Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 166: Changing career to become a screenwriter? (Three updates and ten thousand words, please give me a monthly ticket)

There were three guests at home today. Needless to say, Zhang Dening and Zhou Yanru were both editors when Lin Chaoyang published his works in "Yenching Literature and Art".

Wang Zengqi and Lin Chaoyang did not have much contact, but they had met twice. Once at the editorial office of People's Literature, and once at a symposium held by Yenching Literature (then called Yenching Literature and Art) for Little Shoes.

It was just after ten o'clock and Lin Chaoyang's dishes were already prepared. If several dishes were put into the pot now, they would be ready in less than half an hour.

Seeing that it was still early, he put down his work, sat down and chatted with a few guests.

Zhang Dening hadn’t received Lin Chaoyang’s manuscript for almost a year. She boasted to Lin Chaoyang, “Old Wang’s novels have been very popular recently.”

In October just past, Wang Zengqi’s short story "Taking the Initiations" was published in the tenth issue of "Yenching Literature".

As the first issue of "Yenching Literature" after its name change, this issue of "Yenching Literature" is attended by many famous writers and the quality of the manuscripts can be said to be quite high.

It was under such circumstances that Wang Zengqi's "The Renunciation" emerged as a dark horse and had a huge impact among the readers within just half a month after its publication.

Wang Zengqi finished writing this novel in May this year. At that time, he showed it to his friends in the Peking Opera Troupe. Everyone thought the novel was well-written, but they were afraid it would be difficult to publish, so Wang Zengqi was not very active in submitting it.

It was not until July that the Yanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture held a symposium among various units. People from the Peking Opera Troupe talked about Wang Zengqi's "Taking the Vows", which aroused the interest of Li Qingquan who also attended the meeting.

Wang Zengqi had worked at Yenching Literature and Art in his early years, and they had some contact in the past two years. Li Qingquan, the person in charge of the magazine, was interested in his novels, so Wang Zengqi naturally had no reason not to give the manuscript to Li Qingquan for review.

After reading the novel, Li Qingquan decided to publish it, and it was published in the first issue after the magazine was renamed. This shows how much importance he attached to the novel.

No one expected that "Shoujie" would be so popular among readers once it was published. Recently, Wang Zengqi has received unprecedented attention from the Yenching literary community, and the heat of this attention is still growing.

At the age of sixty, Wang Zengqi never thought that he would have another chance to become famous.

"De Ning, you're joking. Whether a novel is popular or not is up to the readers." Wang Zengqi said politely.

Lin Chaoyang mocked Zhang Dening, "Look at Comrade Old Wang's vision, and then look at you. You can't even hold two ounces of sesame oil in a dog's stomach."

Zhang Dening glared at him fiercely and was about to retort, but Zhou Yanru didn't want to listen to the two quarreling, so she asked, "Has Chaoyang written any novels recently?"

"I have an idea, but I've only just begun."

"It's been almost a year since you finished writing "Lai Zi's Summer", right? Are you out of inspiration?" Zhang Dening teased.

Tao Yushu explained for Lin Chaoyang: "He wrote two movie scripts this year and also took some time to read and study, so he has not had time to write new things."

"Two movie scripts? Are you going to change your career to become a screenwriter?" Zhang Dening asked in surprise. She looked at Tao Yushu and asked, "I know that Xie Jin is going to adapt The Shepherd. Which production company is the other one for?"

Tao Yushu smiled and said, "I didn't write scripts for the production studio, but for the co-production company. Li Hanxiang, a director from Hong Kong, wanted to return to the mainland to make movies, and the co-production company was responsible for making the connection. Li Hanxiang saw Chaoyang's "The World's No. 1 Restaurant" at the People's Art Theater and insisted that he be the screenwriter."

Tao Yushu's face was filled with uncontrollable pride as she described the situation, and anyone could hear the boasting in her tone.

Hearing her words, several people present could not hide their surprise. Writing a novel for a Hong Kong director?
It is very common these days to adapt novels into movies, and there are many cases where writers also serve as screenwriters. Every year, a large number of movies produced by major domestic studios are adapted from recently published novels. Xie Jin's previous adaptation of "The Shepherd" is an example.

But this is the first time we have heard of him writing a script for a Hong Kong director.

"I seem to have some impression of this Li Hanxiang." Zhang Dening said hesitantly with a frown.

Zhou Yanru said: "He seems to be a famous director in Hong Kong. His works have won major awards abroad. He was even mentioned in Popular Cinema a few years ago."

"Yes, his films have won many international awards," Tao Yushu affirmed.

Today, the fifth generation of Chinese film directors has not yet emerged, and they have won very few international film awards. Only a few directors such as Xie Jin and Xie Fei have such honors. It is also because of such honors that these directors have a status and influence in the country that far exceeds that of ordinary directors.

In terms of international fame alone, Li Hanxiang is in no way inferior to several famous domestic directors, and may even surpass them.

Because his works have really gone beyond the borders, in addition to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, they also have a wide influence in Southeast Asia.

Listening to what the two said, Zhang Dening was amazed and said, "So Chaoyang is really amazing. He has worked with two famous directors in a row. Is he going to switch to being a screenwriter in the future?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "It just so happens that there is this opportunity for cooperation, and I can also earn some royalties."

Zhang Dening said quietly, "You really never forget the royalties."

"I make money from my creations, and you work for free?"

Lin Chaoyang's question left Zhang Dening speechless. Wang Zengqi echoed, "Isn't the purpose of being a writer to write for the royalties?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Chaoyang seemed to have found a soulmate, and he had a lively conversation with Wang Zengqi about the royalties.

I don't know when it started, but people with a little status in this society are ashamed to talk about profits. They only talk about theory and think about things, as if they are living in the air.

Obviously, Lin Chaoyang and Wang Zengqi were not such people. Later generations studied the letters between Wang Zengqi and his friends and editors and found that among the 293 letters, 42 letters mentioned royalties, accounting for about one-sixth of all the letters.

Wang Zengqi even mentioned the purpose of writing the letter bluntly in the letter - in a letter to his family, he said: For you, you guys, and for Huihui, I have to earn more money.

For the sake of family and to earn more royalties for a better life, this is actually the purpose for many people to start writing. However, due to the current social environment, many people will not say this.

In contrast, Lin Chaoyang and Wang Zengqi had no such concerns at all. They took it easy and seemed quite relaxed.

Wang Zengqi also talked about the work seminar that Renwen Publishing House would hold for "Lai Zi's Summer" in a few days. He said that he had received an invitation.

After chatting for a while, Tao Yushu's meal had been simmering for a while, and Lin Chaoyang was timing himself to prepare the meal.

Wang Zengqi rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll help too."

Lin Chaoyang got up early and went out to buy a lot of vegetables, but the situation was different from later generations. In winter, there were few kinds of vegetables in the vegetable market in Yanjing, and meat and oil were limited, so how to cook a table of delicious dishes with good color, fragrance and taste under limited conditions was actually a test of the chef's skills.

"How do you make this tofu?" asked Wang Zengqi.

"I was planning to eat it mixed with other ingredients. Now we don't have Chinese toon or shallots, so I'll mix it with some chives and green pepper paste."

Wang Zengqi joked: "This way of eating is a bit tacky, it's better to mix preserved eggs with tofu."

"Your way of eating it is not better than mine!" The two people had different ways of eating it, and neither could convince the other. Lin Chaoyang said, "Then just don't mix it, and make mapo tofu."

"Mapo tofu must be made with Pixian fermented bean paste. Do you have any at home?"

"Look at what you said, would you dare to make Mapo Tofu without me?"

Lin Chaoyang took out a small jar of bean paste from the cupboard and showed off to Wang Zengqi, "It's not easy to make such a small thing!"

Wang Zengqi smiled knowingly, "With this, the taste is guaranteed to be right."

Today's main dish is four pig's trotters that Lin Chaoyang bought from the grocery store. The pig's trotters sold at the grocery store are not popular among ordinary people because they have many bones and are difficult to clean. Everyone has only so many meat coupons a month, so who would waste it on this?

However, it is also because of this reason that pig's trotters are sold at a low price. Normal pork costs 80 cents per pound, but this thing costs only a little over 30 cents.

You can also buy some pig head meat when you buy it. It doesn't require meat coupons and is very popular. It is perfect as a snack to go with wine.

When Lin Chaoyang came back from buying vegetables, he had already cleaned the pig's trotters. He roasted the stray hairs clean over an open fire, blanched them in water to remove the fishy smell, and after marinating them, he simmered them over low heat with spices such as pepper, aniseed, nutmeg, angelica, and cinnamon.

By the time lunch was almost over, the kitchen and living room were already filled with a strong aroma.

Zhang Dening swallowed his saliva greedily, "It smells so good!"

After half an hour of hard work, one dish after another, delicious and fragrant, was served on the table.

Wang Zengqi pointed at the potato pancakes that had just been served and asked, "Chaoyang, where is this made?"

The potato pancakes on the plate were fried to a golden color, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which made people's appetite whet at the sight. While Lin Chaoyang was making it, Wang Zengqi had been staring at this dish.

Lin Chaoyang is not sure about the origin of shredded potato pancakes, but he said that they only appeared after the night market economy became popular in later generations.

“I created it myself.”

Lin Chaoyang prepared six dishes in total, including braised pig's trotters, cold pork head, mapo tofu, scrambled eggs with green onions, shredded potato pancakes, and mixed cabbage hearts.

After the dishes were served, he bowed to Wang Zengqi and the others and said, "We don't have any more meat coupons this month, so we only have these meat dishes. Please bear with us."

"That's great." Zhang Dening's eyes almost fell into the food as he spoke.

After sitting down to eat, everyone started eating with their chopsticks, and the first thing Zhang Dening picked up was the braised pig's trotter.

After more than three hours of stewing, the flavors of the seasonings and spices are completely integrated into the pig's trotters, and the meat becomes soft and tender after a long period of high temperature.

As soon as he took a bite, the meat and bones separated, the meat was fat but not greasy, the meat was full, even with skin and tendons, it was so fragrant that Zhang Dening couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Hmm~ It smells good!"

Compared with Zhang Dening's voracious eating, Wang Zengqi's way of eating was much more gentle. The first thing he picked up with his chopsticks was the most inconspicuous dish on the table, the mixed cabbage hearts.

In the winter in the north, before vegetable greenhouses became popular, cabbage, potatoes, and radishes were the most common vegetables. These vegetables were basically eaten in rotation for the entire three or four months of the winter, and sometimes they could make people vomit.

But because of such high frequency of consumption, people have developed a variety of ways to eat these vegetables.

As the name suggests, cabbage heart is the tenderest part of the cabbage, which is washed and cut into shreds, and then mixed with salt, sugar, vinegar, MSG, minced garlic, chili and other seasonings.

It is tender, crispy, refreshing and delicious. It is actually a very luxurious dish in the winter when vegetables are scarce in the north.

Because a cabbage in the north may weigh three or four pounds, and only a small handful in the center may be used for cold salad. It takes several cabbage hearts to make a dish of mixed cabbage hearts.

After tasting the cabbage heart, Wang Zengqi picked up a piece of shredded potato pancake.

When Lin Chaoyang was making this dish, he was full of curiosity and observed Lin Chaoyang's technique carefully.

To make shredded potato pancakes, grate potatoes, add chopped green onions and flour, then season with appropriate amounts of salt, pepper and MSG, and stir into a shredded potato paste.

Then heat oil in a pan, take an appropriate amount of potato shreds paste, shape it slightly with your hands, put it in the pan and fry on low heat until both sides are golden brown.

The method looks very similar to many pasta dishes, but the ingredients are different.

Wang Zengqi picked up a small piece of golden fried potato pancake and put it into his mouth.

It has a crispy texture, burnt on the outside and tender on the inside, with a salty aroma full of fat that instantly stimulates your taste buds.

"good to eat!"

Wang Zengqi is well-known among writers for his love of eating and his ability to eat. He also loves to cook. Ordinary dishes would definitely not receive such high praise from him.

After hearing his comments, Zhou Yanru curiously took a bite of the potato pancake, and wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes because of the delicious taste.

"This shredded potato pancake is so delicious! Chaoyang, how is this made?" Zhou Yanru couldn't help but ask.

Lin Chaoyang simply told her the method, and Zhou Yanru nodded, "It's simple to make, but it's a pity that it consumes too much oil."

"It's so delicious, what's the big deal about wasting some oil?"

Wang Zengqi was shaking his head while eating shredded potato pancakes.

"Don't just eat potatoes, try other dishes too." Lin Chaoyang said.

Even without him saying anything, these guests would not be polite.

Previously, Li Tuo praised Lin Chaoyang's cooking skills as being rare in the world. After tasting it today, it was indeed extraordinary. How could anyone be polite anymore?

Chopsticks were flying around the table, and everyone was eating so happily that they didn't even have time to talk.

(End of this chapter)