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

Chapter 95 Zhu Lin's Opportunity

Cui Daoyi selected two people for Liu Yimin. One was Zhang Guangnian from People's Literature and Art, who was not as qualified as Cao Yu, but was also the current head of the literary world and the top leader of the Writers Association.

Another one is Zou Huofan, who is now showing signs of becoming a leading figure in the poetry world. Moreover, he has no problems in terms of poetic talent, qualifications, and character, and he is also very familiar with Liu Yimin.

"You don't need to go to Lao Zhang's place. I'll go directly to him and have him write it. You can go find Lao Zou. If you don't want to go, I can go instead! You're very busy at the Beijing People's Art Theatre. I'm looking forward to seeing your play."

"I'll go myself!"

Liu Yimin thought for a moment and realized that it was inappropriate to let Cui Daoyi go over. Zou Huofan might not mind, but it was a matter of etiquette.

“Okay!” Cui Daoyi nodded.

Li Shu and Cui Daoyi walked down to the first floor. Li Shu suddenly stopped. Cui Daoyi stared at Li Shu's movements, signaling him to behave.

"Hey, Lao Cui, my stomach's acting up, I need to go to the bathroom. Wait for me, you can go ahead!"

"I'll wait for you here in ten minutes!" Seeing that he didn't seem to be faking it, Cui Daoyi waved his hand and glanced at his watch.

Li Shu quickly agreed and ran towards the restroom. A few minutes later, Li Shu reappeared in the rehearsal hall and found Liu Yimin.

"Comrade Yimin, our publishing house is preparing to establish the magazine 'Contemporary'. On behalf of the magazine, I would like to solicit articles from you. The payment will be the same as theirs."

Before Li Shu could finish speaking, Cui Daoyi appeared behind him, looking furious.

"I knew you had bad intentions!"

"Old Cui, listen to me..."

After Cui Daoyi and Li Shu left, Liu Yimin also left the rehearsal hall. Currently, apart from Jiajia, who has not yet been found, everyone else is in place, so there is no need for him to be here anymore.

Lan Tianye planned to find a few young girls from the Beijing Film Studio. There were too few decent young girls at the Beijing People's Art Theatre, and none of the girls he found fit the bill.

Liu Yimin borrowed a bicycle and went to the editorial office of "Poetry Journal," where he found Zou Huofan. Inside the editorial office, the smell of gas and smoke mingled together; it was a mystery how these elderly colleagues managed to endure it.

An iron kettle rested on top of the coal stove, constantly bubbling and steaming.

"What a rare guest, Yimin! What brings you here?" Zou Huofan greeted him with a smile. "How's it going at the Beijing People's Art Theatre? Is the pressure high being Dean Wan's student?"

"There is pressure, but I am the steam engine!"

"How to say?"

"The greater the pressure, the stronger the motivation."

"I like her confidence!"

Liu Yimin told Zou Huofan about writing a preface. At first, Zou Huofan was very happy, but when he heard that Cao Yu was also writing one, he quickly waved his hand to refuse. Just then, Ge Luo walked in and said, "Yimin is going to publish a book. As his fellow villager, you should write a preface!"

“You think I didn’t hear you? Old Zou, you should do it. Didn’t Yimin say that the greater the pressure, the stronger the motivation? Look at this teapot spout, steaming out.”

After thinking for a while, Zou Huofan finally agreed, but decided to add a few names after Zou Huofan's name as a preface written by everyone together.

Liu Yimin chuckled inwardly; this was a plan to gather everyone's strength to fight against Cao Yu!

"Me, Lao Yan, Lao Ge, and..."

Liu Yimin laughed and said, "Okay, the more people, the more lively it will be!"

Shao Yan waited anxiously for a long time, but Zou Huofan never mentioned his name. Seeing everyone who had his name called stand up to thank him, she felt increasingly uncomfortable.

"It's an honor for us to be on the same page as Mr. Cao!" Ge Luo said with a smile. With the pressure shared among so many people, there was no pressure at all.

"Yimin, don't just publish books, I'm also waiting to publish a collection of your poems. You need to work harder and try to publish a collection of poems next year. How about I get the whole poetry world to write a preface for you and cheer you on?"

"I'll try my best!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"I am waiting!"

Ge Luo teased Zou Huofan: "You're clearly from my hometown, but you, Old Zou, somehow managed to pick it out of the envelope!" "Hahaha, it's not luck. I also put in a lot of effort when it comes to getting royalties. We're just mutually beneficial!"

Shao Yan sat down to the side with the dark face: "You're calling on me..."

Liu Yimin said goodbye to Lao Ma and left the Writers' Association. Outside, he ran into Bei Dao, who was parking his bicycle.

"Yimin?" Beidao called out.

"What are you doing?"

“My answer is going to be published in Poetry Journal, so I’m here to collect my payment,” Bei Dao said.

"Oh, I see. Congratulations!"

"I should congratulate you. Both 'Ideal' and your novel are well-written and have attracted a lot of attention at the same time!"

After exchanging a few polite words, Liu Yimin got on his bicycle and headed towards the Beijing People's Art Theatre.

Bei Dao pushed his bicycle to the editorial office of "Poetry Journal" and inquired about Liu Yimin's purpose in coming, whether he had submitted a manuscript, and wanted to see what he had written this time.
"It wasn't a submission. Yimin's novel is about to be published, and he invited me to write a preface."

Beidao nodded calmly: "Oh, I see!"

As I walked out of the Poetry Journal editorial office, I looked at the gloomy sky and thought of the short poem in "Unnamed Lake," which said, "When you look at me, I am far away; when you look at the clouds, I am near."

It's clearly a case of "When I look at the clouds, they seem so close, but when I look at you, they seem so far away."

At the entrance of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, candied hawthorns began to be sold secretly.

Liu Yimin went over and ordered a skewer, standing beside him as he ate it while listening to this educated youth who had returned to the city chatter away. It was about how the prince and his wife wouldn't eat, but eating candied hawthorns made them better. Or how the Empress Dowager couldn't get out of bed, so the eunuchs used candied hawthorns to "stick" her out of bed, and so on.

Liu Yimin silently gave a thumbs up. This guy really knows how to brag! It's just for fun and it's not expensive, no wonder it sells so fast.

“If this were the old overpass, you’d be a storyteller!” Liu Yimin laughed.

"That won't do, I still need to practice my speaking skills! What do you do? I feel like I've seen you several times already. The Beijing People's Art Theatre is like your own home, where do you get so many tickets!"

"me."

"Comrade Liu Yimin?"

Liu Yimin looked over and saw Zhu Lin standing to the side with a look of surprise on her face, holding a ticket in her hand. She hadn't expected to run into Liu Yimin here.

"Are you here to see a play again?" Liu Yimin asked.

“Yes, ‘The Loyal Heart’, do you want to read it? I’ve actually read it. If you want to read it, here’s the ticket!” Zhu Lin handed the ticket to Liu Yimin.

"No need, no need. I've been here a lot lately, and I've read 'The Loyal Heart' several times!"

Zhu Lin patted the wool hat on his head and said awkwardly, "I forgot, you can watch it now without buying a ticket!"

"Come on, let's go inside together!"

The educated youth selling candied hawthorns nearby were completely bewildered. Who was this person? He was exaggerating wildly. You can watch it without buying a ticket? Did he think he was Cao Yu?
"Still on the second floor?"

"It's already good enough to be able to buy one, but this time the second floor is the first row, the position is much better, there is no obstruction, and you can see the whole view. I think watching 'Cai Wenji' on the second floor first row is the best choice. 'Cai Wenji' is based on history and has an epic feel. Looking at it from above, you can feel that history is still very close to us. We are standing outside of history and looking at that history that we have not experienced."

Liu Yimin glanced at Zhu Lin; it seemed his literary cultivation had improved since they last met.

As they were about to enter, Liu Yimin ran into Lan Tianye by the screen wall. He greeted him and Lan Tianye nodded slightly. He glanced at Zhu Lin; it was still the same girl, unchanged!

They parted ways at the entrance. Liu Yimin hadn't eaten yet, and besides, there were no reserved seats on the second floor, so if he went now, he would just be grabbing a seat.

As soon as they reached the third floor, Lan Tianye rushed up: "Yimin, who was that girl just now? She could play Jiajia!"

P.S.: Sorry, I'll try to write content that will pass the review in the future!

(End of this chapter)