My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 104: Putting up the beams and spreading candy

"Why is it his house again?" Everyone was curious. Why was it that Li Feng's house always had motorcycles or cars? This was terrible.

"Anmin's family, do you know what's going on?"

An elderly woman asked Wang Lihong, who was leading the group weeding, "I think he's written something new." Wang Lihong had no idea.

"Tell me, how come you can write articles no matter what you do?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's innate."

Everyone was talking about it with envy. Everyone knew that a piece of black and white paper could earn several dollars, sometimes even more than ten or twenty dollars. This guy could buy enough meat to eat for several days.

"What are you talking about?"

Han Anmin happened to be passing by carrying water and heard the old women mumbling. He couldn't help but say, "Li Feng didn't just write an article this time, he wrote a book about pig farming. Many people from the provincial and regional pig farms have come, and they're even holding a meeting at the commune right now."

"Anmin, you didn't lie to us, did you?"

"How old is that kid Li? Why is he writing a book about pig farming?" Some people really don't believe it. This is just a joke. It is obvious that Li Feng is not a pig farmer.

"There's a lot you don't know."

Han Anmin put down the water he was carrying and decided to have a good chat with these old ladies. "I just went over there and followed the editor from the province who came to publish books. Does he know anything about editing? He's the one who helped Li Feng publish his book."

"It's no wonder an editor from the province can ride in a car."

"That's incredible, Anmin. Did they say that Li Feng would go to the city to live next?"

"Yeah, with such great abilities, why can't you enter the city?"

"I don't know about that, but a provincial expert invited Li Feng to give a lecture, but he didn't go, saying he was back home building a house and didn't have time." Han Anmin's mouth was dry from talking, so he took a ladle and poured half a ladle of water while drinking. "He's a provincial expert, tell me, this kid, why is he so unwilling?"

"Don't be bragging, right?"

"You're just bragging! The editor just said that a whole litter of piglets died. Experts and technicians from the province, region, county, and commune went down to the pigpen with Li Feng to rescue the piglets, but only Li Feng was able to save them."

"How can you be so capable?"

"Of course not. I heard that it can be kept alive by blowing air. Just tell me, what a great ability that is." Han Anmin became more and more excited as he spoke. Blowing air to save the pig was simply unbelievable. All the old women were dumbfounded.

"Ah."

Li Feng rubbed his nose. Why did he sneeze several times? It was strange. The temperature was so high, it was impossible for him to be cold.

"Comrade Li Feng, are you okay? Why don't you take a rest?"

"Need not."

Resting was impossible. He had to finish proofreading and revising the manuscript as soon as possible, publish it as soon as possible, and get the royalties as soon as possible. Li Feng thought that this was hundreds of yuan. He was short of money right now. He didn't even have the money to buy the knife loach, let alone other things.

I have to proofread it quickly and earn royalties. Besides, there is also an experience task. I have only proofread one-tenth of it, but this guy has increased his progress by 0.5%. Once the proofreading is completed and the manuscript is finalized, the task experience will meet the requirements.

Xia Fengzhu didn't expect Li Feng to work so seriously. He put in a lot of effort. Not to mention, he finished nearly one-third of the workload in just one afternoon. This was simply incredible. Originally, Xia Fengzhu planned to finish it in one to two days.

It's already been an afternoon, less than four hours to be exact. Of course, I'm exhausted, and there's barely a minute of idle time. "Editor Xia, take a break."

"it is good."

Xia Fengzhu thought to himself that he could finally take a break, but he didn't expect that this alternative writer comrade was so crazy about his work and never stopped. He made hundreds of revisions and thousands of words.

"Drink of water."

Li Feng went to pour two glasses of water. His wrists were sore and swollen because he was working too hard. He had to slow down tomorrow, otherwise even his increasingly healthy body wouldn't be able to keep up. While he was drinking water, Zhang Wenjuan, Daya, and Erya came back. Li Feng followed Daya and Zhang Wenjuan said, "Cook two more dishes for dinner. We have guests. Don't be reluctant."

"Dad, I understand."

Daya and the others looked at Xia Fengzhu. After all, the dress and temperament of people from the provincial capital were quite different from those of people from the countryside. Daya was very curious. Who was this person? Usually, some of my father's cousins often came to our house.

Daya has gotten used to it and will take her younger sister and the new sister to prepare dinner.

Stir-fried bacon with chilies, scrambled eggs with leeks, stir-fried vegetables with lard residue, a plate of braised beef in soy sauce, and a large pot of steamed white rice. When the meal was served, Xia Fengzhu was stunned. No, this meal is what rural people should eat. Her family doesn't usually have this kind of food.

Xia Fengzhu felt that his understanding of Comrade Li Feng was a little insufficient. Before Li Feng could invite Xia Fengzhu to dinner, Han Fuguo, Han Futian, and Han Fuqiang came with wine and some dishes.

"Editor Xia, there's nothing much to eat..."

Han Futian wanted to be polite, but when he saw the dishes on Li Feng's table, he was stunned for a moment. The fried bacon was crystal clear, the scrambled eggs with leeks were yellow and green, and there was also braised beef. It was obvious that this was good food.

There was rice, drinks and so on, but no vegetables. How could they have vegetables? Although they brought a pheasant stew, even without this table of food, it would be enough to entertain any cadre.

"hehe."

Han Futian didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only say that Li Feng was nothing special when it came to eating.

"Just one chicken short."

Li Feng took the chicken soup and wine with a smile and asked Han Futian and the other two to sit down. "Daya, quickly bring some bowls and chopsticks to your third father and the others."

"Editor Xia, do you want to eat first or have a drink first?"

Li Feng was not sure about Xia Fengzhu's alcohol tolerance, so he was afraid that something might go wrong because he didn't want to drink.

"Drink less."

Good guy, she's still a woman who's as capable as a man. Li Feng hurriedly poured wine for her. After the meal, Li Feng finally understood why Xia Fengzhu said to drink less. This guy seemed to have a good alcohol tolerance. After drinking this bottle of wine, Li Feng's face was a little hot, but Xia Fengzhu was fine.

This is 60+ proof kaoliang liquor. I'm afraid this woman, a female wine doctor, is looking down on me. Han Futian was planning to get another bottle. "Forget it, Futian. Let's drink it next time. I still have work tonight."

After dinner, Li Feng and Xia Fengzhu worked for another two or three hours before turning off the gas lamp. "Editor Xia, I'm so sorry. We were a bit rushed in preparing things. Do you think you need anything else?"

Three 414 towels, brand new toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, facial cream, a plastic comb, slippers, basically everything a hotel has, Li Feng prepared.

"Comrade Li Feng, this is too much."

"Not much, not much, just three towels, for washing your face and hair after taking a shower."

In fact, Li Feng's wife Han Zhaoxia has at least four or five towels, which are carefully divided. She even bought a large electric rice cooker to boil towels. Li Feng is casual about it. He uses one towel for bathing, washing face, washing hair, and at most one for washing feet. But usually he just uses the bath towel to wipe his feet.

Xia Fengzhu was a bit bewildered. Her family was relatively well off in the provincial capital, and they shared a face towel. She only had one for bathing and washing her feet. She had never expected this guy in the countryside to have so many towels. His other things were even better than her own. For a moment, Xia Fengzhu wondered if she had come to the wrong place. "Comrade Li Feng, aren't these things expensive?" Xia Fengzhu was embarrassed to use them. She had paid for her meals with food coupons and a meal allowance, but she couldn't bear to spend these. They were too extravagant.

"I don't quite know."

Li Feng said indifferently.

"do not know?"

What does that mean? Xia Fengzhu was confused. Li Feng said calmly, "Oh, these are sent to me by readers. There are too many. I can't use them all, so I can only give them away."

"Pfft."

Zhang Wenjuan couldn't help it. This big brother is good in every way except that he likes to brag and speaks in a weird way.

“It was given to me by a reader.”

No wonder, they don't care at all. I never thought that Comrade Li Feng had so many loyal readers. No, isn't it true that the article hasn't been published yet? Xia Fengzhu asked doubtfully what he was thinking. Li Feng didn't pretend to be cool. "I wrote a few articles before, and they were okay. But if you want to bring readers, it's the article that was banned a few days ago."

"Oh?"

"What article?"

Xia Fengzhu became even more curious. It was a banned book. How could he just say that? Besides, how many readers could such a book attract?

Scars

"You actually wrote 'Scars', Comrade Li Feng. This article has been going viral in the provincial capital lately."

Some people who were not interested at first joined in, and the incident became more and more serious. The article spread like crazy with incredible speed and breadth.

“It’s just a random article.”

"Is this true?"

"Not really. It's probably a gathering of many people."

Li Feng was right. Examples could be found for every single thing here, but it wasn't always possible to find all of them in one person. But right now, I needed to vent, and this kind of writing was the most melodramatic, heartbreaking, accusatory, repressed, angry, and a bit despairing.

This kind of article shouldn't be too provocative. Li Feng copied the structure of some of the more melodramatic self-media articles of later generations, incorporating current social hot topics. Xia Fengzhu immediately put the publication of "Postpartum Care for Sows" behind him and began to discuss the article on scars with Li Feng.

The discussion was getting more and more in-depth, even touching upon the shadow of scar literature. Li Feng had to admit, people these days are really obsessed with one thing. "Editor Xia, it's getting late. Look, why don't you wash up first and we can discuss this tomorrow."

Xia Fengzhu looked at his watch, feeling a little embarrassed. "Comrade Li Feng, I was a little excited at the moment. Please forgive me."

"What are you talking about?"

Li Feng thought to himself, this woman is going crazy, she's quite scary. He absolutely can't discuss literature with her tomorrow. It's better to discuss postpartum care for sows. He spent the next two days revising the booklet on postpartum care for sows.

Xia Fengzhu wanted to talk to Li Feng about the scars, but Li Feng was anxious to publish the book, so he tried to fool around. "Comrade Li Feng, I'll send you a sample copy as soon as the book is published."

"Thank you so much."

"you are too polite."

Xia Fengzhu left Hanjiaba reluctantly and finally left.

"In two and a half days, I was given ten kilograms of grain coupons, one kilogram of non-staple food coupons, two kilograms of meat coupons, and five yuan."

City people are particular, so of course Li Feng didn't give anything for free. He provided Xia Fengzhu with delicious food and drinks every day, and also gave her three towels, soap, shampoo, and a plastic comb.

"Finally, a big thing is done."

Li Feng is just waiting to receive the royalties in the next two days. He is very happy, thinking that it will be more than a hundred yuan.

"Tu tu tu tu."

"Comrade Li Feng."

"Public Security Wu, Comrade Xiaofeng, why are you here?"

Li Feng hurried over and saw Wu Xiaofeng waving the remittance slip in her hand. "I'm here to give you the remittance slip and some letters from readers."

"Remittance slip, so fast?"

Li Feng muttered, he just left, did he make a phone call at the commune, or did he send the money earlier?

"quick?"

"Not too fast, is it?"

Wu Xiaofeng muttered something, and Li Feng took the remittance slip and took a look. It had to be from People's Literature. No wonder, it was not bad. They gave five yuan for one thousand words, and expanded it to over ten thousand words. Sixty yuan was not bad, not bad.

As for the letters from readers, Li Feng was a little confused. "Why are there so many?"

"It's all over the country, so this is not a lot."

At least seventy or eighty letters, which is not considered a lot. After all, not only one out of a hundred readers will write to the author after reading the article.

"And some packages."

In the early stage, you can also mail packages, which are divided into large and small packages, with different quantities, and the price ranges from one to more than three dollars. Generally, those who send packages are rich people, so I think they are all good things, and at worst they are some snacks or something.

Li Feng happily accepted the packages. There were five of them, all quite large, probably weighing over ten pounds in total. He took a quick look and saw that two were from the Magic City, one from within the province, and the other two from the neighboring province. As for the special letters, Li Feng didn't have time to look at them, but he figured there should be some as well.

This guy, although Scars was not published and he didn't get any royalties, it wasn't written in vain. If you calculate it this way, he made more money than ordinary newspapers and magazines.

"Come in and sit down."

After receiving the package, Li Feng invited them inside. He planned to see if Huang Shengnan could give him a ride to the commune post office to pick up the money. The hut would be put up for construction tomorrow, so he needed some money. Right now, he was broke.

I have to buy pig feed for a few piglets. There's no other way. Now that I'm an expert, it's not easy to kill and eat roast suckling pig. The commune pig farm gave me two more. Now I have four little piglets. I'm busy just eating the pig grass.

Besides, it hasn't rained much in Hanjiaba recently, so there is less grass for the pigs. Fortunately, there are still a lot of wild grasses in the backyard, so they can eat them. I can also sift some cornmeal and make some corn porridge for them. Don't look at these little pigs because they are not big, they eat a lot.

(End of this chapter)