Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Ouch. Are you jealous?"

"No, I'm just kidding you." Song Tangtang smiled sweetly: "I also like beautiful flowers."

Speaking of this, Song Tangtang suddenly thought of something and said:

"Minghua, that girl named Wang Zi published a novel some time ago."

"Really? What's the name of the novel? In which journal was it published?" Fang Minghua was very interested.

"It was published in "Youth Literature". I once passed by the newsstand outside the South Gate, and when I was casually browsing, I found that a novel written by her was published. I knew that you cared about her, so I bought a copy. Wait a minute. , I’ll get it for you.”

After saying that, Song Tangtang went into his study and took out a magazine.

It is "Youth Literature" in December.

"Youth Literature" is a monthly magazine edited and published by China Youth Publishing House. It mainly publishes original literary works by young authors. It is also known as "Sprouting" in Shencheng, "Young Writers" in Rongcheng and "The Ugly Duckling" in Yanjing. "Four golden flowers".

Although it cannot be compared with top magazines such as "Contemporary", "Harvest" and "Yanhe", it is still relatively famous in China.

It is also a great pleasure to be able to publish an article on this.

"Here, you."

The novel Fang Minghua read is called "La La La" Author: Mian Mian

"I read the author's introduction at the back and confirmed that she is Wang Zi." Song Tangtang explained.

History is still moving forward slowly according to its original trajectory.

Fang Minghua sighed in his heart and looked very serious.

The novel still writes about love, but compared with the "La La La" written by Wang Zi in history, it is less decadent and erotic.

Compared with last summer when Fang Minghua went to Yanjing and saw Wang Zi's first draft in the Liuya Hutong courtyard, there are many poetic words and phrases in the novel.

The writing is beautiful, with the charm of poetry, and no trace of carving or piling up. It is very touching.

It seems that Wang Zi's writing ability has improved rapidly this year.

After reading it, he commented: "The overall situation is good. Although I cannot compare with outstanding young writers such as Yu Hua and Wang Anyi in terms of ideology and writing skills, I am still outstanding among my peers. After all, I am still under 20 years old. Keep at it." Certain results will be achieved.”

"Yes." Song Tangtang nodded after hearing this: "Minghua, many young writers now call you their teacher."

"Teacher? You said I took classes in Luyuan for a few months the year before last, right? That was just a temporary substitute, so it doesn't count." Fang Minghua said.

"Not only that, but there are also many people who haven't gone to class, like Su Tong, Ge Fei, etc., who call you teacher in public and say they received guidance from you."

"That's a polite honorific for them. We can't take it seriously." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

indeed.

These people are destined to become great writers, but their appearance only makes them take less detours on the literary road.

But after all, there have been some changes for some people, such as this girl named Mianmian. Maybe I will become a better writer in the future.

No one said anymore that she was writing with her own body.

Of course, there is another person. The appearance of Fang Minghua caused huge changes in his life trajectory.

The next morning, Fang Minghua went to work as usual. The content of "Yanhe" for January 1989 has been finalized and is now being sent to the printing factory for printing. He is currently busy reviewing the content for February.

Since it’s mid-February just a few days after the Spring Festival, and people are anxious about going to work before the 15th day of the first lunar month, the content needs to be finalized in advance, and then the typesetting and editing will only wait until after the New Year for printing.

Now, Fang Minghua basically hands over the content of each journal to Bai Miao for final review. Except for the novels recommended by the editor-in-chief and some works that Bai Miao is not sure about, he still needs to check them himself.

In short, Fang Minghua unknowingly became a hands-off shopkeeper. He would only sign his name on the selected works, even if they were finally approved.

This day is a bit more leisurely.

Fang Minghua was drinking tea and signing his name with a pen on the back of the works sent by Bai Miao. At this time, there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

A fat, middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket walked in, holding an old-fashioned briefcase under his arm.

It's Lu Yao.

"Brother Lu, sit down, sit down." Fang Minghua stood up and greeted warmly: "Are you drinking tea or coffee?"

"Drink tea. I think coffee tastes good now, but it doesn't have the flavor of tea."

"Changed the taste? But you are right, tea is left behind by our ancestors. The ancients said: One bowl moistens the throat, two bowls break the loneliness. Three bowls search the dry intestines, and only five thousand volumes of writing can be written. Just rely on this!”

Fang Minghua poured Lu Yao a cup of steaming Longjing tea as he spoke, and then sat on the sofa next to him.

"Minghua, I know you are busy, and I won't waste your time. How about you take a look at what I wrote?" Lu Yao said, taking out a stack of manuscripts from his briefcase and handing it to Fang Minghua.

Fang Minghua took it and looked at it. It was a novel titled "The Tree of Life".

After reading the introduction, I wrote about an old locust tree in the loess ravine of my hometown. Under the tree, the expanding happiness and condensed suffering of several pairs of young men and women took place. That is the history of Adam and Eve on the Loess Plateau.

Oh my god, you really wrote it!

Fang Minghua remembered that last spring, when Lu Yao, Jia Pingwa and the three of them went to Bailuyuan to visit Chen Zhong, on the way back in the evening, Lu Yao talked about his writing.

Since he finished writing "Ordinary World", he has been resting for more than a year and has not written anything. He wants to write something but doesn't know what to write.

Fang Minghua suggested that he write about the story of the Loess Plateau in northern Qin, which is this "Tree of Life".

Of course, it was not a whim of his.

Rather, he saw a post on the Internet before he traveled through time saying that Lu Yao had this idea after chatting with a friend after writing "Ordinary World", but he died young soon.

Unexpectedly, Lu Yao really wrote it!

Fang Minghua read it carefully.

It is still about the story of the loess plateau in the 1970s, but compared with his "Ordinary World", the writing style has changed significantly.

It is no longer traditional realism, but has a magical realism color! And the description of young people's love and love is also very bold, unlike before when it was just mentioned or not mentioned at all.

Damn!

This reminds Fang Minghua of Jia Pingwa's "Wasteland" and Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", both of which have similar descriptions, but "Wasteland" is even worse.

Are the three writers in Qin Province now gradually moving towards this?

Abandoning traditional realism, the postmodern style with magical realism.

Keep up with the times.

Of course, the content should be read carefully.

"Brother Lu, let me wait for a while, and then discuss with you after I finish reading it carefully, how about it?" Fang Minghua expressed his opinion.

"Okay, I'll wait for your reply." Lu Yao stood up.