Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 356 355 Life shouldn’t be so painful
"Hey, Yu Hua, now is not the time to talk about literature. Send Tie Sheng to the hospital quickly. When he recovers and is discharged, you two can chat for three days and three nights!"

Fang Minghua urged.

The two stopped chatting, and everyone started to help Chen Ximi get her things. They pushed Shi Tiesheng out of the courtyard, then tried their best to lift him into a car and rushed to the 301 Hospital on Fuxing Road.

Fang Minghua first went to the Nephrology Department of the inpatient department to find Professor Wang. It is easier to do things if he knows someone. Professor Wang asked them to go through the hospitalization procedures for Shi Tiesheng. Since Chen Ximi's legs were slightly lame, it was not very convenient to go up and down the stairs, so Yu Hua volunteered and ran up and down the stairs. Next, Shi Tiiesheng was finally admitted to the 301 Hospital.

At around six o'clock in the afternoon, Shi Tiiesheng's father rushed to the hospital after get off work. Seeing that everything was settled here, the two said goodbye and left.

After leaving the hospital gate, Fang Minghua looked at his watch and it was already past six o'clock, so he said, "Yu Hua, let's find a place to have a meal. We will probably have nothing when we return to Luyuan."

Naturally, Yu Hua had no objection, so the two of them randomly found a restaurant nearby. Fang Minghua knew that Yu Hua was from the south, so he didn't eat mixed noodles, but ordered rice and two dishes.

After a busy afternoon, both of them were hungry. Fengjuan Canyun finished his meal quickly. Fang Minghua pawned the money and they left the hotel, went to a nearby bus and waited for the bus heading towards Bali Qiao.

It was already dark by this time.

Yanjing seems to be more lively at night than during the day. The lights are on, vehicles are flowing continuously on the street, pedestrians are crowded on the sidewalk, and a latest popular song is playing in a clothing store across the street.

a long long time ago

you own me i own you
a long long time ago

You leave me and fly far into the sky
The outside world is wonderful
外面 的 世界 很 无奈
Qi Qin's latest song: "The Outside World"

The two listened silently.

"Have a cigarette?"

Yu Hua took out a pack of blue "West Lake" cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and handed it to Fang Minghua.

Seeing Fang Minghua shaking his head, Yu Hua did not dissuade him. He took out a match and lit one, took a deep breath, looked at the night, and suddenly said something.

"Yanjing is such a great place."

"What? Do you want to stay here forever?" Fang Minghua turned to look at him and asked.

"To tell you the truth, I really want to." Perhaps because they were familiar with each other, Yu Hua did not hide her inner thoughts.

"When I was a child, I lived in the small place of Haiyan. When I was 23, at the end of 83, you had a meeting in Shanghai, and I rushed to Shanghai by car to submit an article."

"That was the first time I left my hometown and came to a big city. The tall buildings made me dizzy. The outside world is far more exciting than I thought." Yu Hua smiled and said, "I went to Xijing again last year, and I'm here again this year. The more cities I visited in Yanjing, the more I felt that I couldn’t stay in Haiyan.”

"Then work hard to bring your wife out and settle down here." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"My wife?" Yu Hua shook his head after hearing this.

"She likes the place in Haiyan because her parents and relatives are there, the environment is familiar, and the life is comfortable. Why would she come to Yanjing to wander with me?"

"In Yanjing, rice is expensive and living there is difficult."

Yu Hua sighed.

Fang Minghua listened silently and said nothing.

At this time, they saw a bus heading toward Bali Bridge slowly approaching. The two stopped talking and crowded into the bus. Shi Tiesheng was successfully admitted to the hospital, and Fang Minghua was relieved. Although hospitalization could not completely solve Shi Tiesheng's illness, would Shi Tiesheng's life have been more comfortable if there had been no subsequent uremia?
Life shouldn't be so painful.

Now that Shi Tiesheng's affairs have been arranged and the third part of "The Ordinary World" has been sent to Lu Yao, Fang Minghua feels relaxed all over.

As for "Swordsman in the Snow", it's not a problem for Fang Minghua. But he doesn’t want to return to his previous speed of writing 50,000 code words a week.

It’s not like I’m a hard-working writer and I don’t want to be so tired. Anyway, I’m still taking classes in Luyuan.

Now Fang Minghua is waiting for Lu Yao's reply to hear his opinions on the third volume he wrote. If there is no big problem, he will ask Zhao Hongjun to prepare for publication.

Moreover, there is no need to find another magazine for the third part. "Yanhe" will continue to serialize the second part of "Ordinary" after it has been serialized.

You have the final say in matters concerning the editorial department.

However, before Fang Minghua waited for Lu Yao's reply, he waited for a letter from Bai Miao.

After Fang Minghua took the letter from Uncle Wang in the reception room at the entrance of the college, he returned to the dormitory and tore it open and read it carefully.

It turns out that a novella written by Mo Yan caused quite a controversy in the literary world.

This year, "Yanhe" magazine published a novella "Happiness" written by Li Moyan in the editor-in-chief's recommendation column of the first issue. The author uses extremely cruel writing methods to describe the tragic story of Qi Wendong, a repeater from a rural middle school who took the college entrance examination.

Like thousands of rural children, he hopes to pass the college entrance examination, escape from farming, and escape poverty and backwardness. But he failed the college entrance examination five times and failed five times.

Hopes come to naught, efforts come to naught. He was depressed, depressed, painful, helpless... His mother's stubbornness, his brother's helplessness under the pressure of life, the contempt of his sister-in-law and everyone else, the hopelessness of the future... Everything oppressed him, and he had no choice but to escape from the house. Embark on the road of "joy" and no return.

"Happiness" is a typical stream-of-consciousness novel that disrupts the sequential boundaries of time and space. The narrative flows freely with the consciousness of Yongle (Qi Wendong's nickname), holding high the banner of innovation and pushing forward the exploration and experimentation of language. To the extreme.

However, the description of the characters in the novel, especially the mother, seemed too bold. When Fang Minghua received Mo Yan's submission, he hesitated for a long time before deciding to publish it.

He had already thought that some readers and literary critics would criticize this, and now it seems that this is indeed the case.

The criticism focused on two points: the long description of literary "taboos" and the so-called unrestrained stream of consciousness writing, which were regarded as blasphemous and offensive to the image of mother and literary tradition.

Fortunately, there is no online update.

Criticism of works is very common in this era, and magazines generally treat it coldly - without refuting or arguing.

In fact, Bai Miao also expressed his views on this matter in his letter: he would not join the debate. As a temporary person in charge of the editorial department, he had to promptly report the feedback from the literary world on the newly launched novel to Fang Minghua, who was teaching in Luyuan.

In response to this, Fang Minghua was going to write a reply, telling him that he already knew about it and would just do what we discussed at the beginning and don't worry too much.

Fang Minghua took out the letter paper and had just finished writing it, putting it in an envelope and preparing to send it to the post office. Before he left the house, he heard a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

It turned out to be two students, Li Hongying and Chen Hong.

Two girls walked in, still carrying schoolbags.

"Teacher Fang, we have finished the homework you assigned, please take a look."

(End of this chapter)