Remembering Wang Jiabin's two or three things

Young Wang Jiabin

There is a saying that is always living in the heart, and this does make sense. Until now, I still don't believe that Jia Bin has left and left us. In my consciousness, he was still smiling so really. But his son, Wang Zhenhai, who was also my colleague in the Writers' Association, a young writer who worked as an editor, told me on the phone that it was true, that his father was really gone. Reality and consciousness are two different things. Consciousness can not be acknowledged, but reality is that you must not admit it.

Teacher Jia Bin really has gone forever.

I first learned the name Wang Jiabin in the spring of 1982. At that time, he had just graduated from university and was assigned to teach at a middle school in Tianjin that was too small to be small. I was bored, so I looked for some newspapers and periodicals. Once, I accidentally saw a serialized novel in the Yangcheng Evening News, called "The Falling Leaves of the Sea". At that time, I still clearly remember the position on the left directly below the supplement. This novel immediately attracted me. I saw it in the middle, and when I saw it, I wanted to see it, so I went to the reference room and found all the newspapers in the previous issues and looked at it from the beginning. This story is written about how the Chinese in Southeast Asia formed a community to work together for Ye Luogui. It was from that time that I remembered the name of the author of this novel, Wang Jiabin.

I was just in my 20s at the time, and I was a math major, and although I had already started to learn to write, I felt far away when I thought of famous writers. Although I later heard that Wang Jiabin was a writer in Tianjin, I also felt that it was out of reach. But in the winter of that year, the Tianjin Writers Association held a training course for amateur writers at the Party School of the Municipal Party Committee, and I had the honor to participate. During this period, the writers' association moved from Xinhua Road to a temporary place, and we, the trainees, all came to the organ to help. At noon, the leaders of the Writers' Association stayed at a small restaurant in front of the organ to eat, and it was at that time that I met Wang Jiabin for the first time.

At that time, the secretary general of the Writers Association was Martin, a very good leader of the Writers Association, whose sense of responsibility and enthusiasm for cultivating amateur authors, especially young authors, seems unbelievable today. Looking back now, at that time, Teacher Jiabin should have been specially called by him. Martin introduced to us that this is Wang Jiabin, a famous and accomplished writer, who is about to take a creative leave. Wang Jiabin immediately smiled and waved his hand, saying that the teacher is your big brother. When he said this, he sat across from me, with a very characteristic look, holding his shoulder and slightly probing his head forward. In the years that followed, until the last time we met, he looked like this every time he talked to me, seemed serious and sincere. I was immediately excited, and I dared to love the person in front of me, that is, the famous Wang Jiabin. I blurted out that I had just seen his "Falling Leaves in the Sea", and he waved his hand and smiled thickly. There was a kind of wisdom in his thick smile, the kind of wisdom that is characteristic of a writer. He spoke with an accent, and I still don't know what accent it is, and I haven't asked him.

While eating, Martin told us that Mr. Wang Jiabin had been a crew member, had passed through the wind and waves at sea, and had followed the ship to Yokohama in Japan and some countries in Southeast Asia. At this time, I looked at him, remembered some of the plots in his "Falling Leaves of the Sea", and thought to myself that it was no wonder that he wrote such works, with insight, courage, and the world.

Martin said to us, if any of you have a question, you can ask Teacher Jiabin.

This time it was hilarious. This meal was originally a treat for the Writers Association because everyone helped the organs move hard, but due to the arrival of Teacher Jiabin, there was a literary flavor, and it seemed that the training class was set up in this small restaurant. Teacher Jia Bin is very approachable and patient, he speaks in a thick voice, and does not easily interrupt the other party's words, always patiently listening first, and then explaining. When he explained, his tone was lowered, and his tone was very calm. He asked about everyone's creative situation, and smiled and talked about some of his own creative experience. He still looked like that when he spoke, he held his shoulders, leaned his head forward slightly, and smiled as he spoke.

Later, there were often some seminars or lectures and other activities, and I met Mr. Jia Bin several times. Every time we met, I smiled, put my shoulders up, poked my head slightly, and asked me what I had written recently.

At that time, I was still in work, and he was already a professional writer, and occasionally he came to the unit because of something, and he came and went in a hurry. Later, his novel "One Hundred Years of Sea Wolves" was very popular. Once I saw on TV that Tianjin TV had done a special interview program for him. Many newspapers and periodicals at that time could see commentaries about "One Hundred Years of Sea Wolves".

In 2008, I went to Jiangxi to participate in an activity of the China Writers Association. When I was in Gannan Province, I suddenly received a call from Teacher JiaBin, talking about my novella "The Tale of Two Donkeys". I was very touched at the time, because I could feel from what he said that he read this novel very carefully. He said one by one from the aspects of narrative language, story structure, character setting, and inner emotional tension, while saying and asking from time to time, is it convenient for you to speak now? I told him, convenient. Later, he talked about what I wrote about the creation of this novel. He believes that novelists should also have theoretical considerations. He obviously knew that I wasn't speaking the language of these words, but he could tell that he was so excited that he couldn't stop talking about it. Finally he said, find a chance, let's meet and talk.

But after that, I met him again, and it was 9 years later.

In the middle of this, we had another phone call, which impressed me deeply. As soon as I saw his phone, I realized there was something unusual. But listening to him, it seems that there is nothing unusual. He is a writer with a deep literary feeling, which should be a common feature of their generation of literary people. He expressed concern about literary phenomena on the phone and expressed his own views. I had a feeling at the time that this old man was not old, and that he could think of this, which meant that his mind was still full of vitality.

I asked him, how is your body?

He replied, OK.

Later, I met with him in 2017, when the Writers Association organized an annual physical examination. At that time, the corridor of the hospital was very chaotic, and I was sitting at the door of a consultation room, and he called out to me and immediately walked toward me, but this time he did not laugh. Maybe he thought it wouldn't be easy for us to see each other once, and he sat down next to me and talked about the problems that worried him. At this time, I looked at him with white hair and felt a little touched in my heart. Jia Bin's hair has always been very rough, but in my impression, it was gray very early. At this time, his hair was really as white as snow. I thought to myself, this dude is really old. But he's still talking to me about literature. Later, he squeezed my shoulder and said, Write ah, write your novel well. After saying that, he patted me on the arm again, and got up and left.

I didn't expect that this time, it would become our farewell. Since then, I've been busy writing or going around, never meeting him again, and I haven't spoken on the phone. I only occasionally let his son Zhenhai bring greetings to him for me. It wasn't until he died that I heard that he had a cerebral infarction later, and it was very serious, and it was also because of this disease.

I think there is a kind of communication between friends in this world, and usually there seems to be very little contact, but every time they meet or call, it seems as if they have just been contacted yesterday. Perhaps, the friend of this kind of communication is a close friend.

Jia Bin is a friend like me.

Now, spring has blossomed. Teacher Jiabin, brother Jiabin, I hope that there are also seasons of spring and warm flowers.