Chapter 111
Chu Jiujiu had heard of Han Bantian a long time ago. It was back when they were in Qingzhu Village. Occasionally, Grandpa Han and Grandma Han would chat and talk about their relatives in the capital. Compared to other names, the three words "Han Bantian" appeared more frequently.
But she had never known Han Bantian's age or appearance. When she saw him today, she realized that he was about the same age as her.
On the way back, Han Shengyi told her about Han Bantian.
"Han Jibin had four children. The eldest was four years older than me, but before I was born, he fell ill and had a fever for three days. He couldn't be saved and died. The second child was Han Bantian. She was the same age as you, but half a year older. The third was a boy, five years younger than me. The fourth was born after we were sent down to the countryside. I haven't seen him, but I heard he was also a boy."
Chu Jiujiu asked, "Who told you that?"
The relationship between Han Jibin and the Han family is so awkward, it must not be what Grandpa Han and Grandma Han told him.
Han Shengyi didn't hide it from her. "Jiang Xiaowu's father used to be a colleague of Han Jibin. He heard it from his father and then told me."
Jiang Xiaowu, a member of the Jiang family. Just by listening to the number, you can tell that the Jiang family is large and prosperous.
Jiang Xiaowu was one of Han Shengyi's "friends in the circle." Chu Jiujiu recalled a slightly shrewd face and nodded. "He told you this because he wanted to find out your family's attitude towards Han Jibin in the future?"
After hearing this, Han Shengyi couldn't help but look at Chu Jiujiu. He found that she was just purely curious about this question, and not judging the merits and credibility of Jiang Xiaowu. Han Shengyi laughed unclearly.
"Maybe. Who knows? My family's attitude is determined by my grandfather. There's no point asking me. I think he should know this too."
Chu Jiujiu refuted him in a low voice, "Who said that? You are also a member of the Han family. In our family, Chu Shao's attitude represents the attitude of our entire family. You are the only younger generation in the Han family. Since they can't curry favor with Grandpa Han, they will naturally come to curry favor with you."
This situation is not uncommon. Chu Shao has so many people around him who play basketball with him. Do all of them really like playing basketball? In fact, a large part of them just want to have a good relationship with Chu Shao so that they can talk to him when they need help in the future.
Chu Shao knew this, but he didn't care. He was just playing ball and wouldn't talk much to others. As for helping others, if the relationship was really good, he wouldn't stand idly by. If the relationship was average, he wouldn't be ashamed to say no.
Chu Shaocai didn't care whether others would lose face or not. No matter when or in front of whom, he would always speak his mind and tell the truth.
Many people look for Chu Shao, and quite a few look for Chu Jiujiu. Chu Shao is heartless. As long as the other party can play basketball, he will accept everyone. But Chu Jiujiu is very picky in this regard.
Chu Jiujiu wouldn't care if it was just a few casual words, no matter what the other party's purpose was. But if the other party showed his affection to her, showed it too much, and wanted to be friends with her, then she would have to screen him carefully.
She doesn't like anyone with ulterior motives around her, even if the other party won't cause her any loss or trouble.
…
Han Bantian and Chu Yue went to school here, but Chu Jiujiu couldn't figure out whether they were here to study or to visit relatives. People's hearts were unpredictable, and the more she talked with Han Shengyi, the more she felt like the whole world was plotting against her, or about to plot against her. It wasn't that Han Shengyi was suffering from delusions of persecution; everything he said made sense and was very true, but it was precisely because it was so true that she didn't want to listen.
Her brain is so small that 99% of it is used to store memories and the remaining 1% is used to cope with daily life. The more books she reads, the more information she needs to calculate and process. In this case, she just wants to be a carefree and naive person. As for figuring out people's hearts, she should leave it to Han Shengyi and Chu Shao.
She used to meddle in the Han family's affairs, but she also realized that even if she did, it wouldn't really yield any results. As the old saying goes, even a judge can hardly judge family affairs. She just needed to do her part; if she continued to meddle, she would be suspected of disrupting the situation.
The older Chu Jiujiu gets, the clearer her mind becomes, and her impulsive behavior decreases every year. To be honest, she has Qi Baozhu to thank for this.
It would be fine if Qi Baozhu didn't speak, but once she spoke, Chu Jiujiu could sense that she was actually a person with a very delicate mind and mature ideas. In addition, she was also a slow-tempered person. Chu Jiujiu was influenced by her every day, and slowly, her temperament became much more stable.
She had just made an appointment with Qi Baozhu to go to Xiangshan to see the red leaves on Saturday. When she returned home, Director Ma called her.
She said she was very busy recently and hoped she could come over to help on the weekend.
They were going to climb a mountain on Saturday and go to the Nie family for dinner on Sunday. It was Uncle Nie's birthday, and Aunt Nie had told them last month that she would treat them all to a big meal. Chu Jiujiu had no choice but to refuse Director Ma. Director Ma was used to Chu Jiujiu being so busy, so he asked, "What about next week?"
There would be no special circumstances next week. Chu Jiujiu thought about it and told him that if there was nothing important, she would go over.
How could there be nothing to do? Chu Jiujiu's schedule was full every weekend. However, remembering that she hadn't seen the uncles and aunts from the institute for some time, Chu Jiujiu moved all her Sunday arrangements to Saturday. Then, early on Sunday morning, she went to the courtyard with her schoolbag on her back.
After arriving, she found that there was no one in the courtyard. She went to Wang's house and borrowed a phone. Chu Jiujiu then learned that her colleagues in the institute were scattered everywhere and had their own tasks. Director Ma and two colleagues were now looking for ancient books in the cultural relics archives.
Chu Jiujiu went to the Cultural Relics Archives. She arrived at eight in the morning and Director Ma came out to pick her up personally. After entering, she helped other colleagues find relevant sentences quickly. She was already very good at this kind of thing. She was like a supercomputer, and people around her were amazed.
When Chu Jiujiu was taking a break, some people came to her with books and shamelessly asked her to help them find something. Chu Jiujiu was scared when she saw the book which was as thick as a dictionary. She was afraid that she would vomit again. Director Ma noticed her dilemma and immediately drove the person away.
Although Director Ma is unknown outside, he is the director of a research institute here. Unless the director of the archives comes out, everyone here has to listen to him.
Normally, when Director Ma goes out on a business trip, he basically doesn't eat lunch, and so do other colleagues. But today Chu Jiujiu is here, and remembering that she was sick for two days because of helping him last time, Director Ma sent two researchers out to buy food at twelve o'clock.
The nearby state-owned restaurant is two kilometers away, and the two researchers don’t have bicycles yet, so it will probably be one o’clock when they come back.
The archives were in a state of disrepair, with few tables and chairs. The researchers were too lazy to run around, so they mostly sat on the floor next to the bookshelves. Since it was lunchtime, Chu Jiujiu stopped reading those obscure ancient books and instead pulled out a collection of newspapers from the 1950s and flipped through them casually.
This collection is bound together by pages of newspapers and is very large. The contents are all about things that happened twenty years ago. Chu Jiujiu felt quite fresh when looking at the texts and slogans with a sense of age on it.
Director Ma also sat next to her, and both of them were reading books and chatting at the same time.
"Don't think we have a lot of books here now. In the past, we didn't even have half of them."
Chu Jiujiu asked, "Where did the remaining half go?"
Director Ma was silent for a moment: "I don't know, maybe it's hidden somewhere deeper."
Ordinary people cannot understand what the destruction of cultural relics and rare books means. Only those who work in this industry will feel the pain of dying. They would rather die than lose any of these treasures.
Chu Jiujiu sensed that Director Ma was in a bad mood, so she shut up and turned the page of the newspaper. Director Ma had composed himself and turned to look at Chu Jiujiu. The frail girl had spread out a whole newspaper, reading the contents attentively. She still looked very young, and it was unclear when she would truly grow up.
Director Ma was a little anxious because he knew that Chu Jiujiu was a natural talent. When she grew up, she would be able to officially join their team. With her talent, she could not only take over himself, but also the entire Academy of History and Social Sciences.
It was because of this idea that Director Ma felt that letting Chu Jiujiu go to school was a waste of talent!
With all this time, she could learn so much history.
Director Ma didn't dare to challenge Chu Liqiang, but he could quietly influence Chu Jiujiu and make her go down this path.
Looking around and finding no one else around, Director Ma coughed lightly and asked Chu Jiujiu, "Don't you think reading all the time is a bit boring? How about you try writing a paper?"
Chu Jiujiu paused flipping through the newspaper. She looked up and looked at Director Ma in astonishment: "Writing a paper? Me?"
Director Ma nodded seriously. "Yes, you've read so many books and memorized so much knowledge. But remembering it isn't the goal of our study. The ultimate goal is to truly learn and grasp it thoroughly, and to analyze and summarize new knowledge based on this knowledge."
"But..." Chu Jiujiu looked at him blankly, "I'm still in school. I'm only a sophomore in high school. If I write a paper, will anyone read it?"
Director Ma smiled and said, "If your writing is vague and empty, no one will read it. But if your writing is meaningful, even if only one sentence is essential, even if the entire argument is the most superficial, everyone will accept it."
Chu Jiujiu: "...It sounds difficult."
Seeing she was about to back out, Director Ma quickly persuaded her, "It's not difficult. Speaking of writing a paper, there are a lot of formats and requirements to follow. Really, all you have to do is present the facts and say what you want to say. Jiujiu, your brain is an invisible archive. You don't want to be stuck helping others find useful information, right? Write your own paper and try to summarize what you've seen. It will only benefit you."
“No matter how many times you repeat someone else’s words, they are still their words. But if you can express your own words, it’s different. You are already standing on the shoulders of giants, so you can’t lie down because of your fear of heights.”
Chu Jiujiu looked at him, hesitant for a moment, then asked Director Ma, "Then, how do I write the paper?"
…
In the afternoon, Director Ma took some time to teach Chu Jiujiu how to write a paper. Before leaving, he also helped Chu Jiujiu borrow two papers that were published last year from the archives.
Nowadays, all the papers are published by workers, peasants and soldiers. Apart from agriculture and politics, 90% of them are watered-down articles. After reading these two papers, Director Ma felt that they still have some substance.
He gave it to Chu Jiujiu and asked her to go back and imitate the format. As for the content, he gave a brief suggestion.
"You've been reading a lot of history books lately, so start with that aspect. When writing your paper, remember to tell the truth and never fabricate anything. Also, read more newspapers."
Chu Jiujiu asked blankly, "Aren't newspapers full of editorials?"
Director Ma smiled, then shook his head mysteriously at her, "Not only that, the things in the newspaper are all easy to publish."
Chu Jiujiu: “…”
She thought it was nonsense.
If it can be printed in the newspaper, then it is easy to publish.
When Chu Jiujiu took the borrowed paper home and sat at her desk to do her homework, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and understood what Director Ma meant.
Due to the environment, Director Ma's Institute of World History has been closed down. Even if it is open now, it has been merged with other institutes and cannot study world history at all. Similarly, if she wants to write a paper, if she doesn't want to cause trouble for herself, and if she wants to achieve success overnight and have it published, then her topic must be in line with people's current focus.
Chu Jiujiu tapped her cheek with a pencil, her eyes lit up, and she knew what she was going to write.
Just write modern history!
From the late Qing Dynasty to the early years of the People's Republic of China, this article analyzes the inevitability of the demise of the feudal dynasty and the profound impact of the invasion of foreign powers on the country.
Chu Jiujiu could never forget the incident of the Jin Ou Yonggu Cup. So many things were stolen, and many people thought that everything was over when the war was over. In fact, it was not. Even decades later, the national hatred and family feuds still existed, and the social contradictions caused by them were also intensifying and affecting other aspects, such as diplomatic relations and business. For example, while others were ahead, she had stagnated for so many years because of recuperation.
Director Ma said that when writing a paper, one cannot include personal opinions and can only speak objectively and truthfully. Therefore, Chu Jiujiu did not put her own emotions into the paper. She just stated her thoughts in a straightforward manner and then pointed out some possibilities.
This was the first article she had ever written. She had no idea how good she was, and even looking at herself, she couldn't see anything special. She didn't tell anyone and just hid in her room to write. Others, unaware of her, thought she had been studying very hard.
After finishing the first draft, Chu Jiujiu took it to Siheyuan and had Director Ma take a look. After reading it, Director Ma felt that the topic was fine, and he was already half relieved. Then he looked at the content. To be honest, many people have written about this in recent years.
Because of this safety, everyone just keeps criticizing the Qing government, who wouldn't do that?
But while Chu Jiujiu criticized, she also extended her criticism, especially her thinking about the future, which felt quite novel.
Director Ma originally studied world history, and he had a deeper understanding of other countries, so he became interested. Director Ma revised it for her, pointing out a few errors and shallow parts. Then Chu Jiujiu took it back and revised it again.
Then revise it again, and revise it again.
…
Chu Jiujiu never realized that Director Ma was such a picky person. He even wanted to correct her choice of words. "Statement" and "explanation" have almost the same meaning, but he insisted that she change it.
Even though Chu Jiujiu could write a paper now, she still didn't understand what a paper was or what academic significance it represented. Fortunately, she was obedient and followed Director Ma's instructions no matter how many times he asked her to. Finally, holding the newly revised paper, Director Ma wrote his own name in a flourish next to Chu Jiujiu's.
After knowing each other for such a long time, Chu Jiujiu has always called him Director Ma. This is the first time she saw Director Ma's name. She opened her eyes wide and looked at the three words written by Director Ma curiously.
Ma Dahu.
…
Forget it, I’ll just call him Director Ma from now on.
Director Ma took the paper away, and for a long time, he didn't contact Chu Jiujiu again. In December, after a heavy snowfall in the capital, Chu Jiujiu sat in the first-floor living room, wearing a thin sweater. This year, Chu Liqiang bought a kotatsu for the family. It was a square table with a water heater on top, a stove underneath, and a quilt covering the entire area. I heard it was imported from Japan. Now that China and Japan have established diplomatic relations, Japanese products are gradually making their way to China.
Chu Jiujiu touched her face while doing her homework. There was a small pimple on her right cheek. Since last year, she would have one on her face every one or two months. There were not many, but because she was white, they were very noticeable.
Seeing that she had acne, Wen Xiuwei was more nervous than anyone else. She stared at her every day and told her not to touch or squeeze it, and to just leave it alone, thinking that it would disappear on its own anyway.
At night, she applied cucumber slices on Chu Jiujiu. She didn't know if the cucumber slices worked or if Chu Jiujiu was born with good skin, but there were really no acne marks on her face.
Wen Xiuwei also had acne during adolescence, but it no longer appears. There is a very shallow mark on her forehead near her eyebrow, which was left by her accidentally squeezing it. Over the years, Wen Xiuwei has been applying skin care products to the area between her eyebrows. Although the acne mark has never completely disappeared, her skin on that area is visibly delicate.
...I don't know if this can be considered a blessing in disguise.
Wen Xiuwei was usually very gentle, but when it came to something she insisted on, she would become a nightmare for the whole family. Chu Jiujiu didn't dare to disobey her, but she always felt itchy on her face. Since she couldn't touch the pimple, she would touch the skin around it to relieve the urge in her heart.
Wen Xiuwei went out to have dinner with Guan Jinqiao, Han Shengyi stayed at home, and Chu Shaoze went out to sweep the snow. Chu Liqiang said he would be back in the evening and would catch up with friends during the day. There was only Chu Jiujiu in the Chu family, so she put down her pen out of boredom and yawned.
Looking at the kotatsu, she began to think about whether to take a nap here or sleep upstairs.
She was thinking so seriously that she was startled when the phone rang.
Chu Jiujiu shuddered and came to her senses. She quickly moved to the side of the coffee table, but because it was cold outside, she did not come out from under the hot table.
Picking up the receiver, Chu Jiujiu opened her mouth and said, "Dad, are you coming back?"
Director Ma laughed out loud: "As much as I want to, I can't take away Commissar Chu's power."
Chu Jiujiu: "...Director Ma, is there anything I can help you with?"
Of course there is something wrong, otherwise why would he call the Chu family for no reason.
This winter is particularly cold. The first snow covered the entire Forbidden City. The roads in the capital were covered with thick snow. Various units spontaneously stopped the workers from coming out to sweep the snow, and the army was also dispatched. Early this morning, the streets and alleys were full of PLA soldiers working hard to sweep the snow.
Chu Liqiang is the head of the Capital Military Region, but it is not their division's turn to clear the snow this time, so Chu Liqiang is still free.
Chu Shao took a broom and swept away the snow around his house at the door. He looked up at the icicles on the roof and didn't know whether he should knock them off now.
If you knock it, another one will grow out, but if you don't knock it, the ice spike will fall off and cause a concussion.
That's the ground floor. If it hit the ice spikes on the third floor, it would probably send you straight to the crematorium.
Chu Shao narrowed his eyes and thought for a while. He put down the broom and prepared to go to Han's house to borrow an iron rod. As soon as he turned around, he saw Chu Liqiang in a military coat walking towards him.
Chu Liqiang smiled and seemed to be in a good mood. "Son, where are you going?"
Chu Shao was stunned, "Dad, why are you back at this time?"
Chu Liqiang: "The snow was too deep. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to go back home that night, so we had lunch and then Lao Qin went home. It was just right because I didn't want to stay outside for too long."
After saying that, Chu Liqiang asked again: "Where's Jiujiu, and Xiuwei, is she back?"
Chu Shao was about to answer when the person Chu Liqiang was talking about rushed out of the house.
Chu Jiujiu didn't even change her shoes and just wore those cotton slippers. She was like a cannonball and turned right as soon as she went out. Seeing her appearance, Chu Shao was dumbfounded and grabbed her braid.
“Ah! It hurts!”
Chu Shao was too anxious. When he heard her cry out in pain, he quickly let go of her hand. "It still hurts! Aren't you cold? Do you know how hot it is now? You ran out in a sweater. Are you crazy?!"
Chu Jiujiu was wearing a thin sweater on her upper body, and no outer pants on her lower body. She was wearing just a pair of autumn trousers and a pair of cashmere trousers. As for her feet, her cotton slippers got wet quickly as soon as she stepped into the snow, and even the white socks inside felt the cold and wetness.
After hearing what he said, Chu Jiujiu finally reacted. She quickly jumped out of the snow water, but she didn't go back.
Chu Jiujiu felt cold belatedly and stammered, "I, I'm going to Han's house to get the newspaper. I forgot to wear my coat. I'll go back and put it on now!"
After saying that, she ran back in a hurry, put on thick socks and changed into small leather shoes. Chu Jiujiu picked up a coat, wrapped herself in it and walked out.
Chu Liqiang and Chu Shao were standing at the door, watching her put on the same army green coat as Chu Liqiang, and they couldn't help but fall into silence.
Seeing how anxious she was, the two of them had to follow her. Chu Liqiang even asked her, "What are you doing with the newspaper?"
When Chu Jiujiu heard this question, she turned her head quickly with an excited expression. However, after moving her lips twice, she forced herself to calm down and said, "I'll know when I see you guys later."
Most importantly, she had to see it herself before she could believe it.
The Han and Chu families shared a newspaper, which was the free newspaper brought by Secretary Lin. Newspapers from state agencies were free, and dozens or even hundreds of people subscribed to them every day. There were all kinds of newspapers, and some people read them, while others didn't. Grandma Han asked Secretary Lin to bring back the extra copies of the ones she didn't read.
It was a rare day for the Han family today. All three members of the family were at home. It was snowing heavily and no one went out. Han Shengyi got up early this morning and swept the snow in the yard. Now he was sitting face to face with Grandpa Han, learning how to make tea.
Grandma Han didn't like these literary and artistic things. She sat aside and watched the model operas on TV.
The opera played today was Sha Jia Bang. Grandma Han listened to it and even sang a few lines herself.
The Han family was warm and ordinary, but Chu Jiujiu pushed the door open with a bang, pushing the word "ordinary" away.
…
She ran in quickly and found the newspapers sent by Secretary Lin on the chest of drawers against the wall. She took down all the newspapers that were in the way and found the People's Daily. Chu Jiujiu quickly flipped through it and found the domestic news section. Chu Jiujiu searched line by line and finally saw her name.
"History is a mirror to understand the rise and fall of nations - an appeal from a high school student to the people of the whole country."
Well, her name isn’t in the title at all, but if you look further down, the first line of content is “Recently, Chu Jiujiu, a sophomore student at XX High School, published an academic paper on XXXX.”
After seeing it with her own eyes, Chu Jiujiu finally believed it. The next second, she jumped up from the ground excitedly.
The newspaper rustled as she tossed it around. Chu Jiujiu pointed at herself on the paper and said, "I'm on the newspaper! It's the People's Daily! I'm so happy! Daddy, look, there's Chu Shao too. Look, Chu Jiujiu, here! Chu! Jiu! Jiu!"
Chu Jiujiu was extremely excited, "It's my name!"
People's Daily, the most authoritative news media in the country, has a daily circulation of tens of millions. Those who can read will read the newspaper every day, while those who cannot will find someone to read the newspaper. After 1971, Qingzhu Village added a daily radio program to read the newspaper. Although each time the program is selectively read, it is not certain that you will read this article about Chu Jiujiu, but the name of Chu Jiujiu has appeared on a large scale across the country.
In the past, her name only appeared in the household registration book and the school roster. This newspaper was her debut. This was the first time, but it was definitely not the last.
Today's People's Daily only has a few pages, and there is no entertainment news on them, all of which are key news. In this light, it is indeed surprising that Chu Jiujiu's name can be printed on them.
After hearing this, Chu Shao quickly took the newspaper and said, "Let me see it."
Everyone else gathered around, even Grandpa Han and Grandma Han quickened their pace. After seeing Chu Jiujiu's name, everyone was stunned.
Chu Shao was stunned: "When did you appeal to the people of the country?"
Grandma Han: "Wow! What a huge page! If it were tofu, it would be about a pound in size."
Chu Liqiang: "Hahahaha, I didn't expect that the first person in our family to be on the newspaper is Jiujiu. Okay, Jiujiu, whatever reward you want, Dad will buy it for you!"
Grandpa Han: "Jiujiu is amazing! The young are formidable!"
The four of them were praising her, and Han Shengyi took the newspaper from Chu Shao and quickly read the entire report. Then, he asked the question that everyone hadn't realized yet, but wanted to know, "Have you published a paper?"
After her initial excitement wore off, Chu Jiujiu felt she had been exaggerating. She felt embarrassed, her cheeks flushed, and her voice lowered, but she couldn't suppress the deep pride and joy within. "I finished writing it last month, but I didn't know if it would be published, so I didn't tell you. Director Ma just called me, and I found out it was published yesterday. Then a special commentator saw it and used my paper to write a news editorial."
Indeed, the article in the newspaper did not simply praise Chu Jiujiu. It only put forward its own discussion and proposals based on the conclusions of Chu Jiujiu's paper. Chu Jiujiu did not know that the content in the newspaper at this time was all instructed. It was not that the commentator could say whatever he wanted to say, but what the leaders above wanted everyone to see.
From this we can see that Chu Jiujiu's paper was not only seen by the commentators, but it is very likely that even the leaders above had seen it.
Grandpa Han's smile deepened. He walked over and touched Chu Jiujiu's head. "Jiujiu is really a little piece of gold. Wherever you go, you can shine."
Chu Jiujiu twisted her body and smiled shyly. Grandma Han clapped her hands and said, "Okay, I won't cook tonight. Let's go out to eat as a family to celebrate Jiujiu's success!"
Grandma Han's call got everyone to respond, and dinner was thus arranged. However, Chu Jiujiu didn't want Grandma Han to send her away with a meal.
Chu Jiujiu hugged Grandma Han's arms flatteringly and said, "Grandma~"
When there is something wrong, it's Grandma; when there is nothing wrong, it's Grandma Han. Even though she knows that she is a heartless person, Grandma Han is still willing to be coaxed by her.
With a stern face, Grandma Han didn't give her a good look, "What are you doing again? Just tell me."
Chu Jiujiu laughed: "Look, I even made it to the newspaper. Shouldn't you give me a little reward? You've had that camera back for a long time..."
Grandma Han looked at her expressionlessly. Chu Jiujiu was not discouraged. She opened her eyes wide and blinked at her.
Unable to hold it in any longer, Grandma Han broke down in a second and scolded with a smile, "You are so cunning. Go get it from my room and return it to me on Monday. Don't break it!"
When she said the last four words, Chu Jiujiu had already run away. Before rushing into Grandma Han's room, she shouted, "It's okay, I'm the most careful, don't worry!"
Grandma Han: “…”
With you like this, no one can rest assured.
Shaking her head, Grandma Han did not change her mind. She treasured the camera, but she treasured Chu Jiujiu even more. The child had achieved her first achievement in life and just wanted to play with the camera for two days. Of course she had to fulfill her wish. Even if she wanted to take the camera away, Grandma Han would not refuse.
…
Wen Xiuwei came back at around three in the afternoon. As soon as she entered the house and hadn't even changed her shoes, she heard Chu Liqiang talking on the phone with someone in the living room.
"Hahaha, you're exaggerating. She's so young, how could that be possible?"
Chu Liqiang's tone was different when he spoke to his family, his superiors, his comrades, and his superficial friends. At this time, he spoke in an official tone, especially his hahaha laughter, which was both majestic and polite. It was obvious that he was dealing with those people in officialdom.
Wen Xiuwei wanted to greet everyone, but after hearing this, she fell silent and changed into her slippers silently. She walked over to Chu Shao and asked him quietly, "Who is Uncle Chu talking to on the phone? Who is he talking about? Are you or Jiujiu?"
Chu Shao glanced at Chu Liqiang. The phone at home had been ringing non-stop for the entire afternoon, and Chu Liqiang never got tired of answering it. He would talk to each person for a long time. His family's communication and electricity bills this month were definitely going to be overspent.
In his heart, he looked down on Chu Liqiang's appearance, but to be honest, Chu Shao actually wanted to show off. Unfortunately, his friends were all young people in their teens and twenties. Not only did they not have phones, they also rarely read newspapers.
Turning his head with some regret, he told Wen Xiuwei, "Jiujiu wrote a paper without telling us. It was published, and the People's Daily even published her name, saying she was an ambitious and progressive student, and an outstanding Communist Youth League member. When others saw the newspaper, they called my dad. This is the seventh time."
Wen Xiuwei's eyes widened: "Jiujiu is in the newspaper?!"
Chu Shao nodded. "I didn't expect that either. She kept silent, saying she was afraid of failure and didn't want to lose face, so she didn't tell us."
Wen Xiuwei was quite shocked. When she came in, her expression was a little dull. At this moment, she forgot everything she wanted to say and quickly asked Chu Shao to show her the newspaper. However, Chu Shao spread his hands and said that the newspaper was left by Grandma Han. She wanted to cut out the article and frame it. Since there was only one copy of the newspaper between the two families, she could only go to the Han family to read it.
"It's such a big deal, why don't you buy a few more? I'm really impressed that no one thought of buying a few more newspapers. This is Jiujiu's first time, how can we only have one copy at home?"
After saying that, Wen Xiuwei hurried out. Knowing that she was going to buy a newspaper, Chu Shao touched his nose and hurried out with her.
Boys are not as careful as girls about this kind of thing. They just read it and think of it, but only Grandma Han and Wen Xiuwei would think of buying a few more copies of the newspaper and saving them as collections.
Chu Shao seemed to have forgotten that Chu Jiujiu was also a girl, but she herself had never thought about this.
…
This may be due to individual differences.
No matter how heavy the rain or snow, the post office always opened its doors to people. Wen Xiuwei ran over and packed up all the remaining newspapers. The post office staff saw someone packing up all the newspapers for the first time and couldn't help but ask her, "Comrade, why are you buying so many newspapers?"
After saying that, he glanced at Wen Xiuwei's delicate appearance, and he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, is she going to take it back to use as toilet paper?
Wen Xiuwei was watching others count out their newspapers. Hearing this, she smiled nonchalantly. "It's nothing. My sister wrote an essay a while ago. After it was published, a commentator from the People's Daily saw it and thought it was well written, so he wrote another article praising her. Look, it's the high school students' appeal. It's about my sister."
The staff's eyes widened, and their attitude towards Wen Xiuwei suddenly changed. They were businesslike just now, but now they were envious and enthusiastic.
"Really? So, your sister is still in high school. She's already in the newspaper at such a young age. Oh, is she a little model worker?"
It is very common for newspapers to select a young role model from time to time to call on everyone to learn from them. However, Chu Jiujiu is not one of them.
Wen Xiuwei smiled gently, still maintaining her composure. "No, she goes to school every day and doesn't work, so how can she be called a model worker? She's only fourteen this year, and she's just a nominal first-level assistant at the National Institute of History. She followed the researchers, studied for a while, and then wrote a paper."
Speaking of this, Wen Xiuwei shook her head and said, "She didn't even tell us when she wrote the paper. She wrote it secretly. Even she didn't expect that it would be published in the newspaper."
Staff: “…”
I can hear your Versailles.
Chu Shao was standing aside, watching Wen Xiuwei like this. He wanted to laugh, laugh at her different behavior from usual, and laugh at the fact that everyone was the same.
When family members achieve something, everyone feels proud of it. Just like a while ago, whenever someone asked, Chu Jiujiu would bring up the fact that Wen Xiuwei had acted in a movie.
In the evening, everyone went to the restaurant they usually ate at, even the Qi family came. Qi Baozhu's father saw Chu Jiujiu's name in the newspaper. At first, he suspected that it was a duplicate. When he called, he found out that it was really Chu Jiujiu from Chu Liqiang's family. He thought that congratulations would be enough, but after hearing about it, Chief Qi insisted on bringing his whole family to join their dinner.
Chief Qi joined in forcefully, and two people were very unhappy, one was Chu Liqiang and the other was Grandpa Han.
However, today is a day worth celebrating, and they don't want to waste time on annoying people, so they found a large private room, added a few more chairs, and everyone sat around the table. No matter which family they were from, they all enjoyed the meal very much.
Today, Chu Jiujiu was congratulating herself for her success. She had no idea what kind of impact her paper would have. She also didn't know that it was because of her paper that the higher-ups once again paid attention to the Institute of History, a scientific department that had always been covered in dust. She didn't even know that the butterfly's wings were flapping again, a breeze appeared in the environment, and the words "useful intellectuals" began to appear frequently in newspapers. Those people who had originally had to wait another year or two to be rehabilitated finally saw the dawn of hope.
There are heavy snows in winter, but the thick snow brings more than just temporary cold. It protects the exhausted earth and nourishes the dormant life. When the snowflakes disappear and the spring breeze blows again, it is time for the flowers to bloom again in splendor.
It’s not far away. This year is drawing to a close, and 1975 is almost here.
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