Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 809 Detention
Tuesday, May 10th.

On this day, the autumn sky was clear and the air was crisp, with a cool breeze blowing. At the entrance of the Great Hall of the People, red flags were waving and there was a sea of ​​people, but unfortunately there were no gongs or drums, nor firecrackers.

Chen Fan parked the car some distance away and walked over with Jiang Tiantian. Watching groups of people walk up the steps, he couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "It's really lively."

Despite having rested all night and receiving massage therapy from Chen Fan, Jiang Tiantian's legs were still a little weak. She had already overslept that morning, and seeing everyone rushing in, she dared not delay any longer.

She glanced at the crowd surging towards the Great Hall of the People and gently nudged Chen Fan from behind. "Stop sighing. Let's hurry up and not waste any time."

Chen Fan raised his wrist to check the time. "It's still early, no rush."

Despite saying that, she quickened her pace and soon arrived at the bottom of the steps.

Just as he was about to go up, he stopped, pointed to a hurried figure in the distance, and said, "Sweetie, look, isn't that Uncle He?"

Jiang Tiantian turned around and quickly spotted the unusual figure. Upon closer inspection, she exclaimed, "It really is him!"

When He Qingsheng approached, Chen Fan waved and called out, "Uncle He, over here."

He Qingsheng rushed forward with his head down. He heard someone calling him from ahead, and when he looked up, he realized it was Chen Fan. He immediately ran towards him.

After meeting up and exchanging a brief greeting, the three of them headed up together.

Chen Fan looked at him and asked, "Uncle He, why are you only arriving now?"

He Qingsheng looked exhausted, his clothes were wrinkled, and he was carrying a bag. It was clear that he had just gotten off the train and had come straight here without even going to a hotel.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, He Qingsheng sighed, "Don't even mention it. I was supposed to take the train yesterday at noon. It was supposed to be an express train that would arrive at 7 a.m., but it was delayed and I didn't arrive in Beijing until 8 a.m. I had to take a taxi from the taxi stand to get here, otherwise I would definitely have been late."

"These past few days have been incredibly stressful dealing with the foreign exchange revenue split."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "If you ask me, why are you in such a hurry? Anyway, the money is in the Writers' Association's account. It's the provincial government that should be worried."

He Qingsheng was taken aback upon hearing this, and turned to look at him, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Chen Fan shrugged. "How was I supposed to know you were so honest?"

He Qingsheng felt that he was being insulted, but he had no evidence.

The two walked in talking and soon went inside.

The area became more crowded, with many acquaintances gathering together to chat.

He Qingsheng became famous much earlier than Chen Fan. As soon as he entered the hall, people greeted him. Unlike Chen Fan, most people only knew his name but had never seen him.

In short, I don't know anyone. When I walk in a crowd, apart from a few comments about my handsome appearance, no one even greets me.

Knowing that Chen Fan disliked socializing, He Qingsheng waved his hand at him as a gesture and walked away alone.

He was supposed to sit in the first or second row, but Chen Fan could only sit with the people from the Jiangnan Literature and Art Delegation, so they decided to separate for the time being.

Not only will He Qingsheng be separated from Jiang Tiantian, but Jiang Tiantian will also be reporting to the Shanghai delegation.

In the blink of an eye, the group went their separate ways.

Chen Fan didn't know many people, and he walked alone into the Great Hall of the People. He found the location of the Jiangnan delegation and saw Tan Yong, Xu Qizhen, and a few others, and only then did he feel like he had found his group.

Besides those from the Writers Association, Ji Chenfeng from the Music Association and Director Wu from the Jiangying Film Studio were also there, so he quickly greeted them.

At this point, almost all of the more than 3,000 people had entered the auditorium and taken their seats according to their assigned seat numbers.

At the very top was the rostrum, where the leaders sat. Representatives from each province sat opposite them. The rostrum was divided into three levels, and it was almost always full.

(Meeting scene)
Sitting down, Chen Fan looked around and said softly, "The numbers aren't right. Is this all the people from Jiangnan Province?"

Based on the number of attendees of over 3200, even if some attendees were attending independently, and after deducting the number of superiors, the average number of attendees from each province would be 8 or 90. However, there were only about twenty attendees here, which is far from the expected number.

"Of course more than that."

Xu Qizhen said softly, "The delegation members are generally divided into three categories. The first category sits on the dais with the higher-level leaders, the second category sits on the first floor, and the third category sits upstairs."

Chen Fan nodded in realization, "I understand."

So, Jiang Tiantian must have gone upstairs to sit. Given her seniority and rank, she's not qualified to sit downstairs.

Almost everyone in the Great Hall was speaking in hushed tones, but the small sounds combined to form a huge wave of noise. Some of the elderly people, in particular, had hearing problems and inevitably spoke louder. So, without realizing it, the entire Great Hall quickly became noisy and gave people a headache.

Many of the people here are acquaintances. They haven't seen each other for more than ten years. When they meet again, they talk about their experiences over the years. Then they see that some of them are old, some are injured, some are disabled, and some are paralyzed...

But upon seeing that their old friends were still alive, many people burst into laughter, only to find out later that some of their old friends had passed away. They immediately broke down in tears, unabashedly releasing their emotions.

Chen Fan lay on the table, wondering if he should temporarily close a few acupoints such as Ermen and Tinggong.
But Tan Yong and Xu Qizhen kept chattering away, and the key point was that they weren't talking about anything serious; they were just asking him about gossip about making movies.

Is Yuan Wang as handsome as he is on screen? I heard Xu Danping is not photogenic and is even more beautiful in person than in the movie, is that true? When will Jiangxi Film Studio release its second film? Is making movies fun...?
Chen Fan really wanted to ask them why they didn't ask Director Wu, who was sitting right next to them, but then he saw that Director Wu was surrounded by a crowd of people, so he could only give a perfunctory answer.

After rambling on for more than half an hour, the meeting was finally about to begin. As the loudspeaker announced the start of the meeting, the auditorium quickly quieted down.

Under the moderator's direction, the meeting finally began officially.

Today is the opening ceremony, and almost all the higher-level leaders are in attendance, demonstrating the importance attached to cultural and artistic work. First, a congratulatory speech was delivered on behalf of the higher authorities and the State Council, followed by Mr. Mao's opening address.

After these two speakers, several leaders from relevant ministries also gave speeches.

We'll skip the rest; everyone strained their ears during the leader's speech, afraid of missing a single word.

After a while, it was noon, the meeting was interrupted, and it was time for lunch.

Chen Fan didn't go looking for Jiang Tiantian. Instead, he followed Tan Yong and the others into the Great Hall restaurant.

In later generations, meals here were either banquets or buffets, but now they're different. It's more like a canteen, where everyone takes a tray, gets their food, and leaves.

There weren't many dishes, just seven or eight dishes and two soups. Each person could get three dishes and one soup. Staple foods included rice, steamed buns, and noodles. The dishes were free, but the staple foods required food coupons.

Don't complain about the small amount; this standard is already a privilege. On several occasions when national congresses were held, the meal allowance was much lower. It usually consisted of two dishes and a soup, with steamed buns as the staple food—not even rice. Comrades from the south could only eat steamed buns as well, and after a few days, their faces were pale. They could only manage a bowl of thin porridge in the morning, which was considered a small amount of rice. So today is fortunate; at least there's enough rice.

The group carried their food to an empty table and sat down.

Looking at the dense crowd in the cafeteria, Chen Fan craned his neck, trying to see if he recognized anyone.

Xu Qizhen glanced at him and smiled, "Who are you looking for? Your aunt?"

Chen Fan didn't even turn his head. "I'm not looking for her. I'll see if Uncle He has come."

Before leaving, he and Jiang Tiantian had agreed that they would each do their own thing during the meeting, and then go back to their car to wait after the meeting.

Tan Yong picked up a mouthful of rice and put it in his mouth, saying, "He definitely can't come. He's probably been invited over to eat with Elder Mao and the others."

After swallowing the food in his mouth, he turned his head and smiled, "There's a small canteen here too. The food is the same, but the environment is quieter, which makes it easier to talk business."

Chen Fan said "Oh," then fell silent, looked away, and buried himself in his rice.

The people next to them started talking about the meeting that had just taken place.

Tan Yong glanced at Xu Qizhen and Zhao Cheng, and asked, "What are your thoughts on the leader's speech just now?"

Xu Qizhen immediately said, "It's very encouraging. There have been many opinions in the past that our literary and artistic work has not achieved anything since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and that many achievements were made during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Liberation period. But today, when the leader spoke, he affirmed the achievements of the literary and artistic circles in the 17 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. This is very heartwarming and affirms the achievements of many veteran comrades."

Zhao Cheng was about the same age as He Qingsheng and Tan Yong, so he had a better understanding of that time. After Xu Qizhen finished speaking, he immediately nodded and said, "That's right. Some people always like to condemn everyone with one blow, which is wrong. Those who do wrong should be criticized, but those who do right should still be affirmed."

For example, "Longxugou" and "Red Crag" were created after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and they are both excellent literary works.

Chen Fan ate his meal while listening to their conversation.

Today's meeting is more about resolving some historical issues, which he has not experienced and therefore cannot speak freely about.

However, he knew one thing: once this meeting ended, his long-planned private magazine might be ready to begin preparations.

……

The first day was the opening ceremony. The second day's meeting hadn't yet gotten to the main topic, but it was still very important. Zhou Yang, vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, delivered a work report, and Yang Hansheng read out a "Letter of Condolence" to mourn the writers and artists who died unjustly in the windy weather.

The meeting was adjourned on the third day, and then from November 3rd onwards, for a continuous week, the national literary and art associations, including the China Artists Association, the China Writers Association, the China Dramatists Association, the China Musicians Association, the China Film Association, the China Quyi Artists Association, and the China Dancers Association, held their respective member representative conferences.

Originally, Chen Fan only needed to attend the Writers Association meeting, but he couldn't resist the earnest requests of several senior members.

Ye Qianyu, who had met Chen Fan a few times in Shanghai, personally recommended him to join the China Artists Association; He Lüting recommended him to join the China Musicians Association; and Xia Yan recommended him to join the China Film Association.

If the recommender wasn't so outrageous, Chen Fan would have dared to decline the offer outright. Having a member of the Writers' Association was enough; having so many other things was really useless.

But when these veteran comrades personally intervened, he could only bow his head and obey. So before the meeting was over, he had three more national membership cards.

Fortunately, the senior members knew his many roles and didn't force him to attend the meetings, giving him a lot of freedom. Most of the time, he still hung out in the Writers' Association, only occasionally going to other associations to listen to reports and make an appearance.

However, as a result, the number of people who know him has increased rapidly. It is estimated that when the next meeting is held, he will not be ignored like this time, and he will at least gain some of He Qingsheng's popularity.

And so, amidst all the hustle and bustle, the conference finally came to a close.

At the closing ceremony, the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, including its various associations, elected a new presidium.

The honorary chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles this time is Mr. Mao, the chairman is Zhou Yang, and the vice chairmen include eleven veteran comrades such as Mr. Ba, Mr. Xia, Xie Bingxin, He Lüting, and Wu Zuoren.

When the results were announced, Chen Fan was so happy he couldn't stop smiling.

There's nothing else to it. Of these people, he was quite familiar with about half of them, and he had gotten to know the rest of them over the past few days.

I reckon no one would object if he started a magazine company, right?
However, he didn't rely solely on his connections. At this meeting, Writer Chen really gave the Writers' Association a lot of credit.

While other associations were just resuming their work and recruiting new members, writers' associations at all levels had already recruited more than 500 new members and produced outstanding young writers who became famous throughout the country, such as Chen Fan and Jiang Tiantian.

Ahem, this isn't Chen Fan praising himself, but rather something that Old Mao wrote in black and white on a piece of paper and read aloud when he was giving a summary report on the work of the Writers' Association.

Comrade Chen Fan was a little embarrassed at the time. Although it was true, he should still be humble in front of so many people!

But instead of helping him to be humble, a word from the leader made Comrade Chen even more famous.

As the leader finished speaking and the meeting adjourned, the delegates all stood up to leave.

Just then, the loudspeakers in the Great Hall of the People blared, "Please invite Comrade Chen Fan, Vice Chairman of the Jiangnan Writers Association, to come to the front of the stage. Please invite Comrade Chen Fan, Vice Chairman of the Jiangnan Writers Association, to come to the front of the stage. Please invite Comrade Chen Fan, Vice Chairman of the Jiangnan Writers Association, to come to the front of the stage."

Chen Fan stood there, staring blankly ahead. So, is it important to say something three times now?
Xu Qizhen immediately gave him a push, "What are you standing there for? The host is calling you, it must be the leader looking for you, hurry up and go."

Chen Fan snapped out of his daze and said, "Oh, okay."

He then stuffed his notebook and pen into his backpack, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked forward. Everyone made way for him and stared at him, wondering who was looking for him.

They soon arrived at the front, where the old political commissar, with whom he had dined twice before, waved to him and said with a smile, "I'm treating tonight, you'll keep me company."

Chen Fan stood obediently beside Elder Mao and nodded, saying, "Yes."

Looking at the group of people standing in front of him, he felt a little dizzy.

The old political commissar smiled at the people around him and said, "The day before the meeting, he was dragged by the young Taoist priest to cook for the old marshal. I happened to be visiting the old marshal, so I ate a meal there."

During the meal, I chatted with him about the state of the arts and culture scene abroad. The young man had some interesting ideas, so I asked him to come over and share them with me.

We may not use it, but we can listen to it and use it as a reference.

The group of bigwigs around him each sized up Chen Fan with different expressions in their eyes.

Chen Fan kept his eyes down and thought to himself, "I didn't say anything at dinner that night, so why was I kept after school?"

(End of this chapter)