It was the first time for Kong Lingyi to come to such a place.
If it weren't for Meng Shaoyuan, she would never have imagined that there was such poverty in Nanjing.
And it is located in Xinjiekou, the most prosperous area in Nanjing.
Isn't this also a kind of irony?
"Miss."
Gao Fanyi said kindly: "This place is really dirty and full of diseases. I think..."
"It's nothing." Kong Lingyi didn't care: "Chief Meng, how do you know this place and how do you know Da Bingzi?"
"Da Bingzi's father is Yang Youcai. He is a very ordinary man. His name is Youcai, but he has no money. The only thing that is different from ordinary people is that he is a spy."
When Meng Shaoyuan said these words, Kong Lingyi and Gao Fanyi were stunned.
Meng Shaoyuan just pretended not to see their expressions and continued: "There was no Lixingshe at that time. It was just a nice way of saying it. In fact, he was a low-level spy. His mission was to listen to the common people among the people. What dissatisfaction with the government.
He lives here, and although the conditions are a little worse, he can still provide for his family. Yang Youcai had no other pursuits, just hoping that he and his family could be safe and sound. In the 22nd year of the Republic of China, his son was born, Da Bingzi. Miss, do you know the American missionary Pei Yili? "
Pei Yili?
Of course Kong Lingyi knew.
In 1911, the Huaihe River flooded again, and thousands of refugees poured into Nanjing.
Pei Yili, an American missionary who teaches at Jinling University, is troubled by the misfortune of the refugees.
Not only did he donate generously, he also took Chinese students to visit slums.
Most of the students come from wealthy families and have never seen such a scene.
One of the county magistrate's children was very shocked as he followed Pei Yili from one shack to another.
Afterwards, the student thanked: "I have lived in this city since I was a child, but I have never noticed the miserable world around me. It wasn't until you, a foreigner, took me here that I saw all this."
Kong Lingyi just didn't know why Meng Shaoyuan suddenly mentioned Pei Yili.
"Actually, there was a foreigner who did the same thing as Pei Yili later, but the ending was very different." Meng Shaoyuan explained.
In the 22nd year of the Republic of China, Xia Muren, a foreign professor who also taught at Jinling University, did something similar.
But the consequences were very different.
In class, he first showed his students a film of landscapes in various parts of China shot by the American Kodak Company, and then played a film he made that recorded the city of Nanjing.
Because American films mostly reflected the "backward" Chinese landscape, and the subtitles included the sentence "Foreign influence has not yet penetrated into the mainland (China)", students began to be dissatisfied.
Professor Yang’s self-made film was shot in the dilapidated corners of Nanjing. Halfway through, the students finally lost patience and angrily demanded that the screening be stopped.
The incident caused a sensation in Nanjing, and the film played by Xia Muren was also called a "movie that humiliates the country" by the media.
Jinling University students demanded that the Nanjing party and government parties immediately fire the professor, but to no avail.
Later, the students discovered that this person was still filming various "socially vulgar videos" in Nanjing, and believed that he was "intentionally insulting China." The public was outraged and demanded that he be fired.
Considering that public anger is hard to offend, it may lead to an unexpected trend.
The school finally sent the foreign professor to a Chinese school in Peking on the grounds that he was not familiar with China's situation, so that he could learn Chinese and understand Chinese folk customs, and the turmoil subsided.
"A large part of Xia Muren's films were based on Rag Camp."
Meng Shaoyuan walked forward with Kong Lingyi and Gao Fanyi and said:
"Nanjing has developed rapidly in these years, but places like Rag Camp still exist. Xia Muren has no other idea. He just wants everyone to pay attention to these ordinary people who are still struggling in extreme poverty.
We are used to reporting good things but not bad things. We just can't see the bad parts. We don't want to think about how to solve them, and we don't want others to uncover the scars on our bodies.
Finally, someone uncovered it, and it hurt, so in the name of patriotism, they gathered together to attack. But has anyone ever thought about the people struggling in Rag Camp? They crave help more than anyone else.
You can say that I am a traitor, you can say that I am licking the butts of foreigners..."
Gao Fanyi hurriedly coughed a few times and reminded Meng Shaoyuan not to say such vulgar words in front of the eldest lady.
Meng Shaoyuan also discovered it, apologized and continued: "But I thought Xia Muren did the right thing. No one will expose it, no one will tell us about our bad customs, we will always anesthetize ourselves, live in the kingdom of heaven, and worship from all over the world. in a dream.
Let’s talk about Yang Youcai, I live in Rag Camp. In fact, like many people in Rag Camp, he was grateful that someone finally spoke for them. Someone finally knew that even in the capital, there were still a group of people living a precarious life.
On the day Xia Muren left Nanjing, Yang Youcai was grateful and worried that something might happen to him, so he silently took on the task of escorting him out of Nanjing.
No one asked him to do it, he did it on his own initiative. Sure enough, what he was worried about happened. Before he left Nanjing, Xia Muren was surrounded by a group of students.
The officials who accompanied Xia Muren had nothing to do with themselves and hid aside. Yang Youcai stepped forward to protect Xia Muren, but during the push, Yang Youcai fell.
He was also unlucky, his head happened to hit a protruding sharp corner, and he bled profusely on the spot. When the students saw that a life had been caused, they dispersed.
The students dispersed, Xia Muren left, and the officials went home. Yang Youcai died. "
When Meng Shaoyuan said this, his tone was full of sarcasm: "Yang Youcai deserves it. It is not his task to escort Xia Muren. He went there on his own. If he died in the line of duty, there is no need to think about the pension.
He has a wife and a young child, but who the hell is going to take care of it... Miss, I'm sorry, I said bad language again.
His wife, she goes everywhere to defend men's grievances. She wants nothing more than some funeral expenses, but no one cares about her. No one takes care of her. Who are you, Yang Youcai, a lowly spy living in the slums?
In such a big city, Nanjing, if you, a dog spy, die, nothing will matter! "
Meng Shaoyuan didn’t care if he said bad words there: “You are just a fucking ball, so his wife had no choice but to wrap the man’s body in a torn mat and bury it.
die on the battlefield? That's for soldiers. When those of us who are spies die, it would be nice to have a tattered mat. If no one spits on your body and calls you a 'dog spy' at the end, it means our ancestors have burnt incense.
The people in Rag Camp also want to help, but they really have no money. Think about it, if Yang Youcai was still alive and his son got sick, he would still find a way to get the medicine even if it cost him his life.
I didn't know about this until I joined the Lixing Society. I went to see Da Bingzi and his mother and left a little money, but I couldn't help more people. I am incompetent, I am useless. "
Kong Lingyi's eyes turned red:
"Tell me, Meng Shaoyuan, what exactly do you want from me?"
