(a)

There is a restaurant in Kyoto called Straw Shoe House. Pen, Fun, Pavilion www.biquge.info That's Kaohsiung and Mr. Yichen's favorite place to go for a drink.

The most important feature of that hotel is that it has not used electric lights since it opened. On the walls and on the tables, there are paper lanterns or oil lamps. The light is dim, the shadows are abundant, and it is very beautiful in the ancient night.

I always remember the silhouette of both of their faces under an oil lamp.

Sitting in the light and shadow like that, drinking wine is quite the charm of the medieval literati.

Entering the front door of the hotel, there is a hall, and the large room is only reflected by a few small candlesticks.

When the older hostess hears the wind chimes, she will take broken steps all the way, and the wind will swing out to greet the guests.

She placed the candlestick under the screen, and then knelt on the tatami mat respectfully and confidently, and asked questions and answers with the guests in a soft voice.

At this time, only the place in front of the screen was bright, and behind the waitress, there was a high, thick darkness, and the flickering candlelight hit the black wall and bounced back.

Presumably, the entire human society, the hotel in the Middle Ages, is the brightness and darkness of this appearance.

In this scene, I can always deeply understand what it means to say that "there is no light without darkness".

In the past, after Kaohsiung and Mr. Yichen finished drinking, they liked to take me, or invite three or five confidants, to go to Shishan Temple to see the moon together.

One year, before we set off, Mr. Yichen saw a news item in the newspaper that in order to enjoy the moon, Shishan Temple decided to set up a loudspeaker in the woods to play the background music of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".

Mr. Yichen silently handed us the newspaper.

We decided to cancel our visit to Shishan Temple.

The scenic spot of Shishan Temple is so full of snakes. It's a shame.

It was the most succulent thing that I encountered that year.

Another time, we decided to go to Lake Suma to admire the moon together, but when we got there, we saw colorful lanterns and flower baskets hanging on the lake's edge, and my heart was suddenly cold.

Don't they know that the most beautiful moonlight must be looked up in the darkness of all the silences?

The ubiquitous bright electric lights have ruined all elegance.

When we go to Kyoto, we often stay at the Westin Miyako Hotel Kyoto.

The location of this hotel is excellent, perched high above the mountains, with a panoramic view of the forests of Mt. Hiei, Higashiyama, and Kuroya Tower. Every night, the breeze blows, refreshing and cool, which is a very comfortable place.

Unfortunately, white chandeliers were hung everywhere, and the outlines of the buildings were outlined with neon lights, and the red and green green sparkled every night.

There is no shadow in the whole hotel, and the lights are dazzling on the white walls, red columns, and stone floors of various bright colors, making the whole hotel and its surroundings like an operating table under the spotlight, and even the small ants crawling on the ground are clearly visible, and the interest is completely lost.

This is another case of elegance ruined by electric lights.

Darkness has its own value. This is something I have gradually learned in life.

(b)

One year, Kaohsiung invited his neighbor in the Windermere Lake District, an amiable gray-haired gentleman, to come to Kyoto for a vacation and stay with us at the Westin Metroplaza.

When we got together, the kind gentleman next door said, "What is wealth?" Wealth is your insecurity. Because you feel scared and cold in the midst of insecurity, you want to have a sturdy quilt to make you feel at peace and warmth. ”

I was very impressed with that.

It is not difficult for a person to have money, nor is it difficult to have status, but the difficult thing is to have money and status, and he can understand it so thoroughly.

Kaohsiung's choice of this gentleman as a neighbor was by no means arbitrary. He is very particular.

In this big house, Kaohsiung has never brought any outside women in to move in, and it has always been him, Su, and the children who live there.

Kaohsiung's neighbors, who were chosen for his children.

At this point, Kaohsiung is very far-sighted, and has the style of Meng's mother's three migrations.

(c)

When I was in Kyoto, Kaohsiung would sometimes go with me to the antique market with Mr. Yichen. Mr. Yichen likes to get along with things with a sense of time and vicissitudes.

We wander through all kinds of objects that are old and old.

While Mr. Yichen was fascinated by the selection of various antiques, Kaohsiung said quietly: "I really don't understand the hobby of collecting antiques. ”

He said, "Everything is ancient, and everything you can see is antique." ”

"Like the sky above us, like the mountains in the distance, like every set of genes in you," he said. ”

"I don't really understand why people are discarding these older things in favor of these more recent pieces," he said. ”

Having said that, if Mr. Yichen takes a fancy to something, Kaohsiung will still be obliged to rush forward and pay the bill for Mr. Yichen first.

(iv)

When I was visiting the antique market, I once fell in love with a diamond ring made in the Middle Ages, and after some bargaining, the seller revealed to us an important secret: diamonds have no investment value. He said: "The main value of this thing you bought is its handiwork and the vicissitudes of life. ”

The seller said that there are actually quite a lot of diamonds in the world. However, by artificially controlling the amount of extraction, it is possible to maintain its high market price.

The diamond traders hated the Popigai crater in Tunguska, Siberia, Russia, and would have filled it with their own flesh and bones if they could.

The crater formed by the impact of this meteorite (or asteroid directly) actually formed a huge amount of diamonds.

Figuratively speaking, women around the world are married 3 times and wear a diamond ring on every finger, and the diamond reserves in this pit are more than enough to supply their needs for 3,000 years. What's more, high-temperature diamonds are bigger and better quality!

Russian and global diamond manufacturers and sellers have been trying to hide this secret from consumers around the world. The vicinity of this large crater has also been heavily guarded for many years, not allowing anyone to approach, even if it is a flying machine, it cannot fly over it, saying that it is to prevent the aircraft from dropping something and sucking the diamonds from the air.

After hearing this, Kaohsiung said: "You see, what people think is valuable may not be really valuable. For example, this diamond. The reverse is also true, and people often think that things of great value are worthless. Say, air. ”

He put his arm around my shoulder and said, "Therefore, whether a thing has value or not depends not entirely on the market, nor on the extent to which it is loved and accepted by the masses - but whether it can really bring fundamental well-being to life." ”

I watched as he put his hand on my shoulder, intentionally or unintentionally. He saw my eyes, grinned, and took his hand off my shoulder.

"For example, the books you wrote, and the columns," he said. ”

He said, "Heart, you have to have a firm faith. ”

I said, "What? ”

He said, "Most people don't know what is really valuable to them until they meet the Master. They will keep repeating this kind of thing like Mingzhu secretly casting. ”

I said, "So? ”

"So, you have to be determined and not be coerced and influenced by popular values," he said. Insist on doing things that have real value. Like today, while I don't approve of you buying anything here, you two, both of you, ignoring the market views I represent, are all buying. ”

He said this at a time when I was in the awkward period of professional writing. At that time, although I had already written a lot of things, none of the books I wrote sold very well, and the movies and costume TV series adapted from them were not blockbusters, and I didn't win any awards. The schedule for re-releases and replays is also not crowded. Various publicity campaigns have had little effect.

That day, when I was walking out of the antique market, Kaohsiung said to me: "Xinxin, don't be frustrated that the work you have worked so hard to write does not sell well. A book doesn't need to be liked by all the readers in the world. When you meet someone who is destined, it can affect his life, even if there is only one person, for example, me, it is enough. ”

Mr. Yichen said next to him, "And me." ”