I still remember that I was the warlord’s ninth aunt when
I was in love with Thrushcross. The appearance of the first eight ladies was similar to his white moonlight. I was born in a scholarly family, and my temperament was most similar to that of white moonlight.
In order to let him divorce me as soon as possible, I pretended to be crazy every day, secretly wrote progressive articles to the newspaper, and secretly prepared to go abroad to study with my brother. Unexpectedly, the warlord’s son fell in love with my articles, and then fell in love with me. When
the warlord died, he inherited everything, including me.
1.
I painted two bright red circles with Rouge on my face and tied two pigtails on my head. I wore a big flower jacket from the northeast and walked downstairs with a twist. On the first floor of the
villa sat eight women, dressed gorgeously, each with its own amorous feelings. When they
saw me, they all laughed their heads off. Aunt
Qi laughed at me: “Oh, Lin Chih-man, Nong is very beautiful today!” Holding my voice,
I replied, “My sister really has a good eye. Where is the master?”? I’ll let him kiss me. “
” How dare you! ” “Lin Chih-man, hurry back to your bedroom and don’t come out to make a fool of yourself!”
Today is the forty-fifth birthday of warlord Liang Zuoyi, and the women in the house are scrambling to follow him to the big restaurant to attend the birthday banquet.
I don’t want to. I have to go to the magazine today. Liang Zuoyi was annoyed by
my strange dress. Sure enough, he flew into a rage. With a wave of his big hand, he scolded,
“Damn it!”! I was really blind when I married you!
I cried, but my heart was filled with joy, hoping that he would soon be completely tired of me and divorce me.
The marriage originated in his usurpation.
Three months ago, I passed by the bookstore with a bunch of lilies and passed by Liang Zuoyi’s army. He came to my house to propose marriage
that night.
My parents were both scholars, docile and peaceful all their lives, and for the first time they met a warlord with guns and shells. If
I don’t marry, Liang Zuoyi may kill our whole family. My parents cried and promised me to Liang Zuoyi as a concubine. After I
got married, I learned that Liang Zuoyi took a fancy to me because I was like his white moonlight Lu Xiaoman.
Lu Xiaoman was the daughter of a high-ranking official in Peiping. When Liang Zuoyi was an adjutant under her father’s command, he was deeply attached to her.
Later, he married several concubines, either with her eyebrows and eyes, or with her face.
Lu Hsiao-man is proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and her temperament is very elegant. I look similar to her, and there is also a “Man” in her name. Liang Zuoyi loved me very much before I
got married.
But after I got married, I pretended to be crazy, and he was so sick that he didn’t even touch me.
Finally, when Liang Zuoyi went out with several concubines.
I immediately went upstairs to wash my face, dressed in an inconspicuous black cheongsam, and slipped away from the back door with the manuscript.
The publishing house was founded by progressive forces in several universities in Jinling.
Through writing, I have met many progressive people and developed a strong interest in literature. I hope to go to university in Britain or the United States.
Several editors like my essays and essays very much.
I published articles in magazines under the pen name of Chung Tzu-chi, and this year I published a collection of selected articles called Yulan Che.
Today is very special. Besides handing in the manuscript, I have to meet someone.
That is Han Yunian, who grew up with me as a childhood sweetheart.
I thought I was going to marry him when I grew up, and he did confess to me.
But before I could think of an answer, Liang Zuoyi came to propose marriage. The relationship between
me and Han Yunian died. Today
, however, he offered to stay with me again. In the garden of the
publishing house, the jasmine flowers were thick with fragrance, and his face was warm and white:
“Manman, come with me, and I’ll take you abroad.”
My heart swayed, but at this time I could only refuse:
“I can’t, Yu Nian. If I leave now, Liang Zuoyi will hurt my parents.”
Han Yu-nien held my hand tightly and said, “Don’t be afraid of Manman. I’ll think of a way. If you’re willing to come with me, I’ll be able to do it.”
I vaguely know that Han Yunian is now engaged in business, selling arms among several major warlords.
His business seems to be dancing on the edge of the knife, but the profits are high and the power is growing.
Maybe he really has a way to get me out of Liang Zuoyi’s clutches. On the way
back to Liangfu, the moon hung in the sky, the night was clear and the stars were bright.
I suddenly fell in love with this city, which is a small county named Wanping.
I was born here and grew up here. I love the landscape and vegetation here.
The future seemed to be dawning, and I stepped forward excitedly.
However, a car slowly came up behind me, and from the car came a deep male voice, calling me with perfect pronunciation: “Lin Chih-man.”
I looked back and saw Liang Runqing’s handsome face.
His black leather-gloved hand beckoned to me, saying simply, “Get in.”
Liang Runqing is the son of Liang Zuoyi.
I hear he’s very good. He just graduated from the military Academy last year. The six or seven concubines of the
Liang family liked to discuss him in private.
Young, handsome and handsome, who doesn’t like such a man.
I don’t like it! He is the son of a dead warlord! They are in cahoots with each other! A nest of rats and snakes! Grinning,
I grabbed his car window and said, “Smash it!”! Have you come to pick me up? The corners of
Liang’s mouth twitched: “Lin Chih-man, you speak well for me.”
I grabbed his hand, and the glove was smooth and cool. “Wow, son!”! Your hand feels like a snake. I’ll cover it for you!
Liang Runqing looked at me strangely and said, “Don’t pretend any more. You’re really ugly.”
“Humph!” I turned around and left, bought an eight-treasure ice-sugar gourds on the street, and ate it while walking.
Liang Runqing followed me not far or near.
Get in the car! Liang’s concubine eats ice-sugar gourds outside. What kind of talk is that?
He seemed to be angry, so I judged the situation and got in the car.
“Do you want to eat?” I handed the ice-sugar gourds to him.
Liang Run-ching looked over in disgust: You and Lu Hsiao-man used to have similar temperaments, but why are they diametrically opposed now? You’re so mean, and with that face you’re really a brash thing.
“You hate it!” I pretended to be angry and ate a hawthorn, and my heart was very calm.
Now life doesn’t allow me to be an elegant lady from a scholarly family.
I have to play the role of an ordinary girl who is crazy because of being taken by force, waiting for Liang Zuoyi to lose interest in me completely.
In order to play a little more realistic, I can not relax at any time, at this time I squint, smiling at Liang Runqing.
I know! You fight for Lu Xiaoman, because. You like her! Ha-ha ha-ha ha
Liang Runqing said angrily, “If you talk nonsense again, get out of the car.”
I immediately quieted down and played with the gloves he had taken off, which were still warm from his body.
My skin is white, and there is a kind of shocking contrast on the black leather. Somehow
, Liang Runqing’s face turned a little red, and he grabbed the glove.
“You are not allowed to play!”
I pouted and snorted, “I know, you just like Lu Xiaoman, your father likes her, and you like her, but you don’t allow people to say, hum!”
You.. You’re talking nonsense! Liang Runqing coughed twice and whispered, “I have a sweetheart, but it’s not her.”
I looked at him sideways, not at all interested in his sweetheart, but pretending to be excited. “Who, who!”
Liang Runqing took out a book, ignored me and turned the pages quietly.
I fixed my eyes on the cover of the book, and my blood was about to coagulate for a moment. There are a few words on the cover of the
book: Yulan Che, written by Zhong Ziqi.
This is the book I wrote.
Seeing me staring intently at the book in his hand, Liang Runqing laughed out loud: “What’s the matter?”? You can’t read?
You.. You.. My brain froze and I asked him, “Why are you reading this book?” “Because I like it,” said
Liang Runqing. I like her words. I like her. But
.. But Chung Tzu-chi, maybe it’s a man. It’s no use if you like him. You can’t marry him.
“No.” Liang Runqing’s voice is very low, and his face is soft, like a layer of fantasy floating: “I have seen her.”
“Huh?” My heart is beating like crazy.
“It was at the newspaper, and I wanted to meet Chung Tzu-chi. The editor told me that the woman who had just left was her. I rushed out the door, but all I could see was her back.” Only then did
my heart settle down, but my back scared me to death.
Liang Runqing continued in a poetic voice: She was holding a white umbrella and wearing a lake-blue cheongsam, and her back was curly and graceful. For the first time, I was so timid that I didn’t dare to come forward to say hello, for fear of offending the beautiful woman. I thought, she is like the moon in the sky, coming to me.
He closed his eyes, as if thinking of me. After a while, he looked at me and said in surprise, “Why are you blushing?”
Now my face is as hot as if I had just eaten soju.
I dare not look him in the eye.
The heart is so fast.
My God, I’m his father’s ninth aunt, and it’s him. A nominal little mother.
But it turned out to be his dream lover!
I immediately got out of the car and pretended to be crazy. “I don’t understand what you’re saying!”! I get carsick! I’m going to walk home by myself, huh? I walked slowly the
rest of the way, letting the cold wind freeze my hot face.
When I walked back to the small house where I lived in Liang Fu, my heart almost calmed down.
I sat in front of the window and took out the manuscript book from the interlayer between the desk and the wall.
On weekdays, I write secretly, and then I hide it for fear of being discovered by the servants. It
is only when I write that I return to the gentle and gentle state of the past, and I am still the lady with high self-esteem in my bones.
But today, Liang Runqing’s poetic words are always ringing in my ears:
“She is like the moon in the sky, coming to me..”
I force myself not to think any more, and I want to firmly grasp my future.
I want to go with Han Yunian, I want to go abroad to go to college! Suddenly
I realized that there was a person standing at the window. It was the fifth aunt.
Her face was shrewd and sharp, and she had always been suspicious of me. Then she smiled and said, “Auntie Jiu looks so beautiful with her head buried in writing. I was stunned. The eldest lady of a scholarly family is like you, isn’t she? No wonder the master fell in love with you at first sight.”
I immediately pretended to be crazy and grinned, “Thank you for your praise!”! I think I look good too! With a sneer, the
Fifth Auntie left the temple with a twist of the waist and a swing of the hips, leaving two sentences: “a monk who can run away can’t run away from the temple. Don’t think that you can hide by pretending to be crazy and acting stupid.”
She doesn’t like me to live a quiet life and wants to destroy me. After she left
me, she ran to Liang Zuoyi and turned a deaf ear. That night, Liang Zuoyi would come to my room for the night.
I am afraid of being married to Liang Zuoyi.
In the evening, I pretended to be crazy and rushed to the crowded living room, crying and laughing in front of my concubine.
Liang Tso-yi was so angry that he said, “Damn it!”! I can’t cure you if I don’t believe it!
He whipped me in the face, and I closed my eyes.
But the expected pain did not come.
It was Liang Runqing who grabbed his father’s hand.
“Dad, don’t hit a woman.”
Liang Tso-yi roared, If a woman is not obedient, she should be beaten! Only by beating her up a few more times can she be honest!
Liang Run-ching says helplessly, “Dad, you have outdated ideas. Now you advocate equality between men and women. If women are put in the position of men, they can be as good as men.”
Liang Tso-yi was so angry that he blushed and said, Nonsense! I think you’re studying like a fool! Fart all day long in devious ways!
Liang Runqing winked at the seventh aunt, and she immediately understood and took me to the backyard to escape.
“Nong is so silly that he always gets into trouble with the master. What can he do in the future?”
She was the kindest of many concubines, and she was really worried about me.
I comforted her, “It’s all right, Sister Seven. Someone will come to save me.”
The seventh aunt looked at me suspiciously and sighed softly.
She doesn’t know I have a brother, Han Yunian.
I had been hoping that he would come to save me and take me to live abroad.
But now I have a new idea in my mind.
It’s Liang Runqing. I can’t get the image of
him protecting me out of my mind.
Unexpectedly, Liang Zuoyi could give birth to a son like him, who did not have the vulgarity of a warlord.
On the contrary, he is gentle, delicate, bookish, friendly to women, and a very progressive youth.
I think I am crazy to think of him often-the son of my nominal husband. In the twinkling of an eye
to August 15, the Mid-Autumn Festival, Liang Fu set up a stage singing hall, lively preparation for the festival.
I heard the concubines talking in private.
Liang Zuoyi invited many friends, such as Xiong Hongtu, a warlord in Lucheng, to prepare for the attack on Yanzhou next year. In the era
when warlords were in power, wars were frequent and not peaceful.
Since we are recruiting, we must be equipped with guns and ammunition. Among the guests at
Liang Zuoyi’s banquet, there were several peddlers who resold arms.
Han Yunian also came. At the beginning of the
stage, the men talked about business under the stage, and the women sat behind the beaded curtain drinking tea and chatting.
Pale blue crystal beads in front of me, shadowy, I saw Liang Runqing at a glance among many people.
He is the most eye-catching, and his temperament is indifferent and cold.
I deliberately did not look at him, eyes continue to wander, looking for Han Yunian.
In the past, my brother was always gentle and shy, but now he laughs heartily in the crowd and talks happily with Liang Zuoyi. He looks like a long-sleeved businessman.
We have all been changed too much by time.
Not knowing what they had said, Liang Runqing, who was sitting beside him, suddenly turned his head, his eyes sweeping among the women’s families, and finally stayed on me. I
have a shock in my heart.
Soon he stood up and came straight in my direction with his long legs. The curtain of beads in front of me was lifted with
a hula, and the light like broken jade nectar burst out.
Liang Runqing frowned slightly and said to me in a low voice, “Go to Zhuzhou Pavilion and wait for me.”
Zhuzhou Pavilion is a pavilion on the pond in the back garden. There was no one
around, only egrets flying in the water.
I stood there for about ten minutes, and Liang Runqing came from the bridge.
His eyes are firm, his voice is cold, and his attitude is entirely businesslike: “Father wants to give you to Han Yu-nien. Are you willing?”.
My heart was overjoyed, and then a little bitter, why did he come to tell me?
「…… Me? You don’t like me anyway, and you treat me like a dispensable fool, so give me to him!
I continued to pretend that I was crazy and ignorant.
Liang Runqing took two steps closer to me and lowered his voice: “Don’t be afraid. If you don’t want to go, I can protect you and send you to the countryside so that you can live a peaceful life.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Liang Runqing sighed: “Because you are pitiful, not only you, but also other concubines. You women can’t help yourselves. I can help you.”
“Humph.” I turned around and said, “I don’t need your help. Maybe Han Yu-nien will be nice to me.”
Liang Runqing said, “He looks like a human being, but in fact he has lost his personal morality. He is not a good home for a woman.”
I am a little angry, I think I know Han Yunian well, he is the gentle brother in my mind, why should Liang Runqing slander him?
“He..” Liang Runqing also seemed to feel that it was not good to talk about others in private. He hesitated again and again before saying, “He not only resells arms, but also sells people. In the past two years, he has often sold young women from Wanping County outside the province..” Be a kiln sister.
My first reaction was disbelief. When
Han Yunian was a child, he was so gentle that he didn’t even dare to kill a chicken. He would blush when he talked to a girl. How could
he be a human trafficker?
In the evening, Liang Zuoyi called me to the main table and said to me personally, “You are blessed!”! Mr. Han has taken a fancy to you and wants you to go home and be his wife. At noon he opens his mouth to ask me for you!
I bowed my head and said nothing. Opposite me was Liang Runqing, who was looking at me in silence.
Liang Tso-yi poured liquor on the table and laughed, “I, Liang, am not a petty person!”! It just so happens that you’re still perfect. I’ll give you to Han Laodi as a big favor. Hurry up and pack up your things, and go home with Han Laodi tonight!
Now that the dust has settled, my long-awaited moment has finally arrived. On the whole, I am delighted, but Liang Runqing’s words still cast a shadow on me.
Tonight is the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but it is said that the moon on the 16th is the most round, and the moon on the 15th is somewhat regrettable.
Away from the front hall where the meeting was held, I walked slowly back to the backyard, followed by two nuns in my house.
The night is silent and the path is deep.
This is about the last time I will go this way. I have spent half a year
in Liangfu, and I am familiar with every tree and grass around me.
I lived in a backyard cabin, and the farther I went, the more I felt the smell of burning in the air.
I quickened my pace and gradually saw the light of the fire hidden behind the lush vegetation.
The backyard is on fire!
Mammy screamed and shouted for someone to put out the fire, and the young servants came running with buckets.
Today, the wind direction was not right, and the fire spread rapidly, burning up the courtyard where the other concubines lived. The
women screamed and wept, lamenting their clothes, powder, gold, silver, and jewels that had gone up in flames.
I suddenly remembered that my writing manuscript was still in the backyard cabin, which was more important to me than life, and no property could compare with it.
“I’m going in to get something!” I rushed into the crowd who were busy putting out the fire.
“Oh, my great aunt!”! You don’t want to die! The servants were amazed.
“I must go in. Give me the bucket.” After grabbing the big iron bucket in the hand of the man beside him, Liang Runqing’s roar came from behind.
“Nonsense!”! Lin Chih-man, get back!
He brought more soldiers to put out the fire. They were all soldiers under Liang Zuoyi. They were well-trained.
But the first lady and the other concubines cried and begged them to put out the fire in their yard first.
I’m a small man. Who cares about my manuscript?
I picked up the bucket and rushed into the fire again, but the back collar was grabbed by a strong force. Liang Runqing was furious: “Didn’t you hear me tell you to step back?” “My son!” Cried
the first lady! Don’t worry about that crazy woman. If she wants to die, let her die!
Liang Yun-ching quickly replied, “After all, it’s a human life.”
Seeing that I was still rushing into the fire, he simply carried me up and threw me on the safe lawn. By the grace of
heaven, a quarter of an hour later, the fire in the backyard shed was finally extinguished.
My things were rescued by the soldiers and piled on the ground in a mess.
I immediately rushed to rummage through the manuscripts, many of which had gone up in smoke, and when the wind blew, the half-burnt paper flew all over the sky. It’s
over. It’s over.
I knelt on the ground, hugged the few pieces of intact manuscript paper, and cried with heartache.
Liang Runqing’s military boots stopped in front of me, and he grabbed the paper flying in midair at random. “That’s what you’re doing..” His voice suddenly stopped when he
saw the words on it. My
brain froze and I quickly reacted. I jumped up and grabbed the paper in his hand. “Give it to me!”
Liang Runqing’s eyes were filled with disbelief: “Lin Chih-man, why do you have the manuscript of Yulanchu?”
I pursed my lips, and he picked up more flying papers and read them carefully one by one, his hands trembling slightly.
He raised his eyes and looked at me. “You are Zhong Ziqi,” he said in an indisputable tone. I
know I can’t hide it.
There was a silence. I stood face to face with him, and no one spoke.
The soldiers were still putting out the fire, and the concubines were still crying, but we were cut off from all the noise and confusion around us.
Liang Runqing’s voice trembled slightly: “Lin Zhiman, was it you I saw that day?”? White umbrella, blue cheongsam.. “Yes,”
I whispered.
You.. How is that possible? You’ve been holding out on us for so long, you.. Liang Runqing seemed at a loss, and finally sighed: “What should I do with you?”
I raised my eyes and looked at him firmly. I’ve already been given to Han Yu-nien. From now on, you go your way, and I’ll go my way.
“But I..” Liang Runqing stared at me with anxiety, shock and regret in his eyes. And the rapid growth that can’t be hidden.. Love.
Those feelings that never began are all in silence. Suddenly there was a bang of gunfire in
the front hall, and the servants ran to the backyard, crying and howling: “Murder!”! Murder! “What’s the matter?”
The first lady grabbed a boy who was running wildly.
The boy’s face was full of fear: “Xiong Hongtu and Han Yu-nien have rebelled!”! They suddenly pulled out their guns at the dinner table and killed.. Kill the master, and their soldiers come in and shoot us..
“What?” Liang Runqing’s eyes were round. “Is my father dead?”
「…… Yes, yes, young master, take the old lady and run away through the back door. Xiong Hongtu and Han Yu-nien are coming!
The first lady has fainted.
This night, Liang Fu turned upside down.
I will always remember this day, the Mid-Autumn night in 1936.
Han Yunian and Xiong Hongtu shot Liang Zuoyi at the banquet of Liang Mansion and washed Wanping City in blood. Before
that, Liang Zuoyi was defenseless, and he thought Han Yunian had no second thoughts about him.
In fact, Han Yunian and Xiong Hongtu, the warlord of Lucheng, have been planning for a long time.
Xiong Hongtu’s troops lay in ambush outside the city and sent spies to infiltrate the backyard of Liang Fu and set fire to it.
Liang Runqing took the troops to put out the fire, but the front hall was empty and the security was insufficient. Han Yunian took the opportunity to shoot and kill Liang Zuoyi.
Liang Zuoyi’s lieutenants were all at the banquet, and immediately there was a leaderless riot. Xiong Hongtu’s army immediately stormed into the city, burning, killing, and looting. After years of poverty
in Lucheng, Xiong Hongtu could not pay his troops, and he had long been envious of the rich Wanping County. At the time of
crisis, Liang Runqing quickly organized the army to fight back.
Unfortunately, he lacked seniority in the army and could not suppress Liang Zuoyi’s former subordinates.
Two of the company commanders, who were already rebellious, took advantage of the chaos to rebel and led their own companies to support the soldiers and respect themselves.
This night Liang Runqing and fight and retreat, but also part of the forces to escort Liang Fu people.
Madam, servant girl, concubine.. We ran wildly through the sound of gunfire.
At three o’clock in the morning, he finally escaped to safety.
This is Fuyuan County, nine kilometers away from Wanping County, and is also Liang Zuoyi’s former territory.
Liang Runqing mobilized the garrison here overnight, and Fuyuan County also entered a state of combat readiness.
Liang Fu’s old and young were placed in the county magistrate’s mansion.
Liang Runqing had no time to take care of us. He didn’t even look at us. He turned around and led his troops out of the city.
The magistrate’s mansion is very big, but still can’t put so many Liang Fu people.
Liang Zuoyi died, the first lady fainted, and panic spread in the crowd. When the
fifth aunt saw me, she pointed at my nose with sharp teeth and scolded me, “jinx!”! Bad luck spirit! Didn’t Han Yunian take a fancy to you! Why don’t you go with him? Oh, I get it, you’re a spy! You’ve already colluded with him.
She bared her teeth and brandished her claws and rushed up to scratch my face. Aunt Qi stopped her and said, “That’s enough. It’s already this time. Outsiders are beating us. Do we have to beat our own people?”
I sat in the corner in frustration.
The world is like a big dream.
I thought Han Yunian could really save me, but in the end it was all in vain.
The only thing to be thankful for is that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, my parents went to my uncle’s home in Hangzhou to visit relatives, not in Wanping County, so they escaped the disaster. After
that, I never saw Liang Runqing again for more than ten days. I heard that he was like an iron man, sleepless all day, busy marching and fighting.
In the past, people thought that he was a good-looking but useless scholar, far less capable than his father Liang Zuoyi.
Now, Liang Runqing proved his ability with his actions. He quickly gathered up his subordinates with an iron-blooded hand, recaptured two-thirds of Wanping County, captured the two company commanders who betrayed him back to the barracks, and put Ling Chi on public display. Everyone was obedient
to him and praised him for having the style of your father.
Half a month later, he moved all the people of Liang Mansion back to their former residence, and Liang Zuoyi’s Miraculous Pivot was placed in the middle of the hall.
The first lady prostrated herself on the coffin and wept, “As a righteous man, you have been wronged, leaving behind our entire family of orphans and widows.”
Liang Runqing picked her up and said in a faint voice, “I’m sorry, mother. Don’t hurt yourself.”
I stood in the crowd to look at the observation, half a month no see, Liang Runqing completely changed. He is no longer the delicate and handsome young master
he used to be.
He seemed to have aged ten years overnight, with broad shoulders, firm face and cool and sharp eyes.
He scanned the crowd from a distance, feeling the pressure of a knife, light and fire, and when he saw me here, his eyes paused for a moment.
My heart seems to be pulled.
But Liang Runqing did not say anything, and soon took the lieutenant to busy military affairs.
That night, a small soldier sent me a book, a pen and ink, naming me by name. Holding that pile of things,
I suddenly realized that Liang Runqing was encouraging me to continue writing.
It turns out that he still thinks of me. As soon as
Liang Zuoyi died, the concubines lost their backbone.
Some people are beginning to think of a new way out.
The fifth aunt took the money and ran away, and the third aunt wanted to go to the temple to practice.
The first lady called us into the living room and asked us what we were going to do.
I lowered my head, and by this time, I was still dreaming of going abroad to study.
“The old man has passed away, and Runqing is in charge of the family. If you have any ideas, go and talk to him.” The eldest lady was much older, and she sighed and gasped as she spoke.
She cleared her throat and continued, “Runqing is my own son. He has a kind heart and will not treat you badly. If someone wants to stay, he will live with me, an old woman. If he wants to leave, Runqing will give you money..”
In the final analysis, the freedom of our concubines is still controlled by others.
It used to be Liang Zuoyi. After Liang Zuoyi died, we became part of the inheritance and were inherited by Liang Runqing.
I suddenly shuddered.
According to Liang Runqing’s original temperament, he can probably return my freedom.
But is he still the same? I heard that he won battles frequently, treated prisoners very fiercely, and often betrayed his people.
Ling Chi, scrape off the man’s flesh one knife at a time, and watch the man cry and howl his flesh and blood. At the end of the
year, Liang Runqing defeated Xiong Hongtu’s army, recaptured the whole Wanping County, and captured Xiong Hongtu’s Lucheng.
Xiong Hongtu was also killed by Ling Chi, and his head was cut off and hung on the gate of Lucheng.
Liang Runqing’s victory coincided with the arrival of the Spring Festival, and a celebration banquet was held in Liang’s mansion. The
fallen Liang Mansion seems to have returned to its former glory.
That night, the servant girl took me to Zhuzhou Pavilion alone, where Liang Runqing was already waiting. After
the servant girl left, there were only two of us left in the pavilion. In the
dim light of night, the pond is vast, and there are fireworks in the distance.
The atmosphere was strange, sad and lonely.
Liang Runqing sat upright, with wine and tea on the stone table. “Sit down,” he whispered.
He poured me the wine, which was a fine peach blossom red, and the pale pink liquid surface shook slightly in the glass.
“Listen to my mother. You want to leave the Liang Mansion.”
I did reveal the tendency to leave to the first lady.
“Well, I..” Before I could give a reason, Liang Runqing interrupted me and asked directly, “Can you stay for me?”
I was stunned. After hesitating, I said slowly, “I don’t think that’s appropriate. I’m your father’s ninth aunt. I don’t have any status in the house. What can I do if I stay?”? Do you accompany your wife to relieve boredom every day? She doesn’t like me, and I don’t like this life.
Liang Runqing looked me in the eye and said, “But I like you.”
My cheeks burned, and before I drank, I seemed to be drunk.
Liang Runqing’s eyes were dark and deep, staring at me quietly.
I repeated dryly, “This is not appropriate. I am your father’s ninth aunt.”
“Do you have any other reasons?” “Does it have anything to do with Han Yu-nien?” He asked? I recently learned that you grew up with him as a childhood sweetheart. Do you like him very much? Do you want to find him?
“No!” I immediately denied, “I’m just..”
Just what? Want to study abroad? Is Han Yu-nien like you promised this?
I plucked up my courage and said, “Yes, I want to go abroad. I want to get far away from here.”
Liang Runqing gazed at me steadily, his lips turned up, showing an indifferent smile.
“Just four months ago, I thought the same thing. I wanted to go abroad to receive the most civilized education, and I wanted to get away from this backward and barren land. But my father died, and I had to go to war, kill people, and do the dirtiest things. Otherwise, I, you, my mother, and all the people I loved would die.” My
heart was heavy and I didn’t know how to comfort him.
I beg you, will you stay with me? The wonderful civilization that belonged to me in the past has been completely broken. You are the only fruit left. As long as you are still with me, I will feel that I can be saved.
I’d like to say yes, but.. But I’ve seen too many women who give everything to a man and end up miserable.
I’ve read a lot of books, and I firmly believe that loving yourself is the beginning of romance.
I want to live for myself.
“Sorry.” I looked into Liang Runqing’s eyes and said, “I can’t promise you.” When I
said this, I was so nervous that I clenched my fists and sank my nails into my flesh.
But instead of being angry and pleading, he raised his glass as if relieved: “Well, let’s have a good reunion and a good separation.”
I felt guilty about him. As long as I could comfort him, a glass of wine was nothing. I raised the wine cup in front of me and clinked glasses with him.
Then he looked up and drank it down.
The wine was very strong and mellow. Soon, I felt strange. It seemed that there was an evil fire burning from the lower abdomen. It was an unspeakable feeling.
Liang Runqing stood up calmly, his face expressionless, like a Buddha in the water. It daw
Ned on me that he had drugged me, an aphrodisiac.
You! Liang Runqing, you..
He picked me up at the waist and walked along the bridge to the depths of darkness. I can’t
write an article. I can’t write anything. For three months in
a row, from winter to spring, I was confined in Liang Runqing’s room. In his bed, to be
more exact. There is a vase on
the bedside table, in which there is a new bouquet of flowers every day.
Liang Runqing wanted to please me. He ordered the soldiers to run all over Wanping City to find the flowers of the day for me.
Today is the drooping jasmine, the white petals hanging down, accompanied by the frequency of Liang Runqing’s collision.
My hair was scattered among the flowers, and my head hit the bedside table, and the flowers trembled.
Liang Runqing stretched out his hand to protect the back of my head. He was in high spirits, and his eyes were as bright as stars. He leaned down and gasped
in my ear. “Are you comfortable, little mother?”
I gave him a weak push on the chest. “Get out..”
Sweating like rain and boiling hot, he carried me to take a bath afterwards.
Since I was imprisoned by Liang Runqing, I stopped talking to him.
But he always whispered to me, “…” I bought a collection of his poems, and this one is especially famous:
..
Not a clear spring, but a rainbow in the sky;
crushed among the floating algae,
precipitating a rainbow-like dream.
Dream-seeking? Hold a long pole and
go back to the place where the grass is greener.
……」
Liang Runqing is a more terrible warlord than his father, but he still yearns for beautiful things. He is obsessed with poetry, classical music and the New Culture Movement.
He was also obsessed with me and often begged me, “Can you love me?”? Just a little.
Liang Runqing asked me every day, and I was annoyed by him. “Do you think I would fall in love with a warlord with blood on his hands?”
Liang Runqing was stunned. For a long time, he hugged me from behind and buried his face in my shoulder.
Two points of moisture and warmth seeped into the fabric and touched my skin.
I know he cried.
But he never let me see his tears.
Life seems to go on like this forever.
Every morning Liang Runqing kissed me and went out to leave. I sat in my room, unable to write or read.
When Liang Runqing came back in the evening, he put the flowers into the bottle, indicating the beginning of the bed, and then took a bath and went to bed.
Every day is a new reincarnation, until Qiuyu, the servant girl who brought me food, gave me an envelope.
Opening it, two tickets fell out of the envelope, from Hong Kong to San Francisco, USA.
I was so shocked that it took me a long time to open the letter in the envelope with trembling hands.
Zhi Man:
Zhan Xin Jia. I’m really sorry
about Wanping County. Liang Runqing is ruthless. I was lucky enough to escape from the mainland. Now I have settled in Hong Kong. Now everything is peaceful. I only owe you a promise to go abroad. On the 1st of
next month, I will come to Shanghai to rent the Chinachem Hotel and wait for you. We will go to Hong Kong together, and then go to the United States from Hong Kong. I am sincere, and the decision is in your hands.
I don’t know when Han Yunian bribed Qiu Yu.
Qiuyu looks ordinary, but he speaks fluent northern Mandarin and can’t hear the accent.
“Miss Lin, I’ll wait for you at the woodshed at twelve o’clock tonight. There’s a car outside to take us out of Wanping.”
At ten o’clock, Liang Runqing came back from the barracks travel-stained. He took off his cap, pinched my chin and gave me a deep kiss. The smell of red wine permeated
his lips.
“I went for a drink with the Doge. Very good Bordeaux. Too bad I couldn’t bring it back for you.”
Liang Runqing’s cheeks were reddish and full of peach blossoms. For the first time in months, I looked at him carefully.
He was handsome, with a sad look between his eyebrows, and his eyes looked at me affectionately and softly.
Faced with such a man, it is false to say that he is not interested at all.
I believed he loved me, but his love broke my pride.
I want to be free, and I hate being treated like a forbidden person.
These few months of captivity have been an irreparable mistake for me.
I don’t want to be called a fool. I don’t want to be stabbed in the spine. I don’t want to be accused of incest.
I had to run away from him.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Liang Runqing was drunk and looked at me carefully with blurred eyes.
His voice hesitated, becoming more tender. “You look sad, Ziman. Have I made you sad again?”
He took my hand and kissed it on his lips.
“I’m sorry, I hurt you. You can beat me or scold me. As long as you are by my side, I can put up with anything.”
I feel sad for him. He is a man, a man of indomitable spirit. Why should he kneel down like a beggar and beg for my love.
“Liang Runqing, I’m not worth it.” I speak from the heart.
“No, you’re worth it. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
His voice trailed off. The alcohol paralyzed his brain. Soon, he fell asleep.
At midnight, I took the ticket to meet Qiuyu.
She had the key to the back door of the woodshed and went out. Sure enough, there was a tofu cart waiting for us outside. “Let’s go to the Wanfu Inn first and I’ll help you dress up so that you can get out of the city,
” Qiuyu said to me.
I nodded, but when I got to the Wanfu Inn, I took advantage of her inattention and left through the window.
I will not go to Shanghai with her, nor will I join Han Yunian.
Now I don’t trust anyone.
I will go to Hangzhou to say goodbye to my parents first, and then rush to Hong Kong to try to catch a cruise to the United States. The streets are quiet
at night, and I wrap myself up against the cold wind.
I know that the vegetable vendors leave the city at five o’clock in the morning. At that time, the city gate is crowded with people, which is the most suitable time to go out.
But it never occurred to me.
That night, the Japanese army launched an attack on Wanping County and Lugou Bridge, and began first battle of a full-scale invasion of China.
Ten days later.
Wanping County-my hometown has been completely destroyed, and I am the first group of people in the country to really feel the pain of family destruction and death.
Many people died, many people fled with their families, and I followed the refugee team all the way south.
From time to time, new county towns were captured and new civilians joined the ranks.
I can hear the latest battle situation every day.
The most frequently heard name is “Liang Runqing.”. Together with the National Army,
he fought actively, defended the country to the death, and fought to the last soldier. When the
troops were destroyed, they recruited skirmishers and assembled into a new army.
Their existence gives us ordinary people a lot of confidence.
It was they who held back the Japanese and bought us time to escape. Have you
heard? Liang Run-ching is a lover, and he loves his father’s ninth aunt!
Tut! No one in Wanping County knows anything about it. It’s so famous. If you want me to say that General Liang Xiao is very good, it’s bad because of his children’s love affairs.
“Yes, isn’t this incest? Tut, tut, the big family has a good time.”
“I heard that as soon as the war started, the ninth aunt ran away. Oh, women, you can’t rely on them!” I can hear
such comments every day.
No one had ever seen the true face of the “ninth aunt,” and I ran for my life in the crowd with a dusty face. The ground
in front of a sudden earthquake, is the Japanese side of the collapse of the bridge, the crowd immediately panic.
From the rear came the sound of a horse’s hooves trampling on the ground. The National Army arrived in time. I saw Liang Runqing in the crowd again.
He wore a dusty military uniform, carried a gun in both hands and controlled the horse with both legs, and fired at the Japanese troops without missing a shot. Everywhere
he went, the crowd gave way like Moses dividing the sea.
Liang Runqing was bent on killing the enemy and did not pay attention to the left and right.
For a moment, he was only two or three meters away from me.
I breathed fast and my heart beat fast, observing his tall and straight bearing which could not be concealed by his ragged clothes.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I didn’t even dare to blink. Soon he would leave, farther and farther away from me. I roared loudly.
“Liang Runqing!”
He jerked his head back.
I trudged toward him against the tide of people, holding up two tickets: “Come with me to America!” Doesn’t
he like civilization, poetry and new ideas best?
He must be willing to go with me.
Liang Runqing stood high on his horse and stared down at me. The
sound of gunfire exploded one after another, and I could not hear his voice, only his mouth.
He said, I want to stay and resist Japan.
Without the slightest nostalgia, he turned his horse’s head and galloped to the place where the flames of war were concentrated.
I couldn’t believe it. He was so determined. It was like I was a stranger. He never loved me.
At night, a large number of refugees poured into farmland and wilderness, and the North China Plain stretched as far as the eye could see under the huge moon. I don’t know when
this flight will end. There was a muddy riverbed
ahead, and I followed the others with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Everyone is on foot, I am alone, and it is even more difficult for middle-aged people to help the old and the young. Suddenly there was a big commotion in the
dense crowd, and the neigh of the horse was approaching.
Lin Chih-man! Lin Chih-man! In
the moonlight, Liang Runqing rode a black horse and led a white horse around restlessly.
He figured it out? He’s going to America with me?
I immediately shouted back to him, and he immediately came on his horse, carried me on his horse, and ran to a sparsely populated place.
“This is a check from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. I’ve deposited 200,000 yuan in it. I’ve signed the name under each check. You can take it out at any time when you go abroad. Now you keep it close to your body.”
Liang Runqing slipped me the check and handed me the reins of the white horse: “Go, Zhiman. Don’t come back. Go straight south.”
He pinched my chin and kissed me deeply as usual. After parting his lips, he murmured, “This is the last time …”
With these words, he arranged his cap, saluted me, and rode away to the north.
I rode south on a white horse, with my check in my corset and my ticket tied to my belly. The
hard touch is my treasure, my passport to freedom.
I smiled, smiled and smiled, and tears fell. Farewell in
this life, Liang Runqing.
I want to live the life you want to live, listen to classical music every day, read modern poetry, and enjoy peace and democracy in the most free country.
And you stay in the devastated homeland to fight as a guerrilla, shuttling back and forth in a hail of bullets, sooner or later, you will be shot in the head, or pierced in the heart.
Because you’re a fool, because you’re too patriotic, because you love this land more than you love me..
Do I love this land less than you? I reined in my horse
suddenly, and the white horse, bound by the bridle, raised its front hooves and neighed sadly. The shadows of
me and the horse were clearly reflected on the grass ahead.
Because the moon was in the north, I turned my horse’s head and looked up to see the bright moon.
It turned out that the moon could be seen all the time in the direction of Liang Runqing’s journey.
His figure, far to the north, darkened.
The white horse took a few steps forward to test my mind.
The front is the north, the direction of facing the moon, the direction of following Liang Runqing, and the direction of broken mountains and rivers.
It is the direction
in which the motherland calls me and love calls me that I do not hesitate to gallop forward.
Liang Runqing! Wait for me!
The moonlight of thousands of generations stretches out as far as the eye can see before me.
Love what I love, regardless of life and death.
I realized the highest level of freedom.
(End)
Record No.: YXX1jKKJk62cxxxRKMOC9ldw
Cheng Huang
commented on
the passing of the beauty: I still remember the cat when
the thrush was full of love. Etc
