The Wine-Lover

By Zhang Xiuyun

Feng Zikai, a painter and essayist who is known for his indifference towards fame and wealth, loved drinking liquor. In my mind, such an unworldly artist as himself would not lose control and get drunk. According to relative records, I am right. Feng could drink for a long time even with very little snacks, but he never got drunk.

One of his drawings may convey his attitude towards drinking. In a clean yard with bamboo, there are three friends sitting around a small table, beneath a blooming plum tree with the hostess coming from the cottage to bring them dishes of food. The name of the painting is Friends Sit on Three Sides of a Table, Leaving the Fourth for Plum Blossom. Drinking in such environment would be slow and temperate, and the alcohol would only be company to the conversation, just like the part that tea plays at a ladies’ party.

Most of Feng’s drinking buddies drank in an artistic way as well. In an essay, Feng described a person that he met beside the West Lake of Hangzhou, capital of China’s Zhejiang Province. The guy was fishing for shrimp with rice as bait. After he caught a few, he stopped and went to a nearby inn where he ordered some yellow rice wine to go with his captures. Feng saw the man boiling the shrimps in some hot water (which was used for heating the wine, as is a folk custom in the region), and then eating them with soy sauce while drinking. “When I saw him eat a single shrimp for a long time while slowly drinking,” wrote Feng, “I immediately knew that he was a wine-lover.”

酒 徒

文/張秀云

豐子愷是個喜歡喝酒的人，也是個性情恬淡的人。我一直覺得，恬淡的人愛酒，一定能夠把握得住分寸，不會喝到東倒西歪，現場直播。事實也確實是這樣，豐子愷嗜酒，就一根螃蟹腿可喝半天，但從不會喝醉。

他畫過一幅漫畫：青竹茅檐的干凈小院里，一樹盛開的梅花下，三個人圍一張小桌坐定，女主人正端著杯盞送過來，此畫取名為“小桌呼朋三面坐，留將一面與梅花”。這應該是他喝酒的常態。如此花下閑飲，適合低聲細語、淺斟慢酌。這般喝酒就圖個情致，如女人聊天時喝阿婆茶一樣，潤潤喉嚨，邊聊邊喝，喝到筋骨通透，有了三兩分醉意，便可作罷。

豐子愷的酒友也多是這般有情致趣味的。他寫過西湖邊上的一個人，初相識時，就見那人拿米飯粒子在湖邊釣蝦，面對山光水影，淡定地坐在那兒，從容垂釣。釣上三四只便收手，拿到旁邊的酒館里去，要一斤黃酒，拿燙酒的開水把蝦燙熟，蘸醬油下酒。豐子愷說：“我看他吃菜很省，一只蝦要吃很久，由此可知此人是個酒徒。”

根據他的判斷，所謂酒徒，當然就是嗜酒卻從不沉溺的人，喜而不過，戀而不迷，依而不賴，懂得自控。這樣的人，也必然是有情調、有趣味的。后來，隨著兩人交往的深入，印證豐子愷判斷不誤，那人果真心性不俗，是一個擺攤刻字的先生，還恰好喜讀豐子愷的散文。

按照豐先生的標準，這個世界上多的是酒鬼，少的是酒徒。酒徒很少會出現在鬧哄哄的飯店里，不會一大伙人推杯換盞、猜拳行令，不會醉到不省人事，更不會借酒發瘋。

According to Feng, a wine-lover loves wine with reasonable limits. Such a person knows both how to enjoy things and how to control oneself. This is what Feng called “artistic drinking.” Later the shrimp fisher and Feng became friends. He made a living doing handiwork by carving stamps, and also happened to be a loyal reader of Feng’s essays.

However, there are many more drunkards than wine-lovers in the world. One who could be called wine-lover by Feng would not visit a crowded bar, and seldom a noisy restaurant, nor would he drink with a large group of guys. He would not pass out drunk, much less would he do any crazy things.

A wine-lover may drink with several real friends, or drink alone watching the moon. What serves the liquor may be some shrimps, a pickled turnip, natural scenery, or a glimpse of the good old days. He would know where to stop. He would like to be both tipsy and sober; that was the state of the legendary immortals.

I met a wine-lover myself, at an island village in Baiyangdian Lake. It was summer, when the lotus flowers on the lake were dyed obscure by the setting sun and the fragrance of lotus flowers permeated throughout the small village. I took my child’s hand, watching the twilight sky and listening to Beijing Opera music coming from somewhere beyond the lotuses.

“This is The Lucky Purse sung by Chi Xiaoqiu,” said someone abruptly beside me. I was startled and turned back to see a middleaged man, wearing white silk pants and a white tank top, sitting on the steps and drinking alone from a small bottle. Half of a bag of fried peanuts was next to his hand, and it seemed that the guy had been drinking for quite a while.

I was impressed by his knowledge of Beijing Opera. “That’s the role of Qingyi... well, Cheng school.” He kept drinking while singing along with the music. The sun was setting, while the moon rose in the eastern sky. I wanted to stay there and talk about the schools of opera with the man, but it was getting dark and I had to head back.

I walked a few steps away and then turned my head back to look at the singing drinker again. This was definitely a wine-lover, I thought, and Mr. Feng would have been very glad to meet him. (From Kunshan Daily, April 15, 2019. Translation: Wang Xiaoke)

酒徒喝酒，可以是三兩知己把盞清談，也可以是一個人對月獨酌；下酒菜可以是幾只青蝦，也可以是一根腌蘿卜。或者，什么也不要，只就著天光云影，就著一兩寸過去的、未來的時光，就可以喝得心神熨帖。酒徒最能把握度，微醺即止，此時當是心智清醒而神魂淺漾，飄飄然風骨若神仙，與酒鬼的喪失理性、撒潑上吊等，別于宵壤。

那年夏天，我在白洋淀的湖心村見到的一個人，當屬酒徒之流。那個黃昏，白洋淀一望無際的荷花被晚霞染得迷離恍惚，只有十幾戶人家的湖心島上濃濃地溢滿荷香。“春秋亭外雨風暴，何處悲聲破寂寥……”我牽著孩子，一邊聽荷花深處傳來的京劇，一邊看荷花盡頭西墜的紅日，正出神間，忽聽旁邊一個聲音響起：“《鎖麟囊》呀，這是遲小秋唱的。”驚得一回頭，只見一個白綢褲白背心的中年男人正坐在旁邊的臺階上對荷獨飲，神態悠然，是半斤裝的小瓶。他手邊放著半袋子油炸花生米，看樣子，已經喝了很久。

我很吃驚，這個人很內行，連唱腔流派都能分辨出來，一定是資深票友。“程派青衣呀。”他一邊繼續就著花生米喝酒，一邊跟著唱起來。夕陽正在下沉，東邊白白的彎月亮已經升起來。我真想停下來，跟他聊聊京劇，聊聊程派，但孤島人稀，天色已晚，只好轉身離開。

走了幾步，回頭看，他還在喝著酒，還在瞇著眼唱戲。我想，這個人是酒徒無疑了，豐先生若在，定會大喜。 （摘自《昆山日報》2019年4月15日）