I rely on talking to brush the copy

Zhu Ziqing eulogizes spring in his prose, describing it as a gorgeous little girl. However, such spring probably only exists in the gentle and beautiful Jiangnan water town. The spring in Peking is not so gentle. The spring in Peking is austere, with the coldness of winter and the rugged temperament unique to the north. The unmelted spring snow in the corner of the wall reflects the light brightly. The bare branches of the peach tree in front of the yard hang down listlessly. You have to get very close to see the new leaves.

Le Jing was lying on the bed. He could see the gloomy peach tree when he raised his head. Just like him at this moment.

When he woke up from Li's house, it was still late winter, and there was dazzling new snow on the road. Now it is early spring, everything is revived, leaving only him and the peach tree frozen by winter.

He coughed softly for a while, then tried to sit up, gathered his luck, and moved step by step to the desk not far away. As soon as Le Jing sat down, he couldn't help but gasp for air. His lungs creaked in his chest like an old bellows, and a familiar itch spread deep in his throat. He swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva to moisten his throat, and resisted the discomfort. He picked up the pen and began to write. The ink spread on the crooked words, like a hideous centipede. He closed his eyes and pretended not to see it. He ignored all the discomfort in his body and firmly left lines of ugly words on the white manuscript paper with strong willpower. Then a more intense itch crawled out from the depth of his throat. This time Le Jing finally couldn't help it. He leaned over and coughed heartbreakingly. He thought with a smile, Nabokov's old saying is indeed correct: there are three things that people can't hide, cough, poverty and love.

Li Shuran ran into the room following the sound of coughing, and saw her elder brother, who was still ill and should have been in bed, sitting at the desk with a pen in his hand and coughing. Her face turned pale, and she ran over to pat his back with heartache, saying, "Brother, you are really a jerk. You are not well yet, and the doctor has told you to rest well." She glanced at the manuscript paper spread out on the desk and advised, "How can you write a good article in your current health? You should take your time writing the article. It won't be too late when you are well."

I'm afraid... no.

Le Jing finally stopped coughing, and his pale face became more red. How could he not know the truth in Li Shuran's mouth? The article he just forced himself to write, not to mention the content, the handwriting was so ugly that he dared not read it for a long time. If possible, he would certainly want to rest well.

It's a pity that he didn't have time.

Le Jing didn't expect that one day he would be associated with the word "burden". Although he didn't want to admit it, he was indeed a burden these days.

He fell ill almost as soon as he rented a house. The acute illness was so fierce that it was hard to resist. Although Li Jingran was the same age as Le Jing, he had long been drained of his body by alcohol and sex, and he was also a heavy smoker, so his body was just a shell of paper. It is no exaggeration to say that Le Jing really spent half his life to quit drugs this time. Then, in order to get out of the fire pit with Li Shuran as soon as possible, he did not even have time to recuperate and began to write and submit articles non-stop. Then he took a train for several days and nights to come to Peking. Even a strong man could not bear it, not to mention that Li Jingran was already in poor health. It can be said that it was a blessing from God that Le Jing could hold on until they rented a house and had a place to stay before falling ill.

Then he went to seek medical treatment and medicine non-stop. Medicine in the Republic of China was undoubtedly very expensive, which can be seen from an article written by a literary giant who gave up medicine for literature in later generations. When the literary giant was young, his family was also rich in the local area, but because of his father's long-term illness, his family fell into decline. It can be seen that medical expenses in the Republic of China were not cheap. Although Le Jing's illness was not serious, this kind of illness caused by physical reasons is difficult to deal with. In addition, Le Jing fell into a coma due to a high fever, and Li Shuran, a little girl, had no backbone, so she naturally used whatever medicine was expensive. Le Jing was only ill for a short half month, and the 215 yuan they brought with them when they went to Beijing had shrunk to 30 yuan. After deducting the 20 yuan rent for next month, their total assets were only 10 yuan.

Le Jing thought that he brought Li Shuran to Peking to help her escape from the sea of ​​suffering, but he didn't expect that the little girl would be frightened and lack food and clothing because of his broken body, and there was also the risk of being homeless... He had never felt so humiliated at such a moment.

So let alone that he was just unwell now, even if his hands were broken now, he would finish the article with his mouth and feet. Let him lie in bed as a burdensome waste? It would be quicker to kill him.

So in response to Li Shuran's persuasion, Le Jing just smiled indifferently, "I'm much better now. I'm doing nothing lying in bed. I might as well find something to do." Seeing that Li Shuran was going to persuade him again, he calmly changed the subject: "I'm sick now. It's not good for you to be alone at home and outside. Tomorrow I will ask the landlord to see if he can introduce us to a reliable maid." These days, the brother and sister have been alone and helpless. Li Shuran was also a young lady who had never touched housework before. It was only with the help of neighbors from time to time that they could barely support themselves until now.

Li Shuran's attention was indeed diverted, "No need for a maid, I can do it by myself, but it's just some trivial things like washing clothes and cooking, I will learn it soon!" She knew that because of her brother's illness, the family had no money left, and now was the time to be frugal, so she racked her brains to make Le Jing give up the idea, but unfortunately Le Jing's heart was as rock and could not be moved, so Li Shuran had to give up. Then the little girl who was worried about her brother's health brought up the old matter again: "Brother, you are not allowed to touch the pen until you recover!"

Le Jing:……

Then there was a negotiation and three chapters without mentioning the agreement. The final result was that Le Jing could only write for three hours a day, supervised by Li Shuran. But no matter what, Le Jing is finally able to write an article, which is really gratifying and gratifying.

…

Le Jing thought about what to write in his second work for a long time. He even thought about writing some romance novels that are now the favorites of Mandarin Duck and Butterfly literati in order to make quick money.

Although the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School is often despised by orthodox literary schools (just like later generations of serious literary writers look down on best-selling popular writers), the books they wrote are all well-deserved bestsellers. Zhang Dada is the leader of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School. His book "Jin x Family" has been remade into a popular TV series in modern times.

With such a senior Zhu Yu in front of him, Le Jing was naturally interested. He even had an outline. After all, he had also watched classic romance films such as "Titanic" and "Heartbeat". Zweig He has also dabbled in the works of Jane Austen Duras and other famous writers, and it is more than enough to write a romantic novel that is full of romance.

However, when he saw the helper recommended by the landlord the next day, he changed his mind.

Le Jing originally wanted to hire only one helper, but the landlord instead brought a family of three. An old man and woman held a child who looked like a skeleton and gave him a flattering smile.

How to describe them? The pet rats of later generations were more respectable than them.

Some tattered rags of different lengths were hung on them - these were clothes that even beggars would not wear in later generations. Their faces were as rough and stiff as if they were carved from sandstone, but they still tried hard to look towards him. Put on a pleading smile. Their child was led behind by them like an animal with a straw rope, his eyes were dull and dull, like a little carrot head in the concentration camp, with a big head and a small body, with a thin layer of human skin covering his bones.

From them, Le Jing saw the Republic of China.

It is not the singing and dancing in Shanghai's ten-mile foreign market, it is not the gathering of masters in Peiping to talk about the past and the present, it is not the revolutionaries raising their arms and shouting about the romance of iron and fire.

The Republic of China was right in front of him.

The landlord's words rang clearly in his ears: "This family came here to escape famine, and they are the most honest and capable people. But not long ago, the head of the family fell ill, and he sold all his daughters to pay for the medicine... You see, they You really can’t live anymore, so just be fine and ask for them, just take care of the food..."

Le Jing closed his eyes.

Yes. He remembered.

This is the Republic of China, which is composed of countless Sanmao, heavy smokers and prostitutes, tens of millions of poor people like pigs and dogs, coolies with an average life span of only more than 30 years, and millions of fleeing armies who are displaced and even exchange their children for food. country.

This is the Republic of China, a hell on earth.

Li Shuran was the most kind-hearted person. Seeing this, she quickly begged Le Jing to let them stay. Le Jing naturally agreed, but she felt a little disappointed. He was able to save these three people, but he could not save the poor people in the entire country.

Le Jing is not an emotional person. At some point, he can even be called cold-blooded. But now he has an urge to do something for this country and nation.

Since he has come to this turbulent era, he should not follow the trend. He wanted to turn his pen into a sword and say something.

What this country needs now is not insignificant stories about romantic affairs, but unforgettable scolding and lashing. Only in this way can she realize her shame and move forward, and can she have the motivation to crawl out of the quagmire.

Le Jing thought that he already knew what he was going to write about his second story. He turned around and entered the room, took up a pen on the manuscript paper and wrote the title - "Rat Eyes Look Down on People".

"I am a Dutch mouse, from China a hundred years later." He wrote the first paragraph of the article: "I don't know why I came to this poor and backward era, but a mouse can be found everywhere. I can survive, not to mention that I am still a white guinea rat with noble blood and beautiful fur..."

The content of the story is that through the eyes of a pet rat from the future, the Republic of China was a bizarre place with thousands of people and faces, and all kinds of living beings. This was his inspiration from Natsume Soseki's "I Am a Cat".

China has been full of hatred and disgust towards rats since ancient times. This can be seen from the fact that when a rat crosses the street, everyone shouts and beats it. In addition, there are also derogatory terms such as timid as a rat, rat-like and dog-stealing, etc. Rats have been reviled for thousands of years.

But this time Le Jing decided to look down on others. Just like the cat written by Natsume Sakuseki who is full of justice and literary temperament, but never learned to catch mice until his death, this mouse is naturally also a mouse full of all the good qualities of human beings. Only in this way can we make a sharp contrast with the alienated people in the distorted society.

This is going to be a long, long story.

Le Jing will take a long time to write it.

I don’t seek to leave a name in history, I just seek to speak freely and with a clear conscience.