Back to 80: My Literary Life

Li Li attended the conference held by the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) as the vice president of the American Comparative Literature Association. The conference was held at Oxford University. For this reason, Fang Minghua also went to Christ Church College, Oxford University to watch Li Li's speech.

The entire classroom was almost full, with not only representatives attending the conference but also students listening in. Fang Minghua quietly walked in from the back and saw Li Li standing on the podium giving a lecture.

Li Li also noticed Fang Minghua sneaking in from the back door, and a slight smile appeared on her face, and she continued her speech.

Today she was wearing a black suit and glasses, looking intellectual and elegant.

The title of her lecture today was "The History of Chinese Civilization and Dialogic Comparative Literature in the World". Facing the audience, she talked freely.

Fang Minghua only knew a little about the subject of comparative literature, which is a cross-language, cross-cultural, and cross-disciplinary literary research category. Obviously, Li Li's lecture was quite innovative and received warm applause at the end.

After coming down from the podium, Li Libin did not return to her seat, but walked to the back and sat next to Fang Minghua.

"Why are you here?" Li Li asked.

"I have nothing to do in the hotel, so I came to listen to your lecture." Fang Minghua whispered: "Do you know what I just thought of?"

"What did you think of?"

"I thought of the way you taught in the Northwestern University Literature Society 20 years ago."

Li Li smiled shyly.

That was the first day they met. As the president of the Literature Society, Li Li explained Shu Ting's "To the Oak" and Fang Minghua's "Spring" in the classroom. At that time, Fang Mingnian also listened to her lecture because he was visiting his sister.

Time flies so fast.

Twenty years have passed in a flash, and the boys and girls who used to be young have reached the age of forty.

Back then, she was ignorant of love and almost lost the love of her life, but fortunately she got it again in the end.

Although it is not perfect, she is also content.

Is life imperfect?

After the meeting, the two walked side by side on the campus.

"Lili, your meeting will be over tomorrow. Let's go back to San Francisco together the day after tomorrow? I'll book a plane ticket for you." Fang Minghua said.

"No. I want to spend two days with you in London."

"You said you come to London every year, haven't you seen enough?" Fang Minghua asked.

"But I haven't seen you before." Li Li said with a bit of coquettishness.

"Okay then."

Fang Minghua agreed.

After Li Li finished the academic conference, the two walked hand in hand in London.

Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London all left their footprints.

Due to their special relationship, Li Li rarely got so close to him outside.

It's impossible in China. Since Li Li got pregnant with Fang Minghua's child, she never went back to China. In San Francisco, they rarely walked hand in hand like this.

But in London, Li Li let go of everything and snuggled up to Fang Minghua, enjoying this rare romantic moment.

The two stayed together at night.

Standing on the balcony of the hotel, looking at the scenery outside.

Today, the sky in London, known as the foggy city, was particularly bright. Fang Ming looked up and saw the sky full of stars. Sirius in the east-south sky was particularly bright, and Orion was not far away.

"Minghua, is the brightest star in the southeast Sirius?" Li Li leaned against him and pointed to the sky and asked.

"It is Sirius." Fang Minghua answered with his pitiful knowledge of astronomy.

"Then next to it is Orion."

"Yes."

Li Li suddenly recited with great emotion:

"I have a window now. Orion has appeared on the horizon, and Jupiter is near it. There will never be a brighter moment than this before 2000. (I am not going to tell you what time it is now or how high the star is.) But I hope you can see it too. The stars we see are the same. Clarice."

Fang Minghua knew that she was reciting the classic lines from "The Silence of the Lambs".

The two held hands tightly.

Finally, the two made a special trip to Shakespeare's hometown.

Shakespeare's hometown is in the small town of Stratford on the Avon River. When the two arrived at Stratford by car, it started raining again, and the raindrops fell on the water, causing layers of ripples. The falling rain flowers and the dancing willow leaves in the wind add a touch of poetry to this quaint town.

The center of the town is Shakespeare's former residence, and the entrance is located at the Shakespeare Exhibition Center. Here, the life of this great writer is displayed, and his manuscripts and memorials to him are displayed.

The garden in the backyard of the former residence is planted with many flowers and plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, such as violets, roses, forget-me-nots, rosemary, etc., as well as statues of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare presented by China.

Lifelike.

According to the staff, Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu were born in the same year and died in the same year (1616), so Tang Xianzu is called the Shakespeare of the East.

"How is it? Feel good, right?"

"Not bad." Fang Minghua nodded.

"Minghua, are you a party member?" Li Li asked suddenly.

"Yes, what's the matter?" Fang Minghua didn't understand why she asked this question suddenly.

"Then you should go to Marx's former residence to have a look."

Huh?

Don't say, I really have such an idea.

I heard that many Chinese tourists traveling to Germany will visit Marx's former residence in the ancient German city of Trier, and most of the tourists here are Chinese.

It's like going to the former Yugoslavia, you have to go to the Tara River Valley Bridge to see the bridge.

Unfortunately, Fang Minghua has a British visa and cannot enter Germany directly. She also needs a Schengen visa.

"Next time, let's go to Germany and France together next time." Fang Minghua said.

"Yeah, and my cousin, my cousin said she has wanted to come to Europe for a long time, but she is too busy at work to leave." Li Li said.

Huh?

Three people?

This picture is too beautiful to watch.

Li Li and I visited the UK for another three days. Seeing that the 15-day tourist visa had expired, the two of them took a plane to fly directly from the UK to San Francisco.

After nearly 12 hours of flight, they finally arrived in San Francisco at about 1 o'clock the next day. Even the two of them took the airport bus to the city, and then took a taxi to the villa. It was already about 2:30.

"Where is Xinxin?" Fang Minghua asked, looking at the deserted house.

"She went to kindergarten. Now school is almost over, and the nanny went to pick up the child." Li Li said.

It turned out that Li Li's father came to San Francisco to visit his daughter during the summer vacation last year and lived here for half a year.

Originally, Fang Minghua planned to buy a villa in Los Angeles. He knew that Li Li's father liked it there, but because Li Li had to teach and was unwilling to move to Los Angeles, Li Li's father had to give up.

Before the Chinese New Year this year, seeing that their granddaughter had turned three and went to kindergarten, the couple also planned to return to China to live for a while.

They were relieved to have a nanny to pick up the child. Anyway, there were children in the community, only a few minutes away on foot.

Now Fang Minghua heard Li Li say that her daughter was about to finish school, and he immediately became energetic.

"I'll pick up my daughter." After saying that, he put down his luggage and walked out.

"Hey, do you know where the kindergarten is?" Li Li asked quickly.

"I know. I took Xinxin there to play two years ago."

"Don't worry, bring your mobile phone." Li Li hurried upstairs and took out a Motorola and handed it to Fang Minghua.

This is the mobile phone he bought in the United States. Naturally, he used a local mobile phone card, otherwise the sky-high international roaming fee would make people feel distressed.