Sword like autumn lotus

Author: Ding Tian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: The works collected in this anthology are all the short stories the author has published over the past seven years, numbering sixteen, which are all the author's efforts. These stories were published in ten literary journals: Beijing Literature, People's Literature, Writers, Volcano, Youth Literature, October, Great Family, Harvest, Yanhe, and Lixiang.
A single room with a lone lamp, a courtyard with autumn rain, a pot of muddled wine, and an ancient book scattered on the ground—such a scene is easily capable of making a person who makes a living by writing and establishing theories become self-absorbed. When my Japanese friend Hirata Shinchō visited me for the second time, I was sitting in the usual atmosphere of "Mo Han Zhai," deeply engrossed in reading a newly purchased, yellowed literary manuscript with missing pages. The sound of rain beating against the window and my long, spellbound gaze at historical texts made it take a long time before I heard someone knocking. I put down the book, took off my glasses, and went to open the door. I had originally thought it was Aping, my old acquaintance from "Wui Cui Lou," coming to bother me again. But when I opened the door, I found standing before me was a completely unfamiliar, short man. The unfulfilled expectation of "Red Sleeve Adding Fragrance While Reading at Night" made me inwardly feel slightly displeased. The man saw me and paused for a moment, then spoke in a somewhat awkward central Chinese official dialect, respectfully calling my name and saying many polite words of admiration. This once again made me feel a hint of pride in my fame deep down.