Literary Master 1983

Chapter 38 A Soldier's Letter
The influence of A Moment of Romance continues to expand as a series of literary magazines reprint the novel.

"Hongyan" is a top regional publication with a circulation of only 1977 copies at its peak. Many readers in the north are not familiar with this magazine and have not read Yu Qi's "College Entrance Examination ".

At that time, the economic gap between the north and the south was quite large, which was the opposite of later generations. Now the main reason is that the north is too strong, accounting for 60% of the national market, and the northeast is particularly strong.

At that time, there was a border city close to North Korea. In the year of reform and opening up, its GDP ranked 33rd in the country. It had a large number of pillar industries such as wine, pharmaceutical factories, and steel mills. So which city was ranked 34th?
Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province.

"Mengya" and "Novel Monthly", which reprinted "A Moment of Romance", are magazines with a circulation ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. Their readers are spread all over the country, especially in the north.

More than a month after the publication of "A Moment of Romance", "Military Art News" is about to reprint "A Moment of Romance".

Now we have reached the stage where we can publish comments on “What is so good about ‘A Moment of Romance’”.

There has been no news from People's Literature for a long time. Of course, it is the editor-in-chief Liu Xinwu who is to blame. This magazine is the largest-circulation and most core literary journal in China.

Yu Qi is now lingering outside, and he doesn’t know when he can get in and break through this fortress.

But it doesn’t matter, we have to take things one step at a time.

The editorial office of "Novel Monthly" sent Yu Qie a large package, which said:
"These are letters from readers all over the country. We have selected some of them for you. We kindly ask you to select a few good letters and send them to us."

No remuneration?
Yes, if I could get paid for replying a letter, then I would have to reply letters every day.

There is a children's fiction writer named Zheng Yuanjie, who has been very popular since he published his first novel in Children's Literature. He is also a prolific writer and a geek. Children write to him and call him Uncle Zheng... The editorial department can only pick out some representative letters for him to reply.

Because "A Moment of Romance" involves recent major events, readers are eager to communicate with the author Yu Qie.

Yu Qie opened the letters and glanced through them roughly, and found that they were indeed selected and very representative.

There are new writers who have just entered the literary world, single mothers raising children, and soldiers from the front line of Laoshan...

Yu Qie was the first frontline soldier to return.

This border conflict was at its most intense when it broke out in 79. Now it has entered a low-intensity combat state, with the two sides confronting each other in the border area.

Fakaka Mountain, Koulin Mountain, Laoshan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain were place names that were often seen in newspapers during this period, making people all over the country remember these mountains.

By the end of 83, the long-term, low-intensity confrontation began to change and seemed to be getting more intense. Just looking at the news during this period, we can get a general idea:
"We suggest that our southern neighbors hold border talks to resolve the dispute through consultation..."

"Our southern neighbor is trying to harass our military and civilians, making it impossible for people in our border areas to carry out normal production and life. We solemnly warn..."

"In order to create and maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, we have to recapture and defend...etc. hilltops."

"Our southern neighbors continue to create provocative incidents in an attempt to launch a bigger attack..."

In this letter, there was a soldier named Li Hai, who said that he was a soldier in the 119rd Platoon of the 3th Regiment of a certain division. Because he had a high school education and was brave in combat, he had just been promoted to acting platoon leader.

"Our difficulty was that it was too hot and humid... We didn't wear boots or clothes, and just stood here in shorts and straw sandals. Sometimes the rear would bring us canned food and fruits to supplement our vitamins... But many people still had ulcers all over their legs, their crotches were also rotten, and the itching was unbearable, so they were sent back for treatment..."

"I know that the motherland has provided us with very good support... But what I like most is listening to stories. Today, a brother who was cured came back and told me about a novel they read in the rear. It was a love story between a poor man and a Hong Kong girl. Everyone listened carefully..."

"Teacher Yu Qie, the story you wrote is so good. It deeply shocked me. I am 21 years old and just entered D last month. I also want to go back to college. I have a high school education." "Many people in the platoon don't believe in love now, so I use this story to comfort them and do ideological work."

"If that Huadi can find a partner, then we can certainly have one, right?"

After reading the letter, Yu Qi was speechless and let out a long sigh.

Then, he replied with a much longer letter, telling Li Hai that he also had a new war novel to write, and that "as a literary and artistic worker, I will always stand with you."

And he was told, "After you come back, do everything you can to get into college."

Yu Qie replied to the remaining letters in the next two or three days, and then sent them all to the editorial office of "Novel Monthly".

------

It snowed in the last week of November.

Snow fell from the gray sky and gently covered the Weiming Lake, and the lake surface instantly became a silver-white canvas.

The first snow is beautiful and clean.

So some people played the guitar to show off, some were creating works, and some were sweeping an area on the playground with brooms to make snowmen... After playing for a day or two, everyone went back to do their own things.

Yanda is about to enter the examination season, and Yu Qie is no exception.

During this period, he finished writing "A Letter from My Fiancée on the Battlefield" and sent it to "Red Rock" magazine as agreed.

Huang Xingbang urged Yu Che repeatedly and wrote to him three times. Because Yu Che had not finished the work, Huang Xingbang thought that Yu Che might have found a new magazine in Yanjing and was extremely anxious.

"Teacher Yu, our magazine has organized a field trip, and I plan to come to Yanjing to see you."

"After discussion with our magazine, Mr. Yu can be paid 7 yuan per thousand words."

“Readers of Red Rock Magazine are looking forward to your new work!”

It was not until he received the manuscript written by Yu Qie that Huang Xingbang finally felt relieved. He was quite satisfied with the story and called it a masterpiece far surpassing "A Moment of Romance".

Then a cautious letter came, hoping that the title of the novel could be shorter, just "Letter from the Fiancée".

According to Huang Xingbang, "Our literary magazines rarely have such long novel titles." Imagine a magazine cover that has to include the title and author of a major novel, and the most important novel has to be emphasized.

The long title "Yu Qie" completely blocked the cover.

Now writing novels is different from writing online articles. The principle of "don't add entities if it is not necessary" is followed. Ba Lao's "Home", "Spring" and "Autumn" are just one word, which is very impressive.

Another thing is that Yu Qie’s wife, Zhang Li, who was seventeen and a half years old and is now eighteen years old, is coming to Yanjing.

The crew of "Dream of Red Mansions" was selecting actors in Chengdu. Zhang Li and her friend interviewed together. It turned out that her friend was eliminated, while she passed the preliminary selection.

(End of this chapter)