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

Chapter 179 Two Plays
This was a very simple mud house, with walls made of earth and stone and a wooden roof. After being led inside by the owner, the group of people went in.

The interior space was relatively large, with a hearth in the center of the house, a teapot burning on it, and kerosene lamps hanging on the surrounding walls. The combined light from the kerosene lamps and the hearth made the house less dim.

Several people were sitting in the room, one of whom was the team leader.

"Honorable guest, please have some butter tea to relieve the fatigue of your journey!"

After expressing their gratitude, everyone picked up a bowl of butter tea and drank it. However, they shouldn't drink too much butter tea, as it would keep them awake at night. The team leader prepared hand-pulled mutton and baked flatbread for Liu Yimin and the others.

"Honorable guest, please have more!"

"Captain, my name is Liu Yimin, you can just call me Liu Yimin!"

Sozerang said, "Calling me Writer Liu is fine too!"

That night, under the dim light of a kerosene lamp, the captain's face was half-lit and half-shadowed. Liu Yimin couldn't see the man's face clearly, but he sensed that this man must have a big story behind him.

There were no extra rooms, so everyone slept in one room. Zhuoma, being a girl, slept on the outermost side. She was already used to these conditions.

Lying under the thick Tibetan quilt, Liu Yimin smelled the scent on the quilt and wondered what kind of animal the quilt had been in life. The more he thought about it, the more active his mind became, and he couldn't fall asleep no matter what he did.

So he tiptoed to his feet and walked out of the mud house. It was cold and damp outside, so Liu Yimin wrapped himself up tightly and looked up at the stars in the sky, where shooting stars occasionally streaked across the sky.

"Yimin, can't sleep?" Xu Chi walked over and asked.

"You can't sleep either?"

"I drank too much oil tea and I'm not sleepy at all. Since I can't sleep anyway, tell me, have you had any new ideas lately?" Xu Chi asked, sitting next to me.

Just as Liu Yimin was about to speak, the driver, Lao Wang, also came out. He hadn't been to the grasslands in a long time, so he was too excited to sleep.

Liu Yimin then began to speak: "The teacher's idea was to expand on the first half of 'The Kite Runner' and turn it into a story. Now I have a new idea; I want to take the first half of the story and tell a new, larger story."

Xu Chi became interested and leaned closer, asking, "Tell me about it quickly!"

"This grand story is divided into two parts. One part is about fighting the British in Ningbo. This part focuses on the Tibetan army's journey from Sichuan to the Zhejiang battlefield and the story of the people of all ethnic groups bravely fighting the enemy. Comrade Xu, we still need your help with this matter."

Since you're from Zhejiang Province, could you ask your friends there to help me find some local information? I'll go back and also look for historical materials about the Ningbo battlefield.

The story begins with the British rampaging through Sichuan, and the Qing government's imperial edict to mobilize troops arrives in Sichuan.

Liu Yimin explained in great detail, and even Old Wang next to him was completely absorbed in listening.

"What about the other part?" Xu Chi asked.

"The other part is the story of the Tibetan army in Tibet resisting the British army."

The part Liu Yimin is telling is the story from "Red River Valley". Red River Valley tells the story of a British expedition team that enters Tibet Province to prepare for their invasion of Tibet Province. They encounter danger and are rescued by the kind Tibetan youth Gesang and the girl Xue'er.

The leader of the British expedition, Rockman, gave Gesang a lighter as a token of his gratitude. Rockman left, while Jones stayed behind to recuperate.

The naive Gesang and Xue'er had no idea that they had rescued a wolf.

Not long after, the wolf led the British army to Tibet. The Tibetan chieftains and tribal leaders sacrificed their most precious possession—their lives—to resist the British army.

Countless Tibetans died under the guns of the British army.

After Xue'er died, Gesang held her in his arms and used the lighter Rockman had given him to ignite the oil on the castle. After the explosion, the castle collapsed in the thick smoke, the earth shook violently, and then silence returned... From the distant snow-capped mountains came an ancient voice: "The Snow Mountain Goddess has three sons, the eldest is named Yellow River, the second is named Yangtze River, and the youngest brother is named Yarlung Tsangpo River."

Both of these wars were fought primarily against the British, revealing the British's wolfish ambitions—not only to invade our southeast, but also to annex our southwest!

Liu Yimin slowly finished telling the story. Old Wang, who was standing next to him, already had tears in his eyes, his eyes blazing with anger: "These foreigners, not a single one of them is a good person. Why did we save them?"

Xu Chi patted Liu Yimin on the shoulder: "Both of these are very good and very touching. It's rare that you were able to break out of the original limitations and rethink two stories that are thousands of miles apart but closely connected."

Liu Yimin said, "Old Xu, this is a story, and it's also history!"

"Yes, it took generations of sacrifice to drive out these invaders before we finally had time to properly rebuild our homeland," Xu Chi said sadly.

He stood up again, looking at the grassland with compassion, then at the dark silhouettes of the distant mountains: "Thousands of years of suffering and calamity, I hope such things will never happen again."

Liu Yimin rubbed Old Wang's shoulder and said, "With Jinzhuma Mi here, it won't happen!"

In the middle of the night, the temperature outside was so low that it was unbearable to stay there any longer, so the three of them went inside. When they came back, Liu Yimin glanced at where Zhuoma was, but no one was there.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard the rustling footsteps of Zhuoma returning from outside.

When they woke up the next day, the captain poured a bowl of hot butter tea for everyone. Only then did Liu Yimin notice the scars on the captain's face, which made him look fierce.

Sozerang explained, "This is a warrior who fought against wolves!"

The captain waved his hand dismissively: "Wolves, they're just beasts. I've fought plenty of wolves in my life."

After finishing their meal, they went out to herd the livestock together. Liu Yimin cracked his whip and spurred his horse across the grassland. The song involuntarily echoed in his ears: "Horse-lassoing man, you are so mighty and strong..."

"Slow down, don't hit my Aji." Zhuoma caught up, then looked at Liu Yimin and gave him a rather friendly smile: "Impressive, a storyteller!"

Seeing her red eyes, Liu Yimin laughed and said, "Eavesdropping is not a good habit!"

"Just passing by, you're pretty impressive."

"That's a compliment!"

What's that on your neck?

"camera!"

"I've seen cameras before, and they're bigger than yours. Yours looks like it won't work properly!"

"It's not that the bigger ones are better; the smaller ones take clearer pictures than the others!"

"Oh, wow, you're quite the trickster. The bigger one is definitely better."

Liu Yimin didn't say anything and continued walking into the distance. Zhuoma caught up with him again: "Take a picture of me, let me see if it works!"

After taking a few photos of Zhuoma, Liu Yimin agreed to develop them and send them back to her later.

"You're from the capital, tell me about the capital!"

(End of this chapter)