Chapter 21 small town life

This is the fourth day of my stay in the small town. The draft of the book has been typed, and I just have to move it out and write it on paper.However, the hotels in the small town are too noisy, and the construction outside lasts until midnight every day.The service desk said that this is a symbol of the growing town.I am a little annoyed to say that the expansion of your hotel should at least ensure the rest of the guests.Don't think that if you hang the national flag of the People's Republic of China at the door, you will be regarded as a five-star hotel.The waiter couldn't bear it anymore, and said that if you want to be quiet, you can rent a house in Guzhen District.

Her words irritated me.I packed my luggage and said goodbye to this hotel in a hurry. The town is very old and divided into two townships.The buildings of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Guzhen District are well preserved, and the government is about to develop it.The reason why tourists are not as good as Zhizhi is that the town is not well-known at first, and secondly, no famous person lived here in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It lacks the former residences of celebrities, so for some tourists without culture a cultural background.The government often complained that the literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had no vision. They only knew that there were many people and strength, and they ran to Zhouzhuang in groups.

I passed Liuyong Lane in the small town.The name of the lane was given by the government, and it was originally called Wanfu Lane.Because there is a willow tree at the mouth of Wanfu Nong, someone had a whim and erected a monument around the willow tree, saying that this is the only designated willow tree in "Yillow Bank, Xiaofeng Wanyue" in "Yu Linling".Liu Yongnong got its name from this. At the end of Liuyong Lane, there is a notice for renting a house.The house is nearby, old style, looks very beautiful, it is difficult to live in.However, it is much quieter here.I saw downstairs that the second floor by the window was just right for a desk, facing a small river, and it was a good place to write.

In the end, I rented this house together with a down-and-out kid.When he moved in, he saw piles of painting tools. "Painting?" I picked up a paintbrush and asked. "Yeah." He continued to move the box.Inside the box were his framed paintings. "Can I have a look?" "casual." I picked up a painting to admire, it was very realistic, and I understood it.Golden and green fields, European-style farmhouses, a dirt road paved from near to far, there are things like cows and horses eating something like grass in the distance, the overall feeling is good.

"good." "Thanks, Bumblebee." "France? You've been." "No, it's Spain." "How's Spain, boy?" "Never been." "Then why do you paint Spain so much like Spain?" "Didn't you just think this was France?" I paused, stroked the oil painting a few times with my fingers, but couldn't find a word.Thinking about how to speak myself is going to a dead end. "Hey, don't touch, can you look at paintings?" I apologized, but I vaguely felt that this person was not easy to get along with.

"What's your name, painter?" "Don't call me home, if you are home, you won't come here." "Okay, how do you call it, Huahua?" I always feel that I am addressing the children in the kindergarten. "Dayou." "Luo Dayou?" "Nearly." "Ma Dayou?" "Call me Dayou from now on, I don't have a last name." 1 I escaped from school three years ago.I think I'm the smartest person in the world.Because some Ph.D.s don’t really improve their knowledge, they just learn how to write a sentence that everyone can understand so that ghosts can’t understand it.Originally, I would have stayed well. Anyway, everyone is just dawdling.You have to pay the rent after you go out, so it's better to stay in the dormitory comfortably.Lao Liu, who slept on my upper bunk, was engaged in the study of Western literature, focusing on France, but failed to produce a dissertation. Instead, he learned how the French fall in love, saying that the most important thing in love is the beauty of the small environment. The two must gaze at anytime and anywhere, so that There will be a kind of romance spontaneously.Later, Lao Liu fell into staring.In the grove of the school, the two of them stared too intently, were caught by a certain counselor, and things got into a lot of trouble.In fact, there is nothing wrong with staring. The most important thing is that while staring, the two of them also did some things that did not conform to the mental outlook of the students during the socialist construction period.

Later, Lao Liu did not restrain himself, but intensified it.One night we heard a mess in the girls' dormitory, scolded by the school leaders, screamed by the girls, and roared by Lao Liu.I realized that Lao Liu was finished.Sure enough, he was dismissed. When Lao Liu left school, he said something extraordinary to me: "Boy, don't stay here, anyway, you will be a freelance writer in the future, why do you need a diploma?" I felt bad at the time, because Lao Liu said that I dropped out of school, but at least it was because of this romantic affair, and it was not a loss for me to be so stupid to automatically drop out of school.

Lao Liu belongs to this kind of temperamental person. In fact, this "temperamental person" means a person of temperament and a person of love.Old Liu is dissolute by nature, and he belongs to the kind of person who can do whatever he wants.Once, the school's respected old professor was in class, and Lao Liu swayed to go out. The old professor was taken aback and asked, "What are you doing!" Lao Liu said, going to the toilet.The old professor's face was a little confused at the time, thinking that he was also a maverick when he was young, and he was not brave enough to break into the toilet in class.Let him go, face and dignity will be ruined, don't let him go, if he is suffocated to death, he will not be responsible.While hesitating, Lao Liu had disappeared.Because of this, Lao Liu became the focus of attention of all the girls in the school, and every time Lao Liu went to the toilet, he would attract people's discussion.Old Liu is never quiet, his feelings are as unobstructed as Adam and Eve who have lost their leaves.

I said, Lao Liu, you need to be a little self-cultivated, you want to be calm and not surprised, people praise you, you have to be calm, and being light and fluffy is also something after people leave, and then you can go wherever you want.When someone scolds you, you have to be more calm, and you can't strangle them with socks.Look at the last time Xiao Zhang said a few words to you, you strangled people with socks, took a step back and said, at least you have to use washed socks... In short, Lao Liu, you have to learn to be calm like water, like stagnant water, like knots Ice of stagnant water.

Lao Liu said: "Why do you pretend to be calm? You shouldn't be calm when you shouldn't be." I let Lao Liu live a life in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. If you look at the narrow streets of Ming and Qing Dynasties and the peaceful old people on them during the drizzle, you will understand why it is as calm as water. 2 Lao Liu left the campus in such a vigorous way, and there was no news after he left.It is rumored that he first went to Hohhot, then transferred to Junggar, walked dozens of kilometers and finally saw the Xilin Gol Prairie, where he worked as an editor for a literary publication two months later.

Then a boy from our Chinese department jumped off the building.He was from rural Yunnan, and the last news came that his father had been arrested for drug trafficking, and the amount was huge, far exceeding the amount of the death penalty.At that time, I was looking at the blue sky and white clouds from the window, and suddenly I saw a person falling down, passing by my window with a "swish".I was wondering if it was a fairy descending to earth or something, when I heard the screams from the people below, I realized that someone jumped off the building.At that time, I almost fainted, but I held back my screams and couldn't sleep all night. The news of jumping off the building was tightly blocked by the school, and it only claimed to the outside world that it was a mistake.God believed that it was a mistake, since they are so big, they have nothing to climb up the window to play, and the window is as high as the chest, so it is not easy to slip and fall from there. Then, the comments I heard were such as "Oh, this kid is so stupid, he jumped off the building if he wanted to die, he died so ugly", "Actually, he can pose at the last second", "His parents are selling white fans Is it still a flour seller? So much?” “He must have sent it at home”…… So, I suddenly longed for a quiet life.What's more, at that time I already had a small name, and I posted some things in more than a dozen newspapers, and some of them caused a more sensational effect than the marriage advertisement, and received hundreds of letters.What I want more is to spend a year writing a book.It must be a masterpiece, and if it is unfortunate, it should be a masterpiece. That's why I'm in town. 3 In the first few days, Dayou didn't paint, and looked like he was meditating.I thought it was the precipitation of art, begging for a big explosion.Once it breaks out, it may be possible to create something like "Monsa Lina" or "Earliest Breakfast".Speaking of breakfast, we eat the town's specialty steamed buns every day. This kind of steamed buns are very cheap, but the skin is thin and juicy, which Dayou is full of praise for.Dayou loves this kind of steamed buns very much. He is usually taciturn, and he speaks a total of five sentences a day, three of which are said to the steamed buns. After sitting in the old house on Liuyong Lane for three days, Dayou said he wanted to go out for a walk.For three days, we had nothing to do.My manuscript has only opened one beginning, but this beginning is very dissatisfied, so I decided to choose an auspicious day to reopen.Dayou was just sitting at the window every day, putting his fist on his chin and meditating, stripping off his clothes and being a "thinker".We were all inside the house except to go shopping outside Liuyong Lane.Dayou wants to go out for a walk, not for sketching, but looking for a small shop where he can sell paintings.The town is very concerned about this matter, because this is the first painting shop in the town after all, which can reflect the strong artistic atmosphere of a water town and attract tourists more. In the next few days, we were busy with opening an art shop.I helped Daisuke do many things, such as getting the painting into the frame.Dayou was grateful for this, and began to shift the focus of his talk from steamed buns to me.Dayou has a total of over a hundred paintings, most of which are oil paintings, but some are traditional Chinese paintings.The small shop we rented also looks like an oil painting. It looks like a nose and eyes from a distance, but it looks like a mess up close.The door panels are full of holes, and when the weather is cloudy and humid, some colorful and nameless insects will crawl out, wriggle into another hole, and have a tryst with someone. Fortunately, the location of this small shop is excellent. It is located in the center of the ancient town area, leaning against the city river. In the future, when there are more tourists, this place will be a golden zone.Besides, in my impression, the people who can come to the town should be of Bogutongjinlanxinhui quality.At that time, everyone will bring a painting, and if he sells 20 or 30 paintings a day, it will become big.So, I am really happy for my friend. 4 Dayou's art shop is about to open, and some items such as glass cabinets and hooks are ready.At this time the season has entered autumn.Autumn is bleak, and the buildings of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the small town exude a compelling sense of tranquility at dusk.Dayou set up an easel on the side of Liuyong Lane and drew quickly.Some of the old ladies who had finished eating or emptying the toilet were watching, pointing and pointing, very fresh, saying that the painter is a painter after all, and we don't understand what the painting is. I am very envious of Dayou's ability to paint in the street and attract people to watch, but I can't write books, I will never move a table to write in the street. When Dayou finished this painting, my book had already written more than 50,000 words.At this point, I began to immerse myself in the manuscript.It was close to seven o'clock when we made instant noodles in the old house, and Dayou hadn't finished his painting, so we went back home.Dayou said that there are no street lights there, and if you paint in the dark on the street, it will be ugly if someone tramples to death. "Dayou, why did you come here to paint?" I asked. Daisuke's summary is simple and clear, and when he said it, he seemed filled with righteous indignation.He said, do you know my girlfriend—I said no. "Bullshit, of course you don't know. She's dead." I sighed, thinking that losing my wife when I was young was a sad life. "How did you die?" "Car accident." "When did it happen?" "a year ago." "How long have you been?" "Six years." "So powerful? If you want to open up about this kind of thing, it's sad. She drives?" "No, take someone else's car. Beijing Jeep, City Hunter. The kid driving the car is disabled." At this point in the conversation, I finally understood what was going on.In a word, she took him for a ride in his jeep.In the end, he had an accident due to poor driving skills, she died, he was disabled, and the other one came here to open an art shop. Dayou said, be careful with this crippled boy, if I bump into him, I will crush him to death. "Then do you know where he lives and what his name is?" "of course I know." "Then why don't you pinch him?" "I just want to beat him up, she's dead anyway." "Why are you here?" "I want to live a peaceful life for a while, and let my mind be as calm as water." Therefore, we agreed to name the small painting shop Rushui Huaxuan. 5 On the first day of Rushui Huaxuan's opening, a large number of residents of the ancient town were attracted.They almost broke the little house.A few old ladies who had watched Dayou's paintings that night also came, and said they wanted to see the prices of the pictures painted by this young man, but they were scared away when they saw them.Dayou said that the price is already considered low, and these days are small profits but quick turnover.After half a day, countless people came to visit, and the transaction volume was not a cent.Only a person who came from Xinzhen to renovate the house said that he wanted to buy some oil paintings back home. Dayou seemed very enthusiastic. Later, the person thought it was too expensive and said that he might as well go to Nanxun to buy it. box.Dayou said, since that person can use a bathtub to describe the size of the painting, then his art appreciation is over. Rushui Huaxuan's business was sluggish on the first day, and it still maintained a boyish body.On the second day, almost no one even visited the store.Dayou began to worry about making a living, and so did I.I began to desperately catch up with the word count. 6 Then winter came in the town.In winter, the residents of the small town seldom come out, only at noon some old people will move a small stool to bask in the sun.It is hopeless to expect them to buy paintings. Last month, Dayou sold a total of four paintings, making a profit of 150 excluding the frame.After paying the rent and taxes, I lost thousands of dollars.I started to relax physically and mentally, soaking in the old house every day, baking a hot water bottle and continuing to write.I really doubt that writing this way can compare with Liu Zhenyun's book.By this time, I had had enough of the tranquility of small-town life, and began to feel bored and bored.I couldn't bear to go to Dayou's store to see the business situation.Every time I go, Dayou always says, you guys have finally come to add life to Rushui Huaxuan? Basically, every time I go, I will bring one or two paintings to the old house in Liuyong Lane, and show off on the street , to show that Rushui Huaxuan is still thriving.Then, the next day Dayou hugged him back like a thief.I said, Dayou, let me send it back for you.Dayou said, this must not be done, people will think that you are here to return the goods. The weather is getting colder and colder, and I can no longer hold my pen.Dayou still got up early in the morning, saying that reputation is the most important thing, he did not believe that such a good thing would be liked by no one. 7 The turning point came at the beginning of spring.The town government invited more than a dozen cultural celebrities from the province to come to the town for a day trip for free.The Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress to the Provincial Writers' Association borrowed an Audi to pick them up. Due to the distance, they had already stayed in a hotel suite for one night.The director of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles who is as young as the county——is picked up by Changan Alto.At nine o'clock in the morning, these literati gathered to visit the ancient town, swam for an hour to eat, and then went for a tour after eating.In the afternoon, I swam to Dayou's Rushui Painting Gallery. I didn't say how good Dayou was, but said that Dayou had a vision. After tourists discover this treasure in the future, the business will definitely be booming, and they bought nearly ten paintings.Dayou made a big deal and invited me to a restaurant. 8 Then, those literati published articles in some newspapers saying how beautiful and peaceful the town is.If you want a life as calm as water, come to the town quickly, just take a car to... 9 I was so happy for the town.It is gold that always shines.But I don't understand that the tragedy of gold is that it shines.If it didn't shine, no one would pick it up and build it.Ever since the town shone brightly, it began to welcome batches of tourists.At first I thought that the people who could come to this small town were literati who were begging for a peaceful place, but unexpectedly the first ones who came were businessmen.What I saw the most was this kind of scene, an old but toothless boss with his arms around a trembling board, smiling obscenely as he walked.The cars entering the township are getting more and more advanced. There are often mobile phones and bosses yelling in the street. He thought that Dayou's art shop business would get better and better, but the situation was still beyond his means.At the beginning, Dayou was full of enthusiasm and wanted to paint every corner of the town, but later he just sat in the shop and stared blankly at the paintings.An artist is most afraid of the gap between reality and ideal. The tourists in the town really began to flock.At this point my first draft is complete.I always hold a rigorous attitude of a thousand words a day.Dayou was a little restless at first, and he would often slam his hands on the table to relieve his inner pain with physical pain.I said don't, the table will be broken, and the body and heart will suffer together. And I also began to be extremely dissatisfied with this kind of life, the tranquility of the town has been ruined, so why am I still here.What is even more painful is that the structure of my manuscript is so poor that a character disappeared after writing it, and even I forgot about it.When I picked up this character again, I found that I picked up a waste, and he didn't promote the development of the plot. Dayou's abstract paintings are also getting worse and worse, which is specifically reflected in the fact that an old lady claims that she understands it.Dayou said it was impossible, even Van Gogh couldn't understand my abstract paintings. Why? I asked. Because I can't understand it either. 10 After another month of hardship, the town ushered in an interview with a leisure travel program on a TV station.The beautiful hostess chatted happily with Dayou.Dayou asked her, what do you like best? The hostess said that her sweetheart took her for a ride on the village road in a jeep, the speed was over 100 per hour, and the wind was in her ears... Dayou silently listened to her finish, then put his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket.I was terrified watching from the side, thinking that he was going to commit suicide with the hidden weapon in his pocket.Unexpectedly, Dayou took out a pack of cigarettes.In my impression, Dayou doesn't smoke. 11 In the evening, Dayou asked me if I wanted to go to Shanghai with him? "What are you going to do?" "Beat me up." "Forget it, that kid is disabled." "I can't let him go. I want to beat him up this year." "Not calm yet?" "There should be no peace when there should be no peace." "forget it." "Be sure to beat me up. That's the only wish in my life." "Your wish is easy enough to come true." "Boy, I'm asking you if you want to go." "In case something goes wrong..." "No, I don't shoot hard, I only have one wish." "Things are over, isn't it a bit of taking advantage of others and bullying the disabled..." "No bullying. I've been holding back for so long." Dayou roared, "Are you going?" "Go, go, or someone will collect the body for you." 12 We set off early the next morning.It is four or five hours' drive from the small town to Shanghai.I kept repeating such a scene in my dream—Dayou saw the man, and after digging in his pocket, he suddenly took out a knife and threw it to the man, saying that I came to collect debts, and we had a duel.The man said, don't look down on the disabled. I was a good-looking talent when I was dating your girlfriend back then. Although I'm a bit short now, I still have half-good looks anyway.If you give me a knife, you look down on me with your bare hands, or something. Dayou said who said I looked down on you, and then touched and touched and took out a big knife.The man saw that the small knife in his hand was not as long as the handle of the big knife, and he was so frightened that he called a hero. Dayou spoke late, and then a white light flashed. The camera is facing the white wall, and a splatter of blood is sprinkled on it.A gust of wind blew by. Both of them were touching themselves to see if they were injured. Dayou said, you got hit by my sword edge, it's blood spurting. That man told a joke, I don't know if I sprayed it or not.I have a great appetite now, and the food tastes delicious. I'm afraid you vomited it yourself. Then the two stood still, the wind ruffling their hair. Suddenly a figure fell down. Dayou hurriedly rushed over, knelt down in front of the dead man, and cried loudly: "We have shared joys and sorrows for more than ten months, and your novel went there before it was published. I killed you by accident—" The man said: "The so-called beauty--" So the two jumped together, held hands and said: "For the sake of world peace, don't fight any more. We should unite and promote together. It's not worth arguing over a dead girl—the sea can dry up, rocks can crumble, mountains can crumble, and the ground can crumble." Let's hold hands..." So I jumped up from the ground and said, "It would be great if you could understand this truth." Dayou patted me on the shoulder and said, "I understand, I'm going to escort Tang Monk to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures..." Woke up in a cold sweat. I have watched too much "A Chinese Journey to the West", and I can't help it. I told Dayou about this dream, and Dayou said no, he just wanted to beat him up. 13 At noon, we finally arrived in Shanghai.I am not used to entering the busy city all of a sudden.I asked, Dayou, do you know the address of that bastard.Dayou said of course he recognized it, it was very close to here on Panyu Road, and it only took more than two hours to walk there. I said, Dayou, you won't be able to impress him by then. 14 Dayou and I knocked on the mysterious door.Daisuke's hands trembled a little.Thinking that he is about to fulfill his greatest wish in life, it is unavoidable to be excited.A voice came from the door, asking who it was. Dayou said he read the water meter.In order to fulfill my long-cherished wish, I had to wrong myself temporarily. "Come in, it's unlocked." "My boy, do you know who I am!" Dayou kicked the door open. The man turned his back to us and said, "How do I know?" without even looking up. Dayou said, "Turn around and let me punch you." The disheveled man said, "I know who you are. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault." Then he held the left wheel of the wheelchair with one hand and pulled the right wheel hard with the other, facing us. "Old Liu, didn't you go to Inner Mongolia?" I exclaimed. 15 Old Liu raised his head, his face was no longer the face he used to bravely rush into the toilet.A very deep healing mark similar to a scar extends from the nose to the cheek. Dayou's punch passed by, and the side of Lao Liu's face was almost knocked out of the wheelchair.After the beating, Dayou asked me: "So you know each other?" I said, classmate. "Did you recognize the wrong person? Lao Liu——" I wanted to defend Lao Liu, but only Lao Liu could do this kind of thing.It's just that Lao Liu has changed too much. If it were changed to four years ago, he would definitely have a fierce fight with Dayou, and then there might be the scene in his dream. I said, Lao Liu, you made a big mistake this time.Then hold Dayou and say forget it, your dream has come true, go back now.Lao Liu looked decadent and said nothing. 16 It was almost dusk when we returned to the town, and the setting sun stained the town with a bloody smell. Dayou set up his easel to paint again, and I hid in the old house to read. 17 Dayou's Rushui Huaxuan is still in sluggish business.Dayou decided to close it and go to Beijing for a few years. My book has also been finalized and it is far from a monograph.Boeing used to take a day and a night.My biggest wish is that it can be published, and then go to Shanghai to find an editorial office to dawdle. 18 I decided to leave the day after tomorrow.Daisuke may be a little later. In the evening, I was wandering outside Liuyong Lane, when I suddenly saw a petty figure pushing the disabled car uphill under the setting sun.On the slope, I called to stop Lao Liu. Old Liu didn't show surprise at all, and said, "I expected you to be in this kind of place. Where is that person?" He has already left and went to Beijing.I'll tell a lie, lest Lao Liu shake the car and run away in fright. "Is that kid's birthday on October 4th?" "how do you know?" "On October 4, 1995, I drove back from Beijing. It was already past seven o'clock, and it was still an hour's drive from downtown Shanghai. A pretty girl was waving on the side of the road—you know my character, I just The car stopped. The girl had a scroll in her hand, and said that today was her boyfriend’s birthday. She was sketching in Zhouzhuang early in the morning, and her boyfriend liked the town the most. When she came back to change cars, she found that it was too late and there was no car. Of course I show off my driving skills in front of strange girls. When passing cars, the high beams on the opposite side are too dazzling, and the speed is too fast... This is the fact, now I come to see the small town in the south of the Yangtze River, and I read it from the newspaper, saying that it is very quiet here... ..." It's not quiet here anymore.However, Lao Liu's tone was as calm as water, like stagnant water, like frozen stagnant water.