1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 277 The Sky Blurred by Tears
Qi Boyi held the manuscript and continued reading. The following paragraph was added by Jiang Xian.

After the war, at a meeting summarizing violations of battlefield discipline, the three most serious incidents were raised, among which was the incident in which Jin Kailai, deputy company commander of the Sharp Knife Company, took the lead in cutting sugarcane.

After learning the details at the meeting, the chief, Lord Lei Shen, directly stated, "You're eating right!"

He praised Jin Kailai for eating sugarcane, saying it was "thoughtful and flexible in handling the problem."

“On the battlefield, actual situations must be dealt with according to actual conditions!
When troops are on a mission and their logistics are insufficient, and there are available resources nearby to maintain the troops' combat effectiveness, then it is right to use them!"

Lord Lei not only talked about this matter at the meeting, but also went to the regiment headquarters with Zhao Mengsheng in private.

"The deputy company commander of the ninth company, Jin Kailai, was so brave on the battlefield. Why didn't your regiment give him a reward?"

The comrades in the regiment became uneasy.

"Regarding this situation, I ask you to write an investigation report and send it to the Military Commission. You have five days, no, three days!"

The comrade from the regiment stood up at once, trembling, and said, "Yes."

Lord Lei Shen had a gloomy expression.

"Some of our cadres always love to hear flattery, and they will never let go of comrades who love to give suggestions until they die!"

He touched his head and tried to shake off his hat out of habit, but found that it had been taken off and placed on the table.

So he put on his hat, paced a few steps, then stopped, put his hands on his waist, and could not suppress his anger.

Finally, a thunderous shout came out of his mouth.

"It would be unjust if we don't give Jin Kailai credit!"

Under the close attention of Lord Lei Shen, the superiors came to a conclusion on the matter of cutting sugarcane:
“As a leading cadre, you must seek truth from facts when thinking and doing things at critical moments.

We must determine our work guidelines based on actual conditions and make accurate conclusions based on a thorough investigation of the matter. Only in this way can we do our work well.

Therefore, Comrade Jin Kailai will no longer be held responsible for cutting sugarcane."

Seeing this, Qi Boyi leaned forward unconsciously and read it over and over again. He couldn't help but said excitedly: "Xiao Li, Xiao Li, come and see it too!"

The guard came over quickly and took the manuscript from him.

After a while, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Qi Boyi excitedly: "Commander! This paragraph is well written. Comrade Jin Kailai finally did not get punished!"

The deputy head of the group and the instructor happened to come to Qi Boyi to report. After hearing about this, they couldn't wait to see the new part added by Jiang Xian.

"What did you write?"

"let me see!"

The two of them came over to read it, and after reading it, they both said, "Haha, that's right. A martyr like Jin Kailai should be given the highest respect and treatment!"

"Yeah, finally there's a happy ending!"

"Old Qi, what kind of meeting are you having?" The political commissar came in holding a thermos cup.

Qi Boyi smiled and said, "Old Zhao, you came at the right time. Take a look at this."

"A wreath under the mountain?" Political Commissar Zhao glanced at it. "What is this? A manuscript? Where did you find this?"

"This is the original manuscript of the novel. Comrade Jiang Xian stayed up all night to change the ending for Comrade Jin Kailai. He sent the manuscript to us after the revision."

"what?"

Political Commissar Zhao picked up the manuscript, picked up a random chair and sat down, went through the manuscript, and finally read:

The army decided to report to the military district and award our Ninth Company the honorary title of "The Company Capable of Attack, Defense and Penetration."

After public evaluation, Jin Kailai was awarded the title of combat hero. Some people suggested that he flexibly used battlefield resources to supplement our army's combat effectiveness at the most difficult moment of the battle, and he was called a "model deputy company commander."

The Party committees at the regiment, division and army levels decided to focus on publicizing Jin Kailai's heroic deeds.

I sent the first-class military medal belonging to Jin Kailai back to his hometown, a commune in Yu County, Henan Province, and called the simple female contract worker.

I also asked her to send some of Comrade Jin Kailai's relics, photos, and family letters that had publicity value, so that they could be displayed at the heroic deeds exhibition held by the military region.

But she refused, "Comrade, my husband didn't leave many things behind, so please leave these things of Kailai to us. Kailai also said that if he died, we should keep everything simple and not cause trouble to the organization."

It was not until the moment the phone was hung up that I heard the female contract worker's uncontrollable crying.

I stood in front of the phone with my eyes dazed, a little absent-minded, when the head cook pushed the door open and said to me in a panic, "Instructor, Han Yuxiu is missing!"

There are dangerous elements roaming around the border, and Yuxiu might be in danger if she gets lost.

I rushed out of the house, looked everywhere, and finally rushed to the Martyrs' Cemetery with a few soldiers.

A crescent moon hung obliquely in the sky. When we were still more than ten meters away from Liang Sanxi's grave, we saw a man lying on the grave.

Without a doubt, it was Yuxiu.

From under the cliff, in the bamboo forest, and in the grass, one could hear the humming of insects, but Yuxiu's cries were nowhere to be heard.

After a long while, I gently approached Liang Sanxi's grave, and saw Yuxiu with her head buried on the grave, her whole body trembling, weeping silently.

"Xiao Han, cry, cry out loud," I sobbed, "that way you will feel better."

Yuxiu slowly got up from the grave after hearing the voice: "Instructor, it's nothing. I feel bored in the house. My mother-in-law and I should go home soon. I...I want to visit the grave."

At this moment, the stars in the sky twinkled like the eyes of a tearful person, and everything under the sky became blurred in front of me.

Political Commissar Zhao stood up suddenly.

His face was filled with mixed emotions of emotion and excitement. "The love is sincere and deep!"

What simple families of martyrs!

Whether it was the widow of Comrade Jin Kailai or the widow of Comrade Liang Sanxi, neither of them had any demands on the organization. They were even reluctant to shed tears easily so that Zhao Mengsheng and others would see them, for fear of adding to their negative emotions of self-blame.

Jiang Xian changed the ending for Comrade Jin Kailai, but he did not write a simple "happy ending". Instead, by describing the families of these martyrs who understood the greater good, he enhanced the literary and artistic color of the novel from another direction, making people ponder and respect after closing the book.

Whether it is the qualities of sacrifice, forbearance and kindness, or the charisma and pain, they are irresistible to every thinking and emotional Chinese.

Jiang Xian's description allows readers to directly face such simple family members, making them unable to help but question their own souls.

Greatness in the ordinary, sublimity in tragedy.

This is like sprinkling sulfur on the readers' hearts and lighting a fire.

A feeling of admiration for the hero arises spontaneously.

"This manuscript can be sent to the General Political Department's Cultural Department!"

Political Commissar Zhao said, "I will go to the deputy. No, I will go to the General Political Department's Cultural Department myself and let the soldiers read this version as soon as possible!"

Having said that, he couldn't wait any longer and went to the General Political Department's Cultural Department.

The single volume of "The Wreath under the Mountain" currently distributed within the army was edited and published by the General Political Department's Cultural Department and the Soldier Publishing House.

Comrades from the General Political Department quickly read this new edition of "The Wreath" and were extremely excited.

It can be said that Jin Kailai's previous ending was the most disturbing in "The Wreath". But now, Jiang Xian has resolved this disappointment and left a greater respect for the novel.

"Reprint! Reprint immediately!"

The General Political Department made a decision quickly.

At this time, not long after the first edition of "The Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" was published by the Warrior Publishing House, it was time to reprint the book "The Wreath".

This treatment is unprecedented, and this reading event is also unprecedented.

Yuan Houchun, an editor at Warrior Publishing House, ran to Jiang Xian's house, knocked on the door, and as soon as he saw him, he shouted, "Comrade Jiang Xian!"

"What's going on?"

"The General Political Department has decided to reprint your novel!"

Hiss.

Jiang Xian, whose creation was interrupted, couldn't help but get excited.

He had reason to be excited. After all, this version of "The Wreath" was not copied by him, but written by him.

The General Political Department approved the revised "Wreath", which naturally meant they approved of him as well.

"Comrade Yuan Houchun, this publication should be published for me as a supplementary edition."

"Of course."

As mentioned before, a supplement provides readers with additional content. It is not a modification of the original version, but a new chapter is added, which will be specially marked when it is published.

Jiang Xian did not change the original manuscript, but only added a plot to vindicate Jin Kailai. Of course, it had to be marked as a supplementary edition when it was published.

"Since it's a new edition, shouldn't you pay me the royalties for the new edition?" he asked.

This is not philistinism.

The supplementary edition was written by Jiang Xian with his own efforts. Jiang Xian did not care too much about the royalties. What he cared about was the feeling of being rewarded after this effort.

"Of course." Yuan Houchun said.

He clicked his tongue in his heart. Now that he had received a notice from the General Political Department that "The Wreath" was a reading material for the entire army, its sales would certainly not be low.

Against this background, the sales of the supplementary edition of "The Wreath" will not be affected by the previous "The Wreath", and the royalties that will be received at that time will be considerable just thinking about it.

After Yuan Houchun left, Jiang Xian immediately received another call from Kong Luosun.

He excitedly expressed that the army had fulfilled its promise and had agreed to hand over the west courtyard of Wanshou Temple to the Museum of Literature. The biggest problem facing their "Museum of Modern Chinese Literature" had finally been solved.

"Xiao Jiang, this time it's all thanks to you!"

Kong Luosun was very proud. Jiang Xian could be said to have made an indispensable contribution to the successful relocation to Wanshou Temple.

The houses in Wanshou Temple originally occupied by the troops were being vacated within a certain time limit. Perhaps out of consideration for Jiang Xian, the evacuation was done cleanly, and even some of the habitable houses were simply repaired, leaving no mess for the people in the Literature Museum.

The Preparatory Committee discussed and asked professors from the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University to design a preliminary plan.

Finally, a construction plan was drawn up and carried out in three steps.

The first step is to renovate courtyards No. 1 and No. 2.

The second step is to clear the burn site and build the fifth yard.

The third step is to build the sixth courtyard and a special storage place for cultural relics.
The committee members each showed their talents. Jiang Xian had already put in a lot of effort in the previous matters. In addition to Ba Jin's instructions, Kong Luosun originally didn't want to trouble Jiang Xian to do anything again.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xian gave them another big gift!
You know, collecting information from scratch is extremely difficult. The committee members captured every piece of information from newspapers and magazines, second-hand bookstores and purchasing stations, and even planned to look for clues at paper mills.

It's really an accumulation of little by little.

As a result, with Jiang Xian's introduction, a man named Zhao Yifan came into the vision of the preparatory committee.

Zhao Yifan was the collector introduced by Zhao Zhenkai to Jiang Xian. He collected a huge number of original manuscripts of literary works.

It is said that when the buzzing was over, four small carts of information were taken away from his house, and when the buzzing was over, there was no place to throw away the information, so it was all returned to him.

Zhao Yifan is very particular about the appearance of his collection, and all the materials are packed in large cardboard boxes.

When the committee members came to his house to look at the materials, he would draw the curtains to prevent direct sunlight from shining on the materials.

Thanks to his careful preservation, these precious materials are now quite complete and have greatly enriched the collection of the current literary museum.

"Thank you, Comrade Zhao Yifan!" Kong Luosun shook hands with Zhao Yifan solemnly.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel moved by Jiang Xian in his heart.

This young man has really worked hard for this literary museum and made great contributions.

November, a glimpse of the end of autumn, is extremely gentle.

The troops were extremely efficient, and a supplementary edition of the "Wreath" was soon distributed within the army.

The series of books "Wreaths under the Mountains" produced by "October" for Jiang Xian has also been on the market for some time.

It includes two novels by Jiang Xian, "The Wreath under the Mountain" and "Furong Town", as well as Jiang Xian's creative talks and Feng Mu's literary reviews.

As for the work of publishing the supplementary edition of "Wreath" on the market, Jiang Xian also handed it over to his old friend Renwen Publishing House.

That day, Jiang Xian received a call from Zhang Shouren.

He excitedly told him that, as far as he knew, a comrade had purchased 2,000 books at his own expense and donated them to the soldiers fighting on the front line.

Jiang Xian was not too surprised.

He knew that this matter was not groundless.

Because this incident is so famous, it also happened in another time and space.

Comrades at this level purchased 2,000 copies at their own expense and gave them to the soldiers.

For a novel, this standard can be said to be unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of Chinese literature.

The news spread quickly and caused a huge sensation after being reported.

The popularity of "The Wreath" among readers continued to soar, being pushed to another high point.

Many writers and critics in the literary world have predicted that "The Garland under the Mountain" will undoubtedly win the first prize, or even the first place, in the upcoming 1981 National Outstanding Novel Selection.

Of course, there are also some different voices. After all, in the past year, too many excellent novellas have been born in the literary world, such as Lu Yao's "Life", which also caused a great sensation across the country.

Jiang Xian became a celebrity and was very powerful. He had to deal with various reprint requests every day, and he would receive payment slips every week.

Many college youth league committees and literary societies also invited him to give lectures.

He took some time out from his busy schedule and finally completed the novel "Rocking, Rocking to Grandma's Bridge" one afternoon.

(End of this chapter)