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

Chapter 199 Hugs and Kiss
As time went by, more and more people entered the beach. Many swimmers noticed them: a handsome young man who couldn't swim, with a beautiful woman constantly giving him instructions.

The woman looked very familiar, but I just couldn't remember where I had seen her before.

Liu Yimin's sharp gaze swept across the surroundings, and everyone lowered their heads and swam away into the distance, emitting cold snorts as they went.

"Let's go, Teacher Liu, let's go somewhere less crowded!" Zhu Lin dragged Liu Yimin behind a rock. There weren't many people there, and if they were too tired, they could climb up the rock to rest.

"This is a great spot, you have good taste!" Liu Yimin praised.

"Right? What did you think I swam so far just now for? Teacher Liu, if I were in a combat unit, I would definitely be a qualified reconnaissance soldier!" Zhu Lin said.

The two sat on the rocks, watching the rising sun and talking about Liu Yimin's recent book.

While they were talking, Liu Yimin secretly pulled the lifebuoy down a little further around his waist.

Zhu Lin started talking about poetry from novels, beginning with Liu Yimin's first book and how he came across it: "The first one was recommended to me by my dad, who said it was very profound. I read the first few chapters, but I didn't understand it very well; I just found it a bit funny."

I read it several times, adding comments along the way, before I slowly began to understand it. At the time, I wondered, who exactly is the author of this book?
You can see many writers in newspapers and magazines, but it's difficult to meet them a second time.

Most writers can get one article published by luck, but often they can't even get another published.

"Unexpectedly, I saw it again in *Poetry Journal*, and then it became more and more common. When I saw *College Entrance Examination 1979*, I thought of writing a letter, not expecting a reply, because we all know that the probability of receiving a reply to a book that everyone likes to read is very small, after all, many people write letters..."

"Some people in our school who can write a few lines of poetry, even if they can't get it published, still get a lot of letters from them, let alone someone like you."

"But I replied!"

"Yes, just right!"

Zhu Lin kept talking and talking, even quoting a line from "The Romance of the Western Chamber": "Love arises without knowing its origin, and deepens with each passing moment." It had practically turned into a confession session about emotions.

Zhu Lin spoke as if she were talking about someone else's story, yet also as if she were talking about her own. Sunlight shone on the two of them. Liu Yimin quietly watched Zhu Lin, his serene face showing a hint of mischief and trepidation as he spoke.

Liu Yimin couldn't resist putting his arm around Zhu Lin's shoulder. Zhu Lin didn't struggle, but shyly looked around. Seeing that no one was around, she boldly looked up at Liu Yimin and teased, "Teacher Liu, you've got my hand!"

Liu Yimin knew that she meant the word "use" in the letter, and that once the hand was in hand, it naturally became "embrace".

Liu Yimin said with a grin, "And what about Wu?"

"No!" Zhu Lin laughed.

Suddenly, Zhu Lin, like Zhou Yun in "Romance on Lushan Mountain," kissed Liu Yimin on the cheek, then jumped into the water and stayed submerged, too afraid to come out.

Liu Yimin touched his cheek and smacked his lips: "Pigsy eating ginseng fruit, couldn't taste any flavor!"

Zhu Lin's head popped out of the water: "What could it possibly taste like!"

"There are so many flavors, girl, wait for the teacher!" Liu Yimin laughed and jumped down.

The sun grew stronger, and their backs burned intensely as they emerged from the water. The two began swimming towards the shore, and Liu Yimin finally learned to dog paddle.

The dog paddling splashed so big that people nearby had to scatter. Zhu Lin laughed and said, "Teacher Liu, I'm a failure as a teacher. It seems that you'll be the only teacher from now on!"

"Let's go, Zhu Lin!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

On the way back, Zhu Lin winked at a foreign couple in the distance. The two were exchanging oral bacteria, exploring the possibility of bacteria surviving in the oral environment of the opposite sex.

Liu Yimin covered Zhu Lin's eyes and said, "Let's go, if you keep looking, you'll get a sty!"

Zhu Lin chuckled: "This foreigner is really shameless!"

After changing clothes in the locker room, the two walked outside. Zhu Lin was still full of energy: "I'll teach you how to swim later."

He shook his head and sighed, saying, "With your dog-paddle technique, don't say I taught you how to do it when you go out in the future."

"Then Zhu Lin should give more guidance to the teacher in the future. Let's learn from each other and make progress together."

"Got it!"

As they stepped outside, someone exclaimed "Hey!" and ran over, muttering, "Comrade, are you Zhou Yun?"

Zhu Lin glanced smugly at Liu Yimin, then pretended to be calm: "Hello, it's me!"

"Hello, hello!" The other person excitedly extended their hand, shook hands for a few minutes, looked down, and hey, damn it, it was a man's hand.

Looking up again, Liu Yimin said with a smile, "Hello, comrade, have fun, we're leaving now!"

Zhu Lin leaned affectionately on Liu Yimin's shoulder, waved, and walked towards the Creative Home.

At the creative home, the meal was already prepared. Liu Yimin looked at them apologetically and said, "Sorry I'm late."

"It's alright, it's alright, we've already eaten. This is for you," Old Zhao said with a smile.

They had seafood noodles for lunch, and Zhu Lin kept praising Lao Zhao for making them so delicious. Actually, the two of them had been in the sea for a long time and were already quite hungry.

The two ate two bowls of food. Zhu Lin let out a satisfied burp and said apologetically, "Thank you, Master Zhao!"

"You two young comrades are too polite. You'll see when you come here often. No need to be so polite. This is my job. I don't know how many people envy me for being able to work here."

Old Zhao said smugly, and wanted to pick more apples, but Liu Yimin stopped him: "Comrade Old Zhao, we really have no room left in our stomachs."

"Have some to quench your thirst. We don't have any other guesthouses as good as ours, but our apples will definitely make their mouths water." Old Zhao always spoke of his fruit trees with a touch of pride.

Apples are sweet and juicy, and they smell delicious when you pick them and eat them.

"They're ripe now, but not at their best. They'll taste even better in a few days when they cool down at night and are sun-dried during the day. If you're going to the Writers' Association to deliver apples later, Writer Liu, I'll bring you some specially. I heard from Comrade Li that although you're young, you have a lot of works, which is quite impressive in our country!"

He then raised his thumb.

Liu Yimin gently pressed down on Old Zhao's thumb and said with a smile, "It's still a long way off!"

Old Zhao smiled but didn't say anything. He only said that he would pick some apples later for the two of them to take back. In the afternoon, the two of them would take a car back to Yanjing, but this time it would be an express car, so the journey would be shorter.

Liu Yimin helped Lao Zhao pick apples. Zhu Lin, hearing Sanhua's cries, stomped his foot and ran upstairs.

"You guys have a really good cat. It didn't meow before, but it started meowing as soon as it heard you come back. No wonder they say cats are cunning; they know to meow to get their owners' affection," Old Zhao said while cutting apples.

"Comrade Zhao, you've met quite a few people here, haven't you?"

"Yes, yes, I've met them all. I've met almost everyone from the Writers' Association and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Comrades Guo Moruo, Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Cao Yu, and so on. I've met relatively few people; my neighbors have met many more, including central leaders."

Liu Yimin looked knowing. Old Zhao wanted to add more to his bag, but Liu Yimin declined, saying, "Comrade Old Zhao, I really can't handle this."

Li Ji walked over and said, "Writer Liu, could you also bring some for Old Cao?"

"Hmm?" Liu Yimin looked at Li Ji, who said, "I just found out you're Old Cao's student. Have Old Cao come over for a stroll sometime to relax." "Oh? Writer Liu, why didn't you say so sooner? I'd pick some more for you!" Old Zhao hurriedly said.

In the afternoon, when they left, they had already filled a large sack with apples.

Zhu Lin wanted to bring it up, but Liu Yimin carried her on his back. Standing on the bus, he said, "This trip doesn't seem like we're here for sightseeing; it seems more like we're here to buy goods."

Zhu Lin, supporting the sack, looked towards the receding seaside: "This trip was really fun! Thank you so much, Teacher Liu. I wouldn't have been able to come without you!"

“There are more people coming now!” Liu Yimin said nonchalantly.

"That's different!"

Watching Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin's retreating figures, Li Ji, the head of the Creative Home, looked at Lao Zhao and said, "Why does Comrade Liu Yimin always call me Comrade Li? Why doesn't he call me Li? He doesn't call me Comrade Li Ji either!"

Old Zhao laughed: "Old Li, you're overthinking it!"

It was already evening when they got back to Yanjing. Public transportation had stopped running, so the two of them carried the apples towards the courtyard house. Fortunately, it wasn't far.

Two people carried the two ends of the sack, while the calico cat squatted on the sack, looking up at the front like a mountain eagle.

Upon reaching the courtyard gate, the two shook their hands in pain, and Zhu Lin chuckled, "I told you, I could actually lift it by myself."

Liu Yimin opened the door and carried the apple inside. The three-haired cat took the lead and ran into the yard: "I really hope it's this enthusiastic about catching mice."

“Some mice are bigger than it!” Zhu Lin said.

Liu Yimin sensed something amiss under his feet, so he turned on his flashlight and shone it on the ground. He found a piece of letter he had stepped on: "I was here, but haven't seen the owner. Where to go? — Shen"

"Who?"

"Mr. Mao Dun!"

"Oh, everyone here is a big shot, and I'm just a nobody actor," Zhu Lin said weakly.

Liu Yimin sang: "Set up an eight-immortal table, entertain guests from all directions, all who come are guests, it all depends on one's mouth."

"What does Mr. Mao Dun want with you?"

"The preface must have been written. The book 'The Kite Runner' is about to be published, and Mr. Mao Dun wrote a preface."

Congratulations, Teacher Liu!

"Happy together."

Once inside the courtyard, Liu Yimin divided a sack of apples into five portions: one for Zhu Lin to take home, one for Cao Yu, one for Liu Yimin, and one for Mao Dun's family to collect; it wouldn't be right to go empty-handed.

Send the other copy to Xia Yan's house; I haven't written a preface or thanked her yet.

Since gifts are hard to come by, apples from the Writers' Association are a suitable choice. As for Zhang Guangnian and Cui Daoyi from the Writers' Association, we'll repay the favor with manuscripts.

The large number of apples given out, even when divided among several people, made Liu Yimin grateful for Lao Zhao's foresight.

"I guess I won't need it?" Zhu Lin said.

"It's alright, there's plenty of it anyway, consider it a small token of my appreciation to Uncle and Aunt."

Zhu Lin smiled slightly and stopped insisting.

I rode my bicycle to take Zhu Lin home, and then stopped by Muxidi to deliver the apples there.

"Yimin, these apples are so good, where did you get them?" Li Yuru said happily. Cao Yu was reading in the study, and Li Yuru was sitting alone in the living room, feeling a little bored. Seeing Liu Yimin come over made her especially happy.

"I went to Beidaihe, and the comrades there saw me off. Is the teacher still in his study?"

"Yimin, what brings you here?" Cao Yu came out of the study upon hearing the voice, taking off his glasses and saying wearily.

Here, have some apples to try!

How's Beidaihe?

"Beidaihe is great, the water is so white, I mean the waves are so white!"

Li Yuru said, "You silly child, white waves, of course the waves are white."

"I've never seen the sea before, I thought it was blue!"

Li Yuru washed an apple, peeled it, and put it on a plate. Cao Yu and Li Yuru were both old and couldn't eat much in the evening.

"Hmm, that's the taste. How's Comrade Zhao?"

"That's great, the local people even said they miss you!"

Cao Yu looked up and pondered, "It's been a long time since I've been there!"

After tasting the apple, Cao Yu said, "Since you're here, let's chat in the study."

Li Yuru muttered, "Can't Yimin just chat with me a little longer?"

Cao Yu smiled and said, "Come in and listen with us!"

Cao Yu mainly talked about the play "Mountains High and Rivers Long". He didn't usually pay much attention to the rehearsals of plays, but for such a high-profile play that involved commemorative events, he had to pay more attention.

From the selection of clothing to the personnel, everything has to be reviewed. In order to pursue historical consistency in the clothing, I made several trips to the clothing workshop, and we are currently designing overnight.

"The Beijing People's Art Theatre has specially approved 20,000 yuan for the costumes of this play!" Thinking of this, Cao Yu said, "No, this can't be just our business. The ministry should also contribute some money. A few hundred yuan would be too cheap for them."

Thinking of this, Cao Yu immediately called Xia Yan. Xia Yan smiled wryly on the other end and said, "Old Cao, you're already thinking about this so late?"

"Funding is a big deal!" Cao Yu emphasized, covering all aspects of the issue. Xia Yan, who also valued it, said, "I'll discuss it with other people in the department tomorrow."

When Liu Yimin left Muxidi, he didn't stop by Xia Yan's house. He only delivered it the next day. Xia Yan then asked him what he thought of the order.
Shen Yun said while biting into an apple, "Brother Yimin, Grandpa already knew."

Because Xia Yan's preface focused on his feelings towards Liu Yimin, and the book itself mentioned him very little, Liu Yimin said awkwardly, "The preface portrays me too well; I still need to improve."

"Progress is to be expected, but what I wrote here is what I really think."

There's no need to deliberately portray Xia Yan's identity in a positive light, and few people can demand that he be portrayed in a positive light.

In the preface, Xia Yan recounts that their first meeting was at the Ministry of Culture, where he was providing overseas training for Liu Yimin and a few others. He described the young man as humble, polite, and neither servile nor arrogant.
Stepping out of the courtyard, Shen Yun raised his fist and laughed, "Go, Brother Liu Yimin! I believe in you! Next time, I'll come to your courtyard to see 'Spy Cat'."

Xia Yan lowered her head and said, "What, you don't want to do your homework again?"

(End of this chapter)