Chapter 75 first quarter

My soul is very happy to see Eileen Chang fly to the land of China again after six years away from the country - although it is her first time to Taiwan, this is a Chinese place after all, she once returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong On the boat, I took a glimpse of Keelung Wharf from a distance, and the light emerald green mountain peaks soared into the clouds, reflected in the snow-white sky, like the green landscapes of ancient paintings, it is a beautiful scenery that will never be forgotten in this life.Now, after twenty years, her feet have finally set foot on this piece of Chinese land. Everywhere she sees is the same family with yellow skin and black hair.

My soul heard her blurt out excitedly: "It's really like a dream." This sound woke me up from the dream. It was October 13, 1961. Eileen Chang's visit to Taiwan was arranged by her old boss McCarthy when she was an interpreter at the Hong Kong US New Agency. McCarthy recalled: "I assisted in arranging the invitation, but I don't remember the details. The young writers from National Taiwan University who co-published with us promoted this because they respect Eileen Chang like a god." At that time, McCarthy was the cultural attaché of the US Consulate in Taipei. He took Aileen to his big villa near Yangmingshan Park in Taipei, a mansion with a luxurious car and a cloud of servants.This is the first time that Aileen has come into contact with the luxurious life after a long absence in the mainland, and she has mixed feelings in her heart.Looking out of the window at night, is the moon on the other side the same moon as the one seen in the United States?

She later wrote in: "There are arcades everywhere. Like Hong Kong, it is also a subtropical city that needs shade and shelter from the rain. The old houses and big trees on Roosevelt Road are also a bit like Hong Kong. The men and women waiting for the bus There are groups of children and students, and the uniforms they wear look like boy scouts at first glance. I only see red brick sidewalks in Washington, and they are also old and often lack bricks. However, the streets in Washington are too wide, and there are often two-story storefronts on the side of the road The house is too shabby and unbearable, and the surrounding area is desolate, like a square without the atmosphere of a square, not as warm as the red brick roads in Taipei."

——The feeling of warmth is probably not just because of the red brick road, right? At noon the next day, McCarthy held a banquet at the Dadongyuan Restaurant opposite the International Theater to welcome Ai Ling. Accompanying guests were Bai Xianyong, Wang Wenxing, Ouyang Zi, Chen Ruoxi, Wang Zhenhe, Dai Tian, ​​etc. They were all students of National Taiwan University and co-founded the A copy of "Modern Literature" is just the romantic youth who "become famous early".They also became famous in the literary world later, and now they have written a lot.I have read and liked the novels of Bai Xianyong and Chen Ruoxi, especially Bai Xianyong’s spirit of rehearsing the youth version of "A Dream in the Garden" by rehearsing the youth version, which really makes me admire and appreciate - if he is not such a person, who else would cherish Kunqu Opera?

We made an appointment to meet at twelve o'clock, but the host didn't show up for a long time.It was a very hot day, but fortunately, the air conditioner in the restaurant was fully turned on.Everyone had never seen Eileen Chang, so they speculated about her appearance.Chen Ruoxi asked Bai Xianyong: "Do you think she is fat or thin?" "She must be thin and thin." Bai Xianyong said without thinking. Chen Ruoxi disagreed: "I think she must be both plump and sexy." She had watched "Rumor" a long time ago, and she was deeply impressed by Zhang Ailing in the photo. Such a woman with a burning vitality should be plump And sexy right?

After waiting and waiting, after guessing and guessing, Eileen Chang finally came—she was thin and clean, flowing like clouds and flowing water, and she was surrounded by a delicate atmosphere like a blue flower mist. The first impression she gave to everyone was that she was thin, really thin. She greeted everyone shyly, her voice was low and soft, but she bit each word very carefully. Maybe she had spoken English for a long time, and she was afraid that people would misunderstand her when she spoke Chinese. She was like a serious little girl, not at all. In people's minds, the image of a plump, sexy, big woman with burning vitality.

Chen Ruoxi was surprised, but not disappointed, she just whispered to McCarthy: "She is so thin!" McCarthy said: "When I met her, she was thin. Recently, she just finished an 80,000-word English novel. She wrote it day and night. It must have been very hard work, so she became even thinner. After staying in Taiwan for two weeks, she I’m going to Hong Kong to start another novel and write some movie scripts at the same time to make ends meet. If she writes as seriously as she does, I’m afraid I’ll lose weight forever.” Chen Ruoxi herself is also very thin, so she always has a grudge about being thin. She clearly wrote her impression of Zhang Ailing in "A Glimpse of Zhang Ailing":

"She is really thin. At first glance, she looks like a shelf, composed of slender vertical lines, covered with a layer of white skin; the whiteness and delicateness of her skin is rare, making her thinner and more transparent. Purple red The lip balm inadvertently smeared the diamond-shaped lips, the whole person, this is the only place that makes me feel plump. The hair is not permed, it is cut short, and it is sparsely scattered on the back of the head. It looks refreshing and neat. Her long face looks like a three-dimensional painting. A pair of almond eyes are sluggish in appearance and slow to close, but the gaze that shines on them is focused and sharp. When she smiles lightly, she is shy, like a little girl. With that attire In the plain cheongsam, she looks very young, like a female student in a school around the 20th year of the Republic of China. She exudes a special look, a distant and familiar charm, which is probably unique to the 1930s.

This is my first impression of her. She is not talkative, she speaks very slowly, and her voice is not high.You have to pay attention to each word as she bites it, because she is focused on saying a word.During the banquet, eating and answering the questions of the people on both sides of her occupied all her energy.She seemed very hypersensitive, shy.According to Mr. Mai, if there are more than five people in any one occasion, she will feel uneasy and feel at a loss.There were twelve of us that day, and she didn't seem frightened. " Bai Xianyong remembered that Ailing was sitting next to her, and she put a purple jacket on the chair, and the back of her transparent hand showed light blue veins. He thought she was an authentic Shanghainese, but she didn't have a Shanghai accent, but Mandarin. With a shallow Beijing accent.What makes him sad is that although Zhang Ailing is sitting next to him, she talks very little—she and Wang Zhenhe are more speculative.

She said to Wang Zhenhe: "I read your "Ghost, North Wind, Man" on "Modern Literature", and I really like the old house you wrote. When I read it, I felt like I was living in the old house in the novel. It’s the same as here.” Maybe what she really meant was: reading your novels, I seem to have returned to the old house in my ancestral home when I was a teenager. However, Wang Zhenhe didn't think much of it, and said enthusiastically, "If you like old houses, you might as well live in Hualien for a while. My home is in Hualien. It's a typical old house. I can take a stroll with you."

They decided immediately.Wang Zhenhe specially wrote a time-limited special to send home, and asked the school for a week off to accompany Ai Ling on a tour of Hualien. After lunch, Zhang Ailing asked Chen Ruoxi to accompany her to the street to buy clothes for Wang Zhenhe's mother.They went shopping on a tricycle, looking at the scenes on the streets of Taipei, Eileen Chang couldn't help saying: "For several years, Taipei has always given me different impressions. Friends who have been to Taipei came back to the United States, and they described the appearance of Taipei to me. They are all different. This time, I saw it myself, and I thought it was all different from theirs, so different, I felt that I was too busy watching it!" The difference from the banquet was that she was very chatty, talking endlessly about old-fashioned buns, Hong Kong cheongsams, women’s waists, etc. She always appreciated the beauty of Chinese women more, and she was very interested in clothing, hairstyles, materials, and so on. Colors, etc. are unique. ——This short half-day together made Chen Ruoxi remember for half a century. Later, she described Zhang Ailing in her mind word by word in the article, and commented emotionally: "She regards herself as a person of the world and transcends regions. She is a person who does not change her face when the sky falls. Every movement is slow and steady, and she is extremely patient." "She is a very informal woman. Some people think she is confused. I think she is completely heroic, straightforward, beyond the red tape, and the most innocent." "Wherever she goes, Eileen Chang is a special person. Her sensitivity and straightforwardness make her extraordinary. This is really the most lovely woman I have ever seen; although it is not the same as I used to imagine, it does not make me in the slightest Disappointed." (Chen Ruoxi, "A Glance at Eileen Chang")