Home Categories Biographical memories Compassionate Because of Knowing Eileen Chang

Chapter 28 the end of the mountain

A resolute view of the world, whether political or philosophical, is always annoying.The so-called "joy of life" in life lies in those irrelevant things.
If you have never seen this city, you will not be able to perceive this ever-changing turmoil.I thought it was just the sea of ​​people surrounded by the vastness, the brilliance of the vast stars, and the brilliant bonus of the market.But when you actually come or walk in again, you realize that this city like fireworks is actually so deep, quiet, and lonely. Eileen Chang came to Hong Kong, where she had been away for six years. The city has gradually lost its authenticity amidst the chaos.Maybe she shouldn't be too harsh, and it's not just a city that has changed, and she herself is no longer that young and pure girl.Returning to this city is not only for giving, but also for taking.Zhang Ailing's heart is sad, she looks forward to this city, can give her a ray of warm sunshine.Let fleeting years not destroy each other too tightly.

It was old friend Song Qi who received Zhang Ailing. This time Song Qi asked Zhang Ailing to write the scripts of the second and second episodes.The manuscript remuneration promised to pay 2,000 U.S. dollars, which is undoubtedly a heart-warming amount for Eileen Chang.What's more, it is her favorite in this life. She has written many scripts over the years, but it has always been out of reach. Zhang Ailing sorted out her messy mood, rented a small room in a hotel near Song Qi's home, and began to devote herself to the creation of the film script.Her creation this time is not only for personal preference, but the more important purpose is to earn that remuneration.Because there is an extra husband who needs to be taken care of in her life, life is so real, and you are not allowed to have the slightest sunshine.

Working more than ten hours a day made Zhang Ailing feel unprecedentedly tired.Her eyelids were bleeding, her legs were swollen, and her waist was in pain. Writing, which she once thought was a pleasure, has undoubtedly become a torment.Writing is originally an elegant and comfortable thing, which requires a quiet space, a peaceful atmosphere, and a good mood. When these do not exist, writing becomes a responsibility and a burden.Zhang Ailing was deeply tired by it, she felt like Tao Qian, bowing deeply for five buckets of rice. During this time, she kept writing letters to Laiya to comfort him.After recovering from her illness, Laiya planned to settle in Washington, found a very satisfactory apartment near her daughter Faith's house, and settled down.In the heart of this lonely old man, he felt some resentment towards Zhang Ailing's resolute departure, but he would not fail to understand that what she devoted herself to now was purely for survival.He wasn't even sure that she would come back. This marriage gave him support for the rest of his life, and it also brought unspeakable shame and regret to his heart.

Eileen Chang finally completed the scripts for the first and second episodes. When she handed the scripts to Song Qi with a sense of relief, he said that he could not make the decision and had to show the boss to read the script before finalizing it.So waiting became another kind of torment. Song Qi was afraid of wasting her time, so she arranged for her to write the script "A Family in the North and South".Zhang Ailing had no choice but to stay in Hong Kong in order to earn a few hundred dollars more. During that time, she felt that life had brought her great humiliation. Laiya didn't understand her stay, he thought she was running away.And Zhang Ailing wrote a letter to Lai Ya, every word and every sentence was extremely bitter.She said she worked for months and was as tired as a dog without getting paid.The script still needs to be trimmed while waiting, her heart is already as cold as ice.At this time, Zhang Ailing was as contemptuous as an ant.It is really sad that such a talented woman like her is so humble for a few hundred dollars.If there is only these things left in life, then living is really no fun.But all living beings are suffering, so when Zhang Ailing was so young, she would say "Because she understands, she is compassionate".

Because you understand, you are compassionate.Who will be the confidant who really understands?Zhang Ailing, who was at the end of her life, could only ask her old friend Song Qi and his wife to borrow money.Maybe it's because of her sensitive nature, or maybe it's because she understands human emotions too deeply, in short, borrowing money this time made her heart deeply stabbed.He wrote a letter to Laiya, and one of the sentences was: "They are no longer my friends." How could such firm words be blurted out at will? What Zhang Ailing resented might not be Song Qi and his wife's attitude towards borrowing money, but what she was worried about must be the script that had not been finalized for a long time.After several months of hard work, she has achieved nothing, and her mood can be imagined.But she is cooperating with MP & GI Film Company, Song Qi, as a middleman, also has his difficulties.But Zhang Ailing, who was anxious, could no longer calm down and think so much. All she thought about was her own labor income.

In March 1962, Eileen Chang flew out of Hong Kong with indignation and regret. After more than 30 years, she never returned to this land of China.When she left, she didn't take another look at the city, the cluster of gorgeous bonuses.Was it the homeland that failed her?Or she felt that walking a longer distance in this life would be an extra burden.The United States is her other side, whether it will bloom or not.America is her end, whether it is her destination or not.She stayed and didn't plan on pacing again.Although, she is still unsatisfactory; despite, she tastes the warmth and coldness alone.

However, Eileen Chang said "they are no longer my friends" was just a moment of anger.After she left Hong Kong, she kept in touch with Song Qi and his wife. Her cooperation with MP & GI was interrupted in 1964 because MP & GI's boss was killed in an air crash.In the past few years, most of Zhang Ailing's manuscript remuneration was paid here.After that, Song Qi's care for Zhang Ailing never stopped.In 1965, he hit it off with Ping Xintao of Taiwan Crown Publishing House and strongly recommended Zhang Ailing to him. At the end of her life, Zhang Ailing handed over all her inheritance to Song Qi and his wife.This lifelong friendship is touching.Zhang Ailing didn't love much in her life, and she didn't have much contact with her. Those who deserve her to treat each other sincerely must have something special.Although she will make mistakes and get lost, such as a few loves in her life, these are the roles she must play in her life.

Zhang Ailing, who returned to Washington, USA, did not escape the ordeal.Even though she just got off the plane, seeing the recovered Laiya waiting at the airport, there was a kind of sweetness and sourness of returning from vicissitudes.However, after going back, there are too few times of warmth, but so many times of tedious uneasiness.At this time, Lai Ya has completely withdrawn from the stage of writing, and now he is just a frail and sick old man.He stopped his unrestrained wandering, let go of the dream of clouds and clouds, and the love of sympathy.All of this was not his intention, but when a person is too old to take care of himself, how can he have the strength to argue, care about, and pay.

Later, Laiya fell and broke his femoral head, which made his mobility even more inconvenient.Immediately afterwards, he had frequent strokes several times, and was finally paralyzed in bed, with Zhang Ailing taking care of his diet and daily life.This stubborn and elegant oriental woman, since marrying this sickly old man, is like carrying a burden that cannot be given up.Her originally heavy life was even heavier now. The days when I sat around the fire in the snowy night and gossiped about life, like a big dream in spring and autumn, it disappeared too quickly.This man only gave her short-lived pleasure, but she still has no regrets about her choice.If it is said that Hu Lancheng made her wilt and cry bitterly, then Lai Ya made her die and made her want to cry without tears.

Those days were like frost, and Zhang Ailing took the dying Lai Ya around to make a living.They have no destination of their own, and none of the bright lights of thousands of families is lit for them.Every time they go to a roof, they hope to return home forever, but they are destined to wander.At that time, Lai Ya was so skinny that he could no longer dress up as a gentleman in white clothes and trousers, and he could no longer gather with literary friends from all over the world to talk loudly, and the past legends he told Zhang Ailing had already passed. Became an old story.Zhang Ailing used to be full of smiles for it, but now there is only a slight sigh.

I finally understand that time will wear everything away.I am most afraid that the passing light will make people old. When I am too old to move, even the memories are sad.It is impossible to imagine what kind of miserable environment Lai Ya would have spent the rest of his life without Zhang Ailing.Perhaps this is his cause and effect, what she owed in her previous life.Ruli Daiyu said in tears that she would leave after repaying the favor of irrigation from Shenying's waiter.Lai Ya finally paid off his debts in the world, and on a lonely and silent day, accompanied by Eileen Chang, she quietly went to heaven. Maybe it was because the first half of his life was too complicated, so after his death everything was simple.No funeral was held, and his daughter Faith buried his ashes. I don't know if Eileen Chang shed the last tear for him.In the year of death, Lai Ya was seventy-six and Zhang Ailing was forty-seven.Eleven years of support, eleven years of ups and downs.Every day is real and profound, but Zhang Ailing never got the stability in this world she wanted. You can plan carefully in the days, so every minute and every second is expected.Days can also be taken leisurely, then time flies, and the haste makes you unable to catch up.For a forty-seven-year-old woman of great talent, she could bloom again, albeit near her twilight years.And Zhang Ailing said: "I sometimes feel that I am an isolated island." Lai Ya's death made Zhang Ailing's heart an island again, or in other words, allowed Zhang Ailing to let go of all the burdens of the world.In her isolated island, she can drift as she likes, return to her lonely heart, and be her true and proud self.
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