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

Chapter 8 Hand in hand: warmth is on the road (1)
go to england together
In the hot summer of [-], they got married and walked into the besieged city hand in hand.The harp and chords, the phoenix singing in harmony, they are the perfect match made in heaven and earth in the twentieth century.Hu Heqing once said in admiration: "Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang are a pair of famous swords in contemporary literature. Qian Zhongshu is like a heroic sword flowing with heroic spirit. It often comes out of the box and sings by itself, shocking the world with words; Yang Jiang is like a blue light. The female sword of Hanzang is as wise as a fool, and does not show the blade."
Gambling books disappeared, and they formed a simple and happy family of scholars, and lived a warm life in the siege.In July, the newlyweds bid farewell to their parents and homeland, and embarked on the road of studying abroad.Hand in hand, they went to England to study at Exeter College, Oxford University.

In the classroom of Tsinghua University, Professor Ye Gongchao once half-jokingly said to Qian Zhongshu: "You should not enter Tsinghua University, you should go to Oxford University." Now, his words have finally come true, and he passed the British boxer exam The qualification to study abroad at public expense, embarked on the journey of Oxford University.

As the oldest university in English-speaking countries, Oxford University occupies a unique position in British politics, history, and literature, and has trained a large number of philosophers, politicians, scientists, and writers.When Mr. Wu Mi was studying in Europe, he wrote a poem:
Oxford is extremely quiet and beautiful, a paradise on earth;

The mountains are bright and the water is bright, and the sky is blue and the clouds are rosy.

Fangli group school, jagged bamboo shoots;
The spiers are planted leisurely, and the battlements are magnificent.

The bridge house forms a ring hole, and the deep courtyard hides the heavy door;
The stone wall is thousands of years old, and the peeling is black and deep.

There really is a day of Piyong, as if seeing Panchi exist;
Going in a hurry for half a year, I am the soul of dreams for life.

They set off from Wuxi and took the train to Shanghai for a boat.After years of travelling, they bid farewell to their relatives and friends on the streets of Wuxi with deep nostalgia.When parting, it is inevitable to be sentimental. When the train stopped at the platform in Suzhou, Yang Jiang burst into tears.Before leaving, she had already started to miss her. She wished she could get off the train and see her parents' loving smiles one more time.

When they arrived in Shanghai, surrounded by a group of relatives and friends, they went to the pier to board the ship.They hugged each other, said goodbye one by one, and reluctantly boarded the side of the ship.The ship weighed anchor, and they stood on the deck, looking at the waving hands of the people on the shore, and listening to the same shouts criss-crossing around them, in a trance, they only felt a faint sense of hatred, and their eyes could not help but wet their eyes.

The boat set sail and sailed to the river where the sea and the sky lined up. The shore gradually moved away and was covered with fog, but it deepened the sorrow of parting and increased the yearning.Later, Yang Jiang wrote in his prose: "In July 25, Zhongshu was less than 24 years old, and I was a few days less than [-] years old. We got married and went to Oxford, England to study together. We were far away from home. No longer under the shelter of their parents, they are a little trembling; but with two companions, they can depend on each other."
Blowing the sea breeze, watching the sun rise and set, and the stars move.The journey of sailing is boring, and the time is infinitely extended. When the ship docks, it is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.After getting off the boat, watching the blondes coming and going, and listening to the machine gun-like English dialogue, I felt a little more excited and a little more nervous.

Fortunately, in this huge city of London, they still have an acquaintance---Qian Zhonghan.At that time, Qian Zhongshu's cousin had been studying as a postgraduate student at the Polytechnic Institute of the University of London for two years. In addition, his younger brother Zhong Ying was also in the UK. The three brothers, who had not seen each other for a long time, gathered together in a foreign country.

Seeing me arrive from my hometown, I am as happy to return home as you are.

Watch the frequency, doubt and dream, and ask about homework in miscellaneous language.

Since he respects his relatives, he does not leave his servants behind.

Youth is worthy of companionship, and it is not necessary to be busy.

This is Qian Zhongshu's poem describing the reunion of the three.When they came to a foreign country for the first time, hearing the familiar local accent, the husband and wife felt a little more comforted.Once, the three brothers were together in their youth, but now they meet again on the streets of London after a long absence.

Later, Qian Zhonghan often went to Oxford to visit them on holidays, read and studied with them, went for a walk in Oxford Park, visited the British Museum and the Wax Museum together... He used his camera to take a group photo of their husband and wife in Oxford.

The two of them didn't stay long in London. After a short stay and sightseeing, they went to Oxford on the upper Thames River.At that time, Oxford University had not yet started school, and Qian Zhongshu had been arranged by the government to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Exeter College, and Yang Jiang also began to approach admission matters.

Strolling on the streets of Oxford, looking at the well-known Bridge of Sighs, the Deer Park, the full-flavored architectural style, and this holy place where history and modern civilization blend, they couldn't help feeling overwhelmed.This is a world-famous university city and a cultural city with rich heritage. It is simple and solemn, with a blend of urban and learning, and has always been known as "British Athens".

There is a library with a long history ─ ─ Oxford Bodleian Library.The Bodleian Library is world-class, and the theme libraries from all over the world are connected together, complementing the Bodleian Hall and the underground stacks.There is an extremely rich collection of books here. Since Shakespeare's time, the British Book Company has undertaken the obligation to donate new books to it.

This can be said to be right for Qian Zhongshu's appetite, he can read the group of books to his heart's content.During his years in Oxford, he spent a lot of time eating here, and once translated "Bodley" into "Fuyuelou".

When he first arrived in Oxford, Qian Zhongshu fell face down and knocked out most of his front teeth.That day, he went out alone, and when he came back, he covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and his mouth was bloody.Yang Jiang was very anxious after seeing it, so she hurriedly accompanied him to the dentist, pulled out the broken tooth, and put in dentures.

Yang Jiang said: "Zhong Shu often laments his "clumsy hands and feet". I only know that he can't tie a bow tie, can't tell the left foot from the right, and can only grab chopsticks like a child. I don't know how he is in other aspects. How stupid, how clumsy." It's just that the happiness in life is found by herself. Later, she also joked that Qian Zhongshu kissed the Oxford floor as soon as he arrived in Oxford. How pious this is!
Fortunately, everything was safe and sound, he just lost a tooth.

In October, Qian Zhongshu entered school and received a stiff square hat and a black cloth vest with two black cloth streamers.Oxford University, with its rigorous scholarship, inevitably has some serious and old-fashioned courses. Paleography courses such as "version and collation" are quite boring. Qian Zhongshu is not interested in this, and he does not want to listen to such courses, and he does not want to refer to them. relevant textbooks.

Fortunately, he has a good foundation in English, and his knowledge is more solid than other foreign students. He easily passed all the courses with relatively good grades, except for the English Paleography course.It turned out that during the exam, this course had to identify many scribbled and blurred manuscripts. He didn't expect it, and he didn't prepare for it. Naturally, he failed.Later, he bit the bullet and tried hard to make up for it before passing the make-up exam. This was the only time he worked hard at Oxford University.

For example, when he was at Tsinghua University, he devoted himself to studying, and only read books based on interest.This time, he came into contact with a large number of western poems and novels - "The Waste Land", which broke the norms in fragmented language, the stream-of-consciousness novel "Remembrance of Things Past" by the French writer Proust, "Youth and the Past" by the British writer Joyce. Lysis, etc.

In addition, he was also obsessed with detective novels, and often read some thrilling detective stories to rest his mind. The detective stories of Sherlock Holmes made him even sleepless nights and dancing.It can be said that reading detective novels has become his most pleasant way of rest.

Of course, he will not let go of philosophical and psychological works such as Kant, Hegel, and Croce.During that period of time, he read so many books that even Yang Jiang couldn't tell how many books he read. It is estimated that the "clumsy" Mr. Mo Cun himself couldn't figure it out either.

At the same time, Yang Jiang chose to be an auditor at Oxford University.She doesn't want to study history in a women's college that doesn't provide accommodation, because she doesn't like it; she doesn't want to leave Zhongshu to study elsewhere, because she doesn't feel at ease letting this Ma Daha who knocked out her front teeth here; She studied at Oxford University at her own expense, because the tuition here was too expensive, and she didn't want to put financial pressure on her parents.

She said: "My father had already suffered from high blood pressure. At that time, there were no antihypertensive drugs. I left my parents, and I felt very sorry. How could I bear to ask them for money? I had to settle for the next best thing. Be an auditor, listen to a few courses, and go to the university library for self-study."
However, as an auditor, she was much more diligent than Qian Zhongshu.She not only sat in on many classic courses at Oxford University, but also carefully took class notes, and then spent time in the library studying by herself.In the "Betty Building", she occupied a fixed seat by the window, made a schedule for herself, and carefully read the borrowed books.

She said, what is there to be dissatisfied with being able to study like this?Contented and happy, the environment here is quiet, and there are very few students coming and going. How many mornings and afternoons, she sat by the window, bathed in the warm sunshine, quietly read classics, and settled her soul.Unknowingly, her foreign literature accomplishment has been greatly improved, which laid a solid foundation for her future research on foreign literature translation.

Only occasionally, she would feel lost and sigh that she was not a formal member of Oxford University.When she was wearing a cheongsam and sitting alone in the auditorium on the side of the classroom, she felt melancholy.She said: "I saw people wearing school uniforms all over the street. I had the inferiority complex of out-of-school children. I always envied that black cloth vest that other people have but I don't have."
When she complained to Qian Zhongshu, he shook his head, saying that she didn't know how blessed she was, and he also showed her his compulsory courses and the topics of the previous two papers while talking.Yang Jiang looked at it, and she sighed. She was lucky that she was not under the jurisdiction of the school, so she didn't have to spend such a big effort.

It's just that Yang Jiang also knows that she lacks such strict and systematic training.But Qian Zhongshu felt that if he had enough free reading time like his wife, he would definitely gain more.Since ancient times, you can't have both fish and bear's paw, just as Yang Jiang said: "Anyway, neither of us is very satisfied, and his disappointment is even greater."
The husband sings and the woman follows, and the woman sings and the husband follows.They came to England together and studied and studied on the banks of the Thames.Life is life, life is life, although trivial things are inevitable, although they are not always satisfactory, but with each other, they can embrace happiness.

another world

Qian Zhongshu once bestowed Yang Jiang with a sentence: "A unique combination of three incompatibles: wife, lover, and friend."
In his eyes, she is a gentle and virtuous wife, a charming and lovely lover, and a friend who can talk about everything.Leaving the familiar family and friends, they came to another world, a beautiful but strange world, and she was his only company.

They lived in an apartment known as the Old King's, with two single tenants, both visiting medical specialists in Oxford.When he first came here, Qian Zhongshu knocked out his front teeth, so he relied more on their ideas.

Their room is a double bedroom with a window facing the garden. Lao Jin's wife and daughter will help clean up the room, and also provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea.They are free and don't have to worry about housework or meals. They can spend time in the library and enjoy the wide range of literary classics.

Oxford University has three semesters per academic year, eight weeks per semester, and then a six-week vacation, and a three-month summer vacation after one academic year.Although the style of study here is rigorous, there are still quite a lot of holidays.Most of the international students in China are rich kids who graduated from aristocratic schools. They don't take their studies seriously at school, drink and make trouble all day long, and when the holidays come, they all go on a trip again.

Seeing the Chinese international students who often misbehave and violate school rules, the moral instructor can be described as a headache, and sometimes they have to go to the police station to bail out those students who were arrested for misbehaving too much.And Qian Zhongshu is an exception, his character mentor just often treats the couple to drink tea.

Every holiday, he doesn't want to go elsewhere to see different scenery.He devoted all his time to the ocean of books, and only left for a moment during the summer vacation.If Britain is another world different from China, then the world of books that fascinates him is the most splendid stroke in this world.

In fact, this is not uncommon.Zhong Shu has never liked activities. During his four years at Tsinghua University, apart from visiting the Summer Palace and Fragrant Hills with the whole school, he never went to other places of interest in Beijing.Perhaps, for him, owning a book is considered owning the whole world.

Although the university's library collection is rich, it is limited to the eighteenth century and before. Two people who were not satisfied went to the city library to borrow books in order to read books in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.It's just that the books there will be returned within two weeks, so they go to the city library in less than two weeks, and they never tire of it.

They read a lot and exchanged ideas with each other.When Qian Zhongshu read a good book, he guessed that his wife would like it, so he would recommend it to her.Yang Jiang said: "Our "communication" in literature is the basis of our friendship. We have experience with each other, and communication is fun and interesting."
A sunny room, a simple table, two people sitting opposite each other.They lowered their heads, flipped the pages of the book in their hands lightly, and read passages of beautiful words. Occasionally, they raised their heads to meet the inadvertent eyes of the opposite party. They smiled at each other and then lowered their heads again.

The years are quiet and the present world is stable. They enjoy each other in ordinary days, and the time like water is safe and warm every minute.

In addition to reading, they have small appointments every day, which they call "adventures".If it is said that reading together is their quiet time alone, then the time spent alone before breakfast and after dinner is boundless play time.They held hands and walked slowly, no matter where the road leads, it seems that if they are not careful, they can go forever.

In the streets and alleys, the downtown suburbs, the churches in the parks, and the gates of colleges, they walked everywhere, playing while walking, measuring the customs of Oxford with their steps.In the downtown area, watching the crowds of all kinds in the downtown area, they will guess their identities and play games corresponding to the characters in the book, and when they see different types of houses, they will guess the appearance of the owner...

This is their little game, although a little childish, but full of joy.

Yang Jiang said: "Oxford has a lot of human touch. The postman met us on the way and handed us our home letters. The children were waiting by the side and asked us for Chinese stamps very politely. The tall policemen wore white Gloves, walking slowly all the way in the evening, pushing and pushing the doors of each house to see if they are closed; if someone does not close the door properly, the police will warn them politely."
Without the hustle and bustle of the city, Oxford is a small and quiet town, simple and elegant, with beautiful scenery.They are not from their hometown, but they can easily find their belonging in the human atmosphere of this quiet and beautiful town.Maybe this is the love they want, to live elsewhere, away from the world, and simply live the life they want.

Being so far away from her parents, Yang Jiang missed her so much, so she sent letters home every week, and when the weekly replies arrived in her hands, she looked at the kind words of her parents and the thoughtless small words of her sisters. No, she is always smiling, very happy.

Qian Zhongshu did not have so many books, and the occasional letters were also the earnest teachings of his strict father, so he was very envious of the strong affection between his wife and family.When Yang Jiang wrote a letter, he rushed to read the kind and interesting family letter, and when she wrote a reply, he had to write a few sentences.

Occasionally, they will also participate in some social activities, the most frequent is the afternoon tea time between classmates and teachers. Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang also learned how to make tea because of this—"Warm the teapot first, and each use a full teaspoon Tea: one spoonful for you, one spoonful for me, one spoonful for him, and a full spoonful for the teapot. Four spoonfuls of tea are used for four people, four spoonfuls are used for three people. Boiled water can be added one at a time, and the tea is always strong enough."
Oxford University has a strange rule that students must have dinner four or five times a week in the cafeteria of their college.To some extent, these few dinners are more important than attending classes, and eating them shows that the students are living on campus.Qian Zhongshu said humorously that after obtaining a bachelor's degree in liberal arts, he will have a master's degree after two years, and a doctorate after four years.

Here, Qian Zhongshu also encountered another wonderful thing.A rich man named Shi Boding wanted to set up a professorship of Sinology at Oxford University. At that time, his younger brother was a resident researcher at Oxford University, specializing in Zhuangzi's philosophy.One day, he invited Qian Zhongshu and his wife to visit his home, and persuaded him to give up the Boxer Scholarship, study philosophy instead, and be his brother's helper.

The rich man is proud, he looks down on the insignificant Chinese scholarship.But patriotism is something that everyone has. Qian Zhongshu immediately rejected his proposal, and he definitely would not do the thing of giving up the national scholarship and switching to a foreign rich man.

In Oxford, although they did not have a high reputation, they still made friends with many scholars. A Frenchman named CD Le Gros Clark, when publishing "Su Dongpo Fu", specially asked Qian Zhong to write the preface.

Later, in order to express his gratitude, he brought his wife from Paris to Oxford for a meeting and invited Qian Zhongshu and his wife to dinner.On that day, they wore grand gowns and rushed to the famous St. George Hotel for a banquet. He was a handsome gentleman and she was a lovely lady.

Qian Zhongshu is also a playful person, but what he loves is not traveling, but writing word games.At that time, they got acquainted with foreign students such as Yu Dazhen and Yu Dayu, Xiang Da and Yang Xianyi, and occasionally drank afternoon tea to exchange life and study.

And Xiang Da is a frequent visitor to his house. Whenever the two get together, they are full of nonsense and jokes, and Qian Zhongshu will make some crooked poems and gags.He also presented Xiang Da with a long poem, the first two lines of which said that he was "the way of death on the outside (still), but the door on the heart (sentimental)", Xiang Da was not angry, looking at those nonsense poems , and Qian Zhongshu laughed together.

It can be said that he and Qian Zhongshu are like-minded.Not to be outdone, he said to Qian Zhongshu: "People talk about honey and swords, but you talk about swords and honey." Those who understand have their own understanding. Xiang Da understands Qian Zhongshu's word games, so he will not think his words are mean.

(End of this chapter)