Once Young

Chapter 1: Rui Chu

Section 11

 The yard was quiet without the sound of pigeons, but the footsteps of Xiaochuan Ge as he went out early and came back early late became clearer.

I asked Xiaochuan where he went, but he just smiled and didn't answer me. When I went to bed at night, I secretly thought that maybe Xiaochuan was a warrior with mysterious power, different from the bad boy Qinchuan. He could transform, use a long sword, wear golden armor, and was a saint who could subdue monsters. He had a princess to protect, and that princess might be me. Having such a beautiful dream, I would laugh out loud in my sleep. The big yellow cat in the yard couldn't stand it, and always caught mice on my roof, and would not stop until I woke up.

After school that day, I saw Xiaochuan turning to the other end of the alley, and I was imagining myself as Athena again. Just as I was imagining myself as Xiaochuan as Virgo Shaka, Qin Chuan hit me on the head with a road flag, which was his old trick. I turned around and hit him back with a "yield" road sign. He jumped away and said mysteriously: "I know where Xiaochuan went! Do you want to come and see?"

I paused, and quickly nodded vigorously and obediently. If I had a tail, I would definitely wag it happily.

"A bag of sticky candies and two gold coin chocolates!" Qin Chuan was not fooled by my flattery at all and immediately started to make conditions.

"Okay!" I agreed with gritted teeth.

I watched Qin Chuan and watched him finish a bag of sticky candies and two chocolates. He was particularly annoying, eating slowly and laughing as he watched me fidgeting on the side. When he had enough of the show, he whispered in my ear, "Brother Xiaochuan went to Miss Wu's house."

"Impossible!" I screamed and grabbed him, "Liar! Give me back my candy! Give me back my chocolate!"

Qin Chuan raised his head and said "If you don't believe me, go and see it now!"

"Let's go! If you can't see Brother Xiao, just wait and see!"

People say Qin Chuan is lying because everyone knows that it is impossible for children from our place to go to Miss Wu's house.

Logically, we should all call Miss Wu  "Grandma" because she is about the same age as Grandpa General, and is an old lady. However, people in our alley call her "Miss Wu". After several generations, we are used to calling her that.

Miss Wu's family is very well-known. Her grandfather was a famous salt merchant in Tianjin. He was very wealthy and well-known in both Beijing and Tianjin. Her father was the fourth child in the family and he was in Beijing all year round to manage the family business. The house in our alley was his residence in Beijing. However, it is said that he had a wife in Tianjin, and this was just an outer house. Miss Wu's mother was originally a Qingyi* who sang in Chang'an Theater. After being married to Mr. Wu Si, she only gave birth to this young lady. Although she was not as rich as the young ladies in Tianjin, she was also loved since she was a child.

Miss Wu back then was graceful and charming. She had the upbringing of a lady from a noble family, dignified and gentle. She also attended a new-style church school, knew foreign languages and was insightful. She was like a fine wine in a luminous cup, which smelled alluring even if hidden in an an alley.

At that time, Grandpa General was the Major General Chief of Staff under Chang Changjie, the Commander of the Tianjin Garrison, and had long-standing contacts with the Wu family. Some people said that he met Miss Wu at the banquet hosted by Mr. Wu Si. Others said that his car scraped against the rickshaw that was taking Miss Wu home from school in the alley. There is also a new story that Miss Wu loved to listen to operas, and Grandpa General invited Cheng Yanqiu to sing in the hall, and sang Miss Wu out of the deep courtyard. No matter what the story is, these two people met anyway. One is a handsome young man with a sword on horseback, and the other is a charming young lady. Just like the story in the lyrics of the opera, they fell in love at first sight, and secretly promised to be together for life.

It was the end of the Liberation War, and Tianjin was in a tight spot. Mr. Wu said he wanted to go home to have a look. Before leaving he told Miss Wu's mother to be careful and that he will take the mother and daughter with him after things settled there. But he never came back. The soldiers guarding the city could not escape. As long as the city was there, he was there, and she was there. Miss Wu made up her mind that she would not go anywhere but follow him, wherever he was.

Then the Kuomintang army retreated step by step, Tianjin and Beijing were liberated one after another, and the Grandpa General was imprisoned in Qingcheng Prison as a war criminal. Entering the new society, everything was very different. Some people advised Miss Wu to find a worker/ peasant/ soldier son and marry him while she was still young, but she was stubborn. Since she swore under the moon that she would wait for that person, then five years is waiting, ten years is waiting; young people have to wait, old people have to wait.**

Women are probably born to be good at waiting. But time flies by, and in the blink of an eye, more than a decade had passed. The public-private partnership was launched, and the family's store became a colorful stock market; the Great Leap Forward was launched, and the family's copper kettles and tinware were donated; during the three years of natural disasters, they were so hungry that they helped their old mother to dig wild vegetable roots outside Chaoyang Gate to eat. Miss Wu counted the days, and after four seasons, the name of Grandpa General was finally on the list of releases from Qincheng Prison.

On the day she was released, the General arrived at Miss Wu's door early in the morning. She was no longer a schoolgirl in a white shirt and blue skirt, nor was she the young lady who was wearing a cheongsam with sloping shoulders and hems; she was wearing a gray-green work suit. But when the General saw her, he was so excited that he could not control himself, and the seven-foot tall man actually cried in public.

Later I thought that period was probably the happiest time in Miss Wu's life. She waited for her lover to come, she embroidered a bright red quilt cover, and she was waiting to hold that man's hand and go to the Chinese Photo Studio to take a photo, stamped with a bright red wedding character, and then live a peaceful and happy life in this small alley.

But it was too late, just a little bit short of success. The "Cultural Revolution" came and her marriage was over.

The first to get into trouble was Grandpa General. He was quickly beaten down, with a sign on his chest that said "reactionary officer" and he was pressed on the playground of Denghua Primary School and criticized day and night. At that time, Miss Wu could not see Grandpa General at all. She ran around to find out when he would be released, but she didn't know that she would soon be trapped in the quagmire.

It was a time when people turned into beasts. Some people were good at exposing the old lady of the Wu family, saying that she was a prostitute and a remnant of the old society. They also seized on the family's background as a big landlord and capitalist and pursued her relentlessly. The courtyard of Miss Wu's family was soon occupied by someone, and they were forced to live in a small house in the west. Whenever the Red Guards remembered, they would come to the house to arrest people. Old Mrs. Wu was old, but she died after being criticized for three days without catching her breath. Miss Wu was filled with grief and anger. But that was not the end. Just after she hurriedly handled her mother's funeral, her affair with Grandpa General was exposed again.

The houses of both families had been searched long ago, and the few letters that had not been burned were dug out and forced to be read by the two. Those that involved family and country were said to be waiting for Chiang Kai-shek to counterattack the mainland; those that were involved private affairs were said to be despicable thieves and prostitutes.

Under the scorching sun, the General had his head shaved in a yin-yang style***, and Miss Wu had a worn-out shoe tied around her neck. The two stood bent over and counted each other's "crimes". At first both of them said some bland words but those people did not let them go, forcing them to say harsh words and draw a line.

"He said that even if we can't win this war, the Communist Party won't be able to rule the country!"

"She said she couldn't stay in Beijing anymore and wanted to flee to Taiwan with me!"

"He fired shots and injured revolutionary masses!"

"Her father took the people's money and ran to Taiwan to honor Chiang Kai-shek!"

"He is loyal to the Kuomintang reactionaries and has undying evil intentions!"

"She's not waiting for me, she doesn't want to marry me, she's missing the past, and she still wants to be a spoiled young lady who oppresses the common people!"

.............................

The two talked more and more, like a curse that thundered in the sky. It finally rained heavily that day, and the young revolutionary soldiers were happy and satisfied, so they let them go. Only the soulless Grandpa General and Miss Wu were left in the rain. The rain got heavier and heavier, but the affection between them became less and less, and the two were heartbroken.

Later, Grandpa General was sent to reform, and Miss Wu was transferred to do the most tiring and difficult work in the factory. By the time the two were rehabilitated, more than ten years had passed. The United Front Work Department wanted to arrange a place for Grandpa General to live, and Grandpa General chose our alley. Some people said that they saw Grandpa General standing in front of Miss Wu's window in the middle of the night. But Miss Wu never spoke to him again. Although they lived only a few hundred meters apart, the two of them never interacted with each other until they died.

*Qingyi: a type of female role in Chinese opera

** it does not matter whether she is young or old she will wait 

*** yin-yang style: in a very careless manner

<Previous