Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 274 Glorious Tradition
Mid-March passed in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, Lin Chaoyang's "Shutter Island" had been published for half a month. During this period, "October", which published the novel, was warmly sought after by readers.

In just two weeks, sales of "October" reached a staggering 63 copies, almost catching up with the normal sales of previous issues in just two weeks.

If this trend continues, it will only be a matter of time before the sales volume exceeds the editorial department's estimate of 120 million copies.

Although it has only been published for half a month, there is no doubt that "Shutter Island" has already been scheduled to be the most influential novel published in "October" this year.

Not only that, the novel also has a huge impact on the readership.

The novel "Shutter Island" itself has a strong suspenseful attribute, the atmosphere is mysterious and tense, and there is an unexpected reversal at the end. These elements are all strong stimulations for readers.

Compared with general literary works, this novel brings strong sensory stimulation to readers, which greatly stimulates readers' enthusiasm to write letters to the editorial department and the author to discuss the novel.

Behind the booming sales are hundreds of thousands of readers. Once the enthusiasm of so many readers is aroused, it is a terrifying energy.

Letters from readers are pouring into the editorial office of October. We receive two packages of letters almost every day, and the number and frequency of letters are increasing.

Faced with the increasing number of letters from readers in the editorial office, the editors feel both pain and joy.

Zhang Shouren no longer mentioned the issue of Lin Chaoyang's royalties. He only hated that his leader had not used the golden yuan method to take down Lin Chaoyang earlier.

He did some calculations in his mind and compared with the previous sales of "October", this issue would sell at least 50 more copies.

"October" was priced at 1 yuan, and the issue price to Xinhua Bookstore was about 7 cents, which means that this issue had an additional sales of 35 yuan.

After deducting the costs of editing, design, printing, binding and other links, the magazine's net profit increased by at least 20 yuan. Not to mention the 14 yuan per thousand words paid to Lin Chaoyang, even 40 yuan per thousand words would be worth it!

Unfortunately, these benefits have little to do with October itself, or their editorial department. At best, they can give out more benefits during the holidays.

"If any magazine gets Lin Chaoyang's work, it would be a real treasure!"

That afternoon, the editor-in-chief Su Yu went out for something, and everyone started chatting about the popularity of this issue of "October". Zhang Shouren couldn't help but sigh.

He praised Liu Xinwu again, "Xinwu should be credited with the first achievement this time!"

Liu Xinwu waved his hand modestly, "It has nothing to do with me. The decision is made by the leader."

"It's a pity that Shutter Island was only published this month. If it had been published last year, it would have been nominated for the Mao Dun Literature Prize," someone said regretfully.

"If it's too late for this year, there's always the next one. I'll be the first to support and submit Shutter Island for the next Mao Dun Literature Prize."

Colleagues were telling jokes and the atmosphere was relaxed.

Recently, the submission of works for the Mao Dun Literature Prize has officially begun. Although literary associations, literary magazines, cultural and publishing units in many parts of the country are eligible to submit works, not many of them are truly competitive.

For example, the provincial literary association, well-known literary magazines like October, and top-level publishing houses like Renwen Press...

This topic has also been the focus of attention in the literary and publishing industries recently. After all, as the first award for a long novel in the Chinese literary world, the Mao Dun Literature Prize has always been a topic of discussion and attention since its inception.

"But to be honest, Lin Chaoyang is not short of this one work. According to the requirements of this year's awards, he should have several works that meet the requirements, right?" asked Wu Guanghua from the poetry group.

"Lai Zi's Summer, The Death of Van Gogh, The Chess Master, and yes, there is also a book called Parental Love written under another pseudonym."

"I heard that the Humanities Society didn't seem to sign him up!"

"Who did you listen to?"

"According to the grapevine, there are a lot of works from Renwen Press that meet the requirements this year, and Lin Chaoyang's work was not ranked."

"It's all nonsense. It's true that Renwen Press has many works that meet the requirements, but Lin Chaoyang's "Lai Zi's Summer" and "The Death of Van Gogh" were both published and published by them. They have a huge influence. At the very least, they wouldn't have failed to submit even one of their two works.

Your news is so false, I heard it was reported as "Death of Van Gogh".

After everyone discussed for a while, Zhao Weiming from the novel group asked Liu Xinwu, "Xinwu, you are familiar with Lin Chaoyang, do you know which work he has applied for?"

Liu Xinwu pondered and said, "I don't know about Renwen Press. I'm sure it was published in Chess Master, but Yanjing Literature doesn't have any long novels that can be accepted.

Then, when I went to Chaoyang’s house that day, I heard that they didn’t give him a copy of Parents’ Love in Shanghai.”

"Why didn't you report it?"

"It was said that I had submitted it before when the National Excellent Novella Award was being judged. In this case, submitting it for the Novel Award seems a bit..."

Liu Xinwu didn't say anything else, but everyone understood.

Today's awards are not as rampant and without limits as they were in later generations. No matter whether it is the jury, the writers or the submitting units, they all have to maintain their dignity.

In the case of "Parents' Love", it's not impossible to sign up, but it will easily lead to gossip, so I just decided not to sign up.

Wu Guanghua said regretfully: "That's a pity. For a novella award, I missed the Mao Dun Literature Prize. And I remember that this novel hasn't won the award yet, right?"

"Yeah, that's a bit of a pity."

Wu Guanghua said: "The most likely scenario is that Renwen Press published The Death of Van Gogh and Yenching Literature published The Chess Master.

It is rare for a writer to have two works on the review board at the same time.”

Zhang Shouren said, "It's rare for other people, but it's normal for Lin Chaoyang. I remember that he won two awards for the National Excellent Novel Award in the past two years, for both the medium and short stories, right?"

"Yes, it caused quite a stir at the time."

Liu Xinwu also won the National Excellent Short Story Award twice in previous sessions, and I still remember it clearly.

"If Lin Chaoyang submits two works this time, can he also win two awards?" Zhao Weiming said jokingly.

Zhang Shouren shook his head firmly. "Absolutely impossible. The evaluation of novels is different from that of short stories. If one person wins two awards, no matter how outstanding the quality is, it will affect the credibility."

We are all in the industry and we all understand that this is impossible and Zhao Weiming's words were just a joke.

The day after the discussion in the editorial department of October, the winners of the 4th National Excellent Short Story Award were announced in the People's Daily. In recent years, many literary awards organized by literary magazines and publishing houses have emerged in China, but in terms of influence, the National Excellent Short Story Award is still unique.

At least before the authority of the Mao Dun Literature Prize was established, no award could shake its position in the literary world.

This year's National Excellent Short Story Award has nothing to do with Lin Chaoyang. He hasn't written a short story in several years, but some people insist on linking this matter to him.

On the evening after the award ceremony, Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong ran to Lin Chaoyang's house in a sly manner.

The two of them would not come to each other for no reason. As soon as they met, they asked Lin Chaoyang to continue the "glorious tradition".

"What glorious tradition?" Lin Chaoyang looked confused.

"Treat us a meal!" Chen Jiangong reminded.

Li Tuo corrected him, "It's a salon, a cultural salon!"

Chen Jiangong nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, cultural salon."

Lin Chaoyang suddenly realized, and he tried hard to hold back his anger and complain about these two hotshots.

After the National Excellent Medium and Short Story Award Ceremony in the past two years, he did arrange for meals, but he did not win the award this year.

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Tuo said confidently: "You should have invited him even if you didn't win the award. Yu Shu is an editor now..."

Chen Jiangong rushed to say, "That's right! This year, there are 20 award-winning writers including me. They are all wealthy people who produce manuscripts. How much work did your meal save Yushu? And how many of them are difficult to arrange manuscripts for even if you want to?"

Listening to what the two said, Tao Yushu's eyes widened like a rabbit.

This is a good suggestion!

She blinked her big watery eyes at Lin Chaoyang, with ripples in them, like rippling autumn water.

Silence is better than words at this moment. Comrade Chaoyang cannot withstand such an attack!
He said in a serious tone, "This cultural salon after the National Excellent Short Story Award is indeed a rare exchange opportunity for our literary colleagues. It should be maintained and become a fine tradition."

Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong looked at his statement and couldn't help clapping with solemn expressions. They were truly controlled by this leadership style.

"Let's go to Mianhua Hutong for dinner. It's a big place and we can eat as much as we want." Tao Yushu suggested.

The previous few times my friends and I had dinner together, we all went to Mianhua Hutong, which has a large courtyard and many houses, making it a very convenient reception location.

"it is good."

There have always been several days of seminars after the National Excellent Short Story Award Ceremony, and the winning writers have to stay in Beijing for a few days. After obtaining Lin Chaoyang's approval, Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong went back to start making arrangements.

March 3th, the third day after the award ceremony.

Today is Thursday. On a weekday morning, workers in Mianhua Hutong were busy going to work. Lin Chaoyang and his wife had just returned from the vegetable market after buying vegetables.

After entering the courtyard, the couple put down the vegetables, and Tao Yushu asked, "Where did this girl go again?"

"Don't look for her. Can you still count on her to work?"

Yesterday, Tao Yumo heard that Lin Chaoyang and his wife were going to treat everyone to a dinner, and she insisted on coming to help. However, she showed up early in the morning and has now disappeared.

Inviting twenty people to dinner tests not only your cooking skills but also your physical strength.

When the couple was getting ready, Li Tuo and Chen Jiangong came together, followed by Wang Zengqi and Lin Jinlan, all of whom were old acquaintances of Lin Chaoyang. This time, Wang Zengqi's winning work was "Notes from Da Nao" and Lin Jinlan's winning work was "Portrait".

The four arrived one after another, and then the award-winning writers arrived one after another.

There are many famous writers, such as Zhou Keqin, Liu Shaotang, etc. There are also some young writers who are just emerging, such as Han Shaogong, Wang Anyi, Gu Hua, Zhao Benfu, etc.

This group of award-winning writers covers almost all three generations, old, middle-aged and young. Most of them just met after the award ceremony and have no friendship, so they are naturally restrained when getting along with each other.

In the previous seminars, everyone just talked about general things and there was no even any joking.

A group of people came to Lin Chaoyang's house together. After a brief greeting and introduction, some people helped Lin Chaoyang and his wife cook. Li Tuo, Chen Jiangong, and Wang Zengqi were responsible for livening up the atmosphere. They quickly made these people familiar with each other, and the atmosphere became more relaxed and harmonious.

"Teacher Lin, let me do something!" Wang Anyi came to the kitchen and volunteered.

"Don't call me Teacher Lin, just call me Chaoyang." Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

The reason why Wang Anyi called Lin Chaoyang "Teacher Lin" was because Lin Chaoyang gave lectures to them when she was studying at the Central Literature Institute the year before.

Lin Chaoyang is not very old, but he is famous in the literary world. Wang Anyi is not like Zhang Manling, so she can't call him "Chaoyang". After holding it in for two seconds, she said, "Then I'll call you Lao Lin."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "That's fine."

He then said to Wang Anyi, "If you want to work, help peel some garlic."

"it is good."

Wang Anyi responded and started peeling two garlic cloves with clumsy movements, obviously she rarely did this kind of work.

She comes from a wealthy family. Her father, Wang Xiaoping, is a director of the Shanghai People's Art Theatre, and her mother, Ru Zhijuan, is a well-known writer. It can be said that she comes from a family of literature and art.

She stood beside Tao Yushu, and the two chatted about family matters while working.

At this moment, Tao Yumo, who had been missing since morning, finally showed up and rushed into the kitchen, shouting, "Sister, I'll help you with the work."

There was tranquility and peace beside him, and there was urgency and noise opposite him. The sharp contrast made Tao Yushu feel irritated.

"What were you doing so far? With so many people here, do we still need you?"

(End of this chapter)