My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 103 Li Feng's family comes to get off the car again
"Editor Xia, you may not know this, but Comrade Li Feng is a great writer."

Zhu Xueqin, the director of the pig farm at the commune next to Xia Fengzhu, saw her puzzled expression and said with a smile, "I heard that an article recently appeared in People's Literature. No wonder Wu Gongan said Comrade Li Feng's writing was so good."

"Not to mention you, even Secretary Gao and Director Wu of our commune found it hard to believe the news when they first heard it. After all, Comrade Li Feng usually writes literary essays and novels. This is the first time he has written a book about pig farming."

"Ah, is this true?"

Xia Fengzhu hadn't known about this and looked at Li Feng in surprise. "Comrade Li Feng, you're good at prose and fiction, and you have an article coming up for People's Literature?" That was impossible. Xia Fengzhu couldn't connect Li Feng, who wrote books on pig farming and agricultural techniques, with a literary writer.

You say that you are an agricultural technician and you have received recognition for your literary articles. This is just like you writing a scientific paper and winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. How can these two things become the same thing?

"It was just a fluke that one article got through."

Li Feng had just been showing off, but now he couldn't continue. He said modestly, "It's mainly because the editor sees my youth and I think they're encouraging new talent. Otherwise, with my level of talent, I'd probably only be published in obscure magazines and newspapers like Yenching Literature and Shanghai Wenhui Daily. There's no way I'd be published in a major publication like People's Literature."

"Is that true?"

It's really amazing. People's Literature is an authoritative journal that only well-known writers can publish. For ordinary writers, let alone People's Literature, it would be good enough if they could publish one or two articles in the province's literary magazines. The best would be newspapers and magazines like Wenhui.

Although Xia Fengzhu was an editor at an agricultural science and technology publishing house, he had literary aspirations and was well aware of the stature of People's Literature. "Comrade Li Feng, you're too modest. Recognition by People's Literature isn't something you can just do by luck; it requires real talent and knowledge."

Not to mention, when Zhu Xueqin revealed that Li Feng had an article about to be published in People's Literature, not only Xia Fengzhu, but also Zhang Tianzhu and Li Yun all looked up to Li Feng even more highly. A writer, especially one whose work was published in a top literary journal, held immense weight in this day and age.

Li Feng secretly bowed to Huang Chengxiang, which was considered a way to promote himself. Of course, Li Feng had actually written the article. Director Zhang and Li Yun had just been testing him and seemed a bit contemptuous, but now they were much more cordial.

After all, a pig farm can't compare to the luxury of being a writer, Li Feng thought. From now on, he should get less involved in pig farming and focus on more tasks and writing more articles. Back at the commune, he had to go to Hanjiaba. After all, publishing and proofreading are not something that can be done overnight.

Zhang Tianzhu and the others didn't say anything. Since they came to the countryside, they must communicate for a while. The commune pig farm has already made arrangements. The two of them will hold pig farming lectures in the commune in the next three days. Technicians and persons in charge from the surrounding commune pig farms and production brigade pig farms will come to attend the lectures.

Li Yun even wanted to invite Li Feng to give a lecture, but Li Feng waved his hands repeatedly. "Director Li, forget it. I'm not very good at speaking, I have a bad temper, and I'm not a good teacher. If the students are a little bit stupid, I can't help but lose my temper. Sigh."

There was no other way. Li Feng had no interest in teaching, so he wouldn't pay much, just a meal at most. Publishing a book was the most important thing. "Plus, Editor Xia still has books to proofread, and I'm still renovating my house, so I can't leave for a while."

Li Yun was speechless after hearing this, but Zhu Xueqin smiled and pulled Li Feng along. "Comrade Li Feng, we welcome you to come and give us some guidance anytime you have time."

"That's not right, Director Zhu. I've only learned a little bit, so I can't say I'm giving you any guidance."

Let's talk about it later. After all, it's about eating meat. Li Feng didn't refuse outright. After all, it's good to have some airs. If there's no benefit, it's like giving instructions to a hammer. Zhu Xueqin seems to be a sensible person. He secretly stuffed two pounds of meat tickets into his pocket.

In fact, Li Feng wanted the piglets. Not to mention that the newly born piglets were very tender and fresh when roasted. "Master Zhu, thank you very much."

"Comrade Li Feng, why are you being so polite to me?"

Li Feng put the meat coupons in his pocket and thought to himself, "From now on, I'll have a stable supply of two or three pounds of meat coupons a month. As for the guidance, I'll take my time and just come and take a look when I have time." The teaching exam here came to an end, and Zhang Tianzhu and Li Yun exchanged contact information with Li Feng.

Xia Fengzhu directly planned to follow Li Feng back to Hanjiaba. Xia Fengzhu originally came here for publishing, and now she had another expectation. After all, she was a literary young woman, and her age was about the same as Li Feng, over 30 years old.

The two planned to have an in-depth conversation. Li Feng didn't care. The food and drink at home were fine. Besides, Xia Fengzhu came with food coupons and some supplementary food. There were also subsidies from the county and the commune. It would be a good thing for anyone to host him.

"It just so happens that I have a meeting at the commune this afternoon, so I don't need the car. Just take Editor Xia there." Wu Desheng instructed the driver to take Li Feng and Xia Fengzhu back to Hanjiaba.

"Then I'll trouble you, Director Wu."

Not to mention Li Feng, Xia Fengzhu hadn't even thought there would be a car. She had originally planned to walk back to Hanjiaba with Li Feng. Wu Shengnan, Wu Xiaofeng, and Han Anjun were discussing the situation as they watched Li Feng and Xia Fengzhu get into the car.

"I never thought Li Feng knew about raising pigs. An Jun, you never told me about this," Wu Xiaofeng said. "Let's buy a couple of piglets later. Li Feng often comes to the post office to pick up mail, so we can ask him for advice if we don't know anything."

It was normal for commune cadres to raise pigs these days. There were a few pigs in the backyard of the commune canteen. After all, raising pigs was a national task, and the government canteen was not allowed to raise many pigs. One reason was the task, and the other was that pork required tickets. Some government canteens and units raised pigs themselves in order to have more meat.

"I'll go back to Hanjiaba and discuss it with my parents first."

Han Anjun wasn't really in favor of raising pigs. After all, they both had jobs, and raising pigs would take time. "No, I have to go back. If the car goes there now, I'm afraid I won't know what's going on."

"We should have followed the car just now, which would have been convenient. But now it's hard to catch up." Han Anjun paused when Wu Xiaofeng said this. Of course, there's no point in going back if we can't catch up with the car now.

Unfortunately, the team still doesn’t have a telephone. The commune is still too poor. Logically, each brigade needs to have a telephone, but Hanjiaba is a poor mountain valley, very far away from the commune, and the cost is high, so the commune has intercepted the telephone several times.

While Han Anjun and the others were talking, the jeep had already entered the dirt road to Hanjiaba. The bumpy ride gave Xia Fengzhu a good idea of Li Feng's current living conditions. "Comrade Li Feng, I didn't expect you to be so poor now."

"It is okay."

Li Feng said with a smile. "The poorer, the more glorious. Besides, my family doesn't have any big expenses, so we have enough for daily food and drink." Xia Fengzhu didn't expect Li Feng to be so content with his poverty. He was indeed able to write good articles. Those who were published in People's Literature were people of noble character and outstanding writing skills.

At this moment, Xia Fengzhu admired Li Feng even more. With such achievements, he would have moved to the city long ago, but Li Feng stayed in the countryside contentedly. It was rare, so rare. Xia Fengzhu looked at Li Feng with even more admiration.

Less than half an hour later, the car slowly drove into the Hanjiaba intersection and stopped at the gate of Li Feng's yard. In fact, as soon as the car turned into the Hanjiaba intersection, the brigade noticed it and rushed to the hillside fields to report to Han Fuguo.

"Uncle Fuguo, here comes the car."

"A sedan?"

Han Fuguo quickly put down the water scoop in his hand and wiped his hands on the hem of his clothes, full of confusion. "Where did it come from? Why didn't An Jun notify us?"

"Where does this go back to?"

Han Futian and others nearby came over after hearing the noise.

"We're at the intersection. I'm afraid we'll be at the dam entrance by now."

"Then we have to go over and greet him. I wonder which leader it is?" Han Futian muttered. "Could it be that Li Feng's subsidy came down last time?"

"No, according to reason, even if he came down, at most the commune would notify us. Why did he bring a car?" Cars were no joke these days. Only county leaders could ride in them. Ordinary commune secretaries didn't have one.

After they finished talking, they trotted towards the mouth of the dam. The members of other production teams also knew about the commotion here. Many people were curious about where this big leader came from and what he was doing in the team. Could he be the county's liquidation team?

Some families who owe money are worried. You know, these families have no money to begin with, so how can they not be worried about owing money? The county will conduct an investigation, and the commune will definitely send leaders to come down, and the brigade will probably come to their door every other day.

For a moment, these people were really panicked. Han Fuguo and his men were also filled with anxiety. The poorer the group, the more afraid they were of seeing a car. "Hey, look, why is the car parked in front of Li Feng's house?"

"Could it be that the subsidy was really notified?"

No way, Han Futian looked at Han Fuguo. "Let's go first. We can't figure out what's going on right now. I hope this kid didn't cause any trouble."

"stir up trouble?"

Han Futian was startled. "Don't tell me it's what Wu Gongan asked about. No way. This kid is so bold. Speculation is no small matter."

"Who knows about that kid, let alone it's really possible."

Han Fuguo felt that Li Feng was so bold that he had no sense of awe at all and seemed to look down on everything. This kid might cause some trouble, but there was nothing to say now. The car had already arrived at the door, and he had to go and see what was going on.

Li Feng and Xia Fengzhu came back in a car. Not to mention shouting "sister-in-law" and "An Dun", An Chun and the others were frightened and almost hid. Fortunately, Li Feng introduced Xia Fengzhu to them.

"What is an editor?"

But whether they called her sister-in-law, or Antun, Anchun, Anyou and others all looked confused and didn't know what an editor was.

“Editors are not things….”

Li Feng suddenly realized that what he said seemed a little wrong, and quickly turned around to apologize. "Sorry, Editor Xia, look at me..."

"Writer Li, I understand."

Xia Fengzhu thought that country people were country people who knew nothing, but fortunately she didn't need to deal with these country illiterates. After all, she came here to help Li Feng with proofreading, communicating and reviewing, and revising the manuscript, and then calling her sister-in-law, so at most they would meet in person.

After a lot of effort, Li Feng explained what an editor does. Only then did those who shouted "sister-in-law" understand what he meant. They didn't expect Li Feng to be so capable that even editors from publishing houses came to him to communicate. He really has great abilities.

Especially the younger ones like An You, An Cheng and An Yu, they all wanted to praise Li Feng to the sky, which made Li Feng very embarrassed. Although what they said was true, there were so many people around.

"Dong dong dong."

"Hey, Uncle Fuguo, Uncle Futian, Uncle Fuqiang, why are you all here?"

Li Feng was a little confused. He heard a knock on the door and turned around to see that almost all the cadres of the brigade had arrived. It was so overwhelming that it was hard to argue. "Come in quickly, what's wrong with Uncle Fuguo?"

"I have to ask you, what's going on with the car outside?"

Han Futian pulled Li Feng and asked in a low voice.

"Ah, a car! Deputy Director Wu of the County Revolutionary Committee saw we had no transportation, so he sent a car to take us back." Li Feng waved his hand nonchalantly. "Is it just because of this little thing that you followed Uncle Fuguo and the others?"

This is ridiculous. Han Futian glared at Li Feng when he saw that he didn't take it seriously. This kid really doesn't understand anything. Han Fuguo learned that it was Deputy Director Wu from the county who sent a car to bring Li Feng and the editor from the provincial publishing house back.

The editor of the Provincial Agricultural Technology Publishing House, isn't he from the province? Wow, when did this guy get connected with the province?

"Editor Xia..."

Han Fuguo hurried forward, saying sorry, he didn't know you were coming and didn't have time to greet you.

"Editor Xia, this is Captain Han Fuguo of our Hanjiaba Brigade..."

Li Feng hurriedly helped Xia Fengzhu introduce the team cadres. Xia Fengzhu was very respectful to them, although he was not very fond of these team leaders, accountants, and militia team leaders. After all, they were just a few small cadres in a small mountain village.

She had met many cadres, including many provincial cadres, let alone the brigade cadres, whom she really didn't take seriously. However, she gave Li Feng face and dealt with them one by one without any impoliteness. This was enough to make Han Fuguo and others feel honored.

This was a leader from the provincial capital, so approachable! Normally, when commune officials came to lecture him, they'd be like a father lecturing his son, but I didn't expect someone from the provincial capital to be so easy to talk to. "Li Feng, you have to treat Editor Xia well. Let us know if you need anything."

"Don't worry, Uncle Fuguo."

Li Feng thought, "He's just an editor at the provincial publishing house. There's no need to act like a big shot." Besides, Li Feng might not even have any contact with the Agricultural Technology Publishing House again. "Editor Xia, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

"Comrade Li Feng, it's okay."

Xia Fengzhu smiled. She didn't care that country people were ignorant and rude. She just wiped her hands. After all, she didn't want to shake hands just now because she was afraid of dirtying her hands.

Fortunately, it wasn't too dirty. Xia Fengzhu just frowned. Fortunately, Li Feng had prepared water for washing hands and face. Even the car ride there and back was dusty. "Editor Xia, wash your face and hands first, then we can start talking about work."

It wasn't that Li Feng enjoyed his work; it was mainly about the royalties. Over a hundred yuan, that was a sweet deal, maybe enough to buy a bicycle. While Li Feng was thinking about the royalties, the other members of the Hanjiaba commune were discussing it outside.

"Going to Li Feng's house?"

"Good boy, there are two groups of people in just a few days."

(End of this chapter)