1979: Literary Master, Starting from the Return of Educated Youth

Chapter 1: The Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain

"Sister Wu, your Yue Xin was doing well at the mine, why did he quit?"

"What! This kid resigned? Where did you hear that?"

"Qiaoqiao told me this when she got home. She said Yuexin planned to devote himself to writing and earn royalties."

"Oh... this kid is really troublesome! He even told me that he had asked for leave. I have to ask him about it when I get home."

In late spring, at the Chaoyang Vegetable Market in Beijing, two well-dressed middle-aged women were walking home after buying vegetables.

Among them, the woman called Sister Wu was shocked when she heard that her son had quit his job. She wished she could grow wings and fly home immediately to find out what happened.

……

At this moment, in Wudaokou, HD District, downstairs of the staff dormitory of Qinghua University.

Xu Yuexin carried the cloth bag containing the envelope and strode out of the wall.

Inside the envelope was a manuscript he had been working on for half a month, titled "Wreaths under the Mountains." Xu Yuexin planned to send it to People's Literature to earn his first manuscript fee.

As a time traveler, Xu Yuexin wants to make money very much.

In his previous life, Xu Yuexin was a full-time author who updated 20,000 words every day at a high intensity. Finally, his body could not withstand the high-intensity work and he fainted late one night.

When he regained consciousness, he had become the educated youth with the same name working in the countryside in Northeast China.

Xu Yuexin was lying on the bed at the time. As soon as he opened his eyes, a beautiful female educated youth came up to him, tearfully thanked him for saving his life, and kept asking about his well-being.

Amid the warm and tender thanks from the female educated youth and the surprised sounds of others, Xu Yuexin recalled what had happened.

The production team organized a fishing trip, and Chen Qiaoqiao, the most beautiful female educated youth in the whole commune, accidentally fell into the water while cleaning the fishing nets.

The original person jumped into the water to rescue Chen Qiaoqiao, but he was choked by the water and fell into a coma until he woke up now.

Huh... I don't know if my original self has transformed into my modern self.

If that was the case, he was quite lucky. After all, as a writer of period novels, he had a group of well-spoken, wealthy and generous readers.

While lamenting the boy's good luck, Xu Yuexin began his life in 1978.

He was originally an educated youth from Beijing, and failed the college entrance examinations twice. However, Chen Qiaoqiao, who was rescued by him, has passed the exam and was admitted to Yenching University and is about to enroll.

After Xu Yuexin woke up, Chen Qiaoqiao became his little follower, talking to him whenever she had nothing to do, and the two of them soon became able to talk about anything.

Happy times are always so short. After a while, Chen Qiaoqiao boarded the train back to Beijing. Before leaving, she reluctantly told Xu Yuexin that she must keep in touch in the future.

On the platform, Xu Yuexin looked at Chen Qiaoqiao's fair and rosy face, her classical beauty, and her bright eyes like clear water. In the end, he couldn't help himself and wanted to do something.

As a result, before he could make a move, Chen Qiaoqiao took the initiative to attack.

"Believe me, I will never forget you."

Chen Qiaoqiao opened her arms and hugged Xu Yuexin tightly, sobbing and saying.

Xu Yuexin was so confused that he took several seconds to react. He hugged Chen Qiaoqiao's slender waist under her shirt and said, "Don't be afraid. We will definitely be reunited within a year."

When Xu Yuexin said this, he was thinking about passing the college entrance examination and returning to the city. Unexpectedly, half a year later, his father resumed work and transferred him back directly.

Upon hearing that Xu Yuexin had returned to the city, Chen Qiaoqiao and her parents visited Xu's home with gifts to express their gratitude to him, and the two families' parents thus got to know each other.

Soon, Xu Yuexin entered the Jingxi Coal Mine as a worker in accordance with the policy for educated youth returning to the city.

The coal mine was far from Yenching University, so Xu Yuexin and Chen Qiaoqiao kept in touch through letters for a while. But after several exchanges of letters, Chen Qiaoqiao stopped replying, as if she had evaporated.

Well, there is indeed a big gap between him, a top student from Yenching University, and me, a coal miner.

Even though the two became closer at first because of the life-saving grace, they still had to go their separate ways after a long time.

As a person who has lived a lifetime, Xu Yuexin was quite open-minded about this. He did not feel too sad, but just a little emotional. From time to time, Chen Qiaoqiao's face with bright eyes and white teeth flashed through his mind.

To be honest, Xu Yuexin himself didn't like his job as a coal miner.

Staying in the mine, Xu Yuexin either goes down the mine or does maintenance every day. Even if he is strong enough to endure the hardship, all his time is occupied and he has no time to do anything else.

As a time traveler, Xu Yuexin couldn't just dig coal for his whole life. You know, before he returned to the city, he had already started to quietly make plans to get rich.

The first step to getting rich is to quit your job in the coal mine and free up time and energy to do other things.

Xu Yuexin revealed his intention to resign in a letter to Chen Qiaoqiao and put it into practice a few days ago.

After resigning, Xu Yuexin returned home and started creating, and only told his parents that he was taking a leave to rest for a while.

I must not let them know until I have some success in my writing. They will definitely not agree to me throwing away my iron rice bowl and engaging in literary creation which lacks security in the eyes of ordinary people.

As for why I choose writing instead of other things such as doing business, it is because writing is very cost-effective at the moment.

In 1977, the country restored the system of remuneration for publication. Publishing a short story of several thousand words could earn at least half a month's salary for an ordinary worker.

Excellent authors not only earn a lot of money, but also gain a high social status, wide reputation, and countless fans.

Xu Yuexin not only wanted money, but also fame, so he chose the path of creation.

The work "The Garland under the Mountain" in the envelope is the work that Xu Yuexin intended to use as a test case.

The invasion operation in southern Xinjiang has just ended and public attention is still focused on the war to defend the country. This is a good time to publish this work.

Of course, considering that the original work was published in the form of a front-line interview, and Xu Yuexin himself had never been to the border, he made some modifications to this point when he was creating it, so as to avoid being asked about it later.

Walking out of the wall downstairs of the family building, Xu Yuexin stood in front of the mailbox, picked up the envelope and prepared to throw it in.

At this moment, he felt a little hesitant.

Are you sure you want to mail it?

Ordinary mail is slow, and coupled with the time spent queuing for review, I don’t know how long it will take.

Considering that the work may not be accepted and may have to be resubmitted later, time becomes even more difficult to control.

It’s not that Xu Yuexin has no confidence in the quality of his work. As a classic of a generation, the level of "The Garland under the Mountain" is beyond words.

The problem is that no matter how good a work is, it may not be to the editor's liking. Works by people like Lu Yao and Chen Zhongshi have been rejected many times.

We also have to consider content review. Some plot points in "The Wreath Under the Mountain" may be considered by the editor as inappropriate for public release, which also needs to be taken into consideration.

After much deliberation, Xu Yuexin finally put the envelope back into the cloth bag and decided to go to People's Literature in person to hand the work to the editor.

If it works, publish it. If not, try another one. Have a quick answer.

Whether it is making money or becoming famous, both things should be done quickly rather than slowly.

(End of this chapter)