Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 83 We are all buddies
As they were talking, Chen Ximi came out of the house carrying a soccer ball and said with a smile, "Xiao Zhang, I'm sorry to trouble you again this time."

"Well, I can't stay idle anyway."

The two worked together to move Shi Tiesheng from his wheelchair to the back seat of the car, and then folded up the wheelchair and put it in the trunk.

These days, folding wheelchairs are a rarity. Shi Tiesheng's wheelchair was specially provided to him by the Writers Association after the publication of "Me and the Temple of Heaven" at the beginning of the year.

Chen Ximi looked at her husband in the car and asked hesitantly, "Are you sure you don't need me to come along?"

"You go ahead and do your thing."

Shi Tiesheng hugged the football tightly and smiled at his wife, saying, "He'll definitely feel uncomfortable if you go."

"He was just ashamed!"

Chen Ximi snorted coldly, then pulled Zhang Yan aside and gave him a tight instruction.

Zhang Yan patted his chest and assured her, "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I have connections at the train station!"

Speechless all the way.

Upon arriving near the West Railway Station, Zhang Yan asked Shi Tiesheng to wait in the car for a while, and then ran to a nearby grocery store.

"Boss, how's business lately?"

"Hey, the great writer is here again!"

This shop owner was the same one who wished Zhang Yan "to go bankrupt sooner or later" when Zhang Yan first came to Beijing. Zhang Yan visited the shop a few more times afterward, and the two eventually got to know each other.

The shop owner enthusiastically pointed to the magazine shelf and said, "This latest issue is selling really well. The plot you wrote, where the protagonist uses his special abilities to analyze aerospace materials, is just right—if he really had that kind of ability, he should be helping the country develop science and technology. If he's always fighting and killing, wouldn't he just become a gangster?!"

Sales for this October issue have indeed increased significantly, and are expected to exceed 1.1 million copies.

However, Zhang Yan didn't care about that anymore. He asked his boss to help put Shi Tiesheng in a wheelchair and then pushed him all the way to the pick-up point.

In the crowd, Shi Tiesheng tried to lift the football, but it was clearly not high enough, so he smiled self-deprecatingly and handed the football to Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan caught the soccer ball and tossed it around, asking, "Did you arrange with Teacher Yu Hua to use the soccer ball as a sign?"

Shi Tiesheng shook his head, then said confidently, "He should be able to understand."

OK~
As soon as the green train pulled into the station, Zhang Yan raised the soccer ball high, and sure enough, Yu Hua soon followed.

Yu Hua looked much more weathered after a year apart.

His hair, parted in the middle, looked like a bird's nest, and his clothes were wrinkled. He carried two large bundles on a short shoulder pole on his left shoulder and a snakeskin bag in his right hand. He walked with his shoulders sloping, looking just like a migrant worker crushed by the burdens of life.

However, Yu Hua is still Yu Hua. Although he was disheveled and messy, his optimistic spirit was still there.

Upon seeing Shi Tiesheng and Zhang Yan, he immediately threw down his luggage, stretched his legs, and beckoned to Shi Tiesheng, saying, "Tiesheng, pass the ball!"

Zhang Yan hurriedly handed the football to Shi Tiesheng, who then tossed it to Yu Hua's feet.

Yu Hua hooked the ball with his toe, gave it two quick taps, then scooped it up in his arms, tossing his messy hair around proudly, and said, "How about that? My footwork hasn't gotten rusty at all, has it?"

Shi Tiesheng shook his head helplessly, but couldn't help laughing out loud.

Zhang Yan originally wanted to help Yu Hua with his luggage and have him push his wheelchair so he could catch up with Shi Tiesheng.

But Yu Hua was afraid of getting Zhang Yan's clothes dirty, so she firmly refused. So the three of them, one pushing the cart and the other carrying a load, chatted and laughed as they left the station.

"Ouch~"

Seeing that Zhang Yan had driven there, Yu Hua couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "Wow, someone who's sold 300,000 copies is something else! He's even driving a Santana!"

"This is a friend's car."

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "But I'll save up a bit more and plan to buy a car for transportation."

Although he knew perfectly well that cars would only depreciate while houses would continue to appreciate, he was used to driving cars and would inevitably feel a little uncomfortable without one.

Besides, if a person only thinks about the future and doesn't know how to enjoy life, then it's actually quite meaningless.

Together with Yu Hua, they lifted Shi Tiesheng into the car. Yu Hua also stuffed the carrying pole and luggage into the trunk. There was no room for the snakeskin bag, so they put it in the passenger seat.

Then he sat in the back seat so he could talk to Shi Tiesheng.

"Teacher Yu Hua."

As Zhang Yan started the car, he said, "I booked a table in advance. Should we go now, or..."

"Put your luggage down first." Yu Hua tugged at his collar. "There's no time to take a shower, but at least wash your face and change your clothes—I've been wanting to take advantage of you for a while now, so I won't hold back this time."

Don't call me "Teacher Yu Hua" either, otherwise I'll have to call you "Teacher Zhang Yan" instead, which is too much trouble.

We're both in our 60s, not 50s old fogies, no need to be so polite. From now on, you can call me Yu Hua, and I'll call you Zhang Yan.

"Okay—Brother Yu, do you have a place to stay?"

He agreed, but because Yu Hua had pointed out his secret so incisively, he still held Yu Hua in some awe, so he simply addressed him as "Brother Yu".

"Someone helped me rent a house in advance."

Yu Hua didn't hide anything, grinning as he said, "I'm leaving with nothing this time, so I'll have to be submissive for a few days—luckily, I have a really great idea recently, and it should fetch a good price once I write it down."

Shi Tiesheng had maintained contact with him, and upon hearing this, he asked, "Is it the story you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes, I've already come up with a name."

Yu Hua smiled and said, "Let's call it 'To Live,' which is about people's ability to endure suffering and their optimistic attitude towards the world."

Zhang Yan chimed in, "I also plan to try pure literature next year. The story itself is secondary; I just want to vent my emotions."

Yu Hua laughed and said, "If it can be published separately in the future, we can write prefaces for each other, so I can also benefit from the popularity of bestselling authors."

"Alright, then Brother Yu, you'd better write it well. I'll be counting on this 'preface' to make a name for myself for all time."

Amidst laughter and conversation, the three followed the address given by Yu Hua and arrived at a village in the city outside the Third Ring Road—judging from the surrounding environment, it was clear that his confidante was not a wealthy person.

Upon reaching the door, Yu Hua threw down her luggage and excitedly shouted, "Chen Hong, Chen Hong, I'm here!"

Ok? !

What does this mean?!

Seeing Zhang Yan looking somewhat bewildered, Shi Tiesheng suddenly realized and explained, "I hadn't noticed before that your girlfriend's name is similar to that of his confidante."

At this moment, the door opened, and a young woman quickly came out to greet them. She was quite pretty, though of course, she couldn't compare to the woman in Zhang Yan's room.

The woman's face was initially beaming with joy, but upon seeing Shi Tiesheng and Zhang Yan, she became somewhat shy and hesitant.

Yu Hua didn't hold back at all. He went up and put his arm around her shoulder, introducing her: "Zhang Yan, let me introduce you to this famous female poet, Chen Hong, who is also my benefactor for this trip to Beijing."

"Fuck you~"

Chen Hong blushed and pushed him away, nodding to Shi Tiesheng and saying, "Teacher Tiesheng."

Then he looked at Zhang Yan.

"This is Zhang Yan, a bestselling author who sold 300,000 copies since his debut. He wrote the script for the recently popular TV series 'Tianjin Wei'. He's treating us to lunch today, so we're really taking advantage of his generosity."

"Oh dear, your mouth!"

Chen Hong pinched Yu Hua, saying apologetically, "You went to the station to pick him up, so we should be treating you..."

"Sister-in-law, please don't be so polite."

Zhang Yan waved his hand and said, "I've booked a table near the Temple of Earth. It'll be convenient to take Teacher Tiesheng back after we finish eating."

Seeing that he couldn't refuse her hospitality, Chen Hong helped Yu Hua carry his luggage into the house, and then helped him wash up quickly before changing his clothes and going to the hotel with Zhang Yan.

This is the restaurant where Wang Shuo treated everyone back then.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zhang Yan looked at Yu Hua's weathered face and suddenly had an idea. He asked, "Brother Yu, it must be inconvenient to eat on the road, right?"

"That feeling!"

Yu Hua shook his head, looking like he couldn't bear to look back, and said, "I sat in a hard seat for a whole day. I couldn't bear to spend money to go to the dining car. I could only eat dry food and pickled vegetables on the way. Actually, it would have been useless to go to the dining car. It's full of people with connections. There's no room for them."

"Then don't waste this experience you've gained."

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "I'm going to shoot an ad for eating instant noodles on a train journey. Why don't you make a cameo appearance? It just needs to be filmed in Tianjin, so you'll need to set aside a day for it."

Yu Hua was a shrewd person, and immediately realized that Zhang Yan was indirectly helping her out. While touched, she also hesitated: "Is this appropriate? I'm not an actor..."

"So what? I even had a cameo role."

Zhang Yan interrupted him, saying in an unquestionable tone, "We're all brothers, just consider it helping me out."

(End of this chapter)