Many inspirational chicken soup articles tell us that if we want to live a life that everyone envies, we must "work hard until we are powerless, and fight hard enough to impress ourselves." If you don't have a monthly salary of 50,000, it's because you don't work hard enough, don't work overtime until three in the morning, don't go to the point of vomiting several times after drinking with your clients, or you don't have the sharp eyesight to watch people's emotions.
There is nothing wrong with this. Making some effective efforts will allow you to grow, get a salary increase, and live a better, more hopeful and happier life, because the times are right.
But some people are not so lucky. They spend their whole life trying to live an ordinary life, but in the end they end up with nothing and just one breath more than a ghost. He is Xiangzi in Lao She's works.
"Camel Xiangzi" is Mr. Lao She's masterpiece, written in the 1930s, which reproduces the miserable and hopeless life and miserable and helpless fate of the people at the bottom at that time. The "three ups and three downs" in Xiangzi's life well explain this phenomenon.
At the age of 18, Xiangzi lost his parents and the few acres of thin farmland in the countryside, so he came to the city and worked hard to make a living. He did everything he could, and finally decided to develop cart pulling as his "career" because pulling carts was more flexible, had more opportunities, and made money easier.
The young Xiangzi is strong and tall, like a growing tree, full of vitality.
Xiangzi gave himself a day's trial period, and then officially started to pull the cart for hygiene. He suffered a lot, and was careful everywhere, and did not want to compete with others. After gritting his teeth in the wind and rain, struggling with food and tea, and sweating countless times, Xiangzi finally bought his own car.
Having a car gives me more expectations and hopes for life, and I feel more motivated when driving. He became more and more convinced that he and the car were both made of iron. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the war, in order to make more money, he lost his caution and his car was taken away by a few soldiers.
Overnight, life returned to its original state of having nothing. During that dark time in the barracks, I realized what is more frightening than poverty and more hopeless than darkness. With the desire to survive and his more accurate judgment of the terrain, Xiangzi escaped with three camels.
It was as if God had played a joke on him, but what he didn't know was that every joke might become the last straw for the poor.
After experiencing the days when he was captured by the soldiers, although he was still in shock, Xiangzi’s desire to buy his own car again did not become negative, but became stronger.
It seemed like it was reincarnation again, and I started to work hard without complaint again, working from dawn to dusk to earn money and save up to buy a car. It doesn't matter if I go through the hardships of the past again, but I am afraid that someone will take away the car that is my brother, sister and life for no reason. After experiencing that nightmare, I was depressed and depressed, but when I think about the car, even if I buy it today and lose it tomorrow, I still have to buy it.
Although he is a car enthusiast, it is also an honor, like a badge of a warrior who has experienced hundreds of battles. People always need some goals and pursuits in order to live peacefully.
But this time the car pulling did not go so smoothly. I met an owner who treated him like a pig or a dog. After all, he couldn't hold back and fired his employer. The resentment and depression in my heart are mixed together. I am powerless and helpless about life, and I feel a vague sense of hopelessness.
He returned to Mr. Liu's people and the car factory again. Huniu dressed up and prepared food and wine, as if she was waiting for him specially. This seemed to be premeditated, and that night, Xiangzi was indeed drunk in Huniu's arms and fell into her boudoir.
Xiangzi couldn't resist what happened. He didn't like Huniu because she was old, ugly and unfeminine. But obviously Huniu fell in love with Xiangzi. Huniu liked him very much for his honesty, diligence, youth, kindness and motivation. Sure enough, when Xiangzi went to another house to work as a monthly driver, Huniu came to him and lied to him that she "had it".
Xiangzi couldn't react to this stupidity at the moment, and it was hard to accept it when he did. But what can be done? His own destiny is never in his own hands, and even a tiger girl is difficult for him to deal with. Wanting to live with someone he didn't like made his heart feel as cold as ice, and he even felt like freezing in the ice like a dead fish. No longer have to feel the suffering of life and the unfairness of fate.
According to Huniu’s temper, she arranged to get married to Xiangzi. After their marriage, the two rented a large courtyard. The courtyard was full of poor people. Regarding the unspeakable hardships of life, people His bad nature and naked humanity are fully reflected in this courtyard.
As time passed, Huniu used some of her remaining money to buy Xiangzi a car. Now Xiangzi has a car again, and Huniu is really pregnant this time. The days were still tepid, Xiangzi even fell seriously ill, and his "body is made of iron" was disillusioned.
But fate did not sympathize with him because of this. Instead, it got worse. His wife Huniu died due to dystocia, killing one and two. Without the last spiritual support, living is actually nothing more than a burden.
I originally thought that by relying on my own efforts and enduring the hardships of life, it would be good to see some hope. But I never thought that this damn fate is like a ghost. You can't catch it, and you can only suffer all the hardship and grievances in vain.
Xiao Fuzi is a girl who lives in the same courtyard. She is interested in Xiangzi, but Xiangzi is also interested in him. But the reality is that Xiangzi's grief for losing his wife and son has not gone away, his livelihood is uncertain, and Xiao Fuzi is still carrying the burden of a large family, so Xiangzi still chooses to flee in a hurry.
Poor people are not worthy of love. Love cannot be eaten as food. Whether they love or not is the exclusive preserve of the rich.
I relaxed for a while, but sometimes I was not willing to just hang around like this. It would not be smart to destroy myself. He thought about buying a car again, but luckily someone took it in and was willing to bring Xiao Fuzi over. Life seems to be able to see some sunshine.
When he returned to the courtyard to pick up Xiao Fuzi, he found that she had moved away. When he inquired about it, he found out that she had gone to the lowest-class brothel. Later, she escaped and hung herself from a tree. At this time, in this world, Xiangzi really has no worries and no hope of living.
The decent, strong, dreamy, strong and great Xiangzi has truly died. Only this depraved, unfortunate, selfish child of social sickness is still alive.
When we read this now, our hearts are filled with pity. Some people say that nearly a hundred years have passed, and apart from the amazing changes in technology, there have been generally no changes. If you think about it, it's true.
Squeezing the bus to go to work in a company required by "996", you have to tighten the string of "the last one will be eliminated" in your heart, shouting the slogan of wolf culture, and treating women everywhere For men, a company that treats men like cattle. Wages haven't increased much, and housing prices still seem so strong and out of reach.
Prices have risen a lot again. A few days ago, there was a lot of buzz on the Internet because of the sharp increase in drug prices. The cost of living is getting higher and higher. marry? The house, car and betrothal gift were not found. Have a baby? The cost of milk powder, diapers, early education and kindergarten will cost you every minute. How about a second child? It takes a lot of effort to maintain a decent single life.
The relationship between husband and wife is tense, the divorce rate is increasing, fewer and fewer people are getting married, the single economy is rising, and the call for having children for the country is getting louder and louder. But now many people in the besieged city no longer have the extra strength and energy to maintain their marriage relationships, and even their ability to feel happiness has become weaker. Why get married?
We once believed that we had the power to change our destiny. We were free and had many choices, but in the end we still had nothing. We try hard to be extraordinary and think that we are unique, but later we discover that the ordinary fate of ordinary people is often unchangeable.
Xiangzi is as tireless, passionate and persistent in wanting to own a car as we are in wanting to buy a house of our own. As someone said, in this bizarre world, no one can actually live a smooth life.
But those who are born as human beings and have walked through the mist and rain of the plain lake, the mountains and rivers of the years, those who have gone through many disasters and tasted all kinds of flavors will be more vivid. Time is just a bystander, and all processes and results need to be borne by ourselves.