Dream: 20 July, 2005
West Lake has changed. Workers have created an iceberg like the snow-capped peak of a mountain. I am holding a badminton racket and gazing at West Lake. At the docks nearest me, workers are installing ice fish in the middle of the broken ice floes there. Behind me my maternal uncle says: they've really made a mess of West Lake. It's not what it used to be.
On the other side, I catch sight of my colleagues from the Art Academy playing badminton. I watch how they run up behind the man when his is not paying attention and catch two serves of the shuttlecock. I don't approve of this, so I leave, and go into the room to be with my uncle.
He is very thin, and also quite tall. He wears a Chinese-style jacket with buttons down the front. On his back is a Japanese sword. The sheath of the sword is quite large, but the sword is small; more like a dagger. I really want it. I look for the characters inscribed on the sword, but there are only English letters. I want to photograph them, but I'm embarrassed to ask my uncle. He carefully puts the sword back in its sheath, I take his arm and we go out. I don't know whether the girl playing badminton sees me walking along on the arm of a man. A male student comes in the room and gives me a handmade little box. I give it to my uncle to put things inside. The box is small and there isn't room to put anything inside. My uncle and I each shoulder a backpack and go out. I see that student standing at the gate talking to the security guards. Why is he wearing a polka dotted dress?
I go down the stairs. Across the way is an old man who mends clothing. Uncle tells him to mend the pair of pants he is wearing. There are two small holes below the knees. I tell Uncle: let's go home and I'll mend them for you. Finally I find a handrail on the staircase. On the left side is a wooden handrail. I let my uncle walk on that side. The stairs are very steep. Halfway down I see an old man sitting there. I am surprised to discover how intelligent he is. The staircase is missing two sections. Inside a boiler is sticking out. He sits there warming his hands.
My son is still in the room. I want to go pee first before I go out again. On the wall hangs a handcrafted red saber. There is also a bronze statue of the ancient Emperor Qin Shihuang. The latticed perforations are rusty, but you can still see that these handicrafts are intact. I put them in a safe place.
梦二〇〇五年七月二十日。西湖变样了，人工堆成的雪山冰山。我手握着羽毛球拍坐在石桥边，望着西湖。离我最近的几个码头，有工人在碎冰中装冰鱼。我对身后的舅舅说，西湖给他们弄得越来越不像样子了。在另一边我见到美院同事，一男一女在打羽毛球。在他们不注意时，我跑到男的身后帮他接了两次球后，感觉这样不好，就离开了。进入室内陪舅舅去。他人很瘦，个子又高。身穿对襟上衣，身背日本刀，这是他抗美援朝时的战利品。我让他给我看看，可手碰到刀柄上的绿刺却掉下来。刀鞘很大，可刀太小，是一把匕首，我很想要。我在努力寻找刀把上的文字，只有英文字母。我想把它拍下来，又不好意思对舅舅说出口。他很小心把刀装到刀鞘中去，我挽着他的手臂走出去，也不知道打羽毛球那女人是否看见我在挽着男人走路，一个男学生进屋给我送一个人工做成的小盒子，我把它给舅舅装东西，盒子小装不了什么，我和舅舅每人背一个双肩包走出去，见那学生站在门口和几个保安说话。可他为什么穿花点图案的连衣裙呢？
楼梯下去，对面做一个缝补衣服的老头，舅舅说他要把他穿的这条裤子补一下，膝盖下面露了两个小洞。我告诉他回家我给他缝，终于找到一个有扶手的楼梯。左边有木头扶手，我让他走这边，楼梯很陡，下到一半时见一个老头坐在那儿，我惊奇的发现他太聪明了，原来阶梯板少了二块，里面露出一个锅炉，他坐在这里取暖。儿子还在屋子里，我要先小便后再出去，墙上挂着一把工艺品大战刀，家中还有秦始皇时期的铜像，镂雕物品上已生锈，但仍能看出来它的工艺是很完整，我把它们都放好。
在系里又到了放假的时候，同事说要开会，屋子里几间都坐满了人，可我工作室的老师只来了一个，还有没来的，要我通知他们，我的电话簿也忘记在家中，墙上的号码一点也不对，只好放弃，有几个人就开几个人的会，我在寻找女同学，我要告诉她假期要多思考创作问题，可我没找到她。同学告诉我，通知老先生，我们要去慰问他们，我与同学等人在泥泞的路上去，我选择无水坑湿泥的地方跨越着不让鞋子沾上泥，他俩的鞋子已湿了，天色晚了，我们去乘公交车。只见那辆红色大巴正在那儿，当我们三人跑过去时它开走了。也很黑了只好走路回家了，我突然想到光脚走路太痛，把书包中的鞋子拿出来穿上，见一群男同学都在沙堆里在系秘书带领下在劳动呢，我们乘坐一辆马车走着来时走过的路。下坡很快又危险，英国女士某某躲在石头后面与我捉迷藏，一马车的同学都在山坡外下车，公园的正门在这儿，和舅舅走在路上，我问起舅舅这几年常回家看小舅舅吗，话一出口才想起小舅舅早已过世，又顺便问他是否去看过舅妈呢，大舅没说什么。