昔日来信：温暖无限，生命意义绽放

Book Title: "Letters from the Past" Author: Shen Congwen Publisher: Beijing United Publishing Company

Some books disappear like flowing water, with only ripples remaining in peoples minds; while others are like fields of golden wheat in the ocean, dancing in the wind, creating passionate waves that make people willingly become the guardians of the wheat field for a lifetime. They are unwilling to leave, and only seek the meaning of life in that tranquility, deeply resonating with their souls, difficult to shake off. In my opinion, essays belong to the latter category.

The author seems to describe the ordinary details of life, ordinary people, ordinary matters, and ordinary experiences, one sentence at a time. However, the extraordinary shines through the ordinary. "Letters from the Past" is no exception. Rather than calling it a travelogue, it is more like Shen Congwens monologue. Every day, he has one thing that he must do, which is to record what he sees and hears with a pen and write it as a letter. He then fills the letters with his deep affection and mails them across the ocean to his wife, San San – Zhang Zhaohe, who can understand and comprehend him.

In the first half of "Letters from the Past," Shen Congwen hides nothing about his admiration for his wife. Between the lines, we can feel a sweetness seep into our hearts. Despite enduring the fatigue of long boat journeys, Shen Congwen carries his longing for his wife. Because he knows where his heart is directed, these hardships of travel mean nothing to him. We are also enlightened by the light of San San, seeing the unique characteristics of different places and people, and listening to their stories. Their simplicity touches me deeply, and I am humbled by their attitude towards life. They live a simple life, guarding the weary passengers who have been tossed and turned by the struggles of life. They infect these passengers with their enthusiasm for life, providing a thread of warmth to their tired hearts and a hint of laughter to their indifference. They use their actions to exemplify the meaning of life: honor, money, or love, none of it matters. I have a heart that can leap for all ephemeral light and shadow, and that is more than enough. This heart not only dreams of everything, but can also fully realize it. Just as all flowers and plants can gain vitality from the sunlight, and bloom beautifully in the spring scenery, my life is also waiting to develop and unfold, bound to have astonishing beauty and fragrance!

Yes! As long as the human heart remains alive, even stagnant water will eventually flow again! The gloomy scenes will be illuminated with brightness! The dried-up fields will once again flourish and thrive in the vast world!