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

Chapter 132 A Trip to Kunming Lake

In early July, the countdown to exams began, signaling the imminent end of Liu Yimin's freshman year. Liu Yimin's passing score was fifteen points higher than that of his classmates.

"Yimin, I think you'll still be number one in our department this year!" Li Xueqin said enviously, comparing the scores of the subjects that had already been released.

Holding his lecture notes, Chen Dazhi shook his head and said, "I think the old men in our department are just doing unnecessary things. Raising the passing grade won't have any impact on Yimin."

“It still has an impact!” Liu Yimin sat cross-legged on the straw mat on the upper bunk, looking serious.

"What impact?"

"At least I can ask for leave openly and legitimately!"

Li Xueqin shook his head at Chen Dazhi and continued memorizing his notes. Li Xueqin's exam score was still in danger, and he had been working harder than anyone else lately.

Liu Yimin got up and jumped out of bed. After washing up carefully, he took out his brand-new short-sleeved shirt from the box and put it on. He looked very energetic. The scent of Seagull shampoo mixed with the fragrance of snow cream lingered all over his body.

Liu Zhenyun winked at Li Xueqin, signaling him to look at Liu Yimin.

After tidying up, Liu Yimin looked at himself in the mirror, waved to everyone, and walked out of the dormitory with a smile. The three of them kept guessing where Liu Yimin was going, and even leaned out the window, watching Liu Yimin's back and whispering among themselves.

Like Yenching University, the Summer Palace is located in the western suburbs of Beijing. Its predecessor was Qingyi Garden, which was part of the Old Summer Palace and was a royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. It was opened to the public 28 years later, but the ticket price was still very expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ticket price for the Summer Palace was 2 cents, and for a period of time it was 5 cents, making it affordable for most people. The Summer Palace is close to Yenching University, only a few kilometers away, and can be reached by bicycle in less than half an hour.

The sun had just risen, and the weather wasn't too hot yet; there was even a hint of coolness in the breeze. Zhu Lin, standing at the door, spotted Liu Yimin riding his bicycle in the distance, his right hand acting as a sunshade to block the direct sunlight from his forehead.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, over here!" Zhu Lin called out with a smile.

Today, Zhu Lin wore a pink floral dress, which made her skin look very fair. She also got a haircut yesterday; her slightly inward-curling shoulder-length bob gives her a youthful look, and her thin bangs don't look dated but rather give her a tranquil and serene feel.

The girl next door, with her artistic flair, stood at the park entrance, attracting many people to stop and steal glances.

"You're here so early?" Liu Yimin jumped off his bicycle, a little surprised. He thought he would be the first to arrive, since Zhu Lin's home was quite far away.

"Anyway, I have nothing else to do. I'm used to getting up early, and it's not hot when I ride my bike here in the morning."

After parking his bicycle, Zhu Lin handed him an ice pop.

"How long have you been here?"

"Not long ago, I just arrived too."

Zhu Lin arrived early and bought the park tickets before Liu Yimin. The current ticket price is one cent.

The Summer Palace has gates on all sides, but the East Gate is the best route for visiting it. Entering through the East Gate, you're not far from Kunming Lake inside the palace. Zhu Lin asked Liu Yimin whether they should tour the garden first or go boating later.

The Queen still didn't arrange for Liu Yimin to learn to swim, which he had been looking forward to for so long.

"Kunming Lake's name comes from Kunming Pool, which was named by Emperor Wu of Han. The lake is modeled after West Lake. Many people skate here in winter, and I also like to come here. I'm really good at skating!"

Liu Yimin wanted to enjoy the lake breeze first, so Zhu Lin acted as a tour guide and introduced the Summer Palace: "I heard that the gardens here are a blend of southern garden landscapes."

Perhaps due to the warmer weather, the Summer Palace wasn't as crowded as I had imagined in early July. However, there were quite a few elderly men playing chess under the trees by the lake.

Zhu Lin and Liu Yimin paid to rent a small boat and sat facing each other with oars in their hands.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, let me teach you how to row!" Zhu Lin held the oar and carefully taught him the rowing posture and how to control the direction.

Liu Yimin was a complete landlubber; he couldn't even swim, let alone row a boat. Sitting on it, feeling the buoyancy of the water, his body involuntarily tilted from side to side with the buoyancy.

"Teacher Zhu, how is my drawing?" Liu Yimin asked with a smile.

Upon hearing Liu Yimin address her as Teacher Zhu, Zhu Lin said proudly, "You've improved, but you're still far behind me. Don't exert yourself, I'll paddle. Let's go for a spin in the center of the lake."

When Zhu Lin exerted force in her forearms, the muscle lines were clearly visible. The fine downy hairs on her face and arms were clearly visible, shimmering with a golden light under the sun.

She had good stamina at first, but as she approached the middle of the lake, fine beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead, and her cheeks turned rosy from the exertion.

“I’ll do it!” Liu Yimin said.

Zhu Lin, unwilling to admit defeat, paddled twice more with all his might, but was completely defeated. He simply gave up and lay on his side in the cabin, gently splashing the water on the surface with his hand.

"Let's row our oars, the little boat pushes through the waves, the beautiful white pagoda is reflected on the sea, surrounded by green trees and red walls."

Zhu Lin felt the coolness brought by the flowing water and happily started singing, while observing Liu Yimin's movements.

Once they reached the middle of the lake, a gentle breeze swept across the surface, ruffling their hair. Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin sat sideways on the wooden boat, chatting and laughing, letting the wind gently rock the small boat.

After a while, the sun became quite high, and it was no longer feasible to stay in the middle of the lake. The two of them worked together to row the boat to the other side. There were quite a few people swimming there, and Zhu Lin noticed that Liu Yimin kept staring at the other swimmers.

He said apologetically, "Comrade Liu Yimin, I'll teach you how to swim another time."

"Okay!"

The two strolled around the central area of ​​the Yuanmingyuan Garden for a while. The Tower of Buddhist Incense here requires a separate ticket. The Tower of Buddhist Incense sits on the platform of Longevity Hill, and is over thirty meters high even without a foundation. From the top, one can overlook the entire Kunming Lake.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, shall we go up?" Zhu Lin showed no signs of fatigue along the way, hopping and skipping as he introduced the Fragrant Buddha Pavilion.

"Since we're already here, we should naturally climb to a high place and enjoy the view!"

The most common Chinese saying is, "Since we're already here."

Zhu Lin followed behind Liu Yimin, looking at his back with envy. The poet was indeed a poet; the phrase "climbing high and looking far" was full of poetic imagery.

After leaving Foguang Pavilion, the two bought some food and leisurely ate lunch. The Beijing People's Art Theatre was performing "Mr. Donkey" that evening, so Zhu Lin had to go back to prepare in the afternoon.

In addition, Cao Yu planned to have Zhu Lin try out for the role of Wang Zhaojun in the stage play "Wang Zhaojun" as an understudy. In the days that followed, rehearsal schedules became more frequent.

Zhu Lin raised his wrist and looked at the time on his watch: "Time really flies!"

Liu Yimin patted his clothes and laughed, "Let's go, there's plenty of time later!"

"Our instructor taught us that ten thousand years is too long, we should seize the day!" Zhu Lin joked. "Then let's seize the day?" Liu Yimin asked.

Zhu Lin raised an eyebrow, then instantly transformed into a defeated rooster, pursing his lips and saying, "Let's fight for the future!"

As they were about to part ways at Yenching University, Zhu Lin asked, "Comrade Liu Yimin, can we hang out again next time?"

"Of course, I'm ready anytime!"

Zhu Lin smiled and waved, then rode his bicycle away from Yanda University under the blazing sun.

"Oh, this is the second time I've seen you? Who is it?" Zhang Manling licked the popsicle in her hand and said, grinning.

Liu Yimin was startled by the sudden voice: "Zhang Manling, why do I feel like you're watching me every day?"

"I just happened to see you!" Zhang Manling handed Liu Yimin an ice pop and hummed a little tune as she walked into the campus of Yanda University.

After the exam, unlike last time, Liu Yimin went home first. He planned to stay at home for a week before going back to the Beijing People's Art Theatre to revise the script.

When Liu returned home, the Liu family had changed. Liu Fuqing demolished the old house on the east side of the yard and built two large brick houses with tiled roofs. One house was for Liu Yimin, and the other was reserved for his elder brother Liu Yiguo to use when he got married.

The Ruxian Mining Bureau has a residential compound for its employees, but all the houses are now occupied, and it's uncertain when they'll be able to get new housing. Seeing that Liu Yiguo is already of legal age, Liu Fuqing is getting anxious.

Now that the family has money, they built two brick and tile houses. In Maiji Brigade, the best house was undoubtedly the Liu family's.

Stepping into Liu Yimin's house, the walls were painted with a mixture of lime, soil, and wheat straw, giving them a rough appearance. But given the conditions in the countryside these days, this was all that could be done.

There were many newspapers pasted on the headboard, all of which contained articles about Liu Yimin.

Looking at the wall covered with his image, Liu Yimin said helplessly, "Dad, Mom, what are you doing?"

After taking a drag of his cigarette, Liu Fuqing chuckled and said, "Newspapers look nice on the wall!"

Liu Yimin stopped talking, put the box inside the house, took out two bottles of Moutai and handed them to Liu Fuqing.

Liu Fuqing didn't know anything about Moutai, but he instinctively felt it was very expensive just by looking at the bottle, so he quickly said, "Yimin, why are you buying this stuff! It must be very expensive, right? I'll just drink some regular liquor."

"Dad, this is free, it's a complimentary bottle of wine."

"Hey, Yimin, let me tell you, we can't accept gifts from people. You need to find a time to return them right away!" Liu Fuqing put the wine on the table and said seriously.

"I'm just a student, who would give me gifts? This is alcohol that was given out on the plane when I went abroad, it was free!" Liu Yimin explained.

Yang Xiuyun quickly took a few steps closer and asked, "Yimin, when you ride an airplane, do you sit on the wing?"

Rural people have never done or seen it before. There are very few movies showing airplanes in rural areas. You might see bombers dropping bombs in war movies.

If you haven't seen it before, you won't understand it. This can't be said to mean that rural people are stupid; it's related to their living environment.

Liu Yimin smiled and said, "Dad, Mom, you sit inside the airplane's belly, not on its wings." Liu Yimin gestured to them.

Liu Yiguo took a big gulp of water from the cut gourd ladle; the two of them had been extremely thirsty on the way back from picking up Liu Yimin. After drinking, he scooped a ladleful for Liu Yimin.

"Father, Mother, this is fine wine. I've seen this wine at Director Yang's house in the Mining Bureau. It's one of the most expensive wines."

Liu Fuqing wanted to refuse, but Yang Xiuyun pushed him: "Dad, just take what Yimin gave you. Isn't it good enough that your child is filial?"

"Alright, alright, I'll invite your Uncle Dashan over for a drink tonight." Liu Fuqing patted Liu Yimin's shoulder happily with his rough hands.

That evening, Li Lanyong's father, Li Dashan, carefully savored the Moutai liquor, afraid of wasting a single drop.

"Yimin, how long do you think this war will last? You studied at a university in Beijing and know a lot of leaders. What do you think?" Li Dashan asked.

"It's unlikely to end anytime soon. Even if it retreats, the intensity will be lower. But these wolf cubs are still up to no good and are thinking of attacking again. It's definitely not going to end anytime soon."

After listening, Li Dashan drank another glass of wine by himself and did not say anything more.

Liu Fuqing comforted Li Dashan: "Didn't Boss and Lan Yong not go up? Don't worry, try this Moutai again. You're getting a good deal, old man. This liquor is more expensive than meat."

Li Dashan didn't stagger home until after 11 p.m., after drinking.

Lying inside the newly built brick house, Liu Yimin couldn't sleep because of the heat. However, according to Li Dashan, every household would have electricity in a few months.

Then when I go home, I can use the electric fan.

During his week at home, Liu Yimin spent the rest of his time revising his manuscripts, except for going out for some fresh air in the morning. He aimed to finish revising the script for "Wolf Smoke Over Beiping" by the end of July and then spend another month writing the script for "Romance on Lushan Mountain".

The first act of the adapted play "Wolf Smoke Over Beiping" has been completed, with three acts remaining. However, it involves too many people, making the adaptation a different level of difficulty compared to "Mr. Donkey".

On July 13th, Yang Xiuyun started packing Liu Yimin's luggage, just like when he started school in the spring. While packing, she kept muttering why he couldn't stay at home for a few more days.

"I'm in a hurry to get back to Yanjing, but who's in Yanjing anyway?!"

Liu Fuqing shouted, "Damn it, stop talking. It's good that Yimin is busy. He'll be back for the New Year in a few months."

Yang Xiuyun slapped Liu Fuqing, and Liu Fuqing dared not say another word.

"Yimin, this is pickled vegetables. You can eat it when you get to Yanjing. You're usually too shy, so try to talk more and remember to get along well with others. This is sesame seeds and sesame oil. You can give these to your teacher later." Yang Xiuyun arranged everything for Liu Yimin.

"Don't worry, Mom, I get along well with everyone!"

Liu Yimin said with a smile.

The Maiji brigade bought a tractor this year, and it came in handy now. Li Dashan drove the tractor, taking the Liu family of four to the train station.

"Father, Mother, you should go back!"

"Remember to send a telegram back!"

(End of this chapter)