Chapter 37 Yitianyi

Before I met Tianyi, I seemed to be familiar with this writer.I knew his family background from his writings: his father was a witty old man who loved to tell sarcasm and treated his children like friends. "My mother is a "sentimental person...she is very confident and wants to try everything." ""They do not interfere with their children's thoughts, hobbies, and actions, but they have a great influence on their children. "The second sister who had the most influence on him" appointed some books for me to read.She loves to tell crooked jokes and describe people, and she often digs into the hearts of others.But once it is serious, it is very serious.” His parents and his sister “both love to read literary works, so I was naturally influenced by them.”

He started writing novels when he was twenty-two.He himself said that "the characters in the novel are taken from my friends, relatives and other people who I often communicate with." When referring to the novels written in the turbulent era of old China, he said: "The purpose of writing at that time was to expose the reality. All kinds of contradictions in life reveal all kinds of characters in life, especially to peel off the hypocrisy of some characters and expose their inner essence, and at the same time show how the oppressed people struggle and struggle in suffering. Help readers understand life, understand the world, know what is truth, what is a lie, what to love and what to hate. It is necessary to tell readers, especially young intellectuals, what kind of life path they should take."

After I read many of his novels about the ghosts and monsters in the old society, in the early 1950s, a young comrade took me to the east room under a small building in the east courtyard of the Dongzongbu Hutong Writers Association. , when I was introduced to Tianyi, what I saw was not the awe-inspiring person like Mr. Lu Xun who "strived his eyebrows coldly at thousands of fingers" as I imagined, but a warm and sincere face with a smile, a pair of There is innocent warmth in the deep eyes.We became acquainted immediately.He said that he was born in the year of Bingwu, a horse.I said: "That is the same age as my eldest brother, six years younger than me."We all laughed, as if there was brotherly affection in our hearts.Since then, we have often discussed and held meetings together, talking about the creation of children's literature.Now his style of writing has completely changed, and his writing is full of love instead of hate.He makes friends with children and writes children's stories. He is the "Uncle God" in the hearts of children.He wrote "Rongsheng at Home", "The Secret of the Precious Gourd", etc. He hopes that children in the new society will "make progress, become better, or correct their shortcomings, etc." after reading these stories. .He is even more coaxing with young authors, and talks with them kindly and seriously, because he himself is very serious about life and writing.

In this year, he married Comrade Shen Chengkuan, and in the second year, their daughter Zhang Zhang was born.For many years, she has affectionately called me "Aunt Xie". During the ten years of turmoil, we were all involved in the "tornado" of the "gangsters". Under Lin Biao's No. 1 order, the "gangsters" of the "old, weak, sick and disabled" of our Writers Association also successively went to the cadre school in Xianning, Hubei.What Tianyi and the others did for me was the lightest job—looking at the vegetable fields.When we were handing over shifts, we didn't just leave after handing over shifts, but sat by the vegetable field and "chatted" about things that had nothing to do with current affairs.

Less than a month after I was in the Xianning Cadre School, I was transferred to the Cadre School of the Central University for Nationalities in Shayang, Hubei.Our news was cut off.When I returned to Beijing in the early 1970s, I heard that he also came back.In 1977, it was heard that when he was doing aerobics, he bent down, crossed his fingers and touched the ground with his palms, and then he couldn't get up.He had a cerebral thrombosis!He also does aerobics every day for "I must work hard to exercise, overcome the disease, strive for an early recovery of health, and continue to create new works for my dear children."

From then until he moved to Chongwenmen Xiheyan Building No. 1, I visited him many times.Although he couldn't speak, when he saw me coming, his smile and those innocent and sincere eyes told me a lot of what I knew he wanted to say.What I remember most is that I got a red scarf given to me by the children at a children's gathering. All had a good laugh. In the autumn of 1980, when I returned from a visit to Japan, I was in a hurry to translate a collection of poems. I also suffered from a cerebral thrombosis, and later broke my right leg.But I still got his book as a gift. The 1980 "Selected Fiction" and the 1982 "Short Story Collection" were still signed by myself on the title pages. But the pen is still very strong.

Tianyi passed away on April 28, 1985!I have lost one of the most innocent and lovely friends. Comrade Shen Chengkuan still visits me often, and I also get greeting cards from Zhang Zhang and his wife to "Aunt Xie" during New Years and holidays. The friendship that has been combined is always endless!A cloudy morning on August 14, 1986