After returning from Xiangshan, I began to work on the manuscript day and night.

When I'm bored, I go out for a walk.

Two or three minutes north from the house where I temporarily lived, there was the gate of the Old Summer Palace.

For the Old Summer Palace, I have long wanted to see it, feel its vicissitudes of history, and touch its sad breath.

On this day, I walked irritably to the gate of the Old Summer Palace.

At the gate, there are many flowers.

As I was about to enter the gate of the Old Summer Palace, I suddenly saw a young girl standing beside me, smiling meaningfully at me. She is about 20 years old, with clear eyebrows, white and clean, and a slender figure.

"Do you need a guide?" The girl asked me generously.

"More money?" I asked with interest.

"You can give whatever you want." The girl said with a smile.

"10 yuan an hour, how?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes!" The girl nodded cheerfully.

"Let's go!" I said and went to the ticket booth and bought two tickets.

At this moment, two or three young foreign men came up and asked the girl in poor Chinese if she could be their tour guide, and the girl shook her head resolutely.

"Are they foreigners embarrassed to come here?" The girl's mouth opened up, but my heart was brought closer to hers.

"Now the wild guide is very tight," I asked the girl with concern, "aren't you afraid?" ”

"I'm not specialized in this," the girl said seriously, "I'm studying at Peking University, in the history department, and I can come out to earn some living expenses when I have time." ”

"Then you're not afraid of running into bad guys?" I asked with a smile.

"No," the girl smiled, "I also look at people, and I can see at a glance that there are people who are messy, and I won't be a guide for them no matter how much money they give." ”

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"If you're going to be like a bad guy, can I still be with you now?" The girl asked rhetorically.

I smiled and walked with the girl into the gate of the Old Summer Palace.

Entering the gate, it is a straight concrete road. On both sides of the road, weeping willows and green grass are abundant. The stall owners who are tinkering with small toys and rings are all trying to attract tourists.

"Where is the shadow of national hatred and family feud?" I was heartbroken, "This is clearly a park for people to play and have fun!" ”

"Now the Old Summer Palace is tormented by these messy people," the girl said softly, "a good place that records a moment of shame in Chinese history, but a park has been built on it, and admission fees and entertainment are carried out, as if it has to be made into a song and dance!" If you look at the guide map on this ticket, there are many attractions and exhibitions everywhere, and it is difficult to find a route to the ruins without looking for them. If you want to be alone, you have to follow the map to make ......"

"If you don't do that, what are you black tour guides doing?" I teased.

"You're so nasty!" The girl said with a slight sneer.

I walked and talked with the girl.

When passing by a large lotus pond, I saw that the bottom of the pond that had dried up was exposed with silt, but in the middle of the lotus pond without water and flowers, there was still a line of golden words written "The lotus leaves are infinitely green, and the lotus flowers are different red in the sun", which looked nondescript under the sunlight. Out of the lotus pond, I met all kinds of vendors along the way, some took a one-minute snapshot, some sold embroidered shoes, and some sold pancakes and fruits...... It's really full of people, and the City God Temple is ashamed of itself when it sees it!

I wandered in the newly renovated park, wondering why I saw a paradise of singing and dancing. The sadness brought to me by the Old Summer Palace in the story of my youth was heavy, and the series of "rape" and "beauty" suffered by the Old Summer Palace today made me even more indignant and sad.

The girl seemed to see that I was in a bad mood and kept walking silently beside me.

After searching, I finally stood on the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, which I had been thinking about day and night.

Beside him, countless tourists crawled among the broken walls and rubble, and the best ones even jumped up and down like monkeys......

My mood grew darker.

After walking for a while, the shouts of the photo vendors sounded in my ears again, and they warmly beckoned tourists to put on the costumes of Qing court opera and dress up as emperors, concubines or gege, revealing a dog's face and showing a dog's flattering face. I really wanted to shout at the vendors and ask them if they had any slave clothes, so that they could take a few pictures of themselves.

My mood is getting worse and worse.

When I came out of the Old Summer Palace, it was getting late.

The gray-red mosaic wall of the Old Summer Palace becomes more mysterious and noble in the twilight. They stretch out into the distance in an orderly manner, like this otherwise boundless hue, which extends infinitely, from the past to the present, and from the present to the future.

"There are a lot of people who want to rebuild the Old Summer Palace," I whispered to the girl, "and you can also see the donated glass boxes in the garden, encouraging the Chinese people to put their coins into that transparent object!" ”

"There are many people who say that the Old Summer Palace is deserted," the girl said softly, "let such a large area of desolation awaken people's memories, and let memories become the source of motivation for the people of the country to work hard!" ”

"A lot of people are arguing," I said in a calm tone, "whether to rebuild or to continue to be abandoned." ”

"Actually, what is there to argue about?" The girl said with a deep face, "History cannot be repaired, and if it is not done well, it will be self-defeating." What we need to see is, who destroyed the Old Summer Palace? Why was it destroyed? ”

I looked at the girl's clear and pure eyes and nodded softly.

The girl smiled.

"I really feel like I hear the cry of the Old Summer Palace!" I said to the girl in a solemn tone.

"I heard it too," said the girl with a heavy face, "the Old Summer Palace, from the first cry of 1860, after the British and French invaders burned down and almost turned into a scorched earth, until the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Coalition in 1900, when it was seriously damaged again; Crying to the point that the soldiers of the Eight Banners and bandits took advantage of the fire to loot, and almost demolished and looted nearly 100 buildings in the park that remained and were basically repaired one after another; After the Xinhai Revolution, the Old Summer Palace was unmanaged, and the relics in the garden were stolen by bureaucrats, warlords, and hooligans; Until now, only three-fifths of the park has been opened to the outside world, and the other two-fifths have become farmland, villages, factories, and even garbage dumps, dung dumps, and cemeteries...... It has been crying under the ravages of these foreign hooligans and local hooligans and the combination of local and foreign hooligans. ”

"Yes," I chimed in softly, "crying all the time!" ”

At this time, the gate of the Old Summer Palace appeared in front of me.

We walked out of the Old Summer Palace in silence.

"Sum it up, and then pay for it!" I stopped at the gate of the Old Summer Palace and said to the girl.

"Everyone should have a patriotic heart!" The girl said seriously.

"Yes," I said in a deep voice, "self-reliance, self-reliance, is only the bare minimum of being a human being." Serving the country, the people and the society is the meaning of being a man. Each of us should have a patriotic heart and do our best to make more contributions to the motherland. ”

"You're right," the girl smiled, "if a person only thinks about his own welfare and living a self-sufficient life, he will eventually be abandoned by society." If a person does not even love his own motherland, what qualifications does he have to stand in his own motherland? ”

"The motherland is like a mother," I said emotionally, "no matter how poor a mother is, she is also a mother!" ”

"Love the motherland," the girl said affectionately, "to serve the motherland, this can reflect the true value of being a human being!" ”

"Alright," I said to the girl with a smile, "I'm leaving, how much money should I give you?" ”

"You look at it," the girl said softly, "they usually cost 100 yuan, but there are also 50 yuan." ”

"Here you go!" As I spoke, I took out a hundred-dollar bill from my body and handed it to the girl.

"Thank you!" The girl smiled and took the money, and then still stood in front of me, looking like she was still talking.

"How?" I wondered, "Isn't it too little?" ”

"No," the girl said hesitantly, "I want to use this money to hire you to accompany me to Peking University, and by the way, I want you to help me with a staff officer, okay?" ”

"Hire me to go for a walk around Peking University?" I smiled, "It seems that the funds for this activity are taken from the people and used by the people." ”

"Yes!" The girl smiled.

"Then you're really a Peking University student?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course," the girl said with a smile, "it's a freshman!" ”

"Let's go!" I happily said, "I'll treat you to dinner first, and then go to Peking University for a walk!" ”

"In the future, you can call me Lingyun!" The girl said with clear eyes.

"Then you can call me a writer!" I say it without shame.

"Writers?" Ling Yun smiled and leaned back, "The surname is a famous family, or does it always sit at home?" ”

"A writer is a writer!" I said solemnly, "Do you understand? ”

Ling Yun smiled and nodded.

I was smiling.