Chapter 1: Homesickness is an Invisible Net
by Li Wei (立委)
Life comes but once, a river rushing to the sea that never returns. The distillation of a life transcends the life itself. Only when the migrating geese leave their call do you feel you haven't lived in vain. With accumulated experience, with inspiration stirring, with a serene mood and a pot of clear tea — what flows flowingly is not literary craft, but life itself: with its sorrows and joys, its sweat and blood.
Most things in this world follow predictable patterns. So do most human lives. But when an old hand looks back at his footprints, the ordinary parts tend to fade while the legendary ones stand out. And the legendary, by definition, defies belief. Yet what truly instructs us is often the legendary, not the routine. Morning Glory and Afternoon Collection is a legend. Some things in it, I scarcely believe myself. Take this, for example: raising 10 million dollars from the federal government and 11 million from investors within eight years around the turn of the century— fairly rare, right? But it happened, and it happened to us.
Another example: my elder brother's "rebellion" as a nine-year-old commander. I remembered the event, but in the first draft of Little Red Guards I did the math and thought it impossible, so I fudged it: "My brother was the representative of our second-grade class, one of the founders of the revolutionary organization." Later, after verifying with my father and brother, it turned out he WAS the commander, with a fourth-grade strategist as his adjutant. According to my father's account, our family was sent down to the countryside in 1965. Since there was no kindergarten there, I skipped straight from middle kindergarten into first grade elementary, sitting in the same class as my brother. After two months, I somehow advanced with the class to second grade (the plan was to hold me back in first, but the teacher said I was able to keep up). In '66 we were second-graders. School was suspended for the revolution, and the Little Red Guard was formed during that hiatus. The rebellion must have been in '66, because by '67 our family had left that small village town and returned to the county seat.
Morning Glory, Part One: Wandering Far Away
The very word wandering conjures the comic books of my childhood — Zhang Leping's Sanmao the Wanderer.
(to be continued)
朝华午拾 · 第一章：乡愁是一张无形的网
人生只有一次，奔流到海不复还。人生的酿造超越了人生。雁过留声，才感觉没有白活。有积淀，来灵感，准备好心情与清茶。从容流淌的不是文思，而是生活，伴着哀怨喜乐，汗水与泪血。
世界上的事情，多数都是循规蹈矩的常规。人一辈子也大多如此。不过，老帮菜回头看自己的足迹，常规的部分容易忽视，传奇的部分就凸现出来。凡传奇，就不可信。可是能够有启示的，往往是传奇，而不是常规。《朝华午拾》就是传奇。有些事情，我自己都不敢相信。比如，8年内从政府拿到1000万，从投资人拿到1100万的成就，极罕见吧。可它发生了，就在我身上。
再如，老哥九岁当司令造反的事情，我是记得的，可是在《红小兵》初稿中，我一算岁数，觉得不可能，就含糊地写“我哥哥是我们二年级的代表，革命组织发起人之一”。后来跟老爸老哥核实，确实是司令，后面有个四年级的军师辅佐。根据老爸的记述，我家1965年下乡，因为乡下没有幼儿园，我从幼儿园中班，直接插班进入小学一年级，跟我哥哥同班。上了两个月，居然跟班升学到二年级（本来打算留在一年级，可老师说我能跟上）。66年我们在二年级，其间有停学闹革命，匕首小分队就是在停学时期成立的。造反应该在66年，因为67年我家就离开那个小镇回县城了。
朝华之一：流浪远方
写就“流浪”二字，想起小时候看过的《三毛流浪记》来。张乐平后无漫画，大师千古。
From Morning Glory and Afternoon Collection（朝华午拾）. Original Chinese: 乡愁是一张无形的网.
