I am only willing to rely on this inspiration to communicate
Bring comfort to each other all the time
Like the brilliance of a shooting star, illuminating my weary dreams
Always save a consolation
Even in the time of separation.
"Zhu Shenghao's Love Letter"
//
Zhu Shenghao, a famous translator. Formerly known as Zhu Wensen, also known as Wensheng, scientific name Senhao, pen names Zhu Zhu, Zhu Sheng, etc., born on February 2, 1912 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. He studied Chinese Literature and English at Hangzhou Zhijiang University. After graduating from university in 1933, he worked as an English editor at the Shanghai World Book Company, participated in the compilation of the English-Chinese Dictionary, and composed poetry. He wrote a variety of poems, all of which were destroyed by the war. At the same time, he also published essays and essays in newspapers and periodicals.
In the spring of 1936 he began translating The Complete Plays of Shakespeare. In order to facilitate the reading of Chinese readers, the British Oxford edition is arranged according to the chronology of writing, and is divided into four types of arrangement: comedy, tragedy, historical drama, and miscellaneous drama, which is self-contained. In 1937, the Japanese army attacked Shanghai, wandering around, poor and sick, still insisted on translation, has translated 31 kinds of Shakespeare, published 27 kinds before the founding of New China, some of them were lost, and then died of lung disease due to overwork. He is one of the earliest translators of Shakespeare's works in China, and the quality and style of the translations are outstanding and recognized by Shakespeare researchers at home and abroad.
01·
In front of the former residence of Zhu Shenghao in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, there is a statue inscribed with the poet and translator Zhu Shenghao and his wife, the two bodies connected, and their faces snuggled as if they were whispering. The bottom of the statue is excerpted from a letter that Zhu Shenghao once wrote to Song Qingru:
"If the two of us dream together in the rain, how different the mood is, or how insomnia in the rain together, how delicious it is." 」
At that time, shortly after the new marriage, Song Qingru returned to her mother's house to live, leaving Zhu Shenghao alone at home. Knowing that he had not yet reached the return date, he still ran to the station every day to wait for his wife to return, often lost and returned, and afraid of disturbing Song Qingru to share the joy of the world with his family, he locked the letter written to his wife in the bookcase at home and never sent it out again.
Some people say that Zhu Shenghao's life was simple and pure, and he only did two things: translating Shakespeare's collection and writing letters to Song Qingru.
There are thousands of different love stories in the world, and this is still the most romantic and heartbreaking of them.
02·
Talented
When she first went to Zhijiang University, Song Qing, who was born rich and wealthy, was as proud as she was, and she never believed in the traditional concept of "a woman returns to the family early and marries someone else's wife", so she resigned from the doll relatives booked for her at home. From private school enlightenment to female middle school, Song Qingru has always maintained the habit of reading and writing poetry.
After graduating from middle school, her family hoped that she could get married as soon as possible, and in the struggle, Song Qingru had a resolute attitude, preferring not to have a dowry and choose to continue her education.
It is strange to say that the information in the Republic of China period is relatively closed, and the expectations of society for women are more stringent, and there is still no shortage of new women born from the old era, and under their gentle appearance, there is often great ambition and tenacity that is not inferior to that of today's men.
(Song Qingru)
03·
In the faded old photos, Song Qingru has short black hair, her face still carries the shyness of a girl, and the corners of her mouth clearly reveal a bit of stubbornness, often showing a plain face, even smearing grease and powder:
It is Song Qingru who knows me; it is Song Qingru who does not know me; I am still me.
This confidence comes from both the outside and the poetic talent. Unfortunately, this confidence was quickly shattered, and when she first participated in the poetry club activities, she did not understand the level of traditional poetry, and confidently wrote a half-written and half-white "pagoda poem", imitating and chanting, and gathering poems into a tower.
Although the style was novel, the activities of the poetry club at that time were mainly based on the exchange of old style poetry.
When she finished sharing, no one made a sound, and the air was filled with the embarrassment of nothingness, until it reached Zhu Shenghao's hands, he carefully read the verses he saw in a low voice, although he did not say a word, he looked down and smiled.
This bowed his head and smiled, which made Song Qingru remember it in his heart. Years later, she kept mentioning this scene, and the tone was extremely emotional, presumably because her self-confidence was suddenly frustrated, and the wordless comfort was particularly precious.
Later, I learned that although this Zhu Shenghao was three levels higher than her academically, his actual age was one year younger than her, "At that time, he was completely a child." Slender, pale face, kind, innocent, self-satisfied, easy to feel approachable. ”
This is completely different from the impression of Zhu Shenghao by others. In the eyes of most people, Zhu Shenghao is quiet and sensitive, which is related to family.
Unlike Song Qingru, who grew up in a well-off family and grew up in a smooth environment, Zhu Shenghao came from the local merchant Jia family in Jiaxing, at first he had no food and clothing, and his achievements since childhood were quite good, and he always ranked first in the first class, and he should have been an arrogant young man.
However, in the 11th year of the Republic of China, he had just turned 10 years old, the family suddenly changed, the cloth shops run by his parents all closed down, first his mother died of illness, the family fell into a very dark period of time, two years later, his father died of overwork and illness.
Both of his parents died, and the remaining property could not be sustained, and Zhu Shenghao was only 12 years old at this time.
The economy still has something to rely on, and his parents' savings for many years can provide him with education, and there is no one to rely on in life. Eventually, the widowed aunt adopted him, and she somewhat tasted the taste of sending people under the fence.
For a long time, Zhu Shenghao almost closed his emotions, completely focused on reading, and lived up to expectations, and one teacher even thought that his intelligence should not be regarded by students:
Many people have not issued a statement, and it is very refreshing. His man was only twenty years old this year, and he was as silent as a virgin, and he did not say a word easily. Zhijiang has been running the school for decades, and I am afraid that there is no such hard talent.
The grief of the sudden change was completely pinned on the academics, and the academic success was achieved, but Zhu Shenghao, who was once cheerful and kind, became increasingly silent.
(The first from the right in the back row is Zhu Shenghao)
04·
It was not until he met Song Qingru, who had a completely different personality on the university campus, who had a smile in his eyes and the talent revealed in his poems, that he realized that this chaotic world could be so "poetically inhabited".
At first, the two only talked about poetry, but three days after the end of the poetry club, Zhu Shenghao wrote to Song Qingru to ask her to correct her name and teach her some old style poems, and gradually, they began to talk about past experiences and future prospects.
The situation is turbulent, and for the two young people, the road ahead is confused.
Soon, Zhu Shenghao is about to graduate, and he has always had a reputation as a talented man among his teachers and friends. Because he was good at English, he was hired as an English editor by Shanghai World Bookstore, and he embarked on a future journey with "the burden of life on his shoulders".
Before the long trip, the obscure relationship between the two had some slight breakthroughs, Zhu Shenghao wrote three poems "Partridge Heaven" and handed them to Song Qingru, who stayed at Zhijiang University, and Song Qingru opened the letter, which included a sentence:
Don't need to be accompanied by ears and sideburns, a smile and a low head have fallen.
The affection that had not been vented in the mouth before jumped on the paper now.
(Manuscript by Zhu Shenghao)
05·
By 1937, Jiangsu and Zhejiang had fallen.
After graduation, Song Qingru fled from Hangzhou all the way to Sichuan to teach, and Zhu Shenghao is still in the World Bookstore. The distance between the two is far away, and the letter becomes the best carrier. The letter writer's emotions at that time were pinned on the paper, and the words and sentences were no longer dry but had their own meaning.
Merchants are profitable, poets are affectionate. The poet's love is always romantic and fiery, and it has a decisive meaning. Zhu Shenghao is the same, his romance is well known to the world, such as the quote that has been quoted countless times, "Wake up and feel very much in love with you", or "For you, I also have the desire to go to the light, the world will not be too lonely." ”
But if he had not received a reply from Song Qingru, he would have been sleepless and turned into an unreasonable child, accusing himself on paper:
It takes you five minutes of such precious time, two tears of so much ink, but lest I hate you for a while, understand you for a while, swear not to love you again, swear that no matter how you treat me badly, I will always love you with my heart.
He divided the love of men and women into four types: primitive love, modern love, intellectual love, and spiritual love.
He considers himself to be in the third kind of love between himself and Song Qingru, a love that is quiet rather than hot, about love, but not only in the love of men and women.
Zhu Shenghao's feelings for Song Qingru are complex, and the uneasy background of the sudden change of youth is mixed with the joy of a confidant and the desire for intimacy... He has also been immersed in romantic poetry for many years, which has always kept him in a passionate and full mood.
When the relationship was not yet determined, during the bumpy years of displacement, both of the two families began to urge the marriage. Surprisingly, in the special circumstances of the times, both were once unmarried.
(Zhu Shenghao)
06·
Zhu Shenghao was forced by dissatisfaction with the marriage system at that time and the difficult environment for many years; Song Qingru firmly believed that the family would bind him and that marriage meant losing everything. Although she is also an unmarried person, Zhu Shenghao actually advised her: a woman who has established herself, getting married does not prevent her from being an extraordinary person.
He encouraged Song Qingru not to be bound by gender, to liberate his soul from the shackles, not to have any missy sentimentality, but to endure suffering, to withstand ridicule and contempt.
Among the many complicated titles, the most moving is that Zhu Shenghao once called Song a younger brother, Song Qingru was one year older than him, gender and age became opposite, as for why, Zhu Shenghao explained:
"In terms of age, I am not older than you, I have experienced more troubles than you, and my experience in life is not richer than yours, but in terms of all my own knowledge, my calm observation and reflection over the past few years, and my early entry into the world, I may indeed be able to be a friend who is of little benefit to you, not just a gentle and good man." 」
Some people say that in the past, the four major love letters of the former Republic of China were Xu Zhimo's "AiMei Xiaozha"; Zhu Xiang's "Sending Nian Jun Overseas"; Shen Congwen's "Xiangxing Shujian" written for Zhang Zhaohe, and Lu Xun's "Book of Two Places" written to Xu Guangping. When I arrived at Zhu Shenghao,Tongtong was one level off:
Shen Congwen is an affectionate and unprepared child, Lu Xun has become a warm and awkward tough guy, Zhu Xiang is a weak scholar who is gentle and aggrieved, and Xu Zhimo looks like a self-righteous little white face.
Without him, sometimes he is a younger brother who pretends to be a humble person, sometimes he is a mountain and flowing water meets Zhiyin, and sometimes he becomes an elder with rich life experience. There are many forms behind the love revealed in the letters, and the spontaneous contradiction of his personality makes him appear particularly sincere and charming.
This is Zhu Shenghao, one of the most love-talking men in the world. In his short but extraordinary life of 32 years, he wrote a total of 540 love letters to his wife, seeing the truth in every word and loving every word. Many years later, Zhu Shenghao's Love Letters were published, containing 308 love letters, and countless people called him "the most able man in the Republic of China" to talk about love.
The following is an excerpt from Zhu Shenghao's Love Letter:
1. "I wake up feeling that I love you very much." These two days I was very happy and proud. You, the man, are a little too scary. In particular, not at all inexplicable"
2. "Don't worry about getting old, you must be cute when you're old." And if you're ten years old, of course I'm ten years old, the world is ten years old, God is ten years old, and everything is the same."
3. "I am, I am Song Qingru supremeist"
4. "If there were only two of us in the world, I would have bullied you so much that I couldn't cry."
5. "I hope you fall in love with someone quickly and let that person bully you as much as you bully me"
6. "May we be together all day in the next life, from morning to late at night every day, and I wish everyone to walk away"
7. "I'm a bad person, but as your friend, I'm really trying to be a good person."
8. "I long to fight with you and to hug you"
9. "Why don't you write?" Not because I'm angry, right? What I have said is false, you must not believe me."
10. "Smart people never reach the highest level of emotion"
11. "When I'm not happy, I really want to arrest you and beat you up."
12. Answer me a few questions: 1. Which is better between me and the kitten? 2. Which is better, Me and Song Qingru? 3. Which is better for me and everything? If you answer that I am better than a kitten than Song Qingru than everything, then I will not write to you in the future."
13. "I am only willing to bring comfort to each other at all times by virtue of this connection of inspiration, like the radiance of a shooting star, illuminating my weary dreams, and always having a comfort, even in the time of parting."
14. "I may not love you for any reason, but while there may be reasons, such as you are wise, you are pure, you are lovely, you are a good man, etc., but the main reason is probably that you are perfectly suited to my tastes. So you still know I'm selfish, so don't thank me."
15. "I understand your ordinariness day by day, but at the same time I love you more and more deeply day by day. You are like looking in the mirror, you will not see where you are particularly good, but if you come into my heart, you will certainly know how good you are..."
16. "My greatest ambition was to be your best friend, but now my ambition is to continue this friendship until death. Thank you for giving me a wait. It is best to be a person who is always waiting, must be a distant expectation, and do not give you to reach the final destination. But getting closer to this goal day by day is always a longing. Not to be realized, not to be destroyed. Every discovery of new joy is encouragement, not complete satisfaction, but at best all hope is turned into fact, in the second at the end of life."
17. How can sentences like "You don't understand the art of writing letters, such as "Please don't blame me, I won't marry you," can be placed at the beginning of a letter? If you think about it, if my letter was occasionally stolen by others, and the first sentence at the beginning was like this, would I be embarrassed? It should be placed in the middle of the paragraph is "
18. "I do not wish to present myself as a genius (who is much more pitiful than ordinary people), but I feel that if a person is fortunate enough to meet a friend who is devoted to him, this friend is much more precious than the whole world... If I have hope, then I hope we don't die in the same space, only at the same time."
19. "We are all superfluous people in the world, but at least we are the most important people in the world for each other"
20 . "I want to write poetry, write rain, write night lovesickness, write you, can't write"
21. "I want to watch the rain in the hut, the ants by the rockery, the butterflies in love, the spiders in love, the water, the boats, the clouds, the waterfalls, and the Song Qing sleeping sweetly."
22 . "I'm willing to give up everything to miss you for the rest of my life"
23. "Sister: You are not allowed to call me sir again, or I will find out in the dictionary the most fleshy name in the world and call you." Warnings are hereby given"
24. "The wine noodles flutter in the spring breeze, the tears in the eyes and zero autumn rain, and when the parting is over, they still understand each other."
25. "You will one day look down on me, because I am hopeless, and my ability to think wildly is much worse than before."
26. "I am not very happy because you do not love me very much. But the so-called unhappy person does not mean unhappy, just as not loving me does not mean not loving me."
27. "Every day and every day you let others see you, but I can't see you, for no reason."
28. "In short, you are very good, very good, I have lived to be in my twenties, and the result of the discussion of life is only this one conclusion, and everything else is denied. Of course I love you "
29. "Only you seem to be completely different from all people, and perhaps you will not know that I am much more lively with you than I am with others. Isolated from the whole world, only you can cause induction in me."
30. "Today Song Qingru still does not believe me, I am very resentful, but I do not want to scold her, because there is no reason to scold her." Today at noon, I was so angry that I ate three bowls, my stomach was very swollen, and I had to go to eat hard after I put away my work, who taught Song Qingru not to believe me? "
Some references:
Baidu Encyclopedia entry: Zhu Shenghao
Ten-point character history "Zhu Shenghao, Song Qingru: Once upon a time, time was slow, and there was only enough to love one person in a lifetime"
Zhu Shenghao's "Zhu Shenghao Love Letter"