It’s already difficult to live this life

? Recently I read "Alive" by the writer Yu Hua. Just like the title of the book, during the Cultural Revolution, staying alive was the only goal of survival. People live for living itself, not for anything other than living.

Yu Hua, born on April 3, 1960 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, is a contemporary writer. After graduating from high school in 1977, he entered Beijing Lu Xun Literary College for further study. Worked as a dentist. He began writing in 1983 and began publishing novels in 1984. In the 1980s, it formed a literary trend with the works of Su Tong, Ge Fei, Sun Ganlu, etc., which critics called "avant-garde literature." The novels "Alive" and "The Story of Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" were both selected into the "Ten Most Influential Works of the 1990s" selected by hundreds of critics and literary editors.

? "Alive" is the author's description of Fugui's tragic and desolate life in the form of the protagonist Fugui's autobiography. In addition to poverty, the successive deaths of relatives have built Fugui's life. And he still treats the world in a friendly manner without a word of complaint.

? The author elaborates on the protagonist's ability to endure suffering and his optimistic attitude towards the world from several aspects.

? The upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked

? Fugui’s ancestor was a landlord and rich. In Fugui’s own words, at that time, our family was not in decline. Our Xu family had More than a hundred acres of land, from here to the chimney of the factory over there, belongs to my family. My father and I are known far and wide as the rich man and the rich young man. When we walk, the sound of our shoes is like the collision of coins. My wife, Jiazhen, is the daughter of the owner of a rice store in the city. She also comes from a wealthy family. When a rich man marries a rich man, he piles up money and the money flows on top of it.

? Unfortunately, he and his father are both prodigal sons. His father lost a hundred acres of land in a bet when he was young. He is now even worse than his father. He visited brothels, gambled, ate, drank, prostituted and gambled. He felt that there was only one seedling in their family and had to be pampered and pampered. As a result, he lost all his money in gambling and lost his last hundred acres of land and his family's house in gambling. Moved into a thatched house. His father was also furious. At that time, his wife was eight months pregnant and had a 4-year-old daughter.

The man who won the Fugui family’s house and land was called Long Er. The land was gone, the house was gone, and Fugui suddenly woke up. Keren still had to live, so Fugui bowed his head and rented five acres of land from Long Er and became a tenant, preparing to survive on these five acres of land.

Dodging in a hail of bullets

? Life was beginning to get tough, but fortunately, Jiazhen never left him and gave him a son named Youqing. In addition, their My daughter, Fengxia, has arrived with her whole family, and life is taking its time. Fugui and his wife worked hard day and night. After a year of this, Fugui's mother fell ill, and he took his mother to the city to see a doctor. I was accidentally plotted by a child and got into a dispute with someone. It happened that the national army passed by at this time, and he was captured and worked as a laborer.

? Following the artillery team all the way to Anhui, he wanted to escape, but didn't dare. Among the captured men, he met Lao Quan, who told Fugui that if he tried to escape, he would definitely die. After crossing the Yangtze River, I put on my cotton-padded jacket. Once he crossed the Yangtze River, Fugui gave up all hope of escaping. The further away from home, the less courage he had to escape.

? Lao Quan formed an alliance with Fugui and Chunsheng, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. During the days when they were surrounded by the Communist Party and fought in melee, they went to grab the supplies allocated by the plane and held together. Keep warm. They also witnessed the wailing and death of countless wounded people.

In the end, Lao Quan died unfortunately, Chunsheng disappeared, and Fugui was captured and took the money given by the People's Liberation Army and ran away back home. It was two years later when he returned home. By then, his mother had passed away, Youqing didn't recognize him, and poor Fengxia became deaf and mute due to a high fever. The kind-hearted Jiazhen lives alone with her baby, waiting for him to return home.

Land reform, a blessing in disguise

When Fugui came back, the village began to carry out land reform, and he was assigned five acres of land, the same five acres that Long Er originally rented. Long Er was in bad luck. He became a landlord and maintained his arrogance for less than four years. Once the liberation came, he was finished. The Communist Party confiscated his land and distributed it to the former tenants.

He still refused to admit his fault and went to frighten the tenants. Some of them didn't buy it, so he started to beat them. Long Er also brought trouble upon himself. The People's Government arrested him and accused him of being a bully landlord. After being sent to the city prison, Long Er still didn't know the current affairs. His mouth was harder than a stone, and he was eventually killed.

? Fugui went there on the day Long Er was shot. Long Er cried and shouted to him: "Fugui, I am going to die for you." Fugui walked away with a guilty conscience. Then I thought about it and realized that there was no need to scare myself, it was all fate. As the saying goes, if you survive a disaster, you will be blessed later. Fugui thought his second half would get better and better.

? Fugui’s life after returning home has been miserable and poor. But life was relatively stable. Fengxia and Youqing are getting older day by day, and Fugui and Jiazhen are getting older day by day. In a flash, Fengxia was seventeen years old and had grown into a woman. If she hadn't been deaf and mute, she would have been approached by marriage proposals. People in the village say that Fengxia is good-looking. Fengxia looks similar to Jiazhen when she was young. Youqing is also twelve years old and studying in primary school in the city.

In order to save money for Youqing to go to school, they gave Fengxia to someone else when she was twelve years old. Youqing cried and made trouble looking for her sister. The parents really had no other choice, they were really poor, and they felt that Youqing must change his destiny through studying. So, with a sudden heart, I gave Fengxia away. After they were sent away, they were very anxious, regretful, and extremely guilty. Fortunately, Fengxia ran back soon, and they were reluctant to send her away.

? Youqing studied for two years and reached the age of ten. Life at home was getting better. At that time, Fengxia also worked in the fields, and Fengxia was able to support herself. The family also raises two sheep, and they all rely on Youqing to cut grass to feed them. Every day at dawn, Jiazhen wakes Youqing up. The child throws the sickle into the basket, holds it in one hand and rubs his eyes with the other as he stumbles out of the house to cut the grass. It's so pitiful that the child is here. Age is the hardest time to wake up, but what can you do? Without Youqing to cut the grass, the two sheep would starve to death. When Youqing came back with a basket of grass, he was almost late for school. He hurriedly stuffed a bowl of rice into his mouth, chewed it and ran towards the city. After running home at noon, I had to cut the grass, feed the sheep, and then feed myself. Naturally, it was too late to go to school. When Youqing was in his teens, he would have to travel more than fifty miles to come and go twice a day. Youqing's shoes would of course wear out quickly if he ran like this. Fugui even scolded Youqing for this. From then on, the child ran around barefoot and only put on his shoes when he got to school.

? Jiazhen was seriously ill, and the hardships worsened

? In 1958, the People's Commune was established. The five acres of land owned by Fugui's family were all assigned to the people's commune, leaving only a small piece of private land in front of the house. The village chief is no longer called village chief, but is called captain instead. The captain stood under the elm tree at the entrance of the village and whistled every morning. The men and women in the village would carry the guys and gather at the entrance of the village. Just like soldiers, the captain would assign the day's work and everyone would split up to work on it. Not long after, even the pots at home were owned by the People's Commune, saying they were used to cook steel.

? How to cook when the pot is gone? A canteen was set up in the village, and all the rice, salt, firewood and other things at home were confiscated by the village. The most pity was the two sheep. Youqing raised them to be fat. The fat and strong ones will also be confiscated.

As soon as the village canteen opened, each family sent two people to get the food, and every family sent women to go. The chirping sound was as loud as the sparrows flying in groups when the rice is drying. The captain is right, having a canteen really saves trouble. When you are hungry, you just need to queue up and you will have something to eat and drink. The food was open to eat, and they could eat as much as they could. There was meat to eat every day.

? Two days after the village canteen opened, the captain asked two young people to go to the city to buy steel pots. The smashed pots and iron sheets were piled on the drying yard. The captain pointed at them. Said: "We have to cook them quickly, we can't leave them idle forever." After the two young men went into the city with straw ropes and poles, the captain accompanied the Feng Shui master invited from the city to wander around the village. He said he was looking for a geomantic treasure to cook steel. The Feng Shui master in a long gown walked around with a smile. When he walked up to a house, the house would take a breath of air-conditioning. As long as the hunched-backed old man nodded, that house would be destroyed. Mr. Feng Shui walked to Fugui's house because he had taken a fancy to the place where Fugui's family lived. He happened to know Jiazhen, so the Fugui's house was saved.

Jiazhen became ill at that time and could not do heavy work. She had no strength in her legs. Fortunately, she had to eat in the canteen at that time, otherwise life would be even more difficult. The doctor in the city said that Jiazhen was suffering from rickets and that no one could cure this disease. He asked Fugui to carry Jiazhen home and feed her as much as possible. Jiazhen's illness might get worse. The heavier it is, the more likely it is.

After everyone used up the supplies and pots they handed over, the captain went to apply for food but failed to do so, so the canteen was dismissed. Everyone started to buy pots again, and it was back to the time when each family ate. People in the village started to record work points when working in the fields. Jiazhen's body can no longer measure centimeters. Youqing wants to drop out of school, but Fugui flatly refuses. ?

? After the village canteen was disbanded, the food distributed was only enough for a month. The original plan was to wait for the rice to be ripe after a month. But it happened that the rains were heavy and the rice fields were destroyed. Everyone was counting the rice to put into the pot, and there wasn't much food saved. No one dared to cook rice, so they all made porridge to drink, and even the porridge became thinner and thinner. Then after two or three months, everything will be empty.

? There was a famine that year, and everyone was hungry. Jiazhen’s illness became more and more serious, and she could hardly walk. I can't even pick up the needle.

? Misfortunes never come singly, and something happened to Youqing

? That year, Youqing was in fifth grade. As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. When Jiazhen became so ill, Fugui hoped that Youqing would grow up quickly. The child's grades were not good, so he thought that he should not be forced to go to middle school. Once he graduated from elementary school, he would be allowed to work in the fields to earn money. Work points go. Who would have thought that just as Jiazhen was getting better, something happened to Youqing.

? The principal of their school and the wife of the county magistrate. She suffered a heavy haemorrhage during childbirth, and the school gathered fifth-grade students to donate blood. Only Youqing's blood type matches. The stupid nurse drained Youqing's blood, but the indifferent doctor remained unmoved. The children at that time were so simple and kind. At that time, they thought that donating blood to the principal was a glorious thing, until they sacrificed their lives.

? The furious Fugui went to the hospital to crusade and wanted to kill someone. But in the end, it was discovered that the current county magistrate was Chunsheng who was born and died at the same time! Fugui hugged Youqing dejectedly and left the hospital sadly. In order to prevent Jiazhen from being too sad and worsening her condition, he buried Youqing next to his parents' graves alone. He also lied to Jiazhen that the child was in the hospital. Those days and nights were exhausting both physically and mentally.

? Sensitive Jiazhen still learned the news of her son's death, and her life was almost in danger. Fugui began to prepare a coffin for her, and the doctor also said that she would not survive more than a month. But twenty days later, she miraculously sat up, her spirits improved, and she could still do needlework. Fugui saw hope in life again.

A month after Youqing's death, Chunsheng came to apologize. He knew there was nothing he could do in return, so he came to give money, but was turned away by Jiazhen. The next two times, same treatment. I came here once just before committing suicide, and was finally forgiven by Jiazhen. At that time, the Cultural Revolution began, and the captain was criticized. Chunsheng also hanged himself because he couldn't bear the long-term humiliation. Compared with these, Fugui's Fengxia is the issue that the two elders are most concerned about. She is of marriageable age. They hope to have someone they can trust for life so that they can die in peace.

? Not long after, the captain found Fengxia’s husband’s family. She was from the county, a porter, and made a lot of money. His name is Wan Er Xi, but he tilts his head. Erxi and Fengxia fell in love with each other, and when they got married, they were considered to be extremely successful at the time. The days after marriage are also full of love and harmony. The two old people also mistakenly thought that their lives were finally getting better and their moods were getting better every day.

? Fengxia Erxi could not escape her fate

? A few months later, Fengxia became pregnant, and the family wept with joy. But on the day of delivery, Fengxia died of massive hemorrhage. In the same hospital, in the same room, Fugui sent his daughter away again. This hospital and him had a heartache. A pair of children both died giving birth to a child. Youqing died giving birth to a child for someone else, and Fengxia died giving birth to a child herself.

? Jiazhen could not withstand the blow this time, and passed away one after another three months later. Before his death, he named his grandson Kugen.

Since Fengxia passed away, Erxi’s soul has disappeared. For his son, he went to the construction site and carried the bitter root in a bamboo basket. This was the only hope and sustenance in his life.

Fugui occasionally went to the city to help, and would also take Kugen back to the village to stay for a while. He also wants to make Kugen live a good life in the future through his own labor. The three grandfathers and grandchildren maintained this dilapidated family in this way.

? Unforeseen circumstances brought unexpected events, and life passed like this until Kugen was four years old, when Erxi died. Er Xi was pinched to death by two rows of cement boards. While doing the moving work, one could accidentally get bruised and bruised, but only Erxi lost his life, and the lives of everyone in the Xu family were miserable. When Fengxia was buried, Erxi pointed to a piece of land next to Fengxia's grave and told Fugui that he would be buried here in the future. Now it has become a prophecy, how sad.

? Bitter roots, bitter eggs attached to the bitter vines

After Erxi died, Fugui brought bitter roots to live in the village.

? Fugui and Kugen have been together for half a year. The village has implemented a household responsibility system, which makes life more difficult. The Fugui family was allocated one and a half acres of land. I can't work among the villagers like I used to, and I can't be lazy when I'm tired. Nowadays, the work in the fields is constantly shouting. If Fugui doesn't do it, no one will do it for him. Five-year-old Kugen can already help him with his work, and even made a small sickle for him. Kugen cherishes it very much. Kugen is also eloquent, Fugui said it's because Fengxia doesn't talk about what she owes.

? Life like this is bitter and tiring, but I feel happy. With the root of bitterness, people have energy to live. Seeing the bitter roots getting bigger day by day, the grandpa became more and more relieved day by day. In the evening, the grandfather and grandson sat on the threshold, watching the sun go down and the fields shining red, listening to the shouts of the villagers, and the two hens raised at home walking back and forth in front of them. , Kugen and Fugui were intimate. The two of them sat together and always had endless things to say. Looking at the two hens, Fugui often thought of what his father said when he was alive, so he said to Kugen over and over again: " When the two chickens grow up, they become geese, when the geese grow up, they become sheep, and when the sheep grow up, they become cows.”

? Bitterness. Gen chuckled after hearing this. He remembered all these words. Many times when he took out eggs from the henhouse, he would always sing these words. If there are too many eggs, we will sell them in the city. Fugui said to Kugen: "When we save enough money, we will buy a cow, and you can ride on the back of the cow and play."

When Kugen heard this, his eyes immediately lit up, and he said: "The chicken will become a cow." From then on, Kugen looked forward to the day of buying a cow every day. Every morning when he opened his eyes, he would ask Fugui: "Fugui, do you want to buy a cow today?" Sometimes After going to the city to sell eggs, Fugui felt sorry for Kugen and wanted to buy him some candies. Kugen would say: "Just buy one. We also need to buy a cow."

In a blink of an eye, Kugen turned seven years old. Fugui was anxious to pick cotton that day because it was going to rain the next day. If he didn't pick it, the ripe cotton would be damaged by the rain. But Kugen is sick, Fugui thinks about how pitiful Kugen has been for so many years. I hadn't eaten anything good, so I boiled half a pot of beans and put them next to the bed, waiting for Bitterroot to wake up and eat them. He went to the fields to pick cotton by himself.

When he came back, he called Kugen, but he didn’t answer and Kugen died. Kugen was leaning on the bed, and with his mouth half open, he could see two beans that had not yet been chewed. Kugen was starving himself to death by eating beans. This child was not greedy, but Fugui's family was too poor. Children from every family in the village lived better than Kugen. Even beans, Kugen was rarely able to eat. Fugui complained that he was getting dizzy because he had cooked so many beans for Kugen, and that he had become stupid and stupid because of his old age, which killed Kugen.

? The old man and the cow

? The second year after Kugen died, Fugui had collected enough money to buy the cow. Looking at how many years he had to live, he felt that he still had to buy the cow. of. A cow is half a human, it can work, and it also has a companion when you are free. When you feel bored, you can talk to it. Leading it to eat grass by the water is like leading a child.

? On the day I went to the cattle market to buy cattle, I passed by a neighboring village and saw an old cow waiting to be slaughtered lying on the ground, with tears in its eyes. Fugui couldn't bear the cow to be slaughtered, so he bought it out of compassion. It's not that he doesn't know that the cow is old and can't do the work anymore, and it's not that he doesn't know that the cow won't live for two or three years. Fugui thought that two or three years would be enough, but he himself might not survive that long. Unexpectedly, they all lived for several years. The people in the village were surprised and surprised, and called out - "Two old immortals."

"

? When the cow arrives home, it is also a member of Fugui's family. It's time to give it a name. After much thought, I still think it's better to call it Fugui. When I decide to call it Fugui, Fugui looks to the left. When he looked at it, he felt that it looked like him, and he felt very happy. Later, people in the village began to say that the two of them were similar. He chuckled, thinking that from now on, it would be one person and one cow. p> ? Summary

? Thinking about it, this life passed very quickly, and he lived an ordinary life. Fugui's father expected Fugui to glorify his ancestors, but he was wrong. This is his fate. When he was young, he was prosperous for a while relying on the money left by his ancestors, and then he became more and more depressed. This was better. Look at the people around Fugui, Long Er and Chunsheng. They were only prosperous for a while, but in the end their lives were ruined. Lost it. It’s better to be a normal person. Fighting over this and that will cost you your own life. Like Fugui, it seems that the more you mess around, the less promising you are, but you live a long life and the people you know die one by one. , he is still alive. Time has taken away all of Fugui’s relatives, but his will to live is unwavering.

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