At the University of Berkeley, Zhang Ailing is almost invisible. First of all, it has to do with her figure. Christo, a Taiwanese scholar, said she looked like Emily Brown, and at one point, I was sitting in Andrea's car talking to a small family in San Francisco. We talked about Zhang Ailing. Andrew pointed to a thin old lady on the side of the road and said, "If you can see Zhang Ai." ”
Ling, she was just like her. An ordinary old lady was not noticed at all. Secondly, Zhang Ailing likes to stay outside at night and deliberately avoid the crowd. According to her assistant, Taiwanese scholar Chen Shaocong, Ms. Zhang usually arrives at her office in the afternoon. She still stays there after everyone gets off work, chen Shaocong and Zhang Ailing work in the same office, but there is a thin barrier between them. The outside room was assistant's, and Zhang Ailing was inside.
Therefore, Zhang Ailing inevitably had to see Chen Shaocong every day, smile or nod. Later, they even felt numb and annoying, and every afternoon when Zhang Ailing came, Chen Shaocong would dodge in time.
I tried to restrain myself from disturbing her quietness. However, as her assistant, I can't help her at work, as mentioned earlier. A few times I knocked softly on the door and walked in. Mr. Zhang immediately got up from his chair, shy and nervous, squinting his eyes at me, but
It's not like seeing me, so I'm not comfortable. She didn't speak, so I had to talk to myself. She listened quietly as I muttered vaguely.
After chatting for a while, I was in a trance. I nodded in a trance, and finally fell into famine.
In 1952, Zhang Ailing left Shanghai and came to Shenzhen Luohu Bridge alone and entered Hong Kong. This is the only way to get from Shanghai to Hong Kong. By the way, the bridge deck of Luohu Bridge is paved with coarse wood, and the two ends of the bridge are guarded by Chinese and British military police. The Hong Kong police take the entry permit for inspection.
During the investigation, Zhang Ailing and those who fled the Chinese mainland anxiously waited for a long time. In the face of their anxiety and helplessness, the Hong Kong police are arrogant. They staggered as if nothing had happened, and their minds were leisurely. A Chinese soldier saw this and walked up to Zhang Ailing and said, "These people are here in the heat." It is best to stand in the shade. Zhang Ailing turned to look at him. The soldiers were dressed and wore wrinkled uniforms with boyish faces. People laughed politely. No one took his advice, including Zhang Ailing.
She clung to the fence, fearing she would fall out of line when she entered the country at the other end. This was the last time Zhang Ailing felt the warmth of her compatriots, the invisible boundary, and since then, she has divided her life into two parts. Rumors and legends about her Shanghai apartment were quickly erased by overwhelming slogans and slogans behind her.
Like the characters in silent movies, Zhang Ailing rarely makes a sound. Even in the office, there was no difference between her presence and her absence. Chen Shaocong said.
Every few weeks, when Zhang Ailing was away, she would buckle up a stack of information cards she made of rubber bands and put them on the table
Write a note. "To sympathize with her, I took a new approach: Every day when I approached her arrival, I avoided her
Next, I slipped into the library and chatted with the others for a while. It wasn't until I was sure she had safely entered her lonely kingdom that I came back to sit. I did this all to save her from pleasing me. "Unless she asks me to do something, I'm going to never go in and bother her." As a result, she remained silent. In our nearly a year of "working together," Zhang Xiansheng never gave me any orders or requests. She used the information I later gave her. I don't know if it's useful because I left less than a year to open in California. "