Chapter 276: The Right Path of Humanity Is Change

Ma Wei was a lathe operator, but he loved browsing secondhand stalls, hunting for old artifacts, spending his entire salary on them, and he also had a literary dream.

Over the years, he'd indeed found some good old items, but his literary dream only truly set sail today.

That day he received a notification from Zhongqing Daily that his manuscript had been accepted—he could finally call himself a "writer"!

And the royalty income could help fund his artifact hunting; just thinking about it made him happy.

He immediately went to a newsstand and bought a copy of today's Zhongqing Daily; though his novel wasn't in it, he still felt delighted just holding it.

But when he flipped to page three, he saw a review article titled "Wei Ming's New Work, The Right Path of Humanity Is Change," authored by Liu Zhenyun—Old Liu, leveraging his proximity, had mailed the review out before the novel was even published.

"Oh no, I almost forgot to thank Teacher Wei!" Ma Wei slapped his thigh.

Though Wei Ming hadn't contributed anything substantial to his novel, he'd recommended a suitable platform—one quite significant—and the novel had been accepted; that was his ability.

So Ma Wei immediately bought a pack of dried fruit and candy and headed to Beichi Lane; he only knew Old Wei lived somewhere in that area, but not exactly where—luckily, he'd asked someone who knew.

Li Chengru, just back from film academy class, said, "Wei Ming's father."

"Hey, I know him well."

Ma Wei: "That's my uncle too."

Coincidentally, Old Wei had just delivered Wei Ming's manuscript to the son of Mao Dun, and now he carried a cardboard box to the Sihe Academy to introduce the police cat to the ginkgo cat—right now the courtyard was in chaos, cats flying and dogs barking.

Though the ginkgo cat was slightly larger, it was no match for the half-year-old black cat police officer, yet it kept provoking him like a mangy dog.

The courtyard had a small room specially reserved for the police cat, while the ginkgo cat had built a doghouse in the yard to shelter from wind and snow.

Old Wei was cutting a hole in the wall to let the police cat come and go when Li Chengru arrived with Ma Wei; along the way, Sanru Jushi had already learned why they'd come.

"Oh, Xiao Li, Xiao Ma, how'd you two meet? Quickly close the door." Otherwise that sneaky cat would slip out again.

Ma Wei shut the door quickly—he was a cat lover and knew cats were easier to lose than dogs, especially in spring, when female cats lured them away.

Then Ma Wei handed over the gift to express his thanks: "Uncle Wei, my novel got accepted—I came specially to tell you and to thank Teacher Wei in person."

"Oh, unlucky—he flew to Shanghai to revise his manuscript today." The key detail here was "flew."

Ma Wei: "Too bad—I was going to treat him to dinner."

Li Chengru asked: "Is he revising The Right Path of Humanity Is Change?"

"Yes." He flew there to revise it.

Li Chengru: "Today I heard my classmate Zhang Guangbei say it was incredibly gripping, made readers Rexuefeiteng, and even quoted 'long makes heroes shed tears'—I got so curious I want to buy a copy of Shouhuo."

Ma Wei hurried to say: "Same here—I read the newspaper review, what a joy! Teacher Wei has produced another major work."

Old Wei showed zero humility: "Don't just say you youngsters—do you know Mao Dun? The old man lives in a courtyard, read my son's novel, and immediately asked, 'Why only the first part?' This morning his son came to my house and took the original manuscript."

"Ah!"

Ma Wei and Li Chengru were both stunned; they'd been polite before, but now, hearing Old Wei say this, they truly grasped the novel's power.

They'd heard Mao Dun was seriously ill, yet he still cared so deeply about the sequel—clearly the novel was written brilliantly!

After leaving Wei Ming's house, the two immediately went together to find Shouhuo; at first it was hard to find—the copies sold out fast at newsstands—so they went to the Xinhua Bookstore on Wangfujing.

Here was a new scene: starting this month, the Wangfujing branch of Xinhua Bookstore began trialing a self-selection book-buying model; two smart men instantly recognized it as modeled after Dongfang Xintiandi.

When they reached the magazine section, they still couldn't find Shouhuo, so they asked the clerk.

"Sorry, today's copies are sold out—we're restocking."

At that moment another male clerk walked over: "Actually, there's one left—I was reading it, just finished The Right Path of Humanity Is Change—if you don't mind it's been read, take it."

They didn't mind at all, but now the problem was who would buy it.

Ma Wei and Li Chengru exchanged glances; if either pretended to be polite, the other would immediately accept—so neither spoke.

"Are you buying or not? If not, I'll take it," a female reader behind them urged.

Ma Wei quickly pulled out money: "Buy! Buy! Buy!"

Li Chengru: "Wait, why'd you buy it?"

Ma Wei asked: "What year are you?"

"'54."

"I'm '55. In ancient times Kong Rong gave up the pear; today you, Li Chengru, give up the book—this will become a fine tale."

Li Chengru laughed and scolded: "Get lost—you don't respect your elders."

But by then Ma Wei already had the magazine and the clerk had taken his money; they bickered their way out of the bookstore, and Li Chengru said: "Here's an idea—I'll add fifty fen, let me have it."

"Fifty fen~" Ma Wei was tempted; for a worker's income, that wasn't small change.

But Li Chengru was fine—he'd benefited from Xintiandi's success, his textile factory was thriving, his income had risen, he didn't care about a few jiao; once he had extra cash, he tended to get careless.

"Sixty fen, take it or leave it," Li Chengru added.

"No, no, fine, fine, I'll give it to you—who am I to refuse an elder?" Ma Wei happily completed the deal.

He'd always thought only antiques appreciated in value; he never imagined a magazine publishing Wei Ming's novel could appreciate—and it had jumped 60% in minutes!

And Li Chengru, once he got Shouhuo, immediately began reading.

Shanghai, Shouhuo Editorial Office.

The Ming Honglong trio successfully delivered Old Ba to the Shouhuo office; to thank them for their meticulous care, he invited his daughter Li Xiaolin and insisted on treating Wei Ming and the others to dinner.

One cannot refuse an elder's gift, nor decline an elder's invitation.

So they left their luggage temporarily at the Writers' Association guesthouse and went to dinner with Old Ba.

During the meal, Li Xiaolin said she'd received many letters from Shanghai readers, mostly drawn by The Right Path of Humanity Is Change.

Wei Ming asked curiously: "What did they say?"

Li Xiaolin smiled: "First, they found it refreshing—today's literary scene is flooded with educated youth, reflection, and trauma literature; your grand narrative, a family epic about national and personal fate, is extremely rare, so many readers felt it was a breath of fresh air."

In truth, educated youth, reflection, and trauma literature were far from exhausted—Liang Xiaosheng's major works, such as Tonight There Is a Storm and Years, hadn't been published yet; he was the representative of northern educated youth literature, and these genres remained popular throughout the 1980s.

But readers grew tired of them and naturally wanted variety; combined with Wei Ming's superb storytelling, The Right Path emerged like a fresh breeze blowing through the fiction market, winning immense popularity.

"Your work has also attracted many witnesses of that era—some readers are older than my father; they correct minor details in your novel or want to discuss the authenticity of certain events—take all the letters home later."

"Good—since it's serialized, if we find errors, correcting them would be perfect."

Later, Editor Li asked his father about Mao Dun's health; Old Ba didn't answer directly, only said he could still read, then mentioned how Mao Dun's son had come to Wei Ming for the manuscript.

Li Xiaolin was first surprised, then proud—Shouhuo had another great book, and she'd been involved since the theme was chosen, helping Xiao Wei gather research materials.

She'd previously worried sales might lag behind Cuo Tuo Suiyue and dampen Xiao Wei's enthusiasm; now it seemed Shouhuo might even surpass it in sales!

The magazine had only been out a few days, so market feedback hadn't fully arrived yet, but from the number of letters from Shanghai readers alone, it was already unmatched by any other Shouhuo title.

Clearly, readers nationwide were closely following the fate of the Jiang family—even Jiang Lizhong, clearly cast as a villain, was immensely charismatic and popular.

After dinner, Wei Hong's excitement had calmed somewhat, and she began worrying about where they'd sleep tonight.

"Will we stay at the Writers' Association guesthouse?"

Wei Ming shook his head: "My friend already gave me the keys—we can move in tonight."

Then he took them to the villa on Huating Road for the first time.

"Ah, this—so big? Is this all your friend's home?!" Wei Hong exclaimed.

Though its footprint was similar to the Sihe Academy in Beichi, this was a Western-style villa—elegant and foreign-looking.

Wei Ming opened the door: "Yes, we'll be living here from now on."

Xuejie had gone to Subei; no one had been here for days, but it would soon be lively again.

Wei Ming found his master bedroom, tested the bed—it didn't creak—and on the wall hung a painting; if his guess was right, it was the work of his future father-in-law.

"Brother, can I sleep next to you?" Wei Hong peeked in.

Wei Ming replied coolly: "The maid's room downstairs."

"No way—the maid's room's already taken by Ah Long."

Wei Ming paused, thought—Ah Long lived downstairs; letting Ah Hong stay downstairs too would be inconvenient.

"Don't sleep next to me—I'm afraid you'll wake me up at night. You'll sleep in that room," Wei Ming directed her to stay far from him.

That day Wei Ming began writing to Xuejie, telling her he'd arrived and she could return.

Oh, and he needed to write to Old Ghost about Shen Zui, to reassure him.

Ma Wei, who'd made sixty fen off Li Chengru, still couldn't stop thinking about The Right Path of Humanity Is Change; on his day off, he rushed to the district library early, was the first inside, and indeed found the magazine—only one copy left.

He immediately began reading as others behind him groaned in frustration; the library was free—this was like earning one yuan and fifty fen!

Though the story was set in a distant era, beginning in the 1920s, since it opened in old Beiping, he slipped into it easily, soon reaching the Huangpu Military Academy scenes, with familiar names appearing one after another.

Ma Wei couldn't help applauding Wei Ming's boldness—names only found in history books had all been woven into the story, many of them portrayed as villains in their education system.

But Wei Ming didn't caricature these villains; for the first time, Ma Wei saw these figures as real people, not obvious villains like Chen Qiang or Ge Cunzhuang—some even had glimmers of humanity that made him think, "This guy's actually a character."

These reading impressions made Ma Wei uneasy—was the novel's stance problematic? After all, it had only been a few years since 1976.

Only when he reached the 1927 "purge" and saw Chiang Kai-shek's forces begin mass arrests and killings of CCP members, and the protagonist's once-friendly teachers and classmates now stood against him, did Ma Wei finally relax.

Li Chengru only understood Zhang Guangbei's phrase "long makes heroes shed tears" when he reached the "purge" scene—it was written so well, he read it several times.

Wei Ming applied film techniques to this sequence of arrests and killings, compressing events across different spaces and times—crack, crack, crack—blood and cruelty surged forward.

Not only vividly visual, but intensely powerful; Li Chengru, who considered himself a tough guy, couldn't help feeling tears well up.

Through the protagonist Jiang Limin's perspective, he unhesitatingly chose the Communist side—thus, the hero finally found the faith he would follow for life, completing his transformation from soldier to revolutionary.

And at this point, Li Chengru had only read halfway through the "first part"; Wei Ming's prose was extremely concise—only 100, 00 characters had shaped over a dozen major characters and two grand climaxes; Li Chengru's blood boiled, and he didn't even want to go to work.

Li Chengru could skip work, but Liang Xiaosheng couldn't afford to take a day off—even today was his blind date.

This morning he'd hurriedly met the textile worker surnamed Jiao in a park near the textile factory.

This 32-year-old literary youth had a rugged appearance, a respectable job, and the skill to earn royalties by writing—but his personal life kept failing; blind dates kept ending badly.

Because every time he went on a blind date, he was brutally honest about his situation.

"I earn 42. yuan a month, but I send 30 yuan to my family in Northeast China—there are five siblings; my eldest brother is mentally ill and needs medicine, my third brother is still in high school."

After saying this blunt truth, nine out of ten girls ran away—you wouldn't even take me as a son-in-law.

But this textile worker, Jiao Dan, was the tenth, and she thought this man was quite honest and responsible—a good person.

So she asked, "What time do you get off work?"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean 'huh'? What time do you get off? Can you come pick me up?"

Liang Xiao wouldn't sing "Good Days," or he'd have sung it all the way into Beiyingchang, but from the gatekeeper to Ge You, everyone could tell this old bachelor was in good spirits.

He even thought that if this attempt failed again, he'd place a matrimonial advertisement in the newspaper; recently, a math teacher named Ding Naijun had published a matrimonial notice in the People's Daily's Market News, causing a sensation across the city.

When he entered the Wenxue Force office, he heard several senior colleagues discussing which Guominzheng Prefecture general was better at fighting, their mouths full of terms like "Huangpu Xth class," "Five Tiger Generals," and "Four Golden Warriors."

Later, he found out it was all due to the aftermath of Wei Ming's new work, "The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change."

A wave of Guominzheng Prefecture war fever had swept through the editorial department!

Liang Xiao thought that if he were to date someone and eventually marry, he'd hesitate to buy the one-yuan-per-copy "Shouhuo," but the editorial department surely had copies—and sure enough, he soon borrowed one and devoured it ravenously.

In the Chinese Department classroom of Peking University's 1979 cohort, everyone was asking who had "Shouhuo" and whether they could borrow it, offering meal tickets in exchange.

Many students knew Wei Ming's novel depicted events from the KMT-CCP cooperation era, with battles and such, and lost interest at the subject matter alone.

But within two days, everyone was saying it was brilliantly written, desperate to read the next installment—but when they tried to buy it, hey, it was sold out!

The somewhat famous campus poet Luo Yihé couldn't borrow a copy from his own class, so he went straight to the 1978 cohort, first seeking Liu Zhenyun.

Liu Zhenyun spread his hands: "Do I look like someone who can afford 'Shouhuo'?"

In fact, he'd just received a royalty payment and could afford it—but sorry, I've already read "The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change," and I read the complete edition! Except for Wei Ming and his editor, I'm probably the only one!

Just then, Dai Jinhuá finished reading and cheerfully lent it to the younger student, then told Liu Zhenyun: "My earlier worries were unnecessary. Wei Ming hasn't sunk into trivial romance. The grandeur of 'The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change' is like this poem—bold, sweeping, magnificent! Thrilling!"

Liu Zhenyun asked: "What's the thing in this novel that most drew you to want to read the sequel?"

Dai Jinhuá: "I admit I'm still quite ordinary—I really want to see Jiang Lizhong and Jiang Limin brothers fighting each other, ideally killing each other until heaven and earth darken."

"Hehe, me too!" Liang Zuo had slipped into their class unnoticed and echoed Dai Jinhuá, then pulled Liu Zhenyun out.

"What's up?" Liu Zhenyun asked.

Liang Zuo: "Don't say I don't look out for you, brother—I just got a book from Taiwan, by Bai Xianyong, son of Bai Chongxi."

"Wow, no surprise you're the Liang Young Master," Liu Zhenyun teased. "What's it called? What's it about?"

"'Dreams in the Garden,' about the upper echelons of the Guominzheng Prefecture. Bai Young Master 's credibility should be high."

Liu Zhenyun had originally had no interest in Guominzheng Prefecture elites, but after reading "The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change," he found these people strangely fascinating—once idealistic, yet still lost everything despite overwhelming advantages.

Recalling the stories elders often told about the 1942 Henan famine, Liu Zhenyun began to feel curious about this group.

"Your book came at the perfect time—it'll let me cross-reference with 'The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change.'"

Liang Zuo said: "Be careful not to spread it around, and this book's in traditional characters."

"Traditional characters? No problem for me."

"Come to my dorm after class to pick it up."

If Wei Ming's "The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change" was the first mainland novel to depict the Guominzheng Prefecture elite, then Bai Xianyong's "Dreams in the Garden" could drop the word "mainland"—it was the first novel to directly portray this group.

But this novel depicts the Guominzheng Prefecture elite after their retreat from the mainland and entrenchment in Taiwan.

The Guominzheng Prefecture elite of that era could be divided into two groups by 1949: those who retreated to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek, and those who stayed on the mainland.

Those who stayed on the mainland were further divided: those who surrendered directly and were spared, and those captured and enrolled directly into Gongde Forest University.

Shen Zui fell between the first and second categories—he surrendered, but under duress, so he was also imprisoned in Gongde Forest, only recently having his status changed.

But he still had acquaintances among the first group, like his former superior Tang Shengming.

Tang Shengming was a fourth-class Huangpu Military Academy cadet who, for his role in the peaceful liberation of Hunan, became a PLA officer after liberation and later spent some time doing business in Hong Kong.

He was a life winner who rode on his brother's connections, coasting through life—except for a few rough years after returning from Hong Kong in the 1950s, his path was smooth.

When they worked together in Changsha, Tang Shengming always gave Shen Zui the hardest tasks, and Shen Zui worked diligently, so their relationship remained excellent, and Shen Zui often visited this old superior.

But this visit on Xiao Nian still left Tang Shengming unsure of his intent—was this a New Year greeting?

Tang Shengming knew Shen Zui had recently traveled to Hong Kong to visit relatives and had endured threats and bribes from Guominzheng Prefecture agents, yet held firm and didn't bring shame to Gongde Forest, so he praised him.

Shen Zui chuckled, saw walnuts on the table, and crushed them barehanded, offering the kernels to his old superior.

Though a spy, he had considerable martial skill—back in his youth, ordinary men couldn't get near him.

"Shen, do you have something you want to ask? Is it serious?" Tang Shengming asked.

"No, no," Shen Zui pulled out "Shouhuo" from his bag. "I just found a great story and wanted to share it with you, old superior."

"Oh, 'Shouhuo'? I know—edited by Ba Jin."

Shen Zui opened "The Right Path of Humanity Is Vast Change" to a page showing Tang Shengming's name.

"What's this? I'm in a novel?" Seventy-something Tang Shengming instantly became interested.

"And me too, but our roles are small—just minor characters."

Tang Shengming asked: "Who has the most screen time?"

"The Huangpu third-class cadets—Wang Yaowu, Kang Ze, Zhu Yunqing," Shen Zui briefly outlined the plot. "The protagonist is a Huangpu third-class cadet, so they get the most scenes. And I see some of myself in this guy."

"What do you have to do with Huangpu?" Tang Shengming laughed and teased.

Shen Zui laughed it off and asked: "Do you still remember Wei Muchun of Huangpu sixth class? That old classmate of Boss Dai's, Jiang's strategist?"

(Today's minimum~)

(End of chapter)