1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 39: The comrade who confesses voluntarily is the good comrade
"You wait for me."

Zhu Lin returned to the classroom and soon came out with her bag and a knitted red scarf tied around her neck.

"How about we come to our dormitory and sit down?"

"It complies with the regulations."

"Why are you so timid?"

“I’m respecting lesbians.”

The dormitory conditions were very simple these days, with a total area of ​​about five or six square meters, two bunk beds, no bathroom, and the washing area was in the lobby shared by everyone on the same floor.

When I opened the door, the air in the dormitory was filled with the aroma of cold cream. The dormitory was not big, but it was carefully decorated. There were pots of small spider plants and cacti on the small windowsill. The radiator below was next to the table, which was covered with a checkered tablecloth.

Jiang Xian also noticed a map of the United States on the wall.

Zhu Lin took off her scarf and picked up the thermos to pour a cup of hot water for Jiang Xian.

"That was my roommate's bed. He wanted to study abroad in the United States."

“So far ahead?”

In the late 70s, there was a craze for learning English, and then many people began to dream of going abroad. The first choice of country was the United States. In the 80s, the dream of going abroad became a trend, which was also mentioned in "Chinese Partners".

"Do you want to eat?" Zhu Lin sat on the edge of the bed and took out a fruit box with the word "Daoxiangcun" written on it. There were two branches of Daoxiangcun in Beijing and Suzhou, and they often quarreled with each other.

"I'm telling you in advance, I can eat a pound of this stuff." Jiang Xian said.

"Then wait a moment." Zhu Lin twisted her fingers, picked out a piece of sachima from the fruit box and put it in her mouth, saying vaguely: "Okay, you can eat it all."

Daoxiangcun is divided into Beijing Eight Pieces and Xiba Pieces.

The Eight Beijing Delicious Foods are the "Fu" (blessing) cake, "Lu" (wealth) cake, "Shou" (longevity) cake, "Xi" (happiness) cake, jujube flower pastry, "Tai Shi" cake, "black sesame cake", and "Sachima".

The eight fine items are jujube flower pastry, jade butterfly pastry, small roll pastry, acacia cake, nectar fruit, hibiscus cake, powder-coated pastry, and egg yolk pastry.

Zhu Lin: This is the Eight Beijing Items.

Jiang Xian took the fruit box and sat down on the edge of the bed opposite her.

Zhu Lin took a glimpse and felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

"Ahem, Jiang Xian, I'm not in the dormitory, don't sit on my bed."

After saying that, he moved to the side to make some space.

The meaning was very clear. She didn't mind Jiang Xian sitting on her bed, nor did she mind Jiang Xian sitting next to her.

Unfortunately, the bed was too small, and there was a table in between. When Jiang Xian sat down, Zhu Lin realized that they were sitting too close to each other, so close that she felt inexplicably nervous. She couldn't help but stand on tiptoe and clutched the bed sheet with both hands.

"It's almost the end of the semester for you, right?" Jiang Xian asked, looking at the pile of books on the table.

"It's almost New Year's holiday."

"Exam or not?"

"Exams. The papers are all mimeographed by the teacher himself. After each exam, our hands are all black."

Jiang Xian almost choked when he heard the music, so he quickly drank some water.

"Slow down, no one is going to snatch it from you."

Zhu Lin raised her hand to pat his back and asked, "How was your work symposium?"

"It's good. Everything is new. Many things are different from before."

Speaking of this, Jiang Xian slapped his forehead.

"By the way, didn't you say last time that you wanted to see my new manuscript? I got it."

Zhu Lin's eyes lit up, and she was quite surprised.

"Oh, do you remember this?"

"Of course." Jiang Xian put down the fruit box and took out the manuscript of "Animal Ferocity" from his bag with his oil-free fingers.

"Take it for a moment."

"Oh."

Zhu Lin took it carefully, spread it out on a clean spot on the table, glanced at it, and was quite surprised.

"Your handwriting is always so neat when you write novels?"

"Learn from the predecessors. The manuscripts of literary masters such as Mao Dun, Lu Xun, and Lao She are all beautiful." "Really?"

The afternoon sun was already a little hot, so Zhu Lin drew the light orange curtains. The room immediately had a hidden and mysterious atmosphere, like walking down the street wearing sunglasses. She felt calm, yet also a bit evil.

She held up "Animals Are Dangerous" and soon became fascinated by it.

Jiang Xian felt bored and found an old copy of People's Literature on the table. It was the first issue last year, and there was an article called "Goldbach's Conjecture" on it.

This is a very rare piece of reportage, and the protagonist of the article is the "mathematical giant" Chen Jingrun.

The lazy and sleepy sunlight slowly shifts away as time passes.

Zhu Lin has been completely immersed in the world woven by "Animals Are Fierce".

She liked that sentence very much.

[I don’t need to fight for anything. I just need to wait. When I turn eighteen, it will be my turn.]
Zhu Lin thought this was a great irony.

She was born into privilege; her mother's family had strong connections in the Ministry of Health.

Her life had already been arranged by her parents.

There is no need to fight for anything, just wait.

It sounds a bit pretentious, but this kind of life is really not what she likes.

Of course, she was just complaining. Zhu Lin knew that she was still lucky. After all, many people didn't even have the qualifications to dislike someone.

The days are very short in winter and the sky gradually gets darker.

Jiang Xian finished reading the entire volume of "People's Literature" and couldn't help but sigh that the strength of the royal publication is indeed much better than "Beijing Literature and Art".

He turned his head and looked at Zhu Lin.

She was still reading attentively, wearing only a sweater she had knitted herself. The Chinese red made her skin look white, her face was reflected by the hazy afterglow, and her slender neck was a warm honey color.

It was the first time that Jiang Xian looked at the "Queen" so closely and carefully.

Zhenzhen's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her almond-shaped eyes were half-closed, her eyelashes were drooping, and her thin lips were slightly pursed.

Director Yang Jie is really good at picking!

On the other hand, the repeated subversion of the character of Milan also made Zhu Lin's heart fluctuate constantly.

Is there really such a person as Milan?
She turned her head slightly and happened to meet a pair of unscrupulous eyes.

Direct, passionate, bold, and fixed, with a hint of admiration and piety as if appreciating a work of art.

As if she had been touched by electricity, she turned her head back and stopped moving.

But she seemed to have been burned by that gaze, and a rouge-like blush appeared at the roots of her ears, quickly spreading to her neck.

He's here, looking at me?
Time seemed to be quiet.

"You've been looking at this page for a long time." Jiang Xian's voice sounded in his ears.

Zhu Lin's ears twitched, and she turned the page, which made her look even more obvious.

“The characters in the novel are all fictional.”

"Ok?"

"You'll understand when you read the last chapter."

At the end of "Animals Are Dangerous", Wang Shuo explains his motivation and mentality for writing through flashbacks.

Jiang Xian also continued this writing style, admitting that these stories actually happened to other people, and that "I" and Milan never knew each other, but simply pieced together and grafted other people's experiences into "my own".

Between narrative and innocence.

Both Wang Shuo and Jiang Xian decisively chose to prove their innocence.

In a blink of an eye, it was the end of the year and more than half a month of 1978 had passed.

The review and revision of "Animal Ferocity" has been completed.

Zhang Dening brought two pieces of news to Jiang Xian.

First, "Animals Are Fierce" was scheduled to be published after the New Year, that is, the second issue of "Beijing Literature and Art" on February 1979, 2.

Second, the sales of Long Live Youth (Wang Meng), which was officially published by the People's Literature Publishing House recently, are not good, and novels with "youth" themes may be "coldly received" by readers.

(End of this chapter)