Exciting 1979!

Chapter 81 New poems are out (310 please order first!)

Wei Ming did not leave the campus. After putting the magazine in his arms, he went out from the west gate and returned to the south gate along the school wall.

You can still see the newsstand in the middle, and the old man is about to close his stall.

Wei Ming asked: "Master, is there any "Yen Jing Literature and Art" today?"

Although Mei Wenhua bought ten books, they all had owners.

The old comrade said, "Today's copy is sold out, but I've finished reading my own copy. If you don't mind a second-hand copy, I'll sell it to you."

"sure."

Wei Ming paid the money and asked again: "Master, after reading these two novels, which one do you like?"

The master was also a book lover, and he talked about it eloquently: "When I read the beginning of Jiang Zilong's "Liberation", I thought, why is it another factory director's takeover? Can't he write something else?"

Then he focused on "Er Niu": "The novel written by Wei Ming is still worth reading. It made me cry. I also experienced the Anti-Japanese War. Those devils were really not human. It was not easy to survive!"

The old comrade did not analyze the ideological and literary aspects, but simply expressed his preference for "Er Niu" and his hatred for the panic of that era.

"And many students buy the magazine just because of this novel," he added.

Wei Ming nodded, it seems that the word of mouth has gone viral.

After returning to the dormitory, the guys immediately surrounded him and curiously asked what delicious food he had eaten at the international students' place.

Wei Ming thought about it and took out a photo. He used a Polaroid camera and the photo came out immediately. Wei Ming took a group photo around the dining table.

The original intention was to let them see what they were eating, but in the end, everyone's attention was on the fiery red color next to Wei Ming. Firstly, the color was bright and eye-catching, and secondly, it was indeed beautiful.

"No, Brother Ming, you hooked up with a foreign girl!" Biaozi shouted.

Wei Ming: "What's the point of hooking up? It's just taking a picture."

"It's just a photo. Look how close you are. You're almost sticking to each other, and her arms are bare!" Biaozi said in surprise.

Wei Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Besides, they were so close to each other because they were both tall. This foreign girl must be about 1.75 meters tall, and there were many boys who were not as tall as her.

Brother Feng's focus was on her hair: "How can it be so red? Could it be dyed?"

"I asked, and she said it's natural. She's from the north of England, and there are more people with red hair there."

"Yo yo yo," Mei Wenhua made a strange sound, "We had a very in-depth conversation. We even found out where he was from, and you still say it's nothing!"

Wei Ming didn't refute anymore. This is how it is in the boys' dormitory. If they see you getting close to a girl, it's impossible not to say something weird. So let them be.

And soon Biaozi shifted his attention from people to the dining table.

Wei Ming introduced to them one by one what birthday cake is, what Coca-Cola is, and what medium-rare steak means.

Biaozi has been completely shocked by the decadence of the bourgeoisie, but Mei Wenhua is still staring at the clothes of the foreign girls in the photos. They are so tight and reveal so much, it's so immoral!

Wow, if Sister Qingqing wore the same clothes as the red-haired foreign girl, it would definitely be very cool!
After getting into bed, Wei Ming hummed the lyrics of "Country roads take me home" softly, "Country roads take me home..."

When foreigners get together, they will also feel homesick, and later several of them sang this song together.

"Brother Ming, what are you singing?"

"An English song, I learned it from international students." Wei Ming sang louder and sang a few more lines.

"I don't understand. What does this song mean?" Brother Feng asked.

Wei Ming: "This song mainly expresses the singer's homesickness."

Brother Feng nodded: "It does seem like I am a little bit sad."

Biaozi asked again: "Are there any other songs?"

"And then there's rock music. I can't sing it."

Mei Wenhua also joined the discussion: "I'm not used to foreign songs, but I heard that foreign movies are very exciting. It is said that the male and female actors in them often kiss each other."

Being an actress is so beautiful? Biaozi swallowed his saliva and asked, "Where did you hear that?"

Brother Feng: "The culture is from the compound. I guess he has watched the internal film."

Mei Wenhua: "No, I saw it in a magazine."

Wei Ming knew that he was probably talking about the "Popular Movies" in May this year. The back cover was a still from the British movie "The Crystal Slipper and the Rose", in which the prince and Cinderella were kissing with their eyes closed in the lace dress and bouquet of flowers.

This still caused huge controversy and discussion at the social level at the time. It was the first time that Chinese people saw such a large scale in a magazine. Mei Wenhua's impression of many kissing scenes in foreign films came from this.

"The international students did talk about some movies. I heard that the most popular movie abroad this year is called "Alien." Li Aiguo and Li Kui are new international students, so they have seen it and specifically told the other people about it.

"What is an alien?"

"Aliens are a kind of alien creatures..." Then Wei Ming talked about how this alien creature reproduced, which made several people feel disgusted.

"What kind of taste do foreigners have!" Mei Wenhua was very disgusted. Wouldn't it be better to have more kissing scenes?

Wei Ming was grinning from ear to ear, but then he heard them ask, "What other movies are there?" "You can also tell me about the latest news you've heard about in foreign countries."

It seems that everyone is curious about the strange world outside. Curiosity is a major driving force for human progress. Wei Ming talked about some of the things he saw at the dinner table, and then took out those copies of Time magazine.

"Why don't you read it yourself? I have exactly four foreign magazines I borrowed from overseas students."

"Ouch!" It was already past ten o'clock, and everyone was more energetic and didn't want to sleep anymore.

However, after I got it, I couldn’t understand the text and could only look at the pictures, which made me feel helpless.

"Brother Ming, is this the alien you mentioned?" Zhao Debiao asked, pointing at a picture on a page. He thought this thing was too disgusting. He once again despised the taste of foreigners.

Wei Ming took a look and said, "Yes, yes, that's it. It seems that this movie is really popular. Even Time magazine has reported on it!"

Mei Wenhua looked at the novel photos in the magazine and sighed: "If only I could understand English, Brother Ming, why don't you take me with you to class tomorrow!"

Mei Wenhua: I also want to learn foreign languages, and he also wants to improve!
Wei Ming: "I have a history class tomorrow. If you want to take an English class, I can tell you where to go. I have the class schedule here."

Hearing that Wei Ming was not going, Mei Wenhua immediately shook his head: "Forget it then."

He didn't have the courage to go to the meeting alone, and his basic knowledge was almost zero, so he wouldn't understand even if he went.

Wei Ming thought of something: "Oh, by the way, if you want to learn a foreign language, there is another place, the small garden in front of the Russian building. Every Saturday night it becomes an English corner. International students, students from the foreign language department, and those who want to learn a foreign language go there to exchange and learn."

Not in class, Mei Wenhua was somewhat interested, but still wanted to involve Wei Ming.

"My level is good enough for me to communicate with them." Wei Ming said and started reading a magazine.

Then Mei Wenhua and Zhao Debiao started whispering to each other, and seemed to be interested.

~
In the next few days, Wei Ming focused on the remaining half of "The Magic Book" besides working, and occasionally attended classes.

Once in the English class in the Russian building, I met a few international students whom I had seen at the birthday party, but I didn’t see that red ball.

During this period, under his guidance, Liu Zhenyun wrote a 2000-word review article on "Er Niu". Wei Ming suggested to play it safe and try to avoid high-end publications such as "Literary Review" and "Wenyi Bao".

Finally, after comprehensive analysis, Liu Zhenyun chose a magazine called "Shanxi Literature" which was not very high-end but had a literary criticism unit.

So a Hebei person wrote a Shandong story, which was reviewed by a Henan person and then submitted to a Shanxi magazine.

Liu Zhenyun was right not to choose a difficult one, because the next day he saw Sun Li's review article on "Er Niu" in the "Wenyi Bao", and he included this article in his "Reading Notes" series.

After his comeback, Sun Li lacked energy and rarely wrote novels. He only wrote essays and his reading experiences, which could be regarded as a way of supporting the younger generation.

In his series of articles titled "Notes on Reading Works," one can see his evaluation and affirmation of literary backbones such as Liu Shaotang, Liu Xinwu, Lin Jinlan, and Zong Pu.

But they are all writers over 40 years old, while Wei Ming is only 18 years old!
After reading the article, Liu Zhenyun excitedly ran to the faculty cafeteria at noon to find Wei Ming to report the good news.

Then I saw Wei Ming working on a rice bowl of braised pork.

Liu Zhenyun wiped his mouth and said, "What day is it today? Why are you eating so well?"

Wei Ming: “I eat like this every day.”

Liu Zhenyun was shocked: "You don't eat meat every meal, do you?!"

Wei Ming nodded. He felt that he was still not strong enough. Now he was only slightly better than Mei Wenhua in the dormitory, and was still a little behind Biaozi and Fengge.

Liu Zhenyun was heartbroken, and then handed over the newspaper he had borrowed from his roommate: "Look, Mr. Sun wrote it so well!"

Wei Ming took a glance and saw that the author was Sun Li and the title was "Looking at "Er Niu" through Niu Er". Wei Ming immediately wiped his hands on his clothes and took it.

Mr. Sun analyzed the article from the perspective of the typicality of the characters. He highly praised Wei Ming's ability to create characters. He then wrote about some of his own experiences and feelings when portraying the characters, which are all valuable information.

After reading it, Wei Ming said to Liu Zhenyun, "You still need to practice."

Liu Zhenyun nodded and was about to say something else when he saw a woman looking around at the cafeteria door.

He poked Wei Ming and said, "Senior Sister Zhang Dening is here, you two can chat."

As soon as Liu Zhenyun left, Wei Ming knew something was wrong.

As expected, Zhang Dening complained as soon as she came up: "I heard that you gave your new work to Contemporary Magazine~ Alas, Contemporary Magazine is indeed on a good trend now. They are the rising sun, while our Yenching Literature and Art Magazine is just setting in the west."

Who is it? You are so careless with your mouth. You will be kicked out immediately.

Zhang Dening was the first editor to approach him, and she was generous with her royalties. Wei Ming was very grateful to her and could not bear to see her disappointed, so he had an idea: "No, I have saved my new work for our Yenching Literature and Art."

"Ah, so my information was wrong?" Zhang Dening felt a little embarrassed.

"I promised a novel that I hadn't started yet to Contemporary," Wei Mingxian admitted, and then immediately said, "but I have another new work reserved for Yenching Literature and Art."

“Ah, have you finished writing?”

"I've finished writing it. I'll bring it to you in the dormitory later."

"What is it about? A short story or a novella?"

Wei Ming: “Poetry.”

……

(End of this chapter)