Chapter 50 friendship

In November 1980, after I gave a small lecture at Columbia University for the first time, I asked a professor about the situation of Mr. Wang Jizhen, an old dragon who had taught Chinese for many years at the University of the First Brother. I wanted to visit him very much. Jizhen once presided over the Chinese Department of Columbia University for ten years. The foundation of that department was originally laid by him.That is to say, based on the study of the Five Books, it was discussed that he was the first person to introduce the translated version of this famous eighteenth-century Chinese novel to American readers.I was told that he had been retired for twenty years and lived alone on the third floor of a retired professor’s apartment near the university. Later, I heard from another person that his wife had unfortunately passed away, so he was very withdrawn and shut himself up for many years. Upstairs in the apartment, he rarely goes out to meet people, and never accepts anyone's visits. He is a strange old man.

Jizhen and I met in 1928.That year when he returned from the United States, he was going back to Shandong to visit relatives. He passed by Shanghai, and Mr. Xu Zhimo introduced us to each other.Correspondence has since continued.Every time I publish a new book, I send him a copy.I don't know English. At that time, the envelopes for sending letters were all written by him and sent to me from the United States.From 1929 to 1931, when a friend and I encountered unexpected difficulties in life, we also received a lot of help from him.I am really six or seven years older than me, and we have been separated for more than fifty years. I really want to see this big brother and talk to him about the different situations of being separated from each other for half a century.So not long after I returned to my aunt's house in Xingang, I wrote him a letter, saying that I was going to America this time.I hope to see some old friends whom I haven't seen for many years, such as Deng Siyu, Fang Zhaoying and himself.Ready to go to New York to pay a sincere visit.

The reply said that I had seen the news of my coming to the United States in the newspaper.Both of them are getting old and ugly now, in order to keep the impression of the past when they were young, it's better not to see each other.It's really weird.But I think, Ji Zhen has lived an extremely lonely life for a long time, is there a hidden secret that is difficult for ordinary people to understand?Moreover, the so-called "weird" by ordinary people may actually be a rare and rare quality that is considered to have disappeared in "healthy and normal people" at present.

Although the reply letter seemed to be unwilling to meet with us, we—Zhaohe, Chonghe, Fu Hansi and I, made two phone calls and made two appointments to visit his house on time. As soon as they arrived at his house for the first time, Zhaohe and Chonghe immediately got busy in the kitchen.Although he repeatedly claimed that outsiders were not allowed to interfere in the kitchen, he still cleaned everything for him.When it came time to arrange and put on the table the lunch we had brought, he admitted that he had done a good job.He was eighty-five or sixteen years old, and seemed to be in good health and spirit.We talked casually and had a good time.

He still retains the straightforward and honest temperament of Shandong people.To my surprise, he suddenly took out my two old works from the drawer, and!That was my practice work in the mid-to-early twenties, and it was the first comprehensive collection I published.These two early works have not only disappeared from old bookstores in Beijing and Shanghai for many years, but even Hong Kong reprints have never been seen. The book was worn out, the cover was peeling off, and the pages were yellow and brittle from age, and crumbs fell when they were turned.However, it is incomprehensible that I can see my immature and ugly works in my early years in the United States thousands of miles away, and they are still preserved by a strange old man until now. This feeling is profound and touching!

After talking for a while, he suddenly took out a bunch of letters from somewhere, which I wrote to him from 1928 to 1931.Looking through these old letters from fifty years ago, they brought me back to those years in the late 1920s, which is very melancholy.One of the shortest pages is the letter I reported Zhimo's death to him: Jizhen: Zhimo died in a plane crash at "Kaishan" near Jinan at 11:35 on November 19.The plane burned immediately, so the second driver became coke.Zhimo's clothes were all burned away, but his whole body was still in the color of a stranger, with a big hole in his head, his left arm was broken, and his left leg was broken. Judging from the circumstances, he was dead before the plane crashed into the ground.After receiving the telegram on the 21st day, I rushed to Jinan on the 22nd and saw its broken remains stopped in a small temple.In fashion, Liang Sicheng and others came from Beiping, Zhang Jiazhu came from Shanghai, and Guo Youshou came from Nanjing.On the twenty-second night, the coffin was transported from Nanjing to Shanghai, or he was still buried in his hometown.I have just returned from Jinan, on the morning of the 23rd [November 1931].

That was written to him immediately after I returned to Qingdao from Jinan.Mr. Zhimo is the bridge of our friendship, even if it is a heart-wrenching bad news, I have to tell him in time. It has been fifty years since the death of this brilliant and radiant poet.All the circumstances at that time are still very clear in my impression. At that time, I was teaching some books in the Chinese Department of Qingdao University.On the afternoon of November 21st, some familiar friends from the Faculty of Liberal Arts were having tea and chatting at the home of the principal, Mr. Yang Zhensheng, when they suddenly received an urgent call from Peking.The telegram only said that Zhimo died unfortunately in Jinan, and relatives and friends in Peiping, Nanjing, and Shanghai will gather together at the office of President Zhu Jingnong of Qilu University in Jinan on the 22nd.

The telegram came so suddenly that everyone was shocked.I said at the time that I wanted to take the night train to Jinan, and everyone thought it was very good.The car arrived in Jinan early the next morning, and I rushed to Qilu University. Mr. Zhang Xiruo, Jin Yuelin, and Liang Sicheng who had come from Beiping also just arrived.Not long after, I saw Mr. Zhang Jiazhu from Shanghai, Mr. Zhimo's eldest son in filial attire, and Mr. Zhang Weici and Guo Youshou from Nanjing. Immediately after hearing Mr. Chen, who was entrusted by Shanghai to take care of Mr. Zhimo's funeral, talking about the death process, he realized that the place where the accident happened is called "Kaishan", and the locals call it "Baimashan".The height of the mountain will not exceed one hundred meters.The Jingpu car passes down the mountain, and there is a small stop where it does not stop.The plane is a mail flight that flies every day. Passenger tickets are not usually sold, but there is a special ticket for one person in the space in the back cabin.When it took off from Nanjing that day, the weather was normal. Because of the heavy fog near Jinan, it was impossible to descend. When it was circling in the sky, it finally hit the half slope of Baima Mountain and caught fire.It wasn't until the news reached the Nanjing General Administration of Posts and Aviation that Mr. Zhimo was on board.The coffin was suspended in a small temple in the city.

After breakfast, everyone went to a side street in the city to see Mr. Zhimo's remains.It was raining that day, and the rain gradually became heavier. When we reached the small temple, the ground nearby was already covered with mud.It turns out that this small Lingling Temple has become a store selling pottery for daily use.The yard is full of vats, jars, casserole and soil bowls, stacked high enough to match people.The temple is also full of smaller altars and jars.The coffin was parked against the wall on the left side of the entrance, as if there was a little space temporarily vacated, only allowing three or five people to circle around the coffin.

Mr. Zhimo has already changed into a set of high-quality shroud clothes that can be found in the market in Jinan: a small cap with melon skin, a light blue silk robe, a black gauze mandarin jacket, and a pair of powder-based black cloud-toed Ruyi Shouzi shoes.No trace of pain can be seen in the remains, just like the usual situation in a deep sleep, very peaceful.The fatal injury was apparently caused by the moment the plane hit the mountain.A friend from Beijing brought a wreath made of iron leaves woven into a ruler-sized wreath, such as the common style in ancient Greek sculptures. It can be seen at a glance that it must have been made by Mr. Zhimo's former friends Sicheng and his wife.Putting the wreath on the coffin lid, my friends couldn't help but think that the generation of poets who are usually lively, innocent, pure, and talented are really "forbidden by heaven", similar to Byron and Shelley's fate, only in the world After living for more than thirty years, he died suddenly in an accident!Zhimo wore such clothes that were totally incompatible with his usual temperament and hobbies, and lay quietly in a corner of the small temple alone, accompanied by the melancholy raindrops in front of the eaves. Seeing this desolate and lonely scene, relatives and friends present could not help but Everyone burst into tears.

I am a person who has suffered the sudden death of close relatives and friends more than many people since I was a child. I have experienced a variety of nightmare-like life tests that people in the city have never imagined. I usually accept the reality from a kind of silence.I was less than thirty years old at the time, and my life seemed to be burning with a youthful flame, and I never felt tired when I was working.The sudden death of Mr. Zhimo made me feel extraordinarily heavy as I deeply experienced the fragility and ephemerality of life.I feel that Mr. Zhimo, whom I have known for only five or six years, has a profound effect on my work's encouragement and appreciation, and no other teacher or friend can replace it. Therefore, he was very silent at that time and never said a word.Later, I never wrote any emotional mourning articles.I just hope that all his kindness and enthusiasm for me will be reflected in my future work and become a permanent and reliable pillar, and I will not be discouraged under any difficult circumstances.The attitude towards people and things can also transform and expand Mr. Zhimo's enthusiasm for being a human being, frankly and peacefully waiting for people's hopes and benefits, and expand it to all aspects, forming a long-term and lasting impact.Because I deeply believe that in any kind of society, this kind of frank and selfless caring and friendship for people can have a good effect, thereby inspiring people to resist difficulties and overcome difficulties, which is of upward significance.In my nearly fifty years of work, the little progress I have gained from continuous exploration is obviously without exception the reflection of the pure and sincere friendship of these friends. Human life can be wiped out suddenly, but pure and selfless friendship will last forever, and will undoubtedly last for a long time and develop and expand. Written in Beijing in August 1981