Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 309: A Full House

Yanjing, No. 166 Chaonei Street.

There is a five-story building facing the street, and behind it is a four-story red brick building. The nationally renowned "Contemporary" editorial office is located on the second floor of this building.

"We didn't win the prize!" A regretful voice was heard in the editorial office.

"It's normal that you didn't win any awards. Don't you see what styles of works the winners are?" Zhu Changsheng complained.

Zhang Zhonge looked up at him and said, "You are more upset than Lin Chaoyang that The Death of Van Gogh didn't win the award."

Facing the teasing of his colleagues, Zhu Changsheng said calmly: "This is an honor. Who would complain about too much honor?"

Yao Shuzhi joked, "Old Zhu, it's not just an honor, right? There's also a bonus!"

"Those are just icing on the cake." Zhu Changsheng waved his hand and said something that was not what he meant.

Several colleagues looked at his forced attitude and couldn't help laughing out loud with glee.

My colleagues were discussing the newly released list of winners of the Mao Dun Literature Prize. The office was crowded with people. Someone complained, "It's such a pity that The Death of Vincent Van Gogh didn't win the prize. I think the quality of some of the works on the list is just average!"

"Literary works are of different tastes. There is no such thing as a perfect award. Besides, what Mr. Zhu said just now is right. It's not just the novel itself that is involved.

When The Death of Van Gogh was published, wasn’t there criticism that it was promoting ‘liberalization’? In the Literary Association Awards, such a work has little chance of winning.”

"Alas, what a pity."

"It's nothing to regret!" As everyone was talking, a voice suddenly came from the door. Everyone turned their heads and saw Qin Chaoyang standing there.

He walked into the office and said, "What's there to be sad about? This year, there were seven winning works, and four of them were published by our Humanities Press. What else is there to be dissatisfied about?"

He is the person in charge of "Contemporary" and one of the leaders of Renwen Press. He is in a different position from the editors under him, so naturally he looks at issues from a different perspective.

Seeing Qin Chaoyang coming in, Zhu Changsheng stopped complaining, but he remembered Zhang Dening, whom he always met when he went to Lin Chaoyang's house to collect manuscripts.

She should be very proud now, right?
"Oh! This is all thanks to the author Chaoyang. It has nothing to do with me."

"Ahaha, why are you congratulating me? You should be congratulating Yu Shu."

In the Federation of Literary and Art Circles building in the compound of the Yanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Zhang Dening has been dealing with colleagues who came to congratulate him and chat since he started work in the morning.

Just this morning, the Yenching Writers Association received a notification from the National Writers Association about the results of the first Mao Dun Literature Prize, and the freshly published "People's Literature" in the morning also reported the list of winners.

A total of seven works won the first Mao Dun Literature Prize, including "The Chess Master", the only work submitted by Yenching Literature.

Fortunately, due to the length of the works published, the Mao Dun Literature Prize, an award for novels, had nothing to do with Yenching Literature.

"The Chess Master" is the only work with a length of more than 100,000 words published in "Yenching Literature" in recent years. At that time, it was reported by the editorial department as the only one.

I heard that there were more than a hundred works submitted for this year's award, and the editorial leaders did not dare to hope that "The Chess Master" could win the award.

But who could have imagined that once the award results were announced, "The Chess Master" would actually stand out from hundreds of long works and become one of the seven winning works.

It goes without saying that Zhang Dening was very happy and proud as the editor-in-chief of "The Chess Master".

The editorial office was located in the compound of the Cultural Bureau. As soon as she got to work in the morning, there was an endless stream of colleagues coming to congratulate her upon hearing the news, and she was overwhelmed.

After finally dealing with a few colleagues, she looked towards Tao Yushu.

Compared with the congratulations he received, there were just as many people around Tao Yushu. After all, he was only the editor-in-charge of the award-winning work "The Chess Master", while Tao Yushu was the lover of the award-winning author Lin Chaoyang.

After the morning breeze passed, Zhang Dening happily chatted with Tao Yushu for a few words. While they were talking, Li Tuo suddenly ran into the office.

He shouted to Tao Yushu with excitement, "Yushu, why are you still going to work? Why don't you go home and share the joy of winning the award with Chaoyang?"

"It's working hours now, waiting for the end of get off work." Tao Yushu was happy in his heart, but he answered Li Tuo in a serious manner.

He shook his head when he saw this, "You are really calm. I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to congratulate Chaoyang."

Tao Yushu knew Li Tuo too well, and when he heard him say congratulations, he automatically replaced that sentence with "get a free meal" in his mind. Since Chaoyang won the award this time, he would definitely use this as an excuse to ask Chaoyang to treat him.

Tao Yushu looked at Li Tuofeng running out, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You, the family member, haven't even returned home, but he is really proactive." There was some sarcasm in Zhang Dening's words.

"He is just that kind of person, and it's nice to have him as a friend," said Tao Yushu.

After Li Tuo left, the editor-in-chief Yang Mo, who seldom appeared in the editorial department, also came over. She came over specially after learning this morning that "The Chess Master" had won the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

"The Chess Master" was first published in "Yenching Literature" and was also submitted for awards by "Yenching Literature". Now that it has successfully won the award, it is also a great honor for "Yenching Literature".

For the entire day, most of the topics in the editorial department focused on the Mao Dun Literature Prize and the winning works and writers.

It was not until the evening after get off work that Tao Yushu came out of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles building with a big belly. She was surrounded by warm greetings, more enthusiastic than any other day.

She walked to the gate of the compound with great joy, but did not see Lin Chaoyang, but saw Zhang Guiqin.

"Mom, why are you here?" Tao Yushu stepped forward and put his arm around Zhang Guiqin's arm.

"Chaoyang is entertaining friends, so let me come pick you up."

Zhang Guiqin said this and walked home with Tao Yushuo.

On the way, she asked Tao Yushu, "Yushu, I heard from Li Tuo that Chaoyang won the Mao Dun Prize. What kind of award is that?"

Tao Yushu thought for a moment and replied, "Didn't Chaoyang win the National Excellent Short Story Award two years ago? It's similar to that one. This is for a novel. It was established according to Mr. Mao Dun's last wish. Do you know Mao Dun?"

"How could you not know that, great writer?"

Zhang Guiqin couldn't help but let out a bright smile. "You're amazing! You've won so many awards in the past few years. You can become a great writer like Mao Dun in the future!"

Tao Yushu smiled and said, "He is still far from the achievements of Mr. Mao Dun."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law chatted and laughed as they returned to Xiaoliubukou Hutong. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they could hear the laughter coming from the main house from dozens of meters away. After entering the house, Tao Yushu saw Li Tuo, Chen Jiangong, Zhang Chengzhi and the other three sitting on the sofa chatting and laughing, but she didn't see Lin Chaoyang.

Every time the family entertains guests, Lin Chaoyang is usually the one who works the hardest, and he must be in the kitchen at this time.

Recently, Tao Yushu's belly has been getting bigger and bigger, and she rarely goes into the kitchen. As soon as Zhang Guiqin returns home, she goes into the kitchen to help Lin Chaoyang.

But she saw Lin Erchun washing vegetables, and this scene immediately surprised her.

Comrade Erchun has a deep-rooted male chauvinism. Before he married Tao Yushu, he scolded Lin Chaoyang for not even picking up the fallen soy sauce bottle at home.

A hero's father will have a hero's son. Lin Chaoyang naturally learned this habit from his father.

Lin Erchun never helped with housework at home, so Zhang Guiqin was inevitably surprised to see him washing vegetables.

"Really? Why did you just come back?"

When Lin Erchun saw Zhang Guiqin coming back, he complained and handed the dish in his hand to her.

"Don't you know to wash before leaving?" Zhang Guiqin muttered.

As soon as Lin Erchun came out of the kitchen, he saw several people coming in at the gate.

Tao Yucheng, who was leading the way, waved at him enthusiastically, "Uncle Lin!"

"Yucheng!" Lin Erchun greeted him first, then went up to him warmly, "Hey, in-laws, why are you all here?"

The seven members of the Tao family entered the yard. The whole family was there. Tao Yucheng and Zhao Li were holding gifts they had bought on the spur of the moment.

Before Tao's father could say anything, Tao Yucheng rushed to say, "Uncle Lin, didn't the newspaper say that Chaoyang won a prize today? I arranged for our whole family to come over to congratulate him."

Father Tao listened to his son's words, smiled and nodded in approval.

Lin Erchun's face was flushed and he laughed heartily, but he said, "No need, no need. It's not like we haven't had it before. Look how far you are from here. Come on, come inside and warm up."

He pulled Tao's father and the others into the house, but Tao Yucheng was looking for Lin Chaoyang, "Where's Chaoyang?"

"The kitchen."

Lin Erchun replied to him and led the Tao family into the house.

Li Tuo and others did not expect that Lin Chaoyang's father-in-law and his family would suddenly arrive. Since the family wanted to celebrate, they naturally could not get in the way, so they stood up and said goodbye when they saw this.

Tao Yushu immediately stopped them and said with a smile, "They are not outsiders, and it will be more lively with more people."

Father Tao also said: "Yes, you are all good friends of Chaoyang and Yushu. It is a rare good day like today, and it is a beautiful thing to get together."

Listening to what the father and daughter said, Li Tuo and the others felt relieved of their burdens and sat down with peace of mind. However, the atmosphere was not as lively as before. After all, there were elders present, so it was a bit more reserved.

Seeing this, Mother Tao pulled Zhao Li and said, "Let's go to the kitchen to help."

Father Tao kindly brought up the topic with Li Tuo and the others, and the atmosphere became relaxed again.

While people were chatting lively in the main room, Tao Yucheng was also sighing about Lin Chaoyang in the kitchen.

"I think the Mao Dun Literature Prize has a huge influence. Although this is the first time it has been held, there are so many people discussing it and everyone is paying special attention to it."

While cutting vegetables, Lin Chaoyang replied, "It's mainly due to the influence of Mr. Mao Dun. The award was established according to his last wish. Whether it's the government, the literary association, or ordinary readers, they all have expectations for the award. And this award has indeed filled the gap in the literary world's novel awards."

Tao Yucheng looked at Lin Chaoyang's calm and composed expression, and admired his brother-in-law's composure.

If this was the first time Lin Chaoyang won an award and he performed in his current state, Tao Yucheng might think that he was pretending to be indifferent.

But as a relative, Tao Yucheng has witnessed Lin Chaoyang winning national literary awards several times, and his reaction has always been so indifferent.

This indifference was not a reserved and indifferent reaction, but a joy that was filled with full confidence, as if all this was within his expectations.

"I was planning to treat you guys to a meal alone tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come today."

"I organized it! This kind of thing will become boring after a few days, so we have to celebrate while it's still fresh!"

Lin Chaoyang looked at his brother-in-law's excitement and nodded with a smile, "That makes sense. This emotion is very important!"

While the two were talking, there was a noise at the gate of the courtyard, and Tao Yucheng went to take a look.

Not long after, he led two old men to the kitchen. They were actually comrades Wang Zengqi and Lin Jinlan.

Each of them was carrying two kilograms of oranges and a box of snacks respectively, and they congratulated Lin Chaoyang with a smile.

Lin Chaoyang wiped his hands with his apron and said in return: "Thank you very much, I didn't expect you two to come too, please go inside and sit down."

Wang Zengqi put the things down and said, "No, no. I told Jin Lan that you might have to do the hard work of cooking today, but he didn't believe it. Now I see that my guess was right. It seems that we came to the right place."

Lin Chaoyang said helplessly: "Li Tuo insisted on asking me to treat him."

"You really dote on him!"

Lin Jinlan suddenly demoted Li Tuo to Lin Chaoyang's junior with just one sentence, and Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"You have to say this to his face."

As they were talking, a voice came from the gate. Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said, "I wonder who is here again."

When he went out, he saw that it was Zhang Manling who was supposed to be in Tianjin.

At this moment, she was covered in dust and had a red woolen scarf around her neck. Because she had been outside for several hours, her cheeks were frozen red and her eyes were bright.

"Chaoyang, congratulations!"

(End of this chapter)