Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 296 The Golden Age
"I don't know who revealed your whereabouts and let them find you here."

He Qizhi shook his head and complained, but no distress could be seen on his face.

Yu Dong knew in his heart that this news could be known by other media, either from the editorial department or from his own side.

As for Yu Dong, the only ones who knew his whereabouts were himself, Cheng Yanqiu and Jiang Jie.

I and Cheng Yanqiu would definitely not do this, and Jiang Jie didn't have the ability and time to commit crimes, so the problem is likely to be on the "Contemporary" side.

If He Qizhi's surprised expression didn't look like a fake at the beginning, Yu Dong would have suspected that He Qizhi directed and acted himself.

But Yu Dong will have to face this kind of situation sooner or later, and it doesn't matter where it happens.

Yu Dong smiled and said to He Qizhi, "Call them in. I'll tell them. Also, please call my assistant Jiang Jie in."

"Okay, I'll call."

Soon, Jiang Jie came in first, and then the reporters followed.

He Qizhi's office was only a dozen or so square meters, and suddenly so many people crammed in, the ones in the front were okay, but the people in the back could only stand on tiptoe to look inside.

Many of them had never seen what Yu Dong looked like, so they were quite curious.

Seeing that he was almost done, Yu Dong said, "Thank you for your kindness, and you came here to find me. But I am alone, and it is impossible to accept interviews with all of you at the same time. In this way, everyone will share their Please register your unit and personal information, and we will contact you one by one later.”

He wanted to send people away, but that wasn't going to work right now.The reporters had already seen Yu Dong, so of course they were unwilling to give up easily.

"Teacher Yu, it's hard for us to come here, why don't we sit down and have a chat first."

"Teacher Yu, I'm from Yanjing Television Station. Why don't you take this opportunity to record a program on the station this afternoon? If not, you can record it here."

"It really doesn't work, everyone asks a few questions, it's a press meeting."

Yu Dong didn't have time to entangle with them, he made an appointment with Hu Yueming to take Cheng Yanqiu home in the afternoon and have dinner together in the evening.

He thought for a while and said, "Everyone in the editorial department is very busy. We people are here to interfere with their work. It's not easy to find a place right now. How about this, the signing will start at nine o'clock tomorrow, everyone Work hard, go early, let's hold a press conference, which will start at eight o'clock and end at nine o'clock. As for some friends who want to make an interview, you can find me after the press conference is over."

Yu Dong had already talked about this point, and the reporters had nothing to say, and nodded one after another.But after speaking, they were unwilling to leave, and Yu Dong had no choice but to give Jiang Jie a look.

Jiang Jie understood and cleared the way ahead, while Yu Dong followed behind and waved to the reporters: "See you tomorrow."

Walking out of the Humanities Building, Jiang Jie looked back and saw that the reporters hadn't followed him. He let out a long sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Mr. Yu, it seems that you will have to bring bodyguards when you go out in the future."

"Not for now, reporters are relatively civilized. Let's go back to the hotel first."

When they arrived at the hotel, they picked up Cheng Yanqiu, and they went directly to Hu Yueming's house.

As soon as Cheng Yanqiu entered the house, his teacher's wife Xu Qinghua held her hand and greeted him warmly.

"Hey, you are so handsome. The journey was not easy. I boiled some pears and put some for you to eat. Yanjing is dry, and you southern girls are not used to it. Eat some pears and drink some pear soup to make your throat feel comfortable. some."

"Master, it's okay, I was used to it when I studied in Yanjing before."

"Oh, forget about that, you graduated from Yangyin."

……

The two female relatives were chatting, and Yu Dong and Hu Yuming, master and apprentice, walked to the tea table and sat down with a teacup in their arms.As soon as he sat down, he noticed a book on the coffee table.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be The Golden Age.

Seeing that he noticed the books on the table, Hu Yueming smiled and said, "Wang Xiaobo's new book, once you came over, didn't you see a copy of "Secret Stories of the Tang Dynasty", the author of that book is also him."

Of course Yu Dong knew that this was Wang Xiaobo's book. The last time he came to the exchange meeting, he went to Renmin University for a chance encounter, but he didn't see Wang Xiaobo at that time.

Unexpectedly, hearing him again, "The Golden Age" has been published.

"Teacher, you really like this author."

Hu Yueming smiled and said: "The author is not bad, but these two books are recommended by friends. Zhao Jieping is Zhao Fan's daughter, and she helped publish this "Golden Age", but because of this, she is so popular. A lot of suffering."

"I have suffered a lot, how do you say that?" Yu Dong asked curiously.

Hu Yueming sighed, "Actually, it was her own fault. Wang Xiaobo went to her with the book. She thought it was good and wanted to publish it. However, the leaders of the publishing house didn't like the book and didn't want to publish it. She took advantage of the leader's going out. At that time, the book was published. This kind of thing is a big taboo in the unit, and the leader will definitely trouble her when he comes back. A few days ago, she was ill because of this matter. "

"So there is such a thing." Yu Dong couldn't help feeling, "It's not easy for this novel to be published."

"Unfortunately, there were no good results. The book didn't sell well, and it didn't cause any repercussions."

Yu Dong nodded, "Actually, I know Wang Xiaobo. He is a little popular in Baodao. I saw a copy of "Golden Age" in Jinling before."

"Golden age?" Hu Yueming was a little puzzled.

"Yes, it is the golden age. It should be an editor's negligence, and it was printed wrong."

"Hey, this editor is too sloppy." Hu Yueming smiled and shook his head, "So, this "Golden Age" has actually been published in Baodao."

"That's right, "Golden Age" also won the "United Daily News" Literary Award for Novella before."

"The book is really good. In this collection, not only "Golden Age", but also "Standing at Thirty" and "Time Like Water" are all very good works. Zhao Jieping asked me to read this book, probably because he wanted to find Some consolation, some praise from me, to prove that she is not wrong. However, no matter how much praise I give, I am afraid it will not change anything. I heard that after she recovered from her illness, she pushed her with Wang Xiaobo when she was fine. Xiaoche went out to buy books."

As he said that, Hu Yueming held "The Golden Age" in his hands again. Literature itself is like this. He has seen too many such things in these years.Literature is art, but no matter how elegant art is, there is no market, and in the end, it can only become a carnival for a small number of people.

Some people say that art does not need a market, art only needs loneliness.As for artists, they are like shooting stars, passing through the sky. If they are lucky, they will be seen by others, but if they are unlucky, they will disappear secretly.

"Where do they sell books?" Yu Dong asked.

Hu Yueming shook his head, "How do I know that, they are pushing carts around, and probably won't be able to sell a few copies."

"Teacher, do you have Zhao Jieping's phone number?"

"Of course." Hu Yueming stared at Yu Dong, "I'll write to you."

……

That night, Yu Dong called Zhao Jieping.

"Hi, hello, I'm Yu Dong, may I ask Ms. Zhao Jieping?"

"In the East?"

Zhao Jieping on the phone frowned. Of course she had heard of Yu Dong's name. Recently, Yu Dong was very popular in the literary world.A few days ago, their editor-in-chief complained to them, saying that they knew how to accept some messy books every day, but they didn't know how to find Yu Dong to invite manuscripts.

At that time, several editors did not speak, but they were all slandering.How do their publishing houses compare with those big publishing houses?It would be really strange to be able to invite Yu Dong's manuscript.

"Are you Yu Dong, the author of "Xiang Xi"?" Zhao Jieping tried to ask.

Yu Dong replied with a smile, "Yes, it's me."

It turned out to be Yu Dong!

Zhao Jieping panicked, why did Yu Dong call her?She quickly went through all the connections between herself and Yu Dong in her mind, and finally only thought of one, and that was Hu Yueming.

Dean Hu is Yu Dong's teacher, she knows this.But she didn't know the relationship between Hu Yueming and Yu Dong, because Hu Yueming didn't tell her about Yu Dong's work at school.

However, she could only think of this possibility.

"Ms. Zhao?" Yu Dong asked again after a while without speaking.

Zhao Jieping hurriedly said, "Teacher Yu Dong, hello, I don't know why you called me?"

Yu Dong said with a smile: "I was having dinner at the teacher's house today, and I saw that he had a copy of "The Golden Age". After reading it, I felt very good. I asked the teacher for your contact information, and I want to talk to you about this book." Oh."

Sure enough, it was for "Golden Age". A few days ago, Zhao Jieping sent "Golden Age" to Hu Yueming, wanting to see the evaluation of professionals, but unexpectedly, this book was actually seen by Yu Dong .

"Mr. Yu Dong, I'm very happy to hear that you also said that this book is very good. It's just that the sales of this book are not good because there is no formal channel to sell it."

"I heard that you often push carts with Wang Xiaobo to sell books?"

Speaking of this, Zhao Jieping was a little embarrassed, "We really want more people to read this book."

"Well, if I could, I'd like to talk about the publication of this book, and maybe have a chance to start over."

Zhao Jieping raised her eyebrows and said in surprise, "Really?"

"Really, but I have a signing event tomorrow, and I don't have time to see you. Look at the morning after tomorrow..."

"Teacher Yu, do you have time now?" Zhao Jieping asked suddenly.

Yu Dong looked at his watch, then at Cheng Yanqiu, "I'm at the hotel now, I guess I'm a little far away from you..."

"It's okay, if you have time, I'll go there now."

Yu Dong looked at Cheng Yanqiu again, and Cheng Yanqiu whispered, "Let her come."

"Okay, come here, I'm..."

After hanging up Zhao Jieping's phone call, Yu Dong smiled and shook his head, "I didn't expect her to be so enthusiastic and impatient."

"If I were her, I can't wait. For her, you may be the last hope of "Golden Age", how can she wait any longer." Cheng Yanqiu said with a smile.

Yu Dong looked at the "Golden Age" on the table, which he borrowed from his teacher's house.

Cheng Yanqiu read this book with Yu Dong in Jinling last year. It was still "Golden Age", and it was the wrong edition.

Yu Dong looked at the time again, it was already past eight o'clock, and sighed, "Hey, I still want to have a great friendship with you."

Cheng Yanqiu rolled his eyes at Yu Dong, "Who wants to have a great friendship with you."

After a while, Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu waited for Zhao Jieping.

Zhao Jieping was in her forties, well-dressed, but her complexion didn't look very good. I heard from Hu Yueming that she had an illness a few days ago, and it seems that she hasn't fully recovered yet.

Entering the room, Zhao Jieping was taken aback when she saw Cheng Yanqiu, then heaved a sigh of relief.

She was too anxious just now, and hurried over here after asking for the room number. On the way, she woke up and realized that it was not good to meet Yu Dong alone at such an early age.

But it was hard to change the agreement, so she bit the bullet and came here, so she was relieved to see a girl named Cheng Yanqiu here.

"Ms. Zhao, hello, I'm Yu Dong, and this is my fiancee Cheng Yanqiu."

"Hello, hello, it's really abrupt to disturb you two so late."

"It's okay." Cheng Yanqiu smiled, "Yu Dong, take Ms. Zhao to sit there, and I'll pour you a cup of tea."

"Thank you Miss Cheng."

After the two sat down, Zhao Jieping hurriedly said, "Mr. Yu, you said that there is still hope for a new start in "Golden Age". What do you mean by that?"

"It means that I can help "Golden Age" find the publishing house again, and then contact you with regular sales channels. Or, on the basis of the original version, I can contact you with regular channels so that this book can be sold." Yu Dong explained road.

"If possible, I hope to find the publishing house again. Because of my unauthorized publication of "Golden Age", our agency now has a lot of opinions on this book and me."

"Okay, then let's change to another publishing house."

"But." Zhao Jieping was a little puzzled again, "It's not that "Golden Age" has not been read by other publishers. Most of the publishers' opinions are that the work is very good, but they dare not publish it. Teacher Yu, please forgive me for asking. In a word, can you really find a publishing house willing to publish this book?"

"It's not a big problem." Yu Dong said with a smile, "Anyway, you have no other way now, so you might as well leave it to me to try, even if it doesn't work in the end, it doesn't make any difference."

Zhao Jieping nodded, "It seems that there is no worse possibility."

"Okay, if possible, I would like to meet Wang Xiaobo and ask his opinion." Yu Dong said.

"Of course, tomorrow... oh, you have a book signing meeting tomorrow. How about I bring him to you the morning after tomorrow?"

But Yu Dong said, "Just tomorrow, let him go to the Xinhua Bookstore tomorrow, and I will take the time to chat with him. Just in time, I will also take him to meet some teachers in the publishing industry."

Zhao Jieping immediately understood Yu Dong's intentions, and said happily, "Okay, I will tell him when I get back later, he must be very happy, because he appreciates your works very much. Especially "Death of a Widow", he said It is the best novel he has read in recent years."

"Okay then, we'll see you tomorrow."

The meeting with Zhao Jieping came to an end soon, mainly because Zhao Jieping couldn't talk about this matter, after all, she couldn't represent Wang Xiaobo with full authority.

……

The next morning, Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu arrived at the bookstore after seven o'clock in the morning.

At this moment, some readers have already arrived at the scene, but since the book signing only starts at nine o'clock, there are not many people here at this moment, only a dozen or so.

Yu Dong took a glance, and suddenly saw a tall man standing out from the crowd.

Seeing the front face again, Yu Dong recognized Wang Xiaobo, who came so early and was still queuing up among the readers.

Wang Xiaobo's appearance is easy to recognize. First of all, he stands out from the crowd at his height, and his face is even more distinctive.

The long hair is combed to one side, and the parted hair is very sparse, revealing a large scalp.The eyebrows are very light, the nose is large, the nostrils are turned outwards, and the mouth is so large that you can feel its size even if you don't open it.

His appearance is not pleasing, but it is easy to remember.

When Yu Dong walked to Wang Xiaobo's side, he was staring at the "Xiang Xi" poster in front of him in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Wang Xiaobo?"

Wang Xiaobo looked over, "You know me?"

"I'm Yu Dong."

Wang Xiaobo laughed, showing two rows of white teeth and gums. His smile was ugly but sincere, "Hello, Yu Dong."

Why not use "How are you?" Yu Dong was a little disappointed, but Wang Xiaobo's "How are you" would only be reserved for Li Yinhe.

"Let's go in and talk."

Yu Dong asked the staff to arrange the lounge, and was going to chat with Wang Xiaobo before the press conference started.

The reporters who had been there earlier saw Yu Dong coming and greeted him enthusiastically, but they were a little disappointed to see him leading a tall man into the lounge. They thought the interview could start earlier.

After entering the lounge, Yu Dong looked at Wang Xiaobo and said with a smile, "I finally see you."

Wang Xiaobo didn't understand why Yu Dong used the word "finally", because according to what Zhao Jieping told him, Yu Dong wanted to see him because he saw "The Golden Age" at Dean Hu's place yesterday, and only a day later, "Finally "Is this word a bit too much?
Yu Dong saw his doubts and explained, "I read your "Secret Stories of the Tang Dynasty" at my teacher's house the year before last, and saw your "Golden Age" at the bookstore last year, so I wanted to see it a long time ago. is you."

Wang Xiaobo didn't know there was such a connection, and he didn't know what to say after hearing what Yu had said, so he just smiled with the corners of his mouth pulled.His smile is really special, as if his chin can't hang on his chin, he is trying hard to retract the muscles of his cheeks, trying to wrap his chin around it.

When he smiled, the sides of his mouth elongated, and he looked like a clown.

In reality, Wang Xiaobo is not very talkative.

So Yu Dong took the initiative, "Did Mr. Zhao tell you the matter?"

"Well, I said it."

"What's your opinion?" Yu Dong asked.

"My opinion, of course I agree with my opinion. I originally wanted to sell "Golden Age" better, and I have made some efforts. However, it seems that bookstores are not willing to sell novels. Of course, I have my own problems. I won’t talk about it.” At the end, he laughed again.

"Since you are willing, I will ask my assistant to talk to you in detail later. I am actually acting for the brokerage company I signed. When the time comes, you need to sign a brokerage contract with the company. They will give you the details of the contract. You see, if you think there is no problem, then things can start." Yu Dong briefly introduced the situation to Wang Xiaobo.

Wang Xiaobo smiled and said, "I understand."

He has studied abroad, and he also knows such things as a writer's agent.It's just that he was surprised by the emergence of such a model in China.

Yu Dong looked at the time, "The interview will start soon, I'm afraid I won't have time to accompany you anymore, you sit here for a while, I'll let others talk to you."

"it is good."

Wang Xiaobo shook hands with Yu Dong, and suddenly said, "Actually, I was in line just now, and I was quite at the front."

Yu Dong was taken aback, why did he say this suddenly?
"I also want a signed book."

Yu Dong smiled. It turned out that it was for this matter, "Okay, I'll sign it right away, and I'll send it to you."

……

Leaving the lounge, Yu Dong went straight to the interview area, waved his hand, "Everyone, let's get started."

These reporters were gathering together to chat, when Yu Dong suddenly ran over to say the beginning, most of them hadn't reacted yet.

There are also quick responses.

"Mr. Yu, may I ask if "Second World" can be screened in China, do you have any work in it?"

The interviewer was a reporter from Yanjing TV, and Yu Dong still had an impression of him.

The other party came up and asked about "Second World", which Yu Dong had expected a long time ago. After all, with such a big news, who wouldn't want to come here to grab first-hand information?
"I only found out about this news two days ago, not a few days earlier than you." Yu Dong replied.

"Mr. Yu, "Second World" will be released in the United States in ten days. How do you think the box office of "Second World" will be? Can it win this year's box office champion?"

"I think there should be hope. Although I haven't caught up with the golden schedule in July and August, I have participated in the production of "Second World" and I know that this movie is excellent. Compared with novels, you will watch it in movies There are many different things. This time, Director Spielberg has made a lot of attempts and made great progress in visual effects technology. Even for American audiences, it will be a different visual experience .”

"Hearing what you said, Mr. Yu, raised our expectations for this movie to a very high level."

"Pull it up, it can't be too high." Yu Dong said with a smile, and it's a good thing to praise it appropriately.

"Then are you worried that the movie is too advanced for domestic audiences?"

Yu Dong looked at the reporter who asked the question, and had to say that these reporters were really tricky, and they could ask a question again and again.

"No, not at all, I believe in the acceptance of domestic audiences."

"As far as I know, the filming of "Resident Evil" was earlier than "Second World", but why didn't it come out?"

Yu Dong smiled, not to mention, these reporters are quite well informed, "I don't know much about filming, maybe there are some problems that I don't understand that need to be overcome."

"Teacher Yu, you haven't published a novel in any literary periodical since "Xiang Xi"..."

Yu Dong interrupted the other party's question, "Sprout should also be considered a literary periodical."

The other party was speechless for a while, because "Sprout" is really a literary journal.But everyone understands what he means. Yu Dong’s novels during this period are all popular novels. It seems that there are no new works in traditional literature, so he co-wrote them with Bi Feiyu and Yu Hua on "Zhong Shan" "Cucumber Garden Essay".

Yu Dong continued, "I know what you mean. In the near future, I will have a series of short and novelettes to meet with you."

"Excuse me, have you decided which magazine these works will be published in?"

"Not yet, it's all in my drawer." Yu Dong waved his hand, "I don't have much time today, since it's the signing event of "Xiang Xi", I think you should also ask more about "Xiang Xi" question?"

The reporters did save face, Yu Dong asked them to talk about "Xiang Xi", and they really changed the topic to "Xiang Xi", but the questions they asked were not very friendly.

"Teacher Yu, several critics talked about "Xiangxi" before and gave unfavorable comments. Later, many alumni who graduated from Yan Normal University published articles to refute them. Regarding this matter, those few Critics have accused you Yan Normal University alumni of forming gangs, what is your response to this?"

　Thanks to [Wandering Today] for the 100 reward
　　Thank you [Fang Xiaopao] for the 1500 reward
　　Thank you [Little White Rabbit's Black Spot] for the 1500 reward
　　Thank you [Memory Stack] for the 500 reward
　　Someone asked that the poem "Luo Luo" was not actually written now, but was written when I was in college. It is not a good poem, but it just happened to be suitable for the occasion.I used to be a second-b literary youth when I was in school, and wrote a lot of crooked poems.

　　……

　　Let’s stop here today, more than 6000 words, work hard tomorrow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)