Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 17: Package Yourself as a Struggler

Having made up his mind to write some articles to make money, Lin Chaoyang did not start writing in a hurry.

Not only because he hadn't thought about what to write, but also because he couldn't expose the matter easily. After all, he wrote the article to set up a secret fund. If he wrote something at home, wouldn't that be a blatant rebellion?

That night, Lin Chaoyang tossed and turned in bed. He was the kind of person who couldn't sleep if he was worried. His mind was full of thoughts, and he felt like he was going to pee if he didn't write.

Tao Yushu was so tired of his actions that he fell asleep very late. Thinking that he was just excited on his first day at work, he didn't take it seriously.

The next day, he went back to work and was busy from 6:30 to 8:00. The students were all in class, so Lin Chaoyang's work became less busy.

He was writing and drawing in his work manual. Hu Wenqiong's workstation was right next to Lin Chaoyang's, and he didn't say anything when he saw him slacking off.

These days, who doesn’t slack off at work?
Around noon, Lin Chaoyang was writing something with his head down when he heard a sound of knocking on the floor.

He looked up and saw a gaunt old comrade, who looked to be in his seventies or eighties, walking to the front desk with a cane.

Hu Wenqiong happened to be in the restroom at this moment, so Lin Chaoyang asked, "Old comrade, what book do you want to borrow?"

The old comrade pointed with his walking stick at a cabinet with book request cards not far away and said, "Go find it for me, the Collection of Essays on Aesthetic Criticism published by Writers Publishing House."

This old man is quite arrogant!
Lin Chaoyang complained in his heart, but who can blame him for being too old? I can’t afford to offend him!

He ran to the cabinet and rummaged around for a while before finding the request card for the collection of essays on aesthetic criticism that the old comrade wanted.

"Old comrade, let me register you."

Just as Lin Chaoyang sat down to register, the old comrade said, "Please help me find a copy of 'History of Western Aesthetics' published by the People's Literature Publishing House."

Didn't you tell me earlier?
If he wasn't afraid that the old man would fall to the ground and blackmail him, Lin Chaoyang would have argued with him. Why are you standing here with this stupid boy?
Perhaps seeing Lin Chaoyang's dissatisfaction, the old comrade said, "Young man, don't be so quick. I haven't finished speaking just now."

Blame it on my fast legs?

Forget it, it’s your fault that you are old, I will tolerate you one more time.

When he got another book request card back and prepared to register, the old comrade waved his hand and said, "No need. I just thought about it and the book is just average. I won't read it. It's boring."

After saying that, he turned and left without waiting for Lin Chaoyang to speak, leaving Lin Chaoyang confused.

What's going on? Is this old man trying to flirt with me?
He looked down at the book request card. "History of Western Aesthetics, by Zhu Guangqian."

This is the representative work of a famous modern and contemporary aesthetician, literary theorist, educator, translator, and leading figure in domestic aesthetic education. Do you call it mediocre writing?
Old Deng!

Lin Chaoyang spat fiercely at the old man's back.

After the incident, Lin Chaoyang continued to focus on the work manual.

His work manual was just a three-inch square booklet with dozens of pages. The space was too small to write anything on it. It took him one day to finish half of the page.

After work, he ran to the south gate of Yanda. Across the street was a Changzheng Restaurant, which was a place where Yanda students often came to improve their meals and was called the "off-campus canteen."

Next to the Changzheng Restaurant there is a small alley called Laohudong, where there is a savings bank, a stationery store and a daily necessities store.

Lin Chaoyang came here to buy some stationery from the stationery store. The fountain pen he used for writing was the one provided by the library. After a day, the ink was all gone, so he didn't want to take advantage of the company's paper, otherwise he would be easily regarded as a typical example of "fleecing socialism."

After buying the paper, he returned to the library and put the letter paper into the slot of his workstation desk before going home.

After dinner, Lin Chaoyang asked Tao Yushu if he wanted to watch a movie.

The large dining hall of Yanda University is not only a canteen, but also an auditorium and a movie theater. Nowadays, there is no weekend off, only Sunday, so every Saturday and Sunday night, Yanda University will sell tickets to the public and show movies. The ticket price is 5 cents, but they are all old movies.

"I still have to do my homework at night." Tao Yushu shook his head.

"Then go and see it tomorrow."

"I have to read tomorrow."

A week after returning to Beijing, Tao Yushu gradually revealed her passion for learning. After being rejected twice in a row, Lin Chaoyang lost interest and said, "Then I'll go to the library to read."

"Can't you watch it at home?"

"I can't calm down while you're here."

Lin Chaoyang's sweet words made Tao Yushu blush. She rolled her eyes at him and then walked out smoothly.

It was already 7:20 in the evening when I strolled from the east bank of Langrun Garden to the Yanda Library. The study rooms and reading rooms of the Yanda Library were still crowded, and the lights were on.

There is a message room next to the main entrance stairs, where there is a master named Xie. Lin Chaoyang has been at the library for two days and has gotten to know him.

"Xiao Lin, why are you here so late at night?" "I have nothing to do at home, so I came here to read a book."

Master Xie praised, "You are a cultured person. If my son had half the studious and hardworking spirit of you teachers and students, he would definitely be admitted to university."

"You work at Yanda, so your son will also have to start at Yanda in the future."

Master Xie smiled brightly when he heard this, "Thank you for your good wishes."

After chatting with Master Xie for a while, Lin Chaoyang came to the front desk of the closed-shelf lending desk to continue his unfinished work during the day.

Lin Chaoyang was not so proud as to think that he could enter the Chinese literary world just because he was a time traveler. Instead, he used a clever method, which was to "borrow from" successful works of later generations. The work he is writing now is one of them.

It's just that he hasn't written much for many years since he graduated from college. When he suddenly picked up a piece of writing, he had a lot of ideas, but they were all mixed up, and even if he had some successful works to draw on, his writing was still not outstanding.

Lin Chaoyang knew that this matter could not be rushed and had to be done slowly. He deleted and revised what he had written during the day, copied it onto the letter paper, and started writing again.

After working at the desk for a long time, his arms and shoulders inevitably felt sore, so Lin Chaoyang stood up and stretched himself. He casually glanced at the clock in the museum and found that it was already nine o'clock.

He quickly packed up his paper and pen and went home. When he got home, Tao Yushu was about to lie down to sleep and didn't ask him anything.

After breakfast the next morning, Tao Yumo said that she was going out to play with her classmates today and wanted to borrow her sister's bicycle.

Tao Yushu was brushing his teeth after dinner, so it was inconvenient for him to talk. Lin Chaoyang said, "Let's ride away."

"It's not your car." Tao Yumo muttered.

Hey, this girl is like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, she doesn't know how to appreciate a good person's kindness.

Lin Chaoyang was not angry with a little girl like her, but Tao Yushu was not happy. She rinsed her mouth and said, "No!"

"I'm borrowing from you, but it's not like I won't pay you back!" Tao Yumo yelled.

"It's my car. I can lend it to you if I want to. If I don't want to lend it to you, I won't."

"That's the car Dad bought."

"Dad bought it for me!"

The two sisters refused to give in to each other, and Tao Yumo went to her mother to complain in anger.

Tao Yumo spoke rudely to Lin Chaoyang. Tao Yushu just wanted to teach her sister a lesson. Seeing her mother trying to take sides, she did not argue any further and said, "I can lend it to you, but be more polite!"

"Humph!"

With his mother's support, Tao Yumo was very proud and snorted coldly, but he did not dare to be too presumptuous. After all, he would need to use the car in the future.

After she rode away, Lin Chaoyang put his arm around Tao Yushu's shoulders and said, "My wife is still the best."

Among the three brothers and sisters of the Tao family, Tao Yushu resembles his father, being generous, smart and capable, so he is deeply loved by his father. Tao Yucheng and Tao Yumo are more like their mother, with a bit of petty bourgeois temperament.

Tao Yumo was deeply influenced by her mother and has always had a bad attitude towards Lin Chaoyang.

"This girl needs to be taught a lesson. It's all because of my mother who spoiled her."

"It's okay. How can I argue with a little girl like her?" Lin Chaoyang said generously, and then asked, "Let's go out and play today!"

Tao Yushu looked hesitant when she heard this. She had just rejected Lin Chaoyang's suggestion to watch a movie last night, and it seemed a bit bad to refuse again today. But when she thought about the many books and materials she hadn't read yet, she had no intention of going out.

As soon as Lin Chaoyang saw her expression, he understood what was going on. It was not a good thing for his wife to love studying too much!

He was understanding and said, "Okay, I understand. I'll go to the library to read."

"Still going?"

"I see if you're around..." The nonsense didn't work after talking too much. Seeing that Tao Yushu's reaction was not as big as last night, Lin Chaoyang said, "Didn't I just get to the library? Anyway, I have nothing to do. I'll work in the library on weekends. Won't the leaders praise me when they see me?"

Tao Yushu teased, "Look at your cunning mind!"

“I call this the pursuit of progress.”

For the sake of his small treasury, Lin Chaoyang simply temporarily abandoned his lazy thinking and packaged himself as a hard-working person.

When he went out, he couldn't help but spit on himself.

Who would have thought that after traveling through time and space, I would become the kind of person I hate the most!

(End of this chapter)