Literary Master 1978

Tao Yushu was of course happy to have a washing machine at home.

Although it was a semi-automatic washing machine, and it didn't even have a water-filling function, so she had to add water to the tub herself, at least she didn't have to wash the clothes by hand, and she could save at least two or three hours a week.

Wouldn't it be nice to use this time to study and read?

In addition to Tao Yushu, the hostess, being happy, Tao Yumo was also very happy. This time she had another reason to come to the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

When she went home for dinner on the weekend, she heard that their family had added a washing machine, and Tao Yucheng excitedly dragged Zhao Li to watch it.

"This thing is really good, and our family should also add a washing machine!" said the eldest brother-in-law.

Zhao Li didn't respond to him. She also wanted to buy a washing machine, but she had to have money!

Even if Tao Yucheng gave the family a few melons and dates every month, he still had to go back to get some money. The two of them hadn't saved much money until now.

In a blink of an eye, it was already early July, and the major universities in Yanjing had reached the exam season again.

That day, Lin Chaoyang was slacking off in the library when he heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

Du Rong came up with an excited look on her face, waving a newspaper in her hand.

"Chaoyang, you are really popular this time!"

Lin Chaoyang didn't understand what she meant, and Du Rong slapped the newspaper in her hand on the table and unfolded it, "Look!"

He looked closely and found the reason for Du Rong's excitement.

The newspaper was the "Liberation Army Daily", and there was a short message the size of a tofu block on it.

The short message in the news is relatively simple, the length is usually very short, and the text is concise, striving to report the facts as quickly as possible.

The content of the "tofu block" is only more than 200 words, and the content is exactly what Lin Chaoyang and Liang Junshu mentioned when they talked on the phone before - General Hu bought 3,000 copies of the "Wreath under the Mountain" at his own expense and gave them to the soldiers on the front line.

The habit of official media has always been that the fewer words, the bigger the matter.

President Hu's purchase of books for soldiers is certainly not a big deal for the country, but it is a big deal for Lin Chaoyang himself and the publishing house, newspapers, and magazines.

Previously, newspapers and magazines from all over the country flocked to Lin Chaoyang to reprint "The Wreath Under the Mountain". Wasn't it because they heard this gossip?

Now that the gossip has been confirmed, everyone is naturally excited.

The authority of the military newspaper is unquestionable. The influence of "The Wreath Under the Mountain" will inevitably expand further with the spread of this news, and it will be a widespread and nationwide expansion.

Their reprint has readers, and the books printed by the publishing house have also been bought by people. Lin Chaoyang, the author, can also receive royalties. Because of the great leader's love for "The Wreath Under the Mountain", everyone has benefited from it.

"Tsk tsk tsk! You have caught the eye of the great leader!" Du Rong teased in an exaggerated tone.

Lin Chaoyang smiled, "It's not as exaggerated as you say. The leaders just think that novels can be used to boost morale. It doesn't matter who wrote it."

"Not bad, not bad. You have learned to be humble."

After making a few jokes, Du Rong went downstairs.

The news from the Liberation Army Daily spread quickly. Within a day, everyone around Lin Chaoyang knew about it.

The family members were naturally proud of the news, and colleagues and friends were full of envy.

These are the influences of the news on the people around Lin Chaoyang. The biggest impact of the news from the military newspaper is the novel "The Wreath Under the Mountain" itself.

Originally, the single volume of "The Wreath Under the Mountain" has been published for more than four months. The sales have experienced the explosive period of the first two months and gradually stabilized.

As soon as the news from the military newspaper spread, the sales of the single volume soared.

Not only that, many newspapers and magazines that reprinted the novel "The Wreath Under the Mountain" received more letters from readers than before, expressing their love for the novel.

Suddenly, the novel "The Wreath Under the Mountain", which had been published for almost a year, burst out with amazing vitality again, and set off a wave of enthusiasm among the general public that far exceeded the time of publication and publication.

Taking advantage of this wave, "People's Literature" contacted Lin Chaoyang and said that it would hold a work seminar for "The Wreath Under the Mountain".

"The Wreath Under the Mountain" itself was published in "People's Literature". No matter what the purpose was, it was understandable that they wanted to hold a work seminar.

Lin Chaoyang couldn't refuse, so he had to take time out to attend the seminar.

After the meeting, Zhang Guangnian pulled Lin Chaoyang and talked to him about joining the Literary Association.

In fact, after the award ceremony of the National Excellent Short Story Award, Zhang Guangnian mentioned this matter to Lin Chaoyang. At that time, Lin Chaoyang did not express his opinion. Zhang Guangnian was busy with the award, so the matter was shelved.

This time Zhang Guangnian brought up the old matter again, and the conditions were more favorable.

Originally, writers had to apply to join the Writers Association step by step, first joining the district and county-level Writers Association, then the city and province, and finally the National Writers Association.

For Lin Chaoyang, there are not so many troubles, and he can become a member of the Writers Association in one step.

"Chaoyang, if you join our Writers Association, you will be the youngest member of our Writers Association!" Zhang Guangnian said in a bewitching tone.

"Joining the Writers Association is of course a good thing, but I don't like meetings, and I'm usually busy with work and writing."

Lin Chaoyang is not pretending to be noble, but after recently contacting people from the Writers Association, he knows that this kind of official organization has to be more or less disciplined, and it is inevitable to waste some time on activities and meetings.

He didn't have much time and didn't want to be bound by that, so he wanted to refuse.

Lin Chaoyang won two national awards for excellent short stories, and his works had a huge influence, especially "The Wreath under the Mountain", which attracted the attention of the top leaders. If such talents were not absorbed into the team of the Literary Association, it would be the dereliction of duty of the leadership of the Literary Association.

Zhang Guangnian saw that Lin Chaoyang had no intention of participating in the Literary Association, and he was thinking about how to pull him into the team.

"Chaoyang, you have achieved the current results at your age, and you must have a bright future after joining the Literary Association.

Apart from anything else, our "People's Literature" will absorb new editorial board members in the future, and you must be the focus of absorption."

The editorial board members of general magazines are internal members of the editorial department or publishing house, but authoritative magazines like "People's Literature" are different.

Its editorial board members include three types of people. One is the editorial staff of "People's Literature", such as Zhang Guangnian, Ge Luo and other editorial leaders; the second is the older generation of writers in the literary world, such as Bing Xin, Sun Li, Zhang Tianyi, Wei Wei; and the other is the more influential critics in the literary world.

If Zhang Guangnian really invites Lin Chaoyang to join the editorial board of People's Literature, this decision is bold.

Because this not only means that Lin Chaoyang is the first new editorial board member after the resumption of People's Literature, but also the youngest editorial board member of People's Literature.

Before Lin Chaoyang, the youngest editorial board member of People's Literature was also in his forties, all of whom were well-known figures in the domestic literary world.

If Lin Chaoyang, who is only in his early twenties, joins the editorial board, it will probably cause a stir in the domestic literary world.

"Of course, the editorial board is just an idea of ​​mine at present, provided that you are a member of the Chinese Literature Association first."

Listening to Zhang Guangnian's words, Lin Chaoyang was a little eager to move.

Being an editorial board member of People's Literature is quite exciting.

But Zhang Guangnian's last words sobered him up. He was just talking big for a long time!

Lin Chaoyang suddenly lost interest.

Old Zhang is not a kind person!

"I dare not even think about being an editor of People's Literature. I think I'd better forget about the Literary Association."

Rejected by Lin Chaoyang again, Zhang Guangnian was full of regret. Why don't young people nowadays pursue progress at all?

A few days later, Lin Chaoyang saw the report on the seminar of "The Wreath Under the Mountain" in the Literary Gazette.

The article was written in a riot of color, which shows that the Literary Association and People's Literature attach great importance to this seminar, which must have echoed the previous actions of the leaders.

It's summer vacation recently, and the work at the library has become idle, so Lin Chaoyang has a lot of time to read books.

Originally, he had some motivation to write because of buying a house during the period after the New Year. Unexpectedly, the work was so popular that the royalties kept increasing. Not only did he earn the final payment for the house, but he also saved more and more, and even had money to buy a house for Lin Erchun and his wife.

During this period of time, Lin Chaoyang has received requests from eight newspapers and magazines from all over the country to reprint "The Wreath Under the Mountain", and once again received more than 2,500 yuan in royalties.

With his increasingly rich income from writing, Lin Chaoyang's creative motivation was not that strong. Tao Yushu was afraid that he would write too much and too fast, which would affect his future creative state, so he asked him to read more books and observe and experience life more.

In this way, Lin Chaoyang completely let himself go.

He read books and slacked off at work. Recently, he was fascinated by several collections of essays and recipes written by Ming and Qing literati on food. When he got home from work, he thought about cooking and often didn't write a word for several days.

After work that evening, he rode his bicycle to the vegetable market.

As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the vegetable market, he saw farmers carrying loads to sell peaches. Farmers in the suburbs of Yanjing grow peaches. These people can be seen selling peaches in the streets and alleys from July to August every year.

Peaches cost 2.5 yuan per catty. They look far less smooth and slippery than those in later generations, but they are natural.

Lin Chaoyang tasted a peach. It tasted sweet and juicy, so he bought three catties and spent 7.5 yuan.

After entering the vegetable market, he found a mandarin fish seller. It happened that the recipe he saw today had a recipe for mandarin fish, so he bought one. Mandarin fish costs 80 cents a pound, and the fish he bought weighs almost two pounds, which is exactly one dollar and fifty cents.

He also bought some vegetables, and then Lin Chaoyang went home.

When he got home, he started to prepare the meal. Tao Yushu wanted to reach out but was pushed away by him.

"Today I will make you a dry fried mandarin fish."

"Which cookbook did you read again?"

Lin Chaoyang wanted to cook, and Tao Yushu was happy and relaxed.

"Don't worry about which cookbook, I guarantee you will drool when you eat it." Lin Chaoyang said confidently.

Tao Yushu didn't take his words seriously. He has been obsessed with cooking recently. He has studied the recipes very thoroughly, but when it comes to specific actions, the probability of success is relatively low. He can only succeed once in three attempts.

Mandarin fish, like black fish, is a fish that eats fish. It is called flower fish in Yanjing. The meat is thick and has few bones, and the meat is tender.

Generally, it tastes good when steamed, sweet and sour, or cooked as squirrel fish. The soup is as white as milk, thick but not greasy, and more delicious than the usual chicken soup and duck soup.

Lin Chaoyang is going to make the dry-fried flower bream he just learned from the recipe today, which is the way it is made in Jiangsu.

Tao Yushu cooked the rice, Lin Chaoyang first fried the vegetables, and then prepared the mandarin fish.

Heat the oil in a pan, wait until the oil temperature is right, and dry-fry the whole mandarin fish in the boiling oil. The kitchen is filled with a mixture of fishy and fragrant smells.

He was frying fish when Tao Yumo came back and shouted as soon as she entered the door: "I smelled it in the corridor. Are you cooking fish today?"

She came to the kitchen door, sniffed her nose, and swallowed her saliva, "It smells so good!"

"Serve the rice!"

Tao Yushu ordered, and she immediately put down her bag, quickly served the rice, and set the dishes.

Lin Chaoyang brought the golden fried mandarin fish to the table, and the fragrance was overflowing. Tao Yumo was so greedy that she almost drooled and asked: "Brother-in-law, what kind of fish is this?"

"Dry fried mandarin fish!"

The food was served, and the three of them ate.

Since it was dry fried mandarin fish, there was naturally no toppings or soup. The golden mandarin fish lay on the plate, and pepper and salt were sprinkled on the side.

Tao Yumo picked up a piece of fish meat, dipped it in some pepper and salt, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Hmm~" She couldn't help but let out a happy nasal sound, her eyes almost narrowed, "Brother-in-law, this mandarin fish tastes amazing."

Listening to her evaluation, Lin Chaoyang was not happy, but asked Tao Yushu to taste it too.

This girl is very conscious of eating for free. Usually, as long as Lin Chaoyang cooks, it is always "delicious" and "delicious".

"It's really delicious."

Tao Yushu's evaluation is relatively more real. Hearing her words, Lin Chaoyang showed a proud smile on his face.

Looking at Tao Yumo eating voraciously, his smile became even bigger.

Books are not read in vain.

After successfully learning a dish, Lin Chaoyang felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

After eating, of course, Tao Yumo had to do the dishes. So many good things are not eaten for free.

Tao Yushu took out a letter. As early as the beginning of spring, Lin Chaoyang told Lin Erchun and his wife about buying a house. The old couple was naturally very relieved.

Half a month ago, he and Tao Yushu discussed the issue of savings. Lin Chaoyang wanted Lin Erchun and his wife to live in Yanjing for a while this year to adapt to the environment and climate of Yanjing, and then bring them to Yanjing.

After the chat, Lin Chaoyang wrote a letter to the old couple, and Tao Yushu received a reply at home today.

Lin Chaoyang opened the letter and took a look. The general idea was to let the young couple live a good life, not to worry about home, they are fine in their hometown, and they will definitely not be used to Yanjing.

"What should I do?" Tao Yushu asked.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and didn't care at all, "You tell them verbally, they will definitely not come. When you go back on vacation, buy the train tickets and put them on the table. If they don't leave, the fifty yuan will be gone. See if they will leave!"

Tao Yushu couldn't help laughing after hearing his method, "Why does this look like a bandit kidnapping?"

"Which bandit reimburses the travel expenses?"