Chapter 33 Letter

Cheng Kaiyan had just gotten up and finished breakfast. It was a day off for him, so he stayed at home to write the manuscript, which would be finished in a few days.

letter?
I guess the only person who would write to him now is Liu Xiaoli.

It has been nearly seven days since I last sent a letter.

While thinking, Cheng Kaiyan pushed open the door and walked into the yard.

Under the withered sycamore tree, a young postman wearing a big cotton-padded coat and a postal hat on his head stood there, holding a pile of letters in his arms and looking around.

“So many?”

Cheng Kaiyan asked with some surprise.

“Yes, I just took a rough look and there are almost more than a hundred letters, all sent from all over the country. Comrade Cheng Kaiyan, may I ask if these are the so-called readers’ letters? I see that they are all sent from all over the country, and some of the addresses are even to certain primary schools.”

The young postman asked curiously. He had been in charge of this area for several years and naturally took over his father-in-law’s job as a postman.

But he is actually a literary youth. The last time he came to deliver a letter, he noticed Cheng Kaiyan, who is younger than him.

At that time we also said that we should learn from each other. I have been thinking about it these days, but I am busy with work, and it would be impolite to visit you unexpectedly.

It has been delayed until now.

“probably.”

Cheng Kaiyan stretched out her hand, and the postman belatedly handed over the bag of letters in his hand.

After receiving it, Cheng Kaiyan found that the young postman was standing there, seeming to be a little hesitant, so he asked, “Comrade postman, is there anything else?”

“Nothing… nothing, just, can I take a look? I’m just a little curious.”

the postman stammered, an embarrassed look on his face.

“come in.”

……

Cheng Kaiyan brought the postman into the room, put the letters on the desk and checked them one by one. Liu Xiaoli’s letter should be among them, but it was difficult to find it for the time being, so he asked him for help.

The two of them started rummaging through a pile of letters.

While opening the letter, the postman introduced himself. His name was Lin Weimin, he was 21 years old, a young man from a rural area in the Great Northern Wilderness. He married his wife a few years ago, and later his young wife returned to the city.

Lin Weimin was heartbroken, thinking he was abandoned, but what he didn’t expect was that within a few months, his young wife came back with a big belly, took him to the capital, and even took over his father-in-law’s job as a postman.

After listening to his self-introduction, Cheng Kaiyan was amazed, “You are so lucky that you have encountered such a thing. But most people are abandoned, right?”

“Yes, at that time, many educated youth in our village returned to the city and never heard from them again. It was quite chaotic. Some wrote letters to complain, some were very angry, and one even had his wife break a leg in order to return to the city, claiming that he was retired due to illness…”

Lin Weimin touched his nose and smiled bitterly.

“It’s quite chaotic. Calling these people scum is an understatement.” Cheng Kaiyan shook her head.

“Scar literature has been very popular in the past two years, but it feels weird to read. We rural people have lived this kind of life all our lives, but they are complaining after going to the countryside for a few years. I don’t know who is empathizing… They criticize this and that all day long, but why don’t they criticize themselves? I really hope that a writer’s work can give these people a good scolding!” said Lin Weimin.

“There will be.”

Cheng Kaiyan raised the corners of her mouth slightly with a smile.

At this time, Lin Weimin stopped what he was doing and said in surprise, “Comrade Cheng Kaiyan, I found Comrade Liu Xiaoli’s letter for you. Here… it’s for you.”

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I really don’t know how long I would have to wait to tear it down.”

Cheng Kaiyan took it but didn’t look at it immediately. Instead, she put it away in the drawer.

Half an hour later, the two of them finally finished opening all the letters.

“Here I have eight dollars, more than twenty bills of various kinds, and a few photos. These are all photos of young and beautiful girls.”

Lin Weimin gathered the goodies and placed them on the table, saying with a hint of envy, “Being a writer is so comfortable!”
Letters from readers are like blind boxes. You never know if there are a few cents or some bills inside.

Because writing is not profitable these days, some lovely readers are worried that the author will starve to death, so they will mix big monthly tickets and rewards in the letters, and throw them into the author’s arms, even if it is to feed the author, a stray electronic cyber cat far away in the sky.

“I have four dollars and twenty cents here…”

After packing up, Lin Weimin was about to leave.

Before leaving, he asked me what the name of the book I wrote last time was, and he wanted to buy it and read it.

After seeing off the lucky postman, Cheng Kaiyan opened the drawer, took out the letter and started reading.

“Dear Comrade Cheng Kaiyan, your kindness has been received. From January 1980, 1, the agreement between the two of us will officially begin!
Comrade Cheng Kaiyan, in your last letter you said that you had published a novel in children’s literature. I have finished reading it and it is very good. I hope Comrade Kaiyan will keep up the good work.

The theater is quite busy these days preparing for performances before the Spring Festival…”

After reading the entire letter, Liu Xiaoli really started to share her daily life with Cheng Kaiyan as agreed in the letter, such as what went wrong at work recently, what happy things happened in life, who in the dormitory got a boyfriend, and daily trivialities such as being scolded by the teacher during training today.

Finally, at the end of the letter, a small complaint.

“You are such a jerk! Why did you send me a photo of yourself when you were fifteen or sixteen? Have you grown ugly? Send me a current photo quickly so I can see it! Let me see it!”

The girl’s beautiful and fresh handwriting was pleasing to the eye. Cheng Kaiyan seemed to see a cute girl with her hands on her waist, tilting her fair and delicate chin and saying proudly, “Let me see it!”

“What an interesting girl…”

Cheng Kaiyan couldn’t help laughing. When he sent the letter that day, he had just returned a few days ago, so naturally he only had photos taken before he joined the army.

Besides, in this day and age, it is not something that ordinary people would take casually. That photo of his was a souvenir of his sixteenth birthday.

However, when I took office at Beijing Normal University a few days ago, I took a few ID photos.

There are still eleven cards in hand, but Cheng Kaiyan does not intend to let Liu Xiaoli get her wish.

Thinking of this, Cheng Kaiyan also wrote a reply to share her experiences of the past few days.

“Sister Xiaoli, I am writing to you…”

a few days later.

Classroom of the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University.

As usual, Cheng Kaiyan went to class with Jiang Ting, sitting among the group of students and concentrating on writing.

Maybe it was an explosion of my little universe. After clarifying my thoughts, I wrote at the speed of 8,000 words a day. This book, watered with my hard work, only has the final part of self-immolation left, and it is about to be completed.

“Teacher Xiao Cheng seems to be very busy these days. He hardly talks during get out of class and is concentrating on writing.”

“Yeah, Ruixue, do you know what’s going on?”

“It seems to be a new work.”

Several girls in the girls’ dormitory were sitting behind Cheng Kaiyan and whispering.

Zhao Ruixue looked at Cheng Kaiyan’s back with great curiosity. It seemed that Cheng Kaiyan had been writing since New Year’s Day?

After class, Cheng Kaiyan returned to the office.

Lin Xiaohong and Song Jianming came running over. They were responsible for collecting the poems this time.

“Cheng Kaiyan, have you finished your poem? It’s due soon.”

Lin Xiaohong looked at him with some concern.

Song Jianming said with a smile, but his eyes were full of amusement, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t write. After all, it’s understandable.”

(End of this chapter)