Back to 80: My Literary Life

Ningming is in the southwest of Green City, close to the border. Fang Minghua took the train for more than four hours before arriving at the county seat. It was already five o'clock in the afternoon.

The county town is much more prosperous than it was ten years ago. Soldiers wearing 65-style military uniforms were everywhere walking on the streets. The county town was almost a barracks. But now all these have disappeared, and it is no different from ordinary county towns in the mainland.

Fang Minghua found a state-owned hotel to stay at, and chatted with the waiter at the front desk about his grave sweeping.

When the waiter heard that Fang Minghua came to pay homage to his friend, he smiled and said: "In recent years, many people from all over the country have come to pay homage. The graves of the comrades in the art troupe you mentioned are probably no longer at the foot of Faka Mountain, but have been moved to the Martyrs Cemetery. , you’d better go there and have a look.”

It turned out that in 1988, Ningming built a martyrs' mausoleum, and the remains of martyrs who died in the self-defense counterattack and were buried in the three cemeteries of Tongmian, Zhilang and Beishan on the border, as well as the loyal bones of all revolutionary martyrs buried in various places in the county, were preserved. Relocated to the cemetery for burial.

"The Martyrs Cemetery is beside National Highway 322, on Nala Mountain behind the County Transportation Bureau. If you go south from here, you will see it as soon as you leave the county." The girl pointed to the road enthusiastically.

"Thanks."

Fang Minghua decided to rest for one night and go back the next morning.

Unexpectedly, it started to rain the next morning.

It wasn't raining heavily, so Fang Minghua went to the department store on the street and bought an umbrella, and then walked out of the city according to the waiter's directions.

After leaving the city, I quickly saw the Martyrs Cemetery on the side of the national highway, halfway up Nala Mountain.

Walking upward, you will soon arrive at the gate of the cemetery. The main entrance is a tall and majestic antique archway facing north and south.

After finding the cemetery management office, Fang Minghua found out the information about martyr Yang Xiaohong of the Southern Xinjiang Art Troupe, bought another bouquet of flowers, and walked south according to the address given. The martyr's tomb area is located at the south end of the cemetery. Fang Minghua used to see that the entire area was densely packed. tombstone.

He found that although it was raining today, there were many people coming to the cemetery to pay their respects, and many of them spoke with accents from all over the world, including gray-haired old men and children.

Finally, in an inconspicuous corner, Fang Minghua found Yang Xiaohong's tombstone. There was a portrait of a girl on the tombstone, wearing a 65-style military uniform, smiling with a pair of cute little tiger teeth.

Fang Minghua remembered that the girl was less than 20 years old when she died.

He gently placed a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, white lilies, and calla lilies in front of the tombstone, and then bowed respectfully three times.

Looking at the girl's portrait, Fang Minghua's memories suddenly came back to that summer ten years ago.

"Hey, great writer, you will follow wherever Tangtang goes? Are you worried?"

"Fang Minghua, I didn't expect you to be good at singing."

"Fang Minghua, you can write poems and novels, and you can dance and sing. You are such an all-rounder. What else can you do?"

The girl's voice and smile appeared in front of her eyes.

If you don't sacrifice, you can be a mother and have a happy family just like Tangtang, right?

Fang Minghua thought to himself.

Somewhat uncomfortable.

At this time, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky and the earth were shrouded in mist.

Fang Minghua was holding an umbrella and was about to leave when he suddenly discovered that at some point, there was a woman holding an umbrella and wearing a white shirt standing next to her, holding a white chrysanthemum in her hand.

The two met each other.

A woman in her thirties with short hair.

"You are Fang Minghua, right?" the woman asked in a tentative tone.

"I am Fang Minghua, you are..." Fang Minghua looked at this familiar woman and suddenly remembered a person's name.

"You are Meng Hongxia! Tangtang's comrade-in-arms."

"Yes, I am Meng Hongxia. I stood here and looked at you for a while. It looked like you, but I didn't dare to recognize you." Meng Hongxia said.

Meng Hongxia was also Song Tangtang's comrade in the Nanjiang Art Troupe. They lived in the same dormitory at the time and the two had a very good relationship.

Fang Minghua met this girl when he was collecting music in Southern Xinjiang, and later when the Southern Xinjiang Song and Dance Troupe went to Yanjing to report on their performances.

Fang Minghua explained that he came to Greentown for a meeting, and Song Tangtang asked him to come to Ningming to pay homage to the sacrificed Yang Xiaohong.

"Sure enough, you married Tangtang. At that time, Xiaohong and I both said that you and Tangtang were a talented couple, a perfect match," Meng Hongxia said.

"Thank you, are you also paying homage to Yang Xiaohong?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Yes." Meng Hongxia gently placed the chrysanthemum in her hand in front of the tomb, bowed three more times, and then said to Fang Minghua:

"My home is in Longzhou, just west of Ningming. Sometimes when I come to Ningming for business, I come to see Yang Xiaohong."

The two left the Martyrs Cemetery together and each talked about their own experiences.

It turned out that in 1985, Meng Hongxia returned to her hometown from the Southern Xinjiang Art Troupe and was assigned to work in the county theater troupe. Later, she married a man and had a child.

"I guess you don't know very well. In the past few years, theater troupes in the county have generally failed to perform well and have closed down. Our county is also the same. The troupe has closed down and the troupe members have to find their own way. My husband and I have started a small business. Today we are here in Ningming. I ordered some goods, so I came to visit Yang Xiaohong, and I didn’t expect to meet you,” Meng Hongxia said at last.

Fang Minghua also discovered that he remembered that Meng Hongxia and Song Tangtang were the same age, and they were very beautiful at the time, but this time when they saw her, she was obviously much older than Song Tangtang, and she actually had white hair when she was less than thirty.

What happened in the meantime?

Although Meng Hongxia didn't explain it in detail, Fang Minghua could also think of it.

"Hey, I remember there was a fellow Xijing native in the art troupe, named Zhou Shunlai, who played the trumpet. Later, he broke one arm. What is he doing now?" Meng Hongxia suddenly asked.

Fang Minghua certainly knew Zhou Shunlai.

When he went to southern Xinjiang to collect folk songs, this fellow took him with him in the military camp. The male protagonist of his book "Youth" was written based on the deeds of Liu Feng and Zhou Shunlai in the original movie "Youth".

Now when Meng Hongxia mentioned this, she said: "He was assigned to the security department of Zhouzhi Agricultural Machinery Factory in the suburbs of Xijing after being demobilized from the army, but I haven't seen him for several years."

"Oh, his trumpet is really beautiful."

"Yes"

The two went down the mountain and said goodbye to each other on the national highway. Fang Minghua told Meng Hongxia Song Tangtang's contact information and said that if there is a chance, come to Xijing to play.

Meng Hongxia smiled and agreed.

Fang Minghua returned to the county town without delay. After checking out of the guesthouse, he rushed to the train station with his travel backpack and returned to Nanning.

This time he stayed in the Nanfang Building on Chaoyang Road, which was known as the tallest building in Greentown at that time. The main reason was that there was a telephone in the guest room, so he could call Song Tangtang at night. He had not contacted her for more than a week.

At about eight o'clock in the evening, Fang Minghua estimated that his wife had answered the phone, so he called home.

"Tangtang, I'm in Greentown now. I went to Ningming yesterday to pay tribute to Yang Xiaohong. Guess who I met?"

"Who?"

"Meng Hongxia."

"Hongxia? We haven't seen each other for almost ten years. How is she now?" Song Tangtang's tone was full of surprise.

Fang Minghua told her about the encounter at the Martyrs' Cemetery today.

On the other end of the phone, Song Tangtang listened, sighed faintly, and said nothing.

The two chatted for a few more sentences. Fang Minghua asked about the two children's situation and hung up the phone.