Fu Lei quoted Balzac's famous saying in his letter in January 1954.

In "Fu Lei's Family Letter", the specific content of Fu Lei's first letter to Fu Cong is: My child, this time you are really "smiling all day long"! Teach people how to give up! I keep thinking about what happened in the first month of 1953, and I can’t get rid of the guilt in my conscience. My child, I abused you, I will never be sorry for you, I will never be able to atone for this sin!

These thoughts never left my mind for the whole day, but I didn’t dare to tell my mother. If you do one wrong thing in life, your conscience will never be at peace! Really, Balzac said it well: Some sins can only be redeemed, not washed away!

Character profile

Fu Lei (1908.4.7-1966.9.3), courtesy name Nu'an, nickname Nu'an, Han nationality, native of Nanhui County (now Nanhui District), Shanghai, translator , literary critic. In the early 1960s, Fu Lei was admitted as a member of the French Balzac Research Society for his outstanding contributions in translating Balzac's works. All his translations have been compiled by his family and handed over to Anhui People's Publishing House to compile "Fu Lei's Translated Works", which has been published in 15 volumes since 1981 and has now been published.