1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 356 Escape
When I arrived in Denver, I adjusted my watch and set it forward an hour. When I arrived in Sedlec, I set it forward a little more. Finally, when I arrived in Iowa, I set it forward again.

Jiang Xian looked at the time. They arrived in Iowa City at five in the afternoon. The setting sun was shining brightly on the Iowa River.

The temperature is also quite high, at least ten degrees hotter than San Francisco.

Jiang Xian and his group were arranged to live in an apartment called "Mayflower".

As soon as the receptionist met Jiang Xian, he immediately reported a bunch of numbers to him:

Room number; mailbox number, how many times to turn left, how many times to turn right, and then to a certain number; phone number, how many numbers to dial before making a local call, how many numbers to dial before making an out-of-town call; which day of the week is the garbage collection day, which night of the week has a movie; how many cents do you need to put in the washing machine
Jiang Xian silently wrote these down. These numbers will come in handy when he lives here for a period of time in the future.

"Did you write it down?" the receptionist asked.

Jiang Xian nodded, "Do we need to sort the garbage when we collect it?"

"Classification?"

The receptionist shook his head, feeling a sense of disbelief.

You know, many writers who came to participate in the writing project for the first time needed her to explain for a long time before they could understand the use of these numbers, but Jiang Xian understood it just by listening once?!

Is there any garbage classification?

What kind of high-quality move is this?

What the receptionist didn't know was that these American lifestyles might be very unfamiliar and advanced to others, and they might not understand them for a while. But to Jiang Xian, they were just what he had learned before, and he could basically understand them after just a quick listen.

Taking the elevator, we found that the Mayflower Apartments are actually a dormitory building of the University of Iowa, and the writers of the International Writing Program all live on the eighth floor.

Each person is assigned a bedroom, and every two bedrooms share a bathroom, a kitchen, a set of shower rooms and a studio.

Out of consideration for Zhu Lin, a pregnant woman, Nie Hualing specially allocated two bedrooms to Jiang Xian, that is, she booked an entire unit.

Jiang Xian did not refuse her kindness. On the one hand, there were many people coming to his house, and four people could not squeeze into one bedroom. On the other hand, it also avoided the trouble of sharing the toilet, kitchen and bathroom with outsiders.

"Yeah, that's great. We even have a refrigerator." Rao Yuemei took a look around and was quite satisfied with the assigned accommodation.

"What does this button do?" Zhu's mother asked, looking at a button next to the drainage sink.

Jiang Xian went over to check it out.

"The blades of the drain bucket can crush leftovers, bones and other things and flush them down the drain."

"What about this?" Rao Yuemei asked again, pointing at the hood above the kitchen.

"This is a range hood. When you cook, the fumes can be sucked out from here."

"Really? No wonder the stove is so clean."

"Oh, by the way, Mom, this gas is different from the one we use. There's a little flame left in the stove shell. Just turn on the gas and it will light up. There's no need to light a match."

“How convenient!”

Apartment life is almost the same as modern life.

That is to say, there are no computers or wifi, otherwise Jiang Xian would really feel like he has returned to the modern era.

"That's not right, Jiang Xian."

Rao Yuemei realized belatedly, "You have never been to the United States, how do you know this?"

Zhu Lin and her mother also found it strange. How could Jiang Xian know so much about these household items that seemed so unfamiliar to them?

"You forgot that I have been to Japan and saw him there." Jiang Xian made up an excuse.

Fortunately, Nie Hualing also came at this time and invited them to her house for dinner.

Naturally, Jiang Xian and the others had no reason to refuse.

There was nothing in the refrigerator and it was too late to buy anything at this time.

Nie Hualing's home is not far from the "Mayflower" Apartment. It is a Western-style house on the hillside. It is simple and elegant, with a wooden balcony facing the lush woods and the Iowa River.

"Are there any houses here for rent?" Jiang Xian asked Nie Hualing.

Nie Hualing was surprised. "I don't know about that. What's the matter? Do you want to rent a house here?"

"I had this idea. After all, we all live in courtyard houses with brick and wood structures in China, and I'm afraid my wife and her family will not be used to living in this kind of apartment building," said Jiang Xian.

Players who like to play "Rainbow Six" may have this experience: many walls are made of wood.

This actually comes from reality.

Civilians in the United States basically do not use concrete to build houses. Most houses are wood frames, and the exterior walls are covered with gypsum boards, asbestos boards or paper panels.

In later generations, we often see emoticons of foreigners punching a hole in the wall.

This is a very common thing in the United States.

After all, houses built like this are too fragile.

"Chinese people like to have a small courtyard, and they live in their own house, so the environment is a little quieter. It is convenient for my wife to rest, and I can also create in a relatively quiet place."

"I see. I'll help you find out later."

Nie Hualing nodded and asked, "Jiang Xian, do you have enough money?"

Nie Hualing raised funds of 4,000 US dollars to provide each writer. This money was basically only enough to cover the writers' food expenses during the writing plan. If Jiang Xian wanted to rent a house, that would be a huge expense.

"Money? Please ask for me first. I will find a way to solve the money problem." Jiang Xian said mysteriously.

When we entered Nie Hualing's home, her husband Angel had also gotten up and started chatting with everyone.

Ingres is an American poet who initiated an international writing project with Nie Hualing.

On the wall of Nie Hualing's home hang photos of Ingres when he was young, as well as some critical articles from newspapers and magazines when he published his first collection of poems.

Zhu Lin was inspired and said, "It will be a nice decoration for my home. I will collect your reviews and hang them on the wall when I get home."

Nie Hualing explained at this time, "My husband is not in good health and has been sick recently, so I didn't go to pick you up."

When Zhu Lin's mother, Dr. Liu, heard about her area of ​​expertise, she immediately asked with concern, "What happened to Mr. Angle?"

"The doctor said his rheumatism had moved from his shoulder to his ear."

"Then you should really pay more attention to rest."

"This damn disease is giving me a headache all the time."

Angle said frustratedly, "I just got five shots this afternoon, and then I slept until now."

Chen Yingzhen, Ru Zhijuan and others also came to Nie Hualing's house.

Wang Anyi specially wore a dress.

Angel's eyes lit up, "Can girls in China wear such a beautiful dress?"

He said that he had been to China seven or eight years ago, and that there, both men and women wore the same blue-gray clothes, and it was difficult to tell the gender at first glance.

"I'm afraid it would be hard to tell the difference even if you went to China now."

Jiang Xian joked: "Nowadays, Chinese boys have long hair, while girls cut their hair very short."

After a while, some members of the International Writing Program came, all from countries that were not doing well.

Well. There is also East and West Germany, and Israel.

But no North Korea.

Little-known fact: North Korea is now a very wealthy country.

North Koreans don't have to pay for schooling, medical care, and housing. They can enjoy beef provided by the Soviet Union, rice provided by China, and red wine from Romania. The people's life is very comfortable and the average person lives at a comfortable level.

There is no comparison with our neighbor South Korea. Koreans can only envy them. In order to have such a better life, many Koreans desperately crossed the 38th parallel and secretly ran to North Korea, becoming "South defectors."

That’s right, South Korean defectors!
Compared with later generations, it is simply the opposite. The male writer in the Israeli series is named Phil, a Jew, who has been quite famous in the Israeli literary world in recent years.

This guy was completely arrogant and not at all likable, mumbling all his own opinions.

"We are the most book-reading nation. There is a list that shows that we are ranked first in the world in terms of per capita reading volume."

"How many is it?" Jiang Xian suddenly asked, "How many books does the average person read?"

Fei'er was stunned for a moment, "I don't remember the exact number, probably 64."

"Oh my God."

“Everyone reads 64 books a year?”

Several writers exclaimed.

Jiang Xian, however, insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter.

"64? But how is this data calculated? Who knows whether I have read this book or not? If you ask me how many books I have read this year, and I answer with a random number, is it true? If someone asks me this question, can the books I am about to read or may read be counted in this number? Some books are long, and some are short. How can I be sure of this?"

After Jiang Xian asked this, many people reacted.

Yes, how many books do we read every year? How do we count this?
Fei'er choked for a long time and finally gave a vague answer.

"Who knows? They always have their own way. It's called investigation. Do you know investigation science?"

"."

Most writers would have lost interest in his topic by this time.

It's just like reading those inspirational articles in Reader and Yilin. At first glance, they'll scare you.

But once you look into the details, you'll find that what they say is completely untenable.

Who came to the conclusion that Israelis are the most literate people in the world? Who conducted the survey?
It would be embarrassing if we traced back to the end and found that the results were announced by column X media themselves.

Fei'er still likes to talk a lot, and continues to display the Jewish nature of being unsociable.

Everyone else was a little annoyed by what they heard.

Just at this time, a writer introduced himself as being from Egypt.

Fei Er immediately responded and said bluntly that he refused and did not want to communicate with the writer from Egypt.

When the Egyptian writer heard this, he could not tolerate it any longer. He and Fei'er immediately threw wine glasses at each other and cursed at each other.

The dinner ended unpleasantly.

On the way back down the mountain, Wang Anyi sighed, "It's really hard to get along with this group of writers from different countries."

In addition to the fight between Egyptian and Israeli writers tonight, writers from East and West Germany also did not get along with each other and showed their hatred for each other.

"I'm more worried about a cultural disparagement."

Chen Yingzhen said, "The influence of Chinese literature in world literature is still too limited."

Ru Zhijuan nodded in approval, she had the same experience, this kind of contempt was not expressed deliberately, but an attitude that was unconsciously revealed in every gesture.

"I feel like they seem to look down on us Chinese writers," said Wang Anyi.

"It's ok."

Chen Yingzhen smiled optimistically, "We really can't change the status of Chinese literature in the world literature in the past, but things can still change in the future. Every cultural exchange is a good opportunity for us to enhance the influence of our own literature."

He looked around.

"Jiang Xian, are you right?"

"."

Jiang Xian was thinking about something with his head down, and when he was suddenly called, he raised his head and looked over.

"Yes, you said it very well."

"You look distracted."

"I'm thinking about a novel." Jiang Xian said.

This was of course a lie; he was still thinking about the house.

If he came to the United States alone, it wouldn't matter where he lived or what he ate, as long as he could fill his stomach.

But the reality is that he came with a large family, including a pregnant wife.

It would be uncomfortable to stay in that apartment any longer.

Not to mention the constant coming and going of people, the weather in Iowa City is also very hot, so Zhu Lin will definitely find it difficult to adapt.

Jiang Xian returned to the apartment at eleven o'clock, opened the suitcase, and just hung a few clothes in the closet when he suddenly heard a sharp alarm, the sound was very irritating.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Rao Yuemei came out in a panic.

"What's that noise?" Zhu Lin, who had just fallen asleep, was also awakened.

Jiang Xian opened the door and saw the alarm above the corridor emitting a red light. He went to the stairs to take another look and returned to the bedroom to tell the three women.

"It looks like the fire alarm has been triggered. Let's go downstairs quickly, don't take the elevator."

The whole family quickly put on their clothes and called Chen Yingzhen, Ru Zhijuan and Wang Anyi to escape together.

A group of people went down the stairs one floor at a time, and Jiang Xian carefully supported Zhu Lin.

During this time, students kept jumping out of the house, some barefoot or shirtless, shouting and screaming in high spirits.

When I got downstairs, there was a crowd of people gathered outside and two fire trucks were parked at the door with their blue and red lights rotating.

Amidst the strange lights and colors, Jiang Xian saw a staff member of the writing project.

He hurried over to inquire.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's not clear yet."

The fire was quickly put out, and Jiang Xian realized that it was two male students on the sixth floor who were smoking and set their quilt on fire, causing it to catch fire.

"Oh, this is really tiring." Rao Yuemei said breathlessly.

Jiang Xian greeted the two students speechlessly, then ran to Zhu Lin.

"Wife, how do you feel? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"I'm fine."

It was past one o'clock when the group returned to the apartment and went back to sleep.

The room was very hot and suffocating, and the jet lag was tormenting him. Jiang Xian was extremely tired, yet surprisingly excited.

Looking at Zhu Lin who was sleeping soundly beside the pillow, Jiang Xian gently stroked her cheek. Zhu Lin seemed to sense something and pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, making a humming sound.

After what happened tonight, Jiang Xian became more determined in his thinking.

The first thing to do when coming to the United States: find a comfortable place to live!

"all in all."

"Next"

"It's time to update."

(End of this chapter)