1980 My literary era

After the National Day, the autumn air is clear and crisp, which is a rare good weather in Yanjing in a year.

However, the good days don't last long, only half a month. By the time the weather starts to get cooler in Yanjing in late October, winter is coming soon.

Lin Weimin was at work that day, and Acheng came to the editorial office for the first time in a long time.

"Why are you free to come to our editorial office?" Lin Weimin asked happily.

After the masterpiece "Three Kings" was released one after another, Cheng stopped creating and put more energy into movies.

Last year, Xie Jin was going to film "Furong Town", and Cheng showed off his skills at the film symposium, which shocked everyone.

Cheng said: "Danqing wrote to me to complain, saying that he met you in New York and kindly invited you to be a guest. But after returning to China, you wrote a novel and scolded these international students."

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Is this how he understands it?"

Faced with Lin Weimin's question, Acheng also laughed and took out a book from his bag.

It is the English version of "Burning". This novel was published by Random House last month, with an initial printing of 100,000 copies and a 13% royalty, bringing Teacher Lin an income of more than 100,000 yuan.

"If I say that's how he understands it, will you be angry?" Cheng asked.

Lin Weimin's expression was indifferent, "It's normal for him to be angry. After all, this novel has insinuated this group of people to a certain extent. Why should I be angry?"

At this time, Cheng took out another letter from his bag, "This letter and book were sent to me by him, you can take a look."

Lin Weimin took the things and was a little curious, so he opened the letter.

——

After experiencing novels and drama performances, Cheng Danqing had somewhat complicated feelings about Lin Weimin.

Recently, Lin Weimin and his new novel have become a hot topic in the Chinese study abroad circle in New York.

Everyone has relatives and friends in China. The novel "Burning" is said to be very popular in China. After many people read it, they will naturally mention it when writing letters to relatives and friends studying abroad.

It is difficult to get the full picture from the few words in the letter. Many international students prejudged Lin Weimin's malice toward them, and often scolded Lin Weimin at private gatherings.

Even though he was still making money from Lao Mi, he turned around and scolded the foreign students and the Americans.

It's true that "you pick up the bowl to eat, and then you curse your mother when you put the bowl down"!

In Cheng Danqing's small circle, most of the people who went to see the play that day would selectively avoid the topic when it came up after they came back.

He knew very well that in fact everyone was very contradictory. After all, he was soft-spoken and short-handed.

Tickets for the three-thousand-meter drama will be given away as soon as they are given. You can't speak ill of others without conscience.

Cheng Danqing maliciously guessed that this was not how noble everyone was.

It's because if anyone really speaks ill of Lin Weimin, it is easy for them to become the person with "character problems" in their small group.

After all, everyone saw that you had taken advantage of it, but not only did you not appreciate it, you even scolded them in private. It was so unkind, and no one dared to trust such a person too much.

The discussion about Lin Weimin has become a topic that many international students cannot avoid when they gather together for discussion.

Cheng Danqing sometimes finds it quite annoying. Everyone has finally gone out to study abroad. Why should we bother ourselves because of someone who is still in China?

He regarded Mu Xin as a father, and the two often chatted and visited various tourist attractions and bookstores in New York together.

The two of them visited a bookstore that day, and Mu Xin noticed a sample book on the best-selling section of the bookstore.

"Burning".

"combustion".

Cheng Danqing followed Mu Xin's gaze and saw the book, and the Chinese translation of the book flashed subconsciously in his mind.

This is……

Cheng Danqing couldn't believe it. He leaned over and picked up the book and opened it.

After coming to the United States for two years, his English has reached the level of fluent reading and writing, and reading novels is no problem.

He flipped through several pages of the book at a glance and was sure that this was the novel written by Lin Weimin.

He closed the book gently and saw the author's name on the cover of the novel, and couldn't help but smile.

I was so confused that I didn't see such a big name.

Cheng Danqing looked at the title and author's name on the cover of the novel, and suddenly thought of what Li Quanwu said that night - "He only dares to write these things to please people in China. Do you want him to try writing in the United States?"

I suddenly felt a little ashamed of this sentence.

Someone wrote a novel to criticize the United States. Not only was it written for Chinese people, it was also published in the United States.

Cheng Danqing couldn't help but raise his head and looked at the customers in the bookstore. What would be the reaction of these people if they saw the content of this book?

He caught a glimpse of the boss who was doing nothing, and spoke out of curiosity.

"Boss, how is the sales of this book?"

The boss is an old white man with a kind face, "It's just so-so, but this book is very well written. I suggest you read it."

"It's very well written? Have you read it?" Cheng Danqing was a little surprised.

The old white man nodded, "I can read most of the books in the bookstore, but I only read a little bit of some, and only a few of them I will read them all. It just so happens that I just finished reading the one you picked up a few days ago."

Cheng Danqing was surprised that his boss actually finished reading the book and gave it a favorable review.

"Don't you think this book will offend Americans?"

The old white man's expression was a little surprised. Then he looked at Cheng Danqing's skin color and seemed to understand that the author of this novel seemed to have the same skin color as the young man in front of him.

"I am just speaking from the perspective of a reader, not from the perspective of an American. If I were a British person, would I also feel offended by reading Dickens?"

The boss's words left Cheng Danqing speechless.

At this moment, he seemed to have an epiphany.

This white boss can to a considerable extent represent the American readers who like the novel "Burning". They do not regard the criticism of the country and social phenomena in the novel as humiliation or slander.

The reason why they have this view is because when the author Lin Weimin wrote this novel, he did not simply criticize the United States or the international student group with a purpose.

Lin Weimin's criticism is more aimed at the system itself.

Including the publishing house that published "Burning", they also did not avoid too much criticism in the novel, but simply looked at the problem from a literary perspective.

On the contrary, this group of international students from China, perhaps for political reasons or perhaps because of cultural inferiority, inevitably put on colored glasses when viewing the novel "Burning".

At this moment, Cheng Danqing felt ashamed.

He finally understood why the letter Lin Weimin gave him contained only polite greetings and no apology.

It's just a literary creation, so why apologize?

I apologized, but turned the incident into a disguised form of humiliation.

After figuring this out, Cheng Danqing's mind suddenly opened up.

"Boss, I want to buy this book!"

The old white man showed a kind smile again, "Young man, you have good taste!"

Cheng Danqing smiled and felt an unprecedented sense of confidence.

——

Cheng Danqing wrote a long paragraph about his reflections on "Burning". After reading it, Lin Weimin couldn't help but smile knowingly.

Although Teacher Lin's ICU method is not used in combat, he occasionally uses it and his style remains the same.

The letter was written by Cheng Danqing to Acheng, but he wrote in it that Acheng must show the letter to Lin Weimin.

He wrote a paragraph at the end of the letter.

"I saw you off downstairs in the apartment and watched you get into the Mercedes-Benz. At that time, I thought to myself, this guy is really a pretentious person.

But if you can publish a novel that criticizes the United States in the United States, I have to admit that you are not pretending.

But it’s really awesome! "

After reading the last paragraph, Lin Weimin folded the letter and handed it back to Ah Cheng.

"How is it?" Acheng asked.

Lin Weimin smiled and kept talking nonsense: "I am very happy that he thinks so. At least someone understands my painstaking efforts."

Cheng had no doubts and said happily: "It's so happy to see you understand each other."

He added: "This English version of "Burning" was specially sent back by Danqing as a souvenir for you."

Lin Weimin nodded and accepted the book.

After talking about Cheng Danqing, Lin Weimin asked again: "What are you busy with recently?"

"I wrote a script before and it has been filmed now. I am currently writing another script called "Moon and Moon"."

"Yueyue" is a love-themed movie. It tells the story of the heroine Yueyue who is trapped in a dilemma between two men and her talent.

Lin Weimin listened to Acheng's talk about the content of the script. It sounded like it was about the bad streets of later generations, but in the domestic film industry in the 1980s, this style was actually very avant-garde.

Three novels were published in a row, and a collection was published before that. The royalties from the creation greatly improved Cheng's economic conditions.

So when Lin Weimin asked him if he had written any more works, Cheng shook his head, "I don't have any inspiration at the moment."

He has been obsessed with movies since he was a child. Now that he has the opportunity, he focuses entirely on movies.

For him, literary creation is more like a means of making a living.

Lin Weimin said with some regret: "It's a pity that you don't write novels!"

Acheng smiled and said: "I know how much I weigh. The King of Chess, King of Trees, and King of Children have left such a deep impression on readers. I don't even believe that I can write such good books again." The works come.”

What Acheng said is one of the reasons why he no longer wants to write novels.

Some people are at their peak when they debut, and they amaze everyone at a young age. Throughout their lives, they may be constantly trying to break the barriers they have drawn for themselves.

"You won't write anymore?" Lin Weimin asked.

"Of course not." Acheng smiled a bit jokingly, "It's not that I don't write, I just don't publish it. Unless there is something I am particularly satisfied with, I won't publish it."

Lin Weimin suddenly realized, pointed at him and said with a smile: "You kid, you are a chicken thief!"