1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 131 I love you, it has nothing to do with you
"Huha."

"Huha."

In the dimly lit bathroom, Jiang Xian turned on the faucet, filled a basin with cold water, and began to scrub his shorts.

After washing a few times, my hands, soaked in cold water, felt as if they were being pricked by needles. I rubbed them vigorously and blew on them, and the coldness gradually eased.

“I am a writer after all.”

"I actually have to wash my pants myself."

I repeated this several times, washed hastily, returned to the room in slippers, quickly stripped naked, and could not wait to get into the warm bed, making sure to tuck in several corners of the quilt.

Take a deep breath and look at the inspiration that has been collected in your mind.

So, synthesis!
“【Writer】+【Love Letter】=”

"Letter from an Unknown Woman"

"Extra Reward: Random Inspiration x3"

Introduction: The masterpiece of "Uncrowned King of Biography" Stefan Zweig. A strange woman, in the last moments of her life, wrote a long and sad letter, revealing her desperate love for a famous writer.

Finally got it!

A work by Zweig that has never been published in this time and space.

Zweig's most well-known representative works include "When the Stars Shine", which is a must-read for primary and secondary school students, and "The Life of Romain Rolland" he wrote for his friend Romain Rolland. The inspiration for the movie "The Grand Budapest Hotel" also came from his novel "The World of Yesterday".
What surprised Jiang Xian even more was that two translations of "Letter from a Stranger" appeared in his mind at the same time: the Chinese translation and the English translation.

A lot of ideas suddenly came to my mind.

Of course, the most important thing at the moment is to transplant the content of this novel and localize it.

This is not difficult, because this work has been done by someone else. Xu Jinglei once directed and filmed a movie called "Letter from an Unknown Woman", adapting this novel with a foreign background into the Beijing city in the 30s. The male lead was played by Jiang Wen.

I got up early in the morning and went to Jingshan East Hutong to take a look.

From a distance, one could see Zhong Acheng sitting cross-legged at the entrance of the yard, a carving knife in his hand, working on a pair of drum stones.

Jiang Xian's courtyard is a historical building after all, and he wants to preserve as many of the good things as possible. He also wants to repair the valuable parts, such as stone work, brick carvings, wood carvings, walls, and tile ridge decorations.

This job was assigned to Acheng as a sexual repayment for the previous bet.

In fact, it was an employment relationship, and Jiang Xian paid him wages. After all, he was still an unemployed young man, and he would probably starve to death if he worked for free.

"Come so early?"

"This is an interesting job." Ah Cheng concentrated on his work and said to himself, "The things our ancestors left behind are really ingenious. I even think about them when I go to sleep at night."

This is a really wonderful person.

Jiang Xian chuckled, "Please also build the landscape screen for me. I will put a lotus tank in front later."

After saying a few words to him, he pushed the door open and entered the yard. His father Jiang Guoqing was also there.

Looking around, the second courtyard has undergone considerable changes.

"Sure, it's pretty quick to clean up."

His father found the laborer on the street. There were many unemployed young people at that time, so after discussing with the street, he immediately called several people over. He called them in the name of helping, but did not dare to say that they were hired. Private individuals were not brave enough to hire so many people.

In the early stage of reform and opening up, everything was being explored slowly. The documents from above stipulated that family-run households and individual business owners could not employ more than eight workers. If they employed more than eight workers, it would be considered exploitation of the workers and should be restricted.

Jiang Xian's yard, including Acheng, only had a total of 7 people doing the work, and they were very cautious.

They were not all green hands, there was a master who was the backbone, this was his old neighbor, he was an all-rounder, proficient in bricklaying, carpentry, and painting. "The roofs of the back house and the street gate were all renovated, the tiles were replaced several times, and tung oil was applied. Look at the work he did, it's so beautiful." Jiang Guoqing said.

Jiang Xian took a quick glance and saw the street gate and the houses on both sides had a tiled roof with a clear ridge. At both ends of the clear ridge were six upward-slanting scorpion tails and brick carvings under the scorpion tails.

After entering the yard, I saw that the beams and doorposts had been repainted with bright paint, and the broken doors and windows of the main house had been removed and piled in a corner of the yard.

"Can you find someone to turn the west back room into a toilet for us?"

"Build a toilet in the yard?"

"Otherwise, you have to go to the public toilet all the time, which is very troublesome."

Many courtyard houses do not have toilets. The toilets are built in the alleys, commonly known as "official toilets". They have to be cleaned by night soil collectors every day. It can be said to be the dirtiest and most tiring job in the capital. People both need night soil collectors and look down on them.

Later, a figure, Shi Chuanxiang, emerged. He "would rather be dirty himself than let thousands of others be clean." He became a household name and a role model for people from all walks of life.

"Why are there so many requirements? We have to look for people everywhere." Jiang Guoqing frowned.

"Since we spent so much money to build this yard, we should live in it comfortably, what do you think?"

"I'll think of something."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Jiang Xian grinned, "With you taking care of this yard, I can rest assured."

Pulling his father around the yard for another walk, Jiang Xian told his father about his other ideas for repairs. Jiang Guoqing made a rough calculation and his face turned pale. The cost was almost a thousand dollars, and they hadn't even bought any furniture yet.

Having invested a huge amount of money, Jiang Xian quickly rode his bike back to the Beijing Film Studio to plan the writing of "Letter from a Woman".

This is a short story and the whole story is very simple.

On his 41st birthday, the famous novelist R returned to his apartment and received a letter of 20 to 30 pages from his servant. There was no information about the sender, and one could only tell from the handwriting that it was a woman.

From then on, the entire novel is what is written on the letter paper.

The strange woman has been in love with the writer R since she was a teenager. She secretly kissed the door handles that he touched with his hands and kept the cigar butts that his lips touched as holy objects.

But R, who was a playboy, had never known her. They had a one-night stand, but that was just a part of R's ordinary life.

The woman experienced girlish obsession, youthful passion, and even prostitution. She had a child with R, but she never disturbed R and never changed her love for him.

"I love you, it has nothing to do with you."

It was not until she was dying that she finally decided to confess her feelings to R and tell him everything he had never known.

After reading this novel, Jiang Xian couldn't help but sigh.

It is said that Zweig is the writer who understands women best, but it is better to say that Zweig understands men best.

Any man who has been loved by a woman like this would not feel secretly happy in his heart while sighing and being moved.

Men desire and fear this kind of woman, and women are afraid of and desire this kind of love.

In short, there are only two main characters in the novel.

Jiang Xian had to first give them a localized name.

The strange woman had no name from beginning to end, so there was no need to consider it.

Writer R, so we call him Mr. Ren.

(End of this chapter)