Chapter 24 Lian An (2)

In June, I met Lian An in Shanghai.She has a small photography exhibition and invited me to come over. After resigning from the magazine and leaving the fashion world, I rarely go to parties or gatherings.I just feel that in this kind of occasion, it is very possible to meet someone I don't like, and I have a very clean personality.But when her invitation came, I immediately bought a plane ticket and flew to Shanghai.We haven't seen each other for more than three months since we left Sichuan. I know that I am a person with few friends, or no friends at all.In a sense, Liangsheng is not my friend either.The meaning of friends to most people is more about people who are related to each other, or people who can drink a cup of tea with each other.And Lian'an is not a icing on the cake, nor is it a gift in a timely manner.She is a door in my life.Gently push away, infinite world.I knew she was the one waiting.

Arrived in Shanghai at around 10pm.First, I opened a room in a small hotel on Shaanxi South Road.The room is very small, at the corner of the building, through the large glass windows of the room on the 20th floor, you can see the wet road in the night fog.The dense plane trees and the spiers of old villas stand out in the orange light.Standing under the shower head of the bathtub and showering yourself with hot water for a long time.Wrapped in a towel, standing in front of the window smoking a cigarette.Then he changed into a pair of clean coarse trousers and a white shirt, tied his hair into a bun, and went to find Lian An.

When the high-speed viewing elevator was going up, there were crowds of people in costumes.The pink and diamond dresses of the gorgeous women, and the oily hair and powder noodles of the men, reveal the full taste of the affluence of the pseudo-middle class.The lounge where the exhibition is held is on the top floor of a 37-story building.Purple and black are the main colors.It is also very gorgeous.These gaps are very different from Lian An on the journey.But I know that what I'm approaching now is the other half of her real life.I just now know that she is a star.Photography is a recent thing. Before that, she was a popular artist who released records.

I dress very differently from those around me, so I don't feel embarrassed, it's just better to be alone.I didn't know where Lian'an was, and I didn't rush to find her first, so I walked inside alone to look at the photos. Dirty kitchen, nudes of male and female friends, leftover food on the table, parties, surgery, all kinds of bewildered faces, fallen roses, fallen clothes, streets in the shadows, bewildered children Street vendors, empty Coke cans, cities in a hot maritime climate, beggars and junk railways, wilderness, some buildings... The pictures are so rough that they seem to have been taken randomly with a digital camera.Color and composition, seem careless.

And some selfies of herself.Take a bottle of BALLANTINES and sit on the edge of the roof to drink, squatting around 4 or 5 cats.Falling asleep alone in the dark of the movie theater.Sitting in a bar with a man, with a cigarette in his hand, smiling shyly like a girl... This is the first time I have seen her work. Although I have many expectations in my heart, I am still shocked.Looking at them one by one, I felt my bones tremble slightly.She handles tiny, trivial details, at odd angles.The hallucinations and shadows after expansion become a kind of brightness.There is a sense of desolate beauty that is calm and desolate.And has a very swift force.

They can give a feeling of being knocked down.These details are so secretive that perhaps only she can understand a certain meaning.But you can understand that this is life, life in the present, and these photos have too strong a sense of presence.They are signs, imprints, memories.is a direct interception of all the details of what was and is dead.This huge talent. It is clear that in the pictures she does not hold any prejudice against her subjects.There may also be no views at all.She's just showing her memory.She takes memory seriously, close to obstinate, yet alienated. Then I see myself.Lian An patted my upper body wearing a coarse shirt, and magnified my Vietnamese bun.Every strand of hair that shimmers in the sun is clearly visible, including the old silver hairpin inlaid with turquoise and mother-of-pearl in the bun.Against the dark blue sky and white walls, there is a sudden brightness.A small part of the side face, from the forehead to the line of the chin, tightens the outline.The name of the work is a pinyin: SUE.She also understands me and knows the most important part of my face.And catch it patiently.

I left that picture abruptly.Don't let yourself continue watching.When encountering good and happy things, always leave a light room, so that there will be a neutral love.Sometimes it will be deliberate.Because I hope it exists and lasts forever.So, don't allow yourself to indulge.It's always been so homemade. Like Lian An, we never called or wrote when we parted.If you cherish this, you will not be sweet and greasy, and you are only willing to let the friendship between gentlemen be as light as water. Went to the bar and asked for a glass of ice water.There was a group of people around who were talking in low voices, and when they listened carefully, they were clearly making fun of Lian An in a secret and roundabout way.Four or five men and women laughed tacitly.

Holding the host's invitation card, drinking the free champagne provided by the host, smiling and complimenting Yingying in person, but slandering and ridiculing behind her back.There are many such nasty people in the world. I have already seen Lian'an from afar.She was surrounded by a bunch of people, and a reporter was taking pictures of her with lights on.Wearing a Spanish flamenco-style chiffon skirt with piping, pure garnet red.Wear a pair of diamond baguette earrings.She looks dark and thin.Her hair was as thick as seaweed, and her face was rouged.She has an enchantment that cannot be seen on the journey.She is usually sloppy and loose, but with a little makeup, she shines brightly.

There is another woman beside me.Wearing a cheongsam, with short crew cut hair, the outline of the face is very clear.Wearing a huge emerald ring on her finger.His face was so white that there was hardly any blood.A little older, smoking a cigar.The woman only spoke Cantonese or English. Someone around me whispered that Maya has been Yin Lian'an's manager for so many years, from making records to film exploitation to photography, she is really amazing.It is said that they have already sold her photos to Europe.Another person said, you know why Maya is almost 50 years old and hasn't gotten married yet, she only likes to sleep with women... and the ambiguous laughter was transmitted in a low voice.

I walked back to the observation elevator alone.yes.No longer intend to stay any longer.I've seen her and felt enough.I just want to go back to the hotel and take a hot shower and go to sleep.Or go to a small bar near Maoming Road for a drink. The early summer in Shanghai is sweltering and hot, and the humidity in the air seems to seep into the bones.The elevators are fast.There was an extremely slight gust of wind, presumably the friction between high speed and air.Although it is late at night, the city is still brightly lit, fragile and untouchable like a mirage.The stars in the distant sky dimmed.At this moment, the near colleagues are extremely cold at the heights.It turned out to be so lonely.