xiao zhenhua: the beauty of hiding clumsiness
2024-09-22
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my friend lao xia's daughter, aqiao, recently bought a dress that is slimming and waist-shaping, showing her curves. it is said to be a very popular brand recently. the founder is american fashion designer kim kardashian, and her design concept is: no matter who you are, your true form will be revealed immediately after you put it on. this is very demanding for the wearer, who must have a perfect figure without any excess fat. lao xia told his daughter that in addition to keeping warm, clothing also has an important function of covering. covering, in addition to protecting privacy, can also hide one's edge and keep one's simplicity. for example, fat people should not wear horizontal stripes, broad shoulders should not wear wide square collars, and thick legs should not wear miniskirts, etc. this is an aesthetic judgment. lao xia said, aqiao, you really made "cleverness" into clumsiness.
whether to show off one's talents and be aggressive, or to hide one's skills in clumsiness and use obscurity to make things clear, this may be the collision of different thinking and concepts between two generations. in fact, in daily life, "hiding clumsiness" in clothing is necessary and a kind of respect for others. i once saw a story that ye shusui, a researcher at the lu xun museum, visited zhou zuoren with a friend. they knocked on the door gently, and the one who opened the door was an old man wearing glasses and a vest. they inferred that he was zhou zuoren and explained their purpose. but when the old man heard that they were looking for zhou zuoren, he quickly said, "zhou zuoren lives in the back." so ye shusui and his friend went to the back, but the person in the back door said that zhou zuoren lived in the first room in front, which was the door they had just knocked on. they had to turn around and go back. the old man who opened the door was still the old man just now, saying that he was zhou zuoren, but the difference was that he was wearing a neat shirt.
the revealing of the chest and back in clothing design is also a style, which is understandable. but popularity and fashion have both the banner of being unrestrained and the banner of being reserved. just as we need to perform on stage, we also need to hide and hide our shortcomings. life is a transition and progress in this exchange and mutual generation. when i was in middle school, my grade often distributed students' composition leaflets. it was a writing model engraved by the teacher with a steel plate and iron pen, and then mimeographed. everyone had a copy, which was the highest courtesy for excellent articles. the chinese class representative in our class was fortunate to receive this honor, but later his composition always failed. before class once, he submitted several compositions with great confidence. the chinese teacher was probably inspired by this and told us a passage from "sui and tang jiahua" in class. xu ling, a poet of the southern dynasty and as famous as yu xin in the literary world, was invited to the northern qi dynasty one year. at that time, wei shou of the northern dynasty had outstanding literary talent, but was flashy and frivolous. he compiled a volume of his own works and gave it to xu ling, intending to rely on the famous writer to pass on his books. on his way back, xu ling threw all of wei shou's collected works into the river. when his followers asked him why, xu ling said, "i want to hide my shortcomings for duke wei." once the collected works were circulated, it would be enough to show that wei shou was incompetent, and the act of "hiding his shortcomings" was just a decent cover-up for wei shou.
xu ling's behavior is also a way of showing respect to others. as for oneself, hiding one's shortcomings can be regarded as a clever escape and a retreat without leaving any trace. i read a biography of einstein not long ago. after closing the book, i was puzzled as to why there were so few descriptions of einstein's physical theory of relativity in the book. after careful consideration, the biographer is a literary writer and it is difficult for him to be vague about profound theories. the author of "dream of red mansions" is good at showing off his skills and hiding his shortcomings. he describes familiar areas with meticulous brushwork and meticulously, while he only writes about unfamiliar areas with sparse brushwork and ends them hastily. there is only one place in the novel that describes the countryside. in the 15th chapter, the people of the jia family sent qin keqing to the funeral, and fengjie took baoyu to the farmhouse to rest. the author wrote, "everything used by the farmhouse was something he had never seen before. when baoyu saw it, he thought it was strange and didn't know what it was called or used for." baoyu started to turn the spinning wheel, but a village girl ran over and didn't let him touch it... the fleeting glimpse is also a picture of a farmhouse.
concealing one's shortcomings is also a kind of character and cultivation. mr. lu xun's calligraphy art is very profound, simple and elegant, and as gentle as jade, but he said in "collection of letters: to tai jingnong", "my handwriting is very bad, please don't frame it, it's to hide my shortcomings." the famous historian gu jiegang had a stutter. one year he took a leave of absence from school due to illness and took the train home. the young man sitting next to him was about the same age as him. he took the initiative to greet him: "hello, are you also... going to suzhou?" the young man turned his head and looked at gu jiegang, without saying anything, just smiled and nodded. "going out... to study?" gu jiegang continued to find something to say. the young man still smiled and nodded. gu jiegang was unwilling to be treated coldly and continued to ask questions, but the young man remained silent. at this time, his roommate couldn't stand it anymore and asked: "what's wrong with you? didn't you hear him talking to you?" the young man smiled and still ignored him. when they were about to reach the station and prepare to get off, gu jiegang found that the young man had left at some point. there was a note under the fruit plate, which was left by the young man when he left: "brother, my name is feng youlan. i'm sorry, i am also a stutterer, and the more anxious i am, the less i can speak. the reason i didn't talk to you is because i didn't want you to misunderstand and think that i was laughing at you." such a humble and humble attitude, hiding one's shortcomings, is more of a state of mind than a character and wisdom.
fan zhongyan once sighed: "if i could hide my clumsiness in kuaiji, spring would come even in the depths of white clouds." spring is everywhere. the dispute between lao xia and his daughter over clothes ended in a dramatic agreement. ah qiao liked that popular dress so much that in order to not be too tight or too revealing, she decided to "cut her feet to fit the shoes" and planned to diet and exercise within three months to reduce fat and shape her body so that her size m could reach size s. it's just that this process was a bit embarrassing and she had to do it, which was a secret that could not be told to anyone. lao xia nodded in approval, hiding "cleverness" in clumsiness, in addition to being publicized, there is also something hidden, this is a life with beauty. (xiao zhenhua)
