TaoJiang water

In the territory of Taojiang, there is a Peach Blossom River.

I once stubbornly believed that the Taojiang River is the Peach Blossom River, perhaps because the peach blossoms on the banks of the river were too conspicuous, and the people here were too low-key, so they gave this heart-stirring word to the province, so people called it Taojiang. At least, in the two days after returning from this trip to Taojiang, I still think so.

The Taojiang River is famous because there is a Peach Blossom River that flows around the fields and soil of the mountains here. I imagined that the Peach Blossom River must be much more beautiful than other rivers, and if there was a beauty pageant for Jiang, all the rivers in the world would be eclipsed in front of it. Because it's called Peach Blossom River. I am reminded of Bai Juyi's "Remembering Jiangnan", the sunrise river flowers are red than fire, and the spring river is as green as blue. It must be a young poet who, on a sunny day with three or five friends, can't help but blurt out a sigh of relief on this blue and lush river on this sunny day, seeing the green and lush mountains on both sides of the river, and seeing the mountain flowers burning like fire above the green and the sky. The heart is moved by it, and it is passionate, and such a verse has eternal vitality, because it is so natural, so appropriate, so that hundreds of years and thousands of years later, when they are immersed in the scene, they will think of this classic sentence.

The red and fiery river flowers may be the beauty shared by the water side of the Spring River in Jiangnan. And the peach blossom river is more of a kind of excitement that people in other places can see, isn't it? In the spring, on the blue waves of the light boat, only to see the peach blossoms on the peach trees on the river after the rain sucking on the sweetness of the rain juice, and began to impatiently expand and expand the buds of the heart, just like the peach blossom river nourished the spring girl who only waited for the spring to call, so Tingting changed into the spring costume, so that the uncle of the neighbor could not help but take a breath, wondering, is this still the yellow haired girl yesterday.

The peach blossom river is famous because of the bloom of peach blossoms. In the rippling of the river, the brilliant peach blossoms are still a little shy, quietly reflected on the surface of the water. Although the peach blossoms after the spring rains are blooming, they must still be a little embarrassed. I have carefully approached the branches to look at it, the peach blossom is different from other flowers, its flower edge color is the darkest purple rouge, and then slowly the color becomes lighter and lighter, fading to the flower bud but it is extremely deep purple, a small petal, even hiding such a meticulous thought. It is not at all like the loofah flowers that bloom in front of my house, the bottom of the flowers is pure yellow, even if it is a long time in autumn, looking out the window, you can still see that the yellow is fighting against the cold winter wind in the cold, too strong.

However, the peach blossoms on the side of the peach blossom river are not like this, and the moisture of the amorous river water has long rooted the tenderness of the bones in its veins. They are just quietly reflected in the river, the flowers are too blooming, the blossoms are too dense, the peach blossoms are by the river, thousands of flowers are low, the weak new branches can no longer bear the weight of this blossom, in the breeze, the peach blossoms are dotted, undulating on the river, the longest branch blooming flowers, they can't help it, a quick light, is to kiss the river water secretly, suddenly and rapidly leaving, pretending to be calm and gently swaying in the breeze, is afraid that people will see it. But where can this escape the eyes of others? The ripples of the river circle are woven and connected, moving slowly, is not it the kiss mark in that moment?

With peach blossoms, this water has a name, peach blossom water. The peach blossom is very vigorous and brave, but it is not as strong as the loofah flowers that are still fighting the cold wind in the winter snow, and it is weak in its bones. Its flowering period is very short, and it strives to bloom for a few days. There were only a few spring rains, only one night of spring wind, and when the flowers bloomed, its leaves were only the size of a half-spitting finch, and when the flowers fell, they were still the same size, and it didn't seem to see how much had grown. However, in the spring wind and spring rain, how much the flowers fell, the river water, which was a foot deeper than last night, scattered a river of peach, and the pieces went away with the flowing water. Li Bai saw it, but he sighed, "The peach blossoms are flowing away, there is no heaven and earth and no earth." Indeed, in a trance, you will feel that this place is no longer human, but indeed you are in a fairyland.

No, far away, from the opposite side of the green mountains at the end of the river, a small bamboo row came, floating lightly on the pink river water, floating, getting closer and closer, so that you can see clearly, the one holding the long pen is a girl. The row came from the mountain, that mountain, is not called XiuShan, XiuShanxia, the girl of the Peach Blossom River, looks like such a water spirit, she has that slender, wonderful figure, she has the long hair of the goddess on the nun's peak who is as black and shiny as a waterfall, she has the eyes that are as full of water as the spring river, and even you can clearly see her pretty face that is fainted with peach. However, she was by no means as weak as the forest girl who buried the flowers, and she had a strong body and waist and feet that drifted in the wind and rain on this river for many years. On the small bamboo row, she just bent over slightly sideways, and then got up and took off her hand to send it to the front, and the clump in her hand turned into a wonderful arc, which was spread flat on the surface of the river and sank again. When he returned, he was filled with joy. The surface of the peach blossom river, the peach blossom-like people, how the people who call to see the scenery are not moved and do not tremble. The man surnamed Li wrote a song called "Peach Blossom River is a Nest of Beauty".

I know that this song was seen in an article selected by a teacher while studying teacher training. The content of the article has long been forgotten, but the words of the song have two sentences written down, and I remember it very well, there are many young people who are writing there, Peach Blossom River is a nest of beauty, and there is no me in the nest of beauty. I vaguely remember that some people called it a popular yellow song, a mesmerizing sound, but why did this beautiful song spread so widely and so famous? I think the main thing is that there is an amorous peach blossom river here, and there is also a peach blossom girl who has given birth to this beautiful and amorous. Naturally, I paid attention to the female classmates in the class. Forty people in the class came from various places in Yiyang, and half of the male and female students were divided. Since I knew the song in the text, I looked at these thirty-nine people again, and I didn't know whether it was the psychological effects of the song or what, and I saw a little difference.

The male classmates from Taojiang were almost the same as us, but their skin was slightly darker, not like coming from the river, but like they were chopping wood from the depths of the mountains. The women were different, and the more they looked, the more different they were, they all had black shiny hair, which fell from their shoulders like a waterfall, and easily fell to the place where they were shrunken. Their faces were white and pure, and they laughed when they saw people, and the accents of "grid" and "day" that came out of the mouths of some ugly places spat out from the mouths of the male classmates flew out lightly from the children's silver bell-like laughter, but they were so beautiful, so pleasant. Since the beginning, I have been worried about my dreams, to the spring peach blossom river to see, if possible, I may jump on the bamboo row down the river, jump, and temporarily dissolve myself into the spring river where the peach blossoms are swaying.

Twenty years ago, I was invited by Yiyang Experimental School to be a calligraphy tutor for students outside the city. At first, I was reluctant and thought the road was too far, but when I heard that it was Taohuajiang Elementary School, I immediately agreed. Taohuajiang Primary School must be on the side of the Taohua River. After driving dozens of miles to finish the class, after eating lunch, I hurried back, and I never had the opportunity to see the beautiful peach blossom river that was surrounded by dreams. I only remember that after class, in the gap between waiting for food in the small shop on the side of the narrow street, I looked at the sides of the street, but I only saw the abrupt high cliffs. There are kiwi fruits sold, buy a few, peel off the brown thin transparent skin, the turquoise flesh is exposed, gently bite between the lips and teeth, with a fragrant juice will sweetly soak every taste bud of your taste buds, if you are still a little reluctant to swallow, the green juice will escape from the corner of your mouth. Once, eating fish, the taste was very fresh. The boss said that the fish was picked up from the Peach Blossom River. I thought of the girl who cast a net on the bamboo row and said to the leader of the team, after dinner, go to the Peach Blossom River. He looked at me for a moment and said, Okay. However, the sky is not beautiful, and after the meal, the sky will rain and rain, and naturally, the river will not go again.

Later, there were not many opportunities to go to Taojiang, and I went to several times, all of which hurried back in the car, only through the glass of the car, I saw the undulating mountain, and also saw the green bamboo rushing through the glass of the car.

And this time, something went to Taojiang again. I heard that there is a long way to go, and it is necessary to cross the mouth to reach the people on the other side of the river. Except for one who was from the province, the others were all Yiyang natives, but they had never been there together with the driver. I had to drive the navigation forward. There are high and low undulating mountain roads everywhere, although they are concrete roads, but they are very narrow and curved. The master drove very carefully, while looking at the navigation, afraid of taking the wrong road, and staring ahead, afraid of pressing on a big greyhound that suddenly appeared in the house of the roadside people. When the navigation tells us we've reached our destination, we don't come back to our senses. They looked at each other and said, "The ferry port that we said we have not yet passed, how did we arrive?" When the locals heard this, they laughed and enthusiastically told us that the ones you were navigating along were coming from the levee of the hydropower station on the river. It's a big detour too. Wait until you go back to the transition, the ferry is not far below the house.

Walking down the embankment, I finally saw the river of the Tao River, and for so many years, the river I had always wanted to see appeared in front of me. A wave of famous emotions surged into my heart at once. The ferry hadn't come yet, and I wasn't talking to each other like the people I was with. Just standing quietly on the banks of this river. Quietly look at the Peach River in this winter. It was late winter, and I didn't see the bright peach blossoms that were wet, and I only looked at the sky. By the river, large and small stones lie irregularly in the withered barren grass. There were a few thin sticks of grass exposed in the wild grass, but the thin yellow rods were topped with fluffy white wool like a puppy's tail, and it seemed that with a little breeze, this lump could be sent far and wide. But it was only the depths of winter, and yesterday it was raining a little, and there was no wind. There seemed to be a thin layer of fog on the surface of the river, maybe not fog, just a faint trace of water vapor produced in the river. At first glance, it seems that there is, but when I look at it again, I can't find it.

Only on the mountain farther away from the river, the peak of Qingdai seemed to be bathed in a faint white fog. Added a few graces to the usually serious mountain. I looked down and saw that in the rubble, in the pile of dry grass, there were actually a few fresh indigo grasses, dark red stems, dark red leaves, bending, and tenaciously growing out of the stone cracks, and the leaves and stems were handed over and even lonely bloomed a number of small red flowers like rice grains. Although it was only a faint red, in this dry grass, it seemed to be so spirited and so eye-catching. I think of the Qu Zi who is the only one in the world, and perhaps he is hovering on the cliffs of this river, standing on the top of the peaks, and sending out the ancient song of heavenly questions. This blooming indigo is not the one in Qu Zi's poem. I have repeatedly read his Xiangjun and Lady Xiang, Qu Zi is very fond of this kind of vanilla, Bai Zhi, Jiang Li, Hui Cao, and Hua Pepper are all repeatedly chanted by him. Is the flower in the grass still stubbornly waiting for another person to come and write it into the words of the square?

The ferry slowly moved in the river, and the sides of the boat stirred up diagonal ripples, and in the ripples, the reflection of the mountains also moved slightly. The river is very open, the river is green, the mountains are green, except for the sound of boats, the surrounding is quiet. I thought that in a few years, if I could live in this green mountain and water, even in a hut, and eat and drink every day, how fascinating it would be.

Two days later, when I talked about the Peach Blossom River I saw at the dinner table somewhere in Yiyang with an acquaintance who had lived in the riverside house, the people by the river laughed and told me that what I saw was the Zijiang River flowing through the Taojiang River, not the Taohua River.

(Kuang Liehui, recorded late at night on December 3, 2019)