Chapter 502: A True Scholar
After Laba Festival, the festive atmosphere becomes stronger and stronger.
From spring to autumn, because the country liberalized prices, everyone scrambled for more than half a year. The money in the family's savings account was gone, and the extra money was enough to use up supplies in one or two years.
When the year draws to a close, people are not as willing to spend money on buying New Year’s goods as in previous years.
Lin Weimin and Tao Huimin carried their things and went to Mr. Wan's house again. Mr. Wan hadn't seen Lin Weimin for a long time, and he was very happy to see him.
"You've been in the spotlight recently!" said Mr. Wan.
"This should be considered a side effect of doing good things."
After sitting down and talking for a while, Lin Weimin told Mr. Wan and his wife that he was planning to get married after the new year. They were both very happy to hear that.
Li Yuru got up and went to the room to take out a jade bracelet to give to Tao Huimin. "You are old now, and these jewelry are useless. Xiao Tao will be a bride soon, so just treat it as an addition to your dowry, take it!"
It was obvious that the jade bracelet was worth a lot of money. Tao Huimin waved her hands, feeling embarrassed.
"Master's wife, how can this be good?"
Tao Huimin refused to accept it, and Mr. Wan said, "Take it. Just consider it as a wedding gift for you. It's not expensive."
Hearing Mr. Wan say this, Lin Weimin asked Tao Huimin to accept the jade bracelet.
Mr. Wan looked at Lin Weimin and Tao Huimin sitting together with a smile on his face, "You are finally getting married. You should cherish your good years and have a child as soon as possible."
Lin Weimin smiled bitterly and said, "Why are you trying to induce labor as well?"
"After this year, you will be thirty. Although the country emphasizes late marriage and good childbearing, it can't be too late. This age is just right."
Lin Weimin nodded helplessly. As old people, it seems that the two things they like to do most when they get older are to urge marriage and childbirth. Now that the marriage is about to take place, the only thing left is to urge childbirth.
Two days later, Lin Weimin received a call from Cheng Zhongshi while at work.
"Hey, Lao Cheng, why did you think of calling me? Are you going to wish me a happy new year in advance?" Lin Weimin joked.
Cheng Zhongshi was not good at joking, so he laughed a few times and told Lin Weimin the good news.
“The novel is finished!”
"Finished writing?" Lin Weimin's voice was full of joy.
He then asked, "Are you really done writing it? When can it be mailed to me? No, no, no, it can't be mailed. I'll send someone to pick it up. You just wait there..."
Cheng Zhongshi interrupted Lin Weimin's excitement and said, "It's just a first draft, and it still needs to be revised."
"Come to Yanjing to revise it, and we can communicate together, which will increase efficiency a lot, and there will also be subsidies."
Cheng Zhongshi politely declined Lin Weimin's enthusiastic invitation. "I can write smoothly in this old house of mine. I'm afraid I won't be able to write anything if I leave such an environment." Cheng Zhongshi explained to Lin Weimin.
After thinking about it, Lin Weimin understood that many writers are very dependent on the environment when creating, especially writers like Cheng Zhongshi who have been rooted in the countryside for decades.
"Then just stay in your hometown and revise the manuscript. Don't worry. If you need anything, just call or write to me. If you can't find me, you can contact other people in the editorial department."
Lin Weimin gave some instructions, then asked worriedly, "Are you financially well off?"
Cheng Zhongshi said quickly, "It's enough. I haven't even used half of the advance I got last time. It's enough."
Talking about this incident, Cheng Zhongshi felt extremely grateful.
Recently he heard about Lin Weimin's heroic act of donating tens of millions of dollars. It would be a lie to say that he was not envious, but he was more filled with admiration for Lin Weimin.
This is a true literati!
After chatting for a long time, Lin Weimin hung up the phone and found He Qizhi excitedly, asking him to write to Cheng Zhongshi regularly to communicate on the progress of the work.
The most important thing is not to let other publications interfere.
Contemporary has been guarding Cheng Zhongshi's novel for several years. It would be a joke if someone intercepted it halfway.
Although I have a good relationship with Cheng Zhongshi and he supports me with my manuscript fees, these days some editors will do anything to get manuscripts, so I have to be on guard.
He was usually busy and was afraid that he would neglect this matter, so he specifically reminded He Qizhi.
He Qizhi also knew how much Lin Weimin valued the novel that Cheng Zhongshi was currently writing, so he immediately agreed solemnly.
On the 17th day of the twelfth lunar month, Ma Yuan, who had not been seen for a long time, appeared in the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine.
His child was born last year. The environment in the snowy area is harsh, so for the sake of the child, Ma Yuan and his wife decided to transfer their job back to their hometown in Liaodong.
Earlier this year, his wife and children had returned to Liaodong, but Ma Yuanze had to wait until now to complete the job transfer and all the trivial matters.
Ma Yuan worked as a reporter in the snowy area. He had not been a full-time writer over the years. This time, in order to be transferred back to Liaodong, he embarked on the path of a professional writer and became a full-time writer.
"So, you will settle in Liaodong in the future?" Lin Weimin asked.
"Almost. After all, there is a child."
Lin Weimin disagreed with Ma Yuan's words. He was a man who was born to be restless and was not someone who could easily settle down.
After chatting in the editorial office for two hours, Ma Yuan suggested going to see Shi Tiesheng.
Lin Weimin got off work an hour early and drove him to the Shichahai courtyard.
Passing by a roadside store, Ma Yuan asked Lin Weimin to stop for a while, and he got out of the car to buy a roast chicken.
"You can't go in empty-handed!"
The car stopped at the gate of the courtyard on Baimixie Street.
"Tiesheng! Tiesheng!"
Lin Weimin called Shi Tiesheng out of the door and said, "Look who's here?"
Shi Tiesheng was a little surprised to see Ma Yuan, but more pleased.
They met at a writers' club of Contemporary Magazine, but unfortunately they later went their separate ways and rarely had the chance to meet.
Shi Tiesheng enthusiastically invited Ma Yuan into the house. Seeing that he was wearing thin clothes, he asked with a smile, "Aren't you afraid of the cold?"
"How can people from the Northeast be afraid of the cold?"
Ma Yuan patted his chest, feeling that even if he was put naked in the North Pole, he would still dare to make such bold statements.
Shi Tiesheng looked at Lin Weimin with a teasing expression, "Weimin might be a fake Northeasterner!"
Lin Weimin said: "People in the Northeast are more afraid of cold, and animals that have experienced cold tend to be warm. Just like those southerners who go to the North and see snow, they shout and scream with joy, but only we in the North know how troublesome it is when snow falls."
As they were talking, Cheng Ximi went out to buy groceries. Since Lin Weimin and Ma Yuan were coming over today, the family would definitely have to cook two more dishes.
Due to several large-scale panic buying incidents this year, Yanjing began to implement the "vegetable basket project" in order to alleviate the inconvenience of ordinary people in purchasing daily necessities. Buying vegetables has become much more convenient than before.
After Cheng Ximi left, several people chatted in the house. Ma Yuan had been working in the snowy area for many years and only showed up occasionally. Naturally, he was most concerned about his friends' recent situation.
Ma Yuan was originally promoted by Lin Weimin through the "Special Issue of Avant-garde Fiction". People in his group, such as Moyan, Yu Hua and others, are doing well now.
When talking about Mo Yan, Ma Yuan was even more envious. He had been working for many years, but he had been receiving subsidies to go to school in recent years. He had produced a lot of works. The most important thing was that the movie adapted from his novel actually won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Ma Yuan lamented that among this generation of writers, Mo Yan's development has become more and more unique.
"Mo Yan's current achievements were also achieved through hard work. You, on the other hand, are impatient," said Lin Weimin.
Ma Yuan did not refute his words. Lin Weimin was the editor who first discovered him and knew his character very well. He was not wrong. Ma Yuan himself was also well aware of his own problems.
He liked Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers.
These writers and their works all have distinct personalities and characteristics, and are quite similar to his personality.
Ma Yuan brought the topic back to the donations and Hope Primary Schools that had been making a lot of noise some time ago, and his words were full of envy for Lin Weimin's lavish spending.
As reform and opening up enters its tenth year, the rapid economic development and constant social changes have led to people's increasing sensitivity to money, and the same is true for the circle of writers.
Shi Tiesheng asked: "When will the Hope Primary School be built?"
"We are already selecting locations. People from the foundation have now gone to Gansu and Ningxia, where the first batch of 10 primary schools will be built. After this batch of primary schools is built, the second batch will be built right after."
"I see your foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars in donations, which should be enough to build thousands of primary schools, right?"
Lin Weimin shook his head and said, "It's unlikely. The construction conditions of primary schools in different places are different, and the construction requirements and costs are naturally different. Most of them should be between 50,000 and 100,000. The purchase of office supplies, desks and benches is also an expense. The most important thing is that we plan to provide lunch for students, which is very expensive. The current donations can probably build 500 to 600 primary schools and maintain them."
"Still providing meals?"
Ma Yuan has been busy dealing with trivial matters and traveling these days and has not paid attention to the follow-up reports on the Hope Project in the newspapers. He was very surprised to hear that the Hope Primary School would also provide meals.
"That's right. Our schools are located in areas of extreme poverty. Many families can't even afford food and clothing. Providing lunch for children can not only reduce the burden on the family to a great extent, but also motivate parents to send their children to school," Lin Weimin explained.
Upon hearing this, Shi Tiesheng nodded and said, "I've read the newspaper report. You are right to do this. This is something that has practical significance!"
Ma Yuan said, "I'm just afraid of the appearance of a rat."
"We can't just throw the baby out with the bathwater, right?" Lin Weimin asked in return.
There was some silence between the two.
Later, a popular economist on the internet once put forward a shocking argument, saying that "low-rent housing cannot be equipped with bathrooms."
It sounds incredible at first, but when you think about it in reverse, everyone falls silent.
If low-rent housing is really equipped with separate bathrooms and has all the basic living facilities, would the truly poor still have a turn to live there?
Human nature is selfish and greedy. Without systems and laws to regulate, the interests of vulnerable groups cannot be guaranteed.
Lin Weimin finished his speech with a sigh: "All we can do is to supervise as much as possible. We can't give up such a meaningful thing just because of the possible negative impact of this matter."
Shi Tiesheng agreed, "Weimin is right. How can we be afraid of trouble when we want to do something? The more difficulties a thing has, the greater the benefits will be."
As they were talking, Cheng Ximi came back from buying groceries. Lin Weimin and Ma Yuan went to help with the cooking. Shi Tiesheng pushed his wheelchair aside. Everyone cooked while chatting. The atmosphere was harmonious.
(End of this chapter)
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