Vanilla Mountain

Author: Yu Jie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Where is the Vanilla Mountain? The Vanilla Mountain is like Eden in everyone's heart. Where is love? Love is like springs and soil in everyone's life. Yu Jie tells us not only a pure love story but also a pure spiritual experience, but also a pilgrimage we are experiencing or about to experience. Maybe you will ask: Is this a novel? An autobiography? Letters and diaries? Or essays and poems? "Vanilla Mountain" belongs to what kind of text is not important, what is important is whether you are willing to use it as a mirror to reflect your soul? In "Vanilla Mountain," Yu Jie undergoes a great transformation: rather than curse the darkness, let yourself shine.
Chapter 1 Lilies
The world is noisy, and life is lonely. I have always believed that the driving force of my life is the three simple yet extremely intense passions: the longing for love, the thirst for knowledge, and the profound compassion for human suffering. And living under such motivation is destined to be lonely, endless, and almost despairing. I think that under this sky that is no longer blue or pure, if there is a pair of eyes that cries with me, then life is worth suffering for. – Ning Xuan's letter
Chapter 2 Pigeons
For two people to truly love each other, the difficulty can sometimes exceed our imagination; and the ease can also sometimes exceed our imagination. Regardless of the difficulty, love is my faith. Hu Shi, in his article "Reminiscing about Zhu Zhi Mo," spoke of Xu Zhi Mo's faith, which is also our faith—he said, there are only three big characters in it: love, freedom, and beauty. I think that if we use love, freedom, and beauty to resist the storm, the wind, and the frost-knives and snow-swords, we will have the confidence to win. – Ting Sheng's letter
Chapter 3 Vineyard
Her gentle voice flowed in the thick candlelight. I unknowingly closed my eyes, letting all my pores open wide. Like thousands of eyes. Let these thousands of eyes capture the sound of the waves. And like thousands of ears. Let these thousands of ears listen to the fragrance of the waves. This sound is the color of the rainbow after the rain, the fragrance of a ripe pomelo, the rhythm of the waves hitting the rocks. This fragrance is the golden color of the beach after the tide, the scent of the cork of a floating bottle, the melody of the conch responding to the sea breeze. – Ting Sheng's diary
Chapter 4 Thorns
My grandfather, who struggled in hard labor, has died; your grandfather, who smiled in the embrace of butterfly wings, has also died. Their bodies have been swallowed, and their names are unknown to the world. I want to tell their stories, true, ordinary stories. I want to tell of the dignity of life that they out in this worldly journey, and I want to tell of their last desperate struggle in the face of death in the dark. They, every person not to be recorded in history; they, every soul that fades with the wind. Grandfathers failed; they did not achieve a life of abundance, freedom, and happiness; grandfathers succeeded; they shared the hardships of fate and the frustrations of time. Their lives ended in that moment, yet their lives shone brightly in ours. – Ting Sheng's letter
Chapter 5 Living Spring Well
Whenever I write letters, Xiao Xing deliberately sings loudly in front of me: "Ten men, seven are fools, eight are silly, nine are bad, and one is loved. Sisters, dance out, even if sweet words lure him, love him well, and don't let him leave. If love requires a price, then accept him forever." This is a pop song sung by the Taiwanese singer Tao Jingjing. This mischievous girl is using this song to "encourage" me. However, describing you with this song is quite fitting—you are the only man worth loving. – Ning Xuan's letter
Chapter 6 Apple Tree
My grandfather hid several boxes of bound ancient books left by my great-grandfather in the attic. They finally escaped the search of the Red Guards. And it was these bound ancient books that became the enlightenment of my literary path. These books included the Classic of Poetry, the Complete Poems of Tang Dynasty, and the Dream of the Red Chamber. I remember how many nights I read these books forgetfully under the dim oil lamp. Until my grandmother, worried about me being too tired, heartily entered, extinguished the lamp, and persuaded me to go to bed early. These books also included my great-grandfather's annotations. In those faint handwriting, I seemed to see his loneliness and sorrow, his tenderness and chivalry. "The wine is as clear as the moonlight cup, the pipa calls from the horse, urging to drink. If you fall drunk on the battlefield, do not laugh at me, how many have returned from battle in ancient times?" This must be one of my great-grandfather's favorite Tang poems, as the annotations are densely filled with small notes. – Ting Sheng's diary
Chapter 7 Brugmansia
We embraced and lay in bed, shoulder to shoulder, talking intermittently under the dim candlelight for the whole night. We both cried, yet we both laughed. My tears fell on his newly prepared pillow. He licked my tears with his tongue. His hand stroked my smooth back, and my skin opened up to him like a lotus. Later, I unknowingly fell asleep. I only remember curling up in his arms, his warm arms. I am a cold person, I often wake up in the middle of the night in the dormitory from the cold. Then I would get up and add another blanket to myself, or gently wake up the girl in the room next door and crawl into her bed, sleeping together. When I held him, who was burning all over, to sleep, I no longer felt cold. He gave me infinite warmth. In his arms, I felt a sense of safety and warmth I had never experienced before, as if a seed had found a place to take root and sprout. – Ning Xuan's diary
Chapter 8 Spring Water
I sing softly in your ear. I want to sing all the songs I know to you, I want to tell you all the lives I have experienced. You once told me that the poet Auden said, "We should love each other, or we will die." I really want to shout this sentence to everyone in the cabin, to those tired merchants and officials burdened with worries, to those who think power is more powerful and valuable than love. Their troubles, their sorrows, all stem from not knowing this sentence or not putting it into practice in their own lives. They have power, money, villas, and luxury cars, but if they don't have love, they still have nothing. – Ning Xuan's letter
Chapter 9 Honey
What is the meaning of life? It is truth, goodness, beauty, but also love, light, warmth, laughter, songs, and kindness. Reading your book, amidst words filled with either anger or desolation, I suddenly saw the word love filled between the lines. Let us be together, with love as our strength, with the great minds and noble thoughts of all ages and cultures as our weapons, with sincerity, compassion, and all our hearts, to walk among the suffering people, to love them deeply, to give them all the meager warmth and gifts we have. For the suffering of humanity, to feel pain for a lifetime without changing our hearts, to dedicate our lives to a world of truth, goodness, and beauty without regret, to bravely take my hand, to fearlessly rely on my love, and to step forward. My love, I am proud of you, and I want to say to every reader of your book that old saying: "As long as there is a pair of eyes that cries with you in life, life is worth suffering for." All those sincerely seeking the meaning of life are such pairs of eyes. My dear love, I am one such pair of eyes, forever faithfully crying with you, rejoicing with you, wounded by suffering and evil, and brightened by love and beauty. So, come, come, the hard life, we love each other so much, and we love you so bravely! – Ning Xuan's letter