In 2020, "Autumn Garden" became popular on the Internet, which also made people pay attention to Yang Benfen, who began to write from an old age. In 2021, Driftwood was published and was soon reprinted. Today, Yang Benfen's third book, "My Fragrance", has been published and listed. In this book, Yang Benfen wrote about a woman's emotional journey, and also wrote about the desire of a generation for love. To many people, Yang Benfen seems to be born suitable for writing, she remembers many past events, writes quickly, she still has many stories unpublished, and there are many surprises waiting for readers to discover.
The impression of Yang Benfen is first of all very modest. When communicating about interviews, she was 82 years old and had published three books, without the distinction between the previous and the future, without a little shelf, and said to the young reporter, "You are the teacher and I am the student", which was unexpected.
Ben-Fen Yang (Photo courtesy of interviewee)
It may be the person who writes the story, and the words spoken by Yang Benfen are always very graphic, and will be specific to the details of people's actions. Communicating with Yang Benfen is also easy to forget her age, she is enthusiastic, energetic, loud voice, laughter and cheerful. She said she didn't know if she was humorous, but when her knees didn't hurt, she loved to laugh, and she often had laughter in her life.
Yang Benfen's humor can also be seen when writing her story with her wife and grandchildren in "Driftwood". She writes about the past of suffering, but also about humorous daily life, and she has many surprises waiting for readers to discover.
I didn't expect so many young people to like the books written by my old lady
Yang Benfen's book was published inadvertently. The second daughter, Zhang Hong, is a children's literature writer and an original reader of Yang Benfen. Zhang Hong encouraged her mother to write, but also "iron-faced selfless". Yang Benfen remembered that there was an article at that time, she wrote it more than a dozen times, but in Zhang Hong, it was always not passed. Until one time, Zhang Hong finished reading the article, inadvertently called out and said to her: "Mom, you write really well." Later, Zhang Hong entered the words written by her mother into the computer one after another and posted them on the Internet forum.
Slowly, the article attracted some readers. Every day, Yang Benfen can't wait to read the messages of netizens. Those empathies, loves and supports are no small thing for her. To this end, she specially learned to type, surf the Internet, and got up at 3 a.m. to reply and thank netizens, for fear of failing to live up to the kindness of others.
At that time, some readers encouraged her to publish books, and some publishers contacted her, but for various reasons, they did not work. More than ten years have passed, and it is not until 2020 that Yang Benfen's first book, "Autumn Garden", is finally released.
In "Autumn Garden", Yang Benfen wrote about her mother's life. In the turbulent first half of the 20th century, Qiuyuan "lost his father in youth, lost his husband in middle age, and lost his son in old age", and his fate was uncertain. In the era of lack of clothes and food, and precariousness, this gentle woman used the tenacity unimaginable to ordinary people to pull the children to grow up. What is valuable is that no matter how hard the days are, Qiuyuan will dress neatly, maintain decency, and always be kind to people. Yang Benfen used "Autumn Garden" to commemorate her mother, and also let readers see the strong vitality of many ordinary Chinese women like Qiu Yuan in that era.
Yang Benfen and his mother (Source: CCTV News)
But "Autumn Garden" also has regrets. For the sake of structural integrity, the story of Yang Benfen's youngest brother, Yang Rui, was not included. Due to the hardships of life at that time, when the one-year-old Yang Rui died, Yang Benfen and his mother had time to digest the pain in the future, and they had to devote themselves to a busy livelihood. At the age of 80, Yang Benfen missed this little brother more and more, so he wrote a commemorative article and put it in "Driftwood". In addition to Yang Rui's story, "Driftwood" also has the past of the rural people at that time who were floating and struggling to survive, and there are also some heart-warming stories of Yang Benfen himself.
"Autumn Garden" and "Driftwood" are loved by readers and sell well, which is something that Yang Benfen did not expect. "'Autumn Garden' is so popular and has been given such a high evaluation, and everyone is very touched by this book. I didn't expect so many young people to like the books written by my old lady, and it was surprising that they wanted to hear the stories of the older generation, the older generation. ”
I have published a book that proves that I am useful to society
Yang Benfen seems to be no different from ordinary old people, but she loves to read and write, because in the community where she lives, other old people will not talk to her about literature, and she often feels that she is not very social.
Yang Benfen liked to write essays as a child, but conditions did not allow it. Later, she spent half her life running for her livelihood, but still could not find time to write. After the death of her mother, she was so sad that she took her granddaughter and used the gap between cooking to write in the kitchen, writing a thick stack of paper. She was afraid that if she didn't write anymore, no one would know her mother's story. This writing has been many years. "I have published a book that proves that I am useful to society and a valuable person, which is very gratifying to me."
Source: "24 Hours to Meet You"
Writing is a way for Yang to miss her family. She had the picture in her head, and it wasn't difficult to write. She also didn't need a place to write, as long as she wanted to write, whether sitting or standing, no matter where she was, she could write. Today, she has switched to writing on a tablet, which is more convenient.
But writing is also painful, yang Benfen often writes and will cry. "My brother passed away more than two years ago, and the thought of it was like a knife. But I still want to write, I love to write, and I communicate with my brother and my mother once and restore them. When I write, it feels like they haven't left and are still talking to me. ”
Writing and publishing books opened a window for Yang, and she became friends with several reporters who interviewed her. She talked to them about literature and was also a family affair. Writing also makes Yang Benfen feel that he has lived for himself in the true sense: "A lifetime is very hard, and I live for others." Now that I have written articles and books, and I have seen them in my lifetime, I have lived for myself once. ”
Life is hard and tired, and Yang Benfen has not given up reading. This is a habit she has developed since she was a child, she likes to read, enjoys reading, and "cries and laughs are all in it". Yang Benfen admires writers very much, and she greatly appreciates good works, but if a writer she likes publishes a bad work, she will be very angry and will point it out mercilessly.
Yang Benfen's habit of reading books was also "passed on" to his children. When the second daughter, Zhang Hong, was a child, she liked to read all day and did not put the books down when eating. After being admitted to the chemistry department of Nanjing University, Zhang Hong transferred to the department of Chinese without consulting her family, and later became a literary editor and a writer. All three of Yang's children were admitted to college, which was quite rare in a small county town in the 1980s. "It was too hard at that time, and they knew that only by reading could they have a way out. And probably subtly, they like to read so much that they don't let me worry at all. ”
Yang Benfen has suffered a lot and encountered many setbacks, but her heart has always been soft and always kind. She is considerate of others, afraid of hurting others, never speaks harshly to people, and never scolds children. Seeing people who have a bad life, Yang Benfen will be very sad. When she met someone begging, she would take people home to eat and encourage them to live well.
The emotional story of a generation
Yang Benfen's third book, "My Fragrance", has been published and listed. In this book, Yang Benfen writes about a woman's emotional journey.
In "My Fragrance", HuiCai fled to Jiangxi Gongda To study for a junior college, but was sent to the countryside shortly before graduation. With nowhere to go, she married her husband and wanted a chance to go back to school. However, after becoming pregnant, her plan fell through. What hit her even more was that her husband was warm and thoughtful to outsiders, but he was very cold and critical to her, which poured out her full of love and beautiful imagination of marriage. She was disheartened and wanted to use her death to escape the marriage, but she softened when she saw the child sleeping soundly in bed.
Huicai and her husband stumbled through a 60-year marriage. In the eyes of outsiders, the husband is honest and responsible, cares for the children, and can hardly find a problem. But Huicai did not achieve happiness. The delicate and passionate Huicai envies the couple being able to walk hand in hand affectionately, because she and her husband have never been so sweet.
Writing the story of Huicai, Yang Benfen wrote the emotional story of a generation and the desire for love. At the end of I Am Fragrant, she writes, "She has her hurts, he has his hurts." Miserable and lonely people are more suitable for love, they should have loved each other. But now, it's too late. ”
Yang Benfen seems to be naturally suitable for writing, not only remembering many past events, "as if it happened yesterday", stringing together trivial stories, but also writing quickly, "like unscrewing the faucet". Listening to the reporter's evaluation of her, Yang Benfen said happily: "Some people also said so, saying that I should have written books, but I started to write when I was old. ”
In fact, Yang Benfen still has many stories that have not been published. She wrote about her mother who was bedridden for more than 20 days, wrote about her brother, wrote about colleagues and neighbors... She is good at observing daily life and the characters around her, and can always find clues to writing from them.
What to write next, Yang Benfen has no plan. She has no sense of urgency in writing, is calm, and is not afraid of death. "I'm over 80 years old, and although my years are limited, I've spoken my own words to the world, and I think it's pretty good."
Transferred from/China Women's Daily
Author/China Women's Daily all-media trainee reporter Huang Ting
Source: China Women's Daily