Literary Master 1978

People are always hesitant when they are at a loss. After traveling back to the 1970s for more than two years, Lin Chaoyang actually did not have any definite goals to achieve. He was more of a drifting mentality.

Just like those children who have been forced to grow up for twelve years, they finally went to college and just wanted to lie down and do nothing.

In the past year or so, he got used to working and living in Yanda, and also got used to earning some extra money by writing part-time. He didn't think much of it at ordinary times, but when there was a seemingly better choice in front of him, he didn't have any heartbeat.

At that moment, Lin Chaoyang knew how he should choose.

When different choices are in front of you, sometimes you don't actually need to know which one you want, you just need to know which one you don't want.

In Lin Chaoyang's heart, at least the work and life in Yanda are what he likes.

On the last day before the National Day, Lin Chaoyang went to Renwen Press again and handed the preface written by Wu Zuxiang to Li Shuguang.

"Wu Zuxiang? Are you on good terms with him?" Li Shuguang looked at the signature of the article and was very surprised.

Of course, Lin Chaoyang couldn't say that he had paid for the preface, "It's OK, neighbors upstairs and downstairs."

"Oh, by the way, you are also from Yanda."

Li Shuguang sighed, "It's still good for you to work at Yanda. Any colleague you pick out may be a famous master."

Who would have thought that a master would also be paid for writing, Lin Chaoyang secretly complained in his heart.

After chatting for a few sentences, Lin Chaoyang thought that this was over, but he was pulled by Li Shuguang again.

"Chaoyang, your "Wreaths under the Mountains" has been very popular recently. Have you ever thought about publishing a single volume?"

Lin Chaoyang was of course happy that Renwenshe was willing to publish his novel as a single volume, and he could receive royalties again.

However, due to the special subject matter and content of "Wreaths under the Mountains", he did not dare to agree rashly, so he would ask his uncle Du Ruolin later.

After understanding the situation, Li Shuguang nodded, "You are very thoughtful. We should communicate. I will wait for your news later."

"Okay."

After the two finished chatting in the office, Lin Chaoyang wanted to leave, but was stopped by Cui Daoyi from People's Literature next door.

"Chaoyang, have you started writing recently?" Cui Daoyi asked.

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "No."

"What about ideas? Do you have any ideas? We can exchange them."

"I just wrote two novellas this year. How can I have so many ideas!"

Lin Chaoyang just mailed the manuscript promised to "Harvest" two days ago. He has not stopped writing in the past few months. Recently, he just wants to relax and fish.

Cui Daoyi was very regretful when he heard this, "You young people have active minds. You should start writing as soon as you have an idea."

As the two were talking, they heard Wang Fu, who walked to the door of the editorial department, shouting happily: "Old Cui, look who I invited for you!"

The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw Wang Fu leading an old man in his sixties into the editorial department. The old man had gray hair, a white Dacron shirt on his upper body, black trousers on his lower body, and cloth shoes on his feet. Both his clothes and temperament were very simple.

Cui Daoyi stood up, and before he could speak, Wang Fu said: "Comrade Wang Zengqi from the Yanjing Opera Troupe!"

Cui Daoyi walked up and shook hands with Wang Zengqi. He and Wang Zengqi knew each other in the early years, when Cui Daoyi had just started working.

The two exchanged a few words, and Cui Daoyi introduced Lin Chaoyang next to him to Wang Zengqi.

"This is Comrade Lin Chaoyang, you should have heard of his pen name, Xu Lingjun!"

Wang Zengqi was surprised, "I didn't expect that Xu Lingjun, who was famous all over the country, was such a young comrade."

"You are too kind. I have read your prose, it is really well written." Lin Chaoyang said politely.

Hearing this, Wang Zengqi's face was even more surprised.

Wang Zengqi was born in Southwest Associated University. He began to write novels and poems in 1940 and was quite famous in his early years. But because it was difficult to make a living by writing, he devoted himself to being a teacher in a middle school run by his classmates at the United Nations University for several years.

On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he joined the Fourth Field Army's Southward Working Group, which was considered to be participating in the revolution. In 1950, he was transferred back to Yanjing and became a literary editor of the Yanjing Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

At that time, the Yanjing Federation of Literary and Art Circles successively launched two publications, which were the predecessors of today's "Yenjing Literature and Art". Later, he was transferred to the Folk Literature Research Association as a literary editor, just to increase his salary by two levels.

The Folk Literature Research Association has its own publication "Folk Literature". During his tenure as editor, Wang Zengqi wrote a lot of essays, which were scattered in publications such as "Poetry Magazine", "People's Literature" and "Yenjing Literature and Art".

But afterwards, the political environment was turbulent, and Wang Zengqi suffered a lot. Although he had a lot of creations, they were all concentrated in the field of Peking Opera model plays, which were all collective creations, and he wasted some years.

What surprised him was that at Lin Chaoyang's age, he could read his essays, which must be possible because he read a lot of books.

At this time, magazines and journals from the 1950s were not something anyone could easily find.

"I work in the library of Yanda University, and I like to read books in my spare time." Lin Chaoyang explained with a smile.

Wang Zengqi nodded in understanding.

Most people in later generations know Wang Zengqi's name because of "Shoujie". In the early 1980s, Wang Zengqi became famous in the literary world. After that, he published a series of influential novels and essays, becoming an important writer in the literary world in the 1980s and 1990s.

At this time, Wang Zengqi has just emerged from the buzzing mud, and has not even published a decent work.

Years of wasted time have made Wang Zengqi less famous in the current Chinese literary world, but his name is not unfamiliar to the old men in the Yenching literary world.

When he was in Yenching Literature and Art, he was Mr. Lao She's right-hand man; when he was in Folk Literature, although he was named editor, his real power was the editor-in-chief; even when he was in the model troupe of the Yenching Peking Opera Troupe, he participated in the creation of well-known plays such as "Sha Jia Bang".

Putting aside political factors, Wang Zengqi's reputation in the Yenching literary world is not small, and his friends are all famous writers such as Lin Jinlan and Deng Youmei.

He came to "People's Literature" today because Wang Fu invited him several times and took a fancy to his new novel "Chancery Biography".

This novel was written based on the revolutionary experiences of several old cadres he learned about in Inner Mongolia when he was collecting folk songs on the grassland and writing the script of the Peking Opera "Grassland Beacon Fire" in 1974.

Coincidentally, Lin Chaoyang chatted with Wang Zengqi for a few words, and then said goodbye to Cui Daoyi.

After delivering the preface, Lin Chaoyang no longer had to worry about the publication of the single volume of "Little Shoes".

He did not rest during this National Day holiday. On weekdays, his colleagues often covered for him, and he had to repay favors occasionally.

This morning, he met A Mao, whom he had not seen for a long time, in front of the library. However, compared with his previous optimism and cheerfulness, A Mao looked much more depressed after not seeing him for two or three months.

"A Mao!" Lin Chaoyang waved to A Mao from a distance.

The two walked to the opposite side, and Lin Chaoyang asked: "It's been a long time since we last met. Where have you been?"

"Hi, Lin." A Mao greeted Lin Chaoyang with a melancholy face, "Nothing, I went out to travel, and then went back to the United States."

The first thing Lin Chaoyang noticed was that A Mao's Chinese was much more fluent. He could see that A Mao was in a low mood, but he didn't want to talk about it, so he didn't ask too much.

After chatting for a few words, he was ready to go to work in the library, but when he turned around, he heard A Mao calling him.

"Lin, do you think the communist ideal of mankind will never be realized?"

The melancholy big golden retriever suddenly asked such a profound question, which caught Lin Chaoyang off guard.

"Why do you ask that?"

The big golden retriever was evasive, "Nothing."

Lin Chaoyang saw that the child had encountered trouble and needed to be counseled.

"Amao, do you know what the word "ideal" means in Chinese?"

Amao shook his head.

"Ideal is a beautiful imagination and hope for future things, and an idea of ​​something reaching the most perfect state, so you can understand it as the highest goal and pursuit for which mankind strives. Do you know what words it is most often associated with?"

Amao shook his head again.

"Struggle, pursue, sacrifice, for a lofty ideal."

Lin Chaoyang's eyes were sacred and solemn, gradually infecting A Mao who was in a low mood. He kept muttering: "Ideal, ideal..."

Seeing that A Mao was a little more energetic after being fooled by him, he asked: "What have you been doing during this period?"

A Mao hesitated, and after a long time he said: "I went traveling."

"In the United States?"

"China."

Lin Chaoyang looked surprised, "How did you do it?"

"I got a fake letter of introduction."

Lin Chaoyang was even more shocked. He was shocked by A Mao's courage and also shocked that he could still see him at Yanda.

"Tell me in detail, what happened?"

Curiosity is human nature. Lin Chaoyang obeyed the call of his heart. This cannot be called gossip.

"That's it..."

Before, A Mao developed a strong interest in revolution under Lin Chaoyang's deception. In addition to reading Mao's Selected Works every day, he also exercised. After a period of time, he felt that he had gradually reached the requirements of a revolutionist in both the spiritual and physical levels.

So a bold idea came up, to go to the most extensive rural areas in China and take a look.

These days, the country has very strict management of foreign students. Most of the students' activities are limited to Yanjing City. Even if they go to the home of their classmates to have dinner, they need to go through the approval of the International Student Management Office, not to mention this kind of long-term travel.

A Mao simply secretly got a blank letter of introduction from the International Student Management Office, and got a fake stamp, and took advantage of the summer vacation to swagger out of Yanjing City.

He took the train all the way south, passing through Hebei and Anhui, and wandered around for half a month before the local government found out about the trick and called Yanda to verify it.

It turned out that A Mao did not get the permission of Yanda at all, and was directly arrested as a spy.

These days, anything involving foreigners is a big deal, and the locals did not dare to do anything to A Mao, so they sent him back to Yanjing.

After returning to Yanjing, A Mao was detained for three days, and was finally released with the mediation of the American History Museum.

A magical journey ended here. After being released, A Mao was a little disheartened. He took advantage of the summer vacation to go back to the United States. After the semester started, he returned to school again. He has been living in a daze recently.

According to A Mao, his disheartenment was not because he was arrested or suffered unfair treatment, but because of what he saw and heard on the way south, which made him feel disillusioned with the communist ideals he insisted on in his heart.

Since studying abroad, he has been staying in Yanjing. Although it is backward compared to Western countries, it is a city after all, with the basic foundation of industrial civilization.

But Amao traveled to many poor and backward rural areas along the way. The collision between his beautiful ideals and the hard reality shattered his nascent idealism, and he still hasn't recovered yet.

He couldn't understand why, thirty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were still so many poor and backward places in China.

Lin Chaoyang didn't expect that Amao would actually implement his ideas. Feeling the seriousness of this foreign boy, Lin Chaoyang felt a little embarrassed. In his previous interactions, he was more or less joking.

He sincerely apologized to Amao, but Amao was a little at a loss.

"No, no, Lin, although you always have a relaxed and humorous attitude, I can feel that you recognize the concept you said."

"certainly!"

All joking aside, if it wasn't for heartfelt approval, how could he instill those ideas into Amao.

Putting aside his thoughts of joking, Lin Chaoyang said seriously to Amao:

"Amao, you still know too little about China. Count our enemies in the past thirty years, the United States, the Soviet Union, India, Vietnam...

Every country's military force value is at the forefront of the planet. It has consumed too much of our energy to not fall behind in the fight against these enemies, or even to win.

Lin Chaoyang's attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, and he had a strong sense of self-confidence that made people unconsciously trust his words.

Unconsciously, the two discussed for a long time, and Lin Chaoyang's discussion made Amao come out of his disappointment and discouragement.

"I always liked to joke before. I invite you to my house for dinner tonight as an apology to you."

At the end of the conversation, Lin Chaoyang patted Amao on the shoulder and said.

Amao said happily: "That's great."