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

Chapter 359 Meeting Dean Deng (Returning to Beijing)
At Staff Officer Luo's invitation, Liu Yimin went to his home for lunch and met his son, who was in high school.

After the meal, Luo Xiaotian, the son of Staff Officer Luo, took a notebook and asked Liu Yimin to write a sentence for him. Liu Yimin picked up his pen and wrote four characters: "Great ambitions will be realized."

"I will take Brother Liu Yimin as my role model in the future. He is a writer and professor at a young age."

"Study hard and get into a good university!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Staff Officer Luo's wife hurriedly said, "Quickly say goodbye to Brother Liu Yimin!"

"Goodbye, Brother Liu Yimin!"

"goodbye!"

Staff Officer Luo escorted Liu Yimin back to the guesthouse and asked with concern, "Have the mosquitoes been bothering you lately?"

"It's no use looking for it, I still have to go to sleep," Liu Yimin said helplessly.

At night, it was truly a case of biting your toes while covering your head, and biting your head while covering your feet; you had to curl up into a ball to survive.

In the afternoon, Liu Yimin followed Staff Officer Luo to see the troops near the base. On the troops' parade ground, officers were clapping and leading everyone in singing "The Motherland Will Not Forget".

Even if the melody is different from that of later generations, many songs sound much better when sung together.

Encouraged by the soldiers, Liu Yimin even stood at the front and commanded for a while. During the break, everyone sat together on the side of the parade ground.

When did you arrive in Malan?

“I came here in 65. I was 20 years old when I came, and it has been almost 20 years now.”

"Do you keep in touch with your family?"

"We communicated by letter, but we couldn't say what we did, and we couldn't keep communicating. We just said we were in the Production and Construction Corps, and our families didn't know what we did."

Do you like this song?

"I like it, I really like it, but I don't know how to sing it."

"Haha, it won't be long before someone teaches everyone how to sing."

"Writer Liu, why don't you sing a song?"

"I'm only a novice; if I don't sing well, I might easily lead you astray."

"Hahaha!"

In the research and development building of the base, the door of an inconspicuous office suddenly opened. The nameplate on the door read "Office of the Director of the Ninth Research Institute of Nuclear Industry". A man with slightly gray hair walked out and stood at the door, observing everything in the corridor.

Suddenly, he reached out and waved to a young woman next to him: "Xiao Liu, what is everyone humming about?"

"Dean Deng, everyone is singing a song written by Comrade Liu Yimin, but the tune isn't uniform, so they're singing it all over the place," Xiao Liu said with a smile.

"Ge'er? Let me see her?"

"Dean Deng, let me sing it for you, but I don't know if I sing it correctly. You've been busy with the project these past few days, so you don't know, the whole base has heard about it."

"Has it spread all over the place?"

"Yes, listen to this!"

After Xiao Liu finished singing, Dean Deng asked her to write down the lyrics with great interest. After looking at them several times, he smiled and said, "They are indeed well written. Comrade Liu Yimin, the name sounds familiar."

"Dean Deng, you've forgotten, the movie we watched was written by him. He's been at our base recently, saying he's here to gather inspiration. You see, professionals are professionals. He wrote so well as soon as he arrived, much better than our Chunlei Art Troupe."

"I remember now, you can go ahead and get busy!"

After Xiao Liu left, Dean Deng picked up the phone on the table: "Old Chief, are you in your office? You've been here for a while, I'd like to have a chat with you."

"Comrade Jiaxian, come on in, I'm in my office!"

On July 10, Liu Yimin received a notification from his former superior and went to his office at the base.

As soon as Liu Yimin walked in, he was immediately drawn to the man sitting next to him drinking tea. The man was also sizing him up while drinking his tea.

"Yimin, sit down quickly. Guess who this person sitting in front of you is?"

Liu Yimin said, "He must be a great scientist!"

"Haha, he is the person you are here to meet, Comrade Deng Jiaxian, the director of the Ninth Research Institute!"

"Hello, Dean Deng!"

"Hello, young comrade, your name is quite famous! It has spread throughout Malan in just ten days, and even I have heard of it!" Dean Deng said with a smile.

Liu Yimin said with a smile, "It was just a whim, nothing like what you did."

"Writers often rely on whims, and so do we when we're working on a project. This shows that the arts and sciences are interconnected. I heard from the old commander that you met Comrade Xuesen when you were in Yenching?"

"It is my honor to meet Professor Qian."

"Mr. Qian usually doesn't like to meet with reporters or writers, so the fact that he agreed to meet with you shows that you have something special about you. Although literature doesn't directly tackle scientific challenges, it can boost morale. Your song is really well written. Yes, in the surging waves, which one am I?"

The old leader interjected, "You're the biggest one!"

"Old commander, these achievements are the result of the joint efforts of all comrades. I couldn't have done such a big thing by myself! Just looking at these words, I felt as if I had been hit by a sledgehammer. I believe the comrades at the base feel the same way as me."

Our pain cannot be known to others, nor can our glory be shared with them. After a victory, there's no time to celebrate; we must immediately immerse ourselves in the next project.

Taking the opportunity, the old leader said, "You two chat for a bit, I'll go out for a walk first."

After the old leader left, Liu Yimin spoke first: "Dean Deng, may I ask you a question?" "Go ahead and ask!"

Liu Yimin said, "Have you ever regretted coming back? As far as I know, your classmate is now a Nobel Prize winner. You are more outstanding than him. If you hadn't come back, the highest honor in the world's scientific community would have been yours."

"I don't regret it. My father taught me to serve the country through science. If I had science but didn't use it to serve the country, wouldn't that be a disservice to my father's teachings? Besides, a seed can only sprout in soil that suits it. If I were abroad, I might not have achieved this." Dean Deng said frankly, without a trace of doubt in his eyes.

Liu Yimin nodded and said, "This is exactly why the old leader sent me here. Now that we have reform and opening up, conditions have improved, and many people want to go out. Today's young people need a banner, a role model."

Dean Deng stood up and looked out the window at Malan, saying, "I am not a role model, but there are many good comrades who are role models, and Comrade Yonghuai, who sacrificed his life, is an even greater role model. Everyone in the Malan base is a role model. You are one too. The old commander just told me about your deeds. You did a good job!"
"They just gave up $150,000 like that? I've never seen $150,000 in my entire life."

"I've never seen it either, but I know that money isn't so easy to get."

As the conversation flowed, Liu Yimin suggested playing a game of chess. While playing chess and chatting, Liu Yimin learned quite a bit about the situation.

Dean Deng's wife, Comrade Xu Luxi, worked at Yenching Medical University.

Professor Qian Sanqiang's situation, and the story of his wife He Zehui, are also about a physicist.

In the movie "The Birth of a Nation", Lu Guangda's prototype is Comrade Deng Jiaxian, and Lu Guangda's wife's prototype is Comrade He Zehui.

After talking for about three hours, Dean Deng stood up and said, "Young comrade, I have to go now. If it is really written into a novel, I will have to take a look. But don't put all the credit on me. Also, I look forward to this song. I will definitely sing it with my comrades when it is released."

"I estimate that the Spring Thunder Art Troupe has almost finished composing the music. I hope this song will travel with Chinese scientists to all scientific fields."

“I think it’s great, really great. When I sing it, I can’t help but want to cry.”

Liu Yimin quoted a line from Ai Qing's poem: "Comrade Ai Qing said, 'Why are our eyes often filled with tears? Because we love this land so deeply.'"

"I hope this land will get better and better, but I may not live to see it."

Liu Yimin didn't know what to say, so he could only say, "Let me see you off!"

"Dean Deng, your name will forever resound in the skies above this land!"

"Haha, I'll get tired if I float around for too long. Okay, see you again sometime!"

After Dean Deng left, the old leader said, "He's too busy, so busy he doesn't have time for himself. Let's go to the Chunlei Art Troupe and hear how their final composition turns out!"

Liu Yimin followed his old leader to the Chunlei Art Troupe. The troupe members were rehearsing, but they immediately stopped when they saw them enter.

"You all sing your songs!" the old commander said with a smile.

"Yes!"

"Sing amidst the vast sea of ​​people!"

"In the vast sea of ​​people, which one am I?"

"Yimin, what do you think?"

“I think it’s alright. The overall melody is starting to pick up. What do you think?” Liu Yimin asked.

“It sounds good. I think we should go back and listen to the composition by the comrades from the Science and Technology Commission. If it doesn’t work, we should send a few people over so they can learn from each other’s strengths.”

"Commander, Comrade Liu Yimin, what do you think?"

"Great! Record one version first, and we'll play it at the base tomorrow morning!"

"Yes!"

Hearing the leader's affirmation, the cultural troupe members were very happy, and some of them mustered up their courage to take a group photo with the old leader and Liu Yimin.

"Let's go, Yimin. Geese leave their mark wherever they fly. Since we're here, let's take a picture!"

“This is also the first photo of me with you!” Liu Yimin said.

"Really? Let's take a picture of the two of us alone in a bit."

After they left, the soldiers in the cultural troupe quickly began rehearsing and recording. The next day at 7:30, Liu Yimin was woken up by the singing.

Liu Yimin drew back the curtains. A number of people were standing in the base's courtyard, excitedly looking up at the loudspeaker, their chopsticks tapping against their lunchboxes in time with the music.
The song floated in the sky above the base and echoed across the vast Gobi Desert.

Amidst the singing, Liu Yimin, along with two senior leaders and his security secretary, arrived at Malan Airport near the base by car, boarded a connecting flight, and left the Malan base.

"Tell the captain to fly low for a few circles before leaving," the old commander said to his secretary, Li, who was standing next to him.

"Yes!"

The plane was flying very low, and Liu Yimin could see the soldiers waving their hats on the parade ground and the scientists holding folders in the courtyard.

"What? You can't bear to part with it?" the old commander teased.

"Sir, that's how it is when you go on a field trip. You just start to build a connection and then you have to leave. You always feel a lot of reluctance."

"I heard that you also formed a deep friendship when you were in Aba. I have read Comrade Xu Chi's works and he said that you are very good at getting along with comrades. Now I believe it."

"I treat people with sincerity. I enjoy chatting with people, so when my comrades meet me, they like to strike up a conversation!"

"That's what ability is! Hurry back, or you'll get a terrible scolding!"

"what happened?"

"You'll see when you get back. Whoever you stepped on will be cursing you! When will the novel be finished?"

"Sir, I'll try to get it ready before Army Day!"

(End of this chapter)