Chapter 27

For the turmoil that had occurred in City Z, Xiao Fei naturally had no way of knowing. Mainly because, in 1996, communication between different places was still very inconvenient.

At this time, mobile phones were just beginning to become popular in the country.

BP machines were in full swing, but their popularity was mainly in the cities.

In the vast rural areas, even the installation of landline telephones was scarce, and mobile phones were still props for those who had become rich first. Even the very popular BP machines, a digital one cost over a thousand yuan, and a Chinese display one cost several thousand, which the poor could not afford at all.

Moreover, even if one bought a BP machine, it still needed to be used with a telephone!

In the countryside, buying a BP machine could only be used as a watch.

At this time, the means of communication for the masses were really too limited.

Therefore, Xiao Fei had no idea that he had already been secretly envied by someone.

Xiao Fei and his brother had a meal in the county town, each having a bowl of dumplings, two small dishes, and two bottles of cold beer. They ate, drank, and talked.

Once he started drinking, Xiao Yang's spirits relaxed.

In fact, after being transformed by Xiao Fei, his mindset had changed significantly, and he was no longer as shy and reticent as when he first came to the city.

One bottle of beer was clearly not enough for his brother.

So, Xiao Fei got him another bottle.

By the time they had eaten and drunk their fill, it was already past one in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day. Riding a bike home at this time would be a grueling journey, with the scorching sun almost roasting a person to death.

Xiao Fei advised Xiao Yang to rest a bit longer before leaving.

Xiao Yang nodded in agreement.

After leaving the restaurant, the two went to the Xinhua Bookstore and stayed there until nearly four in the afternoon, then hurriedly rode their bikes home.

Drenched in sweat, they finally returned to the village around five o'clock.

When the two brothers reached the village crossroads, they saw more than ten people, both men and women, gathered in front of Village Chief Liu Zhenhai's house, talking to Liu Xinmei and Wang Guizhi.

The reason so many people were still not working in the fields at this time was that many in the village were busy catching tortoises to earn extra money, and they had just finished plowing the land and were now processing the wheat bran.

Seeing the greatly changed Xiao Yang, the people started joking with him.

"Hey! Xiao Yang, did you go on a date today? Why are you dressed so fashionably?"

"Xiao Yang, if you had dressed like this earlier, you would have found a wife long ago."

"The clothes look good, but you look a bit shabby. Xiao Yang, wearing such nice clothes on you is a bit of a waste."

Of course, some people were concerned about other things.

"Xiao Yang, how did it go? Did you sell the tortoises? What price did you get? Did you make a lot of money?"

Everyone in the village knew that the two brothers had taken two burlap bags of tortoises to the county town early in the morning and naturally wanted to know how it went.

Xiao Yang stopped, and Xiao Fei had to stop as well, listening to his brother talk with the crowd.

He felt that his brother was much more relaxed when interacting with people, perhaps not just a feeling.

The people surrounding Xiao Yang were mostly asking for advice on catching tortoises, as the Xiao family was a pioneer in this field and had made a lot of money.

"What are you all gathered here for?" Xiao Fei asked someone nearby.

The person grinned, showing a mouth full of yellow teeth, and pointed at Liu Xinmei, saying, "Nothing much, Liu Xinmei published a short story in our county's 'Heyang Literature' magazine, and everyone is gathered to see the novelty."

'Heyang Literature' was a literary magazine published by the Heyang County Cultural Bureau, without a formal publication number, and was essentially an internal publication.

The magazine was a quarterly, with only one issue per quarter.

Each issue was printed in a maximum of a thousand copies and distributed to various government agencies in the county, serving as a performance indicator for the Cultural Bureau.

Since it was a magazine from Heyang, most of the authors were local literature enthusiasts.

The magazine did not pay any royalties.

In fact, to get a piece published, one had to give gifts to the people at the Cultural Bureau and build connections to get their work published.

Xiao Fei knew that Liu Xinmei also liked literature and was known as a talented girl at Heyang No. 1 High School.

However, her writing was fragmented and scattered, making it difficult to publish.

He remembered that in his previous life, when he started publishing works in newspapers and magazines, Liu Xinmei had become very close to him, often bringing her articles for his guidance and asking how to submit them and if he knew any editors.

When Wang Guizhi saw that the two brothers had attracted most of the attention, she felt very displeased, as it took the spotlight away from her.

Liu Xinmei, upon seeing Xiao Fei, felt a bit uneasy and embarrassed.

Her article was only published through connections with someone at the Cultural Bureau, and compared to Xiao Fei, her achievement was nothing. Xiao Fei had published articles in national magazines like 'Middle School Era,' 'Middle School Reading,' and 'Youth Literature.'

"Xiao Fei, I remember you used to publish articles too, right? They were short, maybe one or two pages. You can be considered a cultured person. Take a look, my Mei's novel is over ten pages long! The title is even on the cover! Don't you think Mei's published work is much better than yours?"

Before Liu Xinmei could speak, Wang Guizhi, twisting her large, round buttocks, came to Xiao Fei with a copy of 'Heyang Literature' and started showing off to him.

Liu Xinmei was embarrassed.

"Mom, if you don't understand, don't say things randomly!" Liu Xinmei quickly said.

"How can I be saying things randomly? Look at you, not giving your mother any face. Your novel is much better than Xiao Fei's articles!" Wang Guizhi scolded, pouting.

Xiao Fei didn't mind, chuckled, and took the 'Heyang Literature' magazine, glancing at the cover, which listed several recommended articles. He asked Liu Xinmei, "Which one is yours?"

"This one." Liu Xinmei pointed to a title, a bit awkwardly.

"Oh!"

Xiao Fei nodded, thinking to himself that the title sounded quite literary, called 'The Flowers on the Banks of the River of Forgetfulness.'

"Xiao Fei, give me some feedback. I know I have many shortcomings, but I don't know how to improve." Liu Xinmei was quite humble, but there was a hint of pride in her eyes.

Her novel was over ten thousand words, and she had spent countless nights writing and revising it.

"Sure, I'll take a look."

Xiao Fei flipped through the pages and quickly skimmed through. It had to be said that Liu Xinmei's writing was quite smooth, and her vocabulary was rich.

The story was about love, a timeless theme in literature. Liu Xinmei wrote a story similar to 'A Chinese Ghost Story.'

Xiao Fei read very quickly, almost skimming through ten lines at a time. He finished the short story, which was over ten pages long, in just a few minutes.

To be honest, Xiao Fei felt that Liu Xinmei's language was passable, but her storytelling ability was quite poor. Her narrative structure and logical framework were weak, and her detail descriptions were very rough. In short, reading her work didn't create much anticipation; it felt jumbled and chaotic, even more so than a dream.

"Hey, you read that too quickly! Are you not respecting me? Can't you understand my Mei's novel?" Wang Guizhi sharply called out from the side.

Liu Xinmei was also very dissatisfied.

Her painstaking work, finally turned into print, had been read and reread by her, and she found it quite satisfactory. Was Xiao Fei just fooling around with her?