Writer 1979: Writing for the People

The main job of the scorekeeper is to record attendance, farm work, and work points. They are busy in the morning and evening, but have some free time in between.

After saying hello to Zhang Dameng at noon, Xu Lu went home and took Li Xiuzhi with him. They walked for half an hour to the commune's central supply and marketing cooperative to buy things.

There are some general stores in the village, but they only sell the most basic daily necessities, such as kerosene, matches, and salt!

If you want to buy other daily necessities, you still have to go to the commune's supply and marketing cooperative.

Li Xiuzhi only brought a small bundle yesterday, nothing much, but Xu Lu bought her a washbasin, towel, shoes and socks...

Then she picked out a few more pieces of fabric and asked a tailor to make her a new dress.

"No need, no need, I have clothes to wear..."

The cost of the cloth plus the labor fee came to 4 yuan. Li Xiuzhi, who also grew up in the countryside, knew that this was not a small amount of money, so she quickly stopped them.

Xu Lu paid the money directly, agreed to pick up the finished garment in three days, and then walked out of the tailor shop with Li Xiuzhi.

"Save where you should, spend where you should, it's okay, don't overthink it."

He patted her hand, comforting her.

He had about a hundred yuan in his hand, not much, but enough to buy Li Xiuzhi some clothes.

  

Hearing this, Li Xiuzhi didn't say anything more, but still frowned, feeling a little heartache.

After buying these, Xu Lu went to Xinhua Bookstore to buy A16 single-sided grid paper, which is a mandatory requirement for submitting manuscripts these days, as it facilitates word count calculation and later typesetting.

After taking Li Xiuzhi home, he went back to the fields to continue working.

……

After finishing work in the evening, Xu Lu dragged his tired body home.

Compared to the morning, the cave dwelling was much cleaner now. He also saw the old clothes on the kang that had not yet been mended, which was obviously thanks to Li Xiuzhi.

"I made cornbread with corn. Wash your face and come eat!"

Li Xiuzhi said in a low voice, her expression more natural than yesterday.

"OK."

Compared to last night's rice porridge, today's cornbread was indeed hard to swallow. Fortunately, Li Xiuzhi was virtuous and mixed in some newly grown wild onions and leeks, so it still tasted somewhat better.

After dinner, it was completely dark. Xu Lu set up a small table on the kang (a heated brick bed), took out paper and pen, and began his first "creation" since his transmigration.

He had already thought it through that afternoon about what to write.

This was in 1979, when "scar literature" was at its most popular. However, Xu Lu felt nothing for these articles that focused on suffering and were full of complaints and grievances.

When literary merit is positively correlated with "tragedy," the content of the article will naturally become biased.

He held the pen and wrote the words "Receiving the Precepts" on the newly bought manuscript paper.

Minghai has been a monk for four years.

He arrived when he was thirteen.

……

In the original story, "Receiving the Precepts" is a short story written by Wang Zengqi in 1980. It tells the story of a young man named Minghai who becomes a monk at the Water Chestnut Temple in the countryside and develops pure feelings for his neighbor, Xiaoyingzi, while living together in the countryside.

After Minghai returned from his ordination, Xiaoyingzi confessed her feelings to him in the reed marshes. Their beautiful feelings broke through the strict rules of Buddhism, fully demonstrating the natural and unrestrained beauty of humanity in the water town.

Most people heard the line "Do you want a wife or not?" from the movie "The Herdsman," but its earliest source is actually in the text "The Novice Monk."

As for how a Shaanxi educated youth could be so familiar with the water towns of Jiangnan.

His deceased mother was a woman from Jiangnan, so if anyone asks about it later, he can use that as a reason.

The article is about 1.2 words long, which is not something that can be done in a day or two. Fortunately, there are no other forms of entertainment to kill time these days, so I can write it slowly and finish it eventually.

[Minghai is called Xiaomingzi at home. He was determined to become a monk from a young age. In his hometown, they don't call it "becoming a monk," they call it "becoming a nun." His hometown produces monks. Just like some places produce pig castrators, some mat weavers, some barrel makers, some cotton carders, some painters, and some prostitutes, his hometown produces monks.]

On the boat was a tall, thin man in his fifties. A girl about Mingzi's age was squatting at the bow, peeling and eating a lotus seedpod. Mingzi and his uncle went into the cabin, and the boat set sail. Mingzi heard someone speaking to him; it was the girl.

Behind Maitreya Buddha is Weituo. Passing through the passageway, there is a fairly large courtyard with two ginkgo trees. On each side of the courtyard are three side rooms. Beyond the courtyard is the main hall, which houses the Three Buddhas. The Buddha statues, including their niches, are only about four feet tall. To the east of the main hall is the abbot's quarters, and to the west is the storeroom. On the east side of the main hall is a small hexagonal door, white with green characters, inscribed with a couplet:

One flower, one world

Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi

……

There was no clock at home, so Xu Lu didn't know the time. Anyway, he kept writing until he started yawning.

However, looking at the several sheets of paper on the table covered with dense writing, he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

By the way, where's Hideyoshi?

He turned his head and saw that the girl was already sitting on the stool next to him, dozing off.

Actually, the table on the kang (a heated brick bed) didn't take up much space, but Li Xiuzhi was worried that she would bother Xu Lu, so she preferred to doze off there rather than go over and disturb him.

"Xiuzhi, go to bed and rest!"

Xu Lu called out softly and gently touched her.

The girl probably didn't sleep well last night and walked a lot today, so she's sleeping soundly now and didn't respond when I called her a few times.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Lu bent down and gently carried her to the bed, then covered her with a blanket.

With the kerosene lamp blown out, the room was plunged into darkness. He lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed) and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When Li Xiuzhi woke up in the middle of the night, after realizing what was happening, a blush crept up from her neck to her cheeks.

Hearing the rhythmic breathing beside her, her long-feared heart finally began to calm down.

……

The next day, after breakfast, Xu Lu took Li Xiuzhi to the fields.

From now on, Li Xiuzhi is also a member of the Zhangjia Village production team, so she has to participate in labor and earn work points.

As soon as they arrived at the field, Zhang Jie, the women's team leader of the production team, pushed Xu Lu aside and stared at Li Xiuzhi with a curious look.

"You must be Old Xu's new wife? Oh my, you're really pretty!"

Xu Lu has been in Zhangjia Village for over ten years. He's been there a long time and is very warm-hearted, so he gets along well with the villagers.

So now all the women gathered around Li Xiuzhi, chattering away.

Seeing Li Xiuzhi's flustered state in the crowd, Xu Lu couldn't help but speak up to help her out.

"Sister Zhang, please stop teasing Xiuzhi!"

"Hey Old Xu, are you afraid we'll eat your wife up?"

"Yeah, I didn't realize you, Old Xu, were so doting on your wife!"

"Hey, having a wife really changes how you talk..."

Seeing that his single act had caused such a huge uproar, Xu Lu had no choice but to flee in panic!

Li Xiuzhi, her face flushed, couldn't help but laugh.