Literary Master 1983

Chapter 70 Frontline
Liu Jiaju said: "Comrade Yu Qie, I have never told you before that I am also from Sichuan Province, and from Wanxian. I experienced the entire Fifth Korean War."

"It started on April 1951, 4, and ended on June 22, a total of 6 days. We were only given dry food once during that time, which means we were short of food for 10 days!"

"What do we rely on to survive? Some people say it is the great power of our army's ideological and political work. I say it is the instinct of people trying to survive. It is too painful... In that situation, no doctrine or thought is effective..."

"While we were cursing the North Korean leaders for being stupid and messing around and sending us to our deaths, one day we passed by Confucius' temple and found moldy glutinous rice cakes in a wooden basin inside the temple. This was Confucius' tribute... Who did I care about Confucius? We uncovered the moldy covering and immediately shared the glutinous rice paste inside to eat."

"The only slightly heartwarming experience was when I met a nurse named Xiao Feng who had tripped. She was a girl in her teens and was cursing the stone that tripped her as an 'imperialist villain'. I laughed at her young age and pulled her up out of concern... We parted ways after we caught up with the main group, and I never met that nurse again in my life."

Liu Jiaju did not recall any more, but said to Yu Qie: "Why are your novels so popular on the front line? Because you don't have many doctrines, and naturally someone will tell the doctrines to the soldiers - we don't want model operas, we want real feelings."

"I hope that while you are on your way to the front to offer condolences, you can create another novel comparable to "The Letter from My Fiancée"."

After recalling their passionate years, Liu Jiaju and others left, leaving only the comic strip in Yu Qie's hands.

Oh, there is still a piece of calligraphy left - written by Li Duo.

When it was spread out, there were five powerful characters, "Letter from my fiancée", with Li Duo's seal on it! This was a calligraphy work.

Apparently Liu Jiaju not only did not forget what Yu Qie had in mind, but also asked Li Duo to add some extra details. Li Duo later sold his calligraphy work "Heart Sutra" for nearly 100 million RMB. I wonder how much these words will be worth in the future.

However, that will have to wait for forty years, and now we can only store it.

----

The Letter from the Fiancée tells a story like this:
At the beginning of the counterattack against Vietnam, our army planned to pass through Lang Son and march straight to the north of Vietnam to the vicinity of Hanoi.

However, soon after the battle began, our side suffered heavy casualties, including a high-ranking mother who lost three sons. After the frontline commander learned of this tragic incident, for some reason, he sent a small team led by a platoon leader to carry out the designated special operations mission, taking with them a letter from her fiancee, to find and protect the mother's only son...

After going through untold hardships, they finally found the target, but discovered that he was unwilling to leave because his comrades were caught in a tough battle. At the same time, the letter from the rear was opened, and it turned out to be a farewell letter asking for a breakup. Everyone decided to join that last battle together - most of them died in the end, including the rescued son of a high-ranking official.

Only two new recruits were left alive - a literary drama.

These two recruits also became new and tested warriors, forming a cycle.

The name of the rescued person was "Qin Yun". At that time, there was a very famous general's son on the front line whose surname was also Qin. It was a bit of a coincidence, so many people thought that Yu Qi did it on purpose.

This novel was originally published in "Red Rock" in February. At that time, "October" had just published Yu Qi's "Da Saba". The latter had a greater influence and a larger platform at the time, and for a time it overshadowed "The Letter from the Fiancée".

In March, "The Letter from the Fiancée" was reprinted in "Military Literature and Art" and distributed to a specific group of people. Then something really happened. Letters from the front line were sent to "Military Literature and Art" like snowflakes, and the soldiers expressed their love for the story and the writer Yu Qie.

A reporter from Sichuan TV went to the frontline to interview and came back saying, "At the frontline, anyone who has read Military Literature and Art knows Qin Yun and the slogan 'I am with them'!"

"Suddenly, there were only two types of people on the front line, those who had read "The Letter from the Fiancée" and those who had not had time to read it." "I came to the camp on the front line, and the soldiers simplified the slogan to 'We are together'. Yes, we are together, what a simple phrase! As long as we are together, we are united, no matter how great the difficulties are, we will overcome them!"

Editorial Department of October.

Wang Shimin showed Yu Qie's novel to editor Zhang Shouren.

Zhang Shouren was the editor who guided Li Cunbao in writing "The Wreath under the Mountain" and was also one of the founders of "October".

Yu Qie had promised to write a novel every month and submit it to October, until he had published three. So there had to be an editor to coordinate and revise the manuscript. Since Luo Yihe had been transferred to the poetry group, a new person was now in charge.

In fact, with Luo Yihe's level of novel writing, he is no longer able to take on the task of being Yu Qie's editor - an editor needs to have an aesthetic level no lower than that of the author, which sometimes can promote the evolution of a novel.

Therefore, Wang Shimin asked Zhang Shouren to become more familiar with Yu Qie's works, especially his recent "Da Saba" and "Letter from the Fiancée", which have become his new representative works.

One represents "new reality" and the other represents military literature. If he continues to do this, spanning multiple categories, Yu Qie will soon have a "golden left cheek".

Zhang Shouren was very excited: "Yu Qie is indeed a writer I have been following. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to work with him. Of course, I have read all of his works."

"When Li Cunbao finished writing the first draft of "The Wreath under the Mountain", I always felt that there were some important parts of the story that were not yet fully developed and needed to be rewritten, especially the passionate lines expressed by Commander Lei at the conference, and the lonely return of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to their home in the Yimeng Mountains after paying off the debt owed by Liang Sanxi..."

"Then I read Li Cunbao's revised manuscript... I finished reading it in the early morning, and immediately wrote a review report and asked to publish it on the front page of October. It shows that I have some skills and resources."

Wang Shimin laughed and said, "Don't brag about yourself. Tell Yu Qie these words and see if he likes you."

In the afternoon, Yu Qie rode his bicycle to the editorial office. The snow in Yanjing had melted long ago, and he pedaled very fast.

After a brief acquaintance, Zhang Shouren began to read Yu Qie's new manuscript, which was the second part of "New Reality" called "The Two of Us".

It tells the story of a lonely old man living in a courtyard and a girl who came to Yanjing to study. The old man rented his house to the girl, and the two went from conflict at first to relying on each other in the end.

A very simple story. The artistry and storytelling are indeed not as good as "Da Saba". The whole novel is more than 50,000 words, and Yu Qie finished it in two or three days. There is nothing for him to adapt.

However, this is still a complete and high-quality story.

Zhang Shouren read for a while, sweating, scratching his head and thinking for a while. He thought: It's over, how come there is nothing to change in this novel?

Then what's the use of my old bones?

(End of this chapter)