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

Chapter 272 was a huge addition.

The northwest wind was biting, and the ice offered little protection, making it even colder. Liu Yimin felt his face being scraped by the ice blades, but none of the others seemed to feel the cold.

Every now and then, cheers could be heard from the center of the ice rink.

After a while, several of Chu Hong's friends arrived, dressed much better than ordinary people.

It is said that there are only two kinds of people in Yanjing: the old Yanjing men and the old Yanjing children.

Ice skating is a sport loved by both men and children.

Liu Yimin couldn't skate, so Zhu Lin carefully taught him. When Liu Yimin stood up, Chu Hong and her friends all opened their arms, afraid that Liu Yimin would fall.

"Don't worry, Writer Liu, I won't let you fall," Chu Hong's friend said with a smile.

Liu Yimin smiled slightly and began to learn to ice skate. It took him a long time to be able to glide slowly on the ice, and the ice skates made his feet a little uncomfortable.

A group of girls surrounded Liu Yimin, teaching him to ice skate, their laughter ringing out from time to time. This scene made many bystanders' eyes red with envy.

The red scarf fluttered on the ice rink, and Zhu Lin's laughter never stopped.

Liu Yimin met several students from Shichahai Sports School at the ice rink. Having spent more than twenty days at the sports school, he had gotten to know some people outside of the women's volleyball team.

Besides Chinese people who enjoy ice skating here, foreigners also like it. Liu Yimin also met several international students from Yenching University.

After exchanging a few simple greetings, Liu Yimin told them to go play somewhere else.

At noon, Liu Yimin walked out of the ice rink looking exhausted, and Zhu Lin warmly invited everyone to lunch.

“Writer Liu, it’s great to skate more. We kids from Yanjing have been skating since we were little, so we don’t feel tired even after skating all morning,” said the girl in the yellow plaid cotton-padded jacket.

Liu Yimin said, "Old Beijing kids are the real deal!"

Smiling as they entered the restaurant, Zhu Lin gently patted Liu Yimin's back muscles, prompting Chu Hong to let out a sour "AUV".

Then Chu Hong told her friends about her first visit to Yenching University to find Liu Yimin. After she finished speaking, Chu Hong smiled and said, "We never expected that not long after, Linlin would become an actress at the Beijing People's Art Theatre and even become Comrade Liu Yimin's girlfriend."

Zhu Lin blushed and told Chu Hong to stop talking.

Chu Hong held Zhu Lin's hand and said, "Comrade Liu Yimin, have you written any poems recently? Last time in your courtyard, you wrote 'The World,' which we all liked very much!"

"I like the song 'The Past Was Slow,' it's so true, you can only love one person in your life, just thinking about it is so romantic!"

I love "Just Right," it's shy and sweet!

Liu Yimin shook his head, and the others immediately looked disappointed.

When they were halfway through the meal, one of Chu Hong's friends said to Liu Yimin, "Writer Liu, I have a boyfriend in the army, and I want to write him a letter. Could you help me think of a few nice sentences?"

"To express longing?"

"Ok!"

The people around him immediately laughed, and Liu Yimin smiled and wrote a few words for her.

In the afternoon, Chu Hong and her friends went ice skating, while Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin rode their bicycles home.

Inside the Overseas Chinese Apartment, it was warm and cozy. Zhu Lin, feeling the temperature, said, "The ice rink is fun, but it's just too much torture!"

Liu Yimin smiled and poured a cup of hot tea from the thermos, saying, "Have some tea, don't catch a cold!"

If you don't stay in a heated room and go ice skating outside, isn't that just making a living?

Before long, the chill on my body was dispelled by the heating.

Liu Yimin filled the bathtub with hot water and experienced the scene of mandarin ducks playing in the water, just like in the TV series.

The bathtub wasn't comfortable, so the battleground moved to the bedroom.

After finishing his business, he fell into a deep sleep. After his afternoon nap, Zhu Lin was the first to wake up. He moved Liu Yimin's hand away, kicked it angrily, then got up with a smile, put on his clothes, and went to his bedroom to read a novel.

The reportage was less than half finished, but Zhu Lin was still eager to read it, feeling restless and anxious.

She ran into the bedroom and woke Liu Yimin up. Seeing that he was still dazed, she ran to the bathroom, wet a towel with water, and wiped his face without thinking twice.

"Teacher Liu, how can you sleep in the middle of the day? Get up and start writing! There are 360 ​​days in a year, and this is the first day of the year. How can you sleep without writing at least 10,000 words!"

Liu Yimin was forced to turn on his computer. He pretended to be angry and slapped Zhu Lin a few times before sitting down in the study and starting to write.

During their conversation, Yuan Weimin and Chen Yaqiong both discussed the venue issue. However, improving the venue is no easy task. Liu Yimin emphasized this point in his work, hoping it could help them.

The venues built by Chenzhou and the province were funded by the local government, and the bamboo shed venue was the best venue that could be built locally.

To improve this situation, the Sports Commission needs to allocate a special fund.

In the evening, Zhu Lin walked into the study and said with a smile, "Teacher Liu, dinner is ready!"

"What did you do?" Liu Yimin asked, closing the manuscript.

"Braised pork, twice-cooked pork, and cabbage and tofu!" Zhu Lin said, "I stir-fried a lot of meat to nourish you!"

"Don't give me any more big stuff!"

Zhu Lin chuckled and walked out of the study.

"Winter break is just around the corner, are you ready to come to my house?" Liu Yimin asked with a smile while eating.

Zhu Lin paused slightly as she picked up some food, calculating the days. It really was true. The Lunar New Year was just around the corner in late January. She sighed inwardly, wondering how time had flown by!
He asked nervously, "What number?"

"Around the 15th? We still need to allow you enough time to get back to Yanjing!"

"Then let's go with the 15th. We'll deal with whatever comes our way!" Zhu Lin said defiantly.

"It's like a war, but my parents are really nice people!"

Zhu Lin pursed her lips, remaining silent, and began to ponder what she should buy.

After finishing their meal, Zhu Lin was about to leave when Liu Yimin stopped him. Zhu Lin looked at Liu Yimin with a puzzled expression.

"Wait a minute, let's make a big profit!"

The first semester of senior year has fewer courses and fewer exams at the end of the semester. All the exams are completed in three days, and it's time for Yenching University to have a break.

"Yimin, Lanyong, when are you two going back?" Liu Zhenyun asked excitedly, tossing his bag onto the bed.

Liu Yimin said, "You're not coming with us!"

Li Lanyong asked, "Why?"

"Hey, he has a junior sister who wants to travel with him, so he asked us just to show off his fake enthusiasm!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Liu Zhenyun chuckled and said mischievously, "You can't say that, it's more about enthusiasm! The law department's holiday started late this year, and I want to go home early. Once I start working, I'll only have three days for the Spring Festival, which isn't enough time to spend with my family."

"So you thought of us?" Liu Yimin asked.

"Of course!" "Lan Yong, are you coming with me, or when? I need to come on the 15th!"

"Why, Yimin?" Liu Zhenyun asked.

Liu Yimin said with a smile, "Comrade Zhu Lin is coming to my house, but the Beijing People's Art Theatre can't get that much leave!"

"I haven't even graduated from university yet, and I've already brought a girlfriend back home. If my dad knew, he'd be so envious. He thinks that if you go to university, you'll never have to worry about finding a girlfriend, but I still don't!" Liu Zhenyun said sourly.

"Where is Junior Sister Guo Jianmei?!"

"It's not even close to being done yet!"

"Hahaha!"

Li Lanyong said to Liu Yimin, "I'll go home with Zhenyun, I won't go with you. I'll go back first to see my parents and second sister, they wrote to say they miss me."

"Alright! Lan Yong, take good care of yourself at home!" Liu Yimin said.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll talk to my parents properly!"

On January 8th, Liu Zhenyun and Li Lanyong boarded a train together and returned to Henan Province.

Before leaving the school, Liu Yimin visited several senior professors, including Yan Jiayan and Yang Hui.

After more than two months of effort, Yang Hui and Yan Jiayan have not yet translated "One Hundred Years of Solitude," but they have both understood it.

Of course, Yang Hui understood it first, and then taught it to Yan Jiayan.

The other professors at Yenching University also started reading the two novels.

Yang Hui pulled Liu Yimin down to sit and asked, "Yimin, do you think magical realism is reality? Is what's in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' true?"

“Based on some information I’ve seen, this writer named Márquez wrote about reality, about real events that happened in Latin American countries, but expressed them using magical realism!” Liu Yimin said.

“I don’t think it’s real. The things that happen in there sound unbelievable!” Yan Jiayan said.

“Professor Yan, what could be more magical than reality?” Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Yang Hui carefully considered the statement and found it to have some merit.

Whether magical realism works are truly realism is a major point of contention.

Many people think this is not reality at first glance, but even Márquez himself said it is reality.

As magical realism works circulated among literature professors at Yenching University, they gradually became the subject of controversy.

……

After leaving Yenching University, Liu Yimin rode his bicycle not back to the Overseas Chinese Apartment, but instead rode all the way to Xia Yan's house in Liubukou.

Ask him to take a look at my reportage and see if it's suitable. Xia Yan is an expert in reportage.

His work "The Bonded Laborer" is a reportage literary work, the first reportage literary work in the history of Chinese literature. From then on, reportage literature began in China.

Xu Chi took reportage to new heights, and both of them are from Zhejiang Province.

Shen Yun opened the courtyard door and, upon seeing Liu Yimin, exclaimed with delight, "Brother Yimin! What brings you here?"

Is your grandfather home?

"Yes, I'm watching TV!"

Shen Yun took Liu Yimin's hand and walked in. When Xia Yan saw that it was Liu Yimin, she smiled and asked Liu Yimin why he had come.

"I'd like to ask you for advice on how to write reportage!" Liu Yimin said.

"Let's go to the study!"

Xia Yan sat at the desk, holding a cat, and took Liu Yimin's manuscript, beginning to read it.

"Women's volleyball?"

“Yes, I spent more than twenty days with them in December!” Liu Yimin said.

Xia Yan nodded: "The first step in reportage is to go deep into the scene. Putting aside the content, you've done a great job in that respect."

"When I went to Aba with Comrade Xu Chi, he taught me a lot about writing reportage, the most important of which was to go deep into the field."

"Xu Chi? His reportage is quite good!"

After Xia Yan finished speaking, he picked it up and read it carefully. After reading it, he smiled and said, "It reminds me of when I wrote 'The Bonded Laborer' back then. I heard about this story 27 years ago. Rural girls in the Jiangzhe region were tricked or sold to work in factories, and it wasn't until 35 years later that they had the opportunity to enter a factory and record all of this."

Sigh, seeing those emaciated children, their faces pale and thin, reeking of decay and mold, my heart ached.

Xia Yan's thoughts drifted back to the 1930s. After a long pause, she began to discuss Liu Yimin's reportage.

"Xu Chi's understanding of reportage is almost unparalleled in China. Your writing is already very good. The chronological narrative style and the exploration of the women's volleyball system and spirit are intertwined, with the two main lines advancing together. It has strong news value and literary merit."

The publication of this article will help everyone to have more understanding, support, and care for the women's volleyball team. It's truly admirable that they fight under such difficult conditions.

"Don't just praise me, there are definitely areas that need improvement!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"Of course, there are areas for improvement, quite a few. The beginning is well-written, drawing the reader in with a scene of cheers, immediately stimulating their interest, like opening the door to welcome the guests in."

The subsequent transitions weren't very smooth, especially the parts that reached a higher level; it's crucial to avoid making them too abrupt, jumping directly to a spiritual elevation.

Xia Yan circled all the parts that needed to be changed for Liu Yimin with her pen. Liu Yimin wrote them down one by one and prepared to make the changes when he got back.

"What? You're leaving already?" Xia Yan tapped the table and said with a half-smile.

"what do you mean?"

"The task assigned to you by the Ministry of Culture!" Xia Yan said.

"I will definitely complete the tasks assigned to me by the Ministry of Culture with high quality and quantity!"

Xia Yan said with a smile, "So you can't guarantee the time, right?"

"The main issue is the two thousand yuan in funding; I need to write it down properly!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"Is there that much to write?" Xia Yan asked seriously.

"Yes, Professor Xia, we really need to take these things seriously. Although I don't know who will eventually see this paper, I will write it well."

"Tell me about this problem."

Liu Yimin compared the film "Manhunt" to the movie, after which Ken Takakura became very popular among Chinese people.

"One or two films won't cause any major problems. But if the movies, music, and other cultural products consumed by our people are all provided by foreign countries, their ideas will slowly seep into our minds. We like foreign movie stars, we like foreign lifestyles, and foreign-made cultural products can both make money and attract our attention."

They have both money and fame.

(End of this chapter)