Teacher Peng

Peng Dagui was a teacher at Zhijiang Normal School back in the day, and I don't remember what he taught. He graduated from college; two years older than my father (stepfather). He had a simple and honest appearance, quite sturdy. If he were a bit darker, you might mistake him for a farmer, not a teacher. He had two daughters and always wished for a son, a wish that wasn't fulfilled until around 1959 when his wife gave birth to a son. At around 40 years old, this was a late-arriving son, bringing him immense joy and making him visibly more spirited.

I don't remember what his son's name was, so let's use Xiaoming as a substitute.

Because we all lived on the school grounds, we always played together. Xiaoming was a year and a half younger than me, but we got along very well, and he was my best friend at the time. He was delicate, very intelligent, and mature. His intelligence and emotional intelligence far surpassed other children of his age, and I never thought of him as a little brother. He got along well with all the children, and everyone liked him. Adults also liked and praised him. This made Teacher Peng even more overjoyed, considering him a precious gem. Every day, he wore a smile, always happy to see us children, and greeted us proactively.

At that time, a group of us children always liked to play in the gym. Climbing poles, swinging on ladders, using parallel bars, riding vaulting horses, and so on. We always played until it was almost dark, and only then, after our parents called us for dinner, did we go home.

Around the end of 1964, Xiaoming suddenly contracted acute nephritis, and we never saw him again after that. With him gone, our playtime lost much of its excitement.

The doctor warned Xiaoming's family that acute nephritis required an absolute salt ban, and he couldn't eat anything with salt. His family stopped giving him any salty foods. Xiaoming hadn't tasted anything salty for a long time and really wanted to. However, the adults wouldn't allow it. It is said that one day, when his parents were not at home, he begged his older sister to give him something salty to eat. The older sister, only 8 or 9 years old, not realizing the danger, and feeling sorry for him, gave him a bit of the pickled vegetables at home. As a result, Xiaoming's condition worsened rapidly.

He was admitted to the hospital, and his life was in danger.

My father went to the hospital to see him, and I also wanted to go. But probably fearing that I couldn't handle it, my father didn't take me. When my father came back, he said that Xiaoming, upon seeing him, asked as his first question, 'Why didn't Le Wei come to see me?' I will never forget this sentence in my life, and whenever I think of Xiaoming, I feel guilty.

He soon passed away at the age of five.

It was the first time I experienced what it meant to be 'parted by life and death.' After losing Xiaoming, Teacher Peng suddenly became silent, no longer smiling, walking listlessly, and his back started to hunch.

Soon after, the Cultural Revolution began. He, along with Zhijiang Normal School, moved to Wood Oil Hill on the east side of Zhijiang Airport. Because he was not in power, he didn't face much upheaval. However, with no classes in the school, he had nothing to do. I often saw him walking alone on the embankment for a long time, swimming alone in the river. He was very good at swimming, walking alone on the small path by the river to the far upstream, floating down. Then walk up again, float down again. He rarely talked to people, and when he saw us children, he was no longer enthusiastic, rarely greeting us.

A year later, because there was no one managing the school, and all the teachers had left, he returned to his hometown in the Autonomous Prefecture. It wasn't until Deng Xiaoping returned, and the school resumed classes that he returned to Zhijiang to teach. At that time, we no longer lived on the school grounds, so we rarely met. When I was in high school, I encountered him once. I told him, 'Teacher Peng, I am Le Wei!' He looked at me, almost as tall as him, stared for a long time, and then murmured, 'You've grown so big. If my Xiaoming were still here, he should be as tall as you.'

Later, Teacher Peng retired and returned to his hometown in the Autonomous Prefecture. There was no more news about him. In recent years, I heard that he passed away many years ago in his hometown.