Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 330: Twenty Days and Nights of a Young Writer in America

Liu Yimin nodded in agreement to Zou Huofan's invitation: "When I have time, I will definitely support you!"

"Haha, your words give me even more confidence. I'm genuinely worried about the poetry scene, which has been showing signs of fatigue since 82!"

Liu Yimin left Zou Huofan with a few words of inspirational wisdom for posterity, titled "Forward".

Zou Huofan said with a smile, "These two lines are inspiring and can encourage young people who are feeling lost. 'Charging forward is youth, blooming towards the sun is us!' Youth, youth, I really miss it!"

"Youth is about pursuing ideals, and those ideals later become youth itself. That's how it is for everyone. From adolescence to death, life may be long or short, but all these processes are involved," Liu Yimin remarked.

"Yes, you're right. Even a mayfly's life is but a day. Though we are born in the morning and die at dusk, we experience everything. My friends who sacrificed their lives at a young age, their lives were short but also very memorable."

Liu Yimin patted Zou Huofan's hand: "You've gotten all sad!"

The two went to the guesthouse and chatted with Master Ma for half an hour, agreeing that the three of them would sit down and drink together again after the New Year.

Zhou Xing, who succeeded Master Ma, has also changed a lot in the past two years. From a returned educated youth to getting married and starting a family, the marks of life on his face are becoming more and more prominent, and he is less talkative than before.

After Liu Yimin left, Zhou Xing said enviously, "Liu Yimin's life is what you call a real life. The story of a young man achieving fame in a book must be about Liu Yimin!"
Become a writer, a professor, and receive awards abroad, bringing glory to the country!

As Master Ma watched Liu Yimin's retreating figure, he recalled the first time he met Liu Yimin at the large pond.

He couldn't help but say, "Back then, when Yimin first came to Yanjing, in the big pond, through the steam, I could tell from Master Ma that his little bird was still tender!"

If Liu Yimin heard what Master Ma said, he'd probably faint. Zhou Xing, upon hearing Master Ma's words, smiled with a wicked grin.

Master Ma continued, "Xing'er, a person's life is just one, whether rich or poor, it's still just one life, you can't compare them. People's greed is endless. If they have a thousand fields, they want ten thousand; if they become prime minister, they want to be king; if they become emperor, they want to become immortal!"

You think he has it easy? You're not him. Everyone has their own struggles. Be content and you'll find happiness! Look at me, if I have pickled vegetables, I drink with them; if not, I dip my chopsticks in soy sauce and drink anyway. Life goes on. As long as you're alive, that's better than anything!

After saying that, Master Ma led Zhou Xing back to the boiler room, where Zhou Xing picked up a shovel and started shoveling coal into the boiler.

As the Lunar New Year approached, the Ministry of Culture indeed published the achievement of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in the newspaper regarding the return of cultural relics, but did not specifically point out the value of the relics.

When the people heard this good news, they talked about it while shopping for New Year's goods and rushing to buy cabbages.

"The Americans still have some conscience; they know to pay back!"

"Conscience? Bullshit! They wouldn't even think of it if we didn't want it! Didn't the newspapers say that our writers' delegation asked for it in the US, and when they came back, the comrades from the Cultural Relics Bureau went, and the two groups managed to get twelve pieces back!"

"Yes, this describes what happened. Look how well Comrade Liu Yimin said, 'Success doesn't have to be achieved by me, but I will definitely contribute to it.' Young people today should learn from this!"

"Have you read the latest issue of 'Huacheng' magazine? Comrade Xu Chi published a piece called 'Twenty Days and Nights of a Young Writer in America,' which tells what Comrade Liu Yimin did during his twenty days in America: he angrily denounced the media, confronted the monkeys, wrote all night, and stood on the street to give an interview in America, shouting at the top of his lungs. He was shouting for us!"

When the delegation returned, the Ministry of Culture had reporters promote the event while also asking Xu Chi to help write a reportage, which was finally published in February.

However, Xu Chi did not choose to publish in a magazine in Beijing, but instead chose the Southern magazine "Huacheng".

In his letter to Liu Yimin, Xu Chi wrote: "Nowadays, the commercial atmosphere in the South is strong, and there are many ways to make money, especially in the coastal areas, where people are 'bold and daring.' The reason why his reportage was published in the headquarters of 'Huacheng' magazine is to take Liu Yimin as an example and spread the spirit of patriotism."

In commercially vibrant areas, in addition to people being "bold and decisive," some low-quality literary works began to emerge. Although they did not make it into major magazines or newspapers, this trend alerted Xu Chi.

Xu Chi is free to make his own decisions about what he writes, and it's good that it's published in the south. That said, Liu Yimin has never actually published any work south of Shanghai.

He really didn't know how much influence he had in the South.

However, he knew that there was one place where his reputation wasn't very good: the Chinese Department of Fudan University.

This was what Li Xueqin told him. The Chinese Department of Fudan University was one of the strongholds of the "Scar Literature" academic school, so it was no wonder that Liu Yimin's attitude towards "Scar Literature" had a bad reputation there. Xu Chi's reportage and the Ministry of Culture's news echoed each other from the north and south, and with the news that the film "Triumph at Midnight" had sold more than a thousand copies, "Liu Yimin" was a hot topic throughout the Spring Festival.

"Could you make this cilantro cheaper?"

"No way, who do you think you are? Liu Yimin? You've got quite the nerve. What dish doesn't go up in price during the New Year? If you were Liu Yimin, I'd give you a discount!"

What is reputation? This is reputation!

At Yanjing Airport, Liu Yimin helped a nervous Zhu Lin board the plane to Zhengzhou. Zhu Lin, holding the seatbelt, looked awkwardly at Liu Yimin and tried to imitate him on how to fasten it.

"Teacher Liu, hold my hand tightly, I'm a little nervous!" Zhu Lin squeezed Liu Yimin's hand, unconsciously tightening her grip.

Liu Yimin put his arm around Zhu Lin's shoulder and whispered reassuringly, "Don't worry, it's nothing!"

As the plane's engines roared to life, it taxied onto the runway and began takeoff.

The feeling of weightlessness during takeoff made Zhu Lin climb into Liu Yimin's arms, afraid to look outside. Only after the plane reached a certain altitude did Zhu Lin raise her head and cautiously look out the window.

"Yanjing is so small, Baiyun." Zhu Lin was as amazed as a child who had just bought a favorite toy.

"Teacher Liu, I'll go catch a cloud for you to make cotton candy!" Zhu Lin said with a sly laugh.

Liu Yimin said, "It's too cold, I won't eat it!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lin immediately chuckled and rested her head on Liu Yimin's shoulder, watching the receding sky.

It only took less than two hours to fly from Beijing to Zhengzhou. I took a bus from the East Suburb Airport to Zhengzhou Railway Station.

Taking advantage of Liu Yimin's professorship, he bought two soft sleeper tickets.

"Now we don't have to ask Teacher Wan to help us buy a soft sleeper!" Liu Yimin pulled Zhu Lin and squeezed into the station.

Zhu Lin said, "Unfortunately, I can't afford it on my own!"

"Look at him, he's quite competitive!"

I set off from Yanjing in the morning and arrived in Rucheng in the afternoon. After more than an hour to get home, I arrived just in time for dinner.

Li Dashan drove the brigade's tractor back to Maiji Brigade with the two men. This tractor was bought by the county for road repairs in Maiji Brigade, which made many brigades extremely anxious.

Li Lanyong, who was sitting next to him, said, "Yimin, if it weren't for you, the county wouldn't have bought a tractor for our brigade. This tractor is now one of the few collective production assets of the brigade."

“That’s right, Yimin, our brigade is also benefiting from your efforts! We started repairing this road at the beginning of winter, and now it’s much easier to walk on.” Li Dashan spoke with great pride about the road, a handmade cigarette rolled in a notebook dangling from his mouth.

On the way back, Liu Yimin personally inspected the road. Although it wasn't paved, it had been widened and leveled.

Rucheng is a coal city, and there is more coal gangue, a byproduct of coal, than it can use. Tractors use coal gangue to pave the loess as roadbeds.

It doesn't take long to lay it once, but there's a lot of coal gangue, so you can lay it again.

"This can't be blamed on me. If you don't take the initiative to repair the road, the county can't help even if it wants to!"

When they arrived at Maiji Brigade, Liu Fuqing and Yang Xiuyun were already waiting at the brigade entrance. As soon as Yang Xiuyun saw Zhu Lin, she took his hand and asked him about his well-being.

"Since winter began, your father and I have been waiting for you two to come home for the New Year!" Yang Xiuyun happily pulled Zhu Lin towards the house.

P.S.: The Tax King actually attacked Iran. What do you all think?
(End of this chapter)