1979: Reopening Wenhao Road from the Village

"Have you heard? Chen Weidong from the educated youth settlement, his article has been published!"

Aunt Yang said as she scooped vegetables from Yang Shuzhi's bowl.

"Who told you that?"

Yang Shuzhi raised his head and asked.

"Everyone's saying that the postman even delivered it to his doorstep this afternoon."

Yang Shuzhi took a puff of his cigarette. "If they come to buy eggs again in the future, remember to give them a few extra."

"Oh, no need, I already gave him a discount of one cent."

"Is that cheap? If the other party buys it from someone else, do you believe it will be even cheaper? You're all talk and no action."

Yang Shuzhi's face hardened.

……

"I didn't expect Chen Weidong to be so lucky; the article actually got published in the newspaper."

Widow Li said with a hint of jealousy.

As Liang Xiao listened, his expression gradually turned grim.

"Mother, stop talking about him. Why are you talking about him?"

Seeing that Liang Xiao's expression had changed, Yu Guo said something to Widow Li.

"Why can't we say it? If you're so capable, write some articles and publish them, so we can benefit from it too."

Widow Li glanced at Liang Xiao and felt even more strongly that he was inferior to Chen Weidong. He seemed alright before, but who knew he was all bark and no bite. He was only good at fighting within his own ranks and couldn't even do farm work as well as she, a woman, and he didn't earn as many work points as she did.

Most importantly, now there's no chance to even go back to the city.

Recently, Widow Li also heard that once a young intellectual marries someone from the village, he/she will not be able to return to the city.

Only then did she realize that Liang Xiao's previous words were all lies to her. Most importantly, he had lost a daughter and hadn't even earned a bride price, which made Widow Li angrier and angrier as she looked at Liang Xiao.

Upon hearing this, Liang Xiao's hand, which was holding a steamed bun, bulged with veins. In the end, he restrained himself, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going? Let's eat first."

Yu Guo shouted at Liang Xiao.

"I'm not eating."

"Eat it or not, it's none of your business. Look at you, so pathetic."

Widow Li cursed at Yu Guo.

The villagers were all talking about the news of Chen Weidong's article being published, and it quickly became the hottest topic in the village.

……

Yanjing.

"Dad, there's a letter from our family. It looks quite heavy; it's probably from Weidong."

Brother Chen pushed his cart and saw an envelope in his family's mailbox by the door, so he took it out.

"Let's go home first."

Mr. Chen glanced at the envelope and went inside first.

"What did you take? Wash your hands and come in to eat."

Chen's mother brought the food into the house and greeted Chen's father and elder brother. Chen's sister-in-law also helped to get the bowls and chopsticks.

"It should be a letter from Wei Dong."

Brother Chen replied.

"Could it be that there's news about returning to the city? You should check."

Chen's mother immediately stopped what she was doing. She was always thinking about how to get her youngest son, who lived in the countryside, to come back.

Brother Chen opened the envelope. "It doesn't seem to be one. It's a magazine called 'October.' Did any of you subscribe to a magazine? Did you send it to the wrong place?"

Their courtyard house was inhabited by workers from the neighborhood, whose highest level of education was only junior high school, so nobody paid any attention to this kind of thing.

"The October magazine? Is it for Wei Dong? Didn't he submit articles to an editorial department before, I think it was called October?"

Sister-in-law Chen remembered this incident vividly and immediately recalled it.

"Wei Dong's article, Jianguo, please read it to Grandma quickly."

When Old Mrs. Chen heard that the article written by Chen Weidong had been published in the newspaper, she immediately spoke to Brother Chen.

"Grandma, let me look for it."

Brother Chen first read the letter written by Zhang Shouren.

"It was indeed Wei Dong's novel that was published. It's called 'The Herdsman.' This is a sample copy that the editor from the editorial department sent him."

Then she picked up the October magazine, opened it to the first page, and exclaimed with delight, "Grandma, look! This is Wei Dong's novel, right on the first page, and he even drew a picture on it!"

Brother Chen placed the magazine in front of Old Mrs. Chen and pointed to the picture on it.

"Turn the lights up for me."

Grandma Chen picked up the magazine and examined it carefully.

"He does resemble our Wei Dong, but he lacks Wei Dong's spirit and looks somewhat weathered."

Old Man Chen moved closer to Old Woman Chen and said, "This isn't Wei Dong. This is a picture of Xu Lingjun, the protagonist of a story written by Wei Dong."

"I knew it!"

Seeing the two elderly people discussing the painting, Mr. and Mrs. Chen became even more eager and couldn't help but cradle their necks to examine it closely.

Even Aunt Chen, who was standing to the side, kept turning around to look at the magazine in Old Mrs. Chen's hand while serving rice to Chen Xiaoteng and Chen Xiaoting.

"Jianguo, what does it say on it? Read it to Grandma."

"Yes, read it to everyone."

Chen's mother immediately chimed in, saying that she actually wanted to take the magazine over and read it properly, but since it was in Chen's hands, she couldn't just ask for it directly.

"Then I'll read it to everyone."

Brother Chen was also very curious about the novel written by Chen Weidong. Although Chen Weidong had mentioned it when he came back some time ago, he was at work every day and didn't want to bother Chen Weidong after get off work, so he hadn't actually read the latter's manuscript.

As Brother Chen spoke, the room fell silent instantly. Even Chen Xiaoteng and Chen Xiaoting, who were eating in silence, looked up, finding the story quite interesting.

Although they didn't understand it, they still found it very novel.

Before Brother Chen could finish reading, Old Mrs. Chen's eyes reddened.

"Wei Dong really suffered. He was so young, yet he had to herd horses all day long. He had never done this kind of work before."

"Guangde and Xiulan, you two need to think of a way to get him transferred back as soon as possible."

At this moment, Chen's mother was also filled with mixed feelings. They did not understand fiction and artistic embellishment, but they felt that Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi in the story were Chen Weidong and Su Man.

"Grandma, it's not what you think. Weidong is writing a novel, a story, not about himself."

Brother Chen wanted to offer some comfort, but he didn't know how to explain.

How do you know it wasn't him who suffered so much?

Grandma Chen glared at Brother Chen with annoyance. If Sister-in-law Chen hadn't been there, she would have scolded him for not caring about her younger brother at all.

Brother Chen smiled bitterly to himself, and was about to explain when Sister-in-law Chen tugged at his sleeve, stopping him from continuing.

The old man is like a child, not to mention that Chen Weidong is the apple of his mother's eye. The more Brother Chen explains, the more likely he is to be scolded.

"Alright, it's just a story. Besides, Xu Lingjun in it had a rich father. Does Guangde look like him?"

Old Chen tapped his pipe.

Mr. Chen glanced at Old Man Chen. He hadn't expected that the blame would fall on him in the end. He opened his mouth, but could only nod.

"I understand, Mother."

"Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, let's eat first, otherwise it will get cold."

Sister-in-law Chen tried to smooth things over.

As soon as they finished eating, Chen's mother didn't wash the pots and dishes as usual. Instead, she grabbed a magazine, said "I have some errands to run," and hurriedly left.