Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 4 "Brother, you must study hard and become a useful talent for the four modernizations"

There was a young man on the roadside looking at him with a smile on his face.

It was the young doorman I met at the magazine yesterday afternoon!
  Liu Jianjun suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Liu Jianjun, what's wrong with you? Keep reciting?" Li Li urged, seeing Liu Jianjun's unnatural expression, and following his gaze, she saw a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

"Liu Jianjun, do you know him?" Li Li asked curiously.

Liu Jianjun nodded, then shook his head suddenly.

This confused Li Li, so she went up and asked: "This classmate, are you from Western University or University of Technology?"

"No, I was passing by." Fang Minghua smiled: "You guys continue." After saying that, he turned and left.

Liu Jianjun's voice reciting poetry came from behind again, but his energy seemed not as strong as before.

Fang Minghua carried a yellow satchel and came to the bottom of Building No. 2 of the girls' dormitory area. He stood downstairs and called to the third floor. A little head stuck out of the window, and soon he saw Fang Mingli running down the stairs.

"Brother, why are you here?"

"This is the peach cake that mom bought this morning. Let me deliver it to you." Fang Minghua said, taking out the paper-wrapped peach cake from his yellow satchel and handing it to his sister.

Fortunately, it looks like not a few were crushed.

"City Food Factory No. 1? I love the peach cakes made by their factory the most." The girl happily took it, opened it carefully, and handed two more to Fang Minghua.

"Brother, here you are."

Fang Minghua was not polite. He took it and started eating. He recalled the situation just now and asked curiously: "Little sister, students from the University of Technology often come to your school?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

Fang Minghua briefly talked about the poems he had just met with Liu Jianjun. Of course, he would not mention Liu Jianjun's name or know him.

"Isn't the back entrance of the Polytechnic University on the same street as the main entrance of our school? I heard from senior students that students from the two families often visit each other. Those from the Polytechnic University especially like to come to our school, and some even take the initiative to join our school's literary club." Fang Mingli explained.

"The short-haired girl you mentioned who reads poetry is called Li Li. She is from our Hope Literary Club. Her Mandarin is very standard and her voice is nice, so many people like to hear her recite poetry."

"Oh" Fang Minghua nodded.

"Brother, our literary club is going to have an event. I have to go there quickly."

"Go ahead, I'll go home too."

"Brother." Fang Mingli suddenly called.

"what happened?"

"Brother, I almost forgot. Let me tell you some good news. In order to accelerate the cultivation of various talents needed for the "four modernizations" construction, the country has resumed adult correspondence education! Our school is organizing a Chinese correspondence class. After graduation, we can give you a college diploma. , you also sign up to improve your own quality, you can’t just wait and see the door for the rest of your life, right?”

Oh, that's what I said.

But Fang Minghua knew that the younger sister was really doing it for her own good.

"Okay, if the conditions are met, I'll sign up." Fang Minghua agreed.

"Okay. I'll help you inquire and ask for a copy of the admissions brochure. Brother, I'll go up first. Goodbye." The girl turned around and ran upstairs.

Fang Minghua smiled.

It's not bad to get a correspondence diploma from a college.

The days went by like this. This morning, after Fang Minghua took over from Zhang Baofu at work, he took out a book from his yellow satchel and put it on the table to read.

What he was reading was "The Count of Monte Cristo" by the great French writer Alexandre Dumas. He grabbed this book from the Bell Tower Xinhua Bookstore two days ago.

It is said to be "grabbing" because the reform and opening up has just begun. Although the country has liberalized the publication of many Chinese and foreign masterpieces, it still cannot keep up with the desire of the majority of readers. Often when bookstores stock a batch of classics, they are snapped up by young people. Fang Minghua also waited in line for two hours before his turn came, and it was limited—one person could only buy one foreign masterpiece!
  So Fang Minghua bought this copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo".

He had read it before. It was about a young man named Don Ted who was framed because of jealousy and suffered a lot in prison. With the help of the priest, he returned as a king and killed everyone with his golden finger. Finally, he returned with revenge. The countryside hides merit and fame.

From the perspective of future generations, this is a perfect Internet routine.

This is also the reason why Fang Minghua is willing to read again.

Of course there are deeper reasons.

As my younger sister Fang Mingli said, she can't be a doorman for the rest of her life, right?
  It doesn't matter if you can't take a correspondence class, but if you want to make a difference or at least make your life better, you need money.

Go into business?
  It seems a bit early, it’s only 1980!
  It is said that Wenzhou girl Zhu Huamei received the country's first individual business license at the end of last year.

But this is the mainland, and the business culture is far less prosperous than that along the coast.

I guess my conservative parents would not let me give up my job within the system and engage in those speculative things.

I can only take the path of literary writing. After all, I read a lot of books before traveling through time, and I also like to write and write.

But the serious literature that is popular in society now: scar literature, root-seeking literature, and later avant-garde literature. As for the popular literature represented by martial arts - it will take a few years, at least after 83.

First read the famous books and master their writing skills, otherwise even plagiarism may not work - except for a few poems, who can remember the entire content of a serious novel?

Have a good read.

Fang Minghua was just flipping through the book when he saw a man in his early fifties wearing a gray tunic suit walking into the guard room.

"Morning, Editor-in-Chief Dong!" Fang Minghua quickly stood up and greeted.

Of course Fang Minghua knows him. Dong Mo is the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine, specializing in poetry. It is said that he was in the editorial department when "Yanhe" was founded in the 1950s.

Except for that special era when the magazine ceased publication and was sent to Xinjiang to work in the queue for several years, the rest stayed at the magazine and were considered veterans.

Dong Mo is a typical Guanzhong man, stern and unsmiling, but today he looked at Fang Minghua with a smile.

"Comrade Xiaofang, are you reading a book? "The Count of Monte Cristo"?" Dong Mo found the new book on the table.

"I went to Xinhua Bookstore to buy it two days ago." Fang Minghua told the truth: "I just read it when I have nothing to do."

"It's a good habit to love reading!" Dong Mo looked appreciative and asked, "What other books have you read?"

多啦
  I have read everything from serious literature in physical books to entertaining online articles and even pornographic books. Of course, this was all before time travel.

Seeing Dong Mo's smiling face, Fang Minghua suddenly thought of something and said:

"When I graduated from junior high school, I joined the queue. I didn't read many books. When I came to work in a magazine, I mainly read the magazines we published and a copy of Rabindranath Tagore's Birds."

"Have you seen "The Birds"?" This was a bit beyond Dong Mo's expectations.

You should know that Tagore's "Birds" was not allowed to be published in special eras, and it is rarely seen on the market now.

"Which sentence in "The Birds" is your favorite?" Dong Mo asked.

Fang Minghua had no choice but to answer.

"Life is as splendid as summer flowers, and death is as quiet and beautiful as autumn leaves."

"The world kisses me bitterly and asks me to sing in return."

"I am a bird in the wilderness, and I have found the sky in your eyes."

(End of this chapter)