Chapter 69 Mandarin Duck Incense Burner

A pair of mandarin ducks made of porcelain, one facing east and the other facing west, are small and nimble, as if they have just met in a corner of the sky, each flapping their wings lightly, staggering their bodies, and gliding across the water silently. This pair of mandarin ducks is locked in the corner of a glittering window in a gem shop on East Nanjing Road. Its bright colors are brighter than coral gems and emeralds, but because of its peaceful and quiet swimming posture, it seems that it has nothing to do with the world. , has been going endlessly to the distance. Looking further inside, there is a small sacred case in the gem shop, with five big characters written in heaven, earth, monarch, parent and teacher. Lead me and swim along the lines of cigarettes to my childhood dreams.

I remember that before I could read, there was a pair of mandarin ducks on the altar in the ancestral hall. It was a sandalwood stove made of porcelain, and it was filled with cigarettes on the first floor all the year round. With a deep and peaceful world, even a small child is attracted to be very happy.I often play in the hall with my brothers. Whenever I run past the incense burner and smell the sandalwood, I will always unconsciously be in a daze, staring blankly at the light but endless cigarette. Especially in winter, a wisp of smoke floating straight up is not only incense, but also a symbol of warmth.Sometimes the whole family sits in front of the incense burner at night without saying anything, and the emotions seem to be blended in the burner, and a faint fragrance is burned out.

It makes me feel a nameless warmth more deeply than the incense stove on the divine table. I like summer evenings the most. We sat around and listened to stories told by our grandfather. Grandpa always lit the mandarin duck incense burner slowly, and then sat in his rattan rocking chair, telling touching stories that still flowed with blood and tears.We leaned on our grandfather's knees and opened our curious eyes, listening to the still moving footsteps of our ancestors. As the starry sky and night became quieter, the smoke from the incense burner rose straight to the roof beams and floated around the roof beams to the front of the court. A trace, the fireflies are attracted, the cigarette is like the light on the tail of the firefly, and the weak lights fly up in all directions, lighting up the sky full of yearning.

Sometimes the autumn colors are bleak, there is a kind of transparent coolness in the air, the autumn leaves are red, and the smoke from the mandarin duck incense burner is soft and rises like a snake. The smoke pushes away the cold autumn night with a small hand, and pushes out a warm sky.Looking from Xiaoxiang's backyard, one could almost see the pair of mandarin ducks cuddling together. The shape of the pair of mandarin duck incense burners is very strange, the abdomens of the male and female are connected together, the male is slightly in front, and the female is behind.The female mandarin duck is as brown as iron gray, its wings are blue-blue, and its abdomen is white with brown spots, like brown flowers blooming on the ice and snow in severe winter. On the shoulders of mandarin ducks.The male mandarin duck is completely different from the female mandarin duck. Its head is raised high, and there is a crown on the head. The crown is covered with long copper-colored hair, and the wings of the colorful variegated ducks on both sides are raised high, like a warrior with a shield on both sides.Its back is even more beautiful, red, green, yellow, white, and purple are all in one place, like a garden blooming in spring, its red mouth is a dragon spit bead, and its black eye is a black flower. Roses, the white dots on the belly are gypsophila.

The pair of mandarin ducks nestling together are perched together on a big crystal and emerald green lotus leaf. The abdomens of the mandarin duck censers are connected, and each has a small round hole on the back. When the sandalwood smoke emerges from their backs, it looks like they are burning separately, but in fact the abdomens are in touch with each other.One of the games I play most often is to burn sandalwood on the male mandarin duck, and then cover the back of the male mandarin duck, and the smoke and fragrance will rise from the back of the female mandarin duck; if you burn sandalwood on the body of the female mandarin duck , cover the back, and the cigarette will rise from the back of the male mandarin duck; if both sides are covered, they will be like an agreement, and the sandalwood will be extinguished in the belly in an instant.

If both sides are not covered, as long as one is lit, the smoke will come out evenly, each of them will produce a wisp of smoke, and it will slowly condense together in the middle of the rise, and it will be inseparable when it reaches the roof. The wind twists and turns, like singing a rhythmic song in chorus. The memory of the mandarin duck censer is the beginning of my childhood. The longer the time passes, the clearer the image will be. It can almost be said to be the beginning of my yearning for emotion and art.I don’t know which craftsman made the Mandarin Duck Incense Burner, but it was bought by my grandfather later. The beauty of its color and shape made me understand the beauty of Chinese folk art; although it is an ordinary object, there is a vivid and dexterous craftsman’s heart in it. The swimming in it makes the incense burner still alive after a hundred years.The beauty of folk art always finds its true nature in the ordinary, and it can give us new enlightenment after a hundred years in peace and tranquility.

Regarding the longing for emotions, I once asked my grandfather, why should the mandarin duck incense burner be connected to the abdomen?Grandpa said: There is no single mandarin duck.Mandarin duck is the Chinese word for husband and wife.Husband and wife are like this pair of incense burners. They are independent on the surface, but there is a little connection in the belly. This kind of connection is easiest to see when the fire is lit. The mandarin duck incense burner in my family has the experience of being burned several times a day. Every time it is burned, the pair of mandarin ducks seem to be closer together.I think, if the censer is like a beacon in the sky, the tragedy of the fire is not enough to cause them to die in love, because their spirit and symbol stand in the infinite field of vision, they will never be afraid, and they will never fade away in the fire.The lovebirds have been flying for a long time, and they always fly in different directions. Even Li Xiao is old, so he can only talk to each other boringly on the branches.The mandarin duck incense burner is different, because of the fire, they are not old.

When I grew up a little bit, I became literate. After I was literate, I couldn't restrain my imagination from running wild, and I often jumped out of each word and sentence to find new meanings. The four characters "Mandarin Duck Incense Burner" made my imagination run wild, and I think it is really appropriate to use "Mandarin Duck" as a metaphor for a husband and wife. "Resentment" means to hate and sigh. There are many moments of complaining, many moments of helplessness, and even many moments of pain and nowhere to complain. "Yang" means begging, and it is the harmony of "Heling Yangyang" in the Book of Songs. It means asking for something, there are many moments of mutual need, there are many moments of mutual dependence, and there are even many moments of mutual sympathy. The moment of courtship.

Married life is a world full of color, vitality, and movement. In my perception, there are almost no examples of happiness in the world of husband and wife without complaints and happiness. Therefore, it is necessary to find a balance between "complaints" and "youngness" , to be an eternal mandarin duck.The belly of the mandarin duck censer is connected by a wound. There is almost only one kind of medicine for the wound of the husband and wife. This medicine is gentle, "resentment" is also gentle, and "yang" is also gentle. All couples have embraced, loved, and loved each other once. Why do so many of them end up breaking things up or dying in depression?The promise of love has blossomed, although it may not necessarily bear fruit, but more flowers bloom every year to wake up the new buds that have just fallen in love. The mandarin duck incense burner is a kind of unnamed love, no need for fame, thousands of kinds of love will rise A soft wisp of smoke from the chest.Elevating the mandarin duck from the water to the interpretation of emotion, just like the mandarin duck incense burner is heavy, but its smoke always soars upwards, maybe it can give us some new enlightenment!

As for the "censer", I feel that all couples will eventually enter the realm of "keeping the incense burner together". After a long time, it is not just love, but family affection.At the end of any marriage, the enthusiasm will always fade, just like the enthusiasm of religion will eventually be flat to only piety; The smoke, we can feel it tenderly when we are approaching, and there is still warmth when we stand far away. I once saw an old couple guarding the temple in the alleys of Wanhua. Their job was very simple, that is, burning incense at dawn and dusk, and cleaning the small end of the room that had been eroded by time.When I went, they were always silent and moved lightly, allowing the sun to move inch by inch before the divine case. After they finished their work, they always held hands and slowly turned left and right and disappeared into the alley. the end.

I once saw a middle-aged couple picking up rags in an alley near Xinyi Road. The husband struggled to step on a tricycle and yelled the language unique to rag collection. The empty cans, wine bottles, and old books and newspapers discarded by people were thrown on the cart one by one. When they arrived at the alley, the wife jumped onto the back seat of the cart, sat there skillfully and steadily, showing a happy smile after finishing the work, and the husband suddenly blew Here comes the whistle. I once carefully observed a young couple selling beef noodles at a small noodle stall on Tonghua Street; the husband always served noodles confidently next to the steaming pot, while the wife greeted the customers, cleaned the tables and chairs, and cleaned the table and chairs. Squat down to wash greasy dishes.During the interval between noodle sales, they hurriedly ate a bowl of noodles together, and the wife gave the husband the meat all the way. They lived so calmly and fearlessly. I was also in the mountains of Nan'ao Township, and I saw a mountain couple who had just finished baking mushrooms, sitting on a big rock together, talking about this year's cultivation and harvest, and talking about the smallest things in life. Naughty children throw stones and startle the birds behind them without realizing it. In the backyard of a large family in Chiayi County, I once saw an old man with white beard and hair climbing to a lotus tree to pick lotus seeds. His elderly wife was standing on the lotus tree with a cloth Next to the lotus mist, their laughter is so young that it can be heard clearly even outside the fence.What they can't explain is that a incense burner that has been burning for a long time will still have its warmth. Although the smoke of the incense burner is weak, it has strength. It can float into any open door and window along the flow of time. Whenever I see such a scene, I always stand far away and listen carefully. The smoke from the incense burner can be heard, and there seems to be the sound of a waterfall rushing across the mountains and rivers, rushing between my chest and abdomen.Without these ordinary actions in life, I am afraid it would be difficult to prove that love can last forever! The mandarin duck censer from my childhood has gone through several family relocations, and I don’t know where it is, or I may never find another same censer in another boy’s home, but its shape and color are And the posture of perching on the lotus leaf is still very sharp after a long time.Whenever I am emotionally frustrated and life is difficult, I always follow the river of time and go back to the depths of the years to find that mandarin duck incense burner. It is the most beautiful bright red signature of love. Unclear ink painting, a clear waterfall sprinkled in the deepest mountain, the waterfall flows to the endless place is the beautiful and clear chapter of the incense burner. The mandarin duck incense burner is like a lamp in the dark night, which makes my childhood understanding of emotions bright, and brings the power to move forward in the darkness of the world. It will take a long time to be disappointed with the ordinary mandarin duck porcelain.It's like sitting in a dark room, the first lit lamp is the brightest, and you can feel the difference between light and dark the most. No matter how many lights there are later, they will not be as good as the first lamp, which we will never forget. Extinguish; Sitting at the end of the corridor, even though the sun, the stars and the moon are cold, and the vegetation in the mountains has faded, the twilight of the incense burner is still at the beginning of memory, burning warmly in any visible and unknown corners. — November 18, 1981