Chapter 41 International Students Celebrate the New Year The accommodation subsidy was not enough to pay Zou Shifang's salary. Even so, Liu Hongmin still loved this place. Two dollars a day, it’s a waste not to make money. In addition to money, he was able to meet many editors of Beijing Literature and Art. For example, Zhang Dening, a young editor, particularly liked to chat with Liu Hongmin. She was very curious about Liu Hongmin, "Why do you write mystery novels?" "Is Shao Bao really being made into a TV series in Hong Kong?" “Is Song Ci’s story true history?” She seemed to have a hundred thousand whys and kept asking new questions, which made Liu Hongmin feel very tired. After a few times, whenever Zhang Dening came, he would immediately take the manuscript and revise it, and finally he managed to shut Zhang Dening up. Now, Liu Hongmin was ready to revise the manuscript until the start of the school year, and he finished it in just one month.
When he handed in the manuscript, Zhou Yanru and Zhang Dening were laughing like two foxes, and he realized that he had fallen into a trap. The small dark room plus Tang Seng, this method of urging them to submit their works has taken their play to a new level. When Stephen Chow was filming "A Chinese Odyssey", he followed the role of Tang Monk played by Denis Cheung!!! The complaints full of resentment showed how devastated Liu Hongmin was. He never thought that these two people with thick eyebrows and big eyes would plot against him, a member of the Ge Min community. After Liu Hongmin left, the editorial office of "Beijing Literature and Art" was filled with laughter. "Editor Zhou, you still have a solution." Zhou Yanru smiled and shook her head. "Liu Hongmin is actually not short of money. I heard that he spent 20,000 yuan to buy a courtyard house some time ago." "I know he's not short of money." Zhang Dening said, "I'm speaking up for Cha Jianying. Cha Jianying has paid so much for him, but this guy is as stupid as a blockhead. He's completely clueless." Zhou Yanru said seriously: "It's not good for you to bring your personal feelings into work like this." "Got it!" Zhang Dening hugged Zhou Yanru's arm and acted coquettishly, "I won't do this again in the future." Liu Hongmin returned to Beijing University. Although the courtyard house was habitable, he still had to burn coal himself. Once the house was lit, he had to stay there for the entire winter, otherwise the alternating heat and cold would cause serious damage to the house. Besides, Liu Hongmin didn't know anyone in the courtyard. There were many students from Beijing University who didn't go home in winter, so they got together and held a social gathering last year. It’s better to have some fun during the New Year. Liu Hongmin also put down his pen and helped organize the social gathering. Because Liu Hongmin had a conflict with the world history department, the department sent him to contact the international students. There were many international students attending last year's social gathering, and this year is no exception. Not all international students are wealthy, and many cannot even afford a flight back home for the holidays. A few hundred dollars for a flight can allow them to complete four years of study in China and have a comfortable holiday. It is for this reason that many poor students choose to study in China. Liu Hongmin's English was not very good, and he was a little worried about how to communicate with the international students. But when he arrived, he found that these international students could speak Mandarin to some extent. This saved Liu Hongmin a lot of trouble, and he brought these international students to participate in the social gathering.
"There are many customs for Chinese New Year, and there are big differences between the north and the south. Northerners are used to eating dumplings during the New Year, while southerners are used to eating rice cakes. In some places, people eat glutinous rice balls and rice dumplings..." "China has always attached great importance to eating. When we were poor, we tried all kinds of things, everything edible and inedible..." Richard, an American classmate, said, "Liu, I know you eat offal." "Offal is one of them. You should have tried stewed meat, right?" Many people nodded and said, "I've eaten it, it's delicious." Some people also shook their heads and said, "I feel sick." Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "That's just your psychological effect. As a famous dish in Beijing, the taste of Luzhu must be fine. And you don't know that Luzhu was not originally cooked with pig intestines and pig lungs, but pork belly, which is pork with fat and lean meat, and it is very delicious. However, for poor people, pork belly is too luxurious, so they cooked it with pig intestines and pig lungs, and formed the current Luzhu." The international students suddenly understood and applauded, "Liu, you are really knowledgeable." Liu Hongmin waved his hand and said, "This situation is very common in China. Many dishes made from animal offal are made for this reason." "Besides that, there are many things that you really have nothing to eat and have to eat in order to survive. It is best to make them into a dish." "For example, the three-crow eats newborn mice..." "For example, konjac is poisonous if it is not processed..." The international students listened with great interest. From Liu Hongmin, they learned about a China they had never seen before. In order to survive, the Chinese have paid too much, including habits, dignity and even life, so the Chinese say that food is the first necessity of the people. They admired Liu Hongmin very much for telling them food stories. In the evening, Liu Hongmin led the international students to make dumplings and watch the "New Year's Gala". It was the predecessor of the Spring Festival Gala, which was recorded and broadcasted. There was no host at that time, only an announcer. The reason why 1983 was the first Spring Festival Gala was mainly because it was changed from a recorded broadcast to a live broadcast, and the announcer was changed to a host. The host made jokes in the middle of the program, filling the free time between programs and connecting the programs to form a whole. Last year, a toast song became popular all over the country, but this year there is no such eye-catching song. But the show is still good, and Liu Hongmin is enjoying it. After the dumplings were wrapped, Liu Hongmin took a few female students to cook them. For convenience, they were immediately placed in a large iron basin after they were cooked and let the female students take them away. The dumplings dipped in garlic sauce made the international students salivate. Even though they were hissing from the spiciness, they still kept stuffing them into their mouths. "Liu, the dumplings you make are so delicious!" "Oh my god! Liu, whoever marries you in the future will be so happy." "I swear, dumplings are absolutely the most delicious food in the world." Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "This is just the beginning. If you come back after China has more supplies, you will know what real food is." Forty years later, a young man from San Ge's family boasted that he would eat all the delicious food in China in three months. However, after three months, he still hadn't left Xichuan. Liu Hongmin raised his glass and said, "Come on, fellow students. There is an old Chinese saying: Eat dumplings with wine, the more you drink, the more you have. I wish us all a bright future." The international students didn’t understand what “the more you drink, the more you have” meant, but they understood the following sentence and raised their glasses and shouted, “Chelsea!” The New Year's Eve Gala hadn't ended yet, but a large number of people had already fallen asleep on the table. These foreigners drank white wine as if it were champagne, and they drank too much and were all drunk.
(End of this chapter)