When I came to Sichuan, I felt that it was most economical for people here to build houses. Fire-burned bricks are often used to make pillars. Four brick pillars were built alone and covered with a wooden frame. They looked skinny and pitifully thin; but they were covered with tiles on the top and bamboo grate walls were woven on all sides. The walls are covered with plaster. Looking from a distance, no one can tell that it doesn't look like a house. The "Yashe" where I live now is just such a typical house. Needless to say, the house has brick pillars, bamboo grate walls, and all the features you expect. When it comes to housing, I have quite a lot of experience, such as "picking from the top and picking from the bottom", "front porch and back building", "one floor and one bottom", "three tops and bottoms", "pavilion room", "thatched shed", "Qionglou" There are various types of "Yuyu" and "Skyscraper", and I have tried them all. No matter where I live, as long as I stay there for a while, I will develop feelings for that house, and I won't be willing to move unless I have to. When I first came here, I just wanted it to be a shelter from the wind and rain, and I didn’t dare to have extravagant hopes. Now that I have lived here for more than two months, I have a good impression of it. Although I have gradually felt that it cannot protect against wind and rain, because it has windows but no glass. When the wind comes, it is like a pavilion with tiles and many gaps. When the rain comes, it leaks like dripping water. Even though it cannot protect against wind and rain, "Ya She" still has its own personality. Cute if you have personality.
"Ya She" is located halfway up the mountain, about seventy or eighty steps down from the road. In front are the spiral rice fields. Looking further into the distance, we can see a few green mountains in the distance. Next to them are sorghum fields, bamboo forests, pools, and cesspits. Behind them are the desolate hillsides where hazelnut trees have not been removed. If the place is desolate, there are often visitors arriving on moonlit evenings or on stormy days. Most of the time, good friends don’t mind the long journey, and long journeys are the sign of friendship. When guests come, they first climb dozens of earthen steps. They still have to go uphill to enter the house, because the floor inside the house is laid according to the mountain. One side is high and the other side is low. The slope is very steep. The guests are all amazed when they come, but I stay calm for a long time. Walking from the study to the dining room is uphill every day, and walking out after a meal is downhill, so I don't feel it is a big inconvenience.
"Ya She" has six rooms, and I live in the second one. The grate walls are not solid and the doors and windows are not tight, so my neighbors and I can communicate with each other. Neighbors were drinking and having fun, chanting poems, whispering, snoring, sneezing, sucking soup, tearing paper, and peeling off shoes, all rippled from the gaps in the door and window walls at any time, breaking my silence. At night, the rats look at the lamps, and as soon as they close their eyes, they move around freely, either carrying walnuts down the slope on the floor, absorbing lamp oil and overturning candlesticks, climbing up to the tent roof, or grinding their teeth on the door frame. It makes people unable to sleep peacefully. But when it comes to rats, I am ashamed to admit that I have "nothing to do". The phrase "there is no way" is often quoted by foreigners, thinking that this phrase best represents the lazy and tolerant attitude of the Chinese people. In fact, I am not lazy in dealing with rats. The windows are covered with paper, and the paper will break when poked; the door is tightly closed, and the rat has teeth, and a hole will be made after a few bites. I wonder if there is any other way? When foreign devils live in a "yashe", isn't there "nothing they can do"? More annoying than rats are mosquitoes. The abundance of mosquitoes and lice in "Yashe" is something I have never seen before. "Gathering mosquitoes into thunder" really happens! At dusk, the house is full of mosquitoes, black and big, with bones that look like they are hard. While mosquitoes have long been eliminated elsewhere, they are particularly rampant in "Yashe". Even if visitors are not careful, the wounds on my legs will bulge like corns, but I still take it easy. When winter comes, the mosquitoes will naturally disappear. Next summer - who knows I will still live in "Yashe"!
"Ya She" is best suited to a moonlit night - the terrain is higher, so the moon comes first. Look at the moon spitting out from the top of the mountain, and the red disk suddenly surges. In an instant, the clear light is shining, the sky is bright, there is no sound in the fields, you can hear the barking of dogs, and all the passengers are quiet! There are two pear trees in front of the house. When the moon rises in the sky, clear light filters down from the trees, and the shadows on the ground are colorful. It is especially quiet at this time. Until the late afternoon, when everyone dispersed and I returned to my room to go to bed, the moonlight still forced its way through the window, making me miserable. When the drizzle falls, "Ya She" becomes interesting again. Open the window and look out, just like Mi's arrangement, like clouds and fog, filling the air. But if it rains heavily, I feel uneasy again. There are wet marks everywhere on the roof. At first, they are as big as a bowl, then they become as big as a basin, and then the water drips continuously. Finally, the plaster on the roof suddenly cracks, like the first bloom of a strange flower. However, the whole house was in a mess, and there was no way to save him. This kind of experience is not uncommon. The furnishings of "elegant house" should only be regarded as simple, but they should be swept and swept to prevent any dust. I'm not a dignitary, so no photos of the famous public figures are allowed in my room; I'm not a dentist, so I don't have a doctor's degree to hang on the wall; I'm not a barber, so no photos of ten scenes of silk weaving and movie stars are allowed in my room. wall.
I have a few chairs and a couch, and I already have them all, so I don’t ask for them anymore. But although the furnishings are simple, I like to renovate them. Westerners often laugh at women who like to change the positions of tables and chairs, thinking that this is a sign of women's nature to change. Regardless of whether it’s false or not, I like change. The furnishings of old-style Chinese homes are all the same. There is a desk in the main hall, an Eight Immortals table in front, an armchair on the side, and two armchairs and a coffee table on both sides. I think the furnishings should be sparse and uneven, and the worst thing is to avoid couples. "Yashe" has nothing new, but the arrangement of everything is not conventional. When people enter my room, they know that this is my room.
What Li Weng said in "Xian Qing Ou Ji" is exactly what I want.
"Yashe" is not owned by me, I am only one of the tenants. But thinking about "heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all things", life is like a home. I live in the "elegant house" for one day, and the "elegant house" belongs to me for one day. Even if this day cannot be regarded as my own, at least this day I can taste the bitter, spicy, sour and sweet that "Ya She" can provide. Liu Kezhuang's poem: "Being a guest is like home, home is like sending home." I am living in "Ya She" at this moment, and "Ya She" is like my home. In fact, it looks like home, but I can't tell the difference clearly.
There is no slang for a long time. I write as I please. I write whatever I think, regardless of the chapter. I call it "Yashe Xiaopin" ① to indicate the place of writing and the cause and effect.
① This article is selected from the first chapter of the author's book "Yashe Sketch" (published by Hong Kong Bihui Books Company), so it goes.