The literary era since 1979

Chapter 148: Dissecting the Sparrow of Dialect
October 1th, Sunday.

The editorial department of "October" and even Yenching Publishing House attached great importance to this year's literary award and spent a huge amount of money on it.

The venue was decorated grandly, and guests were invited not only from the literary and art circles, but also from the media, publishing and even entertainment circles.

As a staff member of the organizing committee, Fangyan was assigned the job of receiving writers who came from all over the country to receive their awards.

There are old friends such as Jiang Zilong, Lu Yao, Tie Ning, Wang Anyi, as well as new friends such as Liu Xinwu and Cheng Yu.

Of course, there was another person that Fangyan had to pick up in person, and that was Shi Tiesheng.

"Tie Sheng!"

"Iwako!"

When Fang Yan appeared pushing Shi Tiesheng, Jiang Zilong, Tie Ning and others immediately rushed forward.

Shi Tiesheng greeted with a smile, his small eyes narrowed into a line behind the black frame of his glasses, sometimes revealing a bit of childish cunning.

"It's a pity that Lao Mo didn't come."

Fangyan looked around and found that he was the only one missing from the training team.

"He is busy adapting my novel "Life" into a movie script." Lu Yao revealed that Wu Tianming had been successfully elected as the new director of Xi'an Film Studio through a democratic election within the studio.

Then he quietly put out the cigarette and said, "When I came here, Director Wu and Lao Mo asked me to ask you about the script of The Great Qin Fission."

"Reassure them that the first draft is almost done."

Fangyan waved his hand.

"Yanzi, you are really busy."

Tie Ning and Wang Anyi looked at each other.

"That's right. Let's not talk about the script of the movie "The Great Qin: Fission". Even today's award ceremony is so big, it needs to be organized, prepared, and arranged. Iwako must have been busy with it."

Gu Hua sighed, "Even with this, he still found time to come to Xiangxi to collect folk songs and wrote such a good "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog". Sometimes I really want to cut open Yanzi's chest to see if he has a smart mind. How can he do so many things at once?"

"Old Gu hits the nail on the head."

Jiang Zilong smiled bitterly.

Once "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" was published, he had already finished writing half of his novel about mechanics. Unexpectedly, the leaders of the Tianjin Writers Association and the mechanical system came to him. They had no extra requirements, just that the work could reach the level of Fangyan's article.

"Who says it's not true? I am the same!"

"Me too."

Listening to Lu Yao, Tie Ning and the others' complaints, Wang Anyi's eyes widened: "Ah? I thought I was the only one like this, but I didn't expect that everyone is the same."

"Yanzi, it seems that you are guilty of a heinous crime!"

Shi Tiesheng couldn't help but make a joke.

"Yes, it's a heinous crime!"

Faced with the "public outrage" of the slackers, Fangyan smiled awkwardly and used a trick to change the subject.

From the works they created for different field systems, we chatted and then talked about their next work.

Jiang Zilong, Gu Hua and others already have some clues.

Lu Yao was like an old ox, working hard and quietly finishing half of "In Difficult Days".

Seeing that even her good sister Wang Anyi was preparing her first novel, Tie Ning, who had been standing still, couldn't help but feel anxious.

After all, my friends are all making progress, so how can I fall behind!

Everyone present noticed her anxiety and offered suggestions.

"Romance literature is very popular recently, why don't Tie Ning try this direction as well?"

"........."

"The Chinese women's volleyball team won the championship. How about this topic?"

"Speaking of the women's volleyball team, I remember there was news about Yanzi in the newspaper."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone turned their eyes to Fangyan.

Tie Ning said the same thing. "I've read that report. 'If miracles have a color, it must be Chinese red.' Yanzi said it very well. It's really appropriate!"

Shi Tiesheng glanced at him and said, "Yanzi, what do you think?"

"I think our comrade Tie Ning is good at writing about things around him, seeing the big picture from the small, and going from the simple to the complex..."

Fangyan explained the whole story from beginning to end.

Tiening listened patiently, and when he heard about fashionable clothing such as T-shirts and overalls, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"clothing!?"

"Yes, clothes. Young women wearing T-shirts all over the streets form a beautiful landscape."

Fangyan gave an idea, "The liberation of clothing is also a liberation of thought and beauty."

“It’s also women’s liberation!”

Tie Ning had a sudden idea, and red clothes appeared in his mind.

"You thought of something, didn't you?"

Fangyan said with a smile.

"Lao Gu wants to cut open your chest to see what your heart looks like." Tie Ning couldn't help but said excitedly: "Teacher Xiao Fang, I want to knock open your head to see what your brain looks like!"

"You are too cruel. How much do you want to dismember me?"

Fangyan shook his head and laughed.

"It's not dismemberment, it's dissecting a sparrow like you."

Shi Tiesheng said this out of the blue.

"Hahaha, Tiesheng said it well!" In an instant, the conference hall was filled with a happy atmosphere.

…………

Fortunately, the award ceremony went according to the pre-designed process and ended successfully without any major problems.

This is a meeting of unity! A meeting of victory!

Compared with the National Short Story and Novella Award, the winning works differ in subject matter, form and style, which opened the eyes of major publications that were eager to establish literary awards. It turned out that awards could be given in this way. "October" was the first to start the trend of genre awards.

In the entire conference, dialects were undoubtedly the most dazzling winner, appearing on four lists and winning four awards.

After the meeting, he was also a big winner.

Lu Yao, Tie Ning, Wang Anyi and others promised to submit their new works to October. With a great harvest, they made an appointment with everyone to get together before leaving Beijing and have a good meal in a restaurant.

"Come tomorrow, see you there!"

Fangyan pushed Shi Tiesheng along the sparsely populated street.

"This is the first literary award I have ever won in my life."

Shi Tiesheng flipped through the certificate in his hand and never got tired of looking at it.

"This is just the beginning. You will definitely win more awards in the future. I guarantee you will win so many awards that your hands will cramp."

Fangyan said half jokingly.

Shi Tiesheng closed the certificate and said, "Yanzi, thank you."

Just as Fangyan was about to open his mouth, he heard him say that he had been to the hospital for a comprehensive physical examination not long ago, and was diagnosed with kidney disease. Fortunately, it was discovered in time and brought under control. Otherwise, if it had continued to worsen, he might have to have a tube intubated for the rest of his life.

"If that's the case, I really can't go to northern Shaanxi with you."

Shi Tiesheng said with emotion, "Thanks for your reminder."

Fangyan patted his shoulder and said, "You must keep doing the massage."

"Now I have to work harder, not only for my mother, but also to earn more money for her medical treatment."

Shi Tiesheng nodded and said, "I want to live well."

Fang Yan noticed that he was in a bad mood, so he tightened the blanket around him and said a few words to comfort him.

There was a hint of distress in Shi Tiesheng's tone. Just when he thought good days were coming, misfortune struck again.

"I met an old man recently, and he told me a story." Fangyan pushed the cart slowly and told the story slowly.

A blind pair traveled across mountains and rivers, making a living by playing the sanxian and telling stories. The old blind man played the instrument day and night just to break one more string every day.

It turned out that the old blind man's master told him before he died that as long as he broke a thousand strings of the guitar with sincerity and opened the guitar case, he would get the prescription to restore his sight. After 50 years of hard work, he finally broke a thousand strings of the guitar.

When he took the prescription to get the medicine, others told him that the prescription was actually just a piece of white paper.

"Blank paper?"

Shi Tiesheng was stunned.

"Yes, it's white paper!"

Fang Yan said: "At that moment, the old blind man felt that the world had collapsed and life seemed to have lost its meaning."

Shi Tiesheng figured out the deep meaning of the story and said nothing.

Fangyan asked: "If you were this old blind man, how would you tell your apprentice about this?"

Shi Tiesheng pondered for a moment, "I will put this 'prescription' into the blind boy's piano case and tell him to play the piano well. When he breaks 1000 strings, he can get the prescription and see the light of day again."

"You guessed it right!"

Fangyan smiled and said, "But the number is wrong. It's not 1000, it's 1300."

"So this is the meaning of life passed down from generation to generation." Shi Tiesheng was stunned at first, then he suddenly realized.

Fangyan saw that he was deep in thought, so he didn't disturb him and just pushed the cart silently.

Shi Tiesheng hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Yanzi, can you let me write this story?"

“You want to write a novel?”

"Well, I think this story has a certain appeal to me that makes me want to write it down."

"Of course, but I want your manuscript."

"no problem!"

Shi Tiesheng was immersed in this story. "I might not have been suitable to be a writer, but I didn't expect that fate would bring me to this path."

Fangyan said: "Then don't look back, look forward without hesitation!"

"Yes, look forward! Look forward!"

Shi Tiesheng suddenly perked up.

Fangyan reminded: "Tiesheng, you better hold on tight, I'm going to speed up."

"accelerate?"

Shi Tiesheng suddenly felt a push on his back. It turned out that Fangyan was pushing the car hard and the speed was astonishing.

"Alas!"

Fangyan shouted.

"Alas!"

Shi Tiesheng was infected and shouted too.

At this moment, I couldn't help but feel like I was flying. The only drawback was that it was a bit cold!
Sure enough, Fangyan was not treated as a human being, and no one treated him as a human being either!

(End of this chapter)