Literary Master 1983

Chapter 205: Poliomyelitis

At night, when the writers were asleep, the moonlight was so bright that one could even see the branches of distant trees.

Yu Hua opened his eyes. He had a lot of worries. This was not the first time Yu Hua went on a long journey, but it was the time when Yu Hua felt most confused and lost. The novel written by Yu Qie during the day gave him a great shock. He felt that he was even further away from Yu Qie.

He is twenty-four years old this year, not young anymore. Many people have already started a family and a career at this age, but he has neither.

Think about the cotangent…

Alas, there are always people better than you.

Yu Hua turned over and suddenly found a pair of bright eyes in the night. Qu Tianing was blinking and looking at the bed below him - below him was Yu Qie.

Was the beautiful Qu also hit?

Still can't help but secretly look at Yu Qie?
"Shh!" Qu Tianing realized that she was discovered by Yu Hua. She shook her head gently and asked Yu Hua to follow her out.

Yu Hua rolled out of bed and walked to the middle of the corridor of the train. Qu Tianing said, "Comrade Yu, please don't tell Yu Qie."

"Don't call me Comrade Yu, I thought you were calling me Yu Qie!" Yu Hua said with a smile.

"Yes! Both of you have the surname Yu!" Qu Tiening suddenly realized.

You just found out?

Qu Tianing was suddenly fascinated: "I first read Yu Qie's novel when he made his debut, and I also wrote a review at that time. I thought he was already very good... I didn't expect that he could write other things, and even write Japanese novels. Today I know that he is still writing a long novel!"

"I didn't say it casually when I praised him for being omnipotent and unrestrained."

Yu Hua asked: "Do you admire Yu Qie?"

"I have no idea!"

"You must admire him. There's nothing to be ashamed of admitting. I admire him too! I worked as an assistant to Yu Qie, helping him reply to readers' letters. I read those letters over and over again, and I felt like I had seen a giant, but he was also an ordinary person! In the evening, I suddenly felt that the giant had returned. He was very tall when he sat up, many times taller than me!"

Qu Tianing nodded: "You are right. I may admire Yu Qie a little bit, and... I also love him because I love him a lot. After all, I also write novels and work as an editor."

The two returned to the carriage and found that Liu Zhenyun was gone. They didn't think much about it and lay down to sleep. After a while, Liu Zhenyun came back, smelling of cigarettes. When he lay down, he couldn't help but sigh for no apparent reason.

They knew immediately:
Liu Zhenyun was also shocked in the evening and felt a little confused.

The next morning, the train passed by Yu Hua's hometown and stopped for half an hour. He waved goodbye to everyone and said, "We'll see you in two days!"

Later, Yu Qie and his group also arrived in Hangzhou.

Li Xiaolin, editor of Harvest magazine, arrived early and held up a big sign. "Welcome writers to Hangzhou!"

In addition to Li Xiaolin, Zhou Jieren and Li Ziyun from "Shanghai Literature" were also here. The three of them exchanged greetings, and Yu Qie introduced Qu Tiening and Liu Zhenyun next to him.

Qu Tiening is still somewhat famous, but Liu Zhenyun is relatively unknown. The only things worth mentioning at present are his short story "Tapu" and his graduate diploma from the Chinese Department of Yenching University.

Liu Zhenyun is an honest man and said directly: "Apart from my girlfriend and parents, this is the first time I have been picked up by someone!"

Suddenly, a little girl with pigtails came out from behind Li Xiaolin and said angrily, "This must be your first time being picked up by a kid, too!"

Duanduan?

Isn’t this Ba Lao’s granddaughter?
This kid’s grades are indeed bad, but has he reached the point where he has to drop out of school?
Li Xiaolin took the initiative to explain: "Duanduan insisted on coming to join in the fun. My father thought that there was nothing to learn in school, so it would be better to come to the writers' conference and be influenced by you! It will only be a few days anyway."

Duanduan pretended to be mature and said with a sullen face: "What are you trying to influence? I am beyond cure!"

This child was quite quiet last time, how come he has become so naughty after not seeing him for half a year?

Li Xiaolin was embarrassed: "My father doted on Duanduan too much. He didn't dare to hit or scold her. He always said she did a good job. Now she is particularly disobedient!"

Duanduan said, "That's because you don't know how to teach! Why do I like to listen to grandpa's words?" "Yu Qie, can you take care of her?" Li Xiaolin said.

Yu Qie squatted down and talked to Duanduan: "I heard that you don't recognize me as your brother? I want to ask you, when did I agree to be your brother? Your mother and I are of the same generation."

Duanduan said, "Yuqie, just wait. When I grow up a little, we will look similar."

"What about your mother?"

"My mother is an old woman. She is old and ugly."

Don’t use idioms randomly!

Li Xiaolin's face turned red instantly, and he wished he could seal Duanduan's mouth.

Everyone burst into laughter. Yu Qie was also amused by the child and picked her up and hung her on his arm. A Nissan taxi sent by the local writers' association took the group to a guesthouse near West Lake, where Yu Qie met his old friend Alai again.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and they were very excited to see each other. But Alai's face was tanned like charcoal. He had a high nose and deep eyes, and was thinner than before. He looked like a long-distance runner from Africa - except that he wore a pair of literary glasses.

Yu Qi couldn't hold it in any longer: "Alai, where have you been? Why is it getting darker and darker?"

"I was transferred to work as an editor for the literary magazine Grassland in Aba. The sunlight there was very strong, so I got tanned."

"Your whole face is red, you're sunburned, your condition is miserable."

Alai shook his head quickly: "No, no, the children in our place have it even harder. They have to go to school over mountains and across rivers, and they have to cross the cableway across the river, using only a basket tied to a pulley."

“The kids sat on the baskets and held on to the edges because if it tipped over they would be swept away!”

Yu Qie didn't find this strange, because in the 1980s, there were many remote places. Even in Wanxian, where Yu Qie lived, it was difficult for many people to leave Sichuan. They had to go around in circles. But Duan Duan from Shanghai was surprised and said, "Is it that exaggerated? Can't these people go to school?"

“——Who is this child?” Allemon asked.

When they parted, it was said that King Gesar would have eighteen wives in his life, but it did not say that King Gesar would raise a five or six-year-old child in two years.

"This is Mr. Ba's granddaughter! She's so cute. Her mother is Li Xiaolin, the editor-in-chief of Harvest magazine. Yes, this is her."

Li Xiaolin saw that Alai was Yu Qie's friend and wanted to get to know Alai. She told him about her family's private affairs: "I gave all the musical instruments in my house to Duanduan, but she not only doesn't like music, but she also broke many of them! She likes sports very much, and we bought her sneakers, but she just won't wear them! She kicked the shoes away!"

Duanduan puffed up her face and said, "Hmph!" as if she was very dissatisfied with her mother talking about her shortcomings in front of outsiders.

However, Alai suddenly sighed: "She is so beautiful!"

This is a bit inappropriate.

Duanduan is Ba Lao's granddaughter, so of course she is a beautiful girl.

But Alai continued: "Better than any child born in Aba!"

Alai is a sentimental person. His eyes suddenly turned red and he shed tears: "This autumn, a child in Aba accidentally fell into the turbulent river while crossing the river. I was a Chinese teacher in a middle school there at the time. We tried our best to rescue the child and gave him CPR. Miraculously, he survived!"

Isn't this a good thing?

Yu Qie didn't understand why Alai was crying.

However, Alai continued, "I thought the child was fine, but this year I went to the Aba Cultural Bureau to write novels. One day I went back to visit the original school. I wanted to see the child again, but he was not in the school. I searched for a long time and found his parents. His parents told me that the child was paralyzed. Just before I came to Hangzhou, the child also died."

"Why? What disease does he have?" Yu Qi sighed.

"Polio." Alai said, wiping away his tears.

(End of this chapter)