3.3 能屈能伸和宁死不屈的矛盾
程弈田飞奔到Ashdown门口的时候，奚涛和尹伯文已经靠边停了车。“程弈田，这位是。。。”奚涛正要介绍这位慷慨的卖主。
“尹伯文！”“司机！”弈田和尹伯文几乎同时接下了奚涛的话。“你的女朋友呢？”奚涛想起来那天忘了关视频，会意笑笑。
“她说，晚一点儿。”说着，像是要卖弄他的中文：“没事儿，她过一会儿就来。”
程弈田被他接二连三的“儿”逗乐了：“哟，还会儿话音那。”
“我去过北京儿。”语气里透着的骄傲，足可吹起一个大气球。程弈田看了一眼奚涛，止不住笑，“北京就是北京，没有北京儿，好不好，司机同志！”
“不要说同志，我不是that word。”尹伯文倒是欣然接受程弈田对“儿”的评论，头向车子一方一偏，右手一挥，“Alright, let's go.”
这是辆里外全黑的Toyota Corolla，刚才在外边就觉得挺新的，坐进来也不觉得局促，座椅的边角有刚被仔细清理上过蜡的痕迹。以前只管着看路骑车，今天坐进车里倒是有了机会饱览波士顿城的景色。“看，那个女生的身材好好啊！腿那么长，比例真好。”程弈田坐在司机尹伯文后排的座椅指着哈佛桥人行道上跑步的女生说。
“那个？不好，真的。”尹伯文腾出一只手，回头指着此时已经落在车后的那个穿着短裤长跑的女生。
程弈田离开3班猴子那些人有多久，就有多久没有听到他人对她此类“无聊”的评论有任何的回应了。“怎么不好？那么瘦！”
“没肉！”理由简单得反常识！
“你的眼光到独特，现在的超级模特哪个不是那么瘦的？你跟我吵什么吵？还不好好开车！”奚涛回头给程弈田使了个眼色，弈田知道他怕她冒犯了这个好心人。
“肉好！我说，肉好！”肯定得没有任何商量的空间。
“好，好，好，肉好！”程弈田往前倾了身子，拍了一下奚涛说：“你怎么就遇上这人？待会儿，买二两肉给他，说程弈田同意了，肉好！”奚涛噗哧一声，转过身，对左后方的弈田说，“别这样说人家，人好心呢！”
“Yes，心好，很好！” 天哪，他到底听不听得懂啊！
中国城的潮州餐馆每个周末都有点心供应。跟香港电影里的一样，几个服务员推着车在场内打转，客人会边吃边注意身边推过的车里的小蒸笼里边有些什么，碰到喜欢的，就点了上桌。服务员拿出刻有自己推车代号的图章在点菜单上相应的地方印一下，吃完之后客人自己带着这张单子去前台结账。
很快，腐竹肉段，虾饺，烧卖都上了桌。尹伯文招呼奚涛和程弈田尝尝，将筷子衔在嘴里，又继续盯着来往的小推车，说，“青菜，I want a plate of 蚝油青菜too。”奚涛静静地坐等着，程弈田夹起一块腐竹肉块，前后翻了翻，看了看，往嘴里塞。“hmm，不错！小尹，不错，里面好像还有几丝竹笋，跟我家的鹅颈有点像呢。”程弈田边嚼边点头，还跟尹伯文竖起大拇指。
“是我点的！But, what's it like? I am sorry, I didn't quite get it.”尹伯文一脸疑惑。
程弈田决定还是用英文跟这个奚涛的邻居交流算了，以后见面的机会还多着呢，要是都这么说一遍再翻译一遍还真有点浪费能源，刚下肚的那些腐竹转化成的热量还真不顶事。
“中国的东西好吃”，终于找到了耗油青菜，坐了站，站了坐，变换了几次姿势的尹伯文也稍微消停了一下，重新找了个靠奚涛的座位坐了下来。
“谢谢你，伯文，”奚涛说着站了起来，端起了一杯茶，缓了一下，说：“谢谢你带我们来这里，东西看起来就很好吃。最感谢的还是你愿意把那车便宜那么多卖给我！我以茶代酒敬你。谢谢！”
“How come you are like an old lady, all I heard from you was thank you?”尹伯文给了奚涛一脸的不屑，“ Tao, she deserves it. I can see it!”
“弈田，你们中国人奇怪啊。”尹伯文不知道脑经转到了哪里，来了个这样的转折。
你们中国人？！这么说的尹伯文应该全然不认同自己的中国属性，那他是什么？外国人吗？是外国人又怎样？好吧，程弈田，冷静一点，也许这就是所谓的交流中的误解？
“What made you say so? ”
奚涛看着程弈田似乎还浮现在表情肌表层的笑，却听到程弈田的不安，不服和稍有的质问。每每这个时候，他往往都会平静得像梅轩亭旁的睡莲，任弈田的石子如何仍，引起的涟漪断然是被水面的莲叶荷花阻断，如何也传播不到岸边。
奚涛正想说些什么缓和一下，却挡不住尹伯文极快速地回应。“Well, my mother is second generation Chinese. Her family came from Guangdong. My grandma always asked me to eat 人参，and her reason was always 很贵的，吃，很贵！”
“Well, she is right. IT IS expensive!”这有什么可值得辩论的吗？难道不是事实么？
“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 人参 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！程弈田几乎忘记了自己对尹伯文不满的缘由，听到事情可以从这个特殊的角度来分析，一股子的怨气不由的转成了好感：“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！”可能屁股这个词尹伯文没有什么机会练习，听起来很像刚会几个单词的娃娃说的“皮赌”。
修养再好的奚涛也快要挡不住就要冲出腹腔的笑的脉冲，伸手捂住了嘴，夹了一片蒸鱼给弈田，说，“好啦，别较真了。程弈田，这个味道很好，好像是海鱼，跟小黄鱼味道有点类似。”
“海鱼，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.”尹伯文得意地介绍，好像他是东家，客人的欣赏是对他最大的肯定。“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.”
跟这些天弈田认识的那些同学一样，尹伯文说话时脸上的表情也非常丰富。这会儿瞧他，你会觉得他痛得宁愿去死掉一样。程弈田饶有兴趣地享用着眼前的即时表演，也乐地参与互动：“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泪地控诉那个罪恶的来自旧社会的祖母！
“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 燕京大学! ”好不自豪。
程弈田不吝啬她的互动：“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 大丈夫宁死不屈。”
“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!”尹伯文摇摇头，“You Chinese people are confused!”
“Hey, 尹伯文，that's the Chinese culture, don't you know it?”这是尹伯文第二次说你中国人怎样怎样了。不就是一个学究型老太太给你的脆弱的童年造成的阴影嘛，怎么就马上扩展到中国人了？第一次程弈田还可以用外婆打屁股来安慰自己的民族自尊心，这一次，她提高了声音分贝。
尹伯文好像对程弈田的这种反击也有充分的准备，“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！”程弈田还打算加上“You idiot!”话到嘴边又咽了下去。
“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声拍在桌子上，转头就走。
“伯文，sorry, she did not mean that, I am sure.”尹伯文也有点呆了，没想到他习惯了的西方式的辩论如此激怒了一个外表甜美的中国女孩，更没有想到这个女孩用了一个最西方的方式提出了反抗。奚涛要站起来追程弈田，想起这桌对学生来说价格不菲的点心要结账，又转了回来，很抱歉地跟尹伯文再次说对不起。
“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）刚刚到来的一个亚裔女孩看到了这一幕，也冲着尹伯文大喊起来，抓起刚脱下放在椅背上的风衣也扭头离开了这里。
“伯文，go catch up with her.”奚涛挥手让尹伯文追上去。
尹伯文没有动，“Well, I am tired with 6 years of Vietnamese beef noodle soup too.”手里摆弄着一次性筷子的纸套子，刚才被折成一个筷子架，这会儿又被拆了开。“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.”尹伯文摆摆手，笑笑，似乎有点无奈，“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. ”说完，坐下来，一个人安静地吃完了剩下的鳕鱼和耗油青菜，围上一条最常见的红白相间的苏格兰格子围巾，登上了回BU的红线地铁。
