Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 657: A serious novel turned into a pornographic book

Fang Minghua was just about to say something jokingly: "Ximi, you used to be a teacher, how could you recommend such a book?"

But see the author's name.

Wang Xiaobo!
Wang Xiaobo's book?
Fang Minghua opened the catalog and saw:
"The Golden Age", "At Thirty", "Like Water Flowing"!
It was indeed written by Wang Xiaobo.

In the 1990s, there were two outliers in the domestic literary world, one was Wang Shuo and the other was Wang Xiaobo.

Everyone knows that Wang Shuo is a man of laughter, anger, and scolding in the literary world.

Wang Xiaobo was the opposite of him. He was unknown and never associated with people in the literary circle. In his own words, "He was just a maverick pig."

He was unknown before his death, but gradually became known to the world after his death. He was regarded as a great writer by countless young literary and artistic people. Some people even called themselves "Wang Xiaobo's lackeys" and even published a book called "Wang Xiaobo's lackeys"!
His "Trilogy of Ages": "The Golden Age", "The Silver Age" and "The Bronze Age", and the most famous one is "The Golden Age".

Before coming to the era, Fang Minghua had read "The Golden Age", a novella of about 30,000 words, which was conceived by Wang Xiaobo based on his experience of "joining the team" in Yunnan Province.

Through the light and dark lines of the male and female protagonists, the novel tells the passionate "love story" between Wang Er, a sent-down youth who went to the countryside in Yunnan Province, and a female doctor named Chen Qingyang.

Later, it won the United Daily News Literary Award for Novella, and was called "the most influential novel in the 40 years of reform and opening up."

Fang Minghua still remembers a passage from it.

"It was getting dark, and there were lazy clouds floating in the sky. The lower half of the clouds sank into darkness, while the upper half still floated in the sun.

I was 21 years old that day, in the golden age of my life, and I had many extravagant wishes. I wanted to love, to eat, and to turn into a half-bright, half-dark cloud in the sky in an instant.

Later I learned that life is a slow process of being hammered. As you get older, your hopes disappear, and you end up like a hammered ox. But I didn’t foresee this when I turned 21. I thought I would be strong forever, and nothing could hammer me.

He quickly opened the book and found this passage.

Reading it now still makes me feel deeply moved.

Wang Xiaobo also wrote a preface to this book, which mainly describes the creation process of "The Golden Age".

After graduating from university in 1982 at the age of , Wang Xiaobo taught at the First Branch of Renmin University of China. His life as a teacher was the background for the writing of novels such as "Standing at ". During this period, Wang Xiaobo began to write "The Golden Age".

In 1984, Wang Xiaobo followed his wife Li Yinhe to the University of Pittsburgh to study. A history professor named Xu Zhuoyun got to know him and read the first draft of "The Golden Age". He found it very interesting and decided to give him careful guidance.

It was not until 1992 that this novella was completed.

Xu Zhuoyun, the person Wang Xiaobo has always been grateful to, was a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Pittsburgh. He later had another identity: the great-uncle of the famous singer Wang Leehom.

But why did the publishing house in Hong Kong give it this name?
"Ximi, I just flipped through it. Although this book contains erotic descriptions, it doesn't seem to be related to the romantic culture of Hong Kong. Why is it named like this?" Fang Minghua felt strange.

"Romance culture is popular in Hong Kong now. I guess the publishing house is just trying to create a gimmick to make the novel sell better," Chen Ximi explained.

This?
Fang Minghua suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.

A serious novel turned into a pornographic book.

Chen Ximi said that Wang Xiaobo was also very unhappy when he heard the news, but there was nothing he could do because he had to listen to others if he wanted to publish in Hong Kong.

"Ximi, how about this, I'll take it back first, show it to the editor at Shengshi Books, and then give you a reply in the end?"

"Okay, take your time to read it. No one will publish it anyway."

Fang Minghua took the book with her after leaving Shi Tiesheng's house. At night, Fang Minghua returned to the General Political Department compound and read it again while lying on the bed.

After reading it, I fell into deep thought.

"The Golden Age" is undoubtedly a work of educated youth literature, but it is completely different from previous educated youth literature. The author did not reflect a lot of pain and distortion in the work, nor did he reveal resistance to politics. Instead, through pure and absurd descriptions, with "sex" as the intervention point, he completed his thinking about individual existence and the essence of life.

But the problem lies in "sex". It makes sense that Xiangjiang Publishing House classifies this book into the "Romance Series".

However, Jia Pingwa’s “Wasteland” has been successfully published before, so this book should not be a problem either.

I don’t know what Su Bin thinks after reading this book?
Fang Minghua suddenly thought of going to Shencheng to meet Su Bin.

Besides, Shengshi Book Company moved to Shanghai and acquired land in Pudong to build a building. Zhao Hongjun had always asked him to come to Shanghai to take a look, but he was too lazy to go. This time he agreed to Zhao Hongjun's request to prevent him from nagging on the phone all the time.

Since the decision was made, the next morning, Fang Minghua first called Song Tangtang to say that he was going to Shanghai and would be back in a few days. Then he called Zhao Hongjun's mobile phone and said that he was now in Yanjing and was preparing to come to Shanghai.

"Haha, you finally came and see our Shengshi Building!" Zhao Hongjun was very proud on the phone.

It turned out that after the Spring Festival last year, Zhao Hongjun bought a 20-acre piece of land near Lujiazui in Pudong and built an 1.1-story building as the headquarters of Shengshi Group, with an estimated cost of million yuan.

In Zhao Hongjun's words, except for a small part of the building used by Shengshi Group, the rest will be rented out as office space.

Fang Minghua agreed.

It is not a big deal to keep several hundred million in cash in an account, and domestic inflation has been severe in recent years. The inflation rate in 1993 was as high as 13.4%!

Money is depreciating rapidly, so spending it is the right thing to do.

From land acquisition to construction, Fang Minghua had never visited the site, so he decided to go and take a look this time.

After saying goodbye to Song Tangtang's grandparents, Fang Minghua carried his travel bag and boarded a train heading south.

Fang Minghua took the express train No. 13/14, which was rated as the "National Red Flag Train" and had excellent service, no less than the high-speed trains of later generations.

What’s more important is that he bought a soft sleeper, and the carriage was equipped with a 14-inch Venus brand color TV, which was a great treatment.

However, Fang Minghua felt that watching those boring programs on TV was not as good as looking at the scenery outside the window.

Although it was an express train, it still took sixteen hours to arrive in Shanghai, and it was already two o'clock in the morning.

The current Shanghai Railway Station is no longer the old railway station, but a new one built in the late 1980s. Although it is the middle of the night, the station is brightly lit and bustling with people.

As soon as Fang Minghua walked out of the exit, he heard someone calling him: "Chairman Fang! Teacher Fang!"

Turning around, it was Jin Bo.

Jin Bo is the son of Lao Jin, the former editor of Shengshi Books. After being recruited, he has been following Zhao Hongjun from Xijing to Hainan. After the real estate company was established, he was transferred there as deputy general manager. Now that the real estate company has been deregistered, he has returned to the group headquarters and serves as the director of the group office. He still follows Zhao Hongjun every day and now his family has simply settled in Shanghai.

"Teacher Fang, Mr. Zhao asked me to pick you up at the station." Jin Bo enthusiastically took the travel bag from Fang Minghua's hand.

"The room has been booked. I'll take you to the hotel now."

Fang Minghua took the Crown car driven by Jin Bo and headed straight to the New Jinjiang Hotel.

(End of this chapter)