Chapter 50 Encountering Crazy in Zhouzhuang

Before seeing Zhouzhuang, I fell in love with its name first.Literati can't change the vanity of "making the meaning out of the text", so they wishful thinking that Zhouzhuang must be simple and peaceful.A peaceful town with a leisurely atmosphere at sunset. From Suzhou to Zhouzhuang, it takes about an hour by car.It was Sunday and rainy.The companions said that it is not good to visit Juzhuang on this day, because Shanghai is very close to Zhouzhuang. Every weekend, Zhouzhuang will be crowded with people, and the sound of "Allah" can be heard everywhere.I secretly prayed that the rain would be heavier, so that the sound of "Allah" might ebb.But the dark cloud did not favor my selfish You Xing, and it retreated from the heaven with integrity.The first thing I saw in Zhouzhuang was a round of wet white sun dancing on the roofs of blue-brick and gray buildings.

Zhouzhuang, formerly known as Zhenfengli, was just a small village at the beginning, and it gradually developed in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty.The rapid prosperity of a place must be related to commercial activities, and the wealth of merchants undoubtedly played a decisive role.Zhouzhuang is no exception.It was Shen You, a rich man from the south of the Yangtze River who moved from Nanxun, Huzhou to Zhouzhuang, and it seemed that a heavy snowfall of silver fell on Zhouzhuang overnight, making the place so rich.And Shen Wansan, the son of Shen You, painted this silver-like richness with a layer of brilliant golden yellow, making it show a pinnacle of brilliance, so that people say that Shen Wansan has a cornucopia.However, if the wealth is too extreme, it will be suspected of "showing off", and Shen Wansan died because of this.

According to folklore, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build the Nanjing City Wall. Shen Wansan once funded 13,000 taels of silver and was responsible for the project from Hongwumen to Shuiximen.Later, the project exceeded the budget, and he donated another 13,000 taels.But Zhu Yuanzhang was greedy and ordered Shen Wansan to offer a cornucopia.Shen Wansan refused, transported the silver back to Zhouzhuang, hid it under the Yinzibang, and took the cornucopia away to other places.Later, he was captured by Zhu Yuanzhang's Yulin army and sent to Yunnan to serve as an army.And "Zhouzhuang Town Records" records: "The rich people and Shenxiu helped build one-third of the capital, please reward the army, the emperor said angrily: "Every man rewards the army and the people in the world, and it should be punished." Later, he said, the ominous people, the heavens How can you punish him, Your Majesty! It is Shi Xiu who is stationed in Yunnan."

Whether it is legend or historical data, it can be proved that Shen Wansan committed the crime because of "exposing his wealth".As long as you make the emperor feel rich and overbearing, even if you don't kill him immediately, you can only live the rest of your life, lingering on your last breath. Shen Wansan finally died in another country, and his coffin was later transported back to Zhouzhuang and buried at the bottom of Yinzibang. In Zhouzhuang's stone bridges and narrow alleys, there are endless "Allah" sounds.We entered the "Shen Hall" with the guide.Shen Hall was originally named Jingye Hall, but it was changed to Songmao Hall in the late Qing Dynasty.It was built by Shen Benren, a descendant of Shen Wansan, in the seventh year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty.Shenting Hall faces the river port, and there are boats covered with sky-blue cloth passing back and forth on the water.There are no women who are dressing by the river or washing rice and vegetables as I imagined. Although the boat is old, it is full of laughing tourists.The middle part of the Shen hall is the tea hall and the main hall. When I sat on the mahogany chair in the center of the hall and took a nap, I felt a piercing coolness rising from my feet, as if I was stepping on the cold mouth of hell.I have visited many rich people's houses, most of them have tall gatehouses, square halls, carved beams and painted buildings inside, and most of the chairs on display are cumbersome and unbearable.Because such a room is far away from the window, it is extremely difficult for sunlight to enter.What's more, the eaves of the buildings in Zhouzhuang almost intersect with each other, and the sunlight is already quite blocked, so how can it be said that it is a hall.A house that rarely sees sunlight, while possessing its dignified atmosphere, must give people a lingering sense of depression and a dull feeling of being cut off from nature.Lingering in the countless houses in the Shenting Hall is like walking in the catacombs, which makes people feel sad.Later, a group of us gathered in front of a small tea house and drank grandma tea with pickled amaranth. I happened to see a few drops of raindrops bulging on the leaves of a few green plants in front of the window. There was still life pulsing around, and for that moment erased the sense of desolation and bleakness that haunted it when visiting it.

The remains of Zhouzhuang are basically buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and its tone is gray.In Jiangnan, where the green never fades and is always spring, this kind of gray always jumps like lightning.The stone bridges straddle the water alley like horses and cast their reflections in the water.The sun shines on the stone bridge and the people on the stone bridge, and also on the reflection of the stone bridge and the people in the water.The sound of sipping refreshments still came from the deep alley over the steep cornices.At a certain moment, I seemed to have captured the charm of Zhouzhuang, but the endless stream of tourists quickly diluted that feeling.I imagined Zhouzhuang 900 years ago in the noise, and it was also a building like this, but there were very few people. When sitting in the hall drinking tea, I could clearly hear the sound of oars returning to the boat.When the boat returns, it may disturb the ducks floating in the water, and maybe the lady in the boudoir opens the window in the embroidery building facing the river to see if there is someone she likes on the returning boat.If there is no one she likes, and there is no silk or pottery she likes.The weeping willows in front of the house give half of the greenness to the stone wall, while the other half of the greenness curls towards the river.At dusk, the water alley is filled with gold, and the smell of glutinous rice cakes and green tea lingers like the sound of a piano among the fingers of every woman who is looking forward to her husband's return.The gray Zhouzhuang slipped into the night in an elegant and peaceful atmosphere.Later, when the moon rose, there were no night tourists in Zhouzhuang, and the moonlight scattered and faintly shone on Zhouzhuang's stone bridges, flowing water, eaves, weeping willows and birds deep in the trees...

However, the chaotic reality soon separated me from the "spiritual friendship" in Zhouzhuang, and we began to visit the "Milou".Milou was formerly known as Deji Hotel, where Mr. Liu Yazi and people from Nanshe Poetry and Ci Club lived and drank and composed poems.Climbing up the narrow stairs to the second floor, I suddenly saw the wax figures of several members of the Nanshe Society. They seemed to be discussing poetry, but the frozen expressions of the characters gave people a sense of downright artificiality.In fact, this old small building is enough to make people imagine the elegant demeanor of the Nanshe members when they lived here. However, people always think that only by restoring a certain life with wax figures can they achieve a lifelike effect.So I went downstairs in frustration, and followed everyone to Sanmao Tea House.It is said that Sanmao came to Zhouzhuang in February 1989, and we visited the place where Sanmao drank tea.The teahouse is small, the tables and stools are rather old, and there are huge black and white photos of Sanmao on the walls.I think Sanmao should not choose stockings when she hanged herself, but should use her long hair as a rope to end herself. Her long hair is so beautiful.The moment I was sitting in the Sanmao Tea House for a rest, there was a burst of vicious shouting and cursing in the stone alley.It was a woman's voice.Scolding loudly, unrestrained, as free and easy as the sunshine after the rain.I poked my head out of the window and saw a fat middle-aged woman with short hair and a white vest leaning against the stone wall of a shop and cursing.However, it was her scolding that made me feel that Zhouzhuang nine hundred years ago suddenly turned around.In this deep stone alley, there is a kind of endless idiocy that travels through time and space like a long wind.I suddenly thought of Shen Wansan's tragic fate. He committed crimes for "exposing his wealth", but idiots will not be demoted for "exposing their idiots". "Idiot" has always been regarded as a kind of ignorance, so people in this state will not be hated no matter how bitter they say.It is no wonder that there are so many famous people in history who "feigned to be stupid" to tide over the difficulties because of sudden bad luck. They carried out the most painful resistance in their hearts in a passive way.So there are Ruan Ji and Ji Kang's false "madness", and there are legends about Yang Shen, a great talent in the Ming Dynasty who was exiled in Yunnan, passed through the alley after drinking and arranging flowers all over his head, making people suspicious of being an idiot. "Delusion" is a state of existence that allows the mind to fly freely. It is like a house with its windows always open, which can welcome the wind from all directions.So I thought, if Shen Wansan was an "idiot", he would definitely escape from the "tiger mouth" that Zhu Yuanzhang set up for him.But Shen Wansan is not a scholar, but a wealthy businessman, which determines that he will not pretend to be stupid to survive.Therefore, there are two kinds of heroes in the world, one is the one who is all-powerful, does his own way, and puts his life aside;And I appreciate the former more, because they are as transparent as dust swirling in the sun.

Zhu Yuanzhang owned a green mountain mausoleum in Nanjing as his final resting place, while Shen Wansan was buried in a "water mound" at the bottom of Yinzibang in Zhouzhuang.The king's soul can still float romantically on the earth after thousands of years, while Shen Wansan's soul is always wet in the water, as if weeping.