Chapter 269 From the Modern Times Back to the Republic of China 24
Yao Rong is the first reader of the novel as usual.
Ye Heqi's writing style is still just a show of skill in front of those literary masters, but it has improved a lot compared to the period of "Fire Phoenix" and is written with a strong sense of picture.
Many modern things mentioned in the novel have an overall framework and detailed features.
Moreover, when writing this novel, Ye Heqi has completely adjusted her mentality. She did not regard herself as a time traveler, but completely regarded herself as a recorder with a God's perspective.
What makes Yao Rong laugh the most is that Ye Heqi also "smuggled private goods" in the novel-
using the protagonist's mouth to say that cheongsam is the representative clothing of women in the Republic of China.
The mother of the protagonist's classmate wore a cheongsam custom-made by the Fire Phoenix Garment Factory to attend the parents' meeting, which made everyone jealous.
...
Yao Rong pointed at this paragraph and said with a smile: "Isn't this advertisement too obvious?"
Ye Heqi wanted it to be obvious: "It's too obscure. What if others can't tell that I'm advertising?"
Yao Rong laughed and was convinced by her: "It makes sense."
An hour later, Yao Rong closed the book.
Ye Heqi grabbed the edge of the table with both hands, his eyes nervous and expectant: "Mom, what do you think?"
Yao Rong wanted to organize the language, but after organizing for a long time, he found that only the simplest words could express his mood: "Very good. Very good."
The novel is very good.
The beautiful future depicted in the novel is very good.
The former is only a passing score, and the latter is a perfect score.
Because generation after generation of test takers have tried their best, the answers they have come up with on this vast land must be perfect.
Ye Heqi must have submitted the novel "The People in the Great Wall" directly to the "Women's Times".
It happened to be the New Year, and the Fire Phoenix Clothing Factory had a batch of new clothes. Yao Rong planned to give Bei Lin a set, and Ye Heqi also went with him and handed the first 30,000 words of the manuscript to Bei Lin in person.
Bei Lin was surprised and said, "I heard from your mother a few months ago that you were writing a new novel, but I didn't see it after waiting for a long time. I thought you didn't plan to write it anymore."
Ye Heqi smiled and said embarrassedly, "I was worried that something might go wrong while serializing, so I didn't dare to bring it to Aunt Bei until it was finished and revised."
Given the relationship between the two families, Ye Heqi had already changed her address to "Aunt Bei".
"You are so cautious, so I must take a good look at it."
Bei Lin took out some cakes and fruits and let Yao Rong and Ye Heqi eat as they pleased. She sat aside and read from the beginning.
After reading the opening setting, Bei Lin was surprised, but she didn't say anything, but read on with an increasingly cautious attitude.
After a long while, Bei Lin raised his head, revealing a pair of slightly red eyes: "... Is this considered a science fiction novel?"
As early as the mid-19th century, when Western learning was gradually introduced to the East, China had the concept of science fiction novels.
It was not until 1904 that China gave birth to the first real local science fiction novel, "The Moon Colony Novel." [Note]
So Bei Lin was not unfamiliar with science fiction themes.
Ye Heqi was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Yao Rong smiled and gave an ambiguous answer: "Why not throw this question to the readers and give them the right to interpret the answer. Whatever the readers think it is, it is the subject matter."
Bei Lin skipped this question and asked another question that he was very interested in: "Then why is this novel called "The People of the Great Wall"?"
Ye Heqi was able to answer this question smoothly: "Because the Great Wall will never fall down."
"The Great Wall will never fall... What a great sentence, the Great Wall will never fall!"
After finalizing the 1,000-word novel with Ye Heqi, Bei Lin said, "I will start arranging the layout when I return to the newspaper tomorrow. I estimate that you will be able to see this novel in the newspaper in a few days."
As 1921 gradually drew to a close, "The People in the Great Wall" began to be serialized in the "Women's Times".
The readership of the "Women's Times" had already begun to expand. It was not only women who would buy it, but many aspiring young people would also buy a copy.
And the theme of "time travel" was too destructive in this era.
The novel was not very popular in the first three days after it was serialized. However, as word of mouth spread, many people who liked the novel wrote articles to recommend it, and the sales of Women's Times increased at a visible rate.
For readers who like refreshing articles, The People in the Great Wall
is refreshing.
Readers who like science fiction also like the future technology and humanistic thinking described in it.
Idealists see their own ideal utopia in it.
Everyone can see what they want to see in it.
Jin Fengzui immediately wrote an article to recommend this novel:
"In recent years, in order to awaken the people's wisdom and enlighten the masses, I have also written many critical novels. However, these novels can awaken those who have already awakened, but cannot awaken those who close their eyes and pretend to be asleep."
"I didn't know what went wrong until I saw this novel that was so beautiful that it seemed like a dream, without a trace of criticism, but sharper than a knife and louder than thunder. Then I discovered that there is such a gentle power in this world."
"It gently tells the future and makes people today have endless expectations for the future. It is like a spark, burning in everyone's heart."
"If China can have such a prosperous era a hundred years later, I will die without regrets."
The literary community has given this novel very good reviews.
Occasionally, those who criticize this novel for being fanciful are attacked by the crowd.
Like Bei Lin, many people think this is a science fiction novel. Because this novel not only describes future technology, but also contains many humanistic thoughts.
Discussing reality and fantasy in a science fiction novel, is your brain not wrong? Even if you want to criticize this novel, find some points that can stand up to criticism!
After seeing these verbal battles, Ye Heqi really didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
When she was writing it, she never thought that it would be regarded as a science fiction novel.
But if we talk about the group that likes this novel the most, it has to be young students.
When Ye Heqi went to the girls' high school, she found that not everyone in the class had a copy of the Women's Times, but on average, two or three students had a copy of the Women's Times.
And in their spare time, almost everyone was discussing this novel.
Fortunately, when Ye Heqi published this novel, she slightly disguised herself, and the name used by the protagonist before and after the time travel was Ye He, otherwise she would be embarrassed to come to school.
But how to say it, there was a hint of secret joy in the embarrassment.
The only person in the class who knew about Ye Heqi's disguise was her deskmate Sang Peizhen.
Sang Peizhen used the Women's Times to cover her face and whispered a joke to Ye Heqi: "If I had known that you were secretly writing "The People in the Great Wall", I would have definitely caught up with you while you were writing."
Ye Heqi also imitated her actions and used the book to cover his face: "Before I finish writing, I am not sure if I can write it well. Let's not talk about this. I got the manuscript fee. I will treat you to Su Ji's pastries after school."
"Okay, okay." Sang Peizhen smiled immediately. With her family background, she could buy Su Ji's pastries at will, but it is definitely different to treat a friend to a happy event and to buy them with your own money. After
school, Ye Heqi and Sang Peizhen went to Su Ji to buy several boxes of pastries.
Ye Heqi gave half to Sang Peizhen and asked Sang Peizhen to take it home and eat it slowly.
She carried the other half home by herself.
When Ye Heqi arrived home, Yao Rong had also just arrived home and was standing by the table drinking water.
Seeing the boxes of cakes, Yao Rong smiled and said, "They are all my favorites."
Ye Heqi opened a box of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and asked Yao Rong to eat something to fill her stomach first, as it would be a while before dinner.
Yao Rong reached out and took a piece, and suddenly said, "Editor Xiao from the Women's Times just came to see you, but you didn't come back, so she put her things down and left, saying she would come to see you tomorrow."
Such a small matter, of course, did not require Bei Lin to make a special trip.
"What's the matter?"
"The Women's Daily in Peking, the Fuxing Daily in Nanjing, and the Progress Daily in Guangzhou all want to reprint The People in the Great Wall, and the prices they offer are all very good. The editor came to ask for your opinion."
Ye Heqi's eyes lit up: "Of course I have no opinion on such a good thing."
There is no way, the Women's Times is only influential in Shanghai.
Cities such as Suzhou and Shaoxing can also buy the Women's Times, but it is impossible to buy it farther away.
If you want to expand the influence of the novel, you still have to rely on newspaper reprints.
Besides, if you can make more money, why not do it.
Yao Rong smiled and said, "I also told Editor Xiao the same thing, but she said it would be better to ask in person."
In addition to this happy event, Ye Heqi also received a lot of letters from readers.
In the letters, many people discussed with her the future of China, and some even asked her very sincerely in their letters how to make everything in the book a reality.
Ye Heqi took the time to reply to these readers who wrote long letters.
There are many things that she is not convenient to talk about in public.
But if pen pals chat with each other and "accidentally" mention something, it should be harmless.
Maybe among these readers who are willing to write long articles to discuss and ask her questions, there are really one or two people who have put what she said in the letter into practice?
There is still too little she can do on her own.
Even if there is nothing, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, all she has wasted is some time writing and replying to letters.
After being serialized for nearly a month, "The People of the Great Wall" is finally coming to an end.
At the end of the novel, the protagonist Ye He had a very long dream.
In the dream, she found herself becoming a crane, living in a vast field full of begonias and pansies, carefree, as if living in the legendary Garden of Eden.
Wake up from the dream, it's a new day.
Ye He climbed out of bed and pulled open the curtains.
The sun filled every corner of the room, and the red sun was rising in the distance.
She suddenly had a strong impulse, and immediately bought a flight ticket to Beijing that day (to take care of readers of the Republic of China), came to Badaling with her schoolbag, climbed up one step after another, touched one brick after another, and finally reached the highest point of the Great Wall, looking back at the century-old war.
Peace is determined by heroes, but heroes have never enjoyed peace.
"At this moment, I suddenly understood the meaning of my time travel."
With such an ambiguous sentence, "The People in the Great Wall" officially ended.