The literary era since 1979

On September 9, a breeze blew through the window and into the kitchen.

Gong Xing placed the cut fruits on a plate, then carried the plate into the noisy living room.

At this moment, Fang Yan, Bai Ruoxue and Pan Yaoming were chatting animatedly, ranging from the establishment and site selection of the Hong Kong branch of the foundation, to the recruitment and management of the cultural and entertainment publishing company, to the drafting of a list of international writing plans for next year. The whole discussion lasted nearly 2 hours.

"For the mainland, this time we will choose the winner of the second Mao Dun Literature Prize."

Pan Yaoming cast a questioning look, "What about Xiangjiang?"

"Li Bihua and Guo Chongyuan."

Fangyan named the candidate he had already thought of.

"I have no objection to pushing Li Bihua."

Pan Yaoming frowned: "But this Guo Chongyuan, I don't think I've ever heard of this person in the Hong Kong literary world. Who is he?"

While placing the fruit plate on the coffee table, Gong Xing explained with a smile that Guo Chongyuan was Li Bihua's boyfriend.

"So you want to be the matchmaker and bring this couple together!" Pan Yaoming understood.

"Yes and no."

Fang Yan said that Guo Chongyuan is now Li Bihua's fiancé, and the only thing left is marriage. This international writing project can be regarded as an early honeymoon for the couple, but the more important reason is that the English version of "Farewell My Concubine" has been published in the United States.

Random House organized book clubs and other promotional activities, but they were unable to spare the time, so they had to ask co-author Li Bihua to do it.

"Kill two birds with one stone. Okay, let's pick these two!"

Pan Yaoming asked Bai Ruoxue to record it.

"The key is that they are patriotic."

Fang Yan said: "The reason why we want to establish an education foundation in Hong Kong and increase the number of Hong Kong writers and students in international writing programs and scholarship programs is that we hope to discover and cultivate a group of patriotic and progressive intellectuals in Hong Kong's literary and academic circles."

Then he looked left and right, "This force is growing and should not be underestimated. Let's not talk about the long-term benefits. For example, for Sanlian Bookstore and our publishing company, writers like Li Bihua and Guo Chongyuan can become a stable source of manuscripts and partners for copyright agencies..."

"Iwako is right!"

Pan Yaoming slapped his thigh and said, "Although I have only been the deputy editor-in-chief of Sanlian Bookstore for a short time, according to my investigation, the biggest problem of Sanlian Bookstore at present is not the problem of poor management and financial losses, but rather the poor sales and profitability of publications."

"Is it bad?"

Fangyan picked up a toothpick, poked a piece of the apple and put it in his mouth.

"It's not just bad, it's really bad!"

Pan Yaoming shook his head and laughed. As a window for mainland literature to Hong Kong, Joint Publishing had published numerous high-quality novels, books and tomes. However, on the one hand, these writers did not have the fame of dialects in Hong Kong, and on the other hand, the citizens of Hong Kong who were keen on popular literature had no interest in this kind of serious literature and theoretical works. Therefore, they basically could not make a profit and could only lose money to gain publicity. Even if they made a few profits occasionally, they could not withstand such losses.

Then he counted on his fingers: "This does not include rent, water, electricity, printing, labor, and royalties..."

"Hiss, if it continues to run like this, how has Sanlian Bookstore survived until now?" Bai Ruoxue was shocked.

"Part of it comes from social donations and fiscal grants, and part of it comes from bank loans, robbing Peter to pay Paul..."

Pan Yaoming said: "The other part depends on the publishing business, and the bulk of this is thanks to you, Yanzi."

"I?"

Fangyan raised his eyebrows.

Pan Yaoming nodded. His novels are now the main source of profit for the publishing business of Joint Publishing Company. Especially since the release of "Once Upon a Time in China", the sales of the novel trilogy have skyrocketed. With the popularity of the movie in Southeast Asia, people from all over Southeast Asia have called to place orders.

“That’s not a long-term solution.”

Fang Yan, Gong Xian and Bai Ruoxue looked at each other.

"you do not say!"

Pan Yaoming excitedly grabbed his hand and said, "So, Yanzi, no matter what, you have to help me and Sanlian Bookstore!"

"As for novels, I have written a few recently."

He gave many examples of dialects, such as "Love Letter", "Hunting", "Song Ci, the Chief Justice of the Song Dynasty", and "Criminal Squad".

"Let's forget about 'The Hunt' for now. The topic is too high-level. People are too impetuous nowadays. I guess they can't appreciate hallucinatory realism. As for 'Love Letter', we have to wait until Yuhikaku publishes it in Japan before it can be published by Sanlian Bookstore. So let's put it aside for now."

Pan Yaoming analyzed carefully and finally chose two ancient and modern suspense detective novels, "Criminal Squad" and "Song Ci, the Chief Inspector of the Song Dynasty".

“A wise choice!”

Fangyan gave him an approving look and suggested that Sanlian Bookstore should focus its work on "Criminal Investigation Team" first.

Because if nothing goes wrong, Cheng Long's "Police Story" will be completed in October and then released during the Lunar New Year holiday. Just like the "Once Upon a Time in China" trilogy saw a surge in sales thanks to the popularity of the movie, "Crime Squad" can also take advantage of the popularity of "Police Story".

"Okay, I'll do as you say!"

Pan Yaoming smiled and said, "Yanzi, as the saying goes, if you send a Buddha, you will send him to the west. Since you have helped, you might as well help him to the end."

Then, with a cunning light flashing in his eyes, he asked Fangyan to write a novel in the name of deputy editor-in-chief of Sanlian Bookstore.

The requirements are not high, and works that are appealing to both the elite and the masses like the "Huang Feihong" trilogy and "Song Ci, Chief Justice of the Song Dynasty" will do.

"Your requirements are really not high."

The dialect made a playful joke.

"Even if you don't consider it for the sake of our friendship, at least consider it for the sake of the many years of cooperation between Sanlian Bookstore and you."

Pan Yaoming smiled bitterly and said, "Yanzi, you don't want Sanlian Bookstore to go bankrupt due to debt, do you?"

Fangyan always felt that there was a hint of Japanese thieves in these words, but he did not refuse. The Hong Kong Joint Publishing Company really had to lend a hand!
………………

After lunch, everyone went their separate ways, busy with their own things.

Fang Yan asked Bai Ruoxue to book two boat tickets back to Guangzhou tomorrow, and then he and Gong Xing went to the appointment on time and appeared at PolyGram's Hong Kong branch.

Funaki Minoru led a group of people to greet them at the door and led them to a practice room with pianos, guitars, drums and other musical instruments.

I saw Teresa Teng and Ching-Hsia Lam sitting face to face, with two white men beside them, who were obviously foreign players invited by PolyGram from Europe and the United States.

"Ms. Lin!?"

Gong Xing was as surprised as Fang Yan.

Deng Lijun simply explained: "Qingxia and I are very good friends. I invited her to come."

Lin Qingxia added that Cheng Long was injured and hospitalized, and the crew stopped working, so she had this rare opportunity, and then said playfully: "Don't worry, Mr. Fang, I am definitely not an undercover agent of Golden Harvest. I promise not to tell anyone about your cooperation with Liyun on the theme song of the movie."

"Haha, Miss Lin is really humorous."

Fang Yan smiled, then asked about Cheng Long's injury with concern.

Lin Qingxia said that when Cheng Long was filming the scene of climbing over the balcony, he hit the glass and his arms and legs were pierced with glass shards. He also had multiple fractures. Fortunately, an ambulance was waiting for rescue outside the filming location and sent him to the hospital for emergency treatment immediately.

"That's right."

Fang Yan looked at Gong Xing, "It seems that I have to go to the hospital to visit him before leaving Hong Kong."

When they heard from him that he wanted to return to the mainland with Gong Xing, Lin Qingxia, Deng Liyun and others were all shocked.

"'Baby Smart Star' has finished filming and is entering the post-production stage."

Gong Xing said: "We plan to take this opportunity to go back and sort out the matters left in the mainland."

For Fang Yan, the most important thing is to organize and implement the National Youth Writers Symposium together with colleagues from the editorial department of People's Literature. As for Gong Xing, she will go back to participate in the upcoming 5th Feitian Awards, and her performance in "Stewardess" has been shortlisted for awards.

“Flying Award?”

Lin Qingxia and Deng Liyun looked at each other in bewilderment. Gong Xing said that this was the earliest and longest-standing TV award in the mainland, also known as the National Excellent TV Drama Award.

Lin Qingxia's tone was filled with a hint of envy. She had never expected that she, who was of similar age to herself, had achieved such great success in both television and film. She was also the assistant director of the film in which Teresa Teresa sang the theme song. In the future, she would definitely transform into a director or even a producer.

And with the support of her husband Fangyan, such an outstanding editor, writer and literary figure, one can hardly imagine how far Gong Xing can go!
When I thought of this, my eyes involuntarily turned to Fangyan.

Under the introduction of Minoru Funaki and Teresa Teresa, he was seen greeting two music producers invited by PolyGram and getting to know each other.

"This is Will Jennings, and that is James Horner. They are both composers who often collaborate with Hollywood film companies, such as the Star Trek series and 48 Hours. They also won the Saturn Award for Best Original Score for Brainstorm."

"Very happy to meet all of you."

Fangyan was completely unfamiliar with Will Jennings, but he had some impression of James Horner. The theme song of "Titanic", "My Heart Will Go On" sung by Celine Dion, seemed to be written and composed by him.

"me too."

James Horner smiled and said, "I was deeply impressed by the movie Saving Private Ryan that you and Spielberg worked on together."

"Thank you for liking you. If we had known each other earlier, I might have recommended you to Steven."

Fangyan looked around.

"Actually it's not too late now, hahaha!"

James Horner and partner Will Jennings let out a straight laugh.

After chatting for a while, Fang Yan turned to look at Deng Liyun:
“Have you shown them the lyrics to All I Want For Christmas Is You?”

"Looked."

Deng Liyun nodded and said that she had made some slight changes to the melody he had sung before and sang it a cappella for them.

"Deng said that it only took you 15 minutes to create this song, right?" James Horner couldn't help but ask after listening to the translation.

"Not bad, what do you think?" Fangyan sat down.

Will Jennings said: "It's really amazing. It's the first time I've heard an RnB style Christmas song."

James Horner added, "It's just like the first time we heard Wham!'s "Last Christmas". It's fresh, new, and innovative. It's worth our trip all the way from the United States to Hong Kong."

Then he changed the subject, "It's just that Deng's RnB singing is not pure, and the demo is very formulaic, with very few chord changes."

“We need to add some unusual chords to this song.”

Will Jennings said, "But before that, we want to hear your opinion, like what instruments to add to the music?"

Dialect followed his memory and named various musical instruments such as piano, drums, flute, triangle, etc.

Will Jennings asked questions and James Horner took notes. The two worked in perfect harmony without any nonsense.

Zizi, this is called professionalism!
Fangyan smacked his lips, and then was asked to sing the original melody of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" a cappella.

Watching Teresa Teng talking with them, Lin Qingxia and Gong Xing were unable to get a word in. Fortunately, they were actors and had a common topic about acting.

"I've watched the movie 'Once Upon a Time in China'. Just based on your performance as 'Auntie Thirteen', you deserve a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards next year."

"thank you for your good wishes!"

Gong Xing said that he also liked her movies, especially "Outside the Window" and "The Moon is Misty, the Birds are Misty", which were adaptations of Qiong Yao's songs.

"Not anymore. Things are different now."

Lin Qingxia sighed quietly. With her changeable image of the girl next door, such as "lively and cheerful", "clever and cunning", and the image of a "melancholy and weak" literary young woman, her film career soon entered a new era. But ever since she had an evil relationship with Qin Han and was labeled as the "third party", the image of the jade girl she had painstakingly created collapsed in an instant, and the reputation and fame she had accumulated in Taiwan for many years vanished into thin air.

Otherwise, he would not have come to Hong Kong to look for opportunities, seek transformation, and usher in the second spring of his career.

But almost no one believed that she could successfully transform herself, and some film critics even concluded that the era of Lin Qingxia was over.

"Don't think so."

Gong Xing consoled him: "I have encountered a bottleneck before where everything I played looked like myself, but I finally broke through it."

Lin Qingxia was very curious, "How did you break through?"

"This is all thanks to my husband."

Gong Xing stared straight at Fang Yan's profile.

Lin Qingxia followed her gaze towards Fangyan and listened to her talk about her filming experience, from "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", to "Under the Bridge", to "Once Upon a Time in China II", and saw the smile on her face becoming more and more brilliant, as bright and warm as the sun.

Therefore, the focus of attention involuntarily shifted from acting breakthrough to romance.

"Did you and Fang Sheng meet because of a play?"

"Yes, you may not believe it, but he was a famous writer in the country at that time, and the last disciple of Mr. Mao!"

Gong Xing propped up his chin with one hand, "And I'm just a small actor whose role was snatched away and who was stuck in a bottleneck."

Mr. Mao's last disciple! ?

Lin Qingxia became more and more interested, and kept asking Gong Xing to tell her more of their story. She listened to her talk about how they first met and then became friends, and then fell in love. Whenever she talked about the poems Fang Yan gave her, she felt so happy that she almost overflowed.

"What kind of love poems are those?"

"This... How can I say this with such an audacity?"

"Just tell me, I want to know what love poems written by writers like him are like."

Lin Qingxia's eyes were burning, and she subconsciously acted coquettishly towards Gong Xi just like she did towards Teresa Teng.

Gong Xing was so entangled that he had no choice but to agree:

"But let me make it clear first. This matter cannot be told to outsiders. You know it, I know it, and God knows it..."

"Earth knows!"

Lin Qingxia made a zippered gesture and said, "I will keep it a secret and will not reveal a single word."

Seeing her determined look, Gong Xing took out a handkerchief from his bag. The pen marks on it had long been replaced by embroidered needlework.

"…Now I am confused and timid, like spring water melting from the ice, flowing towards you, but I don’t know where you are…"

Lin Qingxia couldn't help but read it out loud.

"Shh!"

Gong Xing quickly covered her mouth with his hand and made a gesture to silence her: "Don't, don't read it out loud."

Seeing her shy and happy look, Lin Qingxia's eyes were full of envy, and she read the poem on the handkerchief again and again:

"This is so romantic, I really envy you..."

"Don't envy me, you can definitely find your own happiness."

As soon as Gong Xing said it, she immediately regretted it. How could she forget the tortuous and complicated relationship between her, Qin Xianglin and Qin Han?

"I?"

Lin Qingxia frowned and lowered her head. She was silent for a while before she spoke again: "The biggest trouble for people is that they have a good memory. If I could forget everything and have a new start every day, I would be very happy..."

The two of them spoke frankly to each other, talked about life, and shared their joys and sorrows. Their friendship quickly sublimated to the level of best friends.

Lin Qingxia smiled sadly, "I really envy you, so much so that I'm even jealous of you."

Gong Xing's eyes widened as she rested her head on his shoulder, staring at Fang Yan's back, and said with self-pity:
"When you are at your best, the person you love most is by your side." (End of this chapter)