Literary Master 1978

After the short National Day holiday, those who should go to school went to school, and those who should go to work went to work. However, in addition to slacking off at work, Lin Chaoyang recently picked up a pen again, writing the story he told Li Tuo and Feng Jicai two days ago.

The context and details of the story are already in Lin Chaoyang's mind, but because he wants to write about Van Gogh and write about Europe in the 19th century, he doesn't know much about Europe at that time, so he has to spend a lot of time looking up the information at that time.

At this time, the benefits of working in a library are revealed. As one of the libraries with the best hardware conditions and the largest number of books in China today, the collection of books in Yanda Library provides great help to Lin Chaoyang's creation.

On Saturday night, Lin Chaoyang and his wife went back to Tao's house for dinner.

Tao Yucheng talked about the recent lively news in Yanjing City, the banning of "Today", the second Stars Art Exhibition, and the first individual business license in the country that was just issued recently.

During the National Day holiday, the news that the people of Yanjing City paid the most attention to was the opening of a Yuebin restaurant in Dongcheng District on September 30.

This is the first private restaurant in Yanjing City to obtain a business license issued by the government, and it is also the first in the country. The Yanjing Daily has made a special report.

Everyone understands that Yuebin Restaurant is an important landmark achievement of the reform and opening-up policy in Yanjing, so the people are also very interested in this restaurant.

It is said that on the opening day of Yuebin Restaurant, the number of onlookers was dozens of times more than that of diners, and the originally small front of the restaurant was surrounded by people.

"Dad, let's go to Yuebin for a meal tomorrow when we go to the city, and let's experience a private restaurant." Tao Yucheng suggested.

Originally, Tao's father was not interested in eating and drinking. Generally, the Tao family went to the city to improve their lives either on holidays or when there was a happy event at home.

But Tao's father felt that the emergence of Yuebin Restaurant was of historical significance, and he said happily: "Okay, let's go together tomorrow, I'll treat you!"

The next morning, the family gathered together and went into the city. Thinking of the Yuebin Restaurant they were going to, Tao Yumo, a college student, felt proud of witnessing history.

But when she arrived at Cuihua Hutong in Dongcheng, her expression was full of disappointment.

"Is there only such a small place?"

The Yuebin Restaurant in front of us has a doorway that is only two meters wide, with the words "Yuebin" hanging on the red door. The gray wall and narrow door can't even accommodate two people entering and exiting side by side.

"Do you think it can be the same as the Xinqiao Hotel?" Tao Yucheng teased.

"A mountain is not high, but it is famous if there are immortals; a water is not deep, but it is magical if there are dragons."

Tao's father said a sentence and walked into the restaurant leisurely. Seeing this, the family followed.

As a result, the large group was blocked and returned halfway.

It turned out that the interior of Yuebin Restaurant was small, with only four tables in total, and now it was full of diners.

The space inside the house was small, and there was no place to stand and wait, so they had to come out.

And the proprietress said that there were two tables of guests waiting in front of them.

A family of nine didn't need to wait here, so Tao's father asked Tao Yucheng and his wife to wait here, and he took the rest of his family to stroll around the alley while he had nothing to do.

Cuihua Hutong starts from Wangfujing Street in the east and ends at Donghuangchenggen Street in the west. It was named after the flower house that used to grow flowers for the palace, and has nothing to do with the Cuihua in the pickled cabbage.

Just west of the hutong, you can see a deep courtyard with a plaque of "Cuiyuan". Tao's father said that it was the private garden of Ruilin, a university scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, and now it has become the office of the Democratic League.

Thirty years ago, when there was no Langrun Lake Apartment, Ji Xianlin once lived here, and he visited here twice.

"This courtyard is not good. It looks like a complex building, winding corridors, and scattered courtyards, but it has never been popular and is gloomy."

Walking through the hutong, several high-door courtyards have now become public offices. The tall locust trees in the courtyard are lush and leafy, and many of them extend out of the courtyard wall, blocking the sky and the sun. It is a good place to cool off in summer.

There was an old lady selling popsicles at the east entrance of the alley. There were not many people in the alley. The old lady sat there quietly waiting for customers. When she saw a family with children, she immediately shouted.

"Popsicles! Popsicles! Big cream popsicles are five cents each!"

When Tao Xiwen and his brother heard the old lady's shouting, they were like Zhu Bajie who met a spider spirit and couldn't move their legs.

"We have to eat later. I'll buy you some after dinner." Tao's mother said.

The two brothers looked at the old lady's stall, swallowed their saliva and nodded.

After strolling around for a while, Tao Yucheng came to invite everyone to go back to Yuebin Restaurant for dinner.

Yuebin Restaurant has only four dining tables, each of which was originally equipped with four chairs. Because the Tao family has too many people, the boss and his wife specially freed up a few more chairs.

The table is not big, but there are many chairs, so the dining space suddenly became cramped.

Fortunately, the family came to eat not for the dining environment, but to experience the specific achievements of reform and opening up in person.

Apart from other things, the service attitude of the boss couple is much better than that of state-owned restaurants. They are also quick to speak and do things, answer all questions, and have a warm and thoughtful service attitude.

The dishes taste good, especially the garlic elbow, which is amazing. The skin and meat are fat but not greasy, and melt in the mouth.

The amount of food is also much larger than that of ordinary state-owned restaurants, highlighting the economical and affordable, no wonder the business is booming.

After the meal, I paid the bill, and the total cost was 6.9 yuan, not counting the food coupons.

Tao Yucheng said: "It would be great if all the restaurants in Yanjing City were like theirs, economical and with good service attitude!"

"It's convenient for you to go out for food and drinks, right?" Tao Yumo said sarcastically.

"You girl, you are disrespectful!"

Tao Yucheng scolded his sister, but it was a pity that there was no deterrent effect.

The Tao Xiwen brothers had been thinking about the big cream popsicles at the east entrance of the alley, and they rushed there with Tao's mother after leaving the restaurant.

The family had been dining for less than an hour, and diners came and went in Yuebin Restaurant, and the flow of people never stopped.

After leaving the restaurant, Tao's father sighed: "The individual economy does have its unique advantages, and the changes in the future will probably be greater and greater!"

"It can make the people live a good life, and everyone welcomes such changes." Lin Chaoyang said.

After the family finished their meal, they wandered around Yanjing City for a while, and then separated. Lin Chaoyang and his wife ran to Wangfujing Department Store to watch TV.

When they first moved, the couple didn't have much money, so they didn't buy any furniture or appliances. They just bought a washing machine in the summer.

Now their savings have exceeded five figures, so they have no pressure to buy furniture and appliances for their home.

In today's China, there are few department stores with more complete product categories than Wangfujing Department Store. The couple walked around Wangfujing and saw TV brands from various provinces in the north. The prices were also different, some high and some low.

"Hey, which brand do you think is good?" Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang.

"I think they are all about the same."

It was as if he hadn't said anything. When Tao Yushu was struggling, he heard two aunts chatting next to him.

"Don't rush to buy. My son's girlfriend said that the Japanese product their factory imported is called something, and your production line can produce color TVs."

"Color? How expensive is that? The director of our bureau has an imported color TV, and he said he spent nearly two thousand yuan."

"They sell it at a high price, isn't it because we didn't have it in our country before? Now we can produce it ourselves, isn't it cheaper? Believe me, don't buy it yet. Wait until next year and buy a color one. When your son gets married, you will earn enough face!"

Tao Yushu listened to the conversation between the two aunts with his ears perked up, and pulled Lin Chaoyang out.

"Not watching anymore?"

"Not watching anymore, didn't they say so? Color TVs will be available next year, buy one then."

"Next year is next year's, you're not watching this year?"

"You can't buy a TV and then discard it in a year, right? Don't worry, you don't have to watch it anyway. Color TV, the effect should be similar to watching a movie, right?"

Tao Yushu asked with some yearning. Most TVs these days are black and white, and ordinary people can only see color pictures when watching movies, so their imagination of color TVs will naturally be associated with the pictures of movies.

The TV pictures these days are not true to life, Lin Chaoyang replied: "Not as clear as movies, but definitely better than black and white."

Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at him, "Nonsense, if it's not as good as black and white, why buy it?"

Two days later, the library received a batch of new publications, and Lin Chaoyang wanted to be the first to try them out. He flipped through a pile of magazines and found a magazine name that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Yenching Literature"?

Is it a name change?

Lin Chaoyang had not contacted the editors of "Yenjing Literature and Art" recently, and was a little surprised to see that "Yenjing Literature and Art" had become "Yenjing Literature".

The word "Literature and Art" in the name of the journal represents a comprehensive journal that can cover a wider range of content, just like "Yenjing Literature and Art" previously published Lin Chaoyang's "The First Floor in the World" script, published review articles, published art talks and other types of literary works.

But changing to "Literature" undoubtedly increased the literary attributes of the journal.

In the past two years, domestic literature has made great progress, and such a change can be regarded as conforming to the changes and needs of the times.

It has been almost a year since I got Lin Chaoyang's new works, and the development of "Yenjing Literature" is still good.

As the first issue of the journal after the name change, "Yenjing Literature" has made a big move this time and made a special issue of novels.

Lin Chaoyang glanced at the catalog. For this special issue of novels, "Yenjing Literature" should have put a lot of thought.

Li Guowen, Mu Guozheng, Cong Weixi, Zhang Jie... It is rare to see so many works of writers who are now well-known in the literary world gathered together in one issue of the journal.

Among them, the most eye-catching is Wang Zengqi's name and his classic short story "Taking the Precepts".

Speaking of which, among the writers who contributed to this issue of "Yenching Literature", Cong Weixi should be the most famous now.

At the beginning of last year, "Harvest" resumed publication, and his work "Red Magnolia Under the Wall" caused a heated discussion in the domestic literary world.

And Wang Zengqi's current fame among readers may not be as good as that of young people like Zhang Jie.

However, Lin Chaoyang knows that this situation will soon be completely changed with the hot sales of this issue of "Yenching Literature".

An article "Taking the Precepts" made Wang Zengqi, a veteran in the literary world, a hot shot in the literary world in a short period of time. Since then, he has been advancing all the way and became one of the most influential writers in the Chinese literary world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Wang Zengqi is good at short stories and essays. The 1980s can be said to be the golden age of the development of short stories in China. A writer can become popular in the literary world with a short story of thousands or tens of thousands of words and become an idol of thousands of readers. This is unimaginable in the literary world of later generations.

One of the important reasons is the vigorous development of various literary magazines, and the strong support of the National Excellent Short Story Award.

Flipping through this issue of the magazine, Lin Chaoyang suddenly realized that in the last few months of the last year of the 1970s, contemporary literature was accumulating an unprecedented force.

This force contains the long-suppressed creative enthusiasm of literary creators, the irrepressible love of readers, and the ambition of publishers to reshape the boundaries of literature.

Contemporary literature is advancing rapidly and invincibly in the coming 1980s with this powerful force.