Wang Xiaoli's prose: Just like this cup of good tea

When I set off from Nanchang, it was still a light rain, and I couldn't see the scenery along the way, so I was confused about the trip to Ningdu. However, when the car arrived at the boundary of Ningdu, the sky suddenly brightened. In the distance, the low mountains are undulating, the hills are stretching, and the texture of the bluestone and tea trees in the near distance can also be seen clearly.

  Outside the car window, the river called Meijiang runs through the whole county from north to south, sometimes revealing its silver-white figure. All things are flourishing, and the rice fields are like plates held out by the land, containing the beauty of nature. There were people working in the fields, their trousers rolled up, and occasionally straightened up. Ningdu has always been the "granary of southern Gansu", and the end depends on this heaven, earth and people, all of which are indispensable.

  There are also many tea trees, all of which grow according to the low mountain, and the waist is high, and the piers are pierced. They form one tea plantation after another, and the greenery is everywhere. There are two kinds of tea that are famous here, one is called Xiaobu Rock Tea and the other is called Xiaobu Tea, both of which are beautiful things that refresh and clear the heart. Near my home in Nanchang, there is a big tea house, all kinds of famous teas are arranged in the store, and the floor-to-ceiling window glass is written "Xiaobuyan Tea Monopoly". It can be seen that the reputation is far and wide. Almost all the posters and commercials of tea show young women with beautiful faces, wearing blue flower clothes, picking in clear weather. This is, of course, a metaphor for the purity and purity of tea. Most of the laborers I met in the Ningdu tea plantations were middle-aged and elderly men and women with mature faces, sophisticated human feelings, and slightly tired from long hours of work—I thought this was also beautiful, or even more beautiful—and this group of laborers represented the essence of the way of tea: authenticity, truthfulness, and skillfulness.

  The hotel is located on a small street, and it is more rustic and unadorned than the new, huge luxury hotels. Going out for a walk at night, the street shops are nicely lit, and a few local men are chatting on the street corners. I deliberately stopped to listen and capture the unique rhyme and meaning of the Ningdu dialect. Ningdu is an important birthplace of the Hakka people in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, so Ningdu dialect belongs to the Hakka dialect, which sounds very complicated and difficult to understand. But I secretly rejoiced in this obscurity and incomprehension. Dialect is the invisible business card of a place, as long as the dialect is not extinguished, the country will last forever.

  On the second day, I got up early and went to Xiaobu Town to participate in the event. Little Bu Naining is a famous town, and at first I heard that this place would be related to cloth and weaving. In fact, the original name was "Xiaobu" or "Xiaopu", and it was called for too long, and it became "Xiaobu", which is also catchy. The villagers cleaned up the town, and the houses were mostly yellow with yellow exterior walls, black and gray eaves, and surrounded by camphor cinnamon, which was really a livable place.

  About half of the people from the small town culture, writers, photographers, food, and tea masters, all speak calmly and enthusiastically – especially, their eyes are bright. Perhaps all those who are engaged in art should have such bright eyes. The eyes are bright, representing the richness and moisture of the water and soil, the sensitivity and sensitivity of people, and the absorption of the essence of the outside world with all their might.

  I can't help but think of the two cultural celebrities in the history of Ningdu, Wei Xi and Luo Mu, who have the reputation of "Wenxiang Poetry Country", they should also have such iconic bright eyes.

  Wei Xi's literary brilliance is outstanding, and his style is not informal, ranking first among the "Nine Sons of Yitang". The nine sons of Yitang are the gathering of nine local literary scholars in Ningdu at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. The way to the summit is a crack almost perpendicular to the ground, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is "difficult to get to the sky". In later generations, the "Nine Sons of Yitang" also became a major literary phenomenon, showing the prosperity of Ningdu's literary style and the strength of the literati's demeanor. Wei Xi's residence is on the side of Yitang, and he calls himself "Spoon Garden" because there is a pond in front of the court, which is shaped like a spoon. Although Wei Xi lived in avoidance, he had many poems that reflected the people's livelihood and suffering, and he was sharp and eloquent, and there were many people who asked for manuscripts. Later, I got a new compilation of the book "Wenxiang Ningdu" and read it with relish. The book devotes several pages to Wei Xi's life, saying that he was "slender, bright-eyed, heroic and upright."

  Luo Mushan painting, one of the leaders of the Qing Dynasty painting circle. Not to mention the great achievement, what is even more rare is "interesting". Luo Mu calls himself "Luo Fan Niu". Rice cattle, that is, feed cattle. In the name, he was born in Dao Buyi, not only does not forget the original, but also sees his open-mindedness. The older I get, the more I love the word "calm". In addition to painting landscapes, Luo Mugong is also good at making tea, which helped him "kill" from Ningdu to Nanchang, and widely made friends with paintings, literary friends, and friends all over the world - just imagine, who doesn't want to be closer to a person who paints well and makes tea well? In Nanchang, Luo Mu lived in Baihuazhou in East Lake, and I was used to that area, but before I came to Ningdu, I didn't know that there was such a painter who was connected to the fairy and down-to-earth.

  Mountains and rivers nourish people. It is not surprising that there are people like Wei Xi and Luo Mu in Ningdu. Ningdu is a godsend, and people today also cherish it, and make good maintenance and development. For example, in the area of Dongshanba, eco-tourism is promoted, and there are many log huts along the way, and the tired tourists of the city are not willing to take a rest here and wash the dust. At night, there are bonfires around the wooden house, how ancient and poetic, with the fragrance of wood and the crackling sound of burning wood, germinating and resurrecting. For example, in spring, the scenery around Diaoyu Island in Zhudi Township can almost be described as "glamorous" - full of rape fields, yellow flowers bloom densely, and it is impossible to get down. If people want to go into the depths of the flower field, they must first enjoy the fun of dividing flowers and pulling willows. When the bright yellow rape flowers surrounded him, the traveler's fatigue on the road did not know how much it was offset.

  In Zhudi, we sat around and drank Xiaobu Rock Tea. A poet is a poet who talks about the tea in the cup in front of him, the tea people he knows, and the origin of tea. He said that the output of Xiaobuyan tea has never been high, and it is just that little every year. On the eve of the 2008 Olympic Games, the local government received a large order from Beijing, but it resigned because there was not so much tea. When I heard about this old thing, I was shocked: there are not a few places in Jiangxi that produce good tea, and Ningdu did not buy it to sell it in the name of Xiaobu Rock Tea, so he resigned from the big order, which is just like the nature of tea, clean and pure. I always thought that Xiaobu rock tea was a kind of rock tea, but he said that this tea is an authentic green tea, which is named because it is produced on the edge of Xiaobu rock and on the rock. I suddenly had the feeling of recognizing a "tea master" in Ningdu.

  While drinking Xiaobu rock tea, I looked up. In the distance, the green hills are stacked, the tea trees are clustered, and three or five people are whispering softly in the distance. The sun shines through the trees overhead and falls on our faces, faintly and brightly. I can't help but think that although the return journey is near, Ningdu is just like this cup of good tea in front of me, and my evaluation of Ningdu has just begun. So I agreed with the "tea master" that I would come again, and then you would take me to Xiaobu and Dongshanba to visit tea, people, and Ningdu.

This article was published in Guangming Daily on August 18, 2023, page 15