Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 110 Why Him?
If you have money in your hands, you will not be worried.

Liu Yimin rode his bicycle to Liubiju and bought some pickles. Liubiju is located in Qianmen Dashilan, Yanjing (Beijing). Liubiju is a time-honored brand of pickles, dating back to the Ming Dynasty. It has witnessed hundreds of years of ups and downs in Yanjing. In the TV series "Da Ming Dynasty 1566," Jiajing Emperor, Yan Song, and Hai Rui even had a political contest over the name "Liubiju."

I don't know if it's true or just a sham advertisement by Liu Biju.

There are many origins of the "six musts" of Liubiju, but the most widely circulated one is that the sorghum and rice must be of equal quality, the yeast must be grown at the right time, the soaking and heating must be clean, the water must be fragrant, the pottery must be of good quality, and the firing process must be precise.

The gate at the entrance was made of white-colored building material, looking quite old. After walking inside and pushing through the throng of people, there were jars of pickled vegetables on display. Liu Yimin bought two of the most famous ones: pickled cucumbers and pickled radishes.

I also bought cabbage, pork skin jelly, cold jellyfish salad, and peanuts. It's a pity I didn't get cucumber salad, otherwise I could have given Old Ma all the good stuff that Wenye had.

He rode his bicycle into the Writers' Association guesthouse, the bottles of liquor clattering inside. Liu Yimin went to invite Zou Huofan and Ge Luo, but Ge Luo was busy; his wife was arguing with him, and he didn't dare not go home after get off work.

It's Zou, Liu, and Ma again.

It had been a while since I'd seen Old Ma, and he looked even older; his white beard looked like it hadn't been shaved in ages. He was sweeping the floor when Liu Yimin waved a bottle of liquor behind him. Old Ma didn't turn around until a moment later.

Seeing that it was Liu Yimin, he raised his eyelids forcefully and laughed, "It's you, kid. What's up? Here to drink with me again today?"

"I'm inviting you for a drink, but don't drink too much. I see your health is deteriorating day by day!" Liu Yimin said.

"Look at what you're saying. If Master Ma's health were getting better every day, wouldn't you all think of me as a monster and kidnap me? I am old, but lately I've been thinking about the past. You know, I've pulled a rickshaw for half my life. I haven't traveled all over Yanjing City, but I've been to at least all the notable places."

I don't even have the energy to go back to places I used to visit. I want to chat with someone, but I don't know who to talk to. I want to sit by a wall and bask in the sun, but this damn weather just makes me eat sand!

Sand is fine, as long as it's not the kind of pellets we use for everyday life.

Old Ma led Liu Yimin to sit by the boiler and started talking nonstop. Liu Yimin sighed; Old Ma was truly old, and it was time for him to get old!

The boiler room has a new worker, a returned educated youth. The people at the guesthouse want Old Ma to rest more, since the educated youth is young and strong and can do anything.

“Comrade Liu Yimin, I heard Master Ma mention you, saying he knew you, but I didn’t believe it. I didn’t expect it to really be you!” said worker Zhou Xing.

Old Ma said smugly, just like Wen San'er bragging: "Kid, open your eyes and see if I've bragged to you. Comrade Liu Yimin, no doubt about it. So what if he's a writer? Writers still have to serve me white wine."

Liu Yimin greeted Zhou Xing and handed the People's Literature magazine to Lao Ma. Lao Ma asked Liu Yimin to read it to him, so in the boiler room, Liu Yimin read it to Lao Ma.

When Zou Huofan arrived, Liu Yimin had only read about 10,000 words.

Old Ma told Liu Yimin to leave it there, and Zhou Xing could read it to him when he had time.

That evening, the three of them found a room to drink alone. Zou Huofan excitedly told Liu Yimin about his feelings after reading "The Flames of War in Beiping," and Lao Ma, upon learning that many people had read the novel, excitedly drank a couple more glasses.

Holding peanuts in his hand, he listened to Zou Huofan speak.

"You even wrote about Grandpa Ma eating horse manure? That's not fair. How will Grandpa Ma face people after this?" Old Ma was already quite drunk.

Zou Huofan explained to him that the writing should be as realistic as possible so that future generations would know that life in the past was inhuman. Old Ma then said, "Then I won't blame you!"

When he heard that Wen San'er had been beaten, Old Ma became upset again and counted on his fingers: "I've never been beaten that many times. All the people who beat me are dead. The fastest one died in the street a month after the beating. I went over and spat at him. People always do bad things for themselves."

After Old Ma fell asleep, slightly tipsy, he muttered, "If there's a next life, I'm not pulling a cart anymore. This isn't a human life!"

With Zou Huofan around, everything was easy. Liu Yimin slept at the guesthouse that night, and the next morning, he went to check on Lao Ma and found that everything was normal before returning to school with peace of mind.

Liu Yimin felt that Lao Ma's health wouldn't last much longer.

Life is a process of constantly welcoming and sending off. Liu Yimin has not yet welcomed anyone, but has already seen many people go, but he has never had a clear memory of those departures.

Time flew by and it was almost the end of March. The departure date for the writers' delegation to France was finally set for April 22nd, with a three-week visit starting on April 24th.

Yenching University's school newspaper published the news that Liu Yimin would be accompanying the delegation as a representative of young writers on the trip, once again thrusting him into the spotlight. The plot involving Xu Jingge in "Wolf Smoke Over Beiping" was constantly brought up and amplified, and the wave of criticism intensified.

Fortunately, People's Literature and Art had anticipated this and prepared a book review in advance, which was published in newspapers such as Yanjing Evening News under an individual's name.

It has some effect, but it's not significant.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, are you alright?" Zhu Lin hurriedly rode his bicycle from the Beijing People's Art Theatre to Yenching University. Upon seeing Liu Yimin, he asked with concern.

"What could possibly happen to me?" Liu Yimin shrugged and smiled nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

"Don't listen to those people's nonsense. They may not know who you are, but I know you perfectly well."

"Then who am I?" Liu Yimin countered.

"Upright and kind, enthusiastic and positive, the words are inspiring and motivating." Zhu Lin kept saying this while fiddling with his hands, his mind racing to think of the next word.

"I'm really fine. I heard the crickets chirping. Aren't you going to work in the fields?"

Seeing that Liu Yimin was really alright, Zhu Lin waved to Liu Yimin on his bicycle and rushed back to rehearsal.

"Hey, who's this?" Zhang Manling happened to be passing by and said with a smile to Liu Yimin, her eyes fixed on Zhu Lin on the bicycle.

A large poster with the question "Why him?" was posted on the wall of Xidan MZ, sparking heated discussion.

Inside the editorial department of China Youth Daily, Yu Jiajia looked at the excerpts, analyzed them word by word, and finally wrote an article before knocking on the door of the editor-in-chief's office.

"Editor-in-Chief Xu, I just wrote a commentary. Could you take a look? It's urgent, so I brought it to you directly!"

(End of this chapter)