A widower's entertainment

Chapter 135 [Cannon Fodder’s Words] (Please subscribe)

Beijing, "People's Literature" magazine.

Although the editor Zhang Wei was very hurt when Lin Youcheng submitted the novel to "Harvest", as the King of the Sea, he naturally could not just let it go. He still had to try to save it and work hard to let Lin Youcheng Cheng Zai submitted articles to the magazine "People's Literature" again.

"Are you writing a letter to Lin Youcheng to request a manuscript?"

Other editor colleagues saw Zhang Wei writing a letter and glanced at the paper. .

This time, Zhang Wei did not send out the same text content of the invitation, because the content of the letter was different. There was also a synopsis in it for the two novels "Love Letter" and "The Miracle of the World" by Lin Youcheng that the People's Publishing House wanted to publish. "Things", both novels also want to be published as separate volumes, so naturally they need to talk to Lin Youcheng.

Zhang Wei said: "It's not just about the manuscripts, but also the publication of separate volumes of his previous two novels."

When the colleague heard Zhang Wei's words, he couldn't help but nodded and said: "Yes, his two novels can be published as stand-alone books long ago. Speaking of which, "The Wind" can also be published as a stand-alone book. After all, it is so popular. Literature Everyone in the circle is discussing his spy novel."

Zhang Wei naturally knows how popular Lin Youcheng's "The Wind" is. After all, the story is really shocking, especially the foreshadowing of "Wonderful Things in the World".

The colleague looked at Zhang Wei and said: "There is a foreshadowing of "The Sound of the Wind" in "The Strange Things in the World". It would be great if the novel "The Sound of the Wind" could be published in "People's Literature". You really need to have a good relationship with Lin Youcheng." Contact me, he is at a time when his creative passion is high. He may have written a new novel, so don’t let it be snatched up by other magazines."

When Zhang Wei heard what his colleague said, he raised his brows and felt a little unsure. He glanced at the invitation letter he was writing and said, "He won't submit his next novel to another magazine."

When my colleague heard Zhang Wei's words, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Don't even think about it. No matter which magazine People's Literature submits to, I am really looking forward to Lin Youcheng's new novel. His article "The Wind" really makes me excited." I watched it several times, it’s really amazing.”

"Hopefully, I think magazines like "October" and "Contemporary" should have been asking Lin Youcheng to write articles again. Maybe now Lin Youcheng submits articles to "Harvest" so that other magazines can also see them. I have gained hope, and maybe now I keep writing to Lin Youcheng to request manuscripts."

Having said that, Zhang Wei himself is actually a little unsure.

Now, listening to his colleague's words, he just felt a lot of pressure. He thought that he should contact Lin Youcheng more, and couldn't help but said: "I should have gone back if I had known that the Chinese New Year would be celebrated this year."

Although Jiang Xiulian is now helping to take care of Carrot Tou, and Lin Youcheng is writing manuscripts, Lin Youcheng does not do anything but write manuscripts. He still takes care of Carrot Tou, just like now Lin Youcheng also goes shopping outside. vegetable.

Xie Chunxia shook her head and said: "No, a cousin of mine also wants to buy a washing machine, but he doesn't have a ticket, so I thought of asking you to see if you have any ideas."

……

Zhang Wei replied with a smile, looking down at the letter he was writing. Now he is looking forward to Lin Youcheng's new novel, but he is even more looking forward to Lin Youcheng's next novel being submitted to "People's Literature".

Xie Chunxia said with some embarrassment: "It's that washing machine in your house——"

"You said."

In this way, I believe that if Lin Youcheng writes a new manuscript, he will consider submitting it to "People's Literature". After all, he has visited it in person.

I just don’t know if Lin Youcheng, who is far away in Decheng, still has the magazine "People's Literature" in his heart, and whether he is there.

Obviously, Zhang Wei didn't know that his fellow editor would come true.

Lin Youcheng thought it was Xie Chunxia who wanted to borrow the washing machine, and couldn't help but said, "If you want to use it, you can just use it."

The colleague shook his head and said: "No one can say for sure. You didn't expect that he would submit to Harvest before. However, it is not surprising that he would submit to Harvest. After all, it is the magazine edited by Mr. Ba. "

"Who doesn't look forward to it?"

Decheng, Chunfeng Lane.

Zhang Wei and Lin Youcheng are fellow villagers. If Zhang Wei returns to his hometown, as an editor, he will naturally visit Lin Youcheng.

Lin Youcheng has a very good relationship with Xie Chunxia's family, and Jiang Xiulian is still renting Xie Chunxia's house.

Lin Youcheng had just returned from shopping for groceries when he saw Xie Chunxia coming next door and said, "Youcheng, I have something to trouble you with."

Zhang Wei nodded and agreed very much with his colleague's words. He also knew in his heart the status of "Harvest" magazine edited by Ba Lao in the literary world. He said, "Besides "Harvest", he probably won't submit to any other magazine." .”

Lin Youcheng was a little surprised. It seemed that Xie Chunxia, ​​her cousin, was doing well, and she actually wanted to ask him for a ticket for the washing machine.

"I'm asking others now, but I can help you ask later, but -"

Before the next words were spoken, Xie Chunxia had already guessed it, and hurriedly continued what Lin Youcheng said, saying: "Youcheng, it doesn't matter whether you have it or not, I'm just troubling you."

Lin Youcheng naturally said that it was okay.

After saying this, Xie Chunxia watched Lin Youcheng come back from shopping, looked at the vegetables Lin Youcheng was carrying, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Youcheng, your life is getting better and better now."

"Isn't everyone's life getting better and better now? Otherwise, why would your cousin think about buying a washing machine now?"

When Xie Chunxia heard what Lin Youcheng said, she nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, life is getting better and better now."

Although 1985 is the seventh year of reform and opening up, it is in the early stage of reform and opening up, and the economy has just started, but it is getting better and better. Otherwise, the top four high-end consumer goods for urban residents are watches, radios, bicycles and sewing machines. , how come we turn to the new four major items: TV, stereo cassette player, washing machine and refrigerator.

Lin Youcheng knew that days like this would get better and better.

Life is getting more and more prosperous, but Lin Youcheng knows in his heart that such good days are also due to the efforts of his ancestors.

After Lin Youcheng handed the vegetables he bought to Jiang Xiulian, he glanced at the little carrots he was playing with without saying anything, walked to the table and opened the invitation letter sent by Zhang Wei of "People's Literature" letter.

Lin Youcheng picked up the invitation letter curiously. There was no other author's letter printed on it. It seemed that this time it was not a group letter. The content of the letter sent by Zhang Wei was naturally about the manuscript, and the other was about the publication of separate volumes of "Love Letter" and "Wonderful Things in the World".

Lin Youcheng would naturally not have any objections to this matter. Although domestic publishing houses only charge a thousand-word manuscript fee for a single book, and the fee was not high, mosquitoes, no matter how small they are, are still meat, so Lin Youcheng naturally had no reason to refuse.

In the past, Baihua Publishing House under "Novel Monthly" published "The Love of the Hawthorn Tree" and "The Devotion of Suspect X".

Lin Youcheng naturally wrote a reply to Zhang Wei and agreed to publish the two novels as single volumes. At the same time, he also said very frankly that he was currently writing the script of "The Wind" and was also writing a new novel, but it would take a long time and he didn't know what it was yet. The manuscript will be finished in due course.

In the letter, Lin Youcheng did not directly respond that he would send the new manuscript to Zhang Wei. After all, he had received more than just invitation letters from "People's Literature".

As colleague Zhang Wei said, perhaps because Lin Youcheng submitted articles to Harvest magazine, other literary magazines also saw a glimmer of hope, and they all wrote to Lin Youcheng more enthusiastically to request articles.

Lin Youcheng glanced at the thick pile of manuscript invitation letters on the table. Every invitation letter in it was full of sincerity.

Even the magazine "Harvest" naturally continued to write letters to Lin Youcheng after "The Wind". This included the hope that Lin Youcheng's next manuscript would continue to be submitted to "Harvest".

It was naturally impossible for Lin Youcheng to reply to all these invitation letters, because Lin Youcheng had his own plans in mind.

The most important thing for him right now is writing. He didn't lie in his letter to Zhang Wei. He is indeed writing the movie script of "The Wind" and is also writing the novel "My Commander, My Regiment". .

Lin Youcheng has watched the classic drama "My Captain, My Regiment" and knows very well that the story of the cannon fodder regiment is fictional, but fictional stories have prototypes after all.

Since there is a prototype, Lin Youcheng naturally hopes to write it more realistically. Even in specious time and space, some things are the same. The story that happened in Zenda will naturally have a similar story development.

You must know that the original Battle of Zenda Nantianmen was adapted from the real Songshan Battle in history. The soldiers fought to the death for 95 days and killed 7763 Japanese troops at the cost of 1250 casualties. The casualties between the enemy and ourselves were 1:6.2, which is enough to prove this war. The severity of the tragedy.

Lin Youcheng deliberately consulted some information here in order to make this true story more real.

The room was quiet, and Lin Youcheng didn't think about those magazine invitations anymore.

He is just writing this story quietly now, writing what Long Wenwen said——

"I have been to those places, the places we have lost. The imperial city roots of the fried belly shabu-shabu meat in Peking, Qiansi Shaomai in Nanjing, the Qinhuai Fengyue where gold is sold, the colorful world in Shanghai that made me stare, the Mahua Dog in Tianjin No matter what, Guangzhou Tingzai porridge and rice rolls, Lushunkou's salted fish pancakes and forts, northeastern three delicacies, dog meat soup, pickled cabbage and white meat stewed vermicelli, the bitter old forest looking for a way to survive, the fire palace's duck blood soup, and Stinky tofu and Changsha City that has been beaten into powder.

"It's all gone. I have no self-cultivation. I don't have any self-cultivation. I don't have to see half of China gone before I start to feel anxious and heartache. I don't have to wait until all the Chinese people are dead before I start to feel heartache and worry. It's such a big river and mountain, and I don't have it in many places. I have been to Tieli, Fuyu, Hulunchi, Hailar River, Beierchi, Changbai Mountain, Daxing'an, Xiaoxing'an, Yingkou, Andong, Laoha River, Chengde, Guojiatun, Wanquan, Luanhe, Baihe, Sanggan River, Beiping, Tianjin, Jiyuan, Suigui, Licheng, Daokou, Kaifeng, Yangqu, Kaifeng, Yancheng..."

"I am a blindly anxious person, and I am blindly anxious. The words "three" mean a land and water, a people, a great defeat and an astronomical number of lives, Nanyang, Xiangyang, Shengqidian, Changtaiguan, Zhengyangguan, Yingshui, Rushui, Chaohu, Hongze Lake, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Huaining..."

……

That is to say, what Long Wenwen said, this story is from North China and East China in 1937 to Central China and South China in 1938, a great rout that stretched for thousands of kilometers and covered more than half of the territory. A group of people just marched all the way. The western defeat reached Chanda, a small town on the border of Yunnan.

Now we are in western Yunnan, and to the west is Japan. The war has begun. Those people have nowhere to escape and can only gather at a broken soldier reception center in the town.

Lin Youcheng wrote a fictional story based on a real war.

Although it is fictitious, just like what appears in "Fantastic Things in the World", Long Wenwen is real. His true identity is a lieutenant, not a regiment leader.

Although Long Wen Zhang in the story has met Lin Qi, Lin Youcheng actually knows very well that this story is told through Meng Fanglia. Strictly speaking, Meng Fanglia is the real male protagonist. After all, the name of the novel is " My leader, my team".

But that does not mean that Long Wenwen is a supporting character. It should be said that there are no supporting characters in "My Captain, My Group". Everyone is the protagonist and everyone is indispensable.

Those fictional characters have very different personalities, backgrounds, and experiences, but they all have very distinct images. Even a military dog ​​has flesh and blood, as if it really exists, as if they are around you, because those people are only mortals and can bleed. , will die.

But even if they are cannon fodder, even if the enemy and we are greatly disparate in strength, they will fight until the last moment. If you want to enter Nantianmen, you have to step over the corpses of those cannon fodders.

Yu Xiaoqing asked the cannon fodder to persist for two days, and in the end they persisted for thirty-eight days.

No support, no food, nothing but faith and will.

There is no dwarfing of the enemy, no belittling of the enemy to highlight the excellence of the cannon fodder. After all, they are just cannon fodder, and what can the cannon fodder have to show off?

Yes, the protagonists in the story are a group of cannon fodder defeated soldiers from all over the world, who were chased by the Japanese and invaded more than half of the country.

In addition to Long Wen Zhang and A Yi, there are also Meng Fanglia, Mi Long, Veterinarian, Bu La, She Butt, Dong Dao, Krupp, Doubian, Cui Yong...

More than half of the cannon fodder protagonists in the story are dead, like Meng Fanle and Bula missing a leg, Li Liansheng being used as a target, and Kaname being shot in the head...

In Lin Youcheng's view, this story is the same as what Gu Xiaomeng said in "The Wind", and it really explains why he almost perished back then, but why he did not perish at such a severe moment.

Just like what the cannon fodder said -

... If you want to die,... you must first do the four musts!

Yes, it was the deafening words from the cannon fodder that resounded throughout the world. Since it is cannon fodder, there is nothing that cannot be burned. Even if it burns itself to ashes, those bodies must be burned cleanly.

This sentence is like a prairie fire in the darkness, thrilling and soul-stirring.

(End of this chapter)