Chapter 12 Nine

little goshawk Back at the park, at the gate, I met our old gardener Mr. Guo.He was standing on the stone steps in front of the museum, with white hair and eyebrows, and a black body, greeting me. Mr. Guo was the person I met the first night I came to the park.That afternoon, after my father kicked me out of the house, I wandered the streets of Taipei until midnight without any money, and finally walked into a park.I have heard some park stories before, and those stories are like legends of Liaozhai.But that night, I stood alone in front of the stone steps of the park gate museum, looking up at the domed building of the museum, standing majestically under the vast night sky, with a row of stone pillars hugging in front of the gate, I really felt as if I had broken into a Huge ancient tombs in general.I was filled with fear, curiosity, and an uneasy excitement as I walked through the dark jungle of the park.I fumbled into the octagonal pavilion in the center of the lotus pond, huddled in a corner, held my breath, and peeped out through the window of the pavilion.Under the dim red moonlight, for the first time, I saw those black shadows on the steps by the pool, surrounding the lotus pond, endlessly, making circles.I was hungry and tired, unable to support myself, curled up on the chair in the pavilion, and finally covered it until a voice called out in my ear:

younger brother I just woke up and sat up quickly.It was Mr. Guo who came in and woke me up. Don't be afraid, brother.Mr. Guo patted my shoulder to comfort me. I fell asleep all over cold, my jaw was shaking all the time, and I couldn't answer.Mr. Guo sat down next to me. Under the hazy moonlight, I could also see Mr. Guo's long white hair, covered behind his ears, like a soft silver thread, his long snow-white eyebrows, Straight to the corner of the eye. Is this your first time coming in?Mr. Guo nodded to me, and sighed with a smile, his voice was old and hoarse, don't be nervous, we are all fellow travelers here.Sooner or later, all of you will fly to this old nest.I am the old gardener here, people here call me Mr. Guo, you have to report to me first when you come.here, look

Guo Lao pointed to the steps of the lotus pond outside, where a tall and thin figure covered in black was swaying past. That skinny guy is Xiao Zhao, everyone calls him Wuchang Zhao.Twelve years ago, I was the one who greeted him when he reported to the park the first night. Twelve years ago?I was surprised. Alas, alas, Old Guo sighed, twelve years is not short?That's right, one night twelve years ago, just like you did tonight, he broke into our den.At that time, he didn't look like an opium ghost, he was a solid, decent young man!Who knows, after a few years, only a few bones are left. I don't think he even weighs a hundred pounds now.When I first came in, I even took a few photos for him, you won’t believe it anymore

Guo Lao shook his head twice. Youth Art Garden, have you heard of it?Old Guo asked me. No. Silly boy, you haven't heard of such a famous photo studio!Mr. Guo smiled and said, "I drove it, and it's on Changchun Road."I used to be a little famous photographer!In fact, I only take pictures for fun, and I like to find some people with aura and personality to take pictures with.For example, these dolls in the park, although they are wild, have a very good personality, which suits my taste best.I have collected a large volume of their photos. Mr. Guo stood up while talking, and said to me:

Brother, I can't sleep here, I'll catch a cold if I fall asleep.Come on, I'll take you back. I still have glutinous rice cakes and mung bean porridge there. Come home with me, and I'll show you my masterpieces. Let me slowly tell you some stories about the park. Guo Lao’s Youth Art Garden is located in an alley on the second section of Changchun Road. It has two floors. The downstairs is a photo studio. There are many artistic portraits in the window. This is Yangfeng, do you know him?Mr. Guo pointed to a photo of a very handsome man in the middle and asked me. I shook my head.

More than ten years ago, he was a popular niche in Taiwanese films, and he was famous for his roles in "Night Rain in Hong Kong" and "City of Sadness". I've heard of "A City of Sadness", but haven't seen it.I said, I remember my mother watched "City of Sadness" three times in the past, and cried once after watching it. Of course you haven’t seen it, it’s a very old film, Mr. Guo said with a smile, Yang Feng sometimes sneaks into the park, now he wears a Parisian hat all the way to cover his head, his The head is open and bald.When he acted in "City of Sadness", he was still very proud!People call him Bao Tianming from Taiwan. Fortunately, I took this photo for him and preserved his youthful appearance.

Mr. Guo led me upstairs, which was his residence.The walls of the living room are also covered with images, with characters and landscapes, all in black and white.Some are a collapsed temple, some are an apricot blossom that just bloomed.There is a whole picture of the face of an old man who is frowning indiscriminately, and another picture is the round and bulging buttocks of a newborn baby. In the past, I participated in many photography competitions, and my portraits won the Golden Tripod Award at the Provincial Film Festival.Now that I'm getting older, I can't do it.Mr. Guo showed me his withered and gnarled hands. He was suffering from rheumatism, and when he picked up the camera, he trembled.

Mr. Guo ordered me to sit down. He walked to the refrigerator, took out a plate of white glutinous rice cakes, scooped up a bowl of mung bean porridge, and put them on the coffee table in front of me.Without waiting for Mr. Guo to open his mouth, I stretched out a pair of dirty hands, grabbed a piece of glutinous rice cake, and stuffed it into my mouth. Before I could swallow the first piece, the second piece was stuffed into my mouth again. He picked up the bowl of mung bean porridge, and poured it in his mouth with a sigh of relief. He drank so fast that his mouth drooled. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Guo smacked his lips and said, he is so hungry, he hasn't eaten for a day, right?Did you escape from home?

I wiped the porridge off my chin with the back of my hand, without making a sound. Not even shoes!Guo Lao pointed to my pair of mud-covered bare feet and sighed. He picked up a pair of straw slippers and put them in front of my feet. You don’t need to tell me, I’ve already guessed your story eight or nine points. Take you I've seen too many wild dolls like this over the years.You wait for me to change clothes, let me, an old gardener, tell you about the history of the park. Mr. Guo walked into the room and came out after a while. He was wearing a large white silk nightgown and a pair of black satin slippers on his feet. Blue cloth bag, sit down beside me.

Little brother, let me show you my treasure.Mr. Guo untied the knot of the bundle with trembling hands. Inside was a large five-inch-thick photo album on dark red suede, with four gilt characters printed on the suede.The suede is so old that it has turned black, and the bronzing has long since peeled off. The history of the park is all contained in this. Mr. Guo slowly opened the cover of the photo album. In the photo album, the pages are densely packed, and the photos are all pasted up.Big and small, they are all portraits of teenagers, with various expressions, postures, and postures.Some held their heads high and their chests held high, with meng lang who was fearless at the age of seventeen or eighteen, while others were timid and timid. Their wide-open eyes were full of premature sadness and fear.One had a cleft lip, another had a broken leg, and many had pimples all over their noses.But there are also a few who are straight and upright, with a general smartness and intelligence in their eyebrows and eyes.Each photo is numbered, dated and named.

Heh, heh, this is my little sparrow.Mr. Guo gently stroked a picture with his hands, and suddenly a loving smile appeared on his face. The wrinkles on Mr. Guo's face overlapped, and his face seemed to be cracked every time he smiled.The child in the photo has a shaved head and a shirtless shirt. There are two dimples smiling on his round face, but one of his front teeth is missing.Below the photo is marked No. 43 Xiao Hanzi, the 45th year of the Republic of China. The little guy, who was only fourteen years old, fled from Yilan to Taipei to wander.Lies, steals, whatever, a shameless little thing!He would pester me to buy him Xiaomei ice cream every day.He will blackmail him, and he will not let me take pictures for him.This one is my exchange for a bucket of coconut ice cream.But then, in the end also flew away.Instead, I left a note: Eunuch Guo, I left and took fifty yuan from you Old Guo shook his silver-haired head. Two years later, I met that little sparrow again. He was hiding in a dark alley on Sanshui Street, squatting next to the smelly gutter, his face covered with malignant sores. Mr. Guo turned to another page, and on it was a full-body portrait of a young man with angry eyebrows. The young man was leaning against a broken wall at the entrance of a back alley, wearing a singlet and sweatshirt, with one hand on his waist, and The muscles of the shoulders were knotted up, and a clump of hard hair stood tall. it's him!Guo Lao suddenly poked the photo of the boy heavily with his finger. You see, he opened the collar of his nightgown, and on his wrinkled neck skin, up to the ears, there is a three-inch long scar. My old life was almost given to this little rascal.His name is Tie Niu, and I compare him to an owl, ferocious and violent, just like that evil bird!Last year, he asked me for money, and I gave him a hundred yuan. He thought it was too little, and he was full of dirty words. When I got angry, I slapped him on the face, and that little murderer actually used a knife! Old Guo let out a sigh of relief. If it is said that the little guy's conscience is completely wiped out, that's not necessarily true.In the middle of the night, he ran back again. I didn’t open the door, so he jumped into the wall and threw himself on my heels, weeping bitterly, begging me to forgive him and take him in, calling me Mr. Guo.Last time he collected love tax in the park, used a blade to cut the skirts of other girls, and was caught by the police, and suffered a lot.He was supposed to be sent to the outer island for discipline training, but I did my best to keep him out.I asked him why he didn't fix his problems, and he said he just couldn't understand women. I asked him: You can't understand women, isn't your mother a woman?Guess what he said?Who knows if she is! Old Guo shook his head and laughed. Is this kid arrogant?But he also has his reasons, he doesn't even know who his mother is, he grew up rolling in the gutter of Sanchong Town.This bastard is full of troubles, and he doesn't know what accidents are going to happen in the future! Mr. Guo got up to make a pot of strong black tea and poured a cup for me. While we were drinking tea, Mr. Guo hugged the thick photo album, flipped through the pages, and told me about many parks. Legendary story.One is more fascinating than the other, and one is more thrilling than the other Here, his name is Momotaro. Look, doesn't he look a bit like Kobayashi Xu?His father was Japanese and was killed in a war in the Philippines.Don't look at him, who looks delicate and handsome, but has a hot temper.For some reason, I fell in love with No. 13, a barber from Red Rose in Ximending, and the two fled to Tainan.On the thirteenth, she was engaged to be a relative, but in the end, her family captured her and brought her back, and they got married as soon as they were forced.On the night of getting married, Momotaro also went to have a wedding banquet, drank happily, and drank a glass with the groom.Who knew that after eating the wedding wine, he walked to the Zhongxing Bridge alone, jumped into the Danshui River, and couldn't even find the body.On the thirteenth, I went to the Danshui River to sacrifice every day, and Momotaro always refused to float up.People say that his resentment is so deep that it sinks to the bottom of the river and cannot float up. This one, this one is Tu Xiaofu. Last month I went to see him in the municipal psychiatric nursing home and brought him two boxes of biscuits from Jushuixuan. When he saw me, he grabbed my sleeve and asked with a smile. Said: Eunuch Guo, has the plane from the United States arrived?Five years ago, Xiao Tu got involved with an overseas Chinese boy who came to Taiwan from San Francisco to learn Chinese, and the two got along vigorously for a while. Later, when the overseas Chinese boy went back to the United States, Tu Xiaofu became in a trance and ran every day. Go to the counter of Northwest Airlines in Songshan Airport and ask: Has the plane from the United States arrived? These birds, Mr. Guo said with emotion, if they are not emotional, they will be fine, but if they become emotional, catastrophe will befall them! Mr. Guo turned to the middle page and stopped.There is only one large photo on the entire page, which almost takes up the entire page. Below the photo is a note: No. 50, Ah Feng, the forty-seventh year of the Republic of China The photo was a black-and-white bust eight inches long and six inches wide, and was slightly yellowed.Xiangzhong is a boy with a very strange appearance, about seventeen or eighteen years old.The boy was wearing a dark black lapel shirt, all the buttons of the shirt were off, and a big knot was tied at the corner of the shirt at the abdomen. His chest was exposed, and there were dense and intricate tattoos of phoenixes and unicorns on his chest, and there was also a unicorn dragon with teeth and claws. , squatting on the chest.The young man has black and thick hair in big curly curls, which is furious like a lion's mane, covering his forehead. A pair of long eyebrows are domineering, but the thick eyebrows are connected together.The bridge of the nose is sharp, and the thin lips are tightly closed.A pair of big revealing eyes suddenly sunk down, hiding under the flying eyebrows, in the photo, it seems to be flickering.The face is an inverted triangle, the chin is slashed, and the tip is raised. Mr. Guo stared at this image for a long time, his silky silver hair shone tremblingly. Among these children, his life experience is the most bizarre and the most bleak Mr. Guo's old, hoarse voice suddenly became sad and began to flow slowly.