Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 208: Please Pay the Manuscript Fee

By mid-April, the city of Yanjing was already covered in spring flowers. It was the best time of the year, with trees sprouting tender green buds and life everywhere.

On Sunday, Du Feng went to Lin Chaoyang's Overseas Chinese Apartment and said he was there to play, but he hadn't been there in the past six months. He suddenly came to the house today, so there must be a reason.

Sure enough, when Tao Yushu went out to buy groceries, he asked Lin Chaoyang: "Brother-in-law, I've fallen in love with a girl!"

"Hey! Is this the emotional wound that has healed?"

Lin Chaoyang's teasing made Du Feng a little shy, "What emotional hurt or not, it's all in the past."

"What about today? Want me to write you a love poem?"

"This girl has no taste for literature."

"Then I can do nothing to help you."

"Don't bother me!"

Lin Chaoyang asked: "How else can I help?"

"That girl wants to act in a movie." Du Feng said shyly.

"Then apply to film school!"

"I took the exam, but failed. Brother-in-law, don't you write movie scripts for others? Last time, my eldest brother said that his student played the leading role in Director Xie's film, and it was you who helped to arrange it."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "How dare you think that? That's Xie Jin's movie. Can I decide it with just one word? The director was optimistic about that girl. I just made a suggestion."

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang had misunderstood his meaning, Du Feng quickly said, "Brother-in-law, we don't want him to play the female lead. Just a small role where he can show his face will do."

"When you're chasing a girlfriend, why do I have to do the hard work every time?" Lin Chaoyang said dissatisfiedly.

Du Feng showed a flattering smile, "You are my brother-in-law, right? When I have trouble, you are the first person I think of!"

"Thank you for thinking of me!" Lin Chaoyang teased him.

"Brother-in-law, this concerns my lifelong happiness, you can't just ignore it!" Du Feng pleaded with a bitter face.

As he said this, he took out two packs of cigarettes from his pocket and said, "Brother-in-law, please help me!"

Lin Chaoyang was amused when he saw it, "You kid, you don't pray at ordinary times, but you come here to pray at the last minute."

He then asked, "It's okay to just play a minor role, right?"

Hearing this, Du Feng immediately became happy, "It's fine as just a minor role, just let her experience making a movie. If she really becomes a movie star, I won't be able to control her, right?"

"That's a pretty smart calculation! I'll ask around later, I don't know when I'll have the chance."

"Okay, thank you brother-in-law!" Du Feng said happily.

The two chatted for a while. Tao Yushu came back from shopping and prepared to make lunch. Lin Chaoyang said, "I'll go to Mianhua Hutong this afternoon to find someone to repair the house."

"Okay." Tao Yushu responded.

Du Feng asked: "Brother-in-law, do you want to repair the house?"

"Yes, I bought the courtyard house in Mianhua Hutong almost half a year ago. I'm going to renovate it while the weather is good."

"Leave it to me." Du Feng said, patting his chest.

"We won't do anything that undermines socialism."

Du Feng quickly said, "It's not poaching. The military region's logistics department has to repair houses every year. I have a comrade in the logistics department. The people under him are skilled and work quickly. It's just a side job for him."

Du Feng had just asked Lin Chaoyang for help. For the sake of a happy life in the future, it would be no problem for him to do it himself now.

Lin Chaoyang thought for a moment and said, "There are many problems with the yard, it's not something that can be done casually. I think you can ask your friend to come and take a look, how much material and work are needed, estimate the price, and then give him the job."

Du Feng hesitated after hearing this: "This is not appropriate, brother-in-law..."

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. If you're willing to help, then do it." Lin Chaoyang insisted.

"Well... okay, I'll go find him. I happen to be free today."

Du Feng left after he finished speaking. It was almost evening when he appeared in Mianhua Hutong with a square-faced man who looked to be in his thirties. Lin Chaoyang had already been waiting there.

"Brother-in-law, this is my comrade Geng Chuanfeng."

"This is my brother-in-law Lin Chaoyang, a great writer."

After a few pleasantries, Geng Chuanfeng felt a little reserved in front of Lin Chaoyang, a cultured man. Lin Chaoyang took him around the courtyard.

When it came to the house, he relaxed a lot.

"There's nothing wrong with the houses in your yard. The beams and doorposts just need a little paint. I think the doors and windows need to be replaced. In some cases, the tiles need to be replaced. The rest depends on what else you want."

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Can you do carpentry, bricklaying, and painting?"

Geng Chuanfeng smiled and replied, "Du Feng told me when I came here that you wanted to give the brothers a chance to make extra money. We are in charge of infrastructure, and we can do anything related to building houses."

"Can you get a dirt heater?"

Nowadays, the common people in Yanjing use coal stoves with chimneys to keep warm. The heat is emitted by the coal stoves and the chimneys in the room, which is far less effective than traditional heating. In addition, the doors and windows are not well sealed and the walls are not warm. In winter, when you sleep at night, your face is stiff when you wake up in the morning.

The rustic heating is a cast iron radiator plus a matching rustic boiler. The word "rustic" is added because it is to distinguish it from central heating. This thing is made by ordinary people using their own ingenuity.

In today's Yanjing, earth heating is still rare, mainly because of the high requirements for materials and technology. Earth boilers need to be welded with rolled steel plates, which ordinary people cannot weld, but this thing is not a difficult task for the army.

"This...may cost some money." Geng Chuanfeng hesitated.

"money is not a problem."

"That's easy. Where do you want to put the boiler? This thing can only power three or four rooms at most, provided you have enough radiators and the heat is strong enough."

"Put it in the main room, and just put a coal stove in the east and west wing rooms."

"I see that the coal shed in your yard is in a state of disrepair. You need to rebuild it."

"Row."

……

Lin Chaoyang and Geng Chuanfeng discussed until it was almost dark before they decided on all the repairs that needed to be made to the courtyard house. Geng Chuanfeng and his team were in the infrastructure business, so they could obtain the materials themselves and Lin Chaoyang would just pay for it.

After some final calculations, it would cost more than 600 yuan just to build a yard like this. If I wanted to add furniture to the several rooms later, it would cost several hundred more yuan.

Two days later, when Lin Chaoyang was at work, Liu Xinwu suddenly found the library. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and Lin Chaoyang was delighted to see Liu Xinwu.

"How did you come?"

"Look at you, what are you writing recently?"

“I’m writing a novella.”

Liu Xinwu's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Does it have a master?"

"I promised Zhang Dening that I would give it to Yenching Literature."

Liu Xinwu immediately showed a regretful expression, "I came at the wrong time."

Lin Chaoyang joked, "It's not easy for a busy man like you to think of coming to me to collect manuscripts." Liu Xinwu is indeed busy. He is now a popular writer in China and an editor of the well-known literary magazine "October". He is busy writing, reviewing manuscripts, and participating in activities.

Liu Xinwu waved his hand, "It's all a waste of time. It's better for you to stay like this, hide in the small building and be alone, regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter."

After chatting for a while, he asked, "Next month, our Yenching Literature Association will organize a field trip to Shenzhen. Will you go?"

"I'm not a member of your literary association, why should I go?"

Liu Xinwu blinked at him and said, "Just go there, right?"

Lin Chaoyang laughed and asked, "Is this why you came here today?"

"It's mainly for collecting manuscripts." Seeing that he didn't want to mention the matter of the Writers Association, Liu Xinwu stopped talking about it and said, "I heard that you spent a lot of money some time ago and invited dozens of award-winning writers to dinner."

"Who did you listen to?"

"Li Tuo!"

"He's a man who talks a lot of bullshit. Can you trust his words?"

"You didn't treat me?"

"It's not my treat. Everyone chipped in their money for me to cook, so you can taste my cooking skills."

Liu Xinwu nodded, "Li Tuo said that everyone had a great meal that day, and now your cooking skills have spread everywhere. Lu Wenfu wrote me a letter that day, specifically mentioning your dishes. He said that everything was good that day, except that Li Tuo and his friends were too noisy, which ruined the fun."

He met Lu Wenfu in 79, when they attended the award ceremony of the first National Excellent Short Story Award together.

Lin Chaoyang was not familiar with Lu Wenfu, but he could tell that he was a calm person, which was completely different from Li Tuo who liked to call on friends.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Then let him come by himself next time, and I will cook a meal for him separately."

"Okay, I'll tell him in the letter, but you have to take me with you this time."

"They are visitors from afar..."

"I won't eat your food for free. I'll bring you a gift when I go back to Shenzhen, okay?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded, "What a coincidence, our family just happens to be in need of a color TV."

Liu Xinwu: …

After the joke, Liu Xinwu talked about the main purpose of coming to see Lin Chaoyang this time.

"Our publishing house wants you to write a preface."

"You want me to write the preface? For whom?"

Lin Chaoyang felt a little surprised when he heard Liu Xinwu's words.

“Your film The Death of Van Gogh has been very popular for several months now and has a huge influence, making the Western painter Van Gogh a household name in China.

Our publishing house plans to take this opportunity to introduce Irving Stone's biography of him, "Lust for Life."

Lao Wang knows that you and I have a good relationship, so he asked me to make an appointment with you.

It would be a good story if the author of The Death of Van Gogh wrote a preface for Lust for Life. "

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Your publishing house really keeps up with the trend."

"Who made your novel so popular? By the way, are you going to publish your novel? If Lust for Life can be published together with The Death of Van Gogh..."

Lin Chaoyang interrupted him, "Don't even think about it. The Death of Van Gogh is a special issue, and it has only been published for more than three months. It's too early to publish it. Besides, there is Renwen Press."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Liu Xinwu was not disappointed. He was just saying it casually. After chatting for a few more words, he left.

A few days later, it was the weekend, and Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu went to Mianhua Hutong to check on the progress of the renovation.

Geng Chuanfeng and his group all have jobs, and they have to take leave to earn extra money, but they are very efficient. When they came to the courtyard again a week later, they found that the courtyard had undergone considerable changes.

This efficiency is much better than that of decoration companies in later generations.

"They work pretty fast!" said Tao Yushu.

"As a soldier, you should be efficient in your work. The key is to be organized and not to mess around."

Most of the houses in the courtyard house have brick floors. Blue bricks are laid flat in the room, just like building walls. Before paving the floor, the bricks are coated with raw tung oil and then waxed.

The floor tiles of the east room of the main house have become uneven due to years of disrepair. The originally broken bricks have been dug out and piled in the yard. At this moment, a young man is meticulously re-laying the tiles.

"Little brother, can anyone in your army do this kind of work?" Lin Chaoyang asked curiously.

In his impression, the military's infrastructure is mainly practical and they are not very capable of doing this kind of delicate work.

The young man raised his head and said with a smile, "Writer Lin, please don't underestimate us. Not to mention your courtyard, the buildings in ZNH are not difficult for us either."

"You're quite impressive. Have you ever renovated a house in ZNH?"

"No, but my master has built it. He also built a house for Mr. Mao."

"Then you are an extraordinary master."

"Of course he is. He is now the chief engineer of Yanjing No. 1 Construction Company."

Lin Chaoyang watched from the side for a while, and seeing that the young man worked meticulously, he was glad that it was a wise choice to ask these soldiers to repair the yard.

At noon, he specially invited two young men who worked in the yard to have a meal, and the two worked even harder in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, the couple returned to the Overseas Chinese Apartment from Mianhua Hutong. When they passed by the guard room, they were stopped by the security guard. A familiar face walked out of the guard room.

"Comrade Chaoyang!"

"Lao Teng? Hello, hello."

The visitor was Teng Hongsheng from China Film Co-production Company. The two shook hands, and Lin Chaoyang asked, "Why are you here..."

"Director Li has come to Yanjing, and the investment has been finalized. It will be invested by Mr. Ho from Haojiang. After consultation with our company, Director Li's film will be jointly produced by our China Film Co-production Company and New Kunlun Pictures Co., Ltd.

Director Li is currently preparing a movie and wants to talk to you as a screenwriter. When do you have time?"

Lin Chaoyang glanced at his watch and said, "It's too late today. I'll take a day off tomorrow and go see him the day after tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'll leave first."

Lin Chaoyang took a leave of absence from work on Monday, and early on Tuesday morning he rode his bicycle to Yanjing Hotel.

He knocked on the door and waited for a while before the door opened.

When Li Hanxiang saw that it was him, he let out a rough laugh.

"Chaoyang, the investment has been secured, and we can start filming the movie!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "This is really great news. Should I get my royalties as well?"

Hearing this, the smile on Li Hanxiang's face froze.

(End of this chapter)