"If you come to visit me and I'm not there, please sit down with the flowers at my door for a while.
They're warm, and I've been watching them for many, many days. ”
This is the beginning of the essay collection "Grass and Trees in the World", in Wang Zengqi's pen, the flowers and trees are affectionate, the sun is warm, and the world is full of spring.
Speaking of Wang Zengqi, most people should be familiar with it.
The salted duck eggs in his pen have aroused the gluttony of countless foodies;
The "petals made of the moon" in his article are also the most beautiful description of pear blossoms in the hearts of many young people.
Screenwriter Shi Hang said:
There are many cute old men in this world, but it is not common to be cute like this. ”
Wang Zengqi always seems to have such magic, salvaging some fragments of the past in the gap of time, and basking in the warm aroma in the sun.
When I opened "Grass and Trees in the World", this feeling is especially great.
Under Wang Lao's pen, the flowers bloom into a scene, and the rain falls into a poem.
Everything in the world is like a picture scroll, slowly spreading out in front of you, so that people who have been hammered by the world are like breathing a breath of sweet air and feeling ** from the inside out.
If you want to give yourself a comfortable psychological massage this spring, then you might as well read Wang Zengqi's "Grass and Trees in the World".
In the plain, find a fireworks
Wang Zengqi loves to eat and is well-known in the readership.
His pen, as small as a sugar-fried chestnut, a plate of braised lion's head, and a pot of steam-pot chicken, are all full of thick smoke and fire, which makes people salivate.
Unlike other writers, Wang Zengqi's pen does not have a too grand narrative.
He likes to focus on the ordinary and small things, and can always find something touching from the ordinary trivialities.
He wrote about chicken fir fungus, which tasted like a fat hen, and its deliciousness was incomparable;
Write poplar radish, crisp and sweet, always the best when I was a child;
Write salted duck eggs, the eggshells left after eating them up, can also be used to catch fireflies, and the fluorescence flashes in the shell at night, "It's so beautiful!."”
Being good at discovering warmth and fun from ordinary life is the unique charm of Wang Zengqi's writing.
Because he loves to eat, Wang Zengqi has made a lot of jokes.
He once boasted about Haikou, saying that he ate everything.
Someone saw that he didn't eat coriander and bitter gourd, so they ordered these two dishes for him.
Wang Zengqi had to grit his teeth and finish eating, and since then, he has also fallen in love with coriander and bitter gourd.
Wang Zengqi came to a conclusion from this:
People's tastes should be a little wider, a little miscellaneous, sweet in the south and salty in the north, spicy in the east and sour in the west, they must be tasted, and the same should be true for food, and the same should be true for culture. ”
Wang Zengqi not only likes to eat, but also likes to cook.
He has "invented" many dishes, such as roasted radish with scallops, fried dough sticks stuffed with filling, and boiled dried shredded ......
It's all his usual greed and nothingness, and he "pondered" it.
Once, when Wang Zengqi went to buy beef, there was a middle-aged woman in front of him and asked the master:
How to make beef?”
Wang Zengqi was amazed and interjected to ask her:
Haven't you ever made beef?”
The middle-aged woman replied:
My family didn't eat beef, but now that the children are older and have to go outside, I let them get used to it. ”
So, Wang Zengqi was very enthusiastic to invite the mother to the side, from Guangdong oyster sauce stir-fried beef, to Sichuan dry stir-fried shredded beef, to braised beef, curry beef, and told her a lot of beef practices.
Xu Chengbei once said in "Big Dishes and Small Stir-fry":
Wang Zengqi is a native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu, so he knows a lot about Jiangsu cuisine;
At the same time, he spent time in Yunnan during the Anti-Japanese War, so the dishes in Yunnan are full of feelings;
In Beijing, he lived in a comfortable literati circle, and he always went to the kitchen with a creative attitude. ”
In fact, until he was in his 70s, Wang Zengqi was still keen to work in front of the stove.
In addition to contracting three meals a day for his family, he will also change his tricks and cook food for friends.
For him, the food of the mountains and seas is interspersed with the experiences of the Quartet, relatives and old friends, and constitutes the fullest flesh and blood of life.
When there are guests, cook a table of good dishes and greet everyone together;
In your spare time, you can think about new dishes and add something new to your life.
The hot aroma of food can melt away all the tiredness and sorrow in trivial daily life, and become the most ironing of the body and mind.
For those who love to eat, the reason for being happy is simple.
Serve a bowl of the world's best taste, and the soul will have a place to live.
In the midst of suffering, cultivate a comfortable heart
Many people envy Wang Zengqi's optimistic personality, in fact, this is inseparable from his personal experience.
In "Grass and Trees in the World", Wang Zengqi looked back on his years of study at Southwest Associated University.
At that time, there were Japanese bombardments in Yunnan from time to time, not only did the supplies be insufficient, but also every few days, they had to flee to the suburbs.
Supposedly, such a day should be bitter.
It can be repeated several times, and many people are accustomed to it.
On the way to escape, everyone was not in a hurry, some hummed a ditty, some whistled, and some sugar sellers carried their burdens and sold malt candy to passers-by.
The winding procession on the ancient road, mixed with a few distant horse bells, actually bred a bit of romanticism in Wang Zengqi's heart.
He called the process of evacuation "running the alarm."
The reason why it is called "running" instead of "escaping the alarm" or "avoiding the alarm" is because "hiding" is too negative, and "escaping" is too embarrassing.
Only the word "run" is calm in tension, calm in calmness, and it can best restore the scene where everyone took refuge.
Even, among all the classmates, there are still people who don't run.
There is a girl surnamed Luo who washes her hair as soon as the alarm goes off.
No one in the boiler room grabbed hot water from her, she could open it up and wash it, as much water as she wanted.
There is also a classmate from Guangdong, everyone else has run out, but he unhurriedly takes lotus seeds and goes to the boiler room to cook them.
When the alarm was lifted, his rock sugar lotus seeds were ready.
This period of artillery fire has had a great impact on Wang Zengqi.
He writes in the book:
The psychology of Chinese people is very resilient and not so easily frightened.Similar experiences also occurred during special periods.For a long time, we have been born into adversity, and we have treated any sudden disaster with a spirit of Confucianism and Taoism.
The essence of Confucianism and Taoism complementarity, that is, "don't care", this spirit of "not caring" will never be accepted.
At that time, Wang Zengqi was sent to the countryside, and he was tired enough to choke on the pigsty and frozen manure every day.
Rao is like this, he is still trying to create a little sweetness of life, to dispel the remaining 99% of suffering.
Arranged to spray fungicides on fruit trees, he reveled in the pesticide color "light blue as clear sky", and gradually became an expert in spraying;
He was sent to work in the experimental field, and when he was hungry, he roasted potatoes with cow dung and fire, and praised the potatoes as "yellow as steamed chestnuts" and the taste was very delicate.
The hard days of decentralization lasted for more than 20 years.
It wasn't until the 70s of the last century that Wang Zengqi's stigma was finally washed away.
Someone saw that he was in good spirits and asked him:
How did you get over all these years?”
Wang Zengqi's answer is only four words:
Go with the flow. ”
People with an open mind know that no matter how great the suffering is, it is not as great as life.
Therefore, when calamity comes, it will not easily knock them down.
They always have the ability to salvage a little love, a little warmth, and a little fun in a chaotic life.
Then, live hopefully.
As Wang Zengqi said:
"No matter where people go, they always have to have some fun and find some way, and they are always sad, why are they doing?”
Such a person, the shackles of suffering cannot be dragged over him, and in the inner world, he is always free.
In the world, keep a true temperament
Jia Pingwa once commented on Wang Zengqi:
is a lite fox, cultivated into an old spirit. ”
Reading Wang Zengqi's prose, it seems that I am chatting with him face-to-face, and the humorous tone makes people laugh.
He writes about salted duck eggs in a foreign land:
The salted duck eggs in Beijing, the yolk is light yellow, what is this called salted duck eggs!”
He wrote about hospitality: The host is in a hurry, the guests are restless, what is the strength of this wine?”
Write about the aroma of gardenia:
The incense is so fragrant that it can't be dusted, so it is not taken by the elegant people.
Gardenia said: Fuck you, I just want it to be so fragrant, fragrant and happy, can you fucking manage it!”
In Wang Zengqi's view, every grass and tree is a landscape, and laughter and scolding are all articles.
Everything is spread out in one word, and it becomes a vibrant world.
When he was studying at Southwest Associated University, Wang Zengqi often skipped class and went to the library to read books.
As a result, after a semester, I finished reading the books in the library, but I failed in math and English.
Some teachers were so angry that they wanted to expel him, but Wang Zengqi felt that it was useless to learn subjects that he was not interested in.
He also said in a hearty manner
I have heard that the academic style of Peking University is very free, and students are very obedient in class and exams.
I'm here for Jiao'erlang, what am I looking for?Look for chic. ”
Wang Zengqi's chic is not the chic who does not learn and has no skills, but the chic who specializes in the art industry.
He was very interested in the Chinese language, and he was willing to dig into it, so sometimes he went to the cemetery to read a book, and it was a night to read.
Shen Congwen was very interested in him because of this, and the test paper with a full score of 100 points directly gave him 120 points.
This kind of casualness has also been extended by Wang Zengqi to the education of his children.
Several of his children and granddaughters called him "Old Man".
The mother-in-law couldn't get used to it and felt that the children had no rules, but Wang Zengqi was overjoyed.
In his opinion: a modern, humane family must be 'no big or small'.
Parents are awe-inspiring, and children are 'straight', which is the most boring!”
Back then, his son fell in love several times, but Wang Zengqi never interfered.
He felt that children had their own choices, and that it was up to them to design what kind of life they wanted to live.
This kind of open-mindedness is something that many adults can't do.
Those who have experienced the world know the value of truth.
Therefore, they not only stand by their own self, but also protect the self of others.
Although such an approach is destined to attract strange eyes.
But so what?
Live a little more authentically, there's nothing wrong with that.
In the small world of the individual, the stick figure is full of affection, and the truth is in the world, not following the crowd, nor deliberately forced.
One day, I will live as I like.
Some readers said that Wang Zengqi's "Grass and Trees in the World" is a love letter written to life.
In the book, he feels every life, loves every life, and achieves every life.
When we see him feasting and eating in all directions, we feel that the fireworks in the world are amiable;
Seeing him calmly deal with suffering, I feel that life is not so difficult;
Seeing that he is always innocent, I feel that life is so lovely.
Reading Wang Zengqi in my spare time is really a very pleasant thing.
How many writers sketch the spring and snow, grand narratives, but he teaches us to lean down and love the world.
This life is not long, and everyone deserves to live a better life.
From the fragrance of flowers and shallow grass, three meals and four seasons, I can draw the reason to live well, and then brew a joy to dilute the bitterness of the world.
As Wang Lao said:
You must love something, just like the love of time for grass and trees. ”