Tianshui: The sky is high and the water is long, this is the best place

Text/Jihe

One

Returning from the winter vacation of freshman year Township.

In early January, the first snow fell in the ancient city of Tianshui. The cold wind was not blowing in this small town known as "Longshang Jiangnan". I stood on the bank of Jihe River and watched the snowflakes fall into the unfrozen water and disappear. It's more like the secretive thoughts, tired, lost, plunging into the river, no longer expecting the ferry to cross the shore.

My boyfriend of less than two months walked towards me. Like Xu Yan, he also wore black-rimmed glasses and was a bookish boy from Tianshui. He took out a brand new purple scarf from his school bag and put it around my neck. The doting in his eyes pierced my heart inch by inch, causing the invisible me to grin and almost suffocate.

I shrank my neck, the scarf was very warm. I glanced at the snowflakes falling into the river again, and then took off my scarf without any explanation: "Let's break up."

I didn't dare to look at him, but I still felt his heavy breathing and tone. I was in disbelief: "What's wrong? Why?"

I looked at the boy in front of me. He was tall and straight, but not cold. I'm sorry, forgive me for not knowing how to say break up just right. I can't tell you without any convincing that you are as warm as this scarf, and the coldest forbidden area in my heart is ashamed of it.

The wind blew the snowflakes into my eyes, and I said, "Because purple is the color I hate the most."

I smiled bitterly, and he Turn around and leave. He knows that the tone that sounds the most carefree in my mouth is always the most decisive.

I walked along the Jiehe River, completed the winter scenery of Jiehe River, visited the ancient Freedom Road, saw the magnolia trees with slender branches, and counted the mottled light and shadow in the afternoon sun. ...But Xu Yan, everything related to you is still straddling every ancient alley. I try my best to get out, but I can't get out.

Two

The time I met Xu Yan was my sophomore year in high school.

In March of that year, the Chinese teacher explained the previous day's ancient poetry appreciation quiz in class, Wen Zhengming's "Magnolia". "The shadow falls on the empty steps and the cold moon comes, and the fragrance comes from the courtyard with a gentle breeze in the evening." The fragrance fills the lips and teeth every word.

March in Tianshui, a small town, suddenly turns warm and cold, and it is the time when the magnolia flowers are in bloom. Encouraged by the petty bourgeoisie of a little girl in my heart, I immediately decided to go to Ziyou Road not far from the school to see Magnolia.

Knowing that this ridiculous reason could not convince the teacher to sign my leave note, I completely gave up the "legal means" of leaving school. After class was over, I told my deskmate that when a teacher asked about it, he said that I was feeling unwell and had gone to the school hospital. In Tianshui Y, which is home to many top students in the province's college entrance examination, and in its experimental classes, no teacher would link students' absences with skipping classes.

After leaving the teaching building, I realized belatedly that even if I got through with the teacher, the guard would refuse to let me in because there was no excuse note.

I was anxiously wandering around a corner of the playground, and that’s when Xu Yan appeared in my field of vision. You know, people are particularly keen when they are at the end of their rope, because everything may be their life-saving straw.

I remember him. He was a senior in high school when I entered the school. He always wore the standard black-rimmed glasses for students, wrote beautiful poems, and founded the first school magazine of Y Middle School. He was always like the snow line on the mountain. , quiet and cold, polite but distant. But his gentle and elegant appearance still makes many adolescent girls excited.

The teacher-like person who came out of the auditorium with him spoke polite words to the school leaders. He stood silently and looked around at his alma mater, which he had left for nearly a year. I slipped over and looked at the publicity board at the door of the auditorium, and then I realized that a professor from L University was coming to give a lecture. As an assistant professor and an outstanding graduate of Y Middle School, he also returned to school to give a report.

I mentally snapped my fingers, went over and pulled Xu Yan's sleeves: "Senior, can you take me out of the school when you leave?" The deliberately lowered voice still frightened me. He jumped, and the boy, who was about 1.8 meters tall, looked down at me slightly. His eyes flashed with confusion in capital letters, and then turned into an expression of understanding.

Before he could finish his long "Oh", the professor who was traveling with him patted him on the shoulder from behind: "What are you doing, Xiao Xu? Let's go?"

"Ah, um, teacher, this is me... my sister. I want to go out with us... go out..." Xu Yan faltered. Looking at the professor's funny expression, I even felt that he must have thought that Xu Yan wanted to go out with us... I took my little girlfriend out to play.

Adhering to the life motto of "no need to explain when we meet by chance", I shamelessly got into their car, then smoothly walked out of the school gate, and then got out of the car with the words "Goodbye teacher, goodbye brother". Dive into the freedom road.

Three

Tianshui was called Qinzhou in ancient times, and today’s Qinzhou District is undoubtedly the essence of the ancient city.

The ancient Ziyou Road is criss-crossed with ancient alleys, and mysterious ancient trees line the streets. Ancient brick and tile pavilions line up in rows. The vicissitudes of the ancient road stretches on, and the echo of footsteps on the stone slabs all hints at the historical splendor...

Having graduated from "J1" in elementary school, I have crossed this road countless times, but when I was young, I never paid attention to the most familiar scenery. Until I lived in high school, even seeing the magnolia became a luxury that I had to skip classes.

The small shop where I used to buy steamed buns and guagua when I was a child is still there. In the steamy market, magnolias are beginning to grow on the branches. It is subtle and gentle, but not delicate. Everywhere the wind passes, it is full of joy.

I was fascinated by what I saw, and I was surprised that I was overjoyed by this all-too-familiar flower. Perhaps what I am deeply in love with is the magnolia, the ancient alley, and my childhood and nostalgia that are long enough to be composed into a song.

"When...are you going back to school?" A voice that fell from the sky appeared in my ears. I was really startled. In an instant, I changed from a sad and artistic girl to a kitten with fried fur, eyes wide open. Look at the person in front of you - it's Xu Yan.

"Senior... aren't you gone?"

"I'm afraid that you will get lost, be kidnapped, get into a car accident, get food poisoning..." Xu Yan opened his mind and counted me in detail The "disaster" that may be encountered is a righteous statement of "I will be responsible for you when I bring you out." At that moment, I really suspected that the eight o'clock slot was all for boys.

I didn’t say anything and continued to pace and look at the magnolias. I bought two portions of jelly at the entrance of Traffic Alley and handed a bowl to Xu Yan: "Thank you, senior, for extraditing me out of school and protecting me with all your due diligence." He pretended to be serious, but in the end he laughed out loud.

"You're welcome, we're all on our way." Xu Yan sat on the bluestone steps without any scruples, his eyes burning.

The afternoon sun shines through the magnolia trees and spreads upwards. The mottled light and shadow all over the place makes people's hearts beat.

Xu Yan and I sat side by side on the stone steps, eating a bowl of jelly with relish. He then explained his joke: Actually, he originally wanted to go to Shuang Magnolia Hall to see the flowers, but the report ended a little late. When he saw me getting off the bus to Free Road, he came over to have a look.

"You skipped class just to see the magnolia tree?" Xu Yan took out his mobile phone and took a picture of the magnolia tree against the backlight. Before I could answer, he added to himself, "Yes, who grew up in Tianshui doesn't miss the magnolia in his hometown." I didn't know whether he was talking about me or himself.

At dusk, Xu Yan was about to return to L University, more than 300 kilometers away. I also went back to school during dinner time with the day students who were studying in the evening.

My classmates were very excited after learning that I "escaped" with the help of Xu Yan. I knew that Xu Yan, who was once popular in the school, still retains his aura a year after graduation. But I only regard this encounter as an ordinary episode in the boring and monotonous high school life.

So I never expected that I would meet Xu Yan again.

Perhaps, the city of Tianshui is really too small.

Thursday

On October 1, I went home for the holiday and accompanied my grandma to Fuxi Temple.

Because it is the well-preserved "Hometown of Emperor Xi" and is not small in scale, Fuxi Temple has a great reputation outside and is also a key cultural relic protection unit at the provincial level. But the locals in Tianshui have long turned a blind eye to its reputation. This place is part of our lives and nothing else.

Fuxi Temple is one of the few places where people gather in Tianshui. Couples are walking on the pedestrian street, old people are listening to plays under the pavilion, and women are gossiping with needlework. The stone steps in front of the door are still gray and white, and the thousand-year-old cypresses in the courtyard are still ancient and simple.

Grandma placed the small bench in the square in front of the temple and sat on it contentedly. Someone was singing Qin Opera on the stage built by the people in front of them with their own money. Grandma said that this is the blood of Tianshui people, and all the joy, anger, sorrow and joy are in Qin Opera.

I don’t know much about drama, so I fell asleep after a while. So I said hello to my grandma, got up and walked around the pedestrian street.

I saw the opening notice of "Fuxi Chinese Studies Lecture Hall" posted at the entrance of an alley, so I went in curiously to take a look. After walking through the deep alleys, opening the ancient and heavy doors, and passing through the winding corridors, we arrived at the "classroom". The bulletin board at the door lists the courses of the lecture hall, which not only teach Yi Xue, but also involve other Chinese studies such as "The Analects of Confucius". I stepped in with great interest.

The hand that took off the sun hat stopped halfway - among the uncles and aunts whose average age was over forty, Xu Yan sat calmly. The speaker hadn't arrived yet. He was looking at the books on the bookshelf. After I came in, he heard the sound and looked towards the door.

"Huh?" He was obviously equally surprised. Seeing his slightly opened mouth closing again, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to tell him my name last time.

"You can call me Geometry." I smiled awkwardly, feeling a little uncomfortable with the looks of the uncles and aunts around me.

Xu Yan asked me to come over and sit on the chair next to him. I quietly looked at this antique old house - the tall and kind statue of Confucius, the incense burner filled with green smoke, the chic and beautiful Calligraphy and painting... I even felt like I had traveled through time for a moment.

"I thought you would just skip classes, but you came to listen to a lecture on Chinese studies. You are a kid." Xu Yan's voice sounded softly.

I rolled my eyes at him. When people who are not good at talking make fun of others, it really makes people cry without tears.

The lecturer came soon, a professor from Kyoto. It seems that he has already become familiar with Xu Yan, and he calls him to talk about his feelings from time to time. The gentle boy always nodded politely, stood up slowly, stood tall and spoke his thoughts with a gentle voice. About traditional culture, about Chinese studies, about the Four Books and Five Classics, about many words and views that I have never heard of.

That was the first time I came into contact with traditional Chinese studies outside of textbooks, and it was also the first time I truly saw Xu Yanyan’s talent.

After the class ended, the audience dispersed. Xu Yan sent the speaker to the car at the entrance of the alley, then turned around and smiled at me.

Tianshui is a city with a strong scholarly atmosphere, which can be seen from the prosperous calligraphy, painting and mounting markets. Naturally, this city also has a strong culture of respecting teachers and respecting education. And all these temperaments seemed to have penetrated into Xu Yanle's bones. On that ordinary afternoon, I suddenly felt that he exuded mystery and beauty from ancient times.

The magnolia in my heart seemed to bloom with a bang. I quickly put the hat on my head to block my panic eyes.

I know, it’s over.

Five

During those seven days, I accompanied my grandma to Fuxi Temple to listen to the opera every afternoon, and then went to the Chinese Studies Lecture Hall alone to listen to Chinese Studies courses that I had no interest in at all.

Xu Yan always arrives early and habitually leaves the seat next to me for me. We listened to the lecture together, and then sent grandma home together after the lecture, and then threw the two pairs of footprints into the streets of Tianshui City.

The sky and water in early autumn are colorful and beautiful everywhere you look. We searched for scenery of the same color according to the picture, the red color was so lively, we found the sunset glow of the Green Lake, the maple leaves of the Immortal Cliff, the hall of the Pure Land Temple, the wall of the Confucian Temple, and the pretty bride's makeup. The yellow is so intense that yellow flags and banners stand on the yellow land. Yellow rice noodles will always be a delicacy in this land. The white misty rain with accumulated wheat lingers near the ancient grotto, giving it a sense of weight and vastness of time. At night, Xu Yan also chanted "The dew is white tonight, the moon is the brightness of my hometown." When the bright moon rises in my hometown, every grass and tree, every mountain and every water is coated with silver light, white, transparent and clear, white Soft and pure, white wine brings poetry to life, white lasts forever...

He described these colors as: blatant.

Yes, the color of Tianshui is so bright that it is blatantly bright. In Tianshui, I am like a timid thief. The days when he is around are like stolen time, which I carefully keep in my pocket, afraid of throwing it away, and even more afraid of being known by others.

On the afternoon before the start of school, boarding students must return to school early. Xu Yan had no classes on Monday, so he still went to Fuxi Chinese Studies Lecture Hall that day. I went there to say goodbye to him, and stood at the door, looking at the boy's profile looking through his notes. I felt a little lost. The six or seven days I spent with him were more real than a dream.

After a long time, I finally recovered and called Xu Yan’s name. He stood up with a smile, walked around the chair and walked towards me.

"Xiao Xu, my girlfriend's photo fell down." The aunt next to her picked up a small piece of paper from the ground and handed it to Xu Yan with a knowing smile.

Xu Yan took it in a panic, stuffed it into his wallet in a panic, and finally gave me a panicked look.

At that moment, I stood stiffly at the door, so overwhelmed that I even forgot to speak. Yes, secret love is originally a journey in the dark, like asceticism in the vast desert, moving forward with only the meager faith in your heart. In fact, even you don't know where the real exit is.

"Oh, I'm going back to school, bye." After struggling out of the self-conscious whirlpool, he finally squeezed out a few words, and then ran away.

Six

He called me that day, but I didn't answer. Do I want to question why he has a girlfriend but didn't tell me? But why did he need to tell me. That sentence is so good, loving someone is like penance. I am willing to put on the mango shoes, pick up the monk's bowl, change the golden lace clothes into a hundred-pin shirt, and pick up the bamboo stick to embark on the road of no return. I am devoted to the Buddha, so how dare I order the Buddha to come to me? However, since he already has a girlfriend, why should he covet the grains outside his own fields? Is there so much tender companionship that one can freely give it away freely?

I don’t know.

Soon after I reached my third year of high school, I no longer skipped classes, and I always avoided Magnolia. Reading, studying, it seems, all thoughts have nothing to do with Xu Yan.

After the college entrance examination results were released, my grades were enough to get into the L university that I had been thinking about day and night, but I still filled my application list in colleges and universities on the southeast coast because they were far away from L university in the northwest. Big furthest. But in the end, I couldn't help but delete them all and put L University first. The following schools are all in the city where L University is located.

Then I enrolled in school, followed the steps step by step, then I never met Xu Yan who went to the same school, then accepted a confession from a boy in the same class, and then broke up two months later...

Me I don’t know what I’m doing, and thinking about it must be the worst word in the world.

And these are all the stories related to Xu Yan and me.

Seventh

The seventh day of the first lunar month is Valentine's Day, which is also my birthday in the lunar calendar.

After more than a year, Xu Yan called again.

I don't know where he got my new number.

The voice on the phone was still clear and clear: "Geometry, I'm at Nandaqiao, come here."

Before the phone was hung up, I had already stepped out of the house. He also laughed self-deprecatingly: one second he told himself that it was over and forgotten, and the next second he acquiesced to the eight-point power in him. Bloody, childish.

"Happy birthday, I'm giving you a photo of my girlfriend as a gift. It was stolen from the archives of Y Middle School. It's very precious." Without any preamble, he stretched out his hand abruptly. The photo I had taken from high school The photo I took to college that was so annoying turned out to be my ID photo when I entered high school.

I waved my hand openly: "Your girlfriend, keep it to yourself." Before I put my hand down, my voice trembled.

I rubbed my eyes covertly and turned to look at Borrowing River in the sun. It's so nice, the breeze is strong, the mountains are high and the water is long, and the people around me are exactly like the old dreams of my youth.

Well, Tianshui, there is no better place than this.