Cai Lan's new book", "Old Friends of Jianghu", is a masterpiece of his character essays, and the authors are all the characters I was fascinated by when I was young: Jin Yong, Huang Xia, Ni Kuang, Yi Shu, Huang Yongyu, Gu Long, Zhang Che, Hu Jinquan, Cai Zhizhong...
Jin Yong said in the preface to "Old Friends of jianghu": "Cai Lan is a truly dashing person. Be frank and can treat life with a relaxed and lively attitude, especially for the loss or unpleasant encounters in life, as if there is nothing to do. Not only is it outwardly so, but it is truly unquenchable and smiling. It's not easy to 'put it away', but it is even more difficult to add 'a smile'. He doesn't complain that the food is tasty, he doesn't complain that the car is too bumpy, he doesn't complain that the female tour guide is too unattractive. He taught me how to drink the lowest spicy Italian wine and how to suck the bone marrow of cattle in Singapore food stalls. I would frown and he would laugh all the time. So he's definitely a lot more dashing than I am. And Cai Lan quoted Jin Yong at the beginning: "Cai Lan and I have the same views on some things. It's just that for eating, I'm not used to what he calls. Through Cai Lan's close observation, we learned: "A few years ago, after a big duel with the disease, the doctor did not allow the doctor to check the big man to eat sweets. The more you are forbidden, the more you want to eat. Mr. Jin Yong would unwittingly hide a long piece of chocolate in the apron bag of the female nurse. I put another one in my pajama pocket, revealing a section. Mrs. Cha found out and confiscated the chocolate in his pajama pocket. But when he went upstairs to rest, Mr. Jin Yong took out the nurse's apron bag and stole it. I'm weird. Otherwise, how could he come up with strange things in his novels? ”
I like to watch Cai Lan write funny things about eating and drinking with my old friends. "Every time Mr. Cha pays the bill. Sometimes when I was fighting to pay, I would always scold Mrs. Cha. Always too much to go. But once, Brother Ni Kuang said, 'Are you richer than Mr. Cha?' I was dumbfounded, and had to accept their kindness. He also said, "At the table, Brother Ni Kuang always sat next to Mr. Cha, and the two of them grunted in Zhejiang." Everyone has a good memory, and they can call out the names of the family members of the Water Margin characters in the Three Kingdoms. ”
Cai Lan admired Yi Shu and wrote many letters to her. One of the letters, which I read many years ago, immediately remembers the main point: "Once I visited my home in Gulong, Taipei, when he was most energetic. Gu Long said: 'Whatever I write, the publisher accepts: there is a father, there is a mother, having four daughters, marrying four husbands, you can sell for money.' After returning to Hong Kong, I met Mr. Cha and told him about this matter, and Mr. Cha smiled and said: "I can also write: there is a father, there is a mother, I have four daughters, and I am married to five husbands." ''Why four daughters marry five husbands?'' The people in this room immediately asked. That's called an article! The story in the letter reminds me of a wonderful sentence on the Internet: "The text seems to look at the chest and does not like peace." ”
My personal impression is that Cai Lan's articles written by Ni Kuang, Huang Xia, and Gu Long are the most interesting. "Huang Xia's Remarriage", I have read it many times, and I can't help but laugh every time. And Cai Lan told Huang Xia's jokes one by one, which I often borrowed as a talking point for the after-dinner meal, and I could always win the laughter of the people in the audience. In an article about Gu Long, Cai Lan joked: "Gu Long drinks wine by pouring cups into the throat. It is a veritable 'down'. Not through the mouth, straight into the stomach and intestines. Of course, this is drunk, and after the big drunk wakes up, usually not in Yang Liu'an, there is no Xiao Feng remnant moon, is to feel that the head is big, do not have to rely on wine to help, I think he drank wine, other parts are also big, otherwise how to cope with the group of experienced wind and dust women? Behind these jokes, perhaps only confidants understand the loneliness of the master when he wakes up drunk.
Cai Lan worked in the film industry in his early years, and had close contact with famous directors and stars, and he wrote without the feeling of scratching the itch of his boots. I was the first to read "Mourning Zhang Che" and I was quite shocked. The article said: "At the shooting scene, Zhang Che scolded people and scolded very fiercely. To the assistant director, props and costumes, as soon as they are not satisfied, they immediately burst into scolding. What Zhang Che seems to have learned from Xu Zenghong is scolding. I think people always have to maintain a mutual respect between people, but Zhang Che never agrees. Every man is different, only by him he goes. Later, he said: "I personally saw some directors in their thirties being scolded by Zhang Che and shedding tears, and I felt deep sympathy and did not think much of Zhang Che." I swore that one day I would have a big fight with him when I met him. Zhang Che never exercised, and he couldn't beat me. But there seems to be no conflict between Cai Lan and Zhang Che. Zhang Yi had time to photograph Cai's office, chat about literature and calligraphy, and drink a cup of tea. Occasionally, jin yong and Ni Kuang were invited to eat Shanghainese food together.
Cai Lan wrote "Mr. Bu Shaofu", about wine, no different from others: "After coming to Hong Kong, I met Mr. Bu Shaofu, I am a nameless pawn he will not know. After the introduction, the old man hugged me tightly: 'I heard my friend say that you also love to drink.' At the next few banquets, we all sat together and talked about wine. Mr. Bu Shaofu will drink every drink, and he will get drunk every time he drinks, but he will never trouble others. Drunk and laughing and giggling home. I learned this from him and drank like he did. The latter part is not known to ordinary people: "Mr. Bu Shaofu's brother is the famous Mr. Anonymous, and when we were young, we were fascinated by his books, and Brother Ni Kuang also liked it." When he heard that anonymous had come to Hong Kong, he immediately invited him to a nightclub to make dancers. Mr. Nameless grabbed the girl's hand: 'It is pitiful that such a young man has fallen into a pit of fire.' The dancer glanced at Mr. Nameless and fled. ”
After reading "Old Friends of Jianghu", I couldn't help but laugh like Cai Lan's old friend Ni Kuang: Hahahahaha!