Chapter 4 Chapter Four

The office of the old Guoxue Institute has been furnished into a very beautiful conference room.In mid-October 1949, the Literary Research Society held its inaugural meeting in this conference room. Cars were parked in the compound, VIPs arrived one after another, and finally arrived at the largest and newest car. All the heads had arrived and were waiting for the official meeting. Yu Nan planned to arrive earlier, but he was the last one to arrive.He specially made a blue cloth uniform, and he always felt that it was not pleasing to the eyes when he put on the left and right photos.It just so happened that his daughter came back from outside and saw the fuss and said:

"Hey, Dad, you look like Zhu Bajie turned into a yellow and fat monk!" Yu Nan asked, "Do monks wear uniforms?" Wanying said that the new suit she pressed was on the hanger, and her tie was also pressed. Yu Nan said harshly, this suit was too new, he didn't want to wear a suit, especially not a newly ironed one. Yu Nan's daughter's single name is "Zhao".She has already entered the city's middle school and is a day student.At this time, she went out and hurried back.She explained: "I just went out and saw a standard beauty going to a meeting. She was wearing a suit. She looked very plain, with a navy blue skirt, a white long-sleeved blouse, and a fluffy gray short sweater. The material and tailoring were exquisite. , so pretty! I'm busy coming back to see how Dad dresses up." After she finished speaking, she hurried away without thinking.

The "standard beauty" is Du Lilin, the wife of Xu Yancheng who returned to China and went to the light. It is said that she used to be the campus belle of some university, so she was nicknamed "standard beauty".She is currently the person Yu Nan admires the most. Yu Nan was not happy to hear that he was called "the fat monk".After my daughter said this, the more I felt that this uniform was not suitable.He didn't have time to ask Xu Yancheng if he was wearing a suit, so he hurriedly changed into a half-worn suit. He didn't have time to choose a suitable tie, so he hurriedly put on a tie and rushed to the meeting place. He saw that the meeting place was full, and everyone had a seat and was about to sit down. .

The long table in the middle is made up of several long tables, covered with a white tablecloth, with thermos bottles, teacups, saucers and ashtrays on it.A large circle of chairs was lined up along the walls, all of which were full of people.The long table was full on all sides.The row facing south is obviously the seats for distinguished guests, leaders and heads, and there are still empty seats.In panic, Yu Nan saw Fu Jin waving to him at the end of the row, offering him his seat, and sitting on the empty chair at the end, Yu Nan couldn't give in, and gratefully followed the crowd. Down.He saw Ding Baogui was nearby, sitting on the side of the long table.The next one is Xu Yancheng.He was still in his usual attire, trousers in a suit, and a short jacket with a double breast, neither Chinese nor Western, casual. The "standard beauty" was sitting on the side of the long table with "Garbo-style" long hair, facing Xu Yancheng far away.

President Ma Renzhi stood up and announced the opening of the meeting.The whole room is solemn.Yu Nan felt that many people along the opposite wall were staring at him, and felt uncomfortable, afraid that he would sit in the wrong seat.He stretched his head to see if there were other acquaintances in his row, and saw that French literature expert Zhu Qianli was sitting at the end of the table facing the south, also wearing a suit.Only then did he feel relieved - not only relieved, but also knocked down a ghost that had been in his stomach for a long time.It seems that Ma Renzhi didn't trick him into making troubles. He welcomed him boldly at the beginning, not just perfunctory, but really regarded him as a dignitary.He breathed a sigh of relief, while listening to the president's speech, he looked at his colleagues around him.

Opposite the long table are mostly middle-aged literary and art cadres, all wearing uniforms.He knew Fan Fan, the director of the office, and Huang Tu, an expert in modern Chinese literary theory.Young people were sitting on chairs along the wall, but the lesbian opposite him was quite old, as if she had never seen her before.She was tall and also wore a suit, tightly wrapped in a gray-blue suit.She held a cigarette between her two fingers and leisurely puffed on the smoke.Her face looked like a handsome hippopotamus in the smoke.Jun, because the proportion of the mouth is smaller than that of a hippopotamus, but the shape of the mouth, nose and eyes are like a hippopotamus, especially the eyes, and these eyes are "like anger but not anger" like Lin Daiyu.Maybe because of her big body, the lesbian next to her turned sideways, as if she was squeezed into her arms.Yu Nan knew that this was the female writer Jiang Taotao, Fu Jin's new wife, and Yu Nan's close neighbor.She was wearing a false velvet cheongsam with green flowers on a blue background, and had fiery yellow rouge on her cheeks.She was indeed sitting in Mrs. Hippo's arms, not crowded.Yu Nan suddenly understood that Mrs. Hippo must be his long-famous Shi Nina, who had just returned from "going south for work".She was in the Soviet Union with Wen Datong and knew Fu Jin.I heard that Jiang Taotao is her close friend, and she was responsible for Fu Jin's marriage.

Ma Renzhi briefly described how the Literary Research Institute developed from the Sinology Specialized Institute. There are still many gaps to be filled and many problems to be resolved.Yu Nan listened with one ear and wandered around with both eyes.He once heard Baogui say that Miss Yao is the most beautiful in the club, even though she has worked so hard these past few years, she is not as delicate as before.Yu Nan has been to the library many times, but she has never seen a beautiful lady. Could it be that Miss Yao is more beautiful than a "standard beauty"?He swept his eyes all the way, and saw a lesbian whose eyebrows and eyes slightly resembled his Miss Hu, with two-pole braids and a plump body, just chatting with a pink-faced niche person next to her, giggling while covering her face, and using Hit the "Xiaosheng" next to him with his shoulder.Could it be that she is Miss Yao?Over there was a young girl in a light yellow sweater, with a round white face and bright eyes. Yu Nan knew her, she was Jiang Min, a college graduate assigned from Shanghai.There were quite a few people in uniform sitting on the chairs on both sides.Yu Nan didn't dare to turn around.He was confident that beauties could not escape his eyes, but he did not see the beautiful lady.

Ma Renzhi ended his opening remarks briefly.He is very practical. He said, as the saying goes, "Although a sparrow is small, it has all five internal organs." This literary research institute is just a sparrow that has not hatched from an egg.A guest of honor interjected humorously, saying that the Literature Research Institute is an "ostrich egg", or it can be called a "phoenix egg", and the phoenix is ​​the roc bird. A chief stood up amid the laughter of the crowd, and then "Phoenix Egg" talked about his expectations, and then turned to the main topic, saying that all people who can be united should be united and work together to contribute to the culture of New China and to all mankind. make a contribution.He said: Intellectuals should use their special skills to serve the people; the two fronts, civil and military, are equally important, but to urge the people of the whole country to work together, and the people of the world to work together, the pen is more powerful than the gun.

Yu Nan felt that this was something he had never thought of before, and was very excited when he heard it, and felt that the old Communist Party members were indeed like old wine, as they said, with a mellow and strong taste.He forgot about "the most beautiful lady" and sat upright, listening to the speech. Ding Baogui was sad.This meeting room is the office where he used to come to drink tea and chat.Yao Jian fell to the ground suddenly, right in this room—right where he was sitting now.At that time Yao Jian was only fifty-five years old.Mrs. Yao was the same age as him, and she looked very young and beautiful, but now she was disabled. Although her mouth and eyes were no longer crooked, half of her face was dull after all.Ms. Yao was such a delicate young lady back then, but she failed to finish college and became a library clerk, so a good marriage was blown away.Ma Renzhi was just Yao Jian's assistant at that time, not even a vice president, but now he has become the president in one fell swoop!At that time, he and Ding Baogui had the most congenial talk.Ding Baogui often scolded the Communist Party for inciting students to riot and strike.The other two old gentlemen both had scruples when it came to politics, and only Ma Renzhi and he scolded.When Ding Baogui heard that Ma Renzhi had become the president of the company, he knew that he was an underground party member. He was shocked, but when he saw Ma Renzhi, he was embarrassed and frightened, and could not help complaining, "Brother Ren, you are not enough friends. I didn't stop me from speaking, and you didn't say a word, always making me scold the bald thief in front of the monk." After he finished speaking, he immediately regretted his slip of the tongue, thinking that it was terrible, although Ma Renzhi didn't put on airs, he is the president after all, why? He even regarded him as Yao Jian's assistant!Ma Renzhi just laughed and said: "The Communist Party is not afraid of scolding. If you have any opinions, just speak up and don't worry." He also invited Ding Baogui to work as a researcher at the Literature Research Institute.According to Ding Baogui's understanding, a researcher is equivalent to a university professor. He was only an associate professor before, so there is no reason why he is not happy.Ma Renzhi still treated him the same way, and sometimes discussed things with him (such as the matter of hiring Yu Nan).Ding Baogui gradually forgot that he was a veteran anti-communist, and he more or less regarded himself as a veteran.His good job was given by the Communist Party, of course he is grateful.Just thinking of the deceased Yao Jianyin and his widow and orphan, I can't help feeling sad.

He saw Yao Mi sitting in the back row along the wall with Wang Zheng.Several young people may be interested in her, and they are also sitting nearby.She was taking notes and was listening intently.Suddenly her eyes lit up, as if she had made a radio call with someone, she immediately lowered her head and continued writing her notes. "Ah!" Ding Baogui was confused about other things, but he was very sensitive about this kind of thing, "Miss Yao is not a girl who just radios anyone, who is she radioing?" He looked around.Yu Nan, who was sitting in the row facing the south, had a serious face, of course he couldn't see the people in the back row.Xu Yancheng next to him stared blankly at his "standard beauty".The handsome Mrs. Hippo has stopped smoking and is still sitting with the female writer.The noodle "Xiaosheng" was dozing off.He looked all the way over, and they were all young and middle-aged people whose names he didn't know yet, and it seemed that there were no outstanding people.who?Before Ding Baogui could detect any clues, the chief's speech had ended amid warm applause, and the free speeches of the guests had also ended.Fu Jin stood up and asked everyone not to move, let the guests leave first.He informed all staff to meet next week to talk about their experience.

The Literary Research Society was formally established.