Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 160: Yenching Literature

After the short National Day holiday, those who should go to school went to school, and those who should go to work went to work. However, apart from slacking off at work, Lin Chaoyang recently picked up the pen again and wrote the story he told to Li Tuo and Feng Jicai two days ago.

Lin Chaoyang already had the outline and details of the story in his mind, but because he was writing about Van Gogh and 19th century Europe, he didn't know much about Europe during that period, so he had to spend a lot of time looking up information from that time.

At this time, the benefits of working in a library became apparent. As one of the libraries in China with the best hardware conditions and the largest book collection, the collection of Yanda Library provided great help to Lin Chaoyang's creation.

On Saturday night, Lin Chaoyang and his wife went back to the Tao family for dinner.

Tao Yucheng talked about the recent exciting news in Yanjing City, including the banning of Today, the second Stars Art Exhibition, and the first individual business license issued in the country.

During the National Day holiday, the news that the people of Yanjing City paid the most attention to was the opening of a Yuebin restaurant in Dongcheng District on September 9.

This is the first individual restaurant in Yanjing City to obtain a business license issued by the government, and also the first in the country. The Yanjing Daily specifically reported on it.

Everyone understands that Yuebin Restaurant is an important landmark achievement of the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in Yanjing, so the people also have a strong interest in this restaurant.

It is said that on the opening day of Yuebin Restaurant, the number of people who came to watch the fun was dozens of times more than the number of diners, and the restaurant's originally small facade was packed with people.

"Dad, let's go into the city and have a meal at Yuebin tomorrow. Let's experience a privately owned restaurant." Tao Yucheng suggested.

Originally, Tao's father was not interested in eating and drinking. Generally, the Tao family went to the city to improve their lives either during holidays or when there was a happy event in the family.

But Father Tao felt that the emergence of Yuebin Restaurant was of historical significance, and he said happily: "Okay, let's go together tomorrow, I'll treat you all!"

Early the next morning, the family gathered together and went into the city. Thinking of the Yuebin Restaurant they were going to, Tao Yumo, a college student, felt proud of witnessing history.

But when she arrived at Cuihua Hutong in Dongcheng District, her expression was full of disappointment.

"Is this the only place?"

The Yuebin Restaurant in front of me is only two meters wide, with the words "Yuebin" hanging on the red door. The gray wall and narrow door can't even accommodate two people entering and exiting side by side.

"Do you think it could be a storefront like the Xinqiao Hotel?" Tao Yucheng teased.

“A mountain is not famous for its height, but for the immortals living there; a river is not famous for its depth, but for the dragons living there.”

Father Tao said something and walked into the restaurant leisurely. Seeing this, the family followed him.

As a result, the large army was blocked and turned back just halfway.

It turned out that the interior of Yuebin Restaurant was small, with only four tables in total, and it was now full of diners.

The space inside the house is small, there is no place to even stand and wait for a table, so we have to go out.

The proprietress also said that there were two tables of guests waiting in front of them.

There was no need for a family of nine to wait here, so Tao's father asked Tao Yucheng and his wife to wait here, and he took the rest of his family to stroll around the alley while he had nothing to do.

Cuihua Hutong starts from Wangfujing Street in the east and ends at Donghuangchenggen Street in the west. It was named after the greenhouse that used to grow flowers for the royal palace. It has nothing to do with the Cuihua that makes sauerkraut.

On the western side of the alley, you can see a large courtyard with a plaque that reads "Cuiyuan". Tao's father said that it was the private garden of Ruilin, a university scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, and now it has become the office of the Democratic League.

Thirty years ago, when the Langrun Lake Apartment did not exist yet, Ji Xianlin once lived here and he visited here twice.

"This courtyard is not good. It looks like it has many buildings, winding corridors, and scattered courtyards, but it has never been popular and has a gloomy atmosphere."

Walking through the alleys, several large courtyards with tall gates have now become public offices. The tall locust trees in the courtyards are lush and leafy, many of which extend over the courtyard walls, blocking out the sun, making it a good place to cool off in the summer.

There was an old lady selling popsicles at the east entrance of the alley. There were not many people in the alley, and the old lady sat there quietly waiting for customers. When she saw a family with a child, she immediately started shouting.

"Popsicles! Popsicles! Big cream popsicles, five cents each!"

When the Tao Xiwen brothers heard the old lady's hawking voice, they were like Zhu Bajie encountering a spider spirit and could not move their legs.

"We have to eat later. I'll buy it for you after we finish eating." said Tao's mother.

The two brothers looked at the old lady's stall, swallowed their saliva and nodded.

After strolling around for a while, Tao Yucheng came to invite everyone to go back to Yuebin Restaurant for dinner.

There are only four dining tables in Yuebin Restaurant, and each table was originally equipped with four chairs. However, because there are too many people in the Tao family, the boss and his wife specially freed up a few more chairs.

The table is not big and there are many chairs, so the dining space suddenly becomes cramped.

Fortunately, the family came to eat not for the dining environment, but to personally experience the specific achievements of reform and opening up.

Apart from anything else, the service attitude of the boss and his wife is much better than that of state-owned restaurants. They speak and act efficiently, answer every question, and their service attitude is warm and thoughtful.

The dishes tasted good, especially the pork elbow in mashed garlic, which was amazing. The skin and meat were fat but not greasy and melted in the mouth.

The portion sizes are also much larger than those in other state-owned restaurants, highlighting their affordability. No wonder their business is so booming.

After the meal, we paid the bill, which totaled 6 yuan, not counting the food coupons.

Tao Yucheng said: "It would be great if all restaurants in Yanjing City were like this one, economical and with good service!"

"It's convenient for you to go out for food and drinks, right?" Tao Yumo said sarcastically.

"You little girl, you have no respect for your elders!" Tao Yucheng scolded his sister, but unfortunately it had no deterrent effect.

The Tao Xiwen brothers had been thinking about the big cream popsicles at the east entrance of the alley, so as soon as they came out of the restaurant, they dragged their mother towards there.

The family had been dining for less than an hour, and diners were already coming and going in an endless stream at Yuebin Restaurant.

After leaving the restaurant, Tao's father sighed: "The individual economy does have its unique advantages, and the changes in the future will probably be even greater!"

"Everyone welcomes such changes as they allow ordinary people to live a good life," said Lin Chaoyang.

After the family finished their meal, they strolled around Yanjing City for a while and then separated. Lin Chaoyang and his wife ran to Wangfujing Department Store to watch TV.

When they first moved, the couple didn't have much money, so they didn't buy any furniture or appliances. They just got a washing machine in the summer.

Now their savings have exceeded five figures, so they have no pressure to buy some furniture and appliances for their home.

In today's China, there are few department stores with a more complete range of merchandise than Wangfujing Department Store. The couple took a walk around Wangfujing and saw TV brands from various northern provinces. The prices also varied, some high and some low.

"Hey, which brand do you think we should buy?" Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang.

“I think they are all the same.”

It was the same as if he hadn't said anything. When Tao Yushu was struggling with this, he heard two aunts chatting next to him.

"Don't rush to buy it. My son's girlfriend said that the Japanese product their factory imported is called something, and it says your production line can produce color TVs."

"Color? How expensive would that be? The director of our bureau has an imported color TV at home, and he said it cost nearly two thousand yuan."

"They sell it at a high price because we didn't have it in our country before, right? Now we can produce it ourselves, so isn't it cheaper? Trust me, don't buy it yet. Wait for next year and buy a colorful one. When your son gets married, you'll have earned enough face!"

Tao Yushu listened to the conversation between the two aunts with his ears perked up, then pulled Lin Chaoyang out.

"Don't watch it?"

"I won't watch it anymore. Didn't they say so? Color TVs will be available next year, so I'll buy one then."

"Next year is next year's. You won't watch it this year?"

"You can't buy a TV and then throw it away in a year, right? Don't worry, you don't have to watch it anyway. A color TV should be about the same as watching a movie, right?"

Tao Yushu asked with some longing. Most televisions these days were in black and white, and ordinary people could only see color pictures when watching movies. Naturally, their imagination of color TV would be associated with movie pictures.

Television images these days are not very accurate. Lin Chaoyang replied, "It's not as clear as movies, but it's definitely better than black and white."

Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at him and said, "Nonsense, if it's not as good as the black and white one, why buy it?"

Two days later, a batch of new publications arrived at the library. Lin Chaoyang wanted to be the first to try them out, so he flipped through a pile of magazines and found a magazine with a name that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Yenching Literature"?
Is this a name change?
Lin Chaoyang had not been in contact with the editors of "Yenching Literature and Art" recently, and was a little surprised to see that "Yenching Literature and Art" suddenly became "Yenching Literature".

The word "literature and art" in the name of the publication represents a comprehensive journal that can cover a wider range of content. For example, "Yenching Literature and Art" previously published Lin Chaoyang's script "The World's Number One Restaurant", review articles, art talks and other types of literary works.

But changing it to "literature" undoubtedly strengthens the literary attributes of the journal.

Domestic literature has made great progress in the past two years, and such changes can be regarded as in line with the changes and needs of the times.

It has been almost a year since we received any new works from Lin Chaoyang, but Yenching Literature is still developing well.

As the first issue of the journal after the name change, "Yenching Literature" made a big move this time and published a special issue on novels.

Lin Chaoyang glanced at the table of contents. It seemed that Yenching Literature must have put a lot of thought into this special issue of novels.

Li Guowen, Mu Guozheng, Cong Weixi, Zhang Jie... It is rare to see the works of so many famous writers in the literary world gathered together in one issue of the publication.

The most eye-catching among them is the name of Wang Zengqi and his classic short story "The Rite of Initiation".

Speaking of which, among the writers who contributed to this issue of "Yenching Literature", the most famous one today should be Cong Weixi.

At the beginning of last year, when Harvest magazine resumed publication, his work Red Magnolia Under the Wall sparked a heated discussion in the domestic literary circle.

However, Wang Zengqi’s current fame among readers may not be as great as that of young people like Zhang Jie.

However, Lin Chaoyang knew that this situation would soon be completely changed with the hot sales of this issue of "Yenching Literature".

An article titled "Taking the Vows" made Wang Zengqi, a veteran in the literary world, a rising star in a short period of time. Since then, he has been on a rapid rise and became one of the most influential writers in Chinese literary world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Wang Zengqi is good at short stories and essays. The 1980s can be said to be the golden age of the development of short stories in China. A writer can become famous in the literary world and become an idol of thousands of readers with a short story of several thousand or tens of thousands of words. This is unimaginable in the literary world of later generations.

One of the important reasons for this is the vigorous development of various literary magazines, and also the strong support from the National Excellent Short Story Award, a national award.

Flipping through this issue of the magazine, Lin Chaoyang suddenly realized that in the last few months of the last year of the 1970s, contemporary literature was accumulating an unprecedented force.

This force includes the long-suppressed creative enthusiasm of literary creators, the irrepressible love of readers, and the ambition of publishers to reshape the boundaries of literature.

With this powerful force, contemporary literature is advancing rapidly and unstoppable in the coming 1980s.

(End of this chapter)