The literary era since 1979

The banquet was coming to an end and the atmosphere was harmonious and friendly.

Cai Lan saw that the time was right, and under the influence of alcohol, he said:
"To be honest, there are four great talents in Hong Kong. In addition to the three of us, there is another one, Ni Xian."

"He."

Fang Yan curled his lips and said, "Fortunately he didn't attend the banquet tonight, otherwise it would have been a bad banquet."

After these words were spoken, the faces of the three people changed slightly, and the lively atmosphere gradually cooled down.

"Cough cough."

Huang Zhan spoke up to plead for Ni Zhuan, admitting that Ni Zhuan's repeated slander and criticism of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" were indeed excessive.

It was precisely because Ni Zhu realized that he had done something wrong that he did not want to continue making the same mistake again and hoped to gain Fang Yan's forgiveness.

"Does he really know he's wrong?"

Fangyan smiled coldly.

"Really, really, if you don't believe me, I will ask him to come to you in person to apologize and make amends."

If it weren't for his long-term friendship with Ni Xun, Huang Zhan would not have bothered to care about this matter.

Fangyan didn't believe even a single punctuation mark. It was not that Ni Zhe knew he was wrong, but that he knew he would be ruined if he didn't admit his mistake.

"As the saying goes, 'A smile can erase all grudges'. I wonder if Mr. Fang can forgive him for our sake?"

Jin Yong said in a serious tone.

"Of course I am willing to give you guys some face, but I can escape the death penalty, but I can't escape the punishment of living."

Fang Yan looked around and said, "If you want me to forgive Ni Xian, I can, but I also have conditions."

Everyone looked at each other, somewhat delighted. As long as there was something to talk about, that was good. The worst thing about mediation was that there was nothing to talk about at all.

Jin Yong smiled and said, "You can talk as you like."

"I won't make it hard on him. He has been stepping on Ghost Blows Out the Light in the newspapers to brag about his own Wesley."

Fang Yan held up the first finger. "My request is actually very simple. First, Ni Xie must publish an apology in the newspaper, and not just Ming Pao, to clarify the facts. Second, he must objectively and impartially comment on the comic book Ghost Blows Out the Light. He must comment properly."

"Sigh~"

Huang Zhan took a breath of cold air.

Jin Yong and Cai Lan also looked at each other in bewilderment. Letting Ni Xun do this would mean that he would openly admit that his previous criticisms of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" were all bullshit, and that he was not as skilled as others. That the "Wei Sili" series he had written for more than ten years was not as good as "Ghost Blows Out the Light" would be a heart-breaking blow!
"If they and their son can do it, then I can write off this debt."

The dialect requires not only Ni Zun, but also Ni Zun's hopeless partner, Ni Zhen.

"I'm afraid we can't agree to this on his behalf, but we will pass it on."

Jin Yong sighed softly.

"it is good!"

Fang Yan said: "If they publish the article I requested in the newspaper, it would be a good thing to fulfill my long-cherished wish."

Jin Yong raised his glass and said, "I see. I would like to thank Fang Sheng for his generosity on behalf of Brother Ni."

"Don't thank me. To be more precise, he should thank you guys."

Fang Yan narrowed his eyes and said, "I did this entirely for your sake, otherwise, I would never let them off so easily."

"When the time comes, I will ask Brother Ni to set up a few more tables at Jumbo Floating Restaurant for a drink and apologize to you, Mr. Fang."

Jin Yong clinked glasses with him and drank the wine in one gulp.

"As for offering a toast to make amends, I don't think that's necessary. I just hope you can tell them to take care of themselves."

Fang Yan said with a sharp look in his eyes: "If it happens again, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to solve."

Hearing this, Huang Zhan said no more and secretly complained in his heart, Ni Xie, Ni Xie, why did you provoke Fangyan?

Cai Lan also knew that he had done his best, so he smiled and said, "I will definitely convey Fang Sheng's wishes."

………………

Five days later, when the second issue of "Comic World" magazine was released, the apology from Ni Zhe and his son followed.

Various high evaluations of the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" comics and even the original novel were published in newspapers such as Ming Pao, Wen Wei Po and Oriental Daily. They were completely different from the previous slander and criticism, and immediately sparked heated discussions and attention.

Even Ni Zan and his son, who once spoke ill of "Ghost Blows Out the Light", were conquered by the comics. The second issue of "Comic World" magazine became more and more popular. Even though Fang Yan and Pan Yaoming had made preparations in advance and increased the print quantity of the second issue to twice that of the first issue, the 2 copies were still not able to withstand the crazy rush of readers. In less than half a week, before the third issue was released, they were all sold out.

Including the Joint Publishing Company in Hong Kong, many bookstores and newsstands that had sold out were calling to urge for delivery.

Just when the sales of "Comic World" magazine exceeded 40, the comic magazines published by Yulang International Company became unpopular.

Under such bad news, the stock price of Yulang International, which was already as low as it could be, began to continue to fall.

Huang Yulang stared at the documents intently, his face turned grim and his whole body was shaking with anger. He glanced at the two copies of "Comic World" on the table with his peripheral vision. He could no longer control his inner anger, and he grabbed the comic magazines. With a "rip" sound, the magazines were torn into pieces page by page.

"Top you a lung!"

"It beats your lungs!"

"Mr. Huang, what should we do next?"

The company's top executives stood in a row, trembling and saying nothing. Finally, the deputy general manager had to speak up.

After all, the situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable to Yulang International Company. "Chinese Hero", which was originally the mainstay, ended this year, and no new pillar has been found to replace it yet, so that the sales of comic magazines have been slowly declining. However, the sudden emergence of "Comic World" has not only poached people from Huang Yulang Company, but also snatched away the authors and readers of the comic magazines. If they do not take action, it will be tantamount to chronic suicide.

"I didn't ask you to come here to ask me what to do, but for you to tell me what to do!"

Huang Yulang threw the comic magazine heavily to the ground.

For a moment, there was complete silence.

The deputy general manager said with a stiff upper lip, "Boss Huang, I've sent someone to investigate. The reason why Comic World is selling so well is because of Ghost Blows Out the Light and Xuan-Yuan Sword. We are not good at tomb raiding, but the company may be able to create fantasy stories."

"That's pretty much it."

Wong Yuk-long was ready to arrange a reliable producer and immediately organize a team to draw a fantasy comic in the style of "Xuan-Yuan Sword".

"This this……"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. If the painting was of martial arts, they would all be good at it, but no one understood fantasy!

What's more, the author of "Xuan-Yuan Sword" is Fang Yan, and no one present can guarantee that they can write better than the great writer Fang Yan! "Damn it! Damn it!"

Huang Yulang gnashed his teeth. Why didn't Mr. Fang seek cooperation with his Yulang International Company, which was well-known in the Hong Kong comics industry, but instead chose to cooperate with a newly launched comics magazine? Could it be that there was some unspeakable relationship or secret between them?
"Why not let Chengzi..."

The deputy general manager gave a weak reminder.

"He is currently helping Yongsheng write the script for Chinese Heroes and cannot spare the time."

Huang Yulang couldn't help but shiver when he thought of Xiang Huaqiang's cold face.

"Then why don't you ..."

Everyone looked at each other. Apart from Ma Rongcheng, the ace of the entire company was Huang Yulang, who drew "Dragon Tiger Gate".

"Yan Jiachan! You guys are really too incompetent. Looks like I have to do it myself!"

Huang Yulang was indignant. Although he didn't understand what fantasy was, he had no problem drawing a popular martial arts comic.

………………

As the sun sets, the afterglow shines through the window and onto the table.

Fangyan stretched his body, stretched his muscles, and his eyes fell on the computer in front of him.

Compared to writing novels with a pen, typing on a computer was not easy back then. After all, there were not as many pinyin input methods as in later generations.

There are simply too many Chinese characters. There are more than 3000 commonly used Chinese characters alone, and there are 400 syllables. These 400 syllables correspond to tens of thousands of Chinese characters. You can imagine how many words each syllable corresponds to. So when typing each word, you have to select them one by one, which is terribly inefficient.

Even though the Wubi input method was born in 83, which allows typing based on the strokes and shape features of Chinese characters, the learning cost and difficulty are not small. Unfortunately, the intelligent ABC input method was not invented until the 90s.

Thinking of this, Fang Yan wondered whether he should donate some money to Shuimu University and Yenching University, so that the computer department and the R&D center could develop an input method similar to Smart ABC. This would liberate his productivity. The more efficient he was in typing, the more he would earn.

"Dong dong."

Just at this moment, Pan Yaoming knocked on the office door and walked in with newspapers and magazines in his hands.

"The father and son Ni Zhao fulfilled their promise and published several reviews on Ghost Blows Out the Light and Comic World."

"Let me see."

Fang Yan flipped through the book casually and said with disdain, "It's all just some nonsense."

"Forget it. For someone as petty and proud as Ni Gua, doing this is already a slap in the face."

Pan Yaoming said: "We should give face to Huang Zhan and Jin Yong at least."

"So be it."

Fang Yan glanced at him casually and noticed that he was holding a copy of the "Yulang Comics" magazine published by Huang Yulang Company.

Pan Yaoming explained: "It was Cui Zai who heard from someone who was about to switch to our company that Huang Yulang was planning to personally draw another martial arts comic in addition to Dragon Tiger Gate to compete with Xuanyuan Sword in order to increase the sales of Yulang Comics."

"Just him?"

The dialect disagrees.

If it were the 90s, when Wong Yuk-long had just been released from prison, he might have felt a sense of crisis, because at that time, Wong Yuk-long founded Jade Dynasty, plotting a comeback, and drew the original work of the animation "The Young Heroes of the Divine Weapons", "The Mysterious Divine Weapons", to turn things around in one fell swoop.

But now, after experiencing a life of decadence and debauchery, Wong Yuk-long has lost all his talent. What kind of good story can he draw?

Just like Jay Chou, he got married and had a baby, but the albums he released were worse and worse. He even had the nerve to release a song as good as "Christmas Song". It turns out that he is living too comfortably and can no longer create good works.

“But we also have to be on guard.”

Pan Yaoming said solemnly.

"Don't worry, I'm already writing another story now."

Fangyan pointed at the computer.

"Is it one of the other two swords?"

Pan Yaoming was very curious.

"We already have the fantasy, so of course we need another fairy-tale."

Since Fang Yan is the founder of fantasy novels, he doesn't mind being called the founder of the "new school of immortal cultivation."

"show me."

Pan Yaoming leaned over and saw the words "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" displayed on the screen.

Fang Yan smiled and said that the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" he wrote was not the first part, but the fourth part, which was also the most classic one.

The story is roughly about eight immortal cultivation sects in the Kunlun Mountains, among which the Qionghua Sect is the strongest.

The goal of those who practice Taoism is to ascend to heaven. Every once in a while, a huge pillar of light will form on Kunlun Mountain.

It is said that as long as you enter the light column, you can become an immortal. However, there is a barrier around the skylight, and ordinary people cannot enter.

The leader of the Qionghua Sect later came up with a solution, which was to create two swords, Xihe and Wangshu. He also asked two disciples, a male and a female, in the sect to become the hosts of the swords and practice with them. These two disciples were named Xuanxiao and Suyu.

If the two of them practice to a certain level and use dual swords, they can release tremendous power and break the Tianguang barrier. However, there is a huge conspiracy hidden in this. Su Yu sensed something was wrong, and it coincided with Yun Tianqing, who was also a disciple of the sect.

In the end, Su Yu and Yun Tianqing left the Qionghua Sect with the Wangshu Sword and gave birth to a son named "Yun Tianhe".

It's a pity that such a classic masterpiece happened at the worst time in the entertainment industry. Not only did the aesthetic taste plummet, but the actors' acting skills, screenwriters' abilities, and even the directors' abilities also plummeted. And the directors, actors, and screenwriters added shit to the good plot.

Isn’t Hu Ge’s version of “Yun Tianhe” attractive? Isn’t Jiao Enjun’s version of “Xuan Xiao” domineering?
Therefore, I plan to take advantage of the golden age of Hong Kong and mainland film and television to film these classics into TV series.

Just like the four great classics, "The New Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The New Dream of Red Mansions" are not even qualified to carry shoes for the CCTV version!

“When will you finish writing?”

Pan Yaoming's tone was filled with anticipation, "Remember to let me know when you've finished writing it. I'd rather read Xianxia than fantasy."

"It's still early. If you want to see it, you'll probably have to wait for a while."

Fang Yan shrugged, "Besides, I plan to go back to Yanjing in a few days."

Pan Yaoming was very surprised, "Why did you go back to Yanjing?"

"According to the date, Farewell My Concubine should have reached the final stage of filming."

Fangyu said seriously, "I have to accompany Xiaoxiang to discuss the registration for the Cannes Film Festival with the Film Bureau, the production studio, and the crew." (End of this chapter)