The literary era since 1979

After settling down in the guesthouse, a welcoming banquet was specially held at the Jinyang Hotel, which is famous throughout the province.

It is famous for serving authentic Shanxi cuisine. As the saying goes, to eat authentic Shanxi cuisine, go to Jinyang Hotel; to taste Shanxi noodles, go to Jinyang Hotel.

As soon as Fangyan entered the store, several writers who were also from the Jinxi Writers Association came to greet him, and it was obvious that they had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Let me introduce you, this is Zheng Yi..."

"This is Zhang Shishan. After reading his book, Han Baoshan, the Handle of the Hoe, Mr. Ma commented that it has some of Mr. Shuli's yam and egg flavor."

As Jiao Zuyao walked, he introduced Fang Yan and Zhu Wei.

"Nice to meet you."

They got to know each other, and then the nine people came to the reserved box and sat down.

After a while, dishes from Western Shanxi were served on the table, including squirrel fish, crispy duck, Yiwosu, ox tongue, and baked eggs in iron bowls...

"Teacher Fang, even though I'm from western Shanxi, I don't defend my shortcomings. The food from western Shanxi is not up to standard and cannot be served on the table."

Jiao Zuyao is like Chu Yunfei in "Bright Sword", "Maybe you, a big eater, will have to suffer."

"Don't say that. This Jin cuisine may not be unworthy of being served on the table."

Fangyan picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks. "Let's talk about this 'Jinxi Fried Pork'. It first appeared in the homes of officials in ancient times and was an official dish. Later, it was brought to western Shanxi by Shanxi merchants and gradually became a must-have dish for official banquets and folk banquets..."

"Teacher Fang is indeed an expert. He can tell the origin of 'Jinxi Fried Pork' right away."

Jiao Zuyao gave a thumbs up, and others present also praised him.

Zheng Yi said: "This Jinxi fried pork is the representative dish of our Jinxi. Whenever I eat Jinxi food, I must order a plate of it!"

"In fact, compared with Jin cuisine, I think the noodles from western Shanxi are more worthy of praise."

Fangyan looked around and said, "As far as I know, there are thousands of kinds of noodles in Jinxi, right?"

"Hehe, not many." Zheng Yi grinned and said, "No more, no less, just over 1900 species."

“So, it is clear that Jinxi cuisine is by no means a dish that cannot be served on the table. Instead, it is a delicacy of the people.”

The dialect did not say the second half of the sentence. If the cuisine of western Shanxi is not up to standard, then the cuisine of Hangzhou is just rubbish.

After all, what good food can there be in Hangzhou, a food desert? KFC, McDonald's, or West Lake vinegar fish?
These words touched the hearts of these writers from western Shanxi. They were all delighted and raised their wine cups:
"Teacher Fang, Teacher Zhu, I toast to you!"

"despair."

The wine glasses made a crisp sound when they collided.

Fang Yan took a sip of Fenjiu and said with emotion: "If Mr. Wang were here, he would definitely be very happy."

When they heard "Wang Zengqi", everyone was curious and puzzled.

"Everything I know about Jinxi cuisine I heard from Mr. Wang."

Fang Yan said: "He has a special liking for the noodles from Jinxi. If he were with us on this trip, he would definitely eat there for ten days or half a month."

Jiao Zuyao said excitedly: "That's no problem. If there is a chance, we must invite Mr. Wang to visit Jinxi."

After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere at the table gradually became heated, and the topic shifted from food to literature, especially root-seeking literature.

Zheng Yi asked a question that everyone present wanted to ask: How did this "root-seeking literature" come about?
Fang Yan said: "I'm afraid the origin of this can be traced back to Mr. Wang."

Jiao Zuyao, Ke Yunlu, Zheng Yi and others were very surprised. It was Mr. Wang again? Could root-seeking literature be related to Wang Zengqi?

“In fact, this root-seeking literature is rooted in ethnic and regional culture, but it was not called ethnic literature or regional literature at the beginning.”

Fang Yan said: "It is called a folk custom novel. This term comes from Mr. Wang's "Shoujie"."

"Wait, wait."

Including Jiao Zuyao, the magazine editors and critics at the table put down their chopsticks, took out pens and paper, and started taking notes.

"Teacher Wang learned from Mr. Cong Wen. Mr. Cong Wen shocked the literary world with his works praising the simplicity and nature of the people in the mountains of western Hunan."

"Therefore, in Mr. Wang's works, he also writes about the people outside the barbarians and the local customs, which contain the charm of pure emotions and simple meanings. He can often see the diversity and richness of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation in the depths of the colorful regional culture and the regional cultural characteristics of literary creation..."

“Especially as he mentioned it in ‘Return to Realism, Return to National Tradition’.”

"Writing about customs is to write about people, and as long as one is Chinese, he lives in the Chinese cultural tradition. This traditional culture, which best reflects the unique temperament of a nation, is passed down, accumulated, superimposed, and blended from generation to generation, affecting every Chinese living in it."

"The land and water nurture the people. A person with true Chinese characteristics cannot be separated from the traditional Chinese culture."

"It can be said that Mr. Wang has a deep connection with root-seeking literature."

"In other words, it was not me who pioneered the trend of root-seeking literature, but Mr. Wang. His novels can be regarded as the forerunners of root-seeking literature."

"I am just the first writer to come up with the concept of 'seeking literary roots'."

Fangyan looked left and right, his tone flat.

Zheng Yi was the first to react, "That's incredible!"

"That's right, you are so modest. Teacher Fang is too modest!"

"Don't you know what a sensation your root-seeking literature has caused in our western Shanxi literary world?"

There was a lot of discussion. Jiao Zuyao raised his wine cup and said while toasting: "Teacher Fang, what everyone said is true."

After asking Fangyan, I learned that with the decline of the Shan Yaodan School, the literary world in western Shanxi had already shown signs of decline.

Just like western Shanxi has the title of "the largest province of ancient buildings", but has always been regarded as the "coal capital" in the eyes of the world, how to revitalize western Shanxi literature and activate the vitality of traditional culture has always troubled this generation of Jinjun. Unexpectedly, Teacher Fang shouted and brought them root-seeking literature.

Now, the literature of western Shanxi has completely found new roots!

"to be honest."

Zheng Yi also raised his glass to toast, "Without you, Mr. Fang, I wouldn't be where I am today. The direction of my literary creation was determined the day the root-seeking literature came out, and it was anchored on this Loess Plateau that I wrote "Distant Village."

"This novel is really bold."

Zhu Wei said that the theme of the film is even more outrageous than that of extramarital affairs, as it writes about the distorted marriage custom of "forming gangs to form alliances".

Zheng Yi sighed: "At that time, spiritual pollution was rampant and I almost couldn't publish it. Fortunately, Zhang Zhonge, the editor of Contemporary Magazine, thought it was a root-seeking novel. Although it was not put on the front page, it was still published. I didn't expect that it would be selected as this year's Outstanding Novella Award."

"This is what we call 'blessings often lie in the shadow of disasters, and disasters often lie in the shadow of blessings'."

Fang Yan and Zhu Wei looked at each other. There would undoubtedly be another "Zheng Yi" on the list of this seminar.

"Come on, come on, cheers!"

Zhu Wei couldn't help but understand, and clamored to drink with everyone. Under the influence of alcohol, he asked Zheng Yi if he had any new works recently.

"Yes, of course. I'm planning to write a local story about several generations digging wells."

Zheng Yi told the story of Laojing Village on the Loess Plateau, where generations had been unable to dig a well. In order to get rid of the village's predicament, the elderly placed their hopes of digging wells on the young people, just like Yugong moving the mountains.

Fangyan immediately guessed it was "Old Well", the masterpiece that helped Zhang Yimou win the Best Actor award at the Tokyo Film Festival.

"The protagonist's name is 'Sun Wangquan'. Wangquan, Wangquan, it means that he hopes that his generation can dig a well in the village." Zheng Yi plans to design some fateful choices. In order to dig a well, Sun Wangquan has to make sacrifices, such as love.

"Not enough." Fang Yan shook his head.

Zheng Yi asked seriously, "Teacher Fang, what do you think is lacking?"

"Since it is the dream of several generations to dig a well, we should write down clearly why we are so persistent in digging a well, just like Yugong moving the mountain."

Fang Yan asked, "Are there any traditional customs for praying for rain in western Shanxi?"

"Yes, lift the Dragon King!"

Zheng Yi said: "If they still can't pray for rain, in the past, the clan leaders and village chiefs had to kneel on the slag or in the thorny grass. Even more cruel was that they used iron rods, iron sticks, iron whips, or knives to stab, hit, cut, and prick their own bodies, using their own blood and wailing to move the Dragon King..."

"Look, abolishing this sacrificial custom is the reason, isn't it?"

Fangyan made a suggestion and designed a scene in which Sun Wangquan was recommended to a hydrogeology training class to dig wells using scientific methods.

"Yup!"

Zheng Yi was deeply inspired. He slapped his thigh and started chatting about the conception of "Old Well" as if he had met a close friend.

Zhu Wei listened quietly and couldn't help but sigh: "If this is completed, it will definitely be a top-notch root-seeking novel!"

Seeing that other people shared the same opinion, Zheng Yi was so excited that he couldn't wait to go home and create.

"Look at you, you're in a hurry."

Fang Yan asked, "Have you thought of a title for the novel?"

Zheng Yi initially wanted to imitate the story of “Foolish Old Man Moving Mountains” and name the project “Foolish Village Digging a Well”.

Fangyan shook his head. "No, no, 'Foolish Village' is not a good word for these villagers who have longed for a well for generations."

Zheng Yi then wrote down seven or eight more titles on the paper, including "Wangquan", "Shuijing", "Laojing", "Shiyu Village", etc.

"I think The Old Well is better. What do you think?"

Fangyan sought the opinions of Zhu Wei, Ke Yunlu and others.

Zhu Wei agreed: "This is a good name. It succinctly points out the essence of the whole story."

Seeing that others also had high hopes for "Old Well", Zheng Yi followed their lead and decisively decided on the title and outline.

Fang Yan patted Zhu Wei on the back and recommended Zhu Wei to Zheng Yi as the editor-in-chief of this novel:

"I wonder what you think?"

"Of course, no problem. Teacher Zhu must be responsible for my article "Old Well"."

Although Zheng Yi felt a little regretful, he readily agreed.

"No, no, I'm not worthy of being called 'teacher'. Let's just call me 'Xiao Zhu' as usual."

Zhu Wei raised his hand.

"How can this be? When you are working, you must refer to your position!" Zheng Yi said seriously, "Teacher Xiao Zhu, please take care of me in the future."

"Take care of each other and make progress together!"

Zhu Wei glanced at Fangyan who had pushed him to the forefront, and was deeply moved.

Jiao Zuyao praised: "Since Mr. Zhu follows Mr. Fang, he will definitely become a famous editor like Mr. Fang in the future."

Fang Yan patted his shoulder and said, "The author and the screenwriter complement each other. Whether he can become a famous screenwriter depends on all of you."

Zhu Wei understood what he meant and obviously considered himself as the direct descendant, and entrusted this area of ​​Shanxi western literary world to him to manage.

Following his eye signal, he stood up and toasted the generals of the Jin army present in a proper manner.

"Teacher Fang, I also have a manuscript here, can you please help me take a look?"

The conversation between Zheng Yi and Fang Yan just now was seen by other people present, and many of them have begun to get excited.

"Even if you don't ask, we will definitely ask."

Fangyan naturally accepts all the contributions. "Zhu Wei and I have already discussed this on the train to western Shanxi. If there is a chance, we will try to publish a group of novels from writers from western Shanxi in People's Literature..."

Hearing this, everyone at the table looked at Fang Yan and Zhu Wei with even more passion, with gleams in their eyes.

We in the Jin Army really want to make progress!

…………

Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Fang Yan and Zhu Wei participated in a small literary seminar and exchange meeting specially organized by the Shanxi West Writers Association, and gained a lot.

Not only did we find more suitable candidates like Zheng Yi, but we also got a lot of manuscripts from young writers in western Shanxi.

In addition to the genre of root-seeking literature, there is also local literature, reform literature, and so on.

Fangyan immediately shared the good news with Wang Meng who was far away in Yanjing.

"The land of Shanxi is indeed a fertile ground for humanities. Even if it is declining, it is only temporary and will soon burst into new vitality."

"Otherwise, it wouldn't be called the 'Three Jin Culture'."

"It seems that these manuscripts and writers discovered in western Shanxi are very much to your liking, right?"

"Well, when these novels are published, I will write this sentence in the editor's note of this issue."

The dialect says: "The cultural heritage of the Three Jins has been passed down from generation to generation, deeply rooted in life and the people. The rise of the Jin army is worth looking forward to!"

Although there are only 24 short words, they are of great significance. They mean that in the national literary world, in addition to the Guangdong Army, Hunan Army, Shaanxi Army, Imperial Guards, Zhili Clique, Fengtian Clique, Sichuan Army, etc., there is another "Shanxi Army" that holds high the banner of literature marked by regionality.

The entire literary world cannot be said to be "warlord separatism", but it is at least "a hundred flowers blooming" and competing with each other for beauty.

That state of thriving vitality and flourishing everything is right before our eyes!
"You've done it, and I've almost finished my discussion."

Wang Meng said that he had already reached an agreement with Harvest Literary Publishing House and the date is tentatively set for October 10.

"More than 20 days is enough to organize a meeting. There is definitely more than enough time." Fang Yan said, "What about the location? In Yanjing or in Shanghai?"

Wang Meng replied: "Neither, I chose Hangzhou."

"Why choose it here?" Fangyan was very curious.

"This is a compromise. Whether it is located in Yanjing or Shanghai, there will be comrades on the other side who will be dissatisfied."

Wang Meng said: "Instead of being so awkward, why not just choose a third-party region that both sides are satisfied with and hold a meeting happily."

Fangyan thought for a moment, "Well, holding this conference in Hangzhou in the golden autumn of October, beside the West Lake, will also be a good thing." (End of this chapter)