Literary Master 1983

Chapter 60 New Year
Liu Jiaju asked Yu Qie: "Teacher Yu, this is the image we designed based on your novel. What do you think?"

That was a real block, I was so satisfied.

Liu Jiaju could tell what Yu Qie meant from his expression and continued, "We contacted the Red Rock magazine directly... They were very considerate of our situation and borrowed the city government's fax machine to send the manuscript. You don't know, this Japanese fax machine is quite valuable, and only a few units in the country can use it..."

"We finally decided that they would send us their paper manuscripts and we would reprint them a month later. As for the comic strip, we have to start production now! The front line can't wait any longer."

"Teacher Yu, if you have any ideas, you can communicate with us at any time."

Yu Qie said: "How do we communicate?"

"A telephone? It's a different era now, and there's still no telephone. Military Literature and Art will reimburse the phone bill. Let me tell you something else. Anyone who submits an article to our Military Literature and Art can cut a notch in the upper left corner of the envelope and write the word 'manuscript'. We don't need to put a stamp on it."

That's right. This was the policy at the time to encourage troops to create.

At the beginning, other state-owned publishing houses followed suit, but they soon could not do it anymore and only gave special treatment to certain writers, but the army has always been able to do so.

"Wait a minute," Wang Shimin said at the right time, "We have a telephone at Beijing People's Publishing House, don't worry. Yu Qie, you can use it at will."

No matter how special your "Military Literature and Art" is, you can't start poaching people in front of me.

"That's fine. It's urgent right now, but we can't come all the time."

After saying that, he left again.

"What day is it today?" Wang Shimin asked.

"The twenty-eighth." Luo Yihe replied.

"This is what it means to race against time," Wang Shimin said with emotion. "Compared with Military Literature and Art, we are as slow as a turtle!"

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On New Year's Eve, Yu Qie celebrated the New Year with other international students. Two brothers from the Spanish Department were also there, one of them wanted to pick up girls and the other had no money to go home.

There is a TV room downstairs in the international student apartment, where you can watch free TV.

Zhang Li returned home four days ago. If her train had not been delayed, she would have been in Chengdu watching the fireworks outside.

Thinking: Brother Yu, what do you see over there?

Zhang Li was one of the first people from the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions" to go to the Old Summer Palace. The director admired her attitude very much. She will not come to Yanjing again next year until April, when everyone will be there.

During this period, she met Yu Qie once and knitted some woolen clothes for him, and Yu Qie gave her a bottle of Coca-Cola and a Japanese Seiko watch.

When they parted, Zhang Li couldn't help but hug Yu Qie. Yu Qie had been troubled by all kinds of things during this period, so he didn't care about etiquette and hugged her tightly.

As soon as she was hugged, Zhang Li burst into tears: "Brother Yu, we will all be fine."

Alas, this Zhang Li.

Let's watch the 84 Spring Festival Gala together. This year's Spring Festival Gala was praised by later generations as "the most successful Spring Festival Gala" and created many firsts:
It was the first time that hosts and actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan appeared, the first time that skits appeared, and the first time that the Spring Festival Gala’s fixed ending song “Unforgettable Tonight” appeared.

"Eating Noodles" by Li Guyi, Ma Ji, Yin Xiumei, You Benchang, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao - since then, sketches have become the most popular art form in the Spring Festival Gala.

A true gathering of stars and masters.

1984 was the first time that China would participate in the Olympic Games. Everyone was paying attention to how the ancient country would perform in its first Olympic Games and whether it could win gold. Among the many sports, only table tennis could guarantee that it would win the championship. However, table tennis was not selected as an Olympic event, which was a great pity for the people of the country.

Near midnight, two world champions Li Furong and Zhang Xielin came to the Spring Festival Gala to play a table tennis exhibition match.

Wang Qiang watched carefully for a while and said, "Yu Qie, they play the ball without blocking, they play openly."

Yu Qie said: "They are playing an exhibition match, so of course they can't use bad tactics."

"Is this how a formal competition can be played? It affects the viewing experience!"

"We don't know whether others cover their faces or not. To prevent this, we have to cover our faces first."

Yu Minhong, pondering over Yu Qie's words, felt that they touched his heart. He whispered to Wang Qiang, "Yu Qie is good at writing novels, playing table tennis, and looking pretty. He does things without leaving any room for error... It seems that successful people all do this, and only fools care about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness."

Wang Qiang told Yu Minhong very seriously: "I told you once before, and now I tell you again, don't learn Yu Qie, you will never be him."

Yu Minhong felt misunderstood: "When I admire someone, I can't help but imitate him."

"But you are not him." Wang Qiang felt that Old Yu was a little twisted and something would happen sooner or later.

Then several songs sung by Zhang Mingmin appeared. When he sang "My Chinese Heart", many Chinese students shed tears, including Yu Qie and Wang Qiang who was ready to perform abroad at any time.

Everyone has a sense of local sentiment, but some people cannot stand the test.

The international students didn’t know why everyone was crying, so they laughed out of curiosity.

Later in the show, there was a segment of qigong performances, which of course was very difficult to hold. The two brothers from the Spanish Department talked about science fiction literature that began to disappear last year. Yu Minhong felt that he had learned something new: "It seems that qigong is also a science, but I don't know where to study this science."

Wang Qiang was skeptical and asked his girlfriend Lucy, "Is there qigong in the United States?"

Her girlfriend knew Che Guevara, but she didn’t know the authentic word Qigong: “What is Qigong?”

"Special ability."

The answer is yes. Oh, so there is one in the United States too.

So Wang Qiang also believed it.

Finally, the song "Unforgettable Tonight" was played. This song was once left off the program because it was "not written in a healthy way and sounded soft like a funeral song." However, the director insisted on keeping the song.

When the early morning bell rang, Zhao Zhongxiang responded to the female host in a very magnetic voice:

"I will never forget this night. I will never forget this night."

“No matter where in the world we live, China embraces us all.”

"We wish our motherland well~"

"Goodbye tonight, goodbye tonight."

"Whether new friends or old friends, I'll see you again next spring."

The host toasted and said goodbye to the audience and actors, "Happy New Year, friends!"

(End of this chapter)