Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 255: How to Stop the Meteor Shower
Zhang Chao looked at the woman who said this in astonishment. It had been a long time since he heard such an original prelude to a face-slapping scene in an online novel.

There was only a small lamp hanging at the entrance of the village committee. The wattage was too low to illuminate the face clearly. One could only tell that she was about 30 years old, quite tall and slender, and wearing a white dress, which made her look quite fairy-like.

It might be because the weather was too cold. Under the knee-length skirt, she was wearing a pair of khaki autumn johns with the legs tucked into her socks.

Zhang Chao's butt had just been bumping on the dirt road for several hours, and his whole body was sore. He had no interest in fighting monsters, so he ignored her and asked the village chief, "Is she the cadre who came to the village?"

The rooms on the second floor were originally used by cadres who came to the village to stay temporarily. Zhang Chao had also agreed with the village chief that if there were cadres coming to the village, he would move out first and spend the night in the office downstairs or at the village chief's house.

The village chief said, "No. They came from some unit in the county to take pictures in our village. It was late when they drove up, and it was dangerous to go down the mountain at night, so they stayed overnight."

Only then did Zhang Chao notice that there was an off-road vehicle parked in the small open space behind the village committee. The bull-head logo on the front of the vehicle indicated that it was probably a Toyota Prado.

Since he was not a cadre from the village, Zhang Chao didn't want to pay any attention to him. He just silently took down the two snakeskin bags and the folding table and went upstairs with them.

When the woman saw that Zhang Chao ignored her, she immediately became furious and said, "Why are you like this? I'm asking you a question!" Then she moved sideways and blocked the stairs.

At this time, several men and women came out of the office. The oldest one looked to be in his 40s, and the youngest one was about 30. They all seemed to be in the same group, and they surrounded Zhang Chao immediately. Some of them tried to persuade him earnestly, while others glared at him and scolded him:

"What's wrong with just staying for one night? How can you be so stingy as a grown man?"

"Little brother, we are all out here, so we should all help each other."

"If you feel you're at a disadvantage, I can give you some money. Is 20 yuan enough?"

"Is there anyone as rude as you? Didn't you hear our Juanzi asking you a question?"

The village chief was anxious and said quickly: "Everyone, everyone, let's discuss it properly. Xiao Zhang did live in the room on the second floor first. If you want Xiao Zhang to give up the room, we need to discuss it properly."

Zhang Chao then saw clearly that apart from the woman at the beginning, the remaining three people surrounding him were one woman and two men, all dressed in decent clothes. One of the men had a camera hanging on his chest.

However, judging from the positions of the people, the man wanted to be a hero and stood in front of the woman; but the woman maintained a subtle distance from the man, seeking the man's protection while cleverly avoiding physical contact.

The four sentences that just cursed Zhang Chao were said by three of them. Only a woman standing at the back did not say a word, hiding timidly in the shadow of others.

Zhang Chao, who understood the situation, sneered and said, "You really don't dare to go down the mountain? I'm afraid you don't want to go down the mountain. I'm afraid that if I give you the room, I will have to clean and disinfect the whole house tomorrow."

When they heard Zhang Chao's words, they all blushed, and then they looked angry. They didn't know why Zhang Chao, who looked only in his 20s, had such a sharp eye.

Zhang Chao was not upset. The extra twenty years of experience had taught him that this kind of self-driving tour of middle-aged men and women "helping each other" was actually quite common. They all used travel and taking photos as an excuse to experience the unfettered happiness in the green mountains and clear waters or in remote areas.

The expressions and body language of these men and women showed a strong desire to hide their true colors in front of outsiders. If Zhang Chao was really a 20-year-old boy, he might have been fooled.

The leader, the woman named "Juanzi", saw that she failed to scare Zhang Chao and was instead outwitted. She became even angrier and took a step forward to continue arguing.

At this time, the oldest man among the group quickly blocked her. His head was half bald and shiny. He rolled his eyes around and said to Zhang Chao and the village chief, "We are all members of the Shandu Literary Federation. We are poets and writers. We came to Shilei Village specifically to collect folk songs.

When we return, we will publish the results of this field trip in city-level or even provincial-level magazines. By then, more people will know about Shilei Village, a paradise on earth, and more tourists will come here.”

This is when Juanzi spoke up, still in a condescending tone: "Do you know what 'eyeball economy' is? Do you know what 'herd effect' is? If it weren't for our good car, we wouldn't be able to get into this broken road outside Shilei Village.

When there are more tourists in the future, the provincial and municipal governments will think of building a cement road for your village. Can you afford to delay the road construction?"

At this time, another younger man wearing glasses also echoed: "We are here to contribute to the village. What's wrong with letting two ladies stay for one night?"

Another woman also said: "'Juanzi' is a famous 'beautiful writer' in our city. She publishes several articles in provincial magazines every year. She will work for the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles in the future."

Zhang Chao had not expected to meet a colleague here. He laughed and said jokingly, "Are you writers so capable? Can you help build the road in the village?"

"Juanzi" looked at Zhang Chao with disdain and said, "What do you know? Forget about building a road. It's not impossible for a writer to write about a famous tourist attraction with just one pen."

The man with glasses nodded repeatedly in agreement and said, "Let's not talk about those far away. Let's just talk about the young great writer Zhang Chao. His former residence is a tourist attraction. Many young people who like literature want to go and see it.

This year, his animated film "Your Name" was released. Oh, it was even more amazing. I heard that their county specially paved the stone road near his former residence..."

"Juan Zi" asked: "Why are you telling him this? Can he understand?"

Zhang Chao: "..." I understand it too well. I can't even go back to my "old house". The example given by the other party was too unexpected and hit the point directly, so that all the "face-slapping quotes" prepared by Zhang Chao could not be said for a while. He could only look at the village chief to see how he would react.

The village chief was also worried. Zhang Chao had been in the village for 10 days. He was generous and easy-going, and had become friends with many villagers. He was even a "king of children" and was as friendly as his own younger generation.

The key is that they need to stay for a long time, which costs 1500 yuan a month. The village charges 600 yuan for accommodation, which can offset a lot of expenses. The villagers can collect 30 yuan for food expenses by cooking for a day, in cash.

Where can I find such a good thing?

But the people who drove up in the off-road vehicle today were all very arrogant and didn't look like they were lying. Although he didn't know what the "Literary Federation" was and it probably had no influence on him, a small village chief, it was best not to offend them easily.

As for building roads, the village chief had already calculated the cost. Without two or three million, there would be no hope!

After careful consideration, the village chief finally spoke up: "How about this, the two female students can follow me and sleep at my house. I will clean up my son and daughter-in-law's room for you. They are working, so the room is usually not occupied and is very clean."

As soon as the village chief finished speaking, "Juanzi" blurted out with disgust: "No, no, no! You raise pigs downstairs, it stinks." When she said this, the village chief was embarrassed. The houses here are called "lanterns". All of them have pigs and sundries on the first floor, and people live on the second floor. In addition to the village committee, only the ancestral hall in the small square is not like this - you can't let these people live with their ancestors.

Zhang Chao laughed at him and said, "Aren't you guys 'collecting wind'? It turns out you only want to collect the 'fragrant wind' and not the 'stinky wind'."

Everyone could tell that Zhang Chao had something else in mind, and "Juanzi" was furious: "You deserve to be beaten for having such a big mouth..."

Before he finished speaking, the village chief shouted, "Okay! If you want to stay, stay here. If you don't want to stay, drive back by yourself." Then he said in a more gentle tone, "If you go down the mountain, I'll let the tractor lead the way for you."

A few people were about to say something when they heard a different noise in the village - men's shouts came one after another, from near to far, until someone in the farthest wooden building responded.

All of a sudden, every household, which had been darkened, lit up a ball of dancing fire. Looking closely, it turned out to be torches one after another. Soon, these torches fell from the "mid-air" and formed one fire dragon after another on the village road.

The village chief's face changed immediately, but he didn't say anything else. He just continued to persuade in a friendly way: "Everyone should be harmonious. You can stay here or go down the mountain. Don't make things difficult for Xiao Zhang."

These "fire dragons" moved quickly and soon gathered next to the village committee. Then everyone could see clearly that it was the men in the village who came one by one holding torches.

Accountant Liang was walking in the front. He also held a torch and came to the village chief, saying something incoherently. The village chief had a fierce look on his face and scolded him a few times, but it was also obvious that he was helpless.

"Juanzi" and others were also frightened when they saw the villagers coming so aggressively. Living in Shandu, they naturally knew how united these rural villages were. If they felt that you were bullying them, it was normal for the whole village to go out together.

Zhang Chao knew that the villagers could not be targeting him. He had been here for 10 days, and this was the first time he had seen such a bright night in Shilei Village. He stood in the middle of hundreds of torches and looked up. He saw that under the reflection of the fire, the stars in the sky dimmed.

The tide of inspiration immediately flooded Zhang Chao's brain -

Torches, stars…torches, stars…torches, stars…

In the story of "The Boy and the Meteor" that he is currently writing, isn't the most crucial clue and suspense "preventing meteor showers from falling from the sky"?

In the process of conceiving the story, Zhang Chao actually hadn't figured out how to "prevent meteor showers from falling from the sky." This is his usual approach when writing. If he has a good idea, even if it's only half an idea, he will write it down first.

As for the remaining half, just solve it in writing!

He actually thought of many ways to stop the meteor shower, such as letting Wei Xiaoliang accompany his mother that night so that he could not see the sky outside; or introducing magical elements, such as the wizard grandfather performing a Nuo dance, which really stopped the meteor shower from falling from the sky.

The former is too rigid and the latter is too superstitious, neither is the best choice.

But tonight, the villagers holding torches and lighting up the sky immediately inspired him - why can't you see meteor showers in big cities? It's light pollution!
The scene at the end of this story seemed to have appeared before Zhang Chao's eyes:

[In the village, on the mountain, by the river... wherever Wei Xiaoliang could see, there were blazing torches. Under each torch, there was a face he knew and a face he didn't know. Teacher Zhang, Teacher Wang, Liang Xiaoyang, the blind uncle, the deaf grandfather, the fat second aunt... they all seemed to be smiling, but also seemed not to be smiling.]

【In the center of the torches was a huge fire, with firewood piled up as high as a person, and the burning flames were as high as two stories. The wizard grandfather, wearing the scary yet friendly Nuo mask, stood next to the fire. He saw Wei Xiaoliang, but he couldn't talk to him. At this time, he was the Great Nuo, not the wizard grandfather. The Great Nuo couldn't talk to people, he only talked to heaven and earth. 】

[The cowhide drum was struck, "dong", "dong", "dong". Each time it struck Wei Xiaoliang's heart, each time it struck the flames of the fire. The wizard began to dance the Nuo dance. He was more powerful than ever before. The red ribbon next to the mask swung in the air like a whip, as if he was whipping something. Every time the wizard stamped his feet, the ground seemed to tremble. ...]

[Wei Xiaoliang looked up at the night sky and found that the sky had changed from deep dark blue to a restless reddish brown, and the bright stars in the past had disappeared. Without stars, would there still be a meteor shower? Wei Xiaoliang raised his head so much that his neck was sore, but he did not see a single meteor across the sky.]

[“There won’t be a meteor shower tonight,” Teacher Zhang stood beside Wei Xiaoliang at some point and said to him, “Go and stay with your mother.”

Wei Xiaoliang nodded vigorously and ran like the wind. ……】

It is touching, close to reality, in line with common sense, and has a strong sense of fantasy. Is there a more perfect ending than this? Zhang Chao can't think of one at the moment.

The words that have emerged in his mind are still relatively rough, and he needs to consider them carefully before writing them down. However, the torches all over the mountains, the huge bonfires, and the Nuo gods and wizards dancing around the bonfires... have already made Zhang Chao excited, and he can't wait to write the story here.

The suspense that was set up suddenly had such a clever solution, and it also came with a very ceremonial ending scene... At this time, Zhang Chao felt that the four men and women from the Shandu Federation of Literary and Art Circles were not hateful at all, and were even a little cute.

This isn't just a second-rate villain in online novels who comes to be slapped in the face by the protagonist. He's simply a first-rate tool who delivers ideas to your doorstep!
"Xiao Zhang! Xiao Zhang!" The village chief's call woke Zhang Chao from his "literary meditation". The village chief thought that the young man had never seen such a scene and was scared, so he quickly comforted him: "Don't be afraid, we are all here to give you justice."

Zhang Chao was still immersed in the wonderful feeling of "the article is naturally formed, and it is accidentally created by a master's hand". For a moment, he didn't know how to answer, and could only say repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you everyone."

Only then did he realize that "Juanzi" and others had hidden in the car without him knowing when, and had turned on the headlights and started the engine.

Seeing that Zhang Chao had come to his senses, the village chief said, "They are reasonable and have decided to go down the mountain." Then he directed everyone to unload the supplies from the back bucket of the tractor first, and then let the tractor driver lead the off-road vehicle.

Only then did the villagers hold up their torches and go home to sleep.

Accountant Liang also walked up to Zhang Chao and said proudly: "You live in our village, so you are one of us. We are not only helping you, but also helping the truth!"

The village chief slapped Accountant Liang on the back of his head and cursed him in dialect. In fact, when the villagers gathered with torches, he was quite nervous. He was mainly afraid that the four men and women would say something radical and be beaten by the villagers.

Fortunately, the other party became very civilized and polite, and quickly decided to go down the mountain.

Watching the red taillights of the SUV disappear at the first bend in the mountain road, Zhang Chao jokingly asked the village chief, "They can help build the road for the village! Don't you regret it?"

The village chief snorted and said disdainfully: "Looking at the way they are, they can't even boast!"

(End of this chapter)