Chapter 54: Hurry Back, It's Reaching the Climax (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Soon, after people got on and off the bus at the next stop, an elderly woman wearing glasses boarded.

The old woman felt a sense of natural warmth toward soldiers because her own son was currently serving in the military. Looking for assistance, she approached Li Yousi:

"Young man, could you please help me with my suitcase?"

Hearing the call, Li Yousi looked in the direction of the voice and saw an elderly woman standing by the bus door with a heavy suitcase in front of her.

In this era, people still held the spirit of Lei Feng in high regard. That young man was indeed remarkable, and being helpful was certainly no empty phrase!

Li Yousi was also a good person—a modern youth embracing new ideologies!

He put down his magazine, walked over to the back door, and lifted the luggage up.

The elderly woman walked up step by step, trembling slightly, and sat down in the seat right next to his: "Thank you so much! You truly are a wonderful person!"

"It's nothing at all, just a simple gesture."

Chen Xiaoxu thought to herself: *Oh dear, please stop talking! I still want to read my magazine! Hurry up and come back, it's reaching the climax now, stopping here is absolute torture!*

When Li Yousi returned to his seat, the old woman smiled and asked, "Oh, is this your wife? You two really look like a couple!"

In the 1980s, not only was sitting this close in a public place unusual, but the old woman had also noticed the young woman's lingering glances toward Li Yousi. Naturally feeling suspicious, she decided to say a few kind words...

Although she had aimed at the wrong target, it seemed to have some effect.

Chen Xiaoxu, usually a quiet girl, finally started speaking, though she explained in a rather flustered manner: "No, we aren't! We don't even know each other."

Li Yousi nodded: "Granny has misunderstood."

The old woman smiled and said, "Ah, my old eyes are failing me, please forgive me. However, since the young comrade is so handsome and the young lady is so breathtakingly beautiful, getting to know each other isn't a bad thing at all!"

"Ah?" Although Chen Xiaoxu wasn't stingy in daily life, she had never encountered such a situation.

"Young lady, you look just like a movie star. What is your name?"

Chen Xiaoxu hesitated for a moment: "My name is Chen Xiaoxu."

"And you?"

"Li Yousi."

Hearing this name, Chen Xiaoxu froze for a moment, silently repeating the name "Li Yousi" twice in her heart.

It was a nice name, quite pleasant to the ear. Yet, she suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had heard it somewhere before.

After thinking back for a moment, she recalled the writer most widely discussed in the literary circles recently! That brilliant writer who wrote *Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots* and pioneered the "root-seeking" literary trend! His name was also Li Yousi!

At first, Chen Xiaoxu hadn't connected the two, especially since she had said to herself—who on earth would be foolish enough to use their own real name as a pen name?

The old woman smiled and said, "Well, now that we've all been introduced, the two of you know each other."

Chen Xiaoxu was momentarily stunned. *Could this old woman be a professional matchmaking plant?*

Yet, upon second thought, probably not; she didn't look the part.

Feeling too embarrassed to continue this topic, Chen Xiaoxu decided to go back to studying *Dream of the Red Chamber*. She glanced at the magazine in Li Yousi's hand, memorized the title of the periodical, and curled her lips with a silent huff: *I'll just go buy my own!*

The old woman, meanwhile, was chatting quite happily with Li Yousi: "My son is a soldier too. Being a soldier is wonderful! Serving the country! Defending the nation! After watching *Garlands at the Foot of the Mountain* last time, I even wrote a letter urging my son to go to the front lines!"

(Although the conflict with the monkeys only lasted a year, it left behind many years of lingering entanglements.)

Li Yousi gave a mental thumbs-up, thinking that Granny was truly formidable.

"By the way, young comrade, where are you from? Which place?"

Li Yousi didn't explicitly mention his unit: "I'm serving in Sichuan."

"Ah, what a coincidence, my son is stationed over in Hebei."

"The Navy?" Li Yousi asked in return.

"Yes."

Li Yousi offered a compliment: "The Navy is formidable!"

The old woman nodded proudly: "Still, young comrade, how did a Sichuan native end up in Beiping... Oh dear, I'm talking too much. Forgive me."

The old woman had originally wanted to pry a little, but she quickly remembered the strict rules about confidentiality and military secrets that her son constantly talked about. What if the man in front of her was bound by the same restrictions?

Li Yousi replied, "It's fine. My coming to Beiping isn't any top-secret matter; higher-ups simply asked me to come and revise a novel manuscript."

Oh?

Several gazes shifted toward him.

Although Chen Xiaoxu was reading her book, she had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation all along—after all, gossip was far more interesting than the Red Chamber!

She cast another evaluating glance at Li Yousi.

No wonder he was reading *People's Literature*; it turned out he genuinely was a writer.

The old woman's mouth opened slightly: "A comrade from the cultural troupe!"

"Yes, indeed."

The old woman was reasonable; every soldier played a vital role, and cultural troupes had the great function of boosting morale. Besides, the identity of a writer was already considered quite impressive to most people.

And right now, he possessed a dual identity: writer plus soldier!

If the old woman had a daughter, she would have wanted to introduce her to the man right before her eyes.

Most importantly, he didn't look bad at all!

"That's impressive! My son is practically semi-literate. His father and I are both teachers, yet I have no idea why this boy's grades were so poor that he couldn't even pass the university entrance exams."

Li Yousi remarked, "Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, no need to force it."

"If you don't mind me asking, which publishing house are you heading to?"

Li Yousi answered, " *People's Literature*."

Oh?

This was Chen Xiaoxu's second shock of the day: This guy was both a writer and a soldier, and he could even get his novel published in *People's Literature*? It seemed his capability was not to be underestimated.

"Remarkable!" The old woman immediately raised her thumb in praise.

Since she and her husband were both teachers, they naturally possessed a cultural background. Living in Beiping, the cultural center, they frequently read literary magazines and well understood the true weight of a cultural troupe writer getting published in *People's Literature*.

After all, most military-themed works suffered from one major flaw: they were too vulgar!

Of course, "vulgar" here meant colloquial and popular. The purpose of ordinary military themes was propaganda—whether promoting military might, the brave spirit of soldiers, or pre-battle mobilization. At its core, the primary function of such themes was dissemination.

As propaganda works, they couldn't be too refined; they had to be accessible, written so that anyone could understand them.

Yet, top-tier literary journals rarely opened the backdoor, even for military themes. They demanded refinement. Writing something so colloquial simply didn't fit their standards!

The reason *Garlands at the Foot of the Mountain* managed to enter *October* was partly because *October* wasn't quite at the absolute top tier back then.

As for the military novels that managed to enter top literary journals during the 1950s and 1960s, it was mostly due to political reasons.

Of course, one couldn't say it was entirely impossible; military novels that appealed to both refined and popular tastes did exist, but they were rare. Over so many years, only one or two such pieces had emerged.

"Young man, have you written any other works before? Who knows, maybe I've even read them!" The old woman's curiosity about the young man before her had deepened even further.

She regretted acting as his wingman earlier; she should have introduced him to her own nieces or female cousins instead.

Li Yousi slowly uttered four words: "*Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots*!"

The old woman thought her ears were failing her: "Which piece? The novel published in *Beiping Literature*?"

"Yes, published last December. That was my first novel."

Chen Xiaoxu looked at Li Yousi once again.

*Oh goodness!*

*I should have known better than to call you a fool. Are you actually a fool?*

*You really did use your own name as your pen name!*