"...This is the AM program of Jinling Radio Station. We are broadcasting to the people in the occupied areas... We are broadcasting to the people in the occupied areas... Now we are broadcasting several special messages..."
At 9:30 pm on the last day of September, Dongdawang Town, Chuzhou County.
The shops on the street were closed as early as eight o'clock. Old Liu Ji's watch repair shop near the entrance of the town was no exception. It was also closed early. The shopkeeper, Master Liu, settled down with his wife and children.
I went upstairs to wash up and go to sleep. I sat downstairs, guarding the wooden stairs, holding the radio in my arms, turning the volume on low, lying on it with my ears tilted, listening greedily.
"...Please listen carefully: I live at the head of the Yangtze River, and you live at the end of the Yangtze River... I repeat: I live at the head of the Yangtze River, and you live at the tail end of the Yangtze River... Please listen carefully: Life is endless from generation to generation, and the moon and the river are only similar every year...
Repeat it again: Life is endless from generation to generation, but the river and the moon are only similar every year..."
In the darkness, the red cigarette butts flickered on and off. Old Master Liu frowned and smoked a low-quality cigarette. He identified the verses he wanted to listen to in the thick smoke, for fear of missing them.
This morning, Teacher Li from the town primary school came to the shop to get his watch and quietly told him to listen carefully to the radio these days. He was likely to have a mission these days. Once he heard the code given to him, he would have to wait until 12 o'clock that night.
On the hour, go to the designated location outside the town to send a code signal to the aircraft and receive the airdrop.
"...Please listen well: Peach Blossom Temple in Taohuawu, Peach Blossom Fairy in Peach Blossom Temple... Repeat: Peach Blossom Temple in Taohuawu, Peach Blossom Fairy in Peach Blossom Temple... Please listen well: The drunkard's intention is not to drink... Repeat again
:The drunkard's intention is not to drink..."
The drunkard's intention is not to drink!
Old Master Liu's heart was beating fast. He calmed down, took a deep breath, and exhaled steadily. Then he recalled it again to confirm that he heard correctly, then decisively turned off the radio and hid back.
place.
He was still sitting there, still smoking in the dark. He took out his old pocket watch and used the night light on it to see that it was almost ten o'clock and there were still two hours left. He simply planned to sit here for an hour.
, and then quietly slipped out of town.
Finally, it was eleven o'clock at night. Master Liu put on a thick coat, held a flashlight in his arms, carried a sack, put the shovel into the sack, and silently walked out of the back door of his house, closing the door.
Come to the door and disappear into the night streets in the dark.
Half an hour later, we arrived in the fields.
The fields in early autumn are particularly cool in the middle of the night. The pale moonlight shines on the fields, the four-sided insects are chirping, and some unknown "things" are chirping, one long and one short. It is very memorable.
hairy.
If you are a young person, you may feel a little creepy at this time. But Old Liu has lived for most of his life and is used to seeing horrors in the world.
…
More than a hundred steps ahead, there is an old locust tree that is more than a hundred years old. Ever since Lao Liu could remember when he was a child, many people have come to hang themselves at this old locust tree every year. The first time he remembered most clearly was fifty years ago
Before. That year, the "Lao Cai's Tavern" in the town was doing a booming business, but the government found an excuse to confiscate it. Shopkeeper Cai's life savings and the coffin were instantly wiped out. With no way to appeal and no way out, the old couple stayed in this locust tree.
Hanged.
Every year after that, he remembered someone hanging from a tree.
It was not until the Year of Wuxu that Emperor Guangxu began to reform. In the following years, fewer and fewer people hung themselves. Later, there were no more than one or two hangings in a year.
During that time, the government was building railways, setting up new schools, private businesses were doing business, and factories were opening. Scholars and officials in the county were also rushing to buy printing presses and publish newspapers, which was very exciting. During that time, the government was very happy.
They have also restrained themselves a lot. The money and property earned by the people themselves are looked at by the government with envy, but they are not so eager to snatch them away.
More and more ordinary people are starting to do small businesses. In Chuzhou County and Dawang Town, there are constantly people who have become wealthy from doing business, and small businesses have turned into big businesses. Even those who are not shopkeepers can do it.
Because I help people work, I can earn much more money than farming, and I can live a much better life than before.
It was indeed a very good time. All kinds of phenomena that had never been seen before appeared like magic. Many things that the government was not allowed to do before were now allowed to be done. Foreign students in the city took "
"The Constitution of the Qing Dynasty" went to the countryside and told the farmers in the fields some "treasonous and unethical" words. The farmers did not understand and were frightened by what they heard, but they found it extremely exciting.
Although the more than ten years of the Restoration were short, it had a huge impact on the people's minds. What Shopkeeper Liu felt most deeply was that the people around him no longer believed in "fate" as before. Even those in the countryside who lived all day long
The mud-legged farmers, the poorest and most miserable people,
Their thoughts were aroused. Looking at the self-made examples one after another around them, they all believed that as long as they were hardworking and willing to work hard, they would not be poor forever, and they would also be like that so-and-so, owning their own restaurant and their own business.
stores and even have their own factories.
During that time, the Qing Dynasty was indeed rich. So many roads, railways, bridges, and factories in the Qing Dynasty were the foundations laid at that time.
However, I don’t know since when, all this slowly changed.
The local government finally couldn't bear the temptation and began to try to reach out to private businesses, force partnerships, find faults, inspect and confiscate them, and then either turn them into government-run businesses, or directly hand them over to their own children, relatives and friends to run them. Starting from the common people who suffered
I also tried to file a lawsuit. Later I discovered that the "*" changed from "change*" was simply a decoration. From the "Qing Dynasty Constitution" onwards, it was all decoration.
People find that it is becoming more and more difficult to "start from scratch" like before. It can be as big as a factory or as small as a shop. If you want to do a good business, hard work and careful management are no longer the most important. Three hundred and six
Ten lines, no matter which line, as long as the government comes, the people will
Soon all the competitors could no longer continue their business, and they were shut down and sold. Soon, only the sons of officials were the only ones in this area. Those high-quality and low-priced things gradually became unavailable anymore.
.Instead, people can only spend more money and buy worse things.
The people began to fall slowly, and a cylinder fell below.
Old Master Liu raised his head, looking at the white parachute under the moonlight, and at the things falling below. The cry of "You collapsed!... You collapsed!" was still heard in his ears. But this
This time, tears suddenly came out of Lao Liu's eyes, as if he had heard this libretto for the first time. Somehow, his heart suddenly felt hot, and then a burst of hot heat spread throughout his body, and his whole body trembled, as if he was electrified.
.
The parachute fell to the ground. Old Liu wiped his tears and ran over. He didn't bother to check the things first, and took out the shovel from the sack and dug frantically in the ground. In less than an hour, the big hole was dug. He took the parachute
Roll it up into a ball and bury it carefully in a pit.
Then, with trembling hands, he opened the canvas cylinder and pulled out one thing after another.
Touching these items one by one, Old Master Liu suddenly understood.
He immediately understood what made his already numb heart filled with warmth again, and what made him, a man half buried in the ground, burst into tears again.