Chapter 16: The Roommate Dentist

After discussing the manuscript, Zhou Yanru slowly stood up and said, “I mentioned last time about arranging accommodations for you, and it’s all settled now. Come with me.”

Li Yousi nodded.

“It’s inside the guesthouse within the courtyard of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles.”

Beijing Literature was the capital’s premier literary magazine, naturally under the jurisdiction of both the Beijing Writers Association and the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, essentially inseparable entities.

Therefore, the guesthouse was simply the writers’ guesthouse borrowed from the Federation.

The elder walked ahead, while Li Yousi followed behind, clutching his manuscript.

As they walked, Zhou Yanru explained, “The conditions at the Beijing Federation have improved greatly. Once you’re discharged, you’ll have hot water, free of charge. By the way, there’s a stove in the room. If it gets cold, you just go outside to get coal. The Federation provides coal for free!”

“There’s one more thing. You’ll have a roommate, someone who just came to our magazine recently to revise his manuscript. A young man! Is that okay with you?”

“No problem. Who is he?”

In these times, conditions were tight; two-person rooms were standard.

But even a two-person dorm was a significant upgrade compared to Li Yousi’s original dormitory, which housed more than ten people.

Unless someone was truly difficult, Li Yousi generally had no objections.

“You’ll get to know him soon enough,” Zhou Yanru smiled, shaking her head.

The guesthouse was located within the Federation’s premises, consisting of several siheyuan-style courtyards. They arrived at a small courtyard gate.

These annex rooms served as residences for various writers.

At his dormitory door, Zhou Yanru knocked.

After a while, there was movement inside, and the door opened.

Standing before Li Yousi was a young man about 1.6 meters tall, with messy hair and a small patch of facial hair.

For a moment, Li Yousi was slightly taken aback.

Wait, do I know this guy?

What’s his name again?

Dentist!

Suddenly, Li Yousi recalled.

Yu Hua looked towards Zhou Yanru and Li Yousi anxiously and said, “Editor Zhou, are you here to talk about the manuscript? I’m still revising it.”

“You said last time to make it more uplifting. I’ve been thinking about what ‘uplifting’ really means!”

Zhou Yanru laughed, “You just woke up, didn’t you? You don’t look like you’ve been working on revisions!”

Yu Hua smiled, scratched his head awkwardly, and said, “I planned to take a short nap but overslept.”

Zhou Yanru patted Li Yousi’s arm—too tall to reach his shoulder—and introduced them.

“This is Li Yousi, a writer here to revise his manuscript for Beijing Literature.”

“This is Yu Hua, another writer I’ve asked to revise his manuscript.”

Since they would be roommates for over a month, Zhou Yanru wanted them to know each other early to avoid any conflicts.

Many people were already familiar with Yu Hua, author of the best-selling domestic novel of the 21st century, "To Live," which, along with "Brothers" and "Chronicle of a Blood Merchant," formed his most popular trilogy.

Li Yousi thought for a moment; the early 1980s marked the beginning of Yu Hua’s transition from dentistry to writing, much like Li Yousi’s own shift from art to literature.

Yu Hua had been rejected by People’s Literature magazine before submitting to Beijing Literature and was now part of the manuscript revision team.

“Hello, Comrade Li.”

“Hello.”

After shaking hands, Zhou Yanru continued, “By the way, you can claim your travel reimbursement at the magazine’s finance department in a couple of days.”

“Also, revising manuscripts at the guesthouse comes with a daily stipend of two yuan! Comrade Li, work hard!”

Li Yousi calculated—lodging included and a stipend provided! No wonder so many writers and screenwriters preferred staying at the guesthouse!

The accommodations were even better than ordinary dorms!

Wasn't this a tremendous opportunity?

“Thank you, Teacher Zhou.”

After her instructions, Zhou Yanru left the courtyard.

Li Yousi moved his luggage inside, and Yu Hua, curious and surprised by his height of about 1.78 meters, struck up a conversation.

“Comrade Li, were you in the military?”

Military writers were not uncommon; for example, Mo Yan had served in the army before becoming a writer.

Li Yousi nodded, “Sort of. I’m with the performing arts troupe.”

“Performing arts troupe? So you have artistic talents?” Yu Hua’s curiosity grew; the man before him seemed quite mysterious.

Yu Hua was in his twenties, full of curiosity, and his cheerful, humorous nature had always been the same.

“I play the flute and the suona horn.”

While tidying up, Li Yousi began chatting.

“Impressive!”

Getting into the spirit, he took out his flute from his bag and played a short melody.

The flute’s sound was melodious, and Yu Hua applauded enthusiastically, proving himself a worthy audience.

“I forgot to ask, where are you from?”

“Sichuan, Jin City. How about you?”

“I’m from Haiyan, Zhejiang.”

They talked at length until the chatterbox finally tired and left.

~

Inside the dorm, there were two beds separated simply by a curtain—the only privacy between them.

Besides that, Li Yousi had a desk by the door by one window, and Yu Hua’s desk was by the other window at the far end.

The stove was placed between the two beds; leaving the door ajar and closing the windows could warm the entire room like a furnace.

Such conditions were perfect for sleeping during the winter.

Upon arriving in Beijing, Li Yousi had many thoughts.

His first priority wasn’t revising manuscripts but writing a letter.

Thinking of Zhang Li, he felt somewhat troubled. If he came to Beijing without informing her, she would surely feel resentful later.

Besides, he had promised to come find her in Beijing and didn’t want to break that promise.

As for writing novels, that too required some explanation.

But girls liked to dig into details.

Li Yousi even suspected that Zhang Li was playing the wrong role; she should be playing Lin Daiyu instead—sometimes she didn’t quite seem to fit the Baochai role.

He still remembered where the film crew was located from what Zhang Li had told him before she left.

“Hey, writing a letter?” Yu Hua glanced over holding a basin.

“To a comrade in the performing arts troupe?”

“Something like that.” Li Yousi nodded as he wrote.

“Ah? You have a sweetheart?”

He feigned surprise, mouth agape.

“If I had a sweetheart, why would I be writing novels?”

Li Yousi felt helpless. Although he was rather average-looking, don’t doubt the pure friendship between me and my female comrades!

“Not a sweetheart, just a friend.”

“Yes, just friends.”

——

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