At the end of 1974, in Taiwan's literary circles, the news that Liang Shiqiu, who was in his late teens, and actress Han Jingqing fell in love attracted reports from major media.
Readers who have read "Huaiyuan Dream Memories" know that Liang Shiqiu and Cheng Jishu are a model of loving couples among the literati of the Republic of China. In the nearly 50 years of marriage, the two have experienced war, separation and hardship, and they are still touching each other.
But in less than a year after the unexpected death of his wife Cheng Jishu, the news that Liang Shiqiu, who was over seventy years old, fell in love with a Taiwanese female star who was 28 years younger still made people scramble to speculate, and many of Liang Shiqiu's disciples and friends publicly expressed their doubts and objections to this twilight love.
In the face of pressure from all walks of life, Liang Shiqiu's reaction was quite unexpected. He scolded Lu Xun, a "literary fighter" for eight years, and in a confession letter to his girlfriend, he quoted the original words of the protagonist in Lu Xun's novel as an unprecedented: "I am my own, and none of them interfere with my rights." ”
Regardless of Han Jingqing's true feelings for Liang Shiqiu, Liang Shiqiu's unilateral love for a woman can actually be traced back to the arranged marriage 53 years ago.
In 1921, Liang Shiqiu, who was studying at Tsinghua University at the time, found a piece of red paper on his father's desk when he came home on a weekend:
"Cheng Jishu, a native of Jixi, Anhui Province, was 20 years old and was born on February 17, 1901. ”
18-year-old Liang Shiqiu's heart moved, and he had a hunch that this was the fiancée his family had chosen for him. Facing this "fiancée" whom he had never met, Liang Shiqiu was full of curiosity and expectation, and the eldest sister who accompanied his mother to Cheng's house told him cordially:
"I think she is very good, brute and gentle, with big eyelids and big eyes, not tall, very thin waist, good black hair, tied into a bun and piled up behind her head, a big tent covering her forehead, I was afraid that there would be a scar or something under the canopy, so I walked over with a special conversation, while saying, 'Your hair is so well combed', while lifting the canopy to see, there was nothing. ”
Hearing this, Liang Shiqiu was quite satisfied with this family business. He wrote letters, called, and made an appointment with this beautiful woman after several times. Seeing that Cheng Jishu's image was as gentle and pure as he imagined, Liang Shiqiu was overjoyed, and the two began to have further dates. In the era when free love had not yet become a trend, Central Park, Beihai, and Taimiao ...... All of them left their figures in and out together.
In February 1927, with the return of Liang Shiqiu, who went to the United States to study, the lovers who had been long-distance lovesick for three years finally became married. On the wedding day, Liang Shiqiu looked at Cheng Jishu, who was wearing a jasmine crown and satin high heels, and was so shocked that he even threw off the ring nervously. Instead, Cheng Jishu comforted: "It's okay, we don't need this." ”
However, the newlyweds did not live as happily as they imagined. Only a dozen days after the wedding, the Northern Expedition began, and the two fled all the way to Shanghai. During their days in Shanghai, the couple lived in a humble alley, moved many times, and lived a poor and simple life, but they were also poor and happy.
In four years, Cheng Jishu gave birth to three daughters and one son for her husband. Because she wanted to support her husband's translation career, Cheng Jishu provoked all the big and small affairs in the family. In order to take better care of her four children, she cut off one of her own hair to avoid the trouble of combing her hair, and in order to save money and expenses, she bought a sewing machine and tailored each child herself.
Every day at four o'clock in the afternoon, Cheng Jishu will habitually send Liang Shiqiu a cup of tea. At this time, Liang Shiqiu often stopped her pen and pulled her to sit, but Cheng Jishu always pushed him away and said, "Don't make trouble, don't make trouble, continue to work after drinking tea." In the evening, when Liang Shiqiu told his wife that it was going well one day and translated 3,000 words, Cheng Jishu would silently give her husband a thumbs up.
In the blink of an eye, in 1937, Beiping fell, and as a scholar who cared about national affairs, Liang Shiqiu was on the "blacklist" of the Japanese army. Looking at the family, his mother-in-law is old and his children are young, so Liang Shiqiu can only endure the pain and flee south alone. I didn't expect to say goodbye here, but it was six years.
In the past six years, Liang Shiqiu suffered from poverty and illness, and displacement, while Cheng Jishu at home took on all the responsibilities of serving her in-laws and mothers, educating her children, and presiding over family affairs. In the era of war and hunger, heavy housework and mental pressure gradually dragged down Cheng Jishu's body. But in the correspondence between the husband and wife, the two have always just reported each other's safety, tacitly wanting to reassure each other.
"Ten years of life and death, without thinking, unforgettable. Thousands of miles of lonely graves, nowhere to talk about desolation. Even if you don't know each other, your face is dusty, and your temples are like frost. In 1944, when Cheng Jishu stood in front of Liang Shiqiu again with three children and a bunch of luggage, both of them burst into tears. At that time, Cheng Jishu was 43 years old, with wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and her hair was born.
It is also this separation that makes the couple cherish each other's company even more. In the following 30 years, whether it is the resurgence of the beacon smoke or the ends of the earth, they have always been hand in hand and never give up.
One of Cheng Jishu's greatest influences on Liang Shiqiu's life was encouraging him to complete the translation of The Complete Works of Shakespeare. At that time, Liang Shiqiu's translation of "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" did not have much remuneration at all, and Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo, Ye Gongchao and others also participated in the translation in China, but in the end only Liang Shiqiu persevered.
Behind the greatest achievement of Liang Shiqiu's life, the most indispensable person is undoubtedly Cheng Jishu, who has been by his side for many years, accompanied by him for ten years and warmly inspired. But the two of them have white hearts, but they have no chance to grow old.
On April 30, 1974, 71-year-old Liang Shiqiu and Cheng Jishu were shopping at a market in Seattle. was walking on the side of the street, Cheng Jishu saw that her husband's shoelaces were loose, and bent down to tie them for him. Suddenly, a ladder next to the scaffolding on the storefront collapsed and hit Cheng Jishu. With the help of everyone, Liang Shiqiu hurriedly sent his wife to the hospital.
"Hua, don't worry! Hua, don't worry!" A moment before being sent to the operating room, Cheng Jishu was still comforting Liang Shiqiu like this. It's just that I didn't expect that such a reminder would become an eternal farewell for the two. After Cheng Jishu entered the operating room, she never woke up.
"The poet feels papaya, but he wants to answer Qiong Yao. I am ashamed that he gave me a thick gift, and I am ashamed that this past is light. Although I know that I have not repaid enough, you can use it to tell my feelings. After the death of his beloved wife for 40 years, the depressed Liang Shiqiu wrote the well-known "Dream Memories of Huaiyuan" in grief. In this book, he uses pen and ink to restore the love between himself and his wife, and expresses his deep friendship for his deceased wife.
But Liang Shiqiu didn't expect that it was this book that made him form the second marriage in his life. In 1974, the same year that "Dream Memories of Huaiyuan" was published, Far East Book Company, which was responsible for publishing, invited Liang Shiqiu to live in Taiwan.
One day, Liang Shiqiu was invited by his friend Xie Renzhao to have coffee, and the owner of Far East Bookstore and Xie Renzhao's daughter, Han Jingqing, went to the appointment.
When the four met for the first time, Xie Renzhao and the boss of the Far East Group were having a good conversation, and Liang Shiqiu, who was bored on the side, and Han Jingqing started talking. The two talked about ancient texts and poems from their names, and the more they talked, the more they talked, and the more they talked, they were quite familiar at first sight, and they hated to see each other late.
After this trip, Liang Shiqiu often made an appointment to meet Han Jingqing, or to talk about literature and art, or to talk about national affairs, or to eat and walk together...... Liang Shiqiu undoubtedly fell in love with the woman in front of him. When Han Jingqing volunteered to be a matchmaker for him, Liang Shiqiu couldn't hide the love in his heart and confessed bluntly: "I love matchmaker!"
Facing Liang Shiqiu's pursuit, Han Jingqing was both excited and flustered in her heart. As a woman, although she has a successful career in her life, her marriage is quite bumpy. At present, Liang Shiqiu has a very charming personality, and he is obviously a person who can be entrusted for life. But in the face of the 28-year-old age difference between the two, Han Jingqing is very conflicted.
In Liang Shiqiu's view, everything is not a problem. Since the sixth day he met Han Jingqing, he began to send her love letters every day. Seeing Han Jingqing hesitate, he said: "Now don't say it's a cliff, even a volcano has to jump, let's hug and jump down." ”
After a period of time, Liang Shiqiu was no longer able to leave Han Jingqing. During the half month that he went to the United States to deal with the lawsuit for his wife's death claim, he could not bear the pain of this separation, and wrote to Han Jingqing: "God is unkind and cruel. And when he returned to Taiwan, he immediately found that his twilight love with Han Jingqing had appeared in major newspapers.
All of a sudden, all the spearheads of public opinion were directed at Han Jingqing, saying that she was just coveting the Liang family's property, and marrying a "national treasure-level master" like Liang Shiqiu was a blasphemy against Liang. And Liang Shiqiu's side also encountered a lot of resistance. Some of Liang Shiqiu's disciples even played the banner of "Nurse Group" to oppose Liang Han's love. Despite this, public opinion from the outside world still failed to let the two not waver.
On March 29, 1975, Liang Shiqiu went to Taiwan to marry Han Jingqing. On that day, Liang Shiqiu was wearing a rose-colored suit selected by Han Jingqing for him, with an orange tie, a carnation on his chest, and a ring given to him by Han Jingqing on his hand, which was very chic. Love makes this septuagenarian seem to return to his green years all of a sudden.
On the wedding night, the two first laughed and cried, and then hugged each other for this hard-won union. In the days after marriage, Liang Shiqiu called Han Jingqing "Qingqing", and Han Jingqing called him "Qiuqiu". Liang Shiqiu jokingly called this Han Jingqing's "great invention".
The new married life seems to have brought Liang Shiqiu back to his lost youth. The versatile Han Jingqing not only cooks good dishes, but also knows how to run a house, and also taught Liang Shiqiu to dance. In their own dining room, the two often dance together, which is warm and romantic. The nourishment of love made Liang Shiqiu like a dead tree in spring, and he began to create steadily again.
In June 1979, Liang Shiqiu completed two works, "History of English Literature" and "Selected English Literature", which lasted for 7 years and won the "National Literary and Artistic Contribution Award" in Taiwan.
Under each other's mutual support, Liang Shiqiu and Han Jingqing walked hand in hand for a total of 12 years until Liang Shiqiu died. Facing his death, Liang Shiqiu confessed in a letter to Han Jingqing: "I still love you. You need not grieve after my death, for I will go before you, as we have foreseen. ”
On the evening of November 1, 1987, Liang Shiqiu was taken to the hospital due to sudden heart discomfort in Taiwan. Although the hospital issued a critical illness notice, the doctor thought that the problem was not serious, and he could go home to recuperate after being hospitalized for a week or two. But Liang Shiqiu seemed to have a premonition of this farewell, and he said to his wife in front of the hospital bed sadly: "Jingqing, I'm sorry for you, I'm afraid I can't accompany you." ”
In the early morning of November 3, Liang Shiqiu's condition suddenly deteriorated. Because the oxygen delivery was not large enough and timely, Liang Shiqiu stopped breathing in the painful struggle.
After Liang Shiqiu's death, Han Jingqing followed his will and chose his grave in Beihai Park in the suburbs of Taiwan, so that her husband could look at his hometown from afar across the sea. In addition, Han Jingqing has to bring flowers to sweep Liang Shiqiu's grave every month. She embroidered a red word "Ya" on the placket of her clothes to commemorate Liang Shiqiu.
For the rest of her seven years, Han Jingqing was widowed for her husband for seven years and did not remarry. This kind of loyalty also turned countless people's criticism of this year-old love into a cloud of smoke.
Perhaps in the eyes of many people, Liang Shiqiu is not a single-minded man. Less than a year after his wife's death, he threw himself into the next relationship and marriage with a warm attitude.
But from another point of view, the more transcendent posture of life should be "the flowers can be folded and must be folded, and the branches should not be broken without flowers". The ideal of universal love about "one life and one couple" is still younger in the face of death, and it is cruel to the amorous people in the world.
Liang Shiqiu sees this very thoroughly, he may not be single-minded enough, but he is indeed very dedicated, and has always regarded love as a major belief in life, as he said when looking back on this twilight love:
"I'm just a human being—I have feelings, and I have nothing but feelings. I don't want to become a Buddha! I don't want to become a sage! I just want to be able to love my baby forever. In love, people become immortals, Buddhas, and sages!"
Author: Xiao Reading Night Talk, original authorized work, reprinting is prohibited.
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