1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 136 New Year's Flavor
The elderly mother scratched her head helplessly: "Alright, alright, let's talk to the old lady during the New Year and ask her to come back for the holiday!"

"Yes, you're right."

Seeing the person in front of her walking over, she was so angry she could hardly contain herself that she raised her eyebrows at Zhou Xu, then suddenly pulled him outside, saying, "There are candied hawthorns over there, let me treat you to some."

"I don't like sweets!" Zhou Xu replied, "I like the stinky tofu over there!!!"

"Alright, alright, let's go eat stinky tofu!"

Yao Fanghua went with Zhou Xu to buy stinky tofu.

I made sure to avoid my parents and pretended I hadn't seen anything.

This action infuriated the elderly mother: "Huh? She's pretending she can't see me?"

"Hey, hey... don't do this, don't do this..." Yao's father pulled back his elderly mother, who was about to have a big fight with Yao Fanghua, and finally sighed and said, "Alright, alright, let the two of them go shopping. We can't interfere with their free love."

Aren't you afraid that Fanghua will be deceived?

"How could someone as shrewd as her be fooled?"

"Oh!"

"..."

Nanjing stinky tofu is a traditional snack from Nanjing, representing a category of Jinling (Nanjing) snacks. It is made primarily with Nanjing's signature fermented stinky tofu, seasoned with a variety of condiments.

Of course, the origin of stinky tofu is unclear. It is mainly said to come from two places: Changsha, Hunan and Shaoxing, Zhejiang... It probably depends mainly on the taste.

Zhou Xu picked up a piece of stinky tofu and put it in his mouth.

Ah! It's been so long since I've had stinky tofu, it smells so good...

After finishing our snacks, we strolled around Xinjiekou when a dragon dance came along behind us.

Accompanied by the sound of firecrackers behind them, a series of loud crackling sounds... a group of people began to disperse, eventually gathering on both sides of the street.

Zhou Xu gently pulled her behind him, and couldn't help but say, "There are so many people today!"

"There are indeed a lot. It's been a long time since I've seen such a lively scene," Yao Fanghua exclaimed.

"Different times bring different moods."

"……Um."

The ones dancing like this before weren't lions, but people—oops! They must have been tourists!

As the economy improves over time, these things that were originally buried in the dust of history are rarely remembered.

Zhou Xu coughed.

"It seems a bit cold, shall we go back?" Yao Fanghua offered him a tissue to wipe his face.

The two walked towards the small courtyard.

Back home, Zhou Xu sat down at the table and began to read and study, holding a copy of "In Search of Lost Time," Proust's masterpiece of stream of consciousness, which was indeed a "famous and rare" outstanding foreign literary work in China in the 80s.

Yao Fanghua watched him slowly fall asleep as he turned the nearly worn-out pages of the book.

the next day.

Yao Fanghua went to the provincial drama theater by herself. After performing for a day, she rubbed her feet and felt a slight pain.

The mechanic came over: "Hey? I told you to be gentler! I'm afraid I'm going to hurt your foot again!"

"It's nothing!" She gritted her teeth, then asked, "Master?"

The master walked over and sat down: "What are you doing?"

"Do you have a lot of friends? Can you help me carry something?" Yao Fanghua flashed a bright smile.

The teacher was already in her forties. In her youth, she was a star performer in the theater. Although actors are actors, those who reach the top are extremely sought after. She smiled and said, "What do you want? Dabao or foreign skincare products?"

"None of those!" she shook her head. "I want a complete set of the 'World Academic Classics in Chinese Translation' series!"

Yao Fanghua recently looked at a lot of materials and inquired at many libraries before she learned about this book. Because it is relatively hard to find, you have to ask some publishing houses for it.

Hearing this, the master asked, "What do you need that thing for? You don't usually read books, do you?"

"I've been really into reading foreign classics lately, so does Master have any?" Yao Fanghua asked, pouting.

Hearing this, she could only sigh helplessly, "Yes, yes, yes! I happen to have a friend at a publishing house. I'll bring it to you after the New Year!"

Yao Fanghua immediately asked, "Not after the New Year?"

"How long will it take you?"

"Wouldn't it be best if it were before the New Year?"

"Give me the money..." the driver held out his hand.

Yao Fanghua nodded. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts. Since the other person hadn't asked for more, she gave him thirty yuan, the market price. After all, it was a series, not just one book, but a set: "Is that alright?"

"Okay, who are you bringing this for? Why are you in such a hurry?" The master looked at her suspiciously. "And you're willing to spend so much money?"

"Leave me alone?"

Now that she was going to get the book, her bad temper returned.

"..." Thirty yuan is indeed not a small amount of money. It is equivalent to half a month's wages for a worker. Of course, Yao Fanghua is a stage actress, and she receives a subsidy of two yuan for each play she performs, so she can basically earn it back in half a month.

Time flew by and it was already the 28th.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, every household was busy with spring cleaning, and Yao Fanghua went to work early in the morning. Zhou Xu swept the snow in the yard alone; the world was quiet, which made him feel unusually peaceful.

After clearing away the snow, he moved a chair to the doorway and sat down, leisurely basking in the sun.

The old lady next door strolled over, laughing and teasing, "You child, how come you're as composed as an old man!"

Zhou Xu stood up with a smile: "How do I look like an old man?"

"Look at young people these days, who doesn't make a ruckus and set off firecrackers during the New Year? But you, you're just sitting here quietly in the sun." The old lady said, sitting down next to him.

Zhou Xu smiled and said, "I'm thinking about my novel."

He's always been this way of being, living a leisurely and carefree life.

"Writer! Writer! Expert who sits all the time! Don't always lie down, or you'll catch some kind of health problem. When you get old, you won't even be able to stand up!" she scolded.

Zhou Xu immediately stood up to warm himself up.

"It seems like no couplets have been put up yet. I need to go and prepare some." His parents are always busy during the New Year, so when it's Zhou Xu's turn to celebrate alone, he realizes there's so much to do.

"By the way, get back to work!"

"..."

in the afternoon.

Zhou Xu moved a table out, laid out a sheet of paper, and began writing couplets. After thinking for a while, he wrote a couplet about the Year of the Zodiac: "The rooster crows at dawn, the family prospers; spring fills the universe, wealth flourishes; horizontal scroll: May all your wishes come true!"

A fragrant aroma appeared behind her, and Yao Fanghua slowly approached: "These characters are so beautiful! Did you write them?"

"Yes, of course I wrote it!"

"It's so beautiful!" Yao Fanghua nodded. "Here, take this!"

After praising Zhou Xu's calligraphy, she took out a stack of books from her bag and handed them to him.

Zhou Xu looked at the thick stack of books.

It is titled "The Chinese Translation of World Academic Classics Series".

In the early 1980s, the Commercial Press compiled this series of world-renowned academic works that it had published since the 1950s. These included authoritative translations of many classic Western philosophical works, such as Plato's Republic and Hegel's Aesthetics.

Of course, although this series of books is very famous, it is also notoriously difficult to deal with, especially in this day and age!

Because book printing is all about sales, this kind of book is of excellent quality and has some readers these days, but they are mostly young people interested in literature.

Therefore, generally speaking, not many are printed.

Zhou Xu picked up a few books and said with a smile, "Where did you get these? Thank you so much."

"Where? When I saw you flipping through the book, the copy of 'In Search of Lost Time' you were holding was practically worn out. I asked my master if she had any similar ones! She happened to have a few sets that a friend had given her," Yao Fanghua replied with a smile.

Zhou Xu nodded: "Thank you."

Zhou Xu happily flipped through the series of books.

It wasn't easy to get these books in the 1980s, and besides, you wouldn't be able to read them for long at school.

"I'm glad you like it!" She smiled back.

Zhou Xu then said, "You gave me a New Year's gift, so of course I can't leave you out!"

So he went inside, and after a while, he took out a bright red sweater from the closet!

He handed the sweater to Yao Fanghua and said, "You're twenty-four this year, right? They say every twelve years is your birth year, and you should wear bright red during your birth year! Isn't this sweater red enough?"

"..."

Yao Fanghua looked into his eyes and smiled helplessly: "Don't reveal a girl's age so easily!"

"Oh! I was wrong," Zhou Xu said with a smile.

I received the items.

Continue preparing for the Chinese New Year.

Yao Fanghua then began a thorough cleaning, both inside and out.

Two days later, it was the 30th.

She got up early as if on a set time and started calling Zhou Xu to get up: "Get up quickly."

Zhou Xu was confused, and so was she: "I'll go cook some glutinous rice balls so we can eat them together later."

"Then I'll go put up the couplets."

The division of labor between the two was still clear.

After finishing their preparations, they gathered around the stove and began eating glutinous rice balls: "So sweet!"

"Even though you don't like sweets, you have to eat sweets during the Lunar New Year. It's a time for family reunions and sweetness every year!"

"Oh!"

He ate a few bites and finally drank some sugar water!
"The glutinous rice balls don't taste good," Zhou Xu thought to himself.

"Shall we invite the old lady to have New Year's Eve dinner together later?"

"Ah."

At noon, the two arrived at another courtyard.

Zhou Xu knocked on the door: "Grandma?"

"Grandma?" Yao Fanghua called out.

Soon, a very well-dressed old lady came out! She smiled and said, "Coming, coming."

"Let's celebrate the New Year together for a few years! We can prepare the New Year's Eve dinner together; it'll be more lively with more people!"

"Okay, I really appreciate it when you call me that."

"..."

We returned to the small courtyard.

The three of them prepared their own New Year's Eve dinners, dividing the work so that each person could cook a few dishes.

Zhou Xu naturally wanted to cook some delicious dishes from his hometown: pork rib and lotus root soup, and braised pork hock with potatoes! Both were incredibly tasty!
The two people from Jiangsu naturally cooked Jiangsu delicacies: Suzhou-style fried fish, egg dumplings, mixed vegetables, salted duck...

There were seven or eight dishes in total, which was quite good for the conditions in the early 1980s.

As they worked, evening arrived.

Zhou Xu glanced at the time.

The three of them carried their dishes to the table and began to eat.

"Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!"

Firecrackers went off outside, signaling the start of another year of the New Year celebrations. Zhou Xu had never liked to look at the Gregorian calendar for the New Year.

Only after the Lunar New Year will he truly feel that a year has passed.

(End of this chapter)