Chapter 845: Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow

New Year's Eve of 1997 has passed.

Lin Weimin got up early in the morning and yawned as he dressed his daughter. He put his pants on the little girl's head. She was supported by Lin Weimin and didn't even open her eyes, so she didn't notice it at all.

Tao Huimin snatched the pants off and complained, "Look at the two of you..."

If this scene were made into a movie, it could be called "The Life of the Disliked Lin Family Father and Daughter".

"Dad, can we not go to pay New Year's greetings? I'm so sleepy!" Little Doubao begged.

Lin Weimin's face was serious. "It's okay if you don't pay New Year's greetings, but you won't get any New Year's money."

Hearing this, Xiao Doubao opened his squinting eyes and all his sleepiness disappeared.

But she couldn't help but sigh.

Life is not easy, Doubao sighed.

In the morning, I greeted several elders at home and received a lot of money.

She was happily planning to put all the money into her piggy bank, but unexpectedly a figure suddenly blocked her way, and the tall shadow covered the petite figure of the little girl.

"Happy New Year, auntie!" The little girl bowed deeply with full sincerity.

Xiao Doubao sighed again, handed over a red bill reluctantly, and did not forget to instruct his little girl.

"You should spend sparingly!"

Tao Huimin looked at her daughter's cute and mature appearance and couldn't help but say, "This little money-grubber!"

After the family members finished their New Year greetings and had breakfast, Lin Weimin drove his wife and daughter to Mr. Wan's home.

During the Chinese New Year, Mr. Wan returned to his home in Muxidi.

During this year's Spring Festival, Mr. Wan's home was very lively. Sister Wan Fang brought her husband and children to celebrate the New Year here. The lively and festive atmosphere was felt as soon as one entered the door.

But Mr. Wan and his wife seemed unhappy, so Lin Weimin asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Mr. Wan was evasive.

Li Yuru said unhappily, "I just found out this morning that he secretly ate two pieces of chocolate you gave him last night."

Lin Weimin followed the crowd and criticized: "How can you still eat secretly?"

Mr. Wan argued: "If you hadn't given me the chocolate, would I have eaten it?"

"I prepared those snacks for the children. Are they for you? Besides, why do you have to eat chocolate when there is nothing delicious? Don't you know that you have a bad heart?"

Li Yuru snorted coldly: "Chocolate is so delicious!"

Mr. Wan knew he was in the wrong and did not dare to refute, but glared at Lin Weimin.

"Why are you glaring at me? Reflect on your actions!"

Relying on Li Yuru by his side, Lin Weimin acted recklessly.

After the incident, Lin Weimin gave red envelopes to his juniors.

This year's red envelopes are different from previous years. They are not money, but real objects, a Hetian jade "Wu Shi Pai" for each person. The red envelopes Lin Weimin gave to his juniors were definitely not high-end "Hetian jade" worth more than 500 yuan.

This batch of Wu Shi Pai are cultural and creative products produced by Jinghua Museum. They are made of genuine mutton-fat white jade and are sold at a price of 99,999 yuan per piece.

The full name of Wu Shi Pai is Ping An Wu Shi Pai. Because there is no carving on the entire jade plaque, it implies "nothing to worry about", so the jade plaque borrows the meaning of "peace and no trouble".

White jade is very valuable, but the price of 99,999 yuan for a piece is a complete rip-off.

This batch of Wu Shi Pai was made for 50 pieces, and only 10 pieces were sold after almost half a year. Fortunately, it only takes 3 pieces to recover the cost, and the rest is pure profit. The Wu Shi Pai that Lin Weimin gave away were made individually by Ma Dudu.

“It’s too expensive.”

The Wan Fang sisters looked at the "no problem" card that Lin Weimin gave them and refused it repeatedly.

"It's just for the sake of luck. This thing just looks valuable. It's made from a batch of jade materials that my subordinates got. It's not that expensive."

Lin Weimin still insisted on sending the things out. This is called reciprocity.

After leaving Mr. Wan’s house, Lin Weimin went to Shi Tiesheng’s house.

Without Shi's father at home this year, the Shi family seemed much quieter. After Xiao Doubao came, he ran around the house, making the home more lively.

While Lin Weimin and his family were sitting there, several more friends came to wish them a happy new year.

"It's nice to come to your house to pay New Year's greetings. I can meet everyone without leaving the house." Lin Weimin joked.

At noon, after having a meal at Shi Tiesheng's house, Lin Weimin and his family of three returned home. The only thing they did in the afternoon was to catch up on sleep.

After a hasty New Year holiday, we suddenly return to work and everyone needs an adjustment period.

Just after a week, a major piece of news was suddenly revealed by major media outlets.

Just after singing "Spring Story" on this year's Spring Festival Gala, the old man in the story passed away. The sudden sad news touched the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.

The whole of Yanjing was immersed in a depressing atmosphere, and the end of February passed by in such an atmosphere.

In early March, the third issue of "Contemporary" this year was released as scheduled.

The past year has not been easy for Contemporary Magazine, which has been silent for a long time, and everyone in the editorial department has been immersed in anxiety.

The year 1996 that has just passed can be said to be the most difficult year in the nearly 20-year history of Contemporary Magazine.

This is not only because of the continuous decline in sales. There are reasons for the decline in sales. In addition to the external environment, the most fundamental reason is that many works published by "Contemporary" in the past period of time have not attracted any widespread attention.

The influence of a publication is the result of the accumulation of many classic literary works.

Since its founding, Contemporary has never lacked good works. Countless heavyweight works in China's contemporary literary world since the reform and opening up have been published through Contemporary.

"Contemporary" is accustomed to leading the trend in contemporary literary circles. It is normal for editors to be anxious when it suddenly hasn't published any decent works for more than a year.

After a year of hard work, Lin Weimin's new work was finally completed at the end of last year. If it were not too late, He Qizhi would have wanted to publish this novel in the second issue.

In the third issue of "Contemporary" in 1997, Lin Weimin's latest novel "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" was officially published.

In China, Lin Weimin has tens of millions of readers. Although his novel was not announced in advance, it still caused a heated response in the domestic literary world and among readers two days after its publication.

It has been more than a year since Lin Weimin’s last novel, "God Bless America", was published. Both readers and the market have great expectations for Lin Weimin's new work.

The third issue of Contemporary magazine, which published the article Don’t Knock on the Door Tomorrow, was snapped up by readers on the day it was released.

Factories, campuses, government agencies, office buildings... Readers of this novel are spread across every corner of all walks of life. The 1980s of universal reading have long passed, but to still be able to see this grand occasion on the eve of the 21st century is an extremely happy thing for the vast majority of readers who love literature.

"Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is a movie in which the protagonist is an old man who just turned 60 years old. Because his last name is Shi, he is called Lao Shitou.

But he was called Lao Shitou not only because his surname was Shi, but also because of his blunt, weird and bad temper. The neighbors called him Lao Shitou, and the underlying meaning behind it was "stone in the cesspool".

Old Shitou has a weird temper and is always complaining about everything. People who deal with him are usually not in a happy mood.

He would patrol the family compound and its surroundings in a regular manner every day, and would yell or even resort to violence over anything that did not conform to the rules.

At the beginning of the work, an annoying old man is placed before the reader's eyes, vivid and lively, but also annoying.

Fortunately, before everyone had the chance to hate him, he decided to die. This contrast brought a bit of ironic black humor.

An old man who curses all the time, he looks down on everyone and everything around him. He is cynical and resentful, as if the world owes him something.

He seemed to be still living in the past, out of tune with the ever-changing life and unwilling to accept new things.

But when readers receive the information that he has decided to die, they can't help but feel some sympathy for him.

Then, when he was about to carry out his suicide plan, a nosy neighbor broke into his life. It seemed that no one in this family was easy to deal with.

Not only did they manage to interrupt Lao Shitou's suicide attempts by accident every time, they also managed to make him furious.

Behind each coincidence, Lao Shitou's rough and bumpy life is presented to the readers.

He lost his father at the age of two, his mother at the age of five, and became homeless and wandered the streets at the age of seven.

In 1949, when he was thirteen years old, he was picked up by the People's Liberation Army entering the city and joined the army. At the age of fifteen, he went to the Korean battlefield. After a period of blood and fire, he returned from the battlefield alive, and with him came 13 scars all over his body.

At the age of 21, he married a rural girl under the introduction of the organization. Like him, she was an orphan who grew up in the war. The couple depended on each other for survival.

At the age of 22, he had his first son. At the age of 23, his second son was born and he was promoted to battalion commander. At the age of 26, another son was born. He smiled and said: "With the blessing of our ancestors, our family will be prosperous."

At the age of 28, the country mobilized for the Third Front Construction. He resolutely took off his military uniform, bid farewell to his wife and children, and went to the mountains of Guizhou.

In 1975, he was 39 years old. The Third Front Construction was coming to an end. His eldest son was going to join the army. The Shi family had another PLA soldier, so he chose to transfer back to his hometown.

In 1977, the country resumed the college entrance examination, and the second son was admitted to Yenching University. He got drunk that week, and his life seemed to have ushered in a warm spring.

In 1979, during the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, his eldest son's unit was ambushed by the enemy and he died heroically. On the day he received the bad news, he sat quietly at the doorstep for a long time without shedding a single tear, and only said one sentence: Soldiers should die on the battlefield.

In 1981, the second son graduated from Yenching University with honors and was assigned to work in a ministry. He returned home to visit his family and drowned in a swimming pool. From that day on, he became silent. He thought it was God's revenge for his stubbornness.

From then on, he was stricter with his youngest son than before, but fate was always unpredictable.

In 1983, the youngest son had a girlfriend, but she was stabbed to death because of jealousy.

After seeing off three sons in four years, Lao Shitou's temper became erratic, and only his wife's comfort could calm him down.

After their son left, the couple supported each other for 8 years.

In 1993, my wife was diagnosed with liver cancer. After three months of medical treatment, she eventually passed away.

All the people he loved and who loved him had left this world, and he wanted to find them and reunite with them.

But he still has unfinished tasks assigned to him by the country.

In 1996, he finally retired and was able to reunite with his wife and children.

The Ouyang family who had just moved in next door brought Lao Shitou a lot of trouble and also a lot of warmth in the last moments of his life, but these things were no longer important to him.

He is not afraid of death, nor is he afraid of living alone.

The form of life or death was not important to him, he just wanted to see his beloved relatives.

The story of Lao Shitou has ended, and it has earned the tears of countless readers.

In Yu Hua's "To Live", at least he left an old ox for Fugui at the end.

However, Lin Weimin's "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" resulted in the execution of the entire family, leaving no one alive.

Readers who finished reading the novel cried their hearts out and their intestines almost broke.

Less than half a month after the novel was published, a corner of the editorial department of "Contemporary" was filled with readers' letters that came in like snowflakes.

Among these letters, there were many that praised the novel, but there were even more that cursed the author Lin Weimin.

One reader, who was completely broken by the ending of the novel, cursed Lin Weimin in a letter, calling him "an executioner who earns readers' tears by killing off characters, extremely hateful."

The readers cursed with gnashing teeth, but the people in the editorial office who received the letter were so happy that their teeth were almost showing.

The readers' mixed feelings of love and hate are the highest evaluation of the work and the highest recognition of the work of the publication and editorial department.

As for readers being healed after reading the novel, that is not a problem at all.

Which famous book doesn’t make people cry?

This is called a classic!

(End of this chapter)