Chapter 59 Just Call Me Old Liu

Hu Zehong had a rather petite figure; even Zhang Li and Chen Xiaoxu, who were both only one meter six in height, dwarfed her by a circle.

The three of them looked at each other—since they were going to be together for three or four months anyway, and it was quite a bond to meet here, they began to chat:

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Hangzhou, Zhejiang."

Zhang Li smiled and said, "Up above there is heaven, down below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou, what a wonderful place!"

"What about you two?"

The other two reported their locations—we three sworn brothers are bound by fate, and today right here... wait, wrong set.

Sister Lin found her roommate adorable and decided to tease her: "Who are you auditioning for? Such a pretty little face!"

"I'm auditioning for Baochai and Daiyu..."

"I'm Daiyu."

"I'm Purp... Baochai." Sister Baochai touched the one-hundred-yuan fortune she had earned from *Children's Literature*, suddenly regaining her confidence.

After all, all fear stems from insufficient firepower, and all inferiority comes from an empty wallet.

"Ah? Then... then how can I compete with you two?" Hu Zehong looked at the two pretty girls.

No matter how she looked at it, they seemed a match, and crucially, these two seemed to get along quite well.

Zhang Li immediately comforted her, "Little sister Hu, I don't even know how to act, and I still have an accent. Actually, if you compete for Baochai, I might not stand a chance; with your little round face, your chances are much bigger than mine."

Chen Xiaoxu wore a smile, looking as if she were about to proudly cross her arms and declare: *Just so you know, I am the natural-born Daiyu.*

"It's fine, there are so many characters in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, aside from Daiyu, there are still the four Springs!"

A commotion suddenly sounded outside.

Deng Jie knocked on the door of the three: "Zhang Li, Xiaoxu, Xiaohong, it's you three, right? Time for the meeting."

"Coming," Chen Xiaoxu replied.

Stepping outside, they were greeted by a mature face, albeit a bit tanned. Who would have guessed this was the sharp-tongued Sister Feng? At this moment, however, she was actually auditioning for Ping'er. It truly was a case of a turned-over serf singing a triumphant song.

***

Having left,

Li Yousi first headed to a bookstore to see what new magazines had recently been released. Upon walking in and taking a look!

The new magazine *Children's Literature* was out. Li Yousi was a veteran writer, even if he was a veteran crossing over from another field! But he certainly qualified to cut the line.

Therefore, his novel was published in this issue, and it was even the cover story. That little rabbit on it had been drawn by Zhang Li.

Li Yousi looked at it and bought a copy of *Children's Literature*: "How much is it?"

"Fifty cents."

After paying, Li Yousi turned and walked away, opening *Children's Literature* to take a glance. His novel was indeed placed near the front.

However, no matter how well-written the works in *Children's Literature* were, they would not cause a massive stir within the literary circle.

The works in *Children's Literature* worked like a spring breeze turning night into rain, subtle and silent, exerting influence imperceptibly!

Li Yousi held his manuscript.

No. 166, Chaoyangmennei Street, Beijing—the office location of *People's Literature*.

Much like the office of the *Beijing Literature* magazine, it was just a shabby, old building!

The bright side was that *People's Literature* was rumored to be moving early next year into a newly built small western-style mansion. After all, it was a nationally renowned magazine, backed by the Writers Association, so its conditions were beyond reproach.

Relying on his letter of recommendation, Li Yousi entered the magazine office.

After handing over the letter, a newcomer at the magazine led him toward the offices.

"Comrade Li! A pleasure to meet you!"

"Comrade Liu~"

Coming toward him was Liu Xinwu, who had been transferred to *People's Literature* as deputy editor-in-chief the year before last, though it remained a mystery what *October* would have become without him...

"That sounds too distant. Just call me Old Liu; everyone in the Writers Association calls me that!"

"Alright, Old Liu."

Liu Xinwu led Li Yousi to a seat.

Li Yousi looked around. This old building of *People's Literature* featured a very large window, and the floor was paved with beige large ceramic tiles, a distinctive feature of the era.

"Receiving your novel submission for the first time, the magazine feels truly honored."

"The honor is entirely mine, to be able to have you as my editor. Actually, I've been your loyal reader since childhood. Back in '76, I especially loved your old work *The Class Teacher*, truly a pioneering masterpiece of scar literature."

Who doesn't know how to butter people up? Li Yousi certainly knew how. Counting the time, when Liu Xinwu started writing, the original owner was just an elementary school student, so calling him a reader since childhood was no exaggeration.

Liu Xinwu was momentarily dazed; eight years had passed, and he had been famous for eight years already:

"Look at what Comrade Li is saying. My novel merely happened to earn a title. Back then, plenty of people wrote scar literature, and the hottest work was actually Lu Xinhua's *Scar*."

"Later on, Zhang Liang's *The Soul and the Flesh* was also quite good; people even called it the best work in scar literature, and it was even adapted into a film."

Mentioning *The Soul and the Flesh* might sound a bit unfamiliar, but the movie was titled *The Herdsman* (path dependence of online literature), and it featured the even more famous line—"Old Xu, do you want a wife?"

Ah, if only someone would send me a pretty wife as well.

"Old Liu, you needn't be modest; no discussion of scar literature can bypass you."

Liu Xinwu stood on little ceremony: "Ahem! Let's not dwell on that. Let's talk about the novel first. Old Liu told me about it, and I am solely responsible for the publication of your novel."

As a council member of the Writers Association, Liu Xinwu had frequent contact with Liu Baiyu, so this task naturally fell to him.

"Comrade Old Liu, have you read this novel?" Li Yousi prepared to take the manuscript out of his bag.

Liu Xinwu waved a hand: "A few days ago, when the decision was made to publish this novel, the duplicate copy was already handed to me for revisions."

"I originally thought this novel was another political assignment and feared it wouldn't meet the standards, so I was ready to politely decline. Later, when I heard it was your novel, I took it on."

"Then I took a look, and after reading about three thousand words, I said *People's Literature* is taking this novel. You wrote it exceptionally well. At least for the past thirty years, I haven't seen a military novel with such depth of thought."

Compared to those within the official system, figures in the literary and art circles were much bolder.

Thus, the art and literary circles always acted as the vanguard.

While those within the system considered the novel a hot potato, the magazine editors thought it was brilliantly written. Novels that dared not criticize anything, dared not write about anything, and acted overly timid were precisely the ones lacking true literary merit.

"Comrade Old Liu flatters me. Let me first take a look at the revised sections." Li Yousi took the duplicated copy from Liu Xinwu.

He compared the two sets of revision proposals for *People's Literature*.

The revisions for *People's Literature* were literary in nature: one set was edited by Wang Chanhong and Liu Baiyu, and the other by Liu Xinwu.

Hmm... each had its own merits, but Li Yousi still preferred the revision approach of *People's Literature*.