Chapter 286

Time flows like water; unknowingly, a week has passed since New Year's Day.

On New Year's Day 1988, two major events occurred in the newspapers.

The first was that the Tiananmen Gate Tower in Jingcheng was officially opened to Chinese and foreign tourists.

The first Tiananmen Gate Tower admission ticket was sold for 10 yuan, which caused a great sensation in the newspapers.

The second event had to do with Li Heng.

The December issue of "Harvest" magazine directly achieved 3.06 million copies, stunning the entire literary world with its terrifyingly brilliant performance!

This time, not only were famous literary magazines like "October," "Contemporary," and "Flower City" dumbfounded, but even the big brother "People's Literature" was a bit jealous, and different voices appeared internally because of this.

And the one who bore the brunt was Chen Xiaomi; several editors who were usually jealous of her spread rumors behind her back, saying she got in through connections and that she was still too young, pushing the literary world's rising star to "Harvest."

Regarding this, Chen Xiaomi didn't have much of a reaction. Instead, under the gaze of a crowd of colleagues, she walked directly up to the culprit, Zhou Lan, raised her hand, and slapped her twice, then walked away without saying a word.

Zhou Lan cried loudly but didn't dare to make a scene because she had a guilty conscience and couldn't afford to offend the Chen family.

As "Cultural Bitter Journey," which had been finished for half a month, became increasingly popular and its influence grew, public opinion fermented violently.

Previously, "To Live" was only widely welcomed among literati and readers.

But "Cultural Bitter Journey" broke a boundary, and mainstream media like "People's Daily" and "China Youth Daily" successively published special reports for it.

In particular, "People's Daily" cited the previous evaluation of Mr. Yu Guangzhong as a subtitle: Chinese prose, after Zhu Ziqing and Qian Zhongshu, has produced Twelve Months.

"People's Daily" highly praised "Cultural Bitter Journey" and the writer Twelve Months, stating that by tracing, pondering, and questioning Chinese culture, he pointed his pen toward cultural personality and cultural conscience, displaying the difficult mental journey of a Chinese literatus.

Relying on profound literary knowledge and historical foundation, as well as rich cultural insight and artistic expression, Twelve Months wrote these articles, revealing the immense connotation of Chinese culture.

From the Daoist Tower to the Wine Cemetery, from Sunshine Snow to the Wujiang Boat, from Qingyun Spectrum to Tian Yi Pavilion, from West Lake to Suzhou, he saw the historical accumulation hidden behind specific imagery; carrying pain, he pursued culture and wrote history, exploring the depths of the social and historical field through one long journey after another, letting us see the vicissitudes of history and the inevitable drifting away of humanism…

Hearing that Twelve Months had traveled over half of China to complete this book, referring to hundreds of classics, documents, and local county records, I feel deeply admiring and respectful.

This journey was not only a bitter journey but also a baptism…

"People's Daily" published a social commentary of several thousand words, while Ye Ning on the sofa was dancing and reciting it loudly, reading with cadence.

When she read to the point of excitement, she even said to Li Heng, Mai Sui, Zhou Shihe, and Sun Manning:

"It's written so well, this commentator is high-level; if I could see Twelve Months one day, I'd be willing to sleep with him for free, woo-woo, I admire him so much! What should I do?"

Hearing these tiger-wolf words, Sun Manning lay on the sofa, rolling happily, covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes constantly scanning Li Heng opposite the sofa, trying her best to hold back laughter.

Mai Sui looked at someone charmingly and got up to pour tea for them.

Li Heng's face twitched; he pretended not to hear, but felt especially gratified inside.

Zhou Shihe also smiled; she looked at him unobtrusively, then lowered her head to read "China Youth Daily," which also had a large-scale report related to "Cultural Bitter Journey."

And "China Youth Daily's" praise for this prose was even more excessive than "People's Daily," with the main headline being: Twelve Months, a generation of prose masters comparable to Lu Xun!

Catching this headline, Zhou Shihe savored it three times, then looked up at the boy who was peeling an orange with an air of composure.

She once again felt this boy's cultural foundation and depth, and felt his immense reputation and personality charm as a literatus.

"Ah, look! Look! Mr. Jin Yong has published in the newspaper, actually calling out publicly in the paper that he wants to meet the writer Twelve Months, wanting to invite him to dinner and chat all night; Li—this writer Twelve Months is really amazing!"

Because she was too excited, Sun Manning almost called out Li Heng's name.

"Really? Really? Let me see! Let me see!"

Ye Ning snatched the newspaper, and after finishing it, immediately jumped up and raised her hand to announce:

"I've decided, if there's a chance to see Twelve Months, I'll let him sleep with me for free for two nights, woo-woo—no! Three nights is fine too."

Seeing her best friend like this, Zhou Shihe couldn't hold back this time and chuckled.

However, when she noticed Li Heng's gaze was attracted by her smile, she gradually became silent again.

Afterward, she unobtrusively held the newspaper in front of her slightly higher, trying her best to cover her face.

From childhood to adulthood, she had a profound awareness of her beauty and charm, always being the absolute focus of the crowd wherever she went; she had seen this kind of gaze too often and was already used to it.

Zhou Shihe didn't blame Li Heng; she knew it was out of instinct, not intentional, just like other boys in school, sometimes it just happened naturally.

Only at times like this did she feel that Li Heng was also an ordinary person, a real person, not the legendary writer who made his peers look up to him and resounded through the literary world.

Actually, the two were already very good friends now, having eaten together many times and often rehearsing "The Scenery of My Hometown" together; the reason she subconsciously used the newspaper to cover her face was that she didn't want her best friend Mai Sui to misunderstand.

Besides official media like "People's Daily" and "China Youth Daily," in the past half month, dozens or hundreds of newspapers and magazines in Shanghai like "Xinmin Evening News," "Oriental Morning Post," and "News Morning Post," as well as other provinces and cities, had also appeared with a large number of reading reflections and literary critiques about "Cultural Bitter Journey."

Because this prose was widely acclaimed and welcomed nationwide, during this period, reader letters flew into "Harvest" magazine like snowflakes, making Chief Editor Liao and the others both happy and helpless.

There were too many letters! Too many! In just half a month, there were at least over 3,000!

For the first time, Chief Editor Liao, who had been in the industry for decades, felt readers were so crazy and felt a writer was so popular.

Honestly speaking, Chief Editor Liao, who was over 50, was still very shocked inside!

He once sighed to Old Mr. Ba: "I picked up a treasure by accident, I can't let him run away!"

Old Mr. Ba smiled and then said: "I'll write the preface for 'Cultural Bitter Journey,' you take charge of the publication matters."

Chief Editor Liao asked tentatively: "How many copies do you think this book can sell in a month?"

Old Mr. Ba pondered for a moment and gave a number: "2 million."

Chief Editor Liao was surprised: "You think that highly of him?"

Old Mr. Ba said: "This is the threshold; he represents the future of the literary world."

Chief Editor Liao pinched his unlit cigarette, thought for a while, and stood up: "To ensure everything goes well, I need to contact a few more parties."

Old Mr. Ba didn't express any opinion on this.

"Wow! In another week, 'Cultural Bitter Journey' will be published and listed individually; I plan to go buy it then, who will accompany me?" Ye Ning pointed to a piece of news in "Xinmin Evening News" and asked them.

Sun Manning was the first to raise her hand, "Me, me, me! I plan to buy 5 copies to give away."

Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe glanced at Li Heng simultaneously and joined the team.

Seeing Li Heng unmoved, Ye Ning jumped over from another sofa and kicked Li Heng's butt lightly with her instep:

"Hey, Li Heng, give me some face and go together."

Seeing Mai Sui, Zhou Shihe, and Sun Manning laughing and watching the show, Li Heng raised his head and asked: "You're so young, why do you like him so much?"

Ye Ning gestured with her fingers and posed, saying: "Oh, I can see you don't read enough literary books and don't understand how awesome Twelve Months is."

"I don't understand? Don't you see how many books are in my study?" Li Heng teased her.

"Pfft! Having books is nothing great; having books doesn't mean you've read them. I work at Xinhua Bookstore and guard so many books every day, yet I haven't seen anyone write a 'Cultural Bitter Journey'." Ye Ning directly opened fire.

Li Heng said: "Did you read the news gossip in the newspaper? Aren't you afraid Twelve Months is an old geezer?"

"So what if he's an old geezer? This girl loves an old geezer with such talent." Ye Ning put her hands on her hips.

Hearing this, the three girls opposite were completely dumbfounded and immediately burst into laughter…

Ye Ning kicked him again, "Give me an answer, are you going or not? Will you give me this face?"

"Sigh! Stop kicking, stop kicking, I'll go, okay?" This girl kicked quite hard, Li Heng muttered and moved away from her automatically.

Ye Ning said: "Then you're not allowed to curse him as an old geezer in the future, hear me? Otherwise, I won't be done with you."

Li Heng surrendered and promised: "Comrade Ye Ning, I understand."

After some playful fighting, Sun Manning asked curiously: "Ningning, there are several Twelve Months readers in our dormitory, but they aren't as crazy as you; why are you so obsessed?"

"This is a long story. I actually didn't pay attention to these at first, but later, influenced by my cousin, I came into contact with 'To Live,' and then I was shocked by it as a heavenly book, and then I couldn't stop…" Ye Ning recounted her experience.

Sun Manning felt it was especially fun and asked teasingly: "Then you wouldn't really have fallen in love with this writer, would you?"

Hearing this, Li Heng rolled his eyes at Sun Manning obscurely; this girl didn't show weakness and returned two eye rolls, fierce to a mess.

Ye Ning said, "Do you think I'm stupid? Although I support Twelve Months and sincerely love his books, poetry is poetry, and life is life; I wouldn't put my feelings into him.

It's my cousin who… sigh."

Halfway through, she stopped and couldn't continue.

She only had one cousin, which was senior Ye Zhanyan. Everyone present knew her, and they immediately pricked up their ears.

Especially Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe; the two women looked at each other and then glanced at Li Heng together, vaguely guessing something.

Sun Manning hurriedly asked: "What happened to your cousin? Oh right, she hasn't come to school since New Year's Day, and she resigned as the Student Union President; nothing happened, right?"

"Mm, something did happen." Mentioning this, Ye Ning sighed a bit.

"What happened?" Mai Sui asked with concern.

Seeing everyone looking over, Ye Ning sat down and said: "My cousin broke up with her boyfriend."

Li Heng was a bit stunned hearing this news.

Zhou Shihe and Mai Sui looked at each other for a while and quieted down.

"What?"

Sun Manning exclaimed, "Break up? Weren't they doing fine before? Who proposed it?"

Ye Ning said: "My cousin proposed it actively. Because of this, her boyfriend even flew back from the UK specifically. My uncle's family and her boyfriend's family gathered together to ask the reason? Asked why they were breaking up."

Sun Manning followed up: "Right, why break up?"

Ye Ning said: "My cousin said she fell in love with someone else and felt guilty in her heart, unable to focus on her boyfriend anymore, so she felt that while they were still young, she should propose breaking up early."

Mai Sui subconsciously looked at Li Heng.

Zhou Shihe also looked at Li Heng.

Li Heng fell into deep thought.

Sun Manning asked hurriedly: "And then?"

Ye Ning said: "They broke up anyway. The family asked her who she fell in love with? She wouldn't say no matter what, but only I know that she fell in love with the writer Twelve Months."

Speaking of this, Ye Ning was very angry: "You judge, is she stupid? Reading books is just reading books, how could she fall in love with him? Her brain must have been caught in a door.

She even gave up Cambridge University and her boyfriend."

Afterward, she muttered and added, "It really was caught in a door quite badly!"

Li Heng put down the newspaper and asked: "Then where is senior Ye now?"

Ye Ning said: "She went to Yale University in the United States, taking the plane the night before last."

This matter caused quite a shock to them, and the living room seemed a bit quiet for a moment.

Li Heng remembered something—a promise he made to the senior, saying he would take Mai Sui to eat with her after New Year's Day, but it ended up coming to nothing.

However, thinking back, it was quite good that it ended up coming to nothing, avoiding the embarrassment of meeting.

Mai Sui associated it with herself; she was similar to senior Ye in some aspects, and felt inexplicably desolate in her heart.

Zhou Shihe was always paying attention to her best friend, and seeing Mai Sui's emotions were off, she immediately stood up and said to her:

"Mai Sui, I want to go to Wujiaochang to buy something, accompany me."

Mai Sui said okay and stood up with her.

"I'm going too!"

"I'm going too!"

Sun Manning and Ye Ning followed one after another; in an instant, only Li Heng was left in the living room.

Before leaving, Sun Manning asked Li Heng: "Why aren't you moving?"

Li Heng dismissed her by saying he had something to do later.

Coming downstairs, scanning Ye Ning and Sun Manning chasing each other in front, Zhou Shihe held Mai Sui's hand and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Mai Sui shook her head.

Walking forward a distance, Zhou Shihe asked: "Do you have a knot in your heart?"

Mai Sui lowered her head and didn't speak.

Zhou Shihe asked: "Are Xiao Han and Li Heng officially together?"

"Mm, I'm not very clear, but they should be together." Mai Sui sounded a bit low when saying these words.

Zhou Shihe thought for a moment, deliberated, and said: "If you can't let go, you should spend the night at his house more often in the future."

Mai Sui raised her head, understanding only half of it.

Seeing her best friend's expression, Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly and reminded her secretly: "The delicious dishes on the table are often snatched up first; the opportunity closest to the bowl is the greatest."

Mai Sui blushed.

Zhou Shihe blinked, "Don't be in a hurry to blush; the opportunity second closest to the bowl is also not small."

PS: Please subscribe! Please vote with monthly tickets!

10,400 words updated today, continuing tomorrow.

(End of chapter)