I heard him oh, short and loud, and then his eyes and mouth opened at the same time, and he looked at us for a long time with this expression. The Dragon Translator and I smiled at each other, and he smiled at once, followed by a few laughs and a wide grin at the distance. This black Ivorian, like many of his compatriots, exaggerated his surprise or disappointment.
And I seem to be used to shrinking. For example, I knew the company's plan a month ago, and I also knew that I would suggest a route for this plan. Sometimes I draw a line on the map of China with a pencil in the conference room, and Mr. Bumba talks with Chief Engineer China at the other end of the conference room. Sometimes he would come over and greet me loudly, look at the map of China and give me a thumbs-up. I replied politely, quietly, and continued to draw a line with him. The company requires this line to run through five cities in China. My pencil lingers in many cities. My choice of city is harsh, and I strive for a perfect journey. I imagine they represent a region, a style or memories of ancient times.
This picky and meticulous also stems from my affection for Mr. Bamba. The bridge expert studied in Europe when he was young and lived in Venice, Italy for a long time. Boast that you have read The Travels of Marco Polo. He has a soft spot for oriental culture. He likes silk and China food, and he uses chopsticks skillfully.
These elements remind me of a city in China.
Known as Venice of the East, the water is comparable to Venice, bridges extend in all directions through the city, paddle boats cross the river, silk and stories.
Yes, it is Suzhou. Only Suzhou.
My pencil points to this 2500-year-old Jiangnan ancient city on the map. A city sung by literati and poets in past dynasties is something I have never set foot in. I circled a striking mark and decided not to erase it. As the host, I accompanied two foreigners to the city they yearned for, and no one knew that I was secretly pleased again and again.
Mr. Bamba just walked through the door of the conference room. His tall and fat body was wrapped in a flowered shirt. He whistled and snapped his fingers like a cheerful bear.
It was in 20 10 that I gave a night berth near Fengqiao to Xia Jing, a French translator, and also gave her the Humble Administrator's Garden and Canglang Pavilion. At the same time, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road all flocked to her. This young girl who just graduated from the French Department was arranged by the company to receive the Bamba couple with me. I gave her all the old Suzhou in my poems and paintings. I asked her to talk about Suzhou and Venice together. She blinked like a doll and translated a Suzhou on paper as if she had finished the homework assigned by the teacher.
That summer, Bamba and his wife came to China in African robes, which were their dresses. Mrs. Bamba wears a complicated and delicate braid. She said there were hundreds of braids. Her two maids spent four days knitting her real curly and soft hair and wearing a wig. It's firm and solid, and it won't be messy even if you wash your hair.
The four of us have just stepped into Suzhou.
Of course, we went to Hanshan Temple, Zhang Ji's Hanshan Temple. We listened to Xia Jing read this ancient poem aloud in French. I know that even in French, Mr. Bamba could not understand the feelings of a poor scholar thousands of years ago. Actually, I don't understand either Language conversion and cultural differences reduce the amount of information that Mr. Bamba accepts, and the passage of time makes it impossible for me to walk into the sadness of the ancients.
When we went to Ping He Jiang to board the paddle boat, Mrs. Bamba shouted, Oh, Gandora. I know she thought of the little pointed boat on the Venice lagoon. The difference is that in Venice, there are boatmen in uniforms and tights, while on Pingjiang, there are mostly thin and gentle Jiangnan boatmen.
Mr. Bamba stood at the bow of the boat, and his huge body was somewhat incongruous with the narrow river. He bent down when he crossed the bridge. He is very concerned about those small bridges and flowing water, which is probably his professional concern.
Pingjiang Road is not far from Humble Administrator's Garden. I suggest walking. On the way, Mrs. Bamba bought some clothes and scarves in several silk shops, and her braids hanging over her shoulders also aroused the curiosity of the clerk. Mr. Bumba sometimes takes one from her husband's head with a bad smile and hands it to the clerk. In each other's surprise, he left with a smile.
When we entered the Humble Administrator's Garden, I found that the bridge expert was a little silent in the whole process, which seemed to be inconsistent with his uninhibited personality. According to my expectation, it is reasonable that he should always exclaim. After coming out of the garden, he drank water in a cold drink shop. He swallowed and said to Xia Jing and me, Mariam, Aidai, I'm sorry, I don't like this garden. Mariam and Adai are French names for Xia Jing and me. He and his wife called us that all the way.
Mr. Bumba is surprisingly straightforward. He said that the landscape in the Humble Administrator's Garden was fake, as beautiful as his wife's braid, but it was fake. He has been joking about his wife's fake braid and sometimes sneers at it.
Xia Jing leng for a while, didn't speak. The girl who has just entered the society doesn't know how to answer Mr. Bamba. The accompanying task she envisioned should be full of praise in the joy of everyone. Many times we are not used to not praising, but are eager to praise and ignore the falsehood. Even I stare at such objections. I think this is the wisdom of our ancients and the perfect combination of oriental aesthetics and architecture. He probably doesn't understand oriental philosophy and aesthetics, and he doesn't understand our interest in creating a landscape of harmony between man and nature. He doesn't understand this cultural background, the reserve and delicacy of the orientals.
Mr. Bumba doesn't care about our feelings. He said, why is the mountain fake and confined in a narrow space? Plants are twisted and grow according to people's will?
Xia Jing and I exchanged expressions, and we were silent. I want Xia Jing to ask him whether the ultimate artificial beauty goes against nature in his eyes. Suddenly I feel that this question is too big for me to answer. Let's forget it.
In fact, Suzhou is very strange to me. A city with a history of 2500 years, I know more about its past stories from books. It's not far from where I live, but I haven't been able to intervene before. I have been to distant Venice, which is called Suzhou in the west. In that city like Suzhou, I can't forget my return. When I set foot in Suzhou, I felt that the real Suzhou was not like Venice. What did I miss? Or is there something missing in this city?
After a hasty trip, I went to work in Africa again. Later, Mr. Bamba was transferred from our company and he went to another African country.
……
Time flies for years.
One day, I received a WeChat from Xia Jing, who said she was in Poland. She said that the center of Warsaw is like a village, dotted with lakes and forests. Green is not an island or a captive in this city, but the shelterbelt outside the city is integrated, open and broad. She said Warsaw was the most beautiful city she had ever seen.
The girl who loves gardening has wandered around many places in Europe these years. Every time I go to a foreign city, she will write me a few words and share her experiences and feelings. I wrote back to tease her and said, Adai, where do you think Mariam is now? She sent me a question mark, and I replied that I was in Suzhou, to be exact, in New Suzhou, on the east bank of Taihu Lake, which Suzhou called High-tech Zone.
As it happens, I am really in Suzhou.
I watched pear blossoms in Shushan Village under Dayang Mountain in Suzhou High-tech Zone. I just learned about Shushan Village. My friend said, if you come to Suzhou, come to Shushan. Spring has come, and pear blossoms have subverted your colorful memory of spring as snow.
The pear blossoms here are not one courtyard and two houses, or even one slope and two slopes, but thousands of acres are endless. The snow in the south of the Yangtze River is faint, sticking to the green of Dayangshan, like a spoony Jiangnan woman sticking to her lover. Flowers are the love confessions of plants, compared with pear flowers. Because of their whiteness, compared with peach blossoms and apricot blossoms, there is a pure sublimation. However, comparing flowers to love is still a cliche after all. Let's talk about the ecology of shushan. Xia Jing is also very interested in this topic. A friend said that there are two grounded themes in Shushan: health preservation and Lohas. As soon as I heard these four simple and straightforward words, I couldn't help admiring them. They are the simplest, simplest and most human. The natural environment in Shushan is extremely suitable for the growth of fruit trees, and returning farmland to fruit forests is the simplest respect for nature. Of course, this aspect has also won enough returns from nature. Cuiguan pear, Myrica rubra and the best Biluochun in Shushan are three famous treasures. The mountains are still the same, without increasing a penny, the land is still the same, without expanding a penny, but the world has become wider. People and environment just changed the way they get along. Just like lovers, you have me and I have you, and you are bound to sing and dance. In Shushan Village overlooking Dayang Mountain in bloom, the flowers are beautiful and fruity, and there are more green flowers that purify the soul. The mountainous Dayang Mountain is not a small bonsai in Suzhou. It winds 20 miles to the west and reaches the east bank of Taihu Lake, forming a vast landscape belt with 36,000 hectares of Taihu Lake.
This seems to have the same effect as Warsaw described by Xia Jing. We had a hot chat on wechat. We talk about places we have walked or not, across the ocean, across Wan Li.
Xia Jing's letter also reminds me of Mr Bumba.
I am on the east bank of Taihu Lake, walking on the 25-kilometer-long highway along the lake, and I have been thinking about the memories left by Mr. Bamba in Suzhou.
I stood high on the embankment, facing the wind blowing across the lake, looking at the sails in the distance and watching the nearby boats shuttle through the reeds. In the lake, some waterfowl fly lightly. I even thought of gondola, a Venetian ship crossing the Adriatic Sea and lagoon. It suddenly occurred to me that if Mr. Bamba came to Suzhou at this time and came to the shore of Taihu Lake, would he think that Suzhou is similar to Venice, and Taihu Lake and Adriatic Sea are similar? After this question popped out of my mind, I quickly laughed at myself. I don't have to worry about image or not. Suzhou is confident enough to say that Suzhou is Suzhou and Suzhou is Suzhou.
If Xia Jing comes, maybe I can ask her to translate the sentences in The Book of Songs and read them to Mr. Bamba. "The white dew is frost, and the so-called Iraqis are on the water side." How beautiful, there is no sadness. This Iraqi should be a city. With the construction of Suzhou High-tech Zone, Gusu City is no longer only proud of garden art, but is surrounded by real benevolence and wisdom.
I don't know where Mr Bumba is now. He is a man who runs around the world to build bridges. If I have his WeChat number, if I can communicate with him deeply in French, I can write him a long letter now. I will tell him that Suzhou has the other half of the scenery, which is the real scenery. There are mountains and water, and mountains are really water.
Or I can discuss urban construction with him more deeply. The city has been naturalized again, and pure ecological countryside, countryside and mountains have entered the city as elements of the city. The city and nature have a new way to get along.
And the ancient city is still there. It must be there. Suzhou will proudly announce to the world: what was the ancient city 500 years ago and what is the ancient city today.
Suzhou is a Dapeng spreading its wings. The ancient city and the new district are its wings. With rich and balanced wings, Dapeng will fly higher and farther.
Mr. Bamba, Suzhou, the other half of the scenery invites you.