The literary era since 1979

Chapter 91 One step away

April, Nanluoguxiang.

Under the old locust tree at the door of her house, Yang Xia repeatedly reminded:

"Take another look, have you brought everything?"

"I've brought them all, Mom. Don't worry about it."

Fangyan carried his luggage and said, "I'm just on a business trip."

Yang Xia patted his clothes and said, "Be careful on the road and hide your money... Come back early, our whole family is waiting for you to watch the movie "The Shepherd" together, okay?"

"Got it."

Fangyan went straight to the bus stop.

My mood at this moment is like a bird flying into the sky or a fish entering the sea, no longer bound by anything. I don't have to worry about what kind of huge waves will be set off after the second part of "The Splitting of the Great Qin" is published.

This feeling became even stronger when we arrived in northern Shaanxi.

After all, northern Shaanxi is my second hometown.

"Dudududu!"

The train emitted thick smoke and slowly came to a stop.

Fangyan protected his luggage and went down to the platform. He saw a hand suddenly raised and waved from side to side in the huge crowd.

"Iwako!"

Lu Yao squeezed through the crowd and came in front of him.

Fangyan gave him a tight bear hug. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that besides Jia Pingwa, there were a few unfamiliar faces waiting to pick him up.

"I originally planned to come to Pingwa to pick you up, but I didn't expect that as soon as my colleagues in the editorial department heard that it was you who were going to be picked up, all those who were free came." Lu Yao laughed heartily.

With his introduction, we got to know each other.

"Your name is now known to almost everyone in northern Shaanxi."

There was a hint of envy in Jia Pingwa's tone.

Fangyan was greatly surprised, "No way, is it so exaggerated?"

"What Ping Kubo said is not an exaggeration at all."

Lu Yao waved his hand and said, "You can't imagine how much of a sensation your "The Great Qin Splitting" caused in northern Shaanxi."

Jia Pingwa and others talked to each other, and gradually they understood in dialect how popular their novels were.

Not only the literary and art circles, but the entire northern Shaanxi overwhelmingly supported, promoted, and even praised "The Qin Empire", praising it from all aspects and angles, and all the scattered criticisms, doubts, and denials were drowned out.

Compared with these newspapers and periodicals, even Lu Yao and his colleagues felt that their comments were too ordinary and they were simply ashamed of themselves.

But it is also understandable that there are very complicated feelings towards the first unified dynasty that came out of northern Shaanxi.

Although the Qin Dynasty is not mentioned in "The Great Qin Splitting", the phrase "The valiant old Qin people, let us face the national crisis together" can make the "old Qin people" excited, not to mention that Fangyan is an educated youth who went to work in the countryside in northern Shaanxi.

To round it off, he can also be considered the son of northern Shaanxi!

"This is just the first part. Once your second part is published, I'm afraid it will be even more sensational."

Lu Yao's eyes were burning and he felt mixed emotions.

"No need to wait for the next part. Have you forgotten how much of a response the latest issue of Huaxia Youth used Yan Zi's speech as the finale of the great discussion on life? During that time, the banners I saw on the streets were all written with Yan Zi's words."

Everyone was talking about them like the back of their hand, some even mentioned the radio dramas "Love Life" and "Dark War", their eyes fixed on the dialect.

"Look, Yanzi, you have accomplished so many great things in the literary world in the past year or so."

Lu Yao's eyes were shining, he wanted to improve so much!

"Don't say that."

Fangyan waved his hand and said, "If we are talking about the big discussion about life, I think "The Story of Gao Jialin" is also a good answer."

"There's no rush for the manuscript."

Lu Yao laughed heartily: "Today is mainly to welcome you back, let's all celebrate well."

"The guest follows the host's wishes. I will follow your arrangements."

Fangyan followed them out of Chang'an Railway Station.

We first went to the guesthouse, put our things away, and then were taken to a Xi'an restaurant to eat Shaanxi cuisine, including gourd chicken, warm mixed pork waist shreds, three-skin shreds, fish in milk soup, and pork elbow with handle, four dishes and one soup.

Then have a sip of Xifeng Liquor from northern Shaanxi, it’s so authentic!
After the banquet, people dispersed after toasting each other.

After the welcome party, Fang Yan and Lu Yao took the remaining Xifeng liquor to the guesthouse and played another game of wine with peanuts.

"Let's stay here tonight."

Lu Yao drunkenly said: "We will leave for Yanchuan tomorrow."

"Yenchuan?"

Fangyan remembered that was Lu Yao's hometown.

"Yes, thanks to you, I have this rare opportunity to take a creative leave. I want to take this opportunity to go back home." Lu Yao said with a smile, "By the way, I will take you to meet my sister-in-law and niece. They are all in Yanchuan."

"it is good!"

Fangyan raised the enamel cup and said, "Cheers."

Lu Yao drank it all in one gulp. Although he was a heavy smoker, he couldn't drink much. Soon, he was drunk and lying on the bed.

"Yanzi, I've finished writing the manuscript. It's in my bag."

"Let me see."

When the dialect was taken out, I saw that the first line of the manuscript, the title "The Story of Gao Jialin" was crossed out and changed to "The Melody of Life".

"As soon as I finished writing the first draft, I went to the mine to find my brother and read the novel to him. As I was reading, I started crying." Lu Yao's face flushed. "I think the work moved me so much, I believe it will also move the readers, what do you think?"

Fangyan nodded, "But this title, "The Music of Life", is a bit off. It doesn't fit the theme and story."

"Now that you mention it, it does feel like it's lacking some soul. So how about changing it to 'What did you get'?"

Lu Yao used his remaining clarity to think for a while.

"Is there any explanation for this?" Fangyan asked curiously.

Lu Yao smiled awkwardly and said that this was a direct adaptation of Kochetov's "What Do You Want?"

"This name is not as good as "The Story of Gao Jialin"."

"So what do you think it should be called?"

"Well..."

Fangyan analyzed it carefully.

Faced with the temptations of life, Gao Jialin lost his way and chose to follow the temptation and take the seemingly easier path, but in the end, he paid a greater price, just one step away.

In life, there are many paths to take, but everyone can only choose one. It is only one step away, but the whole person's life will be very different, and it is very likely to be a thousand miles apart.

"One Step Away or Life, what do you think?"

"One step away, life, one step away, life..."

As Lu Yao was reciting, she suddenly burst into tears.

Perhaps he was hurt, or perhaps under the influence of alcohol, he spoke in dialect, complaining and venting his emotions.

Gao Jialin and Qiaozhen are actually Lu Yao's shadows.

Before Lin Da, he had a previous girlfriend.

She loved him with all her heart and soul, and even took a pen name, Ying Yihong, because the other person's name contained the character "Hong".

When their love was deep, Lu Yao even gave her the job recruitment quota that the county had given him. This quota was a precious opportunity for him to escape from farming. He had planned to get married after she settled down.

Unexpectedly, what I got was not a marriage certificate, but a letter of breaking up from the other party.

"..."

Fangyan wanted to speak, but didn't know how to start.

In my previous life, when I was browsing Douyin, I saw a similar short video. This situation is called "The first sword after getting ashore is to kill the person you love."

Of course, Lu Yao's situation was even more unfortunate.

“At that time, I was 21 years old.”

Lu Yao said in a tearful voice that he had thought about jumping into the river, but he didn't want to starve to death at that time, so he ran to the melon field nearby, stole a few melons, and ate until his belly was full. As a result, after he was full, he didn't want to die anymore.

In an instant, the atmosphere became strange and heavy.

When his crying gradually died down, Fangyan suddenly asked, "Is the melon you ate ripe?"

"Cook it, make sure it's cooked!"

Lu Yao was interrupted by this inexplicable question.

“Did you pay in the end?”

Fangyan interrupted with a smile.

"Of course I paid. I gave him all the money I had."

Lu Yao smiled and said, "Without these melons, I might not be able to survive. Until now, I can still remember the taste of those melons."

"This is life." Fang Yan couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes, originally my life had nothing to do with literature, but because of this one step, I am now going to make a name for myself through literature."

Lu Yao blinked her drunken eyes.

"In that case, why not just call the book 'Life'?"

Fangyan slapped his thigh.

"Okay, let's call it "Life"!"

Lu Yao murmured several times, then immediately sat up and picked up the cup: "Come on, Yanzi, let's go for another one."

"Forget it, you've been drinking so much."

Fangyan organized the manuscript and put it back into the bag.

"I'm not drunk."

Lu Yao smiled and said, "How can you get drunk by drinking Xifeng wine? Su Dongpo wrote a poem called 'Why not get drunk with flowers blooming and fine wine? Come and see the cool green mountains of Nanshan'. This wine won't make you drunk at all."

"You can't drink too much, this is your last glass, don't drink any more after that."

Fangyan shook his head helplessly.

"That's the last one, then."

After Lu Yao finished his drink, he seemed to remember something and asked, "Yanzi, when will the latest issue of People's Literature be released?"

"Just tomorrow."

Fang Yan said, "It's just right for me to go to Yanchuan with you to get away from it all."

　Thanks to Tianxia Zongheng Youwo, Maxim Noodle Ball, and Wangzhaoni for the 100 Qidian coins, and thanks to Hello Shuge for the 888 Qidian coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)