My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 72: Forget-Me-Nots People's Literature Publishes, Provincial Government Investigates
"What should we do now?"

At this moment, Wu Shengnan actually felt a little admiration for Li Feng. She didn't expect that he, who was usually a bit unserious and lazy, would be willing to take such a big risk for the sake of his conscience.

"Answer the phone."

Li Feng remained quite calm. He was just hiding for a while, what else could he do? "I'll tell my cousin, and we'll go to the commune later."

After finding Gao Jue and explaining the situation, Gao Jue and Gao Cheng were both shocked. "Boss, why is it so serious?"

"Who would have thought of that?"

I had originally thought it wasn't a big deal, at most the manuscript would be rejected, but I hadn't expected this provincial newspaper to actually send the manuscript to the Provincial Propaganda Department. Now, they were specifically looking for me. "Don't worry too much, at worst it'll be closed for a while."

Gao Ju and Gao Cheng smiled bitterly and said that it wouldn't be a big deal if they were locked up for a while, but they were afraid that the guy at the B&B would be worried sick.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll go there first. Maybe nothing will happen." After saying that, Li Feng and Wu Shengnan set off for the commune post office.

"What to do?"

Gao Cheng looked at the two people walking away, feeling a little uneasy. "Why don't we go find the captain and see if he has any good ideas?"

"That's all we can do."

Gao had no good solution. Li Feng was a little impulsive this time, and the two of them didn't stop him. They made some mistakes and misjudged the current social environment.

"What are you talking about? Something went wrong with his writing, and the provincial government called him?"

Good boy, why are you so troublesome? Han Fuguo slammed the table in anger. "Anmin, go get the ox cart and go to the commune. Call your uncle Fuqiang and uncle Futian, and take everyone with you."

"You guys come along too."

Gao Ju and Gao Cheng nodded repeatedly. On the other side, Li Feng was almost at the commune.

"Wait a minute, I'll answer the phone with you."

Wu Shengnan’s words scared Li Feng. Why was this girl so gentle? He thought she had some thoughts in her mind.

"After all, this matter has something to do with me."

Wu Shengnan meant to help Li Feng explain the situation. After all, this matter was not Li Feng's sole responsibility.

When we arrived at the post office, wow, there were quite a lot of people there, including Han Anjun, Wu Xiaofeng, Huang Xiaoli, Bai Jie, and another postman. It was really lively.

"Li Feng is here."

"An Jun."

Li Feng nodded to the others. "Comrade Xiaofeng said there's no time for the call?"

"Half past one."

Bai Jie said calmly while cracking some melon seeds. Li Feng glanced at her and said "oh", then looked up at his watch. It wasn't even half past eleven yet, so it was a bit early. "Wait a moment, everyone's busy."

"It's okay, I'll just wait with you for a while."

Han Anjun didn't quite understand what Li Feng wrote in the article. Not only him, but the others were also quite curious.

"Nothing, actually."

Li Feng briefly introduced the revised and expanded version of "Scars", which was bloody and desperate. For a moment, Huang Xiaoli, Wu Xiaofeng, and the young postman named Li were all tearful. It was too tragic.

"Ugh."

Wu Shengnan sighed after hearing this. No wonder, this was more infuriating than reality, especially the deep despair, which accumulated layer by layer and finally ended with the tragedy of the child's death.

"Tu tu tu tu."

The atmosphere in the post office was a bit depressing. Li Feng's article was indeed well written, but it was too depressing.

Too impulsive, Han Anjun secretly shook his head in his heart, of course he also admired Li Feng's courage, after all, not everyone has the courage to write such an article and send it to the newspaper, this is simply too bold.

"Hey, it's all here."

Jiang Yimin, a messenger for the county post office, walked into the post office carrying a bag of letters. "Comrade Xiaofeng, Comrade Xiaoli, these are letters from your commune. There are quite a few this time, and a few are from the capital."

"capital?"

Maya Commune is a small place, thousands of miles away from the capital. Normally, there are only a few letters in a year. What's going on?

"it's here."

Jiang Yimin smiled and pointed at a few letters. "Oh, and there's another telegram from the capital, sent to Li Feng of Hanjiaba, your commune. Yes, yes, that's it."

"Li Feng?"

Everyone turned to look at Li Feng. Everyone was a little surprised by the telegram from the capital.

"what happened?"

Jiang Yimin felt something was wrong. What was going on?

"This is Comrade Li Feng."

Wu Xiaofeng pointed at Li Feng. Jiang Yimin looked at Li Feng and thought he looked like a cultured person. "That's really a coincidence."

"what?"

Huang Xiaoli suddenly exclaimed, looking at the letters in her hand. "These are also addressed to you, Li Feng."

"Oh, it's from the capital."

My goodness, does this person have relatives in the capital? So many letters and telegrams, it’s really strange.

“Is this from People’s Literature?”

"Poetry magazine?"

Wow, Huang Xiaoli was more and more surprised the more she read. Comrade Li Feng’s articles were published in People’s Literature and Poetry Magazine. This is amazing.

"Really?"

Wu Xiaofeng, Xiao Li, Han Anjun, and even Jiang Yimin all came over, and Huang Shengnan also looked at Li Feng with a little surprise.

"Li Feng, did you send the article to People's Literature?" "Yes."

Li Feng then sent two more articles. The Forget-me-not had been sent for almost half a month, but the Scars had only been sent for a few days.

As for the poetry magazine, it was the poem Facing the Sea with Spring Flowers Blooming. Li Feng took the letter and looked at the people around him.

What are you doing? Staring at me. I'm a little nervous. Okay, really. I opened the first letter and found that the poetry magazine rejected it because the content was too simple and the theme was too shallow.

"Rejection letter."

Seeing everyone looking at him with anticipation, Li Feng sighed helplessly and said.

"Hahaha."

Bai Jie couldn't help laughing out loud, and the melon seed shells in her hands fell to the ground. It was so ridiculous. She thought she was so great, but it turned out to be a rejection letter. Really.

"Where are the other letters?"

Comrade Huang Xiaoli, there's no need for that. If the manuscript is rejected again, I'll lose all my dignity. Forget it, forget it. I don't need any more dignity. Open the second letter from Shanghai Wenhui Daily.

The content of "Scars" is too far-fetched, mixed with too many coincidences, and the article describes the dark and negative aspects too much...

"Rejection letter."

Li Feng sighed. It was really one rejection letter after another. Damn, it was really embarrassing.

"It's okay, it's already impressive. Usually, big newspapers and magazines don't write such a long paragraph when they reject manuscripts."

What you said makes a lot of sense. What else can Li Feng say? It’s really embarrassing.

"These two?"

"I'm afraid it's a rejection letter."

Li Feng had no choice but to accept that the last two were from People's Literature, the most famous literary magazine at present. Li Feng felt that the possibility of their publication was slim.

"Don't be so negative, maybe it's a good thing."

Han Anjun patted Li Feng on the shoulder. These two consecutive rejection letters must have been a huge blow. After all, if the article was published, the provincial government would also consider the impact, and at least would consider the punishment for Li Feng.

Li Feng simply ignored it and opened the third letter. Well, this is about "Scars". It was rejected, that's right, but the reviews here are pretty good, although most of them are criticisms.

"Ugh."

"Would you like to read the last letter again?"

"Look."

Li Feng opened the last one. "Huh?"

"what happened?"

"Revise the manuscript. Invite me to the capital to revise it."

Good guy, Forget-me-not, after all, the content is not too negative and reflects some social issues. The writing style is okay, but some places need to be proofread and modified. This is an invitation for me to go to the capital to revise the manuscript.

"Really?"

This doesn't mean there's hope of being published in People's Literature. This is no joke. People's Literature, not many people in the province can publish articles there in a year. If Li Feng can publish an article in People's Literature, maybe this incident can be easily resolved.

"To the capital."

Li Feng shook his head. "Forget it, I can't go."

"Ah, how can I let it go?"

Are you kidding? Going to the capital to revise the manuscript is such an honor, why forget it? Li Feng actually has his own considerations. Not to mention others, just the round-trip fare, there is no time left. If he goes to the capital, there will be many people around and they will report anything wrong.

Besides, the current location of Time and Space Hotel is still Hanjiaba, and it is impossible to go to the capital. I can only give up revising the manuscript. If they want to publish it, then publish it. If not, forget it. It will not be difficult to go back to a small magazine.

"Are you really giving up?"

Jiang Yimin was a little bit unbelieving. He thought, you must be kidding! Even a postman like him knew about People's Literature and the status of this magazine in the literary circle.

"No way."

"No money, no time."

"Never mind. Let's look at the telegram again."

Seeing that Li Feng seemed to have made up his mind, no one tried to persuade him anymore. Only Bai Jie curled her lips. Who knew whether the letter was true or false?

"Jingle Bell."

Li Feng was a little confused when he opened the telegram. What did it mean that he didn't have to revise the manuscript himself? Forget-me-nots will be published next month. What was People's Literature doing?

In fact, Li Feng didn't know that the scar was leaked because of an editor of People's Literature's carelessness or ulterior motives.

This news had already spread among the informed circles in the capital, and was showing signs of spreading in all directions. Some educated youth even went to the People's Literature Publishing House to inquire about this matter, asking why the scars were not published. This put People's Literature in a somewhat passive position.

This was not an urgent discussion, and we finally decided to publish Forget-Me-Not first. This article was much more positive than the enhanced version of Scars, and it also contained certain social issues, such as educated youth abandoning their wives and children in the countryside or their husbands and children returning to the city.

In any case, People's Literature will not publish "Scars" at this stage because the pit is too big.

"Li Feng, don't look anymore. The province is calling."

Bai Jie answered the phone, and when she heard the news from the provincial government, she immediately put on a smile and glanced at Li Feng, saying, "Stop fiddling with those trivial things. Just wait for the provincial government to punish you."

"Oh."

Li Feng casually put the telegram into his pocket and walked to the hand-cranked telephone. This was his first time using a telephone in this era. "Hello, I'm Li Feng from Hanjiaba."

"You are Li Feng, so brave."

The person who spoke was a young man with a bad temper, and he acted like he was going to teach someone a lesson right away.

"It's okay, I still have some courage, not too big, but enough."

Wow, this answer made Bai Jie laugh. This guy is so brave and has no limit to his desire for death.

(End of this chapter)