fingers of musicians

The night was not clear, and there was a dirty halo around the moon.

Under the dim moonlight, He Yulou was standing beside a tricycle, looking at the person lying on it, he still felt as strange as when he saw it for the first time tonight.

It was an old man riding a tricycle, wearing a broken straw hat, chewing a piece of grass in his mouth.

"Is this it?" The old man spat out the grass, "Get him down, I have to go back to the hospital to send someone else, just a car."

He Yulou was trembling.

He looked at the old man as if he wanted to kill him on the spot.

"What are you looking at me for?" the old man urged, "Get him down quickly."

He Yulou grabbed the old man's collar and clenched one hand into a fist.

Gu Jiapei's eyes were swollen, and the tears on her face had dried up.As if she couldn't feel anything, she went to the back of the tricycle to hug He Shenping without saying a word, but she couldn't pick him up, so she could only drag He Shenping down, let him lean on her body, and half hugged and half dragged him into the house Walk.

"Little brat, let go." The old man said impatiently, "I have to go back to the hospital."

He Yulou punched the old man on the side of the face, knocking the old man off the tricycle seat.

"Cough, cough..." The old man spit out a mouthful of bloodshot saliva.

"I can't figure it out..." He Yulou stared at the old man, and made a hoarse and trembling voice in his throat, like a wounded animal, "A man as good as my father was beaten to death, and a man like you is still alive OK?"

"Little boy, how old are you this year?" The old man was not angry when he was beaten, he looked He Yulou up and down, "I don't think you are too young, why don't you understand anything?"

He grabbed a piece of straw from the broken straw hat and chewed a couple of mouthfuls: "I'm too lazy to talk about it, so I'll tell you a few more words today. People die every day in this world, and you're the boss if someone dies in your family? Do you have to be careful? Bah, let me tell you, boy, there are only two ways of life in the world, one is called a chaotic world, and the other is called a peaceful and prosperous world. In a chaotic world, a small group of people kill a large group of people, and in a peaceful and prosperous world, a large group People kill a handful of people. Your family is precious, can’t you die? They’re all the same.”

After the old man finished speaking, he rode a tricycle and left.

He Yulou stood where he was, and after a long time, he felt someone grab his wrist.He lowered his head and saw a slender arm, then looked up along the arm, and slowly saw Wen Yuean's face.

Wen Yue'an didn't dare to make a sound, only dared to grab He Yulou's wrist, silently waiting for his reaction.

He Yulou stared at Wen Yue'an for a long time, as if it really took that long to confirm who the person in front of him was.

"Yuean?" He Yulou called out.

"Brother..." Wen Yuean said in a very soft voice, "Go in, don't leave Teacher Gu alone..."

When the two entered the room, they saw He Yuge sitting on the ground, holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"That's not my dad." She said, "It's written wrong, that's not my dad." She raised her head, stared at He Yulou and said, "Go and see, you must have made a mistake too, That's not my dad, my dad isn't like that." She saw Gu Jiapei's body dragged in just now, with bruises all over her body, and her face was so swollen that she couldn't see the original appearance, just like everyone kneeling on the flag-raising platform at her school today. A person, except not like her father.

He Yulou stood where he was, looked at He Yuge, and didn't speak.

He Yuge repeated those few words over and over until He Yulou walked over, squatted down, stretched out his hand and patted her on the back lightly, like a short hug.

"...Sister." It was one of the very few times in He Yulou's life that he called her that way.

After he finished shouting, he seemed to want to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything. He stood up slowly while supporting the floor, and went to find Gu Jiapei.

Gu Jiapei was sitting in the bedroom, with her hands hanging by her sides, her eyes like stagnant water falling on the bed.

He Shenping is on top.

In those days, Gu Jiapei just sat like that, and tears would flow down every once in a while. At first, she would wipe her cheeks until her cheeks were scratched, and then she simply let the tears flow and do it by herself.

Until the neighbors came and asked them what was so smelly.

It was summer and the remains were difficult to preserve.

Gu Jiapei looked at the neighbor with empty eyes: "What is it... oh, it's Shen Ping."

The neighbor is the teacher in charge of the administration of the Conservatory of Music. Hearing this, he immediately reacted, his eyes were sad, but he didn't dare to show it on his face. ...He shouldn't admit his mistake. He is an old rightist, and he should know... If the young revolutionary general asks him to do what he does, he will say whatever he asks him to say, and he won't end up like this..."

A dazed expression appeared on Gu Jiapei's face: "...I don't understand."

The neighbor approached Gu Jiapei and lowered his voice: "Mr. Gu, whether you understand it or not, if you are criticized, just admit your mistakes and beg for mercy. Don't be like Dean He... Even if you don't care about yourself, there are still three people in your family. What a child."

Gu Jiapei looked down at the ground: "...Yes, child."

"Listen to me, burn all those books, paintings, and tiles in your house, and smash all the tiles and glass..." The neighbor shook his head and sighed heavily, "Mr. Gu, you art lovers, you just don't have any awareness... Outside, the sky has changed."

That night He Yulou dug the soil behind the building all night, and buried He Shenping the next night.

There is no coffin, no tombstone, even grief can only be carried out in secret, and you cannot shed tears in front of others, otherwise, one day, big-character posters may expose them: not treating the mass movement correctly, not supporting the fruits of the victory of the revolution.

The fruits of the revolutionary victory lie in the pit, wearing the clothes they performed when they were young, with a book of Mozart, a pen they usually use, and a bamboo flute beside them.

Bit by bit the soil covered the body until it was completely invisible.

The ground was flattened as if nothing had happened.

He Yulou found a wooden board, wrote on it, and used it as He Shenping's memorial tablet.Gu Jiapei hid the memorial tablet in the closet, only dared to open the closet in the dead of night, and lit a white candle in front of the memorial tablet.

After dawn, the sound of orderly footsteps, passionate and happy singing and slogans sounded outside the window again, the sound of gongs and drums, and the sound of trumpets.

The revolution was in full swing and all schools were closed.

During that time, the old man who rode the tricycle never took a break. At first, he was dragged to other people's homes, and then he was dragged directly to the crematorium.

The crematorium's crematoriums were running at full capacity, overworked, but soon ran out.

More than ten days later, someone told the old man that he didn't have to do it anymore, because they didn't notify his family members anymore, and the corpses of the counter-revolutionaries were sold to the hospital for 500 yuan each.Supply exceeds demand, and it is much cheaper than before.

The door of the He family has been closed tightly.

He Yuge locked himself in the room, crying and laughing from time to time.

Gu Jiapei cooks for the three children every day, but she hardly eats or drinks herself.

All the exquisite cups and bowls in the house were smashed, leaving only the two painted by He Yulou and Wen Yuean. Wen Yuean was reluctant to smash them, so He Yulou quietly buried the two cups in the yard together with books, The piano score, the paperweight made by He Shenping and the many handwritings he left over the past few decades.

There were too many books and piano scores in their family, and it took several nights to bury half of them.

Before they finished disposing of the things at home, the trend of ransacking the house swept across the city.

One night, when a group of red armbands rushed into He's house, they saw He Yulou and Wen Yue'an burying the piano score.Originally, this group of young revolutionary generals acted during the day, but soon they discovered that those cunning counter-revolutionaries often sneaked out to hide during the day and only went home to sleep at night, so they decided to carry out raids at night, which proved to be effective.

"Hey, what's this?" A leading male student with thick eyebrows, big eyes and an upright face snatched a sheet of music from Wen Yue'an and flipped through it, "Mozart, what kind of foreign devil's name is that? Well, how dare you steal it? Tibetan things of capitalism!" He said, and lit the music score.

Wen Yuean wanted to reach out to snatch it back, but the male student threw the piano score into the pile of books that hadn't been buried on the ground, and the weak flame rose up all of a sudden, igniting the whole pile of books.

Seeing that so many books and piano scores were about to be reduced to ashes, He Yulou jumped into the pit without thinking, trying to stamp out the fire, but before he had time, he was dragged out by several red armbands, and died Kneel down on the ground.

"Oh, I remembered, isn't this He Yulou? He used to play capitalist music and write feudalist poems at school." Another male student with triangular eyes said, "And his father is the vice president of the Conservatory of Music. Chief, old rightist. I am a hero, I am a hero, I am a reactionary, I am a bastard, he is a class enemy, don’t be polite to him.”

"Well said!" A female student waved her hand, "Today we are going to smash their dark old world to pieces."

They escorted He Yulou and Wen Yuean, forcing them to look at the books and piano scores that were burning.

The flames shot up into the sky, Gu Jiapei ran out of the room, and was immediately held down by several red armbands standing beside her.

"Let go of my mother!" He Yulou kept struggling and screaming like crazy, but there were too many people on the other side, and the resistance seemed powerless, which made him look like an ant.They pressed the boy to the ground hard, leaving messy marks on the boy's knees, and finally sank into the mud.

With the burning of those papers, He Yulou struggled less and less.When the paper carrying countless words and notes turned to ashes, He Yulou did not move.

"Go! Go in!" said the leading male student, "Scrape their home!"

In fact, there is not much left at home.

The only thing that can be copied is the piano in the living room. It is too big to be moved or buried.

"Speak! Do you usually use this thing to promote capitalism?!" shouted while holding Gu Jiapei's red armband, "You still teach students? What are you teaching? You want to corrupt our proletarian heroes with bourgeois dirty music Children?!"

With a pale face, Gu Jiapei looked at He Yulou for a while, and Wen Yuean for a while. She remembered how they were when they were young, white and small, one was very noisy and the other was very quiet.She watched them play four songs together for the first time, when He Yulou played the piano, he became quiet, and when Wen Yuean played the piano, he looked more like a child, smiling innocently and happily.Such a thing... how can it be dirty?

"...I didn't," she said.

"How dare you not admit it?" The red armband slapped Gu Jiapei across the face.

He Yulou's eyes were about to burst: "...animal." He suddenly exerted strength, and the Red Guards who were holding him were caught off guard, and he broke away.He rushed up and punched Gu Jiapei's red armband, knocking him to the ground.

The next moment He Yulou was pushed to the ground by several tall and strong male students.

"Brother!" Wen Yuean shouted.

"What are you doing?" Gu Jiapei wanted to stop her.

But one of them was pressed on a wheelchair, and the other was pressed to kneel on the ground. The two of them could not move, they could only keep shouting, their voices were fragmented, and they watched helplessly as a male student grabbed He Yulou's head. He smashed the floor until his mouth and nose were bleeding.

"Don't hit, don't hit..." Gu Jiapei's voice was already hoarse.

The male student stopped and asked Gu Jiapei: "Do you admit that you use capitalist music to corrupt the masses?"

Gu Jiapei's lips moved.

The male student grabbed He Yulou's head again.

"I admit it!" Gu Jiapei almost shouted out, three words, almost broken.

"Admit what?"

"I use... I use capitalist music... to corrupt the masses." After saying the last word, Gu Jiapei collapsed to the ground, her face turned from pale to completely ashamed.

The red armbands smiled triumphantly.

Holding Gu Jiapei's red armband, he picked him up, shaved half of his hair, and cut the other half unevenly. He didn't think it was enough after cutting the yin and yang heads, and shaved off one of Gu Jiapei's eyebrows.

"Go, smash that bourgeois thing." The red armband stuffed an ax into Gu Jiapei's hand, and then pushed him onto the piano.

Gu Jiapei turned her back to the crowd, with her hand holding the hammer hanging by her side.

"Hurry up!" Someone behind him urged.

"Smash it quickly!"

"Don't you still have any grudges about bourgeois things?!"

"That's right! Hurry up! Hit me!"

"Mom..." He Yulou yelled in a low voice, but was immediately drowned in the shouts.

Gu Jiapei turned around tremblingly, with her back bent.

He Yulou raised his head with difficulty to look at his mother. Her original oval face had become a thin oval face. Half of her head had no hair, and one side of her face had no eyebrows. She looked old and strange, almost out of human shape, like something else Varied.

"Mom... don't hit it." He Yulou said.

"Don't smash it? Are you going to play this thing if you don't smash it?" A male student crushed He Yulou's fingers with his foot. Hand! I see what kind of ammo you are using! Tell me," the male student leaned down and threatened, "Will you smash it or not?!"

He Yulou stared at Gu Jiapei as if he couldn't feel the pain, and said word by word: "Mom...don't do things my dad didn't do...don't admit to things my dad didn't admit... ..."

Gu Jiapei froze for a moment, groped with one hand to support the piano behind her, and then slowly stood up straight.

At this moment, He Yulou resembled He Shenping very much, not only his facial features, but Gu Jiapei was in a trance for a moment, feeling that the one being held down on the ground was the young He Shenping.

"According to my father's instruction... our He family, even if there is nothing left, at least there is... um!"

A rusty hammer hit He Yulou's left hand.

Wen Yuean saw from a distance that He Yulou's hand was smashed, and a part of the little finger had fallen off, sticking to the ground like a puddle of blood. "Senior Brother, Senior Brother..." He yelled over and over while sitting in the wheelchair, almost dying of breath.He Yulou lay motionless on the ground, as if he had passed out.

After a long time, He Yulou moved his head slightly, and his pale lips parted slightly.

"...at least..." His cheeks, Adam's apple, and chest were all trembling, and he let out a huge panting sound, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a word from between his teeth, "There is still... a little bit of grandeur, ten inches without breaking a bone .”

"Father insisted until death, and I will also do it." He Yulou raised his head, his sharp eyes swept over the bright red armbands on each arm one by one, it was the blood in his eyes.