Chapter 3 Part 1 The Rainbow After the Rain

The beautiful mountains, rivers and natural scenery of his hometown have shaped Xu Zhimo's lively, romantic and beauty-loving temperament. Zhimo often goes to temples in Dongshan and Xishan with his family or friends.Sometimes he played hide-and-seek with his friends in temples and hid in shrines; sometimes he picked up stones from the mountains and pestered adults to carve various things for him.Holidays are the happiest time for him.He and his friends can go to the temple fair at the West Temple at the foot of the West Mountain.There, there are jugglers who perform all kinds of magic tricks; there are people with rings, and there are little Bodhisattvas in various poses and different poses on the ground; The smooth and witty lyrics made people laugh; there are sugar men and sugar horses, whose lifelike shape and excellent color and fragrance make children salivate; there are also fortune tellers, singers, and incense burners. Those who beg for food, and those who do various small businesses.Xu Zhimo and his friends are always dazzled and come home after having fun.

The small window of Xujia Linhe is another small world of Zhimo.He took the delicious food that his grandmother gave him, and lay on the window, eating, while watching the river flowing slowly in the curved Shasibang outside the window, and watching the small boats on the river leisurely.This slowly flowing river took away so much of his childhood.He also often looks up at the night sky through the window after night falls, silently watching the starry night sky.The sky, give him unlimited imagination. Zhimo is fascinated by the beautiful natural scenery and the vitality of nature.He often squats on the ground, watching the ants busy carrying things, how much energy is contained in their small bodies.He also loves to play with kittens, puppies, and chickens.He would squat next to them, tell them stories, play games with them, and make the kittens and puppies jump up and down.Xiao Zhimo especially likes the fish swimming in the water and the birds flying freely in the sky.Although he can't swim, he often sits by the water and watches the fish swimming around, full of envy.The birds in the sky made him dream endlessly.The chirping of the birds echoed the bells of the pagoda courtyard, which aroused his thoughts.

Xu Zhimo recalled in the prose "Rainbow After the Rain" that when he was a child, he was studying in a private school, and he loved fighting in summer most.In the sweltering heat of a summer afternoon, there is nothing more pleasant than a thunderstorm that blows across the sky. The private school is not far from his home.In front of the private school's house is a square stone-paved courtyard, in which there is a stone-built goldfish pond, in which there are vaguely clusters of red things swimming.There are all kinds of unknown flowers and plants growing around, as well as several large tanks with water, and several pots of seasonal flowers.

In the summer afternoon in the south, it is steaming and hot, and it depends on the thunderstorm in the evening to dissipate the heat.At dusk, the sky is full of stars, and the cool breeze blows through the courtyard. Zhimo often sits with his sisters, brothers, servants and servants in the limelight at the door, talking, laughing and singing casually, which is a great joy.But in the daytime, even if it is so hot that you can't even breathe, the poor "reading officials" still have to practice calligraphy as usual, shouting "Yellow bird, yellow bird" and "It's not easy to say"; Keep fanning the big cattail fan, the beard and armpits are still full of sweat, like a steaming oven.The husband still smoked his opium as usual and hummed his "Qingping Yuefu".At such an annoying time, Zhimo looked forward to a burst of rain.However, you have to wait until the evening to look forward to a thunderstorm every day.One day, when the children were suffocating in the heat in the private school room, suddenly, the shadow of the sun on the white wall facing the forty-foot-high wall disappeared suddenly, and the clear sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds, and the bonsai in the garden , It was also quiet and dim, as if waiting for some important news, the light in the study gradually faded, only the cigarette lamp on the husband's bed, which turned out to be like a phosphorescent will-o'-the-wisp, shining brightly.The desks all over the room, the calligraphy and paintings on the walls, and the square glass lamps hanging on the ceiling all seemed to be deformed, which was terrifying.Suddenly, a sharp cool wind pierced through the stuffy air and blew into the room from the window, making everyone's hair stand on end, covered in tiresome sweat, almost frozen, this feeling was both joyful and sad.But Xiao Zhimo's attention at that time was not on his body, but on the big change predicted by this ominous omen.The newly learned words and phrases such as flood, chaos, earth-shattering, and the wrath of the heavens immediately jumped out of his little brain, arousing his interest in the new and exciting things that he only expected to happen.During this insidious moment, the children are often excited and excited, reading wildly with their voices open, and shaking their bodies so violently that even the stools creak.

Along with the sound of stools and the sound of reading, the dull thunder also rumbled on the roof.A few minutes later, there was a crackling sound on the stone slab in the heart of the court, as if a thousand horses were galloping.The rain came and went, stopped, and there was another small burst of pattering. After doing this several times, there were several thunderbolts that broke the sky and the earth, and the children were so frightened that they quickly blocked their ears.Raindrops the size of lentils fell violently, and the slabs, eaves, roofs, broken bowls in the corners, and broken tin cans all crackled in unison.The panic and laughter of the servants upstairs rushing to dry the clothes, the sound of closing the windows, and the cheers of the children next door accompanied by thunder and thunder.The small fish tank in the courtyard has long been like a small boiling pot, with water constantly overflowing.Seeing this situation, Zhimo worried for the poor goldfishes.A few pots of tender fresh flowers kept trembling.The gutter didn't have time to absorb the torrential water, and the stone patio instantly became worthy of its name.The water has been full to the edge of the foot and a half, so that the floor tiles in the study are covered with water.Lightning penetrated into the room like a snake, and even the dirty kang bed of the husband was shone brightly.The swallows living on the beam of the hall outside also ran into the study to take refuge, flinging here and there, the situation was pitiful and ridiculous.

In the midst of this mess, these children certainly find it amused, crackling here and crackling there, and the hot and dull afternoon suddenly becomes extremely lively.As soon as the sky broke out, everyone watched vigorously, closed the windows vigorously, and listened vigorously. Of course, those who wrote stopped writing, and those who read also shut up. Even the teacher thought it was fun!Xu Zhimo's psychology seemed to be that Zhu Bajie was anxious to break up when he heard that his master had been recruited by his daughter's country.He hoped that this semi-chaotic situation would continue, the lightning would flash forever, the rain would fall forever, and the water would never go up the steps and overflow into the room, so that the task of reading and writing would stop forever!Children are afraid of restraint and love freedom the most.He loves to play all day long, hates sitting and reading, and hates this prison-like study room the most. He is as ambitious as Zhu Bajie, and he doesn't want to follow the poor master to learn poor scriptures and eat poor fast all day long.Therefore, none of the children locked up in the study was voluntary, and none of them wanted to rebel behind their backs.But at best, they just play truant for a short time or secretly wish their husbands a plague, and they rarely dare to advocate the revolutionary theory that they will never enter the study room.But Xia Tian's formation met their latent expectations, and in an instant, the world changed color.No wonder Zhu Bajie, who is naturally rebellious and reluctant to practice, feels extremely happy, and even hopes that the sky will never be clear again, and the thunderstorm will never stop!How incongruous is the traditional private school education and Xiao Zhimo's innocent and simple nature.

The natural environment has benefited Xu Zhimo endlessly. Therefore, he believes: "The most pure and precious education in my life is obtained from nature. Fields, forests, valleys, lakes, and grasslands are my classrooms; the changes of clouds, the splendor of sunset , the looming stars and the moon, and the waves of wheat in the fields are my lessons; the roar of waterfalls, pines, birdsong, and thunder are my teachers, and my senses are their loyal students and disciples who are taught."