Text/Liao Xingyou
What a good day! But on this day I received a sad message, the Tianjin girl who began writing love letters at the age of 12, who had a heart attack at 5 p.m. the day before the spring equinox, left us forever.
The first news of the death of guo wanmei, the winner of the Bingxin Prose Award and the Sun Li Prose Prize and the female writer, was at 12:37 noon on March 19, 2022. Writer Liu Yuexin forwarded an obituary from the China Prose Literature Association group in the "Presence Micro Essays" group in Meishan, Sichuan. Seeing the news, my throat, which was eating, suddenly seemed to be choked by water, which was extremely uncomfortable. I was afraid that my friends at the same table would see that I had been knocked over by the five-flavor bottle inside, hurriedly left the dinner table, and ran to the side to calm down.
Guo Wanmei and I met in the "Presence Micro Essay" group. She is a public welfare writer of this prose platform, not only writing her own manuscripts, but also participating in the recitation and audio production of excellent micro-prose works with Long Dan, Hua Yu and others. Although we have been WeChat friends for many years, we have never met. Maybe we write in the same style, many of her manuscripts, just after writing, sent to me through WeChat, let me propose some revision suggestions. As a result, I often consider myself the first reader of her work.
In December last year, Wan Mei was selected as the "Outstanding Reading Figure" of 2021 Shuxiang Tianjin, and during the voting session, she sent me a link and asked me to help her vote. After 6 consecutive days of voting, she finished 25th.
Photo of Guo Wanmei before her death (courtesy of the author)
Whether it is photos or communication through WeChat, Wanmei gives me the impression of being capable, healthy, and full of bookish flavor. She also said that except for a little problem with the heart, everything was great. One day at two o'clock in the morning, I replied to her with a message on WeChat, and at 5 o'clock in the morning, she replied to me after seeing the message: Why do you sleep so late? Staying up late is not good for your health. She knew that my blood sugar was unstable, so she sent me a lot of health knowledge and methods about hypoglycemic reduction.
Guo Wanmei is a native of Tianjin, and Jiang Zilong, former vice chairman of the China Writers Association and a famous writer, is also from Tianjin. A few years ago, when I was engaged in media work, Jiang Zilong, Shi Zhanjun, Qiu Huadong, Shu Ting, Liu Xinglong and other writers were invited to Hongya County, Meishan City, to participate in a theme collection activity. To this end, Teacher Jiang wrote several large characters for me to write "Culture Enhances Economic Taste". Later, Teacher Jiang, who was on vacation in Hainan, heard that I was going to make a rural reading book "Red Beans" and gladly inscribed the words "Red Beans" for me.
In her exchanges with me, Wan Mei said that she had known Teacher Jiang for many years and had met on many occasions, including two in Meishan. She has always wanted to ask Teacher Jiang for knowledge on writing, but she is worried about disturbing Teacher Jiang.
In May 2018, Wan Mei won the 8th Bingxin Prose Award, awarded in Meishan, Sichuan. After spending several days in Meishan, she did not dare to talk to Jiang Zilong. On their way back to Tianjin, they met at the departure hall of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Wan Mei said that time she plucked up enough courage to ask Jiang Zilong for WeChat. Who knows, Jiang Zilong, who is also a teacher and father, is so amiable. An exchange quickly eased her nervousness.
In July 2020, Wan Mei wrote an essay entitled "Encountering Jiang Zilong in Meishan". Before picking up the pen, she repeatedly asked what kind of image Jiang Zilong I had in mind. After writing it, she sent me the manuscript again.
Wan Mei always carries the affection of a little girl. Although she is 3 years older than me, I always think of her 12-year-old helping her sister write love letters. Wan Mei's sister was illiterate and befriended an intellectual who worked outside. Therefore, Hongyan made love, relying on her sister Wan Mei, who had just turned 12, to help her write. In order to promote her sister's marriage, Wan Mei recorded her sister's dictation while adding oil and vinegar to play the imagination of a little girl. Words that cannot be written are replaced by pinyin.
When talking about why she likes writing, once Guo Wanmei told me that she helped her sister write love letters, from the age of 12 to the age of 16, writing for 4 years. At that time, she felt that she was only 12 years old, and she could finally promote her sister's marriage through the expression of words, which was really a sense of accomplishment. Later, when the "brother-in-law-to-be" came to her house, she didn't even dare to look at her brother-in-law squarely, and she blushed when she saw it. Because my sister wrote a lot of meat and hemp words to my brother-in-law, they all came from the hand of her yellow haired.
Wan Mei and I were both born in the mid-to-late 1960s, with old age and young age. Therefore, the most talked about, in addition to literature is health. She said that she had a little problem with her heart, and I simply believed that it was a little "small problem." Because, from her words, the expression of language, what I see is positivity, sunshine, health, public welfare, responsibility. I can't see her showing discomfort and no, and once you want to tell us, there are others who speak for her, give us a surprise, give us a tip.
Meishan is a thousand-year-old poetry book city with the monument of Sansu father and son, and a group of contemporary essayists such as Zhou Wendao, Shen Rongjun, Zhang Shengquan, Li Yun, Luo Daqi and so on have built a big family of prose "present". There are Han Xuemin, Long Dan, Ma Wang, Gong Yicheng and a group of prose public welfare people and other people to collect firewood, bringing together micro-prose writers from all over the country, so that the presence can witness the new era and let the audience write about the new era.
Be there, always be there. There are new people coming, there are old people going. The girl who started writing love letters at the age of 12 is gone, the girl who fell in love with literature because she wrote love letters and won the highest prize for Chinese prose. She was gone, her voice was present, her work was present, her spirit of selfless dedication was present.