Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 74 The ending is not profound enough
The newspaper and magazine room of Yanda Library is always crowded with readers all year round, and most of them are teachers and students of the school. Most of the students bring lunch boxes and textbooks, and the teachers each have a water cup, making them easy to identify.

As soon as Lin Chaoyang entered, he noticed a middle-aged woman. The Lenin suit she was wearing looked a little old-fashioned, but it actually highlighted her calm temperament that was unique to intellectuals.

Lin Chaoyang walked over and knocked on the table. The middle-aged woman looked up at Lin Chaoyang and nodded knowingly.

The two of them walked out of the newspaper room and arrived at the entrance of the library.

"Hello, I'm Lin Chaoyang, you are..."

"We communicated through correspondence. I am Li Xiaolin from Harvest magazine." Li Xiaolin extended her hand to Lin Chaoyang.

When "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" was submitted to "Shanghai Literature and Art", Li Xiaolin was still the editor of "Shanghai Literature and Art". Later, she followed her father Mr. Ba Jin to "Harvest" to participate in the resumption of publication. During this period, she corresponded with Lin Chaoyang twice.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Welcome to Yanjing!"

After a few pleasantries, Li Xiaolin took the initiative to talk about "Qiu Ju Goes to Court".

Lin Chaoyang previously published "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" in "Shanghai Literature and Art" under the pen name "Wang Qinglai". Although it did not spark as much discussion in the literary world as "Scars" and "The Shepherd", it was still quite popular and well received among readers.

"I wrote to Li Guowen a few days ago, and he mentioned your novel and gave it a very high evaluation."

In his early years, Li Guowen became famous for his short story "Re-Election" which satirized bureaucracy. Later, he encountered misfortune and stopped writing for a long time.

He did not start writing again until 76 years later. In the s, he won the first Mao Dun Literature Prize for his work "Spring in Winter".

"I don't have much creative experience, and there are still many immature parts in the novel."

If someone wants to praise you, you must be polite, said Lin Chaoyang.

"Don't be so modest. I actually agree with what Li Guowen said in the letter."

Li Xiaolin talked about Li Guowen's opinion on "Qiu Ju Goes to Court". He believed that this novel written by Lin Chaoyang started with an incident of harm caused by the superiors' inspection and the team's plan to clean up the "capitalist tails" on the private plots, and the clue was that the woman Qiu Ju insisted on her own opinion and went in and out of public institutions several times to seek justice.

The novel has a realistic depth and a touch of folk legend. Although it seems simple at first reading, it is very thought-provoking and memorable when read again.

When an editor is out to collect manuscripts, how can he not say something nice?

Li Xiaolin's compliments made Lin Chaoyang feel sweet inside. He was afraid that he had been tricked by Li Xiaolin, so he asked, "Why are you looking for me this time..."

"It's still about the manuscript. We used to communicate by letter. I happened to be in Yanjing to collect manuscripts this time, so I came to visit you specially to see if you have any works recently."

"Oh, I see!" Lin Chaoyang said thoughtfully, "I have been writing a novel recently."

Li Xiaolin's eyes lit up when she heard that. "A medium-length novel? What's the content? How much has it been written?"

Her tone sounded impatient.

Although "Harvest" has only been resumed publication for a short time, the first issue of "Harvest" since its resumption in January this year included famous works by famous authors such as Zhou Erfu's "Morning in Shanghai" (Part 3) and Chen Baichen's "Song of the Big Wind". Liu Xinwu, who has become very famous in the past two years for his scar literature, also published a short story "Waiting for the Decision" in it.

The first issue of the resumed publication made a good start. In the second issue last month, "Harvest" published Cong Weixi's "Red Magnolia Under the Wall". Once the novel was published, it caused a huge response in the southern literary world and pushed "Harvest" to the forefront.

The domestic scar literature trend started with "Class Teacher", and the style has been relatively subtle, especially with "The Shepherd", the intention of the work has broken the limitations of genre and brought scar novels to a new height.

But Cong Weixi's "Red Magnolia Under the Great Wall" also tells the tragic experience of the protagonist during the Buzz Buzz Buzz period, but its style is much more direct, and the prison life and bloody killings presented shocked many readers.

The unique style made "Red Magnolia Under the Wall" popular among many readers, but it also caused pressure from relevant parties.

With Ba Jin at the helm, Harvest is sitting pretty amid the recent storms and has no worries about manuscripts, but no publication will reject good manuscripts.

Lin Chaoyang demonstrated the qualities of a good writer in the novel Qiu Ju Goes to Court. Harvest magazine has just resumed publication, and what it lacks is talent like him.

"According to my idea, it should be a novella, and I have only written about 20,000 words. The content... is about the war in the south."

Hearing Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Xiaolin frowned, "It's not finished yet, right? I'm afraid it won't be easy to publish if I write it down."

"There is a relative in the army at home. You can ask him to help forward it to the higher authorities first."

No wonder he dared to write such a topic, it turned out that he had someone above him. After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Xiaolin's worries were all gone.

"Comrade Chaoyang, why don't you give this novel of yours to us, Harvest."

"This..." Lin Chaoyang hesitated. He had originally intended to give this novel to Liu Xinwu. Last time Liu Xinwu came to him to ask for an article, although the two of them had not agreed to a deal, they had a friendship after all, and Liu Xinwu was very sincere, suggesting that he could pay him seven yuan per thousand words.

"Liu Xinwu from October Magazine came to see me before, so I may have to give this manuscript to him."

Hearing this, Li Xiaolin showed disappointment on her face.

I'm late. It turns out that appointments have to be made in person.

"Do you have any other ideas? Even if you haven't started writing, you can talk to me about it."

Editors and writers have a tacit understanding. Usually, when it comes to ideas for a certain work, as long as the two of them have finished talking, the finished manuscript will basically be handed over to the editor, unless the publication does not want it, in which case they will submit it to another publication.

"Ideas... I do have one."

Li Xiaolin's face showed hope again, "Do you mind talking to me?"

The idea that Lin Chaoyang mentioned came to him before Du Feng found Lin Chaoyang. At that time, Tao Yushu was nagging in his ear like a little nag all day long.

Later, Du Feng came to see him, and he temporarily put this idea aside. It was only today when Li Xiaolin came to see him that he remembered it again.

After all, what he got was "Harvest", so Lin Chaoyang felt that he could still work hard.

"The story is probably..."

Now that it has been brought up, Lin Chaoyang certainly doesn't mind telling Li Xiaolin about it.

Lin Chaoyang spoke intermittently for nearly an hour. Li Xiaolin's expression was sometimes happy and excited, and sometimes depressed and melancholy, and her mood went up and down in Lin Chaoyang's narration.

"Well, that's about it." Lin Chaoyang looked at Li Xiaolin and asked, "What do you think?"

Li Xiaolin thought about what he had just said for a while before saying, "It's a good story."

"But..." She frowned slightly, "Isn't this story too bright and warm? And I feel like the ending isn't powerful enough."

Lin Chaoyang looked natural and asked, "What's wrong with being a little brighter and warmer?"

"Uh..." Li Xiaolin hesitated to speak, and Lin Chaoyang spoke for her: "Not deep enough?"

"You can say that."

“Isn’t the story itself impressive enough?”

Li Xiaolin looked at Lin Chaoyang and felt that his creative concept seemed different from others.

"So you're not looking for formal thoughtfulness or artistry? What you want first is a good story that touches people's hearts?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly, "As for the novel, I think this may be closer to its essence."

Listening to his words, Li Xiaolin looked thoughtful and remained silent.

In "Words on Human Life", Wang Guowei described three realms of life: seeing mountains as mountains and water as water; seeing mountains as not mountains and water as not water; seeing mountains as mountains and water as water. This is a classic.

If novel writing can also be compared to these three realms, Li Xiaolin dare not say which realm Lin Chaoyang is in, but it is definitely not the realm of "seeing mountains as mountains and water as water".

She comes from a family of scholars and has been exposed to literary predecessors since she was a child. As an editor over the years, she has also seen many authors who are obsessed with form and self-enclosed.

Although she had not communicated much with Lin Chaoyang about his understanding of creative techniques, Li Xiaolin could still see a certain eccentricity in Lin Chaoyang's creation based on this sentence.

In her impression, such a distinct personality represents not only character, but more importantly, the writer's complete confidence in his own abilities.

"It's rare for someone of your age to have such insights," Li Xiaolin praised.

"It's just my humble opinion, please just listen to it."

"Don't call me 'you'. Although I'm much older than you, we are equals. Just call me Sister Xiaolin."

Lin Chaoyang nodded and followed suit, "Sister Xiaolin!"

(End of this chapter)