1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 87 Is this Zhou Zhigang? Who knows? (Seeking 10,000 daily votes)

The next day, Zhou Xu was still training with the song and dance troupe when he heard this as soon as he arrived at the door!
Huang Xiaorui, the captain of the song and dance troupe, shouted, "Gather! Gather!"

A group of people saw a Jeep parked at the entrance. The appearance of such a small car meant that a leader had arrived, so the group walked over one after another to gather.

After everyone had assembled, the old leader came out and said a few words to them, which were all rather official and formal instructions.

The old leader seemed very strict.

The wheat stalks over there frowned: "He's here to inspect again?"

"Why? Do you dislike this leader?" Zhou Xu didn't recognize the person, after all, he had only been in the cultural troupe for a few months, and he had spent three months of that time on the battlefield.

He Jing explained, "The old commander is quite strict...he likes to nitpick people's faults, but that's about it!"

Chen Yong immediately replied, "They just yell at people they can catch! I was even made to stand all day last time! My legs were numb."

"Oh, it's swearing!" Zhou Xu thought for a moment.

"They're here!" The group immediately shut up, and Zhou Xu followed suit, remaining silent.

The old leader looked around and then waved his hand: "You all go and rest first! You should take a break after the performance..."

"Zhou Xu, stay!" the old commander said slowly after glancing at him.

Zhou Xu paused, a sense of foreboding creeping over him, but he remained where he was.

Zhou Zhigang walked towards him, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Comrade Zhou Xu, hello!"

"Hello, old chief!"

Zhou Xu glanced at the political commissar. After all, the political commissar had helped him countless times, so Zhou Xu now had complete trust in Political Commissar Huang.

Political Commissar Huang reminded him, "This is Chief Zhou, an advisor to the Political Department."

Zhou Zhigang was very thin, almost bony, with a slight hollow in the sides of his face. He smiled at Zhou Xu, looking very kind.

"I've heard of you before; your writing is very good."

Was Political Commissar Huang over there very surprised?

Not to mention the veteran comrades who had been with the cultural troupe for several years, they had never seen Zhou Zhigang laugh like that before.
Zhang Fangfang ran over and exclaimed in surprise, "What? Could it really be a relative?"

"Pah! People admire Comrade Zhou Xu's talent, don't spread rumors!" Han Rong had heard that Long Ping had slandered Zhou Xu, a war hero, and as a result, he was transferred away.

Although Longping committed other crimes, he was punished for multiple offenses.

"Tsk tsk? When did the old commander treat us so well?..." A group of people chattered among themselves.

"You still want to show your attitude? You'll have to get a first-class merit award first! Then we'll hand you the flag with a smile..."

"However, the old commander is in a good mood today, so maybe he won't punish us."

"Pray? But why didn't this old commander say a single harsh word?"

Everyone present was stunned. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with undisguised disbelief.

Who doesn't know Zhou Zhigang? He's never seen with a relaxed brow in the troupe. He always has a stern face, either staring at the rehearsal and finding fault, or looking for omissions in the reports. Even when he talks to people, he has an unyielding seriousness. Every time, he makes people feel tense.
But now? He looked at Zhou Xu, his lips curved into a smile, his eyes softened, and his tone was as gentle as a spring breeze. Compared to his usual argumentative self, he seemed like a completely different person.
Zhou Zhigang glanced at the crowd, which startled a group of people who ran faster. "First of all, I apologize to you. I should have said this half a month ago. The reason you were wronged is because I didn't explain things clearly when I submitted the manuscript to the Literature and Art Department."

"Oh!" Zhou Xu was taken aback for a moment, then immediately said, "Commander! I can't accept such a compliment! I'm already extremely grateful that you came all this way to explain things clearly."

"I'm glad you understand!" Zhou Zhigang continued, "I didn't expect 'Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain' to be such a good success. It must be the best military novel in recent years, right? Of course, Old Zhou from the General Political Department even called me and told me to keep an eye on you!"

Zhou Zhigang was in a very strange mood.

Of course, he didn't come to apologize; his apology was just a formality. The main reason was that "Garland at the Foot of the Mountain" had done well!
The "Old Zhou" he mentioned was someone else... a higher-ranking person.

"The Garland at the Foot of the Mountain" has sold nearly 500,000 copies in the military alone, making it the best-selling novel in recent years, excluding those printed without special promotion.

It has even received a positive response nationwide.

So the higher-ups offered a few words of praise and encouraged him to create more similar works...

"This result exceeded my expectations, and I was quite surprised," Zhou Xu continued.

He didn't know any official jargon, saying things like "thank you for your guidance, leader" and "I need to calm down and continue to work hard."

After saying this, Zhou Zhigang patted Zhou Xu on the shoulder and suddenly said, "I have another purpose for coming here this time, which is to encourage your creation! Since I'm encouraging creation, I'll give you some special treatment!"

Zhou Xu looked at his old leader with expectant eyes. Could it be... well, it wasn't the great achievement Zhou Xu had guessed.

"By the way, doesn't the Shengli Cultural Troupe have an archive? You usually need to apply to go in and look at the materials, right?" Zhou Zhigang said, glancing at Political Commissar Huang.

Political Commissar Huang nodded: "It contains general records of the War of Resistance against Japan in the vicinity of HUB Province, which is the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as records of some provincial heroes who fought in the Korean War during the Liberation War..."

“This is it. Applying normally is too troublesome. I’ve arranged a small position for you. You can go in and look at some documents when you have the chance! You can also help organize the documents while you’re at it!” Zhou Zhigang said.

Zhou Xu immediately expressed his gratitude.

But is guarding the archives a power? It should be considered a power.

After saying this, Zhou Zhigang left.

Political Commissar Huang glanced at Zhou Xu, who asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. You've been here for almost a year, haven't you?"

Zhou Xu counted: "Isn't it only mid-June now? There are still three months until it's a year."

Political Commissar Huang didn't know what to say, and he walked into the house with a hint of surprise.

At this rate, Lao Huang thinks Zhou Xu really could get promoted to regimental level in two or three years?
Zhou Xu followed them to the cafeteria.

He ate with a group of screenwriters from the creative studio, and he got along well with the teachers. There were just too many young people around him. Now that Zhou Xu had become famous, they already regarded him as a teacher in their hearts, and it was difficult to communicate with him like peers.

……

After finishing his meal, Zhou Xu was just about to leave when Han Rong from the drama troupe gave him a flirty wink and then immediately moved closer to him.

"Comrade Zhou? Does the leader have any special instructions? I think the old leader takes good care of you."

"Nothing much, right? Just encouragement for creation and stuff like that," Zhou Xu said.

"Okay." Han Rong sent Zhang Fangfang up.

Zhang Fangfang said with a smile, "Comrade Zhou, there's something I'd like to tell you?"

Zhou Xu looked at Zhang Fangfang with clear eyes: "Just tell me directly?"

"You..." Zhang Fangfang looked at Zhou Xu and trembled a little, not daring to speak.

Han Rong rubbed her head: "She asked if you have a boyfriend?" "No!?" Zhou Xu replied directly.

The two stopped talking to him and quickly ran away. Han Rong stroked her chin and said to Zhang Fangfang, "Has this Comrade Zhou not yet experienced the awakening of romantic feelings?"

Zhang Fangfang said, "Really? He wrote about Han Yuxiu and Liang Sanxi's relationship very well. How could he not understand love?"

"But I feel he's different? He doesn't seem to have any feelings for any of the girls in the performing arts troupe. Even the old model soldiers in our troupe would have feelings for someone, let alone the fact that there are so many beautiful women in the performing arts troupe."

Hearing this, Zhang Fangfang suppressed a laugh and said, "Maybe he's aiming for something higher?"

"What? I think maybe they have a lover they don't want to talk about!"

"I think you're overthinking it. He answered so quickly; it's obvious he wasn't lying."

The relationship between the two was ambiguous.

Zhou Xu arrived at the studio door, looked at Li Ziqiang who was painting, and asked, "Did the love letter go well?"

Li Ziqiang said with a smile, "People say the love letters I wrote are good, and that I'm a good person! I feel like I have a good chance!"

"A good person? That means you have no chance, don't bother struggling." Zhou Xu said slowly, lying back in his seat.

"No chance? Why?" Li Ziqiang asked anxiously.

Zhou Xu sprang up from his chair and immediately said, "Let's talk about the definition of a good person. Who would you call a good person?"

"...Are you a good person?"

"Yes, the kind of person who gives you benefits is a good person! And the kind of person who's a good person is the one who foolishly agrees to anything no matter what!? There are no good people in love..." Zhou Xu, the expert in love, began his lesson, after all, there weren't any bibles in this era.

"Oh! I understand, thank you, Teacher Zhou!!"

After teaching this dimwit a short lesson, he even changed his address to "Teacher Zhou," which shows how much respect he had for him.

Of course, Zhou Xu continued to say a few more words.

With a hint of doubt, Li Ziqiang asked Zhou Xu, "Teacher Zhou, why don't you write poetry? Your poems are really excellent!"

Zhou Xu stroked his chin, a profound feeling washing over him: "My poetry is different from the poetry that is popular now."

In the late 1970s, Zhao Zhenkai was probably the most popular poet, along with Bei Dao and other members of the Misty Poets School. They collaborated on a magazine called "Stars," which was incredibly popular.

So these days, poets are more famous than writers, and they're kind of like idols for young people.

Young people naturally admire poets even more. A classic example is that nine out of ten young people love poetry, and the tenth of them writes poetry himself – that poet is none other than the young poet Chen Kaige!
However, Zhou Xu's issue wasn't about elegance or lack thereof.

Poetry alone doesn't make money.

A medium-length poem of 100 lines earns about 2 to 10 yuan... and it's a waste of your brainpower.

After exchanging a few words, Li Ziqiang left.

Zhang Yibing also came to talk to Zhou Xu about his love letter in the afternoon, and of course, Zhang Yibing was also defeated.

Although Zhou Xu is a Casanova, his apprentices are all utterly useless.

However, Zhou Xu shook his head slightly. It was inevitable that people in the art troupe would mingle and fall in love... after all, there were too many handsome men and beautiful women mixed in with the group.

For example, when filming "Dream of the Red Chamber", director Wang Fulin specifically requested that no one be in a romantic relationship, but in the end, three couples were cast.

Hou Changrong (Liu Xianglian) and Chen Jianyue (Xiangling), Wu Xiaodong (Jia Yun) and Shen Lin (Ping'er), Gao Hongliang (Jia Lian) and Hu Yan (makeup artist).

Of course, so many couples have actually gotten together, but who knows how many more have been secretly dating behind closed doors.

But he was different. Zhou Xu, who had lofty ideals, didn't have such thoughts. He simply thought that he would be promoted in two years and it wouldn't be good to be philandering everywhere.

……

The following day, smaller magazines such as "PLA Literature and Art", "Beijing Literature", and "Yangtze River Literature and Art" successively published their June issues.

Many of these were literary reviews of "Garland at the Foot of the Mountain," since literary magazine reviews, except for those in "Literary Gazette," were published only once every month or two.

Of course, there's also the reader's letter segment, which Zhou Xu loves most.

This time, there were a lot of letters from readers, filling two sacks. One sack was from the general public, and the other was from the military.

Some readers in the community are generous and will give him tips.

His comrades in the army stuffed pebbles into his hands, these were from the frontier... they stuffed bullet casings into his hands, these were from the combat company...

Blah blah blah, basically just expressing my love for the author, a whole bunch of stuff.

Following that were letters from readers requesting manuscripts.

Once a writer becomes famous, he will be targeted by various magazines, and Zhou Xu visited many magazines, both large and small.

Among them was "October," a newly established magazine that wasn't yet one of the "Four Great Dan" (famous Chinese opera stars).

"Contemporary" was also established not long ago, with the support of People's Literature Publishing House, and it has considerable value.

"Zhongshan" is a well-established brand...

Of course, Zhou Xu had already agreed to give it to People's Literature and wouldn't go back on his word.

Finally, here's the royalty statement... it totals five hundred yuan.

With the original 700 yuan, I am now a 1,000 yuan household.

As for where the first payment went? I sent over a hundred yuan back home, and gave over two hundred yuan as compensation to Youcai! I also spent some money recently on shopping and gifts…

As expected, Zhou Xu was a bit extravagant.

However, he is already conceiving a new novel and making money again. His current dream is to save money to buy a courtyard house.

After yesterday's little incident, the group of people returned to their original routines...

Zhou Xu also picked up his pen and ink and began writing a novel.

He also went to the archives to look at the files. After knocking on the door and going in, Zhou Xu felt a little excited as he saw the records in the office arranged by various timelines.

These kinds of confidential documents are generally only accessible to those with a minor reputation, and once inside, they are filled with a dazzling array of items.

Wuchang is considered a revolutionary holy site, isn't it?
Since the beginning of the century, it has been the center of all kinds of major events, so the Political Department can find a lot of information, such as uprisings, the War of Resistance against Japan, the War of Liberation and so on.

Of course, top-secret documents could not be kept in this archive room; Zhou Xu only saw classified documents.

It certainly provides some reference for his military novels, right?

Of course, after reading this information, what novel he writes wouldn't be too outrageous.

(End of this chapter)