Ba Jin is a very interesting person. He spends three-quarters of his time writing every year, and spends the remaining two or three months traveling around to see friends, spending all the royalties he earns. In order to avoid running around for life,
He didn't get married until he was 40 years old. One person had enough to eat and the whole family was not hungry.
In Ba Jin's own words, he has no home. His friends' homes are his home. He goes to see friends everywhere and writes some travel essays along the way.
This was a man who had no concept of money. Later, he became famous all over the country, but he still had little savings. One day when his wife saw him going out to buy books, she couldn't help but said: "The family has no money." Ba Jin responded to this
Knowing nothing, he replied: "The money is used to buy books. If you don't buy books, how can the writer live?"
Ba Jin was stopped by his wife from going that day, and the next day he took his children to a bookstore.
It's May, and the war in the Central Plains has begun.
Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi sent troops from Guangxi to Hunan, with the strategic goal of capturing Wuhan. Feng Yuxiang set out from Henan to attack Xuzhou, with the goal of joining forces with Li Zongren in Wuhan. Yan Xishan marched from Shandong, cooperating with Feng Yuxiang to attack Xuzhou, with the goal of reaching the central government of Nanjing. Shi repeatedly wavered.
Yousan, this time mainly attacked Yanzhou and Jining, and at the same time cooperated with the Jin army to capture Jinan. There were also He Jian from Hunan and Liu Wenhui from Sichuan, who were also fighting with the people from Chiang Kai-shek's side on their own territory.
From south to north, from east to west, fighting continued.
Shandong, which has suffered from severe famine for several consecutive years, has not yet recovered. Now it has once again become the main battlefield for warlords. In addition, old warlords such as Zhang Zongchang are fishing in troubled waters, and the war has almost become a white ground.
Ba Jin originally planned to go to Shandong to visit Lao She, but due to the continuous war, he had no choice but to give up.
Before leaving Tianjin, Ba Jin was encouraged by his friends to ride in a rickshaw and ring the doorbell of Sanletang.
Zhou Hexuan is playing with his children at home. His daughter Lingjun has been successfully weaned and has also learned to walk, barely taking two steps before falling down.
"Go quickly, go to my brother's side!" Zhou Hexuan let go of his hand and shouted.
Xiao Lingjun held on to Zhou Hexuan's sleeve, swaying, and said in a soft voice: "Dad, give me a hug."
Zhang Leyi sat beside the cradle and waved to little Lingjun: "Lingjun, come here and play with your brother."
The little Lingjun looked at Zhang Leyi, then at Zhou Hexuan, then suddenly lay down on the ground and slowly crawled towards the cradle.
Zhou Hexuan was sweating violently and took his daughter back and stood up: "You are not allowed to crawl, you have to walk with your feet."
Xiao Lingjun seemed to understand what she heard. She took a few steps forward with her fleshy calves, and then suddenly stopped. She was scared. There was Zhang Leyi a few steps ahead, and Zhou Hexuan a few steps behind. She stood in the middle.
Nothing happened.
"Wow wow wow..." Xiao Lingjun stood there stupidly and cried.
Zhou Hexuan quickly moved the location, ran to Zhang Leyi and shouted: "Come here quickly!"
Xiao Lingjun seemed to have forgotten the fear of falling, and ran quickly towards Zhou Hexuan, hugging Zhou Hexuan's knees and continued to cry.
Zhou Hexuan sighed: "What a crybaby."
What Zhou Hexuan didn't expect was that after Xiao Lingjun completely mastered walking, she learned to run in just a few minutes. Although she fell down while running, she got up and continued running, giggling around the room.
.
Little Willie was infected by his sister's laughter. He twisted around in his mother's arms, clapped his little hands excitedly and laughed. The room was filled with children's laughter.
"Sir, there is Mr. Li Yaotang outside who wants to see you." The servant came over to report.
Zhou Hexuan did not connect Li Yaotang with Ba Jin for a while. He asked: "How old are you and what do you do?"
The servant said: "He is very young, about 20 years old. He said he writes novels."
"It turns out he's a writer, please invite him in." Zhou Hexuan didn't think much about it.
Ba Jin had a three-part hairstyle and a pair of round-rimmed glasses. He looked a bit handsome. He took the initiative to shake hands and said, "Hello, Mr. Zhou. My name is Li Yaotang. I am a young author. I am here because of my reputation."
"Hello Mr. Li, please sit down." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
Zhang Leyi hugged her son, then took Xiao Lingjun, and quietly left the living room, leaving only Zhou Hexuan and Ba Jin.
Ba Jin said some words of admiration, and then talked about "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer". Finally, he took out a stack of manuscripts and said: "Mr. Zhou, this is my latest novel. It has not been completed yet. I hope you can give me some comments."
.”
When Zhou Hexuan opened it, he saw the title of the novel "***Dream". It was a very cliché name, and it should not be a famous work.
It wasn't until Zhou Hexuan read the main text and discovered that the names of the characters in the book were Juemin and Juehui that he suddenly looked up at Ba Jin: "May I ask what Mr. Li's pen name is?"
Ba Jin smiled and said: "Ba Jin."
Knew it!
Zhou Hexuan couldn't laugh or cry. He said that the novel draft read like "Home", but the title and content of the first draft were so different that he couldn't be sure for a while.
Zhou Hexuan put down the manuscript and said: "Mr. Li, I will read your works carefully. It seems that the "Destruction" serialized in "Novel Monthly" some time ago was also written by you, right?"
"Exactly," Ba Jin said with a smile, "I wrote that novel when I was in France. Studying abroad was too boring, so I could only find something to do to pass the time."
"The Chinese literary world has been in decline in the past two years. Many writers are mentally exhausted and it is difficult to see good works in the "Novel Monthly"," Zhou Hexuan unabashedly praised, "Nowadays, in the Chinese literary world, except for Lao She's "Er Horse"
", only Mr. Li, your "Death" is the most dazzling."
With Zhou Hexuan's current fame and status, Ba Jin was quite embarrassed after being praised. He rubbed his hands and said: "It can't be compared with Lao She's works. His works are humorous, especially the unique Beijing flavor. I personally like them very much."
I admire him. I heard that he was teaching at Qilu University, and I thought about going to pay him a visit, but I didn’t know that he met him during the Shandong War."
Zhou Hexuan said: "Then it is better to stay in Tianjin for a while. After the war is over, it will not be too late to go to Shandong. By the way, besides writing novels, does Mr. Li have other jobs now?"
"I used to work as a magazine editor, but I resigned at the end of last year," Ba Jin said.
Zhou Hexuan extended an invitation: "Why don't you go to my supplement of "Popular"? It won't delay your writing."
Ba Jinwei said: "I love freedom, I'm afraid I won't be able to work for long and I'll want to resign."
"Haha, it's okay, you can stay or go as you like." Zhou Hexuan said.
Only then did Ba Jin agree, and chatted with Zhou Hexuan about "The Rise of the Great Powers", and then began to discuss the French Revolution in full enthusiasm.
Ba Jin was an anarchist at first. After studying in France, he became obsessed with the French Revolution and liked to study the history of the French Revolution. Now that he met Zhou Hexuan, a historian, he naturally would not give up the opportunity to discuss the French Revolution.
The two chatted until the evening, when Liao Yaquan and Cui Huifu went home from get off work, Wanrong also came back from attending the salon, and Ba Jin left regardless of his efforts to stay.
Zhou Hexuan sent Ba Jin to the gate and said: "A writer friend is getting married in two days. He is also from Sichuan and has the same surname as you. Let's go to the wedding bar together."
"What a coincidence? Then I must go." Ba Jin said with a smile.
Ba Jin and Li Shoumin, two people who couldn't compete with each other, I think they should have a good chat with each other.
