1987 My Era

Chapter 286, He represents the future of literature (Please subscribe!)
Time flies, and before we knew it, a week has passed since New Year's Day.

On New Year's Day 1988, two major events occurred in the newspapers.

First, the Tiananmen Gate Tower in Beijing is officially open to Chinese and foreign tourists.

The first ticket to visit the Tiananmen Gate Tower was sold for 10 yuan, which caused a great sensation in the newspapers.

The second thing is related to Li Heng.

The December issue of Harvest magazine directly sold 12 million copies, shocking the entire literary world with its terrifyingly brilliant performance!

This time, not only famous literary magazines such as "October", "Contemporary" and "Huacheng" were dumbfounded, even the big brother "People's Literature" was a little jealous, and different voices emerged within the magazine.

The first to be hit was Chen Xiaomi. Several editors who were usually jealous of her spread rumors behind her back, saying that she got in through connections and that she was still too young and that the rising star in the literary world was pushed to Harvest.

Chen Xiaomi didn't react much to this. Instead, under the gaze of her colleagues, she walked directly to the culprit Zhou Lan, slapped her twice, and then left without saying a word.

Zhou Lan burst into tears but did not dare to make a fuss because she felt guilty and she could not afford to offend the Chen family.

As "Cultural Journey", which was completed half a month ago, became more and more popular and had a greater influence, public opinion began to ferment violently.

In the past, "To Live" was only popular among writers and readers.

But "Cultural Journey" broke a boundary, and mainstream media such as "People's Daily" and "China Youth Daily" published special reports on it.

In particular, the People's Daily quoted Mr. Yu Guangzhong's previous evaluation as the subtitle: Chinese prose, after Zhu Ziqing and Qian Zhongshu, came out in December.

The People's Daily highly praised "Cultural Journey" and the writer December, saying that by tracing, thinking and questioning Chinese culture, he pointed his pen to cultural personality and cultural conscience, and showed the difficult mental journey of a Chinese literati.

These articles written by December rely on his profound literary knowledge and historical foundation, rich cultural perception and artistic expression, revealing the great connotation of Chinese culture.

From the Taoist Tower to the Wine Cemetery, from Sunshine Snow to Wujiang Boat, from Qingyunpu to Tianyi Pavilion, from West Lake to Suzhou, he saw the historical accumulation hidden behind the specific images; he carried the pain, pursued culture, wrote history, and through repeated long journeys, he explored the deep fields of social history, allowing us to see the vicissitudes of history and the gradual departure of humanities.
I heard that December traveled across most of China and referred to hundreds of classics, documents and local county governments in order to complete this book. I feel deep admiration and respect for him.

This journey is both a hard journey and a baptism.
The People's Daily published an editorial of several thousand words. Ye Ning, who was sitting on the sofa, was holding the newspaper and reading it aloud with gesticulations and intonations.

When she was excited while reading, she said to Li Heng, Mai Sui, Zhou Shihe and Sun Manning:
"It's really well written. This commentator is talented. If I could meet December someday, I would be willing to sleep with him for free. Woohoo, I admire him so much! What should I do?"

Hearing those lewd words, Sun Manning rolled over on the sofa with her legs spread out, covering her mouth with her hands. She kept glancing at Li Heng who was sitting across the sofa, trying her best to hold back her laughter.

Mai Sui smiled tenderly at someone, then stood up and poured tea for a few people.

Li Heng's face twitched, and he pretended not to hear it, feeling very happy.

Zhou Shihe also smiled. She glanced at him inconspicuously, then lowered her head to read China Youth Daily, which also had a long report on "Cultural Journey".

Moreover, China Youth Daily praised this essay even more excessively than People's Daily. The main headline was: December, a great essayist comparable to Lu Xun!
Catching this title, Zhou Shihe savored it three times carefully, then looked up at the boy who was calmly peeling an orange.

Once again, she felt the boy's cultural heritage and depth, and his great reputation and personal charm as a scholar.

"Oh, look! Look! Mr. Jin Yong has put an advertisement in the newspaper, publicly calling out that he wants to meet the writer December, and wants to invite him to dinner and chat all night. Li, this writer December is really amazing!"

Sun Manning was so excited that she almost called out Li Heng's name.

"Really? Really? Let me see! Let me see!"

Ye Ning snatched the newspaper, and after reading it, he immediately jumped up and raised his hand to announce:
"I've decided. If I have a chance to meet December, I'll let him sleep over for two nights for free. Woohoo no! Three nights is fine too."

Seeing his friend like this, Zhou Shihe couldn't help but chuckle this time.

However, when she noticed that Li Heng's attention was attracted by her smile, she gradually became silent.

Then, she quietly raised the newspaper in front of her a little higher, trying to cover her face.

From childhood to adulthood, she has had a deep awareness of her beauty and charm. Wherever she goes, she is the absolute focus of the crowd. She has become accustomed to such gazes.

Zhou Shihe did not blame Li Heng, because he knew that he acted out of instinct and did not do it on purpose. He was just like other boys in the school, and sometimes it just happened naturally.

Every time at this time, she would feel that Li Heng was also an ordinary person, a real person, not the legendary writer admired by his peers and famous in the literary world.

In fact, the two are now very good friends. They have eaten at the same table many times and often rehearse "The Original Scenery of Hometown" together. The reason why she subconsciously covered her face with newspaper was that she didn't want her best friend Mai Sui to misunderstand.

In addition to official media such as the People's Daily and China Yearbook, in the past half month, newspapers such as the Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News, Oriental Morning Post, and Xinmin Morning Post, as well as dozens or hundreds of newspapers and magazines in other provinces and cities have also published a large number of reading notes and literary reviews on Cultural Journey.

As this essay was widely praised and welcomed nationwide, during this period, readers' letters flew into the magazine "Harvest" like snowflakes, making editor-in-chief Liao and others both happy and helpless.

Too many letters! Too many! At least over 3000 letters in just half a month!
For the first time, Editor-in-Chief Liao, who has been in the industry for decades, felt how crazy readers were and how popular a writer was.

Honestly speaking, Editor-in-Chief Liao, who is over 50 years old, is still very shocked!

He once said to Mr. Ba with a sigh: "I accidentally picked up a treasure, I can't let it get away!"

Mr. Ba smiled and said, "I will write the preface for "Cultural Journey" and you will take care of the publishing."

Editor-in-Chief Liao asked tentatively, "How many copies do you think this book can sell in a month?"

Mr. Ba thought for a while and gave a number: "200 million."

Editor-in-Chief Liao was surprised: "You think so highly of him?"

Mr. Ba said: "This is the threshold. He represents the future of the literary world."

Editor-in-Chief Liao held the unlit cigarette in his hand, thought for a while, then stood up: "To be on the safe side, I have to contact a few more parties."

Mr. Ba did not express any opinion on this.

"Oh wow! In one week, "Cultural Journey" will be published separately and released on the market. I plan to buy it then. Who of you will accompany me?" Ye Ning pointed to a piece of news in the "Xinmin Evening News" and asked several people.

Sun Manning was the first to raise her hand. “Me, me, me! I plan to buy five copies as gifts.”

Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe glanced at Li Heng at the same time and joined the team.

Seeing that Li Heng was indifferent, Ye Ning jumped over from another sofa and gently kicked Li Heng's butt with the back of his foot:
"Hey, Li Heng, please give me some face and go together."

Seeing Mai Sui, Zhou Shihe and Sun Manning laughing and watching the show, Li Heng looked up and asked, "You are so young, why do you like her so much?"

Ye Ning gestured with his fingers and said coquettishly, "Oh, I can tell from the looks of it that you haven't read enough literature books. You don't understand how awesome December is."

"I don't understand? Don't you see how many books I have in my study?" Li Heng teased her.

"Tsk! It's a big deal to have a book, but having a book doesn't mean you have read it. People who work in the Xinhua store have so many books to look after every day, but I haven't seen anyone who can write a "Cultural Journey"." Ye Ning fired directly.

Li Heng said: "Have you read the news and gossip in the newspaper? Aren't you afraid that December is a bad old man?"

"What's wrong with the old man? I love such a talented old man." Ye Ning put her hands on her hips.

Hearing this, the three girls on the opposite side were completely stunned and burst into laughter.

Ye Ning kicked him again, "Give me an answer, are you going or not? Will you give me this face?" "Oh! Stop kicking me, stop kicking me. Isn't it okay for me to go?" The girl kicked him quite hard. Li Heng muttered and automatically moved away from her.

Ye Ning said: "Then you are not allowed to curse the old man in the future, do you hear me? Otherwise, I will never forgive you."

Li Heng surrendered and assured: "Comrade Ye Ning, I understand."

After some fooling around, Sun Manning asked curiously, "Ningning, there are quite a few readers in our dormitory who are December readers, but none of them are as crazy as you. Why are you so obsessed?"

"This is a long story. I actually didn't pay attention to these things at first. Later, influenced by my cousin, I came into contact with "To Live". I was shocked by it and couldn't stop reading it." Ye Ning recounted his experience.

Sun Manning found this very interesting and asked jokingly, "So you are not really in love with this writer, are you?"

Hearing this, Li Heng rolled his eyes at Sun Manning implicitly. Not to be outdone, the girl rolled her eyes back twice, fiercely and violently.

Ye Ning said, "You take me for an idiot. Although I support December and really like his books, poetry is poetry and life is life. I won't use my emotions on him.

It’s my cousin.”

She stopped talking halfway and couldn't go on.

She only had one cousin, her senior sister Ye Zhanyan. Everyone present knew each other and immediately pricked up their ears.

Especially Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe, the two girls looked at each other and then glared at Li Heng, guessing something.
Sun Manning pressed on, "What happened to your cousin? Oh, right, she hasn't come to school since New Year's Day, and she also resigned as the president of the student union. Is there anything wrong with her?"

"Well, something did happen." Ye Ning sighed when mentioning this.

"What happened?" Mai Sui asked with concern.

Seeing everyone looking over, Ye Ning sat down and said, "My cousin broke up with her boyfriend."

Li Heng was a little confused when he heard the news.

Zhou Shihe and Mai Sui looked at each other for a while and then fell silent.

"what?"

Sun Manning exclaimed, "Break up? Weren't they fine before? Who proposed it?"

Ye Ning said: "My cousin took the initiative to bring it up. Her boyfriend even flew back from England for this. My uncle's family and her boyfriend's family got together to ask why they wanted to break up."

Sun Manning replied: "Yes, why should we divide it?"

Ye Ning said: "My cousin said that she fell in love with someone else and felt guilty. She couldn't concentrate on her boyfriend anymore, so she thought it was better to break up as soon as possible while they were still young."

Mai Sui subconsciously looked at Li Heng.

Zhou Shihe also looked at Li Heng.

Li Heng fell into deep thought.

Sun Manning asked anxiously: "What happened next?"

Ye Ning said: "Later they broke up. When her family asked her who she fell in love with, she refused to tell them. But I was the only one who knew that she fell in love with the writer Shi Er Yue."

At this point, Ye Ning was furious: "Judge, is she stupid? Just read the book, why would she fall in love with someone? She must be crazy.

I even gave up on Cambridge University and my boyfriend.”

Then she added, muttering, "It was really caught in the door!"

Li Heng put down the newspaper and asked, "Where is Senior Ye now?"

Ye Ning said: "I went to Yale University in the United States. I took a plane the night before yesterday."

This incident had a great impact on several people, and the living room seemed a little quiet for a while.

Li Heng remembered something he had promised his senior sister, that he would bring Mai Sui to have dinner with her after New Year's Day, but it ended up in vain.

But thinking back on it, it’s good that it ended like this, to avoid any awkwardness when we meet again.

Mai Sui thought of herself, who was similar to Senior Ye in some ways, and felt inexplicably sad.

Zhou Shihe was always paying attention to her best friend. Seeing that Sui Sui was in a bad mood, she immediately stood up and said to her:
"Sui Sui, I want to go to the Pentagon Plaza to buy something, come with me."

Mai Sui said okay and stood up.

"I am coming too!"

"I am coming too!"

Sun Manning and Ye Ning followed, and in an instant, Li Heng was the only one left in the living room.

Before leaving, Sun Manning asked Li Heng: "Why don't you move?"

Li Heng sent her away, saying he had something to do later.

Coming downstairs, Zhou Shihe glanced at Ye Ning and Sun Manning, who were chasing each other in front of him. He took Mai Sui's hand and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me, it's okay." Mai Sui shook his head.

After walking a little further, Zhou Shihe asked, "Do you have a problem?"

Mai Sui lowered his head and said nothing.

Zhou Shihe asked: "Are Xiao Han and Li Heng officially together?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but they should be together." Wheat Ear sounded a little depressed when he said these words.

Zhou Shihe thought about it, considered it and said, "If you can't let it go, you should spend more nights at his house in the future."

The wheat ears looked up, seeming to understand but not quite.

Seeing her bestie's expression, Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly and reminded her secretly: "The delicious dishes on the table are often the first to be snatched up, and those closest to the bowl have the greatest chance of being snatched up."

Mai Sui blushed.

Zhou Shihe blinked, "Don't be so quick to blush, the chance of being the second closest to the bowl is not small."

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10400 words have been updated today, and will continue tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)