The literary era since 1979

Chapter 42 A Letter from Ba Lao
On Thursday afternoon, it was Wu Zuxiang's turn to talk about "Dream of the Red Chamber".

"do you know?"

"Why does Daiyu always quarrel with Baoyu?"

"Why is Daiyu so awkward? She always tries to test Baoyu, but once he reveals his true feelings, she says he bullies her?"

Wu Zuxiang leaned slightly to the side, sat behind the desk, and prepared to have a long conversation. "Tell me, why is this happening?"

Fangyan pricked up his ears and listened carefully. He was a fan of the Dream of the Red Chamber in his previous life. It was a rare opportunity to listen to Wu Zuxiang personally talk about the Dream of the Red Chamber!
"Fangyan, tell me about it."

Wu Zuxiang stared at him with a smile.

Fangyan pursed his lips. Ever since he was too excited in the previous classes and accidentally exposed his knowledge as a "little expert in the study of the Dream of the Red Chamber", he immediately stood out from the other students and was directly targeted by the old gentleman.

"Teacher Wu, I think the root of the problem lies in the separation between men and women."

"You need to add four more words in front of it: 'feudal ethics'."

Wu Zuxiang slapped the table and said, "Of course, Daiyu's personality is also involved. She doesn't want to be underestimated by Baoyu, so even if they are in love, they have to use other things to express their feelings."

"For example, when Baoyu was beaten by Jia Zheng, it was a decisive exchange in their emotional history. Daiyu went to visit him and said, 'You should change from now on,' and Baoyu replied, 'Don't worry, don't say such things. I would be willing to die for these people.'"

"There is a lot of meaning in this. It is actually Baoyu's confession of his love to Daiyu, and Daiyu also understood it. You see, from then on, Daiyu never had a temper with Baoyu again."

When Wu Zuxiang got excited, he leaned over the desk and stared at the students in the front row with shining eyes.

Especially the dialect, it seemed to be asking him: Is that what you mean?

"Yes Yes Yes……"

Fangyan smiled awkwardly and said, "Please stop asking me this!"

But even though I complained, I benefited a lot from it. I felt it was much better than what Liu Xinwu said, and I didn't over-interpret some parts...

For example, Daiyu drowned in the lake.

"Jingle Bell."

When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, both teachers and students were still reluctant to leave.

Wang Anyi and Tie Ning were deskmates. He leaned sideways and looked at Fang Yan and Mo Shen behind him. "Why do I feel that Teacher Wu likes Lin Daiyu but hates Xue Baochai?"

Fangyan simply explains that "supporting Dai and disparaging Chai" is the current mainstream stance, which is in stark contrast to the stance of "honoring Chai and suppressing Dai" in the Zhiping version.

After saying that, let me ask a question: do you support Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, or do you support Xue Baochai and Jia Baoyu?
"Of course it's Daiyu and Baoyu."

Wang Anyi and Tie Ning looked at each other.

"I think so too."

Fangyan took it for granted.

"Why did you say that?"

Tie Ning blinked.

"Because the love between Daiyu and Baoyu is in line with the love that young boys and girls yearn for. It is not mixed with any utilitarian things, transcends the world, and does not consider the other party's family background. The emotion is the purest, happiest, most romantic and happy."

Fang Yan's mouth curled up slightly, "You agree, right?"

"Yanzi, you are so bold. You dare to talk about 'love' and 'romance' so easily!"

Even though Tie Ning was a mature girl, her face turned red instantly.

Wang Anyi didn't dare to look directly at him, "That's right, luckily we know you, otherwise we would have thought you were being a hooligan."

"........."

Fangyan slapped his forehead. At that time, he was very reserved in talking about love, and he didn't even dare to say "I like you" to express his feelings.

But it may be to sublimate the friendship between revolutionaries and revolutionaries.

"So, do you want to marry Lin Daiyu or Xue Baochai?" Wang Anyi blinked.

"Me? I won't choose. I'm not a coward like Jia Baoyu."

Fangyan smacked his lips. He couldn't afford it now, and he didn't dare to ask for it. These days, if he dared to have any improper thoughts, he would have to eat peanuts!

Just as he was thinking about it, Jiang Dan's voice came from the door:

"Fangyan, Teacher Xu asked you to go to the office!"

.........

The preparatory group's office was not big, so Li Qingquan, Xu Gang, Gu Jianzhi and other leaders of the institute had to squeeze into one room.

At this time, a completely unfamiliar face appeared. "Let me introduce you, this is the editor of Harvest, Ms. Li Xiaolin."

After Xu Gang introduced them to each other, Fang Yan and Li Xiaolin exchanged a few words. When he learned that she was Li Yaotang's daughter, his heart skipped a beat. Li Xiaolin was also looking at him calmly.

"Let's talk."

Xu Gang and others left, leaving them enough space.

"Comrade Xiao Fang, let's get straight to the point."

Li Xiaolin took out the manuscript from her briefcase and said, "Everyone in our editorial department thinks your novel is very good. The subject matter, the story, the structure, and the beginning are all very good."

“Have you ever seen any works of magical realism?”

As soon as the question was posed, her eyes looked straight at him.

Fang Yan nodded, "Yes."

"No wonder."

Li Xiaolin said in an appreciative tone: "I didn't expect you to know so much at such a young age. You must have read a lot of books, right?"

Yes, I have learned a lot of miscellaneous knowledge!
Fang Yan smiled and said: "Books are the ladder of human progress. This sentence has always inspired me to make progress."

The two chatted for a while and then got down to business.

Although it is called a revision, there are not many places in "The Counterfeiter" that really need to be revised, and they are just some minor details.

The biggest problem turned out to be just the title of the book.

"Change the subject?"

Fangyan was surprised.

Li Xiaolin truthfully stated the reason: "My father suggested changing it to 'Secret War', and our editorial department also thinks that this is a more appropriate summary of the struggle on the hidden front. What do you think?"

Fang Yan pondered and said, "The great man once said that if we want to destroy the enemy, we must have two kinds of wars, one is an open war, and the other is a covert war. In the dragon's den and the tiger's lair, we must endure humiliation and dodge all kinds of open and hidden arrows. When it comes to a life-and-death struggle, we must plan secretly and kill the enemy invisibly. This kind of war is called a 'covert war', and I have no objection."

"That's very well said!"

Li Xiaolin couldn't help but applaud.

Fangyan smiled, then revised the manuscript neatly according to the revision plan they had just discussed and handed it back.

“The novel will be published in early May.”

Li Xiaolin put the manuscript back into her briefcase. "Oh, by the way, there is one more thing I need to ask for your consent. This novel is very suitable for being adapted into a play. If a theater wants to adapt it, would you be willing?"

Fang Yan said with embarrassment: "I know nothing about dialogue drama. If I were to write it, I'm afraid..."

"That doesn't matter. The theater has dedicated scriptwriters."

Li Xiaolin waved her hand.

What Fangyan cares about is not this, but how much money he will get if he doesn’t become a screenwriter. After all, it’s my money! It’s all my money!

Fortunately, Li Xiaolin didn't think too much about it and told him everything she knew. She said that she would give him a sum of money for the manuscript, but it wasn't much, only about one or two hundred yuan.

However, if the work is performed multiple times, he, the original author, may not have a share, which is equivalent to buying out the copyright in one go.

Thinking of this, Fang Yan said, "I'm fine now."

"correct."

Before he left, Li Xiaolin took out a letter without a stamp from her briefcase and said, "My father knew that I was coming to Yanjing to ask you to revise my manuscript, so he asked me to bring you a letter."

"A letter from Ba Lao?"

Fangyan returned to the classroom from the office, still a little confused.

He pinched a corner of the envelope with both hands, stared at it for a while, as if forgetting the existence of Tie Ning, Wang Anyi and others, and tore open the seal.

“Originally, when I learned that you had only completed two short stories, The Horse Herder and Loess Plateau, and had no experience in novellas or novels, I couldn’t help but feel a little worried about your work.

I have also reflected on whether I did the right thing by asking you to write an article.

Will it put too much pressure on you, will it do something bad with good intentions, or will it force you to take action to overcome your shortcomings?
But you broke all my worries!

The excellence of your novel is beyond my expectation.

Even I can't think of any major flaws to find other than the title.

To be honest, this doesn’t seem like a novel that a young writer could write, but maybe it’s because I’m old and my eyes are blurry, so I may have made a mistake. Please don’t take an old man’s confusion to heart…”

(End of this chapter)