I wrote an article "The Night Sailing Ship". I am ashamed to say that I really only took an old-fashioned night boat once, not in my childhood, not in my hometown, but after I became an adult. It was a summer night, and I took a wooden boat from Wujiang to Suzhou, and the water journey was more than forty miles. These two cities are beautiful ancient cities that have been famous for thousands of years. This kind of night tour should have been the highest enjoyment that touched people's hearts.

I'm not the only one on board, but also a large group of contemporary young scholars. It was in the early 1970s, more than 280 years after Zhang Dai's death.

Things have to start with going to Wujiang.

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"Wujiang maple leaves fall and it is freezing." Who wrote this poem? In a few words, the beauty of the skin that killed Xiao in late autumn is unparalleled, and it is really wonderful to make people jealous. That season, we went, thousands of people, all college graduates. Wujiang, no matter how old you are, you have never seen so many literati.

You can tell at a glance that it's not a tour. With so much luggage on your shoulders, under your arms and in your hands, you all tripped. They are not married yet, and the luggage is packed by the old mother. The luggage packed by old people is always too heavy. Most fathers are not at home. In those days, fathers who could get their children through college could listen to slogans from other places without writing about the examination. Saying goodbye to my mother is like saying goodbye. This trip is the general direction, so there is no time to come back. Mom can't wait to pack more clothes. Children themselves have been managing books. One more book will keep one more knowledge.

Wujiang County is called Songling Town, which is said to have been established in the Tang Dynasty and has been popular ever since. I have carefully studied the Ming Dynasty composer Shen Jing, a native of Wujiang, who called himself "Mr. Songling Ci Yin". There is a place in the town with two high slopes, and Gu Song is very dense. Maybe this is the origin of the name of the town? Does Shen Jing often hang around here? Don't think too much. Songling Town is not the end of our journey. We are going to Taihu Lake.

From Songling Town to the southwest, you can see Taihu Lake by walking seven or eight miles on the muddy path. Taihu Lake in early winter is an endless poem. Cold water, distant mountains and dusk clouds all dissolve into tile blue. The glistening reeds spread out layer by layer, swaying countless bird wings lingering on them. A cool breeze swept in and rolled out all the poems of Taihu Lake buried in my heart. At that time, everyone forgot the mountains and rivers; As soon as we got to the lake, everyone regretted forgetting. A full face of fear, watery eyes, clean body. I finally came, no matter what I came to do, I finally came to Taihu Lake. A life that should have belonged to me is sprouting again. This kind of life comes from distant history and deep home. To wake it up, all you need is a slight message that flashes like lightning.

Our task is to jump into the water at once, dig mud to build a dike, cut a piece of Taihu Lake and plant some food on it. Someone said above that no one wanted the little grain you planted. It is important to wash away the filth with labor and sweat.

The water was freezing cold and shivering. First cut off those reeds, the most beautiful reeds in the world, those reeds that can't live without Taihu Lake. The reed roots left at the bottom of the lake are as sharp as halberds, and most people's feet are bleeding. Turbid crimson whirlpools roll in the lake, just like Taihu Lake is bleeding.

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Day after day, month after month, the dam was finally built. Everyone is pale and emaciated. How can my mother stand those clothes that are soaked in water and mud every day? The clothes are all tattered. For the convenience of labor, we find a straw rope and tie it around our waist. One day, some residents of Songling town came to the farm for some unknown reason. Seeing this scene, they thought they had met a convict and ran away in a hurry.

There is only one cotton-padded coat, and every work is soaked: mud outside and sweat inside. Call it a night, walk into the self-built straw shed, take off the wet cotton-padded clothes, get into bed immediately, and put on the wet cotton-padded clothes early tomorrow morning. The quilt is warm. Put down the curtains, put a good book under the pillow, and hurry to wander. Talk to Faust, visit Dickens' inn and spend time with Cao Xueqin. Hugo's Jiu San is breathtaking, Xu Guoku's English textbook is solid and orderly, and Einstein's theory of relativity is so profound and imaginative. What are colleagues all over the world doing at this moment? Their potential competitors in China are now grappling with an old question: When will wet cotton-padded clothes be ready?

The secret in the account was finally discovered, and the discoverer was really angry. There are so many messy books in the world that so many people secretly read them regardless of the fatigue of daytime work! Soon a decisive order was issued: all books that contradicted the "Cultural Revolution" were confiscated.

The boxes were opened one by one, and thousands of books of college graduates piled up like hills. A person in charge walked around the hill with great power. He was puzzled by a question: What books are these? If it is a drug, it should be destroyed immediately; If it is a trophy, it should be turned over to the leader. He thought for a moment, waved his hand and announced: Ship, transport to Songling Town, give it to the leaders to have a look, and then destroy it!

Books, full of three big ships, let college graduates rock the boat and set sail by themselves. Before leaving, the person in charge said to the college graduates in a friendly tone: Please light the fire of burning books yourself.

The fire was lit that night. Too many books were burned for a long time, and the fire lit up the Millennium Gu Song in Songling Town.

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Without books, I am bored. Fortunately, it is summer now, and there are many things to relax after work. The most attractive thing is swimming. After working all day, you are sweating all over. You always have to take a bath in Taihu Lake. Why not take the opportunity to swim with open arms for a while? The cool lake is so vast that it is sweet to swallow. It is unreasonable not to go swimming next to Taihu Lake in summer.

The peeling water caressed me and I melted myself in the lake. Our generation lives in poverty. After doing such heavy work, I was still full of energy when I entered the water. I swam far away, keeping my eyes on the lake. I am the only one here, naked and free. Not taking a bath, not for exercise, not for games, just for fun. At this moment, all my limbs belong to me, even my life is in my hands. Like frogs, like butterflies, like dolphins, but nothing, just like people. Really like a person, free and healthy, in harmony with mountains and rivers. At this moment, I pity the ancient literati. Usually, I just cherish their memories and envy them. Today, I dare to bet with them that we are the closest literati with Taihu Lake. Shen Jing just composed music with the charm of Taihu Lake, but we turned into notes of Taihu Lake, fluctuating and jumping.

At that time, swimming was advocated, and the person in charge did not object, so he swam by himself.

A large number of female college students first stood on the shore to watch, and finally they couldn't help but run back to the dormitory in groups of three or five. Out of the dormitory, they all changed into swimsuits.

Women's swimming is not uncommon in urban swimming pools, but it has caused great commotion here. They usually wear shabby clothes to the fields, and the heavy farm work makes them lose their gender. Every day on the ridge, when they are faced with the burden of rice that is not lighter than that of male students, male students will never think that these are young and promising girls. Now, what appears before us is a slightly shy masterpiece of life. The wind lifted their hair, and their footsteps were light and elegant, like stepping on music, walking towards Taihu Lake and entering Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

The male classmate was shocked, and suddenly recalled the lost memory, and opened his eyes without evil thoughts. They are both in their twenties.

The days that followed gradually became ambiguous. There are many contacts between boys and girls, and some couples obviously have frequent contacts. One night, several male students passed by the door of the girls' dormitory and suddenly it began to rain. Female students enthusiastically sheltered them from the rain and poured hot water for them to wash their faces. One Sunday a few days later, all the male students went out and dug a deep well in front of the girls' dormitory. They also built three characters on the edge of the well with pebbles: Friendship Well.

But soon news came that there was a struggle between corrosion and anti-corrosion, and the class struggle had a new trend. At this point, it will be easy. At that time, it happened that the whole country was engaged in sports. The university where college graduates used to work sent many combat teams to the farm, most of which were led by workers' propaganda teams. The grass shed near Taihu Lake is very lively, and the lights are turned off very late every night. These young people went to work early the next morning, top-heavy and wobbly.

Mining ideas, eliminating doubts, sorting out clues, and prioritizing, the meals cooked by the cookhouse squad began to have a surplus every day. Several small groups were cleared out, and at the meeting, the speaker's tone became more and more intense. Later, I finally said some names. The most serious crime is a beautiful, enthusiastic and sociable female student, who was nicknamed "Foreign Minister" by several male students at a class reunion before she got off the farm. She actually smiled, did not refuse, and did not expose it to the leader. "Such a reactionary group has even divided its positions, why not seize power!" The speaker's reasoning is very convincing.

One night, there was an alarm, and she was examining the disappearance. The superior ordered all the staff to search separately, and several male students found her veil by the lake.

When she was salvaged, her heart had stopped beating, and a chubby male hygienist hurriedly gave artificial respiration. After a while, it still doesn't work. The hygienist decided to give the heart a shot in the arm directly. Her clothes were torn and she lay naked in the grass on the shore. The moonlight filled her, and she really became the daughter of Taihu Lake.

The body must be sent to Suzhou overnight. It's too late. The only available means of transportation is the boat. Or a few male students take turns rocking the boat. They untied the cable and rowed silently.

This night flight will pass through the famous Hongqiao. Hongqiao has been hung for a long time, and it has been aging for a long time, but 14 bridge opening is still there. I wonder which bridge opening the night boat will pass by.

Jiang Kui, a great poet in Song Dynasty, likes hanging Hongqiao best. On one occasion, he said goodbye to his best friend Fan Chengda there, leaving a poem and taking a boat trip with his beloved girl:

Self-made new rhymes are the most charming. Xiaohong sings and I blow Xiao. At the end of the song, people dispersed, and after crossing Songling Road, it was the first smoking bridge.

Tonight, under the smoky bridge, there are no songs, only squeaks.

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For some reason, two years later, we were suddenly told to return to the city.

I really don't know why the superior must set the departure time at night. As soon as it got dark, college graduates lined up and walked from the farm to Songling Town. The box full of books has been burned, most of the clothes have been worn out and thrown away, and the luggage has become very light. Everyone can't wait to leave this place one minute earlier, and the next step will be very fast. Only after a while, they arrived at the town. Then line up at the ship dock, get off the boat from there and go to Suzhou, and then take the train in Suzhou.

It was too dark to count how many boats were rented that day. Anyway, it's a long list, and the students are pretending. The first ship was started by a diesel engine, and the ship behind it crawled on the river like a long bug. When I settled down on the boat, I suddenly remembered that I didn't even look at Taihu Lake. How lonely Taihu Lake will be when I wake up tomorrow morning.

Night boats sail in the land of night and the river port of night. The village on the shore retired, and the frightened waterfowl flew a few laps and returned to its nest. This river has been rough for thousands of years. Wu culture has always been prosperous, and it is very common for scholars to sail at night. In the Ming dynasty, most of the participating scholars went by boat. Most of Tang Yin's life stories happened on the boat, until Mr. Liu Yazi was busy for Nanshe, and he often went sailing by boat at night. Today, we are on the boat, from Wujiang to Suzhou. What are we going to do? I don't know that a group of scholars without books are sleepy and doze off one by one.

In this way, I finally got on the night boat. It's been 20 years.