1980 My literary era

Chapter 22 Queuing up to buy classics in the middle of the night

Don’t think that if you go to the Literary Research Institute for training, you will be a certain great writer in the future.

For many of the writers trained by Lin Weimin and others, training at the Literary Research Institute was already the highlight of their lives, and then it was all downhill.

After some people finish training at the Literary Research Institute, their literary talents have not changed much. Their newly created works can only be published in local publications, and some are not even published and no one cares about them.

Therefore, students like Lin Weimin, who continue to produce works while still in the training stage of the Institute of Literary Studies, and are recognized by fellow writers, are also the favorites of teachers.

"Contemporary" is a literary magazine under the National Literature Publishing House. It was founded in 1979. The founder, Meng Weizai, was the former president of the National Literature Publishing House.

The first issue was released in June 1979, and the 70,000 printed copies sold out. The second issue, with 110,000 copies printed, was still in short supply. The third issue printed 130,000, with each issue increasing in size, reaching a peak of 550,000.

At this time, "Contemporary" has only published a few issues, but it has become a first-line literary magazine in China. Even in the 1980s, when magazines and newspapers were blooming, it was still unique.

Lin Weimin is still dissatisfied with his work being published in such a magazine, but he can only make a final decision after the editor reads the manuscript.

The next day was Saturday, and the bathroom in the backyard of School D was open. As soon as class ended in the afternoon, students flocked to the bathroom, especially students from the south who were the most enthusiastic.

It is a habit of School D to boil the boiler to provide hot water on Saturdays. Now it has become a habit of students of the Institute of Literature and Literature to take baths on Saturdays. Girls take baths after boys.

The bathroom is not big, and there is a small transom on the ceiling, so people's voices echo inside.

Boys like to sing and act while taking a shower, and bathrooms with built-in reverberation effects seem to be particularly able to arouse this desire.

There are no popular songs these days. Everyone either sings red songs or local operas from their hometown. Among them, Jia Dashan sings the loudest, which is completely different from his usual silent character.

He is from Northern Hebei, and he also sings Northern Hebei Bangzi. His singing voice is high-pitched, passionate and generous, which is unforgettable as soon as you hear it. Lin Weimin didn't know what kind of opera he was singing, but it was probably Lao Sheng's singing style.

While these people were singing, Lin Weimin was listening. He was from the Northeast, but he couldn't sing duet. Don't talk about a little New Year's greeting, it's just a little hat, and the two-person singing thing is a joke, isn't it?

Taking a shower is like pressing a karaoke switch. When you finish taking a shower, the switch automatically turns off.

The old men who had been howling like ghosts and wolves just now suddenly regained their composure and uprightness.

Lin Weimin came out of the bathroom shaking his hair and heard Qu Xiaowei say: "Tomorrow Wangfujing Bookstore will receive a batch of four major classics as well as foreign classics. Shall we line up early?"

Buy classics?

Lin Weimin felt it was necessary. He had never read the original work of "Water Margin" before, and his knowledge of "Water Margin" was limited to familiar stories and various film and television adaptations. When Mr. Nie Gannu was talking about "Water Margin", he listened in a confused way.

He had read "Dream of Red Mansions" among the four major classics, but he had almost forgotten it. There was also a course on "Dream of Red Mansions" taught by Wu Zuxiang later, and he had to make preparations first this time.

"Hey, I heard that you have to queue up to buy books in Yanjing's bookstore now. The rows stretch for a mile or two." Cheng Shixu said from the side.

Qu Xiaowei said, "That's right. There are so few books and so many people. There's not enough to buy them."

"Then do we have to go there early and line up?"

"this……"

Qu Xiaowei hesitated for a moment. Queuing up to buy books was normal for him, but he hadn't really studied how long in advance he had to queue up.

"Why bother with all this? Just go queue up tonight."

"Tonight?" Qu Xiaowei resisted instinctively. If he had to wait in line all night, he would suffer.

"Listen to me, you're right."

Lin Weimin made the final decision.

Back in the dormitory, other students heard that they were going to Wangfujing Bookstore to buy books, and they were also ready to do so. But when they heard that they had to queue up at night, they were a little scared.

Lin Weimin packed up his clothes and came out of the dormitory. Seeing his posture, everyone was a little dumbfounded.

"No, Weimin, what do you mean? What are you doing with your bedding?"

"sleep!"

Qu Xiaowei pointed to his bedding, "Are you going to sleep while queuing up at the bookstore?"

"What's wrong?" Lin Weimin said confidently.

Qu Xiaowei gave a thumbs up, "Xin Xing, it has to be you! I'm not surprised by anything you do."

In the past two years, queuing up to buy books in bookstores in the middle of the night has occasionally happened, but when a bachelor like Lin Weimin packed up his clothes and went to the door of the bookstore, Qu Xiaowei was the first to encounter him.

"Are you still leaving?" Lin Weimin asked impatiently.

Everyone was hesitant just now but calmed down, "Then let's go together."

Lin Weimin said: "It doesn't require so many people. It's the same with classmates helping each other with a few books."

"Wei Min is right. We don't need so many people to go, just pick a few people to go." Squad leader Zhang Lin started to organize.

After the last discussion, seven people came out of the class, Zhang Lin, Jiang Zilong, Gu Hua, Cheng Shixu, Qu Xiaowei, Lin Weimin and Abeier.

Except for Zhang Lin and Jiang Zilong, everyone is a new force.

With the ardent expectations of the classmates, the group of seven set off and boarded the No. 18 bus.

Among the seven people, only Lin Weimin packed a roll of bedding. In the car, several other people subconsciously stayed away from him.

I can’t afford to lose that person!

Wangfujing Bookstore is located at No. 14 Wangfujing Street. Thirty years have passed since its birth. After two expansions, the Wangfujing Bookstore officially opened last year, with a total construction area of ​​6,300 square meters and a business area of ​​3,600 square meters. It has become The largest bookstore in the country at the time.

In the 1980s, any literate person who came to Yanjing and said he had never been to Wangfujing Bookstore would be like visiting Yanjing in vain. In the minds of scholars at that time, the status of Wangfujing Bookstore was no less than that of the Forbidden City.

It was already past seven o'clock in the evening when Lin Weimin and his party arrived at the bookstore, and there were people queuing at the door.

This discovery made Qu Xiaowei a little excited. When he came here, he was afraid that they were just messing around, but he didn't expect that there were people who were full and had nothing to do, so they queued up to buy books.

"Tell me, these people should have more free time."

Qu Xiaowei complained while occupying the position.

Lin Weimin next to him spread his blanket on the ground and lay down in full view of everyone.

Several fellow travelers quickly stayed away from him, for fear of being misunderstood as a group.

There are only six or seven people in front of them, and they will definitely not be afraid of not being able to buy books tomorrow morning. Standing or squatting in line behind Lin Weimin, chatting, they found that a long line was starting to form behind them.

By the time it was past eleven o'clock in the evening, the queue was so long that the end of the queue was no longer visible.

Cheng Shixu ran to the end to take a look. When he came back, his voice was inexplicably excited, "They queued up for more than a mile!"

He had only heard of it before, but today his eyes were opened!

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