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

Chapter 299, "The Song of the Moon," resounded throughout the vast military camps.

At the end of July, the entire crew began to move to the high ground, where they would spend the next two weeks to a month.

Soldiers from an entire battalion of the 231st Regiment followed them. The surrounding high ground was gradually brought under control, and security was ensured.

Based on what he had seen and heard on the high ground, Liu Yimin discussed with Wang Yan and Li Jun and made minor changes to the script.

During the day, the crew filmed on the high ground, and at night they slept together in the tunnel. The smell of blood hadn't dissipated, and the tunnel was hot and humid; after a few days, everyone smelled musty.

When no one was around, Zhu Lin teased Liu Yimin, saying that with the smell on her, Liu Yimin probably wouldn't even want to get close to her, let alone hug her.

"Nonsense!" Liu Yimin laughed.

The stream below isn't dangerous now, so it's fine to wash in it. The men don't mind; they run down to bathe in the middle of the day.

Women are different; they can only wait until night, roll up their arms and trouser legs, and wipe their necks, arms, and legs!
When they had nothing to do, the two would stroll on the high ground. At night, while sleeping, they could occasionally hear the sounds of gunfire coming from the distant high ground.

Filming went smoothly on the high ground. However, the gunfire caught the attention of the treacherous wolves. They were curious why, even though this wasn't a battlefield, the sounds of exploding shells and gunfire could be heard every day.

After the guard company took them out a few times, the other side became much more obedient.

After the script was mostly finished, Liu Yimin would occasionally leave the high ground to talk to the soldiers in other places.

After learning from the frontline troops that Liu Yimin was more popular on the hilltop than the cultural troupe and was more effective at boosting morale, Commander Wang instructed Regiment Commander Chen to make proper arrangements for Liu Yimin, so that he could be used as part of the cultural troupe to visit and entertain the surrounding troops from time to time.

Commander Chen assigned Liu Yimin a guard platoon and two jeeps, with drivers who were experienced and familiar with the routes, often traversing the front lines.

Sometimes when crossing the line of fire, a mortar explodes nearby. Once they reach a safe area, a group of people drink alcohol to calm their nerves!
"Writer Liu, you've got guts!" Driver Lao Xia wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth and gave Liu Yimin a thumbs up.

Traveling between various positions, driver Lao Xia highly admired Liu Yimin's spirit, finding him even braver than the cultural cadres in the army.

At each location, everyone welcomed Liu Yimin with the utmost enthusiasm, holding copies of "Triumphant Return at Midnight" in their hands. Liu Yimin signed autographs and took photos with everyone.

"Writer Liu, this thing is amazing! It can tell where the enemy's artillery is coming from!"

Liu Yimin looked in the direction the soldier was pointing. It was a radar, an anti-battery radar that my country had imported from Britain.

The monkey's shells can lock onto the target as soon as they leave the barrel, then use radar to locate the enemy's artillery positions and bombard them.

The monkeys were often bombed for no apparent reason, and our army also realized the importance of this technology. Later, we were even ambushed by treacherous wolves, but the damage was not serious.

"Battalion Commander Zhang, shouldn't a place like a radar station be a prime target for treacherous wolves to launch sneak attacks and sabotage?" Liu Yimin asked.

"Yes, but they don't know this is our radar site. Our site has never been breached before!" Battalion Commander Zhang said proudly.

Liu Yimin cautioned, "We still need to be careful. Our country spent a lot of foreign exchange to buy this back."

"Writer Liu, don't worry, we're all prepared!"

Seeing this, Liu Yimin didn't say anything more, but chatted with the soldiers while offering them cigarettes.

Liu Yimin felt he had spent nearly a hundred yuan on cigarettes during his time at the front. Cigarettes were hard to come by; most were sent from Yanjing (Beijing).

Although Liu Yimin's offering of cigarettes couldn't achieve the same effect as Gu Yue's lighting of cigarettes, it at least eased everyone's longing for each other.

"You can play the harmonica?" Liu Yimin looked at an officer next to him, who was holding a harmonica.

"I used to just brag about it for fun!"

"He's a college student at the music academy!" someone nearby jeered.

"is it?"

The other person nodded and said with a smile, "I'm from the 57th Art University!"

The May 7th Art University was formed by the merger of the National Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music.

"Are you from the performing arts troupe?" Liu Yimin asked curiously.

"Hello, Comrade Liu Yimin, my name is Fang Hua! I used to play the harmonica and accordion in the cultural troupe, and now I am the deputy company commander of the first company!"

Fang Hua believed that the battlefield was the best place to prove a soldier's worth, so after the outbreak of war, he transferred from the cultural troupe to the combat troops.

Battalion Commander Zhang laughed and said, "Hahaha, we're luckier than other units; we have our own cultural troupe!"

"Hahaha!" Laughter erupted from the battlefield.

Amidst the cheers and jeers of the crowd, Fang Hua began to play the harmonica, performing "Moscow Nights".

This Soviet song is extremely popular in China and around the world. It can be said that most Chinese people in this era have heard of it and sung it. There are more people who sing the Chinese version of "Moscow" than those who sing it in Russia.

The soldiers who could sing sang along with the melody.

This is a love song, and many soldiers shed tears while singing it.

That night, Liu Yimin went to sleep in the tunnel, but he couldn't fall asleep, so he came out of the tunnel, sat in the trench, and looked at the moon in the sky.

It's another full moon night, and a month has passed since the third squad leader sacrificed his life. The scene before his sacrifice is still vivid in my mind.

Liu Yimin had seen the family of Xu Hougen, the third squad leader, when they came to the unit. The parents were crying very sadly, and his wife Guixiu was holding the child as they received a 500 yuan pension and a military medal.

Liu Yimin asked the army to pass on 500 yuan to the family of the third squad leader, but the family returned it, saying that whatever the state gave them was fine.

In the script, Liu Yimin specifically added scenes of people receiving their pensions. He also wrote a reportage and sent it to *People's Literature and Art*, hoping to raise the national pension standards through this method.

After a while, Deputy Company Commander Fang Hua came over and asked, "Writer Liu, can't you sleep?"

"I can't sleep. Around this time last month, we were attacked. That was the first time I saw a fallen soldier!"

Fang Hua lit a cigarette, shielding the flame with his palm as he smoked: "This is also the first time I've captured an enemy!"

"I just got lucky!"

"He was better than me. The first time I was scared, my legs were shaking so badly that my pants were covered in the smell of urine!" Fang Hua didn't shy away from this embarrassing past experience.

Everyone has a first time!

"Sigh, many people only have that one time!" Fang Hua's tone was filled with helplessness and nostalgia.

"When I first arrived, the veterans taught me how to defend myself by listening for artillery fire; now I'm teaching the new recruits how to defend themselves."

“You graduated from the music academy and are also from the performing arts troupe, can you compose music for this poem?” Liu Yimin took out a manuscript from his pocket and handed it to Fang Hua.

"Poetry?"

"That's it!"

Fang Hua found a secluded spot, turned on his flashlight, and carefully looked at the lyrics.

This song is called "Song of the Moon," and it was originally a song from the TV series "Triumph at Midnight."

Fang Hua softly recited the lyrics:

When I was lying in my mother's arms

She often smiles sweetly at the moon.
It is my good friend

No matter how troubled I am
When I was guarding the border of my motherland, I often gazed quietly at the moon.
It looks like a mother's smiling face.

No matter how troubled I am
As long as the moonlight shines on me

"

Fang Hua recited softly, then hummed the melody, with Liu Yimin occasionally offering reminders from the side.

Half an hour later, Fang Hua began to bite open his pen and draw musical notation on it. After singing it again according to the musical notation, he said to Liu Yimin with tears streaming down his face, "Writer Liu, your poem is truly wonderful."

It expressed the sentiments of our soldiers!

"is it?"

“I think it can become our soldiers’ ‘Moscow Nights’,” Fang Hua said excitedly.

Back in the tunnel, Fang Hua was still too excited to sleep, clutching the manuscript.

The next morning, he couldn't wait to call out to Battalion Commander Zhang and the other soldiers, and let them hear the song.

When everyone was unwilling to listen in the morning, he shouted loudly, "This was written by Comrade Liu Yimin, do you want to listen or not?"

"Then listen to it!"

Fang Hua stood on the trench, singing alone. Since he couldn't play the harmonica, he carried his own accordion on his back.

When I was lying in my mother's arms

She often smiles sweetly at the moon.
It is my good friend

No matter how troubled I am
"

As they sang, not only did Fang Hua shed tears, but the soldiers listening nearby also silently wiped away their own tears.

Everyone on the battlefield is under immense pressure. Who hasn't gazed at the moon and longed for their loved ones while on guard duty at night?

"Deputy Company Commander Fang, sing it one more time!"

"Yes, let's sing it again!"

When they came down from the radar site, all the soldiers there had learned to sing "The Moon Song".

Before long, the song spread rapidly throughout the Wenshan front. Later, it was published in the military newspaper, and soldiers on the front lines of both provinces began to sing "The Moon".

A song that resonated throughout military camps across thousands of miles!

"Yimin, sending you to various units has really been effective. You're much more capable than our military's cultural and artistic officers!" Division Commander Wang patted Liu Yimin on the shoulder and said happily.

The soldiers' lives are too monotonous; they need more ways to relieve their boredom!

Li Jun said, "We plan to use this song as a background music for the movie."

Commander Wang agreed, saying, "Great! Some of my old friends from Yanjing have sent word that the play 'Triumph at Midnight' is very popular with the soldiers. Cultural troupes from all over the country are rehearsing it. We plan to have the cultural troupes rehearse it as well, and then put on a show for the soldiers on the front lines!"

Several people sat inside the tunnel, chatting happily.

After everyone left, Commander Wang held Liu Yimin's hand and whispered, "Yimin, I thank you on behalf of the soldiers on the front lines."

"Commander Wang, what are you thanking me for?"

Division Commander Wang chuckled a few times: "Yes, there are many things I need to thank you for. This time it's about the compensation for soldiers' families; the higher-ups are already discussing raising the standard for soldiers' compensation!"
500 yuan may not seem like a low amount, but compared to the soldiers, it's far too little. After their sacrifice, some of their families face great hardship; we should treat them with the respect they deserve!

September is the start of the new semester at Yenching University, but Associate Professor Liu Yimin has not yet arrived. After three months of on-site filming, the filming of the front-line scenes for "Triumph at Midnight" is nearing completion.

Today's filming scene depicts Jiang Man, a nurse played by Zhu Lin, leading other nurses to carry stretchers and rescue wounded soldiers. Amidst the raging flames of war, Zhu Lin is covered in mud, but her eyes show no fear, only a desire to save more soldiers.

While filming, Liu Yimin thought of a famous scene from the war—the kiss of death!
A soldier on the verge of death made an "embarrassing" request to the nurse who was treating him, hoping to hug her and experience what love is.

Liu Yimin explained it to Li Jun and Wang Yan, and Li Jun immediately said, "We must film it, we must film it!"

Wang Yan has already begun preparations.

Zhang Fengyi, who was standing next to him, asked, "Who's playing this wounded soldier?"

Liu Yimin glanced at him but didn't say anything. Feng Xiaogang, standing nearby, said, "Makeup artist, apply makeup to Comrade Liu Yimin!"

As she spoke, she began to apply bandages to Liu Yimin, and quickly finished the makeup.

Liu Yimin sighed inwardly, no wonder Ma Weidu once commented on Feng Xiaogang: "His smartest trait is that he knows how to make use of smart people!"

That cleverness and shamelessness are irresistible!

"Get ready to film!" Wang Yan said.

Liu Yimin familiarized himself with his lines and practiced them until he was ready. Zhu Lin then carried Liu Yimin down from the battlefield. He was indeed quite strong and could easily carry Liu Yimin for several hundred meters.

Zhu Lin looked at Liu Yimin, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and gently kissed him.

"it is good!"

After filming, Li Jun and Wang Yan led the applause, with Wang Yan saying, "This shot will become the most precious and beautiful shot in this movie!"

Zhu Lin helped Liu Yimin remove his bandages, and Feng Xiaogang said with a smile, "Comrade Liu Yimin, you must have studied acting!"

Liu Yimin didn't speak, but shook his head.

"Hey, I don't believe you haven't studied this before. Your expression just now was absolutely brilliant. I'll have to learn a lot from you in the future!"

Damn it, you've wrapped me up like a rice dumpling, can you even see my expression?

Zhu Lin pursed her lips, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back. Her voice was already hoarse; she didn't want to say a word except when she was with Liu Yimin.

After filming wrapped, the crew sat on the set to eat and rest. Zhu Lin leaned on Liu Yimin's shoulder, sometimes speaking softly, and sometimes gesturing when she didn't want to talk.

"Alright, stop talking. I'll go fetch some water from the river and make you some dried sea buckthorn!"

Zhu Lin gave a thumbs up, then whispered, "That Feng Xiaogang is really good at flattering people!"

"Haha, you always flatter me too!"

Zhu Lin snorted: "That's different!"

After finishing his meal, Liu Yimin went to the river, filled a bucket with water, and threw in a few water purification tablets.

The water at the border is sometimes murky and may contain other bacteria, so water purification tablets are provided.

Throw a piece in, and it will quickly become clear, and the odor will decrease.

After boiling, I added double protection, put in some dried sea buckthorn fruit, and handed it to Zhu Lin.

On the front lines, everyone was listening to the radio, where female soldiers from the cultural troupe were singing "The Song of the Moon."

(End of this chapter)