Literary Master 1978

In mid-April, the city of Yanjing was already in full bloom, the best time of the year, trees sprouted green buds, and everywhere was full of vitality.

On Sunday, Du Feng ran to Lin Chaoyang's Overseas Chinese Apartment, saying that he was here to play, but he hadn't been here for half a year. He suddenly came to Lin Chaoyang's house today, so there must be a reason.

Sure enough, when Tao Yushu went out to buy vegetables, he asked Lin Chaoyang: "Brother-in-law, I fell in love with a girl!"

"Oh! Is this a broken heart?"

Lin Chaoyang's teasing made Du Feng a little shy, "What broken heart or not, it's all in the past."

"What's going on today? Let me write you a love poem?"

"This girl doesn't like literature."

"Then I can't help."

"Don't worry!"

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Then how can I help?"

"The girl wants to act in a movie." Du Feng said shyly.

"Then apply to the Film Academy!"

"I did, but I didn't get in. Brother-in-law, don't you write movie scripts for people? Last time, my elder brother said that his student played the leading role in Director Xie's film, and you helped to arrange it."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "How dare you think that? That's Xie Jin's movie, can I decide it with just one word? The director was optimistic about that girl, I just made a suggestion."

Du Feng saw that Lin Chaoyang misunderstood his meaning, and hurriedly said, "Brother-in-law, don't ask him to play the leading role, just a small role that can show his face."

"Why do I have to work hard every time when you chase a girlfriend?" Lin Chaoyang said dissatisfiedly.

Du Feng showed a flattering smile on his face, "Aren't you my real brother-in-law? When I have difficulties, the first person I think of is you!"

"Thank you for thinking of me!" Lin Chaoyang teased him.

"Brother-in-law, this is related to my lifelong happiness, you can't just ignore it!" Du Feng pleaded with a bitter face.

As he said that, he took out two packs of cigarettes from his pocket, "Brother-in-law, help me!"

Lin Chaoyang was amused when he saw it, "You kid, you don't usually pray, but you do it at the last minute."

He asked again, "It's okay to play a minor role, right?"

Hearing this, Du Feng immediately became happy, "It's okay to play a minor role, let her experience making a movie. If she really becomes a movie star, I can't hold her back, right?"

"You are quite smart! I'll ask later, I don't know when I will have the opportunity."

"Okay, thank you brother-in-law!" Du Feng said happily.

The two chatted for a while, Tao Yushu came back from buying vegetables and prepared to make lunch. Lin Chaoyang said, "I'll go to Mianhua Hutong in the afternoon to find someone to repair the house."

"Okay." Tao Yushu responded.

Du Feng asked, "Brother-in-law, do you want to repair the house?"

"Yes, the courtyard house in Mianhua Hutong has been bought for almost half a year. Take advantage of the good weather during this period to repair it."

"Leave it to me." Du Feng patted his chest and said.

"We won't do anything that digs into socialism."

Du Feng said quickly: "It's not digging. The military district logistics has to repair houses every year. I have a comrade in the logistics. The people under him are skilled and work quickly. It's just a side job."

Du Feng had just asked Lin Chaoyang for help. For the sake of a happy life in the future, it's okay to let him do it himself now.

Lin Chaoyang thought about it and said: "The yard has a lot of problems. It's not a side job. I think this way, you ask your friend to come and see how much materials and labor are needed, estimate the price, and give him the job."

Du Feng hesitated after hearing this: "This is not appropriate, brother-in-law..."

"There's nothing appropriate or inappropriate. If you are willing to help, then do it." Lin Chaoyang insisted.

"Well... okay, I'll go find him. I happen to be free today."

Du Feng left after he finished speaking. It was not until the evening that he appeared in Mianhua Hutong with a square-faced man who looked like he was in his thirties. Lin Chaoyang had been waiting here for a long time.

"Brother-in-law, this is my comrade Geng Chuanfeng."

"This is my brother-in-law Lin Chaoyang, a great writer."

After a few pleasantries, Geng Chuanfeng was a little reserved in front of Lin Chaoyang, a cultural man. Lin Chaoyang took him around the yard.

When it comes to houses, he relaxes a lot.

"There are no big problems with these houses in your yard. The beams and door pillars are nothing more than painting. I think the doors and windows need to be replaced. There are also a few tiles that need to be replaced. The rest depends on what you want."

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Can you do carpentry, tile work, and painting?"

Geng Chuanfeng smiled and replied: "Du Feng told me when I came here that you want to give brothers a chance to make extra money. We are in charge of infrastructure, and we can do anything related to building houses."

"Can you make a local heating system?"

Now the people in Yanjing use coal stoves with chimneys to keep warm. They rely entirely on the coal stoves themselves and the chimney section in the room to emit heat, and the effect is far worse than local heating. In addition, the doors and windows are not well sealed, and the wall skin is not warm. In winter, if you sleep at night, your face will be stiff when you wake up in the morning.

The earthen heating is a cast iron radiator plus a matching earthen boiler. The reason why it is added with the word "earth" is to distinguish it from central heating. This thing is made by ordinary people using their own ingenuity.

In today's Yanjing, earthen heating is still rare, mainly because of the high requirements for materials and technology. The earthen boiler needs to be welded with rolled steel plates, which ordinary people cannot weld, but this thing is not a difficult task for the army.

"This... may cost some money." Geng Chuanfeng hesitated.

"Money is not a problem."

"That's easy. Where do you want to put this boiler? This thing can only be used for three or four rooms at most. It only needs to be provided that you have enough radiators and the heat is strong."

"Let's put it in the main room. Just get a coal stove in the east and west wings."

"I see that the coal shed in your yard is in disrepair. It needs to be rebuilt."

"OK."

…

Lin Chaoyang and Geng Chuanfeng discussed all the repairs to be done in the courtyard until it was almost dark. Geng Chuanfeng and the others were engaged in infrastructure construction. They could handle the materials themselves, and Lin Chaoyang could just pay for them.

After a final calculation, it would cost more than 600 yuan just to repair such a yard. If furniture is needed for several houses later, it would cost several hundred yuan.

Two days later, Liu Xinwu suddenly found the library when Lin Chaoyang was at work. They hadn't seen each other for a long time. Lin Chaoyang was a little happy to see Liu Xinwu.

"Why are you here?"

"Look at you, what have you been writing recently?"

"Writing a novella."

Liu Xinwu's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Do you have a master?"

"I promised Zhang Dening that I would give it to Yanjing Literature."

Liu Xinwu suddenly showed a regretful expression, "I didn't come at the right time."

Lin Chaoyang joked: "It's not easy for a busy person like you to think of coming to compile a manuscript with me."

Liu Xinwu is indeed busy. He is now a popular writer in China and the editor of October, a well-known literary magazine. He is very busy writing, reviewing manuscripts, and participating in activities.

Liu Xinwu waved his hand, "It's all a waste of time. It's better for you to hide in the small building and become one, and don't care about spring, summer, autumn and winter."

After chatting for a while, he asked: "Next month our Yanjing Cultural Association will organize a trip to Shenzhen to collect folk music. Will you go?"

"I'm not from your literary association, why should I go?"

Liu Xinwu blinked at him, "Isn't it just a matter of going?"

Lin Chaoyang laughed and asked, "Is this why you came today?"

"Mainly for compiling manuscripts." Seeing that he didn't want to mention the literary association, Liu Xinwu stopped talking about it and said, "I heard that you had a heavy hemorrhage some time ago and invited dozens of award-winning writers to dinner."

"Who did you listen to?"

"Li Tuo!"

"He's always talking about cheating. Can you believe what he says?"

"You don't have a treat?"

"It's not me who's treating you. It's everyone who contributes money so I can cook and have a taste of my craftsmanship."

Liu Xinwu nodded, "Li Tuo said that everyone had a great meal that day, and now your cooking skills have completely spread. Lu Wenfu wrote me a letter that day, specifically mentioning your food. He said that everything was good that day. It’s just that Li Tuo and the others are too troublesome and have lost their elegance.”

He and Lu Wenfu met in 1979, when they attended the award ceremony of the first National Outstanding Short Story Award together.

Lin Chaoyang was not familiar with Lu Wenfu, but he could also tell that he had a calm temperament, which was completely opposite to Li Tuo's personality who liked to make friends.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said: "Then let him do it by himself next time, and I will cook a meal for him alone."

"Okay, I told him in the letter, but you have to take me with you this time."

"I am a guest from afar..."

"I don't want to eat your food in vain. Now I'll go back to Shenzhen and bring you a gift, okay?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded, "What a coincidence, our family happens to be short of a color TV."

Liu Xinwu:......

After the joke, Liu Xinwu mentioned the main purpose of coming back to Lin Chaoyang.

"Our publishing house wants you to write a preface."

"Want me to write a preface? Who should I write it for?"

Listening to Liu Xinwu's words, Lin Chaoyang was a little surprised.

"Your "The Death of Van Gogh" has been popular for several months and has a huge influence. It can be said to have made Van Gogh, a Western painter, a household name in China.

Our publishing house plans to take this opportunity to introduce Irving Stone's biography "Longing for Life".

Lao Wang knows that I have a good relationship with you, so he asked me to make an appointment with you.

The author of "The Death of Van Gogh" wrote a preface to "Longing for Life", and it became a good story when it spread. "

Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "Your publishing house really follows the trend."

"Who made your novel popular? By the way, will your novel be published? If "Longing for Life" can be published together with "The Death of Van Gogh"..."

Lin Chaoyang interrupted him, "Don't think about good things. "The Death of Van Gogh" was published under a special title. It has only been published for more than three months. It is published early. Besides, there is a humanities society."

Hearing what Lin Chaoyang said, Liu Xinwu was not disappointed. He originally said it casually. After chatting for a few more words, he left.

A few days later it was the weekend, and Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu went to Mianmian Hutong to see the progress of the repairs.

Geng Chuanfeng and his group all had jobs, and they had to take time off to earn extra money, but they were very efficient. After a week, they came to the courtyard again, and there had been quite a change in the courtyard.

This efficiency is much better than that of later decoration companies.

"They did it pretty fast!" Tao Yushu said.

"As a soldier, you still work quickly. The key is to be organized and not fool around."

Most of the courtyard houses have brick floors, and blue bricks are laid flat in the room, just like building walls. Before laying the floor, the bricks must be painted with raw tung oil and then waxed.

The floor tiles in the main house were already pitted due to disrepair. The damaged bricks had long been taken out and piled in the courtyard. At this moment, a young man was meticulously re-laying the bricks.

"Little brother, do people in your army still do this kind of work?" Lin Chaoyang asked curiously.

In his impression, the army's infrastructure was mainly practical and not very capable of such delicate work.

The young man raised his head and said with a smile: "Writer Lin, don't underestimate us. Not to mention your courtyard house, the buildings in ZNH are not a problem for us."

"You're not too petty, have you ever repaired a house in ZNH?"

"No. But my master repaired it, and he even built a house for Mao ** and his old man back then."

"Then your master is extraordinary."

"No, he is now the chief engineer of Yanjing No. 1 Construction Company."

Lin Chaoyang watched for a while and saw that the young man was meticulous in his work. He was glad that it was a wise choice to find these soldiers to repair the yard.

At noon, he specially invited the two young men working in the courtyard to have a meal. In the afternoon, the two young men worked even harder.

In the afternoon, the couple returned to the Overseas Chinese Apartment from Mianmian Alley. They were stopped by the guard as they passed by the guard room. A familiar face walked out of the guard room.

"Comrade Chaoyang!"

"Lao Teng? Hello, hello."

The visitor was Teng Hongsheng from China Film Co-Production Company. The two shook hands, and Lin Chaoyang asked: "Why are you here..."

"Director Li has come to Yanjing, and the investment has been confirmed. Mr. He from Haojiang will invest. After negotiation with our company, Director Li's film will be co-produced by our China Film Co-production Company and New Kunlun Pictures Co., Ltd. .

Director Li is currently preparing a movie and would like to chat with you, the screenwriter. When will you be free? "

Lin Chaoyang glanced at his watch, "It's too late today. I'll take a day off tomorrow and go see him the day after tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'll leave first."

Lin Chaoyang took leave from work on Monday, and rode his bicycle to the Yanjing Hotel early on Tuesday morning.

He knocked on the door, waited for a while, and the door opened.

Li Hanxiang burst into rough laughter when he saw it was him.

"Chaoyang, the investment is done and the movie can be shot!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "This is really a good thing. Do I have to pay my royalties as well?"

Hearing this, the smile on Li Hanxiang's face froze.