Literary Master 1978

"Lin Chaoyang?"

Yu Hua didn't react at first, he just thought the name was familiar. Then he noticed the subtle expression on Zhu Wei's face, and an idea flashed in his mind.

"Xu Lingjun?"

His tone was full of surprise, and he looked at Zhu Wei in disbelief.

Until Zhu Wei nodded and confirmed his suspicion, Yu Hua still couldn't believe it.

"Teacher Tao's husband is Xu Lingjun?"

Zhu Wei looked at Yu Hua's shocked expression and asked with a smile: "You don't know?"

Yu Hua shook his head.

"It's okay, don't you know this time?"

Yu Hua never expected that the husband of his editor teacher who took such good care of him would be a famous writer.

He has read a lot of Xu Lingjun's works, and he managed to buy a copy of "The Story of a Crossing Boat" a few days ago.

Many curiosity and questions suddenly arose in his heart, but he was too embarrassed to ask, so he sat quietly and listened to everyone's talk.

After a while, he heard Zhang Chengzhi say: "I don't know if Chaoyang has finished writing his masterpiece. I really want to take a look at it as soon as possible."

Usually at gatherings with so many people, Li Tuo and the others usually go to Lin Chaoyang's house.

But during this period, Lin Chaoyang has been retreating to create, and everyone was too embarrassed to disturb him, so they gathered at Li Tuo's house.

"This time Chaoyang is trying his best to hold back something big. I guess he won't be able to write it in two or three years." Li Tuo asserted.

Chen Jiangong retorted: "Chaoyang's efficiency is much higher than that of you and me. I think there will be no problem within two years."

"What's so fussy about this? We'll find out when it's written! It's a pity that Chaoyang's novel was agreed to be given to "Flower City", alas!"

Zhu Wei sighed, full of regrets that Lin Chaoyang's novel ended up in "Flower City".

Li Tuo joked: "Zhu Wei, it's easy for your "People's Literature" to get manuscripts. Let Yushu cry and make trouble for Chaoyang, and he will definitely hand over the manuscript obediently!"

Zhu Wei laughed and scolded: "You are the only one who can come up with bad ideas!"

Li Tuo retorted: "Then let me give you a bad idea. You ask Lao Wang to raise the manuscript fee to Chaoyang to 50 yuan per thousand words. It is the same standard as "Flower City". Everyone is on the same starting line. You "People's "Literature" still accounts for the favor points, so I can definitely win."

"Your idea is worse than the first one!" Zhu Wei said speechlessly.

Chen Jianyu on the side asked the two of them: "Flower City" really gave Chaoyang a remuneration standard of 50 yuan per 1,000 words?"

"It's almost the same, that's the rumor now anyway. I asked Chaoyang for confirmation, but he remained tight-lipped, but he didn't deny it, so there's no need to doubt it!"

Li Tuo has a wide network of contacts in the literary world and is considered a top-notch figure in martial arts novels by Bai Xiaosheng. The information coming out of his mouth is generally unmistakable.

Chen Jianyu couldn't help but marveled, "50 yuan for a thousand words! "Flower City" is too big!"

Zhu Wei was deeply moved and said: "Who says it's not the case! The manuscript fee for any novel starts at 10,000 yuan, which is absolutely impossible for our "People's Literature"."

"What kind of status do you people have with People's Literature? The sales volume of each issue is stable at more than one million copies. How can it be possible to spend such a high fee to book manuscripts?" Zhang Chengzhi said.

Zhu Wei shook his head, "It's not a matter of status and sales, but a matter of system and atmosphere. Our magazine will never do such a thing!"

"It has to be a publishing house in Guangdong that dares to do it!" Li Tuo said with emotion.

When everyone said something to each other, Yu Hua was already dumbfounded.

A manuscript fee of 50 yuan per thousand words?

For a new author whose work has not yet been published, this is a sky-high remuneration that is unimaginable.

Writing a thousand words is 50 yuan. Yu Hua calculated it using his two short stories, which is 1,650 yuan.

His monthly salary is 27 yuan, and he had to work hard for more than four years to earn so much money.

What's more, what he writes is a full-length novel. Zhu Wei said it was no exaggeration to say that the starting price is only 10,000 yuan.

That’s ten thousand yuan!

Yu Hua felt that he would not be able to save so much money even if he worked all his life. It was really fast to make money as a family!

At this moment, Yu Hua strengthened his creative ideals and regarded Lin Chaoyang as his role model.

This is what a man should do!

After another two days, Yu Hua finally revised the second manuscript and handed it to Tao Yushu.

"Well, the changes are very good. Slow work really pays off."

Listening to Tao Yushu's praise, Yu Hua felt embarrassed for some reason as if he had been caught by the teacher while writing cheat sheets.

He asked: "Teacher Tao, do you mean there is no problem with the manuscript?"

Tao Yushu nodded, "Okay. Your two manuscripts have to be queued up. It is estimated that they will be published in March or April."

Yu Hua was immediately happy. Although it would take a month or two to publish, this was "People's Literature". Let alone one or two months, he was willing to wait for one or two years.

Then Tao Yushu told Yu Hua about the manuscript fee set for him by the editorial department, which was 8 yuan per thousand words. He received a total of 264 yuan in royalties for the two articles.

Yu Hua was extremely satisfied with this remuneration standard. The 264 yuan was almost as much as his salary for a whole year of work.

Writing makes money quickly!

"Now that you've finished revising the manuscript, what are your plans?"

Yu Hua was stunned for a moment, wondering what Tao Yushu meant by asking this?

Tao Yushu said: "Seeing that the Chinese New Year is only seven or eight days away, if you are in a hurry to go home, I will have someone buy you a train ticket.

It’s hard to come to Yanjing. If you’re not in a hurry to go home, you can hang out here for a few days and wait until 2078 before leaving, so as to go back before the Chinese New Year. "

At this point, Tao Yushu lowered his voice and added, "I'll give you a subsidy these days."

Then her voice returned to normal and asked Yu Hua: "What do you think?"

Yu Hua is only in his twenties and has not yet been married. He is at the age where he loves to play. What's more, Tao Yushu secretly told him just now that he would get subsidies for staying in Yanjing. Where can he find such a good thing?

He said hurriedly: "Then I will stay in Yanjing for a few more days."

Tao Yushu laughed, which made Yu Hua feel a little embarrassed. She said, "Okay. I'll have someone book a train ticket for you for twenty-seven, and you can continue to live upstairs for the next few days."

"Thank you, Teacher Tao!" Yu Hua said gratefully.

He felt more and more that meeting an editor like Mr. Tao was his destiny.

Tao Yushu added: "Tomorrow is the New Year's Day, and you are alone in Yanjing. When you have had enough fun during the day, come to our house for dinner."

Tao Yushu's invitation made Yu Hua feel warm and valued again. Teacher Tao is really the best editor in the world.

The next evening, Yu Hua carried the gift and inquired all the way to Xiaoliubukou Alley. He knocked on the door and waited for a minute before the courtyard door opened from the inside.

The person who opened the door for Yu Hua was a young woman who looked a bit like Teacher Tao, "Are you Yu Hua?"

"Hello, I am Yu Hua."

"You're welcome to come in!"

Tao Yumo led Yu Hua into the courtyard, and passed through the screen wall, hanging flower door, and hand-drawn corridor to the middle courtyard. Yu Hua couldn't help but be surprised. Isn't this courtyard too big?

He came all the way along Chang'an Street. When he thought that three or four hundred meters diagonally across from this courtyard was a place like Tiananmen, Yu Hua couldn't help but look up to him.

"Yu Hua is here!"

When Yu Hua walked into the courtyard, he saw Tao Yushu coming out to welcome him with his child in his arms. He quickly stepped forward and said hello.

Tao Yushu introduced Tao Yumo to him again, and then invited him into the house.

"Where did you go to play today?"

"I went to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising in the morning, and then I went to the Forbidden City and watched it all day."

"You have been running outside all day, so drink some tea and warm yourself up."

After sitting down and chatting for a few words, Yu Hua was curious and never saw Lin Chaoyang come out.

They just said hello in a hurry in the editorial office that day. Yu Hua didn't take a closer look at it at that time, and he didn't even have an impression of what Lin Chaoyang looked like.

After chatting for a while, Tao Yumo came to order dinner. Tao Yushu took Yu Hua to the side room. Only then did Yu Hua realize that Lin Chaoyang was in charge today.

At this moment, he had prepared the ingredients and was taking off his apron. When he saw Yu Hua coming in, he greeted Yu Hua with a smile on his face.

"Hello, Teacher Lin!"

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand, "Don't call me teacher, we're not a few years apart, just call me by my name."

Yu Hua didn't dare to call Lin Chaoyang by his name, so he changed his name, "Then I'll call you Teacher Chaoyang."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and shook his head, "Okay, okay, don't worry about the title, just sit down!"

Today is New Year's Eve. The dinner at Lin Chaoyang's house is not an ordinary dish, but a copper hot pot the size of a basin is placed on the table. There are also plates of cut meat. The meat is bright red with white threads mixed in. Look. It should look like mutton.

"What should Yu Hua drink? A drink or wine?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"I can drink anything."

"Then have a beer."

At the beginning of dinner, Yu Hualue seemed a little reserved. He was the only outsider present today.

"Don't be formal, just treat it like your own home."

Seeing that Yu Hua was really cautious, Lin Chaoyang found a topic and asked, "Is this the first time Yu Hua has eaten hot-boiled mutton?"

"yes."

"Speaking of which, you people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have eaten this way of eating hot-pot meat much earlier than we in the north."

Yu Hua looked at Lin Chaoyang curiously, waiting for his speech.

"In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin Hong wrote a book called "Shan Jia Qing Gong", which was a record of elegant food. One of the records records that he went to Wuyi Mountain in winter to become a disciple and got a rabbit in the snow.

His master told him that in the mountains, one can only make thin batches of rabbit meat, marinate it with wine, sauce, and pepper, then put it on the stove in the water. After the water boils, each person uses a pair of chopsticks to put the meat into the soup and cook it. Each person can dip it in different ways according to their preferences. of juice.

He commented that this way of eating is not only simple, but also "enjoys the warmth of reunion."

Five or six years later, he visited Yang Yongzhai's house in Lin'an and saw this way of eating. Yang Yongzhai was a poet and wrote a poem specifically for this:

The clear river surges with snow, and the wind turns over the sunset.

Jiangxue and surge are both in the pot, and sunset is the meat slices. Lin Hong gave this way of eating a poetic name, "Boxiagong", and explained that it is not only rabbit meat, but also pork, mutton and beef. .

So, you in the south have eaten this hot-pot meat much earlier than we in the north. "

When Yu Hua saw Lin Chaoyang telling an allusion at random, he couldn't help but admire Lin Chaoyang's erudition and talent.

At this time, Lin Chaoyang said again: "It is best to eat hot-boiled meat on a snowy day. The white snow is dazzling, covered with silver, and the flying flowers are scattered and intertwined. When you look at the charcoal fire, it has a unique artistic conception."

The red meat, green vegetables, wind, snow, waves and clouds are full of poetry. "

Yu Hua couldn't help but immerse himself in the pictures painted by Lin Chaoyang, and actually experienced the endless poetry from a meal of boiled mutton.

For the first time, he saw what the knowledge of gourmet food is! What is the romance of literati!