1987 My Era

Chapter 121: Chen Xiaomi takes the initiative to show goodwill (Please subscribe!)
The English teacher and the fool didn't want to go out for supper, so Li Heng took a shower and washed his hair, then he put a pillow on his back, half leaned against the headboard and began to review his every move since coming to Beijing.

This was a habit he developed when he was a civil servant. Whenever something happened, he would take time in the evening to reflect on whether his actions that day were inappropriate.

Although, given the relationship between him and Chen Zijin, he should have gone to the Chen family to pay a visit, but when he thought of how the Chen family's sister-in-law treated his mother, he could only stop.

Thinking about the relationship between the Chen and Li families, he couldn't help but think of a saying: The most difficult thing to grasp in this world is the human heart.

If he advances a little more or retreats a little more, the relationship will become unbalanced. Even if he has lived two lives, he will still find it difficult.

After reflecting on his actions today, he began to continue thinking about his next novel.

"To Live" made him famous overnight, but the next novel was more important to him. After all, his divinity was just formed. If it collapsed before it was stable, people would think of him as the story of Zhang Zhongyong, and many people who "overthrew him" would gloat over his misfortune and laugh at the vision of "Harvest" magazine and Mr. Ba.

Will you even question whether the royalties are appropriate?

In order to effectively fight back against the public opinion storm about royalties, he had no choice but to use his hard power to slap it in the face. So whether for his own sake, or to live up to Mr. Ba's kindness, or to not disappoint those who support him, he had to be cautious with his next novel and continue to maintain a high standard.

What should I write about?
The shadows of several novels flashed through my mind, and I weighed them in difficulty. It was already very late at night, and I gradually fell asleep.

...

the next day.

He had just woken up when his English teacher knocked on his door.

Wang Runwen, who was outside the door, crossed his arms and said, "Hurry up and wash up. Chen Zijin and his daughter are here."

Li Heng looked back at the sky outside: "Are we there yet?"

Wang Runwen said, "It's almost time. I just saw the three of them by the window."

"Three?"

"And Chen Xiaomi who came to No. 1 Middle School last time."

"Oh, okay, thank you, teacher."

After that, although Li Heng was puzzled as to why Chen Xiaomi came, he quickly went into the bathroom and started brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth.

The English teacher thought about it, followed him in, tidied his messy bed a little, and then opened the window to let in fresh air from outside.

After doing all this, she left quickly and returned to her room, in order not to cause misunderstandings from the Chen family.

Although the English teacher has always been rather cold verbally, she has a deep awareness of her sexiness and plump figure. Many men like to secretly take a few more glances at her. If she appeared in Li Heng's room early in the morning, many things would be hard to explain.

After a while, Chen Zijin appeared outside the door and started knocking.

"Li Heng."

"Hey, here we come."

Li Heng wiped his hair hurriedly and opened the door, only to find Chen Zijin standing outside.

Their eyes met, and she smiled and said, "Dad and my aunt are here, waiting in the hall downstairs. I was afraid your room would be a mess, so I didn't let them come up."

"The one who knows me best is my daughter-in-law."

Li Heng happily pulled her in, and as soon as the door closed, he gave her a long kiss, and it took a long time before he let go: "After not seeing each other for a night, my wife's mouth has become sweeter."

"Slippery tongue." Chen Zijin really liked this kind of romantic interaction with little surprises at the moment, and urged him: "Quickly pack up and come downstairs with me."

Li Heng pointed at the clean and tidy bed and said calmly, "I've prepared breakfast a long time ago, thinking about having breakfast with you."

Chen Zijin was a little surprised. He had known this man for more than ten years. When did he become so particular? Aside from his own hygiene and his love of taking a bath, weren't all his other things placed randomly?

Could it be that he has changed a lot in the year since I left him?
Although she was surprised, she didn't think much about it and asked, "Is the English teacher next door? I haven't seen her for a long time. I'll go call her."

Li Heng opened his bag and counted the money and belongings he brought with him:
"Okay, you go call the teacher, and I'll go wake up Heartless. Don't keep uncle and the others waiting for too long."

The two of them divided the work, one entered the English teacher's room, and the other shouted to open Zhang Zhiyong's door.

"Teacher, I haven't seen you for a long time. You are still as beautiful as ever." Because of Li Heng, Chen Zijin has always had a good relationship with the English teacher and would occasionally go along to have a meal with him.

The two women were not strangers, and could even be considered familiar.

"Zi Jin is here, come in and sit for a while, I'll put on some makeup." The English teacher puts on makeup every day when she goes out.

She doesn't like heavy makeup, she prefers light makeup that can't be seen at a glance.

According to her, although people are old, they should live a refined life.

After learning makeup techniques from her college best friend Yu Shuheng, she has kept the habit of wearing light makeup over the years.

"Okay." Chen Zijin was naturally beautiful, but she watched her teacher drawing her eyebrows and applying powder on her face with great interest. However, as she was watching, she suddenly glanced at the teacher's bed.

For just a moment, she was stunned.

How are they the same?
Why is it that Li Heng's way of arranging his quilt is the same as the teacher's? Even the positions of the quilts are the same. Could it be that they were made by the same person?
Considering Li Heng’s past living habits, could it be that the teacher helped him make his bed?
She was shocked by her own thought, but she managed to keep her composure.

Because she felt that she was overthinking. Which of Xiao Han and Song Yu was not stunning? They were the most beautiful girls she had ever seen. Even if he wanted to be unfaithful, it should be those two, not the teacher.

Besides, his English teacher had always taken good care of him. He would bring him breakfast from time to time during his first and second year of high school, and give him some English lessons. He would even occasionally invite him to eat together.

Recalling his past English teacher's generosity and naturalness, Chen Zijin suppressed the last bit of doubt and later came to the window, looking out in the direction he came from.

Just now when I was riding my bike, I seemed to see the English teacher standing here for a while. Did she go to wake Li Heng up because she saw me, my father, and my aunt coming? Did she help make the bed?
Li Heng's window was closed before, but it was opened when he went downstairs. He also washed up in a short time. It must be like this: the English teacher helped him make his bed because he was afraid that his father and aunt would see the messy scene.

A few minutes later, the English teacher put the eyebrow pencil and other items into her bag and said to Chen Zijin, who was looking at her with a smile, "Let's go. Zhang Zhiyong should be done too."

"Okay." Chen Zijin responded and followed Wang Runwen out of the room.

Coincidentally, at this moment, Li Heng and Zhang Zhiyong also appeared in the aisle, ready to come over and call the two women.

"You stupid guy, long time no see, you are still so energetic." Chen Zijin took the initiative to greet him.

"Sister-in-law." Although Zhang Zhiyong is often mean and often fights with Yang Yingwen when they were children, he has always been a little afraid of Chen Zijin. When he sees her, he is like a mouse seeing a cat. He behaves very well every time.

This should be called one thing conquers another.

The four of them went downstairs chatting and laughing, and Li Heng walked towards Chen Gaoyuan.

"Good morning, uncle. I didn't expect you to come here so early in the morning. Zijin and I were discussing finding an opportunity to visit you."

Speak to people in a human way and speak to ghosts in a ghost way. This is an essential survival skill that every mature man must learn. Although the other party may have seen through his thoughts that he does not want to go to Chen's house in the short term, he still has to give him enough respect verbally.

Chen Gaoyuan had a friendly smile on his face and said, "I went home last night and heard Zijin say you were here, so I came along to see you today. How do you feel about your first visit to the capital? Are you used to it?"

Li Heng replied, "Uncle, although this is my first time in the capital, I have been longing to come here for a long time. I am still used to everything. It is better than I expected."

This reminded Chen Xiaomi of the Beijing-flavored novel "The Troublemakers". She felt that what Li Heng said was true and he must have read many books about the local culture and customs of Beijing.

After a few pleasantries, the two introduced themselves to each other. In fact, they both knew each other, and they were mainly introducing each other's English teacher.

Chen Gaoyuan treated us to breakfast and he was the one who led us there. We had breakfast at a well-established restaurant nearby.

There was no politeness at the dinner table. Chen Gaoyuan, who came from a rural family, was very considerate and put aside his official airs to mingle with the others. He was especially concerned about Li Heng, treating him like a son-in-law.

This change surprised Li Heng secretly.

Although Uncle Chen had always been gentle to me in my previous life, it took many years for him to be so kind to me from the bottom of his heart.

The huge success of his novel "To Live" in this life and his identity as a writer seemed to have accelerated their relationship, directly causing Uncle Chen to treat him to the highest level.

In fact, what Li Heng didn't know was that the reason why Chen Gaoyuan treated him like this today was not only because of Li Heng's own pride and his identity as a writer, but also because of what Mr. Chen said last night.

Especially the five meaningful words "Let your younger sister send it", Chen Gaoyuan tasted a lot of different things from the past.

Of course, the person who enjoyed the meal the most was Chen Zijin.

Dad came, sweetheart came, and even the aunt who had always hated Li Heng in the past came. All of this seemed to indicate something: after a dark and cold period, the relationship between her and Li Heng seemed to have ushered in a major turning point.

Do you think she really doesn't love her mother?

Do you think she really wants to go against her family?

Not!
She just cares too much about her family, so she fights against them, hoping to get their blessings.

If her heart has become indifferent and completely cold, then she will definitely be treated coldly, and she will lose even if she argues with her mother for a single word.

And now, everything is developing in a good direction. Chen Zijin's mood is inexplicably cheerful, which is directly reflected at the dinner table. She helps everyone serve dishes and pour water, and takes care of everyone's emotions at the table with a smile. Even the stupid ones don't feel any neglect at all. She is completely the image of a hostess.

While eating, Chen Xiaomi took out a copy of To Live and handed it to Li Heng:

"The old man bought this book with his own money. He has read it twice. There are also notes of his thoughts on it. He said he really loves reading your book and asked you to sign it as a souvenir."

As she spoke, she handed him a pen. Li Heng was somewhat flattered, and happily took the pen and signed his name as a writer.

Chen Xiaomi reminded: "Your real name might be more useful."

Li Heng glanced at him and wrote his real name.

Seeing this, Chen Xiaomi took out two more books, one was "To Live" and the other was "Family Letters of Zeng Guofan".

She said: "This Zeng Guofan Family Letters is the old man's favorite, he asked me to pass it to you."

Li Heng knew about this book. In his previous life, he saw Old Man Chen reading it whenever he had time, but he never expected that he would read it in this life.

He took the book and thanked me sincerely.

Chen Xiaomi nodded, and then continued, "This copy of To Live is mine. I have read it five times. As a reader, I admire your talent very much. Please sign it for me."

Hearing this, Chen Gaoyuan looked at his younger sister several more times.

But Chen Zijin was completely dumbfounded.

Last night, my aunt said that she regretted how she treated Li Heng in the past. She was amazed at his ability to turn the tide and admired his talent.

But that's only in private!

Who knew that my aunt would make such a big fuss today, and actually put those words into practice, and openly confessed them to Li Heng in front of my father and myself, in front of the English teacher and the fool.

For a girl who is more proud than a peacock, how much courage does this take?

What does this mean?
Isn't this a direct apology to Li Heng?
Even though there was no word about "apology" between the lines, everyone could see Chen Xiaomi's attitude, so who couldn't tell the difference?
Look, Zhang Zhiyong's mouth opened wider than a toad's, his eyes were wide open to his head, he was extremely shocked! How shocked he could be!
When the English teacher heard Li Heng mention the dirty deeds of the two families, he glanced at Li Heng, then at Chen Xiaomi, then at Li Heng, then at Chen Xiaomi again, smiling slightly, feeling very relieved inside.

To be honest, Li Heng was also a little surprised.

No, he was quite surprised!

In his previous life, even though his net worth was close to hundreds of millions and his bank deposits were as high as tens of millions, Chen Xiaomi had always been dismissive, never looked at him straight in the eye, and never treated him well.

But now, the identity of a great writer and intellectual has directly conquered Chen Xiaomi and made her make a 180-degree change.

Even though the apology was very tactful, for a mature adult, doing so in front of family members means almost giving up all pride.

this.
Who the hell can I go to for justice?

At this moment, Li Heng felt a great sense of accomplishment, but his heart was also quite complicated.

Perhaps, in the eyes of a big family like theirs, tens of millions are nothing compared to the identity of a writer.

Under the gaze of everyone, Li Heng looked at Chen Xiaomi for two seconds, then smiled and took To Live from her. "I didn't expect that my aunt also likes to read my book. It's such a pleasant surprise. Can you write your real name too?"

Chen Gaoyuan smiled warmly when he heard the word "aunt".

He had noticed that when they met in the hotel just now, Li Heng just forced a smile to his younger sister. Even when he greeted her, his attitude was as perfunctory as possible.

But now, after his younger sister took the initiative to admit her mistake and made peace, Li Heng was no longer petty and followed Zijin in calling her aunt.

In fact, Li Heng was not particularly willing to be called aunt, unless the other party apologized to his mother one day.

Seeing Li Heng calling her "aunt", Chen Xiaomi's tense heart relaxed. She was afraid that the other party was young and aggressive and would not give her a way out, which would be a bit embarrassing.

Although she regretted it in the past, she couldn't bring herself to apologize to Li Heng. The reason why she took the initiative to apologize to Li Heng today was actually inspired by the old man.

The old man specifically asked her to personally deliver the book as a return gift. Doesn't this provide him with a perfect opportunity to make peace with Li Heng?
Based on her understanding of the old man, he definitely had this intention, so she just went for it.

Fortunately, Li Heng was smart enough and should have understood the old man's meaning and gave him face.

Chen Xiaomi smiled and said, "Only the real name is valuable, so of course the real name must be signed."

Li Heng wrote his real name and pen name in a very elegant and graceful manner.

After the book signing, the atmosphere at the table reached a climax. Even Chen Xiaomi, who had not been participating in the conversation until now, became a little more enthusiastic and helped her niece entertain the English teacher.

Chen Gaoyuan asked Li Heng: "How was your college entrance examination? Which one did you choose as your first choice?"

Li Heng said truthfully: "I feel I did OK in the exam. I chose Peking University as my first choice."

Chen Gaoyuan glanced at his happy daughter and nodded, "That's great. Come home more often with Zijin."

Li Heng thought to himself that he might not be able to pass the exam yet, so he would wait and see. But he agreed verbally.

At the end of the meal, Chen Xiaomi suddenly asked him, "I heard from Zijin that you will only stay in Beijing for 4 days?"

Li Heng said: "I have to go to Gansu for something else."

Chen Xiaomi calculated the date and said, "That means we are leaving on the 21st. What time do we leave on the 21st? Have you bought the ticket?"

Li Heng said: "Teacher and Zhiyong bought train tickets yesterday, the train is at 8 am."

Seeing that they had already bought train tickets, Chen Xiaomi suppressed the idea of ​​buying tickets for them and said, "Then let's have dinner together on the evening of the 20th.

I know a famous old Chinese doctor who has a plaster for treating the spine. I will go and ask for some in the next two days, and you can take it back. But."

At this point, she paused and suggested, "However, if you can bring Brother Jianguo to Beijing for on-site medical treatment, the effect will be better. If there is anything you need, I can help you arrange it."

These words surprised everyone present, including Li Heng.

This woman is courageous!
If they don't want to do it, then don't do it. If they do it, they might as well do it together with the apology to Li Jianguo and Tian Run'e. They used the huge temptation of curing Li Jianguo's illness to hit the Li family's soft spot.

Chen Zijin asked with concern: "Aunt, if he receives medical treatment on the spot, will Uncle Li be able to recover?"

Chen Xiaomi and Chen Gaoyuan looked at each other and said thoughtfully, "I dare not say too much. We can only draw a conclusion after the actual condition is diagnosed.

But don't worry, this old Chinese doctor is very famous in the capital, and ordinary people don't have the opportunity to see him."

Chen Gaoyuan also said to Li Heng at this time: "I have a rough idea of ​​who you are talking about, little sister. She and the granddaughter of the old Chinese medicine doctor are schoolmates and best friends, which is indeed very convenient in this regard."

Damn it, this is a naked sugar-coated bullet!
In my previous life, my father’s health completely collapsed due to this disease. He saw many doctors and went to many hospitals but nothing worked, and he passed away early.

This matter involved life and death, so Li Heng couldn't refuse outright. He said seriously, "I'll go back and discuss it with the two elders."

As they were leaving the time-honored breakfast shop, Chen Xiaomi suddenly asked tentatively, "Li Heng, do you have any plans for your next novel?"

Hearing this, Chen Gaoyuan, Chen Zijin, the English teacher and Zhang Zhiqiang all looked at him.

Seeing Chen Xiaomi's expectant look, Li Heng shook his head and said, "At present, we only have a rough outline, and it has not been confirmed yet."

Hearing this, Chen Xiaomi looked at him as if he were a demon. She had only asked tentatively and didn't hold out much hope.

After all, it is not easy for a writer to write a novel. It takes a long time to go through the whole process including inspiration, material collection, conception and detail improvement.

There are many writers who spend three to five years, or even longer, to finish a work. How can they be as prolific as Li Heng?
Li Heng now was like a delicious meal. Chen Xiaomi stared at him, wanting to say something but stopping herself. She really wanted to ask him what the subject matter of his new novel was.

When will you start writing?
Are you interested in submitting to a new magazine?

Should it be handed over to Harvest magazine again?
Many questions popped up in her mind all of a sudden, but Chen Xiaomi finally resisted the urge to take a bite of this huge delicacy, knowing that now was not the right time.

On the way back, Chen Gaoyuan saw that his younger sister was silent and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? Are you still thinking about Li Hengxin's novel?"

Chen Xiaomi did not answer directly, but sighed: "Tian Run'e is so lucky to have such a good son."

Chen Gaoyuan nodded and said earnestly after a long while: "Run'e's temper is no less stubborn than your sister-in-law's. It will be troublesome."

The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. Both siblings understood this truth, but neither of them said it out loud.

Just like Chen Xiaomi, because she admired Li Heng's talent, she could follow the old man's wishes and actively seek reconciliation with Li Heng and the Li family.

But it is different for the eldest sister-in-law, eldest sister and second sister. They are not literati, nor do they work in the literary field. They will not be so sensitive to Li Heng's talent at the first time, nor will they be so shocked at his spiritual core. There is a lag.

Of course, if Li Heng could maintain the level of "To Live" and write one or two more such works in his lifetime, then perhaps the situation would be completely different.

But everyone can see how high the quality of "To Live" is. Can Li Heng write a comparable work?

Chen Xiaomi shook her head secretly, it’s too difficult!

It's not that she looks down on it, but she analyzes it rationally using objective facts.

After all, many people reach their peak as soon as they debut, and it is difficult for them to write such a hit work again later.

For example, Mr. Cao's Thunderstorm is an insurmountable monument in the history of Chinese drama. Even though Mr. Cao continued to write and produce many excellent works, the outside world generally believes that they are not as good as Thunderstorm.

ps: That's all for today. Please vote for me! Please subscribe!

(End of this chapter)