Exciting 1979!

Chapter 140 Let the Panda Fly for a While (5000 monthly tickets plus more!)
"Thank you Editor Liang for your hospitality yesterday. Chengdu is a city that makes people reluctant to leave. It makes people feel like writing poetry!"

Liang Ping's eyes lit up. He finally waited for you. Fortunately, he didn't give up!

Wei Ming didn't think about asking for royalties for a short poem of about 200 words, so he left it directly to editor Liang. Then he took his parents and sister into the jeep with them. The car also contained the things they bought. Wei Ming's Sichuan food coupons finally came in handy.

This was another first time for Wei Hong. She excitedly squeezed in the back with her parents, while Wei Ming sat in the passenger seat.

Editor Liang opened the envelope impatiently only after the car disappeared from his sight. Even the staff of the nearby guesthouse came over to watch.

After all, it is Wei Ming's new work, and he is very popular now.

The title of the work is "Chengdu".

Editor Liang read it out:
“If you want to write about Chengdu, you can’t just write about Chengdu.

To write about the blue sky, misty rain, a cat upset the wind at the alley entrance

Write about the slow pace of pedestrians, the laziness of treetops, and the tide of Jinjiang River rolling over and over under the eyebrows.
I want to write about the poet of Caotang, Su Shi's moon and Li Bai's wine.
It describes the scholars who climbed the high towers, and the clouds under Yang Yuhuan's skirt where she secretly drank the dew.
Write about Jinli, Kuanzhai Alley, and a piece of bluestone slab that has accumulated thousands of years of dust."

Editor Liang read it twice and praised: "A cat overturned the wind at the alley"! "The poet in Caotang wrote for thousands of years, Su Shi's moon and Li Bai's wine"!
This is a short poem that is not brilliant as a whole, nor does it have any deep connotation, but it is of extremely high quality and quite interesting. Wei Ming wrote out the soul of Chengdu in just a few sentences. What a powerful insight!

He didn't even stay in Chengdu for a single day, but he was able to describe the city in such detail. His literary talent is so high that he is on a different level from ordinary people!

Liang Ping immediately took the manuscript back to the "Xingxing" Poetry Magazine and handed it to the editor-in-chief Bai Hang. It was up to him to decide whether to make emergency adjustments and publish it this month or next month.

……

"Brother Wan, which unit are you from? You drive so steadily." Wei Ming started chatting with the guide who was driving.

"Oh, actually I'm also an editor, but not many people know about our magazine, it's called "Science Fiction World." Lao Wan glanced at Wei Ming and found that there was no confusion in his eyes.

"Oh, have you heard of it?"

Wei Ming thought how could he not have heard of it? Decades later, it became the most well-known publication brand in Sichuan. Many Chinese science fiction writers rose to prominence here, including Liu Cixin, Wang Jinkang, He Xi, Bao Shu and so on.

Wei Ming also has a science fiction dream and has filmed spoof shorts such as "Spider-Man vs. Predator".

Of course, Science Fiction World is not very popular now. It was formed last year by the merger of two magazines, Science and Literature and Strange Talk. Its circulation was less than 10,000 copies at its lowest point.

But now is not the lowest point of "Science Fiction World".

Wei Ming and Lao Wan had a lively conversation about science fiction, leaving Wei Hong in the back row dumbfounded.

This guy actually knows about science fiction, he is so comprehensive!

"Brother Wan, where are you from?" Wei Ming asked again.

"Oh, I'm from Ya'an. I go to Baoxing often, too. The roads there are so difficult for ordinary people to drive through."

Ya'an is a region, which was later a prefecture-level city. Baoxing is a county under Ya'an. This area is mountainous. The road from Chengdu to Ya'an is okay, but it becomes very difficult to travel from Ya'an, and the bumpy ride begins.

Wei Hong didn't mind the bumpy ride. She sat by the window and stared at the roadside, hoping to see a giant panda and then ask her brother to take a picture of it.

Suddenly, she thought of a question: "Giant pandas are also bears, so do they hibernate? Can we see giant pandas if we come here now?"

It's still very cold in the north, so they all wear cotton-padded jackets on the train. Of course, the clothes are now quite thin.

Lao Wan smiled and replied: "Giant pandas don't hibernate. Because we have green bamboo all year round in Ya'an, they go to places with high altitudes to eat in the summer and come to places with low altitudes in the winter, so it is easier to see giant pandas at this time."

"Brother Wan, have you ever seen a wild giant panda?" Wei Hong asked hurriedly.

Lao Wan said with a serious expression: "Yes, I have seen them. I saw them often when I was a child. But in the past two years, with the construction of roads and the reclamation of farmland, there seem to be fewer pandas and I see them less often."

Looking at the increasingly familiar environment on both sides of the road, Xu Shufen also recovered some memories of her childhood.

"When I was a child, giant pandas often broke into our village and stole food. We saw them several times every year. One time, they were only a few meters away from me."

Even though the number of giant pandas has decreased in later generations, Baoxing County, with a population of only more than 200, has nearly giant pandas. When Xu Shufen was young, there was probably one giant panda for every dozens of people. It is the place with the highest per capita giant panda population in the world.

Xu Shufen added: "At that time, people were not aware of the need for protection. I vaguely remember that some people in the village even hunted and killed pandas."

"Ah, how can you kill pandas? It's too much!" Xiaohong spoke up for the panda.

Wei Ming smiled and said, "You think giant pandas are cute, but they are actually large beasts. Moreover, they didn't have enough food at that time. If they dared to snatch food from me, let alone pandas, even humans would suffer a lot."

Lao Wan asked Wei Ming: "Which village should we go to first to inquire?"

The villagers in the village that was originally covered by the mudslide were divided into three villages, and Xu Shufen’s relatives are most likely in these three villages.

Since Wei Ming already knew the correct answer, he suggested, "Just go to the nearest village."

"Okay, Dagou Village, the road over there is easier to walk on, and the car can drive in." Wei Jiefang suddenly became excited: "It feels similar to the name of our Gouzi Village, what a coincidence!"

And Xu Shufen also quietly held her husband's hand. The exciting moment had arrived!

~
Xu Cunmao is a well-known poor family in Dagou Village. He fled famine and brought back a lame wife when he came back. He didn't get any good land. Later, he had three children. He just sent his father away a few years ago, and he still has an old mother to support.

But since everyone is in trouble, his family's difficulties don't seem that embarrassing, and this is how they have been getting through all these years.

Today is a little special. It is the day when his eldest daughter Yunyun is meeting her in-laws, and they want to make their family appear less difficult.

Yunyun is 18 years old this year and has only primary school education. She is pretty but a little naive. Xu Cunmao is worried that she will be wronged in her husband's family.

Neither of them are lazy people, but the wife is physically disabled and it is not easy for her to raise three children on her own.

Today the house was decorated and looked brand new by them. In order to make the house look better, the eldest sister from the next village even rode her bicycle over and parked it at home. The nephew was also holding two brand new thermoses in his hands.

The house had just been decorated when a matchmaker dressed in bright red came with her people.

The man, his mother and some relatives also came, and there was a group of villagers watching the fun, including many children.

It was just after the Chinese New Year, there was no work in the fields and the school was not in session, so I was just sitting around doing nothing.

The boy was about eighteen or nineteen years old, and was dressed very smartly. He had known for a long time that Xu Yunyun from Dagou Village was a good-looking girl, and he came here today with great determination to get her. He wanted to settle the matter on the same day and take her home as his wife as soon as possible.

But his mother told him to talk less and do everything according to her instructions.

"Da Mao, Damao, your future in-laws are here, quickly call Yunyun out for everyone to see!" said the matchmaker in a loud voice.

The first person to come out was Xu Yunyun's aunt, then members of the Xu family came out one after another, and finally Xu Yunyun stepped out.

Today is a very important day for her, so she changed into her best clothes. Although they still have patches on them, they are clean and tidy.

The boy's mother was quite satisfied with Xu Yunyun's appearance. She was not short, so she could improve the curse in their family that no male child could grow taller than 1.6 meters.

Although she was satisfied, as they chatted, the boy's mother began to find fault with Xu Cunmao's family, as if to say: Your family is too poor, and you're marrying up to our level.

Mr. and Mrs. Xu Cunmao felt uncomfortable after hearing this, and Xu Cunmao's mother even started to look unhappy.

Only Xu Yunyun was so stupid that she didn't understand the other party's hidden meaning. When she heard her say that she didn't have this or that at home, she thought she was preparing to buy some things for her home.

The matchmaker completely acquiesced to this and did not try to stop it.

In her opinion, this is a marriage of downward compatibility. The man doesn't mind that your family is poor, so you shouldn't mind that his words are unpleasant.

What the boy’s mother could not accept the most was that Xu Yunyun had a younger brother and a younger sister, both of whom were minors. They couldn’t just lie in their house and suck blood!

So she said in advance: "When Yunyun and our Nannan get married in the future, Yunyun, you must distinguish clearly which one is your own family, and don't cheat and let all your wealth go to someone else's family."

Xu Yunyun nodded and said, "I'm not stupid. It's my home, so I know it."

Xu Cunmao's elder sister Xu Shuxiang couldn't stand it anymore, so she asked her niece directly: "Yunyun, where is your home?"

Xu Yunyun pointed to the ground below her feet: "It's right here."

Xu Shuxiang smiled with satisfaction, but the boy's mother was a little annoyed.

"I'm talking about your home and our Nan Nan's home. After you get married, that will be your home."

Xu Yunyun: "That's my husband's family, this is my parents' family, they are both my home."

The man’s mother was so angry that she jumped up and down, what a rotten wood, what a rotten wood!
At this time, the matchmaker quickly jumped out and said, "Okay, okay, I see that everyone is talking very well and is very satisfied with each other, so why not settle the marriage today."

Once you are engaged, you can no longer tell anyone else's family. After you have been together for a while, you can get it formalized and finally get the marriage certificate, which may be after you have children.

The other party's family conditions were indeed quite good, and they were from the same commune, not too far away. Except for the fact that the man was short and the mother-in-law was a bit strong, everything else was acceptable.

Xu Cunmao looked at his wife and asked for his mother's opinion. What could he do if he was not satisfied? There was no son-in-law who was satisfied with everything.

Xu Cunmao was just about to nod when the brigade secretary Wangcai suddenly ran over.

"Da Mao Da Mao, do you have a younger sister?"

Xu Shuxiang stepped forward and said, "I'm not here."

Wangcai: "I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about your sister Shufen!"

(Finally finished writing, please vote for me!)
(End of this chapter)