Chapter 57 second quarter

When Huang Yifan was still abroad, he kept writing letters urging his daughter to return to Hong Kong to finish university, but Eileen Chang wrote back saying that she wanted to continue writing.Huang Yifan hated iron and called her "a frog at the bottom of a well".When I came back this time, I repeated the old saying and advised her: "You might as well go back and finish your studies, and find a reason to leave here. Staying in Shanghai is not a long-term solution." Aileen hesitated a little, lowered her head and remained silent for a long time. "The moon is rare to meet, and the colorful clouds are easy to disperse."In her life, she spent almost a handful of years with her mother, each of which was the most precious memory in life, and she almost refused to speak easily for fear of being overheard.

——In this regard, she is much luckier than her younger brother Zhang Zijing. Unfortunately, the time is too short.Limited joy, infinite bitterness.She seems to be destined not to be with the one she loves forever. The days when she was with her mother again was Ailing's greatest comfort during this turbulent time.But now that her mother is leaving again, she feels very hesitant, even worse than when she was a child.Bing Xin wrote in the poem: "When the natural wind and rain come, the birds hide in their nests; when the world's wind and rain come, I hide in my mother's arms." Now it is windy and rainy, and where is she going to hide?Can't be with my mother, can't I be with my aunt?All these years, she has no home, so wherever her aunt is, there is home.She didn't want to give up even this little dependence.

Moreover, she already had someone else in her heart.So she said in a low voice: "I want to wait and see for a while." At this time, although the political atmosphere in Shanghai was full of turmoil, it was not yet "baptized", and Zhang Ailing's reputation was still there, and her prestige was still there.This can be clearly felt from Li Junwei's "Elegant Elegance of Eileen Chang" published in the film special issue in December 1947: "A certain wife, a capable lady like the one in "Long Live the Wife", told me a story, and then she said: 'If you don't believe it, it's exactly the same as that written by Zhang Ailing. There is such a thing in the world. !' My sister wore a gray back coat, a yellow satin cheongsam printed with brown swirls, and a pair of silver rings. Anyone who saw her would say, "You are also dressed up like Eileen Chang."

In fact, Eileen Chang did not really create any fashions, but we call the slightly more prominent styles "Eileen Chang's style".Once I asked Zhang Ailing: "Is the short padded jacket the first thing you dug out and wore?" ’ She said modestly: ‘No, female students ride bicycles, they have already worn them. 'This is what we call 'weird', that is, Eileen Chang likes to wear 'weird' clothes, but in fact she wears 'weird' clothes with a somewhat cynical attitude.She has a coat with a bamboo ring, and the bottom bulges out like a ball. One day when I asked her about her at Yanying's house, she said that the bamboo ring had been removed, and she was indifferent when she said it, as if she was talking about other people's affairs.Just as Zhang Taiyan likes to use ancient characters occasionally, it is nothing more than a disguise of words.In any case, Zhang Ailing did not want to create a style, but the style was created by her. "

Back then, Eileen Chang’s grandfather, Eileen Chang, loved the long gown made of bamboo cloth, which attracted many people in Kyoto to imitate it, and it was almost sold out. Now, her outlandish outfits seem to be Eileen Eileen’s style, but people at that time could not imitate them. Once you leave, all the fame of these hard-working businesses will be dissipated. They all say "starting from scratch", which means that they have nothing at all; if you want to give up everything you have and start from scratch, how easy is it? After her mother left, Zhang Zijing seemed to have a premonition that the days when the family would get together were dwindling, so she came to visit her sister from time to time, and asked her worriedly what her plans were?

Aileen said lightly that she was still looking for a house and planned to move, and then she took out a small bag of red and sapphires and said, "This is from my second aunt, and said that it will be worn by the bride when you get married." Then they chatted as usual, saying I just finished reading Zhao Shuli's novels "Li Youcai's Banhua" and "Xiao Erhei Gets Married", which are very good. I suggest that he also read them if he has the opportunity; He goes to see. ——It can also be seen from here that she is still waiting and watching, "watching".

On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was liberated.Zhang Ailing saw the People's Liberation Army enter the city with her own eyes. At this time, more than a dozen tabloids in Shanghai had automatically closed their publications before liberation. When Xia Yan took over the cultural work in Shanghai, Shanghai became a city without tabloids.Xia Yan told Gong Zhifang that "New China" does not mean that tabloids cannot be allowed to exist, but that it must correct the atmosphere and provide readers with beneficial, diverse and interesting content.Gong Zhifang and Tang Dalang were required to organize a "tabulous team with stronger ability and better quality".

So "Yibao" came into being, with Gong Zhifang as the president and Tang Dalang as the editor-in-chief.It is divided into eight parts, and many famous writers such as Feng Zikai and Zhou Zuoren are invited to write and support. Naturally, old friends Zhang Ailing will also be invited to write. Aileen has stopped writing for nearly two years after the turmoil of "Long Live My Wife". First, she is not in the mood because of constant relocation; It was not until 1950, when I moved into Room 301, Carlton Apartment on Huanghe Road, that my life was a little more stable, that I started writing again, wrote it, and published it in "Yibao" with the signature "Liang Jing"—in order to avoid unwarranted She was so bombarded with crimes that she didn't even dare to ask for her own name.But he was unwilling to give up completely, so he played a word game with the readers, borrowing the mother of the consonant "Zhang" of "Ling" as "Liang", and the consonant of "Ling" of "Zhang" and the vowel of "Ling" as "Jing".

And Sang Hu, also known as "Uncle Hong", wrote an article "Recommend Liang Jing's Novels" the day before the serialization: "It seems that he is changing, and I think he still maintains the original bright and bright colors. At the same time, in the In terms of thought and emotion, he also appears calmer and more stable than before, which is a gratifying progress for him..." The use of "he" instead of "she" is intentionally deceiving; During the serialization of the novel, he continued to write "Talking with Liang Jing about "Eighteen Springs"" under the name "Shu Hong". They were also indignant, thinking that the couple must be shot, so they wrote to "Liang Jing" one after another, asking her to "extraordinarily live" in order to stop Manzhen's tragedy.

Previously, Eileen Chang and Sang Hu originally planned to work together for the third time to make a movie, but due to the turmoil in the current situation, they failed to do so.The reason is still a mystery, but various legends are flying all over the sky. Some say that Zhang Ruifang came to Zhang Ailing's door several times to ask for the role of the heroine, and some say that Sang Hu asked Zhang Ruifang to play the role but failed. Jiang Tianliu of the heroine Chen Sizhen also recalled: "I heard that it was (to be filmed), but I don't know why it wasn't filmed later, and I'm too embarrassed to ask. I thought he (Sang Hu) was going to find someone else to act, but later it wasn't. .It would be great if I played it!"

However, "Uncle Hong" can be described as a witness of Sang Hu's "transformation" and secret relationship with Eileen Chang.His active admiration is not only because he regards Eileen Chang as a confidant, but maybe he also has the wish to cooperate again through this? Another anecdote is also interesting: It is said that during the serialization, a woman who had the same experience as Manzhen inquired about Zhang Ailing's address from the newspaper office, ran to her door and cried loudly, making Zhang Ailing at a loss. ——The matter itself is actually sad and sympathetic, but when viewed through the moonlight of thirty years, it is covered with a hazy veil and becomes gentle. Regarding the title of the book, later generations believed that "Eighteen" refers to the time she completed this work from 1932 to Shanghai to 1950, exactly 18 years; some people said it was an allusion to Hu Lancheng, Eighteen years, I don't know how to figure it out; but I personally think that refers to the age of eighteen when she ran away from her father's house. The stimulation brought to Zhang Ailing by imprisonment and escape is profound and long-term.She said she wanted revenge, but she didn't have the double swords she imagined when she was young, only a pen. In the same year, "Yi Bao" held a discussion meeting about the novel, someone once suggested that this novel is too legendary, how can a sister turn against each other, and can imprison the younger sister for more than half a year?Visible is fictitious.Even Zhou Zuoren said, "I don't think I care much about Manzhen (the heroine of the novel), because I know it's fake." However, what Eileen Chang wrote was the fact of her own experience.What Gu Manzhen thinks, sees and mourns in the novel is actually exactly what the eighteen-year-old Zhang Ailing thought, saw and mourned when she was imprisoned in an empty room—— "She leaned on the window sill and climbed up. The broken glass on the window sills became zigzag, like a mountain of sharp knives. Outside the window is a garden. The winter turf is bare, and it looks very vast. It is surrounded by high walls, and she has never noticed that. The fence is so high. There is a redbud tree in the garden, with branches like dead vines swaying in the cold wind. She suddenly remembered that when she was a child, she heard people say that there is a ghost under the redbud. I don’t know why I said this, but maybe it is Because there is such a sentence, I always feel that the redbud flower looks gloomy. If she dies here, there must be her ghost under the redbud flower, right? Anyway, I can’t die here in a daze, and I won’t die here. As long as there is a box of matches in the room, she really knows how to set fire, and she may be able to escape in the chaos." Is this fiction?Is it an exaggeration?Is it a fabricated secret?Is it a strange drama?Or is it a reflection of Zhang Ailing's personal experience? Then Gu Manzhen also fell ill during the confinement period, it was a cold—— "Suddenly she felt that she couldn't support her body anymore, so she staggered back to the bed. When she first lay down, she was soft and comfortable, but after a while, she felt sore all over her body, and it was not suitable to sleep like this. , It’s not suitable to sleep like that, just toss and turn, the breathing in the nasal tube is like a fire. She also knew that it was a cold, but she didn’t expect it to be so severe. The pores all over her body seemed to secrete a kind of mucus, which couldn’t be said It was getting dark, the room was getting dark little by little, and the light was not turned on. I don’t know how long it took before I fell asleep, but because of the burning wound on my hand, I couldn’t sleep. Unknowingly, she woke up in the middle of the night, and suddenly saw a ray of light under the door, and was startled. At the same time, she heard the key on the door click, but after the sound, there was no sound. She was originally He was on guard all the time, laying down with his clothes on, without taking off his shoes, he lifted the quilt and sat up, but when he sat up, he felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. The ray of light was gone. After waiting for a long time, there was no sound, only my heart was beating." Gu Manzhen later became pregnant, and finally escaped from the hospital by giving birth. It was the husband of a woman who gave birth at the same time who helped out—is it the incarnation of the civilian class, why? Eileen Chang is usually relatively silent when discussing various works, and rarely defends her works, but once someone mentioned why she described the moon 30 years ago as "a drop fell on the letter paper of Duo Yunxuan". "Teardrops", why can't it be Rongbaozhai or other paper? When she was playing with words, she replied lightly, "Because I used Duoyunxuan at home when I was a child"; but this time someone criticized the plot as weird Letter, but she pursed her lips tightly and said nothing - do you want her to explain earnestly that it was her personal experience?Want her to expose her childhood scars to everyone?Then it's not Eileen Chang. There is a saying called "Better not to be known than to be seen by others", and Eileen Chang is "I would rather write than speak plainly".Zhang Ailing likes to use the word "gesture". Gestures are too ugly, and winning is meaningless. After going to China, Zhang Ailing made several additions and deletions, thought about five or six titles, and then serialized it in the "Crown" magazine under the name "Wang Ran Ji", which was completed in six issues—the year was 1968, the distance between It was published in "Yi Pao" in 1950, and it happened to be another eighteen years. I can't help feeling the coincidence in the dark. The most notable changes in the article include: 1. The original eighteen years was changed to fourteen years, and the ending of the novel was brought forward before liberation; the original eighteen chapters were changed to seventeen chapters, and the first two-thirds There are no major changes in the content, but major changes have been made since Chapter 13; Second, the "bright tail" in the original text has been removed, and Shuhui's trip to Yan'an has also been changed to studying in the United States - erasing the obvious political meaning in the original text and "progressive thinking".She is still very secretive about politics. She wrote in the inscription: This feeling can be regarded as a memory, but it was already at a loss at that time. ——"At that time", is it 1938 when the story happened, or 1950 when the first draft was completed? "Wang Ran", is it emotion or consciousness?And today, after eighteen years, did she "suddenly"? A booklet of the novel was later published by Crown Press, and the name was changed again.However, the name of "Wang Ran Ji" was not willing to lose it, and used it as the title of another collection of essays. Many years later, Hong Kong director Ann Hui will appear on the screen, and a TV series will be produced in the mainland... These are all things for later.