May 1st#
I don't know if it's because of the continuous rain that has increased the humidity, combined with the spicy food I've been eating for the past few days, causing my body to become inflamed. The wisdom tooth that had already emerged has started to swell and ache again. "Toothache is not a disease, but it can be fatal when it hurts." This is true. I feel a throbbing pain in my brain. We ran out of acetaminophen at home, so I took advantage of the rainless afternoon and quickly went to the pharmacy to buy some more.
Next to the pharmacy used to be a family of three who made spicy hot pot, but now they have started making oil pancakes. I had them once a few months ago, and they tasted pretty good. Today, when I came out of the pharmacy, I saw that their stove was already lit, so I bought two pancakes for dinner.
Watching the dough wrapped with filling being rolled into a thin sheet on the cutting board, and then fried in a shallow pan until golden and crispy, is really appetizing. Of course, this kind of food should be eaten in moderation. It's okay to satisfy a craving occasionally.
There are two oil pancake shops that I can't forget. One is in the Songcheng Scenic Area in Hangzhou, and the other is on the street in Chengdu last year. The first time I went to Songcheng as a child, when I was very hungry, I ate an oil pancake called "Wu Dalang Pancake," and it tasted delicious. Later, when I accompanied friends, I also recommended it, but I don't know if it still exists and if it still tastes good. The oil pancake in Chengdu was seen while I was wandering around last year. It was a young couple, with the girl making the pancakes and the boy frying them and packaging them. At that time, my friend C jokingly said, "If we had such skills, we could also set up a stall."
Acheng wrote in "Homesickness and Protease":
When a person is not fully developed, there are many possibilities for the composition of proteases. With the types of food entering the small intestine, the types and structures of proteases gradually form and become fixed... So the admonition from elders to "not be picky eaters" will affect the future of children. The reason is that you should eat various foods as early and as much as possible, so that the formation of your proteases can be as complete as possible. Then you won't be afraid of anything and can digest everything, which is half of a happy life. Therefore, the so-called homesickness, I have observed, is basically caused by eating unfamiliar food, which is difficult to digest, and then it starts to affect one's mood.
This has scientific basis and also matches my observations. Let's consider it as a "truth" for now.
The reason why I love eating oil pancakes can be traced back to my childhood when my ancestors used to make them for me. When I was a child, I was very picky about food. I wouldn't eat anything that was too hot, too cold, too salty, or too bland... I could list many things that I wouldn't eat. During holidays, my ancestors would make my favorite sweet and sour spare ribs and oil pancakes. My family members even teased me, saying, "I've never seen a child from any other family eat spare ribs with pancakes."
In order to change my bad habit, my father would send me to live with relatives in the mountains as soon as summer vacation started. At that time, the mountains were not accessible by car, only by narrow paths formed by people's footsteps. Lu Xun's saying, "There was no road in the world, but when more people walked, it became a road," was quite realistic. It took about an hour to walk from the drop-off point to the place I stayed. The first time I went, everything felt new. There was a section of road covered in coal ash, and I didn't recognize it. I asked my father seriously, "Why didn't they sweep the road? It's all black."
In the late 1990s, the mountains were still very poor. We lived in adobe houses and ate vegetables we grew ourselves. Originally, my uncle wanted to kill a chicken to treat us, but my father refused. My cousin was afraid that I would eat too plain, so he went to the river to catch a fish. Even though I hadn't started elementary school at that time, I knew that they were trying very hard to make me eat better. During meals, I didn't show pickiness, but instead ate happily in a performative manner.
At that time, there were no computers or cell phones. At night, my cousin set up a big bed in the rice field in front of the house, and we lay down to watch the stars and listen to them tell stories. My father and uncle took a plastic bottle, drilled a small hole in it, and caught a bottle of fireflies from the mountain valley.
Every summer vacation, I would go to the mountains to stay for a month, until the fifth grade of elementary school. Not only did I get rid of my picky eating habits, but I also learned some farming. In my memory, I carried two baskets of vegetables from the vegetable garden back home, trembling but still stubbornly refusing help, with my shoulders scraped. I fetched water from the well to water the vegetables. I picked wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms in the woods with my cousin, and also collected a lot of firewood along the way. I chopped wood, sawed wood, and learned how to start a fire. I carried a hoe to dig the ground...
Those days were really beautiful!
May 2nd#
This morning, I saw the news that the number of casualties on the Meida Expressway has increased to 36. Alas, who could have imagined such a heartbreaking incident.
I have heard several local friends from Guangdong say, "Did we offend the Dragon King this year?" They are also worried that with this continuous rain, coupled with dragon boat rain in the near future, the disaster will be even more severe.
At the beginning of April, when I was flying back from Guangzhou to Beijing, my flight was canceled three times due to severe convective weather. At the end of the month, when I returned to Guangzhou, C looked at the weather forecast and suggested that we buy sleeper tickets. I thought I would just sleep and arrive, but I didn't expect that the next morning, shortly after leaving Hengyang Station, the train stopped. We had to wait until noon to be informed that the railway ahead had been destroyed by floods and we could only return to Hengyang Station. Although the station promised to provide free high-speed rail transportation to Guangzhou, I didn't know how long we would have to wait, so I simply returned the ticket and rented a car to drive home.
It took more than five hours on the road, and about four hours of that was in the rain. The rain in Hunan was relatively light, but once we entered Guangdong, it was pouring rain. When passing through Qingyuan, the rain was pouring down as if the sky had opened up. C looked at many villages below the highway that were submerged by floodwaters and said with concern, "The disaster has struck just as spring planting has begun." Although the highway was not flooded, there was still a lot of standing water, and the tires were slipping. I had to slow down, drive in one lane, not too fast, and not change lanes randomly.
Shortly after entering Guangzhou, my father called to ask where we were. Hearing the rain hitting the windshield, he was very nervous. I was also nervous. It was already night, and it was raining heavily. Driving on the highway was already unsafe.
I want to mention one thing specifically. In the past few days, the suicide of a young man in his early twenties in Chongqing has been trending on social media. Some people are pointing fingers and making judgments about the deceased. Even if someone has chosen to end their life, can't we show some respect for the deceased? They have made such a choice, even if you don't agree, please don't analyze or even slander the deceased with the tone of a winner. Have some humanity, don't reveal your inherent vulgarity so blatantly.
That's all for the May Day essays.
May 3rd#
Today, I don't have anything specific to write about. I had a dream during my nap, and after waking up, I composed a poem:
In the south of the river in spring, nowhere to be found, a lonely bed in a distant place.
In the shadow of a dim lamp, I listen but don't rest, a quiet pillow with sounds of sleep.
Thousands of deaths can't eliminate my clumsy livelihood, a hundred worries reduced by the hearts of old friends.
Tomorrow morning, I feel safe and secure, still looking down and yearning for the blue shade.
May 4th#
Today is Youth Day, and I just finished reading the book "Great Masters and Giants." Among them, the chapter describing Fu Siniang, the overall commander of the May Fourth Movement, gave me a different perspective on him.
During the War of Resistance in Kunming, Chen Yinke lived on the third floor and Fu Siniang lived on the first floor. Every time the air raid siren sounded, everyone would run downstairs to the air-raid shelter. But Fu Siniang went against the flow and went up to the third floor to help Chen Yinke, who had an eye condition, down the stairs and then went into the air-raid shelter together.
Fu Siniang was a big man, and although he was a few years younger than Mr. Chen Yinke, his physical condition was not much better. In critical moments, he could still run up to the third floor every time to help Chen Yinke down the stairs and into the air-raid shelter. This kind of bodhisattva-like behavior is not something that ordinary people can do. Doing it once or twice is possible, but doing it every time is very difficult.
Previously, when I read "Southbound," my impression of Fu Siniang was not very good, so I skipped many sections about him. I was too biased, not following a principle I set for myself--
When observing complex historical figures, it's easy to have preconceived notions. So it's better to strip away all the labels from the person and observe their actions, motivations, and life status within their specific historical and cultural context. Mao...
Considering their biological characteristics, psychological state, and the social and economic conditions they were in, it seems that their choices and actions are not that difficult to understand. Of course, I still can't accept it. Although history cannot assume...
History is written by the victors, and it may have been endowed with inappropriate traits or motivations by adding labels such as race, gender, or social status to someone. For example, after the founding of the country...
May 5th#
Yesterday, because of the bad weather and C's sister occupying my desk, I could only lie on the bed and watch TV shows. There haven't been any that really appeal to me recently, so I quickly went from watching TV shows to watching videos of card cheats on Bilibili. The clever techniques are really hard to notice, and the shuffling techniques are so fascinating.
I don't know if there are card cheats in foreign casinos, I haven't heard of any. The dealer can also show that there are no hidden cards in their hands or cuffs when dealing.
When I downloaded Blackjack on my iPad, I saw that Apple had made a standalone Texas Hold'em game, so I had to support it. So, yesterday and this morning, I spent my time playing cards.
Actually, I still haven't memorized the different hands in Texas Hold'em, like straight, full house, it's just too confusing for me. But since it's a computer game, I can just jump right in and play, and I slowly figured out three things:
First, don't be impatient. If the cards are not good, throw them away and wait patiently for an opportunity.
Second, know when to stop. If the opponents clearly have more confidence, don't continue to bet.
Third, don't hesitate when it's time to take action.
I need to make it clear that I am strongly against gambling, as the videos of card cheats mentioned, "Not gambling is winning."
By the way, there's something I want to mention specifically. In the past few days, the suicide of a young man in his twenties in Chongqing has been trending on social media. Some people are pointing fingers and making judgments about the deceased. Even if someone has chosen to end their life, can't we show some respect for the deceased? They have made such a choice, even if you don't agree, please don't analyze or even slander the deceased with the tone of a winner. Have some humanity, don't reveal your inherent vulgarity so blatantly.
That's all for the May Day essays.