Chapter 53 Miss Xifu Begonia

In late spring and March, the weather is sunny and sunny.I occasionally walk past the front of the office building.On both sides of the Panlong Stone Steps, there is a green cypress standing on one side, which is green all over and plunges into the eyebrows, as if two blue powers gushing out from the depths of the earth, rushing forward, and the top pierces the blue sky. Although its imposing manner is not as good as the ancient cypresses that Du Fu saw in front of Kongming's ancestral hall: "The pale skin slips through the rain for forty yards, and the black color towers two thousand feet." However, seeing it, I seem to be infected, and my heart Filled with strength.I took pleasure in it and couldn't bear to leave.

However, in a flash in front of my eyes, two Begonias of Xifu appeared at the place where the two cypresses stood, and they were full of flowers. And bright red, one after another, like a pink cloud for half a day.Swarms of bees are flying among the flowers, their buzzing sound is like a spring lullaby.Immediately, I was attracted by the colors and sounds, and I was intoxicated.In a flash before my eyes, Cui Bai and Hai Tang were standing at the same place at the same time, their shadows overlapped, emerald green and bright red intertwined one after another. so, what happened? I was a little dazed and dazed for a moment; however, it didn't take half a second for me to realize immediately that the cypresses and begonias in front of me are both reality, the cypresses are the reality in front of me, and the begonias are the reality in the past. The place once stood, and now the two realities overlap again, but the past reality has long since been reduced to ashes and blown away by the wind.

It happened during the ten-year catastrophe.Suddenly there is a legend: growing flowers is revisionism, and the lowest crime is playing with things and losing one's mind.As a result, the "Gang of Four" "fighted against selfish interests and criticized repairs" in Yanyuan, a famous garden in China. They first approved people, and then approved flowers and trees. The old lilac trees that had been hundreds of years old for decades and hundreds of years were cut down, which is often seen in the notes of the Qing Dynasty. Several ancient vines in the village were also uprooted, and all the creepers that covered the walls of several buildings were pulled out. The two Xifu Begonias with lush branches and green leaves in front of the office building were also doomed.In short, all beautiful flowers and trees, like some people, are knocked to the ground, with a thousand feet on their bodies, and they will never stand up again.

These two Xifu Begonias are quite famous in old Beijing.It is said that a certain literati specifically mentioned it in his notes.People who are familiar with the anecdotes of Beijing, such as Comrade Deng Tuo, etc., would visit the garden every spring during his lifetime.I myself dare not say how familiar I am with Beijing anecdotes, but whenever the Xifu crabapple blooms, I often pretend to be elegant, linger under the tree, appreciate the beauty of flowers and colors, and listen to the bees, and suddenly feel that the world is very cute after all. Yes, after all, life is very beautiful, and the energy in my chest suddenly surged, my body seemed to be a storage battery, and when I saw Xifu Begonia, it seemed to be fully charged, and I was able to work vigorously in the work I was doing. gallop away.

Among the poets in ancient China, there are quite a few people who love crabapple.Everyone appreciates the beauty of Begonia, but regrets that Begonia has no fragrance. In the notes and poems of ancient literati, there are many places talking about this issue, which shows that literati care about Begonia.Lu You, a famous patriotic poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote several poems about "Traveling around the Homelands in Spend Time", one of which is about crabapple: Crazy for loving famous flowers, I only worry that the wind and the sun will damage Hongfang. The green chapter plays the Tongming Palace at night,

Begging for spring shade to protect the crabapple. How crazy is Lu You's love for Haitang!Anyone with a little sense should know that Begonia has no rivalry with others, no disobedience to the world, and will never hurt anyone; it can only add beauty to the world, bring joy to people, and make people love nature and the motherland .However, even such an innocent Haitang could not escape the murderous hands of the "Gang of Four".The two Xifu Begonias in Yan Garden have now disappeared to unknown places. This can be regarded as a kind of "unjust death".Standing here instead of it are two cypresses.Cui cypress is also my favorite, it can also bring aesthetic enjoyment to people, and I have no intention of belittling Cui cypress.However, given the size of the Yan Garden, it is impossible to leave any space for Haitang. We must eradicate Haitang and plant green cypresses. We must fight for this square foot of land. Begonia will feel sorry!

It is easy to understand that the "Gang of Four" wants to usurp the party and seize power; but cutting down flowers and trees and eradicating crabapples, as if these flowers and trees can really catch their evil hands, is puzzling.Su Xun of the Song Dynasty said in "Distinguishing Traitors": "Those who are unkind in everything are seldom considered treacherous."It is human nature to love beautiful things, and everyone has the right to love beautiful things, including flowers and trees.However, the "Gang of Four" wanted to go against human nature, and wanted to eradicate all good things and then quickly.This group of them is a big traitor, and there is no doubt about it.

It has been nearly twenty years, why did the shadow of Xifu Begonia suddenly appear in front of my eyes today?Could it be that the famous flower has a spirit, and today it "shows its saints" to me?Could it be that it is complaining to me?It's a pity that I'm not Bao Wenzheng, Hai Qingtian, and I don't have the supernatural power of the Tathagata Buddha to bring the dead back to life. All I can do is to shed tears of sympathy. What else can I say? I never believed in any myths, but now I really want to believe it, I really hope there is a heaven.But I know that Mount Sumeru has been monopolized by the Indians, and they put their paradise there.Kunlun Mountain was once again monopolized by the Chinese, and the Queen Mother was settled there.Now I can only hope that there is still such a clean place in the middle of the vast and boundless universe, which can accommodate a Langyuan Paradise.There are flowers that never fade in four seasons and periwinkle grass in eight seasons. The souls of all the flowers and plants on the earth live there forever, and there are colorful and colorful flowers at any time and anywhere.The spirit of Xifu Begonia, which was felled for no reason in our Yanyuan, also roams in it.I believe that it will never forget the beautiful Yanyuan where it has been staying for many years. Whenever the flowers are in full bloom in spring, it will definitely come to the world, visit the Yanyuan, and pay tribute to it. "Huan Peikong returns to the soul under the moon", the soul of the concubine Ming returns, and there is the sound of Huan Pei.When the soul of Xifu Begonia returns, what signs will there be?I can't tell, I can only come to the office building from time to time, in the green cypress shadow, waiting for Qianhun.How I want to summon the soul of Haitang!I am afraid that the result can only be "up to Qiongbi and down to Huangquan, and the two places are gone".No way, no way!

In this sunny and sunny March, I stand here, thinking about it, looking at the clear sky, and my eyes are full of tears. Written in Shanghai East China Normal University Expert Guest House on April 26, 1987.As soon as the load is unloaded, the tiredness still exists.I had been contemplating this short essay in Beijing for many days, and suddenly my heart became agitated, so I got up in a panic, and wrote it immediately, as if there was God's help, I was very happy. path tragedy Going out of the house, turn right, only twenty or thirty steps, and you will walk into a winding path.For twenty or thirty years, I walked this way every day to go to the office.Because seeing each other every day has become commonplace, and I am a little indifferent to it.

However, this path is very famous.I remember that in the 1950s, I visited a related exhibition on a tower of the Forbidden City.I saw a group of paintings composed of several landscape paintings, and this road was painted.It is sufficient proof that this path is somehow connected with this great work.As for the connection, I can't remember.What remains in my memory is only a little impression: this ordinary road has a background, and it cannot be taken lightly. This road is an extremely quiet place in Yanyuan.The students call it "the back lake", and they rarely come here.I said above that it is ordinary, but this is a bit of a typo, but it is actually quite unusual.One side is near the lake and the other side is against the mountain. It is winding and winding, which is really interesting.There are pines and cypresses on the mountain, and there are forests of miscellaneous trees.Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, there is always green in sight.Unknown little flowers bloom in spring, change colors after a while, and bloom until the end of autumn.In summer, the mountain is covered with thick green, and people seem to walk through a green mist.The birds in the forest and the cicadas singing on the branches seem to answer each other.In autumn, the maple leaves turn red, contrasting with the green pines and cypresses, the desolation is full of intensity.It's almost impossible to tell the time of day.

On the other side of the path is the lotus pond, which is eye-catching mainly in summer.At this time, the green leaves meet the sky, and the red lotus reflects the eyes.It seems that an extremely strong life force erupted from the depths of the ground, upward, upward, upward, trying to compete with the gods, it can really make the cowardly stand up to the cowardly, and give people infinite appeal. Whether it is in the mountains or in the lake, in winter, of course, there is snow.In the lake, the former green waves are replaced by solid ice.But on the mountain, although the deciduous trees have lost their leaves, the pines and cypresses are more energetic and the green color is more intense. It means that they want to make up for the loss of other trees by themselves, and must show the power of green.In addition, there are green bamboos to cheer people up, and people will never feel the bleakness of winter when they are in it. This magical path is probably the case. Among all these miraculous things, the one that impressed me the most and left me the most unforgettable is an ancient vine.Wisteria is a beloved plant.There are many records about Beijing vines in the notes of the Qing Dynasty.In ancient temples and famous gardens, there are often several vines that have lived for hundreds of years, and many myths and stories often involve vines.Yanyuan, where Peking University lives now, is a famous garden in the Qing Dynasty, and there are a few ancient vines, which is a matter of course.When we first moved here from the city, we could still see a few vines that were said to have been passed down from the Ming Dynasty.Every spring, purple flowers bloom all over the canopy, attracting tourists and bees and hedgehogs to gather among them, becoming a spring scene. However, according to my personal evaluation, among the many vines, the one in Youjing is the most distinctive.It has neither a shed nor a frame, but let its branches cling to the trunks and branches of several nearby trees, twisting upwards, as if going straight to the blue sky.Therefore, looking from below, except for a section of dark ancient vigorous trunk like a black dragon, it cannot be seen that it is a wisteria at all.Every spring, when I walk under the tree, there are no vines in front of my eyes and no vines in my heart.However, a delicate fragrance burst into the nostrils suddenly, and the sound of buzzing bees also hit the ears. Looking up, among the clusters of green leaves-it is impossible to tell which are the leaves of vines and which are the leaves of other trees-faintly Seeing the purple-red flowers, it is quite a little red in the green bushes.Until then, I was clearly aware of the existence of this ancient vine, and I took pleasure in it. After an unprecedented ten-year catastrophe, not only people were robbed, but also flowers and trees were not spared.Wisterias and some other ancient lilac trees, etc., were alienated as "revisionism" and were mercilessly punished.The two famous ancient vines in front of the sixth courtyard and between the second and third floors of the red building were resolutely, thoroughly, cleanly and completely wiped out.Whether it is also stepped on a thousand feet, there is no investigation and research, and I dare not talk nonsense; it is an iron fact that I will never stand up again. In the vast swallow garden, there is only this wisteria left in the quiet path.It became the aura of Lu Dian in the wisteria world in Yanyuan.Every spring, apart from grief, indignation and melancholy, the only comfort I have is this ancient vine in the quiet path.Every time I walk under it, I smell the faint fragrance and hear the buzzing bees, and suddenly I feel that this world is worth nostalgic, and life is not all thorns.Among them, I am the only one who knows, so it is not enough for outsiders to understand. However, I was happy too early.After all, life is still a bush of thorns, and roses are by no means blooming everywhere.This spring, when I walked past the place where this ancient vine grew, I saw a flash in front of my eyes, and I was shocked: the part of the ancient vine that used to be flying in the air suddenly became a hanged ghost, and the lower part was cut off, leaving only the upper part. Hanging in the air, swaying in the wind.Looking up again, some clusters of lavender flowers that have just burst out of the wisteria are still smiling among the green leaves.They haven't had time to know that the trunk they depend on has been cut off from the ground, and there is no more water for them to survive.They are like orphans who have lost their mother, and soon there will be no room for smiling or crying. I am a worthless person.I have too many emotions, and the supply is always in excess of demand, and I often cause a lot of sorrow for some small animals and small flowers.True greats never do this.On the other hand, if they are like me, they can never be great men.I still have some self-knowledge, I am destined to be an insignificant person, and I am willing to be so, I am willing to cry and sigh for some kittens, dogs, flowers, and grasses.No one else can understand the pain that the death of this ancient vine has caused in my soul. From then on, I was a little afraid to walk this path that I love the most.I dare not look at that section of ancient vine hanging in the air withered again, it really looks like a hanged ghost, which makes my hair stand on end.When I had to walk, I closed my eyes tightly and hurried past.Counting in my heart: one, two, three, four, until I counted to ten, I reckoned that I had already reached the head of the small bridge, and the hanged ghost would not see it, so I opened my eyes and walked forward.At this time, I am extremely sad, where is there any leisure to enjoy the fun of the quiet path? However, this doesn't work either.Although the eyes are closed, the ears cannot be closed.I vaguely heard Guteng's crying, which was as thin as a mosquito, but faintly discernible.It is accusing people of being killed for no reason.It has been here for two or three hundred years, and it has always lived in harmony with the big tree it is attached to.Although it has read all the vicissitudes of the world, it has never meant to harm anyone.Every spring, I add beauty to the world with my own flowers.How do you know that once it is destroyed in the hands of fools.It felt extremely wronged, and there was no way to complain.Its soul stays here.Every night when the moon is white and the wind is clear, it will come out to "show its holiness".In broad daylight, I can only cry secretly.The trees on the top of the mountain and the lotus in the pond sympathize with it deeply, but they are restrained by nature, making it difficult to move an inch, so they can only talk to each other silently.In the boundless world, people are vying for fame and fortune, so how can they have the leisure to care about the life and death of an ancient vine?So, it can only cry, cry... There are probably not many people in the world who are worthless like me.I'm afraid I'm the only one who can hear Guteng's crying.In the vast and boundless world, among all kinds of plants, this ancient vine in Yanyuan is really insignificant.If you ask a person in Yanyuan, no one will notice the existence of this ancient vine, no one will care about its death, and no one will feel sad about it.It happened that a person like me was born, that I lived in this place, that I walked this path every day, and that such a small tragedy happened again; body.This cross created by my own personality can only be carried by myself.No way, no way! However, I am willing to carry this cross down, forever and ever. September 13, 1992