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

Chapter 205 The Exciting Opening Ceremony

At the Li family home, Liu Yimin and Cui Daoyi sat opposite Li Xiaowei, the wife of Li Ji. Liu Yimin and Cui Daoyi brought mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival and apples from Lao Zhao of the Writers Association.

Old Zhao is a thoughtful man; when he arrived in Yanjing, he specially sent Liu Yimin a basket of apples. It hasn't been long since he returned from Beidaihe, but the apples are even sweeter than before.

After pouring tea for the two of them, Li Xiaowei said with a smile, "I didn't expect you two to still remember me. Try this tea; it was sent by someone from our hometown."

Li Ji's son had something to do today and went out early, so Li Xiaowei was home alone.

There were many books drying on the balcony, and one was also on the coffee table. Liu Yimin picked it up and looked at it; it was "The Collected Works of Lu Xun".

"I had nothing to do at home, so I helped Lao Li organize his old collection of writings and the books he liked to read."

Liu Yimin said, "This collection of Lu Xun's works looks quite old!"

Li Xiaowei took it, touched the cover and said nostalgically, "This, well, the original owner wasn't me, it was our Chief of Staff Zuo. Chief of Staff Zuo was a famous scholar-general, and he had a complete set of 20 'Complete Works of Lu Xun'. Back then, I followed Chief of Staff Zuo to relocate. A bomb fell and Chief of Staff Zuo was killed. I was right next to him. Afterwards, he picked up the 'Complete Works of Lu Xun' that had fallen to the ground page by page, and later, he often read it by himself."

Neither Liu Yimin nor Cui Daoyi expected that there was such a touching story behind this collection of essays.

Seeing that the two were interested, Li Xiaowei told them to go to the balcony and take the books they wanted to read, and they could take any they liked with them.

Liu Yimin noticed a collection of drafts: "These must be poems written by Comrade Li Ji before his death?"

Li Xiaowei said, "Yes, he just wrote it down. After he finished writing it, he put it under his desk and said that it was not well written and that no one should see it."

Cui Daoyi took it and looked at it: "Comrade Li Ji left behind a lot of poems during his lifetime. I think we can organize them and publish them as a collection of poems!"

"Never mind, Old Li didn't want it published when he was alive, so let's just leave it at that. It's a way of respecting his last wishes."

When Cui Daoyi left Li Ji's house, he still felt a little regretful and planned to come back and work on Comrade Li Xiaowei again at a later time.

Liu Yimin said, "Senior brother, you'd better work hard and do your best!"

Cui Daoyi asked Liu Yimin if he wanted to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at his home, promising to treat him to good food and wine.

Liu Yimin put his arm around Cui Daoyi's shoulder and said, "Thank you, senior brother. I'll visit your home again when I have time."

"I knew you didn't have time, I was just saying it for fun, hahaha!" Cui Daoyi patted Liu Yimin on the shoulder.

Cui Daoyi joked again, "Are you planning to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at your future father-in-law's house or Mr. Cao Yu's house? Do you need me to teach you about the experience of visiting for the first time?"

Liu Yimin remained noncommittal, but Cui Daoyi got excited and kept pointing out the precautions.

"It's your first time visiting their home, so it's inevitable that your future father-in-law and mother-in-law will give you a cold shoulder. It's not that they look down on you; no one would look down on you if your name were on their property. This is a common way for them to put down their future son-in-law. If you're too enthusiastic, they might think you'll get too cocky and treat their daughter badly in the future. Besides, if you're too enthusiastic, it'll seem like they're eager to marry off their daughter."

You can't get angry. You have to let them get to know you slowly, gradually put them at ease, and only then will they entrust their daughter to you.

Cui Daoyi continued speaking from behind, showing no signs of fatigue.

When they parted ways at the intersection, Liu Yimin said with a smile, "They probably know me quite well now!"

Cui Daoyi paused for a moment, then clicked his tongue: "That's true, that's true. Your information is in the newspaper. Your situation is different, so the way I visit you might be different too. You don't know, I had a lot of trouble when I went to your sister-in-law's house. When I came out of your sister-in-law's house, I thought it was all over."

Her father is like that stern-faced Judge Bao; to be honest, that's just how he is.

Cui Daoyi mimicked his father-in-law's manner, putting on a stern face and nodding seriously: "Anyone who didn't know better would think it was a top-level military meeting in the army, and I was giving a report to the general! He would say things like, 'Little Cui, you should do this or that!'"

This made Liu Yimin, who was holding his bicycle, burst into laughter and asked, "What happened in the end?"

"What could I do? After I got out, I was prepared to live alone in the single dormitory of People's Literature and Art Publishing House for the rest of my life. A few days later, my sister-in-law came to ask me why I wasn't going to her house anymore? Why wasn't I going to see her anymore?"

"and then?"

"I said, 'With your dad like that, would I dare go?' Then she said that her dad was very satisfied with me, and he deliberately kept a straight face for hours until his face was stiff. He had to use a hot towel to warm it up for a long time before it came back to normal!"

"Hahaha……"

After they parted ways, Cui Daoyi rushed home, intending to spend quality time with his family.

Liu Yimin went into the courtyard, fed Sanhua, and returned to Yenching University the next day.

After debate between students and the school, the school finally agreed to move the freshman opening ceremony to the playground.

The entire playground was bustling with activity that day. Freshmen sat in the middle of the playground, while sophomores, juniors, and seniors each had their own designated areas.

The rising sun shone on the entire playground. At the top sat rows of school leaders, below them were professors from various colleges, and then the students.

Each student wore their best and cleanest clothes, with the red Yenching University badge pinned to their chest, and stood tall with their heads held high, looking ahead.

The most common hairstyles for girls are long braids and patterned short-sleeved shirts, while boys wear white short-sleeved shirts or navy striped shirts, and their pants come in various colors.

Festive songs were playing over the loudspeakers on the playground. When Liu Yimin arrived, the specially reserved passage was packed with people, and he almost couldn't get in.

Liu Yimin looked ahead helplessly: "Why aren't you moving forward?"

"Where do we go? There are people everywhere. We're not from Peking University, there's nowhere to sit!"

"You're not from Peking University?"

"Yes, we're from Yanhang!"

"We are from Tsinghua University!"

Liu Yimin then looked at the chests of the people nearby. The people standing there all had various school badges, but none of them were from Yenching University.

Liu Zhenyun squeezed through the crowd at the back and said, "This is the opening ceremony of Yenching University. What are you doing here?"

Li Xueqin chimed in with discontent, saying that the three of them had to move forward, as Chen Dazhi had been pushed to who-knows-where.

"What Yenching University? Students, you're too narrow-minded. Comrade Liu Yimin is the pride of all the universities in Yenching." He then waved the pamphlet in his hand. Those around him echoed his sentiments. They hadn't expected that not only Yenching University students, but also people from nearby schools would come.

Li Xueqin's small eyes darted around as he said, "This is Comrade Liu Yimin. If you don't let us in, who will give your speech later?"

They had just been called away by the Chinese Literature Department, and Yan Jiayan hadn't reviewed Liu Yimin's report. An administrative staff member, concerned, wanted to see Liu Yimin's report first, but returned late.

"real or fake?"

"Would I lie to you? This is Comrade Liu Yimin, the real deal!" Li Xueqin patted Liu Yimin's chest with a loud thud.

Liu Yimin blocked him: "Next time you should take your picture!"

Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, people in front started to pass on the message, and one by one they began to make way. Along the way, boys and girls kept reaching out their hands to Liu Yimin, who stretched out his hands and became a heartless handshake machine.

When he got to the playground, he couldn't tell the difference between the boys' and girls' hands.

Liu Yimin was sitting in the front row professor's seat. Yan Jiayan saw him and asked, "Why are you so late?"

Liu Yimin explained the reasons, and Yan Jiayan said with dissatisfaction, "This old driver doesn't even trust our students!"

Yang Hui, the former head of the Chinese Department, sat in the middle of the crowd, and Liu Yimin greeted him.

Yang Hui said, "Don't be nervous, speak slowly, there are quite a lot of people!"

Professor Zhu Guangqian stood up and glanced at the scene: "It's more than just a little bit; the school is about to burst!"

Yang Hui joked, "With your height, how far can you see?"

Zhu Guangqian was short, but he wasn't angry when Yang Hui teased him: "You think you're so tall? Look how many centimeters taller you've gotten, and you're so smug about it."

Zhu Guangqian was so short that no one could associate him with that professor of aesthetics. Yang Hui, a man from Northeast China, was also not tall, only slightly taller than Zhu Guangqian.

The other senior professors from the Chinese department nearby all started watching the spectacle, some even fanning the flames and stirring up trouble.

Liu Yimin sat to one side, pursing his lips and smiling too softly.

Yang Hui said dismissively, "Yimin, laugh if you want to. Life is nothing more than crying and laughing. This occasion is not suitable for crying, but can't we laugh?"

Zhu Guangqian said without any mercy, "Look at you, it's fortunate that you only served as the department head for sixteen years. If you had served until now, who knows what kind of people the students would have become under your guidance!"

All the professors laughed; among the various departments, the Chinese department was the most lively.

The freshman orientation ceremony isn't held right at the beginning; it's usually about two weeks after enrollment. The ceremony signifies that the students have fully settled into the school and are basically familiar with their new campus.

Vice Principal Ji Xianlin presided over the meeting, and the current principal, Zhou Peiyuan, began to give a long speech. Many students below complained that it was too long and took advantage of the intervals between Zhou Peiyuan's speech to clap enthusiastically. The applause was so long that Zhou Peiyuan had no choice but to wave his hand helplessly and say into the loudspeaker, "Students, I'll say one last thing!"

The room fell silent. Zhou Peiyuan said, "Many students say that I am not as good as Yuanpei (Cai Yuanpei). I want to say that I admit it, but children, I love you all!"

The entire playground fell silent, then erupted in enthusiastic applause once again.

"I'm very happy to see that Yenching University has many outstanding young students. Our Chinese Department student, Liu Yimin, well, I won't say anything more. I don't need to introduce Liu Yimin. I see that you all have a copy of 'Liu Yimin'!"

The students below laughed. Most of them were holding Liu Yimin's single-volume works, with "Romance on Lushan Mountain" being the most common, followed by "The Flames of War in Beiping," and some were also holding magazines.

Zhou Peiyuan glanced at the students below and thought to himself, "Goodbye, students!"

Zhou Peiyuan took over the chaotic Yenching University campus in 78. During this period, the restoration of teaching and various other matters exhausted him. In particular, he was not good at handling the relationships between the various factions in the school, and he has already submitted his resignation to the higher authorities.

"Welcome to the stage to speak, outstanding student representative, Liu Yimin, a student from the Class of '78, Department of Chinese Language and Literature!"

As Liu Yimin walked up, the loudspeaker continued to broadcast his biography, listing his works from "Mr. Donkey" to "The Kite Runner".

When he sat down at the podium, the introduction hadn't finished yet, and someone next to him gestured for him to wait a moment.

Students from the Yenching University campus press station raised their cameras and took pictures continuously.

After finally finishing his introductions, Liu Yimin patted the megaphone and said with a smile, "Hello everyone, school leaders, professors, students, and fellow students. I am Liu Yimin. First of all, on behalf of the senior students, I would like to welcome the freshmen."

In addition, students from other sister universities are welcome; thank you for coming to Yenching University.

Many people standing on the outside couldn't see Liu Yimin on the stage at all, and even if they could, they couldn't make out his face clearly from this distance. The students who had made way for Liu Yimin earlier heard this voice and exclaimed, "That was that voice! It really is Comrade Liu Yimin!"

After sharing his learning experience, Liu Yimin began the final wave of recruits.

"You have come to Yenching University from all parts of the motherland. After spending four years at Yenching University, you will go to various parts of the motherland and take root and sprout in the places that belong to you."

Scientists, professors, journalists, engineers, and writers—regardless of their profession, all are contributing to the country's modernization.

Everyone says that the Chinese Literature Department students are the most successful on Yenching University's campus. They see themselves as writers, poets, and journalism students as reporters, sharing their perspectives with society.

But actually, I think that science and engineering students should be the most proud. In the future, you will use your own hands to build taller buildings and develop better technologies for the country. We will just be there to cheer you on.

Those of us sitting and standing are all young talents selected by the nation. The heavy responsibility of the Four Modernizations should fall on our shoulders. We grew up on Chinese soil, and the fruits we bear should give back to this land.

Standing tall, you are the great trees of the nation and its people; even in death, you will "turn into spring mud to nourish the flowers." You are Yan University students, you are Chinese!

Liu Yimin's powerful voice burst forth from the dark, crowded playground and the empty campus of Yanda University, echoing continuously in my ears.

The students, blushing with excitement, clapped enthusiastically, forgetting their headaches. This was especially true for some of the science and engineering students.

They also envied the Chinese literature students, who, when they stood in the school, were the center of attention, able to talk about anything and everything without needing a script, with a group of students standing around clapping.

They spent their days in the library, either sitting there or watching Chinese literature students give speeches. Liu Yimin's words made them feel much more at ease.

(End of this chapter)