Chapter 13 The first part three French crystal lamps in spring and summer

Xiaoxi did not reply to my email, my happy life can continue. I went to 798 to participate in the opening ceremony of a Northwest women's paper-cut installation art exhibition. The sponsors are the newly established Chinese National Essence Renaissance Foundation, the International One Township One Art Association and UNESCO. My friend from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is an academic The curator, she invited me to be one of the ten speakers for the opening ceremony, to speak on stage for three minutes.I briefly talked about the new community movement in Taiwan in the 1990s, and how Taipei artists worked hand in hand with local craftsmen to revitalize the cultural industry in towns and villages. I was a little moved by what I said.The curator also said that this exhibition is a manifestation of the vitality of Chinese civil society.I feel auspicious.

As a cultural celebrity, one is obliged to attend such occasions, say something decent, and give back to the society. At noon, I had dinner at the nearby Jinjiang River, and I was at the same table with the representative of the National Quintessence Foundation.The foundation sent only one deputy director general.He said that the foundation's key project, in addition to supporting Chinese people in retrieving the Old Summer Palace and other stolen national treasures around the world, is also restoring ancient Chinese rituals across the country. Students kneel down to pay respects to their teachers every day, and then strive to turn all kinds of ancient etiquette into national legal rituals.

After a few entrees, I went to the bathroom and came back to find more people sitting around my table listening to the Foundation representatives, and my seat was taken.I will sit at another table. My friend Hu Yan from the Academy of Social Sciences sat at a table with a French woman from UNESCO and a Thai from the One Township One Arts Association. If I used to have to talk in English and it was a bit difficult, then forget it.I went to the table of the Northwest Women's Delegation, and there were several vacant seats, because all the media friends who came to do interviews had been transferred to the table of representatives of the National Quintessence Foundation, and there were only three paper-cut old ladies and two women selected by the audition. The village head and the deputy director of the cultural bureau of a prefecture-level city.These Northwestern women are all kind-hearted. My friend from the Academy of Social Sciences always allows me to see the kind-hearted side of the Chinese people. Although I know rationally that this is not completely realistic, emotionally I would like to get closer to kindness.The person I most wanted to talk to was the democratically elected village chief who was only in her twenties, but she was far away, and I found that I couldn't understand her Mandarin at all.I had to talk to the Deputy Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau who was sitting next to me.She spoke in a loud voice, but clearly.She comes from a place called Dingxi in Gansu, which was originally the poorest area in China. After years of hard work after the reform and opening up, she finally got rid of poverty.She told me how the government guided farmers to organize themselves and set up professional cooperatives for special planting a few years ago, promoting the development of Dingxi into an important potato supply base.KFC and McDonald's all over the country use Dingxi's special potatoes.She also talked about how local leaders used their connections to help farmers dispatch a special train to transport their crops in time when the railway capacity was tight, and how they organized surplus labor to go to Xinjiang to work and pick cotton during the cotton harvest season.I have heard a lot of knowledge.I solemnly asked her if she could tell me in summary, why Dingxi can be cured, but other areas with better conditions than it can’t get rid of poverty?She said frankly: Dingxi is very lucky to have a leader who can do practical things.I can feel that what she said is very practical, it’s as simple as that, people, as long as local officials are willing to do practical things, ordinary people can boost the local economy. Chinese people have a good life.At the end of the meeting, I sincerely thanked her for teaching me a valuable lesson. She said that she hoped that experts and scholars from the cultural circle in Beijing could go to her small place to guide them. I promised the deputy director that I would find time to go there.

After lunch, I was in a good mood and walked back to 798 for a casual stroll.The current 798 is not the 798 of ten years ago. It combines Bohemia and bourgeoisie. It is very foreign. Of course, it is inevitable that some people will criticize that it is becoming more and more gentrified, commercialized, and tourist-oriented. It's better than nothing. There is no such large-scale characteristic art zone in the world. Foreigners are shocked to death when they come here, and even achieve the effect of cultural shock. Impressions change from one extreme to the other, from China as a backward country to China It is the most creative country.In the past two years, China’s economy has been booming, and art and design have been booming. It goes without saying that international-level galleries should come here. Even famous schools such as Parsons in New York, St. The address is near 798.

Every time I go to 798, I stop by to see the collection of the new Longmen Gallery.This gallery does not play the avant-garde style. Most of the collections are French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist oil paintings. There are a few small works of masters, but they are mainly small masters of that period. They are quite interesting and suitable for me who are becoming more conservative taste.Like Japan, China is now a big collector of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. A group of rich people seem to appreciate French paintings of this period. The new Longmen Gallery is very grand, and the chandelier in the lobby is not a counterfeit product but a real Baccarat crystal lamp.

I looked at the lamp and was wondering whether the impressionist, post-impressionist oil paintings and crystal lamps fit in style and temperament. Although a man and a woman did not hold hands, they came walking shoulder to shoulder, talking and laughing affectionately. I wanted to avoid it too late. .The man was Jian Lin. When he saw me, he reacted quickly and said, "Old Chen, let me introduce, Professor Wen." I shook hands with the woman: "Long time no see, Wen Lan". Wen Lan said: "Yes, long time no see, Mr. Chen". Wen Lan actually called me Mr. Chen? "You guys know each other?" Jian Lin was once again surprised that I knew someone he didn't expect.

Wen Lan said: "Teacher Chen is very famous in the cultural circles of Hong Kong." Wen Lan probably forgot that I am Taiwanese.The Wen Lan in front of her was dressed luxuriously but not vulgarly, crystal and exquisite, very impressive. Wen Lan said, "Can I exchange a business card with you?" I lied: "forgot to bring my business card". Jian Lin said, "I have his phone number." Wen Lan didn't give me her business card either. Jian Lin said: "Old Chen, the paintings in this house are good, but Professor Wen thinks the price is a bit higher than Paris. There is a picture of a winery, I think I have been there last year."

Wen Lan said authoritatively: "The price tag is unreasonably high." I said, "Then I'll go and see." I hastily broke up with them. I was a little depressed, and I had no intention of looking at the painting, but suddenly thought of five words to describe Wen Lan's demeanor today: French crystal lamp. I planned to marry Wen Lan back then.After buying a house in Hong Kong, I found out that she was going to marry someone else. In the autumn of 1991, I went to the mainland to interview a couple of scholars who were out of work after 1989. At that time, several undergraduates from Beijing Normal University were also visiting the elderly. I was very moved. Don't be snobbish, the elderly will still come when they are in trouble.

Among them, the most outstanding one is Wen Lan, a senior student, who is beautiful, generous and temperamental.She made me want to be in a relationship. She Zhang Luo and those classmates wrote everyone's contact information on a piece of white paper and handed it to me.Of course, now I know it was done on purpose so I could find her. I asked her out for a walk in Houhai.Her mother is from Shanghai and her father is from Beijing. She is an editor of a theoretical publication and works in the Central Propaganda Department in the beach.She loves Western literature, cares about national affairs, and looks so pretty, which is a perfect combination for me.

She asked me: What is the meaning of existence?In order to show my depth, I babbled and talked for a long time.I remember she quoted Sartre as saying: Life is about taking responsibility.I fell in love with her. When I went back to Hong Kong for a few days, I thought of an excuse to return to Beijing.She said she wanted to go abroad, I mustered up the courage to ask her to marry me, she cried and laughed with excitement, I thought she agreed to me.I told her my income, the two of us should have no problem living together.I have a Hong Kong long-term residence permit and can apply for her to be a Hong Kong resident.

She asked me how long it would take me to settle in Hong Kong after marriage. I told someone that it would take two years to complete the process. During this period, she could come to Hong Kong for a short-term residence with a two-way visa. I also said, a little goodbye is better than a newlywed.She seemed excited and looking forward to it.We agreed that we would get married next summer and she could finish her studies.I asked if I wanted to meet her parents, and she said she would arrange it next time.I have absolutely no doubts. I feel so lucky to marry such an outstanding Beijing woman who is eighteen years younger than me.After returning to Hong Kong, by chance, I saw a house sale advertisement in Taikoo Shing, so I used all my savings from working for more than ten years to pay the down payment, bought a 90-square-meter second-hand apartment, and planned to build a world for two people. After the procedures for buying a house were completed, I made a long-distance trip to Beijing. Wen Lan's father said that she had gone to Germany.I asked when I would come back, and the other end of the phone said very rudely: I only came back after I got married, so please don't call me again. I hurried back to Beijing and called the classmates I met the first time I met Wen Lan. They said that they didn’t know Wen Lan well, and they didn’t keep in touch after they came out of the home of the scholar couple. I remember Wen Lan said that she studied French as an undergraduate and German at the Goethe-Institut at the same time, so I went to the Goethe-Institut to inquire and found out that she had dropped out. A staff member said that she was going to marry a part-time German teacher at the institute. I asked who it was. No one would tell.I broke into the dean's room. The dean is a well-known China hand and married a Chinese wife. He probably understands the mentality of young Chinese women. Give me the method, but if I can write a letter, he promises to forward it to Wen Lan for me. I sat in an empty classroom at the Goethe-Institut for a long time. I wanted to write a few words for Wen Lan several times, but I didn’t know how to do it. More than three months later, I received a letter from Wen Lan from Beijing, saying that she is married, her husband is German, her German teacher, and a business executive by profession. They fell in love at first sight in Beijing, and they are now living in Germany. Life is very pleasant.She didn't say which city it was, and she didn't apologize, as if nothing happened, she just said a sentence, to the effect that she was like a bird that wanted to ride the wind and fly far away, eager to spread her wings, just today, because tomorrow It's been too long. Before 1992, mainland brides who married Hong Kong people had to wait two years to settle in Hong Kong, and after 1992 they had to wait five to seven years.This inhumane and discriminatory policy that violates human rights is a disgrace to Hong Kong.Even if Wen Lan marries me, she won't be able to settle in Hong Kong immediately. I don't blame her for choosing to marry in Germany instead of Hong Kong.I even understand her riding a donkey to find a horse.What makes me angry is that she not only misled me to the end, but also didn't inform me after making a decision.I saw that she was a person who only cared about climbing the ladder and didn't care about others, so I completely gave up on her. I'm too lazy to guess the relationship between her and Jian Lin now. That night, I ate alone at a Singaporean restaurant near my home, reading an e-book on my phone.I use Tianyu mobile phone, which used to be Shanzhai Wang, but now it is an international famous brand, with all the functions. Its e-book, the interface uses technology similar to Sony, and the functions combine all the advantages of the latest version of Apple iPhone and Amazon Kindle, which is great. used.Although I still go to the Sanlian Bookstore on a regular basis, since I have the Tianyu e-book mobile phone, almost all books can be directly downloaded from the Internet to the mobile phone.Now I have the complete works of Jin Yong, Zhang Ailing and Lu Xun in my mobile phone. When I was thinking about Lu Xun's article "The Lost Good Hell", I received a call from Wen Lan and made an appointment to meet. I said that there was no time to rush the draft, but she persisted and made an appointment at noon the next day. Maison Boulud, that place is not easy to take a taxi, and I don't have a driver, not to mention that I don't want to accommodate the French crystal lamp, so I changed the appointment to a small cafe at No. 30, Qianliang Hutong.She asked, "Where is Qianliang Hutong?" I said bluntly, "It's on Dongsi North Street, near your hometown in Shasha, you don't know it."She accepted it without even talking back, she must be asking for something from me. When we met the next day, she really said: "Jian Lin and I are just ordinary friends, don't talk nonsense with others, they have wives." I wanted to gag my mouth.I haven't seen you for 20 years, and this is the only reason I saw you.I'm not even angry anymore, I just want to see what other tricks she has.I teased her and said, "Jian Lin is a big real estate developer." Her reaction was: "What is a real estate developer! It's just a few dollars, nothing special." What a breath.Could it be that she is already riding a donkey to find a horse?I have to admit that although Wen Lan is in her early forties, she is well maintained and looks very European. I can imagine that many men will still be fascinated by her. "Are you still in Germany?" Wen Lan looked at me a little puzzled: "I'm no longer in Germany!" "It's not that you married to Germany." I hinted at twenty years ago. Wen Lan seemed to blame me for the bad news: "You mean Hans? We're not together a long time ago. Germany is boring. I went to Paris. My ex-husband is Jean-Pierre Lavie."Seeing that I didn't respond, she said, "A very famous sinologist."I have never heard of the names of a few French sinologists.Wen Lan herself added: "Sinologists are all neurotics and can't stand it." I asked: "Jianlin called you Professor Wen". She said: "Professor Wen or Doctor Wen is fine. I am a Ph.D. from Sciences Po. Do you know Sciences Po? I am an expert on European and African issues. Both the European Union and the Chinese Foreign Ministry have asked me to be a consultant."I thought that her father belonged to the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. His roots were straight and young. I asked, "Then you don't plan to go back to China?" She became arrogant: "Are you talking about going back to China? Look, there are people waiting for me in Europe. There is an old nobleman chasing me to marry him all day long. But now everyone knows that the 21st century is China Century, if there is a particularly good opportunity, I will consider coming back to help China. For the time being, I will come and go. I have houses in Paris and Brussels, and I am looking for a place in Beijing. What about you, you do in Beijing what?" Just stay at home and occasionally write something. Her interest in me has mostly disappeared. She asked, "Where do you live?" I replied: "Happiness Second Village". She definitely didn't think it was high-end enough, and after finding out my cards, the remaining interest was gone. "Old Chen, I still have something to do." "You go first." "About Jianlin..." I gesture to shut my mouth. She stood up and said coquettishly, "You live in Beijing now, you have to take care of me when I come to Beijing!" This is called leaving a bright tail, and it can be regarded as buying travel insurance.Be a big woman for a while, and a small woman for a while, big and small take everything.Thankfully she had the nerve to say it. I watched the driver open the door through the glass, and she got into a black BMW with a WJ Armed Police license plate. I thought: she is no longer a counterfeit product, but a real French crystal lamp, but whether it is a domestically made fuel-efficient lamp or a current French crystal lamp, they are all up for grabs in the market.