We worked on this book for two years, and the title of the book was "A Fragrant Life" at the beginning. Meifen, the grandmother of the author Wu Wei, was born in 1928 and died on December 21, 2018. Grandfather Fang Yao, born in 1930, died in the early morning of June 8, 2013.
In order to commemorate his grandparents, Wu Wei returned from Beijing to the county where his grandparents lived and worked to listen to their stories when they were young. Here is the home where they have lived together for 17 years, when Wu Wei returned to the old house, opened the sealed relics, sorted out their lives, and pasted the ** that he had taken for his grandmother into the current room; Going to the scenic spots we are traveling together, standing in place and taking pictures, superimposing the existing space, the current me, and the commemorative photos of past travels, this kind of touch seems to be close at hand, but it is forever separated.
Fragrant Life" is a word from the name of the grandparents and grandmothers, and these four words stand side by side, like an indestructible symbol and bond, connecting the indestructible love between the grandparents and Wu Wei.
And when the author and I finally decided that the title of the book was "I was a child raised by my grandparents", I thought of more growth and love.
Wu Wei said that the reason why he wanted to make this book is only because there are countless children in this world who have been raised by their grandparents and grandparents, and in their hearts, they may have always had a sentence to say to their grandparents and grandparents, but they couldn't say it.
In the process of making this book, I thought of my grandmother again and again. My parents are dual-income workers, and I was brought up by my grandmother. She told me countless stories, played countless games with me, and I will always remember what a peaceful happiness it was to sit on a bamboo bed on a summer afternoon and scratch my grandmother's back with a washed duck beak. My memory is full of the shadow of my grandmother, but unfortunately when my grandmother left, I didn't know how to love.
Miao Qian, the designer of this book, is also a child raised by her grandparents - which of us is not? But what she brings is not only the re-superposition of emotions, but also a kind of restraint that comes from professionalism, she makes the full emotions fuller, and also makes those heavy light.
Finally, I would like to go back to that afternoon two years ago, when I read this passage written by Wu Wei at the beginning:
I grew up sleeping with my grandparents, touching my grandmother's earlobe, and sleeping best. Later, when we grew up, my mother let us sleep separately, and I slept in a small bed in my own room. On the first night, my grandmother and I didn't sleep. When I can't sleep at night, my favorite thing is to run to my grandparents' room with a small bench and listen to their breathing. Every time the sound was too soft, or the interval was too long, I was worried that they were dead. ”
I was struck by this sentence, and what she wrote was exactly what I feared and worried about as a child. At that moment, I decided that I was going to be the editor of the book.
At this point, the book is complete. We hope that it will remind you of your own, grandparents, grandparents. I would also like to give this book to all the children who have been-
Mom stands in front of the closet.
Put the clothes of the grandparents.
From left to right. Flip it over.
Mom. What are you doing.
I touched the **.
Mom and Dad".
I am a child brought up by my grandparents".
Wu Wei. CITIC Publishing Group.
December 2023.