese workers going to Southeast Asia, the Westernization Movement, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Guangzhou Uprising.

I had originally planned to base the second part of the film on "The Lion King", but after hearing the stories of "Big Knife Wang Wu" and "Holy Mother of Yellow Lotus", I had an idea and decided to include the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Boxer Rebellion in the film according to the timeline of real history.

After seeing Mr. Sun off, Huang Feihong became confused and unhappy all day long due to the difficult situation.

At this time, Thirteenth Aunt heard that there was a "Wanmu Thatched Cottage" in Guangzhou, where Kang Youwei, who called himself "Mr. Southern", gave lectures.

He took Huang Feihong with him to visit and made friends with Liang Qichao and others. It happened that the capital was going to hold the "Northern and Southern Lion King Competition", so he joined Liang Qichao and others who were preparing to go to Beijing for the imperial examination.

The journey was long and bandits were rampant, so he acted as Liang Qichao's bodyguard.

After arriving in Beijing, he witnessed Liang Qichao launching the "Petition to the Emperor", which then opened the prelude to the Reform Movement of 1898.

In the Qiangxue Society, he met Yuan Shikai, Tan Sitong and others.

It just so happened that Wang Wu, the Big Knife, was Tan Sitong's bodyguard.

Bodyguard meets bodyguard, hero appreciates hero.

As the conservatives plotted against and assassinated the reformists time and again, Wong Fei-hung fought side by side with gangsters like Wang Wu, and ultimately, at the North-South Lion King Competition, they smashed the conspiracy to surround and kill Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong and other reformist backbones.

"With the help of Wang Wu, Huang Feihong defeated Zhao Tianba of the Northern School and won the title of 'Lion King'."

"it is good!"

Sui Lijun listened very attentively and clapped excitedly.

"Don't be so quick to applaud, there's more to come."

Fangyan pressed his hand down.

Sui Lijun stuck out her tongue, and then she heard him say, "Although we won the Lion King, the 103-day reform movement failed."

"Yuan Shikai informed the reformists of their rebellion, and Cixi placed Guangxu under house arrest, ordered a blockade of the capital, and launched a massive hunt for reformists."

"Liang Qichao and others escaped unscathed under the escort of Huang Feihong and Wang Wu, the Great Swordsman."

"However, in order to demonstrate his determination to reform and awaken the masses, Tan Sitong was willing to be arrested and die to show his determination."

"After Wang Wu the Great Sword learned the news, he sought information from many sources and contacted Huang Feihong, Huo Yuanjia and others to plot a prison break."

"........."

Fangyan took a sip of water to moisten his dry throat. "We were about to rescue Tan Sitong, but he resolutely refused to escape from prison and was willing to become the first person to shed blood and sacrifice for the reform. Just like the saying goes..."

"Every country's reform has been achieved through bloodshed, but in China, there is no bloodshed or sacrifice. This is why the country is not prosperous."

Feng Jicai replied, "Yes, please start from me!"

Sui Lijun was in low spirits and opened her mouth: "Teacher Fang, isn't this ending too, too sad..."

Fang Yan said: "It's too tragic, isn't it?"

Sui Lijun hummed and nodded.

"This is not a tragedy, but a tragic one. Tan Sitong was willing to sacrifice himself." Fang Yan said, "Just like the poem he wrote, he wanted to kill the enemy but was powerless to save the situation. He died a worthy death, how happy he was."

Then he looked left and right, "Is Tan Sitong dead? Dead, but died in vain? No!"

"Because he used his death to tell the world that reform is not feasible, and only through revolution and overthrowing the Qing Dynasty can China be saved."

"He had two students who inherited his ideal career, one was Cai E and the other was Yang Changji."

"And Cai E had a student named Zhu."

"Yang Changji has a student named Mao."

"What do you mean by passed down from generation to generation? This is passed down from generation to generation!"

"The flame will never go out! The flame will be passed on!"

(End of this chapter)