Time passes, and time flies. Today, when we look back on the long river of history, we have to mention an inconspicuous low-level figure, Mr. Lu Xun's childhood playmate - Runtu. His name may not be loud and his story is not widely celebrated, but he has become a microcosm of an era, a picture of the lives, sufferings, hopes, and transformations of ordinary people.
57-year-old Runtu died of illness under the haze of life and social oppression, leaving behind five children. They inherited their father's shoulders and faced the same difficult life challenges. However, the wheels of the times continue to roll forward, paving an unprecedented path for the descendants of the leap earth. A brilliant transformation is quietly unfolding in this ordinary family.
Once upon a time, the land was more and more dim by the ruthlessness of feudal society, and his name seemed destined to be forgotten in the dust of history. However, his descendants, with perseverance and hard work, are writing a magnificent poem about a family's struggle from the bottom to find self-identity.
01 Friendship and despair in youth: the resonance of Lu Xun and Runtu in the Zhou family.
In the ancient streets of Shaoxing, there is a large family called the Zhou family. The stone lion in front of the door silently guards the mark of the years, the old branches in the yard are luxuriant, and the wind chimes hanging under the eaves are swaying in the wind, as if telling the glory and fall of the family.
There lived a young man named Lu Xun. His family used to be powerful, his grandfather Zhou Jiefu was brilliant in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, but his father Zhou Boyi was banned for life for cheating in the scientific examination. Glory and disappointment are intertwined in the family, like the wind chimes of an old house, swaying in the light and dark.
That year, the Zhou family held a grand funeral. Lu Xun's great-grandmother died, and the big family inevitably stirred up a family turmoil, and another teenager appeared.
His name is Zhang Runtu, and his original name is Zhang Runshui. He is the son of the long-term worker of the Lu Xun family, a young man in the countryside, and he is full of sunshine. His name was a proverb, and a fortune teller had told him that he was short of earth, so he became an intercalary earth. His father was a loyal long-term worker, and Runtu was a teenager who dreamed of becoming a scholar.
They met in that eventful season, Lu Xun often soaked between the four books and the five classics, with the heaviness and expectations of the family on his head. But what the leap soil brought to him was the smell of the earth, the shells of the seaside, the laughter of the fish pond, and the watchfulness and wild fun of the melon fields.
Lu Xun read and read to Runtu, and Runtu told Lu Xun about life. They became the light in each other's eyes, and during that time, the two of them were in the Zhou family compound, as if it was a beautiful time forgotten.
However, the good times are always short-lived, and the separation and dismissal after the funeral make all this good things shatter. Runtu was sent home, and even his father's long-term job could not be kept. Even the nurse Ah Chang, who recited the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" as the Three Hums Sutra, was dismissed.
Lu Xun cried and begged his father, hoping to leave the leap soil, but was rudely refused. After the leap soil left, the air in the compound seemed to freeze, and even the wind chimes no longer rang.
At that time, Lu Xun understood that the huge Zhou family was strong on the outside and dry in the middle, under the prosperity was the void, and behind the glamorous was decay. Behind people's smiles lies scheming and hypocrisy. The departure of the leap earth was like a sharp knife, cutting through his illusions.
The gate was still closed, and the stone lion in front of it was still silent. The glory of the Zhou family has become yesterday, leaving only the stone lion in front of the door, staring silently in the years.
02 Friendship and fate: The staggered fate of Lu Xun and Runtu in the long river of history.
Time flows, and inadvertently, everything changes. Gone is the brief time of the Peach Blossom Land in Runtu, replaced by the coldness and ruthlessness of reality. That once lively and intelligent teenager has become a tired laborer, and in the face of the oppression of life, he has to succumb to the pressure of life.
Lu Xun, the teenager who dreamed of becoming a doctor, became a generation of literary giants, walked out of the shadow of his family and went to the vast world. In his pen, there is the figure of leap earth, and there are the scars of those years.
When they met again, both had changed. The earth was haggard, and Lu Xun was disappointed. That once innocent friendship was polluted by the quagmire of reality and swallowed up by the darkness of the times.
The leap soil has become the tragedy of Lu Xun's pen, the epitome of that era, and the scar of a generation. His life, like those oppressed, was trapped in the cage of life, unable to break through the weight of reality.
Mr. Lu Xun, he can't do anything but record this history through words, recall the lost friendship through words, and accuse that dark era through words.
In the deep alleys of Shaoxing, the old banyan trees next to the stone road seem to be full of traces of time. This is accompanied by Lu Xun's growth and witnessed his friendship with Runtu. After many years, Lu Xun returned to this familiar land again, and the feeling in his heart was indescribable.
Runtu came from the deep alleys of the small street, took the child to the water, and met Lu Xun happily and humbly. The aura and wit of his youth have been washed away by the years, replaced by the vicissitudes of life and helplessness. His awe and restraint of Lu Xun made Lu Xun have mixed feelings in his heart.
Lu Xun looked through the eyes of the leap earth, as if he saw a heavy life trajectory, full of hardships and helplessness. He invited Runtu to go to Beijing with him to try to save Runtu from the heavy pressure of life and give him a new starting point in life. But he also knew that this former friend had been dragged down by a large family and could not be easily shaken off.
The rejection of the leap earth carries mixed feelings. The family behind him, his mother, wife and children all became his shackles, trapping his legs. The glimmer of expectation in his eyes was drowned out by the heaviness of reality. He can't leave, he can't leave.
Lu Xun empathized with this. He knew that his power was too small to change the fate of the leap earth. He gave Runtu a sum of money, hoping to help him, but he also knew that this money would not change anything.
They said goodbye, and everyone's eyes were left with reluctance. At the end of the alley, Runtu glanced back, and that look hid helplessness about the future and nostalgia for the past. And Lu Xun turned around and walked away heavily, his heart full of disappointment and sorrow.
This farewell is goodbye. Runtu is still struggling in the alleys of poverty, while Lu Xun continues to struggle on his literary path, trying to reveal more social darkness.
However, on that long night, when Lu Xun sat alone in the study, his thoughts returned to the stone road, the banyan tree, and the intercalary earth. He knew that he had lost a friendship, a past, and an irretrievable memory.
The alleys of Shaoxing gradually disappeared in the night, leaving only the old banyan tree, quietly guarding a period of time, a memory, a past that will never be repeated.
03 Going back in time, the friendship between the two is eternal: the reunion journey of Lu Xun and Runtu.
There are many tragedies in this world, some of which are the ridicule of life, and some of which are the indifference of society. In 1934, Mr. Lu Xun walked to the end of his life with tears, and his death left an unfillable gap in the literary world, but also left an eternal memory for a special friend, Runtu.
Two years later, Runtu followed his old friend to the other end of his life. None of them can meet again in the world, which is the mockery of life and the ruthlessness of time.
Now, time has left a deep mark on them, and their regrets are like the darkness of the long night, which can never be illuminated. Their death did not end their story, but began a new journey, a journey of struggle with life, with society, with themselves.
The family of Runtu has experienced the hardships of life and the baptism of war. The son Shui Sheng, the grandson Zhang Gui, generation after generation are struggling at the bottom of life. It was not until the establishment of New China and the development of the literacy campaign that Zhang Gui got rid of his illiteracy status.
Then came a reunion, an unexpected acquaintance. Zhang Gui entered Mr. Lu Xun's memorial hall and became friends with Lu Xun's son Zhou Haiying. The reincarnation of history and the arrangement of fate link them together.
Together, they went to the grave of Runtu to commemorate the reunion of the two old friends. At that moment, as if going back in time, Runtu and Mr. Lu Xun stood together again, their laughter and their conversations echoing in the wind.
04 Epilogue. The stories of Runtu and Lu Xun may have faded away in the memory of this generation, but the truth they reveal is always worth pondering. Their life predicament, their joys and sorrows, are all dramas that have been repeatedly staged by generations of low-level people in the long river of history.
Zhang Gui's success, although this special family has found some comfort, does it mean that all the people at the bottom can find their own light?
The real solution is not just a change in the fate of one or two people. Their stories tell us that solving the plight of the people at the bottom requires a larger, more orderly social system. A society that truly pursues fairness and justice, a society where everyone has the opportunity to show their talents, and a society where everyone can feel warmth and care.
Only by building a truly harmonious and orderly world, where resources such as education, medical care, and law are equally distributed, and where everyone has the possibility to pursue happiness, can people at the bottom like Runtu truly attain peace and happiness.
Such a world is still far away, and we need to explore and realize it together. However, just as Zhang Gui's struggle makes us see hope, as long as we do not give up the pursuit, such a world can be realized. The story of Runtu is a reminder, a call, and a responsibility, let us shoulder together and work towards a better future.