Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 248 It feels good

Li Tuo talked about Lu Yao's visit to Beijing for a while, and made an appointment with Lin Chaoyang to bring Lu Yao to his house the day after tomorrow. He also said, "It's been a long time since we last met. I'll invite more people to come the day after tomorrow."

Lin Chaoyang pretended to be disgusted and said, "You come here to eat and drink for free again, right?"

"We call this fighting against the rich!"

What they said were of course jokes. When Li Tuo visited Lin Chaoyang's house, he usually did not come empty-handed.

While they were chatting, Tao Yushu brought over a bowl of noodle soup.

Li Tuo ran in the cold wind for two hours and had not eaten dinner yet. When he arrived, everyone at home had finished their meal and he could only get some instant noodles to satisfy his hunger.

Li Tuo took the bowl and picked up some noodles with his chopsticks. "Hey, where are the extra ingredients? There are two poached eggs."

After saying that, he started eating. In less than three or four minutes, a big bowl of noodles and two eggs were in his stomach.

After eating, he patted his stomach and said, "Feeling good!"

After resting for a few minutes, Li Tuo stood up and said, "Let's make it like this. I'll call a few more people tomorrow. I'm leaving first."

"Sit down for a while."

"No, I won't sit down anymore. The longer I sit, the warmer I get. I don't want to leave anymore. Besides, I have to go home to watch the women's volleyball game!"

After Li Tuo left, Tao Yushu said, "He is such a warm-hearted person. Even in such a cold weather, he is still willing to make trouble."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "So he has a lot of friends!"

At around seven o'clock, the couple came to the main room. There were many rooms in the courtyard, but there was only one TV, a 9-inch black-and-white TV that Tao Yushu bought at a department store and placed in the main room where Lin Erchun and his wife lived.

An hour and a half passed quickly, and the couple watched on TV as the women's volleyball team narrowly defeated the strong Cuban team.

After the game, Tao Yushu was both happy and worried, "I don't know if I can win the game the day after tomorrow!"

"Whether they win or lose, the Chinese team has made history," said Lin Chaoyang.

"You are really good at speaking in official language."

The cruelty of competitive sports is that one man’s success comes at the cost of countless sacrifices. Even if you come in second, no one will remember your name.

If you are not the first, you are destined to be a loser.

"This is the speech I prepared for the leaders of the Sports Committee. I also prepared a winning speech. Do you want to listen to it?"

"How to say?"

“Thank you country, thank you government…”

Lin Chaoyang imitated his leader's official language in a serious manner.

"Hahaha! You really don't act like a leader!"

Tao Yushu was not laughing at this official speech, but he felt that Lin Chaoyang's image was far from this formal speech image, and he couldn't help but want to laugh.

The couple chatted, washed up and went to bed. Lin Chaoyang took out the manuscript he received in the afternoon and looked at it. Tao Yushu asked curiously, "Where did you get the manuscript?"

"A student from Yanda University? Let me help you take a look at his fitness skills."

"Just to look?"

"If you think it's suitable, I will definitely help recommend it."

Tao Yushu joked: "You are a very capable editor."

She saw that in addition to the manuscript Lin Chaoyang was reading, there was another one there, so she picked it up curiously and took a look.

She was reading "Cloud", a novella that Lin Chaoyang had read when he was in school. She finished it hastily before going to bed.

"This manuscript is quite interesting!" Tao Yushu discussed with Lin Chaoyang after lying down.

"How is it interesting?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"It has a bit of a 'contemporary Jane Eyre' flavor," Tao Yushu concluded.

Lin Chaoyang laughed out loud, "Your evaluation is not low!"

“I don’t mean the level, I mean the story.”

This novel by Zhang Manling tells the story of the heroine Yifan, who, under pressure from the environment and political persecution, resolutely gave up her childhood sweetheart, a powerful woman, and used the college entrance examination as a springboard to get out of her predicament.

If we just talk about the story, it is very clichéd. As Tao Yushu said, it does have a bit of the flavor of "Jane Eyre".

At this time, Tao Yushu showed a mischievous smile on his face and said, "I know why you agreed to help recommend this novel!"

"why?"

"This novel is not only like Jane Eyre, but also like your The Horse Herdsman."

Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but laugh.

Tao Yushu is right. Whether it is "Cloud", "Jane Eyre" or "The Shepherd", they are essentially stories about Jack Sue or Mary Sue.

The story of "Cloud" is not outstanding. What is more impressive is the uncompromising personality of its protagonist. Lin Chaoyang guessed that Zhang Manling projected her own shadow onto the protagonist.

"You can see through the essence of these three works at a glance. You are indeed suitable to be an editor. What do you think? Do you want to take this novel to Zhang Dening and others to submit your loyalty?"

Tao Yushu immediately saw through his "evil intentions" and said, "You really know how to be a good person. You took on the job yourself, but you want me to run errands for you."

"Hey, Madam, you are wrong! You and I are one, husband and wife. You are in me and I am in you. How can we be so estranged?"

Lin Chaoyang's eyes were wandering, and his voice was artificial and a little dishonest. Tao Yushu noticed something was wrong immediately, and when a big hand covered her vitals, she couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.

It was a one night stand, let’s not talk about it anymore.

Two days later, on the weekend, Lin Chaoyang and his wife got up early and went to the vegetable market. In the winter of the 1980s, there were basically no seasonal vegetables in the vegetable market, and the few vegetables were all shipped from southern provinces, which often took a week or two on the road, so they were very expensive.

To sum it up, the quantity is small, the price is high and it is not fresh. So don't be picky. It's good enough to be able to buy it.

Moreover, ordinary people can't afford it. Those with average conditions can only eat some winter storage vegetables. Many families can only afford to buy some green vegetables during the Chinese New Year.

The couple did buy a few vegetables, some fish, meat and eggs before returning home.

About a hundred or eighty meters away from the courtyard, I saw several figures standing in front of the courtyard gate, gesticulating and holding things in their hands.

When I got closer, I heard several voices.

"I always feel like something is wrong!"

"Yeah, I just can't put my finger on it."

……

Lin Chaoyang was familiar with the people standing at the door. They were Feng Jicai, Zheng Wanlong, Zhang Chengzhi and Chen Jiangong.

Several people stood at the door and looked at each other for a long time, and didn't even notice Lin Chaoyang and his wife approaching.

Lin Chaoyang said, "You all feel something is wrong, right?"

His voice attracted the attention of several people, and seeing that the couple were carrying things, they hurried over to share the burden.

After saying hello, Feng Jicai said, "Thanks to this couplet, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find your house."

As they were talking, they walked into the courtyard. Chen Jiangong remembered what Lin Chaoyang had asked just now and asked, "Chaoyang, what do you mean is wrong?"

Lin Chaoyang walked into the yard first and left a message, "Hang up this couplet, and my yard will become a restaurant!"

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but take another look at the couplet.

Don't say it, don't say it!
It has that authentic flavor!
Several people couldn't help laughing and followed Lin Chaoyang into the yard. This was their first time here, and like elementary school students after school, they scattered around the yard, looking left and right.

"Where's Li Tuo? I only called you guys, but where are the others?" Lin Chaoyang went into the kitchen, put away the things, and asked them.

"He and Lu Yao went to bring a friend over." Zheng Wanlong replied. He took a fancy to the pomegranate tree in Lin Chaoyang's yard. Touching the bare trunk, he felt like twisting the trunks into a string.

Chen Jiangong and Zhang Chengzhi asked Lin Erchun and his wife about their well-being and talked about the distribution of land to households in the countryside, which touched Comrade Erchun's heart and he talked incessantly.

Feng Jicai was very quiet. He noticed a painting that Lin Chaoyang had hung in the room. He went over to admire it for a while, then ran over and asked Lin Chaoyang excitedly, "How did you get a painting by Fu Baoshi?"

"I bought it."

"This painting must be worth two or three hundred, right?"

Lin Chaoyang thought to himself, do you look down on me or on Fu Baoshi?

"more or less."

Feng Jicai sighed, "You are so rich," and ran back into the house to admire famous paintings.

Looking at the people scattered in the yard, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang: "Have you noticed that they are a little..."

Lin Chaoyang understood Tao Yushu's idea, "The sheep in our team are in different conditions when they are kept in the pen and when they are released into the mountains."

Tao Yushu gave him a thumbs up for his accurate description.

After the novelty of the yard wore off, these people finally remembered to go to the kitchen to help Lin Chaoyang and his wife with their work.

While everyone was busy in the kitchen, Li Tuo came with his people.

Hearing the noise, Lin Chaoyang came out to greet them, only to see Li Tuo pushing a wheelchair with a dark, thin young man with a broad frame in it. Behind him were Lu Yao and a strange middle-aged man.

"Chaoyang, come here, let me introduce you!"

Li Tuo enthusiastically pulled Lin Chaoyang over and introduced him to the young man in the wheelchair.

"This is Shi Tiesheng, a young writer from our Yanjing University."

Lin Chaoyang recognized the young man in front of him without Li Tuo's introduction.

Lin Chaoyang's earliest impression of Shi Tiesheng was of course the excerpt of "I and the Altar of Earth" in the textbook. He did not understand the meaning of the text when he first read it, but when he read it again in middle age, he was deeply moved.

Later, he became popular on TikTok and won the love of countless new generation readers. More than ten years after his death, his life has shone with another kind of brilliance on the Internet.

"Comrade Tiesheng, hello!"

Lin Chaoyang shook hands with Shi Tiesheng and said hurriedly, "Come in, come in!"

Li Tuo's group of four people, in addition to him and Shi Tiesheng, there is also Lu Yao, the reason for this gathering.

The other middle-aged man is Chen Jianyu, deputy director of the Art Research Department of the Film Association. He was formerly the editor of "Film Art". Li Tuo has been studying film theory in the past two years and has also become a "good wife" to his wife Zhang Nuanxin, so he got to know Chen Jianyu.

Li Tuo has a good ability to mobilize. In addition to Lu Yao, he called six people in two days. Most of these six people live in Yanjing.

What is rare is Feng Jicai, who lived in Tianjin, was called to Yanjing by Li Tuo.

"He said Chaoyang was going to treat us, and I said I had to come." Feng Jicai pointed at Li Tuo and said, causing everyone to laugh.

"You have to thank Lu Yao. If he hadn't come to Yanjing to revise the manuscript, we wouldn't have had the reason to ask Chaoyang to treat us." Li Tuo pointed at Lu Yao again.

Lu Yao smiled with his chubby face, his eyes narrowed into slits, "If you come to Yanjing and don't eat a meal made by Chaoyang, then it would be a waste of time, right?"

"That's a good idea! That's a good idea! You should spread the word when you go back. When people come to Beijing in the future, please come here so that we can have a free meal with them."

Although we said we were eating for free, everyone brought something with them. After all, no one is well off nowadays, and having a meal at a gathering is quite a luxury.

Everyone gathered together to chat and laugh. Lin Chaoyang asked Lu Yao, "When are you going to publish your novel?"

(End of this chapter)