Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 635 Chapter 634 The Qin Army’s Second Eastern Expedition!

"The Qin Army's Second Eastern Expedition!" Isn't this title more eye-catching than the report in the People's Daily?
Just write it!

Soon, a news report appeared on the front page of the second edition of Guangming Daily.

"Four publishing houses in Yanjing and Hainan have successively launched six long novels by writers from Qin Province: "White Deer Plain", "Abandoned City", "The Piano in a Factory", "Bali Love and Revenge", "Love Destiny", and "The Last Hun". The literary world praised: The Qin Army's Second Eastern Expedition!
The article first introduces the three novels published by Qin Province writers in 87 and the literary achievements they have made. Of course, the focus is still on these six novels.

Such an explosive title immediately became a hit in the literary circle of Beijing!
However, Fang Minghua did not pay attention to this news report. After the meeting, he did not return to Xijing. According to the arrangement of Shengshi Books, he struck while the iron was hot and started a tour to sign and sell books.

The first stop is Yanjing.

This book signing event was not held in the traditional Xinhua Bookstore, but in the newly opened Jihai Building in Haidian Book City.

Haidian Book City, although called a "city", is actually just an alley surrounded by a few low-rise buildings and a pedestrian street running north-south.

At the south end of the street is a Chinese-style archway. The seven characters "China Haidian Book City" on the archway are an inscription by a former national leader.

Fang Minghua sells books in a store called "Huiwen Bookstore".

As agreed, at nine o'clock in the morning, Fang Minghua rushed from the General Political Department compound to the China Bookstore in the Book City, where he saw a long queue. He also met the organizer of this tour new book signing event, Dai Jiali, the deputy general manager of Shengshi Books.

Fang Minghua has known Dai Jiali for several years. When she and Zhao Hongjun went to Hainan and founded Haikou Shengshi Books, she met Dai Jiali, who was "venturing into the sea" by chance. It was Fang Minghua who introduced the girl to join Shengshi Books.

The girl is also very capable and now holds the position of deputy general manager of the company.

Accompanied by Dai Jiali, Fang Minghua entered the bookstore and shook hands with the owner, whose surname was Liu. He was very enthusiastic and said with a smile that it was fortunate that Mr. Dai and I were alumni of Yenching Foreign Affairs College that we had the opportunity to sign and sell books here.

Fang Minghua took a quick look and discovered that there were two signed book posters in the store. One of them showed a huge piano with a few words next to it: The latest masterpiece of the famous writer Minghua: "The Piano in a Factory".

There is also a preface: "In an age without heroes, I just want to be a father."

Fang Minghua saw this poster and was very satisfied with it. However, the second poster had different content from the sample that Dai Jiali gave him.

Suddenly, it was written: "The Qin army's second expedition to the east!
There is another line of slightly smaller words below: The Qin Army of the literary world launched its first expedition to the east, with Minghua as the vanguard, and first launched "Crossing the Guandong", which shocked the literary world.

A few years later, the Qin army marched east again, and the literary world was stirred up again. Minghua was the last one to come, and his latest masterpiece "The Piano in a Factory" brought this "Eastern Expedition" to a perfect end.

Seeing Fang Minghua's slightly surprised expression, Dai Jiali hurriedly explained: "Minghua, a reporter from Guangming Daily wrote a news report the day before yesterday titled "The Second Eastern Expedition of the Qin Army!" It introduced six novels published by Qin writers in the past two years, including yours. I think this term is very interesting, so you made a temporary plan and replaced the poster with this one."

Ouch, did the reporter from Guangming Daily really write it?
In history, the Qin army only made one expedition to the east. But this time, there was a second expedition?
But no matter what, the sudden appearance of six novels in one province within two years, and all of them are quite substantial, is indeed unprecedented in the literary world.

And this girl has a keen eye.

Regardless of whether this name is a bit alarmist, it is a good gimmick from the perspective of publicity and promotion, so Fang Minghua naturally won't say much.

After a few words of chatting, the book signing began.

In fact, this is a very tiring task. You have to write the same name over and over again, and in the end you will get annoyed just by looking at your own name.

But Fang Minghua got used to it.

Times have changed. Now is not the early 1980s. At that time, as long as it was a book, no matter who wrote it, good or bad, whether it was a famous Chinese or foreign classic or a shoddy horse-drawn book sold at a roadside stall (a rubbish picture book that was 30% human and 70% ghost, with no scenery or color), people would read it with relish. Now there are too many options to choose from. Even good wine needs a bush.

Of course, in a few years, the Internet age will come, and physical bookstores and physical books will be doomed, as will serious literature.
Come to think of it, this era is still pretty good. Fang Minghua was daydreaming in his mind but he was working very fast.

After having a simple lunch at a restaurant outside the book city at noon, Fang Minghua returned to the bookstore to continue working until almost six in the afternoon.

The time for signing had come, and there were still a dozen people in line. Fang Minghua flexed his right wrist, resisting the urge to throw away the pen, and persisted until the last person stood in front of him with a newly bought book.

Fang Minghua looked up.

A man with side-parted hair and small eyes, revealing a rebellious expression.

"Yu Hua?!"

"I say, kid, why are you here to join in the fun?" Fang Minghua scolded with a smile.

"I came to the bookstore to buy books. I heard that you were signing and selling books here, so I came here." Yu Hua explained with a smile.

"Okay, okay," Fang Minghua said as he quickly signed his name in the book.

"Teacher Minghua, do you have any plans tonight? If not, please come to my house and let my wife cook a few dishes and we can have a couple of drinks." Yu Hua made an invitation.

"Okay, you and Chen Hong get married. I haven't been to your house yet. Let's go together." Fang Minghua made the decision.

Fang Minghua said goodbye to Dai Jiali and the bookstore owner, and squeezed into the bus with Yu Hua to go to his home.

Yu Hua still lived near Tuanjie Lake. It was already seven o'clock when they arrived at his rental house. Chen Hong was very happy to see Fang Minghua and immediately went into the kitchen to cook.

Fang Minghua sat on the sofa in the living room and looked around the room. The room was small and the furniture was simple, but it was very clean. It seemed that the hostess was very diligent and virtuous.

He looked at Yu Hua and joked, "Yu Hua, you still live here? You're wronging Chen Hong, but why don't you move to a better place? I heard that Fengtai is building a Fangzhuang community. It's the first overall planned residential area in Yanjing. The location is also good, located in the southeast second ring road. Why don't you go and take a look?"

"To be honest, Chen Hong and I have already visited them, but the problem is: we don't have the money. Let's say we want to buy a 90-square-meter house with three bedrooms and one living room. The unit price is 3000 yuan per square meter, which means it will cost at least more than 27 yuan. How can I have that much money now?"

At this point, Yu Hua sighed: "The house is not urgent, I am worried about my book now."

Yu Hua's "To Live" was officially published in early March, but sales were not ideal.

More than four months have passed, and according to the latest data from Shengshi Books, sales volume is less than 5000 copies.

This is related to the fact that Yu Hua is a young writer, and of course it is also related to the promotion of this book by Amateur Shengshi Books.

Apart from adapting Zhang Yimou's work into a movie of the same name and submitting it to the Venice Film Festival as a hype, there were no other publicity and promotional activities.

The promotion of the other three books in the "Rag Tiger Series" was very vigorous, but this book was silent, and not even a seminar was held for the work.

Fang Minghua knew that Shu Bin of Shengshi Books was waiting for a result.

When Zhang Yimou gets his film of the same name to be exhibited at the Venice Film Festival, will it win an award?
(End of this chapter)