Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 64: Confrontation (please collect and vote for further reading)
  "Didn't I tell you, we are here to visit Professor Mi Ruizhe, and we came to the botanical garden to visit him when he was away." Li Li quickly explained, paused and asked again:
  "What about you and Zheng Quan? We're not classmates, are we? Why are you visiting the botanical garden together?"

"He is my boyfriend." Unexpectedly, Ma Xiaojuan admitted it openly.

Li Li was surprised to hear this.

"Wow, Xiaojuan, you are so brave. According to school regulations, dating is not allowed during college!"

"I am 20 this year and he is already 25. According to the newly promulgated "Marriage Law", we can all get married. Why not fall in love?! Falling in itself is a very beautiful thing, why should we ban it? Besides, there will be no impact. Let's learn." Ma Xiaojuan said plausibly.

"Then how did you get to know each other?" Li Li was a little curious.

"Last summer, we met at a fraternity party between our two schools. He is from Henan Province. He once joined the team in Beidahuang. He was admitted to the Foreign College in the first year after the college entrance examination was resumed. He was the first educated youth in his group to be admitted to university. I heard He said the whole group was in a state of shock.”

Speaking of this, Ma Xiaojuan's face was filled with pride.

"He is five years older than me and is very good at taking care of others. He will graduate next year. Because he is very good at French, the provincial foreign affairs office asked him to be named. As for me, I can also be assigned to work as a teacher in the city after graduation, so we discussed Well, we’ll get married after I graduate!”

"bless all of you."

Li Li said sincerely.

"Thank you." Ma Xiaojuan replied, then looked at Fang Minghua who was walking side by side with her boyfriend in front of her, quietly put her arm around Li Li's shoulders, and whispered:
  "Li Li, this Fang Minghua looks pretty good. He is tall, has thick eyebrows and big eyes. He is knowledgeable and well-educated in literature. It's a pity that he is not a college student."

"What's wrong if you're not a college student? I think diplomas are important, but character and knowledge are more important!" Li Li couldn't help but retort.

"Oh. It seems you like this Fang Minghua." Ma Xiaojuan smiled.

"Don't talk nonsense, we are just ordinary friends! I don't fall in love during college!"

Seeing Li Li's serious expression, Ma Xiaojuan couldn't continue joking.

The two girls followed behind muttering, but they heard the two boys in front suddenly arguing about something.

"I admit that French literature is excellent and has produced writers such as Victor Hugo, Maupassant, and Dumas, but how can our Chinese literature be inferior? Not to mention the prose of pre-Qin scholars, Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan music, and the four famous works of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Even in modern times, we have produced famous writers such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, and Cao Yu," said Fang Minghua.

"But the works written by those writers are already outdated." Zheng Quan retorted.

"Outdated?!" Fang Minghua almost laughed in anger.

"Hugo, Maupassant, and Dumas are all people from the 19th century, right? You say they are not outdated, but Lu Xun and Mao Dun are people from this century, and you actually say they are outdated?!"

"I didn't talk about the era they lived in, but the works and writing techniques!" Zheng Quan blushed and retorted:
  "Take the stream-of-consciousness novels you know about. France produced a great Proust who wrote this book "In Search of Lost Time." But what about us in China? Who has written a stream-of-consciousness novel?!"

"That's your ignorance."

Fang Minghua stopped and looked at the other person: "Have you read "Journey to the West" or heard of "Journey to the West"?"

Zheng Quan shook his head.

"Then I suggest you go read it. This is a fan novel of "Journey to the West" written by Dong Shuo, a writer in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After reading it, you can tell me whether there are any stream-of-consciousness novels in China!"

Zheng Quan was silent.

"Well, you may think that "Journey to the West" is just a popular novel, and "Journey to the West" is probably not high-end enough. Then you should read Mr. Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman", Guo Moruo's "The Last Spring", and Yu Dafu's "The Fall". Have you read it? Haven’t you read the stream-of-consciousness creative technique in it? Oh, by the way, it was called “New Sensationism” in China at that time.”

Zheng Quan suddenly blushed again and said. "I've only read Diary of a Madman."

"Not bad." Fang Minghua looked at him and smiled.

"Then you should know that in this novel by Mr. Lu Xun, Kun Zhong expresses the theme of alienation in the image of a "persecution maniac". The plot structure is composed of his personal chaotic conscious activities, and is expressed through his personal "inner monologue" The psychological activities of the characters and the extensive use of symbolism, isn’t this a stream of consciousness?!”

This.
  Zheng Quan wanted to open his mouth and refute, but he didn't know what to say. He finally choked out a sentence: "It is not an authentic stream of consciousness novel!"

"Not authentic? Well, let me tell you a few authentic ones. Have you read "Shi Xiu" written by Shi Zhecun? "Wu Zixu" by Feng Zhi, "Ninety-nine Degrees" by Lin Huiyin. By the way, Liu Yichang of Xiangjiang He wrote "Drunkard"!" Zheng Quan was dumbfounded when he heard this.

Don’t say you’ve seen it, some of them have never heard of it!

Ma Xiaojuan also looked dull.

She also studied Chinese at Shaanxi Normal University, so why didn’t she know it?

Li Li looked at Fang Minghua happily, with little stars in her eyes.

Most of these arguments were fruitless. Finally, the four of them left the botanical garden and said goodbye to each other politely.

"Wow Fang Minghua, I didn't expect you to read so many books." Li Li looked at Fang Minghua with an expression of admiration.

"Actually, I haven't read some of them, such as "Journey to the West" and the "Stone Show" written by Zhecun. I just heard that it was a stream of consciousness novel, and I deliberately frightened him."

Fang Minghua explained with a smile: "Lest he belittle himself or even worship foreign things."

Li Li was amused.

"You are so bad, but it is true that many college students now do not like to read domestic novels and prefer to read Western literature."

"You mentioned this issue the other day. It's not just Western literature but also a lot of foreign things, right?" Fang Minghua said lightly.

"Hmm. Foreign ones are good, imported ones are good." Li Li said.

Fang Minghua sighed softly after hearing this.

Now, the Chinese people have experienced poverty and backwardness, and are now experiencing the era of "three turns and one sound".

Seeing the colorful external world, I developed a sense of inferiority, thinking that foreign things are superior. This is an objective reality.

Fang Minghua doesn't think that someone can change these views and ideas by speaking loudly, even if he travels through time.

However, he decided to give some lectures to the girl in front of him.

"What you said makes sense. Our country's products and even its economy are indeed not as good as those of developed countries in Europe and the United States. But I think one day we will catch up and people will no longer envy foreign color TVs and refrigerators because our country produces better ones."

"I believe this too! Why else would our generation of college students study hard? Isn't it just to build the four modernizations?!" Li Li said.

What an ambitious girl!

Fang Minghua gave the girl a thumbs up in his heart and continued.

"But in the field of culture, especially literature, even now we are not inferior to the West. This must be clearly understood. There is no need to worship foreign countries like Zheng Quan."

As soon as Fang Minghua said something, Li Li took over and said:

"I know, you said the other day that when you were young, you didn't know how good Sister Yu was, and mistook a lolita for a treasure."

ha? !

After hearing this, Fang Minghua couldn't help laughing anymore.

Li Li also laughed, but she was thinking in her heart.

Hum. I must understand what a loli is and what a royal sister is!

(End of this chapter)