《郑燮致弟书》

吾意欲筑一土墙院子，门内多栽竹、树、草花，用碎砖铺曲迳一条，以达二门。其内茅屋二间，一间坐客，一间作房，贮图书史籍，笔墨砚瓦，酒董茶具其中，为良朋好友，后生小子论文赋诗之所。其后住家，主屋三间，厨房二间，奴子屋一间，共八间，俱用草苫，如此足矣。或曰，此等宅居甚适，只是怕盗贼，不知盗贼亦穷民耳。开门延入，商量分惠，有什么便拿什么去。若一无所有，便王献之之青毡，亦可携取质百钱救急也。吾弟当留心此地，为狂兄娱老之资，不知可能遂愿否？

I am thinking of building a house enclosed with earthen walls, in which plenty of bamboos, trees and various flowers should be planted. There should be a curved path paved with broken bricks leading to the porch. There are two spacious rooms behind the porch, one used as drawing-room and the other as study. Books and paintings, records and documents, writing-rushes and inksticks as well as inkstones, wine utensils and tea-sets are to be put in these two rooms. My intimate friends and young people may come here to discuss literature and make poems. Behind these there is the residence consisting of three bedrooms for the family, two rooms as kitchen, and one as servant quarters, so the total number of rooms in this house is eight, under the same thatched roof. That will be quite enough for me. Some one says that such a house is comfortable to live in, but the trouble is that thieves might easily break in, too. But he doesn’t realize that thieves are but poor people. If they should come, I would open the door and invite them to step in, so as to talk over the distribution of my belongings. They may take whatever I have. In case there is nothing at all worth taking, I would give them the hereditary blue blanket as what Wang Shien-tze had possessed, with which they may pawn for a hundred cashes to meet their urgent need. You must know, my dear brother, that this place will serve as the last resort to spend my peaceful latter years, but I wonder if I could be able to fulfill it or not.

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