Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 139 Exaggerated Sales

The one who was more disappointed than everyone else was Chen Jiangong. All along, he was probably the one who had the best relationship with Lin Chaoyang in the Chinese Department of Class of 77.

But in his heart, he actually had some thoughts of competing with Lin Chaoyang, especially after the drama craze last year.

Lin Chaoyang's hobby work "The World's Number One Restaurant" far surpassed his "Conscience". Chen Jiangong thought at the time that he could not beat Chaoyang in writing a drama, but he might have a chance in writing a novel.

Although Lin Chaoyang has published several novels that have had a great impact, he believes that he entered the field of novel writing much earlier than Lin Chaoyang, and that with his accumulated experience, he may have a chance to catch up with and surpass Lin Chaoyang.

He had indeed been working hard on his creations in recent months, but today he heard from Zhang Yaozhong that Lin Chaoyang had won awards with two pen names and two works, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of powerlessness.

It felt like an ordinary person facing Bolt. He naively thought that he was also a human being and had two legs, so he might have a chance to beat Bolt in the 100-meter race.

But what people don’t know is that the gap between people may sometimes be even greater than the gap between people and dogs.

You run as fast as you can, but it's not as good as others strolling leisurely in the garden.

Chen Jiangong shook his head helplessly. Although he didn't want to admit it in his heart, he knew that in the field of novel writing, he would never be able to surpass Lin Chaoyang in his entire life.

The news in dormitory 332 quickly spread throughout Building 32 and the Chinese Department. Students talked about Lin Chaoyang's performance in the National Excellent Short Story Award.

Everyone is also very interested in Lin Chaoyang's other alias Wang Qinglai. Many people even went to read "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" and "Parents' Love". After reading them, they couldn't help but sigh, no wonder they won the award, they were indeed well written.

Yanshi University, second teaching building.

The class had just ended and the students were walking out of the classroom. Wu Yingfang and Tao Yushu talked about the People's Daily they had read in the morning.

"Your Chaoyang is really amazing. He was even featured in the People's Daily!"

"It's not that he's so great, it's that people mentioned him when they were reporting on the awards," said Tao Yushu.

Wu Yingfang joked, "There are so many winners, why didn't you report on others? Besides him, the only people reported on were big names like Mao Dun and Zhou Yang. I think in another 20 years, your Chaoyang will be like them."

"The more you talk, the more exaggerated it becomes!"

Tao Yushu didn't respond to Wu Yingfang's words. She talked for a few words to herself and then felt it was boring. She changed the subject and talked about the revival of "The World's Number One Restaurant".

Last December, the sudden appearance of "The World's No. 12 Restaurant" shocked the entire Yenching University and cultural circles. The students of Yenching Normal University performed it for more than a dozen times in a row, and their physical strength had been pushed to the limit.

Fortunately, as it was near the end of the semester, the crew naturally entered a state of rest and recuperation.

Since the start of school in March, student unions from Yenching universities have contacted Yenching Normal University, hoping that "The World's No. 3 Restaurant" can continue the tour that was not completed last year.

But there were a lot of things to do at the beginning of the school year, so the crew kept dragging their feet on rehearsals.

As April was approaching and the students' studies had stabilized, the idea of ​​reviving the play came to mind.

The two chatted for a while, and Wu Yingfang asked again: "I don't know what the progress of the version produced by the People's Art Theatre is now? I really want to see "The World's No. 1 Restaurant" on the stage of the People's Art Theatre as soon as possible."

"It should be soon. They say it will be performed in the first half of the year."

Wu Yingfang stopped Tao Yushu's arm and said, "Yushu, we have such a good relationship, you have to get me a ticket for the premiere."

Tao Yushu smiled and said, "Our school was the first to arrange the show 'The World's No. 1 Restaurant'. Are you still worried about not having tickets?"

"Right."

"How could you do this? How could you do this?" Liu Xinwu looked at Lin Chaoyang with resentment on his face and kept chattering like a nagging woman.

"It's a shame that our October magazine even published a review of Parents' Love this month!"

Lin Chaoyang looked helpless.

In the past two days, the Literary Association organized a symposium on the National Excellent Short Story Award. Liu Xinwu learned that Lin Chaoyang had just finished writing a novel some time ago, but handed it to "Contemporary", and he was immediately annoyed.

Previously, "The Garland under the Mountain" was supposed to be given to "October", but the army intervened and insisted that "October" did not have enough influence, so it was forced on to "People's Literature".

Now that Lin Chaoyang finally has a new work, he gave it to Contemporary without even seeing the manuscript. How can Liu Xinwu feel balanced?
"I just finished writing the manuscript, the author is very sincere and the payment is high, what should I do?"

Liu Xinwu couldn't listen to such an explanation, so Lin Chaoyang changed his words, "You are the same, you have to wait for me to send you the manuscript. Look at the subjective initiative of Contemporary, who can you blame?"

Not only did he lose his manuscript, but he was also blamed by Lin Chaoyang, which made Liu Xinwu feel depressed.

"So do you have any new works recently?"

After struggling for a long time, he finally let the matter go. After all, he could write as long as he was still alive.

"I've been busy lately and I'm still thinking about it," said Lin Chaoyang.

Liu Xinwu nodded slightly. He understood this point. Apart from anything else, it would take several days just to judge the award.

After taking leave for four consecutive days, Lin Chaoyang finally showed up in the library near the end of the month, and immediately attracted the attention of his colleagues.

During the few days he was away, there was constant news about him in the museum.

So far, there has been no influential literary award in China. The National Excellent Short Story Award is a first of its kind. It has a huge influence in the literary world and among readers, and its ability to create literary stars is in no way inferior to the Mao Dun Literature Prize that came a few years later.

Lin Chaoyang's winning of two awards not only set a record in the National Excellent Short Story Award, but also made his name the focus of attention of the domestic literary circles and all people who care about literature in just a few days.

The library is where Lin Chaoyang works, so naturally everyone pays more attention to him than others.

This week it was Lin Chaoyang's turn to be on duty at the front desk. He dealt with it for a long time, and his colleagues gradually dispersed. He wanted to work in peace, but he found that the students coming and going always kept their eyes on him. From time to time, some students would come up to him and talk to him, expressing their love for him and his work.

"Chaoyang, why don't you go to the library?" The students of Yanda University are not as fanatical as the star-chasing girls, but there are too many people coming to chat, which more or less affects the work efficiency of the front desk of the lending office.

Hu Wenqiong almost had the word "disdain" written on her face, but Lin Chaoyang didn't care at all, and was even a little happy: "Then I'll let Du Rong come down."

Working at the front desk facing students is not fun at all, let alone staying in the library!

After fishing for a long time, I happily got off work in the evening.

After going to bed at night, Tao Yushu said, "I have to get a bicycle ticket in the next few days."

The Overseas Chinese Apartment is located on the West Third Ring Road, a few kilometers away from Yan University and Yanshi University. It is a little more convenient for Tao Yushu to go to school than before.

However, Lin Chaoyang's commuting time has become longer. Fortunately, he has developed a habit of running in the past six months. Riding a bicycle for half an hour to go to work in the morning is just a change of exercise method.

The house in the Overseas Chinese Apartment has been undergoing minor repairs these days, spending nearly three hundred yuan in total. It has been almost finished in the past two days and is ready for move-in at any time. Now Lin Chaoyang is still short of a bicycle for commuting.

"Tomorrow I'll go to work and ask who has a bicycle ticket!"

These days, tickets for large industrial products are a scarce resource and are hard to come by.

Lin Chaoyang asked around at work and found out that there were more than a hundred people in the library, but not a single bicycle ticket was available.

When they got home, Lin Chaoyang told Tao Yushu about the situation, and Tao Yushu was a little confused.

The Overseas Chinese Apartment is several kilometers away from Yanda University. It’s impossible for Lin Chaoyang to walk to and from get off work every day, right?

"How about I ask my brother?" Lin Chaoyang suggested.

Although Tao Yushu usually looked down on his elder brother, he recognized his elder brother's ability in making friends with bad people, so it seemed appropriate to entrust this kind of thing to him.

Lin Chaoyang found Tao Yucheng and told him about the situation. Tao Yucheng smiled and said, "A few days ago, I was wondering how you would go to work after moving there. No problem, I'll take care of it!"

Two days later, it was already early April. The grass was lush and the birds were singing on the Yenching University campus. The willows by the Weiming Lake were green and the waves were rippling. It was a beautiful spring day.

After being cooped up for a whole winter, Yanda students are now getting restless. The school is going to hold a sports meet in April, and active sports people from all departments want to take this opportunity to show off.

Even Lin Chaoyang and his colleagues in the library had to participate. Lin Chaoyang was a new force in the library. At his early twenties, he was considered young among the students. Naturally, he was listed as an athlete by the library and was specially granted two hours of exercise time every morning.

Lin Chaoyang usually runs for exercise, so he signed up for a 1500-meter long-distance race.

After practicing for a few days and seeing that the sports meet was about to start, Liang Junshu from the Warrior Publishing House suddenly came to the door.

It is said that the publishing house is going to hold a work seminar for "The Wreath under the Mountain" and the date is set for April 4, which is the day of the sports meeting.

Lin Chaoyang wanted to refuse, but Liang Junshu said: "This seminar is a political task. The leaders of the ZZ will participate, and Wei Wei and Feng Mu will also be present. The standard is very high."

Having just attended three consecutive days of seminars, Lin Chaoyang had no interest in the seminars. However, the Warrior Publishing House set the tone of the seminar so high that he had no choice but to go.

On the 9th, Lin Chaoyang came to the Warrior Publishing House located in Ping'anli, Xicheng District.

The seminar was held in the publishing house's conference room. It was not large in scale, but as Liang Junshu said, it was of a very high standard.

Two leaders from ZZ came, two heavyweight writers Wei Wei and Xu Huaizhong came in the field of military literature, Feng Mu came in the field of criticism, and in addition, there were several senior editors from publishing houses and editorial departments. The guests of today's seminar were indeed of high standard.

Unlike ordinary seminars, the atmosphere of today's seminar is somewhat serious, probably because of the participation of troops.

Lin Chaoyang spoke for about twenty minutes, reading from the script, and then handed the topic over to other people.

Half a day passed in a flash, and by the end of the seminar, the atmosphere finally relaxed.

Xu Huaizhong is one of the editorial board members of People's Literature. When he talked about the time when he was entrusted by the army to submit manuscripts to People's Literature, he said with some regret: "Comrade Chaoyang's military novels are so good, it's a pity that he doesn't continue to write."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "I wrote 'High Mountain' at the right time. I don't know much about military affairs and war, so it was very difficult to write. I am not sure if I can write better than 'High Mountain'."

Wei Wei nodded and said, "With the example of "High Mountains", it is really difficult to write another one. You have not only posed a problem to yourself, but also to your colleagues who write military-themed works."

Wei Wei's words were half a joke and half a compliment. Less than a year after The Garland under the Mountain was published, its influence was far beyond the reach of ordinary military-themed novels, and it greatly made a name for military-themed novels in the mainstream literary world.

"I read in the report that you also wrote "Parental Love". That novel also describes some military life. It is very close to reality, with plain language, rich details, delicate emotions, and lively characters. It is an excellent work."

Being able to hear the word "excellent" from a famous writer like Wei Wei is undoubtedly the highest praise for "Parents' Love".

"Thank you for the compliment." Lin Chaoyang said politely.

At the end of the seminar, Lin Chaoyang waved goodbye to everyone.

Liang Junshu saw him out and talked about the release of "The Garland under the Mountain".

“Some time ago, the government issued a document calling on the entire army to read The Mountain. The first print run of 300,000 copies was almost sold out as soon as it was released.

During this period we have reprinted two more copies, and now the total print run has reached 70 copies.

At this rate, sales will exceed one million copies in less than three months."

When Liang Junshu spoke, his expression was a little amazed. Even though he was the editor-in-charge of "Gao Shan" and even though he knew in advance that the whole army would be called on to read the magazine, the number of over one million copies in three months was still shocking.

Lin Chaoyang nodded. With the support of the army, it was not a new thing to exceed one million copies in three months. The actual sales volume would have to wait and see after this wave of reading by the army.

The single volume of "The Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" will be on the market at the end of February, and the royalties will be paid every three months after it is printed. With the current sales of the novel, it will be a considerable amount of royalties by then.

(End of this chapter)