Eight months and ten days after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, I sold my own hut built three years ago in shapingba Miaowan in Chongqing and moved to the city to wait for the return of the boat.
Aside from the three years of emotions in Topi, I really have no nostalgia for this cottage. For the house is so simple, the environment is too desolate; I go to the house as if it were abandoned. But it was a white goose in the house that made me fall in love with it.
This white goose was given to me by a friend who was about to travel. This friend lived in Beibei and specially brought this goose from Beibei to Chongqing to give it to me, and I personally carried this big snow-white bird home and put it in the yard. It stretched its head and neck, looking left and right, and I looked at this gesture and thought, "What a proud animal!" "Where there are animals, the head is the most important part.
The shape of this part best indicates the character of the animal. For example, lions and tigers have large heads, indicating that they are strong. Unicorns and camels, the head is high, indicating their superbness. Wolves, foxes, dogs, etc., all have pointed heads, indicating their treachery and obscenity. Pigs, turtles, etc., have shrunken heads, indicating their stubbornness and stupidity.
The head of the goose is higher in proportion than that of the camel, similar to the unicorn, which is the expression of superb character. In its shouting, gait, and eating phase, it also indicates an arrogance.
The cries of geese, roughly similar to those of ducks, are "rolled". But the tone is very different. The "rolling" of the duck has a trivial and pleasant tone, with a sense of caution; the "rolling" of the goose, whose tone is serious and solemn, seems to be a sharp rebuke. Its old owner told me that keeping a goose is the same as raising a dog, and it can also guard the portal.
Later I saw that sure enough, whenever a visitor came in, the goose was bound to scream, and even if someone outside the fence walked, he wanted it to scream loudly, and its barking was as severe as the barking of a dog. The barking of the dog is intended for the sake of the guest or the curfew; when he sees the owner, the dog will shake his head and tail and whine and beg for mercy.
The goose scolded no matter who it was, and the cry when asking for food was like the uncle scolding the little messenger for being late for the meal.
The gait of the goose is even more arrogant. This is also broadly similar to a duck. But the duck's pace was rapid. There is a cramped and uneasy appearance. The goose's pace is calm, big and big, quite like the net horn appearance in the flat drama. This is precisely the expression of its arrogant character. We approach the chicken or duck, and the chicken or duck must give in and flee. This is an expression of fear of man.
So it's not easy for us to catch a chicken or a duck. The goose is no different: it stands proudly, and when it sees people coming, it will not let go; sometimes, instead of letting go, it will stretch out its neck to bite you. This means that it is not afraid of people and looks down on people. But this arrogance is ultimately arrogant.
As soon as we reach out, we can grab its neck and dispose of it at will. Among the domestic animals, the most proud is the goose. At the same time, the easiest to catch is no more than a goose.
The eating of the geese often makes us laugh. Our geese eat cold meals, three meals a day. It needs three things to eat: one is water, one is mud, and the same is grass. Take a bite of cold rice, take a sip of water, and then go somewhere to eat a mouthful of mud and grass. About these muds and grasses also have various flavors, and it is selected according to its appetite.
This food is not extravagant; but its way of eating, three eyes and one board, is not scrupulous. For example, after eating a mouthful of rice, if the basin of water is accidentally placed in the distance, it must calmly stride forward and take a sip of water. Then stride to a certain place to eat mud and grass. After eating mud and grass and coming back to eat. To eat in such a calm manner, there must be a person waiting by the side, like a hall in a restaurant.
Because the dogs nearby know the temper of our goose master, whenever he eats, the dog hides by the fence and peeps. When it had eaten a bite of rice and was walking in a square step to eat water, mud, and grass, the dog ran up quickly and tried to eat its meal.
Without finishing eating, the goose master accidentally returned early, stretched out his neck to bite the dog, and screamed and scolded, and the dog immediately fled to the edge of the fence, crouching and waiting; when he saw that he had eaten another bite of food, and then walked away to eat water, grass, and mud, the dog ran up again, this time he finished his meal and went away. By the time the geese came back to eat, the rice jar was empty. The goose shouted with its head held high, as if to rebuke the people for poor provision.
Then we added food to it and stood and waited. Because there are many dogs nearby, one dog goes, and one dog comes to squat and peep again. There are also many chickens in the vicinity, and they often creep to steal the goose's food. We were overwhelmed, so we put the rice pot and the basin together, so that it would not go far away and eat than chickens and dogs. However, the place where it must contain mud and grass is uncertain.
In order to find this feast, it still has to go far. Therefore, the goose must be served by one person. It's really shelf-high!
Goose, no matter how proud it is, we always have to raise it until the house is sold. Because it contributes to us, both materially and spiritually. Make it rejoice in both the Mother and the Master. Material offerings are laying eggs. It gives birth to an egg every day or every other day, and a pile of straw is set up by the fence, and the goose crouches in the straw, and it is going to lay eggs.
The little children in the family were more excited and stood next to it and waited. After it had given birth, it got up, strode into the house, and shouted for food. At this time, the children picked up the eggs hot and hid them behind their backs and brought them into the house, saying that they were afraid that the geese would be angry when they saw it. Goose eggs are really big, there are four times as many eggs as well! The mother's egg basket has accumulated a lot, so she takes it to make salt eggs and stew a salt goose egg, which the family can't eat!
Workers went to the street to buy vegetables and came back and said: "There are goose eggs sold in the vegetable market today, it costs four hundred yuan a day, our geese earn four hundred yuan a day, twelve thousand a month, better than our work, haha, haha." We also accompanied him with a "haha, haha." Looking at the goose, which was full of food, and with its chest held high, it took a step in the courtyard and looked at the wild scenery, and it seemed to be even more spirited.
But I think that better than eating goose eggs is the contribution of its spirit. Because our house is so simple, the environment is too desolate, and life is too lonely. Relying on this white goose, it decorates the courtyard, increases my vitality, and comforts me.
And to say that my house is very simple: within the fence, there are twenty abbots of the land, and the house occupies only six abbots. On these six abbots, three "anti-construction" bungalows were built, each divided into two rooms before and after, for a total of six rooms, with an average of one abbot in each room. The central one, the front room is particularly large, about one abbot and a half weak, is considered to be a canteen and a guest hall; the back room is only half the abbot strong, smaller than the bus, as the family's bedroom.
The west side is divided into two on average, and is considered a kitchen and a co-worker's room. The east room is also divided into two, the back room is also the family's bedroom, and the front room is my study and bedroom. For three years, I sat and wrote, all within this abbot. Gui Xifu's "Records of Xiang Ridge Xuan" says: "The room is only the abbot, and it can accommodate one person." He also said: "Yu Ze bets, and every time the case is moved, he looks at those who have no place to ignore." "
I can only think of these words and feel satisfied. Although my house is not leaky, the walls are made of bamboo and very thin. After nine o'clock in the summer, the east wall is hot, and the room is like a hot water tank. At this time, the anti-religious people want to warn, but go to the basement six or seven meters deep to cool off.
The yard inside the bamboo fence, under the thin layer of mud is full of rocks, can only grow some tomatoes, broad beans, plantains and the like, but can not plant trees. Beyond the bamboo hedge, the slopes and rocks are undulating, and it is all deserted. Thus the hut was naked, solitary, and undepended; and from a distance it looked like a pavilion. I sat in it for many years, like a pavilion chief.
This location is about a mile from the street, the trail is winding, it is not easy to find, and the visitors are extremely rare. Du Shi's sentence "Secluded and secluded by less" can be deserved in this room. On the day of the wind and rain, the mud carries the road, the dog is too lazy to walk, and the environment is even more desolate. The taste of these days of silence is still terrible when I think about it.
Since the completion of this hut, I have quit my teaching position and resumed my pre-war life. I rarely interact with the outside world, and every day I just read and paint, drink and gossip. My time is all my own, which is the requirement of my character, which in what I consider happy. But this happiness must have two conditions: in the time of peace, and in the metropolis.
Now, during the War of Resistance, in the deserted villages, this happiness is accompanied by a kind of bitterness--silence. In order to avoid this bitterness, I planted beans in the yard, planted vegetables, raised pigeons, and raised geese in addition to reading and painting. And the goose impressed me the most. Because it has such a huge body, so snow white color, so majestic shouting, so lofty attitude, so arrogant temper, and so ridiculous behavior.
In this desolate and lonely environment, the goose became a focal point. On a miserable day, when the hands were sore and tired, looking out the window, there was only this great snow-white thing, with its amber beak, walking alone in the rain, like an armed guard, so that this hut was secured, this yard had a master, and this environment was alive.
A few days before my cottage changed owners, I gave this goose to a friend who lived in Xiaolongkan. Within a few days of sending it off, it felt strange. It feels exactly the same as what happens when you say goodbye to someone, but only slightly. It turns out that all sentient beings are originally the same root, and all flesh and blood have a common feeling.
Therefore, this bird is more provocative than this house, and it can make people nostalgic. Now I am writing this short article, it is like a biography for a friend who has a long time, a portrait.
The old owner of this goose, whose surname is Xia Ming Zongyu, is now with my neighbor.
In the summer of 1946 in Chongqing.