Literary Master 1978

Su Chen looked grim, his eyes inadvertently fell on Lin Chaoyang, and then quickly moved away, making it hard for Lin Chaoyang not to suspect that this matter was related to him.

After the meeting, everyone got up and chatted, and Lin Chaoyang deliberately fell behind. When everyone had almost left, he saw Su Chen walking towards him.

"What happened?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Su Chen sighed, "It's about royalties. A local media in Guangzhou got the news from somewhere and exposed you for taking royalties."

Lin Chaoyang joked, "Li Tuo is in Yanjing and knew about this more than half a month ago. Your local media is only reporting it now. This is not efficient!"

"We strictly implement the confidentiality policy!"

"Is that how you keep it secret?"

Su Chen was speechless by Lin Chaoyang's retort, and finally said, "Don't be happy. If it's just a truthful report, do I need to tell you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hehe?" Looking at Lin Chaoyang's cautious expression, Su Chen felt a little more pleased in his heart. He took Lin Chaoyang to the office and handed him the newspaper that was already on the table.

It was not until 1980 that it was re-published, and soon it was welcomed by the people in Guangzhou again. The circulation ranked first in GD Province, and its influence was naturally not to be underestimated.

Lin Chaoyang flipped through the newspaper in his hand and soon found a report article on the second page.

"Payments become royalties, money worship rises in the literary world".

Wow!

Just looking at this title, the offensive power is a bit scary, directly accusing the author of "money worship".

Lin Chaoyang continued to read, the content of the article was not long, only 1,800 words.

The main content was similar to the title. It first talked about the recent high payment and royalties of Lin Chaoyang in the literary world, and then discussed the disadvantages of writers receiving high payment and high royalties, and denounced this unhealthy trend.

"I am being used as a living target!" Lin Chaoyang did not show anger or anger after reading the article, but said it with a smile.

After he said this, he looked at Su Chen, "Old Su, this matter was not leaked intentionally by your publishing house, was it?"

Su Chen immediately defended in a hurry, "No, don't be a bad guy. What good will it do for us if we do this?"

"Why not? Now the whole Guangdong, even the literary circles and ordinary people in Lingnan region know that your Huacheng Publishing House is not short of money, and you are willing to spend thousands of gold to buy bones. In the future, all heroes in the world will be in your Huacheng Publishing House's grasp."

"Impossible, how could our Huacheng Publishing House do such a shameless thing?

Chaoyang, you can't wrongly accuse us!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled, "I just said it casually, you see you took it seriously."

Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief, "Don't make jokes!"

Lin Chaoyang shook the newspaper again and said to Su Chen, "Old Su, I'm not saying that. It's okay for other local media to call me "money worship", but why do your Guangdong media call me "money worship"? "

In these days, if we talk about the openness of the atmosphere, there is no one in the country who can match Guangdong, even Shanghai is a step behind.

After all, it is at the forefront of reform and opening up, and it is adjacent to Hong Kong.

Su Chen said helplessly: "How do I know what they are thinking? They suddenly care about this kind of thing, really..."

He said with some anger on his face, "However, after all, Yangcheng Evening News is just a regional newspaper, it shouldn't have any big impact."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "You don't understand."

He glanced at Su Chen, "You are an old publisher, don't you have a sense of news? The spread of news does not depend on who reports it, but on how eye-catching it is. Why does Yangcheng Evening News report my story? Isn't it because there are audiences?"

Su Chen thought about it and felt that it made sense. Lin Chaoyang has tens of millions of readers in China. He broke the domestic conventions of decades and became the first writer to receive royalties since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such news must be discussed.

Especially in the literary world, the impact must be huge.

"Alas! Your publishing house is making a profit, but I am the one being scolded." Lin Chaoyang sighed in anger.

Su Chen felt a little embarrassed when he heard what he said. According to the article "Manuscript Remuneration Becomes Royalties, the Rise of Money Worship in the Literary World", Lin Chaoyang was portrayed as a greedy and money-worshipping villain.

Perhaps because they were both in Guangzhou, the Yangcheng Evening News was lenient with Huacheng Publishing House, pointing out that they were also victims of this royalty payment system.

In comparison, Su Chen felt that this matter was indeed unfair to Lin Chaoyang.

"I'll talk to the leaders of Yangcheng Evening News later."

"The report has already been published, can they still slap themselves in the face? I don't want to wear this shit pot."

Lin Chaoyang's sigh made Su Chen feel even more embarrassed. He was thinking about how to save and compensate, and then he heard Lin Chaoyang say:

"I'll give you the next book. The royalties can't be less than 15%. Just consider it as my mental damage compensation!"

Hearing this, the guilt in Su Chen's heart disappeared immediately, "You deserve to be scolded for talking about it!"

After chatting with Su Chen for a while, Lin Chaoyang returned to his residence and was surrounded by people as soon as he came back.

The influence of Yangcheng Evening News in Guangzhou is huge. In such a short time, the guests have heard about the report.

Before, the literary world was saying that Lin Chaoyang had received royalties, but those were all rumors. Without confirmation, they could only be used as gossip.

This time it was different. The credibility of the media was unquestionable these days, and Yangcheng Evening News was one of the largest newspapers in GD Province.

The royalties issue was also proven to be irrefutable. No one cared whether Lin Chaoyang was criticized or not, but only how much royalties he could get.

Not only young and middle-aged writers like Li Hangyu and Li Tuo, but also old comrades like Feng Mu and Tang Zhi were concerned.

Writers, after all, rely on royalties to make a living.

A group of people who were at least famous and well-off were counting on their fingers how much money Lin Chaoyang could make from selling 10,000 books, and how much money he could make from selling 100,000 books...

After all the calculations, everyone was depressed.

According to the consistent sales of Lin Chaoyang's works, after receiving royalties, he would have at least earned six figures in royalties from publishing a novel.

Six figures, when the vast majority of people in the country are still earning double-digit salaries, Lin Chaoyang is actually getting six-figure royalties.

Li Tuo said viciously: "You deserve to be scolded! Who else should I scold? Give me this money, not to mention letting me be scolded, I can even be beaten!"

"You really should let the reporter of Yangcheng Evening News see your face, I guess there will be no place for me in the report."

"I didn't get any royalties."

Li Tuo's words were just a joke, and everyone sighed again about the preferential treatment of the royalty payment system for writers.

With the royalty payment system, any work with good sales will definitely bring writers a lot more income than before.

"This will not hurt the publishers, nor will the writers whose works sell well. The only ones who will lose are the writers whose works sell poorly."

"It's not bad, otherwise they would only get basic royalties before, and the royalties for the number of copies printed would not be much."

Feng Mu listened to everyone's discussion and concluded: "Chaoyang's move can be regarded as a loosening of the shackles for Chinese writers!"

Feng Mu's comments made everyone sigh.

The royalty system was restored after 1977, but it has only just recovered to the level of royalties in the 1950s.

Now that Lin Chaoyang has taken the lead in proposing a royalty payment system, it is definitely a benefit to the literary world and even all those who work in writing.

"I think our colleagues should erect a monument for you in the future." Li Tuo said half jokingly and half seriously.

For the royalty payment, the media can scold Lin Chaoyang, and readers can scold Lin Chaoyang, but people in the literary world cannot scold him. Not only can they not scold him, but they must also sing his praises.

In the near future, when domestic writers live a comfortable life with royalties, all this is Lin Chaoyang's credit.

The report in the Yangcheng Evening News has been published, and everyone can only discuss it.

No words were spoken all night.

The work seminar ended, but everyone's itinerary was not over yet. Huacheng Publishing House also arranged two days of field trips for everyone.

It's called field trips, but in fact it's just sightseeing.

At this time, there was no such thing as traveling abroad. When you come to Guangdong, you must go to the special economic zone. For many people, this is almost the same as going abroad.

The emerging Shenzhen is beautiful and welcoming. The Shekou Industrial Zone is a business card of reform and opening up, and it is also the focus of Lin Chaoyang's visit.

The person in charge of receiving Lin Chaoyang and his party was a deputy leader of the Shekou Industrial Zone. Everyone saw what it means to attract investment and what it means to "cross the river by feeling the stones."

After spending most of the day in the Shekou Industrial Zone, the group was arranged to go to the Silver Lake Resort in the evening.

This is a resort that Shenzhen has just built in the past two years. It is in line with international standards and is also a leisure place for Hong Kong businessmen who invest in the mainland.

The dinner was Cantonese cuisine, which tasted very good, but it was not suitable for Lin Chaoyang's northern stomach, and he always felt that he was not full.

At night, Li Tuo couldn't help but pull Li Hangyu to the dance hall in the resort, while Lin Chaoyang and several old comrades took a walk along the lakeshore. The green trees, red flowers and clear water and evening breeze in the south were still intoxicating even at night.

After returning to the room, Lin Chaoyang saw Li Tuo there talking endlessly about the disco here.

The laser strobe lights were flying and changing constantly, and combined with the strong rhythm electronic music like bombing, even if you stood still, you would be turned into a lively grasshopper. This is probably the scene described by Li Tuo.

After this day, the trip ended, and everyone said goodbye reluctantly.

Lin Chaoyang stayed in Shenzhen. He had promised Li Hanxiang to attend the Hong Kong Film Awards, so he had to go to Hong Kong again.

However, there are still four or five days before the Academy Awards, and Lin Chaoyang has plenty of time. He plans to meet Ermaitai.

Since Lin Chaoyang returned to his hometown in 1979, the two have not met again. In recent years, they have maintained a frequency of two or three letters a year.

Sometimes Lin Chaoyang wrote letters, but often did not reply, because Ermaitai worked on the construction site and had to move to another place every year or half a year, so he basically had to take the initiative to write to Lin Chaoyang.

The address of Ermaitai's last letter was the project department of the China World Trade Center, which was under construction. I don't know if it has changed its location.

With some expectations in his heart, Lin Chaoyang found the large construction site of the China World Trade Center.

"Comrade, please ask you, do you have a worker named Yang Junda here?"

"Yang Junda? Wait for me to look through it. There is such a person, what do you want to see him for?"

"I am his fellow villager. I came to Shenzhen on a business trip this time and came to see him."

As he spoke, Lin Chaoyang took out his work permit from his pocket.

The security guard was in his forties. He looked at the words "Yenching University" on Lin Chaoyang's work permit with awe.

"Wait, I'll have someone call him for you!"

"Okay, thank you."

As he spoke, Lin Chaoyang handed the security guard a cigarette and started chatting with him.

The worker who was ordered by the security guard to call people searched the construction site for a long time and finally found Ermaitai who was working on the roof.

"After all this time, your name is Yang Junda. This name doesn't match your appearance at all!" The worker teased Ermaitai.

"You know nothing! What do you want from me?"

"Someone is looking for you at the door. He said he is your fellow villager and has a work permit from Yenching University. Hey, Ermaitai, you know such a great culture..."

Before the worker finished speaking, Ermaitai ran to the entrance of the passage and took the elevator downstairs.