Simple Happiness in Sharing City E-Book

Feng Shan

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

FlyingCloud Yun spent most of his time in Singapore after he left for the country from China with his parents when he was in secondary school, his late uncle asked his friend to give him a kraft paper wrapped notebook with an address in a piece of white paper pasted on the package and wanted him to deliver the notebook to Miss TenderSprout of SharingCity in Guizhou, China. He just met his uncle for several times, his impression about his uncle was from the words of his mother ‘he likes to drink very much and gets drunk easily, as soon as he gets drunk, he would cry loudly and sadly’. His parents both had already left the world. His uncle was single for his life, as only nephew, he wanted to accomplish his last will. He arrived in SharingCity in evening, due to road construction, he got off his taxi early, left his trunk in the taxi, got back his trunk through a radio station. When he got his trunk and was about to leave the station, he met the beautiful part-time hostess of the station, due to rain, she offered to drop him off to the hotel, on the way, she got to know he was an editor, invited him to visit her bookstore, have a time travel activity and drink in an old apartment which was handed down by her grandfather in the oldest street of the city. When he tried to go to the place specified by the address, he was told the township he wanted to go was merged and did not exist anymore, through the help from various people including village committee, police station and township government, he finally found the village he was looking for had been submerged under water nearly thirty years ago, could he find the person he was looking for? What he could come across in the searching process? Before he dropped the notebook into the water which the village was submerged, he opened the notebook, found his uncle, TenderSprout and another man had…

Leseprobe

Simple Happiness in SharingCity

A Luxury or A Necessity to Ordinary People

––––––––

Shan Feng

Translated by Bin Liu & Jirong Liu

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.For permission requests, write to :[email protected]

SIMPLE HAPPINESS IN SHARINGCITY

First edition. May 22, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 Shan Feng.

ISBN: 979-8227180087

Written by Shan Feng.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Simple Happiness in SharingCity

To my father

A Note from Translators

Further Reading: A Collection of 6 Short Novels

About the Author

Wherever I see a beautiful scenery, I will remember you.

To my father

A Note from Translators

This novel nearly could be taken as a documentary one as so many names in the novel are proper names. If we simply put the names in alphabet spelling for Chinese characters, the novel would not be readable as none could not figure out the meaning of the spelling as you could see the spelling which was added after * within parentheses, thus in order to ensure the readability, we translate the proper names with meaningful words which might be easy for readers to understand with a risk that the translation might not be correct as under certain circumstance, none is sure about the original meaning of the proper names. If you are interested in local culture and custom, you could find related information in internet or even go to the places by yourself about the correct or appropriate meanings of those proper names.

My uncle, LastingCloud Yun (*Yun Jiu), had never married before, thus he did not have his own descendant. When he passed away, he left a notebook and last words that I had to give the notebook to a girl called TenderSprout (*Mao Jian). As a respect to the deceased, I went to SharingCity(*DuYun) of Guizhou Province, the address left on the notebook, right away.

The notebook was wrapped tightly in kraft paper. There was a piece of square white paper on the front of the kraft paper of the notebook, in the paper there was an address written in regular script with small writing brush, the characters were elegant:

Miss TenderSprout, Simple Happiness Unit (*Qing Huan Zhai, a quite small village which will be part of a village in current administration system), Herdsman Li’s Village (*Mu Li Cun), CombineSunshine Township (*Yang He Xiang), SharingCity, South Guizhou Prefecture (* Qian Nan Zhou), Guizhou Province.

The address was unambiguous. Why Uncle did not send it out by mail or express mail when he was alive? The train crossed one tunnel after another, the sunlight shone into the coach from time to time, I just could not understand the reason why he wanted to do it in such a fashion while holding the notebook.

I left for Singapore from PureFortune(*Fu Qing) of Fujian(* Fu means Fortune, Jian means construction, development) Province when I was in secondary school, spent most of my time in Singapore. For people born in PureFortune, they dare to take risk, you could meet a person from PureFortune in any place in the world. With the words of local people, there are people from PureFortune so long as the place is with sunshine in the world. People from the place could survive in any place as they have good survival skill, they could have a life as bright as sunshine in other places. A relative was a salesman in a distillery of SharingCity, Uncle went to the relative before he graduated from high school. Because Uncle was good at writing, he acted as a secretary, then mixologist, sales director in the distillery. He went back to PureFortune when he was 50 years old, became an editor of a journal till his retirement.

“He likes to drink with a weird temper. He does not want to get married to settle down with a family though he is way over the age for marriage. He gets drunk every day, so long as he gets drunk, he would lose his self-control and usually cry loudly and sadly.”

That was the impression Uncle left to my mum, it seemed that the impression became my one to him. Maybe due to the reason, though we were close relatives, I just saw him no more than several times in past.

Uncle left the world suddenly, asked his friend to give the notebook to me.

“In my life, I have not asked other people for giving any help to me, particularly from my relative. This is the only request, also my last request. No matter what you have to give it to him, my nephew from Singapore.”

The friend of Uncle turned on the recording in his phone, let me listen the recording twice, the voice was very weak, nevertheless, the words were very clear.

“Before your uncle passed away, I had been staying with him. I know that when a person is leaving this world, the person would definitely say some last words, thus, I kept the recording function on for my phone.”

“Besides the notebook, did he leave anything else?”

“No, he left nothing else. I just knew him for a short time, did not know much about his thing. As he had already passed away, if you can, you should go there to fulfill his last wish.  If you really could not go there, you just mail it by express delivery. Anyway, it is very convenient now.”

I met the friend in an agritainment of Chen’s Family Bend (* Chen Jia Wan) at north pond of VastMirror Town (*Jing Yang Zhen). The surrounding was beautiful, the agritainment leaned on a hillside while facing a lake, there were many tall banyan trees, the water of the lake was clear, egrets were perching on the trees around the lake, trees for guava, jaboticaba, papaya, milk jujube and orange were spreading around the place. In PureFortune with bustling commercial activity, the place could be taken as a piece of land of idyllic beauty close to the city. In the first place I invited the friend to the place as I wanted to have a good talk with him about my uncle. But he said he was very busy, as soon as I had taken the notebook from his hand, before I could put it into my handbag, he had already left the place in his car.

I was the only son of my parents who had already left this world. Though the relationship could not be taken as close one between Uncle and me, as the only nephew, no matter what I had to fulfill his last wish. Furthermore, it won’t take a long time of mine, at most I could get the thing done in two to three days.

When I arrived in SharingCity, it was in evening. I took a taxi when I left the railway station, got off the taxi at Flat Bridge (*Ping Qiao) due to a road construction, could only walk to north from south, crossed one block, came to the bridge at the end of the road. The bridge looked like a rainbow. There was a grove at the end of the bridge and a huge stone within the grove. There were engraved red characters in the stone: National Scenic Spot of Cape Hill (*Dou Peng Shan) of Sword River (*Jian Jiang) of SharingCity. Sword River was flowing under Flat Bridge with clear water. There were brick buildings along the river, the width of the river was about one hundred meters, there were walkways, benches and toilets along the banks. Based on the map, I could walk to my hotel along the river to north. As the breeze was cool and fresh from the river, I decided to walk along the river rather than cross the bridge.

Within setting sun, the river flew in rippling and calm fashion, faraway mountains glowed faintly in the misty atmosphere. There were tufts of bamboo along the banks with dense leaves and lowering branches looking like an open umbrella. Some people were strolling, some were just standing there blankly, some were watching leisurely, some were jogging, some were riding bike, some were walking dog, some were fishing. When one came through the bamboo forest, one would come across waving trees with its leave looking like bamboo and its flower looking like peach, they were oleanders which had a nickname of bodyguard of environmental protection. Though it was winter, the flowers were still blooming, the red ones were with a magnificent looking like there was some snow on a fire, the white ones were with an elegant looking like there was some fire on a snow. Birds were chirping among the bamboos with yellowish leaves, white pigeon were hovering over the river. When time arrived in the place, it would not rush forward anymore, just slow down by adopting an easy and carefree attitude.

I pushed away a branch stretching into the walkway, noticed another bridge ahead, the bridge was with stone columns with people and cars moving back and forth on the bridge.

When I crossed under the bridge, the river turned shallow with roaring sounds. On right bank there were two households with grey tile and white wall withing orange orchids. There was an empty space in front of the houses with various vegetables including Chinese cabbages, green onion, garlic etc. When one passed the houses, one came to the barrage with roaring sounds and spraying water as if thousand horses were galloping forward. At the left side of the barrage, there was a tall building. There were various stores on the ground floor of the building for tobacco, wines, fruit, imported foods, daily necessities. There were many restaurants for pig feet, beef, fish in sour soup. SharingCity is famous for sour taste in food, there is a saying if one does not have sour food for three days, one could not walk steadily for people living in the city. At the right side, there were mountains with tall cliffs covered with green vines, shrubs, wild flowers and grasses in primitive state.

The water in the barrage was as smooth as a mirror. At the banks a lot of people were fishing. A lot of middle aged and old couples walked along the banks, they talked in a slow, mild tone with long drawls as if they were singing in a low voice. Further ahead, one would come across young couples of lovers of handsome man and beautiful woman, they all talked in standard mandarin, they were either hand in hand or one’s hand on another’s shoulder or back. In the first place, there was a college—Normal College of Nationalities of South Guizhou Prefecture near the area.

The hotel I booked was near the bank, I climbed up the bank, entered and checked in the hotel. Then I realized that I left my trunk in the taxi. The notebook was in the trunk. As I paid with cashes, I did not know the plate number of the taxi. At once I became restless just like an ant in a hot pan. When the receptionist got to know the situation, she called the hotline of Communication Radio (* The radio station is very popular in each city as it would broadcast live traffic condition).

“Mister, are you sure you left high speed railway station at 5 o’clock for Vienna International Hotel at Flag Mountain Avenue (* Qi Shan Da Dao)?”

“No, I came to Flat Bridge. Yes, the driver said it was Flat Bridge. Due to road construction, I got off early.”

“Okay, what’s the color of your trunk?”

“Gray.”

“Deep gray, or light gray.”

“Light gray.”

“Okay, I will broadcast the information at once, hope you will be able to get the trunk back.”

The hostess hung up the call. I at once thought about the golden bell in the fairy tales by the voice of the hostess.

“Her voice is really nice,” I said to the receptionist.

“Yes. Her name is FragranceMaple (*Feng Xiang). We all like her program. Sir, you can go to your room to have a rest. If the station calls back, I will inform you at once,” the receptionist said.

“Okay, thanks.” I was glad that I put my paperwork in my handbag, as soon as I thought about the notebook, I began to hate my own carelessness.

One night passed without any feedback. Till the noon in the day, I got a call from front desk:

“Sir, the station called back, said your trunk had already been delivered to the station by the driver, you should go to the station to pick it up.”

I came out of the hotel, it was raining. In a short while, I came to the station, picked up my trunk, thanked the staff, got into the elevator.

In the elevator, I came across a lady, she said to me with a smile:

“Sir, congratulation for your getting the lost trunk.”

“Thank you. You should be the hostess who broadcasted the information on radio.” In the city, I did not know anyone, but her voice reminded me at once the hostess of yesterday whom I talked to about my information.

“Yes, we talked on phone yesterday.”

“Your voice is really very nice, thank you.”

She was graceful with shorter hairs, oval face, light makeup and clear eyes. She was about one point six meters with a slim body emanating the beauty of a mature woman.

When we got out of the elevator and came to the outside, it was raining harder.

“Where are you going? Let me drop you off, it is raining hard at the moment,” While putting on her blue overcoat, she said to me.

“That should not be okay.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“Is this your first time to SharingCity?” When we got into the car, while buckling herself up, she asked.

“Yes, it is my first time. I have been living in Singapore. I come to this city to fulfill a wish of my uncle.”

“Then it is not easy for you to come here. As you come here, you should have a good look about the city. The city is called a plateau bridge city with more than one hundred bridges. The famous bridges are: West Mountain Bridge (*Xi Shan Da Qiao) as an internet celebrity due to the film A Cool Fish; Rainbow Bridge as it looks like a rainbow; of course, the most famous one is Hundred Sons Bridge (*Bai Zi Qiao) in classic elegant style, which was built in Qing Dynasty. There is a studio city of Qin and Han dynasties (* Qin dynasty 221-207 BC and Han Dynasty 202 BC -220 AD) in new economic development zone which is famous for internet popular TV series Untamed. If you have time, you should go to there to have a visit. Well, you should visit Green Expo Gardens too,” while turning on the car, she said warmly.

“Thank you very much. I have a busy schedule this time, I might not have that much time to visit many places.”

“That really does not matter. You just visit as many places as you could. If you like the city, you will come back in future.”

The car drove through a bridge, I noticed the raindrops causing ripples on the surface of the river. Some were fishing at the bank of the river while holding an umbrella.

It rained harder and harder, she had to change windshield wiper to a higher speed.

“Do you have a fast lifestyle in Singapore?” she turned to ask me after she stopped the car at a redlight.

“Yes. It is too fast. Anyway, I have already gotten used to it. We should be taken as in same profession. I work in a media company in Chinese responsible for editing at the moment.”

“You are my teacher. I am just a parttime hostess in the station, just do one live program per week for book reading. I am running a bookstore.”

“Are you the founder of the bookstore?”

“Yes, I have prepared for several years, just opened in last June.”

“I really admire you. I have a dream to open a bookstore since I was a child.”

“Then you must have visited a lot of famous bookstores?”

“I have visited Shakespear and Company in Paris, Selexyz Dominicanen in Masstricht of Holland, Lello in Porto of Portugal, Atlantis Books in Santorini of Greece, The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, Tsutaya Books in Tokyo. Each of them has its own singularity, all have done extremely well.”

“I only visited the Tsutaya Books in Tokyo. Do you plan to open your bookstore in Singapore?”

“Yes. As I have so many things to take care of, I have no time to think about my bookstore at the moment. It seems that I could only open my bookstore after my retirement.”

“If you want to do something in your life, you should do it as soon as possible. Life could not afford to wait,” she said resolutely.

“You are right.”

She stopped the car in another traffic light. While wiping the window pane, she said:

“It is very rare to have such a heavy rain in SharingCity in winter. I am not sure what’s wrong as it rains like in summer.”

“Yes, it rains quite heavy today. My hotel is ahead, you can drop me over there. Thank you very much.”

“Do you come here by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any plan in this afternoon?”

“Nothing special. According to original plan, I should go to countryside. I could only go there tomorrow as it rains.”

“Everything is the best arrangement. You need not to worry about your time lost due to the rain. It’s luck to get to know each other. I want to invite you to have a lunch in my bookstore, as you have already visited a lot of bookstores and experienced a lot of things, I hope you will give some advice to my bookstore.”

“Wonderful.” I just agreed the request without a bit hesitation as I thought it’s a happy thing to talk with her.

“My name is FragranceMaple, Fragrance like perfume, Maple like maple leave. How about you?”

“My name is FlyingCloud Yun, Fly like flying over sky, Cloud like the one in sky, Yun means same as cloud.”

“It’s luck to meet you, I’m very glad to be able to see you in SharingCity.”

The car drove forward without stopping to a place I did not know.

I thought her bookstore would be located in downtown area. Unexpectedly the bookstore was located in Green Expo Gardens.

As soon as the car drove into the gardens, I noticed various splendid gardens which spanned the history of thousand years. There was the ‘slender tower’ (* Canton Tower) in Guangzhou garden, Wild Goose Pagoda (*Da Yan Ta) in Shaanxi garden, Yellow Crane Tower (*Huang He Lou) in Hubei garden, splendid Royal Garden in Beijing garden... every garden owned its local singularity and history, every garden demonstrated its own beauty and was in harmony with other gardens. On the top of the hill of the center of Green Expo Gardens, there was an eighty-eight meters tower which was overlooking the whole area, the tower and the mountains around surrounded a lake which had a smooth surface as a mirror. There was a water screen over one thousand square meters in the lake, Green Expo Gardens · Impression About South Guizhou Prefecture was playing on the screen. The movie was beautiful and magnificent.

The car drove by Jiangsu Garden, stopped at the side of the lake. The water was clear, though it was winter, the mountains were still verdant with the shadows in the lake like in a painting. We crossed a wooden bridge, walked on a small pebble road, at the end of the road there were a house in South Guizhou style among the flowers, grasses and trees. The place was in a secluded site.

We walked along the road, a small stream flew by the side, foxtail grass, pennywort, wild yellow flowers were stretching upward from the under of pebbles and around the place though it was still in winter. We had to cross stone steps to enter the wooden building, steps were paved with dark gray stones with various patterns, the sizes of the patterns varied from a cup to a bowl, the features looked like fractus clouds or horseshoes, the patterns appeared vivid as if they were engraved artificially. For people living in remote places, they liked to keep their environment clean. There was a lot of rain in Guizhou with muddy ground, with the stone steps, the host wanted to keep the mud out of the house.

The gate was solid and strong, there was an engraved wooden porch with elegant pattern. There were two rows of wooden lattices which was of the same height as the gate at the sides of the porch with a unique pattern. There was a disc-like round wood in the center of the gate with engraved small characters: Simple Happiness Bookstore in SharingCity.

I thought it was really a luck as the place I wanted to visit was Simple Happiness Unit, before I could go there, I first came to a bookstore with same name.

I entered the bookstore, the layout was exquisite, each color in the house suited the style of the store. The front desk looked like a bicycle, which none could not forget with just a glance. A beautiful girl came forward from the ‘front seat of the bike’, said:

“Sister FragranceMaple, we all are waiting for you.”

“Add one more seat, we have a new friend.”

“Okay.”

I followed FragranceMaple into a little room near the east side.

“Let me introduce to you, Mr. FlyingCloud Yun, from Singapore. He has visited a lot of best bookstores around the world and experienced a lot of things, we should learn from him as best as we can.” As soon as she entered the room, she said to her colleagues.

Maybe due to family tradition, I bowed to each of her colleagues, then took a seat to have lunch.

After lunch, FragranceMaple said: “Mr. Yun, as you have time in afternoon, how about visit the bookstore first, then give your suggestions to us.”

The bookstore was located at the second floor, maybe due to rain, there was not a single reader in the bookstore. The bookstore had a collection about ten thousand books, the books were kept in three big rooms, the rooms were named as ‘The Dream of Red Mansion’, ‘Walden Pond’ and ‘Land of Peach Blossoms”. Novels were mainly kept in the Dream of Red Mansion, including world famous novels such as Ulysses, Rue des Boutiques Obscures, Snow Country (Yukiguni) etc. Books about travel and philosophy etc. were kept in the Walden Pond. Books kept in the Land of Peach Blossoms included Laozi, Book of Changes, Chuang Tsu, Instructions for Practical Living (* Chuan Xi Lu) etc.

“Have you selected the books by yourself?”

“Almost. Some are recommended by friends. Readers could borrow the old books and buy or read the new ones. We will recommend a monthly list for slow reading, the name of the book recommended will be hung on the door curtain,” she said with a smile.

“A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver.” I saw the list on the curtain, the characters were written in elegant and forceful fashion.

“I wrote the list. You might have a different opinion about my writing.”

“Good calligraphy writing, my writing is not that good like yours.”

One always could drink tea in study room. There was a tearoom at the side of study room. The tearoom was clean and tidy, even the secluded corner of the room was dustless. The layout was simple but elegant. There was a calligraphy on the wall: Pine always keeps same color. The characters written in a desolate and lonely way were meaningful. There was a round table in the room with clear wooden grains, based on the grains, one could judge how many years it had weathered as a tree. There was a whole set of tea drinking utensils on the table. It seemed that the utensils had been used for a long time, but the utensils could not be cleaner. The layout of the utensils was in a harmonious order. There was a plump and round kettle for boiling water, a square ladle for getting cold water, and a branch of wild flower with thin leaves and white flower which was as white as snow on the table. There were four round stools with straw mats which were soft and comfortable around the table. The room was filled with a taste of meditation of Zen.

“Do you like to drink tea?” she asked with a smile.

“I am a native of Fujian, could not live without tea, usually drink Iron Avalokitesvara (* Tie Guan Yin) or Red Robe (* Da Hong Pao).”

“The most famous tea of Guizhou is from SharingCity.”

“The earliest fossil of tea seed is from Guizhou in the world.”

“Really? I really don’t know about that,” she asked me in a serious tone.

“The origin of tea tree is in China. Guizhou is one of the origins. The earliest fossil of tea seed was excavated in GrandClearness (*Qing Long) County of Guizhou. The expert, Feather Lu (*Yu Lu), said in Book on Tea: Tea from Guizhou is one of the best teas, it is fortunate for me to be able to taste it.”

“You really know a lot about tea. I only know SharingCity is located at the south side of the plateau of Yunnan and Guizhou with a long sunshine which is beneficial for the growth of tea tree, plus the soil is acidic one with a lot of iron and phosphate which could let tea accumulate a lot of nutrients and aromantic substances. Since Tang Dynasty, people think the tea from Guizhou is good, the tea from SharingCity is the most famous one,” she said.

“SharingCity is a quite interesting place which owns both famous tea and liquor. It could be taken as a unique city in Guizhou. In China, many cities either have famous tea or liquor, but not both. Only SharingCity is unique for having both. Sharing Liquor (* Yun Jiu) is one of the eight famous old brands of liquor in Guizhou. Sharing Tea and Maotai (*One of the best liquors in China from Guizhou) both got first class award at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, thus there is a saying that famous tea is from south part and famous liquor is from north part of Guizhou.”

“How could you know so many things about Guizhou.”

“I just know a bit, but I have some predestined bond with SharingCity, my uncle worked in Sharing Liquor Factory quite a long time ago.”

“Yes, SharingCity has a liquor factory, which has a quite long history.”

While talking, she took me to visit ‘Countryside Garden’

Countryside Garden could be taken as a museum to get to know and experience about the folk skills and arts.

As soon as I entered the garden, I was drawn to two huge blue cotton prints which were hanging down from the top of the roof. They were products of famous maple fragrance dying process from the dexterous hands of BuYi nationality. The Maple Fragrance Dying Process was called ‘blue and white porcelain on a cloth’. The process could be dated to more than two hundred years ago. In the process, one mixes resin of maple tree with beef tallow, simmer and filter to make a wax, then paint a pattern with a writing brush using the melted wax, dye the cloth with indigo, boil to get rid of wax, wash in water, dry by airing, finally roll flat. The huge blue cotton prints were with vast sky, picturesque earth, rising smoke of wooden building among the mountains and a river. The prints were graceful and elegant with a poetic beauty, one could not forget them for one’s life just for a glance. We walked along the garden, there were stone mills, embroideries, silver jewelry, engraved window lattices, tables and chairs, tie-dye products, lyrics for ancient songs etc. They would be exhibited as material object if they had one, otherwise, they would show a picture with a note for the skill. Of course, what I enjoyed most was the products of the Maple Fragrance Dying Process.

“Why you put such a kind of things in your bookstore?” I asked.

“I want folk arts to get back to ordinary people through experiencing in countryside garden, thus the folk arts could be imparted and inherited in better and wider fashion. Of course, besides the maple fragrance dying process of Buyi nationality, Ivory Boat Earthenware (*Ya Zhou Tao, Ya Zhou is a name of the place for producing the earthenware) and Horsetail Embroidery (* Ma Wei Xiu) are in preparation process for exhibiting, both are National Intangible Heritages of Culture of South Guizhou Prefecture.”

“The experiencers will not only get to know a skill but also have a product of their own work of Maple Fragrance Dying Process. Your idea is excellent.” I raised my thumb to her.

I felt very close to the various pieces of Ivory Boar Earthenware on the table. I recalled that when I was very young, I had played a lot earthen whistles in the shapes of 12 zodiacal animals. The various pots for salts, sugar and gourmet powder in my home were in Ivory Boat Earthenware in the first place. They must be taken to my home by Uncle from SharingCity. I flipped through an information booklet on the table with following information: According to Flat Pond (*Ping Tang) County Annal, earthenware began to produce in Ivory Boat around 1368 A. D. in Ming Dynasty. Army of the dynasty entered the area for a war, many migrants without land came to the place to cultivate either as farmers or soldiers when they were not fighting, they introduced the culture of Central Plains from Jiangxi with the skill of producing earthenware. For more than six hundred years, BuYi Nationality in Flat Pond has integrated its unique characters into the earthenware and manufactured the products in simple, elegant and harmonious fashion. The verve of the products could be taken as unearthed relics.

Folk arts, fragrance of books, misty atmosphere and small path with blooming flowers outside of window, the scenery reminded me a poem written by ContinualGem Lu (*ShaoHeng Lu) of Ming Dynasty:

Thatched cottage within pine and bamboo forest, roaming clouds blocks the exit. Walking alone in forest, flower petals attach my clothes, verdant grasses cover stepstones.  Rising wisps of tea in prime spring, yellowbird chirps once, at the moment writing a poem or drawing a picture should be wonderful thing.

With plenty books and a quiet and simple environment, it was really a nice place for reading. In rain day, the trees and grasses were dark green, misty airs were floating around, just like a fairy land described in a book; in clear day, white clouds were roaming, air was crisp, fragrances were emanating from the trees and the grasses in the mountains.

While thinking in such fashion, I began to admire people living in the city. Setting sun, blue sky, verdant mountains, clear water, chirping birds, floral fragrance, it was a wonderful thing to pick up and read a book while leaning on the window frame when one was free in Simple Happiness Bookstore in Green Expo Gardens.

We came to the balcony, I raised my head and saw the close mountains were as black as ink, the faraway mountains were in misty shadow. There was a dish garden in the balcony. At the side of the dish garden, there was a wide and big table with papers, writing brushes, inkstones and ink sticks. Someone just wrote on a piece of paper with characters:

At the top of the hill within roaming clouds, a cooking smoke is rising upward.

We sat down at the table, she said: “As you have visited a lot of places and experienced a lot of things, how about to give me some advice?”

“It is a pretty good from the location to the decoration. Most of the ancient Chinese literatures and paintings were talking about such a kind of theme: Through a winding path, one comes to a thatched cottage which is hiding in a remote quietness and only accompanied by a gurgling stream... That should be the fairyland in the human world which is free from the bustling activities of people. When you chose this location, didn’t you have same idea?”

“I did not think in that fashion. I only thought in the beautiful place, there should be a beautiful bookstore.”

“That should not be your idea, right?”

“How do you know?”

“This bookstore should be a dream of a man who likes music and riding but not a lady.”

“You really have a good insight to get the conclusion,” she said with her widely opened eyes.

“I have visited many of the most beautiful bookstores in the world and interviewed the founders of the stores, thus at least I should be able to get to know that.”

“I am totally convinced by you. For black tea, we have Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dumas, Dumas fils, or Marquez, for green tea, we have Parvarotti, Domingo, Anna Moffo, Joan Sutherland, or Vitas, for coffee, we have Audrey Hepburn, Emma Watson, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Winslet. What kind of drink do you like?” she stood up and said with a smile.

“Your idea is excellent, I will have a cup of Parvarotti,” I said with a smile.

She went to downstairs and got a cup of Tender Sprout of Sharing City.

“My stomach is not good, so I have a cup of Marquez,” she said with a smile.

We began to chat casually.

“Marquez, I like his The Autumn of the Patriarch the most, how about you?”

“I like his One Hundred Years of Solitude. I have The Autumn of the Patriarch in the store, but I have not read it yet.”

“The Autumn of the Patriarch is a book even more lonely than that of One Hundred Years of Solitude, it is very hard to read.”

“Because my girlfriend separated with me at that time, thus I read the book as my life fell into a very difficult situation. You know we were about to get married.”

“Why did you not get married?”

“In the summer of the year before we got married. She got pregnant, I talked daily to the baby in her abdomen, sometimes I would tell a story to the baby, sometimes I would read a poem to the baby. The baby did not move, therefore, I joked if you did not move a bit, I would whip you. Later we went to have an antenatal examination, she had an ectopic pregnancy. She complained that it was due to my threat to whip, the baby was scared and ran to the outside of uterus. She canceled the marriage due to her anger, thus we separated.”

“I think you are quite interesting. It is a destiny to be able to have a family for two people. Maybe you both did not have the luck.”

“Maybe it was due to fate that we could not form a family. Nevertheless, at the moment, I think the ectopic pregnancy was not the main reason for the separation, the main reason was that my company had a bad business and was about to close, I was about to lose everything.”

“That should not be the reason as you both had a stable relationship.”

“The stable relationship was from the stability of mine. When I became unstable, the relationship became unstable too. In a utilitarian society, who did not want to live for oneself, who wanted to risk everything for one’s life. Well, how about you tell me the story about your bookstore if you like? I might write a story about your bookstore in our newspaper and WeChat official account if you agree, which could be taken as an advertisement to your bookstore.”

She did not reply me at once, looked at far away, took a deep breath, said:

“You are really a reporter. You definitely have visited so many places as you really find the style of the bookstore is not mine. I open the bookstore to fulfill the last wish of MorningWind (* XiaoFeng), the father of my daughter VastWater (*Miao Miao), he had already left us.”

She said sadly.

“I’m sorry, I should not mention about the thing.”

She waved her hand, got a piece of tissue from the table, wiped the corners of her eyes.

The rain had already stopped, the sky was grey with a bit of melancholy.

She tidied the collar of her clothes first, picked up her cup, sipped once, said in a low voice:

“I am a native of SharingCity, grow up in the city, my mother belongs BuYi nationality, she likes Maple Fragrance Dying Process very much, thus she gave me a name of FragranceMaple. After I graduated from high school, I went to a university in Shenzhen. After I graduated from the university, I stayed in Shenzhen and worked in an internet media company. Except holiday and annual leave, my all time was occupied by my work. I had a nice income. In the year, I had my first long distance travel by myself after taking annual leave. My journey started from Shenzhen, passed through Xiamen, ArmySafe Mount (* Wu Yi Shan) and Shangri-la etc. At the end of my journey, I came to SharingCity, planned to stay for a period of time with my parents, then went back to work in Shenzhen. At that time, there was a national bicycling tour match in the city, I signed up for the match, I met MorningWind in the match. We felt like old friends when we saw each other, thought we met the one for our life.”

“MorningWind was from ColdRiver (*Mo He, the northernmost city in China) of Heilongjiang (*Hei means black, Long means dragon and Jiang means river) Province, he liked to sing. After he graduated from a university, he did not have a permanent job, wandered around the country with his guitar, left his songs in many places from countryside to city, took part in singing competitions such as The Voice of China, I’m A Singer, The Best Singer etc. with quite good results and in music programs for Shanghai TV, Beijing TV and Zhejiang TV etc. He could write lyrics, compose music for his own and others’ lyrics, sing and play music instruments. He should be taken as an all-round musician. His song could not get himself known to people, but other people got famous through his song in the country. The finger, Ambition Zhang, sung his song Subway at 10:25 pm, the song had been a hot hit for several summers. But MorningWind was stuck in the old status, when he walked in street, nobody knew him, when he went to TV, he was still not well-known to his audiences.”

After she finished the above words, she paused, picked up her cup, sipped once. A bird flew to the window, chirped several times, then flew away. She continued:

“Just like ‘Romantic Knight’, LittleWave Wang (*XiaoBo Wang) once said: ‘Life is a slow process to get hammered, one becomes older and older, one’s wild wishes begin to vanish day after day, in the end one could only act like an ox that has been repeatedly beaten by a hammer.’ After he nearly spent twenty years in singing circle, witnessed the rising and downing of many singers, he decided to say goodbye to the circle, rode on his bicycle with the guitar on his back, traveled around the country, till he met me in SharingCity.”

“At the end of the competition, we went to Snail Shell Hill (* Luo Shi Ke) with several contestants, later The Untamed was shot in the place, MorningWind and I chatted from morning till setting glow. Maybe due to falling in love at first sight, we could talk forever, felt we were not lonely anymore, thought we could lean on each other, were not afraid of anything from that time on, could face anything together, even if the sky would fall down onto the earth and the earth would cave in, we still could face the challenge. He said he could walk out of ColdCity and around the country due to books, reading gave him the courage to move forward and to be himself. His dream was not a singer anymore, he wanted to open a bookstore. I said I had fulfilled my all wishes after I came across him. I said I would support him to fulfill his dream with all my talents and efforts and saving.”

“He persisted in opening the bookstore in SharingCity. At the beginning I was against the idea, thought SharingCity was too small, we had to manage the bookstore to keep it in operation, at least we should open the bookstore in Guiyang (*Provincial Capital of Guizhou, Gui means valuable, Yang means sunshine). He said he did not know specific reason, he just liked SharingCity, among the cities he had visited, he liked SharingCity the most, wanted to spend the rest of his life in the city. Maybe due to my love to him, I respected his decision, we began to search for a location. We visited many places such as International New Force City, Wanda Plaza at Sky Source 2013, Small Crossroads etc., could not find a place we liked. At that time Green Expo Gardens was still in construction. One day, we went to visit the place. He said Green Expo Gardens was the main venue of Green Expo which was a comprehensive exhibition for green and ecological development in China. First Expo was held in Nanjing, second in Zhengzhou, third in Tianjin, and fourth in SharingCity. With fifty-six theme parks, the gardens would look wonderful after completion, let’s just open our bookstore in this place. Let’s open our bookstore in the most beautiful place and let it become the most beautiful bookstore.”

After she finished above words, she stood up, put on her overcoat, added more water to my cup, sat down, continued:

“We got married, rented the place, began to design and decorate the place, everything was moving forward as we planned. The bookstore was ready in a short time, but he left. An accident, an accident none would expect, took his life away, nothing is certain in one’s life.”

I did not know how to comfort her, just handed her a piece of tissue. She took the tissue, wiped the corners of her eyes, asked:

“Sword River, the mother river of SharingCity, have you walked along the bank?”

“Yes. Yesterday due to road construction in Flat Bridge, I got off the taxi, walked along the river to my hotel. The scenery is quite good.”

“Yes, he liked the river very much. Sometimes I thought he was somewhat selfish, he left his last words that his remnants would be spread into the river by me, thus his brother could not take it back to his hometown. He wanted to leave himself totally in SharingCity, witness the success of the bookstore, and see the bookstore becomes the most beautiful one. But how could it be so easy?”

Life changes in a flash,

Every life needs to be respected,

Every meeting needs to be cherished,

When one awes everything,

One will have a peaceful mind.

The best time for a person is,

To come across another person who understands you,

You both could not end in your interesting chat,

Come to a place you like,

Stay in the place for a period of time.

We are born to meet each other

for the belated meeting,

for liking and appreciating,

for lasting memory.

Leaving likes coming,

Acting like calm water,

Except the place when one grew up as a child,

No other place could be taken as one’s hometown.

Except what one owns at the moment,

Nothing could be taken as true.

I have no great ambition,

For my whole life,

I just don’t want to become a kind of person,

Whom I hated when I was young.

Before sunlight shines greatly,

It passes through void and dark space

Without a bit brightness.

In the world,

Always a person will remember you,

What kind of suffering you might experience,

Always you will become obsessed with one thing,

At the age of rapid changes, move forward without hesitation,

If you have love and a strong belief in yourself.

We all are fresh,

Just like the new sprout in spring,

Has not been tested by wind and rain,

Emanating intoxicating scent all over our body.

The world is new to us too,

Just like Sword River in spring,

Full of vitality with a bright future.

What is cherishing time and destiny?

Just taking every day as one’s last day in one’d life,

Taking every night as the last night of the earth.

It is nice to either come across or meet again.

It is a happy thing for whatever you come across.

In your life,

Some people just like mist,

Came once, then vanishes forever;

Some people just like a bottle of wine,

The longer, the better.

Everyone is

just a passer-by in the world,

When you pass by and don’t think about each other,

You will be more easy and freer.

Not because there is no scenery along the road,

It is because we have already blindfolded our eyes;

Not because there are no beautiful things along the road,

It is because our mind has been smudged.

Self-respect and self-discipline are the trump cards of successful people,

Self-pity and self-destruction are the fuses of the losers.

One’s life just like the day lily.

No matter how wonderful, it will disappear,

No matter how valuable, it will come to an end.

In the world filled with utilitarian people,

To be a man with love and righteous man,

You will warm not only other people but also yourself.

Dawn has already arrived,

Only you have not opened your eyes yet.

I remember you not for the night only,

You have always been with me.

Everything is fine,

I love everything for myself.

It is not a complete daybreak yet,

Dream is still in dream.

There is no big deal in one’s life,

If you see through,

Every road is straight;

If you put everything down,

You could cross every hurdle.

She had been wiping her tears.

“You will definitely do you it well, he will bless you in Heaven,” I said the comforting words to her.

“I have no other choice, as I promised him, I could only move forward. Running bookstore is a business losing money, particularly within the scenic spot. It is really difficult to keep the bookstore moving on, with advice of a friend, I have added three vacation home rentals. With the income of the rentals, I could move on in a much better shape. Maybe due to his blessing, maybe due to the good environment in this place, after I put the rentals into operation, they are nearly occupied every day. I named the three rentals after the names of singer, movie and song he liked most: One for Bob·Dylan, one for Casablanca and last one for ‘Visitors From Far Away Please Stay Here’”

“The writer for the lyrics of ‘Visitors from Far Away Please Stay Here’, Yu (*Talent, Aptitude) Fan has been living in SharingCity,” I said.

“Yes. Mr. Fan was born in Liaoning Province (* One of the three provinces in northeastern China), came to aid Guizhou years before, and worked in Song and Dance Troupe of South Guizhou Prefecture. Though this is the first time for you to visit SharingCity, you know a lot of things about the city.

“I like to do some research before I visit a place, I would like to know about history, culture, famous figures etc. of the place.”

“For this point, you are very similar to MorningWind. He acted in same fashion, before he went to visit a place, he would do his research. Once we went to climb Cape Hill. Before we climbed up, he told what the pond on the mountain top looked like in a vivid way, as if he had visited the place before. In fact, that was his first visit. Other people thought he was bragging, when we reached the top, people were totally convinced by his words. Yes, haven’t you seen a reader yet today? This place is too remote, in rainy day, almost nobody will come here.”

“Your bookstore has only opened for a short time. As time moves on, more and more people will come to visit, even in rainy days. Whether or not a bookstore could draw an attention of visitors, it really does not have much relationship with its location. Vanguard Bookstore (*Xian Feng Shu Dian) in Nanjing, one of the ten most beautiful bookstores in the world, is located in an underground parking. I still remember in an awarding speech to the bookstore with the following words: This place was merely an underground parking concurrent with an air shelter, but you have made it become the most beautiful bookstore in China.”

“I visited the bookstore before, the characters for the name of Vanguard Bookstore were almost covered up by the vines and trees on its top over the air shelter. It still has its obvious trails for an underground parking with its ramps and yellow lines. The statue of the thinker of Rodin at the entrance looked like a real thinker. The impression I have most about the bookstore is the art gallery about one hundred meters, the cross, portraits of famous artists including van Ghoh, Picasso on the background, there is a famous quote from famous poets including Baudelaire, Mallarmé on every column. Furthermore, the coffee in the bookstore is quite good,” while adding water to my cup, she said.

“Yes, coffee in the bookstore is really good, particularly Cappuccino. I interviewed the founder of the bookstore, Xiaohua (* LittleGlory) Qian, in his imagination, a bookstore should be as beautiful as a paradise. He does not sell any supplementary educational materials (* Which is in largest demand as there are so many students), never sells any book at discount, chooses every book in the store by himself, and dedicates all his life to the bookstore. The bookstore is his lifelong pursuit. The bookstore owns a floor space about four thousand square meters, does not sell any so-called popular books. He pays a high attention to the quality and style of the books. In Nanjing with a long history as a capital for many dynasties, the city has a huge accumulation of culture. The bookstore opened in 1996, has already become a culture symbol of the city within twenty years and been visited by people like those historical heritages. ‘Even Nanjing falls into complete darkness, this place will be lighted for its readers.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---