Painting the Soul (short story) Zhang Baotong

Ding Shaoguang was stunned when he heard this, oh my God! It turns out that this roast chicken is not something that can be eaten casually. But how did he know the mystery of this place www.biquge.info he had an internship here for half a year last time, and he had stayed here for nearly half a month this time, but he had never known that the Dai people still had this kind of custom. However, when he came here for an internship, he was only with a communications officer in the commune, and that communications officer was also a Han comrade who had just been transferred to the local area. Listening to Xie Guangrui and Yurong's words, his brain exploded all of a sudden. Because talking about marriage is a major event in life. But he usually only concentrates on painting, but rarely thinks about personal love, he has always planned to wait until he is successful and then consider personal marriage issues, but how can he do such a thing absurdly.

He blushed and asked Yurong, "I really didn't know that you still had this custom here, if I did, she would have forced me with a gun, and I wouldn't have eaten her roast chicken." Then he asked eagerly, "Do you think there is any other way to remedy it?"

Yurong shook her head and said, "I don't know, because we are all like this here, as long as we eat other people's girls' roast chicken, it is equivalent to making a marriage contract with others." I really don't know how to break this agreement. Maybe you're going to explain it to the girl or to her parents. ”

Ding Shaoguang still frowned, because he didn't know where she was and where her family lived.

On the way home from school, Ding Shaoguang was very annoyed, as if he had lost a battle. I was happy to go to the market, but I didn't expect to cause myself such a big trouble. Because he was in a bad mood and drank more wine, he went back to his room and lay down on the bed. However, the worries in his head made him unable to calm down. He thought for a moment that the girl was so beautiful, so kind and lovely, and then he blamed himself for being so greedy and delicious, and if he didn't eat other people's roast chicken, there would be no such trouble.

Even at night, he couldn't sleep. In fact, he also thought that if he couldn't do it, like Xie Guangrui, he would find a lovely girl in the local area and live here for the rest of his life. However, he thought that his ideal was to become famous and become a great painter. However, if he stays here for the rest of his life, let alone become a great painter, even his paintings may not be seen. In his mind, although Xishuangbanna is a magical land and a temple of art. The sun is shining, the trees are lush, the colors are rich and gorgeous, and there is a lot of life everywhere. It has been inhabited by ethnic minorities for generations. Their costumes, personalities and lives are so distinctive, their folk customs and art are simple, elegant and concise, with a variety of styles and styles, and it is an inexhaustible treasure trove of art. However, in the future, if he wants to continue to develop, he will have to go back to the big cities. Because that's where he can display his talents.

However, what he thinks about the most is his family's background. His family is originally from Xie County, Shanxi Province, but he was born in Chenggu County, Shaanxi Province. Abba Ding Junsheng served in the Kuomintang government, came to Beijing from Shaanxi in 1946, worked in the Kuomintang provincial party department, transferred to the Kuomintang Nanjing government in 1948, and went to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government in December of that year. Grandma Li Xiangjun is a housewife. He is the fourth child in the family of six children. His older brother and sister live with his grandparents in Beijing, while his younger sister and younger brother were taken to Taiwan by their parents. In fact, Ding Shaoguang left his parents at the age of nine and began to stand on his own. In the summer of 1957, Ding Shaoguang graduated from high school and was admitted to the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, where he studied decoration design. Although he has been far away from his parents for many years, the shadow of his parents has been hanging over him. Every time he filled out the form and was examined, he was given special treatment as the child of a Kuomintang official. He was sent to Menghan this time because of his parents. Therefore, he is also worried that his family background will affect others. Although this Xinjiang cottage is far from the political center and will not be affected much because of his family background, it is always bad for people to talk about it. He didn't want anyone else to know about his family background. With this in mind, he decided to find the girl and apologize and explain the situation to her and her parents. He thought that as long as he explained the situation to others, they would not be too embarrassed for him, after all, people know that twisted melons are not sweet.

After getting off work the next evening, Ding Shaoguang did not cook immediately, but walked all the way to the back mountain after the girl took a bath by the river at dusk that day. The back mountain is a dense rubber forest. There is a path in the forest, and around a mountain called Cuiling, it leads to a valley. It is surrounded by green hills, and in the middle is a flat paddy field in which farmers plough the fields. But in the fields, almost all of them are women. He knew that after the Dai men got married, they no longer worked in the fields, but just stayed at home to watch the children do housework, and the women were responsible for the work in the fields and the work outside. Therefore, Dai women are very hard, but it is women who are the masters of the Dai family, because Dai people do not regenerate men and women. This is very different from that of the Han Chinese.

Walking along the field path towards the opposite side of the mountain, among the bamboo forests and trees near the side of the mountain, you can see several bamboo buildings peeking out of them, as if the bamboo buildings were hanging from the treetops. It was the end of the day, and the golden light of the sunset still sprinkled in the valley. On the field path, some middle-aged and elderly women walked barefoot on their way home. The girls, on the other hand, chattered and laughed along the road, filling the quiet valley with joy.

Ding Shaoguang stood on the side of the road and watched the girls come from the field path. He figured the girl he was looking for should be among them. However, when the girls walked past him, they all looked at him with that curious and burning gaze, but none of them were familiar and acquainted with him.

So, when he waited for a young man in his twenties to come along, he said, "I want to ask you about a girl." ”

The people in the Dai cottage are always very hospitable, and when they heard that he was looking for someone, they asked, "Which girl are you looking for?"

He couldn't say it because he didn't know their names. He thought for a moment and said, "I don't know her name, but she's about eighteen or nineteen years old, of medium height, and very pretty. ”

The young man smiled and said, "We have several such girls here, and I don't know which one you are talking about." As he spoke, he pointed to the bamboo building in the forest on the side of the mountain and said, "Why don't you go over there and have a look." ”

Ding Shaoguang came to the front of the bamboo building on the edge of the forest on the side of the mountain. This kind of bamboo building has a unique and beautiful shape, and the shape is like a huge tent erected on many wooden pillars. The lodging rooms are five or six feet above the ground and are erected in the middle of wooden columns. Ding Shaoguang has been to several houses of this kind of bamboo building, and their buildings are surrounded by bamboo fences or wooden planks as baffles, and the interior is divided into two halves with partitions, the inner side is the master's bedroom, the outer side is the place to receive guests, and it is also a place to make a fire for cooking. The wooden pillars at the bottom of the building are lined up, and there is no fence on all sides, which is used to keep livestock and poultry and pile up firewood and sundries. This kind of bamboo building is overhead and leaves the ground, so it is ventilated, cool, moisture-proof, and avoids insects and snakes. In the rainy season, it can also prevent flooding and flooding, which is very suitable for living in tropical areas.

He knew that there was a lot of attention to entering the bamboo building of the Dai people, so he only wanted to go downstairs and in front of the door, and did not want to enter other people's houses. He thought that if the girl saw him, she would come out to greet him. However, he walked around two or three times in front of the bamboo buildings, but no one came out to greet him. Seeing that it was about to get dark, he had to walk back in frustration.

When he returned to his house, he was very irritable, and seeing that it was already dark, he began to hang up the small pot of steamed rice and light a fire to cook. When the rice was boiling, he let the embers smoulder the rice, went to the vegetable field behind the house, picked a few green peppers, washed them with water, fried them in oil, and put them in a small bowl. Then, start eating. After eating, he went to sit on the slope by the river, looked at the stars in the sky, and thought about his thoughts.

After a while, Yan Long, the deputy captain of the production team, came over, sat next to him, and said to him, "Xiao Ding, how lonely and lonely you are living like this, or I'll tell you a girl, work with you during the day, and sleep together at night, how good!"

This is the life of the people in the mountains, they go to work in the fields during the day and sleep with their women in their arms at night. This is in line with the ancients' "work at sunrise and rest at sunset". They are so realistic, without any superfluous ideals and thoughts. However, Ding Shaoguang is different, he went to college, and he thinks about the outside world and the excitement outside. So, he shook his head and said, "No, this is not the place where I will stay for a long time. ”

The newly married vice-captain said puzzledly, "You people, the more you go to school, the more you love to fantasize. If that's the case, it's better not to go to school. ”

Ding Shaoguang didn't want to discuss this kind of thing with others, because his life experience is different, and people's thoughts and understandings are also different. He said, "It's not that I love fantasies, it's that my heart isn't here." "The crows in the mountains want to become a golden phoenix, not to mention that he is a phoenix in the city. The mountains are a great place for him to find inspiration, but they don't make his dreams a reality. Because no one in the mountains will appreciate his paintings.

The vice-captain sighed and said, "But, you are always painting this and that, what's the use? ”

Ding Shaoguang smiled bitterly and said, "That's why I can't stay here all the time." Because no one needs me. (To be continued.) )