Chapter 52: Heading North!

Generally speaking, Big Front Gate cigarettes were still considered a fine smoke nowadays.

Smoking Peony cigarettes meant you had money, while as for Zhonghua? Those were basically reserved for the leadership.

With a crowd gathered in the dormitory, chattering naturally broke out.

"Good smoke, satisfying."

"Comrades from the Cultural Troupe are truly generous!"

"Writers have money! They only smoke good stuff. I saw on the news that Lu Yao smokes imported cigarettes costing hundreds of yuan!"

After distributing a pack of cigarettes, everyone had two or three each, and the comrades in the dorm now looked at Li Yousi with much greater favor.

"Are you all from the artillery unit? May I ask how many years each of you has served?" Li Yousi held a notebook, putting on a very serious look.

The man who stood one hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall looked towering, yet possessed a fine character, acting like the big brother of the group and easy to talk to:

"I enlisted in the army two years ago."

"I arrived last summer."

"That fellow over there is the newest, he came last winter."

Looking over, a skinny-looking soldier with a buzz cut scratched his head.

After a brief commotion, the atmosphere improved significantly.

Chatting away, Li Yousi did not reveal his purpose right away, simply talking about everything and anything with them. Li Yousi proved to be quite good at conversation, able to pick up and continue any topic thrown his way.

The conversation later drifted to their respective hometowns; some were as distant as Yunnan, while others were right from within Jincheng. Gradually, the subject shifted toward family...

"Missing home? I only have an old mother at home, and she works at the commune! Anyway, she doesn't need me."

"Ah, speaking of which, it reminds me of Xiaocui. Once I finish my service in a few months, I'll go back and marry her."

"Pfft, I never expected you were still a greenhorn, kid!"

"Hahaha." Although touching on poignant subjects, hearing such a remark made everyone burst into laughter.

"You have a wife?"

"That's underestimating him. When he enlisted, his child was already three years old! Don't look at them as if they're the same age."

~

Li Yousi lifted his camera and suggested, "Would anyone like to take a photo to send back home?"

"Take a picture? Forget it, forget it..."

"Photos aren't cheap, right?"

At first, several of them felt a bit shy and hesitant.

This time, the one-eighty-five-centimeter giant took the lead again, "Is it really okay? I'd like to take a picture to send back to my mother."

Li Yousi glanced at the camera—a Sony film camera. He hadn't expected Comrade Chen Xiaotao, usually so quiet, to actually be wealthy enough to afford imported goods!

The matter of taking photos had been discussed with Chen Xiaotao beforehand.

Li Yousi asked, "Right here in the dorm, or should we go to the parade ground?"

Certain military equipment could not be photographed and leaked, but Li Yousi noticed several decent spots within the camp.

"Let's just do it in the dorm."

"Alright."

After framing the shot for a moment, Li Yousi snapped one.

Seeing the tall guy take the lead, the skinniest and smallest soldier also grew tempted: "Comrade, I want to take one to leave for my mom too!"

"Sure, where do you want to take it?"

"Can we go in front of that tree by the entrance?"

Li Yousi nodded, and besides the two of them, a bunch of dormitory residents curiously followed along.

After taking the skinny guy's picture by the dorm entrance, Li Yousi asked, "Who else wants one?"

"Me! I need one for my wife."

"You're from Jincheng, your mother can see you anytime. I'm from Yunnan, let me go first..."

Many men were like this: shy at first, but seeing everyone else take photos would make their own hearts itch—especially since the tall guy and the skinny guy were sending theirs back to their mothers, wouldn't they want the same?

Moreover, this was indeed a rare opportunity. In this era, commercial photography studios could not enter military camps; typically, only the propaganda departments and cultural sections of division-level units and above were equipped with professional film cameras.

Li Yousi said, "Alright, everyone stop scrambling, there's enough for everyone. One by one."

One man said excitedly, "Comrade, you have to keep your word."

After a little under half an hour, all dozen or so men had their photos taken, and Li Yousi even took a group picture for them.

Returning to the dorm with them, Li Yousi said, "Once I develop the photos, I'll mail them to your dorm, and you can each collect yours then."

The tall soldier said, "Thank you for the trouble, comrade. I remember developing photos costs quite a bit of money, right?"

"No need."

The tall man insisted on pulling out money to hand over, saying, "We can't let you bear all the trouble alone. Let everyone chip in for the cost of the film..."

Everyone in the dorm agreed and genuinely prepared to offer him money.

Li Yousi thought to himself that he would just have to reimburse Chen Xiaotao out of his own pocket. He said, "No need, the film doesn't cost much. I just wanted to ask everyone a few questions."

"What is it? Comrade, feel free to ask."

Li Yousi asked, "Does anyone here know how to sing *Tears of Flowers*?"

By now, everyone trusted Li Yousi and didn't worry that he was just fishing for merit.

"We know a bit. The skinny guy is a master at this; his hometown loves singing mountain folk songs!"

Li Yousi said, "I have an inspiration centered around *Tears of Flowers*, but I'm unclear about the lyrics. Could you hum it for me? I'd like to write the lyrics down."

"Alright, skinny, step up!"

*Tears of Flowers* had thousands of different ways of being sung because it was passed down by word of mouth among countless people in the military, resulting in varied stylistic effects.

Listening to the dozen or so men, Li Yousi could distinguish three clearly defined styles of singing.

This camp probably only circulated these three versions. Having obtained the lyrics and melody, Li Yousi waved goodbye to them.

......

Returning to the command post, he greeted Chen Xiaotao. Seeing Li Yousi arrive, Chen Xiaotao urged him to leave: "Let's go, back to the cultural troupe."

"Old Chen, is the tune written?" Li Yousi asked.

Chen Xiaotao nodded: "Pretty much. I chatted with Officer Wang for a bit today and even ran into a little comrade from Yunnan. Thanks to him, I got a lot more inspiration."

"Congratulations, I look forward to appreciating your masterpiece."

"Masterpiece is a stretch. Little Li, do you have any leads yet?"

Li Yousi smiled: "A few."

"Still a military theme?"

"Um... pretty much."

After chatting for a good while, the car drove back into the city, returning to the cultural troupe and dropping the two off at the entrance of the propaganda section.

Back in the arts room.

He Dehua looked at Li Yousi and said, "Old Wang is waiting for you in his office, Little Li, go take a look."

"What's about?"

He Dehua kept him in suspense: "I don't know, go see for yourself."

~

Inside the office, Wang Hai was still processing various paperwork for Li Yousi.

Li Yousi knocked and walked in: "Director Wang, you called for me?"

Wang Hai quickly said, "Sit down, sit down!"

"Went down to the grassroots, did you? And you even brought a camera along. You certainly look the part."

Wang Hai was in high spirits, which Li Yousi immediately sensed: "What is it, Director? You look so happy."

Wang Hai didn't hide it: "*My Commander, My Regiment* has passed review! They even helped you contact *People's Literature* in advance, asking you to head north in a few days to revise the novel. I heard a veteran military officer from Sichuan put his weight behind it!!"

"Oh!" Li Yousi had been prepared to give up after so much time had passed, never expecting it to spring back to life.