Read Chaozhou (2)

It was late at night when I arrived in Chaozhou yesterday, and I entered the long-awaited Chaozhou City in the dark. Chaozhou is silent in the middle of the night, just like the culture carried by this city.

Although Chaozhou has produced many tide merchants, the construction of the city is much more conservative than we thought. When I first entered Chaozhou last night, I thought I had returned to Deqing, but the road was wider than Deqing.

When I first arrived in Chaozhou, I was full of curiosity about everything around me. Face the window, stare big eyes to capture the street view that can't be seen at all in the dark. Navigation accompanied us all the way through the streets and lanes, and finally came to the residence booked by our companion Qiu Zi in advance.

The residence we chose this time is a folk house, which is also a popular homestay in recent years. This morning, Sister Xinye told me that this old house has a history of 100 to 200 years, and now it was built by those overseas Chinese. I leaned against the wall outside the house and looked at the fallen leaves in the corner of the yard, lost in thought. Sister Xinye's words seem to tell me that every brick and tile here is full of stories belonging to this family.

Those fallen leaves are leaves from trees in the yard. Looking at this old house full of stories, I wonder, who once lived here? What happened here? Who was born here? Who left here? Faces I don't know flashed through my mind like movies.

The old house is called Laocuo in Minnan dialect and Chaoshan dialect. This old house naturally deserves to be called Laocuo. Since childhood, I like the old men in Minnan and Chaoshan very much, and the things I like are permeated from layout to connotation. I didn't know why I liked them when I was a child, but now I understand that these buildings not only have obvious regional characteristics, but also permeate China's traditional cultural thoughts. With the change of lifestyle, the old people have changed. Take the old building where we live as an example. From a traditional house to a homestay. Most people who come here are people like us. In a sense, we are just passers-by in Chaozhou. It seems that this old man has a new meaning because of us.

I have been to the former residence of Liang Qichao in Xinhui for more than five times, and every time I go there, I get different results. The last time I went there was at this time last year. Liang Qichao grew up in this former residence of Liang Qichao when he was a child, where he studied as a child. In the past, this was Liang Qichao's home. But now it has become an educational base. Because of Liang Qichao's existence, this old house has a new meaning.

We also have old houses at home, but long-term uninhabited old houses have long been a paradise for small animals to find happiness. Only on some important festivals, the elders will bring some offerings and incense back to their old houses to clean up and worship their ancestors. The main hall in the old house has long lost its luster, and more is covered with a coat of a small ancestral hall. Decorated with incense, it seems sacred here. This is my old house, from living to offering sacrifices. If people really have gods in the sky, then these ancestors must not have thought that they lived here to eat when they were alive, and they would still receive incense here after death.

People need a reason to live, and architecture also needs a reason to exist. Everything must exist for a reason. Just like this spring rain tonight, although it was caught off guard, it still washed the soul and air. Late at night, sitting in front of the old man's window listening to the rain, people can often really release their souls and lives in the silent night. On a rainy night in Gu Xiang, in front of the old man's window, I listened to the sound of rain and pursued the secret here.

Written on the night of 201April 4 18 in Chaozhou.