Just Right

By Li Juan

When I was a child, I enjoyed reading a particular poem by Du Fu.

In such profusion the flowers in Aunt Huang’s garden bloom,

With thousands of them, the branches are heavily laden.

Now and then lingering butterflies dance about gracefully,

While here and there chirp (qia qia) orioles in carefree contentment.

I especially like the last two lines. Here, “qia qia” is such an interesting word: vivid, full, true to life, and musical.

The poet employs “qia qia” to mimic the singing of the orioles. When the orioles see the butterflies dancing amongst the flowers, they can’t help singing (qia-ing) on the branches. Reading the poem, I could immediately smell the breath of spring. The sight of birds singing, butterflies dancing, and flowers blooming fills my heart with great joy. The poet’s choice of the character “qia” is just right, as it is so vivid in the poem. Truly good writing is also writing that’s just right.

Our ancients believed that people of the noblest character were distinguished from others only because they had returned to their natural instinct. By the same token, there is nothing miraculous about truly great writing except being just right.

“Just right” has an indescribable subtlety in writing. A good text is a well-measured one, written to just the right degree. For a good piece of writing, a little more would be overdoing it, and little less wouldn’t be enough. Good writing is never exhaustive. Instead, it is leisurely, and a bit of poetic, a bit of white (blank space in Chinese painting), and a bit of aftertaste.Shen Congwen’sBorder Townis a perfectly structured text, and is the most beautiful writing from the prime of his career. The ending of the story was exceptionally good.

In winter, the collapsed white tower was restored. But the young man who used to sing under the moon, and whose singing often revisited Cuicui in her dreams has not returned to Chadong... This man may never come back, or perhaps he will come back “tomorrow.”

小時候讀杜甫的詩：“黃四娘家花滿蹊，千朵萬朵壓枝低。留連戲蝶時時舞，自在嬌鶯恰恰啼。”我最喜歡后兩句。“恰恰”是多有意思的詞，生動飽滿，惟妙惟肖，讀來有音律之美。

原來“恰恰”是形容黃鶯鳴叫聲，看蹁躚蝴蝶在花叢中起舞，枝頭黃鶯忍不住唱起歌來。春天氣息一瞬間撲來，鶯歌燕舞，桃之夭夭，內心充滿無限喜悅。“恰”在詩中竟然這樣傳神。

真正的好文字也是恰好。

古人這樣說：人品做到極處，無有他異，只是本然。文章做到極處，無有他奇，只是恰好。

“恰好”在文字里有說不出的微妙。恰好就是文字的度，是分寸。它不多不少，不增不減。此時，多一分則肥，少一分則瘦。文字的火候拿捏得恰到好處，是花開陌上遲遲歸，幾分詩意，幾分留白，幾分回味。

沈從文先生的《邊城》結構完美，是沈先生盛年時最美的文字。結尾出奇的好：“到了冬天，那個圮坍了的白塔，又重新修好了。可是那個在月下唱歌，使翠翠在睡夢里為歌聲把靈魂輕輕浮起的年輕人還不曾回到茶峒來……這個人也許永遠不回來了，也許‘明天’回來。”

小說到此處，戛然而止，讓人心中不免有一絲淡淡的哀傷。可是，正是這種結尾，看似平淡清麗，又恰到好處，余韻悠長，給人極大想象空間，彌漫一種生命的美麗和悲涼。

此處留白，像是一幅水墨丹青。留白處是天空、云朵，是秋水長天，意境優美，給讀者以無限遐思。

作家海明威說過：“尋找屬于自己的句子。”說得真好。其實，每個作家的一生，都在苦苦尋找屬于自己的句子。它能準確地、恰到好處地表達內心獨特的感受和生活體驗，也能讓你學習掌握文字的火候、分寸、留白、節奏。寫作是最為寂寞和孤單的事。一生的尋覓是文字的磨煉，更是內心的修煉。

恰好的文字，沒有技巧和雕琢。其實，恰好的愛情也是。世間萬物皆是如此。無論文字還是愛情，再嫻熟的技巧都抵不過脈脈真情。

讀沈從文寫給張兆和的情書：“我行過許多地方的橋，看過許多次數的云，喝過許多種類的酒，卻只愛過一個正當最好年華的人。”遇見正當最好年華的人，就是恰好，仿佛一切都是上天的安排，在對的時間遇見了對的人，真是春水映桃花。這樣的遇見是《詩經》里的“既見君子，云胡不喜”。她一直在那里等著，等到萋萋的芳草都長滿來路，他終于自己尋來了，她豈能不滿心歡喜？

讀朱生豪寫給妻子宋清如的情書：“要是我們兩人一同在雨聲里做夢，那意境是如何不同，或者一同在雨聲里失眠，那也是何等有味。”恰好的愛情，原來是一起在春雨滴答聲里入夢，那夢一定是淡藍色的。或者一起在雨聲里失眠，少年聽雨歌樓上，紅燭昏羅帳。一起聽雨打芭蕉，吟詩、作畫、品茶，伸出手去，總有一雙溫暖的手和你緊緊相握，不怕長夜漫漫，不怕風雨瀟瀟，因為有你在我身邊，哪怕時光老去。

最美的愛情是恰好之時的一見傾心，如春之原野邂逅你心儀的那個人。那一刻，草長鶯飛，煙花開遍，眼波盈盈處，怦然心動，一往情深。這樣的夫妻如沈從文和張兆和、朱生豪和宋清如、錢鐘書和楊絳。他們像黑夜里茫茫大海上的燈火，相遇的時刻，一瞬間照亮了彼此的人生，也成就一代大家。

（摘自《不過是歲月變成了生活》百花文藝出版社）

At this point, the story comes to an end, leaving the reader a feel of sadness. However, it is just this kind of ending, seemingly plain and unfinished, that isjust right. The ending, filled with the beauty and sadness of life, leaves the reader with a long-lasting aftertaste and plenty of room for imagination.

The seemingly unfinished ending is like a Chinese ink wash painting. What is missing in the ending is the sky, or the clouds, or the waters and skies merging in one color. The beauty of the artistic conception in the ending of the story leaves the reader with infinite reveries.

One of Ernest Hemingway’s best-known tips on writing is “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” In fact, all writers persue the sentence that solely belongs to themselves throughout their lives. That sentence can accurately and appropriately describe their unique feelings and life experience. During the process of their pursuit, they gradually improve abilities such as using the proper degree of intensity, controlling the rhythm of the text, and leaving necessary “blanks.” Writing is the loneliest task, in that writers spend their whole life perfecting their language and cultivating their hearts.

Writing that isjust rightdoesn’t require any techniques or elaboration, nor does love that is perfectly right. As a matter of fact, nothing in the universe needs human artifice. No techniques are as good as true feelings, be it for writing or for love.

In a love letter to Zhang Zhaohe, Shen Congwen wrote, “I have crossed many bridges, seen numerous clouds, drunk all kinds of spirit, but loved only one woman who was in her best years.” Meeting the right person in their prime of youth isjust right, as if arranged by destiny. Meeting the right person at the right time is like a pure spring and a peach blossom coming across each other. “How can a girl not be happy when she meets her Mr. Right,” as it says in theBook of Songs, a collection of ancient Chinese poetry. This girl had been awaiting the young man until the road was covered with lush grass. Now that he has finally found his way to her, wouldn’t her heart be filled with joy?

“How unusual it would be if we could dream together in the sound of rain,” wrote Zhu Shenghao in a letter to his wife Song Qingru, “and how interesting it would be if we both lost sleep in the rain.” Perfect love, by its very nature, is drifting off together—in the pitterpatter of spring rain drops—to a dreamland. Perfect love can also be going out at night to listen to music together because of restless desires. Perfect love is a relationship where the loved ones read poems, paint pictures, taste tea, or listen to the raindrops pattering on banana leaves together. Every time one puts out a hand, it will always be met and held tightly by the other’s hands. The two loved ones are never scared of long nights, or wind, or rain, because they are always by each other’s side until the end of time.

The most beautiful relationship is falling in love at first sight and at the right time, such as meeting the right person in the spring. At that moment, the grass starts to grow, the birds are taking off, and the flowers are blooming all over the place. Looking into each other’s eyes, the couple can feel each other’s heart beating, and know that this is love for life. Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe, Zhu Shenghao and Song Qingru, and Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang were such couples. At the moment they met, they ignited each other’s lives like beacon lights on the ocean at night. They made each otherjust rightfor their times.

(FromTime Shapes Life, Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House. Translation: Yi Honggen)