高行健文集-第15章

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abouttoseparatethecups；theclatteringwouldstop；andassoonasyouandhelookedawaytheclatteringwouldstartagain。Heandyoureachedout；butagaintheclatteringstopped。Thetwoofyoulaughedatthesameinstant；putthecupswellapart；andstartedaconversation。Youaskhimwhereheisgoing。

〃Lingshan。〃

〃What？〃

〃Lingshan；lingmeaningspiritorsoul；andshanmeaningmountain。〃

You’vebeentolotsofplaces；visitedlotsoffamousmountains；buthaveneverheardofthisplace。

Yourfriendoppositehasclosedhiseyesandisdozing。Likeanyoneelse；youcan’thelpbeingcuriousandnaturallywanttoknowwhichfamousplacesyou’vemissedonyourtravels。Also；youlikedoingthingsproperlyandit’sannoyingthatthere’saplaceyouhaven’tevenheardabout。YouaskhimaboutthelocationofLingshan。

〃AtthesourceoftheYouRiver；〃hesaysopeninghiseyes。

Youdon’tknowthisYouRiver；either；butareembarrassedaboutaskingandgiveanambiguousnodwhichcanmeaneither〃Isee；thanks〃or〃Oh；Iknowtheplace。〃Thissatisfiesyourdesireforsuperioritybutnotyourcuriosity。Afterawhileyouaskhowtogetthereandtherouteupthemountain。

〃TakethetraintoWuyizhen；thengoupstreambyboatontheYouRiver。〃

〃What’sthere？Scenery？Temples？Historicsites？〃youask；tryingtobecasual。

〃It’sallvirginwilderness。〃

〃Ancientforests？〃

〃Ofcourse；butnotjustancientforests。〃

〃WhataboutWildMen？〃yousay；joking。

Helaughsbutwithoutanysarcasm；andhedoesn’tseemtobemakingfunofhimselfwhichintriguesyouevenmore。Youhavetofindoutmoreabouthim。

〃Areyouanecologist？Abiologist？Ananthropologist？Anarchaeologist？〃

Heshakeshisheadeachtimethensays；〃I’mmoreinterestedinlivingpeople。〃

〃Soyou’redoingresearchonfolkcustoms？You’reasociologist？Ahnographer？Ahnologist？Ajournalist；perhaps？Anadventurer？〃

〃I’manamateurinallofthese。〃

Thetwoofyoustartlaughing。

〃I’manexpertamateurinallofthese！〃

Thelaughingmakesyouandhimcheerful。Helightsacigaretteandcan’tstopashetellsyouaboutthewondersofLingshan。Afterwards；atyourrequest；hetearsuphisemptycigaretteboxanddrawsamapoftherouteupLingshan。

IntheNorth；itisalreadylateautumn。Here；however；thesummerheathasn’tpletelysubsided。Beforesunset；itisstillquitehotinthesunandsweatstartsrunningdownyourback。Youleavethestationtolookaround。There’snothingnearbyexceptforthelittleinnacrosstheroad。It’sanoldstylebuildingwithawoodenshopfrontandanupstairs。Upstairsthefloorboardscreakbadlybutworsestillisthegrimeonthepillowandsleepingmat。Towash；you’dhavetowaittillitwasdarktostripoffandpourwateroveryourselfinthedampnarrowcourtyard。Thisisastopoverforthevillagepeddlersandcraftsmen。

It’swellbeforedark；sothere’splentyoftimetofindsomewhereclean。Youwalkdowntheroadwithyourbackpacktolookoverthelittletown；hopingtofindsomeindication；abillboardoraposter；orjustthename〃Lingshan〃totellyouyou’reontherighttrackandhaven’tbeentrickedintomakingthislongexcursion。Youlookeverywherebutdon’tfindanything。Therewerenotouristslikeyouamongsttheotherpassengerswhogotoffthebus。Ofcourseyou’renotthatsortoftourist；it’sjustwhatyou’rewearing：strongsensiblesportsshoesandabackpackwithshoulderstraps；no…oneelseisdressedlikeyou。Ofcourse；thisisn’toneofthetouristspotsfrequentedbynewlywedsandretirees。Thoseplaceshavebeentransformedbytourism；coachesareparkedeverywhereandtouristmapsareonsale。Touristhats；touristT…shirts；touristsingletsandtouristhandkerchiefsbearingthenameoftheplaceareinallthelittleshopsandstalls；andthenameoftheplaceisusedinthetradenamesofallthe〃foreignexchangecurrencyonly〃hotelsforforeigners；the〃localswithreferencesonly〃hostelsandsanatoriums；andofcoursethesmallprivatehotelspetingforcustomers。Youhaven’tetoenjoyyourselfinoneofthoseplacesonthesunnysideofamountainwherepeoplecongregatejusttolookatandjostleoneanother；andtoaddtothelitterofmelonrind；fruitpeel；softdrinkbottles；cans；cartons；sandwichwrappingsandcigarettebutts。Soonerorlaterthisplacewillalsoboombutyou’reherebeforetheyputupthegaudypavilionsandterraces；beforethereportersewiththeircameras；andbeforethecelebritiesetoputupplaqueswiththeircalligraphy。Youcan’thelpfeelingratherpleasedwithyourselfyetyou’reanxious。There’snosignofanythingherefortourists；haveyoumadeablunder？You’reonlygoingbythemaponthecigaretteboxinyourshirtpocket；whatiftheexpertamateuryoumetonthetrainhadonlyheardabouttheplaceonhistravels？Howdoyouknowhewasn’tjustmakingitallup？Youhaven’teverseentheplacementionedintravelaccountsandit’snotlistedinthemostuptodatetravelmanuals。Ofcourse；itisn’thardtofindplaceslikeLingtai；Lingqiu；LingyanandevenLingshanonprovincialmapsandyouknowverywellthatinthehistoriesandclassics；LingshanappearsinworksdatingbacktotheancientshamanisticworkClassicoftheMountainsandSeas；andtheoldgeographicalgazetteerAnnotatedWaterClassic。ItwasalsoatLingshanthatBuddhaenlightenedtheVenerableMahakashyapa。You’renotstupid；sojustuseyourbrains；firstfindthisplaceWuyizhenonthecigarettebox；forthisishowyou’llgettoLingshan。

Youreturntothebusstationandgointothewaitingroom。Thebusiestplaceinthissmalltownisnowdeserted。Theticketwindowandtheparcelwindowareboardedupfromtheinsidesoknockingisuseless。There’snowheretoasksoyoucanonlygothroughthelistsofstopsabovetheticketwindow：ZhangVillage；SandyFlat；CementFactory；OldHut；GoldenHorse；GoodHarvest；FloodWaters；DragonBay；PeachBlossomHollow…thenameskeepgettingbetter；buttheplaceyouwantisn’tthere。Thisisjustasmalltownbutthereareseveralroutesandquiteafewbusesgothrough。Thebusiestroute；withfiveorsixbusesaday；istoCementFactorybutthat’sdefinitelynotatouristroute。Theroutewiththefewestbuses；oneaday；issuretogotothefurthestdestination：itturnsoutthatWuyizhenisthelaststop。There’snothingspecialaboutthename；it’sjustlikeanyotherplacenameandthere’snothingmagicalaboutit。Still；youseemtohavefoundoneendofahopelesstangle；youmaynotbeecstaticbutyou’recertainlyrelieved。You’llneedtobuyaticketinthemorninganhourbeforedepartureandyouknowfromexperiencethatwithmountainbuseslikethis；whichrunonceaday；justtogetonwillbeafight。Unlessyou’repreparedtodobattle；you’lljusthavetogetintothequeueearly。

But；rightnow；you’vegotlotsoftime；althoughyourbackpack’sanuisance。Asyouamblealongtheroadtimbertrucksgobynoisilysoundingtheirhorns。Inthetownthenoiseisworsestillastrucks；somewithtrailers；blastontheirhornsandconductorshangoutofwindowsloudlybangingthesidesofthebusestogetpedestriansofftheroad。

Theoldbuildingsonbothsidesstandflushwiththeroadandallhavewoodenshopfronts。Thedownstairsisforbusinessandupstairs；washinghungouttodry—nappies；bras；underpantswithpatchedcrotches；floral…printbedspreads—likeflagsofallthenations；flapinthenoiseanddustofthetraffic。Theconcretetelegraphpolesalongthestreetarepastedateyelevelwithallsortsofposters。Oneforcuringbodyodourcatchesyourattention。Thisisnotbecauseyou’vegotbodyodourbutbecauseofthefancylanguageandthewordsinbracketsafter〃bodyodour〃。

Bodyodour（knownalsoasscentoftheimmortals）isadisgustingconditionwithanawful；nauseatingsmell。Itoftenaffectssocialrelationshipsandcandelaylife’smajorevent：marriage。Itdisadvantagesyoungmenandwomenatjobinterviewsorwhentheytrytoenlist；thereforeinflictingmuchsufferingandanguish。Byusinganewtotaltreatment；wecaninstantlyeradicatetheodourwitharateofupto97。53％success。Forjoyinlifeandfuturehappiness；weweleyoutoeandridyourselfofit…

Afterthatyouetoastonebridge：nobodyodourhereandthere’sacool；refreshingbreeze。Thebridgespanningthebroadriverhasabitumensurfacebutthecarvedmonkeysonthewornstonepoststestifytoitslonghistory。Youleanontheconcreterailingandsurveythetownshipalongsidethebridge。Onbothbanks；blackroof…topsoverlappinglikefish…scalesstretchendlesslyintothedistance。Thevalleyopensoutbetweentwomountainswheretheupperareasofgoldpaddyfieldsareinlaidwithclustersofgreenbamboos。Theriverisblueandclearasitleisurelytricklesoverthesandyshoresbutclosetothegranitepylonsdividingthecurrentitbeesinkygreenanddeep。Justpastthehumpofthebridgetherushingwaterchurnsloudlyandwhitefoamsurfacesfromwhirlpools。Theten…metrehighstoneembankmentisstainedwithwaterlevels：thenewgreyish…yellowlineswereprobablyleftbytherecentsummerfloods。CanthisbetheYouRiver？AnddoesitflowdownfromLingshan？

Thesunisabouttoset。Thebrightorangediscisinfusedwithlightbutthere’snoglare。Yougazeintothedistanceatthehazylayersofjaggedpeakswherethetwosidesofthevalleyjoin。Thisominousblackimagenibblesattheloweredgesoftheglowingsunwhichseemstoberevolving。Thesunturnsadarkred；gentler；andprojectsbrilliantgoldreflectionsontotheentirebendoftheriver：thedarkblueofthewaterfusingwiththedazzlingsunl