The novel is not long, and Zheng Zhenduo read it quickly,

He got up, stood in front of the window, took out a cigarette and smoked it, and fell silent

The story is very simple, it tells about a girl named Cuicui near Chadong at the junction of Sichuan and Hunan provinces, next to the white tower of Xiaoxi.

Cuicui's grandfather was an old boatman who made a living by ferrying people across the river.

There is a boat in Chadong City named Shunshun, and he has two sons, the eldest is called Tianbao, and the second is called Susheng.

Cuicui went to see the dragon boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival, and met the handsome young sailor by chance, and the send-off left a deep impression on Cuicui's heart, and the two had a good impression of each other.

At the same time, Tianbao, the brother of the send-off, also fell in love with Cuicui, and asked the matchmaker to propose marriage in advance.

Instead of dueling according to local customs, the brothers expressed their feelings in a fair and romantic way of singing mountain songs, and let Cuicui choose among them.

He is a good singer, Tianbao knows that he can't sing his younger brother, so he is disheartened and resolutely sails away to do business.

However, soon after, Tenpo had an accident on the boat and drowned.

The ship's general manager at the wharf Shunshun became cold to the old boatman because of the death of his son Tianbao, and he didn't want Cuicui to be the daughter-in-law of the send-off again.

The old boatman had to go home depressed, and Cuicui asked him, but he didn't say anything.

It rained heavily during the night, mixed with terrifying thunder.

The next day, Cuicui got up to find that the boat had been washed away, and the white tower behind the house had also collapsed, and Cuicui went to find her grandfather only to find that he had died when the thunder was about to die......

After burying her grandfather, Cuicui took over her grandfather's livelihood and continued to carry people across the river while waiting for the return of her sweetheart.

"This person may never come back, maybe 'tomorrow'!"

The novel describes the unique customs and customs of the western Hunan border in a nuanced manner, and uses poetic language to show the unique fresh and beautiful natural scenery of the western Hunan borderland.

and a group of native-born "countrymen" who live there.

It is this group of countrymen who are simple and kind, do not talk about rank, do not talk about utilitarianism, treat each other sincerely and love each other.

Grandpa's love for his granddaughter, Cuicui's innocent love for Cuicui, the sincere love of the Tianbao brothers for Cuicui, and the sincere brotherly love between brothers all represent the traditional virtues of unspoiled agricultural civilization.

The novel writes about the clarity of the natural scenery of Xiangxi, and also aims to write about the clarity of the hearts of Xiangxi people.

Zheng Zhenduo felt that this novel was likely to open up a new direction for new literature.

Among the genres of new literature, the rise of vernacular novels began with Lu Xun.

The so-called vernacular novels refer to novels that rely on the reorganization of memories to describe the life of the hometown and the countryside, with a strong local flavor and local color.

At the beginning of the new literature, there was a clear trend of Europeanization in literary creation.

Because most of the writers who advocated new literature at that time had studied abroad and often translated foreign works, they naturally borrowed the narrative methods of Western novels.

As a result, some people called for the "local color" of literature, advocated that literature should have a "personality that grows out of the soil", and called on writers to "jump on the ground, and express the smell of earth and mud through his pulse and in words".

This is actually about nationalization.

Lu Xun's vernacular novels are very characteristic of the times, and through the description of the environment and characters of his hometown, he examines the customs of his hometown with a critical eye, and sharply satirizes and criticizes ignorance and backwardness.

With the complex emotions of lamenting their misfortune and anger, he depicts the numb and ignorant hometown people in life and suffering, sympathy and criticism, irony and pity are intertwined, forming an aesthetic style of vernacular novels where comedy and tragedy are blended.

Most of the new literary writers in the future imitated Lu Xun's writing style, mainly criticizing their hometown, with a hint of nostalgia.

But "Border City" is different, there is no criticism in this novel, only praise and praise.

Cuicui is an innocent, kind, gentle and innocent little girl, she came to the world, she is the angel of love and the spirit of love.

She and her grandfather depended on each other, loyal to love, and in the end, like her grandfather, she guarded the post of ferryman, bitterly in love and waiting for the return of the send-off.

The grandfather retains the traditional Chinese virtues, and he has infinite affection for his granddaughter Cuicui.

Tianbao's personality is bold and generous. The send-off pursued love alone, and finally ran away alone, not knowing where to drift.

These characters all have traditional Chinese virtues, which are very different from the ignorant villagers in Lu Xun's writings.

Lu Xun looked at the people in his hometown from the perspective of an enlightener, and naturally felt that they were incompatible with the new era, so there were novels such as "The True Story of Ah Q" and "Hometown".

What he saw was numbness and ignorance.

"Border City" uses the perspective of traditional Chinese culture to go deep into the group of countrymen and understand their joys, sorrows and sorrows.

Take "Hometown" as an example, the novel writes about a man called Runtu.

The author compared the lively boy who caught a baby in the moonlight of the watermelon field when he was a child and the leap land that was later called the master, haggard and full of servility by life, and came to the ignorance of the people in feudal society.

This is Lu Xun's perspective on the problem.

If you follow the way "Border City" is written, you will write about the daily life of Runtu, he treats his family very well, is helpful, and comes to give gifts when he meets his childhood playmate who has returned to his hometown, but this childhood playmate has become a great big man, so he seems reserved.

It fully shows the honest, simple and kind side of a countryman.

It's amazing that the same character, from different perspectives, is written by different writers, and it is a completely different character.

That's literature.

Zheng Zhenduo realized that Lin Zixuan's "Border City" was different from the current novels that mainly criticized the peasants, and this was another way of looking at the peasants.

These leaders of the new culture, believing that they represent the advanced side, play the role of saviors, and often speak out to awaken the ignorant peasants.

But it ignores the kind and simple side of the people, which is not in line with the trend of this era, but it is worthy of praise.

Moreover, the text of "Border City" is extremely beautiful, which makes Zheng Zhenduo very surprised.

Since Lin Zixuan's debut, the most criticized thing is that he has no literary talent, and most of the novels he writes are flat and straightforward, too straightforward, and many literati use this to attack Lin Zixuan's poor academic cultivation.

If they've seen Bordertown, they know how ignorant this attack is.

Zheng Zhenduo couldn't help but chuckle, thinking about it, how could a poet who can write poetry so beautifully not understand the literary style, perhaps, just unwilling to show off.

He even guessed that the reason why Lin Zixuan wrote the novel so straightforwardly was so that more people could understand it.

This point is undoubtedly worth learning from these writers.

The novel you wrote wanted to awaken the people, but the people couldn't understand it at all, isn't it in vain?