Summer morning is really comfortable. The air is cool, and there is dew on the grass (and on the spider webs), a large character written, and a piece of ancient literature read. Summer morning is really comfortable.
This is the opening description of Wang Zengqi's prose "Summer". So, which summer is this, Wang Zengqi's summer of which year?
1926summer, young Wang Zengqi graduated from kindergarten, and in the autumn of the same year, he entered the first grade of the fifth elementary school in Gaoyou County, at the age of six.
1931 year, when Wang Zengqi was promoted from the third to the fifth grade, during the summer vacation of that year, his grandfather Wang Jiaxun taught Wang Zengqi to read and write compositions. Every morning, he would teach a chapter of the Analects of Confucius, and the rest of the time was for Wang Zengqi to write one large and one small character each day. The large characters were written in the style of the Gui Feng Stele, and the small characters were written in the style of the Xian Xie Gongjia Chuan. Every other day, he would write an essay, which was a style called"Yi", which only explained the content of the Analects of Confucius. One of the topics was"Mengzi Fan did not praise the righteousness".——"Ordinary Tea Talk" (1990).
In the summer of 1932, when Wang Zengqi had completed his elementary education, he spent his summer vacation at his uncle's house, where he was taught by Mr. Wei Zilian (pen name: Heqin), a famous scholar from the countryside, along with his cousin.1993Wang Zengqi wrote a poem and a preface for the memorial album "He Ying Qin Yin" compiled by the Gaoyou County People's Political Consultative Conference in 1993,“Green gauze window with trees in disorder, long summer cicada chirping, teaching calligraphy. Pointing to Tongcheng to apply the method of Shen Yi, the whole world is full of a pure scholar.”
Recalling in the Preface:During the summer vacation of my elementary school graduation, I had the opportunity to study with Mr. Wei Hezhen at my uncle's house. Mr. Wei would teach us a piece of classical prose every day and supervise us in copying a paper from the "Dream of the Red Chamber." I have truly benefited from Mr. Wei's guidance in my writing and composition. I remember that I began studying from him, and it has been sixty years since then. The image of Mr. Wei, calm and elegant, still lingers in my mind.
Wei Zilian (1892～1943), whose courtesy name was Heqin, was from Linze Town, Gaoyou. He lost his father at the age of 8 and was raised by his grandfather Wei鲍森 and uncle Wei拥真. He graduated from the Nanjing Liangjiang Normal School in his early years and later entered Shanghai's Zhongdian University for further study. At the age of 21, he dropped out of school due to the death of his uncle. He has served as the principal of the Second County立Primary School in Gaoyou (in Linze), a county立teacher, and a provincial立 temporary rural normal teacher. Later, he founded the People's Education Museum in Linze, serving as its director.
Sun Shijun, his grandson Zhou Yong's text:"His grandfather Sun Shijun graduated from Nanjing Jianghai Normal School (later the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Southeast University), and later served as a teacher at Fudan Public School and Jindong University in Shanghai, the principal of Gaoyou Normal School, introduced diesel engines from Shanghai, and invented the water wheel pump, which won a silver medal at the Panama Exhibition. He founded the Linnong Society and the Sauce Factory."
At the same time, his father Wang Jusheng took Wang Zengqi to the house of the local scholar and famous doctor Zhang Zhongtao to read the "Records of the Grand Historian" · "Biography of Xiang Yu".The scholar of Gaoyou read more Confucian classics and the books of the Anthology, but Zhang Zhongtao was one of the few who was fond of the books of the Four Books and Five Classics."He would place a copy of the "Records of the Grand Historian" in front of me, and he would also place one in front of himself, but he did not really read it, only closed his eyes slightly, recited a passage loudly, and explained it to me." — "A Generation of Ancestors · Zhang Zhongtao" (1991)
This is the foundation of Wang Lao's Chinese in elementary school. In addition to his formal school Chinese classes, he attended a summer tutoring class similar to the present. Later, when Wang Lao was in the ninth grade, his headteacher, Mr. Gu Tiao Sheng, taught geometry in the ninth grade and was very fond of Wang Lao. He wanted to guide him to enter Central University to study architecture. However, Wang Lao had no problem with painting, but he was really bad at geometry:“He spent a lot of time on me, but it was ineffective. He sighed and said, 'Your geometry is the geometry of the Tongcheng School!”——My Junior High1992
In the summer of 1935, Wang Zengqi15 years old, took the entrance exam for Jiangyin Nanjing Middle School accompanied by his father Wang Jusheng. In Jiangyin, they stayed in a small inn.“My Father”(1992)““When I arrived in Jiangyin, he took me there. We stayed in a stack room in a market town, where there were many bedbugs. He lit a candle and, when he saw bedbugs, he dropped candle wax on them. The next morning, when I woke up, I saw many drops of candle wax on the mat. I had a good night's sleep, but my father didn't sleep all night.””
1937 during the summer vacation, Wang Zengqi wrote love letters to his first love, with his father cheering him on“ giving bad advice” — “Many Years Later, Father and Son Are Brothers” (1990).
1939summer,19 year old Wang Zengqi from Gaoyou to Shanghai, met several classmates from Nanjing Middle School, and his乡mate Zhu Kaiyuan, preparing to go to Yunnan together to take the entrance exam of Southwest Associated University. With the help of Zhu Kaiyuan's father, they got visas. With the help of Wang Zengqi's brother-in-law Cui Xilin (the husband of Wang Jiaxun's sister), they bought ship tickets, took a ship via Hong Kong to Hanoi, Vietnam, and then took a train via the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway to Kunming.
Left the hometown from then on,42 years later, returned to the hometown.
It's dusk. The blue sky over the lake gradually turns into light yellow, orange yellow, and then gradually turns into purple, a very deep purple. This purple is deeply moving.......It's really a holy place.
Picture: Liufang