《來時的路》(中英文混合版） 3.3 能屈能伸和寧死不屈的矛盾

3.3      能屈能伸和寧死不屈的矛盾

程弈田飛奔到Ashdown門口的時候，奚濤和尹伯文已經靠邊停了車。“程弈田，這位是。。。”奚濤正要介紹這位慷慨的賣主。

“尹伯文！”“司機！”弈田和尹伯文幾乎同時接下了奚濤的話。“你的女朋友呢？”奚濤想起來那天忘了關視頻，會意笑笑。

“她說，晚一點兒。”說著，像是要賣弄他的中文：“沒事兒，她過一會兒就來。”

程弈田被他接二連三的“兒”逗樂了：“喲，還會兒話音那。”

“我去過北京兒。”語氣裏透著的驕傲，足可吹起一個大氣球。程弈田看了一眼奚濤，止不住笑，“北京就是北京，沒有北京兒，好不好，司機同誌！”

“不要說同誌，我不是that word。”尹伯文倒是欣然接受程弈田對“兒”的評論，頭向車子一方一偏，右手一揮，“Alright, let's go.”

這是輛裏外全黑的Toyota Corolla，剛才在外邊就覺得挺新的，坐進來也不覺得局促，座椅的邊角有剛被仔細清理上過蠟的痕跡。以前隻管著看路騎車，今天坐進車裏倒是有了機會飽覽波士頓城的景色。“看，那個女生的身材好好啊！腿那麽長，比例真好。”程弈田坐在司機尹伯文後排的座椅指著哈佛橋人行道上跑步的女生說。

“那個？不好，真的。”尹伯文騰出一隻手，回頭指著此時已經落在車後的那個穿著短褲長跑的女生。

程弈田離開3班猴子那些人有多久，就有多久沒有聽到他人對她此類“無聊”的評論有任何的回應了。“怎麽不好？那麽瘦！”

“沒肉！”理由簡單得反常識！

“你的眼光到獨特，現在的超級模特哪個不是那麽瘦的？你跟我吵什麽吵？還不好好開車！”奚濤回頭給程弈田使了個眼色，弈田知道他怕她冒犯了這個好心人。

“肉好！我說，肉好！”肯定得沒有任何商量的空間。

“好，好，好，肉好！”程弈田往前傾了身子，拍了一下奚濤說：“你怎麽就遇上這人？待會兒，買二兩肉給他，說程弈田同意了，肉好！”奚濤噗哧一聲，轉過身，對左後方的弈田說，“別這樣說人家，人好心呢！”

“Yes，心好，很好！” 天哪，他到底聽不聽得懂啊！

中國城的潮州餐館每個周末都有點心供應。跟香港電影裏的一樣，幾個服務員推著車在場內打轉，客人會邊吃邊注意身邊推過的車裏的小蒸籠裏邊有些什麽，碰到喜歡的，就點了上桌。服務員拿出刻有自己推車代號的圖章在點菜單上相應的地方印一下，吃完之後客人自己帶著這張單子去前台結賬。

很快，腐竹肉段，蝦餃，燒賣都上了桌。尹伯文招呼奚濤和程弈田嚐嚐，將筷子銜在嘴裏，又繼續盯著來往的小推車，說，“青菜，I want a plate of 蠔油青菜too。”奚濤靜靜地坐等著，程弈田夾起一塊腐竹肉塊，前後翻了翻，看了看，往嘴裏塞。“hmm，不錯！小尹，不錯，裏麵好像還有幾絲竹筍，跟我家的鵝頸有點像呢。”程弈田邊嚼邊點頭，還跟尹伯文豎起大拇指。

“是我點的！But, what's it like? I am sorry, I didn't quite get it.”尹伯文一臉疑惑。

程弈田決定還是用英文跟這個奚濤的鄰居交流算了，以後見麵的機會還多著呢，要是都這麽說一遍再翻譯一遍還真有點浪費能源，剛下肚的那些腐竹轉化成的熱量還真不頂事。

“中國的東西好吃”，終於找到了耗油青菜，坐了站，站了坐，變換了幾次姿勢的尹伯文也稍微消停了一下，重新找了個靠奚濤的座位坐了下來。

“謝謝你，伯文，”奚濤說著站了起來，端起了一杯茶，緩了一下，說：“謝謝你帶我們來這裏，東西看起來就很好吃。最感謝的還是你願意把那車便宜那麽多賣給我！我以茶代酒敬你。謝謝！”

“How come you are like an old lady, all I heard from you was thank you?”尹伯文給了奚濤一臉的不屑，“ Tao, she deserves it. I can see it!”

“弈田，你們中國人奇怪啊。”尹伯文不知道腦經轉到了哪裏，來了個這樣的轉折。

你們中國人？！這麽說的尹伯文應該全然不認同自己的中國屬性，那他是什麽？外國人嗎？是外國人又怎樣？好吧，程弈田，冷靜一點，也許這就是所謂的交流中的誤解？

“What made you say so? ”

奚濤看著程弈田似乎還浮現在表情肌表層的笑，卻聽到程弈田的不安，不服和稍有的質問。每每這個時候，他往往都會平靜得像梅軒亭旁的睡蓮，任弈田的石子如何仍，引起的漣漪斷然是被水麵的蓮葉荷花阻斷，如何也傳播不到岸邊。

奚濤正想說些什麽緩和一下，卻擋不住尹伯文極快速地回應。“Well, my mother is second generation Chinese. Her family came from Guangdong. My grandma always asked me to eat 人參，and her reason was always 很貴的，吃，很貴！”

“Well, she is right. IT IS expensive!”這有什麽可值得辯論的嗎？難道不是事實麽？

“But, you don't get me. I don't care if it is expensive or not. I only eat what I like, such as 耗油青菜 , or, sometimes what's good for me. I searched online and it says yes 人參 can be good for you in some ways, but she never told me it's good for me. All her reason why I should eat was it was expensive.”

有意思！程弈田幾乎忘記了自己對尹伯文不滿的緣由，聽到事情可以從這個特殊的角度來分析，一股子的怨氣不由的轉成了好感：“I guess you are right, if I get chance to meet her, I am going to let her know that her grandson is a rebellion , and she needs to 打你的屁股！”

“打你！屁股hurts！”可能屁股這個詞尹伯文沒有什麽機會練習，聽起來很像剛會幾個單詞的娃娃說的“皮賭”。

修養再好的奚濤也快要擋不住就要衝出腹腔的笑的脈衝，伸手捂住了嘴，夾了一片蒸魚給弈田，說，“好啦，別較真了。程弈田，這個味道很好，好像是海魚，跟小黃魚味道有點類似。”

“海魚，it's called cod. It's the one of the most special dishes here. The fish sauce that's on it was developed by the owner of this restaurant. It is very well balanced, and doesn't have even a bit of fishy smell.”尹伯文得意地介紹，好像他是東家，客人的欣賞是對他最大的肯定。“Sea fish is good, also because it doesn't have many bones. I tried fresh water fish once when I was younger. A fish bone got stuck in my throat. Oh, that was painful! Then, I was asking my grandma for help.”

跟這些天弈田認識的那些同學一樣，尹伯文說話時臉上的表情也非常豐富。這會兒瞧他，你會覺得他痛得寧願去死掉一樣。程弈田饒有興趣地享用著眼前的即時表演，也樂地參與互動：“She asked you to drink vinegar?”

 “Yeah, sure, she did. But that thing did not help at all. She said ‘大丈夫能屈能伸’ and asked me to suck it up. Poor me, I was only 10!” 又是一把鼻涕一把眼淚地控訴那個罪惡的來自舊社會的祖母！

“Wow, she was knowledgeable! It's rare that old woman could say such proverb.”

“Well, she was born in a wealthy family, her father graduated from 燕京大學! ”好不自豪。

程弈田不吝嗇她的互動：“How did that bone come out eventually?”

“My mom took me to the doctor and they picked it out with tweezers. What's funny was, my grandma went to the clinic with us, and as I was waiting for the scary procedure, she told me 大丈夫寧死不屈。”

“She can be a Chinese literature professor, I am sure!”

“Well, she was one. But, isn't it confusing? She said two proverbs with exactly the opposite meanings to me, just 2 hours apart!”尹伯文搖搖頭，“You Chinese people are confused!”

“Hey, 尹伯文，that's the Chinese culture, don't you know it?”這是尹伯文第二次說你中國人怎樣怎樣了。不就是一個學究型老太太給你的脆弱的童年造成的陰影嘛，怎麽就馬上擴展到中國人了？第一次程弈田還可以用外婆打屁股來安慰自己的民族自尊心，這一次，她提高了聲音分貝。

尹伯文好像對程弈田的這種反擊也有充分的準備，“Yeah? Confused culture! You got one saying and I am so prepared to hear the exact opposite one!”

“That just means we know how to encourage our people! It doesn't matter what situation you are in, we have a saying to enlighten your spirit！”程弈田還打算加上“You idiot!”話到嘴邊又咽了下去。

“That's arbitrary, that's not logical, you don't have a good philosophy system. You Chinese don't think! ”

“Go to hell ！”程弈田把筷子啪的一聲拍在桌子上，轉頭就走。

“伯文，sorry, she did not mean that, I am sure.”尹伯文也有點呆了，沒想到他習慣了的西方式的辯論如此激怒了一個外表甜美的中國女孩，更沒有想到這個女孩用了一個最西方的方式提出了反抗。奚濤要站起來追程弈田，想起這桌對學生來說價格不菲的點心要結賬，又轉了回來，很抱歉地跟尹伯文再次說對不起。

“Jean Jacques, encore, tu apprends jamais! J'en ai marre, aller nettoyer cette desordre.”（Jean Jacque, again, you never learn! I am fed up; you go clean up this mess）剛剛到來的一個亞裔女孩看到了這一幕，也衝著尹伯文大喊起來，抓起剛脫下放在椅背上的風衣也扭頭離開了這裏。

“伯文，go catch up with her.”奚濤揮手讓尹伯文追上去。

尹伯文沒有動，“Well, I am tired with 6 years of Vietnamese beef noodle soup too.”手裏擺弄著一次性筷子的紙套子，剛才被折成一個筷子架，這會兒又被拆了開。“Well, she wants to find some rich guys any way. Ok, she is coming back soon, maybe the day after tomorrow.”

“伯文，I sincerely apologize.”尹伯文擺擺手，笑笑，似乎有點無奈，“She is just not used to the debate style. Don't worry, Tao, you get to keep the car, take good care of your Yitian. ”說完，坐下來，一個人安靜地吃完了剩下的鱈魚和耗油青菜，圍上一條最常見的紅白相間的蘇格蘭格子圍巾，登上了回BU的紅線地鐵。