Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

In the early spring of this year, the peach trees on Taoling were suddenly cut down.Tao Fan was very surprised and asked the migrant worker who felled the tree what happened.The migrant workers said: "The leader said that peach trees are only good-looking, and peaches are not worth much. They should all be replanted with orange trees." Madam didn't expect Tao Fan to be so angry, and persuaded: "Cut it off, what's the big deal?" Tao Fan was angry not for anything else, but because those people didn't even ask him.I like peach trees, just a small personal interest.They want economic benefits, so it's okay to change to citrus, but they have to ask politely!

Tao Fan thought angrily: Wuxi has tin, and tin mines are Wuxi.This Taoling has no more peaches, so it has to be called Taoling! Guan Yinda accidentally heard that Taoling was going to replant citrus, and felt that this was a big deal for Tao Fan, so he said to Tao Tao: "Let's go back to see Dad in a few days, he will definitely be uncomfortable." Tao Tao said: "It's time to go back and have a look, but I don't understand that if the peach tree is cut down, Dad will be so sad?" Guan Yinda said: "You don't know Dad very well. He still has a typical old Chinese literati complex. I can't say whether this is the root cause of his mental incompatibility when he retired. Liu Zongyuan was relegated to Yongzhou. I like to plant willow trees, palm trees and citrus the most. I think these three kinds of trees imply the word Liu Zongyuan. My father’s surname is Tao, so he likes to plant peaches. Now that the peach tree is cut down, he will definitely not be able to communicate with him. Of course he is uncomfortable. of."

Tao Tao still didn't understand, and said, "Is Dad superstitious and regards the peach tree as his feng shui tree?" Guan Yinda said, "That's not true either." He no longer discussed the matter with his wife.However, he had thought about a phenomenon long ago, thinking that whether it was Liu Zongyuan or Tao Fan, planting some trees he liked seemed to be a small sentiment, but in fact it was a reflection of their deep-seated personalities.Chinese cultural people follow the avenue of governing the country and the world, but subconsciously they often pretend to be lofty.They plant a few trees, subconsciously erecting materialized signs for their personality.But they are often incompatible with reality, and even their own hearts contradict their words and deeds.Therefore, the more literary people in the officialdom, the more difficult their official career will be.Guan Yinda compared his own analysis with Tao Fan's, and sometimes felt that he was riveted, and sometimes felt alienated.

A few days later, Guan Yinda's family of three returned to Taoling, but they never saw a peach tree again.The citrus trees have not yet been planted, and the hills are bare.Entering the room, Guan Yinda immediately noticed a new painting "Peach Ode" hanging on the wall, with the side script "Peach Blossoms Still Smiling in the Spring Breeze", which made Guan Yinda feel abrupt.He knew that Tao Fan liked peach trees, but he never painted peach blossoms.Flowers, birds, fish and insects are not his forte.Thinking about that verse, it is actually a love between men and women, and it is naturally not Tao Fan's style.After thinking for a long time, I suddenly realized.It turns out that Tao Fan was so painstaking and lonely that he used it against his intentions. The subtext was "the human face does not know where to go".Where have all the faces gone?They all went to the new dignitaries.But he, Tao Fan, "still laughs at the spring breeze".

Only Guan Yinda could decipher this painting.Looking at these paintings on the wall, Guan Yinda couldn't help feeling emotional.In his opinion, "Lonely Sail" and "The Garden of Autumn Wind" are still somewhat lonely and poignant, while "Peach Ode" only has the superficial spirit of Ah Q left. Guan Yinda thought that his future ending would not be any better.He doesn't miss officialdom.There are only pale smiles and empty greetings among people in the officialdom.He considered going to sea, and his friends in the business field also encouraged him to go to sea.But he was worried.He knew that once he really went into the sea, he would also "do not know where his face is going".Some friends will no longer be friends, and they will often have to make amends with people from the public security, taxation, industry and commerce departments, etc., and use their hard-earned money to feed them.This is unacceptable to him.There is no way but to go on like this.He has thought more than once that he is walking a road with no retreat.Li Bai "Life is not satisfactory in the world, and the Ming Dynasty spreads out boats."I don't know what this exile immortal eats?

Guan Yinda and the others stayed for one night and then went back to the county.After a lively day in the room, it became deserted again.Tao Fan dared not look out of the window.The graceful Taoling disappeared.Without the backdrop of the peach trees, the stone wall in the small courtyard in front of the house suddenly lost its vitality and became like ruins.If you live here, your days will feel like years! He has been a little tired of writing and drawing recently.Treating hobbies as work will eventually become a burden; and treating hobbies as the only solace will eventually become shackles.Bored, flipping through those newspapers over and over again.Occasionally, I saw an obituary of the death of a department-level cadre in a certain place, which was only the size of a matchbox, squeezed in a corner of the lively news release.This is an old newspaper from a few days ago. No matter how many times I flipped through it, I never noticed it.The passing of a life is like this, like an autumn leaf, quietly falling.Tao Fan carefully read the dozens of words of the obituary, but couldn't see anything. Could it be that human life is too abstract?He didn't know this person, but he meditated, no matter how magnificent or trivial a human life is, it cannot be delivered with a few dozen words!According to the regulations, only the death of cadres above the underground hall is eligible to enjoy the matchbox obituary.Tao Fan felt a sadness that he had never felt before.He said to his wife: "If I leave before you, I must prevent people from publishing obituaries in newspapers. Those few dozen words are a mockery of the sacred life. I am not afraid of being forgotten. The sages have words,' The Ze of a Gentleman, beheaded in the fifth life. 'What kind of person am I, Tao Fan? Why don't I go on the road quietly, just like going home, without disturbing anyone."

Madam looked at Tao Fan with concern: "What's the matter with you today, old Tao? Talk about these things carefully." Madam pretended to be happy after saying a few words, and said some happy things.In fact, she was terrified.It is said that the elderly often talk about their funeral, which is not a good sign. Tao Fan is anxious about the environment here all day long, and has no other place to go.When you are old, you already have a sense of wandering.This is neither Tao Fan's hometown nor his wife's hometown.The two occasionally feel homesick, but after decades of working outside, there is not an inch of land in their hometown to accept them, and people in the same hometown have become separated.When I get homesick, the emotions are very abstract and ethereal.Alas, hero I, in the end I couldn't even find a satisfactory place to settle down!Tao Fan patted himself on the forehead and blamed himself: Don't think like that, don't think like that!