Su Qing
In the spring of 1944, when the spring was bright and warm, Tan Zhengbi, a reporter for the New China Newspaper, launched a symposium for women writers.
At that time, the four talented female writers Zhang Ailing, Su Qing, Guan Lu, and Pan Liudai attended one by one, each expressing their own opinions.
In front of the door of the old western-style room of the "New China Newspaper", this group of female writers ate melon seeds and peanuts, drank green tea, and casually talked about literature and life.
At that time, Su Qing and Zhang Ailing were equally famous in the Shanghai literary circles, and the two had a very good personal relationship and admired each other. Even at this moment when female writers come together, they do not forget to blow each other commercially.
Su Qing said: "I never read the works of female writers, I only read Zhang Ailing's articles. ”
Zhang Ailing also said: The favorite female writer in ancient times was Li Qingzhao, and in modern times, she liked Su Qing the most. ”
Pan Liudai, a talented woman of the Republic of China
Zhang Ailing easily does not exaggerate people, and the purity of the poisonous tongue and ice heart is contrived, pointing out that Ding Ling's later works are inadequate.
But he lifted Su Qing to the height of Li Qingzhao, and such praise was really absolute.
Is Su Qing worthy of a green eye like Zhang Ailing?
Su Qing naturally could not match Li Qingzhao, but she had also beaten Zhang Ailing to convince Zhang Ailing.
Su Qing, whose original name was Feng Heyi, was born into a Family of Scholars in Ningbo, but in fact she was fostered to her illiterate rural grandmother a few months after her birth.
Ice heart
There was not a hint of the old-fashioned girl's Sven look in her. Cut a short cool head, go up the mountain to break bamboo shoots, go down the river to touch shrimp, play with grandmothers in leisure time, and dance guns to get sticks.
She grew up in the wind and day of Fengjia Village, grew up in the countryside, and even if she grew up a little, she returned to the city to live with her mother and did not change her stubborn style. Mother Bao Yunxian had a headache.
Grandpa Feng Bingran did not think so, saying: "In the future, her creation may be above many brothers and sisters." ”
Although Feng Bingran was a former Qing dynasty, he was extremely enlightened, advocating women to put their feet, cut their hair, and read.
Su Qing was deeply liked by her grandfather, and often taught her to recognize the characters on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West" on the cigarette shell flower green paper. Su Qing is smart and will teach as soon as he teaches.
In 1933, at the age of 19, Su Qing lived up to her grandfather's expectations and was admitted to the Department of Foreign Languages of the National Central University (the predecessor of Nanjing University and Southeast University), the first institution of learning in the Republic of China.
National Central University of The People's Country
Su Qing, who has an egg face, fine eyebrows, Dan phoenix eyes, and a high nose bridge, is called "Ningbo Empress" by her classmates, and not long after entering the school, she received several baskets of love letters.
But she was obsessed with reading and ignored it.
She wanted to revitalize the Feng family after completing her studies, but the Feng family, who had fallen into the middle of the family since Feng Songyu's death, could not afford to wait. Her mother hoped that she would marry quickly so that the Feng family could make a comeback.
Her mother, Bao Yunxian, had a crush on her son-in-law, Li Qinhou, who was studying at Soochow University in Suzhou at the time. The Li family is the home of rich merchants, and Li Qin is a talented person, a proper rich and handsome man.
After Bao Yunxian saw Li Qin, the mother-in-law saw that the son-in-law looked at it more and more, and she liked it more and more, and tried her best to persuade her daughter to accept Li Qinhou.
And the Li family wind rumors that the Feng family has a female growth, and both talent and appearance, but also afraid of the night long dream, busy to come to kiss.
The two parents hit it off right away.
At that time, the atmosphere was gradually opening, and it was no longer the old society in which "parents ordered and matchmakers said" and got married, but a new era of "my marriage is my master".
Before proposing to him, Li Qinhou deliberately went to Nanjing to see Su Qing.
"Empress of Ningbo" Su Qing
A dress, half high heels, a dormitory six girls, all of them are not bad, but Su Qing is still the most outstanding.
Li Qinhou immediately looked straight in the eye, and when he returned home, he did not say that the marriage was free, all up to his mother, and he only wanted to hold the beauty as soon as possible.
In the winter of 1934, Su Qing took advantage of the winter vacation and returned to Ningbo to marry Li Qin. Not long after marriage, his stomach grew bigger, and he could only quit school and go home to be a young grandmother.
The Li family has a big business, and they don't care if Su Qingcai is a talented woman, they just want to hold their grandchildren as soon as possible.
The first child gave birth to a daughter, the mother-in-law's face was as blue as a crab shell, Li Qinhou only stayed at home for a few days before leaving, and the child cried all day long. At one point she was in so much pain that she was depressed.
Although she had to give up college, she understood that if a woman wanted to control her own destiny, she could not give up studying.
In the long nights mixed with the cries of babies, only books are the warmest solace.
She began to read eagerly.
After her daughter was weaned, her mother-in-law urged her to go to Shanghai to reunite with Li Qinhou. Li Qinhou taught at the school without much salary, and she worked as a full-time wife at home.
Su Qing and Li Qinhou and his wife
Li Qinhou was strong by nature and refused to ask for money from his family, but the price of goods in Shanghai soared, and even if Su Qing lived a meticulous life, he was stretched thin.
The family was so poor that they couldn't open the pot, Su Qing asked Li Qinhou for money to buy rice, but Li Qinhou slapped her, "Money has to be earned by yourself, you are also a cultural person, why don't you know how to make money?" ”
A slap awakens the dreamer. The dream of marrying into the Li family as a rich wife was shattered. Ben hoped that Li Qinhou could shield her from the wind and rain, but he did not expect that the wind and rain in his life came from him.
She regretted that she had fainted, did not study in a good university, and actually ran home to marry Li Qinhou.
Now regret is useless, you can only save yourself. When this poor "rich and rich lady", she has no long belongings, fortunately there is a pen.
Feeling inspired by her own experience, she wrote an article entitled "Giving Birth to a Man and Giving Birth to a Daughter" and submitted it to Lin Yutang's Analects Magazine.
Lin Yutang
Soon, the magazine replied: Miss Su Qing, the honorific manuscript is received, very good, and intends to be published in the eleventh issue of our magazine.
The 21-year-old was so excited with the 5 yuan fee that she could finally stand on her own in Shanghai with a pen. At that time, Li Qin's salary for the next month was only about 70 yuan.
Watching various magazines mushroom, Su Qing was not willing to make wedding dresses for people and write for people.
She eagerly co-founded the "Little Review" magazine with Li Qinhou, but unfortunately only ran two issues before it closed its doors due to lack of experience and poor management.
She had no choice but to work as a clerk at Cosmic Wind magazine, but she couldn't do it after doing two. Li Qinhou's lawyer business was very prosperous at this time, and the family's food and clothing were full of pits and valleys.
But the good times were short-lived, and as the law firm closed, they returned to their days of poverty.
Poor and lowly couples mourned, at this time Li Qinhou did not say that he was trying to make money to supplement the family, but spent days and drinks and engaged in affairs. The object of the affair is the upstairs neighbor Zhao Lian.
After going through so much, he understood that men could not be relied upon. The only thing she could rely on was this pen.
She worked harder to write, submit, sell articles for a living, and support herself and her two children.
At that time, there were many magazines in Shanghai, and the writing fees ranged from 20 to 30 yuan per thousand words, and Su Qing often wrote until late at night. On a hot day, she sweated and wrote articles while gently fanning the wind for the children.
The talented woman of the Republic of China Guan Lu
Life is hard, but there is hope in grasping this pen.
Just as she was struggling with her children, her husband, who had run away from home, returned. She did not hesitate and directly divorced Li Qinhou.
After the divorce, there was no life, and he worked as a teacher in a middle school for one semester, and originally agreed with the principal that he would be re-hired in the second semester, but it happened that the principal was transferred away.
The new headmaster was a distant relative of hers, but the new official took office three times, and in order to avoid suspicion, he directly dismissed her.
Life forced her into a corner, but she still grasped the pen and chose to continue to struggle!
Based on her unhappy marriage, she wrote an autobiographical novel "Ten Years of Marriage" and submitted it to the magazine "Wind and Rain Talk".
Cover of Ten Years of Marriage
This most emotional work was very popular as soon as it was published, and people rushed to buy it, and luoyang paper was expensive for a while.
The book was printed in 36 editions, beating Zhang Ailing's "Legend" and "Rumors" in one fell swoop, becoming the bestseller of the year.
With her literary talent, she was only 29 years old.
At this time, Su Qing has become a star-like red person. There were not many people, and various tabloids began to hype up her and Shanghai mayor Chen Gongbo's scandal, saying that she was his dewy concubine.
Pseudo-Mayor Chen Gongbo
Indeed, because of Chen Gongbo, Su Qing served as a municipal commissioner for three months and lived in a spacious and comfortable house. Chen Gongbo also gave 100,000 yuan to start a magazine for her.
At that time, Shanghai was reduced to an isolated island, materials were very tight, and what was missing from running magazines was not money, but paper.
Rao is Zhang Ailing, and she has only hoarded a little paper at home for printing books. And Chen Gongbo, through his own connections, gave Su Qing a cart of white paper.
Su Qing then founded Tiandi magazine. She recruited a number of well-known people to write for "Heaven and Earth", not only political dignitaries, but also zhou zuoren, Zhang Ailing and other literary giants that we are familiar with.
Zhou Zuoren
The cover of Heaven and Earth was designed by the painter Tan Weihan and was deformed by a seated Statue of Brahma, one of the three gods of Brahmanism and Hinduism.
The shaved bearded Boroma held the pen in one hand, the manuscript paper in one hand, the ink bottle in the other, the other empty, and the free hand was used to create a new world.
Su Qing independently founded "Heaven and Earth", and Tan Weihan admired her and regarded her as his goddess.
Tan Weihan
Su Qing is also very business-minded, and now all kinds of "heart-wrenching" discount promotion methods are left over from Su Qing's play. Sure enough, The Heaven and Earth magazine was a great success after its launch.
Not long after, Chen Gongbo was shot, and she had palpitations. Later, he cohabited with Jiang Gui and wrote "Ten Years of Continued Marriage".
Ginger Gui
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, people familiar with Su Qing, such as Zhang Ailing, Jiang Gui, Pan Liudai, Hu Lancheng, etc., all ran overseas. And Su Qing stayed on the mainland for her daughter.
Su Qing wore a people's costume and quickly adapted to the new society. She chose to stay on the mainland because she believed she could survive with a pen.
She was anxious to find a job to support her and her own children.
But the pen she was proud of didn't work, the social environment changed, her style was incompatible with the new society, and no one dared to publish her works.
Just when she was desperate, she got the news that Hong Kong's "Shanghai Daily" was soliciting papers from Shanghai writers. She was overjoyed and hurried to submit her manuscript.
Unexpectedly, the article was not published, and the fee was not counted on, but instead received a verbal warning from the organization. It was nothing short of a slap in the face for her. But she still did not give up, struggling to wait for the opportunity.
In the fall of 1951, cold fate finally gave her a smile. Xia Yan, then director of the Shanghai Cultural Bureau, opened an opera choreography and directing class, openly recruiting students with no age or academic qualifications.
Xia Yan
Su Qing quickly signed up, and was very serious during the four-month study, looking forward to the opportunity to take over the screenplay to open up a new situation in her life.
After graduating from the opera choreography and directing class, through the introduction of the organization, she entered the Fanghua Yue Opera Troupe of Yin Guifang, the founder of the Yin Sect of Yue Opera.
Yin Guifang
After Su Qing joined the troupe, he adapted the folk story "Selling Oil Lang Monopoly Flower Kui" into the Yue opera "Selling Oil Lang", which was very popular and sold well at the box office.
The boss Yin Guifang gave her a salary increase as soon as she was happy, rising to 300 yuan per month. Don't underestimate this 300 yuan, you know, at that time, the general working class only had a dozen yuan a month wage.
Hold the pen tightly, eat and dress warmly. The success of "Selling Oil Lang" greatly encouraged her, so she began to adapt Guo Moruo's historical drama "Qu Yuan".
Guo Moruo
At that time, Guo Moruo's disciple Wen Huaisha's mother happened to live near Su Qing's house, and Su Qing quickly became acquainted with her and met Wen Huaisha through Wen Mu.
Su Qing personally went to Beijing to meet Wen Huaisha and was warmly received by Wen Huaisha. Su Qing invited Wen Huaisha to serve as the screenwriting consultant for the Yue opera version of Qu Yuan.
Later, this drama participated in the East China Opera Observation Parade and won all the awards except the Screenwriting Award.
Only because Su Qing's birth is not good, he has also been deprived of the qualification to win the award, which makes people feel overwhelmed.
It's okay not to win an award, but fortunately, my career has risen to a new level. After tasting the sweetness of adapting a play, she began a new journey.
Wen Huaisha
This time she did not plan to adapt, she wanted to write her own historical drama, the character is Sima Qian.
She is very ambitious, hoping that her historical drama "Sima Qian" can surpass Guo Moruo's "Qu Yuan".
To this end, she read a large number of historical materials and wrote to Professor Cao Zhifang of Fudan University to ask for relevant historical facts. Professor Cao also gave her a serious reply.
In order to rehearse "Sima Qian" in the autumn cool season, she braved the heat of the summer, waving a pukui fan in one hand and writing a script with a pen in the other.
Unexpectedly, "Sima Qian" had not yet been written, but the people who wrote "Sima Qian" suffered the same senseless disaster as Sima Qian.
Cao Zhifang was implicated in the "Hu Feng Incident", and when he raided his home, he copied Su Qing's letter to Cao Zhifang discussing Sima Qian.
Hu Feng was arrested
These two things are like drowning an old hen in the Pacific Ocean, Shanghainese drinking tap water from the Huangpu River, and then saying to themselves that it is the distance to drink chicken soup, and the eight rods can't hit it, so Su Qing put it on the stall.
Since you can't find anything wrong, let's eat a few years in prison first. So Su Qing was imprisoned in Tilanqiao Prison and was not released until 1957.
After Su Qing was released from prison, he lived and worked under the supervision of the masses, and to put it bluntly, he squatted in prison outside the cell. As soon as it came to a major holiday, he was called to lecture by various activists, and his dignity was completely lost.
Friends and relatives, fearing being implicated, cut off contact with her and only lived with two underage children.
Su Qing is 43 years old this year, a big mother dragging two oil bottles, penniless, life is difficult to continue.
Just when the mountains and rivers were exhausted, the conscience boss Yin Guifang was online again. She vigorously rejected the public opinion and re-accepted Su Qing.
However, in extraordinary times, the troupe mostly rehearsed classic traditional plays, and basically did not need a screenwriter. Yin Guifang arranged a position for Su Qing to watch the gate and collect tickets, and barely made ends meet.
With the two children in the family graduating from junior high school, the economy is even more difficult.
In order to alleviate the economic pressure on the family, the youngest son, Li Chongyuan, went to Anhui to work as a worker.
Although she is poor and sick, she lives with her daughter Li Chongmei and is relatively peaceful.
It was not until her illness worsened that her son Li Chongyuan returned to Shanghai to live with Su Qing.
Li Chongyuan is 38 years old, has not yet worked, and has not yet started a family, and Su Qing is worried.
After the reform and opening up, Li Chongyuan took the hundreds of yuan he had accumulated to buy goods and set up a stall. Su Qing encouraged him that no matter what he did, as long as he could make money, it was better than borrowing.
Once, Li Chongyuan made 20 yuan from setting up a stall and ran back happily to tell Su Qing. At that time, the average person's monthly salary was 80 yuan.
Zhang Ailing and Su Qing
I think that when Li Chongyuan set up a stall, mother and son depended on each other for their lives, and although life was monotonous and boring, it should be regarded as not worrying about eating and wearing.
In the winter of 1982, the cold snap hit Shanghai, and the water on the ground froze. The weather was cold, there were no guests, and Li Chongyuan closed the stall early.
As soon as I got home, I found Su Qing lying on the bed with her head tilted, blood at the corner of her mouth, and one eye against the door was still open. The body is still warm, but the person is dead.
The nurses carried Su Qing's body to the morgue, but there were too many people who died that day, and there was no empty seat, so they put Su Qing on the ground and left.
Zhang ailing
Li Chongyuan stood alone at the door of the morgue, and Su Qing's thin body was placed on the cement floor and left for the night.
That night, it was freezing cold.
Su Qing just walked away, how alive and fragrant he was before he was born, and how desolate he was behind him.
At this time, Guan Luxian died in Beijing two days ago, Zhang Ailing lived in isolation in the United States, and Pan Liudai drifted to Australia.
In the star-studded Shanghai literary circle of that year, the four talented women with red flowers and willows and green flowers are now star-studded and lost, and only sighs.