Back to 80: My Literary Life

Li Li accompanied him.

Angel Island is in the state park, and it takes about 20 minutes to get there by boat from the ferry in the small town of Tiburon.

The two took a boat to the island, which is not large, with an area of ​​188 hectares. It used to be a detention center and now has become a tourist destination.

Fang Minghua saw tourists on the island in groups of three or two, some walking, some riding bicycles, and some paddling canoes on the water. It was a leisurely and quiet scene.

But the historical relics are still there.

Originally, the California government had planned to demolish all the buildings of the immigration station that had been abandoned for many years. In 1970, Alexander Weiss, a park manager, accidentally discovered the poems carved on the wooden wall by the former Chinese immigrants.

"He contacted George Arachi, a professor at a local university. The professor and photographer Gao Qiao went to the island, took pictures of the poems, and reported them, which immediately attracted the attention of the Chinese community." Li Li took Fang Minghua's arm and said softly.

"At that time, Cao Jiongpei, a Chinese working at the California Department of Transportation, formed the Angel Island Immigration Detention Center Historical Advisory Committee. Together with other Chinese, he raised funds everywhere and called on the state and federal governments to pay attention to and preserve the site of the immigration station. In 1976, he obtained a $250,000 renovation fund from the state government."

"In 1978, Victor Bogeron, a local chain restaurant owner, decided to donate money to build a granite monument in front of the Asian immigrant restaurant at the immigration station to commemorate the contribution of Chinese to the development of the United States.

The inscription on the monument is a Chinese couplet written by Chinese: "Leaving the well and drifting in the wooden house, creating a new world and starting a business in Kinmen."

At this time, Fang Minghua was standing next to this stone tablet.

The black body of the monument is behind the blue sea and blue sky.

"In 1982, Chinese American historian, writer, Chinese community leader) Mark Lai (, Chinese American poet, playwright) Genny Lim and others published a book titled "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island" (Chinese translation: "No Flowers Under the Pillow, No Sweet Dreams"), which collected all the poems found, as well as translations and excerpts from interviews with detainees. "

Fang Minghua saw a lot of poems in the detention center.

On the wooden walls, boards, and tables of the two-story wooden house at the detention center site

A poem engraved on the wall caught Fang Minghua's attention:

Leaving pen and sword to America,

Who knew that tears would flow here?

If I succeed,

I will definitely kill the barbarians without leaving any grass.

This is a bold and powerful thing.

"Someone has counted that there are about 200 poems in existence. Some people say that this alone proves that China is the country of poetry." Li Li said.

"It's a pity that this proof contains blood and tears." Fang Minghua sighed slightly.

After leaving the detention center, Li Li pointed to an island in the sea to the south and said, "Well, that's Alcatraz Island. ”

Alcatraz is also very famous in American history.

It is located in San Francisco Bay, about 1.5 miles from Fisherman's Wharf. It is a sea prison.

Since its official opening in 1934, Alcatraz has held nearly 100 notorious felons, including gang leaders, jailbreak experts and cold-blooded killers, such as the Chicago "Godfather" Capone, the murderer Stroud who is very knowledgeable about birds, and the cold-blooded machine gun killer Kelly, etc.

The movie "Escape from Alcatraz" starring Eastwood, which was released in 1979, perfectly restored the entire escape process of the fugitives from Alcatraz, and became a classic of jailbreak in film history.

"I have been to Alcatraz once. The environment and facilities inside are much better than Angel Island. There are single cells. It is said that breakfast includes cereal, bread, scrambled eggs and fruit salad. It has its own library and band. It is said that it attracted many prisoners from all over the United States to apply for transfer. "

"Isn't this a naked irony?" Fang Minghua said: "The felons live much better than these overseas immigrants. Who is the criminal? !"

Looking at the Devil's Island in the distance, Fang Minghua suddenly had an inspiration.

How to write this novel?

Writing the story of Angel Island alone is nothing more than narrating the history of suffering, which is already commonplace, but adding the Devil's Island next to it, wouldn't it be more interesting?

Fang Minghua quickly outlined the plot.

A hardworking and kind young Chinese immigrant, let's call him Zhang San for the time being, came to San Francisco from afar with a dream, and met a bad guy Jack by chance.

Although this bad guy Jack humiliated Zhang San in every way, Zhang San firmly believed that "bad people will go to hell", because Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad all said this.

As a result, he was mercilessly ridiculed by Jack, saying that he was pedantic.

"This world is originally a world of bad people, and you kind people are only worthy of being bullied by bad people."

"Your Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad can't save you! ”

Until one day, the bad guy was sentenced for murder and imprisoned on Alcatraz Island.

On the day of the trial, Zhang San secretly ran to the court to watch. Seeing the bad guy being tried, he firmly believed that his belief was right.

Unfortunately, because he was an illegal immigrant, he was discovered by the bailiff and immediately imprisoned on Angel Island. After some investigation, he was expelled from the United States.

Ten years later, he set foot in San Francisco again. This time, he was a successful businessman. With wealth, he entered the United States legally, but a few days later, one night, he encountered a highway robbery. It turned out to be the bad guy Jack from ten years ago. He realized that the other party had escaped from prison.

The other party did not let him go because of their previous acquaintance. Although Zhang San begged desperately, he was still robbed in the dark alley.

Before leaving, Jack left those two words.

"This world is originally a world of bad people. You kind people deserve to be bullied by bad people."

"Your Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad can't save you!"

Zhang San lost his legal identity card, met the public security police on the street, and was locked up in Angel Island again.

That night, in the detention center, Zhang San lay on the bed tossing and turning. He didn't understand what he had done wrong.

Thinking of the two words said by the bad guy Jack, he also remembered the line in Shakespeare's "The Tempest":

"Hell is empty, and the devils are all on earth."

Suddenly he had a great enlightenment.

So when the guards were not paying attention, he jumped into the sea and smuggled to San Francisco, hanging out in Chinatown. With his clever mind and fierce means, he finally became a dominant gangster.

Twenty years later, he was old, but he was still a gangster.

One day, when he was passing a church with a group of men, he suddenly found that the priest standing at the door basking in the sun was actually the bad guy Jack who bullied him twice.

But at this time, he was wearing a priest's black robe, with a cross hanging on his chest, and kind eyes. How could he look like the murderer back then?

Jack also recognized him.

The fierce-looking man in front of him turned out to be the kind Chinese man thirty years ago.

When enemies meet, they are particularly jealous.

Zhang San waved his hand, and the men dragged Zhang San to the church, closed the door, and kicked and punched Jack under the statue of Jesus.

Soon Jack was beaten to death.

He was dying.

Before he died, he heard Zhang San say two words.

"This world is originally a world of bad people, and you kind people are only worthy of being bullied by bad people."

"Your Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad can't save you!"

What a familiar word.

Jack smiled slightly and raised his head with difficulty to look at the other person.

"Zhang San, did you win, or did I win?"

The story ends.