Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 285 Drink Hot Tea
"Yenching Literature" is a comprehensive literary journal, and its content mainly consists of short stories, poems and other themes.

Because of the previous dinner party, writers who had won national awards sent Tao Yushu a lot of manuscripts, mostly short stories, which was a mutually beneficial thing for both parties.

Tao Yushu has only been working for a few months, but his work results are more dazzling than those of many of his colleagues who have worked for two or three years. He is valued by his leaders and envied by his colleagues.

However, she is even more strict with herself and treats every manuscript more carefully and meticulously.

Influenced by her school habits, she also has a "bad habit" of bringing manuscripts home. Because she has been sleepy due to pregnancy, she often falls asleep while reading the manuscripts.

Whenever this happened, Lin Chaoyang would always tease her for "promoting the bad habit of overtime work in the editorial department" and "encouraging passive comparison among colleagues."

Even when Tao Yushu was pregnant, she still used her spare time to work overtime, but Lin Chaoyang was the exact opposite. Since she became pregnant, he not only took leave more frequently than before, but also slacked off to an extreme extent, and leaving early had become commonplace.

He does not pursue advancement in the unit and is not afraid of criticism from his superiors.

This afternoon, he ran away before four o'clock and arrived at the gate of the Cultural Bureau to wait for Tao Yushu to get off work.

Accompanied by Geng Chuanfeng, the two of them took a tour around the West Courtyard. After a month of renovation, the West Courtyard could be said to be completely new.

The first and third courtyards are traditional Chinese courtyards, and they are still simple and elegant after renovation. The second courtyard is in Western style, and looks more fashionable than before.

Especially the two sycamore trees in the yard. After the spring, the tender and small new leaves gradually grow into large dark green leaves. After every spring rain, the branches and leaves of the sycamore trees will grow wildly.

The lavender morning glories have disappeared at the beginning of spring, replaced by more flying catkins in the yard.

These flying catkins are a little annoying, but compared with the joy that the gradually full and dense tree canopy brings to the owner, this annoyance seems nothing.

Tao Yushu looked up at the crowns of the two sycamore trees, imagining that in midsummer they would crisscross the roof and block out the entire sky in the yard, and his heart suddenly felt cool.

“This yard is a great place to escape the heat!”

Lin Chaoyang also laughed, "It's more than just a place to escape the heat. The gentle breeze and swaying branches and leaves add a touch of leisure and ease. This will be our home from now on."

The couple has bought three houses so far, but in terms of elegant environment and superior geographical location, the Overseas Chinese Apartment and Mianhua Hutong cannot compare to Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

Tao Yushu couldn't help but feel longing after listening to his words.

After admiring the scenery in the yard for a while, the couple started discussing moving.

The reason why Lin Chaoyang bought this house was to make it convenient for Tao Yushu to commute to get off work. Now that the west courtyard has been cleaned up, of course he has to move in earlier.

After deciding what to move, the couple left.

When he returned to the Overseas Chinese Apartment, the security guard at the door said that a package had arrived. Lin Chaoyang took a look at the sender and saw that it was Lu Wenfu. He understood what was going on.

When I got home, I opened the package and saw a package wrapped in brown paper.

There are two layers of kraft paper, the outer layer is kraft paper with better moisture resistance, and the inner layer is rough paper with better moisture absorption. This wrapping method is called rolling wrapping, which is a common method for stacking and storing green tea.

Through the thick kraft paper, I could smell a refreshing fragrance. After opening it, I saw that it was indeed roasted tea leaves.

Last year, Lu Wenfu said he would send him some tea, and this year he really did.

"This tea smells so nice!" Tao Yushu was intoxicated by the scent of the tea.

The tea Lu Wenfu sent was the best Biluochun, a new tea for the spring.

After receiving the tea, Lin Chaoyang naturally wrote back to express his gratitude. Tao Yushu said, "I'll buy some special products tomorrow and send them out together."

"it is good."

Lin Chaoyang found a weekend and got two trucks to move the house. He hired Li Tuo, Chen Jiangong, Zhang Chengzhi and others to do the labor.

These guys often come to our house to eat for free, so we can't miss them when we move. They come to eat for free whenever we move.

"Gently, gently! My box contains porcelain from the Ming Dynasty."

"Don't move it like that, ouch, my painting!"

Li Tuo and his colleagues worked carelessly. When they were moving things, Lin Chaoyang was like a rich landlord staring at the work of his farmhands. He watched them move things and shouted with heartache.

"Mr. Lin, why don't you find a few real farmhands? It's not worth it for us to come here just for a free meal." Li Tuo complained.

"You raise soldiers for a thousand days and use them for a moment. Do you think those meals you eat are free?"

"What a black-hearted landlord!"

A few people moved their things while joking with each other, and all the things were moved away in one truck.

The Overseas Chinese Apartment is nearly ten kilometers away from Xiaoliubukou Hutong. It took a whole morning to make the trip. Lunch was arranged by Zhang Guiqin. After a morning of physical work, Li Tuo and his friends ate voraciously, almost squatting on the doorstep with their bowls in their hands.

After dinner, they toured the houses again.

Chen Jiangong said: "Your yard is really big. It will be no problem for four generations to live together in the future."

"It's better to make it bigger, so he doesn't have to have a place to put his antiques."

Tao Yushu had no objection to Lin Chaoyang's collecting, but he was very dissatisfied with the antiques that filled up so much of their home.

Previously, the Overseas Chinese Apartment was only over 100 square meters, and it became crowded when some antiques were placed in it. Now it’s solved.

The courtyard house in Xiaoliubukou Hutong covers an area of ​​2,000 square meters. If fully renovated, it will have 40 to 50 rooms, and Lin Chaoyang can arrange them however he wants.

After a stroll, a few people sat under the veranda and enjoyed the spring breeze.

Lin Chaoyang brewed a pot of tea for everyone, "Come and try the Biluochun that Lu Wenfu just sent."

Chen Jiangong took a sip of tea and said, "Mm, it tastes better than scented tea."

"You're talking nonsense!"

The common people in Yanjing have the habit of drinking scented tea, especially jasmine tea. In the early years, the well water in Yanjing had a strong alkaline taste, and the scented tea had a strong taste, which could cover up the alkaline taste of the well water. "Why did he only send you tea leaves?" Li Tuo asked Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang glanced at him and said, "If you don't send it to me, you should send it to you? Did you treat him to a meal?"

"It's nothing big to have a meal."

Li Tuo's behavior is typical of someone who scolds the cook after eating a full meal.

Lin Chaoyang was about to provoke him, but Zhang Chengzhi changed the subject and said enviously, "Such a large courtyard house was only enjoyed by the rich and powerful in the past. Chaoyang's move is really extraordinary."

"After all the work is done, it's almost 20,000 yuan. If it's all repaired, it will cost more than 20,000 yuan."

“You’re really willing to spend money!”

"No, it's about making real money. If you can write a novel in a few months like him, you can also live in such a big yard."

Chen Jiangong's words made Li Tuo look gloomy. In the past two years, he has focused his main energy on movies, and his novel output has declined sharply.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to write, but he found that when he stopped to rest for a year or two, the latecomers had left him far behind, which made people feel a little discouraged. Recently, he has the urge to turn his energy to literary criticism.

"It's still better to make money by writing long articles!" Li Tuo sighed.

Zhang Chengzhi objected, "That's not right. To write a novel, you have to publish it and produce a lot. Taxi drivers make a lot of money. They drive their cars to the airport or park outside foreign-related hotels and easily make 400 to 500 yuan a month."

"This is all hard-earned money, and it's speculation... You can't say that, it's called business now, that's what they call making money, if they do well in one month, they can make as much as we can do in two or three years."

The three of them were talking with envy, and Lin Chaoyang suggested: "It's so good, why don't you do it too!"

The three of them shook their heads in unison, their attitudes surprisingly consistent, "Forget it. We are not destined to get rich, so it's good enough to do some literary and artistic work."

"I haven't seen you produce many works!" Lin Chaoyang's ridicule was heartbreaking.

Li Tuo's eyes were filled with anger, and Chen Jiangong also looked annoyed, but Zhang Chengzhi was the only one who looked calm.

Whoever gets angry has been hit in a sore spot. Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong both write short stories, and there haven't been any new works published recently.

Zhang Chengzhi just published the novella "Black Stallion" in "Yanjing Literature" in March, which received a lot of praise in the literary circle and among readers.

It’s a pity that this novel was published at the same time as Lin Chaoyang’s "Shutter Island", and its limelight was completely stolen, and it did not have much influence.

Whether it was sarcasm or ridicule between friends, it was mostly joking and no one took it seriously. After chatting and laughing for a while, several people prepared to say goodbye and leave.

Before leaving, he did not forget to take some tea sent by Lu Wenfu, saying that he could not favor one over the other.

Lin Chaoyang returned to the main room in the west courtyard. Zhang Guiqin and Tao Yushu had almost finished cleaning.

Lin Chaoyang made tea for them both and said, "Take a break."

Zhang Guiqin sat down to drink tea and said to Lin Chaoyang, "I always hoped that you could settle down in Yanjing and have your own home. When we bought the Overseas Chinese Apartment, your father and I were very happy. Now, there are more and more houses, and they are getting bigger and bigger. It's almost impossible to afford to clean them."

"It's okay, I'll hire someone later."

Hearing this, Zhang Guiqin immediately became anxious, "Hiring someone? What for?"

"Washing, lighting the fire and cooking, in short, a nanny." Lin Chaoyang made a witty remark.

Zhang Guiqin's expression was unusually serious. "I have a little money to burn you. Why do you hire a nanny? You have no hands and no feet, or I have no hands and no feet."

"Didn't you say cleaning was too tiring?"

"What's wrong with being a little tired? Isn't it normal for farmers to be a little tired?"

Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu looked at each other and chose to keep silent, which was not very tactful.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang brought a can of Biluochun to work and placed it at the front desk of the library.

"I just received some new tea from a friend. Let's all try it."

Du Rong teased, "You are trying to bribe us with these little favors again, right?"

It was common for Lin Chaoyang to ask for leave, be late, and leave early. He often needed help from several colleagues at the lending library, so he would bring something for everyone from time to time.

"This is called a selfless gift between friends. You are a vulgar person!"

Du Rong said with disdain, but she made tea faster than anyone else.

The steam in the teacup rose, emitting bursts of fragrance. "Hmm, it smells much better than Gao Sui."

Gaosui is the tea dust sifted out when sifting tea in the old Yanjing tea shops, so it is also called Gaomo. This kind of dust is discarded as useless in other places.

But for the poor people in Yanjing at that time, it was a rare tea ingredient. Over time, the common people in Yanjing developed the habit of drinking Gaomo.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, each unit also issued high-end tea to employees, and this tea got a new name, called labor protection tea.

"You are wrong. Gaomo is also a good tea in essence, otherwise why is it called high-grade tea dust?
It's just a bad description, it means a lady has the body of a maid."

Lin Chaoyang's tone was humorous, and Du Rong was amused by him, "Okay, then we will accept it!"

Du Rong and Zheng Tongjiang were on duty at the front desk today. When Du Rong was talking to Lin Chaoyang, Zheng Tongjiang was already drinking heavily, saying as he drank, "Good tea! Good tea!"

"Old Zheng, you're not afraid of the heat."

"You should drink hot tea and marry a plump wife. You young people don't understand."

After chatting and laughing for a while, Lin Chaoyang was about to go to the library upstairs when he suddenly heard a noise outside.

(End of this chapter)