Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 826 Old friends get together
Bei Dao was wearing a windbreaker and was thin. He was chatting with two middle-aged men.

He was a little surprised to see Fang Minghua greeting him, but a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Are you here to attend the book festival?" Bei Dao asked.

"Yes, at the invitation of Heinemann Publishing House." Fang Minghua briefly explained his situation.

Bei Dao then introduced Fang Minghua to the two white people next to him. It turned out that one was Bei Dao’s colleague at Durham University, and the other was a famous local writer.

After a few pleasantries, the two white men left, leaving Fang Minghua and Bei Dao alone chatting.

"Teacher Bei Dao, when did you come to the UK?" Fang Minghua asked.

"It was not long after we met in Los Angeles last time. I felt bored staying in the United States, and Durham University happened to send me a letter inviting me to be a substitute teacher at their school. So I gave lectures in their Chinese Department as a visiting scholar, mainly talking about modern Chinese poetry." Bei Dao replied.

"Oh, everything is okay here?"

"It's okay. Actually, for someone like me, it's the same everywhere. It's been 89 years since I went abroad in 11," said Bei Dao, with a melancholy look on his face.

"Want to return home?"

"It would be a lie to say I don't miss it." Bei Dao sighed softly: "During the years I have been abroad, I have rarely written poetry, but mostly prose, about the people and things I encountered while wandering overseas."

Hearing this, Fang Minghua couldn't help but think of Bei Dao's famous words:

Back then we had dreams about literature, about love, about traveling around the world. Now when we drink late at night, the sound of the glasses clinking together is the sound of our dreams being shattered.”

In fact, this is not a poem, but a sentence from "The Polish Visitor" in his essay collection "The Blue House".

"Then you go back." Fang Minghua said.

"How can it be that easy? Minghua, I guess you probably know my situation. I can't go back. Alas." Having said that, Bei Dao sighed deeply again.

"Teacher Bei Dao, please give up some of your ideas. You are a scholar and poet. There is no need to be so closely entangled with politics," Fang Minghua advised.

Bei Dao fell silent.

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Bei Dao changed the subject: "Minghua, do you know Li Hongying?"

"Yes, I know her. I taught a workshop at Luyuan in 87, and Li Hongying was a student in that workshop."

"No wonder she calls you Teacher Fang." Bei Dao smiled. "Last year, we, the poets living in Europe, gathered in London. She attended and that's when I learned about your relationship with her."

"Li Hongying is in London, right?" Fang Minghua asked.

Since 95, when Li Hongying returned to China to visit Fang Minghua after getting married, the two have never been in touch since then. Fang Minghua only knew that she was accompanying her husband to work in London, but she had no idea where exactly.

Bei Dao nodded after hearing this.

"It was in London. I was invited to her house."

"Do you have her contact information?" Fang Minghua became interested.

It is also a happy thing to meet old friends in a foreign country.

Bei Dao told Fang Minghua Li Hongying's contact information, and the two chatted for a while before leaving.

It was seven years later that Fang Minghua saw Bei Dao again in Hong Kong.

In October 2001, Bei Dao returned to China to attend his father's funeral.

In 2002, it announced its withdrawal from Human Rights in China.

In 2007, Bei Dao received an offer from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In August, Bei Dao officially moved to Hong Kong to reunite with his family.

Fang Minghua left Edinburgh the next morning and took the train to London, where she stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. She went to a restaurant alone for a simple meal at noon, and then called the phone number given by Bei Dao when she returned to the hotel.

Soon the phone was answered, and a woman's voice came from the other end, with a standard London accent.

"May I ask who's calling"?
"Is that Hongying? I'm Fang Minghua." In Chinese, of course.

"Teacher Fang? You are coming to the UK?!" Li Hongying on the other end of the phone was surprised and happy, and immediately switched to Chinese.

"Yes, I'm in London. I just attended the Edinburgh Book Festival." Fang Minghua briefly explained the purpose of his visit: "I ran into Bei Dao at the book festival, and he said you live in London."

"Yes, I'm in London now, you're welcome to visit me."

"Okay, tell me the address."

Li Hongying told him how to get there, and Fang Minghao changed his clothes, left the hotel, and took the subway.

Li Hongying did not live in the city, but lived in a place called Moreton on the outskirts of London. This was already considered the countryside, but Fang Minghua could get here in less than five minutes' walk from the subway station.

The street was called Hazelnut Street. It was very quiet with two rows of willow trees hanging down. From a distance he saw a bright blue two-story building that was particularly eye-catching.

Fang Minghao discovered that the British like to paint their houses in light pink, so this blue building seemed a bit out of place. No wonder Li Hongying said on the phone that she saw a blue house when she entered Hazelnut Street.

There was a garden in front of the house. Before Fang Minghua knocked on the door, it opened and Li Hongying came out with a happy look on her face.

"Teacher Fang, please come in." Fang Minghua followed him in. It was a typical British living room with a fabric sofa, a coffee table with thin metal legs, and a simple velvet sofa. It felt very comfortable.

It seems that Li Hongying is living well in London.

"Teacher Fang, would you like coffee or tea?" Li Hongying greeted.

"Whatever."

"Well, let's have afternoon tea."

Li Hongying said this and went into the kitchen. After a while, she brought in two cups of black tea, a plate of snacks and English muffins.

"Thank you." The two started chatting while drinking.

"Professor Zhao went to school?" Fang Minghua asked.

Li Hongying's husband is Zhao Yiheng. He followed Li Hongying to Xijing in 96. Fang Minghua met him once. He is a professor at the University of London.

After hearing Fang Minghua's words, Li Hongying's face, which had been very happy, became gloomy.

"We got divorced."

"sorry."

"Nothing, that's all in the past."

Of course Fang Minghua didn't want to ask the other party the reason for the divorce, so she quickly turned the topic to literature.

"Hongying, I saw your novel The Hungry Daughter at the Edinburgh Book Festival. It was included in the list of WATFRSTONS, the largest bookstore chain in the UK."

"Yes."

When talking about literature, Li Hongying's mood obviously improved: "Thank you for your training in me during the lectures at Luyuan."

"Not really, it's your own hard work." Fang Minghua said modestly: "Among the students in the workshop, you are very smart and hardworking."

"But he can't compare to Yu Hua. He is very successful in the domestic literary world and has won the Mao Dun Prize, the Chinese Literature Award, and the Italian Grinzane Cavour Literature Award. The English translation of his book To Live is also very popular in the UK," said Li Hongying with a smile.

"Don't compare yourself to that guy. He's a natural at writing novels." Fang Minghua said, "Are you in touch with him?"

"I mainly keep in touch with Chen Hong and write letters occasionally." Li Hongying replied: "Now Chen Hong has become a housewife and takes care of the family wholeheartedly. I really admire her."

"Can you do it?" Fang Minghua asked.

"No, I can't do that."

Is this also one of the reasons for their divorce?

Fang Minghua didn't ask.

The two then talked about their classmates in the workshop. There were more than 20 people in the class, but not many of them were actually engaged in literary writing.

Liao Runbo remained in his hometown of Guangxi Province and became a capable figure in the literary world of that province, but people like Qian Yuliang and He Liwei left the literary world and entered the system to become officials.

Come to think of it, that was 13 years ago.

"Time flies so fast," Li Hongying sighed.

indeed.

At that time, we were all in our twenties and in the prime of our lives.

Now they are all middle-aged, and Fang Minghua is already forty.

Forty is not confused.

In the afternoon, Li Hongying invited Fang Minghua to have dinner again, and Fang Minghua then said goodbye and left and returned to the hotel.

On the subway back to the city center, Fang Minghua looked at the flickering lights outside and fell into deep thought.

I didn’t expect to meet some old friends when I came to London this time.

James Cole, Bei Dao, Li Hongying.

It's not specifically for literature, I just want to meet and reminisce.

He suddenly felt.

There's really nothing to talk about literature.

Entering the new millennium, literature has become increasingly distant and less important.

Forget it, don’t think about this anymore.

Fang Minghua was originally planning to buy a plane ticket to leave London for the United States the next day, but she received a call from Li Li saying that she was coming to London to attend an academic conference. So she decided to wait for Li Li to come to London and then return to the United States together.

(End of this chapter)