The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Early in the morning, Tan Xihong left after breakfast.

"Looking for that Mr. Zhou again?" Zhong Guang asked.

Tan Xihong smiled and said, "Yes, Mr. Zhou is going to make a home visit today. I'll follow him to see it. It's very interesting."

"You have a leisurely mind." Zhong Guanguang said speechlessly.

Tan Xihong sighed and said, "I don't want to be idle either, but Peking University has suspended classes indefinitely, and we have nothing to do when we go back to school."

Zhong Guan got up and said, "Let's go, let's go together, anyway, idle is idle."

The two went to the east of the city to meet Zhou Hexuan, and then headed to the north of the city together. Their goal was Qiandezhuang, a place where fish and dragons were mixed together and where gangsters came out.

As soon as the rickshaw drove past the Xinming Grand Theater, Zhou Hexuan ran into an old acquaintance. It was Li Er who had bullied the Sun brothers back then.

Li Er is also a wonderful person. Seeing Zhou Hexuan at this moment, he greeted him with a smiling face: "Mr. Zhou, good morning, I greet you!"

"You are fine too." Zhou Hexuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The rickshaw continued to move forward, and Tan Xihong asked curiously, "Who is this person?"

Zhou Hexuan said: "I beat up a gangster who bullied the market."

"Uh..." Tan Xihong didn't know how to respond.

Zhong Guangguan showed a smile on his face, he thought Zhou Hexuan was very interesting, not the kind of fool who only knows how to concentrate on learning.

The life experience of this old man is also very legendary. He was a scholar in the 13th year of Guangxu, but he was keen on natural science. In the absence of materials and funds, he overcame various difficulties, went to Shanghai to purchase books on physics and chemistry, and followed the methods introduced in the books to do experiments by himself, forcibly self-taught.

In 1900, Zhong Guangguan designed and raised funds by himself, and founded a phosphorus factory in Shanghai, and also obtained a 15-year patent right from the Qing government. Later, he founded a scientific magazine and established a scientific instrument museum, which made important contributions to the development of modern science and technology in China.

After the Revolution of 1911, Zhong Guanguang was invited to serve as a counselor of the Ministry of Education, but he focused on plant research. He brought his own dry food, visited the famous mountains and rivers inside and outside Beijing on foot, and spent four years traveling to 11 provinces across the country, collecting more than 16,000 animal and plant specimens, with a total of more than 150,000 specimens. He can be called the ancestor of modern Chinese botany research.

"Mr. Zhou, how do you plan to deal with this matter?" Zhong Guanguang asked suddenly.

"I don't know either. Let's do a home visit first," Zhou Hexuan said. "It's not difficult to place that student. It's all about money. What I hope to change is the outdated thinking in the heads of the people. I hope some people can be awakened through newspapers."

Zhong Guang said: "How difficult it is to change one's mind."

"Come on step by step." Zhou Hexuan suddenly thought of Lu Xun.

Although there are many people complaining about Lu Xun's lack of contribution to the country, when you really come to the Republic of China, you will find that ideological reform is too necessary. Nowadays, there are still a lot of people who kneel to the judge when judging a case. As for human blood steamed buns, they are far more popular than western medicine.

A wooden house near Qiandezhuang is the home of student Zhou Hang. The walls are crooked and made of discarded wood that was picked up. There are not even a few nails, and many places are tied with hemp rope.

"Boom boom boom!"

Zhou Hexuan knocked on the door and asked, "Is the sister-in-law of the Zhou family here?"

The wooden door opened slowly, and a sallow and thin woman looked at Zhou Hexuan and asked vigilantly, "Who are you?"

Zhou Hexuan smiled kindly: "I am Zhou Hexuan, vice president of the Hope Education Foundation, and I am here to make a home visit to classmate Zhou Hang."

"It turned out to be Mr. Zhou, please come in!" The woman hurriedly arranged her clothes and invited them into the house.

Because there were no windows, the room was dimly lit and filled with the smell of traditional Chinese medicine. The area of ​​the house is about ten square meters. There is a paralyzed old lady lying on the bed, and a few-year-old child is reading in the corner by the light through the cracks in the planks.

The woman hurriedly poured several bowls of water, and said embarrassingly, "I'm sorry, there's nothing to entertain at home."

The water was cold and poured into a stoneware bowl with a few notches on the edge.

This is the living condition of the poor at the bottom of the Republic of China. They don't have a decent piece of furniture, and they can't even find a cup for water. This woman works as a low-level prostitute nearby, and she can't make much money, and she has to pay protection fees to the gang.

Zhou Hexuan took a symbolic sip, put down the bowl and said, "Student Zhou Hang, why don't you go to school these two days?"

The child in the corner lowered his head and said, "Mom won't let me go."

The woman quickly explained: "Sir, you, the principal, and the teachers of the school are all good people. I feel really sorry for causing you so much trouble."

Zhou Hexuan asked the child: "Do you want to study?"

"Think." Zhou Hang nodded vigorously, with longing in his eyes.

Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile: "I heard from Principal Wang that you have a photographic memory?"

Zhou Hang scratched his head and said, "I remember faster than other students."

Zhou Hexuan took the textbook, turned to the ancient poems on the last few pages, and said, "I'll teach you this poem. Listen to it: I don't feel the dawn when I sleep in spring, and I hear birds singing everywhere. The wind and rain come at night, and you know how much the flowers fall. Remember it ?"

"No, no," Zhou Hang shook his head, "Just remember the first sentence."

Zhou Hexuan read it twice, and continued to ask: "What about now?"

Zhou Hang immediately recited: "Chun Mian does not feel the dawn, and hears birds singing everywhere. The sound of wind and rain at night, you know how many flowers fall."

"Prodigy!"

The old Mr. Zhong Guanguang, who had been silent all this time, was suddenly overjoyed, and stared at the child like a baby.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside.

Zhou Hexuan opened the door and went out, only to see four or five middle-aged women standing outside the door.

One of the women asked, "Are you the teacher of the school?"

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "I am."

The woman said: "Sir, you can't let the son of this family go to school. If he goes to school again, our third son will not go, and he will be taken away."

"That's right, you can't let him study. This family is a bad breed, shame on you!" Other women echoed.

Zhou Hexuan frowned, not knowing how to respond for a while. He can persuade warlords, bureaucrats and foreign consuls with rhetoric, but he cannot reason with a group of illiterate women.

"Ahem," Zhong Guanguang coughed twice, and said to the woman, "I like this child very much. I want to recognize him as my god-son and take him to study in Peking. Are you willing?"

The woman was stunned for a moment, then knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "I'm willing, I'm willing, thank you for your kindness!"

"Get up quickly, don't kneel." Zhong Guanguang hurried to help.

Not only did the woman not get up, but she even pulled her son to kneel down, and said, "Kowtow to Grandpa, and call him Grandpa!"

Although Zhou Hang was smart, he was just a child after all, and kowtowed in a daze, "Grandpa."

Feeling very relieved, Zhong Guanguang nodded and smiled, and said to the woman, "I will let him come back to visit you during the holidays."

The woman was even more joyful, kowtowed loudly, and cried: "Master, I will live a long life, and I will be your cow and horse in the next life!"

When the women outside heard the movement, they immediately became envious, and rushed in desperately one by one, shouting: "Master, my son is also good, you can adopt him as your grandson!"

Zhou Hexuan and Tan Xihong looked at each other, both speechless by the scene.

After leaving some money for the woman, Zhou Hexuan and the three left silently. Zhong Guanguang will stay in Tianjin for a few more days, and when he returns to Beijing, he will take his children with him.

The more Zhou Hexuan thought about it, the more he felt uncomfortable. He thought of the movie "Goddess" starring Ruan Lingyu, and he could only lament that art comes from life, and reality is sadder than film and television works.

Spreading out the manuscript paper, Zhou Hexuan wrote down the word "goddess". He wanted to turn this movie into a novel and submit it to Shanghai's "Novel Monthly". This kind of serious work is not suitable for the supplement of "Popular People" that he is about to edit.

"Novel Monthly" has a large circulation, and I hope it can change the ideas of some readers.