Chapter 1334: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 1334: She Seems to Have Made Some Kind of Resolution

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

This barbecue meal was eaten very slowly.

The main reason was that the two of them kept chatting, chatting about a great many things.

Until all the dishes on the table were finished, the two still felt they hadn't talked enough.

It wasn't because they hadn't eaten their fill, but because the conversation wasn't finished.

However, Gu Wenqing knew that some things must be done in moderation; the conversation between her and Wang Xiaohua could never be finished in one sitting, and she didn't want to finish it all at once either.

So she said:

"Student Xiaohua, it's getting late, let's head back."

She then waved the waiter over, paid the bill, and took Wang Xiaohua back to school.

On the way back, Gu Wenqing suddenly asked:

"Student Xiaohua, if I were to go to your hometown for a visit, would you welcome me?"

Wang Xiaohua replied:

"If Teacher wants to come, I'd certainly welcome you, but my hometown is far from Beijing, a long and arduous journey, and it's a poor and remote area; I'm afraid the travel would be too taxing and inconvenient for you."

Gu Wenqing smiled and said:

"Just treat it as a trip; since you have no objections, I'll go make a visit this summer vacation — only during winter and summer breaks do I have this kind of time!"

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Then give me a heads-up before you come; I hope by then I still haven't formally started work. If I've already started, who knows if I'll have time to receive you."

Gu Wenqing said:

"Then I'll come over once you graduate; by August you should already have started your job."

Wang Xiaohua nodded:

"Okay, no problem."

Gu Wenqing dropped Wang Xiaohua at the entrance of the male dormitory building, then drove back to her residence.

Wang Xiaohua went up to the dormitory, pushed open the door, and saw the room was pitch-black and very quiet.

There wasn't a single person in the dormitory.

Wen Lingyun had left; Wan Zhiyuan was probably still in the laboratory; Wei Qian was certainly still out there hustling.

Wang Xiaohua turned on the light, took a shower, then lay back on his bed, feeling empty inside.

An inexplicable melancholy.

He missed Li Jianjia a bit.

In a flash, time had already arrived at graduation day.

There was no grand graduation ceremony, no tear-jerking farewell scene.

Everyone was busy with their own things; most classmates hurried back to collect the diploma personally signed by the Principal, then hurriedly left again, each busy with their own affairs.

As for the graduation ceremony, it had been held some days earlier.

Wang Xiaohua packed his luggage in the dormitory, exchanged a few words with Wan Zhiyuan on WeChat, then set off alone on the journey home.

As for why he didn't tell Wei Qian and Wen Lingyun.

That was because Wen Lingyun had gone to Japan long ago, and Wei Qian had moved out some time ago; only Wan Zhiyuan still lived in the dormitory, but he didn't come back often either.

The farewell dinner for the four of them had been eaten long ago — it was the meal seeing Wen Lingyun off to Japan.

With this parting, they would each go their separate ways; chances of meeting again in the future would likely be few and far between, and it was even possible they'd never meet again in this lifetime.

Wang Xiaohua sent a farewell WeChat to Wan Zhiyuan, but not until he had boarded the subway to the airport did Wan Zhiyuan reply:

"Wishing you a smooth journey; if you have a chance to return to Beijing, let's eat together again."

Wang Xiaohua replied with two words: "Okay."

Just then, Gu Wenqing sent a WeChat:

"Student Xiaohua, when are you going home?"

Wang Xiaohua answered truthfully:

"Teacher, I left today."

"So soon? I was thinking of treating you to another chat; I've already written an opening, wanted you to take a look."

Wang Xiaohua looked at his phone and smiled wryly, helplessly:

"Sorry Teacher, I've already bought this afternoon's plane ticket to Guangzhou. You can send the opening to me on WeChat."

Gu Wenqing replied: "Okay, I'll send it to you now!"

Before long, Wang Xiaohua received the novel opening Gu Wenqing sent.

"1993.

The southern summer was stiflingly hot, like a steam room.

In the endless cornfield, hot wind brushed past, corn tassels swaying in the breeze.

XXX (your mother's name, temporarily undecided — do you think a pseudonym is better, or her real name?) wore a white 'dique liang' shirt already soaked with sweat; the thin fabric clung to her flesh, the pink underwear faintly visible beneath, outlining the clear contours of her proud figure.

Her slightly protruding belly was also especially conspicuous.

Even though she was pregnant, she still labored diligently.

Wearing a straw hat with her hair slightly messy, she busily picked corn cobs with both hands..."

Wang Xiaohua read the opening Gu Wenqing had written, somewhat at a loss whether to cry or laugh.

He replied with a sentence:

"Teacher, have you always lived in the Northern region? Have you ever been to the Southern rural areas?"

Gu Wenqing answered quickly:

"I've only been to big cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen. As for the Southern rural areas, especially remote ones, to tell the truth, I haven't been."

Wang Xiaohua then said:

"If I point out some issues of yours, you won't get angry, right?"

Gu Wenqing then said: "You speak. I'm asking you to help correct things, that's why I sent the opening to you. The opening I conceived starts from when your mother became pregnant with you, writing that she went to work in the cornfield while pregnant with you, was to highlight her hardworking and simple character image!"

Wang Xiaohua then said:

"My mom is indeed quite hardworking and simple, but Teacher, your description of the environment is a bit wishful thinking."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Wang Xiaohua then said:

"My hometown is all terraced fields, so there's no such thing as endless flat farmland. Also, back in my hometown, they generally don't grow much corn. Even if they do, it's just one or two plots for eating, or feeding chickens and pigs, they wouldn't plant a lot. The main crop is rice straw, and then there's mulberry, and cassava. I've heard my mom say, when she was pregnant with me, she still went to the fields to pick mulberry leaves, so at that time our family should have been growing mulberry."

Gu Wenqing realized:

"So that's how it is. That really was wishful thinking on my part!"

Then she said again:

"Looks like I need to gain a deeper understanding of you, your hometown, and your growth environment, before I can create this novel!"

Gu Wenqing got competitive with herself.

She's just like that. Once she makes up her mind to do something, it's impossible for her to just perfunctorily get by.

Although she knew that for this literary work of hers, whether writing cornfield, or rice field, or mulberry field, no reader would care. In readers' eyes, they're almost all the same. Writing cornfield might even give the majority of readers more immersion. But she still had to fuss over this detail, because she felt she should respect facts, and write mulberry field!

But she had never seen a mulberry field at all, and knew absolutely nothing about the silkworm raising process.

How to write this?

Looks like more preparation work must be done.

She gritted her teeth, and made a certain resolution.

Then she busily sent Wang Xiaohua a message:

"By the way, what time is your flight this afternoon, which flight number?"

Wang Xiaohua sent over the screenshot of his mobile phone ticket purchase.

Gu Wenqing immediately went on the ticket purchase software to check this flight, and delightedly discovered there were actually remaining tickets!

So without another word, she hurriedly bought the ticket, quickly packed her things, and set off rushing to the airport.