Such stars and such moons: Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang's unparalleled love

Chapter 16 Facing life directly: the tension between dream and reality (3)
At that time, Abi was still studying in Zhendan, and he also took Qian Zhongshu's class.After graduation, she stayed at the school as a teaching assistant, and also served as an English teacher at the Aurora High School.This little girl often walked around the homes of several older brothers and sisters, and became the main line of communication for the whole family.

Later, Qian Zhongshu taught Abi to translate together with Fu Lei, and on the eve of leaving Shanghai, he introduced her to the translation work of the Shanghai International Labor Bureau.For Yang Jiang, she will always be his dearest sister.

I still remember Mr. Zang Kejia's poem commemorating Lu Xun: Some people are alive, but they are dead, and some people are dead, but they are still alive.Here, let's not study the value of life for the time being, nor entangle with "feathers" and "Mount Tai".In some people's hearts, those lovers who passed away just dissipated their bodies, but their souls are still with them.

They are still there.The father is, and so is the mother.

Plain happiness
A sincere poet sings like this: from tomorrow onwards, be a happy person; feed horses, chop firewood, and travel around the world; from tomorrow onwards, care about food and vegetables; I have a house, facing the sea, and spring flowers blooming...

This tragic poet chose to lie on the track and resolutely committed suicide. This distressed poet used his life to explore the footprints of happiness.He said: "I sing of the clouds / I know I will be happy / And all the holy people / Gather in heaven."
I don't know if he found holy happiness in heaven, but it's just a breeze in the world, and happiness is always there, like Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang.

She is thin and thin, but she is soft and tough; he is talented and arrogant, but has a childlike innocence that is not old.They are a unique couple in the world. Even if Shanghai is captured, life is difficult, and the spirit is sad, they still have the joy of changing their ways.The breeze blows, and a tree of gardenias blooms. Because of each other, no matter how hard they are, they can find a happy pastime that belongs to their family of three.

One summer, Zhong Shu's students sent a load of watermelons.It was the first time for the childish Ah Yuan to see such a big and many watermelons, and she was very impressed. When she saw Zhong Shu, she said solemnly: "Daddy, these many watermelons belong to you!" daughter."
She looked "proud and honorable", which made the two adults laugh.There are women like this, why don't you worry about not laughing?Yang Jiang also teased in the article: "Poor Zhong Shu, there is still a daughter who is proud of him."
And Zhong Shu, an old urchin with a childlike innocence, is naturally not to be outdone, always teasing her, provoking her, and sometimes bullying her.Like every time he ate something, Zhongshu always said to A Yuan with a smile, "Baby, noeat." The clever A Yuan gradually understood, so he carefully paid attention to Yang Jiang's face, and called out the first song he created. A sentence in English: "Baby, yeseat!"
Yang Jiang said: "When Shanghai was occupied, his (Zhong Shu)'s excess "foolishness" often vented on his uncle's youngest son, youngest daughter, grandson, granddaughter, and his own daughter Ayuan. This series of children is shoulder to shoulder. They are all two years apart, and they often play together."
They are very sensible children, always avoiding those "uncivilized" or "stinky" words in their conversations, but Qian Zhongshu, an older boy, is very naughty, always trying to lure them out, And laughing, relying on them to say "bad things".The children naturally quit and made trouble around him.But Zhong Shu was quite happy, as miraculous as a victor.

He is very good at teasing Ah Yuan, and always goes to her bed before going to bed to bury all kinds of "landmines", such as mirrors, brushes, toys... He buries them layer by layer, sometimes even inkstones and even a lot of brushes. Bury it in, and after finishing everything, he waited for his daughter to scream, and he was satisfied when he screamed, and continued to work hard when he didn't scream.

In this regard, Yang Jiang described it in this way: "My daughter must search carefully before going to sleep, and take out the things in the quilt one by one. Zhong Shu can't wait to stuff brooms and dustpans into her daughter's quilt to win an unexpected victory. This kind of thing It’s not very interesting to play every day, but Zhongshu never tires of playing.”
Zhongshu deliberately told Ah Yuan that there was an ugly child in "Fortress Besieged" and that was her. She believed it, but she did not care about it with her father very generously.Later, he got even worse, saying that in the beginning of his novel "Lily Heart", she was the girl he hated the most.

This time, Ah Yuan was not happy.Perhaps, in her little heart, it's okay to be ugly, but it's wronged to be annoying. She peeks at his manuscripts every day, and he also changes the place to put them every day, never tired of it.

Father and daughter, one hides, the other finds, such a fun hide-and-seek game, naturally endless joy.But later, the manuscript disappeared, and even Yang Jiang didn't know where to hide it...

Isn't life all about having fun?He is idiot, and infatuation is very unique.Once, he once said to Yang Jiang very seriously: "If we have another child, maybe he is better than A Yuan, and we will like that child, so how can we be worthy of A Yuan?"
There was no family planning at that time, but they had only one daughter, Yuan, in their whole life, and there was only such a small family of three.There are three of them, one is crazy, one is troublesome, and the other is recording.While laughing and cursing, the trivial but warm fragments are sublimated in Yang Jiang's simple words.

In fact, happiness lies in this trivial life.Inadvertently, this mediocre happiness filled the manuscript and kept it deep in my memory.A house, facing the sea, with spring flowers blooming.In the final analysis, what children want is plain but warm happiness like Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang.

On August [-], [-], Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and the eight-year long and arduous war of resistance finally ended in victory.For a time, firecrackers sounded, and the whole country celebrated.It's just that the people have not yet come out of the joy, and then fell into dire straits.

The battle between the two parties, sooner or later, this battle will be fought, but I didn't expect it to come so soon.Great Shanghai, which has not taken a breather, is still immersed in misery, with soaring prices and inflation. It can be said that the people are struggling to survive.

Their meager wages cannot cope with soaring prices.In order to make a living, Qian Zhongshu accepted the invitation of the Nanjing National Central Library in early [-] to serve as the editor of the library.During those days, he often traveled back and forth between Shanghai and Nanjing, and often published articles in the library's "Shulin Quarterly".

This summer, at the invitation of the dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Jinan University, he served as a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Jinan University, offering courses such as "Selected Works of European and American Literature", "Literary Criticism", "Shakespeare", and "British Periodical Literature".

At the beginning of the class, the dean invited him to the classroom and introduced him to the whole class: "I invited you such a gentleman, you are so lucky." Such a well-known scholar, they are indeed lucky, wearing a purple suit. Zhong Shu stepped onto the stage, and only spoke a hearty and authentic foreign language, which attracted the students present.

This is him, no matter where he goes, he looks chic and personable.Some people say that his classes are like drama performances. Yes, he uses his own tone and expression to give life to the characters in the book.There was once a student who was fascinated by his extensive knowledge and elegant lectures, and asked him for tips many times. He said humbly: "I have nothing but "association".
There is also a student who admires his "Fortress Besieged" very much, especially the vivid description of Sanlu University's school style.Regarding this, Qian Zhongshu said humorously: "You can see what the so-called discipline system is all about."
Later, when the student further asked about the social background of the novel, he immediately put away his wit and humor, and just evaded: "It's hard to tell." He is a scholar, and he only wants to focus on his favorite literary field, the complicated political vortex , he did not want to step on it.

He taught at Jinan University for three years, and moved his family to Pushi Road for convenience.In the past three years, he has been conscientious and conscientious. He has never been late or left early, nor has he dealt with things.It’s just that he is a book addict, and every time he comes to school, he has to bring back a stack of books to be returned, and then bring back a stack of new books to borrow.

The judge will pretend to regret the complete works of the questions, and the article will be old and successful.It was middle age, their golden age, but when the situation was turbulent, they stopped literary creation prematurely and specialized in research and translation.

"Fortress Besieged" was published, and the response was enthusiastic, but he was not very satisfied and began to revise it on a large scale. After sorting out "Talking about Art", he wrote another novel that is more exciting than "The Besieged City". This is "Lily Heart" that he hid back and forth when playing games with his daughter.

He also put a lot of thought into this novel, and by the time he returned to Tsinghua University, he had written more than [-] characters.It's just a game of hiding and hiding, coupled with the rush when moving, this pile of paper-like drafts will not be lost anywhere.

Later, the environment changed and I was very busy every day, so I no longer had the energy to complete the creation of "Lily Heart".Qian Zhongshu recalled: "Year after year, the impulse to write declines with each year, and the ability to write gradually disappears—maybe the two are not the same thing at all. We often mistake our writing impulse for our own writing talent, and naturally Thinking that writing meant being able to write."
Time is really a strange thing, it makes us grow up, make us wise, and make us not young anymore.Later on, Qian Zhongshu never mentioned his writing style, and he only had one stubborn belief: if "Lily Heart" is written, it will be better than "Fortress Besieged".

In this regard, he said plainly: "People who do not get things done always have such unfounded beliefs; for grapes that cannot be picked, we not only imagine that it is sour, but we are also likely to imagine that it is extraordinarily sweet. "
And Yang Jiang no longer wrote drama creations, and started literary translation and research.In [-], she published the compilation series "British Prose Works Since [-]".In the same year, she also began to translate the famous Spanish literature "Little Lame".

This year, the current situation has initially been decided, the Kuomintang government can be said to be in a precarious situation, and the Communist Party's control of the world is basically a foregone conclusion.A large number of intellectuals who lacked understanding of the Communist Party panicked at this situation and fled like frightened birds.

But there are still literati who are unwilling to leave the motherland, such as Wu Mi, Chen Yinke, Zheng Zhenduo, and Li Jianwu.Mr. Wu Mi said: "Make your own decision, don't ask what is good or bad, and decide not to go abroad." Zheng Zhenduo and Li Jianwu welcomed the new regime in place.

Against this backdrop, the University of Hong Kong seized the opportunity to invite Qian Zhongshu to serve as the dean of the Faculty of Arts, and then a letter from Oxford University again inviting him to be a senior lecturer also arrived.He refused, and he said this: "This is my motherland. Great changes are taking place here. I'd better stay here and do my own thing."
Traveling thousands of miles, it is still the hometown.They don't envy life abroad, because they love this land of the motherland.

In the summer of [-], they ended their time in Shanghai and moved north with their family.In this hot season, the two of them were hired by their alma mater and returned to Tsinghua University to teach. In a mighty way, they entered another era.

There is a kind of concern for husband and wife, and there is a kind of warmth called friends.They are a loving couple and close friends. His letters always give Yang Jiang infinite courage and add infinite brightness to her days in that barren mountain village.

Some people say that it is so difficult to leave and approach.Yang Jiang doesn't mind going to work in the countryside.It's just that when the love is strong, it's hard to say goodbye, she can't worry about Zhong Shu who is alone, how can this foolish man pack his bags by himself?

(End of this chapter)