Zhang Xianguang | It is enough to have a confidant in life: Zhang Ailing and Song Qi in the letters

Zhang Ailing took a photo in 1954 at the Lyceum Photo Studio in Hong Kong.

In October 1955, Zhang Ailing bid farewell to Song Qi and Kuang Wenmei and went to the United States by boat. Passing through Kobe, she didn't want to go ashore, "and then I thought maybe I would need to write novels or plays about Japan as the background in the future", she belongs to the kind of visual writer who "didn't see it with her own eyes, and her heart was weak when she wrote it", so she went ashore and went around in a big circle, the streets were full of slot machines, the kimono was painted with cubist-style patterns, and the wooden garbage bins at the door of every house in the alley were full of discarded chrysanthemums. When they arrived in Honolulu, all kinds of people laughed and melted, "on the surface, it was simply a rehearsal of George Bernard Shaw and Wells's ideal world of Datong". The world doesn't seem to be what it is, it's like a story from a book. In her first letter to Kwong Wenmei, Zhang Ailing wrote:

After saying goodbye, I cried all the way back to my room, and it was the opposite of the happiness I had when I left Hong Kong last time, and I still have tears in my eyes when I write about it. ...... On the day I got on the boat, I didn't feel sad until the last moment, I just felt hectic and sorry. It wasn't until you turned your back and walked away that suddenly it was as if the sky had fallen, and your mind was still calm&detached, but your throat was choked with tears flowing. The truth is that your friendship has been the core of my life since I met you. I definitely don't have that delusion, I thought I would make a friend like you, no matter where I go, there will be no such person.

This long letter, which was written intermittently for more than ten days, is like the beginning of a long novel, ambushing many passwords for the rest of Zhang Ailing's life. This is the beginning of a friendship that has lasted for more than 40 years, and the farewell images and sensational tears like movie shots come from Zhang Ailing, who shows her indifference, which is really surprising. Another thing that sticks in her mind is that a Filipino woman in the third class class caught fleas on the heads of children. It was as if it were a well-set foreshadowing of the flea plague that had nearly destroyed her thirty years later. It is also prophetic that small accidents are inevitable after arriving in the United States, but there will be no big misfortunes and disappointments, because she has no illusions about herself and the United States. As the beginning of the two-volume "Paper Short Love" and "The Book is Not Enough", which contains the correspondence between Zhang Ailing and Song Qi, this letter is undoubtedly undesigned, just as Zhang Ailing's death is not designed, but it is so appropriate as the beginning of a long river of friendship, taking us to the depths of time.

Zhang Ailing's collection of correspondence "Paper is Short and Love" and "Books Are Not Enough" book shadows.

1. "All faint"

"Zhang Ailing's Whispers" said: "My best friends - Zhang Xiuai in middle school and Yan Ying later - all went to the United States, and they never thought they would go, and they have no relatives in the United States - 'one, two, but three', I think you will go in the future." "Zhang Xiuai was written into "Classmates and Teenagers Are Not Cheap", and we don't know much about the rest. "Small and plump" Yan Ying, who is "small and plump", is Zhang Ailing's most important friend in the early stage, witty words, optimistic and cheerful, and his voice, you can refer to "Yan Ying's Quotations" and "Double Voice". When Eileen Chang went to Hong Kong alone in 1952, she wore a plain floral cheongsam, and her only gold ornament was a pair of gold-filled rattan bracelets that she wore when she was five or six years old. Soon after arriving in Hong Kong, Zhang Ailing crossed to Japan and went to Yanying to find a job there. However, this trip to Japan was not satisfactory, and he soon returned to Hong Kong. However, the scholarship of the University of Hong Kong could not be returned, so I had to go out to do things, so I had the opportunity to apply for a job at the US Information Service, translate Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", and met Song Qi and Kwong Wenmei.

Yan Ying's English name is Fatima, her father is Ceylonese, her mother is Chinese, her family is well-off, and she and Eileen Chang are classmates at the University of Hong Kong. On the way to the United States, Zhang Ailing received a letter from Yan Ying, asking her to relax in San Francisco, and also took care of her guarantee and accommodation in the United States, and contacted Zhang Ailing's agent Le Dell. After arriving in New York, the two got along well, went to the theater together, and visited Hu Shi together, but they could no longer return to the Shanghai era:

Fatima hasn't changed, I didn't have illusions about her before, and we still have a basic understanding of her, but now everyone is busy, and they don't want to talk much. I've never expected much from my friends, so I've always felt that friends like her are amazing. But with friends like you, it's really spoil me for other friends.

This was the case at the end of 1955. After two months, Yan Ying was going to Japan, Hong Kong, India, and Europe to go around, Yan Ying said that after she came back, she would find an apartment to live with Zhang Ailing, and Ailing said to Kwong Wenmei in the letter:

I told her that the economy was unstable and that she couldn't make any plans. The truth is that I definitely don't want to stay with friends, and even the hostel has a little more privacy. Individuals also spend their money differently. I just like people to come and go all day long. But Fatima is like a busy person, and he rarely absorbs what others say.

When she first arrived in the United States, Zhang Ailing couldn't find a job to make a living, had no stable income, and was more careful with money. Later, he met Lai Ya in the art camp, and the two fell in love and got married. When Yan Ying heard this, she said: "This marriage is not wise, but it is full of enthusiasm. And he was willing to serve as a witness for the marriage of the two. Zhang Ailing has a clear understanding of Lai Ya's bad situation, but she is happy and satisfied with their marriage.

Yan Sakura once gave her a Noh mask, which was broken when it was mailed, and a painter helped to glue it. In 1960, Yan Ying got married and gave Ailing an invitation. After getting married, they seem to be a little more estranged. In the late stage of Zhang Ailing's life, she also received a letter from Yan Ying, but she did not open it. It can be said that Yan Ying is Zhang Ailing's best friend the most in the early stage.

Song Qi and Kwong Wenmei couple. In her letters, Zhang Ailing often referred to Song Qi as Stephen and Kwong Wenmei's English name as Mae.

2. Telepathy

What kind of person is Kwong Wenmei?

At the beginning, Zhang Ailing just regarded her as a good wife and mother, but later found that she had all kinds of good qualities, both thoughtful and good at adjusting herself. According to Zhang Ailing's opinion, she is a person who is good in every aspect and not complacent at all, too humble, clear as water, with a sense of humor, walking "willow waist swing", there is a kind of happiness in her eyes, and there is a layer of melancholy behind her, she can be calm in the face of all kinds of hardships, smart and beautiful. This is simply a "perfect person", but there is telepathy between him and Zhang Ailing. Kwong Wenmei is a fan of Zhang Ailing, and the acquaintance and acquaintance of the two is a gift from God. She said that "fate" is an irresistible force that cannot be escaped, and she rarely goes out to socialize, but she met Kwong Wenmei and his wife by chance, which is really her luck. When Kwong Wenmei went to see her, she was very nervous: "When you came to see me, I knew that you liked to read my books very much—I couldn't tell you not to come, and I thought to myself: I have to let you become disillusioned yourself—fortunately, it must be very soon." I couldn't have imagined that the results would be as good as they are now, and I am so happy. ("Zhang Ailing's Private Quotations, Friendship") The backgrounds and environments between the two are very different, but their nature and temperament are very similar, and they get along very well. Zhang Ailing kept sighing: "I haven't been so happy for many years, God treats people so well, gives you happiness, even timing." "A confidant is like a mirror, reflecting the most beautiful part of our nature. Zhang Ailing is wary of others, does not have high requirements for friends, and is very satisfied to understand part of her, like Yan Ying and Sang Arc don't know her completely, and never thought that there would be such a person, and Kwong Wenmei seems to be able to understand every aspect of her. Maybe it's only when we meet again when we're a little over 30 years old.

One thing the two have in common is that they like beautiful clothes. When she first arrived in the United States, Zhang Ailing asked Kwong Wenmei to buy clothes, one or two floral cloth robes with short sleeves, with large clear and strong flowers, a pale gray Shandong silk with black edges, and a narrow one rolled around the body; two with long sleeves, one in bright lake blue and one in Beijing's dull lake blue satin, which was quite hard in texture and had natural bamboo leaves. I also drew a pattern for the tailor to follow. After more than half a year, she asked Kuang Wenmei to help her buy a black satin jacket with a white background, roll three black and white edges, and plate black and white big flower buttons. This one is bought according to one of Kuang Wenmei, if not, buy a light gray natural flower, or a gray and white flower of the same color piping button, black soft satin lining. This batch of clothes has been made for more than a year, and after the clothes were received, Zhang Ailing wrote to Kwong Wenmei again, "I am extremely satisfied", "You have chosen too good the fancy". She almost chose according to the color, material, and style of Kwong Wenmei's clothes, and when she saw Kwong wearing a bright blue-green silk robe and cheongsam, she wanted to make one too. These cheongsams, every time they are worn out, they attract people's attention and make people envious. More than ten years later, Zhang Ailing found a foreign tailor on the east coast, and her skills were very good, and she made half a dozen. Judging from the current records of Zhang Ailing's dress in public, she basically wears a cheongsam. In 1970, Chen Shixiang hosted a banquet for Zhang Ailing at home, and Li Yu, who participated in the banquet, mentioned Zhang Ailing's dress in "The Narcissism of Domination": "Zhang Ailing makes people feel extraordinary at first sight. I feel that the weather in the Bay Area with an outer coat is in the middle of the mountain, but Zhang Ailing is wearing a cheongsam made of thin material, dark gray, not only does it have no sleeves, but the edge of the sleeves is cut very deep, from the shoulder bone on this side, through the placket covering the front sternum, you can see the shoulder bone over there, I have never seen such a thin person who wears clothes so thin. The dark cheongsam seems to be her uniform, and I don't remember that I haven't seen her wear anything else in the future. Chen Shixiang blows his pipe and speaks vigorously, Zhang Ailing "is like an innocent little girl, always living in her own world with a face that is not fake." In Yang Ronghua's pen, "Zhang Ailing is very tall, attaches great importance to appearance, her hair is combed in the slightest, and the cheongsam sprinkled with bamboo leaves on the shallow bottom is even more elegant and outstanding." Zhang Ailing rarely attends more formal occasions, and when she does, she must be very concerned about her image, and the cheongsam she wears may be made for her by Kwong Wenmei.

In Zhang Ailing's eyes, the Song couple is the most perfect combination, although occasionally there will be some small opinions. Zhang Ailing persuaded Kwong Wenmei: "I always hope that you feel that your karma is rare in the world, because both of you are so sensitive, and there is no dullness and vulgarity in the middle as a shock absorbent, and they can get along so well." Of course, this is because you are too ideal for a good wife, but having a good wife is not necessarily a good marriage. When I used to see you, I often remembered that there was a crappy literary novel "Beauty Fu" (written by Li Dingyi in the early Republic of China), the author's purpose was to overthrow the tradition of beauty since "Dream of Red Mansions". It's written too unrealistically, but I actually saw it with my own eyes, and there really are such people. This is actually a high compliment to the Song couple. Zhang Ailing seems to be relatively calm and objective when she looks at everyone in the world, but when she looks at Kwong Wenmei, she is clothed with a graceful veil and idealizes her. Kwong Wenmei wrote to tell her that her temper had changed. Zhang Ailing replied:

You said that your temper had changed, and it made me shudder, because I couldn't imagine it. But I remember that sometimes you were so busy that your voice changed instantly, sounds taut and a little distraught (sounds nervous and a little flustered). Maybe you, like everything delicate, are fragile, and I'm just used to seeing you as one of the most fixed units in the world.

Kwong Wenmei is a very talented woman, and Song Meiling once wanted to ask her to be her personal secretary, but was politely refused. However, her work in the U.S. Information Service was not very smooth, and she often encountered office politics troubles, and often exchanged feelings with Zhang Ailing. On the other hand, Kwong Wenmei's family is under great pressure, and her mother and husband are often seriously ill, which makes her unable to develop more in her career. When we read her "The Zhang Ailing I Know", we can feel the restraint of her writing, and we can also indirectly experience her style. Even Zhang Ailing read it, and sighed that "it is easy to see but hard", "I think I must have accumulated some virtue unconsciously, so that I have a friend like you". In her eyes, the Song couple "will always remain the same as the slightest, as if time has stood still, making people feel in a trance."

3. Darkest hour

It is often said that "one confidant is enough in life", and Zhang Ailing is lucky that she has two confidants. Kwong Wenmei is her best friend, she has nothing to talk about, she trusts her, she talks about her sorrows, and her husband Song Qi admires Zhang Ailing's talent, and has been planning for it for many years and making profits for free. These two people are both her confidants and nobles, and even so, they will inevitably experience the "darkest hour".

When Eileen Chang first arrived in the United States, she was unable to make a living, so she wrote eight film scripts for the International Film Company, all of which were completed in contact with Song Qi, who served as the company's production director. These plays were not literary masterpieces, but films like "Love Like a Battlefield" caused a sensation and broke box office records at the time. The writing of these transoceanic scripts relieved the economic pressure of Zhang Ailing in the fifties and sixties of the last century. But the relationship has not always been strong, and it has been heavily clouded. From the end of 1961 to the beginning of 1962, Eileen Chang spent five months in Hong Kong, writing scripts such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" for Denmao, earning a year's living expenses. This period was the "darkest hour" of her life, "working from exhaustion" from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. In a letter to Lai Ya (according to Gao Quanzhi's "Tired Birds: Six Letters from Zhang Ailing to Lai Ya"), she said that "this gloomy and lonely life" made her "extraordinarily old", and her eyes repeatedly bleed in order to catch up, and every extra expense made her heartache. Her legs and feet had been swollen since she boarded the crowded plane that took off from San Francisco, and she couldn't afford a larger pair of shoes until 1962, when she was sold cheaply before the Lunar New Year. She was reluctant to ask the Song family for a loan, thinking that it would damage the relationship between her and the Song family, which should be due to her habit of spending money for many years. Her only hope was that she would be transferred in 1963 and return to the United States as soon as possible. One of the letters exposed the contradiction between Denmao and Song Qi:

I finished the new script ahead of schedule and booked a plane ticket for March 2nd. The Song family thinks that I am in a rough hurry, deceive them, and have an angry reaction every day. Song Qi said that I would be paid for the new script before I left, which means that they would not pay for the other two scripts, and that "Dream of Red Mansions" would be revised for two episodes, and when I said that I would revise the two drafts when I returned to the United States, he did not comment. They had been worried that Shaw Brothers would start filming "Dream of Red Mansions" first, and it seems that they have finally decided to abandon their plans to make this film. I suffer here mainly because of their months of indecision. I left the place and forced them to face the problem. Song Qi, who is standard Chinese, completely avoided this topic, but asked me to write another costume movie script. The next day I found out the truth, and I was in my little room all day, so sad that I was suffocating, and it would explode at any moment. The one-year living security and three months of hard labor that I fought for were all in vain. I still owe them a few hundred yuan for living and medical expenses, and I haven't calculated it with them, so I originally planned to pay for the script of "Dream of Red Mansions". I couldn't sleep, my eye had healed and was bleeding again. On the eve of the Lantern Festival, the red moon was full, and I walked to the roof to think. They are no longer my friends, but I will get a few hundred dollars back from this bad deal, stay for two weeks, negotiate some kind of compromise, and leave on the 16th as originally planned. (February 12, 1962 letter, see Gao Quanzhi's "Tired Bird Thoughts - Six Letters Written by Zhang Ailing to Lai Ya")

Walking on the rooftop in the dark night, Zhang Ailing felt that there was no one in this world to turn to. In the next letter, things took a certain turn:

In my last letter, I mentioned the search for compromise. Since their boss likes the third script, the other party is also willing to negotiate. So we planned a couple of other simpler stories that I could write as a script when I returned to the U.S., and I still had time to leave on March 2. And then a fierce battle. They insisted that I stay until after March 16, and I flatly refused. In the end, I left on the 16th, but I had to move into Song's house for two weeks because I had given the landlord too early notice to stop renting. It's a case of mutual mistrust – they don't believe my script, I don't believe they pay, they refuse to pay more for a hotel. A mess, but the most unpleasant five months of this life ended appropriately.

The word "they" in the English letter obviously includes Song Qi. Zhang Ailing went to Hong Kong to write a screenplay, and was invited by Song Qi, so Song Qi was in a very awkward position in the whole incident, and the situation seemed to be beyond his control. And the expression "they are no longer my friends" is almost like breaking off friendship, and the wording is quite serious, it seems that even Kwong Wenmei was involved, but later moved into the Song family to live, and there must be a certain degree of misunderstanding. This misunderstanding was mostly at work and did not have an irreparable impact on their friendship. After Zhang Ailing returned to the United States, she was not in a good state, and she did not enter the writing state soon, and it was not until January 1963 that she handed over the outline of "True and False Aunts" (that is, later "The North and the South"). After receiving Kwong Wenmei's reply, Zhang Ailing wrote back:

I ask you again and again not to write to me for not writing often, what do I not understand about your daily life?Stephen was tired and expected, I was worried when I received his SOS, it sounded like I was too worried about work, so I felt guilty for not submitting the paper for months, but I had to think about it for a week or two and put it on hold. (January 24, 1963)

For Zhang Ailing, it is not difficult to rationalize the layout of the story and the plot of the script, but the difficult thing is that the funny scenes and jokes are sufficient, and the preparation is not sufficient. From the beginning of the correspondence in early 1963, words such as "very comforted" and "very happy" were often used on the end of the letter, and there was no crack in the relationship between them.

Eileen Chang's student status at the University of Hong Kong.

4. Discretionary Representation

Around 1968, under the mediation of Song Qi, Xia Zhiqing and others, "The Complete Works of Zhang Ailing" was published in the crown, which gave Zhang Ailing a certain economic guarantee. This can be said to be a great merit. In the 70s, Song Qi, as an agent, was deeply involved in Zhang Ailing's writing and research. Regarding Song Qi's contribution to "Lust, Caution", the humble article "How 'Lust, Caution' is Refined" has a detailed combing, which can be referred to, and here we focus on Song Qi's role as a plenipotentiary agent.

It is not the most difficult thing for a person to learn well, and at the same time, he has a strong ability and knowledge, which is rare. Song Qi is a combination of the two, not only has a deep study of classical poetry and novels, but also served as a senior executive in the US Information Service, Denmao, Shaw Brothers and other departments, and has outstanding decisiveness. When Song Qi was tidying up her desk in February 1967, she stumbled upon a copy of Hu Shi's letter to Zhang Ailing, and suggested that she write an article that "would help everyone better understand Hu Shih's personality - humility and the precision of reading." Zhang Ailing wrote back that she wanted to write that article, "I was waiting to apply for the Radcliffe Fellowship to translate "Flowers of the Sea", because of Hu Shi's influence and decided to translate "Flowers of the Sea", so I had something to say" (March 15, 1967), which is the origin of the article "Remembering Hu Shizhi". After this article was written, Song Qi also felt good after reading it: "Your article is very well written, sometimes 'Mr. Hu Shi', sometimes 'Mr. Shizhi', it seems to be inconsistent, but it is ......natural to read" I personally think that this article is very important to Zhang Ailing, not only a personal commemoration, but also a return to the tradition of "Sea Flowers", and the translation of English and vernacular versions lasted more than ten years to be basically completed, which is of great significance to the formation of Zhang Ailing's late style. Also in the letter in April of this year, Zhang Ailing intended to "entrust everything in the future" to Song Qi to "deal with it nearby".

Song Qi was very concerned about Eileen Chang's next direction of writing, and inadvertently influenced Eileen Chang's reading and writing, as exemplified by her beginning to study Dream of Red Mansions. Song Qi resumed his study of Dream of the Red Chamber in early 1968 and made some new discoveries:

I recently read "Dream of Red Mansions" and found that the views of the article I wrote more than ten years ago are still correct, and at the same time, there are several important new discoveries that can be supplemented and unified, and I feel very proud. As you said in your article, when I read it forty times from the past to the last forty times, I suddenly felt that "there is no light in the day", which can be said to have won my heart. I recently forced myself to try it out forty times and still failed. Not only can the plot not be self-justifying, but the characters are not unified in personality, completely contradicting the characters in the first eighty episodes, which can be said to be out of character. How could Lin Daiyu persuade Baoyu to attack the industry, and said that there are also good works in the Bagu text? How could the raider test Daiyu's character? In the first 80 episodes, Ping'er and Xiangling have no status at all, and the raider is at most a girl who has become a person around her, what qualifications and status do you have to think about it? Moreover, after getting along with each other in the Grand View Garden for so long, how can the raider not know the reason why Daiyu is a person? Do you still need to test it? Let me take a few major articles and write them first, and then completely sweep away the last forty times, how about it? (February 9, 1968)

Song Qi and Zhang Ailing's views on "Dream of Red Mansions" actually influence each other. They share a common point of view, that Dream of Red Mansions is not autobiographical, that it is a fictional novel, and that Cao Xueqin has created a new world and a new reality. This is the biggest divergence with the Soyin faction and the autobiographical faction. She was very interested in the content of Song Qi's letter about "Dream of Red Mansions", and originally only wrote a preface to "The Resentful Girl", but turned the preface into a book, which dominated the audience. In the next two letters, she repeatedly asked about the relevant literature and questions, and in early May, she had written "A Detailed Dream of the Red Chamber". In order to write this thing, even the English translation of "Flowers of the Sea" was abandoned. Although I am very familiar with "Dream of Red Mansions", it is not the true nature of the profession to make "red studies", so this article has been changed back and forth, and the layout has been dismantled, dismantled and arranged, and there are still many problems. But it was uncontrollable, and it was written intermittently for a long time. She said: "I know that writing about this may not be beneficial to me, but I will hinder your writing mood first, because the truth is that only you understand outside the mainland." I also rely on it to be a prop (pillar) because my mood is too bad and it affects my mental condition. If it weren't for you, the original "Dream of Red Mansions" would have been published long ago, and it would have been too late to regret it. In short, I'm not completely ignorant, although I don't see it in my actions. "Zhang Ailing's essay on "Dream of Red Mansions" was fortunately checked by Song Qi, otherwise it would have been a joke.

Song Yilang believes that Song Qi's influence on Zhang Ailing's creation is mainly manifested through two roles, one as a facilitator and consultant, and the other as an editor and agent. That's good. In addition, Song Qi's research on "Dream of Red Mansions" also influenced Zhang Ailing. Song Qi and Yu Yingshi were key figures in the turn of the New Red Studies, arguing that Dream of the Red Chamber was a fictional work and that the Grand View Garden was an ideal world rather than a realistic one. Zhang Ailing also participated in this "turn", and one of her basic conclusions is that "Dream of Red Mansions is a creation, not an autobiographical novel", but unlike Yu and Song, she focuses on the big picture, mainly providing evidence from a small point to restore the specific traces of fictional creation. She argues:

Dream of the Red Chamber is the culmination of a Chinese novel, and the author has spent his life slowly refining this astonishingly modern and intricate work – Richardson's Pamela had just been published in England – and he died before he was fifty years old, and the book was unfinished, and the last third of the book was continued to have nothing to do with him, devaluing the work. "Dream of the Red Chamber" was far ahead of its time, and no one read it thoroughly at the time, and after this setback, the classical Chinese novel has never been completely restored.

This passage is from the article "The Cultural Influence of Chinese Translation", which he gave several lectures at American universities in the sixties, highlighting the advanced nature of "Dream of the Red Chamber". How to understand this progressiveness? A passage in her letter to Song Qi helps to understand this:

I want to start with the reconstruction of "Dream of Red Mansions" to prove how far this book is from the moral concepts of the time. We say that the ancients were "ahead of the times", and we always think that it is in line with modern standards, but in fact, it may still be ahead of us. (I also dislike the college students I mentioned, and some of my opinions have been deleted, because this is just writing about "change" and tending to greater tolerance) Qin died, not yet twenty years old, and there may not be any other lovers besides what the book says, roughly equal to some noble ladies in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and different from nymphomanics (adulteresses). However, from Baoyu's point of view, she likes Jia Zhen, and she may be close to fraternity. (May 15, 1968).

Even though the writing of English novels has hit a wall for more than a decade, Eileen Chang still believes that Chinese writing can only be a by-product (letter dated June 26, 1968). But Song Qi has a different view, he believes that since he studied China at the University of California, he should write in Chinese, like the Xia Zhiqing brothers' English articles translated into Chinese, often not to the point. In the early 70s, he suggested that Zhang Ailing write more Chinese and communicate more with readers, and one of his suggestions was to let Zhang Ailing go to Hong Kong Chinese University to study Ding Ling, so that she could "get in touch with Chinese society and Chinese, read two more Chinese books, and speak more Chinese", and she was always intoxicated with the "big pit" of "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Flowers of the Sea" and could not get out, coupled with the economic downturn, the plan to study Ding Ling later came to naught. When the study of the two famous books was stagnant, she had time to write "On Reading Books", a rare long essay in the history of prose, continuing the new concept of fiction put forward in "Remembering Hu Shizhi". Song Qi was excited: "I think it's very good that you start writing in Chinese again, because Chinese people in the United States compete with so many English writers in English, and it's easy to hit a wall." There seems to be something subconscious that pushes Eileen Zhang to shift the focus of her writing to Chinese, while reminding her of some problems in Chinese writing. He said:

As for the prose, you can say that it is one of the people since the May Fourth Movement, at least in its own style, and there is no one else who wants to read it again after reading it. I don't think your "Rumors" is a little inferior to your novel. When the heart is settled, there is naturally a theme. You have been away from China for too long, you have not had the opportunity to talk to people, you read fewer Chinese books and newspapers, and suddenly capitalized after stopping writing, the article is a bit blunt, especially "Red Mansion", Mae also said that the sentence seems to chopped up, not even big, after writing more recently, it has gradually returned to its original style, and a special collection of essays should be published. Seeing that you suddenly became timid, you just want to go to the easy road, but you feel that there is no future. (Letter dated 19 July 1978)

In the history of Zhang Ailing's writing, no one has criticized her so boldly and directly. Song Qi is like a big brother, always wanting her to return to the track of Chinese writing, so there is a second peak of writing, and there is a so-called "late style".

Zhang Ailing annotated the inside page of "Flowers of the Sea".

5. Remote secretary

Song Qi is not only a promoter of Eileen Chang's Chinese writing, but also a competent propagandist and defender as her full agent, as well as an excellent investor in Eileen Chang's assets.

As a propagandist, Song Qi is very good at grasping the proportions, and each manuscript seems to have been carefully and accurately considered for which newspaper or publication. He said:

I sent a copy of "Postscript to Reading Books" to Gao Xinjiang of the China Times, and he actually made a long-distance call to thank me. I sent a manuscript of "Dream of Red Mansions" to Ping Xintao, he has not yet received it, because it is a surface mail, he is very anxious, I revealed a little news to him, saying that you are writing a novel, and you will probably still give the crown in the future, because you are very nostalgic in this regard, and it is unknown who will be given the serial rights in the future. He actually paid you $3,000 in advance, which is really a huge deal. It's ridiculous that you didn't move, and after I wrote two letters, it was really a big turnaround. Maybe for the sake of cooperation, I might write an article about you to "The Lion Cub", of course, it won't be too personal, but they praise you the least, and the magazine has quite a lot of readers and weight. Take advantage of this opportunity, it should be better to take advantage of it. And it's really interesting that you can watch the fire from across the ocean, and you don't have to get involved at all. A writer has been cooling for almost many years, and now there is a burst of evil revival, which can also be said to be a rare thing in the literary world. (September 11, 1975)

Zhang Ailing is sophisticated, but it is more of an insight on paper, and she is always uncomfortable when she sees people, unlike Song Qi, who has many years of experience in business, and has grasped the sophistication of people and business opportunities to the point of perfection, and knows how to advance and retreat in a timely manner. The article he wanted to write was "Zhang Ailing's Whispers", which was polished by Kuang Wenmei and was more subtle and natural, which caused a good response at the time, and even Song Qi became popular. Previously, Kwong Wenmei wrote "The Zhang Ailing I Know", which also had such an effect.

Song Qi was not only deeply involved in the writing of "Lust, Caution", but also contributed a lot to "Nightmare of Red Mansions" and "Flowers on the Sea". Zhang Ailing's reading is completely wild, lacking the systematization of the academic school, and the knowledge structure is incomplete. She also rarely bought books, and there were almost no reference books for research at hand, so she relied on memory to annotate "The Legend of Flowers on the Sea", and when she encountered related problems, she had to write a letter asking for help. Song Qi is like one of her remote secretaries, checking information for her, making suggestions, proofreading manuscripts, and even directly polishing like the one "Wool Out of the Sheep". Reading Zhang Ailing's letter, we sometimes feel happy and smile,—— it turns out that "Grandma Zu" also has a lot of things that he doesn't know. For example, she didn't know that Bi Tao was a kind of peach blossom, she couldn't figure out whether the cabbage was a river product or a lake product, she didn't understand what was good about the pair of "Praise Li Jia'er, Maocai's senior brother", and she didn't know the dictionary of "Huazhonghui", so she wrote to Song Qi and asked him to find a dictionary. One keeps asking, the other patiently answering. Zhang Ailing is a very lonely thing to annotate "Flowers of the Sea", in 1969, she asked Xia Zhiqing twice what the meaning of "Dengke Lord" was, Xia did not respond, and asked Song Qi again in 1981, and he had already guessed the meaning. Zhang Ailing's attainments in this area are very deep, but many things are not from the dictionary, but from her own guesses. Song Qi said:

Recently, I read your translation, and my interest in the original work is very high, I used to read Wu Yuben, my own Suzhou dialect, the same as Comrade Qing, can have at least 95 points, because the domestic servant and step-grandmother are all from Suzhou, and I have been used to listening to the words since I was a child, but because I am not my mother tongue, it always feels a little out of place to read. Now it's completely engaging, and it's indeed a first-rate work. Zhiqing's letter to Yun read the translation of the crown is also full of interest, and Yun Sing-song is the transliteration of Mr., so far from your note I know and admit that you have a deep knowledge in this area. I only know the distinction between the third and the second as higher and lower, and I don't know the basis, and it is only from your commentary that I suddenly realized it. I don't know if your knowledge is heard or from the books, is there a special book on this subject? You say that Sing-song is a transliteration of Mr. (May 25, 1982)

Zhang Ailing replied: "I have never heard anyone talk about brothels before, and I have only guessed it one after another when I translated this book. 'Sir-Sing-song' and 'Chang San Yu 2' came to mind in the past two years, and there is no basis. (Letter dated June 7, 1982) This method of annotation is completely self-conscious, and it is really unheard of. Song Qi wrote back:

As for Mr. Sing-song, I don't need you to explain it, I don't think there is any suspicion, especially since the word "Mr." can be 90% in Shanghai or Wu language and Sing-song, which is unbelievable to say that it is a coincidence. Your sensitivity and intuition to words are rare in the world, which is why you made this discovery. We don't have to look at the terms created by Westerners to observe or serve or translate, and speculate that in the past, Chinese and foreigners were engaged in business entertainment, eating flowers and wine together, and there is such a term is a matter of time and time, and there is no need to investigate it again. (June 28, 1982)

This can be said to be sympathetic. Zhang Ailing still has a lot of "guesses" like this. For example, the name of the Huazhonghui teahouse, because another teahouse "Huayulou" comes from the allusion of the Buddhist scriptures and the monks preaching Tianyuhua, so it is speculated that the "Huazhonghui" is also from the Buddhist scriptures. "Amitayus Sutra Upa Tisha Wish to Live" has the sentence "If you come to purify the Huazhong, enlighten Hua to be born", "Hua" should be connected with "flower", which is consistent with her guess. Of course, there are also misguesses. For example, about the annotation and translation of digging flowers, Song Qi thinks that the understanding is wrong. After saying it repeatedly for a long time, it is estimated that it is not clear, and the vernacular version of "Flowers of the Sea" gave up this note.

Song Qi is a staunch defender of Zhang Ailing's rights. When Tang Wenbiao published Zhang Ailing's old work of "tomb robbery and unearthed", Song Qi used various methods to stop it, and wrote "Tang Wenbiao's "Methodology" to counter Tang's fallacy.

Zhang Ailing's father Zhang Zhiyi (second from left), mother Huang Suqiong (Yifan, second from right), and aunt Zhang Maoyuan (first from right) took a group photo in the garden of the British Concession in Tianjin.

6. The only confidant

Song Qi said that God has given us wonderful bodies, but on average, this machine can only operate normally for 70 years, and then various organs will have problems. In fact, it will not take 70 years for the human body to go on strike. In the 80s, Zhang Ailing suffered from fleas, and Song Qi was seriously ill, with duodenum, pneumonia, heart failure, edema and other diseases, almost "experienced a hundred battles". The tough Kwong Wenmei has to take care of her mother's illness and husband's illness, and she is almost exhausted. At the end of 1986, Kwong suffered from stomach cancer and had his entire stomach removed. In 1989, a broken bone was found. All kinds of diseases seem to always accompany the three friends on the other side of the ocean.

Kwong Wenmei said that she was a victim of the environment, and when she was troubled, she had to "take pleasure in flowers". At the beginning of 1983, Song Qi was seriously ill for two months, and "almost a group of doctors were tied". On March 4, Kwong Wenmei wrote:

For a long time, you have tolerated my laziness, sent dozens of letters without getting a personal reply, and continued to discuss all kinds of issues with Stephen, write my name, and ask about me...... This kind of patience is really rare in the world. It's just that I'm so entangled by what is in front of me—my mother alone is so troubled—it seems that only half of me is alive, and I can't afford to write letters. And to be honest, when I write to you, I have to face the reality that I can't even think about the painful experiences that I don't want to think about.

This letter is in fact an echo of the first letter written 28 years ago: "I will not be uneasy if I do not write for a year and a half; "Zhang Ailing and Song Qi are both God-favored people, with talent and social status, but one is trapped in the disease of the family and the other is trapped in the flea plague, so they feel that life is impermanent and good things are rare. In Ailing's heart, Wenmei is the embodiment of talent and grace, and in Wenmei herself, she only feels that "such a useless person, what talent and virtue are there"? Zhang Ailing said that this is the "Ting" word in Zeng Guofan's book: support. For "emotional reasons", Kwong Wenmei wanted to send her a newspaper clipping of the demolition of the Repulse Bay Hotel, because she never had a chance to get acquainted with it, only the impression left by reading "Love in a Fallen City" in the past: "The whole room is like a dark yellow picture frame, with a large painting in the window." The surging waves splashed all the way to the curtains, dyeing the edges of the curtains blue. Kwong Wenmei is still sad, and Zhang Ailing had no illusions when she set foot on American soil, no America, and no life,—— because she has long understood: long is tribulation, short is life. In the most difficult time, Zhang Ailing didn't even have decent clothes to go to the doctor, only some disposable clothes at hand, her exquisite cheongsams didn't know where they ended up, and life was almost completely devoid of the enjoyment of gorgeous clothes and food. People can't help but sigh that aging is man's worst enemy. But Song Qi is very strong, "repeatedly sick and fighting", when Zhang Ailing just got out of the flea disease, she was already suggesting that she start writing "Curtain Call", studying "Golden Vase Plum", and prepared relevant books and materials for her, and sent her some works by mainland writers. He knows very well that only in writing can Zhang Ailing burst out with great energy. Zhang Ailing also believes: "We should all cherish the remaining time, I can't write anything for a day, and my life is not on track for a day." ”

Even in such a difficult time, the Song couple have been working for the welfare of Zhang Ailing, and have successively sold the film rights of "Love in a Fallen City", "The Resentful Girl" and "The First Incense" at a high price of $15,000 each, and made a very profitable investment. After a certain period of time, the earnings are reported once. Zhang Ailing herself didn't expect to become a "big rich" in her seventies, Song Qi is like a foreign exchange wizard, if it weren't for other distractions, she would have been a big rich man a long time ago. In her letter of 14 April 1991, she stated:

Stephen happened to manage my money again, and I really didn't want to go. There are so many savings, I read it two or three times and still don't believe it. Mae's stomach cancer is almost cured, I know how difficult it is to enter the country, and I am very happy. I often think of some of our very unrelated dialogues, such as when I complained that I bought a raincoat and rain boots and it didn't rain anymore, and Mae said it was nothing, and I said that I often saw people like her in advertisements, and once showed it to her, and she read it (in an English magazine) and said that I always picked up something prettier than her. I wanted to say it but I didn't: it was my Pygmalion complex, so it was processed in my mind. I always have a lot of small problems and things that I think are thrilling and suspenseful but are actually objectively boring, and I have already told Mae in my head as soon as they happen, and only she doesn't mind listening. Even if others want to listen to me, I don't want to say it, because I don't want to appear silly or nag.

Zhang Ailing said that she is an island, of course, she is an island with an unusually rich heart, and she needs to communicate with the world. She closed her inner communication with the others, leaving the only exit to the Song couple.

Zhang Ailing never hesitated to praise the Song couple. "Stephen wrote after that illness that I almost didn't see him anymore, and I used to pretend to be light-hearted, saying that I had a light view of life and death," she said. Although it is also true, one day walking on the street at sunset, the thought that Stephen may not be in the world at this moment is very shocking and sad. I said that whenever I meet a woman with talent and charm, I always immediately compare her with Mae, and after that, I sighed that there is only one Mae in the world. In fact, Stephen is just as unique, a rare genius and a multifaceted Renaissance man (Renaissance man). (Letter of 29 October 1985) adds: "You are truly the great couple I have ever seen in my life, unlike any other couple, even though some of them are very touching. (Letter dated September 3, 1989) She may have known that her days were numbered, so she bluntly told Kwong Wenmei:

In me, you are already the only confidante in my life. (September 29, 1992)

Zhang Ailing's judgment is to say that "only" is "all", and the smallest "less" is greater than the infinite "more". This judgment is made in the shadow of death, but does not recognize the "privilege" of death. It is enough to temporarily push back the siege of death and loneliness, and carve out a garden of its own, so that the flowers can continue to bloom after death. Friendship is an open field of thinking, where poetry replaces the ugliness and obscenity of life, so that the realistic, sophisticated, and calm Zhang Ailing gets the purest, cleaner, and more certain things. The sufferings and pains of life are but the foil to the purest things. Kwong Wenmei wrote back half a year later:

I've been reading your letter for a long time, and I've been keeping it at hand, and I don't know how many times I've read you. I can't imagine that after decades of absence, you still regard me as the first confidant in your life, how can I not be deeply moved? It is only because you have repeatedly told me not to reply, and I am indeed so devastated by Stephen's illness that I cannot even write a short letter, so I have remained silent to this day...... It's so impersonal, but I know you'll understand. (March 10, 1993) I will not reply immediately this time, lest you be frightened by the frequent "letter bombs". In fact, I don't have much space, and my brain is getting dull, so it's not easy to write more. Stephen's situation hasn't changed much, and he still can't do without oxygen day and night, which is a severe test of our endurance. The days slipped away quietly. He read your letter and reacted the same way I did: "There is no one else in the world who knows us as well as Eileen!" (November 15, 1993)

It is a confirmation made in the shadow of death, a response given in the wilderness. Bacon once said that without friendship, the world is wilderness. In this unsympathetic world, most of the friends are just taking advantage of each other. And she/they are separated by an ocean, bathed in unconditional friendship and trust. This is the great fortune of life.

Zhang Ailing's handwriting.

7. The integration of life

Zhang Ailing and the Song couple belong to the "confidants on paper" - confidants in letters. If we had lived together all day, it might not have ended like this. Forty years of diligent writing across the vast Pacific Ocean is something more spectacular than a grand fiction.

What is a "confidant"? A "confidant" is fundamentally impossible, no one can occupy the position and voice of another person, and can be interchangeable with it without displacement or dislocation. The so-called "confidant" is, at most, a function of friendship tending to the ideal extreme, and it is first and foremost a relationship between attracting and being attracted. Being attracted means a lack of immanence and a desire to be understood. This attraction is not "seduced by external temptations, but in the midst of emptiness and want, the real presence of the outside world." This relationship is not an encounter between the inner and the internal, but the outer constitutes a force that transcends the internal. This attraction, "capable only of providing an infinite void that opens up at the feet of the person it attracts", constitutes a generative relationship between the two parties to whom it is attracted. The letters are real, but at the same time they are as uncertain as the novel, and absence, blankness, and imagination play a crucial role in this relationship. Therefore, spatial isolation may be a necessary condition for the relationship of "confidant", and the fiction and imagination that presuppose it form its basis. This is the reason why Kwong Wenmei repeatedly feels guilty. The barrier of space made Zhang Ailing only see the Kuang Wenmei in the past, but Kuang Wenmei and Song Qi saw the Zhang Ailing who was constantly creating. If you think of the meeting between Eileen Chang and the Soong couple in Hong Kong at the beginning of the historical era, it is clear that isolation creates a pure passage – the only passage, open to time without pretentiousness and greetings.

The relationship of "confidant" is not necessarily the superposition of two hearts, as Montaigne said, on the contrary, the complementarity and creation of the spirit are inevitable. Kwong Wenmei is talented, she has a brilliant performance in the workplace in the first half of her life, while working in the United States and Singapore Office, she also engaged in some translation work, and the identity of the second half of her life is basically a housewife. She is also a fan of Eileen Chang and has a certain reverence for her, mainly because her own work is fundamentally different from that of Eileen Chang's work as a novelist. This difference is that Zhang Ailing is engaged in creative work, while Kwong Wenmei is engaged in repetitive and translation work. Although Song Qi is a very good scholar and organizer, he is basically engaged in translation and discovery work. So what is a creator? "Creators are those who make things that would not exist without them, those who bring new things to the new world, whether these things are big or small, without them they cannot exist exactly that way, and not in another similar way." ...... The artist is not the first to discover or get something, but the one who 'creates' something in an irreplaceable way. Fernando Savatel said. Zhang Ailing is such an outstanding creator who allows people to stop, linger, and reminisce in a fictional world that is more real than the real. As excellent readers, the Song couple participated in the creation of Eileen Chang's novel by virtue of their special position, which is the key to their friendship. The reason why many friends belong to general friendship is that they fall apart as they walk, and they do not integrate and create each other's lives, or they simply regard one as a tool or object of worship, making them inhuman.

Of course, the "confidant" relationship is often based on understanding, appreciation, and trust, and tends to give back, tolerance, and assurance. Zhang Ailing's life is to walk alone in the wilderness, with no one to rely on, and money is almost the only reliable thing. In a loveless wilderness, the roar of machines and public conversation are loud noises, and friendship is a private noise cancelling agent, piercing through the boundless darkness and nothingness. Wandering in the thick river of two volumes of letters, one can grasp the humidity and temperature of friendship, and hear the great loneliness and silence. Eileen Chang lives a life of seclusion and isolation, and letters are her way of contacting her friends, which seems to her more reliable than meeting, more natural than conversation, and more down-to-earth than fiction. For the reader, those letters are the sea of time itself, which was originally silent, but now we hear the noise and purity of the sea through the hidden tunnel of time.

Writing a letter is an ancient form of life integration.

Writing letters is not only a matter of business, but also a necessity for survival.

To write a letter is to poke your head out of the current predicament and whisper, confide, and confirm that something is still there or gone.

To write a letter is to touch something that has not changed in the passage of time, really.

Writing a letter requires a conversationalist, a trustworthy pointer.

Writing a letter is not only cognitively close, but also emotionally close, and at the same time aesthetic.

I write a letter because the hearth of the heart still needs carbon and fire.

Zhang Xianguang

Editor-in-charge: Liu Xiaolei