Chapter 46 Finally Staying at the Guest House

Early the next morning.

Cheng Kaiyan slept naturally until he woke up on his own. Looking out the window, the weather remained overcast and hazy. The plastic sheet in the corner of the courtyard fluttered noisily in the wind.

He got up, put on his military-style overcoat, and went outside to wash up.

Generally speaking, the first thing residents in a traditional courtyard house did in the morning was head to the public restroom and empty their chamber pots.

Even someone like Wang Fei could not escape this destiny.

However, Cheng Kaiyan managed to escape it simply because there was a large public restroom less than a hundred meters outside Wutong Courtyard, which was very convenient.

After finishing his personal hygiene, Cheng Kaiyan stepped out onto the street to buy some breakfast before returning.

Ever since the end-of-term examinations at Beijing Normal University, classes had been suspended, leaving teaching assistants like him with even less to do. Therefore, his absence from the school was of no consequence.

Having returned late the previous night, he had predictably received a stern lecture from his mother.

"I never imagined the eighties had a curfew..."

Nights in the 1980s were not as secure as in later generations. Just last month, in December, a murder case had occurred over in Chaoyang: a woman was raped and murdered by a criminal at night, and her head was even severed afterward, terrifying many people.

Public security would remain somewhat unstable for the next two years, only improving around 1983.

Shaking his head, he walked back inside, brought out a reclining chair, and then went to the kitchen to fetch the stove to boil some tea.

Holding a copy of Gone with the Wind borrowed from the library, Cheng Kaiyan read it to dispel his boredom.

Daily life in the 1980s was monotonous. No wonder everyone in Zhao Ruixue's dormitory talked about ballroom dancing as something novel and exciting.

College students danced tirelessly, and some even practiced their dance skills in their spare time.

How many nights were spent tossing and turning alone on pillows.

Nightlife in the eighties was truly dreadfully boring!

No wonder people in this era gave birth to so many children—four or five at a time. Aside from sleeping, what else was there to do at night other than be intimate with one's spouse? How could they not have many children?

These past few nights, Cheng Kaiyan had either been reading novels to pass the time or writing them.

From time to time, he glanced toward the side door of the neighboring Zhan family. The door was left slightly ajar, and through the gap, he could vaguely see his mother, Xu Yuxiu, and Aunt Wang Qiang making clothes inside the main room.

During their last trip to Wangfujing to purchase items, they had bought a bicycle and custom-ordered several pieces of clothing: a black Zhongshan suit for spring and autumn, and a thick padded cotton coat for winter. Both had been brought home a few days prior. He had worn the new clothes while proctoring exams yesterday, though the heavy cotton coat was being saved to wear when visiting relatives during the New Year.

...

Time slipped away through his fingertips amidst drinking tea and reading. In the blink of an eye, it was nearly noon, and chimney smoke began to rise from many households.

At that moment, a young man wearing a postal hat pushed his bicycle into the courtyard. It was Lin Weimin.

"Comrade Kaiyan! Kaiyan! You've got another letter!"

As soon as Lin Weimin entered the courtyard and saw Cheng Kaiyan sitting in the reclining chair drinking tea, he immediately called out, his face beaming with excitement.

Last week, using some private savings he had secretly hidden away, he bought a copy of Children's Literature, only for his wife to discover it. Ever since, his secret stash had been confiscated, but he had no regrets.

Because after reading that piece titled Submarine at Night, Lin Weimin finally understood just how extraordinary the talent of this young man, who was several years younger than him, truly was.

Just reading these lines alone:

My flame was extinguished at the age of sixteen. The so-called achievements of the rest of my life are merely a few wisps of blue smoke rising after the flame has died out.

When Lin Weimin picked up an article he had previously written and compared the two, the difference in quality was instantly obvious.

Feeling hopelessly inferior, his literary confidence had nearly shattered.

Yet, he quickly recovered his spirits. With a friend like this, how could his own writing level fail to improve?

He even believed that Cheng Kaiyan was destined to shine brilliantly in the future. Sure enough, early this morning, he had spotted a letter addressed to Cheng Kaiyan.

...

"You're here, Weimin. A letter for me? Could it be from the editorial department of *Fangcao* in Jiangcheng?"

Cheng Kaiyan tossed his book aside, trotted forward, a bright and happy smile on his face.

I'm finally going to stay in a guesthouse!

I'm finally going to see my Aunt Liu!

How exciting!

Ahem... scratch that last part.

"Yes! It's from the *Fangcao* editorial department in Jiangcheng! Kaiyan, when did you submit another manuscript?"

Lin Weimin nodded, handing over a white envelope with a look of pure curiosity on his face.

How could this Comrade Kaiyan write manuscripts so quickly?

Wasn't it less than a month since his last submission?

"Just last week. I worked on it for a long time, writing seven or eight thousand words a day!"

Cheng Kaiyan looked down and saw that the envelope was indeed addressed from the *Fangcao* Editorial Department (formerly Jiangcheng Literature and Art) on Jiefang Park Road, Jiang'an District, Jiangcheng City, sent by editor Chen Shanshan.

"Seven or eight thousand words a day?"

Lin Weimin listened in stunned disbelief. Goodness gracious, writing seven or eight thousand words a day? Wouldn't that hand break from writing?

Knowing that Lin Weimin's own speed was only about one thousand words a day, Comrade Kaiyan's speed was seven or eight times his own?

"To tell you the truth, Kaiyan, your speed is eight times mine. You're just too fast! I must learn from you!"

Lin Weimin exclaimed, unable to hide his astonishment.

At the same time, his envy turned into deep admiration. With such a hardworking young man, if he didn't succeed, who could?

Amidst the conversation between the two in the courtyard, the people in the neighboring room heard the commotion.

"Kaiyan seems to be receiving letters quite frequently lately, doesn't he?"

Aunt Wang Qiang knitted the sweater in her hands and asked curiously, glancing at Xu Yuxiu, who was sitting behind the sewing machine making clothes.

"Indeed he is."

Xu Yuxiu smiled mysteriously. Ever since young Xiao Jiang had visited last time and brought Kaiyan a letter from Xiaoli, he had been receiving letters every single week.

If nothing else went wrong, the young couple had clearly begun exchanging letters to build their relationship.

She and Jiang Wan had previously worried constantly about the romance between Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli.

As it turned out, the two of them were simply wonderful; they had directly started corresponding with each other.

With any luck, in another two years, she might even be holding a grandson!

"Mom! Aunt Xu, the postman uncle said big brother Yan seems to have submitted another manuscript!"

Zhan Xinyu peeked out from the doorway and shouted.

"Submitted another manuscript?"

"Let's go out and take a look."

Xu Yuxiu and Wang Qiang exchanged glances, walked out curiously, and asked with puzzled expressions.

"Kaiyan? What's going on?"

"You've been writing a lot of letters lately."

"Auntie, you wouldn't know this, but Kaiyan has submitted another manuscript!" Lin Weimin explained with a smile.

"Really, Kaiyan? You submitted another one?"

"Yeah, didn't you see it some time ago? I even fell sick because of this manuscript!"

Cheng Kaiyan raised the envelope in his hand, shook it slightly, and smiled.

"As long as your hard work pays off."

Xu Yuxiu walked over, feigning annoyance as she pinched her son's arm. His previous cold and fever had nearly frightened her out of her wits.

She took the envelope and examined it, noticing it was postmarked Jiangcheng.

Huh? *Fangcao* from Jiangcheng?

"You rascal! You just can't stay still!"

Xu Yuxiu was caught between laughter and tears. There were so many literary magazines in Beijing—*Contemporary*, *People's Literature*, *Beijing Literature and Art*... yet he specifically submitted to Jiangcheng. Wasn't this clearly aimed at Xiaoli?

No one knew a son quite like his mother.

Xu Yuxiu figured out Cheng Kaiyan's hidden intentions in an instant.

"Haha."

Cheng Kaiyan let out an awkward laugh.

By noon that same day.

The elders and aunties of Wutong Courtyard all learned that the Cheng family boy had made something of himself and was actually invited by an editorial department to stay at a guesthouse in Jiangcheng!

"My goodness! That Cheng Kaiyan kid submitted another manuscript?"

"That's right, and they even invited him to stay at a guesthouse. Word has it that meals and lodging are fully provided, he'll live in a small western-style villa, sleep on a Simmons mattress, and drink coffee... tsk tsk."

"What kind of coffee? That's foreign stuff, it's called ka-fei-er! If you ask me, that old Mrs. Zhao must be dying of frustration right now, huh?"

Wang Cuihua squatted in the public latrine, straining to do her business while gossiping with the older woman in the adjacent stall.

"Of course she is! Sister Zhao is such a calculating person. Hearing that Kaiyan's child has successfully published another manuscript, her intestines must be turning green with regret right now... giggles!" the other woman mocked.

"Tsk tsk, I could tell from the very beginning that Kaiyan wasn't ordinary—he's a true dragon among men. Little Zhao was simply blind, despite all the effort I spent trying to matchmake those two young people back then! Too bad someone didn't recognize a good heart, insisting that he ruined her precious Ruixue's reputation... hahaha... *glug glug*~"

Wang Cuihua used a piece of straw paper to wipe herself, grinning wide and laughing heartily.

"Wang Cuihua! I'm not finished with you! Don't hold me back... I'm going to... murder you!!"

Immediately following that, outside the restroom, Mrs. Zhao—her face alternating between pale and livid—stormed in brandishing a chamber pot.

With a sudden splash, incredibly fast!

A massive wave of foul, reeking, stinking urine drenched Wang Cuihua entirely, and she even accidentally swallowed a mouthful, *glug glug*, filling her stomach.

At that moment, it was just like Gonggong crashing angrily into Mount Buzhou!

Instantly, the heavens tilted, the earth overturned, and a flood of filth surged to the skies!

When Cheng Kaiyan heard the news later, he laughed so hard his sides ached.