Such stars and such moons: Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang's unparalleled love

Chapter 19 The Pulse of the Times: The fate of the country depends on the fate of the individual (3)
During the Great Leap Forward in [-], Qian Zhongshu's family of three scattered all over the country and went to the countryside to receive socialist education.Yang Jiang said: "In New China, the life of intellectuals is covered by the state... It's just that we can't serve the people because we are not qualified. Then the state lost money to re-educate us. We received high wages for education. , it is clearly a loss for the country."
Some people say that it is so difficult to leave and approach.Yang Jiang doesn't mind going to work in the countryside.It's just that when the love is strong, it's hard to say goodbye, she can't worry about Zhong Shu who is alone, how can this foolish man pack his bags by himself?

In late October 45, she went to the countryside of Hebei with a team of more than [-] people. At that time, their daughter had already been sent to the factory to make steel, and Qian Zhongshu had to wait for the next group to leave.At that time, lesbians over the age of [-] were not required to go to the countryside, but she went there voluntarily, not just because of pure socialist consciousness.

Yang Jiang said: "Going to the countryside is of course "voluntary". I am really voluntary, not an official; it's just that my motives are not pure. I am curious first. I want to know how life is in the earthen hut. Second , I’m still curious. I heard that whether you can get along with the peasants is the dividing line between revolution and non-revolution. I really want to see whether I am revolution or not.”
The intellectuals who had just gone to the countryside did not take off the glasses of the bourgeois intellectuals, but also subjectively transformed the people in the village.An old man who went to the countryside with Yang Jiang pointed to a rural girl and said, "Look! Does she look like the Mona Lisa?" They replied together: "Like it! It really looks like it!" Became the "Mona Lisa" of their gang.

Another time, beside the triangular hut on the threshing field, they saw a tall and thin old man, who was supporting a long bamboo pole, looking up at the sky with a bunch of beard.Then, another imaginative old gentleman said: "Look! Mr. Don Quixote!" So this old man became their "Don Quixote" again.

The place where Yang Jiang is stationed is a barren mountain village, and there is not even a rich peasant in the whole village.She lived in the earthen hut as she wished, and saw empty grain cabinets, piles of raw sweet potatoes, and large and small pickle jars.

Naturally, there are not so many poetic and romantic feelings in the real rural life.She had heard about it a long time ago, and she was also mentally prepared to "pass five hurdles and kill six generals".The first hurdle was the "labor pass", and she passed it fairly easily.Because the commune was sympathetic, these old and weak rural people just did some easy jobs that were not tiring or dirty.

"We go to the countryside to do all light work. It seems that the "Labor Pass" is concealed from us, and we can "pass" as soon as we leave, without rushing to kill." She wrote in "The First Time to the Countryside" road.It's just that the "labor pass" is easy, but the following "living pass", "food pass", "convenience pass" and "sanitary pass" are not easy.

They were a team of five men and two women, and only one vacant room was vacated in the village, so Yang Jiang and another younger female companion could only "play guerrilla".They slept in the warm kang of the worker's sister-in-law's house, the dusty cold kang, and the three-foot-wide wooden board in the sewing room of the commune, and finally moved to the big warm kang in the kindergarten.

In terms of diet, they only cook sweet potatoes with corn dregs in the morning and evening, and sweet potato steamed buns at noon. Yang Jiang, who doesn't like greasy food, thinks it's okay, but others don't think so.Once, Yang Jiang dreamed of two poached eggs, which she didn't eat, and told everyone the next day that they all complained that she didn't eat them, as if they wanted her to bring them out and put them on the table!

In this way, they ate rough food for a whole month, and in the end they couldn't even think of rice and white noodles.Friends in the rice town learned of their "suffering" and specially bought white rice and invited them to eat. On that day, Yang Jiang even ate two bowls and sighed that he had never eaten such soft white rice in his life. .

At this time, Qian Zhongshu, who had already dumped manure in the countryside of Changli, ate only bitter corn bread made of moldy dried sweet potatoes mixed with cornmeal.In contrast, Yang Jiang's eating is already very happy.

The country people are very surprised by the intellectuals from the city.

An aunt saw them and said, "I really want to thank Chairman Mao, old man! Without Chairman Mao, would you come to a place like ours!" She was so frightened that Yang Jiang carefully looked at her face and thought she was talking in an official tone.

There is also a slick old lady who said to Yang Jiang: "Ah! At first I thought the art troupe was here! I saw you digging radishes with a small foreign knife, and I felt sorry for you. I said: Look at those little eyebrows! Look! That little mouth! You must have been a great beauty when you were young! I said, "Let's say more good things about you and let you go back early."
After hearing this, Yang Jiang laughed a few times, thinking, this aunt is really a true "labor punishment theory"!

A group of them often visit the sick and suffer in the village, and even drop by to chat.They ran into a "crazy woman" who scolded and cried, visited a woman with lung disease, and met veterans who had been injured... During those days, they met all kinds of people and learned about many peasants. The actual situation.

They stayed here for two months, and Yang Jiang's curiosity before going to the countryside was satisfied in this way.It's just that in these years, whether it's long or short, she can't help being worried about being separated from her family.And her good-looking female companion would quietly ask her when there was no one around: "Do you miss your old man?"
She naturally wanted to, and of course there was nothing to hide: "Yes. Do you miss your old man?"
"Yes I do!"
The same answer, in exchange for two relatively speechless smirks, it was a self-deprecating smile, a helpless wry smile.She is Yang Jiang's friend in the same kang, and because she has the same thoughts and feelings, although there are not many opportunities to "whisper" with each other, an occasional glance is a kind of comfort.

Fortunately, she still has a silent letter to talk about lovesickness.When Qian Zhongshu was at home, she could receive his letters in "small and dense, two or three sheets of paper" within two days.Among her companions, she was the only one who wrote the most letters, and she inevitably got a few mocking jokes, but she didn't say much, just immersed herself in reading the letters.

There is a kind of concern for husband and wife, and there is a kind of warmth called friends.They are a loving couple and close friends. His letters always give Yang Jiang infinite courage and add infinite brightness to her days in that barren mountain village.

Later, Qian Zhongshu went to the countryside of Changli, pounding dung every day, and still did not forget to write to her when he was free, and asked her not to reply.She knew that he also missed her, and that long missing was hidden between the lines that seemed plain.

Day by day, letter by letter, she put his letters in the two pockets of her close-fitting shirt.As the letters became more and more thick, she stuffed them into the two pockets of the silk vest.There is too much letter paper, it is very inconvenient to be stiff, and it is very in danger of falling out.

It's just that she didn't want to take it out, and she didn't dare to take it out.She said: "Actually, anyone can read these letters. They are neither nasty nor politically shady. However, after several campaigns, I became somewhat insane. I felt that the words were often like the "Hundred Spirits" in advertisements before liberation. "It has an unexpected effect"; once this effect occurs, it will be hard to argue with black and white."
Later, she really couldn't put it in her pocket, so she took out a part and hid it in her bag, but her body felt lighter, but her heart felt heavier.She was really afraid of those "unnecessary" charges, so she had to harden her heart and burn the letter.She said that this is the best love letter that Mo Cun wrote in his life.She often regrets that she burned such a precious letter.

Years have passed, and every time she recalls it, she can't help feeling regretful.But our Yang Jiang is not a person who sighs, "It will be half a month, and it will not be thirty," she comforted herself, "Even if Quan Bi returns home, how can she escape the catastrophe of Bing Ding... That is specially written for I watched it alone. Forget it, let Vulcan Bodhisattva keep it for me."
Finally, the whole team is going back to Beijing.Before leaving, they each summed up their gains and offered advice to each other.Some people said that she did not understand the folk language, and an "old Marxist-Leninist gentleman" outside the party said that she was a mother-in-law, and the captain said in his comments that she could get along well with the fellow villagers. She was very proud to hear that, "I am still convinced The well-educated old party members do not like to listen to the grand theory of "Mr. Marxism-Leninism".

In any case, her socialist education was successfully completed and she could graduate and go home.After summing up, she and her companions squeezed into a trailer like sardines, and finally arrived in Beijing safely after a day of bumpy rides.

At the end of the lunar calendar, Zhongshu was coming back. She went to the train station to meet him, feeling nervous, afraid that she would not be able to receive him, and afraid that he would go back when he came back.Fortunately, everything went well, and the couple, who had been separated for three months, were finally reunited at home.

This time, Zhong Shu, who was full of infatuation, not only brought him back intact, but also brought a lot of local candied fruit and soap that could not be bought in Beijing.

With the new year and new weather, the Institute of Literature moved into the Old Navy Yard in the city this year, and their family also moved to the dormitory of the Institute of Chinese Studies in the city.Although the house is a bit smaller, it is also more convenient. It is convenient for Zhong Shu to go to the "Final Draft Group" to translate "Mao Xuan", and it is also convenient to go shopping and eat restaurants.

At that time their daughter Yuan was about to graduate.In the era of obedience to assignments, graduates were assigned jobs for life. Yang Jiang was very worried, because the two of them were both "white" backgrounds, which affected their daughter's assignments.She said: "If the job is assigned to a remote place after graduation, our daughter will be lost somewhere."
There are always some surprises that make people happy.They didn't expect that Ah Fang stayed in school and became a teaching assistant.When the news came, the old couple was so happy that they didn't know what to do, because their daughter could be by their side forever.

Three people, always have endless fun.At that time, the aunt in the family was not good at cooking, so they often ate restaurants everywhere in the city.Qian Zhongshu loves to eat. He said: "Eating exquisite meals is actually just eating vegetables."
When they eat restaurants, what they eat is choice, and they also eat entertainment that others can't think of.Qian Zhongshu and Ah Yuan always observed other diners while waiting for the food to be served, and inadvertently read the story in front of them.

"The two people over there are husband and wife, arguing..."
"The man who ran here was the subject of a couple's quarrel—isn't he the one who both of them said their names many times?...Look at their faces..."
"This table is for relatives..."
During the theater, their food was served, and they had a lot of fun while eating and watching.After enjoying the perfect meal, they wiped their mouths and got up to pay the bill, while the next scene was still lively.

During the three-year difficult period of New China, the whole country suffered from famine.At that time, Zhong Shu was translating "Mao Xuan" into English with foreigners, and he often had high-end meals with them. In addition, both of them had a special supply, and their lives were not affected.

In the midst of hardship, those young people with wages of tens of yuan looked sideways at their group of "old gentlemen from the old society" who were paid hundreds of yuan in wages.In fact, it is only natural that those who are able get more, but when they are starving, who would talk about these things?
Yang Jiang is still kind.She said: "We have tasted the taste of poverty ourselves. Seeing that the vast majority of "young people" live in poverty, and our life is so prosperous, we are very disturbed. I am sorry and ashamed. Every time we exercise, "Old Mister" Always become the object of criticism by "young people". This is natural and inevitable."
Those so-called "young people" are intellectuals in New China, and most of them are no longer young, but their wages are still only a few tens of yuan, while "old gentlemen" like Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang's wages are also more than ten yuan. Every year is like a day. The ridicule and imbalance of the "young people" seem to be justifiable.

In [-], they moved into a new dormitory in Ganmian Hutong.It is much more spacious there, with kitchen, bathroom, and balcony. They also bought more furniture, so they lived much more comfortably.In [-], Qian Zhongshu completed the finalization of the English translation of "Selected Works of Mao". In [-], he became a member of the "Five-member Group for Translating Chairman Mao's Poems".

In the past few years, their lives have been relatively peaceful, but the storm is about to come, and a vigorous revolution is slowly approaching...

Farewell tears, don't feel pain.It's just that in this era of flying banners, their Lishang had to be buried in their hearts. She continued to cooperate and step up "re-education", and he also wanted to start a cadre school life in the poor and remote Luoshan Mountain.In their spare time, they still don't forget the swan geese passing on the book.He told her about the freezing weather in Dongyue, and told her some trivial things about life.They are an upbeat couple with an intriguing sense of humor.However, there is a kind of strength that brings tears in the smile, and there is a kind of disguise called not mentioning the past. They hide their tears and entertain themselves, which does not mean that they are really happy and safe.

(End of this chapter)