Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 323 Returning home in glory
The first issue of Huacheng magazine in 1983 had been published for a week, and there was no time to reflect the outside world's response and sales of this issue of the magazine, but Li Shifei had his own way.

Today is the Lantern Festival, which is also Sunday. Early in the morning, he came out of the narrow and dark room upstairs of the Taipingguan Western Restaurant on Yanjing Road. This is his home.

When I went out, Yanjing Road was bustling with people, and a touch of red not far away was particularly dazzling in the morning sun.

The Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road is the earliest Xinhua Bookstore established in Guangzhou. Located in a busy city, it has always been the most popular bookstore in Guangzhou.

The winter vacation has not yet ended, but parents with their children have come to the bookstore early in the morning.

The Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road has been implementing open shelf sales for nearly two years. People don't necessarily come to the store to buy books. Many parents bring their children to kill time and cultivate their children's interest in reading.

Many children hold a book in their hands, often hiding in a corner where no one pays attention, and read for a long time.

Li Shifei is an editor and publisher, and he likes this kind of atmosphere.

After entering the store, he first took a look around and then started chatting with the salesperson Xiao Chen.

"How are the sales of our Flower City these days?"

"It's almost out of stock, and the manager said he wanted to place an order."

Li Shifei was a little surprised when he heard this. As one of the most well-known literary magazines in China, Huacheng has always had good sales.

Over the past year or so, sales have basically fluctuated between 600,000 and 700,000 copies.

In this issue, they published Lin Chaoyang's "Crossing the Boat". Out of trust in Lin Chaoyang's appeal among the readership, the first print run was 700,000 copies.

As the base camp of "Huacheng", Guangzhou's order share has always been second only to Yanjing and Shanghai.

The Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road has always been the most popular bookstore in Guangzhou. The starting order for each issue of the magazine is at least 1500 copies. This issue has only been on the market for a week, and all 1500 copies have been sold out?
Li Shifei confirmed with the salesperson again, and when he heard that there were only more than 30 copies left in stock, he felt completely relieved.

While chatting with Xiao Chen, Li Shifei suddenly heard a burst of scolding, followed by the crying of a child.

He followed the salesperson to check and found that a gentle-looking female comrade wearing a Zhongshan suit was scolding the child, who was crying and looked a little pitiful.

At first Li Shifei thought that the child was naughty and broke the book. After listening for a while, he realized that the parents did it because the child was reading a novel.

“Is this something you should be watching at your age?”

The parents waved books in their hands and yelled at their children angrily.

"Comrade, comrade..." The salesperson tried to comfort him helplessly, but it didn't seem to have much effect.

Li Shifei's eyes were fixed on the shaking book. He felt vaguely that it was very familiar. Isn't this "Huacheng"?

Seeing that the parent was getting more and more excited, several sales clerks from the bookstore came over and suppressed the parent's anger.

After a while of fuss, the parent angrily took the crying child out of the house, threatening the child as he walked.

"If you read these books again, I will never bring you to the bookstore again. Do you hear me?"

The child, who looked like he was already in junior high school, was afraid of being scolded and agreed timidly.

Li Shifei stepped forward and called the mother and son. The female comrade looked at him warily, "What's the matter?"

"Comrade, I am a staff member of Huacheng. I just saw you holding Huacheng in your hand and saying that our magazine is not suitable for children like them to read.

I just want to ask, what aspects of our magazine's content do you think are not good enough?

We publish magazines for ordinary people, and we really hope to get genuine feedback from you readers, so that we can make improvements in the future."

Li Shifei had a kind smile on his face and was very polite in his words, and the female comrade's expression softened.

"Your Huacheng magazine is very well run. My wife and I often read it. However, the article you published this time, The Boat Crossing, is really hard to accept..."

When the female comrade said this, there was a hint of complaint in her tone.

Li Shifei asked in surprise: "What do you think is wrong with the novel "The Boat Crossing"?"

"This novel is about cannibalism, and it's about a child eating its mother. Don't you know that?"

Hearing this, Li Shifei was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what the female comrade meant.

At the same time, he also understood that this lesbian was probably the kind of reader who read novels based on hearsay.

Li Shifei patiently explained: "The author wrote the novel "The Boat Crossing" to express the different consequences of different choices people make in desperate situations. The novel only lists such possibilities, but it does not necessarily mean that they will actually happen. Besides, there are many such things that have happened in history."

The female comrade's understanding of "The Boat Crossing" was indeed gained through other people's oral narration, so when Li Shifei patiently explained it, she could not think of specific words to refute it.

All I could say was, "These things are fine for us adults to see, but they are inappropriate for children to see."

Li Shifei said humbly: "You are right, this is indeed a problem."

Seeing that he had a good attitude, the female comrade said nothing more and turned away with the child.

After the two men left, Li Shifei shook his head helplessly, not knowing who to blame for this.

Then he thought of the news the salesperson had just told him, and he felt happy again. It seemed that the sales of this issue of "Huacheng" would break a record. It was worth his traveling thousands of miles and spending a lot of money to ask Lin Chaoyang for an article.

He couldn't help but recall the discussion within the editorial department before the publication of "The Boat Crossing". Some people said that as long as Lin Chaoyang's novels were published, no matter which magazine it was, the sales volume of the current issue would not be less than 100 million copies.

Li Shifei didn't take it seriously at the time, but now it seems that the rumor is not groundless.

The Lantern Festival is over, and it is time for universities, colleges and primary and secondary schools across the country to start the new semester. The new job, Tao Yumo's happy winter vacation job, has also come to an end.

During the entire winter vacation, she earned nearly 50 yuan from her eldest nephew, which bought her a set of winter clothes, four pairs of socks, eight books and newspapers, and a Hero brand pen.

The more she calculated, the more she felt reluctant to part with her eldest nephew. This was not just a fat baby, but a money-giving boy of her aunt.

So she discussed with her sister again and said that her salary could be cut in half if she wanted to take care of her eldest nephew at night.

Tao Yushu agreed without hesitation. Anyway, Lin Chaoyang was planning to go out, so it was not impossible to let Tao Yumo take over this position.

She looked at her sister's tender face. It would be a pity if she didn't stay up late at such a young age.

Another day passed, and Tao Yushu packed luggage for Lin Chaoyang. He planned to leave for his hometown the day after tomorrow.

On the one hand, it was a request from my hometown government, and on the other hand, it was because I needed to prepare some materials for my new work.

"Can you come back in the middle of the month? What about the library?" Tao Yushu asked him. Lin Chaoyang pondered and said, "I think it will only take two or three days to deal with the government, but I'm not sure about the information. It will probably take at least a month. If not, I'll go to the library tomorrow to ask for another leave from the director."

Tao Yushu hesitated and said, "Why don't you just quit your job?"

Lin Chaoyang was surprised when he heard this, "Why do you suddenly have this idea?"

Tao Yushu pulled him to sit on the sofa, "Actually, I have been thinking about this issue since New Year's Day."

"My dad let you go to the library because he was worried that you wouldn't have a job after moving to the city. It was actually a good thing.

But even I didn't expect that you would have such great talent and potential in literature. With your current fame in the country, you don't need this job to rely on. Instead, it will distract your attention.

So it’s better to put aside work, put all your energy into creation, and become a full-time writer.”

If you ask Lin Chaoyang whether working in the library has affected his writing, the answer is yes. No matter how idle the job is, it will have some impact, but it is not a huge impact.

Now he is not only famous, but also earns much more in royalties than before. Last year, including the royalties from the publication, reprinting and publishing of many of his works, his income was more than 4 yuan, which is enough for an ordinary worker to earn for a hundred or eighty years without eating or drinking.

Considering the income level in today's era, there is no problem for Lin Chaoyang to be a full-time writer.

But people's ideas in this era are generally conservative. For most people, a proper job not only means an income, but also represents a kind of social recognition.

Lin Chaoyang never expected that Tao Yushu would actually persuade him to resign.

"It doesn't really matter whether I resign or not..."

While the two were talking, Lin Erchun suddenly came in carrying luggage.

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Dad, what are you doing..."

"Aren't you going back to your hometown the day after tomorrow? I'll go with you and take a look!" Lin Erchun replied.

"I won't stay in my hometown even if I go back."

"You keep busy. I just haven't been back for a long time, and I miss you so much. I hope you can go back too."

Lin Erchun seemed to have made up his mind to go back to his hometown and did not give Lin Chaoyang any chance to interrupt.

At this time, Zhang Guiqin came out of the bedroom holding Xiao Dongdong. Looking at Lin Erchun's luggage bag, a look of envy flashed in her eyes.

If she wasn't tied up by the little one in her arms, she would have wished to take this opportunity to go back to her hometown!

As the old saying goes: If you don't return home when you are rich and powerful, it's like walking in fine clothes at night.

Her son, Zhang Guiqin, has made great progress and is now a famous writer throughout the country. This time, he was invited back by the government of his hometown.

Zhang Guiqin couldn't imagine how many New Year greetings Lin Erchun would have to hear if he returned to his hometown.

Just thinking about it, she felt so happy that she almost flew away.

When she came to her senses, she felt disappointed when she thought that she was not involved in such a public moment.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang came to the library and explained the situation to the director Xie Daoyuan, saying that he wanted to take more time off.

He hasn't discussed the resignation with Tao Yushu yet. Tao's father owed him a favor for his job, so he should discuss this matter with Tao's father first.

There's no rush anyway, let's do it when we have time.

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's request, Xie Daoyuan hesitated for a few seconds and then agreed.

Another day passed, and Lin Chaoyang and Lin Erchun boarded the train back to their hometown together.

It was chilly in the north in early March, and the green train was running slowly on the rails. It did not have the lightning-fast momentum of the high-speed trains of later generations, making people drowsy.

It was already noon when the train passed Tangshan. After lunch, Lin Erchun planned to go to the toilet and told Lin Chaoyang, "Watch the bag."

"Got it." Lin Chaoyang replied without raising his head, holding a copy of Jack London's "South of the Fault" in his hand.

Not long after Lin Erchun went out, a loud voice sounded in the distance.

"Catch the thief!"

"Catch the thief!"

Lin Chaoyang and his son were sitting in a hard sleeper car. There was a sudden commotion in the car and everyone stuck their heads out from their berths.

After waiting for a long time, the sound was heard a few times and then there was no sound. No one knew whether the thief was caught or not, so everyone became more vigilant.

Public security is bad these days, and it's even more unsafe to go out, let alone take the train. You'll encounter theft and robbery from time to time.

At this time, Lin Erchun came back from outside and talked about what had just happened.

"It took a long time for the bag to be cut open before the old comrade realized that the thief had already gotten off the bus."

"This bunch of petty thieves and hooligans are becoming more and more rampant!"

As the father and son were talking, they attracted the approval of a young man on the lower bunk opposite them.

"That's right. During the winter vacation, a female student from my family went out to play during the New Year. When she came back at night, she was raped by someone. No one was spared."

Lin Erchun and the young man got on the same wavelength, and the two became more and more excited as they talked, exchanging various public security and criminal cases they had heard of, attracting the attention of people around them.

Lin Chaoyang's eyes were on a magazine that the young man was holding. The cover of the magazine was simple and had the word "Qigong" written on it.

If he remembered correctly, this magazine should have been founded the year before last.

Qigong!
Lin Chaoyang shook his head helplessly. It seemed that it had become more and more popular in the past two years.

In the next few years, it will probably become more and more popular, with people from all walks of life, from high-ranking officials to ordinary people, practicing it.

This thing has attracted the attention of the government since the 1950s. It was originally used to improve health. Later, the effects became more and more exaggerated, and the power became stronger and stronger. By the mid-to-late 1980s, it had completely entered the stage of morbid superstition.

In the past, Lin Chaoyang stayed in Yanjing City and didn't have any feelings.

It was during this trip that I finally felt the restless pulse of this era.

(End of this chapter)