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

Chapter 435, Premiere of "The Most Beautiful Youth"

After Zhu Lin arrived carrying a bag, Xi Mei followed closely behind, also carrying a pile of things. Winter was coming, and most of the items were winter clothes, along with some in-demand food or supplements.

Liu Yimin looked at the fur coat and cotton trousers inside and smiled, "Zhu Lin is very thoughtful."

"This must have cost a lot of money, right?" Yang Xiuyun asked, touching the fabric and its thickness.

Zhu Lin smiled and helped Yang Xiuyun sit down. He then took out a sweater and a cotton coat from the side for Yang Xiuyun to try on, saying, "Mom, it won't cost much."

The blue Lenin-style cotton-padded coat and the navy-colored knitted sweater look very warm.

"Linlin, it's not cold at home, you don't need to buy me anything. The Gregorian New Year is coming soon, remember to buy something for your parents." Yang Xiuyun looked at the Lenin-style cotton-padded coat that only city people used to wear, and couldn't help but try it on.

Zhu Lin faced a dilemma when buying clothes for Yang Xiuyun and Liu Fuqing. If he bought trendy clothes, they might think they were too flashy and wouldn't wear them, so he could only buy these old-fashioned styles.

"Mom, I know. I'll buy them some more in a couple of days," Zhu Lin said.

In addition to clothes, I also bought blankets and quilt covers, which are suitable for use in my hometown and are especially warm.

These items were sent back to Ru County in several batches by post, and the postage alone cost Zhu Lin half a month's salary.

At Yenching University, Liu Yimin walked into the Chinese Department. Two students walked towards him and greeted him. Liu Yimin stopped and called out to them, "Why do you two sound like you're from Ru County?"

"Professor Liu, we are from Ru County, students from Class 1," the two boys said excitedly.

"Are you the students from Ru County who were admitted to Yenching University this year?"

"Yes, my name is Li Rulin, and his name is Liang Guisheng."

Liu Yimin looked at the two men with interest: "Why didn't you come to see me? I was very happy to hear that two students from our county were admitted to Peking University. I thought you would come to see your fellow townsman!"

Liu Yimin doesn't teach freshman classes, so this was the first time he had seen the two of them.

The two hesitated for a while before Li Rulin finally said, "We're sorry, we're afraid of disturbing Professor Liu."

What brings you to the department office today?

“The department is recruiting students for work-study programs, so the two of us came to give it a try.”

Liu Yimin frowned and asked, "Are you two having any financial difficulties?"

“No, no, we just want an opportunity to improve ourselves. In addition to the money the school gives us, the county also provides us with a living allowance of twenty yuan a month!” Liang Guisheng hurriedly said.

Liu Yimin led the two of them into his office: "I see. If you need anything in the future, just come to me. My office is right here. How did everyone else in the county do on the college entrance exam this year, except for the two of you?"

"There are also two at the Normal University and Renmin University. There should be more than a hundred students who have been admitted to undergraduate programs."

Wu Zuxiang was drinking tea when he heard that familiar "hiss" and slurped, "Your county is pretty good, a major county for education, with over a hundred undergraduates."

After the two of them left, Liu Yimin said with a smile, "Professor Wu, please don't drink such hot water."

"Do you think I got burned? This small county town has produced a bunch of college students."

“Our place is a land of outstanding people and beautiful scenery. If you have time, come visit our Ru County, and I’ll show you around,” Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"Forget it, I'd rather eat coal at your place!" Wu Zuxiang joked.

Liu Yimin pointed to the blazing coal stove: "We can't live without coal now! This isn't just a coal stove, it's burning my hometown."

"Alright, Yimin, time for class," Wang Yao said, getting up.

Liu Yimin closed his textbook and followed Wang Yao out of the classroom.

At noon, Liu Yimin treated his two fellow townsmen, Li Rulin and Liang Guisheng, to a meal. Once they started eating, they talked a lot about the things they weren't used to at Yenching University.

Coming from a small town to Yenching University, the outside world was so rich that the two developed a lot of feelings of inferiority.

Liu Yimin told them about his experience when he first came to Yenching University, but found that he didn't have any examples to give, so he changed the subject to Liu Zhenyun, but didn't mention his name.

"I came to Yenching University to study and to continuously enrich my spiritual world. I will gradually get used to things that I am not used to at first."

Before going to university, everyone says they want to broaden their horizons and gain knowledge, but the moment they actually do, they experience all sorts of discomfort.

After the meal, Liu Yimin offered a few more words of encouragement. The two men watched him leave, deeply moved, and vowed to follow his example and study hard at Yenching University.

On New Year's Day in 1985, Yenching University held a New Year's Eve party, and Liu Yimin brought his whole family to watch the party.

Student clubs rehearsed many interesting programs for the party, including "Eating Noodles" and "The Best Restaurant in the World".

What surprised everyone the most was that Mulatu led the international students from Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press to rehearse the play "Beloved".

When Zhu Lin saw the international students on stage, he exclaimed that this was the real "Beloved": "Even our actors from the Beijing People's Art Theatre have to wear makeup, but these international students don't need to wear any makeup at all."

Although Mulatu and the others stumbled a bit while delivering their lines, the mere fact that Black and White people were performing the history of the plantations was enough to make Yenching University students clap until their hands were swollen.

"In terms of realism, the actors from Beijing People's Art Theatre are indeed not as good as them."

The actors from the Beijing People's Art Theatre wore very unnatural makeup due to their Black appearance; the play was carried entirely by their excellent acting skills.

If these students can perform like this, I wonder how the Broadway production of "The Favourite" will look.

"The Favourite" and "Green Book" officially premiered on Broadway in November and December, respectively. According to the telegram sent by the person in charge and Miller to Liu Yimin, the performances were very successful. Tickets for "The Favourite" were sold out for the first two weeks after its premiere, and many people from the American academic and artistic circles attended the performances.

"Teacher Liu, look, look! This scene is so well acted!" Zhu Lin said, pointing to the screen on the stage.

"Aren't these all movements from the Beijing People's Art Theatre?"

"They made some improvements, but I don't know when they learned it from others. I haven't heard that they learned from Teacher Lan and Teacher Su!" Zhu Lin said in confusion.

Liu Yimin said, "I estimate that the drama club of Yenching University also helped a lot in this regard."

After the performance of "Beloved," the entire audience shouted "Bravo!" The applause from students and professors was thunderous. After the performance, Muller even gave a talk on the history of how Black people came to America.

After the actors left the stage, Mulatu went directly to Liu Yimin to ask how their performance was.

"When it comes to performing foreign plays, even the Beijing People's Art Theatre has to admit defeat in front of you," Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Mulat said, "We've had this idea for a long time, and we've been rehearsing for three months. Originally, we thought we would popularize this knowledge among Chinese students at school and enrich the cultural life of international students."

In December, we heard that Yenching University was going to hold a New Year's Eve party, and we all felt we had to attend.

Finally, in the awards ceremony, the play performed by these international students was awarded second prize.

The family left Yenching University with the crowd.

After January, Yanjing experienced a few scattered snowfalls, but each time the snowflakes were blown away by the wind before they even touched the ground.

That day, Liu Yimin had just returned home when he heard Yang Xiuyun and Ximei happily carrying two little ones to his side, loudly telling him that the two little ones could talk.

"Xiaoyu, call out 'Grandma' for Daddy to hear," Ximei said with a smile.

Liu Yu obediently called out "Grandma" to Liu Yimin. Liu Yimin happily turned Liu Yu's head towards Yang Xiuyun: "Grandma's here! Call Dad!"

"You've only just learned to talk, how can you be so fast!" Yang Xiuyun complained.

However, just as Yang Xiuyun finished speaking, Liu Lin mumbled "Dad," a sound that delighted the whole family.

Liu Yimin stopped thinking about writing books and instead held his two little ones, teaching them to say "Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma."

Xi Mei said happily, "Professor Liu, we were watching TV today, and the actors on TV were calling out 'Grandma,' and Liu Yu and Liu Lin started calling out too. At first, Aunt Yang and I almost couldn't tell if it was the TV or their voices." Born in April, they didn't start speaking until January of the following year. Compared to when Liu Yimin started speaking, the two of them were quite late.

Seeing that her grandchildren couldn't speak yet, Yang Xiuyun became visibly anxious starting in December. She not only taught them herself but also had Ximei teach them every day.

After Yang Xiuyun finished expressing her joy, she didn't forget to call Zhu's parents to share the good news. Upon hearing the news, Zhu's parents couldn't wait to come and hear them call them "Grandpa and Grandma," but after checking the time, they held back and decided to come tomorrow.

When Zhu Lin returned from the Beijing People's Art Theatre, Liu Yu and Liu Lin still hadn't learned how to say "mother," and could only vaguely open their mouths and babble. Even so, Zhu Lin was overjoyed.

She personally held and fed the child during mealtimes, her eyes overflowing with maternal love.

After finishing the meal, Liu Yimin said with a smile, "Hurry up and teach the two little ones to call their grandparents 'grandpa' and 'grandma,' otherwise their parents will be sad when they come tomorrow."

"These two little ones are very clever; I'll definitely be able to teach them by tomorrow," Yang Xiuyun said, teasing them with candy.

Liu Yimin turned around and went back into the house to write "Freedom of Black Slaves." He has already written 40,000 words and will work hard to make it a novel of more than 100,000 words.

The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Zhu brought some toys and food to the Overseas Chinese Apartment. After opening the door and putting down their things, they picked up the two little ones who were playing in the "sitting chair".

"Put him down first, put him down, we're getting cold!" Zhu's mother suddenly put Liu Lin back into the sitting room.

The two took off their coats, sat on the sofa and chatted with Yang Xiuyun for a while, and only went to hold the child after they warmed up.

"Xiaoyu, call me Grandma!" Zhu's mother said with a smile.

Yang Xiuyun was taken aback for a moment and quickly said, "You've gone astray. We teach our grandparents, and that's how we teach them."

"It's all the same, all the same. Strictly speaking, that's how we call them in our hometown too. It's what people in Yanjing often call them," Zhu's mother said indifferently.

After a night of intensive study, the two little ones learned how to address their maternal grandparents.

The mumbled "Grandpa and Grandma" calls melted the hearts of Zhu's parents, who then spent all their time playing with the two of them.

Zhu's mother also mentioned some things that children should pay attention to at this time: "Go to the hospital in a couple of days for another vaccination. The country has introduced a lot of vaccines for children now. I will see what else they need to get based on their situation."

In the 1980s, vaccines such as polio vaccine, BCG vaccine, and DPT vaccine began to be widely promoted and administered in China.

“My dear in-law, you’re a doctor, you definitely know more than I do, I trust you!” Yang Xiuyun said with a smile.

Xi Mei wrote down what Zhu's mother said, afraid that she would forget it later.

From September until now, Ximei feels that working as a nanny here is quite good. Unlike the maids in the movies, the work is not tiring, the salary is high, and she even gets a red envelope on New Year's Day. Now her parents don't say much to her anymore.

At noon, Liu Yimin personally cooked several of Fengzeyuan's signature dishes, and Zhu's mother also cooked two Anhui dishes. Everyone gathered together to eat.

While eating, Zhu's father asked, "Yimin, shouldn't Linlin's production of 'The Most Beautiful Youth' have its premiere yet?"

"A week later, the Beijing People's Art Theatre and the Ministry of Forestry will invite model workers from Saihanba Forest Farm and several model workers from nearby forest farms to come and watch the premiere," Liu Yimin said.

After watching the performance, the Ministry of Forestry invited several model workers to give a speech at Yenching Forestry University, calling on more young people to build forest farms.

Zhu's parents stayed at home until Zhu Lin got off work and had dinner before leaving.

Lying in bed that night, Liu Yimin asked Zhu Lin about the premiere. Zhu Lin said, "Director Shanzun and Teacher Wan both watched it today and thought the choreography was fine."

After saying that, Zhu Lin suddenly rolled over and moved closer to Liu Yimin, her eyes wide open: "Teacher Liu, not a single thing has been changed. What does that mean? It means that the old director and Teacher Wan approve of my arrangement."

“I agree, I’ve never seen you this happy.” Liu Yimin scratched Zhu Lin’s ribs.

Zhu Lin nestled against Liu Yimin's chest and said, "Teacher Liu, how can I be happy?"

"What did you say?"

Zhu Lin chuckled: "Come on, let's celebrate."

On January 15th, "The Most Beautiful Youth" officially premiered at the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and the model workers from the forest farm arrived yesterday.

Inside the meeting room, model worker representatives, Liu Yimin, leaders from the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and leaders from the forest farm chatted together, talking about whatever came to mind, and the meeting was very harmonious.

The model worker representatives were all wearing blue cotton-padded work clothes, with a red flower hanging on their left chest and the words "Model Worker" written below the flower.

Compared to the others present, the signs of hardship on this group of people were immediately apparent. Even the young people had rough, dark skin, and many had frostbitten fingers that could only be bandaged with white medical tape due to the lack of other medications.

His face was thin, and his tired expression was tinged with joy.

Yang Zhong, a leader from the Ministry of Forestry, spoke first: "The comrades in the forest farms have worked hard. In the future, the Ministry will use more money to improve everyone's living conditions."

"Our forest farm is much better this year than last year. Last year, the wooden houses were drafty!" Huang Yong, the forest farm representative, said with a simple and honest smile.

Liu Wenshi, the former director of the forest farm, said, "Things are much better now than before. We have machines now, which saves a lot of effort. Comrade Yimin, we heard that this money all came from you. On behalf of all the comrades in the forest farm, we thank you."

"Everyone deserves it, no need to thank me," Liu Yimin quickly waved his hand.

Yang Zhong continued, “Comrades, you may not know this news yet. Comrade Yimin has been raising money for everyone in the United States. Last month, an environmental group in Los Angeles wired us three thousand US dollars.”

This was the first time Liu Yimin had heard this news. But after all this time raising funds in the United States, Joseph and his wife only had three thousand dollars? This was a bit lower than Liu Yimin had expected. But having money was always a good thing.

After a while, the main creators of "The Most Beautiful Youth" came in to meet with the model worker representatives. After shaking hands and exchanging ideas, the model worker representatives gave a unique report meeting.

They demonstrated how to plant trees and how to stabilize sand, and even brought several dead saplings to let everyone feel the difficulty of planting trees.

After seeing this, Cao Yu recounted his experiences on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and felt that the grasslands must be protected, otherwise they would become deserts in the future.

“Many herders in Inner Mongolia raise sheep, and the sheep not only huddle together but also eat grass roots, which easily leads to desertification. Pastoral areas with fewer sheep are less difficult to protect,” Cao Yu said, describing the phenomenon he had observed in Inner Mongolia.

In the afternoon, the model workers, led by the Ministry of Forestry, visited the Forbidden City and the memorial hall.

In the evening, when the model workers returned to the Beijing People's Art Theatre, they were warmly welcomed by the audience.

The audience held up banners in the cold wind, most of which read things like "Thank you for your hard work, comrades in the forest farm."

Some people asked when the sandstorms would stop ravaging Beijing, and the deputy director of the Saihanba Forest Farm stepped forward and replied: "Comrades, believe in our comrades at the forest farm, we will definitely continue to work hard!"

"We'll give you a detailed report after the play ends," said a staff member from the Forestry Department as they came out to maintain order.

Liang Sanhulu tugged at Liu Yimin's clothes, asking Liu Yimin to help deliver all the candied hawthorns to the model workers.

"Okay, I thank you on their behalf." This time, Liu Yimin did not refuse.

"You're too kind. They're planting trees for our benefit!"

Liang Sanhu opened a shop opposite the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and he still comes over to sell his wares in the evenings for the convenience of his customers.

The model worker representatives sat in the front row of the Beijing People's Art Theatre's performance hall, their red flowers on their chests and their red candied hawthorns in their hands standing out brightly.

As the play began, the curtain rose on stage, and the Beijing People's Art Theatre used fans to create the scene of a strong wind and a desert setting.

The opening scene drew applause from the audience. The lead actor was Pu Cunxi, dressed in simple clothes, looking at the endless yellow sand, and making up his mind to settle down in Saihanba.

Pu Cunxi participated in the land reclamation campaign when he was a sent-down youth in Northeast China. He has real experience, so his performance is more realistic than others.

Saihanba, an ancient forest farm, is a vast expanse of yellow sand stretching as far as the eye can see.
Next, the Saihanba model worker team watched most attentively, and before long, tears began to glisten in their eyes.

As they delved deeper into the scenario, they felt increasingly empathetic, as if they had returned to those difficult years of starting a business.

The newspaper's reporters kept taking pictures, hoping to capture a touching moment to prepare for tomorrow's report.

(End of this chapter)