——In memory of teacher Su Lianshuo
Go in all directions
Yesterday, a classmate sent me a WeChat message, saying that Teacher Su Lianshuo passed away on January 12, 2023, and when I heard this bad news, I was deeply saddened, and the little exchanges with Teacher Su couldn't help but surge in my heart.
Mr. Su is a member of the China Writers Association and the Chinese Prose Literature Association. Born in 1940, in terms of imaginary age, it should be 83 years old. There is an old saying in the countryside, "Seventy-three eighty-four, the king of Yan does not tell himself to go." And Teacher Su was so few days away that he didn't even step into the threshold of eighty-four, which was embarrassing.
Teacher Su should have been knocked down by the new crown virus. Around mid-December 2022, he also accepted interviews with relevant personnel, and spoke more than 8,000 words endlessly, recalling his mother, his own school experience, his work experience and writing process, introducing his writing experience, and expressing his life insights, which seems to be making a simple and concise summary of his life.
He said in the interview, "Times have fixed my destiny. I will continue to continue, sublimate, move forward, and write new and beautiful literary works." He loves life, cherishes the pen in his hand, and is not prepared to leave this world.
Last winter, after the epidemic was serious, he did not land on the ground to do nucleic acid as required, and posted videos on WeChat several times that he opened his mouth and seriously cooperated with nucleic acid, which is a rule-abiding person.
Just a few days before his death, he was still posting his body temperature in a WeChat group. Some people say, Teacher Su, you may be yang. He replied, "Never yin."
What a humorous answer, Mr. Su did not take the virus to heart at all, he naively thought that the virus was helpless, full of confidence. Such an optimistic and open-minded old man has not escaped this calamity, the new crown virus is hateful and terrible!
Teacher Su is wise, diligent, and works tirelessly at dawn, and has published more than 4,000 articles in the genre of essays, essays, poems, etc., and has successively published many collections of works such as "Liuyuan Sketches", "Lake Light Heart Shadow", "Li Xingyu", "Dawn Kiss Marks", "Dawn Echo" and "One Hundred Tips for Health and Longevity", and more than 30 articles were published in the "Earth" supplement of People's Daily. Many of his essays have been incorporated into the language papers of various examinations. When such an old man leaves, he always feels that it is a deficiency if he does not write something to commemorate it.
I don't have much intersection with Teacher Su. When I was in junior high school in my hometown, he taught there, but he didn't teach me. Only once, my Chinese teacher went out for a meeting, and his lover, Mr. Hu Zhiyu, gave me a few lessons. Teacher Hu wrote beautifully, lectured beautifully, and looked more beautiful, quite a beautiful style, which left a deep impression on the students.
At that time, I didn't know much about Mr. Su, I had the impression that he was just tall, not very particular about dressing, loved to play basketball, and listened to his name strangely, and some classmates joked behind their backs, "Chinese key Soviet lock", that's all.
After graduating from junior high school, I was admitted to Hengshui High School, immersed myself in studying, and I knew less about the situation of junior high school teachers.
After I worked in the toilet education in my hometown, I learned about Teacher Su one after another. During the Cultural Revolution, both of Teacher Su were affected, especially Teacher Hu, because her background was not good. Later, the county was dissolved, and he stayed in several commune middle schools below for a while, then transferred to Xianghe, not far from his hometown, and later returned to his hometown of Baodi, and also served as a member of the county's CPPCC.
(Mr. Su's hometown, Xizhai Village, Dakou Tun Town, Baodi District, Tianjin, where the winding Embroidered Needle River runs along the village, where he spent his childhood)
Teacher Su lost his father at a young age, and his mother was filial to his mother, and he returned to his hometown for the convenience of taking care of the elderly. In addition, it is also common for people to return to their roots.
I remember that in the summer of 1995, when I was doing management work at my alma mater, at the invitation of the students he taught, he once returned with his wife to revisit the starting place of work after graduating from Cangzhou Teachers College, and we had a meal together. Later, his collection of essays "Liuyuan Sketches" was published, and he brought me a copy and signed his name carefully.
In 1999, his new book "100 Tips for Health and Longevity" was published, which should be published at his own expense and sold by himself, and he asked someone to find me and ask me to help. I read sample books, all of which were about the experience of maintaining the body, and the text was short, lively, fresh and readable, so I bought 100 copies and put them in the school library.
After retiring, I went to Beijing to help my son with his children. Around the beginning of 2016, I participated in a WeChat group composed of students from my alma mater, "Zhengzhong Alumni Group", and then Mr. Su was also pulled into the group, and we had more communication.
Teacher Su is very active in this group, often sending voices, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, flowers, birds, fish and insects, the world is varied, everything is discussed. He can't type on his phone, he uses his voice, and he says a few paragraphs, a dozen, or even dozens of paragraphs. In order to make it easier for everyone to read, I used translation software, plus manual correction, to translate his voice into text, and then send it to the group for everyone to read. One article after another, seemingly casual talk, a little sorting, it has become a rare piece of high-quality prose. The teacher was very happy, so he often forwarded the things I had compiled to other groups; The group also liked it and encouraged me to keep going.
Now I transcribe a paragraph that is Teacher Su's audio commentary on the poems of the two students, which I compiled into text.
One (Poetry by Students Walking in Four Directions)
Lone duck boring play flowers,
The blue water reflects the White Tower.
And now the grass people swim freely,
At that time, it was alone in the imperial family.
Teacher Su commented: Lonely ducks are bored, blue water has a fate, and they fight naturally, and they write out their respective mentalities and write alive. Such personification, writing it as a person with feelings and causes, is indeed wonderful. The other two verbs also write the dynamism and fun of the house, and the two also echo and echo into interest.
I can't remember a poet who thought one of the secrets of writing poetry was to work on verbs. I saw several small poems sent in succession, all of which put a lot of effort into the word of this verb.
The second (student Long Ai Shui's poems)
Bishui Green Grass Cyclist,
Fortunately, the capital is full of flowers.
Pedaling from time to time looking up at the sky,
It is suspected that Bai Yun went to the wrong house.
Teacher Su commented: Cycling and heroic, writing a bold atmosphere. Fortunately, you can see the unusual repercussions of ordinary and ordinary flowers in the hearts of the author and poet.
The whole verse appears bold and rough. Compared with the one walking in all directions, walking in all directions is more idyllic, but the mood of the two is expressed, and Bingxu's is more calm, comfortable, and idyllic. Long Ai Shui's more bold, majestic, bright, are all good poems, just write in four sentences like this, or eight sentences and eight sentences.
The first is the draft, at the first time, the first feeling, basically there is a prototype, there is a mold. Then repeatedly and patiently grind, forge, smelt, melt. Of course, don't die begging for old grinding, old grinding, and the original one may be worn off. This style temperament is different for everyone. How you polish, don't grind it away from your original precious things.
I'm idyllic, so I'll write him a little lighter, earthy, and natural. I'm straightforward, bold, and rough, and I keep that trait. No matter how you polish here, don't make this a mess, make it different.
Personality, characteristics, is style. The beating of the pulse is the characteristic of one's own distinctive personality and its own seal. That temperament and personality are not pretended, the toad's mouth is not pulled, and the duck's mouth is not smashed. Come on, dragons love water.
Teacher Su is tireless, patient guidance, not annoying words, and active encouragement, Teacher Su can be described as well-intentioned.
Although translating and sorting out the voice took up a lot of my time. But I think it's meaningful, I've been enjoying it, it's been a very happy time.
But later, Mr. Su talked less and less about writing, but became concerned about current affairs, made some inappropriate remarks, and involved some sensitive issues, which caused people's unease, and bold classmates put forward their own views. I didn't agree with some of his views, but for the sake of face, I didn't say it bluntly, and I didn't want to embarrass each other.
Later, he quit the group knowingly, of course, with a little regret. Afterwards, he once said, "There is no barrier between teachers and students, different views, or teachers and students", but also said, "I didn't expect it.... ”
After all, it is an 80-year-old man, and I am worried that his spirit will be stimulated and his body will have problems, so I comforted him tactfully: "I think that when we sang poetry and words, you sent voices, I will translate, cooperate with tacit understanding, and the students have benefited a lot." In the future, we will communicate with each other, I am willing to learn more from you" He sighed again: "I always encourage everyone to learn from you, how can it be like this?" He expressed his bewilderment.
I always find it incomprehensible to me that Teacher Su's performance in the middle and late stages of the group. In the Four Qing Dynasties and the Cultural Revolution, Teacher Su was affected to varying degrees. The political appraisal given to him by Siqing Zhong was: "Su Lianshuo has a certain bourgeois ideology of fame and wealth, emphasizes business over politics, has a tendency to be white-minded, is relatively free and loose, and has a sense of pride and complacency." During the Cultural Revolution, he was severely criticized again, and he was re-educated with the "cows, ghosts, snakes, and gods" for half a year. But he praised the upper echelons of that era. And now the days are better, he can write freely, do not have to do things against his will, do not need to say things against his will, his complaints and dissatisfaction have increased, and he always feels that it is contrary to common sense.
Then again, China's old literati have their own unique characteristics: self-cleansing, self-appreciation, flaunting not to merge with the powerful, like to sing the opposite tune, whining, such as "no fish to eat, no car to go out" and so on. For the well-read Teacher Su, it is unknown what they have influenced by these people. But he has absolutely no malice towards society, but only expressed dissatisfaction with some bad habits at present, and hoped that the relevant personnel would continue to improve themselves and make this society more harmonious.
I remember discussing this issue with one of his own disciples. The student's remark that "not looking at the world with personal grudges is his rare feature, which shows that he has a broad heart", which seems to have some truth.
In order to guide him away from sensitive issues and avoid getting into trouble, on April 5, 2020, I sent him some photos of the scenery I had taken, with a small poem attached:
Antique Music
Life is rushed and difficult to fill a hundred,
Don't be bored Chitose worry.
Shaochun blooms endlessly,
In midsummer, cicadas sing endlessly.
Golden autumn danguo is fragrant,
Cold winter Ruixue cage ice rush.
And walk and chant without stopping,
Lying down the book birds chirping.
My voice is, teacher, stop saying things that you shouldn't say, just focus on writing about your birds.
Why do you mention birds? Because Mr. Su has a soft spot for birds, when he was in the group, he often wrote some poems about birds. When he taught at his alma mater in his hometown, he used to write early in the morning, "The birds on the old locust trees on the side of the road on campus are my soulmates." When I walked briskly from under the tree to the teaching and research room at dawn, the lovely birds always greeted me affectionately" (Su Lianshuo).
Teacher Su kept writing about birds, I think it was also to relieve loneliness and loneliness. The wife went before him, the child was not around, there was no one around to speak, and loneliness and loss were inevitable. So when he was in the WeChat group, he sent his voice over and over again, writing about birds one after another. In the words of Teacher Su, it is "the dawn calls me, I call the dawn, I am the morning bird that wakes up early, the ploughing cattle, singing in the early morning, plowing in the early morning." ”
Now that he has quit the group, he has undoubtedly added a bit of boredom, and concentrating on his birds seems to be the only option. He took the trouble to write about birds, and even made me think of Confucius's disciple Gongye Chang, the person who knew bird language. Does Teacher Su also understand bird language?
At first, there was quite a lot of communication between us, but then his reply became less and less. Teacher Su likes to join in the fun, and he is willing to participate in big occasions and respond to every day. Just like an actor, the more audience there are, the more vigorous the performance. If there are few audiences, the performers will have less passion. Later, I heard that one of his groups in Xianghe was still active, which is proof of this.
Since the second half of 2021, I have sent WeChat many times and he has not replied, this 80-year-old man, who has taught Chinese all his life, written articles for a lifetime, knows very little about the use of computers and mobile phones, and deleted my WeChat by mistake.
After getting Teacher Su's information, it was actually he who left and went to another world. In recent years, Mr. Su has written more than 1,300 articles on the world of birds, and shortly before his death, he still said that my "world of birds" will continue to be written. Calligraphy, I will also practice. In calligraphy, I excerpt verses from "The World of Birds". Art connects. I write birds, wave a pen, reflect each other, complement each other", unexpectedly, this has become Teacher Su's unfulfilled last wish in the world.
The sea is wide with fish leaping, and the sky is high for birds to fly. Heaven is the world of birds, where Mr. Su can communicate with them up close and unrestrained, and write more and more beautiful poems, but unfortunately, we can no longer see them. Teacher Su, rest in peace!
(January 18, 2023)