Author: Hu Yan
Huacheng has an ancient style.
How to say it? The first is his writing, clean and unstained with dust, such as the earth after snow, or the ancient temples in the mountains, which are the product of isolation from the world. When you read it, you often have the feeling of not knowing what day and night it is. Secondly, Hua Chengqi, half an ancient costume, starting from the hairstyle, with a ponytail on the top of the head, a proper cotton cloth coat, a pair of black cloth shoes, can not see the modern brand logo, wear it very freely on the body, like a swordsman, with the wind between the bamboo forests in the steps. Later, I paid attention to the books he planned, which were beautiful, neat, and slow-paced, euphemistically competing with the impetuousness and roughness of modern society. I remembered the situation where he was working in the rice fields, wearing a straw hat and rolling up his pants. The mud on the body is the mud of hundreds of years ago, and the seedlings in the hand are also the seedlings of hundreds of years ago.
"Three Books of Jiangnan" Author: Zhou Huacheng Version: Zhejiang Photography Publishing House Time: January 2021
In this way, when I read his "Three Books of Jiangnan" - "Twenty-four Voices", "Spring Mountain Slow", and "Flower Hunting", I often think of several ancients, and it can also be said that several deceased people in Jiangnan. As his mind followed his words, his eyes suddenly became the shadow of this person, and suddenly it was the shadow of that person. Fortunately, although many years have passed, the pure beauty of Jiangnan has not been interrupted. On the paper, between Huacheng's words, it stretches down, unabated.
The ancients I am talking about, first of all, Wu Changshuo. In his later years, Wu Changshuo settled in Shanghai and often read about the former countryside. His hometown, The Village of Yanwu in Anji County, Huzhou, is a village where clouds hang from the door frame. There is also the "Wuyuan" that he opened up after taking refuge, which is half an acre of land and planted plums, greens, orchids, gourds, and pumpkins. In this small garden, Wu Changshuo spent ten years of cultivation and reading. In his later years, he thought about it day and night, and carved the seal "Pastoral Melon Fruit Helps Rice Grain" and "Vegetable Root Has a Taste". And there is a poem that says, "It is better to go back and drink water, and the old house is broken to lanting." It is better to go back to find a life and plant mulberries in several acres of lake fields. Prosperous Shanghai, Wu Changshuo murmured in his dreams, return, return...
Many people regard "returning" as a dream and haunt them all their lives. Hua Cheng, on the other hand, bravely and without hesitation, "returned" and, worldlyly, achieved great success.
Hua Cheng quit his job at the newspaper and returned to his hometown of Changshan, to the "father's rice field", to the "rice valley" where the windows were blue sky and bamboo forests. He heeded the call of his heart and returned to the state of "Spring Mountain Slow". If so, there are those slow words about the beauty of the mountain, which appeases the hurried walkers who are as anxious as I am to make a living. This is enough to make Wu Changshuo envious.
Wu Changshuo wrote, "There is no age in the mountains, and the cold does not know the year." Zhou Huacheng wrote: "I avoided the crowd and paced everywhere, and in this mountain field, there are things I like, ancient trees, moss, rain, and birds." Wu Changshuo wrote that "hoeing plums leads to spring, planting chrysanthemums for autumn twilight." Zhou Huacheng wrote that "in the field, in the mountains, digging sweet potatoes, digging taro, picking chestnuts, picking walnuts, picking camellia fruits"...
Labor, let Wu Changshuo's pen bottom, have the weight of a thousand jun, "bitter iron painting qi does not draw shapes." Labor makes Zhou Huacheng's Jiangnan writing have a plump root system and avoids the gentle lightness of the small fresh style.
Hua Cheng is a foodie. Chapters such as "Bamboo Shoots to Stay in Spring", "Cook's Tale", and "June Plum" are of course related to eating. Think of the gourmand Yuan Ming, who is also from Hangzhou.
The two people eat, the most similar is not to seek luxury, respect the simplicity of the ingredients themselves.
Yuan Mei feasts guests, all according to their own colors, do not tend to kitsch, one dish to offer one sex, one bowl into one taste. The bright color does not allow it to be fried with sugar, and the fragrance is not allowed to use spices, so as not to hurt the original taste. What's even more wonderful is that the flowers and fruits of the garden have entered the menu, fresh and elegant. In the spring, it is vine flower cake and magnolia cake, in summer it is boiled loquat and hot lotus petals, and in autumn it is scorched bamboo leaves and chestnut cakes, which are served at any time. The elegance of a table, the story of a table.
The same is true of Huacheng. "The taste of bamboo shoots, winter shoots are thick, spring shoots are fresh." Eat winter shoots, it is advisable to seal the mountains with heavy snow, boil bamboo shoots in the hearth, cook large pieces of salted meat with large pieces of winter shoots, and drink bayberry shochu in large bowls. Bamboo shoots are also thick, wine is also thick, people are thick, and small days are rich. Eat spring shoots, it is advisable to stir-fry, cook soup, enjoy spring flowers, and taste new tea. Therefore, the bamboo shoots are also fresh, the people are also fresh, the scenery is also fresh, and the eyes are full of freshness. ("Shoots to Stay in Spring")
Moreover, Yuan Ming's spirit said that it grew out of the beautiful landscape of Hangzhou. Hua cheng's writings are also nourished by the water and soil of Jiangnan. Clear, light, spirit, beautiful, elegant, like those beautiful trees by the West Lake, a hundred angles to appreciate, taste a thousand tastes.
Reading "Shangguan Snow in Heaven", "A Palm of Moonlight", and the poetic writing of the twenty-four solar terms reminded me of Zhang Dai, the elegant literati who watched the snow in the Huxin Pavilion.
Zhang Dai's self-proclaimed clumsy disciple was actually just a confession of his later years. Reading "Tao An Dream Memories" you know that he is not blindly extravagant. In his eyes, the breeze and bright moon are priceless, and the mountains near the water are affectionate. The fun is endless, mostly the scenery. Do not tie the garden to see the autumn leaves, the white ocean to see the tide, the plum blossom book house "under the steps of the green grass three feet deep, begonias sparsely mixed in", sitting in it, enjoying the scenery, drinking tea, in a daze. It's all good times. It's just that ordinary people don't have such idle thoughts.
Huacheng also understands elegance. Many years ago, in order to see the West Lake in the morning and evening, the family moved to Hangzhou. For him, the matter of viewing the scenery may be more important than the survival of reality.
Zhang Dai's essay, with few words and more intentions, drunk many people. Hua Cheng's writing is also excellent, lifting heavy weights, and secretly under the deep effort. It looks like there is incense and sounds like a mountain spring.
I still remember the first time I read his "Fan Jing Shan Wandering Mind", a sound of "Erhe Jun", the tone was low and soft, as if to wake me up from the dream, and it seemed to urge me into the dream. It can really be called a beautiful text. If Zhang Dai read it, he would definitely recognize him as a confidant. (Hu Yan)
Source: Hainan Daily