Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 250 A Great Victory
The lively lunch lasted until after two in the afternoon. The west wing was a mess of cups and plates, but everyone was chatting animatedly and didn't want to leave.

After noon, it started to be windy outside, with the north wind blowing hard, but the fire in the house was getting stronger and stronger, making it as warm as spring.

Friends spoke freely and talked about everything, having a great time.

There was a kang in the north room of the west wing. When people got tired of chatting, someone ran to the kang and lay down to continue chatting. Everyone followed suit and ran up. Five or six grown men were squeezed on the kang.

"Let Tiesheng have a rest too." said Tao Yushu.

"Female comrades are careful after all." Li Tuo said as he picked up Shi Tiesheng's tall but thin body and put him on the kang.

Shi Tiesheng stayed on the kang for a few minutes but couldn't lie still any longer. "Help me up quickly. I want to sit in the wheelchair."

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Why are you getting up? Just take a rest."

"No, no. It smells too bad! It's like falling into a cesspool!"

Shi Tiesheng yelled with disgust on his face, but was pinned down on the bed by everyone. Li Tuo said viciously: "This cesspool of ours is in need of a black maggot like you!"

A group of people were openly playing with vulgar shit and piss, which made Tao Yushu frown.

You have to take off your shoes when you get on the kang. It wasn't very obvious just now, but now that your sweaty feet are covered by the warm kang, a sour and refreshing smell fills the room, comparable to a biological weapon.

"I'll go out first, you chat with them." Tao Yushu said.

Lin Chaoyang followed her steps and said, "What's there to talk about with these dirty idiots? I'll go with you to have a rest."

The couple walked out of the house, took two deep breaths, and smiled at each other.

Although they were left in the side room by the host, they did not feel left out. Instead, they gathered on the kang and chatted animatedly.

Towards evening, Li Tuo was talking about movies when he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Is there a women's volleyball match today?"

"It's not just a competition, it's also a final," said Shi Tiesheng.

He is a die-hard sports fan. He loved sports when his legs were good. Now that he is in a wheelchair, he pours all his passion into watching the games.

"Then let's not leave. Let's wait until we finish watching the game. It will be more fun if we all watch the game together!"

Li Tuo's proposal was unanimously agreed by everyone.

"What about dinner?" Zheng Wanlong asked.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife had just hosted them warmly at noon, and everyone really couldn't bear to have another meal with them in the evening.

"This is easy!"

Li Tuo pointed at the mess of leftovers on the lunch table and said, "But there are still vegetables, right? Go out and buy some noodles and put them in the pot, and we'll be done."

"Okay, okay! I ate too much at noon, so let's have some vegetarian food for dinner."

Zheng Wanlong went out to buy some noodles and ran into Lin Chaoyang who was about to enter the house.

"Why go?"

"Buy some noodles."

Zheng Wanlong told everyone about their plans, and Lin Chaoyang came in to ask everyone if they wanted to stay home for dinner.

However, he really couldn't afford a feast like the one at noon. Listening to Zheng Wanlong's words, he said, "Okay, let's do it this way."

Zheng Wanlong was out for almost half an hour before coming back empty-handed.

"Where are the noodles?" everyone asked him.

"Don't mention it, they're all closed! Grocery stores, vegetable markets, supply and marketing cooperatives, and shops are all closed!"

"Good boy! Did you all run back home to watch the game?"

Everyone sighed and looked at the time. Today's game was to be held at 6pm, and it was already 5:20pm.

"Anyway, you'll eat a lot at noon, so why not just not eat? It's more important to watch the game."

"It works!"

Everyone ran to the main room and waited by the TV for the game to start, chatting about their predictions for the game and their comments on the players.

At this moment, not only the small courtyard in Mianhua Hutong, but the entire Yanjing City seemed to have become quiet, with people nervously watching in front of their televisions and radios.

The number of televisions owned today is far from comparable to that of later generations. People who have televisions have homes filled with people on three floors inside and outside.

The attention to this women's volleyball match reached an unprecedented level. Even when the men's volleyball team entered the Volleyball World Cup more than half a year ago, the people's attention was not so high.

This is the first time that a Chinese team has challenged for the world championship in volleyball, one of the three major ball sports!
At six o'clock in the evening, the words "3rd Volleyball World Cup Women's Final" appeared in the upper right corner of the TV screen.

At the beginning of the game, the Chinese team, which came out with a winning streak, showed a strong offensive momentum and completely overwhelmed the Japanese team which had the advantage of home court.

Before the game, all the spectators predicted that today might be a difficult game. After all, the opponent Japanese team is known as the "Oriental Witches" and has been at the top of Asian women's volleyball for 20 years.

No one expected that the Chinese team would take a 2:0 lead with their strong style of play.

Lin Chaoyang's home was filled with cheers and shouts. Through the walls and courtyards, he could hear the shouts coming from outside. It must be that the surrounding residents were also cheering for the Chinese team.

"This is so smooth! I thought it would be very difficult."

"The Japanese team is not good enough. How dare they call themselves the 'Oriental Witches' with this level?"

Everyone was discussing the game, and they all criticized the Japanese team unanimously.

"Don't be happy too soon. The score is only 2:0 now. Who knows, they might be able to turn the tables!" said Shi Tiesheng.

"Bah bah bah! What a crow's mouth!" Everyone quickly covered Shi Tiesheng's mouth.

It’s bad enough that he’s a black person, but his words are also so black!
As the game continued into the third game, the Japanese team seemed to gradually regain their form, scoring points through spikes and showing great momentum.

In comparison, the Chinese team's offense and blocking were a bit weak, and everyone couldn't help but feel worried as they watched their opponents continue to score.

"Lang Ping dunk it!"

"Sun Jinfang, block it! Block it!" At the critical moment, the Japanese team seemed to have burst out with unprecedented strength. Amid the cheers of the home audience, they gradually caught up with the score and tied it to 2:2.

In the crucial fifth game, perhaps the fact that the opponent had won two games in a row had affected the players' mentality, the Chinese team had a bad start and conceded 4 points in a row.

At the critical moment, coach Yuan Weimin called a timeout. After some encouragement, the women's volleyball players finally adjusted their state. Although they were still suppressed by the Japanese team in the following games, they finally kept the score close.

In the last two minutes, the Chinese team fell behind again at 14:15, and the commentator Song Shixiong's voice on TV was loud and excited.

"The Chinese team, pass the ball!"

"Main attacker Lang Ping leaped high and slammed the ball! The Iron Hammer tied the score!"

"16:15"

"17:15!"

"The Chinese team won! The players all hugged each other! The Chinese team defeated the Japanese team with a score of 3:2 and won the World Cup championship with an excellent record of 7 wins in 7 games!"

The commentator Song Shixiong on TV had a hoarse voice and was choking with sobs as he shouted loudly.

The people in the room had already hugged each other, cheering and extremely excited!
“The Chinese team won!”

"We won! The Chinese team is the world champion!"

The loud cheers seemed to blow the roof off, but an even louder sound came from outside. It was like a mighty army rushing in from afar, like an overwhelming tidal wave.

"Someone went outside to celebrate so soon?" Zheng Wanlong asked puzzled.

In today's international competitions, it is no longer a new thing for the audience to go out and protest whenever the Chinese team wins.

Shi Tiesheng said dimly: "The World Cup system is to calculate small points. With the advantage we established before, we have already won this game after 2:0. Even if the Japanese team turns the tables, the championship is ours."

Everyone complained in unison: "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Shi Tiesheng looked aggrieved, "I didn't even finish my words just now, and you covered my mouth!"

"Let's not talk about that, let's not talk about that." Everyone changed the subject, "Let's go, let's go out and celebrate too!"

Everyone walked out of the yard excitedly, and saw residents pouring out of the alley and walking towards the main street.

This was the first time Lu Yao had seen such a scene. He sighed and said, "The people of Yanjing are so enthusiastic!"

"Stop sighing, let's go and see what's going on!" Li Tuo urged everyone.

The crowd followed the crowd to Di'anmen West Street. There were more people here than in the alley. It was already dark and the cold wind was howling, but the torrent of people was like a flame under the dark sky, making the blood of those in it boil.

The Lin Erchuns looked at the scene in front of them in a daze. Zhang Guiqin murmured, "Where are we going?"

It seemed that only by going there would this grand celebration ceremony have a perfect ending.

More and more people appeared on the street. Some of them got national flags from somewhere and held them in the air, shaking and waving them desperately. Some people also held up slogans, which were crudely made and had sloppy handwriting. It was obvious that they were made in a hurry, such as "Learn from the women's volleyball team, win glory for the country" and "The spirit of the women's volleyball team will never stop."

People cheered and shouted, marching excitedly on the road. Husbands and wives held hands, brothers walked side by side, and children rode on their fathers' shoulders, looking at this great victory.

Tao Yushu stood in the midst of the surging crowd, with tears in his eyes and a surging heart.

She held Lin Chaoyang's hand tightly, "This victory is so wonderful!"

Being surrounded by thousands of people, Lin Chaoyang was also infected by this vigorous atmosphere and his heart was excited.

The foundation of national self-confidence is comprehensive confidence in the economy, military and culture, but for the Chinese at this stage, this is still too far away. A world championship is enough to make hundreds of millions of Chinese people cheer.

Lin Chaoyang did not dare to underestimate such a victory, because he knew clearly that strong national self-confidence was built up by such victories one after another.

"The Chinese have been looking forward to such a victory for too long!
Today's victory is just the beginning, we will achieve more and more victories in the future.

The heroic Chinese people will regain the national confidence that has been lost for more than a hundred years and stand tall among the nations of the world again! "

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Tao Yushu looked at him with admiration and worship in his eyes.

"Well said!" Lin Chaoyang's words also aroused loud applause from the people around him.

The parade continued to move forward and the atmosphere was very lively.

After walking on the street for nearly half an hour, the passion in Lin Chaoyang's group finally subsided. Considering Shi Tiesheng's health, everyone decided to go home.

On the way back, everyone could still not hide their excitement and talked enthusiastically about the women's volleyball team's victory and the celebration that had just taken place.

After returning to the courtyard and chatting for a while, everyone felt hungry.

Lin Chaoyang kneaded the dough, rolled it into sheets, cut it into noodles, dipped it in flour and put it into boiling water.

The leftovers from lunch were stewed into a topping, and each person was given a spoonful of the stew after the noodles were out of the pot.

Everyone sat down in a row, buried their heads in their bowls, and a burst of light grunting sounds could be heard in the room.

Lu Yao is from Shaanxi and has a special liking for noodles. After eating a bowl of hot noodle soup, sweat broke out on his forehead and he felt warm inside, and every part of his body felt extremely comfortable.

"Chaoyang's cooking skills are great, even the noodles are so delicious!"

Lu Yao's words attracted the agreement of others. Perhaps because of the blessing of such a hearty victory just now, everyone praised the noodles after eating them, and almost praised this bowl of noodles as a rare delicacy in the world.

"Dumplings when we get on the bus, noodles when we get off. This bowl of noodles tonight is just perfect. It can be considered as a farewell to Lu Yao." Lin Chaoyang said.

Lu Yao has completed his task of revising the manuscript in Yanjing, and after visiting Lin Chaoyang's home today, he is preparing to return to Shaanxi.

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Lu Yao felt a warmth in his heart.

"Next time I come to Yanjing, I will have to eat this bowl of noodles from you!"

"What's so special about noodles? If you want to eat, you should eat some delicacies from land and sea, so as to make this rich landlord bleed!" Li Tuo urged.

When he finished speaking, everyone laughed.

(End of this chapter)