The literary era since 1979

Chapter 108 Girls’ Friend, Women’s Treasure

June 6, October editorial office.

Fangyan brought back a basket of letters from Uncle Dong.

"Yanzi, you have received so many letters again. They are all from readers of "Under the Hawthorn Tree", right?" Tian Zengxiang asked.

Fangyan smiled bitterly. The number of letters received for "Under the Hawthorn Tree" was beyond his imagination and had even exceeded that of "The Great Qin Splitting".

In addition to letters from readers, there is a constant stream of requests for articles from newspapers and magazines, film studios scrambling for adaptation rights, invitations to symposiums, etc.

The whole person seemed to be drowned by the mountain of faith and the sea of ​​​​knowledge.

"This shows that everyone likes "Under the Hawthorn Tree". You should be happy." Tian Zengxiang laughed.

“Nothing in the world can satisfy everyone.”

Fangyan waved his hand, "In the letters I received, many parents criticized me, saying that Under the Hawthorn Tree promotes early love and has a bad influence."

"Puppy love? Hahaha!"

Tian Zengxiang laughed out loud.

Fang Yan said: "Some people also criticized me for running out of ideas and not doing my job properly by writing about love between men and women. I should focus my creative energy on grand narratives such as reform literature and historical literature."

"Teacher Fang."

Since Fang Yan was promoted to deputy team leader, He Xin has changed his address to "Teacher Fang". "I think this view makes some sense. Love is a minor topic after all. It is inevitable that what you write will be regarded as popular literature."

“Literature comes from the masses. I can only say that what I write is for the masses and belongs to the people’s literature.”

What the dialect says is the spirit passed down by Shen Yanbing.

"That's right. So many readers wrote to Yanzi. Isn't that enough to show how much the people need romance novels?"

Tian Zengxiang said seriously that "October" must shoulder such a heavy responsibility and promote the slogan of "love returns to literature."

"but……"

He Xin frowned.

"I know Mr. He's concerns, but not all romance novels are popular literature." Fang Yan said, "Mr. Lu Xun also wrote a romance novel like "Sorrows of Passion". It can be seen that whether it is popular or serious, vulgar or great depends on the writer. For example, Qiong Yao's romance novels are not vanilla."

"Yanzi, what you said is right!"

Tian Zengxiang echoed, "If we don't care about romance novels, wouldn't that be like handing this position over to Qiong Yao?"

"Teacher Fang is the acting team leader. I will obey your instructions."

He Xin was speechless for a moment and curled his lips.

"But Yanzi, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you're really not nice." There was a hint of resentment in Tian Zengxiang's tone.

Fangyan asked, "Where did this come from?"

Tian Zengxiang said sadly: "You wrote such a good work "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and mentioned that "October" should raise the banner of supporting romance novels, why didn't you think of publishing it in "October"?"

Fangyan explained, "Besides, Under the Hawthorn Tree is a long novel. I am now the agent of the long novel group, so I have to avoid suspicion."

Tian Zengxiang said with regret: "The novel can be unpublished, but the poem "Life Was Slow in the Past" can still be published. Teacher Yan next door said that it is a pity not to publish such a good poem in October."

"I just thought you were complimenting me."

Fangyan laughed and changed the subject: "Old Tian, ​​these newspapers want me to reprint "The Love of Hawthorn Tree", but I don't know any of them. Can you help me look for them?"

Tian Zengxiang came over and said, "These are newspapers published by city and county cultural centers, Yanzi, you can make money again."

"Really!"

Fangyan flipped through the letter and raised his eyebrows.

In order to enrich the amateur cultural life of the common people, cultural centers across the country successively established literary tabloids, such as the library-run newspapers in Yenching, "Dandelion" in Xicheng, "Bell and Drum Tower" in Dongcheng, "Fangcaodi" in Chaoyang, and "Maple Leaf" in Haidian later.

It appeared in the streets and alleys of the old city. A newspaper cost a few cents, and every few minutes a citizen would pay to buy one.

"You have Under the Hawthorn Tree, right? Give me a copy!"

There was a lot of noise and bustle among the crowd.

Wang Shuo squeezed out and opened the newspaper while reading.

For a moment, I was fascinated by the book. Although the text was simple, the story was so sincere and touching that even a grown man could not help but be moved.

But while I was moved, I suddenly felt my shoulder being patted.

"What are you looking at?"

My best friend Ye Jing leaned over and said, "Hey, Love Under the Hawthorn Tree, what are you looking at, old man?"

Wang Shuo curled his lips, "You haven't seen it?"

"Of course I haven't seen it. Which grown man would watch this?"

Ye Jing felt very guilty.

"Look, there's a patch of it over there!"

Wang Shuo pointed to the crowd of people rushing to buy newspapers. Most of them were women, but there were also many men. After reading it, most of the men were silent and the women were in tears. Then he suddenly felt itchy and had the idea of ​​writing.

"You? Just you? You can write novels?" Ye Jing said.

"What? It's not like I haven't written it before!"

Wang Shuo said that when he was in the army, he published his debut novel "Waiting", which was also about a little girl from Yenching who had disagreements with her parents on concepts such as love and ideals. After the novel was published, he was immediately seconded to work as an editor in a military journal.

"Really? Then I'd like to see it for myself."

Ye Jing asked with interest: "What are you going to write?"

"Love! Of course it's a love story!"

When Wang Shuo saw the newspapers being sold out, he keenly realized the hidden value and potential of romance novels.

"Hey, don't say that yet."

Ye Jing smiled and said, "'Under the Hawthorn Tree' is about love, and 'The Horse Herder' is also about love. It is really good to write love stories."

When Wang Shuo heard about The Horse Herder, he angrily said, "Speaking of this makes me angry. Don't let me meet that bastard!"

Ye Jing was secretly happy. Wang Shuo's fare evasion and being caught had made everyone in the compound laugh for a whole week. She pretended to cough:

"Let's not talk about that. What love story are you going to write?"

"The love of a navy soldier! The story of a seagull!"

Wang Shuo said casually, looking at the dispersing crowd.

There is an endless stream of people coming and going on the streets.

The only possible similarity was that they each had a copy of the cultural center's newspaper, and of course, Yu Hua also had a copy.

His eyes were fixed on "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

But he said: "The third brother died well, a wonderful death."

Yu Hua looked up at the cultural center not far away. In order to be transferred here, he never stopped reading and writing literature.

Recently, when I read Yasunari Kawabata, I felt the charm of death.

There is no higher art than dying, death is life!

Death is the ultimate beauty!

If Lao San hadn't died, he and Jing Qiu would have had a happy ending, but "Under the Hawthorn Tree" would have been just a mediocre work. But Lao San died and Jing Qiu lived. Such a regrettable ending, such a painful tragedy, sublimated the work.

No wonder Lu Xun said that the real tragedy is to tear beautiful things into pieces and show them to people!
Lu Xun did this, Kawabata Yasunari did this, and Fang Yan did this too, and they all became great writers because of this.

I have to do that too!

Yu Hua felt that he had grasped the essence of the matter. Recalling the nurses in the clinic crying bitterly because of the death of the third child, he smiled and said, "Is Teacher Fang secretly happy at this moment?"

"Oh, my headache!"

In the room, Fangyan shook his head and laughed.

Making the readers sad will only make the author even more miserable.

Nowadays, not only the workplace but also my family has received letters from readers forwarded by the editorial department of Literary Gazette, especially from women.

Girls, young women, aunts, middle-aged women...

Moreover, the contents of the letters are varied.

Some of them had a strong sense of empathy, felt sad for Jingqiu, scolded Fangyan and questioned why the third brother was killed!

Some are curious, is there really such a perfect man as the third one?

Some of them, while marveling at the perfection and affection of the third brother, confided their sad secrets, telling about their painful past when they were seduced by bad men and abandoned, and regretted that they had not met a man who loved them as much as the third brother did.

There was even a fanatical young woman who threatened in a letter that if you didn't write back by a certain date, "I will die in front of you!"

But they all expressed their love and touching feelings for "Under the Hawthorn Tree", and even regarded Fangyan, whom they had never met before, as the most trustworthy person, and wrote some of their little secrets in the letter.

Just treat him as a tree hole! A caring brother!
Do I have the potential to be a gigolo?
Looking at the pile of letters that was as high as a small mountain, Fang Yan smacked his lips and said, "It seems that I have to buy another courtyard to store the letters."

"Yanzi, what were you talking to yourself just now?"

Fang Hong walked in, puzzled.

Fangyan half-jokingly said, "This room is too small. There is no place to put the letter. I am thinking of finding a house to store the letter."

"You're going to buy a house just to store the letter?"

Fang Hong rolled her eyes and said, "Then shouldn't we sleep in the quadrangle with three courtyards?"

"Just for your sake, sister, it wouldn't be too much for our family to live in a quadrangle with five courtyards." Fang Yan smiled.

"Stop talking nonsense and clean up quickly."

Fang Hong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "We should go to the factory to watch a movie."

(End of this chapter)