(a)

On that day, we had a good and pleasant conversation with Mr. Mayor at the bar in the small town of Winter Lake.

I am glad that this well-bred grassroots manager has such a normal and healthy view of nature.

Mr. Mayor said, "I don't know when it began, but modern people have a solid assumption that inexplicably imagines that human society is constantly moving forward. Even if the level of civilization in society is actually regressing, people will feel that they are making great strides. ”

I said, "I think it's been since Darwin's theory of evolution." It is felt that the development of biological society is constantly moving from the lower to the higher. Since then, it has been recognized that social development is a straight-up process. ”

"The same illusion exists in the economic sphere," I said. People feel that the economic development of a country or a region must be sustained, stable and upward, and grow year by year, and this is the only way to achieve healthy development. ”

Mr. Yichen said: "This is one of the fundamental ignorances of modern people. ”

Mr. Mayor said, "People have been caught up in such ignorance for a long time. Although we can clearly see the problem, as individuals, we will still be carried by this great wave of ignorance, and we will involuntarily go with the flow. ”

He raised the wine glass in his hand and said, "I came back here to be the mayor of the town because I wanted to do my part, to correct the common errors of this era to some extent, and to block the wheel of history as much as possible to crush the harmony and beauty that once existed here." ”

He said: "There seems to be an idiom in China to describe this kind of behavior? I forgot how to say it. How would you describe this Don Quixote vs. windmill-like behavior? ”

I said, "The mantis arm blocks the car." ”

Mr. Yi Chen translated this idiom in English.

When the mayor heard this, he looked up to the sky and laughed: "That's right! That's right! That's it, very graphic, isn't it? ”

Mr. Yichen smiled and raised his glass to him and said, "Let's have a toast and block the car for the mantis arm." ”

Mr. Mayor raised his glass and said with a smile, "Good! Block the car for the mantis arm. ”

I also raised the cup of fruit soaked water, touched the cup with them, and said, "Block the car for the mantis arm." ”

In a way, we're all the kind of people who block cars with mantis.

(b)

After a drink and a good conversation, the mayor insisted on taking a walk with us for a while.

"Every year there are a lot of tourists coming to the town, but not every year you meet friends who talk to each other," he said. I don't know when you're going to go on vacation next, or if I'll be mayor of the town at that time. Perhaps, after today, we will not have the opportunity to talk and walk like this again. ”

We also found it a pleasure to spend a little more time with this knowledgeable mayor.

We walked along the edge of the town and the woodland, listening to the birds chirping in the woods.

We saw a chubby squirrel standing on a pine branch carefully washing its face with its front paws. It took the trouble to wash it over and over again.

Mr. Yichen said: "Look at that little squirrel, the action of washing your face is exactly the same as your heart." I also washed it over and over again, and then applied it layer after layer on my face. ”

My face flushed. I gave him a gentle kick in the back.

Mr. Mayor laughed and said, "Women are like that. My wife does the same every morning and spends a lot of time on her face. There are many similarities between a woman and a small animal. ”

I put my finger to my lips and shushed at them.

I said, "Be careful when you talk in the forest." The whole forest is alive and spiritual. At this moment, it is not only watching us, but also listening to us. Anything said rudely and indiscreetly to a squirrel, pheasant, or porcupine will be perceived by them. They will alienate us because of it. ”

I continued: "It's not just women who are good or not. Humans and animals have a lot in common, and the differences between them are very small. All animals, their basic joys, sorrows, and sorrows are the same as we humans. The same dislike of pain, the same love of bondage, the same longing for love, the same fear of death. ”

I said, "Even plants are quite similar to us humans." For example, plants crave water, just as humans crave love. ”

"An American scholar of Native American descent once told me that all the grizzly bears, whales, macaques and black rats in the reserve are eager for humans to understand themselves thoroughly before they study and understand the animals," Mr. Yichen said. He said that if humans were obscure about themselves, their scientific research would not be able to really figure out anything. ”

Mr. Mayor listened to this, nodded vigorously, and said, "Well, it makes sense, it makes sense. ”

I said, "The ancient Chinese sages also advocated the same thing. Therefore, ancient Chinese scholarship paid special attention to the study of one's own interior, rather than the study of the external world. Without inner understanding, how can there be wisdom in life? ”

The mayor said, "So, writers are also scientists." It's just that scientists study the external, material world, while writers explore and observe our inner and spiritual world. ”

As we talked, we looked at the squirrel on the branch.

Now that it has washed its face, peeled off a pine cone, and held it in its paw and ate it with relish.

It quickly finished eating one of the pine cones, threw them to the ground, jumped on another branch, and began to peel another one.

Mr. Yichen said, "This little thing, it's doing a great job." It is working hard to plant the pine forests of the future and the warmth in the fireplaces of the future. It is helping us sustain the lives of future generations. Although it does not know it itself. ”

I said, "yes." I hope that people will be smarter than it, and that they will understand this deeply and understand the importance of its healthy survival for our future. He never raised his shotgun against it again. ”

(c)

Before we knew it, we were walking near the embankment again.

Perhaps nourished by the river, the trees in this section look particularly tall.

Mr. Mayor said that the forest is still very young and is in a period of rapid growth.

He showed us that the young branches and leaves are always in the bright spot of the canopy, and the trunk is the strength that supports it towards the light.

"This trunk is like us adults," he said. I don't mean to ask us complex adults to go back to childhood, but I want everyone to keep childhood alive in their hearts, never forget it, and arrange their lives like a tree – so that our next generation will always be in a brighter future. ”

He said to us, "You use words, you use movies, to make this trunk, and I, I use my daily office, I use persuasion, I use television to give speeches." ”

(iv)

Now, we are standing on the riverbank of the town.

The sound of the water of the Nell River rings in my ears.

Mr. Mayor said, "If you have the chance, I hope you will come back here in the fall." The winter lake in autumn is more beautiful than spring. You should come and see how all things in nature tell each other about their coming parting. That will bring you deeper emotion and more inspiration for your writing. ”

Mr. Mayor said, "Do you hear what the Niere River is saying at this moment?" ”

Mr. Yichen said, "I heard it. Every drop of water in this river is tirelessly repeated: no matter how many roads there are left, sooner or later we will flow into the sea. ”

I said, "yes, every drop of water has a different life trajectory. However, every drop of water is convinced that it will eventually reach the waters of freedom. ”

Mr. Mayor said: "All the water droplets are deeply aware that there is no different path for water. All roads are sure to bring it to the ocean sooner or later. ”

Mr. Yichen said: "There is also an idiom in China to describe this. ”

Mr. Mayor said, "What is the idiom?" ”

I said, "Different paths lead to the same end." ”

Mr. Yichen said: "This is like all of our human lives, there are thousands of paths, but in the end, they will lead to a final point, that is, a thorough understanding of what we are and what nature is." ”

I said, "yes." If you haven't fully understood, you haven't reached the end yet. ”

I said to Mr. Mayor, "Thank you for what you invited us to drink today, for these words you talked to us. ”

I said, "Next year, we'll come back." ”

I said, "It's so beautiful, I want to see it all year round." ”

I looked at the vast land alluvial from the Ner River in front of me and said with emotion: "I hope that when we come back next year, both we and Winter Lake will be better." ”

(5)

Dear readers, we have been with each other all the way through two years in the process of writing this book.

Because of the edge formed at this time, we will meet again in the endless flow of life in the future.

I hope that the next time we meet again, both we and the world will be a better place.

Goodbye, all readers.

(f)

I've always loved writing in a moving train car.

In that environment, any writing becomes particularly light and fluid.

The speeding train and the scenery outside the window will remind me all the time:

The world I write, the words of the moment, the readers of the future, and all the life in all time and space, will appear and disappear in this way.

All of us are nothing but rivers flowing in time and space.