Chapter 32: The Reply

Early January.

Although Jincheng sometimes goes a whole year without a single flake of snow, this year it arrived early; snow began to fall in January. It failed to accumulate, however.

Li Yousi crawled out of bed and glanced at the weather outside. In the current winter, dawn in Jincheng generally did not break until eight o'clock; it was just past that now. Since work started at eight, arriving at nine would still be considered relatively early.

He got up, dressed, and washed... then retrieved a flattened steamed bun from under his pillow. This was the life of Li Yousi.

He arrived at the literary studio, and He Dehua immediately waved to greet him. Ever since "Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots" was published in the magazine over ten days ago, and everyone had read it, their admiration for Li Yousi had only deepened. He Dehua felt this young man truly possessed real talent.

"Little Li, you're here. We're just filling out some forms; come take a look."

Li Yousi nodded and walked over. It was now early January, and with only a month left until the Lunar New Year, the holiday season was approaching. The Art Troupe would grant seven or eight days off during the New Year, though that was intended for members who were not involved in performances. Under normal circumstances, everyone was expected to participate in the慰问 (greetings and慰问) performances during the Spring Festival.

"Are you going back for the New Year?" He Dehua asked.

Li Yousi replied instantly, "I'm not going back."

"Oh? You're not going home, Little Li?" Chen Xiaotao asked.

"My parents have both passed away."

He Dehua spoke up instinctively: "What about your grandparents... or your uncles and aunts, other relatives..."

"I haven't met them."

"Ah!" Chen Xiaotao patted him on the shoulder. "If you're not going back, the Art Troupe will still have a break. You can stroll around the streets of Jincheng, or come to my place if you have time. I'll treat you to a meal."

"Thank you, Comrade Chen."

"But Old Chen, aren't you going back for the New Year? Don't you have work?" He Dehua continued to ask.

Chen Xiaotao replied, "I do, but isn't the musical instrument team being looked after by Comrade Zhu? It won't hurt if I take seven or eight days off to go home."

The biggest performance of the year was the Art Troupe's "Spring Festival Gala." Basically, every unit had to produce a program, and they also invited well-known artists from the troupe to perform. For example, Yongxi, who sang "The Golden Mountain of Beiping," was their most famous vocalist; she had contributed a song during the previous Spring Festival. The Zhanqi Art Troupe had produced many famous figures.

He Dehua smiled and said, "I have to design the stage this year, so I can't go back. But it's not bad to have Comrade Little Li keeping me company."

As the two were chatting, the buzz-cut man outside knocked on the door. Li Yousi walked over and opened it. The man said, "The publicity department just received several letters, and two of them are for you. I brought them over for you, Teacher."

Ever since Li Yousi's novel was published ten days ago, the buzz-cut man's respect for him had deepened once more.

Li Yousi waved his hand with a smile. "Thanks, comrade."

"No problem! Isn't this what Director Wang instructed? We must assist in Comrade Li's literary creation!" the man said.

Li Yousi exchanged a few more words with him before returning to his workstation to look at the two letters. Receiving a letter from the "CCTV Guest House" was not unexpected, but there was another from "Dongdaqiao."

Li Yousi looked at this letter first. Upon seeing the sender's name, he realized it was from Li Tuo, the "social butterfly" of Beiping. Li Tuo's home was a major "transit station" for manuscripts in Beiping; writers from all over the country generally had to "pay their respects" at his home when visiting the capital. Since this man had written to him personally, could it be an invitation to pay such a visit?

He tore open the letter and began to read.

"Comrade Li Yousi, greetings. I am Li Tuo, a writer from the Beiping Writers' Association. I am very interested in your novel."

...The middle section contained a great deal of meaningless pleasantries. Li Yousi skimmed over them until he reached the final paragraph:

"I used to drink and chat with Han Shaogong and A Cheng. They said the roots of Chinese culture are a mysterious thing, yet no author has truly researched them. After seeing your work, I discovered that you seem to have been far ahead of us!"

"I was chatting with Teacher Wang Zengqi yesterday... In the end, we officially named your novel 'The Pioneer of Root-Seeking Literature'! I am writing specifically to ask for your opinion on this title!"

Looking at the letter, Li Yousi was not particularly surprised at first. Although "Pioneer" was a grand title, he had anticipated it. When he wrote the novel, aside from the story itself, he had intentionally buried this underlying theme, waiting for the literary world to discover it and ignite an explosion... After all, who wouldn't want to be a pioneer in the literary world? Having long known the trajectory of literary development, it was only natural that he would become this pioneer.

The only thing that surprised Li Yousi slightly was that in his previous life, the first person to use and coin the term "Root-Seeking Literature" was Li Tuo. In this life, after he wrote this novel, it was Li Tuo who named it once again. It seemed this literary critic truly had some talent.

Li Yousi immediately wrote a reply: "Thank you for your appreciation of my work... I am honored by this title." He roughly outlined his own thoughts.

He then looked at the second letter. This one was naturally from Comrade Zhang Li. Since he returned to Jincheng in December, Zhang Li had sent him three letters, and he had replied twice. In the letter, Zhang Li briefly described her recent life, mentioned how fun the snow in Beiping was, and invited him to play in the snow when he visited next.

Li Yousi smiled slightly. What a silly girl. She also shared her feelings about his novel: "I read 'Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots.' I don't understand the 'literariness' the comrades keep discussing, nor the 'humanity' they talk about. I just think the novel is fun to read. But I have a question: why didn't the body smell after so long?"

Li Yousi meticulously wrote out an answer, much like solving a Chinese language homework problem, and took the opportunity at the end to comfort the young girl in Beiping.

"What are you smiling at? Another letter from Zhang Li?" He Dehua leaned over to take a look.

Chen Xiaotao patted Li Yousi on the shoulder and continued, "Who else could it be? Besides letters from Zhang Li, who else does he read? The female comrades in the Art Troupe can't even catch his eye!"

He Dehua added, "It's no surprise that Comrade Li has high standards. If you had his talent at twenty, wouldn't you be even more conceited than him?"

Mei Qijie, a writer from the Art Troupe, sat not far away and said, "Conceited? The greatest taboo for a writer is pride; otherwise, their next work will be even worse!"

As Mei Qijie tried to stir up trouble, He Dehua retorted, "Why are you cursing the man?"

"Alright, comrades. I'm going out to mail some letters." Seeing that He Dehua was about to argue, Li Yousi immediately gathered the two letters and stood up, interrupting the buildup to the confrontation.

"Oh... then go ahead." He Dehua made space for Li Yousi to walk out the door. He headed to the reception room, which was specifically for mailing letters.

***

We had a group activity today that lasted from noon until six in the evening. I didn't have a single moment to type, so I had to rush this out... I will have stable updates next time.