I Only Like Serving the People

"Rumble, rumble!"

"Rumble, rumble!"

Beneath the blazing sun, a green train sped across the vast open countryside at a hundred kilometers an hour. Yes, sped.

Chen Qi was quite satisfied already. Green trains had become fairly common, but steam locomotives had yet to leave the stage. If your luck was bad, you'd end up on one and just have to endure it, crawling along at fifty kilometers an hour.

It was now the second day of his journey.

He stood in the passage between two carriages, swaying to the clackety-clack and breathing air that was reasonably fresh. He had ridden green trains plenty of times as a student in his previous life and was quite used to them, but life was unpredictable. Some things nobody could see coming, like a little kid suddenly taking a dump...

Midsummer, a green train, the stink of sweat, the stink of feet, shouting, excrement-it really took the cake!

The whole Romance on Mount Lu crew numbered somewhere around a hundred or so. The camera and art departments had taken their valuable equipment and flown ahead; everyone else had to take the train. A plane ticket cost over sixty yuan. Who could afford that?

"Little Chen? Hiding out here, are you?"

Tang Guoqiang came over, presumably unable to stand the smell either. He first pulled out a pack of cigarettes and deftly offered him one.

"No, no, I don't smoke!"

"You're this old and you don't smoke? Have one!"

"Really, no. It's bad for your health, and it's addictive."

"Addictive? I've smoked for over ten years and I'm not addicted..."

Tang Guoqiang was a heavy smoker. He lit one for himself and puffed out clouds of smoke. "First time experiencing life with a film crew, right? It's always like this. You'll get used to it. Going to meetings is much more comfortable. Last time I went to a meeting in Shanghai, I flew there."

"You've even been on a plane?"

"Of course. They have everything on planes. They gave me five Zhonghua cigarettes and even handed out Moutai!"

"A whole bottle?"

"A whole bottle. I finished it as soon as I got to the hotel. You're still young; you'll have plenty of chances to fly."

"Yes, I'm still young."

Chen Qi smiled.

It was now early August. He had transmigrated at the end of March, and before he knew it, more than four months had passed. He had written a screenplay, earned 800 yuan, and set up a tea stall. Those were the things he had done.

His original idea had simply been to make his life a little better.

Flying on planes, smoking Zhonghua, drinking Moutai, surrounded by beautiful women... To put life in vulgar terms, that was about the size of it. Of course, since he had gone to all the trouble of transmigrating, he naturally had some other aspirations too.

Tang Guoqiang smoked three cigarettes in a row, then carefully tucked the pack away.

The two men picked their way around knees, shoes, and heads sticking out every which way and returned to their seats. Wang Haowei, Gong Xue, and Zhang Jinling were all together, also half asleep.

They wouldn't reach Mount Lu until evening. Chen Qi couldn't keep going either, so he leaned back in his seat and drifted into a daze.

When he opened his eyes a while later, Gong Xue, sitting opposite him, happened to wake up too. Their eyes met, and she looked a little awkward, glancing away a few times. Everyone else was drowsing, and only the two of them were awake. They didn't know each other very well either. Should they talk or not?

She was an introvert, but Chen Qi was an extrovert. A person could fall into the sea, but a conversation couldn't be allowed to fall flat.

"Did you ever visit Mount Lu when you were sent down to the countryside in Jiangxi?" he asked.

"No. I was at Yangqiao Commune in Fenyi County, a long way from Mount Lu."

"I had it a little better than you. I was sent down to the outskirts of Beijing. That was the policy at the time: those sent down later stayed on the outskirts, while those who went earlier were sent off to Northeast China and Inner Mongolia. Now, that was hardship. You know Liang Xiaosheng from the literature department, right? He was with the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps, hauling logs for a living. With that little build of his, hauling logs-oh, boy..."

"Don't say that. He must have suffered a great deal."

Gong Xue pursed her lips and smiled.

"He certainly did. Northeast China is all vast, endless plains and primeval forests. Who knows what's hiding in there? Leopards, tigers, brown bears!"

"What's a brown bear?"

"A brown bear is a man-bear. It's bigger than an ordinary bear, covered in knotted muscles, and walks on two legs like a person. Wild boars are fierce, right? They're no match for it. A man-bear can grab a wild boar and rip it in two with one swipe!"

"Ah?"

Gong Xue's eyes widened. "Really? It's that powerful?"

"Of course. The man-bear is the king of the northeastern forests. Generally, wherever one appears, there are heavenly treasures of some kind, or a big zongzi."

"A big zongzi?"

"A jiangshi!"

"A jiangshi??"

"A monster!"

"A monster???"

Gong Xue blinked, her eyes flashing with wonder. The worldview she had held for more than twenty years seemed never to have been tossed about as much as it had in this one minute. She asked, "Are there really monsters in this world?"

"I couldn't say. If I say too much, someone might report me for spreading feudal superstition, and I'll be dragged off and shot," Chen Qi said.

"Hey, you can't stop halfway through! Have a little decency!" Tang Guoqiang suddenly cut in from beside them.

"Riding the train is boring us to death. You could at least tell us a story," Zhang Jinling said.

"Little Chen, is there any evidence for what you're saying?" Wang Haowei asked.

"Wait, when did you all wake up?"

Chen Qi looked as though he had seen a ghost and shook his head like a rattle drum. "Of course I trust you all, but walls have ears. We can talk in private when we get the chance. Besides, I've already revealed too much. The secrets of heaven are unfathomable. I won't say any more!"

He was so mysterious about it that the others couldn't very well press him.

Wang Haowei, however, was quite interested. "Little Chen, I've noticed your knowledge covers a wide range. You've dabbled in all sorts of strange things, yet you don't seem very interested in the popular currents of thought today, such as Liu Xinwu's The Class Teacher and Lu Xinhua's The Scar. A lot of people are writing similar stories now."

"Oh, I don't really like that kind of fiction."

"Why not?"

"If I say too much about that, I won't be able to stop. Anyway, I prefer vulgar-ah, bah! I like popular fiction."

"Don't you think popular fiction is shallow?"

"What does shallow mean? What does profound mean? Who decided what was shallow? Who decided what was profound? I only remember one thing: literature and art should serve the people!"

Chen Qi suddenly grew serious. "If I had to write something, I'd prefer to write things the broad masses enjoy seeing and hearing-to serve the people."

"Things the broad masses enjoy seeing and hearing..."

Wang Haowei nodded. "That's not wrong, either. If inspiration strikes, you can certainly put pen to paper. But I should warn you: the vast majority of journals today seek serious literature. They want depth of thought and literary merit. If you write popular fiction, you might not even be able to find a place to submit it."

"I'd just be scribbling at random. You make it sound too serious."

Chatting along the way helped the journey pass a little faster.

Toward evening, an attendant came squeaking along with a cart piled high with aluminum lunch boxes. Inside each was rice topped with one meat dish and one vegetable dish. They cost thirty-five fen, no ration coupons required.

That was right: in those days, boxed meals on trains costing less than forty fen required no coupons.

Those with money to spare could go to the dining car and order food. Everything was freshly made, and they hired master chefs. Supposedly, a master chef who had worked at Cuihua Tower in the capital had once taken a sudden fancy to making a few Western dishes in the dining car: Russian- and French-style borscht and fried cream rolls. Everyone had been dumbstruck.

Chen Qi got a boxed meal and ate with everyone else.

After eating, they endured another three hours. The sky had gone completely dark when they finally heard the attendant call, "Shahejie Station!"

Shahejie Station was what later became Mount Lu Station.

The crew got off the train in a jumble. The wind at the foot of the mountain was both humid and cool. By the dim light, Chen Qi gazed into the distance, but the hazy night shrouded everything, and he could see nothing.

Vehicles had come to pick them up, and they piled in just as chaotically. They looked less like a film crew than people fleeing a disaster. At last, sometime after ten at night, they reached Mount Lu.

(No more...)

(End of chapter)