A widower's entertainment

Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

Lin Youcheng's novel "Hidden in the Dust" has undoubtedly caused quite a stir and attracted a lot of attention. The discussion not only covers the relationship between Ma Youtie and Guiying, but also Ma Youtie's blood donation (sucking) behavior.

Yu Hua also came over to chat with Lin Youcheng about the novel "Hidden in the Dust and Smoke," and they also mentioned blood donation, because the novel he is currently writing is "Xu Sanguan Sells His Blood."

Although the stories differ, they are both filled with bitterness. Many readers find Lin Youcheng's "Hidden in the Dust" to be highly poetic, achieving a harmonious blend of rural realism and understated, simple expression. However, behind this poetry lies the despair of Ma Youtie, who sold all the grain he had painstakingly saved after a year of labor, only to receive a meager income, which was then rounded down by a dollar… Finally, he had to pay off the seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers he had bought on credit since spring… This was the entire income of Ma Youtie's family—two people and a donkey—after a year of hard work—a truly surreal story. Ma Youtie had lived a life of integrity, yet reality rewarded him only with layers of exploitation.

“Youcheng, the novel I’m writing now includes the act of selling blood.”

Lin Youcheng naturally knew about Yu Hua's novel "Xu Sanguan Sells His Blood" and also knew that Yu Hua would later publish the novel in the magazine "Harvest".

This is why the depth of the relationship between the author and the magazine editor also determines which literary magazine the author frequently publishes in.

"If things hadn't been so tough, we wouldn't have ended up like this."

Yu Hua nodded after hearing Lin Youcheng's words. He was aware that the bloodsucking metaphor in Lin Youcheng's novel "Hidden in the Dust" had sparked considerable discussion.

To be honest, he was also touched, because he had never really paid attention to the fact that rural areas had been exploiting people.

It can be said that these heated discussions are drawing more attention to this bloodsucking storm.

In particular, many readers from rural backgrounds have spoken out for Lin Youcheng's novel "Hidden in the Dust and Smoke," and the metaphor in the novel now seems to have become an explicit metaphor.

To many readers, *Hidden in the Dust* is not about the development of the times, but about a donkey being used as a tool. Most importantly, it depicts a farmer toiling away on the land, struggling to grow enough wheat and corn to harvest in a year, only to find very little left after deducting costs and paying taxes. The dust is not a natural sandstorm, but man-made dust from demolishing houses. The handprints on the backs of a few grains of rice are akin to the blood of living cattle sold for their lives, highlighting the suffering of the rural underclass… all of this speaks to the many people living on this land, especially the unseen and unrepresented invisible people.

Yu Hua clearly understood that Lin Youcheng had written about this social reality, and said, "Yes, the stories I write are different, but they are all about difficult times."

Yu Hua and Lin Youcheng were chatting inside when Lin Zhaoxi walked in. After greeting Yu Hua, he asked, "Dad, I'd like to see the latest issue of People's Literature. It has your newly published novel in it. My classmate read it and was very moved by it."

Lin Youcheng was not surprised when he heard Lin Zhaoxi's words. Lin Zhaoxi usually read his published novels. So he took the sample copy that Zhang Wei had sent over from his desk and handed it to Lin Zhaoxi.

Lin Zhaoxi took the People's Literature magazine handed to him by his father, Lin Youcheng, and said, "Dad, my classmate said that it is the farmers who are giving free blood transfusions to the city time and time again, and she also said that she wanted to thank you for writing this point in your novel, even though it was just a metaphor."

Lin Youcheng didn't expect Lin Zhaoxi to say this to him suddenly, or rather, he didn't expect Lin Zhaoxi's classmate to say this. Obviously, he could understand that his classmate must have also gone through a lot of hardship to get into the capital from the countryside.

Yu Hua, who was standing nearby, saw Lin Zhaoxi leaving with the latest issue of "People's Literature" magazine and couldn't help but say, "Your novel has really caused a great stir. Zhaoxi's classmates have all read it too."

Lin Youcheng came to his senses, smiled, and said, "There are quite a few voices of doubt and criticism."

That being said, Lin Youcheng didn't really care about the doubts and criticisms. He knew very well that literary works rarely escape criticism. Even *White Deer Plain*, which won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, was criticized as a mediocre work lacking innovation. Some even argued that its receipt of the highest national award within the system reflected the decline and decay of literature. Using Schopenhauer's standards for mediocre works, it was far-fetched, extremely unnatural, riddled with errors, and permeated with an exaggerated and artificial atmosphere. Besides, there were also criticisms of *White Deer Plain*'s crude writing style and clumsy prose.

The current discussion about Lin Youcheng's "Hidden in the Dust" focuses more on the metaphor of bloodsucking. There is not much doubt about the relationship between Ma Youtie and Guiying. After all, it is just the life of two unfortunate people. Many literary critics find the life of those two unfortunate people very moving. Because what really touches people is often not the deliberately piled-up tragedy, but the sound of the whistling of the rain trough, the candlelight on the way home at night, the boiling water getting cold again and again, and the wheat brand on their hands.

Yu Hua himself didn't care about the doubts and criticisms, saying, "Those are not important. Didn't you say before that you wrote people's literature, and that the masses like it? My previous novels were always criticized as well."

"I know."

Lin Youcheng didn't care about those people's opinions, because just like the letters he was receiving from readers, many of those letters were sent by Zhang Wei from the People's Literature magazine. The contents of those letters were all readers' feelings about the novel "Hidden in the Dust" and, as Lin Zhaoxi wanted to say, expressions of gratitude.

There are quite a few opened letters on Lin Youcheng's desk, and they contain readers' thoughts.

Some readers felt uneasy while reading this novel: they were afraid that Ma Youtie would fall when he was standing on the roof beam; they were afraid that he would suddenly collapse when he went back to work after being called to have his blood drawn; they were afraid that Guiying would be swept away by the flood when they went down to the river to scrub their backs; they were even afraid of the flashlight beams that flashed when they went down to the river; and they were also afraid that the donkey would suddenly collapse one day.

As some readers wrote in their letters, they felt that Lin Youcheng's writing was too idealized, filling rural life with a poetic ambiguity. Aside from the arduous labor of farmers toiling in the fields, everything else was merely Lin Youcheng's poetic imagination. Reality, however, is far more bitter and callous. There are no men like that in reality, nor women at the very bottom of society who are treated with kindness. It is precisely because of this reality that these readers wrote to express their feelings, finding the imagery projected onto the dark, rough bodies of Ma Youtie and Guiying quite cruel.

Even in the letters from readers, there were points where he felt his writing wasn't good enough, not to mention the literary critics.

Or perhaps Lin Youcheng had long been accustomed to those controversies.

While Yu Hua was chatting with Lin Youcheng about the novel's creation, they naturally also talked about other things. "Zhao Mei got into the Beijing Film Academy, and classes are about to start, right? That's really amazing, getting into the directing department ahead of schedule."

Yu Hua, of course, also knew that Lin Youcheng's daughter, Lin Zhaomei, had been admitted to the directing department of the film academy, and said, "In the future, you two, one writing scripts and the other making movies, will definitely have a good collaboration."

Lin Youcheng smiled upon hearing Yu Hua's words and said, "It's not that we'll collaborate now or in the future. She's currently filming a short film that's already in post-production."

Yu Hua was naturally very surprised when he heard Lin Youcheng's words. After all, he did not expect that Lin Zhaomei had already started shooting short films before even entering the directing department of the film academy. She was really amazing.

"Did you write the script for this short film she shot?"

Lin Youcheng shook his head and said, "She wrote it, and I gave some suggestions."

"She wanted to film the story of someone taking the college entrance exam and having their fate changed. My suggestion was to make it a story about one person having two different fates."

When Yu Hua heard that Lin Zhaomei's short film was about college entrance exam fraud, which had been reported in many newspapers a long time ago, he said, "I didn't expect Zhaomei to make a film about this kind of story. Speaking of which, I failed my college entrance exam back then. If I hadn't known my own situation, I might have thought that my college entrance exam had been fraudulently taken after seeing the news."

"When your nephew's story was reported at that time, it caused a huge reaction and may have changed the fate of many people."

Yu Hua was naturally aware of the fact that Lin Youcheng's nephew, Zhao Gensheng, had his college entrance exam result stolen. In his opinion, the news reports would definitely change the fate of many people. Perhaps some people would see the news and then suspect that their own failure to pass the college entrance exam was due to someone else taking their place. After all, there were many similar cases reported at that time.

Now that Lin Zhaomei is making this story again, even if it's a short film, it will undoubtedly attract a lot of attention. This is because once this story is seen, it will naturally have more chain reactions.

"Then I'll definitely have to watch Zhao Mei's film."

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "It should be soon."

Indeed, it's almost time. Lin Zhaomei has been busy filming throughout the summer vacation. Fortunately, since it's a short film, the filming went very smoothly. Now it's just post-production. Although Lin Zhaomei isn't in a hurry to edit and produce it, with the start of the new school year approaching, she naturally hopes to finish the short film as soon as possible.

Although Section Chief Jia worked with Lin Zhaomei on this short film, Lin Zhaomei was the one who made the decisions most of the time.

He also has the idea of ​​making films on film, or even feature films. After all, he has seen Lin Zhaomei shoot short films on film, and he naturally wants to do the same. In particular, he recently read Lin Youcheng's latest work, "Hidden in the Dust," which depicts a rural world, and it touched him deeply.

Section Chief Jia also discussed Lin Youcheng's novel "Hidden in the Dust" with photographer Zhou Fan, saying, "I really want to film this novel, 'Hidden in the Dust.' Even if I don't film this novel, I would like to film my own award."

Zhou Fan was also deeply moved, saying, "This piece, 'Hidden in the Dust,' is truly well-written, like a beautiful prose poem, a cruel reality of life. In my opinion, this is a possibility for realism to be presented without dramatization; the hardships of life are always more bitter than imagined. Those little flower prints on my hands are really beautiful. Poetry flows within the realistic strokes; all the metaphors of reality have been expressed subtly, without needing to be expressed with passion and directness. The descriptive words are very delicate."

"It's not just about being delicate, it's also about being compassionate."

What Section Chief Jia saw was not only sensitivity, but also compassion.

That's right, it's compassion, just like the feeling of compassion in Lin Zhaomei's short film about the fate of those whose college entrance exams were stolen.

In Lin Youcheng's *Hidden in the Dust*, when describing the countryside, he doesn't write about rugged mountain roads, muddy roads, or leaky roofs; he doesn't write about urine left on the seats of luxury cars or blood repeatedly filling metal boxes; he doesn't write about incongruous light-colored coats; he doesn't write about the rampant growth of buckwheat in vast fields in spring or the lack of place for chickens, ducks, and donkeys in apartment buildings. When describing love, he doesn't write about palpitations or kisses; he doesn't write about light streaming through holes in cardboard boxes onto mud walls, about water bottles tucked inside cotton-padded coats, or plastic bags wrapped around partners in torrential rain. When describing hardship, he doesn't write about sickbeds, disabilities, or pale faces; he doesn't write about backs wielding hoes, eggs stained with pesticide, or birds startled into flight, their gaze following the wind towards the sky…

All of this made Section Chief Jia feel fantastic.

Section Chief Jia was well aware that Lin Youcheng's "Hidden in the Dust" was remarkably realistic, vividly depicting the minutiae of peasant life and containing metaphors about bloodsucking. These elements deeply moved Section Chief Jia. He naturally wondered how he would best handle the camera work if he were to film this metaphorical scene. He also considered how to best portray Ma Youtie, the fourth brother, who was like the donkey. His final words to the donkey, "You've been used all your life, why don't you move?" were also a reflection of himself. He wondered how he would handle the shot of the man and the donkey during filming...

These were also Jia's thoughts. He even felt that in the description of "Hidden in the Dust," the countryside was the last prose poem, the most magnificent wound of society, death was insignificant, life was taken lightly, and love remained unchanged.

Seeing the moved expression on Section Chief Jia's face, Zhou Fan understood that Section Chief Jia genuinely wanted to film this story, and asked, "You want to film this story?"

"If possible, that would be great, but I also think it would be good to film my hometown, preferably focusing on marginalized people."

Section Chief Jia didn't have the idea of ​​"Xiao Wu" in his mind, but he felt that the marginal world of county towns and townships should also be given attention. (End of Chapter)