Chapter 41

  December 8, 1935 - The eve of the mighty "December 9th" movement.

  Dao Jing had fallen ill and was running a high fever, lying on the wooden bed in her newly moved apartment. In the evening, in this old, cold and quiet little house, Xu Hui, Xiao Yan and Hou Rui were sitting around the coal stove talking in low voices. Xu Hui asked Xiao Yan: "When did she get sick? Has she seen a doctor?"

  "She's had a relapse," said Xiao Yan in a low voice. "The doctor says it's severe flu. I'm afraid she's been too exhausted these past two days. She's been talking to people day and night, making arrangements and dealing with the counter-revolutionary students' struggle, often forgetting to eat, so her body can't take it."

  Hou Rui also shook his head and said: "She's too tired."

  "You should take care of her more!" Xu Hui said anxiously as he looked at Dao Jing's sleeping face.

  At this time, Dao Jing woke up. She opened her eyes and looked at the three people beside her, smiled and said: "When did you all come? I didn't even know. Xu Hui, is tomorrow's action confirmed? Won't there be any changes?"

  "No." Xu Hui leaned against Dao Jing's side and smiled, "You're not allowed to worry anymore, only allowed to rest at ease." She straightened up and asked Hou Rui standing beside her, "How many people do you think will attend Beida tomorrow?"

  "It's still hard to be certain," replied Hou Rui. "Tonight is still mobilizing, and tomorrow morning can still be summoned temporarily. I think there should be around three or four hundred people."

  At this time, Dao Jing suddenly sat up from the 'bed', staring at Xu Hui and saying urgently: "Xu Hui, I think that as soon as we take action tomorrow, the suppressed volcano will erupt immediately, and many people from Beida will definitely participate."

  "Xu Hui doesn't allow you to 'worry', how come you're back again?" Xiaoyan muttered, while pressing Daojing down to lie down.

  "North China is so big, but it can't accommodate a quiet desk! Xu Hui smiled and said to the people in the house, "This sentence has great power in our declaration tomorrow. It can reflect the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the masses. This time the party put forward the action slogan based on the demands and awareness of the masses... Sorry, I have to hurry now. Xiaoyan, come out with me for a while, and then come back to take care of Little Lin."

  She took two steps and then turned back to remind Jing, "Xiao Lin, rest well and don't move! I'll come see you again tomorrow... Ah, almost forgot to tell you, Jiang Hua asked me to pass on a message: after *** is over tomorrow, he can come see you. Be patient and wait."

  Xiao Yan and Hou Rui separately helped Dao Jing tidy up the quilt, poured a cup of boiling water, added coal balls to the stove, and the guests in the house all left.

  "Ah, tomorrow, the day of the volcanic eruption is finally here!" Dao Jing lay in bed, thinking about the upcoming battle, his heart filled with excitement and joy. Even in his delirium, he kept muttering to himself: Volcano! Volcano...

  Xiao Yan returned soon after she left. She slept beside Dao Jing, taking good care of her. Before dawn broke, she quietly got up, afraid of startling the patient.

  But when she was dressing in the dark, Dao Jing also woke up. She trembled and sat up to turn on the light. Xiao Yan hurriedly stopped her: "Xiao Lin, don't be reckless! Just now I touched your body and it was still burning hot, you can't go out!"

  Dao Jing smiled and said, "The fever has gone down. I don't feel uncomfortable at all now. If I go for a run, I'll recover even faster."

  Xiao Yan's face turned red with anxiety. She grasped Dao Jing's hand and said seriously, "Xiao Lin, Xu Hui has 'entrusted' you to me, I have to take responsibility for her. You really can't go!"

  "You're responsible for Xu Hui, who am I responsible for? Don't bother me!" Dao Jing hastily washed her face, combed her hair, and like a mischievous child, begged Xiao Yan, "Come on, Xiao Yan, don't be so pedantic! Let me go! There's so much to do, how can it be done if I don't go? Be good, let's both participate in this great day together!" She said, pulling Xiao Yan and running towards the courtyard. Xiao Yan, without even combing her hair or washing her face, helplessly followed her into the courtyard. Dao Jing endured the chills and weakness on her body, and just as she opened the door, a gust of biting wind hit her in the face, suddenly causing her to feel dizzy and fall down involuntarily. Fortunately, Xiao Yan was alert and caught her in time.

  In the dark of dawn, a strong wind was attacking the 'door' passageway. Xiao Yan was holding Dao Jing who was dizzy and staggering around. At this time, she was so scared that her heart was racing and her limbs were weak, not knowing what to do. Fortunately, Dao Jing quickly woke up. Xiao Yan supported her, wanting to send her back to the house. But Dao Jing stood still on the ground and wouldn't move. Xiao Yan anxiously said with tears in her eyes: "Xiao Lin, go back and lie down! If you feel it's a loss, then I will work twice as hard to replace you. If I shed blood, my blood will have a share of yours..." Wang Xiao Yan's tears fell.

  Dao Jing leaned on Xiao Yan's shoulder, wanting to say something, when suddenly, in the dark and quiet night sky before dawn, a loud and sonorous singing voice came - this singing voice was majestic and stirring, as if it burst out from the heart of the earth, carrying an overwhelming passion. Dao Jing and Xiao Yan simultaneously tilted their heads to listen carefully. On both of their faces, a solemn expression also appeared at the same time.

  Workers, peasants and soldiers, students and merchants, all come to save the nation from extinction. Take up our hammers, knives and guns, walk out of the factories, fields, classrooms, go to the front lines, step onto the battlefield for national liberation!

  ……

  They had heard this song countless times, and it was no longer fresh to their ears. However, in the stillness of dawn, before the beacon fire of war, they seemed to hear it for the first time, and their hearts were involuntarily moved! This was the trumpet call of advancing troops! This was the battle cry! Their blood rushed through their veins at the same time. Dao Jing wanted to say something, but her heart was racing wildly, and she couldn't get anything out. Calming herself down, she broke free from Xiao Yan's arm, pushed Xiao Yan once, and said urgently: "Hurry up! I'm waiting for your good news..."

  After Dawn left, Dao Jing lay on the 'bed' all day without sleeping. She kept perking up her ears - the boiling voices of people in the street, the earth-shaking slogans, mixed with the angry howling wind, as if coming from the other end of the world, shaking her small hut, and also shaking her heart. She was like in a dream, yet also clearly standing in that frenzied storm.

  It was getting dark outside, and the wind was still howling outside the window - it was a bitterly cold day. Dao Jing curled up under the quilt, exhausted from staying awake for too long, had just dozed off when she was jolted awake by something icy. She opened her eyes, turned on the light, and saw Li Huaiying and Wang Xiaoyan standing in front of her bed, huddled together with their shoulders shaking violently.

  "You're back! How are you?" Dao Jing exclaimed excitedly, grabbing the hands of the two and struggling to sit up.

  "No, no, don't get up... we're freezing... it's all frozen!" Li Huaying and Wang Xiaoyan were shivering all over. Their faces had turned into purple eggplants, and the white ice columns that had formed on their hair looked like icicles hanging from the eaves of a house. Their down jackets, including Li Huaying's leather jacket, had become hard blocks of ice. But their expressions were joyful and excited, especially Li Huaying, who was smiling with her mouth open, but couldn't speak due to the cold.

  "How did you end up like this? What happened today? You've got me worried sick." Dao Jing handed over the quilted jacket that was covering her body to Li Huaiying, "Look at your coat, it's turned into a block of ice, quickly take mine and change into it."

  Li Huaiying was originally smiling, but suddenly hugged Dao Jing's neck and burst into tears.

  "Lin, Lin Dao Jing, I, I've been trapped in this 'dream' for so many years! Only today did I finally understand, understand how a person should live in the world." She was so excited that she cried and laughed at the same time, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

  Wang Xiaoyan pulled Li Huaying over and said, "Li Huaying, why are you so excited! We should all be celebrating..." As she spoke, Wang Xiaoyan's own eyes also turned red.

  Dào Jìng forgot about her illness, putting on a thin sweater and jumping out of bed. She stood on the cold floor, holding onto two friends' hands and saying: "Really, why are you both so sad? You're also so sensitive! Look, it's so cold today, you two go back to your dorms and change clothes before coming over here."

  At this time, the icicles on Xiaoyan and Li Huaying's hair began to melt, and the icy water was flowing onto their bodies and faces. The clothes that had frozen into ice blocks were also starting to melt, which made the chill even more penetrating. Wang Xiaoyan shivered with cold and pushed Dao Jing, saying: "Quickly lie down under the quilt! Are you feeling a bit better? We're fine, these icicles are from the water cannons shot by the dog police on Wangfujing Street. Wait a minute, I'll be right back to talk to you."

  "Have you seen Xu Hui? Why didn't she come?" Dao Jing suddenly asked.

  "She's back. It'll take a while to get here. What? Why don't you ask if you've met Jiang Hua? You should care about him too!" Wang Xiaoyan, who had been depressed for a long time, became lively again.

  "Don't talk anymore, go change your clothes quickly. I'm waiting for you to come back and report what happened."

  When there was only one quiet person left in the house, she really began to miss Jiang Hua.

  Since that night when they lived together, they never had the time and opportunity to be together again, and there was no chance to meet again. Separation - always separation. And in this separation, how much anxiety and worry it brought! For half a month, he only sent her a few messages saying he was fine and would come to see her when he had some time. But one day, two days, half a month passed, and he still didn't come. It's okay if he doesn't come, as long as he is safe. But... Dao Jing suddenly couldn't help but miss Jiang Hua at this moment. Ah! At this moment, if he could come to see her, if he could stand in front of her safely and soundly, how happy she would be! But... there was no him...

  After a while, Wang Xiaoyan changed into dry clothes and came back. This time Li Huaying didn't come with her - she couldn't bear to tell her friends who hadn't attended *** about her "miracle".

  According to Xiaoyan, their experience that day was as follows: On the morning of December 9th, the students from Beida had just rushed to the entrance of Dongzhimen to gather, and there were already ice beads on everyone's scarves - it was a bitterly cold day with freezing rain.

  But the enthusiasm of the classmates overcame the cold, and when Li Huaying came wearing a fur coat and high-heeled leather shoes to participate, the classmates looked at her with astonishing eyes. "Classmates! Come out of the ivory tower! Come out of the classroom! We must fight for the salvation of our nation's crisis!" Li Huaying suddenly shouted loudly in the crowd, many classmates were moved. As soon as she participated, she brought along many hesitant classmates to participate. The classmates ran to Xinhua Gate in one breath - there were already tens of thousands of students from various middle and primary schools gathered like a raging sea wave. "Down with Japanese imperialism!"

  "Oppose the partition of our territory, autonomous movement"

  "With our blood, we will fight for our own way out"...... Wave after wave of passionate slogans rose and fell, shaking the earth and resounding in the ancient sky of the old capital.

  The students sent representatives to petition the authorities. At that time, six demands were put forward: 1. Oppose secret diplomacy; 2. Oppose territorial dismemberment; 3. Guarantee people's freedom of speech and assembly... as well as patriotic movements; 4. Immediately stop any civil war; 5. Do not arbitrarily arrest the people; 6. Immediately release classmates who were arrested for patriotism. How correct and reasonable are these demands, but Song Zheyuan's representative rejected these correct demands with deceitful words. The petition was unsuccessful, and a large-scale demonstration began immediately.

  On the street of Xichang'an, millions of young people walked in fours, hand in hand and arm in arm, tightly holding each other, taking big strides westward. The students shouted slogans while distributing flyers. At this time, workers, civil servants, vendors, rickshaw drivers, and even housewives and women were also participating in the procession one after another, and more and more people were joining in - awakened people roared and shouted, and all traffic was interrupted. However, following the procession, armed military police who blocked the crowd's advance were also increasing in number. They held gleaming knives and guns, densely packed on street corners and at intersections where the procession passed through. When the procession arrived at Xidan Street, it suddenly came under attack, and under the swing of big knives, whips, and bayonets, the procession was dispersed. However, each school had arranged for people to be in charge of communication, and due to the communication links, the students who were dispersed quickly regrouped under organized command, cleverly passing through small alleys on both sides of Xidan Street, and reassembling into a mighty procession north of Xidan Shopping Mall. The procession continued to move northward until it reached the gate of Furen University on Huguo Temple Street, where it stopped. A frenzy of slogans swept towards the school gate like a storm. Although this was an imperialist church-run school, when students in the classroom heard the slogans, they could no longer sit still and immediately swarmed out to join the procession. The people continued to advance, shouting high-spirited slogans, distributing flyers and banners, and more and more citizens, workers, housewives, women, and vendors were joining the procession. As the increasingly massive crowd approached Wangfujing South Entrance, near the East Chang'an Avenue Embassy District, the imperialist lackeys could no longer tolerate it! They deployed large numbers of armed military police, blocking the students' path once again. In an instant, fire hoses sprayed water at the protesters in the freezing weather, and gleaming knives hacked at their bodies! The reactionary rulers attempted to use this cruel method to disperse the patriotic crowd, but brave people feared nothing. The gray sky still reverberated with heart-stirring slogans; students still marched forward courageously with their heads held high. Despite big knives, whips, batons, and bayonets flying and hacking more ferociously in the wind and water spray, despite blood...

  Young people, women and the elderly are bleeding, but no one is afraid. Those in front fell down in a pool of blood, and those behind followed closely. "Charge! Charge! Charge against the traitors!" The voices condensed with blood grew louder and higher.

  In the midst of ice and blood, in the "flesh" struggle, people are fighting one after another. A tired "female" student fell down, and the executioners' whips immediately came up. Her head and face were bleeding, but her mouth shouted loudly: "People, organize! Arm yourselves! The Chinese people rise to save China!"

  The struggle continued. Until the last rays of winter sun fell on the western hills, until the command post cleverly arranged for the *** to disperse when it was possible to avoid excessive damage, the angry crowd gradually dispersed. Wang Xiaoyan was hit by a stick on her shoulder, but not very hard. Only Li Huaying, as agile as a monkey, automatically started reconnaissance in the tense and shouting crowd - seeing a big knife flying from the left, she hurriedly shouted to the left: "Be careful! The big knife is coming!" Seeing someone falling down on the right, she ran up to help him up. When the military police flew knives and sticks at her, she calmly and leisurely said: "Why hit me? I'm just walking!" Her expensive leather coat and her elegant demeanor made the executioners really dare not lay a hand on her. When she walked back to school with Xiaoyan, supporting the injured Xu Hui, her high heels limping, she still smiled and said: "Fighting requires both bravery and strategy!"

  "Today, I finally have confidence in our Beida!" Xiaoyan said, pausing for a moment before continuing, "I thought the spirit of 'May Fourth' and the fighting spirit of 'September 18th' would never be seen again. But today, I changed my mind. Xiao Lin, I forgot to tell you that later on, when *** troops passed through the beach, another large group of people from Beida joined in, it was truly moving..." She then went on to tell Da Jing about what happened next.

  On the morning of May 4th, although many students from Peking University had joined the procession, even more students remained in their classrooms, libraries and playgrounds. Later, before the arrival of the *** contingent at Peking University, the *** communication team, following the instructions of the command center, ran ahead to shout slogans everywhere: "Peking University! Rise up!" "Fellow students of Peking University! Restore the spirit of May 4th!" As soon as they shouted these slogans, the entire campus was set ablaze like a prairie fire. Students rushed from their dormitories, classrooms, laboratories, geological museum, library and playground to gather at the Red Building. When the *** contingent arrived, all classroom doors were open, students walked out and surged into the ranks of the procession. Meanwhile, as they shouted slogans such as "Welcome Peking University students to join!" "Peking University! Restore the glorious tradition of May 4th!", Hou Rui ran onto the playground and rang the dismissal bell - the loud clanging sound seemed to signal the end of a lesson for Peking University students who had been studying to save the nation...

  Xiao Yan spoke to this point, Xu Hui stepped in with one foot. She changed into dry clothes, but there were still drops of fresh blood seeping out from her forehead. Before Dao Jing could speak, she jumped to the 'bed' and asked urgently: "Hey! Are you feeling better? Is the fever gone?"

  Dào Jìng gazed at Xú Huī's head and face, gazing at the dripping fresh blood, tightly grasping her hand, and replied irrelevantly: "Xú Huī, why don't you go to the hospital to get it bandaged? Having an open wound is very dangerous!"

  "You're like an old mother again." Xu Hui quickly helped Dao Jing tidy up the quilt, smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's light, I haven't even had time to go yet. How are you feeling?"

  "Alright. How was it? Were there heavy casualties today? Was anyone else caught?"

  "Uh, at the Teachers' University there were two female students who were stabbed very badly. Many were also injured at Beida. One classmate had their nose and mouth slit open by a big knife. As for those arrested... now I know of over ten."

  "What's next?" Dao Jing gazed at Xu Hui with a burning intensity.

  "I also want to ask," said Xiao Yan.

  Xu Hui stood up, wanting to take a sip of water. Seeing that the teapot was empty, she shook her head and said: "Has the landlord also gone? How can you not even give me a drink of water? Do you ask what will happen next?" She thought for a moment and smiled slightly, "Let's mobilize the masses more widely and deeply! Let's take the student movement into the midst of the struggle of the entire working class! Since the volcano has erupted, let it burn away all the evil and darkness!"

  Xu Hui's tone was like reciting a poem, and also like a solemn oath. The three female comrades simultaneously lifted their heads to gaze out the window at the blue sky.