How to Whisper Graceful Sweet-Nothings高級情話

Text by Yan Wan 燕玩

Translation by Zhu Yaguang 朱亞光

How to Whisper Graceful Sweet-Nothings高級情話

Text by Yan Wan 燕玩

Translation by Zhu Yaguang 朱亞光

I still remember my college days as clear as a bell, a friend of mine fell in love with a girl in my class.

Over winter vacation the two lovebirds that lived far from each other, though deeply love-sick, were unable to meet. Overnight, a heavy snow enshrouded the whole world. At that moment, my friend’s mind was occupied by only one idea—that is, to take a picture and send it to the girl with a caption, “Snow is falling. It’s so beautiful.”

● 張愛玲 Eileen Chang

You will understand one day when you feel an urge to share such a feeling with someone.

A similar example can be found in Eileen Chang’1s novel—Love in a Fallen City,in which the moonlight was a matchmaker.

After a prolonged illicit love affair, Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan were still not on the same wavelength. What ultimately determined their relationship was the conversation they had about the moon that went something like this……Trembling with fear, she picked up the receiver and laid it on the bed sheet. But the night was so still that even from a distance she could hear Liuyuan’s perfectly calm voice saying, “Can you see the moon from your window?”

She didn't know why, but she suddenly began sobbing. The moon was big and blurred, appearing silvery with a slightly greenish tint through her thick tears.“Outside of my window,” said Liuyuan, “there is a flowering vine that blocks half the view. Maybe it’s a rose. Or maybe not.”

He didn’t say anything more, yet didn’t hang up. After a long while, Liusu began to wonder if he had dozed off, but finally heard a soft click and the phone went dead.

Liuyuan finally went into Liusu’s room at his second visit to Hong Kong where he could see the moon.

…“I always wanted to see the moon from your window. You can see it much better from this vantage point than from my chamber.” said Liuyuan.

So he had phoned her that night—it wasn’t a dream. He did love her.

Though the love between Liusu and Liuyuan wasn’t the kind with wholehearted devotion that makes lovers die for one another, but, Liuyuan’s affection for Liusu was undeniably true.

Love can be very simple—when you see the light of the gibbous moon, you can’t help but want to share it with someone. Compared with the direct expression of “I love you,” delicate and understated words of romance are far more touching.

I read a short passage long ago from what was presumably an anonymous Japanese novel, which left a deep impression on me. Searching through my memory, I’ll try to recount it as follows.

…“Mr. Shuji is the most kindhearted and generous man I’ve ever met. When talking with others about my friends,iwon’t speak of the one who suffered from an inflamed gall bladder[I feel that using the medical name, cholecystitis mayinterrupt the flow here, soichanged it to the colloquial name.], neither willimention the one who became a monk, but I’ll tell them about Mr. Shuji.” said Tsuki.

● A scene in Chinese TV series Love in a Fallen City 電視劇《傾城之戀》劇照

“What would you say about me? Would you say thatifell in love with Miss Tsuki, yet you feign ignorance?”replied Shuji.

Wheniread this paragraph,ihad a feeling that Miss Tsuku’s heart must have just melted. Soft yet powerful and with a wry wit, Mr. Shuji’s words are not only touching, but significant, and his words can make one’s heart“skip a beat.”

Honeyed words are not the exclusive property of men, and Eileen Chang was highly skilled at the art. In her novelLittle Reunion, there is an exceptionally sweet bit of phraseology, “The pattering of the rain makes me feel likeilive near a babbling brook. I’d rather it rain every day soimay think it is the rain that stops you from coming.”

Little Reunionis an autobiographical work by Eileen Chang, and the above sentence describes exactly how she felt when she was waiting for Hu Lancheng.2Her prose is melancholy but not morose, and softly poignant; making you feel like when a cat curls up around your neck and lays there purring in soft contentment, it strikes right at softest part of your heart. Instead of pointing an accusatory finger when someone stands you up, you may instead say something like“I’ve missed you” or “I waited for you until my feet got blisters,” her manner of expression adds just that perfect shade of tenderness and delicate enchantment.

The literary community sees Hu Lancheng as a “Third-rate man whose compositions were first-rate.” Yet he truly understood a woman’s heart and had a knack for words of love. When he met Eileen Chang for the first time, the two had great chemistry. As he took his leave, Eileen walked him out, and suddenly he said, “You look so tall. How can you be so tall?”

● Little Reunion (left) and Love in a Fallen City (right) by Eileen Chang 張愛玲小說《小團圓》（左）《傾城之戀》（右）

The words seem to be out of the blue, which stunned Eileen for a second, and then she chuckled. Although the two were newly acquainted with each other, the seemingly abruptness of the words revealed his “ulterior motive” towards Eileen. Otherwise, why would he feel distressed about her height? What he really meant was – “You are a little too tall for my taste.” But his way of expression was far superior.

If you want to use sweet-nothings exquisitely and gracefully, euphemism is the key. After reading between the lines, those strong feelings, sugarcoated in elegantly crafted speech, will leave you with an endlessly sweet aftertaste. Hu Lancheng most definitely had the art of the refined flirt down pat, which could make a smart and sensitive woman like Eileen Chang actually lower herself to the very ground; that said, her heart was still joyful, so from where her kowtowed head tapped the ground, a flower of radiance bloomed in its place.

(FromComedy World, February 2017)

Note:

1.Eileen Chang(Sep. 30, 1920 –Sep. 8, 1995) was one of the most influential modern Chinese woman writers. She is noted for her fiction writings that deal with the romantic tensions between men and women, and was considered by some scholars to be among the best Chinese literature of the period.

2.Hu Lancheng(Feb. 28, 1906 –Jul. 25, 1981) was a Chinese writer and editor. He was married to the novelist Eileen Chang from 1943 to 1947. During Anti-Japanese War, he collaborated with the Japanese, serving briefly in the Propaganda Ministry of the puppet regime in China headed by Wang Jingwei in the early 1940s. These actions have caused many Chinese to regard him as a traitor, and led to intense controversy regarding the value of his works.

記得讀大學的時候，一個朋友喜歡上同班一位姑娘。

寒假放假，思念異常，奈何兩地相隔甚遠，終不能相見。忽而一夜大雪，世界銀裝素裹。那一瞬間，滿腦子只想著趕緊拍下來，給她發過去：“下雪了，好美。”

當有一天，你特別想把類似的感覺告訴一個人的瞬間，你就會明白那是怎樣的一種心情。

而以月色為媒，類似的一個例子，是在張愛玲《傾城之戀》里。

白流蘇與范柳原曖昧許久，始終摸不清對方的心思。最終確定彼此的感情，就是因為這樣和月亮有關的話——

她戰戰兢兢地拿起聽筒來，擱在褥單上。可是，四周太靜了，雖是離了這么遠，她也聽得見柳原的聲音，在那里心平氣和地說：“流蘇，你的窗子里看得見月亮么？”

流蘇不知道為什么，忽然哽咽起來。淚眼中的月亮大而模糊，銀色的，有著綠的光棱。

柳原道：“我這邊，窗子上面吊下一枝藤花，擋住了一半。也許是玫瑰，也許不是。”

他不再說話了，可是，電話始終沒掛上。許久許久，流蘇疑心他可能是盹著了。然而，那邊終于“撲通”一聲，輕輕掛斷了。

直待白流蘇第二次赴港，范柳原才終于走進她的房間，從那里看到月亮。柳原道：“我一直想從你的窗戶里看月亮。這邊屋里，比那邊看得清楚些……”

那晚上的電話，的確是他打來的——不是夢，他愛她。

白流蘇和范柳原的傾城之戀，并不是生死以之的偉大愛情，但是，范柳原的愛情卻是確定無疑的。

愛一個人有時很簡單，就是看到了美麗的月色，就想跟你分享。風格委婉含蓄的高級情話，比起簡單直接地說出“我愛你”，另有一種動人心魂之處。

很久以前，我看到一段話，應該是出自一本不知名的日本小說，留下非常深刻的印象，憑借自己的記憶復原如下——

明月說：“修冶先生是我見過的最善良、最慷慨的人。如果我跟別人談起身邊的朋友，我不會談起那個患膽囊炎的人，也不一定會說起來出家當僧侶的那個，但是，我會跟他們說起修冶先生。”

修冶說，會提到我什么呢？說我愛上明月小姐，而您假裝不知道？

當時，看到這段話的感覺就是，明月小姐聽到，應該立刻酥了吧。修冶的這句話，溫柔但有力，還帶著淡淡的幽默感，讓人怦然心動，又回味無窮，讓人“心里一蕩”。

情話也并不是男人的專利，張愛玲就非常會說情話。在《小團圓》里，有這樣一句話：“雨聲潺潺，像住在溪邊，寧愿天天下雨，以為你是因為下雨不來。”

《小團圓》差不多是張愛玲的自傳，這句話描述她等胡蘭成時候的心情。哀而不怨，楚楚可憐，像小貓窩在脖子處磨蹭撒嬌般，直擊心臟最柔軟的部分，比起直接埋怨對方不來，說“我想你”“我等你等得好苦”，都更加惹人憐愛，讓人心動。文壇對胡蘭成的評價是“一流的文，三流的人”。但是，他確實是非常懂女人心，非常會說情話的。他初次與張愛玲會面，相談甚歡。走的時候，張愛玲送他出來，他忽然說：“你長得真高。你怎么可以這樣高呢？”

● 胡蘭成Hu Lancheng

這句話看似唐突。張愛玲先是一愣，接著，“噗嗤”一笑。因為二人當時還只是初相識，這句看似唐突的話，卻暴露出他對于張愛玲已經別有心思。否則，張愛玲是高是矮，他何至于如此哀怨呢？那句話其實意思就是，“與我在一起的話，長得有點高了”。但是，顯然比這樣說要好太多了。

高級情話之道，就在于含蓄委婉，細品之下又飽含濃烈的感情，讓人回味無窮。胡蘭成顯然深諳高級調情之道，像張愛玲這樣七竅玲瓏心肝的人，也還是為了他，低到了塵埃里，又開出花來。

（摘自《喜劇世界》 2017年第2期）