Wu Qingheng’s text "The Old Man and the Seagull"

Author: Deng Qiyao

It was an ordinary winter day. When my friend and I met at Green Lake, seagulls were flying lively.

It was easy to spot the old man among the crowd feeding the seagulls. He was already hunched over, wearing a faded and out-of-date cloth coat, and carrying a faded blue cloth bag. Even the large plastic bag containing bird feed had faded from use. My friend told me that this old man walked more than 20 miles every day from the suburbs of the city to Green Lake just to deliver meals to the seagulls and keep them company.

The place with few people is his territory to feed the seagulls. The old man carefully placed the biscuits on the fence by the lake, took a step back, raised his beak and called to the gulls. Immediately a group of seagulls came in response and swept it clean in a few strokes. The old man walked along the railing and let the seagulls rise and fall according to his rhythm, forming a flying white sheet and flying into a colorful musical score.

Amidst the chirping of seagulls, the old man sang something in a measured tone. Listening carefully, it turned out to be local dialects that were so intimate that they changed the tone - "one-legged", "gray-headed", "red-mouthed", "old sand", "princess"...

"You picked it up for the seagull" Name?" I couldn't help but ask.

The old man looked back at me and still leaned towards the seagull: "Of course, each one has a name."

"Do you recognize them?" The same white wings were on the seagull. The sunlight flashed so fast that I doubted the old man could see clearly.

"Look, look! The one with the ring on his foot is Lao Sha!" The old man pointed it out to me proudly. He suddenly shouted to the water: "One leg! Lao Sha! Get up. "Wait!" Two seagulls jumped up from the water and flew towards the old man. As expected, one seagull's feet shone with metal, and another flew over and pecked at the old man's hand. It has only one foot and has to flap its wings to maintain balance when it lands. It seemed that it had one leg. The old man was feeding it and talking to it affectionately.

When talking about seagulls, the old man’s eyes immediately became vivid. "Seagulls value friendship the most and are careful. The year before last, a seagull rested on my hat five times the day before it flew away from Kunming. I thought it was playing tricks on me, but later I realized that it was saying goodbye to me. It didn't come last year, and it didn't come this year... Seagulls are auspicious birds, birds of happiness! The ancients said, "White gulls bring poems wherever they fly." More than ten years ago, when seagulls came, I knew our luck was coming. Look at them. That little look! Tsk..." When the seagulls heard the old man calling, they immediately flew over and surrounded him, causing passers-by to stop and watch. The sun was setting in the west, and the old man's plastic bag was empty. "It's getting late, and they will go back in a while. I heard that they rest in Dianchi Lake, but it's a pity that I can't go." The old man looked at the gulls hovering in the sky with hope in his eyes. My friend told me that for more than ten years, the old man has been coming here every day in winter, and he and the seagulls are like relatives.

Unexpectedly, more than ten days later, someone suddenly told us: The old man passed away.

Hearing this news, we seemed to see the old man and the seagulls accompanying each other by the green lake again... We enlarged the photo of the old man feeding the seagulls for the last time and brought it to the green lake. An unexpected thing happened: a group of seagulls suddenly flew over, circling around the old man's portrait, and screamed repeatedly. The sounds and postures were very different from usual, as if something big had happened. We were very surprised and hurriedly backed away from the old man's photo to make way for the seagulls.

The seagulls flapped their wings rapidly and took turns flying into the air in front of the old man's portrait, like relatives who came to pay their last respects. The old man in the photo was silently watching the seagulls circling around him and his "sons and daughters" who had been with him for many winters. After a while, the seagulls landed one after another and stood in two rows in front of and behind the old man's portrait. They stood still, like white-winged angels guarding the old man. When we had to put away the portrait, the seagulls rushed towards the portrait like an explosion. They screamed loudly and flapped their wings so close that we finally got out of the flying white vortex...

At the funeral for the old man, we carried the portrait Walk slowly towards the mourning hall. The old man was carrying the blue cloth bag and pouting, as if he was still calling to the seagulls. In his heart, there must be a flock of flying gulls.

Seagull Fairy Tale:

"Old Seagull" ten-year memorial ceremony - a true fairy tale from a winter in Kunming more than ten years ago "If it weren't for the discovery of this old seagull through photography, the old man Together with the story of him and the seagulls, they will be lost in the grass, and no one will know or remember them." Photographer Li Zhixiong turned on his computer and listened to the accompaniment of Sarabraman's "Eternal Love". , the story of "the old man and the seagull" has been left to the people of Kunming forever along with the precious images. "Every time I show this burned film to the students, they burst into tears." Li Zhixiong, who teaches photography class, said while demonstrating the photos. One day at the end of 1995, I was resting in a movie salon owned by a friend by Cuihu Lake. While chatting, I discovered that an old man was feeding seagulls by Cuihu Lake across the road. He fed seagulls differently from others. He didn’t throw them away, but fed them. The food is placed on the railing, waiting for the seagulls to finish, and then placed some more, and waiting for the seagulls to finish again. The next day, I saw him again in the same place, also feeding seagulls. I chatted with my friend and said that this old man had been coming for two days. My friend who owned a store said that this old man came often.

I took my camera and went over to chat with the old man. At first, the old man ignored me and didn't want me to take pictures. Later I asked him if he was from the environmental protection department. The old man said excitedly: "Who said I am from the environmental protection department? I am a worker. "At that moment, based on my sensitivity to the subject, I knew that this old man would be a very important subject for photography. The old man and I chatted slowly, and our constant contact made us friends. He told me that he graduated from Southwest Associated University. After graduating from school, he was accused of being a rightist because of his radical thoughts when he was talking to others. He was once accused of sabotaging a military marriage and was sentenced to jail because a colleague's family cooked for him. He then avoided interacting with people. The seagull is his only confidant. There was once a female photographer who wanted to take a picture of him, but was extremely rudely rejected by the old man. The photographer took photos of the old man from a distance. After getting along for a long time, I gradually understood the old man's situation. The old man’s monthly retirement salary is 308 yuan. During the time when Haiou came to Kunming, half of the old man’s salary was used to buy Haiou’s food. After breakfast every morning, the old man would take the seagull food prepared the night before and go into the city to feed the seagulls. He was reluctant to take the 50-cent bus. He walked more than ten kilometers into the city and often did not arrive at Cui until after 12 noon. Lake, feed the seagulls for a while, and the old man has to walk back to the western suburbs of Kunming Chemical Factory before 3 o'clock. When I was having dinner at the factory, I picked up some steamed buns that others had thrown away. After I got home in the evening, I cut the steamed buns into pieces, and combined them with the flour, sugar, and eggs I bought for the seagulls to make seagull food. Bring it to the seagulls, over and over again. When the old man was feeding the gulls, he would chatter endlessly with the seagulls. He kept talking to the seagulls while feeding them. Look, the way he communicated with the seagulls was a complete spiritual communication. Seagulls are very familiar with the old man. For example, the old man rescued a seagull with only one leg. The old man called it "one leg". As long as the old man shouted, the one leg would jump out of the water. There were also other gray-topped seagulls. , Tsar, the old man has many familiar elf friends. At this time, I stepped aside to take pictures so as not to disturb him. The old man once asked me to take photos for him, and I promised to give him a set after taking the photos. I also promised to take the old man to see where the seagulls sleep at night. I haven’t seen the old man for two days. Suddenly, I saw the old man wearing a brand-new hand-sewn clothes and hobbling to Green Lake to feed the seagulls. The old man was very weak. When he sat by Green Lake and fed the gulls, his body was bent into a bow. Such a curve. I greeted the old man and he said that he had been sick for the past two days and had only eaten one bowl of noodles in three days. He felt better today and came to see the seagulls. I didn't notice anything after taking the photo. I didn't see the old man the next day, and I didn't see the old man on the third day. On the fourth day, I suddenly had the idea that something might have happened to the old man. As soon as this idea came to me, I immediately called my friends in "Camellia" and the TV station. We immediately bought some tonics and drove to see the old man, but we didn't know it was already too late. The old man passed away the night before. The old man's room only had room for a bed and a large English-Chinese dictionary. Neighbor Master Bao said that the old man was reluctant to buy a radio that cost more than ten yuan. He liked to listen to Peking opera. When Master Bao played it, he would ask Master Bao to amplify the sound. The only valuable things in the house were 6 eggs and a small bag of flour, which were brought for the seagulls to eat. A master from the factory's deregulation office said that the old man had never reimbursed his medical expenses for more than 30 years. Before his death, he only had a cold. There is a photo of a very small seagull hanging in front of the old man's bed. I heard that he spent 3 yuan to ask someone from Cuihu Park to help take the photo. The seagull in the photo is very small. I was so sad to see it. I failed to do both of the things I promised the old man. One thing is to give the old man a set of photos of himself and seagulls, and the other is to take him to see where the seagulls sleep. Unexpectedly, he missed the appointment... After Li Zhixiong said this, he fell silent and reached out to wipe his eyes. We printed the obituary of the old man’s death in Green Lake. I enlarged the last photo of the old man to 24 inches and held the old man’s memorial service by Green Lake. Many people recognized Old Seagull and many people looked at the photo. Sign your name and fill in all the blank spaces in the photo. The most surprising thing is that the seagulls stood in front of the portrait of the old man for a long time and did not leave. When we were about to take away the photo, the seagulls pounced on us, almost flapping us with their wings. When we saw off the old man, many people from Kunming came. Mr. Wang Zijiang from the Bird Association rushed to the Anning Funeral Home in a taxi. There was no eulogy, no sorrow or joy. Friends came with photos of seagulls and placed them in the arms of the old man, where they were reduced to ashes together with the old man. Li Zhixiong said that the old man changed my lens. My camera now focuses more on ordinary little people, and their joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys deeply infected and moved me. The group of photos of Old Seagull made Li Zhixiong win the gold medal in the "Man and Nature" of the 6th Journalism Award. After Old Man Seagull, Li Zhixiong also photographed several families who love seagulls, but "none of them, like the old man, regard seagulls as an indispensable part of life, as a necessity of life, and as their own children." Treat people more as an embellishment of life.

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