(a)

During that period, as a close partner, my introductory teacher and long-term partner, Mr. Yichen and I talked a lot about writing. He taught me the idea of writing in a complete way.

He said: "Xinxin, as writers, embraces the good or the bad at every moment of our work. Our methods of earning a living should not be detrimental to the mental health of ourselves and others. ”

He told me that the way to make a living by harming one's own and others' mental health is called "evil fate."

The farther apart we are from what we are doing and the harm we may eventually cause to ourselves and others, the less we meet the criteria for evil.

To determine whether your way of earning a living is "right", you can ask yourself three questions:

1. Does it obviously cause damage to other beings and deepen the suffering of sentient beings? The Buddha said that occupations involving weapons, poisons, and killing must be evil fate.

2. Does my work cause me to violate the five precepts?

3. Are there factors in my work that will interfere with me and keep my mind still?

For example, he said, engaging in certain violent sports that cause casualties, such as boxing, is evil. Opening a casino or working in a casino is also evil, because gambling fuels greed and leads to other types of evil. The black market, fraud, intellectual crimes, and extortion are also evil fate. Writing defamatory articles for vulgar newspapers and magazines, or spreading hateful remarks on radio talk shows, should be considered "drug-related" evil.

Again, he mentioned an example of something we all know. A female friend in Kaohsiung is a businesswoman who believes in Buddhism. She could have bought a well-run bar at a bargain price, but the owner was willing to transfer it to friends at a low price because she wanted to emigrate. Everyone thought it was a good business, but the businesswoman didn't buy a bar because she thought that the liquor business would cause some customers to get drunk and create bad karma. She decided not to base her success on contributing to the depravity of others.

Mr. Yichen said that this is a good example of adhering to the "right life" (the right way to make a living).

Mr. Yichen said to me: If a work loses the spirit of "writing to carry the Tao", no matter how popular it is, how many awards it wins, and how good its reputation is, it will be called a failure.

He also said that whether the article is good or not depends first of all on whether the author's intentions are pure and wise, whether he correctly wants to benefit everyone, secondly, whether the state of the article is beyond the pursuit of the present world, and finally, it depends on the writing skills of the article, the beauty and precision of the words, and so on. The last ones are all last skills, and you should not pay too much attention to the details and lose the original function of the article.

He told me that culture is the education that makes people blameless. If we can't use words to perform such a function, even if we have a high degree of education and writings, we can't be called literate people, nor can we call ourselves educated.

(b)

One night, when I came out of the office, I received a call from Mr. Yichen.

He said, "Can you come over for a drink?" Scottish pub. ”

I said, "Is there something important to talk about?" You know I don't usually drink. ”

"There are also light meals and soft drinks, Earl Grey, flower tea, pu-erh, lemonade," he said...... You always have to have dinner. ”

He knew that Ann was going back to her grandparents' house with her dad tonight, as usual, and that I was alone at home for dinner.

I thought about it and felt that after Mrs. Liang died, Mr. Yichen was widowed alone, and the night was long, and he was quite lonely.

I remembered that he flew over to see me because he was worried about me, and stood at the door of my apartment with his suitcase waiting for me to come back.

I nodded and said, "Okay." ”

Since Kaohsiung's death, I haven't been to a bar, not even for socializing.

Along the way, my ears always echoed with Mr. Yi Chen's voice on the phone just now.

I don't know why, but I think his voice is slightly different from what he usually speaks. But I can't tell you what the difference is.

Perhaps, he has already drunk two glasses by himself.

(c)

Passing through the dim light and cacophony of the bar, I found the innermost table, which was quieter than the seats near the bar.

I saw Mr. Yichen sitting there alone in casual clothes, with a martini in front of him, and a sky blue drink.

He saw me show up and stood up to greet me.

Although they have been very familiar with each other and have known each other for many years, Mr. Yichen has always been so polite.

He came over to help me pull out the seat, sat me down, pointed to the sky-blue drink and said, "Order one for you, appetizer first." ”

I said, "What is this?" ”

"Peppermint-flavored passion fruit juice," he said. ”

I took a sip of it, it was cool and sweet, and it tasted good.

I said, "It's delicious." You know me so well. ”

Mr. Yichen smiled.

Under the light, I seemed to feel that his face was a little sallow, and he looked a little thinner.

I said, "I've been working hard lately, I don't look very good, so I need to pay attention to maintenance, after all, I'm getting a little older." ”

Mr. Yichen nodded. We gently touched the glass.

Mr. Yichen called the waiter over, and I ordered a vegan sandwich and a small portion of mashed potatoes, and Mr. Yichen said that he had already eaten dinner, so he only ordered a small plate of berries for a snack.

We ate and talked in front of the flickering candlelight on the table.

At this time, the electroacoustic band on the stage outside had finished performing, and a female singer in her 30s came up, with long hair hanging down on her shoulders, covering most of her face, wearing a long black dress and strong eye shadow.

She said: "Next, I will sing a song in Spanish for everyone: Estar-Contigo (Chinese song title: "With You"). ”

The bar erupted in applause.

This Latin love song is a hit track sung by Alex-Ubago, the popular prince of Spanish love songs. The Spanish singer, born in 1982, has a hoarse, rich voice, full of the scent of the Mediterranean sun and the charm of a young Latin man. He is a natural singer. The deep and far-reaching arrangement, coupled with the sexy pronunciation of Spanish, has established the connotation of Latin music that can be precipitated and deepened, and the words are full of tenderness, which is very popular with fans around the world.

Listening to the female singer passionately reinterpret the song with a feminine and feminine voice, there is a special rhyme.

Countless arms and glow sticks swayed in the darkness to the stark rhythm of the song.

Many young people began to hug each other and dance, kissing each other deeply.

I was also sung by this beautiful singing voice with some waves in my heart, and in an instant, countless love-related past events rushed in, filling every cell in my body.

I tried to restrain the ups and downs of my heart.

I took a big sip of the mint drink, and I said to Mr. Yichen, "It's too old for us to listen to this kind of love song." ”

Mr. Yichen said, "What does it matter. Every old guy has had a young age. ”