Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 328 Celebrities Gathered
The mainland writers' delegation will depart on April 4 and will gather at the Xinqiao Hotel on April 27.

The day before departure, Tao Yucheng suddenly ran to find Lin Chaoyang, secretly handed him three big unity tickets, and asked Lin Chaoyang to help him bring back a set of Jin Yong's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".

Since the 1970s, Hong Kong's martial arts novels have gradually been introduced into the mainland.

At the beginning, handwritten copies were popular, and some were smuggled in. By the end of the 1970s, small local publishing houses began to try to publish Hong Kong martial arts novels.

Of course, this kind of publication is official piracy.

These official pirated martial arts novels are usually not printed in large quantities, but are priced extremely high. When the price of a single copy of pure literary works is 80 cents per piece, their price is three or four yuan, which is considered a means for local publishing houses to generate revenue.

These official pirated martial arts novels cultivated the earliest martial arts novel fans in the country, and Tao Yucheng was one of them.

Lin Chaoyang held the money, feeling a little embarrassed.

The elder brother-in-law finally managed to retort that Lin Chaoyang would not feel bad even if he brought back a whole set of Jin Yong's novels. But the problem was that there were regulations on entry into the country and it was not easy to bring back publications.

Of course, difficult to bring doesn’t mean that you can’t bring it, but he has never been there, and he doesn’t know whether the inspection in this regard will be strict after he returns, and he is afraid that he will not be able to bring it back after buying it.

Lin Chaoyang explained the situation to Tao Yucheng. He was a little disappointed. "Is there still such a thing? Forget it."

Lin Chaoyang said: "It's not certain that I can't bring it back. I'll try later."

"No, if I can't bring it back, then the money will be wasted, right?"

Tao Yucheng was afraid of wasting money and causing trouble for Lin Chaoyang, so he gave up the idea after thinking it over and carefully hid the thirty yuan in the sole of his shoe.

When he stood up, he saw Lin Chaoyang looking at him in surprise, and he smiled embarrassedly.

"Xiwen and Xiwu have grown up, and there are too many things to spend money on at home. It's not as easy for me to ask your sister-in-law for money now as it was before. This money was saved with great difficulty."

Lin Chaoyang nodded to show his understanding. After all, he had done this before.

As a man, who doesn’t have a little secret stash of money?
But when he recalled how cool and elegant his elder brother-in-law was when he first married Tao Yushu, he couldn't help but sigh when he looked at his elder brother-in-law now.

When you reach middle age, you have no control over your own behavior!

After Tao Yucheng left, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang, "What are you doing here, brother?"

"Ask me when "The Chess Master" will be filmed. I want to recommend a student from their school."

Lin Chaoyang lied casually. His elder brother-in-law's family status was not as good as before, and it was not easy for him to save some pocket money. He was afraid that if he told the truth, Tao Yushuo would accidentally reveal it to his elder sister-in-law Zhao Li.

Listening to his words, Tao Yushu did not become suspicious and continued to concentrate on packing his luggage.

"Okay, take fewer clothes. We're only going to be gone for a week, not months."

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang carried his luggage to the Xinqiao Hotel to gather.

The writers' delegation visiting Hong Kong this time consists of 15 people, led by veteran writer Xiao Jun, accompanied by a staff member of the Writers Association and two WS staff members.

Lin Chaoyang is a native of Yenching University, so he arrived relatively late. Many writers from other places arrived a day or two earlier.

There were not many familiar people in the delegation. The most familiar one was Deng Youmei. Because of Wang Zengqi and Lin Jinlan, the two chatted very cordially when they met.

Then came Cong Weixi, Li Guowen and others who had met me once at the award ceremonies for the National Excellent Short Story Award, Mao Dun Literature Award and other awards.

"Hello, Comrade Chaoyang, do you still remember me?" Jin Ying has a cheerful personality. When they met, she shook hands with Lin Chaoyang first and asked with a bright smile.

"I have an impression, I have an impression, Jin Ying, right?"

In 80, when Lin Chaoyang went to the Central Literary Institute to give lectures to the fifth batch of students, she was one of the students.

Jin Ying smiled and nodded. "I went to your house for dinner last month and regretted not seeing you. I didn't expect to meet you so soon."

In March just past, Jin Ying won the National Excellent Short Story Award for her work "Oh, Xiangxue". Naturally, she also participated in the cultural salon after the award ceremony.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Lin Chaoyang greeted the others. He knew almost none of the remaining people, but after a few casual chats, he could always talk about acquaintances. After all, the literary world is so small.

By the afternoon, all the delegation members had arrived.

Two WS staff members gathered everyone together, announced the WS discipline for going out, and then briefly introduced the general arrangements for the trip.

During the period, the foreign exchange subsidy for traveling out was mentioned. The standard was HK$10 per person per day. The trip was a total of 8 days, which was HK$80.

Considering the current income level in the mainland, this subsidy standard is not low, but everyone is going to Hong Kong, and if you want to use this money to buy things back, you really can't buy much.

The next morning, everyone followed the group to the Capital Airport and boarded a plane to Hong Kong.

After several hours of flight, the plane arrived at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. Everyone got off the plane with the team. After exiting the passage, they found that a group of Hong Kong media had been waiting there for a long time. When they saw the delegation, they enthusiastically came forward and surrounded everyone.

When the young people in the group saw this situation, they were a little confused at first, until the old comrades next to them whispered a few words to them, and then everyone understood.

It turned out that these reporters were all from Hong Kong’s state media, including Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong Commercial Daily and many other well-known newspapers.

The mainland writers' delegation visited Hong Kong at the invitation of two patriotic entrepreneurs, Mr. Huo from Hong Kong and Mr. Ma from Macau. Therefore, the reporters' siege of the delegation was not only due to their own positions, but also for the sake of the face of these two entrepreneurs.

Among the 15 writers in the delegation, Xiao Jun is the one who is truly famous in Hong Kong.

The old comrade became famous in the 1930s, and his love story with female writer Xiao Hong was also widely circulated.

Xiao Hong was quite famous in Hong Kong. She died of illness shortly after she left Hong Kong.

So the Hong Kong media are naturally also very interested in Xiao Jun.

Therefore, the first person the reporters interviewed was Xiao Jun, and then they were very professional and took the list they had received in advance and interviewed people one by one.

Lin Chaoyang hid in the crowd and was caught by a reporter from Ta Kung Pao and asked a few questions.

"Sir, may I ask who you are?"

"Xu Lingjun." Lin Chaoyang reported his pen name. The reporter's eyes lit up when he heard it. "Is it Xu Lingjun who wrote "The Death of Van Gogh"? "

Lin Chaoyang nodded somewhat unexpectedly and asked with a smile: "Have you read my book?"

The reporter smiled back at Lin Chaoyang, "Your novels are quite popular in the cultural world, but the number of copies available for public sale is too small, so it's not easy to get a copy."

Hong Kong Chinese University Press is a non-profit publishing house. Since most of the works they publish are academic in nature, they have never put much thought into book distribution.

After the introduction of "The Death of Van Gogh", only 10,000 copies were printed, with the main theme being that good wine needs no bush.

After Lin Chaoyang chatted with the reporter from Ta Kung Pao for a few minutes, he learned that The Death of Van Gogh had received good reviews after its release in Hong Kong, and many people in the cultural circle had praised the novel.

However, due to its small circulation, this influence is limited to the cultural circle.

The reporters' interview lasted more than ten minutes, and then everyone boarded the bus to check in at the hotel.

The hotel provides double rooms, and Lin Chaoyang was assigned to live in the same room with Li Guowen.

When we first arrived at the hotel, because of the WS discipline, no one was allowed to go out. The young people in the delegation were very excited and visited each room one by one.

In the evening, the delegation members were taken to the country club in Clearwater Bay by bus.

Tonight, Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao and the New Evening News are hosting a reception for a delegation of mainland writers.

Although the country club is named "Country", it is actually a resort. The club covers an area of ​​more than 130 hectares. In Hong Kong, where every inch of land is valuable, such a large area is enough to illustrate the value of this resort.

It not only has many activity and entertainment facilities such as golf courses, tennis courts, gyms, squash courts, basketball courts, but also hotels and restaurants. It has always been an important place for entertainment and socializing for Hong Kong celebrities.

When we arrived at the country club, we felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, and everything we saw was new and interesting.

The dinner was of a very high standard and the guests were all well-known figures from Hong Kong's cultural, journalistic and business circles. The representative of the business community was Mr. Huo, who was also the facilitator of this mainland writers' delegation's visit to Hong Kong.

The representatives of the press naturally include the leaders of Ta Kung Pao and the New Evening News, and Comrade Zhang, the director-general of the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency.

Another person who surprised Lin Chaoyang was Jin Yong, who attended the event on behalf of Ming Pao.

Others include cultural figures such as Xu Simin, Hu Juren, Zhao Lingyang, An Zijie, and Han Suyin.

Today's occasion can be said to be attended by many bigwigs. Their attendance has already demonstrated their positions, and many of them have connections with members of the delegation.

For example, Li Zongying, deputy editor-in-chief of Ta Kung Pao, had an old acquaintance with Ye Junjian, one of the members of the delegation. Ye Junjian was a classmate of Han Suyin, a female writer renowned overseas, at Yenching University.

"In 1933, we were both studying at Yenching University, and at that time we discussed becoming doctors. Who would have thought that we would not become doctors in the end, but would both embark on the path of writing."

Han Suyin's father was the first generation of Chinese Boxer Indemnity students, and her mother was Belgian, so she is a mixed-race with three-dimensional and delicate facial features.

Although she is over 60 years old now, one can still clearly see her beauty when she was young.

She recounted the past with a nostalgic look on her face, and her words were full of sighs.

She reminisced about the past with Ye Junjian for a while, and couldn't help asking about the current situation of Yenching University. Ye Junjian smiled and said, "I have been away from Yenching University for many years, how would I know!"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Lin Chaoyang, "You should ask the young people. Comrade Chaoyang happens to work at Yanda University."

Han Suyin looked at Lin Chaoyang curiously. There were nearly thirty guests present today. Apart from the opening introductions, most of the time no one could even recognize the names.

The two nodded to each other and exchanged a few pleasantries. Han Suyin asked, "What does Mr. Lin teach at Yan University?"

"I am not qualified to teach at Yanda University. I am a librarian at Yanda University." Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

After hearing Lin Chaoyang's self-introduction, Han Suyin asked about the current situation of the library. After he briefly introduced it, Han Suyin sighed, "The conditions are much better than when we were there."

She asked again: "I remember there was a library administrator named Jin Kequn at that time, who studied very hard on his own!"

Lin Chaoyang responded: "Uncle Jin is now a professor of Oriental Languages ​​and is very knowledgeable."

Han Suyin nodded, "He was very smart back then."

With a familiar face in common, Lin Chaoyang was able to arouse Han Suyin's interest in sex, and she asked him several more questions.

Ye Junjian at the side reminded her: "Chaoyang still has some connection with us."

"What origin?"

"His father-in-law is Tao Jingfa."

"Tao Jingfa?"

Han Suyin recalled for a moment, frowned, and recalled with difficulty, "Tao Jingfa seems to be in the history department?"

"Yeah, they're a few years younger than us."

Han Suyin laughed, "So he's my old classmate's son-in-law. I didn't expect to meet him here."

She asked Lin Chaoyang again, "I see you are not that old..."

After graduating from Yenching University in the 1941s, Han Suyin went to study in Belgium and gradually developed an interest in literature. After the July Incident, she returned to China and married Tang Baohuang, a KMT officer. She began to publish novels in .

Later, Tang Baohuang went to Britain to serve as a diplomat, and she followed her husband to Britain. When the civil war broke out in 45, Tang Baohuang returned to China to join the war, but she stayed in Britain to pursue a doctorate in medicine.

After Tang Baohuang died in battle in 48, she returned to Hong Kong to practice medicine, where she met journalist Elio Marks. She wrote about their relationship experience in her work "Treasure", which caused quite a stir after its publication in the United States. The success of this novel also established Han Suyin's position in the European and American literary circles.

Later, the novel was adapted into the Hollywood movie "Love in the Buff", which won three awards at the 1956 Academy Awards.

She had two more marriages after that. Her current husband is Lu Wenxing, an Indian, who did a lot of work to repair China-India relations in recent years.

She now lives in India all year round and is strictly speaking an international friend, so she has never heard of Lin Chaoyang's name or known about his deeds.

(End of this chapter)