The most virtuous wife, the most talented woman: the biography of Yang Jiang

Chapter 17 Years of Forgotten Classics · Life and death will never leave the motherland (1)
Willing to be a "handmaid under the stove"
After Yang Jiang's drama works came out one after another, Yang Jiang's name often appeared in the mouths of major newspapers and people in the streets and alleys. Yang Jiang once became the idol of college students and drama lovers at that time. Sometimes Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang appeared together in what On occasions, he would be introduced as: "This is Yang Jiang's husband."
After Qian Zhongshu watched Yang Jiang's "Making the Truth into a False", he was walking on the path home, and an idea popped up in his mind.He told Yang Jiang that he was going to write a novel, and this book became "Fortress Besieged", which was later famous both at home and abroad.

Yang Jiang was very happy when she heard the news. She believed that if Qian Zhongshu had this idea, he would definitely accomplish this. For literature, both of them have full trust and expectations for each other.Yang Jiang asked Qian Zhongshu to reduce the teaching time at Aurora Women's College of Arts and Sciences in order to let her husband complete his ideas without distraction and have more time to write.

The result of this is that the income is tight, so she can only live more frugally. It just so happens that the servant does not have to do anything at home, so she is willing to be a "servant under the stove" and take care of everything in the house herself.Yang Jiang once wrote such a passage: "I am a layman in chopping firewood, making fire, cooking and washing clothes. I often stain my face with soot, or my eyes are full of tears, or I get blisters from boiling oil, or cut my fingers. But I am eager to see Zhong write "Fortress Besieged", and I am willing to be a servant under the stove."
At that time, Yang Jiang tried every means to save money. She made briquettes by herself and the coal powder. She stood on tiptoe in front of the big water tank, always getting coal dust on her face; she was also responsible for shopping in the street, and Qian Zhong Shu knew that she was embarrassed to go to the vegetable market, and she had almost no chance to go there before, so she went with her, and the two bought vegetables home while talking and laughing.

When creating "Fortress Besieged", Qian Zhongshu added many scenes that he experienced with Yang Jiang, and the shadow of reality can be seen everywhere in this book.In the book, the scene of Ms. Su's marriage is described exactly the same as when he married Yang Jiang. The groom whose white stiff collar was soaked yellow and soft with sweat is very much like Qian Zhongshu on his wedding day.

At that time, Yang Jiang's reputation was far better than Qian Zhongshu's. Later, the success of "The Besieged City" proved that Yang Jiang's efforts were worthwhile. "Fortress Besieged" took two years, from [-] to [-]. "Two years of worrying about the world and hurting life", Qian Zhongshu lamented these two years in the preface of "The Besieged City".

Qian Zhongshu is also a romantic person. Although he studied in the West, he prefers to give Yang Jiang gifts from the East, such as writing poems.

In [-], he once wrote such a poem to Yang Jiang with a story: "Nonghan twisted the fat and chanted the jade platform, and the table weaving pink fingers were more diligent. I blame my book addiction and forget that I am a female scholar." The implication is that Yang Jiang was troubled by her own clumsiness, so she had to entrust her with the trivial matters at home. The number of Jiang's creations has been greatly reduced, almost "forgetting being a female scholar".

All these may not have been said by Qian Zhongshu, but he was grateful and moved in his heart, and praised Yang Jiang as "the most virtuous wife and the most talented daughter".

During the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, the people of the whole country have experienced a baptism of life and death. Everyone's heart is heavy, and their desire for victory is becoming more and more urgent. The frontlines of the Anti-Japanese War are frequently reported, and some advanced ideas are widely spread throughout the country. Hope that day of peace and democracy will come soon.

Shanghai is controlled by the Japanese. They are like gods of death. Every Chinese is afraid of meeting them on the street.But this is unavoidable, even if you hide at home and do not go out, accidents will still happen, they will still appear.The sound of sirens every night is so frightening, I don't know when it will be my turn.

One morning, Qian Zhongshu went to school as usual, everyone in the Qian family and Yang Jiang were at home, suddenly there was a hasty knock on the door, Yang Jiang put down his work and hurried to open the door, there were two standing outside the door Japanese soldiers.Yang Jiang's first instinct was that the visitors were not friendly, so she politely invited them in for tea and asked them to sit first.While pouring tea, I slipped into the bedroom and hid my father's stack of "Talking Art Records" manuscripts. The manuscripts were handwritten and the paper was very thin.

She poured two cups of tea, brought them over, and placed them in front of the Japanese soldiers.The Japanese soldier asked, "What's your last name here?"
"Surname Qian."
"Surname Qian? What else?"
"there is none left."
"No other family? Just your family?"
"Just our family."
Yang Jiang retreated into the room after a few words to deal with.At this time, the uncle saw a note in the Japanese hand with Yang Jiang's name written on it, so he told Yang Jiang to hide, and she left through the back door, went to a friend's house for a while, and had dinner.At this time, the younger brother came and said that the Japanese soldiers were looking for Yang Jiang.If Yang Jiang didn't show up, the Japanese soldiers would take Qian's family away. Yang Jiang panicked and asked his younger brother to tell Qian Zhongshu not to go home, and then went home by himself.

On the way, Yang Jiang bought a basket of eggs and continued walking back with them.She walked to the door of the house, knocked on the door, and it was her mother-in-law who opened the door. She was surprised to see Yang Jiang standing at the door with a basket of eggs.Yang Jiang waved her hands hurriedly, signaling her mother-in-law to stop talking, and then said to herself, "I bought you eggs." Then she walked upstairs, and the Japanese soldiers were still there. The cabinet was also crumbling.

The Japanese soldier asked who she was, and she said it was "Yang Jiang". The Japanese were furious: "Then why did you say your surname is Qian?"
Suddenly she realized: "I married into Qian's family, of course my surname is Qian! So you are looking for me! Cough, why didn't you tell me earlier? I went to buy eggs for my mother-in-law, she has a stomach problem. I'm sorry for delaying you, I'll just go with you."
In the end, the Japanese soldiers told Yang Jiang to come to the Gendarmerie Headquarters for interrogation at ten o'clock the next day, and they left after speaking. The sound of military boots walking was so disturbing.

The whole family panicked, worried that something would happen to Yang Jiang when he went the next day, but Yang Jiang took his time and began to sort out the mess and check if there was anything missing. Finally, he found that the Japanese had taken a copy of the book. The address book, and several letters, Qian Zhongshu's manuscript survived.

Yang Jiang didn't know why she offended the Japanese, but she had no choice but to prepare a lot at night, for example, when the Japanese asked questions, she had to answer them in order to get out of the siege.When I arrived at the Gendarmerie Command the next day, Yang Jiang was asked a few questions, filled out a form, and came back, telling her that she might still look for her, and she was not punished, thankfully.Later I heard that the Japanese were looking for someone else with the same name as her.

The friends who worked on the drama together also had the experience of being called to the Gendarmerie Command. Obviously, it was not as smooth as Yang Jiang. At least they received two slaps in the face, and at most they were tortured. Life is worse than death. .

After his father died, Yang Jiang collected some articles written by his father during his lifetime and named it "Laopu Posthumous Works Collection".Yang Yinhang's rich experience, righteous writing style, coupled with his powerful criticism of reality, have given him the evaluation of "moral shoulders with iron shoulders, and articles written with skillful hands".

Yang Jiang once wrote such a passage, which is full of endless thoughts for his father: "After my father passed away, our sisters once saw a bamboo root carving on my father's desk in the window of a jewelry store on Xiafei Road (now Huaihai Road). The statue of Chen Tuan's ancestor. It is a handicraft with a special appearance. His father often brushes Chen Tuan's scalp with a "brown tiger" (brown hard round brush). We are all familiar with it, and we will never make a mistake. Once again, here I saw another plaything of my father in another jewelry store on the same road. The pearls and diamonds displayed in the window couldn't be seen clearly, and I felt like "yeah."
When Qian Zhong wrote "Fortress Besieged", his progress was not fast, about [-] words per day, but it was basically completed at one time, and he seldom revised it.Every paragraph of his text is freshly baked, and the first person to "taste" must be his wife Yang Jiang. He likes to let Yang Jiang read the finished manuscript, and explain to Yang Jiang how to write it next, and then stare at it. Yang Jiang's expression was as nervous as a child's.

After the finalization of "Fortress Besieged", it first appeared in the form of serialization in "Renaissance", and then it was compiled into "Chenguang Literature Series".Readers have responded very well. It has been published and printed by many publishing houses for decades. Readers all over the world are attracted by this novel.Qian Zhongshu's popularity increased rapidly, and Yang Jiang, the former drama writer, also became "Mrs. Qian Zhongshu".

When Li Jianwu saw Qian Zhongshu's manuscript, he was very surprised and couldn't help sighing: How did this scholarly bookworm start writing novels?And it is a cynical work, a "New Confucian History"!

Qian Zhongshu's The Besieged City was so vividly written that many people believed it to be true, thinking that it was something that really happened to Qian Zhongshu, and read "The Besieged City" as Qian Zhongshu's autobiography.Readers wrote to express their sympathy. Some kind-hearted and beautiful ladies even wrote to express their desire to be "extraordinary friends" with him, just because they read the book. They really sympathized with Qian Zhongshu's marriage and admired his talent.

Even if you die, you have to die in the motherland
With the popularity of the book, many TV stations sent requests to Qian Zhongshu, wanting to move "Fortress Besieged" from the book to the screen.At first, Qian Zhongshu refused. He felt that the novel was full of wit and wit, and it might not have the same effect when made into TV.

In the early 80s, Huang Shuqin of the Shanghai Film Studio happened to see two copies of Fortress Besieged in a small bookstore in Yan'an, and bought them both.Speaking of which, Huang Shuqin still has some fate with the Qian family. Her father was Huang Zuolin, Qian Zhongshu's old acquaintance at that time.Huang Shuqin leaned on the small kang to read this book between filming, and was deeply attracted by the story.She had the idea of ​​filming "Fortress Besieged", but she was afraid that she would be kicked out if she went. She had heard that Mr. Qian Zhongshu once said that "it is really not suitable for a clumsy film to be put on the screen".To shoot "Fortress Besieged", you must first visit Qian Zhongshu and his wife.

Huang Shuqin contacted his father and asked his father to write a "letter of introduction" for himself, and made full preparations, read the original work repeatedly with other staff, understood its meaning, wrote the script of the TV series, and then brought the letter to personally visit the two elder.

When they arrived at Qian's house, the two old people were very enthusiastic when they learned that they were the daughters of friends. Yang Jiang told her the whole story of Qian Zhongshu's creation of "Fortress Besieged", so that everyone could better understand the background of this story creation.He also said to her: "It was the naughty Qian Zhongshu who wrote "Fortress Besieged." This sentence gave Huang Shuqin a lot of inspiration.

Huang Shuqin's father, Huang Zuolin, is the director of Yang Jiang's drama "Satisfaction". When Huang Shuqin was young, his father often took her on a bicycle to rehearse this drama at the Great Wall Cinema Theater at that time.At that time, I always met Yang Jiang and Qian Zhongshu who were walking on the road, and they would often chat for a few words before going to work separately. Huang Shuqin has a deep memory of this scene.

Yang Jiang carefully read the script brought by Huang Shuqin twice, marked out more than 40 points that she thought were inappropriate, and put forward suggestions for revision. She also gave a lot of good opinions on the selection of props and scenes. , were later adopted into filming.

How to highlight the theme became a problem for Huang Shuqin, so Yang Jiang wrote a few words to her: "People surrounded by the city want to escape, and people outside the city want to rush in. Whether it is marriage or career, most of the wishes in life are in this way."
Qian Zhongshu agrees with Yang Jiang's analysis. The person who knows his works best will always be his wife Yang Jiang.Later, these two sentences appeared at the beginning of the TV series as a narration, and became the soul of the show.

"Fortress Besieged" was made into a TV series with a total of ten episodes. The director was injured and completed the work in a wheelchair.At that time, the director, actors Chen Daoming, Ge You and others carefully checked the script and the original work, and took more than 100 days of filming. Every shot and link tried to reflect the style of the original work, so that the characters in the books appeared three-dimensionally in front of everyone. .

After the TV series was released, the three members of his family watched it and appreciated the performances of the characters in it. He wrote to Huang Shuqin specifically: "With my little girl who came back from England, it took me half a night and half a day to watch it all at once. Both the foolish couple and the little girl are very fond of it." Pei's tailoring is well done, and his acting is lifelike... This is the director's power, and it's a great achievement. Admiration, admiration!"
In their lives during that time, there was another friend who had to be mentioned, and that was Fu Lei.Fu Lei is a famous translator and art critic in my country.He also studied at the University of Paris in France, and he is also an alumnus of Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang.

Fu Lei's family also got very close to Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang during that time. The two lived not far away, so they would walk around each other and have long talks with each other when they had time.Everyone has too many things to complain about this society, and they are all looking forward to the dawn in the dark.People release stress and express emotions in the free chat, and the spark of heart-to-heart collision still shines brightly in the memories.

In Yang Jiang's memory, Fu Lei always had a smile on his face, completely different from what the outside world said was "serious and rigid".He always chatted with Qian Zhongshu face to face, with a pipe in his hand and a smile on his mouth. He and Qian Zhongshu got along very well and could talk for a long time. According to Yang Jiang: "Fu Lei just doesn't laugh easily; but he When I laugh, I seem to be savoring my own laughter, and feel relish."
Qian Zhongshu was the only one who dared to joke with him in public.Once when there were other friends around, Qian Zhongshu and Fu Lei made a joke. Another friend thought that Qian Zhongshu was a master of "no matter what matters", so he quickly winked and told him "some trouble has happened"!Fu Lei was not only not angry, but also laughed with everyone.

However, Fu Lei hardly ever smiles in front of children. Fu Lei's two children, A Cong and A Min, like to stay in the living room and listen to adults chatting.Fu Lei did not allow it. Perhaps out of his own considerations, he was afraid that the child would misunderstand, or go out and tell others. In that era, it was true that "disaster comes from the mouth".

Once, friends were having a lively chat in the living room. He didn't know what he thought of suddenly, so he came to the door of the living room quietly, opened the door, and saw two little urchins with their heads turned sideways. Hearing the sound, Fu Lei roared loudly, and the two children hurried up the stairs.The wife hurriedly followed up, singing a white face, and dredging both sides.Everyone continued to chat, laughing everywhere, Fu Lei went to pull the door again, the two children were still there, laughing with everyone, really "knowing a son is like a father", he knew that the children would come down.

Fu Lei was even angrier than before, yelling at the child loudly, but the wife tried to persuade him but couldn't, the others tried to persuade him but dared not, the child cried aggrievedly, and could only wait for Fu Lei's scolding to end.This may be the "serious Fu Lei" widely rumored by the outside world. Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and learned!

Victory will come like the dawn, and the peace that people are eagerly looking forward to is like the warm sunshine, warming the life that has been cooled by war.

On August [-], [-], the news of Japan's surrender came from the front, and the whole country celebrated with joy.The Qian family gathered together to discuss how to commemorate this day and celebrate the dark past.Yang Jiang felt a little sad, so she hid in the pavilion alone, crying silently, and Qian Zhongshu came to comfort her.

She thought of her father. When she was alive, she only wished to see the day when the Anti-Japanese War was won, but when this day came, her father was gone.Qian Zhongshu comforted her, held her hand tightly, and said, "Father will be happy for us, happy for the country, we finally got through it."
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Qian Zhongshu resigned from his job at the Aurora Women’s College of Arts and Sciences, and came to the Central Library as the editor-in-chief of the Department of Foreign Languages. He was mainly responsible for compiling the "Shulin Quarterly". A talent like Qian Zhongshu only emerges once every two to three hundred years."
"Fortress Besieged" was popular among readers, and Qian Zhongshu also served as a professor at Jinan University and a consultant to the British Council.With the change of work focus, subtle changes have taken place in the lives of the Qian couple. Before, they only devoted themselves to creation, and now they have more and more social life, and also met more like-minded friends.

In [-], on the eve of the founding of New China, many patriotic intellectuals received olive branches from the Kuomintang. Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang were no exception, but they resolutely gave up the opportunity to go to Taiwan, not only because Supporting the Communist Party, they are also unwilling to leave the hot land where they have lived since childhood. This land has just experienced trauma and needs people to heal it.

(End of this chapter)