Wu Jin Zang. Pang Bei

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Название Wu Jin Zang
Автор произведения Pang Bei
Жанр Языкознание
Серия
Издательство Языкознание
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9783906212814



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Even without any mention of this millennium eternal starlight but even only in memory of an old classmate, how should they say nothing about him?

      I looked up at these faces shining with fat, and then looked down at the steamed fish on the plate. With white and sharp eyes, the fish remained open-mouthed, looking as if to eat us. Now I felt a kind of coldness coming from top to toe. Turning the head, I looked at the raindrops dropped on the long French window, only to find some strange faces on the window glass: a cold-blooded person’s face, an amnesiac person’s face and an autistic person’s face.

      “Good, a millennium ancient book! Maybe it’s worth 100 million yuan!” said the most prominent student when he got up and proposed a toast, facing everyone, “Good luck! I’m sorry I have to leave and attend a ministry meeting. Everyone, see you all the next year! “

      “We also have to go now, and Beijing classmates we can get together at any time. Goodbye, everyone!”

      “Goodbye! More contact! Good luck!”

      A thousand years are enough time to witness the diversion of rivers and the extinction of species. Man the wisest of all creatures still makes little progress in this regard in spite of the flourishing science and technology. When making this remark, I came to realize that I had absolutely gotten away from that group.

      I have been among them for many years. I heard a cracking sound from clinking glasses, which indicates a resolution and rupture.

      At that moment and at the instant of the collapse of the world, I came to see another side of life.

      From then on, I will never throw burning cigarette butts into the flower pots, because I don’t want to burn any live ant or the grass growing beside the flowers. Those ants and grass have become part of my destiny.

      By the chance of fate, my neglect and cold-bloodedness lead to the death of that old classmate. I would like to demonstrate his presence in this world. Moreover, I will try to prove his ever presence and then obtain some significance in the rest of my life.

      The heartrending scene is never forgotten: in the dark night his bloody corpse flowed downstream along the river and those papers were scattered and floated on the water…

      After the forty-nine days went by, I still had no courage to imagine that real scene occurring on the rainy night.

      That real sound was heard about half a year ago. That day I attended a dinner party just as usual but suddenly my mobile phone rang in the boring dinner. It’s from Xiao Lin my old classmate. Xiao Lin was rarely mentioned in the circle of Beijing classmates. Twenty-four years ago he left Beijing to make a living in another city. Since then almost no news came from him. Some people said that time and space could widen the gap between people, but I believe it is individual situation that accounts for the real reason. We all know those classmates making no achievements will get out of our circle sooner or later. When Xiao Lin was admitted into the university at the age of 14, he was the youngest classmate in our celestial class. But he lost his secure job a few years after graduation. Early years there was some news about him. He initially worked as a teacher at a middle school at his hometown in the South, and later resigned the job and adopted a group of stray dogs. As for the source of his income after the resignation, it’s much simpler than we imagined. At that time there were large tracts of woods in the suburban, with an abandoned log cabin. That cabin became his shelter. Although Xiao Lin tutored children in physics and English, his income from this was by no means lower than that from working at a school. In addition, it’s said that sometimes he also translated some technical information for additional revenues. That cabin and the woods became the children’s classroom. Reportedly, Xiao Lin opened up a vegetable garden and also personally planted an apple tree at the area surrounding the cabin.

      After the sad news came, I once tried to piece together a living picture of the old classmate but what I could rely on was just the limited hearsay. Is that a Thoreau-like reclusion? Is that a platonic classroom? Is an astronomical telescope installed on the top of the wooden cabin?

      However, it’s a blur picture, most of which is blank. The character in this picture seems like only a mirage.

      Our last meeting was in the late autumn in the 1980s and thence almost there has been no contact between us. The voice in the phone was strange but familiar, which was obviously no longer the voice of the young Xiao Lin aged 23 but was really from Xiao Lin.

      On the side of the phone I was of course not what I used to be. I have long been accustomed to the snobbishness of making friends. Just when recognizing his voice, I already adjusted my tone of voice not because of the time span of more than twenty years standing between us. To be honest, at that moment I felt the huge distance between the school and the society, for I was having a dinner with some prominent figures in the capital city, but I heard a burst of dog barks coming from the other end of the phone.

      On the phone, Xiao Lin said that the clan head left him an ancient book before his death, which was originally a volume secretly kept in the genealogy. Xiao Lin is from Jianyang Fujian Province and the Jianyang Lin Genealogy manifests that Xiao Lin family’s ancestor is Lin Renzhao, a famous general in the Southern Tang Dynasty and he is the thirty-third generation descendant of Lin Renzhao. Xiao Lin said that he had requested the leading experts from Ancient Book Division of National Library of China to make the identification and the experts unanimously confirmed that the volume of the ancient book is the “Masha Version” (works printed in Masha Town) engraved in the Ming Dynasty. Furthermore, Xiao Lin said that the masterpiece “The Name of the Nun” contained tens of thousands of ancient Chinese characters and it took him about six months to literally translate them into the modern vernaculars. He specially emphasized “the literal translation,” and explained that as a descendant he didn’t dare to make improper embellishment to the book, for it can be said to be “a faithful historical account.”

      Now, recalling the first phone call in six months ago, in fact is due to my research lasting for more than one month. In the conversation with him, I did not even understand the term “Masha Version”. Actually when talking with him on the phone, I was already a little unpleasant. However, our Press is a national-level publishing house, so I have long been accustomed to the humble tones of those people begging me to help publish their books. But Xiao Lin revealed a calm and confident tone of voice, showed no necessary humility in the dialogue, and even played a joke for my ignorance. Fortunately, after experiencing a great deal in these years I have shaped some virtue of patience. Even if I had no interest in his long speech, I still politely asked him to mail the manuscript to me. How poor a little brother, he even failed to identify my neglect and indifference! I did not bother to ask him, since you invited the expert of National Library of China, then he definitely came to Beijing with the original book, then why did he come and visit me his Elder Brother?

      Later, the manuscripts were soon delivered to me by EMS, consisting of a printout of the translation version, a set of the copies of the original text of the original book, and several copies of testimonials issued by some experts. I only glanced at them before returning them into the mailbag. At that time, it’s a crucial time for me to be promoted as Deputy President. So, all readers, you can imagine, how could I bother to read these manuscripts and consume my time for them?

      Three months later, Xiao Lin sent me another express mail, which was a long textual research report compiled by professors of the Department of History in Nanjing University on The Name of the Nun that was about historical facts in the last years of Southern Tang during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, covering major events such as current affairs, military affairs, court decrees and memorials to the throne, as well as trifles like locations of streets and lanes, folk customs and local products, with descriptions consistent with the reality of the special time of the Sixth Year of the Kaibao Period (973 C.E.). Even the Maitreya Statue described in the book was of the original appearance of Maitreya before the sinicization of Buddhism. In summary, authoritative experts had fully confirmed the truthfulness of this ancient book.

      That night, Xiao Lin called me again, when I was amusing myself watching TV. Xiao Lin first confirmed that the express mail had been delivered and then talked about his thoughts about the book. Suddenly caught by a nameless fidget, I said that I