One of the great joys of my childhood was to put my ears on the small hole exposed by the peeling cement on the bedroom wall at night, and listen to the sound of the wind passing through the gap in the wall, just like listening to the wonderful music played by instrumental music.When the wind is stronger, the music is more exciting; when there is no wind, the air flows quietly, but it is also a low male voice with echo.I often wonder, what's in the darkness in the cave? It is said that Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" originated from an experience in his childhood: On a midsummer night, little Ludwig rushed out of the house, ran into the wilderness, jumped into a pool of water when he was out of breath, and lay on his back. Looking at the peaceful starry sky and moonlight, I felt an indescribable excitement in my heart.Later, when he grew up, he couldn't forget this childhood feeling.Finally, Beethoven refurbished this impulse and incorporated some mature thoughts.Thus was born a masterpiece.

I grew up in a dilapidated old bungalow in Changning District, Shanghai. Naturally, there was no wilderness to gallop in, and even the starry sky was mostly unclear. But after a precocious childlike innocence sprouted, it really pushed me out of the "cave ground" , an eighteen or nineteen-year-old soul, began to wander around the world, walked into the world outside China's borders with trepidation, and searched for life in the "black hole". When I first arrived in France, I was penniless.The scolding by the Vietnamese boss, the embarrassment of life, and the teasing of the Arab tenants convinced me that it is absolutely impossible to live with nothing in your pocket.So I worked like hell, content every night with the joy of counting money.Savings gradually increased, and there was actually a weekend that I could "luxury" without working, and went skiing with a few classmates to a peak in the Alps. The continuous snow-capped peaks that couldn't be whiter, and the emerald green water below the mountain-the largest lake in France: Lac du Bourget.I opened my whole body and mind, let the chilly but extremely sweet air fill my heart, and immediately understood the meaning of "a frog in a well".I thought my life up until this moment was nothing more than a frog's experience.From now on, I want to be a ranger, to find other such beautiful places in the world.

Later, I went from Europe to Asia, and from Asia to America. Later, I went from bachelor to master, from master to doctor. Later, I went from working for others, to working for myself, to having my own office in Midtown Manhattan. I am always wandering: I have traveled through more than 20 countries, countless cities, and traveled millions of kilometers.What is life?what is the worldSeveral times I thought I had found the answer, but it disappeared like a soap bubble after a flash.I'm still wandering, but I'm tired.I often comfort myself by reading a poem by Mark Twain: For a sailor, home again, prison again.I thought: Are sailors going home to sail, or are they sailing to go home?In short, my ship must need a harbor.

My ship finally arrived at the harbor - I met Yang Lan. Yang Lan is a very easy-going and gregarious person.The first time I saw her, I just thought she was just like an ordinary student, very ordinary.It was later discovered that she can sometimes "be radiant".Not only is he swaying freely on the screen, but also when interacting with "big shots" such as Kissinger and Cronkite, he is also generous and chats happily.Other times, she gets to chat with a down-and-out homeless guy in Central Park.Fully figured out where the homeless got their bread every day to feed the pigeons in Central Park. In March 1996, a reporter from the largest American newspaper "New York Times" learned about Yang Lan's past TV career. , and asked to have a meal with her.Unexpectedly, he actually wrote an extremely long article, which appeared on the front page of the New York Times.In the following month, more than 50 media units asked to interview Yang Lan, but she declined all of them except "News Weekly".Columbia University, where Yang Lan studied, was really taken aback because almost no one really knew about her past.Professor Johnson, the head of the department, said in an interview with "Newsweek": "Yang Lan always comes to school in ordinary clothes and gets along well with teachers and students. She is so inconspicuous that many staff members in the department don't know her. In the next few weeks after Professor Johnson made this comment, Dan Rather of America's No. 1 news anchor and CBS commented that Yang Lan was "glamorous and unforgettable".On August 8, 1996, the British Encyclopedia notified Yang Lan that her name had been included in the "British Yearbook".I admire Yang Lan very much, because if I don't talk about the above-mentioned things, she will never talk about them.She just missed the white steamed buns and steamed buns in the dining hall of Beijing Foreign Studies University, as well as various snacks in Shanghai Town God's Temple and the drunken shrimp and drunken crab made by her grandmother.

Yang Lan is a very stubborn person, she is unambiguous about what she wants to pursue.One of the examples is that she "retired bravely" at the peak of "Zhengda Variety Show", and she persistently wanted to return to China after finishing her studies in the United States.To be honest, until the beginning of 1996, I secretly hoped that she would change her original intention and develop back and forth between the United States and China.After all, I have established a world in the United States, and I am familiar with the road, so I am not at ease.As far as Yang Lan is concerned, she can also become the first non-American-born business host to work in one of the three major TV networks, and get a generous salary.But she was determined not to.She said: If it is not my own country, no matter how successful it is, I will not be satisfied.So, she didn't even get a ready-made green card.

Therefore, we first disposed of the beach house in California, and then sold the house in Florida, determined to return to China completely. The second example of Yang Lan's stubbornness is that she doesn't even want "flying windfall".Yang Lan has been the host of CCTV for four years.But I didn't save much money.She went out to perform later than others, and she went to too few places. Every time she paid the remuneration, she had to hand over to the stage, but most of the costumes for the host program were at her own expense.After arriving in the United States, although Mr. Xie Guomin, who is "upright", took the initiative to take charge of the school, the expensive living expenses made Yang Lan feel constrained.Before meeting me, Yang Lan had been invited to shoot advertisements many times, and the asking price was as high as one million Hong Kong dollars, but she refused.After getting acquainted with me, another time someone generously offered to pay a considerable advertising fee, and she refused again.

The third of Yang Lan's stubbornness is that she can transcend some things in the world and stick to her own ideas. At the beginning of 1996, when the news of Yang Lan's return to China was made public in China, while most people praised it, some rumors also spread: Yang Lan married a rich husband, so she could not make commercials; The purpose of engaging in special programs is to make money, engage in celebrity effects, and so on.I was very angry because of this, thinking that "serving the country has a way", and once again persuaded her to make another plan.Yang Lan was also very angry, but she finally said: "Even if my head is broken, I will continue to prove that there is room for me in this country."

But in the final analysis, Yang Lan is a good wife to me; some of her dishes are good, some are not, but she is always busy cooking for me; she is also my best Partner: When I have a big temper, sometimes she is patient, sometimes she also has a temper, but she can always make us both laugh quickly; Yang Lan is my best friend, and we are both fortunate to be in the boundless world. In the sea, to meet such a bosom friend. Once she asked me: "According to the statistics of psychologists, when a person is dying, the most meaningful scene in his life will flash before his eyes like a movie. Guess what?" I shook my head blankly. shook his head.

She said: "I don't have the glory of presiding over the big ceremony, and I don't have the joy of making money and success." "What's there?" I asked puzzled.She said: "There are only some ordinary, family-related things. For example: the husband and wife reunite after a long absence, the birth of a child, etc." A dark tunnel, flying towards the light at the other end.I suddenly realized something: maybe people’s voyage is not for sailing, but to find a good harbor, a home where they are happy. Yang Lan and I are destined to sail together for the rest of our lives.

One day last summer, we went to Greece, to Santorini Island in the Aegean Sea.This island is unique: more than 300 meters high, standing straight in the sea, like a wall, like a sail.According to textual research, Santorini Island is the only remnant of "Atlantis" - "Atlantic Country". , making it a breathtaking scene of nature.All the houses on the island are built on the top of the cliff.We rode donkeys to the flat ground on the top of the mountain, and felt an inexplicable sense of comfort.The houses on the top of the mountain are only blue and white, and they are extremely neat and clean.We came to an open-air bar suspended on the edge of the cliff, only to find that the balcony we were on was at the same time the roof of another residential house—proudly sticking out of the cliff, overlooking a large area of ​​blue and a small area of ​​green—that is a volcanic island.Time seems to have stopped here, and everything in the world seems to be indifferent.I took a sip of the local wine made by the residents of Santorini, and suddenly felt drunk.So he released his own heart, let it cut through the bright blue sky, and chased some white sails in the distance.Suddenly, Yang Lan exclaimed.She was originally studying the tourist brochure and found that Santorini was destroyed every few decades—the "credit" of the volcanic island next door.Every time a volcano erupts, it is always accompanied by an earthquake, which sweeps away the village on the top of the cliff.But the Santorini are never willing to move away.The book said: "It's because it's so beautiful here." After she finished speaking, she became thoughtful.Originally, in such bright and transparent sunlight, where we were at that time, there was no need for Yu to say more.But she said after a while: "The place with light at the other end of the black tunnel that people pass through when they are dying must be beautiful, but if you don't keep walking, you won't be able to experience it."

After leaving Santorini, I made an appointment with her: in the future, if I can no longer bear the torment of worldly troubles, we will come to Santorini together again, so that I can take out my soul and wash it in the clear water of the blue sky.In January this year, when the two of us returned to Shanghai, Mr. Huang Huimin from Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House approached me, hoping that she would publish a book.I talked very well with Mr. Huang and agreed to facilitate this matter. After she found out, she said, "It's better not to write. One is because I'm afraid that I don't have a deep foundation, and the black and white words will make people laugh; the other is that I am afraid of causing trouble." I said: "It doesn't matter if the writing is a little short, as long as the writing is as good as the person, and the truth is enough. As for other things, we can always go to Santorini to purify and purify." She smiled and said, "You're used to being a knight-errant." So she agreed. At the beginning of February, when we returned to our home in New York, USA, we could see the warm lights outside the window again.When she was studying and filming "Yang Lan's Vision", she picked up a pen. At the beginning of February, it happened to be the time when we confirmed that our first child had begun to conceive, so the process of Yang Lan writing this book was also the process of her "October pregnancy, ripe fruit".So some friends say that Yang Lan is giving birth to "twins", which is appropriate. This collection of essays "traveled" Yang Lan's "island in memory", revisited her "unforgettable screen", reviewed "the days of studying abroad", expressed her longing for the "blue ocean", and also wrote down This is Yang Lan's first book. Yang Lan will definitely write books in the future, but the meaning of this book will never be ordinary. I share everything that Yang Lan presents in this book: what is written on paper and what is contained in it.Yang Lan thought I knew her best, so she stubbornly "forced" me to write this preface.So I wrote the above paragraph, right as a preface. Fortunately, she and I are young, we still need to continue to wander.Always with a bright light in mind, wandering in the black hole of life. Written during the flight from Tokyo to New York on September 10, 1996