Meet you in the most beautiful years

Chapter 20
Meet you, fireworks also have spring
The way she sits silently holding the pipa in her arms is like a delicate and shy water lotus.That year, the end of summer in Wuhu, a river city, was filled with warm and humid atmosphere.

On that day in 1912, if she had exchanged a hundred times the bitterness of her life, maybe she would be willing.

That day was a legend. Like the dying spirit fox in the legend, when she was rescued by a scholar, she was miraculously reborn and began to be reborn.In the years that followed, she turned into a woman named Pan Yuliang, traveled across the ocean, and used paint and brushes day and night to paint colorful dreams on the banks of the Seine, in Italy, in Rome, and in the temple of art.

Time is such a kind old man, just like Pan Zanhua, who aged many years later, accomplished her, gave her everything, and finally recalled the prosperity and desolation of the past only in the warm and deep thoughts.

But when they first met, they were so young.He is a 27-year-old elegant young man, and she is a 17-year-old young woman.But apart from the same youth, they are the Jing River and the Wei River, which have completely different flow directions and life experiences that are worlds apart.

This is like a fairy tale about a prince and Cinderella, but in fact, such a metaphor is not appropriate. At that time, he was the newly appointed Wuhu customs supervisor, and the 17-year-old girl was just a brothel girl in Yichunyuan .

It's not that I love prostitution, it seems to be mistaken by the front edge.When the flowers fall and the flowers bloom, they will always be the king of the East.If you go, you must go, and if you live, how do you live?If the head is covered with mountain flowers, don't ask where the slave returns.

At that time, she held the pipa in her arms, her eyes were full of silence, and she sang the song "Bu Suanzi" lingeringly.In the feast of intertwined cups of wine and colorful lights, her indifference, which was beyond the world, was so incongruous with the scene at that time, but it was this touch of tranquility like a plain orchid that penetrated into the bottom of his heart, rippling across his heart. Circle soft ripples.

Pan Zanhua, who was 27 years old at the time, was a patriot who pursued revolution and freedom, and a refined literary youth.He was a little intoxicated listening to that ancient song.Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the woman's mournful and soft singing voice that made him feel slightly drunk.He couldn't imagine how a woman who was born in Fireworks and Willow Lane could interpret this piece so desolately and touchingly?

He was appointed by Bai Wenwei, the governor of the Anhui military government, and took up the post of customs supervisor when he first arrived in Wuhu, responsible for the collection and storage of customs duties.In order to win over his heart, the local chamber of commerce organized this extravagant banquet, and recruited two women from the Yichun Courtyard to sing music for Mr. Pan to cheer him up.

In fact, such a scene is not what he likes.He was born in a scholarly family of poets and rites. His ancestor Pan Jiang was a poet and writer in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties; his grandfather Pan Lige was the staff of Li Hongzhang, an important minister in the late Qing Dynasty, and later served as the Beijing-Tianjin Daotai of the Qing court.He lived with his grandfather in Tianjin when he was young. When he was ten years old, his family returned to Tongcheng, Anhui, and was sent to Shanghai Tongwen Hall to study.

In 1901, he and his cousins ​​Pan Yuhua, Chen Duxiu, Bai Wenwei and others organized the "Youth Inspirational Club" in the Beimen Library in Anqing to carry out anti-Qing revolutionary propaganda. People set up the "China Youth Association" to publicize the patriotic revolution. In 1903, Pan Zanhua and Chen Duxiu resolutely returned to China to protest against Russia's coercion of the Qing government to sign a secret treaty of ceding the country. In Japan, he was admitted to Waseda University in Japan, and at the same time joined the "Xingzhonghui" established by Mr. Sun Yat-sen in Tokyo, and became an early member of the "Tongmenghui".

After returning to China, he participated in revolutionary activities many times, was forced to flee many times, and finally joined Bo Wenwei's subordinates as a new army coach. On September 1912, 9, he was sent to Wuhu by Bai Wenwei to take up the post of customs supervisor.

The heroes of the Republic of China who lived in that period of history, such as Cai E and Jiang Baili, without exception, were young and heroic, with outstanding talents, full of revolutionary romantic passion, and tragic feelings of worrying about the country and the people.Cai E, who was able to confront Yuan Shikai tit-for-tat and launch a war to protect the country, was also able to compose a lingering love affair with Xiao Fengxian; while Jiang Baili, who was able to calmly shoot himself while serving as the principal of Baoding Military Academy, cut off his infatuated and bitter love for Jiang Zuomei.At that time, Pan Zanhua was also such a character, with a bloody staunchness and a sensitive son and daughter's tenderness.

The woman in the cheongsam with cold eyes, although she is not stunning, even she is a little dull and charming, in the warm atmosphere of pouring glasses, she is a bit blunt and lonely, but she is immersed in the heart of the pipa strings , the loneliness and sadness she sang softly and slowly, still wrapped around him slowly like a soft ivy.

He was obviously interested in her, so when she finished singing, he tentatively asked her the name and origin of the song.

"Return to your lord", it is not difficult to imagine that she might have answered like this at that time: "This "Bu Suanzi" is a poem written by Yan Rui, a prostitute in Taizhou in the Southern Song Dynasty. We are all people with similar fates."

He suddenly had a flash of understanding, and he looked at the fireworks girl with admiration.He has already known the anecdotal talent of Yan Rui, a poetess in the Southern Song Dynasty.At that time, Tang Zhongyou, the magistrate of Taizhou, had been a good citizen for her. Later, Zhu Xi impeached Tang Zhongyou, imprisoned Yan Rui for fabricating the incident, and forced her to falsely accuse Tang Zhongyou of having a crime of indecency with her.Yan Rui was tortured but never succumbed, and would rather die than defile a gentleman.In the imitation story collection "Surprise at the Second Moment", Ling Mochu collected this story under the title "Fang Ming of a Heroine Who Was Willing to be Sentenced".

Yan Rui is both talented and beautiful, playing piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, silk strings, singing and dancing, everything, but what made her famous is the name of a poetess.Yan Rui is good at writing lyrics. Although there are only three poems handed down from generation to generation, "Like a Dream", "Bu Suanzi" and "Magpie Bridge Immortal", each song is graceful and affectionate, with long meaning and rhyme, which coincides with her desolate life experience.

"It's not that I love Fengchen, it seems that I was misunderstood by the front." Pan Zanhua listened and chewed on the special meaning in the libretto.The firework girl in front of her, who claims to have a similar fate to Yan Rui, can interpret this poem so emotionally, entrusting her own grievances and unwillingness, it must be Bingxue's intelligence.For the brothel girls who lean against the door and sell their laughter all day long, it is like a lone crane dancing in the sky, which is really extraordinary.

He unconsciously had the desire to talk to her.At that time, the room was full of noise, and the night was already fading, and the president of the chamber of commerce, who was hosting the banquet, took the opportunity to whisper to Master Pan with a charming smile: This girl is still a virgin.

Pan Zanhua could understand what the chairman meant, but he was by no means a womanizer who hangs around the party.If this woman caused ripples in his heart and he was in a trance for a moment, it was only because of this song "Bu Suanzi", because of this melodious singing voice, which is different from her sobriety and self-respect.

After the banquet, according to the president's order, the woman who sang the song was sent to Pan Zanhua's apartment.For 17-year-old Zhang Yuliang, living in a brothel, she knew that this day would come sooner or later.

There is little hope and happiness for her in this world.She no longer remembers what her home looks like, and she has also lost her memories of her relatives.Her original name was Chen Xiuqing. She was born in a small handicraft family in the ancient city of Yangzhou in 1895. Her father made hats, and her mother embroidered. There was a sparkling canal, and the multicolored felt hats made by her parents were sold outside the city.But fate soon showed its ferocious teeth. When she was eight years old, her father, sister and mother had passed away one after another, and she became an orphan with no one to support.

Her uncle adopted her and raised her until she was 14 years old. She took her uncle's surname and changed her name to Zhang Yuliang. Before the age of 14, she never knew that there was another city called Wuhu on the bank of the Yangtze River outside Yangzhou.In that year, her uncle, who was addicted to gambling, brought her to this strange city, even tricked her into selling her to Yichun Courtyard, and became a fireworks girl.

The only family member in this world actually sold her to Fireworks and Willow Lane——she couldn't imagine all this.But she is still alive.Perhaps in my uncle's eyes, being able to live like this is better than dying of poverty and illness.After despair, she gradually calmed down.At such a young age, my heart felt like a dry well. The little girl named Chen Xiuqing in Yangzhou City in my memory was considered dead.

In the past three years, she did not remember how many beatings and tortures she had suffered in order to escape from this sea of ​​misery.Although her pure heart is comparable to the blue sky and white clouds, she has no power to turn over the card of fate, so she can only endure the humiliation, practice the piano and practice music every day, and put her sorrows on the strings of the pipa.

She stood outside the door of Pan's apartment, waiting for the doorman to report.At this time, the lights in the city were dimmed, and a bright moon rose to the middle of the sky. The night in Jiangcheng was silent.She forced herself to be calm, and with a restless heart, she waited for the moment when the door opened.

This process was painful and long, and she didn't know how to deal with the next time.Based on what she has seen and heard in Yichun Courtyard for the past three years, and based on her intuition, compared with those men leaning against the red and the green, Mrs. Pan's heroic spirit and calm and elegant demeanor are so outstanding, she is clearly a gentleman who is different from the legend ——She was once very emotional about this, but soon, the emotion caused by this kindness fell to the bottom. Men, men in the world are all the same in the final analysis, because at this moment, she is just like a delicious supper , was sent to his door.

The door opened, and she went up to it numbly.The servant of the Pan family did not invite her in, but only showed a face through the half-open door and said to her: "Master Pan, please come back quickly, he has already fallen asleep. If the girl doesn't mind, I will accompany you tomorrow during the day." Lord Pan, go enjoy the scenery of Wuhu."

At that moment, she seemed to be in a dream, unable to believe the truth of these few words.The door of Pan's house was closed, and she stood there in a daze for a long time.The house under the moonlight was peaceful, and the night sky was clear, and the round and big moon was smiling down on her.She raised her head and stared at the moon intently until her eyes were sour and seemed to be filled with tears.In an instant, a pile of warm debris rose from the bottom of her heart, gentle like a tide, light like a mist, filling her heart that was as fragrant as spring.

For Zhang Yuliang, who grew up in humiliation, all of this is more like the warmth and beauty of spring.She began to have some inexplicable feelings about this man, maybe it was admiration, maybe it was reverence.She didn't dare to analyze whether she had "loved" him at that moment, she hadn't forgotten her status and origin, she could only be grateful and dare not expect too much.

It was a strange and beautiful night.Many years later, Pan Yuliang, a famous female painter in France, created a self-portrait of "The Sound of the Qin on a Moonlit Night".The woman in the painting is gentle and classical, sitting on a full moon night, playing and singing a pipa softly in her arms.The implicit beauty of the colors is like a Chinese-style red shirt on a woman, with an intoxicating radiance and gentleness.Many people speculate that this painting is to commemorate that day in 1912, the good night when she and Pan Zanhua first met.

I just want to follow you and not go anywhere

(End of this chapter)