The other day, I read Yu Hua's Alive in my spare time. The reason for reading this book is that I first saw the old movie Alive, which was made by Zhang Yimou in 1994. At the end of the movie story, Fugui, Fugui's daughter-in-law Jiazhen, her son-in-law Erxi and his grandson were having lunch together. Personally, it was a happy ending. However, I always feel that the ultimate fate of Ge You and Gong Li in shaping characters in the film should not be just like this. There should be stories behind, but the film is not finished due to space limitations! So I was curious about this novel. With this curiosity, I opened the book. Different from the way of expression in the film, Yu Hua's article begins with an ordinary village, an ordinary old man and an old cow.
What is unusual in the article is the way the old man treats cows - he treats them as his family. From the first perspective of this ordinary old man, the author slowly unfolded his ups and downs of life. This old man is our hero Fu Gui, born in a landlord family. From the father's generation, the family gradually declined, until he began to eat, drink, go whoring, gamble, and finally under the setup of Longer, the family property was completely ruined, from a landlord to a poor farmer. When I read here, I have to admire Zhang Yimou's film performance in the 1990s is first-rate. Because the fortune in the book is a waste with nothing! Director Zhang has given Fugui the same special skill - he can sing shadow play, and he is not bad.
The story of the film focuses on the special skills of the protagonist, showing the various influences on people's lives during the liberation period of China, the Great Leap Forward period and the Cultural Revolution period, reflecting how people live in the trend of the times, and showing the extraordinary character. But Yu Hua's article is more cruel than Zhang's film, because the fortune in the article is nothing! From a rich young master to a man who lives on his own hands, the hardships in the middle are unimaginable. What force made Fugui survive? The article was not written - that's how I survived! In fact, when I think about life, it is sometimes the case. No matter how hard it is, it will survive. It's nothing if I look at it later! What is valuable is Fugui's wife Jiazhen, the daughter of a rice merchant, who was also a spoiled young lady when she was young, but married an asshole husband.
Although Fugui was defeated later, Jiazhen would never give up on him. Even if her father took her back to her parents' home, she was also for the baby in her belly. When her son was one year old, she returned to her husband without hesitation. She not only did housework, served her mother-in-law, but also helped her husband work in the fields. It can be said that this is a perfect woman created by the author (I feel that this is a bit of male chauvinism). Gong Li's portrayal of the characters in the film is quite in line with the original spirit, but such a woman, in the second half of her life, has experienced a series of painful blows of losing her son and daughter, and I also suffered from terminal rickets at that time. Her life is bumpy, and we often think of such a person, how unfair God treats him, and it is inevitable that she will exclaim that "heaven and earth are unkind and all things are humble dogs"! With the deepening of reading, in the dull description of the protagonist, he realized the weakness and cruelty of life more and more.
He lost his son, daughter, wife, son-in-law, and grandson one by one. As a result, he lived alone for more than ten years with an old cow - just like this! Sure enough, words are more cruel and bloody than movies. I wonder how a man and a cow survived?

At present, I still can't find the answer. Maybe life is like breaking stones and sprouting grass. As long as I can live, I will face the sun even if it is difficult!