斑院驳的子时光

◇ 文|本刊记者 陈科龙 图| 刘映呈

在中国人的居住史上，院子与“家”的联结想来是最深的。在有关儿时的记忆中，如果你曾经在院子里住过，无疑是幸运的。

酉阳县龙潭古镇，有1700多年历史，蜀汉以来一直是“县丞”“巡检”“州同”“县佐”的所在地。我们在这里遇到了耐人寻味的院子——吴家大院。庭院深深，曲水流觞，勾起了好些悠长的往事。

The mention of courtyard house reminds Chinese of “family”. If one lives in a courtyard house when he is a little kid, he will certainly be deemed lucky.

Longtan ancient town, Youyang County, Chongqing, can be traced back to 1,700 years ago. It was home to officers in the kingdom of Shu Han (221-263), one of the Three Kingdoms. In this town, we encountered Wu’s courtyard house, where there is the spacious yard and winding stream, which tell stories of the past.

看见凝固的旧时光 The Glorious Past

走在古镇的石板街上，随处可见老院子。房子都是木结构的，普通人家的户型是“三柱四骑”或“三柱六骑”，大户人家住的则是“四合天井”大院。

吴家院子坐落在古镇的九桥溪畔，是这些老院子中的“大户”。

窄窄的小溪隔断了吴家大院和龙潭古镇铮亮的石板街，一座小石桥横在大院朝门与石板街之间。小石桥一端侧面，是个很小很小的花园。没有花草，主人吴书强在花园里忙活着什么。

他喜欢钓鱼，正在挖蚯蚓。吴书强患过中风，落下了病根。他盯着我们看了一会儿，估计是觉得我们有往大院里走的意思，便放下手里的小锄头，带着我们跨过小石桥。

听他说，吴氏家族始祖吴绍周14岁时随家人从江西迁徙入川，辗转来到酉阳龙潭。吴绍周发奋读书，后擢升为大学士，取得功名后，便在这九桥溪畔建造了吴家院子。

九桥溪，一条有九座小桥的溪水。流势忙忙的溪水旁，吴家院子临水的墙体上骑跨着一座走马转角楼，优雅自然，依稀仿佛能窥见大院往日的荣光。八字形青砖朝门前有五级台阶，朝门内是一处小天井，有些破败了。

小天井两侧的房屋开间和进深都不算大，如今用作了厨房和杂物室。从小天井进入室内的过厅，需要再经过一道石阶。过厅两侧的厢房是主人家的卧室，有两层楼，木板墙上的雕花窗棂也都积满了厚厚的灰尘。

从过厅内再登上九步石板梯，经过这第三级台阶后，我们来到了一处较为宽阔的院坝，院坝原有的房屋被损毁拆除，三面全是高数丈的砖墙，藤蔓植物爬满了墙体，墙沿处还残留了一些老屋的痕迹。

这样的院子，曾经几代人同堂而居，定是大大的福气。

Ancient courtyard houses could be found everywhere in the town, all of which were made of wood. Average families lived in small courtyards, while the well-to-do lived in large quadrangles.

Wu’s courtyard house in the Jiuqiao stream bank was one of the quadrangles.

Bright slate-paved streets to Wu’s courtyard house are obstructed by the narrow stream, over which there is a little stone bridge. A tine garden without any flowers of grass lies in the other end of the bridge, and Wu Shuqiang, its owner, was busy doing something in the garden.

He likes fishing, and was digging earthworms. He was seized with apoplexy, which had not completely been cured. Staring at us, noticing our intention to go to the courtyard house, he put down his little hoe, and led us across the bridge.

The man told us, Wu Shaozhou, the earliest ancestor of the Wu’s, went to Sichuan from Jiangxi with his family when he was 14, and finally went to Longtan, Youyang. Working and studying diligently, he was promoted to senior secretary, who assisted the emperor. As a successful officer, he built Wu’s courtyard house here.

As the name implied, Jiuqiao stream had nine bridges. (Jiu “ 九 ” means nine, and qiao “ 桥 ” means bridge.) There was a corner building over the wall which neared the fast-flowing brook. Corner building, similar to stilted building of some Chinese ethnic minorities, is hard to build and requires architect’s skills and insight. The building with great artistic value was graceful and natural, from which the glory of the past could be observed. Inside the house was a little yard, somewhat dilapidated.

Rooms on both sides of the yard are not very large, and are used as kitchen and broom closet at present. We had to go through another stone step to enter the inside entrance hall, on both sides of which were two-storied bedrooms. With window bars which have carved patterns, the wood siding walls were all covered with dust.

Stone step starting from the entrance hall led us to a spacious yard, within which the original houses have been torn down. Climbing plants covered the surrounding high brick walls, in the corner of which some traces of the ancient houses could be found.

Several generations of the family were so blessed to live in such a grand courtyard house.

别有洞天的后院 Diverting and Unique Backyard

吴家院子经历了吴家益、吴先序、吴绪均等几代人。其中，吴先序的堂哥吴先冲在吴家院子旁建造了一座宅院，也就是吴家后院。

在院子里，一壁高大风火山墙耸立的院坝东侧有一道石门，通向后院。后院现在是堂祖母董世云的家，石门早就封上了。

出了老院子，吴书强带我们绕到他家的东侧，跨过九桥溪另一座小桥，穿过一条狭窄的甬道，就到了后院。后院朝门前，有一个不太规整的小院坝，六块雕花石栏板临溪而立。石栏上刻着的花鸟，虽经历了时光的打磨，依旧清晰，看得出当初雕刻的精致。

正当我们驻足院坝欣赏朝门的大气时，似乎听到门外有响动，年近八十的董世云出门把我们迎了进去。连接朝门与天井的精巧门楼很是显眼，虽然木桩底部遭风雨侵蚀了不少，已有些飘摇。

院内的小天井明亮开朗，四周是两层楼的房子，镂刻着雕花的栏杆，花窗和垂花柱上也雕刻着宝瓶、花卉、蝙蝠等精致细腻的图案。

堂屋位于小天井之上，主人家在堂屋搭了三根竹竿，晾着衣服和被套。堂屋后有一扇紧闭的小门，门扣用废电线缠着，算是锁。透过门缝，能够看到堂屋后别有洞天。

征得董世云的同意，我们打开了紧闭的小门，发现堂屋后还藏着一座小小的后花园。后花园两侧的厢房早已破败，踩在室内腐朽的木板上，嘎吱作响。透过手机的微光，我们发现木墙上糊的还是上世纪七八十年代的旧报纸。

厢房的雕花木门上，人形图案在特殊年代被削了去，仔细看依旧看得出一些捕鱼的场景。“船连着船，过河都不湿脚。”看着门上雕刻的渔船，吴书强想起小时候的情景。

历史上，龙潭的商人把当地的桐、茶、漆、棓、朱砂等特产装船，沿湄舒河进入酉水河后汇入沅江，通往湖广、江浙等地。

Several generations including Wu Jiayi, Wu Xianxu and Wu Xujun, were living in this courtyard house. Wu Xianxu’s cousin, Wu Xianchong, built another house beside the courtyard house, namely Wu’s backyard house.

The courtyard is surrounded by high fire walls, and a stone door at the east side of the yard leads to the backyard, which belongs to Dong Shiyun, Wu Shuqiang’s grandaunt.

Out of the ancient yard, Wu took us to the east side of his home. Across another bridge above Jiuqiao stream and through narrow aisle, we reached the backyard where there was a little yard in irregular shape. Close to the stream erected six carved stone fence, on which delicate flowers and birds were still discernible after the ravages of time.

As we stood there to appreciate the grand gate, a sound came from outside, and it turned out to be Dong Shiyun in her late seventies, who welcomed us into her home. Between the gate and the yard, an exquisite gate tower wavered a little for its stake bottom was eroded by wind and rain, but it still stood prominently.

A small yard in the backyard is light and spacious, and around the yard is a two-story house, in which handrails, lattice windows and the flowerflowing pillar are carved with delicate flowers, vases, and bats.

The main room is in front of the small yard where the host hung clothes and quilt cover on bamboo poles. Behind the main room, there is a closed door; the door holder is entwined with waste wires. However, the amazing scene behind can be seen through the crack.

We were permitted to open the door and found there was a hidden back garden, and wing rooms at both sides were decayed. The rotten wooden boards under our feet have creaked . Through the glimmer of the cell phone, we found the wooden walls were covered with newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s.

Figures of people carved on the wooden door of the rooms have been removed due to certain reasons, but as we looked carefully, we could tell it depicts the scene of fishing. Looking at the fishing boats carved on it, Wu Shuqiang recalled the ballads in his childhood, “one ship connects with another, and the water won’t dampen one when he crosses the river.”

A long time ago, businessmen in Longtan loaded specialties such as tung oil, tea, lacquer, gallnut and cinnabar on boards, and shipped these along the Meishu River, then the Youshui River and at last the Yuanjiang River to Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

院子里的家天下 Family in the House

雍正末年废除土司制度，取消“蛮不出洞、汉不入境”的禁令后，龙潭古镇上盐号、商行、店铺林立。江西商人在此建了万寿宫作为会馆，湖南商人在此建了禹王宫作为会馆。

吴家祖上就是做桐油、土漆、五倍子等生意的，长途贩运至汉口、常德等地，吴书强小时候听祖父说起过。

抗战时期，龙潭古镇成为了沦陷区民众避战的大后方，1.5平方公里的小镇容纳了八万人，商贾云集，人烟阜盛，龙潭一时蜚声全国，被誉为“小南京”。

赵世炎、王勃山、赵君陶、刘仁、王剑虹等仁人志士就是龙潭人，这里也还留下了贺龙、沈从文、丁玲、田汉等人的足迹。在这样的地方，住在像吴家院子一样的家里，屋外是时代的风云变幻，实在好奇那是怎样的一种体验。

董世云在吴家后院生活了大半辈子，说起吴家院子的过去，她很是平和。

当年她从龚滩嫁到龙潭时，走了两天的时间。那时的吴家，虽开始萧条败落，但“百足之虫”，依旧算得上殷实。她听丈夫吴绪均说起过，父辈有6房人，为了外出谋生，父辈卖掉了家里绝大部分土地房产，后院西侧的院子，原本也是吴家院子的一部分，当时卖给了严姓人家。现在，那里成了严家院子。

最近几年，她偶尔听人跟她说起，吴家“绪”字辈还有人在湖北武汉、四川成都等地。只是，相隔久远，再要联系实属不易。

回看150多列风火墙，200多个四合院，不知有多少家园故土的离愁别绪消散在龙潭古镇的粉墙黛瓦间。

Yongzheng banished Tusi system during the last years of his reign and lifted a ban on entry and exit of barbarian and Chinese. Since then, Longtan ancient town has been lined with salt stores, firms and shops, and businessmen from Jiangxi and Hunan established Wanshou Palace and Yuwang Palace separately as their guild halls.

Wu’s forefathers sold tung oil, earthen paint and gallnut through long-distance transport to Hankou, Changde, etc.. When he was little, Wu Shuqiang was told the story by his grandfather.

During Anti - Japanese War, Longtan ancient town was the home front of the occupied area and accommodated 80,000 people with its territory of 1.5 square kilometers. With merchants gathering and population abundant, Longtan was praised as “little Nanjing”.

Longtan fostered a number of people with lofty ideals, including Zhao Shiyan, Wang Boshan, Zhao Juntao, Liu Ren and Wang Jianhong. Here also left traces of He Long, Shen Congwen, Ding Ling, Tian Han, etc.. One would be curious about living in a place like Wu’s courtyard house with changes and turbulence outside.

Dong lives in the backyard house for most of her life. Bringing up the past, she showed placidity.

It took two days to walk from Gongtan to Longtan when she got married. At that time, Wu’s family was on the downward path, but its influence remained. Her husband Wu Xujun said that six brothers of his father and their family lived here, which involved great expense. Therefore, the elder generations sold off a great part of land and houses. The west yard of the backyard house was sold to Yan’s family, which now became Yan’s courtyard house.

In recent years, Dong Shiyun heard occasionally that some of the “Xu” generations were living in Wuhan and Chengdu. However, after a long time separation, it was hard to get in touch with these relatives.

We could not help thinking about how many bitterness and sorrows of the past old days were hiding in the over 150 fire walls and 200 quadrangles in the ancient town.