The Complete Works of Lu Xun's Novels

Chapter 10

Ah Q didn't think very well, he was already snoring, and the four taels of candles had only been lighted by half an inch, and the red flaming light shone on his open mouth.

"Hehe!" Ah Q suddenly yelled, raised his head and looked around hastily, and fell asleep again when he saw the four liang candles.

He got up very late the next day, and when he went out to the street to look, everything was as usual.He was still hungry, he thought, but couldn't think of anything; but suddenly he seemed to have an idea, and slowly stepped forward, intentionally or unintentionally, walking to the Jingxiu Temple.

The nunnery is as quiet as in spring, with white walls and dark doors.After thinking about it, he went to knock on the door, and a dog barked inside.He hurriedly picked up a few broken bricks, and then went up and beat harder, until many pits appeared on the black door, only then did he hear someone come to open the door.

Ah Q hastily squeezed the bricks, put on his horse, and prepared to start a battle with the black dog.But the door of the nunnery was only opened a crack, no black dog rushed out of it, and only an old nun looked in.

"What's the matter with you?" Yi said in surprise.

"It's a revolution...you know?..." Ah Q said very vaguely.

"Revolutionary revolution, those who have been reformed once, what will you do to us?" The old nun said with red eyes.

"What?..." Ah Q was surprised.

"You don't know, they have already come to reform!"

"Who?..." Ah Q was even more surprised.

"The scholar and the foreign devil!"

Ah Q was very surprised, and couldn't help being taken aback. Seeing that he had lost his vigor, the old nun quickly closed the door. When Ah Q pushed again, it couldn't be opened, and when he called again, there was no answer.

That was still in the morning.Zhao Xiucai had a good news, and as soon as he knew that the revolutionary party had entered the city at night, he tied his braids on the top and went to visit the Qianyang devils who had never been able to do anything in the morning.This is the time for "salt and reform" ①, so they talked very speculatively, and immediately became like-minded comrades, and they also made an appointment to go to the revolution.After thinking and thinking, they realized that there was a dragon plaque in the Jingxiu Nunnery that read "Long Live the Emperor", which should be removed immediately, so they immediately went to the nunnery together to make a revolution.Because the old nun came to stop her and said three words, they regarded Yi as the Manchu government and gave her a lot of sticks and chisels on her head.After the nun waited for them to leave, she made up her mind to check them out. The dragon tablet was certainly broken on the ground, and the Xuande stove in front of the Guanyin Empress seat was missing.

Ah Q found out about this later.He regretted falling asleep, but he also blamed them for not coming to greet him.He took another step back and thought:
"Don't they know that I have surrendered to the Revolutionaries?"

)Chapter 8 no revolution allowed
The hearts of Weizhuang people gradually became quieter.According to the news that came, even though the Revolutionary Party had entered the city, there was no big difference.The county magistrate is still the original official, but he has changed his name to something, and what the Juren master has done—these titles, Weizhuang people can’t understand—official, and the leader of the army is still the old general.The only terrible thing is that a few bad revolutionaries got in there to make trouble, and they cut their braids the next day. I heard that the boat from the neighboring village, Qijin, was on the way, making it look like a human. up.But this is not a great horror, because Weizhuang people rarely go to the city, and even if they want to go to the city occasionally, they immediately change their plans and avoid this danger.Ah Q also wanted to go to the city to find his old friend, but when he got the news, he had no choice but to give up.

But Weizhuang cannot be said to have no reforms.After a few days, the number of people with braids on top gradually increased. As I said earlier, the first was of course Mr. Maocai, followed by Zhao Sichen and Zhao Baiyan, and finally Ah Q.In summer, it is not uncommon for people to tie their braids on the top of their heads or tie them in a knot, but now it is late autumn, so the situation of "autumn travel and summer saving" cannot but be said to be extremely heroic among braiders. In Weizhuang, it cannot be said that there is nothing to do with reform.

Zhao Sichen walked over with nothing behind his head, and the people who saw him shouted,
"Hey, the Revolutionary Party is here!"

Ah Q was very envious when he heard it.Although he had known about the big news about the scholar's plaiting, he never thought that he could do the same thing. Now that he saw Zhao Sichen doing the same thing, he had the intention to follow the example and made up his mind to carry it out.He used a bamboo chopstick to coil the braid on top of his head, hesitated for a long time, and then walked boldly.

As he walked on the street, people looked at him, but he didn't say anything. Ah Q was annoyed at first, and later he became very aggrieved.He has lost his temper easily recently; in fact, his life is not more difficult than before the rebellion, people are polite when they see him, and the shop does not ask for cash.And Ah Q always felt that he was too frustrated: since the revolution, it shouldn't just be like this.Besides, seeing little D once made him even more angry.

Little D also coiled his braids on top of his head, and actually used a bamboo chopstick.Ah Q never expected that he would dare to do this, and he himself would never allow him to do so!What is little D?He really wanted to catch him immediately, break his bamboo chopsticks, let go of his braids, criticize him a few times, and punish him for forgetting his birth date and daring to be a crime of the revolutionary party.But he finally let go, just spit out with glaring eyes and said, "Bah!"

In the past few days, only one fake foreign devil went to the city.Zhao Xiucai also wanted to rely on the origin of the deposit box to visit Master Juren in person, but because of the danger of cutting his braids, he stopped.He wrote a "yellow umbrella" letter and asked the fake foreign devil to take it to the city, and asked him to introduce himself to the Liberal Party.When the fake foreign devil came back, he asked Xiucai for four foreign coins back, and Xiucai had a piece of silver peach hanging on his lapel; everyone in Weizhuang was shocked, saying that this was a top member of the Persimmon Oil Party, worth a Hanlin; Mr. Zhao As a result, he suddenly became richer than when his son Chujun was a scholar, so he was supercilious and looked down upon Ah Q when he saw him.

Ah Q was feeling dissatisfied, and felt neglected all the time. Once he heard the legend about the silver peach, he immediately realized the reason for his neglect: Surrender alone is not enough for revolution; No way; the first move is still to get acquainted with the revolutionary party.There were only two revolutionary parties he had known in his life, and the one in the city had been killed long ago, and now only one fake foreign devil remained.He had no other choice but to rush to discuss with the fake foreign devils.

The gate of Qian's mansion was open, and Ah Q walked in timidly.As soon as he got inside, he was surprised to see the fake foreign devil standing in the middle of the yard, dressed in a jet-black foreign coat, with a piece of silver peach hanging on his body, and in his hand was the stick that Ah Q had taught him. The braids that were more than a foot long were unraveled and draped over the shoulders, and the disheveled hair looked like a bangs.On the opposite side stood Zhao Baiyan and three idlers, listening respectfully.

Ah Q approached lightly, and stood behind Zhao Baiyan, wanting to say hello, but didn't know how to say it: Of course it would be wrong to call him a fake foreign devil, neither is a foreigner, nor a revolutionary party, or It should be called Mr. Yang.

Mr. Yang didn't see him, because he was talking vigorously with white eyes:
"I'm impatient, so when we met, I always said: Brother Hong! Let's do it! But he always said No!——This is foreign language, you don't understand. Otherwise, it would have been successful. But this is exactly what he did. Be careful when doing things. He repeatedly invited me to go to Hubei, but I still haven't agreed. Who wants to do things in this small county..."

"Well,... this..." Ah Q waited for him to pause, and finally spoke up with full courage, but for some reason, he didn't call him Mr. Yang.

The four people listening to him looked back at him in surprise.Mr. Yang also saw:

"what?"

"I……"

"go out!"

"I want to vote for..."

"Get out!" Mr. Yang raised his mourning stick and came.

Zhao Baiyan and the idlers all yelled: "Sir told you to get out, why don't you listen!"

Ah Q covered his head with his hand, and fled out the door unconsciously; Mr. Yang did not give chase either.He ran for more than 60 steps, and then walked slowly, and sorrow filled his heart: Mr. Yang did not allow him to revolution, he had no other way; He, all his aspirations, aspirations, hopes, prospects, were all wiped out.As for idlers spreading the word and making jokes for Xiao D, Wang Hu and others, that's a secondary matter.

He never seemed to have experienced such boredom.He also seemed to feel that his own braids were meaningless, and wanted to be insulting; out of revenge, he really wanted to let go of his braids immediately, but he didn't let it go.He swam into the night, bought two bowls of wine on credit, drank them down, gradually became happier, and the fragments of the white helmet and white armor appeared in his mind again.

One day, as usual, he lingered until late at night, and when the hotel was about to close, he wandered back to the Tugu Temple.

Let's shoot...!
He suddenly heard a strange sound, which was not firecrackers.Ah Q originally liked to watch the excitement and meddle in other people's business, so he searched for him secretly.There seemed to be some footsteps ahead; he was listening, when suddenly a person fled from the opposite side.As soon as Ah Q saw it, he quickly turned over and fled after him.The man turned, and Ah Q also turned. The man stopped, and Ah Q also stopped.He saw that there was nothing behind him, and he saw that the person was Xiao D.

"What?" Ah Q became upset.

"Zhao... The Zhao family was robbed!" Little D said out of breath.

Ah Q's heart was pounding.Little D left after speaking; Ah Q fled and stopped two or three times.But after all, he was a person who had done "this kind of business", so he was very bold, so he walked out of the corner of the road, listened carefully, he seemed to be shouting, and looked carefully, it seemed that many people in white helmets and white armor were carrying the boxes one after another. It was out, the utensils were out, and the Ning-style bed of the lady of the scholar was also out, but it was unclear, and he wanted to go forward, but his feet did not move.

There was no moon that night, Weizhuang was very quiet in the darkness, so quiet that it was as peaceful as Emperor Xi's time.Ah Q stood and saw that he was getting annoyed, and it seemed that he was still the same as before. He was moving back and forth there, carrying out the boxes, the utensils, and the Ning style bed of a scholar lady. . . . I couldn't believe his eyes.But he decided not to go forward, but went back to his temple.

It was even darker in the Tugu Temple; he closed the door and entered his room.He lay down for a long time before he settled down, and thought about himself: the man in white armor had clearly arrived, but he didn't come to say hello, and he carried a lot of good things, but he didn't have his share. It's all fake foreign devils, don't allow me to rebel, otherwise, why wouldn't I have my share this time?The more Ah Q thought about it, the more angry he became, and finally he couldn't help but filled with hatred, and nodded viciously: "I'm not allowed to rebel, only you are allowed to rebel? Mother's fake foreign devil——OK, you rebelled! Rebellion is a crime of beheading!" , I always want to sue, and watch you be caught in the county and beheaded, -- all over the house, beheaded, -- blah! blah!"

)Chapter 9 Reunion

After the Zhao family was robbed, the Weichuang people were generally happy and panicked, and Ah Q was also very happy and panicked.But four days later, Ah Q was suddenly taken into the county seat in the middle of the night.It was dark night at that time, a group of soldiers, a group of regiments, a group of policemen, and five detectives quietly arrived at Weizhuang, surrounded the Tugu Temple in the dark, and set up machine guns facing the door; but Ah Q did not rush out.There was no movement for a long time, which made the chief anxious, and after offering a reward of [-] yuan, only two regiments took the risk and went in over the wall. The machine gun near him made him a little sober.

When he entered the city, it was already noon, and Ah Q saw himself being dragged into a dilapidated yamen, turned five or six corners, and then pushed him into a hut.As soon as he staggered, the fence gate made of the whole tree closed with his heels, and the other three sides were walls. When he looked carefully, there were two people in the corner of the room.

Although Ah Q was a little apprehensive, he was not very depressed, because his bedroom in the Tugu Temple was no more splendid than this room.Those two also seemed to be country people, and they gradually became friends with him. One said that Master Juren wanted to chase the old rent owed by his grandfather, and the other didn't know why.They asked Ah Q, and Ah Q replied bluntly, "Because I want to rebel."

In the second half of the day, he was caught out of the fence again, and in the lobby, there sat an old man with a clean shaven head.Ah Q suspected that he was a monk, but he saw a row of soldiers standing below, and on both sides stood a dozen or so people in long gowns, some of whom had their heads completely shaved like this old man, and some with hair about a foot long hanging down their backs like that of that old man. The fake foreign devils all looked at him with stern faces and glared at him; he knew that this person must have some background, and his knee joints immediately loosened naturally, and he knelt down.

"Stand up and talk! Don't kneel!" All the characters in long gowns yelled.

Although Ah Q seemed to understand, he still felt that he couldn't stand upright, so he squatted down involuntarily, and finally took advantage of the situation to kneel down instead.

"Slavery!..." the long-clothed figure said contemptuously again, but he didn't wake him up either.

"You recruited for the truth, so as not to suffer. I already knew that. If I recruited you, I can let you go." The bald old man said calmly and clearly after seeing Ah Q's face for sure.

"Recruit!" The figure in the long gown also said loudly.

"I was going...to vote..." Ah Q thought for a while, and then said intermittently.

"Then why didn't you come?" the old man asked kindly.

"The fake foreign devils won't allow me!"

"Nonsense! It's too late to say it now. Where are your accomplices now?"

"what?……"

"The group who robbed the Zhao family that night."

"They didn't come to call me. They moved away by themselves." Ah Q was angry when he mentioned it.

"Where have you been? If you tell me, I'll let you go." The old man became more amiable.

"I don't know...they didn't call me..."

But the old man gave him a wink, and Ah Q was caught through the gate again.The second time he grabbed the gate, it was the next morning.

The situation in the lobby remains the same.The bald old man was still sitting on it, and Ah Q also knelt down.

The old man asked kindly, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Ah Q thought for a moment, but he had nothing to say, so he replied, "No."

Then a figure in long gown took a piece of paper and put a pen in front of Ah Q, intending to put the pen in his hand.Ah Q was very surprised at this moment, almost "out of his wits": because his hand was related to the pen, this was the first time.He didn't know how to hold it; but the man pointed to a place and taught him how to draw monograms.

"I...I...can't read." Ah Q grabbed the pen, and said in fear and shame.

"Then, cheap you, draw a circle!"

Ah Q was about to draw a circle, but his hand was shaking while holding the pen.So the man spread the paper on the ground for him, and Ah Q bent down, drawing circles with all his strength.He was afraid of being laughed at, so he determined to draw a circle, but the abominable pen was not only heavy, but also disobedient, just now it flickered almost to seam, but it jerked outward again, and the painting looked like a melon seed.

Ah Q was ashamed that his drawing was not round, but the man didn't care about it, he had already pulled away the pen and paper, and many people dragged him into the fence gate for the second time.

The second time he entered the fence, he was not very upset.He thinks that in the world of life, there are times when you have to grab in and out, and sometimes you have to draw circles on paper, but the circle is not round, but it is a stain on his "profession".But he was relieved after a while, thinking: the grandson just drew a very round circle.So he fell asleep.

However, this night, Master Juren couldn't sleep: he and the boss vomited.Master Juren advocates that the first thing is to recover the stolen goods, and the general idea is that the first thing is to show the public.Seeing that the general manager has been disregarding the master Juren recently, he slapped the case and said, "Punish one to make an example! You see, I have been a revolutionary party for less than 20 days, and there are more than a dozen robberies, and none of them are solved. Where is my face? After solving the case, you come back again. No way! This is my responsibility!" The master Juren was embarrassed, but he still insisted that if he didn't recover the stolen goods, he would immediately resign from his post as an assistant civil affairs officer.But the general said, "Please do it!" So the master Juren didn't sleep that night, but fortunately he didn't quit the next day.

When Ah Q grabbed the fence gate for the third time, it would be the morning of tomorrow after the night that Master Juren could not sleep.When he arrived in the lobby, there was still a bald old man sitting on it as usual; Ah Q also knelt down as usual.

The old man asked very kindly, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Ah Q thought for a moment, but he had nothing to say, so he replied, "No."

Many people in long gowns and short gowns suddenly put him on a white vest of foreign cloth with some black letters on it.Ah Q was very annoyed: because this is very similar to carrying filial piety, and carrying filial piety is bad luck.However, at the same time, his hands were tied behind his back, and he was dragged out of the yamen at the same time.

Ah Q was carried into an uncovered cart, and several figures in short coats sat with him.The cart moved immediately. In front was a group of soldiers and regiments carrying foreign cannons, and on both sides were many spectators with their mouths open. Ah Q did not see what was going on behind.But he suddenly realized: Isn't this going to behead?He panicked, his eyes turned black, and there was a sound in his ears, as if he had fainted.However, he was not completely dizzy, and although he was anxious at times, he was calm at other times; between thoughts, he seemed to feel that in the world of life, he probably would have to be beheaded at times.

He still knew the way, so he was a little surprised: why didn't he walk towards the execution ground?He didn't know that this was parading the streets and showing the public.But even if he knew it was the same, he just thought that in the world of life, there were probably times when he had to parade in the streets to show the public.

He realized that this was a detour to the execution ground, and he must be decapitated in a "crack".He looked to the left and right bewilderedly, following the people who looked like horse ants, but inadvertently, he found a Wu Ma among the people beside the road.It's been a long time since Yi was working in the city.Ah Q suddenly felt ashamed of his lack of ambition: he didn't even sing a few lines.His thoughts swirled in his head like a whirlwind: "The Little Orphan Widow Goes to the Grave" is not magnificent, "I regret it..." in "Dragon and Tiger Fight" is too lacking, or "I will beat you with a steel whip" stop.At the same time, he wanted to raise his hands, only to remember that both hands were tied, so he stopped singing "Holding a Steel Whip".

"After 20 years, it's another..." Ah Q, in the midst of his busy schedule, "taught himself without a teacher" and said half a sentence that he never said.

"Good!!!" From the crowd came a howling sound like a jackal.

The car kept moving forward, and amidst the cheers, Ah Q turned his eyes to look at Mama Wu. It seemed that Yi hadn't seen him all along, but was just looking intently at the foreign guns on the soldiers' backs.

Then Ah Q looked at those cheering people again.

(End of this chapter)