How to Whisper Graceful Sweet-Nothings高级情话

Text by Yan Wan 燕玩

Translation by Zhu Yaguang 朱亚光

How to Whisper Graceful Sweet-Nothings高级情话

Text by Yan Wan 燕玩

Translation by Zhu Yaguang 朱亚光

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.”

● 张爱玲 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 电视剧《倾城之恋》剧照

“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 张爱玲小说《小团圆》（左）《倾城之恋》（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.

记得读大学的时候，一个朋友喜欢上同班一位姑娘。

寒假放假，思念异常，奈何两地相隔甚远，终不能相见。忽而一夜大雪，世界银装素裹。那一瞬间，满脑子只想着赶紧拍下来，给她发过去：“下雪了，好美。”

当有一天，你特别想把类似的感觉告诉一个人的瞬间，你就会明白那是怎样的一种心情。

而以月色为媒，类似的一个例子，是在张爱玲《倾城之恋》里。

白流苏与范柳原暧昧许久，始终摸不清对方的心思。最终确定彼此的感情，就是因为这样和月亮有关的话——

她战战兢兢地拿起听筒来，搁在褥单上。可是，四周太静了，虽是离了这么远，她也听得见柳原的声音，在那里心平气和地说：“流苏，你的窗子里看得见月亮么？”

流苏不知道为什么，忽然哽咽起来。泪眼中的月亮大而模糊，银色的，有着绿的光棱。

柳原道：“我这边，窗子上面吊下一枝藤花，挡住了一半。也许是玫瑰，也许不是。”

他不再说话了，可是，电话始终没挂上。许久许久，流苏疑心他可能是盹着了。然而，那边终于“扑通”一声，轻轻挂断了。

直待白流苏第二次赴港，范柳原才终于走进她的房间，从那里看到月亮。柳原道：“我一直想从你的窗户里看月亮。这边屋里，比那边看得清楚些……”

那晚上的电话，的确是他打来的——不是梦，他爱她。

白流苏和范柳原的倾城之恋，并不是生死以之的伟大爱情，但是，范柳原的爱情却是确定无疑的。

爱一个人有时很简单，就是看到了美丽的月色，就想跟你分享。风格委婉含蓄的高级情话，比起简单直接地说出“我爱你”，另有一种动人心魂之处。

很久以前，我看到一段话，应该是出自一本不知名的日本小说，留下非常深刻的印象，凭借自己的记忆复原如下——

明月说：“修冶先生是我见过的最善良、最慷慨的人。如果我跟别人谈起身边的朋友，我不会谈起那个患胆囊炎的人，也不一定会说起来出家当僧侣的那个，但是，我会跟他们说起修冶先生。”

修冶说，会提到我什么呢？说我爱上明月小姐，而您假装不知道？

当时，看到这段话的感觉就是，明月小姐听到，应该立刻酥了吧。修冶的这句话，温柔但有力，还带着淡淡的幽默感，让人怦然心动，又回味无穷，让人“心里一荡”。

情话也并不是男人的专利，张爱玲就非常会说情话。在《小团圆》里，有这样一句话：“雨声潺潺，像住在溪边，宁愿天天下雨，以为你是因为下雨不来。”

《小团圆》差不多是张爱玲的自传，这句话描述她等胡兰成时候的心情。哀而不怨，楚楚可怜，像小猫窝在脖子处磨蹭撒娇般，直击心脏最柔软的部分，比起直接埋怨对方不来，说“我想你”“我等你等得好苦”，都更加惹人怜爱，让人心动。文坛对胡兰成的评价是“一流的文，三流的人”。但是，他确实是非常懂女人心，非常会说情话的。他初次与张爱玲会面，相谈甚欢。走的时候，张爱玲送他出来，他忽然说：“你长得真高。你怎么可以这样高呢？”

● 胡兰成Hu Lancheng

这句话看似唐突。张爱玲先是一愣，接着，“噗嗤”一笑。因为二人当时还只是初相识，这句看似唐突的话，却暴露出他对于张爱玲已经别有心思。否则，张爱玲是高是矮，他何至于如此哀怨呢？那句话其实意思就是，“与我在一起的话，长得有点高了”。但是，显然比这样说要好太多了。

高级情话之道，就在于含蓄委婉，细品之下又饱含浓烈的感情，让人回味无穷。胡兰成显然深谙高级调情之道，像张爱玲这样七窍玲珑心肝的人，也还是为了他，低到了尘埃里，又开出花来。

（摘自《喜剧世界》 2017年第2期）