Painting the Soul (short story) Zhang Baotong

Ding Shaoguang always thought that the girl lived near their village, but he searched all the places nearby, and he also went to the market in Menghan Town several times, but he never saw the girl again, and apparently the girl never came to the market to set up a stall to sell yellow braised chicken. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThis only aggravated Ding Shaoguang's worries and troubles. He wondered if the girl had already stuck to him, and that he was going to have to marry the girl.

After searching for half a month, he didn't find the girl, and he didn't see the girl come to him. Ding Shaoguang thought that it would be very easy for the girl to come to him. As soon as she came to the river to bathe again, she would be able to find him. Because the hut where he lived was on the side of the path that led to the creek. Ding Shaoguang was really a little frustrated. I thought, otherwise, I won't go to her, maybe people know that he is a foreigner, and sooner or later he will leave here. So, he stopped looking for the girl. And, after a long time, he even slowly forgot about it.

On this day, it was still dusk and sunset, he came to the roadside at the foot of Cuiling Mountain, and painted a "paradise" landscape painting against the valley. He had discovered this beautiful scenery when he had come to look for the girl a few days earlier. At that time, because he was in a hurry to find the girl, he didn't have time to draw with a pen, but just memorized it in his head. Today, he got off work early, and he didn't bother to cook, so he rushed here to paint first. At dusk, the valley presents a kind of seclusion, with bright sunshine, clear wind, flowers and green shade everywhere. At the end of the valley there is a small reservoir with a silver glow, and the reservoir is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the cliffs are covered with dense forests, and there are trees such as Wangtian tree, red light tree, Hu Tong, Garcinia cambogia, Meiden wood, and three-pointed cedar, like a forest wall. With irrepressible joy, Ding Shaoguang stood in front of the easel and wrote hard, writing like a god.

Suddenly, a girl landed in front of him like a fairy and said to him, "That time, you ate my chicken, and ran away before you could pay for it." ”

Ding Shaoguang saw that it was the girl he had been looking for for many days, and when he heard her say this, he immediately replied, "I'm sorry, I forgot to give money." I'll make it up to you now, though. Actually, he remembered that he had asked her for money, but she seemed to say that the chicken was not for sale, and that he could eat it if he wanted. However, he was more than happy to give her the money so that he would not have to worry about the marriage contract anymore. So, he wiped his hands and pulled the money out of his pocket. However, he had no money in his pocket. He smiled awkwardly at her and said, "I'm sorry, I forgot to bring the money, or I'll send it to you someday?"

The girl said, "No, I took one of your paintings that day, and it was even flattened." ”

Ding Shaoguang said, "No, that would make you suffer too much." ”

"But I didn't suffer. The girl said that she would see him paint. When he saw that the girl wanted to see him paint, he began to concentrate on painting. Soon, a beautiful landscape painting of "Xanadu" was painted. The girl looked at his picture and exclaimed, "You are amazing." ”

Ding Shaoguang saw that the girl liked it, so he said, "If you like it, I'll give it to you." ”

But the girl shook her head, and said, "Keep it for yourselves, I already have one." With that, she smiled at him knowingly, and hurried away.

Looking at the girl's departing figure, Ding Shaoguang was extremely happy. Because he finally met the girl he had been looking for for a long time, and he also gave the girl a live performance, and got the girl's enthusiastic praise. It wasn't until the girl's figure disappeared into the village that he began to pack up his easel and prepare to go back to the house to cook. But then he remembered that he had forgotten what he should have said. Moreover, even the girl's name was forgotten.

In the afternoon of the next day, Ding Shaoguang got off work, changed into clean and neat clothes, and hurriedly went to the village in the back mountain. He inquired all the way in the direction of the girl's return to the village yesterday and came to a bamboo house in the back village, and saw an old man sitting under the bamboo building smoking a hookah, and asked, "Uncle, do you know where this girl's family lives?" He spent most of the night drawing it last night. Because he didn't know the girl's name, and he tried to find it if he didn't know the girl's name, so he ran in vain for days ago, but he couldn't find the girl. That's why he decided to find the girl in this way.

The old man looked at the painting and said, "Are you looking for Miss Yujuan?"

Ding Shaoguang said, "I don't know her name, but what I'm looking for is her." ”

The old man immediately got up and took him to a wooded bamboo building next to the stream at the head of the village, and shouted, "Miss Yujuan." ”

With an answer, a girl walked down from the bamboo building. The old man said to Ding Shaoguang, "Do you think it's her?"

Ding Shaoguang said, "Yes, thank you, uncle. ”

The girl stood in front of the door of the bamboo building, and when she saw that the person she had seen several times in her dream was standing downstairs, she looked very surprised, so she asked with a smile, "Ah, how did you find it?"

Ding Shaoguang flashed the girl's portrait at her and said, "I have your portrait." ”

The girl was overjoyed and said to him, "You can do it." He beckoned him into the bamboo building.

When Ding Shaoguang took off his shoes and entered the bamboo building, the girl asked the guests to sit at a small square table in the living room, and shouted, "Mom, the guests are here." "While pouring tea for the guests.

The utensils of the Dai people are very simple, and the tables, chairs, beds, boxes, cages, and baskets are almost all made of bamboo. There is a fire pit in the middle of the living room, and there are some small stools next to the fire pit. Hosts and guests usually gather around the fire when they talk.

Ding Shaoguang had been a guest in the Dai family in the past, and he also knew a little about the etiquette of the Dai people. When you go up to the bamboo building, you must take off your shoes, and after entering the door, you must sit in turn according to the size of your seniority and seniority; you must walk lightly in the house, you must not sit on the top of the fire pond or cross the fire pit, you cannot sit on the threshold, and you cannot move the tripod on the fire pit. In particular, there are many taboos in the bedrooms of Dai family residences. The bedroom is separated from the living room by a partition. There are no partitions in the bedrooms, and generations have lived in them, and men and women have slept on a large bunk for generations, without any partitions, separated only by mosquito nets. At the bottom are black nets for the elderly, in the middle are red nets for newlyweds, and below are white nets for unmarried young people or children. Because they think that living together in this way will make the family live in harmony, and if there is a wall, it is equivalent to separating each other's hearts. And the bedroom is not allowed to be peeped into, if the owner finds that outsiders are peeping into the master's bedroom, the man must be the master's son-in-law, or go to the master's house to do three years of hard labor, even if the female guest has to go to the master's house for three years.

Seeing Yujuan's aunt and abba coming out of the bedroom, Ding Shaoguang hurriedly got up to say hello. Yujuan's parents are about 50 years old, and they look like loyal and simple Dai people. The Dai family is full of strong matrilineal clan society. After men and women get married, women have absolute authority at home, and women have the final say in big and small matters, while men generally don't take care of things and don't talk much. Therefore, Ding Shaoguang had to beg Yujuan's aunt for forgiveness. As long as Yujuan's aunt forgives, he will pass the test.

Yujuan's aunt couldn't help but be stunned when she saw that the guest was a Han young man, but when she saw that the young man was tall, dignified and had an extraordinary demeanor, she was naturally very happy. Everyone sat around the fire and began to drink tea and talk. Yujuan's father even handed Ding Shaoguang the cigarette pouch in his hand, but Ding Shaoguang waved his hand and said that he would not smoke.

Aunt Yujuan asked Ding Shaoguang to drink tea, and asked directly, "Where are you from?"

Ding Shaoguang said, "I am an art teacher at the Yunnan Art Institute, and I live here in Dayuqian Village, which is the next house to the village's grain warehouse. ”

Aunt Yujuan immediately nodded and said, "I know, I know." Then he asked, "How long are you going to stay here?"

Ding Shaoguang shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe half a year, maybe a year." Some of them are subject to the school's arrangement. ”

After a conversation, Aunt Yujuan asked Abba Yujuan to kill the chickens at home and cook two more dishes to entertain guests, because the people of the Dai cottage are very polite to guests from afar. Moreover, the person who came was a rare guest with an only daughter.

As soon as Ding Shaoguang heard that Aunt Yujuan wanted to keep him for dinner and kill chickens and cook vegetables, how could he be embarrassed? Originally, he had come to beg others for forgiveness and dissolution of the marriage contract, so how could he be embarrassed to eat at someone's house? So, he immediately said, "Auntie, I can't eat at your house, I'm here to ask you for forgiveness." ”

When Aunt Yujuan heard this, she was puzzled and asked, "What can we forgive you?"

Ding Shaoguang said, "Auntie, that's the case, I don't understand the customs of your Dai people, and I have offended your rules." That day in the bazaar, I ate Yujuan's roast chicken, and later, a friend of mine told me that eating someone's girl's roast chicken is equivalent to agreeing to someone's marriage contract, but I really don't understand the customs of your Dai people. Therefore, I came to your house to apologize to your whole family and ask for your forgiveness. ”

Hearing this, Yujuan's aunt's eyes widened, and she and Yujuan's father glanced at each other. At this time, Yujuan's aunt said, "You mean that you ate Yujuan's roast chicken, and now you don't want to agree to the marriage contract with her?"

Ding Shaoguang saw that Aunt Yujuan's face changed suddenly, so he lowered his head and said ashamedly, "I'm really sorry, I really didn't know that your Dai people still had this custom in advance." ”

Yujuan's grandmother suddenly stood up, pointed out the door, and shouted angrily, "We don't have guests like you, you go out!"

Ding Shaoguang was taken aback, he got up from the small stool, and wanted to say something, but Aunt Yujuan yelled again, "Go out, we don't welcome people like you." ”

Ding Shaoguang had no choice but to walk out of the house in embarrassment. When he walked downstairs, he paused, thinking that since it was not good to talk to Yujuan's aunt, it was okay to say an apology to Yujuan herself, he knew that Yujuan herself would not be so strict with him. However, he immediately saw Yujuan's aunt slam and slam the upstairs door shut. (To be continued.) )