One of the Lin Yun

I went to zhongtianmen by bus. I wanted to take the cableway to the top of the mountain, but when I saw the long queue, I went up on foot. This is the mountain fog is very thick, on both sides of the jungle are a dim black shadow, extending up a short distance to disappear in the white fog. Up close, stone carvings from past eras appear and disappear.

Ever since I went to Yunnan with Zhang Bin, I have always felt frustrated when I am in nature. It is hard to imagine that this living nature, with its unimaginably complex and changeable mystery, can be held in bondage by a few delicate human equations. At such times, I am reminded of Einstein's words in his later years: "Every leaf outside the window makes human science look childish and powerless."

But this frustration was soon replaced by physical fatigue. Looking ahead at the stone steps stretching in the fog, the Southern Gate seemed far above the atmosphere.

That's when I saw her for the first time. She caught my attention because of the contrast with everyone else around her. On the way, I saw couples, women sitting exhausted on stone steps, men standing panting at the edge trying to persuade their women to keep walking. Every time I passed someone, or occasionally someone passed me, I could hear a quick gasp. I tried to follow a porter whose broad bronzed back gave me the strength to keep climbing. At this moment a white figure glided past me and the porter, a girl in a white blouse and white jeans, like a concentrated white mist. Her speed of ascent was remarkable in the slow-moving stream. There was no heaviness in her step, and no gasp as she passed me. She looked back, not at me, but at the porter. Her expression was serene, there was no sign of fatigue, her slender body seemed weightless, and the arduous climb seemed to her like a leisurely walk in an avenue. It was not long before her figure was lost in the white mist.

When I finally reached the Southern Gate, I saw that it was already above the sea of clouds, and the sun was setting in the west, turning the sea of clouds red.

I dragged heavy steps to the Yuhuangding weather station, station people know my identity and history seems to feel very ordinary, in this famous weather station, there are constantly to do all kinds of observations of atmospheric science workers. They told me that the stationmaster had something to do down the mountain, and introduced me to the deputy stationmaster. When we met, we were pleasantly surprised to call up, and the deputy stationmaster was Zhao Yu.

More than three years have passed since our trip to Yunnan. When asked how he came to be in this strange place, Zhao yu said, "I came here for peace and quiet. The world down here is too fucking troublesome!"

"Then you'd better go to dai Temple to be a Taoist priest."

"The place is not quiet now, are you? Still chasing the ghost? '

I'll explain it to him.

He shook his head and said, "1962 is too early. There have been several people in the station now. I'm afraid no one will know about it."

I said, "Okay, I want to know about it, because it's the first case in the country where atmospheric physicists have seen ball lightning. In fact, this is not too big significance, I also went up the mountain to take a walk, maybe also can meet a thunderstorm, in addition to wudang jinding, here is the best place to watch thunder."

"Who's watching thunder with enough to eat? I think you've gone crazy! You can't get away from thunderstorms here, but if you really want to stay a few days, you might find one."

Zhao Yu led me to his dorm room, where it was time to eat. He called the canteen to bring us a lot of food, including thin and crispy Taishan pancakes, scallions the size of wine glasses, and a bottle of Taishan Daqu.

Zhao Yu thanked the old cook. When the old man turned to go, Zhao Yu suddenly remembered something and asked him, "Master Wang, when did you come to the station?"

"I was in this canteen in 1960, that was a difficult time, and you were not there then, Zhao Stationmaster."

Zhao Yu and I smiled at each other in surprise.

"Have you ever seen ball lightning?" I asked eagerly.

"You mean... Roll mines?"

"Rightness! That's what people call it!"

"Of course I have, three or four times in the last forty years!"

Zhao Yu brought out another glass and we warmly invited Wang to sit at the table. I poured him some wine and asked, "Remember the one in 1962?" "

"You don't say, return that remember clearly, that hurt a person! "

Lao Wang began: "It was at the end of July, and it seemed to be past seven in the afternoon. At that time of year, the sky was still bright, but the clouds were so thick that it was hard to see clearly without a light. The rain is pouring water, people standing in the rain can give you suffocated! Ray after Ray, no space in between..."

"That could be a thunderstorm as the front passes through." Zhao yu added to me.

"I heard a crash of thunder, and the lightning that preceded it was so bright that it dazzled me in the room. At this time, they heard Shouting outside that someone was injured, and ran out to save the injured man. There were four men at the station doing scientific research here, and it was one of them who was wounded by Thunder. I dragged the man into the house from the heavy rain. He was smoking from his legs, squeaking from the rain, but still conscious. Just then the roll mine came in, through the west window, which was closed at the time! That thing has... It's about the size of this pancake. It's red, and it lights the whole room up in red. It just floated through the room, like that fast..." He lifted his glass in the air with one hand, "Floating floating, I was like seeing a ghost, scared to say nothing, but the other people that a few scientific not panic, let us not touch that thing. It floated for some time, high on to the roof, low over the bed, but luckily it did not touch anyone, and at last got into the chimney, where it burst with a crash. In so many years on this mountain, I have never heard any thunder, but NOW I really do not remember such a loud sound again. My ears were buzzing for several days, and my left ear fell into trouble, and now I am hard of hearing. The shock had knocked out the oil lamp, shattered the glass lampshade and the thermos, and left a scorch mark on the sheets. Then I went out and found that the chimney on the roof had been blown down!"

"Where did the four watchers come from?"

"No idea."

"Well, after all these years... It was me and two men from the station who carried the wounded man down the mountain to the hospital. He was very young, as if he had been a college student at that time. One of his legs was burned out of shape, and the condition of tai 'an hospital was not good at that time, so he was sent to Jinan. Ah, he must have fallen disabled. The man's surname is zhang, his name is Zhang something... What husband."

Zhao Yu jerked his wine cup onto the table: "Zhang Hefu?"

"Yes, yes, that's the name. I took care of him in Tai 'an hospital for two days. After I left, he sent me a letter thanking me, which seemed to be from Beijing. Since then, I've been disconnected and I don't know where I am now."

Zhao Yu said to Lao Wang, "IN Nanjing, I am a professor at my Alma mater. I am our tutor for graduate students."

"What?" I almost dropped my wine glass.

"Chang Bin used to be called that, but he changed it during the Cultural Revolution because it reminded people of Khrushchev."

Zhao Yu and I were silent for a long time, but Lao Wang broke the silence. "That's not a coincidence. You're both in the same line of work. He was a pretty good kid, his leg hurt so much he bit his lip and read in bed. I told him to rest, and he said that from now on he would hurry, because he had a purpose in his life, something new, and he was going to study it and make it."

"Research what?" I asked.

"Rolling mines! You call it ball lightning."

Zhao Yu and I stared at each other.

Lao Wang didn't see our expressions. "He said he wanted to spend his life studying that thing," he continued. "I could tell he was hooked when he saw a roll mine on the top of a mountain. That's the way people are. Sometimes you just fall in love with something, and you can't get rid of it forever. Take me for example, one day twenty years ago when cooking firewood, I pulled out a root and was about to throw it into the fire. I thought it looked like a tiger, so I polished it and placed it there. It was really nice.

"That could be a thunderstorm as the front passes through." Zhao yu added to me.

"I heard a crash of thunder, and the lightning that preceded it was so bright that it dazzled me in the room. At this time, they heard Shouting outside that someone was injured, and ran out to save the injured man. There were four men at the station doing scientific research here, and it was one of them who was wounded by Thunder. I dragged the man into the house from the heavy rain. He was smoking from his legs, squeaking from the rain, but still conscious. Just then the roll mine came in, through the west window, which was closed at the time! That thing has... It's about the size of this pancake. It's red, and it lights the whole room up in red. It just floated through the room, like that fast..." He lifted his glass in the air with one hand, "Floating floating, I was like seeing a ghost, scared to say nothing, but the other people that a few scientific not panic, let us not touch that thing. It floated for some time, high on to the roof, low over the bed, but luckily it did not touch anyone, and at last got into the chimney, where it burst with a crash. In so many years on this mountain, I have never heard any thunder, but NOW I really do not remember such a loud sound again. My ears were buzzing for several days, and my left ear fell into trouble, and now I am hard of hearing. The shock had knocked out the oil lamp, shattered the glass lampshade and the thermos, and left a scorch mark on the sheets. Then I went out and found that the chimney on the roof had been blown down!" ] "Where did the four observers come from?"

"No idea."

"Well, after all these years... It was me and two men from the station who carried the wounded man down the mountain to the hospital. He was very young, as if he had been a college student at that time. One of his legs was burned out of shape, and the condition of tai 'an hospital was not good at that time, so he was sent to Jinan. Ah, he must have fallen disabled. The man's surname is zhang, his name is Zhang something... What husband."

Zhao Yu jerked his wine cup onto the table: "Zhang Hefu?"

"Yes, yes, that's the name. I took care of him in Tai 'an hospital for two days. After I left, he sent me a letter thanking me, which seemed to be from Beijing. Since then, I've been disconnected and I don't know where I am now."

Zhao Yu said to Lao Wang, "IN Nanjing, I am a professor at my Alma mater. I am our tutor for graduate students."

"What?" I almost dropped my wine glass.

"Chang Bin used to be called that, but he changed it during the Cultural Revolution because it reminded people of Khrushchev."

Zhao Yu and I were silent for a long time, but Lao Wang broke the silence. "That's not a coincidence. You're both in the same line of work. He was a pretty good kid, his leg hurt so much he bit his lip and read in bed. I told him to rest, and he said that from now on he would hurry, because he had a purpose in his life, something new, and he was going to study it and make it."

"Research what?" I asked.

"Rolling mines! You call it ball lightning."

Zhao Yu and I stared at each other.

Lao Wang didn't see our expressions. "He said he wanted to spend his life studying that thing," he continued. "I could tell he was hooked when he saw a roll mine on the top of a mountain. That's the way people are. Sometimes you just fall in love with something, and you can't get rid of it forever. Take me for example, one day twenty years ago when cooking firewood, I pulled out a root and was about to throw it into the fire. I thought it looked like a tiger, so I polished it and placed it there. It was really nice.

I found that zhao Yu's room indeed has many large and small carved, he introduced to me that these are Lao Wang's works.

We never spoke of Chang Bin again, and though we both thought of it, it was hard to put into words the shock it had given us.

After dinner, Zhao Yu led me around the weather station in the darkness. As we passed the only lighted window of their small guest house, I stopped in surprise and saw the girl in white. She was alone. The two beds and table were covered with open books and drawings, and she was pacing back and forth as if in thought.

'Now, be polite and don't look in people's Windows.' Zhao Yu gave me a push from behind.

"I saw her on the way up." I explained.

"She is here to contact the lightning observation, to the former provincial meteorological office said hello, but did not say where, it must be a very large unit, they plan to use helicopters to transport equipment to the top of the mountain."

I didn't expect to be hit by a thunderstorm the next afternoon. The shock of the thunderstorm on the top of the mountain is not comparable to the mountain, at this time Mount Tai seems to be the earth's lightning rod, as if all the lightning in the universe have attracted. There were electric sparks on the roof and you felt numb all over. There is almost no interval between the lightning and lightning, the sound of a loud shock your every cell, you feel at the foot of Mount Tai was blown to pieces, the soul was also shaken out of the body, fear floating between a bright lightning nowhere to escape...

I saw the girl, standing on the outside of the corridor, her short hair blown away by the wind, her slender, feebly-looking figure motionless in a huge net of lightning in thick black clouds, against the thunderclap. It was an unforgettable image.

"You'd better stand in, it's not safe, and you're getting wet!" "I shouted after her. She recovered from her intoxication with the thunder and took two steps back.

"Thank you," she said, turning to look at me and smiling. "Believe it or not, it was the only time I felt quiet."

It was strange that in this dense thunder you had to shout to be heard, but she only spoke softly, and the soft voice miraculously pierced through the loud noise, and I could hear it clearly. This proud girl now attracted me more than thunder and lightning.

"You're very special." I spoke my mind.

"I heard you majored in high atmosphere electricity?" She didn't respond to me.

By this time the thunder had died down and we could talk quietly. I asked her, "Are you going to observe lightning here?" From Zhao Yu I felt that her origin seems to be inconvenient to mention, so I said so.

"Yes."

"On what?"

"The creation of lightning. I don't mean to belittle your expertise, but atmospheric physics today is divided over the most basic questions, like thunderclouds or electricity, or even how lightning rods work."

I knew at once that even if she was not in atmospheric physics, she knew quite a bit about it. Storm clouds or electricity principle as she puts it doesn't seem to be a satisfactory theory, as for the lightning protection principle of lightning rod seems even primary school students can answer the question, not too clear theoretically, in recent years through the precise calculation of the lightning rod metal point discharge electricity, learned that it is far from being neutral thunderstorm cloud charge accumulation.

"Then your research is very basic."

"The end goal is very practical."

"Studying the lightning process... Artificial mine suppression?"