Literary Master 1978

On another weekend after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu came to Mianhua Hutong in the morning. As soon as they entered the door, they saw Zhang Guiqin packing her luggage.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Lin Chaoyang asked. He looked around the house and didn't find any trace of Lin Erchun. "Where's my dad?"

Zhang Guiqin said helplessly, "He went to buy a train ticket."

"Going back to your hometown? It's just after the New Year, and it's still a long way from the beginning of spring."

"Don't mention it. Yesterday, your accountant uncle wrote to him, saying that the policy from above has come down, and our family will divide the land soon.

When your dad heard it, he was as anxious as a fire on his buttocks. He didn't sleep well yesterday. Look, he asked me to pack my things when he got up in the morning, and he went to buy a train ticket."

The policy of dividing land to households has been debated for three or four years. Finally, on January 1 this year, the central government issued the "Minutes of the National Rural Work Conference", which is also the first No. 1 document on rural work in the history of our country, the "Minutes of the National Rural Work Conference".

The document clearly pointed out that the various responsibility systems currently implemented in rural areas are all production responsibility systems of the socialist collective economy, reflecting the strong desire of hundreds of millions of farmers to develop socialist agriculture in accordance with the actual conditions of China's rural areas.

This means that the rural household contract responsibility system, a major measure related to China's rural reform, has been recognized and endorsed by the central government and will soon be promoted nationwide.

In the past few years, many rural areas across the country have implemented different forms of household contract responsibility systems, but the small county town in Lin Chaoyang's hometown has always been a "good student" and has to wait for orders from above before it dares to implement it.

"What's the use of him going back? There will be no production teams in the future."

As the mother and son were talking, Lin Erchun came back from outside with a gloomy face.

"What's the matter? Didn't you buy the train ticket?"

"I bought it." Lin Erchun said in a muffled voice.

"Are you not happy after buying it?"

Lin Erchun glanced at Lin Chaoyang. When he went there, the train tickets were sold out. In order to return home earlier, he did not hesitate to find a middleman and spent ten more yuan to buy two hard sleeper tickets.

On the way back, he got angrier and angrier. Black-hearted ticket scalpers!

Lin Chaoyang saw him with a sour face and thought he was worried about the land distribution in his hometown.

"That's enough. Generally speaking, the land distribution is more beneficial than harmful to the people. You can't always think about occupying the position of production team leader. You are so old. Isn't it good to come to Yanjing to enjoy a good life?"

Lin Erchun seemed to be stepped on the tail when he heard this, and shouted loudly: "I have been the production team leader for 20 years. It was elected by everyone."

"I didn't say you were not elected by everyone. What I mean is that you have to give young people a chance. Retire when you should."

"Young people? Young people are thinking about their own affairs. Who thinks about seeking benefits for everyone?" Lin Erchun snorted.

Old comrades who are about to retire are always particularly manic. This situation is more common in later generations. Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang ignored him and let him sulk.

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang went to the train station to see the old couple off, and Lin Erchun pulled him.

"You earn a lot and are famous now, so I don't have to worry about anything else. You just have to pay attention to having a baby."

"I know, I'm working hard."

"You're just talking about working hard, but there's no progress."

The father's complaints were extremely harsh.

It's been less than two months since the two parents urged the birth of the baby. "It's only been a short time. I'll definitely let you hold your grandson by this time next year."

After getting Lin Chaoyang's promise, Lin Erchun was still worried. "When we get home, I'll ask someone to get you some deer antlers."

Lin Chaoyang: ...

"It's time, get in the car!"

After seeing off Lin Erchun and his wife, the school was getting closer and closer.

On the second day of late February, Liu Xinwu came to the library to bring Lin Chaoyang two good news.

One was that Lin Chaoyang's new novel had been confirmed to be published in the next issue of "October". The new novel has 243,000 words. The standard remuneration for him by "October" is 14 yuan per thousand words, which means 3,402 yuan for publication. The remuneration bill has been remitted.

Another piece of news is that Yanjing Publishing House plans to launch a single volume of "The Chess Master" in early April.

"It won't take that long for your publishing house to edit and proofread, right?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"Of course it's not because of this problem. Last year, our publishing house used 1,300 tons of paper for production. This year, our publishing house used 80 tons more paper than last year, but 320 tons have been used so far in the first quarter.

According to this situation, by the end of the first quarter, at least 480 tons will be used. In the next quarter, each editorial department will definitely have to reduce the topics.

Our October is highly valued by the publishing house and is listed as a 'must-publish' topic. Your Chess Master is also a key topic in the publishing house.

It is scheduled to be published in early April. There is sufficient paper for production. Even if there is a shortage of paper during reprinting, it can be supplied first."

After talking about the situation in their publishing house, Liu Xinwu said: "Your Death of Van Gogh is amazing. It stunned our leaders. They said that they must ensure the printing volume of the novel Chess Master at all costs. They have high hopes for you!"

In mid-January, Renwen Publishing House published Lin Chaoyang's Death of Van Gogh. The first print run of 200,000 copies was sent to all parts of the country and sold out in less than half a month.

In less than a month and a half, Renwen Press has reprinted "The Death of Van Gogh" twice, and the print run has reached 500,000 copies. According to feedback from bookstores across the country, the print run is basically equal to the sales volume.

This also made "The Death of Van Gogh" the first dark horse in the domestic book market in 1982.

Lin Chaoyang's works have always been popular, everyone knows this, but the sales of 500,000 copies in one and a half months still swayed many publishing houses.

If we follow this rate, it can be said that it is effortless to sell more than one million copies of "The Death of Van Gogh", and it is also easy to sell two million copies within a year.

Everyone still remembers the terrifying performance of "Wreaths Under the Mountain" when the single book was released two years ago, selling three million copies a year. Now, "The Death of Van Gogh" has been on the market for a month and a half, and it is like another "High Mountain".

How can this not shock many domestic publishing houses?

Other publishing houses can only be passers-by responsible for shock, but Yanjing Publishing House has obtained the publishing rights of Lin Chaoyang's "The Master of Chess".

Seeing the booming sales of "The Death of Van Gogh", the leaders of the publishing house naturally had high hopes for "The Master of Chess".

The day after Liu Xinwu left, the remittance slip for "October" arrived. Compared with his previous royalties for publishing novels, his current royalties were rising step by step, which made Lin Chaoyang feel very good.

Two days before the start of school, Zhu Wei from "China Youth" found Lin Chaoyang.

Since being invited by Zhu Wei last year to be a judge for the "May 4th Youth Literature Award" essay competition in "China Youth", Lin Chaoyang has been flipping through the magazine "China Youth" every now and then.

Their essay competition lasts for a year, and will not enter the final selection stage until June this year, which is when judges like Lin Chaoyang and others come in handy.

Zhu Wei came to Lin Chaoyang this time because their editorial department wanted to hold a creative writing class in Guilin and invite some potential writers discovered in the magazine over the past six months to participate. Inviting Lin Chaoyang was a benefit to the judges.

In the 1980s, magazines and publishing houses gradually became accustomed to organizing pen clubs and creative writing classes, and they also used this method to cultivate and win over groups of writers.

"Chinese Youth" deliberately found a relationship with the Ministry of Health to organize the creative class this time, and arranged the creative class to the guest house of Nanxishan Hospital in Guilin. It is a military hospital, next to Nanxishan Park, with green trees and a beautiful environment. .

"I won't go to the creative writing class. School is about to start, and I still have a script to write."

Lin Chaoyang declined Zhu Wei's invitation. Xie Jin, the scriptwriter of "High Mountain", was in a hurry. He had already called him twice after returning to Shanghai for more than half a month.

On the one hand, it is to communicate some details of the script of "High Mountain". On the other hand, I will also talk to him about the preparations of the crew to put pressure on him.

After being rejected by Lin Chaoyang, Zhu Wei left with a little regret.

Two days later, Yanda, which had been quiet for a winter vacation, became lively again. When Lin Chaoyang was working, Zhang Manling ran to the library and said she wanted to treat Lin Chaoyang to dinner.

Last year, she asked Lin Chaoyang to help her read novels, and Lin Chaoyang recommended all two of her novels to "Yenjing Literature".

In the past February, her novella "There is a Beautiful Place" has been successfully published in "Yanjing Literature" and has achieved considerable response, bringing the originally unknown name of Zhang Manling to the attention of the literary world.

This month, her other novella "Cloud" will also be published in "Yenjing Literature".

For Zhang Manling, entering the literary world was originally out of her reach. When she came to Lin Chaoyang for help, she just had the mentality of treating a dead horse as a live doctor.

She never expected that in just two or three months, she would complete the identity transformation from an unknown person to a rising star. Such a result made Zhang Manling feel grateful to Lin Chaoyang in her heart.

"There are always horses with a thousand li in the world, but there are not always Bole. Without your help Chaoyang, my work would not have been published so smoothly."

While praising Lin Chaoyang, he also praised himself, which is in line with Zhang Manling's somewhat narcissistic character.

"I have received the second payment for "Yenjing Literature". I have earned seven or eight hundred yuan from the two payments. I must treat you to a big dinner."

Zhang Manling is a senior this year and has not yet joined the workforce. Seven to eight hundred yuan is a big number for her.

She had said before that she wanted to invite Lin Chaoyang to dinner, but Lin Chaoyang refused after he published his work.

Now that the work has been published, and Zhang Manling is so kind, Lin Chaoyang cannot refuse.

However, Lin Chaoyang still had to consider the impact of dining with a female college student.

"It's not affordable to eat out. I know your classmate Liu Zhenyun quite well. You can invite two more people to come to my house and I will cook for you."

Zhang Manling has a bold temperament and is informal. She didn't think about Lin Chaoyang's considerations at all. She said: "Okay, I'll call a few people. But first, I'll buy the vegetables."

"OK."

At the weekend, several students from the Chinese Department of Literature majoring in the 78th grade of Yan University showed up at the entrance of the Overseas Chinese Apartment. They waited for the security guard at the door to notify them before entering the hospital.

Liu Zhenyun has been here several times and is no stranger to this place. Dai Jinhua beside him looked around curiously.

Then she said to Zhang Manling: "Manling, when you earn more royalties, you can buy a house like this. The decoration here is really good."

"This is an overseas Chinese apartment. Except for the sea in Zhongnan, the housing prices in this area are more expensive than Wanwan Village. How many novels do I have to write?" Zhang Manling said.

Dai Jinhua corrected: "No, the apartment buildings over Tuanjie Lake are now more expensive than here."

"The one at Tuanjie Lake looks a lot worse than this."

"That's true."

As they chatted, several people came upstairs. Lin Chaoyang greeted them warmly. Looking at the things they were carrying, he smiled and said, "You really bought a lot of things."

"It's agreed that I will treat you, so you can't be too shabby." Zhang Manling said.

Lin Chaoyang shook hands with Dai Jinhua. Among the three people, Dai Jinhua was the only one who didn't know Tao Yushu, so he introduced Dai Jinhua to Tao Yushu.

"This is Dai Jinhua, a classmate of Zhenyun and Manling, and a talented woman in the Chinese Department."

Seeing Lin Chaoyang again, Dai Jinhua's face showed a bit of restraint.

When she first entered school, she was fearless and brave. It happened that "Little Shoes" was published. She talked about it in front of Lin Chaoyang, the author, in the library.

Now she is a senior, and she has become more modest and low-key. She looked embarrassed when talking about the past.

Tao Yushu couldn't help laughing after hearing this, "It doesn't matter. Readers are not authors, and their feelings are all subjective."

After a few jokes, Lin Chaoyang was busy preparing to cook, and several people came to help.

While cooking, another guest came to the house. It turned out to be Li Tuo and Zhang Chengzhi who appeared at Lin Chaoyang's house in the middle of the night a few days ago.

"How did you two have time to come?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Li Tuo said: "Chengzhi just received the manuscript fee for "Black Stallion" and said he would invite you to dinner."

"Then you came at an unfortunate time, someone has already invited you."

Liu Zhenyun had known Li Tuo and Zhang Chengzhi when he came to Lin Chaoyang's house before. Lin Chaoyang introduced them to Zhang Manling and Dai Jinhua.

When he heard that Zhang Manling was the author of "There is a Beautiful Place", Li Tuo's eyes lit up.

"I didn't expect that the author of "There is a Beautiful Place" was actually a beautiful female college student." Li Tuo approached and chatted with Zhang Manling.