The literary era since 1979

Chapter 196 The Value of a Great Writer

The next day, early in the morning.

Lin Xianzhi arrived at Yangcheng Restaurant on time. At the welcoming banquet last night, he promised to be a guide for Fang Yan and Han Yuemin.

"Teacher Fang, we have arranged everything for you. We will leave this afternoon."

"Thank you."

Fang Yan thanked him and asked him to look after Han Yuemin.

Lin Xianzhi readily agreed and took the two of them to Gaodi Street Market, which was not far from Yangcheng Restaurant.

After a while, a plaque with the words "Gaudi Street Industrial Products Market" came into everyone's sight.

There are stalls on both sides of the road, some of which are built with iron frames, some are simply bamboo frames, and some are "cart stalls".

The stalls are filled with a wide variety of clothing, shoes, hats, and small sundries, attracting passers-by to come and choose.

"They are so brave!"

Han Yuemin lowered his voice and said, "We've been cracking down on this, but you still dare to act so blatantly? Are you trying to save your life?"

The dialect says: “The bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish!
Lin Xianzhi exclaimed in amazement: "Teacher Fang, very insightful!"

Han Yuemin looked at the constant flow of customers and was envious when he heard that small vendors only needed to pay one dollar a day to the street to set up stalls legally and did not have to pay taxes.

"Brother-in-law, how much money did you bring this time?"

Fangyan glanced at his bag.

"Not much, this number."

Han Yuemin held up two fingers.

"With so much, do you want to take some back this time?"

Fangyan guessed tacitly that it was two thousand.

"That's not the case. I plan to buy some of the latest fashions and sell them at the tailor shop."

Han Yuemin was inspired and said, "Let's learn something by the way."

Fangyan smiled, and suddenly his eyes caught sight of a cold drink machine, his eyes sparkling with brilliance.

Han Yuemin followed his gaze and was surprised: "What is this?"

"Oh, it seems to be called a soda fountain."

Lin Xianzhi introduced that this is an imported product displayed at the Canton Fair, which can continuously keep drinks cold.

Fangyan was very interested, "How much does a cup of this cost?"

"3 cents."

Lin Xianzhi asked curiously, "Teacher Fang, are you thirsty?"

Seeing Fang Yan shaking his head, Han Yuemin did some calculation in his mind.

3 cents per cup, and the cost may be less than 1 cents. This is not a cold drink machine, it's a money printing machine!
"Brother-in-law, what are you thinking about?"

"Iwako, I was thinking that I must come to the autumn meeting in October, and I must get a cold drink machine no matter what."

"It's too late by then. The cold drink machine business is only popular in the summer."

"Yeah, how could I have forgotten about this? Who drinks cold drinks in the winter?"

"But congratulations to your brother-in-law for thinking of buying a machine. He has made progress again."

Fangyan whispered that although there are huge profits to be made by dealing in trendy fashions, it is only a flash in the pan.

No matter how high the profits are, as more and more speculators enter the market, they will gradually become small profits.

After all, the technical threshold for the "smuggler" business is too low.

Unless, either you get a train like Wang Shi did, or you are bold enough to trade planes with the Russians like Mou Qizhong, or there is another way...

"Yako, you're right."

Under his guidance, Han Yuemin's horizons gradually broadened.

In dialect, “Science and technology are productive forces.”

Han Yuemin said: "To be honest, I had planned to go to Linjiayuan at the beginning of the year to buy an electronic jacquard machine or an electronic sewing machine. If it weren't for the big accident in Wen'ou this time..."

"It's enough to have this intention."

Fang Yan said, "There is still the autumn meeting."

When Han Yuemin heard him say that he wanted to expand his business, he started thinking that if he had these equipment, he could start a garment factory instead of opening a tailor shop.

Fangyan patted his shoulder, thoughtfully.

On the crowded streets, "international traders" of different skin colors appear from time to time, holding sticky notes with shop numbers written on them. They shout "my friend" as soon as they enter the store. Some even ask "how much" or "is it cheaper" in Cantonese skillfully.

At this moment, a voice with a strong Beijing accent came from the crowd.

"Teacher Fang!"

Looking closely, Fang Yan saw Wang Shuo and Ye Jing walking towards him.

Wang Shuo was surprised and delighted, "Teacher Fang, it really is you!"

Han Yuemin got to know Wang Shuo and the others through Fangyan's introduction and looked them up and down.

Fang Yan asked curiously, "Why are you in Yangcheng?"

Ye Jing was too embarrassed to open her mouth. She couldn't say that their roast duck restaurant couldn't continue to operate, the business failed, and she was forced to "go into the sea".

Wang Shuo was quite honest and said, "Teacher Fang, we are here to make a fortune."

Han Yuemin suddenly realized that he was just like himself, having taken a leave of absence from his job to go into business.

“I bought quite a few.”

Fangyan glanced at the bell-bottom pants in their bags.

"Hey, make a little fortune."

Wang Shuo excitedly said that this was his first time as a trader.

"Are they brave or do they have brains..."

Han Yuemin looked at their secretly delighted expressions and whispered, "Yanjing is now cracking down on speculation and profiteering, and you still dare to run into the gun."

Fang Yan smiled but said nothing. Wang Shuo patted his chest and said generously, "Teacher Fang, it is fate that we meet today. How about we treat you for lunch?"

"you sure?"

Fang Yan and Han Yuemin smiled at each other.

Ye Jing had a bad feeling from their smiles.

The facts proved that his premonition was correct!
At noon, everyone sat in a private room of Yangcheng Restaurant.

One after another, Cantonese delicacies were placed on the round table, which made Wang Shuo and Ye Jing dizzy and frightened.

"How much money do we have left?"

Wang Shuo was panicked.

"Not much left. I have to use the remaining money to buy a digital watch."

Ye Jing looked at the table full of dishes and the bottle of Merlot wine, and her heart was no longer aching, but bleeding.

"What can I do? I've already said it..."

Wang Shuo broke out in a cold sweat.

At this moment, Fang Yan looked at Lin Xianzhi with a smile:
"We spent a lot of money on yesterday's meal. We have already discussed today's meal. We must treat you back. At the same time, we also want to thank you for being our guide this morning."

"This this……"

"Don't refuse. You can't return this dish once you order it."

Fang Yan turned to look at Wang Shuo and said, "Let me treat you to this meal. I'll find another opportunity when we return to Yanjing." "No problem, Teacher Fang!"

Ye Jing spoke up immediately, then looked at Wang Shuo, whose face was flushed with shame, and they both breathed a sigh of relief as if they had been pardoned.

At this moment, Lu Qiwen came to the private room again and said that he had a special dish for us, which was a new dish developed by Chef Huang Zhenhua.

Fang Yan blurted out, "This fish looks like a grouper."

"Teacher Fang is indeed a big eater!"

Seeing Lu Qiwen enthusiastically saying the name of the dish was "Blue Sea Fish King", Wang Shuo's eyes widened and his brain was buzzing.

Is this the value of being a “great writer”?

…………

"Hiccup~"

After returning to the guesthouse from Yangcheng Restaurant, Ye Jing touched her bulging belly and spoke with envy:

"Drinking this wine and eating this Cantonese food, Teacher Fang is living a much more comfortable life than us."

“I didn’t expect this meal would cost so much.”

Wang Shuo said with lingering fear.

Ye Jing said: "Fortunately, we didn't treat each other in the end, otherwise, I don't know how to settle the bill."

Wang Shuo said with envy: "Teacher Fang is too arrogant."

"If you ask me, you should stop bothering with bell-bottom pants and just follow Teacher Fang. Maybe I can get some benefit from it."

Ye Jing tugged at the waist of his pants.

Wang Shuo rolled his eyes: "Didn't I tell you that it's impossible for me to write. I can't write in this life. If I write again, I'll be stinking dog shit! Stinky feces!"

Ye Jing suddenly asked: "Was the meal delicious?"

Wang Shuo didn't even think about it, "It smells so good!"

Ye Jing said: "If you can become a great writer like Teacher Fang, you can eat it every day in the future."

Wang Shuo curled his lips and said, "Look at how promising you are. You've become so beautiful after just a few meals that I don't even know your last name."

"Tsk, just brag about your poverty."

Ye Jing said: "If I hadn't been untalented, I would have no problem calling Teacher Fang 'Master' and would have followed him from now on."

Wang Shuo said: "You have no talent for literature, but I can see your talent for being a lackey."

Ye Jing countered: "Don't ridicule me. When the time comes, you might just become a lackey yourself."

"Hey!"

Wang Shuo said unhappily, "It's just a meal at Yangcheng Restaurant. When we get rich, we'll come here every day."

After chatting for a while, Ye Jing suddenly asked, "Teacher Fang just said at the dinner table that he is going to Shekou to give a literature lecture, right?"

"Yes."

On the third day after Wang Shuo said this, the Gaodi Street Market was crowded as usual early in the morning.

At this moment, a hardware vendor holding a copy of Yangcheng Daily shouted:
"Teacher Fang is here in Shekou!"

All of a sudden, it attracted the surrounding stall owners and passers-by, who asked, "Which Teacher Fang?"

"Of course it's the dialect!"

"The dialect used to write "The Great Qin Splitting"!"

"He gave a lecture in Shekou yesterday!"

The stall owner unfolded the Yangcheng Daily, and an entire page was filled with reports on a lecture on dialect literature.

"Where is it? Where is it? Let me see."

In an instant, many people swarmed over, and many people ran to the post office newsstand at the Grand Cross.

Wang Shuo looked at the crowd going crazy for Fangyan, and pulled Ye Jing over as well.

There was a lot of noise and a huge crowd of people. Citizens were crowded inside and outside the store just to buy the newspapers of the day such as "Yangcheng Daily" and "Nanfang Daily", as well as magazines such as "Story Club" and "Popular Movies" published that month.

If you arrive a little late, you can only watch others reading newspapers from behind.

Wang Shuo squeezed out of the crowd, holding a newspaper in his hand and cursing.

"Stop scolding and read what Teacher Fang said."

Ye Jing moved closer, and what came into view was the "Change from Zhou to Qin".

"Although there have been 24 dynasties in Chinese history and countless changes of dynasties, in fact, there have only been four real social transformations."

"The changes from Shang to Zhou! The changes from Zhou to Qin! The changes from Tang to Song!"

"And the changes from ancient times to the present that began in the late Qing Dynasty!"

"From the transition from the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, we began to have the concept of 'China'..."

Wang Shuo looked from top to bottom and couldn't help but read it aloud.

There were many people like him, and around them gathered a group of people who failed to grab the newspapers.

"Although Zhou is an old state, its destiny is to be renewed."

"It means, 'Although the state established by the Zhou people is very old, its destiny lies in innovation.'"

“The reason why the Zhou Dynasty perished and the Qin Dynasty replaced it, ending the Warring States Period, was because the Zhou Dynasty stopped innovating and did not continue to reform. It was because the other six kingdoms did not reform more thoroughly than the Qin Kingdom, and were eventually defeated by the powerful Qin Kingdom after its reform.”

"From now on, the Central Plains will move from being a fragmented country to a unified one!"

"Put the idea of ​​'great unification' into practice!"

"........."

"When you are poor, you must change. When you change, you will be able to get through. When you get through, you will last long!"

The voices grew louder and louder, and the people reading the newspapers could no longer control their excitement.

"Teacher Fang said it very well!"

"Don't interrupt, just keep talking!"

One by one, they came up to Wang Shuo and urged him to continue reading.

Wang Shuo, however, seemed as if his body had been hollowed out, and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "There is nothing below."

"What!?"

In an instant, the whole audience was in an uproar, with ghosts crying and wolves howling.

"Why is there nothing below?"

"That's right, we just talked about 'The Change from Shang to Zhou' and 'The Change from Zhou to Qin', but we haven't talked about the last two yet!"

"How can it be interrupted when the conversation is so exciting?"

"This is too immoral!"

"I'll beat your lungs out!"

The crowd was confused by the broken chapter and was extremely angry. They kept cursing and threatened to send razor blades to the newspaper that broke the chapter.

When it comes to dialect, everyone praises it with “how cool is this”, “so good”, “Mr. Fang is so good”…

People in eastern Guangdong love to have morning tea, and this dialect article "The Change from Zhou to Qin" immediately became their topic of conversation and spread more and more widely.

Wang Shuo, who was in the middle of it, heard discussions about "dialects" and "reform" everywhere. He also saw newspapers such as "Yangcheng Evening News" and "Nanfang Daily" commenting on "The Splitting of the Great Qin" and "The Change from Zhou to Qin" in a series of articles.

It seems like the news has spread all over Guangzhou and caused a sensation in the whole city!

(End of this chapter)