Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 529 We Don’t Write Poetry Anymore

In the summer of 87, Fang Minghua taught temporarily at the Yenching Luyuan workshop. During that time, he met Xichuan. When talking about Haizi, Xichuan said that Haizi once went to Qinghai for a trip and passed by Chengdu to meet Shang Zhongmin. At that time, Shang Zhongmin was teaching at the Chengdu Water Conservancy Engineering School. I wonder if he is still there?

Besides, it’s summer vacation now, and I wonder if there are still people in the school?
Anyway, since there's nothing else to do, I might as well go for a trip.

Fang Minghua bought a traffic map of Chengdu, figured out the location of Chengdu Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering School, and squeezed onto the bus.

Chengdu Hydropower Engineering School is located on the Airport Road. Fang Minghua rushed there by car, but the school was already on holiday. It is a technical secondary school and the campus is not big. Fang Minghua took a look around and found it was empty.

He was a little unwilling to give up, so he asked an old man who was guarding the door.

Unexpectedly, when Fang Minghua mentioned the name Shang Zhongmin, the old man actually recognized him.

"He, it's not good to stay in the Ministry of Water Resources in Yanjing, why did he have to come to our technical secondary school to teach? If he wants to teach, he should just teach well, why does he have to write poetry? Last year, he made a mistake in organizing a student demonstration. The school punished him and he resigned. But the young man is a good person. Every time he sees me, he gives me cigarettes, hehe."

Resigned?
"Then do you know where he went?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Still in Chengdu," the old man said, "I met him once, and he said he opened a company that sells computers. He also gave me a business card and said if I want to buy a computer, I can find him for a discount. Isn't this nonsense? What does an old man like me know about computers? Haha."

"Do you still have the business card?"

"Here, let me find it for you." The old man opened the drawer and took out a business card.

Fang Minghua took it and looked at it:
Chairman and General Manager of Chengdu Tianhong Communications Co., Ltd.: Shang Zhongmin.

This name sounds very elegant.

It also has the company address.

"Thank you, uncle." Fang Minghua thanked him and left the school.

Shang Zhongmin's company is located in Chengdu Computer City. The "Technology Street" with Moziqiao as the central area was well-known throughout the country at that time. There was a saying that "there is Zhongguancun in the north and Moziqiao in the south".

This place is just like Zhongguancun, with narrow streets and many shops on both sides, all selling computer equipment. Minghua finally found No. 46 Moziqiao, an old five-story building. Walking into the narrow corridor, he saw various computer supplies companies on each floor. It was only when he reached the edge of the fifth floor that he saw an office with a sign that read "Chengdu Tianhong Communication Technology Co., Ltd."

He leaned over to the window and looked out. The office was very small and seemed a bit messy. Shang Zhongmin was sitting behind a boss' desk, staring at the computer screen and operating something.

Minghua knocked on the door and went in. Shang Zhongmin looked up and saw that it was him and was stunned.

"It's you? Editor-in-Chief Fang?!"

"I have resigned from the editor-in-chief position of Yanhe. You can just call me Minghua." Fang Minghua explained:
"Zhou Keqin, vice chairman of your provincial writers' association, has passed away. I came to offer condolences on behalf of the Qin Provincial Writers Association. I thought of you and came to see you."

"Zhou Keqin? The author of "Xu Mao and His Daughters"? Died? What a pity. I read that novel when I was in college." Shang Zhongmin answered and asked:

"How did you find this place?"

Fang Minghua briefly explained the process.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Fang Minghua glanced around again and said with a smile: "Not bad, you've opened a company and become the boss."

"What boss? There are only four of us." Shang Zhongmin said in a self-deprecating tone, and asked Fang Minghua to sit down. Then he ran to the next room and poured Minghua a glass of water.

"What? Are you going into the entertainment industry and not writing poetry anymore?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Now, what's there to write? Look at what you are writing now?!" Shang Zhongmin suddenly took out a magazine from his office desk and handed it to Fang Minghua.

It was the Reader's Digest that Song Tangtang showed him at home!
"Look at this poem." Shang Zhongmin pointed to the title of Wang Guozhen's poem "If Life Is Not Generous Enough".

"You say, this is worthy of being called a poem?! Even in plain language, you can't write like this." At this point, Shang Zhongmin sighed:
"But I heard that Wang Guozhen's poems are very popular on college campuses. When we were in college, what was popular was totally different from the times."

"Do you miss Bei Dao and Gu Cheng?" Fang Minghua asked with a smile. "Oh, let's not talk about it. I said I won't talk about poetry." Shang Zhongmin avoided the topic: "Then I'll call you Minghua. Since you are here, I will treat you to hot pot tonight. I will also invite Hu Dong, Wan Xia and others. We haven't gathered together for a long time. Now everyone is busy with their own things. Today is an opportunity."

"Hu Dong Wan Xia? Aren't you worried that we're going to have another quarrel like we did at the poetry gathering in 86?" Fang Minghua said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"What are you arguing about?" Shang Zhongmin laughed and said, "No, because they don't write poetry anymore!"

At around five o'clock, the two went downstairs and took the bus straight to Renmin Road, and arrived at a restaurant called "Chengdu Old Hotpot".

A table near the inside was already full of people. Wan Xia and Hu Dong, whom Minghua knew, were sitting there. In addition to these two, Shang Zhongmin smiled and introduced Li Yawei, Ma Song, and a girl named Zhai Yongming, who had just returned from the United States.

Minghua then realized:

They are all Chengdu poets who have been influential in the poetry world in the past few years!
But today, no one talks about poetry.

They talked about making money, starting a company, and even how to pick up girls, as well as embarrassing things that happened in college, but no one mentioned poetry.

After introducing each other, Fang Minghua learned that Wan Xia is now the editor of a literary magazine in Chengdu and deals with poetry, while the rest of the people are far away from poetry and even literature.

Shang Zhongmin opened a communications company.

Li Yawei is a restaurant owner.

Ma Song joined a company.

Hu Dong is now an unemployed vagrant.

Zhang Zao went abroad.
Bai Hua went abroad

The Sichuan poetry group that once dominated the poetry world has vanished into thin air.

Besides chatting, everyone was drinking. People from Sichuan Province drink a lot. Although Fang Minghua can drink a lot, he couldn't stand the bombardment of several people.

So Shang Zhongmin laughed and said that many people were dissatisfied with the poems written by us people from Sichuan Province in the past, but no one was dissatisfied with our drinking!
That year, Haizi came back from a long trip to Qinghai and passed through Chengdu and stayed at my place for a few days. We got him drunk every day.

"Yes, where is Haizi? I haven't heard from him for a long time." Shang Zhongmin asked with concern.

"He was not in a good mental state. He tried to commit suicide last year but was rescued by Xichuan and others and sent to the hospital for treatment."

"Oh"

"Hey"

Everyone sighed for a while, but soon changed the topic to playing rock-paper-scissors.

After the meal, everyone went their separate ways and Fang Minghua also said goodbye to Shang Zhongmin.

"Minghua, come see me next time you come to Chengdu, and we'll eat hotpot together!"

"Okay, when you come to Xijing, give me a call and I'll treat you to mutton soup," said Fang Minghua.

"I also want to drink your Xifeng wine!"

The two laughed and said goodbye.

This was the last time Fang Minghua saw Shang Zhongmin.

(End of this chapter)