I knew Mr. Ma probably twenty-five years ago. More than 20 years ago, I was still a young man like a young plum. Mr. Ma had just returned to the city from his decentralization point after returning to work because of the national policy of redressing unjust, false and wrongly convicted cases.
Phoenix raised in a boudoir, at that time, due to the calligraphy and painting of Master Congwen and Mr. Huang Yongyu, the charm of the mountain city had gradually emerged, and it became a must-choice place for sketching in many painting schools, thus winning the title of "Painting Town" reputation. There is a restaurant called "Huaxiang Restaurant" in the old station. It was here that I started my first job. The owner's surname was Yang. When he learned that I liked writing, he said he would recommend a teacher to me if he had the chance. The teacher's name is Liu Zuming, also known as Horse Hoofbeat, and he is a life-and-death friend. The first time I met Mr. Ma was at the entrance of the restaurant. Mr. Ma passed by, and someone I knew in the store told me that this was the sound of horse hooves. At that time, Mr. Ma was wearing a blue tunic suit. He was free and elegant, elegant and refined, exuding an elegant temperament. Although he did not talk to Mr. Ma, he was impressed by his literati charm.
The real contact with Ma Lao came from the fact that I joined the "Xiangxi Literary Society" founded by a group of literature enthusiasts. Ma Lao was the founder of the "Phoenix Shen Congwen Literary Society" at that time. According to current parlance, we are non-governmental and Mr. Ma is official. Although he is a little panicked, it does not affect Mr. Ma's status as a "big boss" in our hearts. I remember that one time, a teacher from the Hunan Press and Publication Bureau came to Phoenix for research. The "Xiangxi Literary Society" organized a camellia party and invited Mr. Ma to have a discussion. When everyone introduced each other, Mr. Ma and I had the opportunity to talk for the first time. Mr. Ma is very easy-going and very humble, making him very easy to get along with. Mr. Ma spoke at the meeting and asked us Phoenix students, including himself, to follow Master Congwen as a model, study hard, and create more in-depth and high-quality articles.
A hundred schools of thought contended and a hundred flowers bloomed. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, literary groups sprung up across the country. At that time, we were full of ambition and enthusiasm, and we made "Xiangxi Literature" very impressive, and we became somewhat famous in the literary circle of Western Hunan. Especially the editor-in-chief Tian Xiaoqing, who spent every month's salary in order to publish the newspaper, lived frugally, and even borrowed money to sell off his properties. People who knew him said he was crazy. He stayed up late for a long time and wrote under the lamp. He wrote prose, poetry, and scripts. It is no exaggeration to say that the manuscripts he wrote could be packed into several sacks. He was such a talented man who worked hard to realize his dream of literature. Unfortunately, he fell down due to cancer and never stood up again. He had not yet celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday when he left.
On the morning of the funeral, snowflakes suddenly appeared in the clear sky. I walked at the front of the procession holding high a wreath from the "Xiangxi Literary Society". The elegiac couplet was written by Mr. Ma himself; Nanhua was speechless. To commemorate the literary craziness of my border town, Tuojiang sheds tears for my Phoenix students.
Many years later, Brother Xiaoqing has always lived in my heart. It is said that in the two years after his death, his family also received royalties from newspapers and magazines from various places. It’s just that we were too embarrassed to fulfill his last wish. "Xiangxi Literature" struggled for two years after his death. , eventually ceased publication due to lack of funding sources, and those of us were scattered everywhere. Since then, I have also been far away from my hometown. I have been wandering around in other places for more than 20 years to make a living, and I never had the opportunity to ask Mr. Ma for advice. But there are quite a few disciples of Mr. Ma who have been advancing on this literary road, such as Xiong You, Liu Yang, Liu Xiao, Bai Kui, Wen Jie, Chen Li, and some whose names can no longer be named. It is said that some of them have become journalists, some have become full-time writers, and some have published books and are still wandering in other places.
More than twenty years have passed, and I still dare not visit Mr. Ma every time I go home. It’s not that I don’t have time, but I feel ashamed. The main reason is that I have no achievements and can’t produce good works to meet Mr. Ma. old. There is more of a sense of vicissitudes in my writing, and the style is extremely gloomy, which is really undesirable. When it comes to vicissitudes of life, I feel ashamed in front of Mr. Ma. In the long river of time, what I have experienced is just a drop in the ocean, but what Mr. Ma has experienced is a lifetime of ups and downs. But what is reflected in Ma Lao's words is bright and sunny, full of an upward spirit, inspiring the world, while what I express in my words is a kind of decadence of moaning without illness and living in the present. Of course, I subconsciously want to have the kind of enlightenment state of life like Mr. Ma, but I may have wandered for too long. The surrounding environment in reality forced me to change my instinctive original intention, and I couldn't see through all the inducements, which added a lot of troubles.
Fortunately, a few articles about Phoenix can still be found at the edge of Ma Lao’s writing, but I feel they are far from enough. When I write about my hometown, I just write about the scenery that I see with my eyes. When Ma Lao writes about Phoenix, he writes about the depth of his heart. The hometown I wrote about looks pleasant and pleasant to read, but it still lacks the support of a cultural background, so it lacks local flavor. The Phoenix written by Ma Lao does not have too many gorgeous rhetoric, but it is so real and readable. It exudes a strong local flavor in the background. Whether it is "Humanistic Journey", "Old Things in the Ancient City" or even the stories and chapters recorded in Ma Lao's other collections of works, they all demonstrate philosophy and strong nostalgia. Before reading the text carefully, just looking at the titles, you will feel Extremely kind. Ma Lao's words are actually the true portrayal of Phoenix. Human geography, customs and customs illustrate the origin of Phoenix and record its transformation.
Reading Ma Lao's words is the most comfortable spiritual enjoyment when you are lying on the bed after a meal. There is no pressure or tediousness. When you enter Ma Lao's words, you will enter the tranquility of the soul, making people indulge in it and forget the hustle and bustle. , just like the landscape of Fenghuang Ancient City.
I wrote "Phoenix, that long ancient alley", which aroused some recognition and buzz. It was reprinted many times on the Internet, and was also listed as a reading test answer question and a graduate question by many schools. Mock test questions, but looking at "Old Street" written by Ma Lao, it is a completely different style. He described the scenery of the old street in more detail that will never come back, and more profoundly interpreted the long and heavy weight of the old street. From the perspective of literature and art, there are still some differences between my "old alley" and Mr. Ma's "old street" in terms of experience, understanding, and profound emotions.
Although Xu and Mr. Ma have been apart for a long time, he still remembers Mr. Ma’s appearance more than 20 years ago. I had an opportunity when I got home, and my friend gave me a book by Ma Lao to read. Only then did I realize that the silver-haired Ma Lao on the front page was from Plum Blossom Lane. Later, I went to the red Internet prose forum and read Ma Lao. Only after reading some old and new poetry works, as well as some articles written by literary friends for Ma Lao, can I believe that the person from Plum Blossom Lane who left a message for my post in the red Internet prose forum is really the Ma Lao I have always respected. There was a sense of joy and a hint of enlightenment. Mr. Ma must have forgotten the trivial matters of those years, and of course he could not remember me as a former student. In fact, I rarely read what others have written. I only paid attention to "Three Friends of Phoenix" a few days ago because of the post about going to Phoenix on the red Internet prose forum. I didn't expect that these three friends were old friends, whether they were Mr. Ma or the Madman from the Western Regions. Uncle Liu and I have all seen my posts on the forum, but they still feel a little regretful that they were not able to get together with a few seniors and have a drink with them.
Mr. Ma kept writing throughout his life, and his works of millions of words make us ashamed. Reading Ma Lao's articles already makes me feel in awe, and I am afraid that my literary attainments will be even worse in this life. Of course, there is also pride. Mr. Ma is my hometown. I once called myself Mr. Ma’s student. He is worthy of being the only Phoenix scholar that Mr. Huang Yongyu respects. He can be regarded as the second Shen Congwen in Phoenix. There is an immortal phoenix in the sky over Xiangxi.
No words can express what I want to express in my heart. Only in this foreign land thousands of miles away from home, only on this occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, can I ask for the bright moon above my head, I send my heartfelt wishes from afar and wish Mr. Ma well.