Two days later, at night.
"In our countryside, there is a kind of magical elves. They are like our neighbors, living and playing around us."
"But ordinary people cannot see them. Only the innocent hearts of children can capture their traces."
"If you calm down and listen, you can faintly hear the sound of their running in the wind."
Yang Fan sat beside Thirteenth Aunt's bed and told Guoguo a bedtime story.
On the bed, there was Guo Guo, who was looking at him with wide eyes, and Aunt Thirteen, who was half lying down.
"Tonight we are telling a story that happened in the countryside." Yang Fan said.
"What's the name of the story?" Guoguo asked.
She likes to know the name of the story before listening to it.
"It's called 'My Neighbor Totoro'," Yang Fan said.
"Is there such an animal as chinchilla?" Guoguo asked.
"Yes." Yang Fan said.
He also wanted to introduce this creature more, and Guoguo's eyes lit up: "Can it be eaten?"
Thirteenth Aunt frowned slightly.
Chinchillas, also called chinchillas, look a bit like mice, a bit like cats, and a bit like rabbits.
Not only do they look strange, they also have a docile temperament and are very easy to be domesticated as pets.
This small animal is naturally timid. Once domesticated into a pet, it is very clingy and becomes very dependent on its owner.
"After telling the story, you can see if it is edible." Yang Fan said with a smile.
Then he told the story of "My Neighbor Totoro".
This story has almost no conflicts, the style is fresh and indifferent, and it is full of deep family affection, making people feel like a spring breeze.
When the corn was about to mature, the father took his two daughters to a house in the countryside to wait for their mother who was about to be discharged from the hospital.
It's that simple, all the stories revolve around these two little girls aged four and twelve.
Cleaning the house, going to school, planting trees, visiting mom, getting lost…
Perhaps, these simple things have been done by boys and girls during summer vacation.
However, it is precisely because of the familiarity of these things that the story of the two little girls feels intimate and memorable.
Even the appearance of Totoro is not surprising. Who has not dreamed about it when he was a child
There is a huge and powerful friend who takes us through the dense forest and flies over the green cornfields.
For adults, one of the happiest things is to relive the dreams of the past, especially the innocent dreams of childhood without any impurities.
After growing up, the beautiful dreams of childhood have long been forgotten. This story helps adults find them back.
Aunt Thirteen beside her was lost in thought, as if she could smell the grass and soil by the river again.
She thought of Twelve again.
Twelve's childhood was spent in the countryside.
The countryside mentioned in Yang Fan's story is somewhat similar to the countryside described by Twelve.
Thirteen doesn’t yearn for Twelve’s childhood, she just yearns for the countryside that Twelve mentioned.
Twelve also said that there, she seemed to see many elves that people could not see.
She is very popular with small animals and can communicate with many small animals.
They could understand her, but she couldn't understand what they said, so she could only communicate with them by guessing and feeling.
Thirteen did not have the same experience as Twelve. She looked back on her childhood and found that she was a child wrapped in steel, concrete and electronic toys, and had lost the ability to communicate with elves.
The idyllic beauty in "My Neighbor Totoro" seems to confirm Twelve's experience: only a mind as clean as a child can feel the beauty of nature without desire and achieve harmony between man and nature.
Among the scientific research projects she participated in, some were not what she liked or wanted.
The scientific research projects she likes are life sciences, not the kind of projects that destroy life.
She has always had the mind of a young girl, and she is still very naive at the age of twenty. She told Thirteen that nature is the best gift from God to people. People cannot change the laws of nature, they can only adapt to it.
Later, he moved from the countryside to a more prosperous research institute. Twelve yearned for nature every day and wanted to return to the countryside where he spent his childhood.
There are lush green forests, docile and lovely animals, as well as mountains and rivers full of unknown fun.
In "My Neighbor Totoro", the Xiaoyue sisters who moved from the city to the countryside are bathing in happiness in the embrace of nature. Although there is no mother around, the two sisters get to know the magical chinchillas in the surrounding nature and live in harmony. , help and care for each other.
"Dad, can I raise a chinchilla?" When the story was about to end, Guoguo finally couldn't help but ask Yang Fan.
Totoro only appears four times in the story. The first time is when Xiaomei got into the tree hole.
The second time was when the two sisters were waiting for the bus at the stop sign in the rain.
The third time is when the oak tree in the courtyard sprouts.
The fourth time was when Xiaoyue was looking for Xiaomei who was lost.
Totoro is like Santa Claus in the minds of Western children, appearing infrequently.
Once it appears, it brings happiness to the sisters.
Yang Fan's descriptions of the sisters Xiaoyue and Totoro are full of cuteness and innocence.
He shaped them delicately and profoundly, without any roughness or sloppiness, making Guoguo feel the same way and making Thirteenth Aunt not feel alienated.
"Totoro is very cute, but only smart, cute, well-behaved and obedient children can meet it." Yang Fan said: "Children who are disobedient will not be able to meet chinchillas, and even if they do, they will not be cute chinchillas. "
"Am I not smart, cute, and obedient?" Guo Guo looked in disbelief: "I am also very beautiful, super good-looking, super..."
Before the little girl finished speaking, Aunt Thirteen took her finger and hit her little head: "She's so cheating."
Guoguo ignored her mother and begged Yang Fan: "Dad, I also want a big, gentle chinchilla."
Yang Fan smiled. The chinchilla in the story was huge, curious and childishly naughty like a child, and very kind.
"There is no such thing as Totoro." Aunt Thirteen wanted to crush her daughter's dream.
Guo Guo stared at Yang Fan with wide eyes, full of expectation.
She hoped that if he said yes, she would believe him.
Yang Fan said: "Hope and miracles exist."
I said this to Guoguo, and also to Aunt Thirteen.
This story is more suitable to be told to children, unlike stories like the Yang family generals. After telling it for a while, Guoguo fell asleep.
So until the story of "My Neighbor Totoro" was finished, Guoguo still didn't fall asleep.
The little girl still wanted to talk to Yang Fan, but Aunt Thirteen preemptively said, "Don't ask questions. It's time to go to bed. If you don't go to bed, I will never tell you a bedtime story again."
The little girl had to close her eyes.
After a while, she fell asleep with a smile on her lips.
In her dream, she saw a chinchilla playing a xun on the treetops in the distance.
"Guoguo~" Yang Fan called softly.
The little girl didn't respond.
I called twice more, but she still didn't respond.
Yang Fan turned his attention to Thirteen, his eyes shining.