Chapter 90 fourth quarter

Everyone dies, but few people choose how they die.No, what I am discussing here is not suicide, but to obey the call of fate and face death calmly and calmly. Before death, the old man prepares all the shrouds and coffins behind him, selects the tomb, and then dies surrounded by his family, which is called "happy mourning".Only the very few who are truly blessed can do this. Zhang Ailing, she doesn't need relatives, and she doesn't like anything in form. She just wants to die cleanly and cleanly, in the most quiet, simple and primitive way.She's seventy-five years old, that's enough.Hu Lancheng also passed away at the age of seventy-five.

"There are legends everywhere, but it doesn't necessarily have such a happy ending." Her life is complete, even if she has an incomplete marriage, no offspring, poor and lonely death in a foreign land, with no relatives around her when she dies—however, she already knew all this, accepted all this, arranged all this, and confessed After all of this - so, it is complete. "Complete Works" has been completed, and "Contrast Notes" has won an award. What else is there to do? Yes, the papers have to be prepared so that people don't rush and trouble people.The ID card and the will are packed in a black handbag and placed where they can be seen when the door is opened.

She didn't like to do housework, she cleaned the room thoroughly, and sprayed insecticide again - she couldn't allow fleas to invade her body. The crisp smell of insecticide filled the room, so she opened the window again to let the wind and sunlight pour in, as well as the sound of the city. But the dust will also come in, right?She hesitated, closed the window again, and turned on the air conditioner. Then, she lay down on the carpet, closed her eyes, and felt as if she was lying on the surface of the sea, her cold fragrance and glamor were written in the floating clouds, and her icy purity was supported by the gentle waves.I felt a little sad when I heard the "Klinkerai" sound of the tram going home in a trance.The corner of the dark green clothes flashed in the sky, and it was the smiling face of her mother. At this moment, she felt that she suddenly became so small, so small, and she was the same Xiaoying who was eight years old and waited for her mother to return home with her hands full of obsessive reading. Said softly in mid-air: Mom, I'm here.

"The most perfect moment in her life, rather than letting others add an unbearable tail to it, it is better for her to end it early, a beautiful and desolate gesture..." On September 8, 1995, Zhang Ailing's body was discovered. She died quite quietly, as if she had just fallen asleep.Neatly dressed, with a serene expression, she was lying on a blue-gray carpet in front of the door, with a black leather bag containing the will beside her—she had arranged everything.Moreover, what she was wearing was still a cheongsam, an ocher red cheongsam! She didn't alarm anyone. It was the apartment manager who noticed that the old lady hadn't shown up for a long time, aroused suspicion, and the phone was not answered, so she notified the police.The forensic doctor believes that the time of death was about a week ago.No signs of suicide.

—Of course not suicide.Starving to death should be a natural death. The cleanest way to die!It is also the most decisive and dignified way to die! She cleaned herself up, but left graves all over the world, blooming everywhere, leaving fragrance in her mantle. Lin Shitong, the executor of the will, arrived as soon as he received the call. Seeing this scene, he was slightly surprised, but not sad—Zhang Ailing didn't need this.He accepted her death calmly and was willing to respect her wishes to carry out her will. However, people in the world still refused to let Zhang Ailing go easily. They not only flocked to the Los Angeles apartment for filming and interviews, but also kept harassing Lin Shitong and related friends, demanding to hold a press conference, public cremation date, hold a memorial service, etc.This included Dai Wencai who was fond of picking up trash. She took out Zhang Ailing's hair as a rare commodity again, and claimed that Zhang Ailing should be buried in the name of Xia Zhiqing.

After all, Lin Shitong was not a member of the circle. In order to find Song Qi, he credulously revealed the will to others for a while, which actually caused the content to be leaked, which was published in the newspapers and caused an uproar. He couldn't help regretting it.He finally found out that this was not a matter of him alone, or even of Eileen Chang, but a major event of the entire Chinese world.To truly respect Eileen Chang's last wish and let her leave without being disturbed is a difficult task beyond imagination.If you are not careful, you will become an eternal sinner who is reviled by everyone and will "murder" Zhang Ailing again.

The next day is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, the night of the full moon.Zhang Ailing wrote about the moon all her life, but she died before the full moon. It is impossible not to arouse people's sentimental associations.At the "Moon Greeting Poetry Meeting" where literati gathered, people expressed their condolences to Eileen Chang in various ways. At the same time, major media have reported one after another, and various mourning articles are overwhelming.These all put inexplicable pressure on Lin Shitong. He had to ask his friends for help, and called a secret meeting with some friends on September 12. They passed four decisions at this meeting:

1. Formally set up a work execution team, namely Lin Shitong, Zhuang Xinzheng, Zhang Cuo, and Zhang Xinsheng, to deal with Zhang Ailing's funeral in accordance with Zhang Ailing's will and wishes as soon as possible; separate.Experts on Eileen Chang can continue to discuss her works or her life, but at the moment she doesn't want too many people involved in the work of executing Zhang's will.Once the work is done, there will be a report explaining the process, and the experts can use this report for further judgment or discussion; 3. Lin Shitong decides on the disposal and retention of the relics, and Zhang Cuo is responsible for speaking to the outside world.Cremate as soon as possible and dispose of the ashes in accordance with the will, and no funeral ceremony is held; 4. The work is expected to be completed within two weeks.

Zhang Cuo reported in detail the whole process of carrying out Eileen Chang’s will in "Beautiful and Natural as Water--Eileen Chang’s Burial at Sea", and said with lingering fears that "there is a dark force that is trying to promote the public mourning for Ms. "I feel like I'm wrestling with the media. I'm so tired. There's nothing to hide, just because the two sides have different positions. One side respects the wishes of the deceased, and the other side must report." In the early morning of September 19, Eileen Chang's body was cremated at the Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier, Los Angeles. No ceremony was held, and no relatives were present at the cremation.However, in the early morning of September 20th, the "World Journal" still reported the cremation scene and photos - the media is so powerful, there is still a way to find out the date of the cremation, sneak into the scene and take pictures, and in the report, it tried to exaggerate Zhang Ailing's death "" Desolate", he blamed Lin Shi and others.

This made Lin Shitong very uncomfortable, so Zhang Cuo had no choice but to comfort him: We are only doing our best to let Ms. Ailing come and go in a chic manner. The two discussed the matter of spreading the ashes again, and talked about the flowers on the day of the sea burial, taking pictures and videos, and discussing the candidates for sailing and taking pictures. They both felt sad and worried. Disturbed by the media.In fact, at this time, the media had already known the plan of sea burial, but they did not know the time and place.Lin Shi and the others encouraged each other to keep it as secret as possible, but they were not confident in their hearts—the media is all-pervasive, it is really terrible!

September 30th is Zhang Ailing's birthday. Lin Shitong held Zhang Ailing's urn, while Zhang Cuo brought two bags of red and white roses, and met Gao Quanzhi (responsible for video recording) and Xu Yuanxiang (responsible for taking pictures) at the pier Sailing into the sea.At 9:30 in the morning, the captain turned off the engine and let the boat float on the water quietly. Everyone bowed three times to the urn, and then said the sacrificial oration. Lin Shitong was silent for a moment, took the screwdriver from the captain, and slowly opened the metal bottom cover of the urn. However, at this moment, the ship suddenly began to shake violently. Only by Zhang Mi's help can he work hard to open the ashes bag.Under the captain's signal, he walked slowly to the port leeward, and began to sprinkle ashes at a height lower than the ship's side.All of a sudden, the siren blew, the tide surged, and the gray ashes floated in the wind on the dark blue sea, drifting away with the red and white roses... Later, Lin Shitong, who was not a literati, reluctantly took up the pen and wrote the article "I Got to Know Zhang Ailing". This is an account he had to make to the world, and it also meant to defend himself—— "When carrying out the task of the suicide note, everyone had a lot of opinions on the way of handling the funeral. What's the matter? Didn't Zhang Ailing's suicide note clearly list her confession? Didn't she always avoid those noisy scenes during her lifetime? She asked me to do something, and I can't use my own opinions to change her wishes, not to mention the points she explained, which fully demonstrated the consistency of her views on life. The essence of her life's actions and thoughts is The things listed in the suicide note, I have to follow her wishes, otherwise I will not live with her! She wants to be cremated immediately, and no one should see her remains.From her death to her cremation, except for the landlord, the police, me and the executors of the funeral home, no one has seen her remains, nor has she taken any pictures. I think this requirement has been met. From death to cremation, there is no delay except for the time required for the prescribed procedures. She doesn't want a funeral.According to her opinion, no public ceremony was held during cremation or sea burial. And she will scatter her ashes in a deserted place.We have all fulfilled this last wish for her. " ——It's hard for Lin Shitong! Looking at this paragraph of text, we seem to be able to see Zhang Ailing's smiling face, floating and sinking among the colorful red and white rose petals, how much like the artistic conception of her beloved opening chapter. She comes from Shanghai and returns to sea.If anyone had crossed the sea in a steamship and seen a lotus blooming on the water, it was her.