The literary era since 1979

"Hang the banner higher!"

"A little higher! Yes, right here!"

In the winery cafeteria, Li Jingwei sat with his hands on his hips, directing everyone and arranging a welcome ceremony for Fangyan.

The secretary hurriedly said in an anxious tone: "Director, Teacher Fang and the others will be here soon, let's hurry to the door."

"It's coming soon, right?"

Li Jingwei immediately ordered the kitchen, "Hurry up and stew the chicken. It must be cooked when Teacher Fang comes to eat."

The secretary was stunned. "Pot, pot gas?"

Li Jingwei said angrily: "The anger of the pot, Teacher Fang wrote about it in "A Bite of China", you don't even understand this!"

"Oh, I see, Director. I'll notify the kitchen right away and make sure there's enough steam to heat the pot!"

As the secretary ran to the kitchen, Li Jingwei walked towards the gate of the winery.

There were red flags waving and huge crowds of people. Both sides of the gate were filled with factory employees, all holding paper and pens, waiting for Fangyan.

"Teacher Fang will be here soon, let's rehearse one last time!"

Li Jingwei raised his right hand, "As long as I raise my hand like this..."

"Welcome Mr. Fang to our factory!"

"Welcome, welcome, warm welcome!"

For a moment, everyone shouted in unison, the sound was deafening, just short of the sound of gongs and drums and firecrackers.

"Well done!"

Li Jingwei raised his hand again, and the deafening voice stopped immediately, "Be alert, don't lose points!"

So, under everyone's expectation, Fang Yan appeared in front of them with Han Yuemin and others in the car.

As soon as he got off the car, Li Jingwei hurriedly raised his hand, and then, amid warm cheers, he went forward to greet them.

Han Yuemin was surprised by the enthusiasm of the employees. He looked around and his eyes gradually filled with envy.

State-owned units are still better!

Even the winery in the county has both the people and the factory, unlike me, a clothing business owner, who dares not expand at all.

Following Li Jingwei, we came to the production workshop and visited the beer production line and the "Jianlibao" assembly line.

"Teacher Fang, our factory held a meeting to study the name 'Jianlibao' that you proposed, and we unanimously agreed to use this name as the name of our newly developed beverage!" Li Jingwei's tone was full of gratitude.

Seeing the glass bottles on the assembly line, Fang Yan suddenly asked, "Then Director Li, have you ever thought about changing the packaging of Jianlibao?"

The leaders of the winery looked at each other in confusion. Li Jingwei was also curious about what kind of packaging to use.

Fangyan said: "Of course it's cans like Coca-Cola and Pepsi."

Li Jingwei became more and more interested. "Teacher Fang, why do you think Jianlibao should change its packaging to cans?"

To put it bluntly, beverage factories of all sizes across the country all use glass bottles, and the packaging is all the same. If Jianlibao can be the first to use cans, it will be able to stand out from the crowd of beverages and be positioned a level higher than other beverages.

The key point is that both Coca-Cola and Pepsi use cans for packaging, while Jianlibao is keeping up with the international standards and is very classy!

"hiss!"

Li Jingwei took a deep breath and couldn't help but feel excited.

But after thinking about it, he couldn't help but said regretfully: "But Mr. Fang, let alone our factory, I'm afraid there is no can production line in the whole country."

"That's right, the factory manager is absolutely right!"

"Even if there is such a production line, how much would it cost? With this money, how many more Jianlibao can be produced?"

"Yes, packaging is not important. As long as it tastes good, I think Jianlibao will have no problem selling. As the saying goes, inner beauty is the real beauty!"

"........."

Faced with everyone's doubts, Li Jingwei didn't think so. If it was really possible to use cans for packaging, he would definitely arrange it.

Seeing this, Fangyan didn't explain much, just smiled and walked into the office.

On the table, the four treasures of the study - pen, ink, paper and inkstone - were already laid out, and a paperweight was neatly holding down a piece of white paper.

Fangyan picked up the pen because he had a close relationship with calligraphy masters such as Shen Congwen and Qi Gong. Under the influence of them, he was able to write calligraphy well.

Although he did not reach the level of popularity like Qi Gong, and people blocked his door to ask for his calligraphy, he was finally forced to hang a "letter of exemption from war" at the door, which read "The giant panda is sick, no visitors allowed". As a result, the note was stolen, but he finally got the old man's praise.

The handwriting is better than that of other people at his age!
This is enough!

The pen moved quickly and smoothly, and the three words "Jianlibao" appeared in the eyes of everyone present.

One of them was very surprised, "I thought Teacher Fang could write traditional Chinese characters, do you prefer to write simplified Chinese characters?"

Fang Yan said seriously: "This is not a question of whether I like to write or not, or whether it looks good or not. The standardization of Chinese characters is stipulated by national laws. I have to implement what the law stipulates."

Li Jingwei was overjoyed and asked someone to keep the words and design a trademark to match the words later.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "It seems that Director Li attaches great importance to this 'Jianlibao'."

"you do not say!"

Li Jingwei said: "To be honest, our factory's future depends on this beverage. If there is really no can production line in China, I would like to do as you said before and put cans on Jianlibao! It will surpass all the beverages in the country!"

Fangyan pointed out that there is indeed no can production line in China, but there are OEM factories for Coca-Cola and Pepsi in China.

Li Jingwei immediately understood: "You mean, you want them to do OEM for Jianlibao?"

As a shareholder who has been increasing his holdings of Coca-Cola shares for a long time, Fangyan knows that the Coca-Cola OEM factory will not refuse this deal.

The factory leaders were worried about the high cost and advised: "It's just a package, don't go to such great lengths."

Fang Yan said meaningfully: "This year our athletes are going to Los Angeles to participate in the Olympics."

Li Jingwei seemed to understand, but not quite, and vaguely linked Jianlibao with the Olympics.

Han Yuemin sneered at these short-sighted people, "There are so many beverage giants in the country competing for the sponsorship of sports delegations. If Jianlibao changes to international packaging like cans, why should we worry about not getting the sponsorship?"

In an instant, there was an uproar and everyone in the room was shocked.

Li Jingwei's eyes lit up instantly, "Teacher Fang, who is this?"

Fangyan introduced it confidently, "You should have watched this year's Spring Festival Gala, right?"

Han Yuemin raised his chin and said, "We sponsor the Spring Festival Gala! We also designed and produced the clothes worn by the male and female hosts of the Spring Festival Gala!"

As soon as these words came out, many pairs of eyes immediately stared at him, it really is true that the real man does not reveal his true face!

Li Jingwei had naturally watched the 84 Spring Festival Gala. He had always looked up to Mr. Fang because he was Teacher Fang's brother-in-law, and now he was even more in awe of him.

Han Yuemin followed Fangyan's eye contact and continued, "If we switch to cans, I think Jianlibao will definitely be far ahead of other beverages in terms of packaging, image, taste, color, and quality. If it becomes the first choice of sports delegations..."

He looked at Li Jingwei, "Director Li, what will Jianlibao look like in the future?"

Li Jingwei swallowed his saliva. The scene was so beautiful that he could hardly imagine it.

Han Yuemin smiled and said that he could help on the Coca-Cola can production line.

If someone is too nice to you, he is either a traitor or a thief. Li Jingwei couldn't help but be alert, not believing that he would help him for no reason. "In fact, this time, he insisted on coming along, saying that he wanted to discuss a business deal with Director Li."

After Fang Yan finished his work as a middleman, he gave Han Yuemin a look and said, "You guys continue the conversation. I'll go out for a walk."

Watching the departing figure, Li Jingwei hurriedly asked his secretary to follow as a guide, feeling vaguely in his heart -

This trip by Teacher Fang has brought me a great opportunity!

…………

Strolling along the way, Fang Yan, led by his secretary, came to the library lending room with Fan Hansheng, Lin Xianzhi and others.

At the door, there is a sloping bookshelf, with layers of newspapers, periodicals and magazines.

"Teacher Fang!"

As soon as the librarian saw Fangyan, he came over excitedly.

When the other people present heard this, they swarmed over and surrounded Fangyan and his companions.

"These two issues of Science Fiction World and your Malice are the ones that have been borrowed the most times."

"Besides these, what types of novels are usually borrowed the most?"

"Boys like to read martial arts novels, while girls like to read romance novels..."

Listening to the librarian's answer, Fangyan felt that the demand for popular literature was growing.

At this moment, a voice suddenly emerged from the crowd, "Teacher Fang, can you take a look at my manuscript?"

"he is?"

Fangyan looked in the direction of the voice and saw the man struggling to squeeze to the front of the crowd, holding a thick stack of manuscripts in his hand.

The secretary introduced this man as Lin Jian, the publicity officer of the winery. He liked writing and reading in his spare time, and often published some of his poems, essays, and novels in the factory newspaper. He was considered a famous "scholar" in the factory.

Fang Yan asked, "Have you ever thought about submitting to a journal outside of the factory?"

"I have voted, more than ten times."

Lin Jian said embarrassedly that none of his papers had been published successfully. The manuscripts he submitted to magazines such as "Huacheng" and "Foshan Literature and Art" either fell into the sea or received a rejection letter saying "There are many similar manuscripts, please keep working hard."

"This this……"

Lin Xianzhi gave an awkward but polite smile.

If a rejection letter receives this kind of reply, generally speaking, the work you sent is not very good and does not meet the editorial department's standards.

The secretary frowned, worried that Lin Jian's rash behavior would affect Fang Yan's impression of the winery.

"I just want Teacher Fang to give me some comments. If I really am not cut out for this, I will stop writing novels in the future."

Lin Jian said with his neck stiff.

"Don't ever say that."

Fangyan reached out and picked it up. The title was "Late at night, there is a person on the beach."

It sounds like pure literature on the theme of loneliness, but it is actually about the story of farmers working in a garment factory in Pengcheng.

My attention was quickly drawn to a sentence, "I was assigned to an assembly line, an endless assembly line..."

Seeing his frown, Lin Jian felt uneasy and held his breath.

After careful consideration of the dialect, "the writing style is a little rough."

"Look!"

The secretary's tone was somewhat blaming, and the workers around him had different expressions, helpless, disappointed, sympathetic...

Of course, there was also discordant laughter mixed in, full of gloating.

Lin Jian lowered his head in shame, but heard:

"Don't laugh, although it is immature and crude, it is full of deep emotion, and it describes the migrant workers' wandering, helplessness, and homesickness."

Fangyan said seriously, "In my opinion, this is a completely new literary genre!"

“A completely new literary genre?!”

Everyone, including Lin Xianzhi and Fan Hansheng, were shocked and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Yes, for now we can call it 'workplace literature'."

Fangyan looked around and said, "Or maybe there's a more understandable name, 'migrant worker literature'!"

"........."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. There was complete silence. No one dared to ask, no one dared to speak. The atmosphere became heavy and depressing in the silence.

Finally, it was Fan Hansheng, the editor-in-chief of Huacheng, who stood up and said, "Teacher Fang, can migrant worker literature be considered a kind of literature?"

"Why not?" Fang Yan said, "Literature is the study of human beings. Does that mean that workers are no longer human beings?"

Fan Hansheng nodded, "Of course."

“Since they are human beings, why can’t we create works based on workers?”

Fang Yan said: "In fact, migrant worker literature itself is a variation of labor literature."

As soon as they heard the term labor literature, Fan Hansheng, Lin Xianzhi, and the editors of Foshan Literature and Art immediately understood.

For example, "How the Steel Was Tempered" tells the story of how Pavel Korchagin became a steel worker after going through a series of labors. This masterpiece itself is a piece of labor literature.

“Labor literature is a genre of literature that takes labor and laborers as its subject matter, and migrant workers are of course also laborers!”

Fang Yan said: "Moreover, there will be more and more such migrant workers in eastern Guangdong in the future, and this phenomenon of migrant workers will become more and more common."

"Teacher Fang is right!"

"Some of our fellow villagers have gone to Pengcheng to work!"

The workers surrounding them responded one after another, and Lin Xianzhi, Fan Hansheng and others acquiesced.

After all, since the implementation of the "three-in-one" policy, more and more Hong Kong garment industries have accelerated their migration to the mainland and invested in building factories.

From this time on, labor literature, or "migrant worker literature", had the soil to grow.

"Have you read this article "Late at night, there is a person on the beach"? "

Fangyan looked left and right and saw many people nodding, so he asked further about their thoughts after reading.

Listening to the comments like "real" and "touching" one word at a time, Lin Jian felt like he was listening to heavenly music and he felt elated.

"It is precisely because it is a novel about migrant workers that it can resonate with you, who are also working people."

Fang Yan said: "Although it has some flaws, it is full of the texture of life and the pain of survival. It is simple and sincere, which is very valuable. I think there is no problem in publishing it in magazines such as Huacheng and Foshan Literature and Art."

As he spoke, he handed the manuscript to Fan Hansheng, Lin Xianzhi and others, and asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

(PS: Migrant worker literature does exist in reality) (End of this chapter)