Chapter 1 (1)
The town where Lin Yuxiang lives is a small town. The town has only one school, which is like an only child. The town government's educational institutions awards were all given to it, and the "Advanced Unit" sign at the school gate was almost hanging down, as if they wanted to pave the ground with certificates. The old and young people in the town are proud of this school. The school also had a moment of glory, when two science whizzes were cultivated in the previous sessions, winning the national mathematics competition's runner-up prize. When the news came, the town was boiling over, and the school leaders' prestige instantly increased several times. Immediately, the school was positioned as a cradle for cultivating scientific talents, and language classes were reduced to four periods a week, like a city in Poland during a lightning war that couldn't be defended. The school had an excuse, saying that all the language teachers had changed careers to become secretaries.
Lin Yuxiang had a lot of opinions on this, because he was better at liberal arts than science, just like the two dwarfs comparing heights, and liberal arts won by a head. So he insisted on protesting.
Lin Yuxiang is a person born with the function of protest, he wants to criticize everything, but only in his mind. He's timid and puts his dissatisfaction in his belly, only for exchange between his internal organs.
There is another person in the town who has a similar character to Lin Yuxiang, his name is Ma Debao. It took Ma Debao thirty years more than Lin Yuxiang to cultivate this character, which shows that he has taken many detours.
Ma Debao did not attend university and started working after high school. In his spare time, he wrote a few pieces of worker literature and sent them out for publication. Unexpectedly, the editorial department was even more enthusiastic, and they were published within a few months.
Ma Debao himself was shocked, and the town's cultural station was also shocked. They did not expect that such a place would have a literary talent, so they invited Ma Debao to work at the cultural station. Ma Debao is 1.85 meters tall and thin, standing up makes people worry that he will collapse, born with a talent for writing essays.
After reading some books at the cultural station, he gained some insights and wrote for decades. His biggest dream was to publish a book. Recently, he compiled his essay collection manuscript and sent it out, and his dreams were inflated like a woman's belly after ten months of pregnancy. The ideal book seemed to be about to come out.
Unfortunately, he later received a rejection letter from the publisher, which first offered some comforting words before getting to the point: "However, we feel that your work is not in line with the current taste of readers, and there may be no market for it. Therefore, we have decided not to publish it for the time being." Ma Debao experienced the pain of a stillbirth, blaming the surgeon's lack of skill and secretly cursing the editor for lacking insight and being obtuse.
He decided to self-publish his book at his own expense, printing 200 copies and giving them away everywhere.
The town was stirred up again, and Ma Debao was entrusted by the book to be borrowed by the town school as a language teacher.
Some people say that studying literature and history can't find a job, this statement may be correct, but it doesn't mean that teaching literature and history can't find a job either. Those few language teachers who left the school were in high demand as soon as they entered society, and instantly, the school's ten language teachers were reduced to six. Most students who had just graduated from normal universities looked down on the teaching profession, and even those who respected the teaching profession looked down on this school. Only someone like Ma Debao, who hid in his books and didn't care about worldly affairs, would proudly take up a position at the school. On his first day at the school, the school leaders all met with him warmly, which showed just how eager the school was for talent.
Ma Debao was a Chinese language teacher and the head of the literature club. He thought that the current students' language level was poor, so he could teach Turgenev as "Negro Butcher" without anyone noticing, so he prepared his lessons hastily. On the first day of teaching, everyone would be nervous, which is normal, but Ma Debao didn't know this and thought that with his numerous writings, there was no reason to be nervous. However, as soon as he stepped into the classroom, his nervousness began to emerge, and when he realized he was nervous, it multiplied several times, causing his legs to shake before he even spoke.
A nervous person's speech is not about forgetting the content, but forgetting the transition. Ma Debao had no idea what he was saying, and two sentences with no causal relationship could be connected with "so". Failing to lecture on the text, the way to cover up was to keep asking questions. Lin Yuxiang, a graduate student, saw through Ma Debao's nervousness and wanted to show off in front of the listening teachers, so he kept raising his hand and making things up. Ma Debao was originally asking blindly, and Lin Yuxiang's answers happened to match, so they could be paired together. After passing the difficult situation, Ma Debao looked at Lin Yuxiang with admiration, regretting not meeting him earlier, and immediately recruited him into the literature club.
Lin Yuxiang's old home was in a rural village, which leaned against a railway. In the past few years, trains have sped up, but the children there couldn't speed up. One time while playing on the railroad, two were crushed to death. Luckily, Lin Yuxiang, who was five years old at the time, was forced to read "Shang Shu" at home and escaped disaster, becoming a good thing that has developed into a dogmatic achievement until now.
Lin's father was initially fearful and uneasy, so he made Lin Yuxiang recite "Lun Yu" and "Zuo Zhuan". However, the two children who died for freedom were always on people's minds, and Lin's father would often dream of seeing skulls and bones all over the railroad tracks. He was determined that they could not stay in this place for long.
Just then, a district committee internal publication needed someone, so Lin's father was promoted to editor and moved his family away. Unfortunately, their financial resources were limited, and they couldn't move far, only relocating one or two kilometers to the town. They were farther away from the railroad tracks, and their hearts felt more at ease. Every day, going out early and returning late for work was also quite smooth.
Lin's father loved books as his life, but unfortunately, he only loved books, not reading them. He had thousands of books at home, which were used for show-off purposes and rarely read. A person standing by a dung heap for a long time will also be tainted with the stench, similarly, a person staying among piles of books for a long time will naturally be imbued with the fragrance of books. Lin's father became a well-known writer in the region through his poetry without studying hard. The family's collection of books could only serve as a means to show off to outsiders, but it had no such power within.
Lin Yuxiang often said with a shake of his head: "Fart book, useless book, waste book." The words were passed from Lin's mother to Lin's father, just like the translation of our country's ancient poems being transmitted to foreign countries, with a greatly changed flavor. Lin's father severely scolded little Yuxiang, on the grounds that he was insulting culture. At that time, little Yuxiang was so pitiful that he didn't even understand what "insult" meant, let alone "culture". He just thought he was speaking triumphantly, and was so scared that afterwards he dared not mention anything related to human bodies or livestock when speaking. After being scolded by Lin's father, his thinking took a leap forward, and he decided to turn waste into treasure. Every day, he forced little Yuxiang to recognize characters and read books, feeling very pleased with himself. He thought that books were like banknotes, and that it was an expression of his love for his son not to hoard them for him to use in the future.
I didn't expect that Lin Yuxiang was born with a natural dislike for books, but it's mostly due to later factors. He wanted to leave them for future generations to enjoy, and he subconsciously thought about the well-being of his descendants. Books are like women; when someone gets a new book, they will naturally have a good feeling when flipping through it, because at least they are the first person to read its contents. On the other hand, old books are like marrying a remarried woman - the beauty is half gone, and there's no interest in reading them because others have already read their contents many times before. Lin Yuxiang tried his best to preserve the freshness of the books, thinking that if things went wrong, these books could still be sold as new ones for his descendants.
Lin's father only focused on his son and didn't think about his grandson. He forced Lin Yuxiang to read books every day, but they had to be good books. There were too many women in "Dream of the Red Chamber", so he was afraid that his son would start researching women too early, so it was forbidden. Fortunately, there were 108 men in "Water Margin", occupying an absolute advantage, and even if women appeared, they wouldn't become popular, so it wasn't banned. However, some content had to be deleted from the dialogue, such as the word "bird" which couldn't appear - wherever there was a "bird", it would be blacked out.
As a result, in "Water Margin", the phrase "thousands of birds flying away" became "thousands of mountains and rivers". Unfortunately, there were too many birds in "Journey to the West", and Lin's father had too much work to do. Moreover, biology tells us that the extinction of an animal takes time, so Lin's father inadvertently left a few birds that slipped through the net. When he discovered this later, his scalp was numb, but fortunately, it didn't have any impact.
Lin Father's talent is limited, he only knows one but not two, and mistakenly put the "belong" in Lao She's "Four Generations Under One Roof".
One day I happened to look up the word "属" in a dictionary and was shocked. I thought that Lao She's articles used profound vocabulary, which wasn't suitable for Xiaoyu Xiang to read. After some deliberation, I still think classical Chinese is best.
However, ancient texts are not immune to this type of writing. The majestic "Records of the Grand Historian" should be dignified enough, but when Sima Qian wrote it, he had been castrated and was filled with longing for what he lacked, openly recording "big yin people" in the book, which should be banned.
The "Warring States Strategy" also suffered a bad fate, with descriptions like "using her body to add to the concubine's body", and was banned. Lin Father picked books like picking vegetables, and China's rich and colorful historical materials were severely damaged in his hands. In the end, he picked out a few books that were not problematic and had Lin Yuxiang carry them on his back. Lin Yuxiang deeply hated ancient texts, but under the pressure of his father's authority, he had to recite things like "Everyone has something they cannot bear, and it is reached by what they can bear, which is benevolence; everyone has something they will not do, and it is reached by what they will do, which is righteousness". He also recited simpler phrases like "No ancient or modern, no beginning or end". After carrying the books on his back for over a year, he memorized several hundred philosophical phrases and had already possessed the theory of a thinker, lacking only age. When Lin Yuxiang was seven years old, one of Lin Father's friends, an editor at a newspaper in the city, visited the Lin family and complained about the problems they were facing with the newspaper's reform. He was worried that there would be many difficulties, but Lin Yuxiang just randomly recited "Fearful of the beginning and fearful of the end, what remains is only a few", which inspired the editor to become bold and decisive. The editor praised Lin Yuxiang highly and asked him to write a children's song on the spot. However, Lin Yuxiang was still too young and couldn't write anything. When he started school at eight years old, his reading level had already reached that of a sixth-grader, and he was praised by his teacher as a prodigy. The father of the prodigy was also proud, but no longer forced Lin Yuxiang to recite ancient texts. Lin Yuxiang's thoughts were liberated, and he wrote a poem that was later published in the newspaper. Lin Father had some free time to lecture on Western literature, which was actually something he was learning together with his son. Because Lin Yuxiang's work was symbolic, Lin Father explained symbolism at length, but there was no one to listen, so he had to rely on Blake. He transformed from aestheticism to symbolism and explained it while being corrected by Lin Mother, who had previously studied literature in college and should have had a bright future, but unfortunately married a man more talented than her. A family is like a mountain, where both sides must climb up with all their might, but only one person can stand at the top. Saying that a family is like a mountain is more important because it's hard for two tigers to coexist on the same mountain, and once they face each other, they must fight fiercely to determine who will be superior. Usually, men use means outside of academics, such as fists, to resolve conflicts, so it can be said that behind every failed woman, there is usually a successful man. Lin Father and Lin Mother used to often quarrel and wanted to divorce, but fortunately, their son was born. Lin Nanxiang was clever and lovable, and the two of them transformed their hatred for each other into love for their child. After Lin Mother completed her mission as a woman and transferred her interest, she was given the talent for playing mahjong by heaven. She went out early and returned late every day to play mahjong, which reduced the couple's quarrels. The reason is not complicated: when Lin Father wanted to scold someone, Lin Mother was often not around, so he had to hold back, and over time, his habit of scolding people faded away. This statement is wrong; for men, scolding people is not an instinct, but scolding women is an instinct.
Because Lin Yuxiang spent the whole day reciting ancient texts at the door, people in the small town called him "a talented young man". After being allowed to read other books, the talented young man transformed into reading modern works. Having been used to reading classical Chinese, Lin Yuxiang found it easy and smooth to read vernacular Chinese, just like driving at midnight. His mind was scattered, and he completely abandoned classical Chinese, even forgetting who Han Feizi was. Among China's top ten long novels, nine are bad, and in recent years, they have developed into something like the advertisement saying "there is no worst, only worse", unfortunately, Hollywood's "Golden Raspberry" award has not yet entered this field, otherwise, Chinese people would have had the opportunity to show their faces internationally. Therefore, reading Chinese long novels can easily boost one's confidence, Lin Yuxiang read dozens of them and his confidence greatly increased, thinking that he had already read extensively, and he thought he was awesome
He is within human reach, but like a frog and snake before hibernation, he can go without food for a long time after eating his fill this morning.
Then Lin Yuxiang didn't read any books, and even threw away his language textbook. In elementary school, he could easily pass with his foundation, but after entering middle school, he gradually became unable to keep up, plus the previous language teacher didn't appreciate his arrogance. He hastily used Zouzi's advice to persuade him, saying "A gentleman cultivates himself internally and yields externally", seeing no effect, he then used Zi to scare him, "Those who cannot tolerate others have no kin; those without kin will exhaust others". Still having no effect, he could only use Laozi to scold him, saying that Yuxiang was "Strange in his normality, good at being a monster", predicting "This person's chest is not broad, doing things without talent, studying without precision, weak but good at showing off, will not guard his integrity, and will not become a great vessel". Who would have thought that this language teacher lost his integrity before Yuxiang did, disappearing suddenly on the eve of the new semester, leaving an empty position that could only be filled by Ma Debao.
Lin Yuxiang gained Ma Debao's recognition and was very loyal to him. Ma Debao also gave his collection of essays "The Wandering Life" to Lin Yuxiang, who admired it greatly. As a result, they often went in and out together, discussing problems. The two were close, one on the left and one on the right. Their classmates originally had a bad impression of Lin Yuxiang, but when they saw Ma Debao always by his side, their impression of Ma Debao also became unfavorable. It's like if someone's left sock is smelly, then there's no reason for the right sock not to be smelly either.
Actually, Lin Yuxiang had been thinking of starting a literary club two years ago, but not because he wanted to dedicate himself to literature. It was because the previous president believed that the foundation of writing good articles was to have a broad range of experiences and knowledge. The teacher had traveled extensively throughout the country, covering tens of thousands of miles on foot, which made Lin Yuxiang feel ashamed. When the teacher returned, she would introduce her experiences to the students, who would listen with rapt attention, feeling as if they were listening to a lover's phone call. However, this only satisfied their ears and not their eyes, and their writing did not improve.
So, the president started taking them on field trips. At first, they went to nearby places to gather material, specifically running to rural areas. The first few times, the students from the town were so excited to see pigs that they would linger for half a day. But after going several times, they lost interest in pigs and also lost interest in rural areas.
Then they started going further away, and one time they went to Tongli. After returning, a female student was inspired to write a piece called "The Water of Jiangnan", which expressed deep emotions and won first prize in the city's essay competition. This literary club had always been at the back of other schools, picking up scraps, so winning such a big award was rare in history. They attributed the girl's achievement entirely to tourism, and as a result, the literary club became a travel agency, making people from other groups jealous.
Lin Yuzhi was also one of the eye-catching ones. In his first year, he went to take the literature club exam, but forgot who wrote "Father and Son" at the last minute and was eliminated. The second time, he submitted two articles, took a wrong turn, exposed the phenomenon of college students not returning after going abroad, forgot to sing praises, and was brushed off again. The third time, he learned his lesson, sang loudly, thought he would be selected, but it turned out that he didn't sing enough praises usually, couldn't outsing others at critical moments, didn't sing with new ideas or emotions, and was eliminated again. From then on, he completely lost hope in literature. This time, he finally made it into the literature club, and his excitement even forgot about his worries.
That Friday afternoon, there was a period of literary society activity. On the way, Lin Yuxiang said to Ma Debao: "Teacher Ma, in the past when we chose people to write articles, it was like choosing singers, whoever could sing would go up."
Ma Debao has been a teacher for a week and has gradually taken shape. In his heart, he praises the students as being exceptionally talented. Every day, instead of calling himself "Teacher", he says with a sigh: "Actually, we teachers are also very troubled. We need to cultivate all-around developed students, be proactive and upward, and most importantly, grow healthily." The implication is that students are like sunflowers, which can only face the sunshine in front of them, otherwise they will not develop well.
"What's been going on lately?"
"Smell, it's just talking about literary theory and writing techniques. The more you write literature, the better it will naturally become."
Yu Xiang was afraid he didn't have the ability to create something out of nothing, so he tentatively asked: "Then why not organize an outing?"
"That's what the school is considering, I'm just responsible for teaching you how to write a good article." Ma Debao knew that being in charge didn't necessarily mean he could fulfill his responsibilities, and his voice was also weak.
Lin Yuxiang understood that the new president was a recluse who rarely left his house, and his enthusiasm for the Literature Club suddenly decreased by half. As he walked to the door of the Literature Club, Ma Debao patted Lin Yuxiang's shoulder and said, "Write well, and I'll let you participate in competitions later. You have to fight for your reputation." The room was already full of people, and it could be seen that there were still many people who revered literature in this era. Therefore, it can be seen that literature has become old-fashioned, because things often gain more appeal as they age; but it can also be said that literature is very young, because the younger a beauty is, the more pursuers she has. However, whether literature is young and tender or old and dying, it cannot be middle-aged and mature.
Ma Debao introduced himself and said, "I brought a gift for everyone to meet." The students were all shocked, as it was always the students' duty to give gifts to teachers, but never the other way around.
Ma Debao moved a stack of books from under the podium and said, "These are books written by our teacher, one for each person, given to everyone." Then he distributed them one by one, marveling that these 200 books had such strong vitality, having been widely given away yet still leaving so many behind.
The staff took the book and everyone read it silently, so quiet that it was scary. Ma Debao saw his work being appreciated and couldn't bear to interrupt, remaining silent for a few minutes. Suddenly, he noticed a boy in the corner flipping through the pages quickly. Normally, Ma Debao also read books this way, but today was different, and he felt an inexplicable sadness. The book had already been given out, and he couldn't intervene, just like a mother seeing her daughter suffer at her in-laws' house. Ma Debao couldn't bear to watch anymore and hinted verbally: "Some classmates have very bad reading habits, they read too fast, which makes it impossible to understand the author's thoughts. Reading should be slow." This remark scared those who wanted to turn the page into not daring to move their hands, and they could only stare blankly at the last few lines of the text. In fact, not turning the pages wouldn't make a difference, because Ma Debao's essays were thoroughly scattered, each one like shattered glass swept up from the floor, probably even "integration experts" like Zhan Keming couldn't put them together again.
Yu Xiang quietly sat down beside the boy who was flipping through his book quickly. The two had never met before, but the boy complained to him: "What a terrible book, it's impossible to understand."
Lin Yuxiang nodded and said, "Yes." in order to make friends with a new friend, regardless of secretly being unfaithful to old friends.
"What's your name?" Lin Yuxiang asked.
"Lu's Romeo, Lu's Sky" The boy couldn't think of a famous person with "Sky" in his name for the time being, so he passed over his notebook and pointed to his own big name.
"Lu Tiancheng, your handwriting is very beautiful."
Luo Tiancheng didn't mince words, saying: "Yes, I call it the Luo Body Character!" As he said this, he stared contentedly at the character, as if talking to it: "You're called Lin Yuxiang is Yang, I've heard of your name."
Everyone who pursues fame and fortune loves to hear this phrase. Lin Yuxiang replied in his heart, "It's indeed me," but awkwardly smiled and said, "Is that so?"
Lu Tiancheng seemed to be ignoring Lin Yuzhi's words. Lin Yuzhi's "Really?" hung in the air, waiting for a response.
"What's the name of that rib above? I saw him being quite close to you." Lin Yuxiang didn't want to be on good terms with Pai Guo, and disdainfully said: "He's one of my teachers, he thinks I'll have a great future, so he's intentionally trying to get close to me."
"Looks like you're quite close to the ground, huh?" Luo Tiancheng looked at him coldly, seeing through his lies. Yu Xiang's carefully crafted pride was completely destroyed, and he felt extremely humiliated, forcing a laugh, too lazy to talk to this weirdo Luo Tiancheng.
Ma Debao finally began to speak. The first time he brought a large group of literature enthusiasts, who were actually travel enthusiasts, he had to make himself sacred first. Last night, he stayed up until midnight, checking scriptures and dictionaries, flipping through several books, and finally compiling today's lecture notes. He started by saying: "Literature is an appreciation of beauty, a enjoyment of beauty. If so, we must first understand what beauty is. There is a field of study that studies beauty, called aesthetics. Studying ugliness doesn't have a name, so it can be seen how important beauty is."
Ma Debao paused for a moment, intending to give the students a chance to laugh, but unexpectedly, there was complete silence below. Ma Debao blamed himself for speaking too deeply and the students' poor comprehension, his heart became anxious, and his mind was in chaos. After taking a sip of water to calm down, he still couldn't recall what he wanted to say next. Ma Debao had no choice but to search passively, rummaging through his empty memory as if searching for something small in the dark night.
Ma Debao felt that all the students' eyes were on him, and he was about to sweat. When there was no other choice, he opened his lesson plan book, saw the outline he had prepared, and suddenly realized what to say, only blaming himself for being stupid: "China's more famous aestheticians include Zhu Guangqian, this everyone is relatively familiar with, so I won't introduce him again." In fact, it was set up until last night. "There's also Professor Jiang Kongyang from Fudan University, I know him!"