1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Why is Ba Jin involved in Chapter 107?

The morning of the third day.

A group of people walked out of the train station, and people could be seen coming and going from the station entrance.

Most people at the train station are on regular work assignments, and some are resellers. Otherwise, most people who come to the capital are just drifters.

Generally, when people come to the capital, they go to the guesthouse next door to report for duty, but they don't need to go to the train station to report because the military arranges their dormitories. When they arrived at the station, a group of people boarded a car arranged by the military.

"I feel like the capital is no different from where we are," Tao Huimin said, taking a deep breath.

"There's not much difference, is there?"

After all, in this day and age, it's not just one person who's poor; everyone is poor.

The GDP of the capital city seems to have fallen far behind that of Liaoning Province. However, due to steelmaking, the north has indeed been the most prosperous region in recent decades.

"Teacher, have you ever been to Tiananmen Square?"

"I saw it when I came last time."

At this point, Tao Huimin immediately asked, "Can we go take a look?"

Zhou Xu glanced at Xiong Jiayuan, then suddenly remembered that he was the one leading the team this time. So Zhou Xu said, "Sure, after the performance, I can take you to see Tiananmen Square."

"But now I have to report to the General Political Department."

Soon they arrived at the entrance of the General Political Department.

The car was parked at the entrance, and soon I saw an acquaintance.

Zhou Xu stared at the woman for a moment:
"Oh, it's you! Comrade Liu Jia!!"

A year has passed, and Liu Jia has become more mature and composed. Most importantly, she is still very beautiful, with a neat short haircut and a smile reminiscent of Tao Hong.

"I thought you'd forgotten about me, great hero!!!"

Liu Jia stared intently at Zhou Xu. She used to think her mother was meddling, but now she realized that perhaps her parents really saw potential in Zhou Xu.
It had been a year since they last met, and Zhou Xu had already skipped two ranks, rising from a private to a company commander.

Even Liu Jia didn't expect Zhou Xu to receive a first-class merit!

This change is happening way too fast. Maybe in a year or two, Zhou Xu's rating will be a level higher than mine!
Anyway, she had a sense of things being different now.

"How could we possibly forget you!" Zhou Xu shook hands with Liu Jia: "Was it you who arranged our accommodation?"

"Of course, welcome to the Victory Art Troupe to our General Political Department for the singing competition!" Liu Jia clapped her hands: "Come with me here, okay?"

The General Political Department's Cultural Department is now located on Gulou Street.

Looking out from here, you can see the huge bell tower and drum tower... This bell and drum tower is the subject of Liu Xinwu's book, "The Bell and Drum Tower"!
Soon, a group of people followed them into the main palace.

Ahead, I saw rows of small houses, which were the family quarters for the General Political Department. Next to them was an office building, and further in, I could see the large canteen. Of course, the General Political Department had two or three kitchens in total.

We arrived at the dormitory building.

Liu Jia said, "Because of the competition in the past few days, comrades from cultural troupes all over the country have come here, so there is a shortage of rooms. Male and female students are four people to a dormitory room. You can let your troupe decide on the dormitory assignments."

Zhou Xu was the team leader this time, and he quickly arranged the dormitories: "By the way, Lao Xiong and I will share a room, the four of you trainees will share a room, and the rest of you will be assigned to your own dormitories in the cultural troupe!"

Zhou Xu walked over to Liu Jia, who nudged his shoulder:

"You're really amazing! You came back from the South unscathed and won a first-class merit. Don't tell me you're a writer, I'd believe you if you said you were an invincible warrior."

"..." Zhou Xu glanced at the girl. If it were Liu Xiaoli whispering in his ear, he would at least pay attention to his ladylike image, but Liu Jia was a typical child of a privileged family.

She's pretty much like Jiang Shan... outgoing and individualistic, but this kind of personality isn't really suitable for marriage, which is why Jiang Shan has broken up three or four times.

"By the way, where's Gong Xue?" Zhou Xu glanced around, remembering that the two had a fairly good relationship.

"Her? You haven't seen the movie? She worked at our drama troupe, but she left a long time ago; she's always out performing." Liu Jia clicked her tongue and said, "You like her?"

"No, I just happened to ask."

"But she might be a little interested in you, and she seems to follow your news quite closely," Liu Jia gossiped.

"...Impossible." Zhou Xu glanced at the dormitory and walked inside. "I'm going to pack my things. Talk to you later?"

As Zhou Xu stepped away, Liu Jia called out:

"My dad wants you to come over for dinner tonight."

That must be Lau Ka Kui?
In fact, Liu Jiaju was his former employer. Just as Yu Hua was grateful to Zhou Yanru, Zhou Xu was also quite grateful to Liu Jiaju.

"Oh, I'll come over when I'm done tidying up."

"What do you mean 'later'? I've finished packing for you, and I'll take you there together. It's just a short walk." Liu Jia followed her directly into the dormitory.

Xiong Jiayuan looked at Zhou Xu with a strange feeling: "Not a buddy? How come you have female confidantes everywhere?"

Pooh!
Xiong Jiayuan was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment. How come all these beautiful women were outstanding female soldiers in the cultural troupe?
He glanced at Liu Jia.

She may not be a stunning beauty, but her temperament is definitely exceptional. You should know that beauties with great temperament are even rarer than face models...

That feeling of being both delicate and arrogant...

"Oh! Who is this?" Xiong Jiayuan grabbed Zhou Xu's wrist from behind.

"Who else could it be? Wasn't it the one who led the way for you just now?"

"Pfft!" Xiong Jiayuan looked at Zhou Xu, who was feigning innocence, and immediately said, "I asked what your relationship is with her, not who she is!?"

"She's my friend, and also the daughter of my editor. We used to hang out together a lot."

"You live together?" Xiong Jiayuan's teeth itched. He was only twenty-eight years old and just starting to go on blind dates.

“...No, that doesn’t count.” Zhou Xu shook his head.

Liu Jia winked at the two of them, teased Xiong Jiayuan for a while, and then led Zhou Xu away, saying, "Your friends are really fun."

"Stop teasing them, or they'll say something inappropriate!"

"What's wrong?"

"I still want to go to military academy!" Zhou Xu pouted, not wanting to ruin his reputation.

"..." Liu Jia chuckled, but seeing Zhou Xu's serious expression, she could only say, "Sorry, you're going to be a general in the future."

However, it's not easy to be a senior colonel now or in the future. After all, it's a "royalty" position, and you have to wait for the predecessors to retire before the next senior colonel can have a chance to be promoted.

Zhou Xu followed Liu Jia forward and arrived at Liu Jiaju's house.

The familiar one-story building, the house filled with the pleasant smell of wood.

"You're participating too?" Zhou Xu asked Liu Jia.

"No! I'm from the drama troupe, how could I participate in a singing competition? But I'm from the General Political Department, so I came to help." Liu Jia led him to sit down.

"Oh!"

"Have some tea, my dad will be back soon!" Liu Jia said, sitting down.

Soon, Liu's mother returned. She looked at Zhou Xu with a smile and said, "Wow! Comrade Zhou Xu, it's great to see you again."

"Hello, Auntie," Zhou Xu greeted. "Little Xu's here! You're our war hero, Auntie admires you so much!" As Liu's mother spoke, she came over and shook Zhou Xu's hand.

Zhou Xu scratched his head and said, "Oh, right, Auntie, these are some local specialties from my hometown that I brought for you. Please accept them!"

"You're here, why bring any local specialties?" Liu's mother accepted the gifts directly. "I'll go cook first, you can rest here."

"Oh, thank you, Auntie."

After a while, Liu Jiaju finally opened the door and came in.

"Editor Liu!"

Liu Jiaju put down his bag, extended his hand and said, "Please sit down. It's been a long time since we last met. We heard you came to the capital, so we specially invited you here to catch up."

"..." Zhou Xu smiled and said, "I am very grateful to Editor Liu for his help during my first writing experience!"

“It’s also because you have potential!” Liu Jiaju sat down.

Just as Liu's mother finished preparing the meal, she called out, "Dinner's ready!"

Zhou Xu immediately stood up: "Let me help!"

Soon, he came out carrying a bowl of soup, and Liu Jia followed closely behind with a bowl of food.

Zhou Xu sat down with his rice bowl in his hand.

Liu Jiaju started eating, and Zhou Xu then joined in.

"...Xiao Xu, eat more. By the way, are you looking for a girlfriend in the cultural troupe? I saw quite a few pretty girls when your Shengli Cultural Troupe came!" Liu's mother asked.

Zhou Xu coughed and said, "Auntie, I don't have any plans to find a partner right now because I have a lot of things to take care of and I need to pursue further studies, so I don't have much time."

Liu's mother nodded, relieved.

I was originally planning to introduce my daughter.

Today we ate mostly Shandong cuisine, so it seems Liu's mother is from Shandong.

Five dishes were served: sweet and sour pork, pan-fried tofu, braised pork intestines, sweet and sour carp, and four-happiness meatballs.

Zhou Xu eats spicy food, so he wasn't averse to Shandong cuisine. He ate with great relish, devouring a whole bunch of food and enjoying himself immensely.

Seeing him enjoying his meal, Liu Jiaju asked curiously, "By the way, Xiaoxu, have you created any new works lately?"

It would be a lie to say he didn't; Zhou Xu has been researching lately and is currently creating: "I've written some."

"Oh! About what?" Liu Jiaju asked.

"This time, I wanted to look at the history of the War of Resistance against Japan from the perspective of a young person, a child," Zhou Xu said truthfully.

"...The War of Resistance Against Japan? Your story is quite profound. You're heading towards philosophy and reflection!" Liu Jiaju nodded repeatedly.

"We do have this idea, but it's still in the design stage." Zhou Xu took a bite of the Four Happiness Meatballs and felt completely immersed in happiness.

"..."

The two chatted as they ate. After a while, Liu Jiaju tentatively asked, "By the way, Xiao Xu, have you decided which magazine to submit your novel to? I think our 'PLA Literature and Art' magazine would be a good fit for you."

Zhou Xu dared not look his former employer in the eye: "Last time, Harvest magazine sent me a letter saying that Mr. Ba Jin wanted to publish my new novel, and I agreed to give it to them..."

"...Was it written by Ba Jin?" Liu Jiaju asked.

"It's not really Ba Jin, it was written by Li Xiaolin, but Ba Jin's signature is also on the letter." Zhou Xu felt a little proud for a moment, now he was a novelist who had attracted the attention of such an important person.

"I see!" Liu Jiaju didn't force Zhou Xu to give him the novel manuscript.

The two chatted for a while longer.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Zhou Xu said, "Editor Liu, I'm still the leader of our cultural troupe. I have things to do right now. I'll head back first."

"Oh! Then go ahead and do what you need to do, don't worry about us."

Zhou Xu got up and returned to his dormitory at the General Political Department.

A group of people had just gone to the General Political Department for a meal, led by Xiong Jiayuan. Zhou Xu brought back some snacks from the street: "Take them and eat them if you like."

"...Teacher Zhou, you're back!" the little octopus exclaimed in surprise.

“Hmm.” Zhou Xu glanced at everyone.

"By the way, you need to report to me if anything happens when you go out, otherwise going out on your own is a violation of regulations!!"

"I understand! Teacher, can I go shopping tomorrow?" A musician raised his hand.

"There are no matches tomorrow. Anyone who needs to go to the General Political Department should come to my dorm to ask for leave later."

After all, they've come to the capital; who wouldn't want to go out and explore? Zhou Xu, as a junior leader, understood this perfectly.

After a while, more than ten people from the cultural troupe came over and signed up.

"..."

the next day.

Liu Jiaju rushed from home to the "PLA Literature and Art" magazine.

Liu Songlin looked at him. She knew that Liu Jiaju had invited Zhou Xu to his house for dinner yesterday, so she immediately asked, "How's the manuscript going?"

Liu Jiaju shook his head: "They've been taken by Harvest Magazine."

“That’s true. Famous writers have so many requests for manuscripts that their rooms are overflowing. How could they possibly give them to us?” Liu Songlin shook his head.

An editor standing nearby chimed in, "I think it might be because of what happened last time with Comrade Zhou Xu? He's not so keen on giving our General Political Department's editorial department this time!"

Liu Songlin glanced at the group and said, "It is indeed possible! There's nothing we can do... It's all the Literature and Art Department's fault for making a mountain out of a molehill; now they've offended them!"

"Ahem!" He coughed. "It's not really about these issues. It was because Comrade Ba Jin from Harvest magazine wrote a letter that they received it."

"And what about Ba Jin?" Liu Songlin asked, looking at Liu Jiaju.

"Yes, it was only after Comrade Ba Jin was involved by Harvest that Comrade Zhou Xu gave the novel to them."

Liu Songlin sighed helplessly: "There's really nothing we can do about it, that's Ba Jin!"

Young people these days are all restless. Let alone Ba Jin, even if Liu Xinwu writes a letter and says a few nice words, they'll eagerly hand over their manuscripts.

Besides, Harvest is the second largest magazine in China after People's Literature.

Upon hearing that Ba Jin had sent Zhou Xu a letter inviting him to write, Liu Songlin and the others were finally convinced that Zhou Xu had truly become famous and was already a well-known young writer in the literary world.

These established writers gradually began to notice this shining new star in the military field.

The new editor suggested, "Why don't we invite Comrade Chen Huangmei from our Literature and Art Department?"

Chen Huangmei is a senior member of their General Political Department and now holds a prominent position.

"Forget it, there's no need to argue with them!" Liu Songlin coughed.

"Yes, yes, yes, you just jumped straight into the splits."

(End of this chapter)