1979: My fiancée is a goddess

July 1st is a very important day.

Sixty years ago on this day, the Party, which led the people of the whole country to liberate the nation, was founded.

Kang Lao, a member of the All-China Women's Federation, wrote in the journal "Women's Work" that "without the Party, there would be no liberation of Chinese women."

To celebrate this day, Cheng Kaiyan, an ordinary citizen, also chose to wear a gold and red badge on the left side of her shirt.

At that moment, he was sitting on a small stool at a wonton stall on Chaoyang Street.

He ate breakfast with a spoon in one hand and flipped through the newspapers of the past few days with the other.

Today is an important day.

But many significant events have also occurred in the past week.

Cheng Kaiyan closed the newspaper, took a sip of wonton soup to calm her nerves, and prepared to get up and leave.

As soon as I looked up, I noticed something unusual ten meters away.

A skinny, furtive young man was following two young women, and one of his hands had already quietly reached into the briefcase one of the women was carrying.

The woman, completely unaware of what was happening, continued chatting enthusiastically with her colleague.

"The security situation is getting worse and worse. It seems I'll still have to pick up and drop off Sister Xiaoli every day."

Cheng Kaiyan sighed inwardly and remained seated.

His sharp, cold gaze fixed on the three people slowly approaching him, his muscles subtly tensing.

One step, two steps, three steps, and the clear voices of two women rang out in my ears.

"Xiaoyuan, I took the day off yesterday and didn't come to work. Did Chairman Chen say anything to me?"

"No, Chairman Chen is a very nice person, but something big did happen in the association yesterday."

"what's up?"

"Our association's vice president, Hu Jianwen, has actually been investigated for embezzlement!"

The position of vice president was directly removed, and President Chen announced in public that Teacher Cheng Kaiyan would take over the badge position.

Today, Teacher Cheng is coming to perform his duties at the association. I heard he's also going to select a group of people to establish our association's affiliated journals!

"How much money did this fat Hu embezzle? Will he be executed? If so, wouldn't we be able to work for Teacher Cheng?!"

"I don't know, it's still under investigation."

The two women were completely unaware that they were being watched while they were talking.

Meanwhile, the thief's dark hand reached into their briefcases.

However, they were getting closer and closer to Cheng Kaiyan, three meters, two meters, one meter.

"Oh!"

Cheng Kaiyan stood up and kicked out suddenly, her loose black trousers billowing in the wind with a soft thud.

Hearing the sudden noise, the thief caught a glimpse of a black shadow kicking towards him out of the corner of his eye, and alarm bells went off in his mind.

Before he could react, the kick landed hard on his soft stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground with unstoppable force. He rolled several times before finally crashing into a telephone pole and coming to a stop.

“Puff—Ah!”

The sudden, sharp pain turned the young man's dark, thin face red and purple. His stomach, which hadn't eaten breakfast, suddenly contracted, and he turned his head, spitting out a mouthful of sour saliva onto the ground.

The sudden commotion startled the surrounding pedestrians.

"What happened?!"

The two women, who had been chatting and laughing just moments before, were now on edge, staring in disbelief at what had happened.

"Catch the thief!"

Cheng Kaiyan shouted.

The people on the street immediately realized what was happening and shouted, "Catch the thief!"

"Oh shit!"

The skinny young man ignored the pain, cursed under his breath, wiped his face, and scrambled away to escape.

"You bastard, you dare to run away!"

At that moment, a burly man pounced on him and pinned him down.

After some effort, with the help of kind-hearted locals, they managed to take him away.

But Cheng Kaiyan knew this was only a temporary solution; he could see clearly that he couldn't vomit anything out of his stomach.

"Oh dear, my briefcase..."

The short-haired woman with glasses was still shaken. She touched her briefcase, which had been slashed, with great concern and looked up, saying, "Thank you so much, comrade. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known."

"Yes, yes, all our money is in our bags!"

Another woman with medium-length hair and freckles on her face turned pale with fright.

"Quickly check if any money is missing. By the way, are you from the Children's Literature Research Association?"

Cheng Kaiyan waved her hand to indicate that it was nothing, and then asked again.

"Yes, yes! How did you know?"

The two checked and found that the money was not missing, but when they heard Cheng Kaiyan's words, they were shocked and quickly asked.

"hehe."

Cheng Kaiyan smiled and said, "Me too."

"You too? I don't recognize you."

The short-haired girl looked at Cheng Kaiyan with some confusion, feeling that the person looked somewhat familiar.

"Ah! You're Teacher Cheng! Right!"

After calming down, the freckled girl looked at Cheng Kaiyan's face and quickly screamed.

"Looks like I'm somewhat famous."

"What do you mean 'a little'? You're clearly very famous! I saw you during the last election, and you were even in the newspaper a couple of days ago!"

"Don't use your formal name, just call me by my name. You're all older than me."

"Then I'll call you Cheng Kaiyan. I'm also your senior from Beijing Normal University! Hehe!"

……

With the same destination in mind, the three walked side by side toward the Ministry of Culture building.

As they walked and chatted, Cheng Kaiyan learned that the two girls were secretaries in the secretariat of the association, specifically responsible for document processing and other related matters.

The girl with short hair, glasses, and a small round face is actually a senior in the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University, named Fang Yuan.

The girl with long hair, fair skin, and freckles on her face is Li Xiaoqing, an English major at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Both of them are in their early twenties and joined the association last year, which is how they became friends. They now share an apartment in a nearby courtyard house.

I listened to the chattering around me, and the detailed self-introductions.

Cheng Kaiyan smiled helplessly. These two were practically telling him his clothing size. However, since he was new here, he did need one or two familiar colleagues to help him with his work.

Therefore, they also showed some enthusiasm.

Two female comrades volunteered to take Cheng Kaiyan around, especially to the large office of their association.

It's still early, and there's no one in the office yet.

After looking around for a while, Cheng Kaiyan felt quite familiar with the place. She waved her hand and said, "You guys go to work. I'm going to find Chairman Chen. See you at the meeting later."

"See you in the meeting!"

Goodbye, Teacher Cheng!

The two women said their goodbyes with some reluctance. After Cheng Kaiyan left, Fang Yuan and Li Xiaoqing started chattering away again.

"So handsome, Teacher Cheng."

"Yes! Especially the eyes, they're so beautiful! I've decided, I definitely want to join the journal creation team led by Teacher Cheng later!"

"Me too, me too!"

……

Meanwhile, Cheng Kaiyan found President Chen Zijun's office.

"Dong dong!"

Knock on the door, and a voice comes from inside.

It was not even eight o'clock yet, and there were already people inside. Cheng Kaiyan was a little surprised; it seemed that Chairman Chen was a diligent and down-to-earth person.

Push open the door and enter the house.

"Comrade Cheng Kaiyan, we've been waiting for you! Welcome, welcome! Come, come, sit down and have some tea."

Chen Zijun smiled at the young man at the door, waved to him, and poured him tea.

With a major scourge within the society eradicated and a renowned American scholar joining the ranks, he was in an exceptionally lighthearted mood!

Seeing that the association is about to flourish, how could I not be in a good mood?
"call……"

Cheng Kaiyan walked over, leaned back on the sofa, faced the warm sunlight and the vast sky outside the window, and took a breath.

"Let's have a good talk about today's work arrangements. I've prepared a very detailed plan based on your suggestions for the development of the association last time. You'll have to take a close look at it later, point out any mistakes, and give me some pointers."

Chen Zijun pushed a cup of clear tea over and smiled.

"It's all about learning from each other."

Cheng Kaiyan picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said softly with a smile, "I'm here today mainly to get acquainted with the place, but let me make it clear first, I'm usually quite busy. I'm a teaching assistant at Beijing Normal University, and I'll be starting my graduate studies in the fall."

Yes, when he said he was very busy, he meant:

I sleep in until I naturally wake up every day, cook a meal or buy some breakfast, then leisurely ride my bike to take my wife to school, then go back to the office to visit my aunt, and maybe have a little banter with a certain loser, then pick up my wife after get off work and enjoy a wonderful night out.

"Oh, I see. That does make things quite busy, but I feel that since it was you who proposed the plan, we can't just exclude you like this."

Chen Zijun was unaware of his daily schedule, but he expressed his understanding.

After all, I have to write, be a teaching assistant, go to school, and finally study children's literature theory.

For most people, it would be quite an achievement to do even one thing well.

It's all thanks to Comrade Cheng Kaiyan's great abilities that he has achieved what he has today.

Chen Zijun sighed with regret and pondered, "How about this? We'll entrust you with the task of starting a journal in our association. The workload might be a bit heavy in the early stages, like running around to the printing factory and finalizing the layout design."

Later on, you can do some editing work, review the papers, and then you can leave the rest to yourself..."

"This is fine."

Cheng Kaiyan nodded. Well, now she's gone from writing papers to reviewing others' papers.

At this moment, Chen Zijun handed over the proposal in his hand. Cheng Kaiyan opened the first page and asked, "What catchy name do you plan to give the journal?"

"I hadn't thought of that beforehand. What do you think of 'Children's Literature Research Journal' or 'Children's Code'?"

Chen Zijun frowned and pondered.

"How about calling it 'The Ark'? Noah's Ark symbolizes that children's literature is a Noah's Ark that carries the human spirit and the ideal world of the future!"

A name popped into Cheng Kaiyan's mind, as if she had been inspired, and she began to speak rapidly, like beans being poured out.

"Ark, Ark! Great! Great! What a wonderful name!"

Chen Zijun's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "In my opinion, with Comrade Cheng Kaiyan here, and with such a prestigious title, this journal will definitely become a top-tier journal in China and even internationally! Our country's children's literature will also be able to grow stronger!"

"That's also my goal."

Cheng Kaiyan and Chen Zijun exchanged a glance, as if they had found a companion to travel with!
"Then let's work together!"

The two waved and clapped hands together, holding them tightly.

To be honest, Cheng Kaiyan had a lot of objections to this middle-aged man for dragging her into the vice president election without her consent.

He strongly disliked the feeling of being used as a pawn.

However, this heart-to-heart talk had already given these two researchers of Chinese children's literature a shared vision and goal.

The distance between the two suddenly shortened considerably.

In the following time, they discussed in detail the journal's establishment plan and personnel arrangements in the office.

As for children's literature workshops and projects involving cooperation with universities, they will be put on hold for now and will be launched later.

Before you know it, it's ten o'clock.

It was time for the meeting.

The two took paper and pen and went out to notify the staff in the office and the association members.

Today is the 1st, the association's monthly work meeting is being held in a large conference room.

There were quite a few attendees, about seventy or eighty people.

Twenty-five of them are staff members of the association, responsible for handling daily affairs and handing them over to the provincial and municipal associations.

The rest were members of the association who lived in Beijing. Some of them were university teachers, some were children's literature writers, and some were editors. They were much more loosely organized, and some of their work and meetings were entirely voluntary.

However, people's self-awareness is quite high these days, and they will come over unless there are special circumstances.

The meeting begins.

President Chen Zijun warmly pulled Cheng Kaiyan onto the stage and introduced her with a loud laugh: "Comrades, this is our Vice President, Comrade Cheng Kaiyan. I'm sure you all have gotten to know Comrade Cheng Kaiyan quite well by now, right?"

"However, I still want to give a formal introduction. This is a well-known writer, poet, fairy tale master, pioneer in children's literature theory research, honorary professor of Beijing Normal University, member of the China Writers Association, and finally... he is also the vice president of our China Children's Literature Research Association!"

"Everyone applauds and welcomes!"

"Clap clap clap!"

"Welcome, welcome, warm welcome!"

"Welcome, Teacher Cheng!"

As soon as he finished speaking, enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted from the audience.

If some people previously thought that Cheng Kaiyan was too young to be convincing, now that she has been praised by the Daily News and brought glory to the country, Cheng Kaiyan has completely won over the experts and scholars in the audience.

"Hello everyone, I am Cheng Kaiyan, and I will be working with you all from now on."

Cheng Kaiyan smiled and waved, secretly marveling at the morale of the troops.

After briefly appearing on stage as Chairman Cheng, Cheng Kaiyan stepped down to listen to Chairman Chen's work arrangements.

"Our focus for the second half of the year will be on the journal's establishment plan! Please welcome Vice President Cheng Kaiyan to give a detailed explanation and arrangement of the plan!"

After making the arrangements, Chen Zijun addressed the audience.

"Clap!"

Everyone knew that this plan was his work, so they burst into even louder applause.

Cheng Kaiyan stepped onto the stage and began her explanation in a serious and solemn tone.

"Comrades, children's literature has developed independently as a systematic and specialized field of study, and this has been initially accomplished in the West."

However, our domestic field is still largely undeveloped. Therefore, establishing more professional, rigorous, and influential children's literature research journals is an imperative for the comprehensive development of children's arts and literature in our country!

"It is also an essential step to catch up with and surpass Britain and the United States!"

"Therefore, in the second half of this year, our association will establish an academic journal called 'Ark'..."

Cheng Kaiyan's narration and arrangements lasted for nearly forty minutes, and the comrades were all very excited and expectant.

The composition of the journal "Ark" has also been preliminarily determined.

The editorial team consists of ten people, including the chief editor, deputy chief editor, and regular editors, with a staff of fifteen.

Cheng Kaiyan also included Fang Yuan and Li Xiaoqing, two relatively familiar female comrades she had met that morning.

End of the meeting.

Cheng Kaiyan then gathered the twenty-five members of the "Ark" journal together, and they introduced themselves and made preliminary work arrangements.

At noon, Cheng Kaiyan led everyone out to a restaurant for lunch.

This can be considered as initially uniting the team.

"Next comes finalizing the layout, design, columns, printing, and distribution. It looks like this summer will be quite busy."

After finishing her meal, Cheng Kaiyan rode her bike home, making plans in her mind.

The sun was hot, the wind was hot, and my heart was hot all the way.

The Ministry of Culture building is very close to my home; it only takes a few minutes to get there by bike.

Carrying the boxed lunch I brought back, I pushed open the door and went inside.

"Congratulations to Chairman Cheng on returning home! Congratulations!"

A girl in a white dress came running over with her bare white feet, her bright and serene face upturned, and she smiled playfully, cupping her hands in congratulations.

"Haha! Congratulations to the Chairman's wife!"

Cheng Kaiyan pulled the girl into his arms and laughed heartily. (End of Chapter)