Chapter 909: Saying One Thing but Meaning Another

"Comrade Hao Shuwen, how is my song?" Wang Yan stepped forward and asked with a smile.

"I'm seeking truth from facts, the song is indeed not bad, Old Liao must have given you a lot of guidance, right? It's just that your singing is too ugly." Hao Shuwen acknowledged Wang Yan's "creation" level, but still arrogantly found shortcomings.

"You're just jealous of my talent, Old Liao didn't move a single note of the lyrics and music. So what if the singing is ugly, I'm singing with emotion, all from the heart, you'll find it hard to understand in this life. As the saying goes, few know the music, who listens when the strings break..."

Wang Yan put his hands behind his back, shook his head, looking like a summer insect that couldn't talk about ice.

"Hey, you're putting on airs." Hao Shuwen punched Wang Yan irritably.

Lin Dingding said on the side: "Wang Yan, I really didn't expect you to be so talented, it's written really well." Her eyes seemed to be able to speak, full of admiration.

"You're praising him too, his tail will be raised to the sky later."

"You just can't stand me being good." Wang Yan bumped Hao Shuwen with his shoulder, causing her to stagger, and in return received two punches, baring his teeth and saying, "It still has to be Comrade Lin Dingding, not only is she good-looking, but she also speaks well."

Lin Dingding laughed brightly: "I'm also seeking truth from facts, good is good, not good is not good."

"You two are praising each other." Xiao Suizi couldn't laugh or cry, and turned to ask, "So the song is completely finished? When will it be rehearsed?"

"Old Liao's level is indeed high, the arrangement is already done. He said it will be rehearsed tomorrow, let Fang Hongmin sing it solo, and then invite the Political Commissar and the Political Department leaders to come and listen. If there's no problem, it will be arranged for the next performance."

Fang Hongmin was the Art Troupe's ace male singer, in his thirties, with strong professional ability and a high level. Wang Yan, the lyricist and composer, couldn't sing it, and indeed couldn't sing it. Old Liao naturally had to find someone with a high level, and Fang Hongmin, the ace player, naturally deserved it.

Hao Shuwen followed up and asked: "What about your storytelling?"

"Waiting for news, I wrote more than 300,000 words, the leaders are so busy, they have to read it for a while."

"How much? More than 300,000?"

The three women were dumbfounded, especially Xiao Suizi was more surprised. During those days on the march, Xiao Suizi listened all the way. She thought Wang Yan was just organizing the few stories he had told into text, but she didn't expect Wang Yan to be able to organize more than 300,000 words.

She couldn't help but ask: "I remember your few stories weren't that many, right?"

"Can't I write a few more stories?" Wang Yan asked with a smile, and said, "I told the Political Commissar, our China has many heroic figures. Let alone 300,000 words, even 3 million, 30 million words can't be finished."

Lin Dingding laughed: "You're really powerful, I'll wait for you to go on stage and tell stories, I'll definitely cheer for you below."

"Then I'll thank you first."

Just like that, chatting idly, they went back to the dormitory building. The three women went to take a bath with their things, and Wang Yan returned to the dormitory to rest. He hummed all day, although he was not physically or mentally tired, he always wanted to be quiet for a while, the clanging and banging made his brain buzz, which was not very comfortable...

The next day, Wang Yan didn't run to the utility room to practice musical instruments by himself, but sat there listening to the rehearsal of the new song. The band had to grind, the singer had to find the rhythm, all had to practice.

Today's music was much better than when it was arranged yesterday, because the drums, trumpets, wind instruments, etc., were no longer one person, but each had a group of people, and the musical instruments were richer. After all, there were many kinds of trumpets and drums. This made the entire musical accompaniment fuller and more layered.

Fang Hongmin was a baritone, bright, strong, and powerful, and with the musical accompaniment, it gave people a sonorous feeling.

"Is this the song you wrote?" Political Commissar Ning Shan also asked this.

"Political Commissar, didn't you see the lyrics when I was writing songs in the utility room? Old Liao asked the same thing at the time, how about it, can't I write a good song? Political Commissar, criticizing you, you can't look at people with colored glasses."

"Get lost!" Ning Shan said irritably.

Cadres in this era, the higher the level, the more they had fought on the battlefield. Although Ning Shan was now the Political Commissar of the Art Troupe and a civilian official in the back, he had been on the battlefield and fought his way to this position.

After cursing like that, he laughed again: "You really surprised me. The story is well written, and the song is well written too. Not bad, keep up the good work. The Political Department leadership has already reviewed your manuscript and fully affirmed it. They are coming to the troupe for a comfort inspection the day after tomorrow. When the time comes, you go on stage and recite a piece, and sing this song too. Let the leaders hear it, and there will be no shortage of benefits for you, kid, in the future."

By the way, there is also the manuscript of more than 300,000 words you wrote, find time to submit it yourself later. Liberation Army Literature, or newspaper offices, submit more, and there will be more opportunities."

Because of the influence of the current environment, the days of the literary world are not good. For example, the famous People's Literature, Harvest, etc., have basically stopped publication. And other literary journals and magazines that prospered in the 80s and 90s, such as Contemporary, October, Flower City, etc., have not yet been founded. Currently, there are not many channels to submit.

Literary creation is not enthusiastic now, this is political influence. In addition, another point is that the manuscript fee is very small now, not as good as in the 50s and 60s, when writers were quite wealthy. Because they were wealthy to the point of being detached from the masses, the Ministry of Culture changed the manuscript fee system again and again, and until now, there is basically none.

After the opening up, the atmosphere gradually changed, the restrictions gradually disappeared, and literary works appeared like a fountain in the 80s, prospering the literary and artistic world...

Wang Yan nodded and laughed: "What about the manuscript?"

"Your manuscript was kept by the leader, he also said your handwriting is good. I kept one of the two photocopies, you take the remaining one to submit."

This leader is really giving face, and even has a hobby of collecting manuscripts.

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement: "Political Commissar, what are you keeping photocopies for? Wait for me to write another 300,000 words in a while, and I'll leave the manuscript for you then. Anyway, the leader has already reviewed it once, and I guess he won't have the energy to read it in the future. I'll submit it one by one later, and when it's reviewed and published there, we can perform it here. After all, their review is stricter than our internal one, guaranteed no problem."

"What you said makes sense, then write quickly, you kid are still quite good at writing. You know I have a son and a daughter, they are fighting to read it at home."

"Haha, easy to say, easy to say, I'll start writing in these two days." Wang Yan agreed to this matter.

His level is there after all. The manuscript he wrote was not written purely as a storytelling manuscript, but in the direction of praising heroes and passing on the spirit. At least he was once a literary tycoon, and writing these things is not difficult.

Although the background is always the fearless spirit of tragedy, bravery, and sacrifice. But he didn't write the tragedy of heroes, but the glory of heroes. The overall reading is relaxed, and the sadness is a matter after careful realization. That's because people know that the heroes are already dead.

The matter was decided like this, Ning Shan listened twice more, communicated with Old Liao, and hummed "We Soldiers" as he walked away. Military songs are generally very catchy and gripping, making people remember them after listening to one sentence, and leaving a deep impression.

The rehearsal effect was very good, and people's eyes on Wang Yan were clearly different, because Wang Yan's ability was recognized and received the respect of many people. This was the power of an excellent song. After all, Wang Yan's musical instrument was not qualified to appear on stage, but he could do what others couldn't, write an excellent song, and the treatment would definitely be improved, and he would have a loud name in the whole army, which was supreme honor, which people envied.

Those who didn't know Wang Yan before now know him, and those who knew him before are now more enthusiastic. Now when Wang Yan walks outside, the people he meets will greet him in a friendly way.

This situation reached its peak two days later. On this day, the Political Department leadership came to the art troupe for a comfort visit. Hearing that Wang Yan had also written a song, they were very happy and asked to hear him sing it after he finished his storytelling.

In the Art Troupe's large auditorium, almost all the comrades at the station were in place, hundreds of people sat upright, and the leaders sat in the front row. Officer Wu, the propaganda photographer, took various photos back and forth, not afraid of wasting film at all.

There were two programs today, no announcement. Wang Yan walked onto the stage by himself, stood still by the microphone standing in the center of the stage, stopped, turned right, stood together, and energetic. Capable and powerful.

After saluting, Wang Yan stepped to the side of the microphone: "Dear leaders, dear comrades of the Art Troupe, hello everyone. Because I wrote a song, my name has been widely mentioned by everyone recently, but I think everyone must not be familiar with me yet. So here, please allow me to make a brief self-introduction to the leaders and comrades present, so that the leaders and comrades can understand Wang Yan, this person.

I was born in 1955, twenty years old this year, and my home is in Longcheng, Liaoning Province. My father was also a glorious People's Liberation Army soldier, he was... The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the first battle since the founding of our New China, which fought out the spirit of our Chinese people and fought out peace...

In the great victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, many battle heroes emerged. We must remember them, must praise them, and must learn their spirit. Today, I will tell you about one such battle hero. His name is Zhang Taofang, haha, I see some comrades are a bit puzzled, that doesn't matter, we have too many heroes, and this battle has passed twenty years, it's very normal..."

Telling heroes cannot just tell heroes, you have to tell where he came from, how he forged greatness, and even more clearly which unit, which defense zone, and explain the situation of the enemy and us, and so on.

Wang Yan was not just telling this one person, but derived many related personnel, including the foreign devils on the opposite side. There were macro battlefields and local individuals, sacrifice, unity, heroes, and fearlessness filled it. What was not explained was the great victory of this war, which people were proud of.

At the end, Wang Yan mentioned Zhang Taofang's current position, without mentioning too much, letting everyone know that this was a living legend, and ended the one-hour solo performance amidst warm applause and cheers, and stepped off the stage.

Subsequently, Fang Hongmin went on stage, saluted the audience, and announced the name of the song. Old Liao raised his hand below, and with the movement of his hand, the crisp and loud trumpet sound rang out, followed by drums, wind instruments...

"We soldiers, what's different..."

Fang Hongmin performed stably and sang sonorously. A group of Political Department leaders tasted the lyrics, and the smiles on their faces never fell.

"Comrade Wang Yan, your storytelling is good, and your song is even better. Our vast number of soldiers need these excellent literary and artistic works you created to spread our Liberation Army's fighting spirit. I read your manuscript word for word, it's written very well.

However, I have one more requirement for you. I read your manuscript, you wrote quite a few ancient heroes and our Liberation Army's battle heroes, but you didn't write enough about the War of Resistance Against Japan, it's relatively few. The martyrs of that time are even more worthy of praise, without the past, there is no present, you must write more."

The Political Department leader left this sentence, encouraged other comrades, and left the Art Troupe.

After sending the leaders away, the Political Commissar came back and gave instructions, arranging Wang Yan in the next Art Troupe performance, patted Wang Yan on the shoulder, and left with a smile.

"You told it really well, I really didn't find out you had this talent before." Liu Feng said to Wang Yan with a smile, "Congratulations, Wang Yan."

"What's there to congratulate, whether on stage or not, we are all serving the soldiers. People on stage are important, and people off stage can't be less. Criticizing you, your consciousness is too low."

"I'm congratulating you and still being criticized, forget it, I stepped on the horse's hoof."

"Are you proud here?" Hao Shuwen jumped over and patted Wang Yan on the shoulder, "You kid hide quite deep."

"Was it a surprise?"

"Pah, surprise, it's a shock."

Wang Yan nodded seriously: "Hmm, it's reasonable for you to say so. I saw it on stage just now, your eyes were straight, your mouth couldn't close, did your jaw fall to the ground?"

While speaking, he also mimicked the appearance.

"Hey, Wang Yan's imitation is really like it. I was sitting next to Hao Shuwen just now, and she was like that." Lin Dingding laughed on the side.

"Nonsense, I didn't." Hao Shuwen denied it as soon as she opened her mouth.

"I testify, she was really like that just now." Little Xiao Balei interjected, but changed the subject, "Suizi too, was stunned, eyes didn't blink..."

Her words were meaningful, causing laughter from other male and female soldiers.

"Go to hell, spreading rumors again." After spitting, Xiao Suizi looked at Wang Yan with big eyes, "You're really powerful, you told it really well."

Lin Dingding also expressed recognition: "Really good, what was that word?"

"Vivid! Lifelike!"

"Ah, right, right, right, it's vivid. Listening to your stories, there are pictures in the brain, sometimes making people nervous, sometimes making people's blood boil."

"I've always been this powerful, but no one believes it." Wang Yan waved his hand, a master's loneliness, "Everyone disperse, I have to go create."

"Boo..."

The crowd responded to Wang Yan's bragging with boos. They were all friendly and harmonious, everyone laughed and dispersed to do their own things.

The leader came early in the morning, it was still morning, and there was still a long time before lunch. What should be done naturally should continue to be done. Wang Yan naturally took his stuff, brought paper and pen, etc., to the utility room, continued to practice, and continued to create.

Just like that, the morning passed, and in the afternoon, in the large rehearsal room, Hao Shuwen, Xiao Suizi, and others continued to practice old programs and arrange new programs.

After practicing for a long time, it was finally break time. Xiao Suizi put on her coat and ran out.

On the other side, Hao Shuwen put down the accordion. She wanted to find Xiao Suizi to go to the toilet together, but saw Xiao Suizi running out. Driven by strong curiosity and inexplicable feelings, she also put on her coat and ran out quickly, following Xiao Suizi...

"I'm here again."

Xiao Suizi pushed the door in with a smile, without Wang Yan saying much, she opened the door herself and sat on the table. "Still no clue about the new song?"

"It's only been a few days, how can it be so fast. This time it's difficult, the feeling is quite hazy, I don't know how long it will take to squeeze it out."

While speaking, Wang Yan opened the drawer, took a few White Rabbit milk candies and hawthorn rolls, and put them in her hand.

"Where did you get these things?" Xiao Suizi peeled a candy happily, put the others in her pocket, and asked incomprehensibly.

"What did I say?"

"Just eat it!" Learning Wang Yan's tone, Xiao Suizi laughed non-stop.

After laughing enough, she said: "You tell stories really well, easy to come by, and at ease. And let me tell you, when I first went on stage, I was completely confused and very nervous. Unlike you, being stared at by so many people, you are not flustered at all."

"Haven't you heard it before?"

"It's different, that was a march before, everyone was laughing and joking. What kind of battle is today, hundreds of people in our station, all those who didn't go on missions were there, and there were leaders from the Political Department. I've performed so many times now, and I'd be nervous if I went up. You're good, you even joke with the leaders on stage."

"They are all people, two shoulders carrying a head, what's there to be afraid of? You have to be relaxed to be good, otherwise the more nervous you are, the easier it is to make mistakes."

"Hmm, you're right, but you're still powerful, I haven't heard anyone tell it better than you."

"We are the same, I haven't seen anyone dance better than you."

"Yo, you two are praising each other here." Hao Shuwen walked in like watching the fun, and closed the door by the way, "Why open the door? Aren't you cold?"

"You hurry up and open the door." Wang Yan greeted as if he was very anxious, "I can't explain one, and I'll be shot if there are two."

"What one or two?" Hao Shuwen didn't care at all, and just walked in.

Wang Yan hurriedly got up to open the door and explained: "Although people don't come here often, it's not the wilderness after all. If someone bumps into us, how do you want me to explain? Especially you two beautiful female comrades, I wouldn't be able to explain it even with a hundred mouths, and the influence on you two is not good either. Your father is a military commander, wouldn't he run from far away to shoot me?"

"I thought you were not afraid of heaven or earth, it turns out you are also afraid." Hao Shuwen laughed loudly, sat on the chair Wang Yan was sitting on, looked at Xiao Suizi chewing in her mouth, and asked, "What good things are you eating?"

"Look, White Rabbit, hawthorn roll." Xiao Suizi took out a few from her pocket and gave them to Hao Shuwen, asking casually, "How did you find this place? Generally, no one walks this way."

"I went to the toilet, thinking about strolling around to get some air, so I just walked randomly, and then I bumped into you two praising each other."

Hao Shuwen answered fluently, didn't look at Xiao Suizi, threw a milk candy into her mouth, tasted the sweetness, and wondered, "Where did this come from?"

"Just eat it! Getting to the bottom of things is not a good habit!" Xiao Suizi learned Wang Yan's indifferent tone, grasped the expression when speaking, and laughed.

"Yours? Where did it come from?"

"Just eat it!" Wang Yan responded with a smile, "There are more in the drawer, everyone has a share, take some back to eat, don't spread it everywhere."

"So many?" Hao Shuwen opened the drawer, looked at the pile of candies inside, and couldn't help but be surprised. She was clever and said decisively, "I know, you are so careful, it must not be from a proper path."

"If you don't eat it, spit it out, why are your words so dense."

"Give it to you..." Hao Shuwen bit the candy with her teeth, stretched her neck and provoked.

"I'm going to go up."

"Stinky hooligan, you're thinking beautifully."

Wang Yan leaned against the door, hugged his shoulders and shook his head: "My reputation was ruined by you, shouting that I'm a stinky hooligan everywhere, I don't know how I hooliganized you. Hey, it's really heartbreaking. As the saying goes, the green bamboo snake's mouth, the yellow wasp's tail needle."

"What does it mean?" Hao Shuwen didn't understand, she might have less knowledge and hadn't heard the first two sentences.

Xiao Suizi knew, she smiled and took the words: "Neither is poisonous, the most poisonous..."

"A woman's heart?"

Hao Shuwen asked back, seeing Xiao Suizi holding back laughter and nodding, she gave Wang Yan a white eye: "You're the woman, you're the poisonous one, go die."

"Look at you, Suizi, just say if it's poisonous or not, eating my candy, and cursing me to die. Sigh, too hurtful."

"Being serious is boring." Hao Shuwen rolled her eyes and took candies from the drawer without politeness.

"I say, you are a proper cadre's child, why are your eyes so shallow?"

"I'm helping you eliminate criminal evidence, for your own good. So many candies, that must be a lot of money and tickets? Think about it, if you are caught, your bright future will be over."

"Understood, this is threatening me, hey, grandmother, you have to take more, let me go."

"Why are you being sarcastic? I'm protecting you, not knowing good people!"

Wang Yan shook his head and laughed: "Don't be too public, even if you have a military commander father, so many candies are not appropriate."

"Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"I think you're not that smart."

"Why do you two pinch as soon as you meet." Xiao Suizi was speechless.

"Who told him to have a cheap mouth."

"I remember it seems to be the day He Xiaoping came? Since that day, rumors have been spreading that you two are together, tell me, what's going on?"

Hao Shuwen hummed: "It's not a big deal, it's just that He Xiaoping was dancing that day, and she took off her coat, and that coat was sour. He was standing next to me at the time, I thought I'd tease him, so I put the clothes in front of his nose for him to smell. He was good, he went up to the line, saying how our cadre children are. I definitely wouldn't do it, so I reasoned with him. So many people saw me pulling his clothes and not letting him go, isn't that how it spread."

"But there is indeed a smell on Xiaoping, I don't know what's going on, she sweats a lot, it turns sour very fast, even washing every day doesn't work. Little Xiao Balei, Zhuoma, and Zhu Ke all dislike it. Right, Suizi?"

Xiao Suizi nodded: "Indeed a little, but it's not that unpleasant, everyone practices so much every day, sweating so much, who isn't sour and smelly? She just sweats more than us. I think Little Xiao Balei just doesn't like He Xiaoping. However, He Xiaoping is indeed a bit unsociable. Quiet, looking like she's easy to bully."

"Why unsociable?"

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement, "Your backgrounds are all better than hers, and your families are all not bad. Comrade He Xiaoping is different, her father was sentenced when she was young and was reforming on a farm in the Northwest. Her mother remarried with her, she should have been only five or six years old at the time."

"Looking at how cautious she is, you know that she was not favored by her stepfather. She must not have been full, and was beaten or scolded at every turn. You might not understand the things you chat about, and she didn't dare to ask, how can she be sociable?"

"You are the dormitory head. Take care of her more often, and if you don't take care of her, don't laugh at her with others all day, Comrade He Xiaoping is not easy. And, don't spread these things out, I promised not to talk about it."

Hao Shuwen asked: "How do you know?"

"Liu Feng picked her up from Beijing, the political review was all run by him, how could he not know the situation?"

"I didn't expect you to be quite enthusiastic, fine, since you begged me, then I will take care of Comrade He Xiaoping. But these candies are not enough."

"Hey, Hao Shuwen~"

Looking at Xiao Suizi's appearance, Hao Shuwen glanced at Wang Yan: "Who let him be a good person, just making us all look like bad people? Just him alone is good? I don't care, I'll just be a bad person, anyway these candies are not enough."

Wang Yan knew that Hao Shuwen was doing it on purpose, and she would take care of He Xiaoping even without any benefits, just finding an excuse to make trouble with him.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Yo, the tone is quite big, it seems it's enough to be shot." Hao Shuwen looked at the smiling Wang Yan in surprise, thought for a while and looked at Xiao Suizi, "Shall we eat some meat? Although our treatment is good, we can eat meat, but there are only a few pieces, who is enough to eat?"

"Can it work?" Xiao Suizi looked at Wang Yan uncertainly.

"What's wrong with it? Then let's eat braised pork, wait for my news. It definitely won't work in this period, the Political Commissar said that I can occupy the stage by myself for storytelling. He wants to arrange for me to go out for performances by myself, and perform in every troop, so that we can carry out more work and better take care of the soldiers in our military region. The Political Commissar is studying it these two days, and I will have to leave at that time, maybe for a month, wait for me to come back and talk about it."

"Alright, we two will wait for you. Is the money enough? I saved fifty yuan."

"I have sixty." Xiao Suizi didn't fall behind.

"Then why don't you buy it yourself, why bother me?"

"You dog-day, you don't know good people." Hao Shuwen, who was full of concern just now, changed her face directly, got up and pulled Xiao Suizi, "Let's go, Suizi, I don't want to see him."

"Then we're leaving." Xiao Suizi let Hao Shuwen pull her and greeted Wang Yan.

Wang Yan nodded with a smile, watched the two leave, closed the door, and blocked the cold wind in the corridor...

The storytelling program can indeed support a performance. Because its duration can be long or short, Wang Yan can tell stories by himself for one or two hours, which is about the length of a typical comfort performance.

Although the stories Wang Yan wrote have few long ones, Wang Yan has the ability to write long ones, and he also talked to Ning Shan about it, saying that hundreds of thousands of words can be written easily. Based on the more than 300,000 words Wang Yan had already written, Ning Shan would naturally believe in his ability.

As for the scale of the content, it was also because of the 300,000 words as a base, and the Political Department leaders had already reviewed it once and agreed to start large-scale performances, and even instructed Wang Yan to write more heroes during the War of Resistance Against Japan. In this regard, Ning Shan also believed in Wang Yan's ability to grasp. Even if what Wang Yan tells at that time is not what is already written in the book, there will be no problems.

With these two guarantees, even if there are small mistakes, it is not a big problem. This is Ning Shan's achievement, so he naturally wants to promote it. Wang Yan is a small soldier, not pointing where to hit where.

Ning Shan's action was fast. The day after Wang Yan met Hao Shuwen and Xiao Suizi in the utility room, he sent a truck, loaded with sound equipment, lighting, generators, diesel, etc., used for performances. Wang Yan packed his marching backpack, brought various things, and set off with the truck driver and assistant.

Wang Yan's performance was by regiment, in fact, their Art Troupe's performance was also by regiment, only in a few cases by battalion.

Because the number of battalions is relatively large, if the performance is by battalion, a regiment has to perform three or four times. And the soldiers of a battalion are not all gathered in one place. A battalion of five or six hundred people, the companies under its jurisdiction are scattered nearby, and the garrison mission cannot stop. The soldiers who can come to watch the program are no more than half.

It is much better to be by regiment. The soldiers at all levels below can draw out a part of the people to come to the regiment headquarters. Even if it is less than half, it is more than a thousand people. In this way, they take turns to watch, and each time it is a large-scale performance.

As for the battalion-level performance, it is not completely without performance, but it is mainly the responsibility of the division's Art Troupe.

Wang Yan's performance road was naturally not smooth, after all, he was alone, and there were no beautiful female comrades. This made the soldiers who rushed from all over very disappointed.

However, it was fine after he opened his mouth. Every time he performed, he had to introduce his life experience, pull closer to the soldiers, and then start telling stories properly. Sometimes, he told two short ones at a time. Sometimes, he told one long one at a time, anyway, it was not the same. Every time he sang "We Soldiers" for the soldiers, which counted as a curtain call.

Every place Wang Yan went, after telling the story, he became the object welcomed by the soldiers, and they welcomed him to go again next time, and he had already opened the situation in the army... ===== CHAPTER 910 =====