Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 198: Naive or Fawning on Foreigners
That night, Lin Chaoyang, Cheng Yin, Chen Huaikai and Jiang Huaiyan had a drink at the Yanying Guesthouse and returned home the next morning.

Tao Yushu was about to go to school and was a little surprised to see him come back.

"Didn't you take half a month off? Why are you back today?"

Lin Chaoyang laughed at himself and said, "I'm leaving now!"

Tao Yushu looked puzzled, "Get out? Didn't they invite you to go?"

"What's wrong with inviting me? I'm going to help, not to be an old man!"

Tao Yushu frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

Lin Chaoyang briefly described the situation to her. Tao Yushu was furious after hearing it and said, "You were invited by them. How could they do things this way?"

"It's a conflict of ideas! They've already done so much work, it's impossible for them to change their mind just because of a few words from me.

If you can’t solve the problem, then solve the person who raised the problem. Besides, the problems I mentioned may not be problems in the eyes of some people. "

Tao Yushu was still angry and defending Lin Chaoyang. He said, "Okay, this little thing doesn't have any impact on me. You should go to school quickly."

When he mentioned going to school, Tao Yushu looked at the time and found it was indeed a little late. She hurriedly put on her coat and asked, "What are you going to do in the next few days? Go to work?"

"I've already taken my leave, why should I go to work? Li Quanfu and his family are moving in two days, so my dad and I are going to the courtyard to figure out how to renovate the house."

"Alright."

It has been three months since Li Quanfu's family bought the courtyard house in Mianhua Hutong before the New Year, but they have been dragging their feet and not moving out, saying that it is difficult to rent a house during the period before and after the New Year. In fact, they just want to take advantage of a small bargain and pay less rent by staying there a few more days.

Before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lin Erchun went to Mianhua Hutong and issued an ultimatum, stating that if their family did not move out, he would go to the Housing Management Office to speak up.

After some pressure, Li Quanfu's family finally started to move. They had just found a house and were preparing to move.

Tao Yushu went out to school. Lin Chaoyang thought he had nothing to do, so he rode his bicycle to the compound of the Yanjing Municipal Cultural Bureau at No. 7 West Chang'an Avenue.

When I came here before, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles building always looked dilapidated and depressed. Now that the cultural industry has entered a prosperous era, even this place is much more lively than before. As soon as I enter the building, I can hear the voices coming from the offices of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles' subordinate associations.

The sign at the entrance of the editorial department of "Yenching Literature and Art" has been changed to "Yenching Literature". This is the first time Lin Chaoyang has come here after the name change of the magazine.

The editors were a little surprised to see him coming. Zhang Dening asked, "Chaoyang, why are you here?"

"It's okay to come and see you."

Zhang Dening was about to pour him some water, but when he heard this, he stopped and said, "I can believe you if you say something different."

After her ruthlessly exposing his lies, Lin Chaoyang laughed, "You still understand me."

Zhou Yanru said to Zhang Dening: "He is a man who never comes to visit unless he has something important to do."

Zhang Dening handed the teacup to Lin Chaoyang and asked, "What are you doing here this time? You're not here to give me a manuscript, are you?"

Over the past year or so, Lin Chaoyang's creative direction has been focused on the field of novels. The space in Yenching Literature is not enough to publish such long works, so Zhang Dening is no longer as eager for Lin Chaoyang's works as before.

"It is indeed a manuscript delivery."

Zhang Dening was surprised when he heard this. "Will you find your conscience one day?"

Lin Chaoyang frowned, "Don't go too far."

Zhang Dening put away his joke and put on a flattering smile. "Is it a short story or a novella? Or a script?"

"neither."

Lin Chaoyang said this and took out a piece of manuscript paper from his pocket.

"This... When did you write poetry?"

Looking at the poem on the manuscript paper, Zhang Dening raised questions.

"It wasn't written by me, it was written by a kid."

Zhang Dening glanced at Lin Chaoyang and said, "You are only in your early twenties. How old are they when you call them children?"
"You take a look first."

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Zhang Dening focused his attention on the poem - "The Sun of Al - Dedicated to My Thin Brother".

This poem is not long, with only more than 200 words including the quotations, but Zhang Dening read it very slowly.

For about ten minutes, I read the poem carefully four or five times, and kept trying to figure out the various intentions in it.

"Is this poem about Van Gogh?" she asked.

Thin brother, starry sky, sunflower, red hair, absinthe... If Zhang Dening had seen this poem more than two months ago, she would have been completely confused and bewildered. These nouns that had nothing to do with her life and reading direction were difficult for her to understand.

But just over two months ago, "The Death of Van Gogh" was published. As the first editor in Lin Chaoyang's life, even though Zhang Dening is rarely responsible for the publication of his works now, she still pays attention to Lin Chaoyang's works.

She read The Death of Vincent Van Gogh as soon as it was published.

She could hardly imagine that such a novel, set in 19th century Europe and telling the life story of Van Gogh, was written by the author she was most familiar with.

Her biggest feeling after reading the novel was that she really wanted to open Lin Chaoyang's head to see what kind of wonderful ideas were inside.

The whole novel not only perfectly balances the story and literary qualities, but is also full of wild imagination and suspense, making it impossible to stop reading.

Many of the nouns mentioned in "The Sun of Arles - Dedicated to My Thin Brother" are very important elements in "The Death of Van Gogh", so after seeing this poem, Zhang Dening reacted immediately.

Then, by constantly working backwards through the plot of the novel, I soon understood the various intentions and emotions that the poem wanted to express.

Arles is a region of Provence in southern France, famous for its wine production. It was the last place Van Gogh stayed before his death and the place where he had a disagreement and conflict with the post-Impressionist painter Gauguin. Van Gogh even cut off one of his ears because of this.

There is a small mental hospital in Arles where Van Gogh was treated for a time. The title of the poem and the first line of the poem, "Going to the South", refer to that place...

After revisiting all the verses in his mind, Zhang Dening asked, "Who wrote this poem?"

"A student from Yanda University, what do you think?"

Zhang Dening's eyes swirled around the manuscript paper, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "This author has a lot of ideas. Look at this paragraph, 'It erupted powerfully from the ground, as reckless as a volcano...burning the starry sky into rough rivers, burning the land into a spin, raising its yellow convulsive hands, Sunflower invites all those who are trying to fish in troubled waters to stop painting Christ's olive garden.' This paragraph is so wonderful, it fully interprets the character and psychology of the genius Van Gogh. His colors are the colors of a volcanic eruption, the curved starry night, the burning land, and all the plants and life are raising their convulsive hands toward the sun.

In this paragraph, he is talking about Van Gogh, but I feel that he is intertextualizing with himself, projecting his own spiritual world onto Van Gogh.

This student poet is not simple! "

At the end, Zhang Dening sighed, and she asked again: "Has he published a collection of poems?"

"What poetry collection? He hasn't even published a single poem. This is the first poem he wrote."

Zhang Dening was surprised when he heard Lin Chaoyang's words. "First time writing a poem?"

She looked at the poem in her hand again, and for a moment she didn't know what to say. After thinking for a long time about the words, she finally said, "You are really talented!"

"The person I recommend will definitely not be bad!" Lin Chaoyang boasted.

"Tsk!" Zhang Dening sneered, "You are just a blind cat that has caught a dead mouse."

Lin Chaoyang snatched the manuscript from her hand and said, "If you don't want it, forget it. I'll recommend it to someone else."

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Zhang Dening hurriedly grabbed him and took the manuscript back from his hand, "How can you be like this? You sent the manuscript and still want it back."

She stood up and walked to the desk of a middle-aged editor. "Old Zhao, take a look at this poem. The great writer Lin highly recommended it!"

"Yenching Literature" has a special poetry column, and Zhao Jinjiu is the editor in charge of the poetry column. Just now, he was listening to the discussion between Lin Chaoyang and Zhang Dening, and his heart was itching. When Zhang Dening brought the manuscript of the poem to him, he immediately couldn't wait to read it.

After more than ten minutes, Zhao Jinjiu raised his head and said, "Great! It's really extraordinary for a novice poet to be able to write like this."

Hearing the praise from his editor, Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "It looks like there's no problem with publishing it."

Zhao Jinjiu said: "We have to wait for the editor-in-chief to make the final decision."

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

Lin Chaoyang said, writing down a contact address on a piece of paper and handing it to Zhao Jinjiu, "If the manuscript is approved, you can contact him."

Zhang Dening teased, "Comrade Chaoyang, you can do it now. Do you want to be a literary talent scout?"

"It's not about whether he is a good mentor or not, it's just a coincidence. He is my loyal reader and he was inspired to write this poem after reading my novel.

Show it to me, I see it's well written, so I'll find a publication to recommend it to you."

After listening to him, Zhang Dening said, "No wonder, that's what happened."

After talking about poetry, Lin Chaoyang was about to leave when Zhang Dening asked casually, "What are you busy with recently?"

"Nothing."

"You didn't write a novel?"

"It's a start."

"Long?"

"A novella, maybe."

"Ok?"

It was just a casual question, but when he heard the word "middle volume", Zhang Dening's eyes fixed and he quickly pulled Lin Chaoyang, a flattering smile on his face.

"A novella? A novella is good. How many words have you written?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at her with a smile. He was rude at first and respectful later. He was not a good person.

“Not many words.”

"Tell me what it's about."

"I haven't thought about it yet." Lin Chaoyang said perfunctorily.

Zhang Dening knew him so well that he could tell what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.

"It's almost noon, I'll treat you to a meal."

"That's so embarrassing."

"Well, it's nothing. You came all the way here to deliver the manuscript to us. This is to support our work. I'll call Lao Li."

Zhang Dening's decision to call Li Qingquan was killing two birds with one stone. Not only did he find someone to reimburse the expenses, but it also showed how much Yenching Literature valued Lin Chaoyang.

Look, the editor-in-chief has come to have dinner with you.

Li Qingquan is not a sociable person, but when he heard that Lin Chaoyang was writing a novella, he was also very interested.

He and Zhang Dening dragged Lin Chaoyang to a small noodle restaurant at the corner of Beixiao Street next to Renwenshe and ordered two dishes, one meat and one vegetable, and also ordered five taels of meat noodles for each person.

As the three of them were eating, Li Qingquan asked about Lin Chaoyang's novel.

Lin Chaoyang then recounted what happened at the Yanying Studio. After listening, Li Qingquan sighed and said, "It's really hard to judge right from wrong in this kind of thing. Everyone has different concepts and starting points."

"I'm not trying to distinguish right from wrong. Just because our diplomatic relations are good now doesn't mean they will be good in the future.

There has never been any affection between countries; only interests are fundamental.

I just want to remind the Chinese people not to be fooled by the Japanese tricks. How can enemies with generations of blood feuds become friends? The short honeymoon is just a combination of interests.

But there are some people in our cultural circles who you can’t really say are naive or fawning on foreigners…”

(End of this chapter)