Chapter 75 Section 2

Before I lost my memory, I wrote: In midsummer, Xue Song walked across the golden pond to repair a hot water boiler for the college.Now I must go on and write.Before I write this, I must say what this incident reminded me of: when I was a graduate student, I often carried a tool bag and went to repair things in the department. degree, which amazes me.The leader of the department said bluntly: They admitted me not because of my character and studies, but because of my skill in repairing things—this reminds me that my character and studies are not worth remembering , only the craftsmanship is worth remembering.The history department is different from other liberal arts departments. It has an archaeological laboratory, a cultural relic restoration room, plus a reference room and a computer classroom. It has a huge family business and there are many things to repair.By the way, the leader said this to me, not to praise my craftsmanship, but to remind me that repairing things is my duty, and don't expect to be paid... For Xue Song, what is a college? A boiler, etc., as long as you regard Xue Song as someone like me, there is no need to explain.It was enough to let him know that a boiler was broken, and he would fix it right away.

The boiler that Xue Song wanted to repair was on a large octagonal nanmu tower, which was at the top of a crescent-shaped peninsula stretching out in a barren lake.There is not a single tree around the lake.There is no reed in the lake, only golden and transparent lake water.At noon, the golden glazed tiles on the tower are shining.I thought it was a beautiful sight.But Xue Song didn't look at the scenery, he walked into the tower.Inside the tower is an octagonal patio, with a staircase spiraling up to the top of the tower.This is a beautiful building.But Xue Song didn't have the heart to look at it, he just went up the stairs.On each floor of the tower, the girls in the academy were playing chess, studying painting techniques, playing the guqin and studying the rhythm. When they saw a man passing by, they all stopped to look at him.These are very beautiful women.But he didn't want to look at it, he went all the way to the top of the tower to see the broken boiler.This is because this broken boiler--it's not really a boiler, really, but a pot-bellied samovar, made of refined copper and polished to a shine--was a problem with him. , It's a strange itch from the heart.On the top of the samovar, there is a charcoal feeder made of black iron, which is a saddle-like thing, which is used to feed the charcoal into the hearth.This thing was repaired not long ago, and now it's broken again.On the broken iron handle, traces of frustration were left.This is destruction... The question is, who will destroy a samovar?Xue Song straightened up and looked at the women coming and going in the tower.Among these women, one fell in love with him.So she always broke the samovar and let him come here to fix it.Now the question is: who is she?Which of those moon-beautiful girls in the tower was she?Who is she among the women I have already written about?

I vaguely feel that this is my own story. I have repaired every instrument in the department. This does not mean anything else, it just means that the history department has a lot of junk that can break down at any time.The director of the archaeological laboratory is an old lady with a beard. After looking at one of the instruments, I said: The old parts are no longer good, and I have to buy new ones.She said: You write down the model number, and I will buy it.Without saying a word, I picked up the tool bag and left; because I felt that she did not let me buy parts because she suspected that I was going to be corrupt, which was a humiliation to my personality-after I left like this, she suspected that I was going to be corrupt even more.Regarding humiliation, I have this conclusion: When a humiliating thing happens to you, if you are afraid of humiliation, you must accept it without complaint, otherwise there will be even greater humiliation.But this is what actually happened, not a story.

Once, in my story, I went up a tower to repair a samovar.Inside the tower, there is gold everywhere: the walls made of gold-wrapped wood, the stair railings, and the yellow satin hanging everywhere; the surface is magnificent, but in fact it is very vulgar.In contrast, I like the piece of iron on the top of the tower.It lay flat under the bright samovar, covered with black charcoal.The metal was dingy and dull, but hard.Not pretty, but not tacky either. I walked up the steep stairs, past the din of voices.If these qin, harp, sheng, and pipe are played alone, no one will say that they are unpleasant, but if they are mixed together in a tower, they can make people faint.I walked through the disgusting cigarettes again. These sandalwood, musk, ambergris, and borneol are not bad alone, but they are disgusting when mixed together.There are still many girls in this place, all of them are beautiful in appearance, but they are all dressed in stiff yellow satin, their eyebrows are drawn, and they are crowded together in a mess, so they are no longer good-looking.In the courtyard of this great tower, a yellow, fiery whirlwind was whirling.Although I walked by the wind, I felt dizzy.

On the piece of black iron, next to the samovar, there was a board, and under the board a big bench was placed, and a girl was sitting on it.She was not wearing yellow satin, she was almost naked, her feet were bound by iron chains.On closer inspection, she didn't sit here voluntarily.There was an iron ring on the wall behind her, another iron rope was around her neck, and she was locked on the iron ring, and there was a wooden stick the size of a thumb stuck in her mouth, and behind it was a Iron hoops strangled.As for the hands, they were locked behind their backs.The girl huddled up with her eyes closed, sweating in the hot wind, her whole body was glowing red, as if she was taking a sauna bath—this was the hottest corner in the whole building, because the heat was rising, and there was a bed filled with red charcoal. The samovar was roasting.There was no makeup on her face, and her hair was dry from the heat, so she couldn't tell if she was beautiful.But I thought she must be beautiful because she is so extraordinary.The old godly woman who accompanied me said that there are strict rules in the college.This girl broke the house rules and is being punished.I casually asked: Did she eat Douyu?As my voice sounded through the boards, the girl opened her eyes to me, opened her mouth, showing two rows of neat teeth biting a wooden stick, and made a face at me.At the same time, the old godmother announced her crime: "destruction of the samovar".This crime is completely within my expectations.

Under the watchful eyes of that old woman, I untied the white cloth bag on my feet, and stepped onto the piece of black iron. Putting these two bags on is to prevent me, a layman, from polluting the sacred hall of the academy──By the way Said that when I repair things for the archaeological room, I don't need to wear bags on my feet, but I just wear a white coat-put the heavy canvas tool bag on the black iron.At this moment, the pair of feet locked together by the iron chain made a gesture to me: the left foot hugged the right foot, and a toe was exposed between the toes, swinging up and down.This is a pony tail.I knew it was mocking my bag, saying it was like a bag of dung hanging under a horse's tail.This canvas bag is full of stains, I don't need her to tell me what it looks like.For this vicious attack, I also have the means to fight back.I compared my left hand to a horse's head, and put the index finger of my right hand into the horse's mouth, which is a metaphor for her wearing a bit like a horse.Then, I stood up and got up with a wrench in my hand, and pretended to glance at her inadvertently, and I saw her making a sad face and pretending to cry.That said, my analogy was too vicious for her to like.But in a blink of an eye, she had a charming smile on her face again, and looked at me affectionately.I turned away calmly and began to repair the samovar.As mentioned, I've known for a long time that the boiler was going to fail, and where, so I brought spare parts.But I was in no rush to get it fixed, working slowly.The old godly woman couldn't stand the high temperature and said: "Master, you have worked so hard. I will go and pour you a cup of tea and leave."I'd be a fool if I really believed she'd pour me tea.At this time, only the two of us were left in the tea stove room.