The literary era since 1979

Chapter 230 Saving Private Mike
December 11th, Nanluoguxiang.

Early in the morning, the alley was filled with the sound of a song coming from the radio, still "China | Soldier".

Han Yuemin rode a motorcycle to Fangyan's house, carrying fried dough sticks, sesame cakes, and an aluminum lunch box.

"Mom, is Yanzi up yet?"

"I'm up, I'm up, I'm eating."

Yang Xia brought out corn porridge from the kitchen. "I just came back yesterday and brought back a lot of things from Shanghai. There's also some for you and Yaya."

Han Yuemin said: "Let me hold it for you."

Yang Xia waved her hand and walked into the house with him.

I saw Fangyan flipping through a newspaper with his head down. When the two met, they exchanged a few words of greeting.

Han Yuemin opened the lunch box and asked, "Look what this is?"

“Hey, fried liver!”

Fangyan smelled the aroma, raised his eyebrows, and prepared to split it in two, half for each of them.

“I’ve eaten it at home.”

Han Yuemin said: "I bought all this for you."

"Then I won't be polite."

Fangyan started chatting with Han Yuemin while eating.

The topic was basically what he saw and heard at the Canton Fair.

Han Yuemin's face was full of excitement, as if he had endless things to say, especially when he mentioned the sock knitting machine he bought.

"New ones are too expensive. I can't afford them, and the dealer won't sell them to me. Fortunately, I thought of your suggestion and bought a display sample machine."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy to get?"

In the dialect, one bite of sesame cake and one bite of fried liver.

"That's right. The manufacturer was unwilling to sell it at first."

Han Yuemin said: "Thanks to Mike and his father's advice, I was told to make friends first, treat him to a meal, and then give him gifts. After we have established a good relationship, we can then reason with him. Instead of shipping these sample machines back to their company for processing, it is better to deal with them on the spot..."

Fang Yan said: "Mike and the others helped you a lot."

"really!"

Han Yuemin grinned and said, "That manufacturer is very arrogant. If they hadn't seen that I hired a foreigner as an interpreter, they would have ignored me."

Fangyan was very pleased to see his progress.

"But even if it's second-hand, the price is not cheap. Brother-in-law, are you putting all your belongings on it?"

"Not all of it, maybe 80% or 90%."

Han Yuemin said, "I'm going to use the rest to buy materials. Winter is coming soon, and I think cotton socks will definitely sell well."

"That's good, but you have to be careful."

Fangyan reminded that the situation has eased recently and the intensity of the crackdown on speculation and profiteering has also been reduced a lot.

"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

Han Yuemin nodded, then took out the letter that the editorial department of Huacheng Magazine had entrusted him to pass on.

Fangyan opened the letter and found the gist of the letter was very simple.

After the editorial review, "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" basically has no major problems and is scheduled to be published in the December issue of "Huacheng". We have also already discussed with newspapers such as "Yangcheng Evening News" and "Nanfang Daily" and will cooperate in the promotion when the time comes.

Therefore, I hope to connect "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" with Lingnan literature, and then write an article about creation and send it to "Huacheng".

We should take this opportunity to expand the popularity of literary and artistic concepts such as "Cantonese novels" and "Lingnan literature".

Wow, another payment for the manuscript has arrived!

The total number of words in the entire novel is about 52.7, which is 5270 yuan, although this is only before tax.

Add to that the printing royalties from the reprint of "Operation Sword", and the money in my pocket is increasing.

We must celebrate properly and go to the foreign guest service departments such as the History Museum and the Palace Museum to do some shopping.

………………

After finishing the last bite of fried liver, Fangyan slowly folded the letter.

"By the way, Mike has been waiting for you to return to Beijing."

Han Yuemin asked: "When do you plan to meet?"

Fangyan said, "Let's invite him to our house today."

"No, I'll go get him now!"

Han Yuemin volunteered and left quickly.

Soon, a sharp roar was heard outside the yard, from near to far.

I don’t know how long it took, but just when Fangyan was revising the novel according to the editorial department’s opinions, the roar came again.

"Teacher Fang!"

Mike ran into the house carrying a box. "Don't be in a hurry. Take your time."

Fangyan asked him to sit down.

I saw that the box was filled with information, densely packed.

Mike picked up a thick stack of manuscript paper and handed it over.

"Teacher Fang, this is the novel I wrote."

Fangyan took a closer look and saw that the title was "Blood and Sand".

The whole article is in English, but it basically doesn't pose any problem for him.

Apart from place names, unit numbers, weapons and equipment, I really don't know any of them.

After all, what I learned from Bai Ruoxue was not just Japanese, but also English.

Otherwise, how can I earn foreign exchange by writing novels in the future?
Reading from beginning to end, the book is narrated in the first person, and the protagonist "I" is a member of the 101st Airborne Division.

Seeing Fang Yan's surprise, Mike asked nervously, "What's wrong, Teacher Fang? Is there something wrong?"

Fang Yan asked in surprise: "Your father served in the 101st Airborne Division?"

"Yes, Eagle Master!"

Mike talked about his father's experience of joining the army.

Originally, they joined the 101st Reserve Infantry Division, but it was later disbanded and reorganized into the 101st Airborne Division, which initially had one parachute regiment, two glider infantry regiments, and three artillery battalions...

Old Mike was not in the Parachute Regiment, but in the Artillery Battalion.

At this point, he thankfully said: "Fortunately he didn't become a paratrooper, otherwise I might not be born into this world."

Han Yuemin was very curious, "Why do you say that?"

"There was a common saying in World War II: 'We are paratroopers and should be surrounded.'"

Mike casually talked about the extremely failed "Market-Garden" operation.

I thought the soldiers from heaven would descend to earth, but I didn't expect them to be killed as soon as they landed.

He listened to the dialect while flipping through the manuscript.

The main plot of the story is about how old Mike tries every possible way to accumulate points in order to get the opportunity to retire and return home.

The U.S. Army designed a points system specifically for American soldiers who remained in the European theater after the end of the European war.

Points can be earned for participating in a battle, winning a medal, serving for a certain amount of time, or even getting married.

Only American soldiers who reach or exceed the score of "85 points" are eligible to retire and return home by ship.

Those who did not have enough points could only continue to stay in the division, and there was a high possibility that they would be transferred to Japan to continue participating in the war.

The Japanese at that time were shouting "One hundred million people would die in glory".

In order to collect enough points as quickly as possible, Old Mike even married a local French woman.

As a result, the marriage took place, but the points to go home were not enough.

Everything he was thinking at that time was written on this manuscript paper.

“I no longer have to worry about lying in the grave and meeting God at a young age, because I am already in the grave.”

"Marriage is my grave!"

"From one grave to another!"

"Oh, God!"

Seeing this, Fang Yan pursed his lips and tried hard to suppress his smile.

"It's okay, Teacher Fang. If you want to laugh, just laugh."

Mike said this was his father's first wife and his mother's second.

"Haha~"

Fangyan immediately burst into laughter, "Your father is such a humorous and interesting person. I hope I can meet him if I have the chance."

"That's what he thought too!"

Mike said, "After reading Operation Sword, he really wants to meet you and talk about the novel."

"There will be a chance."

Fangyan continued to read, and Han Yuemin asked with interest: "Can we return to China only when we have accumulated enough points?"

"Not really. There was a policy at the time called the 'single survivor policy'."

Mike rummaged through the box and pulled out a memoir written by Fritz Nilan.

After listening to the dialect carefully, I was greatly surprised.

This "Fritz Nilan" was a soldier of Company E of the 101st Airborne Division. His three older brothers were killed in the battlefield one after another.

Under the "single survivor policy," if a family is left with only one child due to military action, that child can be withdrawn from the war.

As Nilan was the only surviving son in the family, the army ordered him to be sent back to the country.

Isn’t this the “Ryan” in “Saving Private Ryan”?
(End of this chapter)