Lao Zhang's prose

There are many people surnamed Zhang, many of whom are called "Lao Zhang". I am only 19 years old, but I will also be called Lao Zhang. Among many Lao Zhang, I want to write about Lao Zhang, who has been with me for the longest time. I quarreled with him many times and tried to break up many times, but I finally made up. I call him dad to his face, and I like to call him "Lao Zhang" when writing about him.

Lao Zhang was born in the 1970s. He is now a small director of a small county in southwest China. He wears square glasses and has a big belly. He usually doesn't wear a tie or a suit. He prefers green short-sleeved polo shirts and likes to put them in black pleated sweatpants. Lao Zhang never cares about dressing up, but he firmly believes that his taste is good. He often urges me to learn to dress.

According to my guess, Lao Zhang's confidence in his taste may come from many books he has read. When middle school teachers teach us simplicity, they will say that "people with empty hearts will pay special attention to their clothes", which is probably what this means. The most important thing in Lao Zhang's family is books. Except for the three bookcases, you can find books in any corner of his house, under the sofa cushion, in the seam beside the cupboard, and even on the shoe rack. When cleaning up the house, the most difficult thing is these books, some of which are all dust and some are crushed. Many of these books belong to Lao Zhang. His books are of various types, such as novels, essays, poems and essays. You may find a complete set of "Qin Empire" in his bookcase, and there is also a book "Mind Reading: How to Persuade Others" at his bedside. Many of these books were given to him by his writers and friends. In a small town, friends in the literary circle like to send books to each other once they have written them. He also has some foreign writers and friends, some of whom are well-known throughout the country.

Lao Zhang writes his own books, mainly involving history and culture. The history and culture in the book started from this small place where he lived, and he sorted out all the history that had not been sorted out before in this small place. I found that this small southwest area where I live has a lot to do with the famous Silk Road opened by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, so Lao Zhang found many books to read. Xu Xiake, edgar snow and Zhang Qian ... These people are all familiar to him. He also drove his own green pickup truck to look for relevant historical sites and evidence. Therefore, it was dubbed "Zhang Archaeology" in the county.

Lao Zhang likes to talk about his youth. He was born in the 1970s, and his family was poor. He told me that he didn't have a pair of shoes until high school, and he only had a thin sweater in winter when he was a teacher. It sounds a bit exaggerated, but looking at his past photos, his cheeks are really sunken and he is a "thin monkey" among the local population. In high school, he was the president of the student union. He never played gluttony with others, and won the title of "New Long March Commando" with the Student Union. Although he was poor at school, Lao Zhang was still willing to spend money. He earned fifty dollars by going out to work during the whole holiday and bought a set of Four Great Classical Novels when he came back. There were only two sets in the store at that time. When I was a teacher, few people used bicycles, but he bought a second-hand one. The front wheel handle of that car can turn 360 degrees, and it depends on the foot brake without braking. As soon as I bought this car, many people hitchhiked, one at the bicycle stall in front, one riding a bike and one standing behind. Lao Zhang always told me that "money is earned, not saved". He poured his own tea and encouraged me, a moonlight family, to open an online shop with him to make money instead of thinking about saving money every day.

After graduation, Lao Zhang went to be a Chinese teacher. He still insisted on his view of money, saved his salary and bought a camera. At that time, the camera was almost unique to the studio. He bought a camera not only for his hobby, but also for taking pictures to make money, developing negatives himself and taking pictures of people in photo studios. He received 80 cents, and with good photography skills, the people he photographed were beautiful and natural. As a result, business is booming, and schools

Now Lao Zhang always runs around with his camera. Canon 60D camera has always been automatic in his hand, and he doesn't adjust anything. I want to teach him some basic functions that I know. He is so stubborn that he always thinks that adjusting the aperture shutter is "unnatural". He went to shoot the Manglietia in the temple, stayed in the temple for a few days, climbed the tree and waited for the flowers to bloom; In order to make good tea, I go to Chashan at both ends every three days. Rape blossoms in August, get up at seven o'clock and drive to a nearby village. Because the camera has been in automatic mode, his photos are somewhat influenced by neutral gray, but the light inside is beautiful, and these beautiful light lines are absolutely authentic, even more beautiful than photos. He told me that at seven or eight o'clock in the morning and six or seven o'clock in the evening, when the light hits the face, pressing the shutter will have the same effect as an artistic photo.

Once Lao Zhang took my mother and him to a scenic spot on the mountain in the middle of the night to photograph the town at dawn. This kind of experience is an unimaginable luxury for many people living in big cities. But in that slow-paced town, this is just something that one car can do.

Lao Zhang has also been a reporter for many years. This is his longest job so far, from before I was born until I was admitted to junior high school. Being a reporter is hard work. Always running the news outside, I naturally have less time to go home with my family. There are some photos at home, in which the children look at the camera strangely. This was taken by Lao Zhang after he went out to work for a long time and came home. My mother laughs at Lao Zhang every time she sees it. I didn't know him then.

Many manuscripts written by Lao Zhang when he was a reporter are still in existence. They are all collected from newspapers and put in the old desk drawer in my room. Among them, what impressed me the most was writing a press release about a 60-year-old man running a marathon, which seemed to start with "As I grow older, I feel more and more like a moored boat". Lao Zhang, a journalist who entered the profession in the prosperous era of paper media, used these newspapers to commemorate his media man era like the Death Album. Now Lao Zhang doesn't work as a reporter, and he still remembers some news knowledge. But when the paper media collectively sang bad, in the face of my press release, Lao Zhang said helplessly, "What you are writing now is different from ours."

In 2008, Lao Zhang bought a piece of land on the mountain to grow tea. I can't remember why he began to like tea. In order to grow tea, Lao Zhang bought the green heavy pickup truck and ran on the tea mountain at both ends every three days. He used this pickup truck to transport daily necessities to Chashan, pick up tea pickers and pull the tea to the tea factory for sale. Growing tea is not as simple as drinking tea, nor is it full of comfortable pastoral atmosphere as shown on the screen. When tea trees are first planted, weeding and insect prevention should be considered. When it grows up, it needs to build a crown. When picking tea, you should worry about the weather and look for people to pick tea everywhere. Lao Zhang's tea garden is now on a large scale, and the tea leaves grow neatly and densely. Standing on the mountainside of Chashan, there will be wind and tea fragrance. Friends will always admire Lao Zhang's Chashan, but few people see it. Almost ten years ago, this land was a forest that few people set foot in.

After I went to college, I was far from home. After going home for a period of time every winter and summer vacation, Lao Zhang learned to make video calls and send voice. Every time I chat with him, I will talk for a long time. I always say that doing homework is difficult and tiring. During this period, Lao Zhang planned many activities in that small county, such as photo exhibition and camellia party. Participants come from all over the world. I envy Lao Zhang. It seems that as long as he wants to do something, he can always finish it.

Lao Zhang loves tea. Lao Zhang and his small county, like tea and water, have made each other. My friend Lao Zhang always reminds me to be as diligent and practical as a tea picker.