The Complete Works of Lu Xun's Novels

Chapter 7

Since then, my family and relatives from nearby came to visit me.While socializing, I took some free time to pack some luggage, and it went on like this for three or four days.

One day was a very cold afternoon. I had lunch and sat drinking tea. I thought that someone had come in outside, so I looked back.When I saw it, I couldn't help being very surprised, and hurriedly stood up and walked to meet him.

Here comes Runtu.Although I knew it was Runtu at the first sight, it was not the Runtu I remembered.His stature has doubled; his former round purple face has become grayish-yellow with deep wrinkles added; his eyes are also like his father's, the surroundings are swollen and red, I know that, and he works as a farmer by the sea People who are exposed to the sea breeze all day are probably like this.He had a worn-out felt hat on his head, and only a very thin cotton coat on his body, and he was fumbling all over; he was holding a paper bag and a long pipe in his hand, and those hands were not as red and round as I remembered. His hands were thick and clumsy and cracked, like pine bark.

I was very excited at this time, but I didn't know how to say it, so I just said:
"Ah! Brother Runtu, you're here?..."

Then I had a lot of words that I wanted to spit out like a string: horned chicken, jumping fish, shells, scorpion, ... But I always felt like I was blocked by something, just circling in my head, unable to spit it out.

He stood still, with expressions of joy and sadness on his face; he moved his lips, but made no sound.His attitude finally became respectful, and he clearly called out:
"master!……"

I seemed to shudder; I knew there was a pathetically thick barrier between us.I can't speak either.

He turned around and said, "Shuisheng, kowtow to the master." Then he dragged out the child hiding behind him. This is exactly the same Runtu from twenty years ago, only yellower and thinner, and there is no silver ring around his neck. "This is the fifth child, who has never seen the world and is evasive..."

Mother and Hong'er came downstairs, and they probably also heard the voice.

"Old lady. I received the letter a long time ago. I really like it very much. Knowing that the master is back..." Runtu said.

"Ah, why are you being so polite. Didn't you call me brother and brother before? It's still the same as Brother Xun." Mother said happily.

"Ah, the old lady is really... What kind of a rule is this? I was a child at that time, so I didn't understand..." Runtu said, and asked Shuisheng to come up and arch, but the child was shy and stuck tightly behind his back.

"He's Shui Sheng? The fifth one? They're all strangers, so it's no wonder why they're afraid of strangers; it's better for Hong'er to go for a walk with him," said the mother.

Hearing this, Hong'er came to recruit Shuisheng, but Shuisheng went out with him relaxed.Mother asked Runtu to sit down, but he hesitated for a while, then finally sat down, leaned the long pipe against the table, handed him the paper bag, and said:
"There is nothing in winter. The dried green beans are dried there by myself. Please, sir..."

I asked him how he was doing.He just shook his head.

"It's very difficult. The sixth child will also help, but there is always not enough to eat...and it's not peaceful...Everywhere needs money, there are no regulations...The harvest is bad. When you grow things, pick them and sell them, you always have to If you donate money a few times, it will lose your money; if you don’t sell it, it will only rot..."

He just shook his head; although his face was lined with many wrinkles, it was completely motionless, like a stone statue.He probably just felt bitter, but he couldn't describe it. After a moment of silence, he picked up the pipe and smoked silently.

His mother asked him, knowing that he was busy with family affairs and had to go back tomorrow; since he hadn't had lunch, she asked him to cook rice in the kitchen by himself.

He went out; my mother and I both lamented his situation: many children, famine, heavy taxes, soldiers, bandits, officials, and gentry, all of which made him look like a puppet.My mother told me that you can give him all the things that don’t need to be moved, and let him choose by himself.

In the afternoon, he picked out a few things: two long tables, four chairs, a pair of incense burners and candlesticks, and a carrying scale.He also wanted all the grass ash (here we burn straw for cooking, and the ash can be used as fertilizer for the sandy land), and when we set off, he would take it by boat.

At night, we chatted for some leisure time, all of which were insignificant; the next morning, he took Shuisheng back.

Nine days later, it was our departure date.Runtu arrived in the morning, but Shuisheng didn't come with him, but he only brought a five-year-old daughter to manage the boat.We are so busy all day long that we have no time to chat.There are also many visitors, some seeing off, some taking things, and some seeing off and taking things.By the time we got on the boat in the evening, all the dilapidated, large and small things in the old house had been swept away.

As our boat moved forward, the green hills on both sides of the strait turned dark black at dusk, and they retreated to the stern of the boat.

Hong'er and I were leaning against the window of the boat, looking at the blurred scenery outside, and he suddenly asked:

"Uncle! When are we coming back?"

"Come back? Why do you want to come back before you leave?"

"But, Shuisheng invited me to play at his house..." He opened his big black eyes, thinking foolishly.

My mother and I were also a little perplexed, so we brought up Runtu again.My mother said that the second sister-in-law Yang, who is a tofu beauty, has been here every day since my house was packed. The day before yesterday, Yi took out more than ten dishes from the ashes. After discussing, she decided that they were buried in Runtu Yes, he can move them home together while transporting the ashes; the second sister-in-law Yang found out about this, and she thought she was credited with it, so she took the dog to kill her (this is the equipment we use for raising chickens here, and there are wooden trays on it) The fence contains food, chickens can stretch their necks to peck, but dogs can't, they can only look at it and die), and they ran away like flying, thanks to their high and low feet, they ran so fast.

The old house is farther away from me; the mountains and rivers of my hometown are gradually moving away from me, but I don't feel much nostalgia.I just feel that there are invisible high walls around me, separating me alone, which makes me very depressed; the image of the little hero with the silver collar on the watermelon field, which I was very clear at first, is suddenly blurred, and makes me feel tired again. Very sad.

Both mother and Honger fell asleep.

I lay and listened to the gurgling of the bottom of the boat and knew I was on my way.I thought: Although there is such a barrier between Run-tu and myself, the descendants still have much in common, for wasn't Hong-erh just thinking of Shui-sheng right now?I hope that they will no longer be like me, and everyone will become alienated... But I don't want them to live like mine because they want to be united, and I don't want them to live like Runtu's hard work, and I don't want them to live like me. They all live like other people's hard work.They deserve a new life, a life we ​​have never lived before.

I thought of hope, and suddenly I was afraid.When Runtu asked for the incense burner and candlesticks, I secretly laughed at him, thinking that he always worships idols and never forgets them.Isn't my so-called hope now an idol made by myself?It's just that his wish is close, but mine is far away.

In my twilight, a stretch of emerald green sand by the sea spread out in front of my eyes, and a full golden moon hung in the deep blue sky above.I thought: hope is nothing to do with existence, nothing to do with nothing.This is just like the roads on the earth; in fact, there are no roads on the earth, but when many people pass by, it becomes a road.

January [-].

This article was originally published in the first issue of the ninth volume of "New Youth" in May [-].

The True Story of Ah Q

)Chapter 1 Preface

It has been more than a year or two since I wanted to do the main story of Ah Q.But while I was doing it, I was thinking about it. This shows that I am not a person who "makes a statement", because an immortal pen must be passed on to an immortal person, so people pass it on by writing, and the writing is passed on by people-who will pass it on? , gradually became unclear, and finally came to the biography of Ah Q, as if there were ghosts in his mind.

However, it is extremely difficult to write this immortal article before writing it.The first is the title of the article.Confucius said, "If the name is not right, the words will not be right."This should have been a matter of great care.There are many titles of biographies: biographies, autobiographies, internal biographies, external biographies, other biographies, family biographies, short biographies..., but unfortunately they all don't fit together. As for "biography", this article is not ranked among the "official history" with many rich people; as for "autobiography", I am not exactly Ah Q.It is said to be "external biography", but where is the "internal biography"?If "internal biography" is used, Ah Q is by no means a god. As for the "Farewell Biography", Ah Q has never been ordered by a president to announce the establishment of a "Biography" by the National History Museum-although there is no "Biography of the Botu" in the official history of Britain, and the great writer Charles ① also wrote "Farewell to the Botu"② A book is fine for a writer, but not for my generation.The second is "family biography", which means that I don't know whether I belong to the same family as Ah Q, nor have I been entrusted by his descendants; or "small biography", and Ah Q has no other "big biography".All in all, this article is also "the original biography", but from the perspective of my article, because the style of the article is humble, it is the words used by "leaders and sellers"③, so I dare not pretend to be a novelist, and I have never entered the ranks of novelists. In the so-called "gossip, let's go back to the main story", the word "truth" is taken out as a title, even if it is confused with the literal meaning of "truth" in "The True Story of Calligraphy" written by the ancients, it can't be taken care of. .

Second, the general rule of biography should start with "XX, word X, a person from a certain place", and I don't know what Ah Q's surname is.Once, it seemed that his surname was Zhao, but it was blurred the next day.That was when Mr. Zhao's son was admitted as a scholar, and he reported to the village with the sound of gongs. Ah Q was drinking two bowls of rice wine, and then danced and said that this was very honorable to him, because he and Mr. Zhao were originally friends. From the family, he is three generations older than the scholar.At that time, several bystanders were also a little respectful.But the next day, the dibao told Ah Q to go to Mr. Zhao's house. When the Mr. Zhao saw him, his face was splattered with bruises, and he shouted:
"Ah Q, you bastard! Do you think I'm your family?"

Ah Q did not speak.

The more Mr. Zhao looked at it, the more angry he became, he took a few steps forward and said, "How dare you talk nonsense! How could I have a family like you? Is your surname Zhao?"

Ah Q didn't speak, and wanted to back away; Mr. Zhao jumped over and gave him a mouthful.

"Why are you surnamed Zhao!-you have a surname Zhao!"

Ah Q did not protest that his surname was Zhao, but only touched his left cheek, and withdrew with the landlord. Outside, he was reprimanded by the landlord and thanked the landlord for two hundred Wen for wine.Those who knew said that Ah Q was ridiculous, so he went to recruit him himself; his surname may not necessarily be Zhao, and even if his real surname was Zhao, he shouldn't be talking nonsense with Mr. Zhao here.After that, no one mentioned his clan again, so I finally didn't know what Ah Q's surname was.

Third, I don't know how Ah Q's name is written.When he was alive, everyone called him Ah Quei, but after he died, no one called him Ah Quei anymore.When it comes to "The Book of Writings", this article is the first time, so I encountered this first difficulty first.I once thought carefully: Ah Quei, Ah Gui or Ah Gui?If he had the name Yueting, or had his birthday in August, it must be Agui; and he has no number—maybe he has one, but no one knows him—nor has he posted a birthday essay call: writing Ah Gui is arbitrary.And if he had an older brother or younger brother called Ah Fu, then he must be Ah Gui; and he is only a person: there is no proof for writing Ah Gui.The rest of the remote characters with the sound Quei are even more incomprehensible.Earlier, I also asked Mr. Maocai, the son of Mr. Zhao Taiye, who expected Boya to be so fair, and he was at a loss. However, according to the conclusion, it was because Chen Duxiu ran "New Youth" and advocated foreign characters, so the quintessence of the country fell. It can be checked.As a last resort, I asked a fellow villager to look up the file of Ah Q's crime. After eight months, I got a reply saying that there was no one with a voice similar to Ah Quei's in the file.Although I don't know whether it is true or whether I have not checked, but there is no other way.Fearing that the phonetic alphabet is not yet in use, I had to use "foreign characters" and write him as Ah Quei according to the popular British spelling, abbreviated as Ah Q.This is close to blindly following "New Youth", and I am sorry, but Mr. Maocai still doesn't know, so what else can I do.

Fourth, it is the hometown of Ah Q.If his surname was Zhao, according to the old practice of calling him a county prefect, he could follow the annotations in "County Names and Hundred Family Surnames" and say that he was "from Tianshui, Longxi". Unfortunately, this surname is not very reliable, so his native place There is also some uncertainty.Although he lived in Weizhuang most of the time, he often stayed in other places. He could not be called a Weichuang native, even if he was a "Weichuang native", he still had good history.

What I am talking about to comfort myself is that there is another word "A" that is very correct, and there is absolutely no flaw in it.As for the rest, they are beyond the reach of superficial studies. I only hope that Mr. Hu Shizhi's disciples who have "historical and textual research addiction" may be able to find many new clues in the future. At that time, I was afraid that it would have been wiped out long ago.

The above can be regarded as sequence.

)Chapter 2 Winner
Ah Q is not only vague about his name and place of origin, but also about his previous "career"①.Because the people in Weizhuang only made fun of Ah Q as long as he helped, and never paid any attention to his "career".And Ah Q himself didn't say anything, only when he was quarreling with others, he stared and said from time to time:
"We were—much richer than you! What are you!"

Ah Q had no home, but lived in the Tugu Temple in Weizhuang; he also had no fixed job, and only did part-time jobs for others, cutting wheat when he was cutting wheat, pounding rice when he was pounding rice, and punting boats when he was punting.When working for a little longer, he may also live in the home of the temporary owner, but he leaves as soon as he is done.Therefore, when people are busy, they still remember Ah Q, but what they remember is his work, not his "professional status";Only once, an old man praised and said: "Ah Q can really do it!" At this moment, Ah Q was naked and lazily leaning in front of him. No one could tell whether he was sincere or mocking, but Ah Q was very happy. like.

Ah Q was also very self-respecting. All the residents of Weichuang were completely out of his sight, and he even looked at the two "wentongs" ③ as if they thought it was not worth laughing at.The husband of Wentong may become a talented person in the future; Mr. Zhao and Mr. Qian are greatly respected by the residents. Apart from being rich, it is because they are both Wentong's fathers, and Ah Q is spiritually unremarkable. , he thought: My son will be much richer!After going to the city a few times, Ah Q naturally became more conceited, but he also despised the city people. For example, a stool made of a three-foot-three-inch wide wooden board was called a "bench" by Weizhuang people, and he also called it a "long stool." "Stool", but people in the city called it "Tiaostool", he thought: This is wrong, ridiculous!When frying big head fish in oil, the Weizhuang people always add half-inch-long green onion leaves, but the townspeople add finely chopped green onions. He thought: This is also wrong, ridiculous!But Weizhuang people are really ignorant and ridiculous country people, they have never seen fried fish in the city!

Ah Q was "rich in the past", well-informed, and "really able to do things". He was almost a "perfect man", but unfortunately he still had some shortcomings in his physique.The most irritating thing is that on his scalp, there are quite a few acne scars that I don't know when they started.Although this is also true of him, looking at Ah Q's meaning, he seems to think it is not worth it, because he taboos the sound of "leprosy" and all sounds close to "lai", and by extension, "light" is also taboo. , "bright" is also taboo, and later, even "lamp" and "candle" are taboo.As soon as he committed a taboo, regardless of whether he intended it or not, Ah Q became angry with his scars red all over his face, appraised his opponent, scolded those who were stupid, and beat those who were weak; but for some reason, it was still Ah Q. There are many times when you suffer.So he gradually changed his target, mostly glaring instead.

Unexpectedly, after Ah Q adopted the glaring doctrine, the idlers in Weizhuang became more fond of making fun of him.As soon as they met, they pretended to be surprised and said, "Kai, it's lit up."

Ah Q lost his temper as usual, and he glared at him.

"So there is a safety light here!" They were not afraid.

Ah Q had no choice but to come up with other words of revenge:
"You are not worthy..." At this time, it seemed that his head was covered with a kind of noble and glorious mange, not an ordinary mange; but as mentioned above, Ah Q was wise, and he I immediately knew that it was a bit contradictory to "violating the taboo", so I stopped talking about it.

The idler is not finished, just tease him, and finally hit him.Ah Q was defeated formally, he was grabbed by his yellow braid and bumped his head against the wall four or five times, and the idler left contentedly and triumphantly. Ah Q stood there for a moment, thinking to himself, "At last I was beaten by my son." Now, the world is really ugly..." So he walked away contentedly and triumphantly.

What Ah Q thought in his heart, he often said out later, so almost all the people who joked with Ah Q knew that he had this kind of spiritual victory method. Say to him first:
"Ah Q, this is not a son beating my father, but a man beating a beast. I said to myself: man beating a beast!"

Ah Q pinched his braid with both hands, tilted his head, and said:

"Shoot the insects, okay? I'm an insect—won't you let me go?"

But even though it was an insect, idlers would not let him go, and gave him five or six smacks somewhere nearby, and then he left contented and victorious, thinking that this time Ah Q had been plagued by plague.However, in less than ten seconds, Ah Q also walked away triumphantly satisfied. He felt that he was the first person who could despise himself. ".Isn't the champion also "the first"? "What are you?" ?
After Ah Q overcame his enemy with such ingenious methods, he happily ran to the hotel to drink a few bowls of wine, joked with others, quarreled with others, won the victory again, happily returned to the Tugu Temple, and fell asleep with his head down.If he had money, he would go to bet on the cards. As soon as he pushed people to squat on the ground, Ah Q was sandwiched between them with sweat dripping down his face. His voice was the loudest:
"Blue Dragon Four Hundred!"

"Cough...open...la!" Zhuang Jia lifted the lid of the box and sang with sweat dripping down his face. "Heaven's Gate...Jiaohui...! Renhe Chuantongkong is there...! Here is Ah Q's copper coin...!"

"One hundred in the hall—150!"

Under such singing, Ah Q's money was gradually poured into the waists of other sweaty figures.He finally had no choice but to squeeze out of the pile, stand behind and watch, worrying for others, until the end of the show, and then returned to Tugu Temple reluctantly, and went to work with his eyes swollen the next day.

But the so-called "a lost horse is a blessing in disguise", well, Ah Q was unfortunate enough to win once, but he almost lost.

This is the evening of Weizhuang Saishen①.As usual, there is a play this evening, and there are also many gambling stalls near the stage as usual.The gongs and drums of the play seemed to be ten miles away to Ah Q's ears; all he could hear was Zhuang's singing.He wins and wins, and the copper coins become horny oceans, horny oceans become oceans, and oceans become piles.He was very happy:
"Two yuan from Tianmen!"

(End of this chapter)