Shi Tiesheng's "Life is Like a Piano String"
I personally think it is extremely touching. It only takes about 15 minutes to read aloud. You can click on the website below to have a look
Is it what you need?
★ (Don’t read so much, it will take up to 15-20 minutes to read) ★
Life is like a zither string and history is iron-sheng
野There is a small temple on Yangling Mountain, two miles away from Yeyang'ao Village, where the master and the apprentice live. The stone courtyard walls are in pieces, and several small halls are crooked and riddled with holes. Only the middle one can still be protected from wind and rain, probably because the gods are still enshrined in this room after all. The clay statue of Feng Zun has long since shed all the colorful decorations of the world, and its original color of loess has returned to its original state. It is impossible to recognize it as a Buddha or a Tao. Inside and outside the courtyard, on the roofs and walls, there are wild vines and weeds growing, lush and full of life. The old blind man went to Yeyang'ao every day to tell stories and stayed here.
It was already late after finishing reading. The old blind man was packing his luggage in the lower hall, while the little blind man was lighting a fire and boiling water under the eaves of the side hall. The stove built last year can be used with a little repair. The little blind man kicked up his buttocks and blew on the fire, choking on the dry firewood that made him run around in circles in the yard and cough. The old blind man was counting him in the main hall: "Let me see what you can do."
"Chaishi."
"I didn't say this. I was talking about you. "What did you do with the piano tonight?"
The little blind man didn't dare to answer this question, so he took a few breaths and knelt down in front of the stove fire, puffing out his cheeks and blowing hard. "If you don't want to do this job, send a message to your father as soon as possible to take you back. It's not okay to keep making trouble with cats and dogs. You have to go home and make trouble."
The little blind man coughed from the stove fire. He jumped away and ran to the other end of the yard in a few steps, breathing heavily and cursing.
"What are you talking about?"
"I blame this fire."
"Are you so angry?"
"Then how do you blow?"
"How do you blow? Huh," the old blind man paused, then said, "Just think that this stove fire is that girl's face!"
The little blind man didn't dare to talk anymore, so he knelt down in front of the stove fire and blew again, thinking: Really, I don't know what Lan Xiuer's face looks like. That little girl with a shrill voice is called Lan Xiuer.
"Then if it's Nizi's face, I think you can do it without any teaching." The old blind man said.
The little blind man laughed, and the more he laughed, the more he coughed.
"Why are you laughing!"
"Have you blown Nizi's face?"
The old blind man was speechless for a moment. The little blind man sat on the ground laughing. "Damn it." The old blind man cursed, smiled, then his expression changed and he remained silent.
There was a roar in the stove, and the fire became strong. The little blind man went to add firewood again, thinking only of Lan Xiuer. Just when they were finishing reading, Lan Xiuer squeezed up to him and whispered, "Hey, what did you promise me last time?" The master was right next to him, and he didn't dare to say a word. The crowd crowded around, and after a while, Lan Xiuer was pushed to his side. "Hey, did you eat someone else's boiled eggs for nothing last time?" Lan Xiuer said, her voice louder than last time. At this time, the master was busy talking to a few old men. He quickly said: "Shh - I remember it." Lan Xiuer lowered her voice again: "You promised to listen to the electronic box for me but you haven't listened to me yet." "Shh - I remember it." Fortunately, that time There is a lot of noise.
There was no movement in the main hall for a long time. Afterwards, the piano sounded, and the old blind man strung a new string. He should have been happy, but he broke another string the first night in Yeyang'ao, but the sound was low and messy.
The little blind man gradually realized that something was wrong with the sound of the piano, and shouted in the courtyard: "The water is boiling, Master."
There was no answer. The sound of the piano became louder and louder.
The little blind man came in with a basin of hot water. He put it in front of the master and deliberately said with a smile: "Why do you still want to break one tonight?"
The old man was blind and didn't hear it. At this moment, his own past events were in his mind. . The sound of the piano is restless and restless, like the wind and rain in the wilderness every year, like the streams in the valley day and night, like the footsteps running around without knowing where to go.
The little blind man was a little scared: Master hasn't been like this for a long time. Whenever he does this, he will get sick. He will have headaches, heartache, and whole body pain. He will not be able to get out of the kang for several months.
"Master, please wash your feet first."
The sound of the piano continues.
"Master, it's time for you to wash your feet." The little blind man's voice trembled.
The music keeps playing.
"Master!"
The sound of the piano stopped suddenly, and the old blind man sighed. The little blind man breathed a sigh of relief. The old blind man washed his feet, and the little blind man sat beside him obediently.
"Go to sleep," the old blind man said, "I'm very tired today."
"What about you?"
"You go to bed first , I need to soak my feet. People have many problems with age," the old blind man said deliberately.
"I'll wait for you to sleep together."
The mountain is quiet late at night, there is a little wind, and the grass leaves on the wall are rustling. Night owls howled mournfully in the distance. I could hear the occasional barking of dogs in the Wild Sheep Col, which made the children cry. The moon rose, and white light entered the hall through the damaged window lattice, illuminating two blind men and three statues of gods.
"What are you waiting for me to do? It's getting late."
"Don't worry about me, I won't do anything," the old blind man said again.
"Did you hear that, kid?"
The little blind man was young after all and had already fallen asleep. The old blind man pushed him and told him to lie down. He muttered a few words and fell asleep. When the old blind man covered him with a quilt, he felt from the growing muscles of his body that when the child reached the age where he wanted to think about those things, he would have to live a hard life for a while. Alas, no one can do this for anyone.
The old blind man held the piano in his arms again and rubbed the taut strings. I kept chanting in my heart: Another one is broken, another one is broken. When he shook the piano again, there was a slight friction sound between paper and snakeskin. This was the only thing that could relieve his worries. A lifelong wish.
The little blind man had a good dream. I was startled when I woke up. The rooster was already crowing. He quickly got up and listened. Master was sleeping soundly, and he thought it was okay. He touched the big satchel, quietly took out the electronic box, and tiptoed out the door.
After walking in the direction of Yeyang'ao for a while, he realized something was wrong. The crow of chickens gradually stopped, and there was still no sound in Yeyang'ao. He was stunned for a while, had the chicken just crowed for the first time? An idea struck and he opened the electric box. It was also quiet inside the electronic box. It's midnight now. He listened to the box in the middle of the night and found nothing. This box is still a watch to him. As long as you turn it on and listen, you will know what time it is and what program will be played at a certain time.
The little blind man returned to the temple, and the old blind man was turning over.
"What are you doing?"
"Peeed." said the little blind man.
The master forced him to practice the piano all morning. It wasn't until after lunch that the little blind man saw an opportunity to sneak out of the temple and into the Wild Sheep Col. The chickens were also napping in the shade of the trees, and the pigs were talking in their sleep under the wall. The sun was so hot that the village was very quiet.
The little blind man stepped on the millstone, scratched the wall of Lan Xiuer's house and shouted softly: "Lan Xiuer - Lan Xiuer -"
There was a thunderous sound in the house snore.
He hesitated for a moment and raised his voice slightly: "Lan Xiu'er—! Lan Xiu'er!"
The dog barked. The snoring in the room stopped, and a muffled voice asked: "Who is it?"
The little blind man did not dare to answer, so he retracted his head from the wall. There was a bit of chirping in the room, and snoring sounded again.
He sighed, got off the table and walked back sadly. Suddenly he heard the creak of the courtyard door behind him, and then there was a burst of soft footsteps running towards him.
"Guess who?" said in a sharp voice. The little blind man's eyes were covered by a pair of soft little hands. ――This is superfluous. Lan Xiuer is less than fifteen years old, seriously speaking she is still a child.
"Lan Xiuer!"
"Have you brought the electric box?"
The little blind man opened his clothes and the box hung on his waist. "Shh--, don't stay here, find a place where no one is around to listen."
"What's wrong?"
"Recruit some people later."
“What’s wrong?”
“So many people are listening, which wastes electricity.
"
The two people turned around and came to the small spring behind the mountain. The little blind man suddenly remembered something and asked Lan Xiuer: "Have you ever seen the winding oil wolf? "
"What? "
"The twisty oil wolf. ”
“The twisty oil wolf? ”
“Do you know? ”
“You know? ”
“Of course. There are also green benches. Just a chair. "Who doesn't know the chair?" "
"What about the twisty oil wolf? ”
Lan Xiuer shook her head and admired the little blind man a little. Then the little blind man solemnly opened the electric box, and a cheerful music floated in the ravine.
The place is cool and no one disturbs me.
"This is 'BBK'. "The little blind man said, dancing and humming. After a while, he changed to a song called "Thunder in the Drought", and the little blind man could still hum along. Lan Xiuer felt very ashamed.
"This song is also called 'Thunder' A monk misses his wife'. "
Lan Xiuer laughed: "You are lying!"
"Do you believe it?"
"No."
"Believe it or not, there are a lot of weird things in this box." The little blind man played with the cool spring water and thought for a while. "Do you know what kissing is?"
"What do you mean by kissing?"
This time it was the little blind man's turn to laugh, without answering. Lan Xiuer understood that the words were definitely not good, so she blushed and stopped asking.
After the music ended, a woman said, "Now is a hygiene program."
"What?" Lan Xiuer didn't hear clearly.
"Be hygienic."
"What is it?"
"Hmm - do you have lice in your hair?"
"Go -, don't move!"
The little blind man quickly retracted his hand and explained quickly: "If you have it, you are not hygienic."
"I don't have it." Lan Xiuer scratched her head, feeling a little irritated, "Hey - look at yourself!" Lan Xiuer moved the little blind man's head. "Watch me catch a few big ones."
At this time, I heard the old blind man shouting from the middle of the mountain: "Boy, don't come back yet! It's time to cook. After eating, you have to go storytelling!" He had stood there listening for some time.
It is already dark in the Yeyang Pass. Sheeps, donkeys, dogs, and children are barking. There is smoke everywhere. There is still a ray of setting sun on the Yeyang Ridge, and the small temple is in the faint light. There was no sound.
The little blind man kicked his buttocks to light the fire again. The old blind man was sitting aside washing rice. He could pick out the sand in the rice with his hearing.
"The firewood is quite dry today." Xiao Blind said.
"Yes."
"Stew rice?"
"Yes."
The little blind man was very energetic now. I really wanted to find something to say, but knowing that Master was still angry, I thought it would be better not to scold me. The two of them went about their business in silence, and cooked the meal together in silence. There is no sunshine on the ridge either.
The little blind man filled a bowl of rice and gave it to the master first: "You can eat it." His voice was timid and extremely docile.
The old blind man finally spoke: "Boy, can you listen to me?"
"Yes." The little blind man put some rice into his mouth and answered vaguely.
"If you don't want to listen, I won't speak."
"Who said you don't want to listen? I said 'hmm'!"
" I am someone who has been here before, so I know more than you."
The little blind man was busy eating.
"I went through that thing."
"What happened?"
"Talk to me again!" The old blind man put his chopsticks on the stove fall.
"Lan Xiuer just wants to listen to the electronic box. We just want to listen to the electronic box together."
"What else?"
"No more."
"No more?"
"I also asked her if she had ever seen a zigzag oil wolf."
"I didn't ask you this .
"
"Later, later," the little blind man became less angry, "I don't know why he suddenly talked about lice..."
"What else? ”
“No more, really no more!” "
The two of them ate in silence again. The old blind man had taken this apprentice for several years and knew that this child would not lie. The most reassuring thing about this child is that he is honest and kind.
"Listen to what I say, I'm sure it won't do you any harm. It’s better to stay away from her from now on. When your master told me this in the early years, I didn’t believe it either..."
"Master? Talk about Lan Xiuer? "
"What Lan Xiu'er? She wasn't there at that time, but you were here at that time..." The old blind man's gloomy face turned to the thick twilight sky again, and his bone-white eyes couldn't help but stare. After a while, the little blind man said, "You will probably be able to break another string tonight," hoping to make the master happy.
That night, the master and his disciples were telling stories at Yeyang'ao. "Last time, we talked about Luo Cheng's death and his three souls and seven souls going to the underworld. Gentlemen, listen to the song and don't make any noise. I will tell you what's next. When Luo Cheng's ghost left the underworld, he got up when a whirlwind came. The whirlwind came quickly, not far from Chang'an..." The old blind man's piano music was also chaotic, and the little blind man's piano music was also chaotic. The little blind man recalled the softer little hand covering his head. The feeling on his face, as well as the feeling of having his head moved by Lan Xiuer, reminded the old blind man of more things...
The old blind man could not sleep peacefully while tossing and turning at night, with so many past memories in his ears. The buzzer was shaking in his heart, and something in his body was about to explode. He was about to get sick, he thought. He felt dizzy, his chest felt tight, and his whole body felt tight and uncomfortable. Don't get sick. If you get sick, you won't be able to play those strings enough this year. "He touched the piano again. If he could jingle and jingle as much as he wanted, the sadness in his heart might calm down, and the past memories in his ears might dissipate. But the little blind man was sleeping soundly.
He He had to think about the prescription and the strings with all his strength: there were only a few left, only the last few. Then he could grab the medicine, and then he could see the world - the mountain he had climbed countless times. The road he has walked countless times, he has felt her warmth and blazing sun countless times, he has dreamed of the blue sky, the moon and the stars countless times... What else is there? What else does he vaguely hope for than this? Much more...
The night wind wanders in the mountains
The owl is hooting sadly again
But now he is old, no matter how old he is. What was lost was lost forever. He seemed to have just realized this. Is it worth all the hard work he had endured for seventy years just to get a glimpse of the world?
The little blind man laughed in his dream and said in his dream: "That is a chair, Lan Xiuer..."
The old blind man sat quietly, and the old blind man sat quietly. There were three clay statues that could not be distinguished as Buddha or Tao.
When the rooster crowed for the first time, the old blind man decided to take the child away from Yeyang'ao at dawn, otherwise the child would not be able to bear it. He couldn't bear it either. Lan Xiu'er was not bad, but the old blind man could "see" it more clearly than anyone else. The rooster crowed twice and he started to pack his luggage.
But early in the morning. When he woke up, the little blind man got sick and had a stomachache, and then he had a fever.
For several days, the old blind man lit a fire, washed rice, collected firewood, or dug for the little blind man. Medicine, decoction, always saying in my heart: “It’s worth it, of course it’s worth it. "If I didn't tell myself over and over again, my strength would almost collapse. "I must take one last look. "What else will happen?" Just die like this? "Besides, there are only the last few left." "The last three sentences are all reasons. The old blind man calmed down again, and went to Yeyang'ao every night to tell stories.
This time, the little blind man was blessed. Every night, the master went to the ridge, and Lan Xiu Like a cat, she jumped into the temple to listen to the box. Lan Xiuer also brought cooked eggs, but the condition was that she had to turn the switch of the box with her own hands. "Which way do you turn it?" "To the right" "I can't twist it." "Go to the right, you idiot, you don't know which way is right?" "? "Click", no matter what it is, they both like to hear it.
A few days later, the old blind man broke three more strings.
That night, the old blind man played and sang to himself in the Yeyang Pass: "Not to express Luo Cheng's reincarnation, but also to sing about Qin Wang Li Shimin. When Qin Wang heard this, he burst into tears, pitiful for his beloved wife's death, you It’s important to ride the wind and waves after death, but there is a lack of support for the general..."
The small temple on the Yeyang Pass was even more lively at this time. The volume of the electric box was turned up quite loudly, children were crying, adults were shouting, cannons were booming, and trumpets were blowing. The moonlight shines into the main hall. The little blind man is lying down and chewing eggs, and Lan Xiuer is sitting next to him. Both of them were excited, sometimes laughing, sometimes confused and confused.
"Where did your master sell this box?"
"From a person outside the mountain."
"Have you been to the outside of the mountain?" Lan Xiuer asked.
"No. I have to go there sooner or later, just take the train."
"Train?"
"You don't know about trains? You idiot." ."
"Oh, you know, there's smoke, right?"
After a while, Lan Xiuer said, "I'll have to go outside the mountain." The tone was a little panicked.
"Really?" The little blind man sat up straight, "Then what do you think the twisted oil wolf is?"
"Do you think people outside the mountain are like this?" Is there an electric box?"
"Do you hear me clearly? Qu, Zhe, You, Lang, this thing is outside the mountain."
" I have to ask them for an electric box." Lan Xiuer thought to herself.
“You want one?” The little blind man laughed twice, then stopped his anger, and then laughed: “Why don’t you want two? You are really capable. Do you know that this box costs thousands of dollars a piece? Sell ??it, I'm afraid you won't be able to get it back."
Lan Xiuer felt aggrieved, grabbed the little blind man's ears and pinched them hard, scolding: "You're going to die, you blind man."
Two people started fighting in the hall. The three clay statues stood idly by and could not help. The two young and growing bodies collided and became entangled. One pushed the other under them, and then turned upside down again. The scolding turned into laughter. The box sings on the side.
After fighting for a long time, both of them were so tired that they stopped. Their hearts were pounding, and they lay panting and saying nothing, but neither one was willing to distance themselves any longer. Lan Xiuer's breath The little blind man felt the temptation and remembered what the master said when he blew the fire that day, so he blew the air into Lan Xiuer's face. Lan Xiuer did not hide.
"Hey," the little blind man whispered, "do you know what kissing is?"
"What is it?" Lan Xiuer's voice was also soft.
The little blind man told Lan Xiuer in her ear. Lan Xiuer said nothing. Before the old blind man came back, they tried to kiss, and it tasted really good...
It was that night that the old blind man broke the last two strings. Both strings broke at the same time. He didn't expect that. He almost ran and climbed up to Yeyang Ridge and returned to the small temple. The little blind man was startled: "What's wrong, Master?"
The old blind man sat there panting, speechless. The little blind man muttered a little: Could it be that the master knew about what he and Lan Xiuer did?
The old blind man finally believed that everything was worth it. A lifetime of hard work is worth it. It’s worth watching it once and having a good look at it.
"Boy, I'll get some medicine tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"It's broken again One?"
"Two. Both are broken."
The old blind man took off the two strings and rubbed them in his hands for a while. They went to the other nine hundred and ninety-eight and tied them into a bundle.
"Leave tomorrow?"
"Leave as soon as dawn."
The little blind man felt a chill in his heart. The old blind man began to peel off the snake skin on the piano groove.
"But my illness is not cured yet." The little blind man whispered.
"Oh, I've thought about it. Just stay here. I'll be back in less than ten days."
The little blind man was overjoyed.
"Can you do it alone?"
"Okay!" the little blind man said hurriedly.
The old blind man had long forgotten about Lan Xiuer. "There's everything to eat, drink, and have a fever. If you get better from your illness, you should also learn to go out and answer your questions by yourself. Is that okay?"
"Okay." The little blind man felt that something was right. Can't live with Master.
The snake skin was peeled off, and the old blind man took out a square piece of paper from the piano slot. He remembered that he was only twenty years old when this prescription was put into the piano trough, and he felt as if his whole body was cold.
The little blind man also put the prescription in his hand and touched it for a while, feeling a little solemn.
"Your master has been wronged all his life."
"How many strings did he break?"
"He could have played a thousand strings, but He remembered it as eight hundred, otherwise he could have broken a thousand."
The old blind man was on his way before dawn. He said he would be back in ten days at most. No one expected that he would be gone for so long.
It was already winter when the old blind man returned to Yang'ao. There is heavy snow all over the sky, and the gray sky connects the white mountains. There was no sound, no life anywhere, empty and silent. Therefore, the old blind man's blackened straw hat moved particularly noticeably. He staggered up to the Wild Sheep Ridge. The decaying grass rustled in the temple courtyard, and a fox jumped out and fled away in panic.
The villagers told him that the little blind man had been gone for a few days.
"I told him to wait for me to come back."
"He left without knowing why."
"He didn't say where he was going, so he stayed What did you say?"
"He told you not to look for him."
"When did you leave?"
People thought about it for a long time. It was the day Lan Xiuer got married outside the mountains. The old blind man understood everything in his heart.
Everyone advised the old blind man to stay. Where could he go in such a cold and snowy environment? It’s better to spend the whole winter talking in Yeyang’ao. The old blind man pointed to his harp. People saw that the handle of the harp was empty and there were no strings. The old blind man's face was haggard, his breathing was weak, his voice was hoarse, and he was a completely different person. He said he had to find his apprentice.
If he hadn’t still thought about his apprentice, the old blind man would not have been able to return to Yeyang’ao. The prescription he had kept for fifty years turned out to be a blank piece of paper without any words. He didn't believe it, so he asked many literate and honest people to read it for him. Everyone said that it was really a blank piece of paper without words. The old blind man sat on the steps in front of the medicine shop for a while. He thought it was just a while, but in fact it had been several days and nights. His bone-like eyes were asking the sky, and his face became as pale as a bone. Some people thought he was crazy, comforted him and advised him. The old blind man smiled bitterly: What's the point of being crazy at the age of seventy? He just didn't want to move anymore, and the things that attracted him to live, walk, and sing suddenly disappeared. Just like a string that cannot be tightened, it is difficult to play a pleasant tune. The old blind man's heartstrings were broken. To be precise, one end was empty and had nothing to tie to. A string requires two points to tighten. The heartstring also needs two points - one is pursuit and the other is goal - so that you can play the heart song in the tense process in the middle. Now I find that purpose was empty. The old blind man stayed in a small inn for a long time and felt that everything in his body was going out. He lay on the kang all day long, neither playing nor singing, and was aging rapidly day by day. Until he spent all the money he had, until he suddenly remembered his apprentice. He knew that his death was coming, but the child was waiting for him to return.
In the vast snowy wilderness, with the capped mountains, a black dot moved between the ground. As he approached, the old blind man's figure was as curved as a bridge. He went to find his apprentice. He knew the child's current mood and situation.
He thought he had to cheer up first, but no, there was clearly no goal ahead.
As he walked along, he felt nostalgic for the past days, and realized how joyful it was to climb mountains, walk, and play the piano with great enthusiasm, and even worry and worry! At that time, something tugged at my heartstrings, although that thing was originally a fiction. The old blind woman recalled the scene when her master was dying. His master sealed the prescription he had not used into his piano slot. "Don't die. If you live a few more years, you can open your eyes and see." He was still a child when he said this.
His master was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Remember, human life is like this string. Only when it is tightened can it be played well. When it is played well, it is enough."...Yes, that means: there is no purpose in the first place. Yes, his whole life has been tightened by that false purpose, so the jingling in life becomes alive. The important thing is to get pleasure from the tightening process, the old blind man knew what to say to his apprentice. But he thought again: Can he tell the little blind man everything? The old blind man tried to cheer up again, but he still couldn't get rid of the wordless white paper...
In the deep mountains, the old blind man found the little blind man.
The little blind man fell down in the snow, motionless, wanting to wait for death. The old blind man knew that it was not a pretense of sadness. The old blind man dragged him into a cave, and he was unable to resist. The old blind man gathered some firewood and started a fire.
The little blind man gradually began to cry. The old blind man was relieved and allowed him to cry to his heart's content. As long as you can still cry, there is still hope. As long as you can still cry, you will have enough.
The little blind man cried for several days and nights, while the old blind man just watched without saying a word. The firelight and crying alarmed the wild pheasants, pheasants, wild sheep, foxes and hawks...
Finally the little blind man spoke: "Why are we blind!"
" Just because we are blind," the old blind man replied.
Finally the little blind man said again: "I want to open my eyes and take a look, Master, I want to open my eyes and take a look! Even just once."
"Do you really think so? ?”
“I really want to, I really want to-”
The old blind man stoked the bonfire even more.
The snow stopped. In the leaden sky, the sun is like a small shining mirror, and the falcon is gliding smoothly.
"Then play your strings," the old blind man said, "Play as hard as you can one by one."
"Master, have you got your medicine?" The little blind man woke up from a dream.
"Remember, it must be truly broken."
"Have you seen it already? Master, can you see it now?"
The little blind man struggled to get up and reached out to touch the master's eye socket. The old blind man took his hand.
“Remember, you have to break one thousand two hundred sticks.
“One thousand two? "
"Give me your harp, and I will seal the prescription in the trough for you. "The old blind man now understands what the master said to him back then - your life depends on these strings.
Although the purpose is false, it must be there, otherwise how can the strings be tightened? If you don’t pull it tightly, it won’t play.
“Why is it one thousand and two, Master? ”
“It’s one thousand and two. I didn't play enough, so I recorded it as a thousand. "The old blind man thought: No matter how hard this kid plays, can he still break twelve hundred strings? He will always tighten the dancing strings, and there is no need to look at the wordless white paper...
This The place is remote and desolate, with endless mountains. A pair of pheasants will fly up from the grass at any time, and a hawk, fox, or other small beast will jump out of the valley.
Now let's go back. Start:
Two blind men, one old and one young, were walking among the vast mountains, one behind the other. Their two blackened straw hats were swaying in a hurry, as if they were following someone. It doesn't matter where you come from or who you are going to... ! ! ! ! !