Wen Jieruo, a translator who witnessed the 70-year friendship between Bing Xin and Xiao Gan, two masters of contemporary literary circles in China, revealed many little-known interesting stories about the interaction between Bing Xin and Xiao Gan in the national series of lectures on Bing Xin literature yesterday.
Bing Xin's kind "cookie brother"
"Xiao Gan went to see Bing Xin in his 80 s and can recite the stars word for word. He never writes poems or recites them. It can be seen that Stars was memorized when he was very young. " As Xiao Gan's wife, Wen Jieruo said that Xiao Gan has always regarded Bing Xin as a big sister. When Xiao Gan 1 1 years old, Xie Weizhen, Bing Xin's younger brother, studied in Shi Chong Primary School. "Bing Xin was already a dazzling poet at that time." At that time, Xiao Gan often went to Xie Jia's home in Scissors Lane with his schoolbag on his back without even coming home from school.
When Xiao Gan graduated from junior high school, in order to make a living, he joined Beixin Bookstore as an intern. The publishing house published "Send Little Readers", and it was Xiao Gan who sent the manuscript fee to Bing Xin. He tied Bing Xin's manuscript fee to his wrist with a handkerchief and sweated all the way to Scissors Lane, secretly telling Bing Xin that the actual print run of the bookstore was much more than that written on the copyright page, and the bookstore was cheating the writer.
Xiao Gan was originally named Xiao Binggan. Because the word "Gan" can also be pronounced as "Gan", he got a nickname "Little Cookie" in primary school. Bing Xin learned the nickname from his younger brother. Until more than 70 years later, Bing Xin still called him "biscuit", while his children called Xiao Gan "uncle biscuit" and his grandchildren naturally called him "grandpa biscuit".
In the 1980s, Bing Xin's husband and three younger brothers died one after another. Bing Xin once said to Xiao Gan's visiting wife, "My three younger brothers are all gone. Seeing cookies is like seeing my brother. "
Xiao Gan's sister, the teacher's mother.
Bing Xin is not only Xiao Gan's sister, but also "the teacher's mother" for a time. 1933, Xiao Gan transferred from Fu Jen Catholic University to yenching university to study journalism and took the sociology course of Professor Wu Wenzao, Mr. Bing Xin. At that time, Bing Xin was teaching at two universities in Yanjing and Tsinghua, and Xiao Gan became a frequent visitor to their home.
For this junior, who has been familiar since childhood, Bing Xin treats Xiao Gan like a younger brother and cares about his life and creation. Bing Xin's sense of justice and fearless spirit also had a far-reaching impact on Xiao Gan. They have kept in touch with each other all the time and exchanged ideas on literary creation from time to time.
1957 Xiao Gan was criticized for writing an article tracing back to the bookstore with his personal experience. Many people criticized Xiao Gan for being aggressive for fear of being implicated. Wen Jieruo was impressed by the speeches of two people, one was Yang Gang, a female writer, and the other was Bing Xin. One of them emphasized that Xiao Gan was born in poverty, and the other detailed Xiao Gan's past internship experience in Beixin Bookstore. Both of them protected Xiao Gan in twists and turns. Wen Jieruo is also an admirer of Bing Xin.
Wen Jieruo began to contact Bing Xin's works when he was younger than Xiao Gan, and fell in love with them. She recalled that at the age of six, she realized the loneliness of Bing Xin. The characters described in the novel are very small, which makes her sad for a long time. Years later, Xiao Gan told her that Xiaoxiao was based on Bing Xin's younger brother. Rereading Loneliness after more than half a century can still make Wen Jieruo feel infinitely disappointed.
Wen Jieruo still remembers what Bing Xin said-life begins at the age of 80. Wen Jieruo, who was still in high spirits after giving a speech for more than an hour, said with a smile: "I am just 80 years old now, and my life has just begun."