Full hall flowers drunken

Author: Shen Shengyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The painter Leng Bingguang has a black-and-white painting called "Balcony." In one corner of the balcony, the plants are lush and adorable, clustering around two or three round and plump chairs. The painting is empty of people, but the comfort of sitting there doing something or nothing at all can be imagined. My friend Shen Jun said his balcony is just like that. During the blooming season of flowers, Shen Jun meticulously described in his notes: "On the 14th day of the third month, a cloudy afternoon, 109 azaleas bloomed." The newly bought lilies "the large and fragrant white flowers faded and bloomed again, and there are now two flowers and one bud." And a pot of dense and vigorous unknown plant "like the lingering charm of the late Tang after the mid-Tang, but it should be more like the resounding echoes of the past, apart from the lush stems and flower pots, which are worth admiring, the vitality of the tiny leaves makes it seem lively and charming." Some flowers were even photographed as keepsakes. I wonder how Shen Jun manages to maintain his leisurely and carefree spirit. Like most people, after school, he holds an ordinary job, cares for his parents, socializes with friends and relatives, gets married, and raises children. In these years, he has bought and renovated two houses in succession and moved homes. He carries the same burdens and trivialities as ordinary household men. Yet he has not gradually become the kind of person who gains weight, loses hair, has a dull tongue, and falls asleep in front of the TV after putting the child to bed at night. Shen Jun continues to buy and read books, writing pile after pile of reading notes, most of which are his records of book purchases and reflections on reading, as well as commentary on current affairs and daily joys and sorrows. The notes are accompanied by corresponding images, photographs, prints of his favorite paintings and calligraphy, and bookplates, making them very pleasing to the eye. Shen Jun calls this "the work of his study." Periodically, he publishes thick notes from his study, those densely packed words, even if written without much thought, require a great deal of time and effort. Moreover, Shen Jun makes this "work" both emotionally and intellectually rich, which is not an easy task for someone who sits at a desk during the day and has household chores to attend to in the evening. Shen Jun balances the worldly affairs and his inner world very well, making it seem effortless to others. But he must have his own struggles that remain unknown to others. I have never heard him complain, only that he often mentions reading another good book, planting a few beautiful flowers, or hearing kind words from friends. His notes repeatedly show his deep to good people and beautiful literature, as well as his ever-widening heart toward life. Some say that once one gets married and establishes a career, they are entangled in worldly duties and become birds with broken wings, no longer able to dream of flying. But in reality, it is because they become complacent and gradually forget the days when their wings fluttered and the wind and clouds whistled past their ears. Shen Jun is also down-to-earth in his daily life, without visible wings, I suppose. Yet, in those rare moments when he sheds the burdens of daily life, he takes flight, supported by the wings in his heart, amidst the words of a book or the time of a cigarette. Birds with broken wings can still soar with their hearts. Like a water bird quietly swimming in a study, each time it surfaces, it shakes off droplets of water, creating these radiant and transparent "Shen Lang texts." What is written in this book is the author's "heartwater"—Shen Lang, the literary writer who is deeply moved by the literary world. The people in the book are all talented scholars with remarkable achievements, yet most of them have gentle temperaments and quiet lives. Although some of them face the sharpness of the secular world, and some become public figures, Shen Lang always focuses on their contemplative side. They are streams of flowing water, quietly guarding their souls.