Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 333 If You Want to Be a Professor
Lin Chaoyang visited Hong Kong and brought back so many things for his family, which added up to several thousand dollars, which would be several years' income for an ordinary family.

Everyone was very happy to receive the gifts.

But Tao's mother's words made everyone's happiness stall. How could they feel good about their son (son-in-law/brother-in-law) who bought such expensive gifts for everyone but didn't buy anything for himself?

Before Lin Chaoyang could answer, the brother-in-law had already imagined the scene where his brother-in-law had to eat steamed buns in Hong Kong in order to save money to buy gifts for everyone.

"Chaoyang..." Tao Yucheng patted Lin Chaoyang's shoulder, his face full of emotion.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Mom, these things are not attractive to me."

Lin Chaoyang was speaking from the heart. Having experienced the Big Bang, he had seen all kinds of sophisticated industrial products in later generations, so he was really not interested in these things.

But the more he said this, the more uncomfortable his family members felt.

My son (son-in-law/brother-in-law/brother-in-law) has contributed so much to this family!

As everyone thought this, the gifts in their hands suddenly no longer tasted good.

Only the two brothers Tao Xiwen and Tao Xiwu were still tinkering with their toys heartlessly, and then they were grabbed by their eldest brother-in-law and brought in front of Lin Chaoyang.

"Say thank you to uncle!"

The two brothers immediately said thank you obediently.

Lin Chaoyang looked at his family members and felt a little amused. He said helplessly, "I didn't buy any gifts for myself, but I received many gifts from others."

He looked at Tao Yushu, and she immediately said, "Yes, he visited so many places in Hong Kong, and people received him and gave him many gifts."

After listening to Tao Yushu's words, the family members' expressions relaxed. They felt at ease accepting the gifts.

"Not only did she receive a lot of gifts..." Before Tao Yushu finished her words, everyone's eyes were on her again.

Lin Chaoyang looked at his wife and shouted in his heart: Here it comes! Here it comes!

"This time when I go to Hong Kong, there is a publishing house that wants to publish his novel, and the contract has already been signed!"

As soon as Tao Yushu said this, everyone became happy.

Tao Yumo asked, "I remember my brother-in-law published a book in Hong Kong before, right?"

“This time, it’s the same book, The Death of Vincent van Gogh, but it’s published by a different publisher.

Last time, it was a university publishing house, and the circulation was relatively small. This time, the publishing house is Ming Pao Publishing House, whose boss is Jin Yong, and the circulation is larger than last time. "Tao Yushu explained.

"Then my brother-in-law will become famous in Hong Kong?" Tao Yumo asked again.

The two sisters sang in unison, just like the funny man and the supporting man in a crosstalk, and the audience nearby listened with great interest and asked questions about all sorts of things.

"Chaoyang, what is royalty?"

"Royalties are when writers receive a certain percentage of the book's list price as their royalties."

"So how much money can you make from publishing this time?"

"It's hard to say. It depends on the sales volume."

……

After happily distributing the gifts, the family sat down to have a meal. Lin Chaoyang inevitably told his family some of his experiences in Hong Kong as a side dish.

When he talked about the welcome banquet he had just attended, he suddenly said to Tao's father, "Dad, do you know Han Suyin?"

When Mr. Tao heard the name, he didn't seem to think about it, and a hint of nostalgia flashed in his eyes.

"She was two years older than me and studied medicine. She was a famous beauty in Yanda University at that time..."

"I heard he's a mixed-race."

Tao's father was immersed in the nostalgia of the past and old friends, when Tao's mother suddenly interjected with a sarcastic remark that made him calm down immediately.

Seeing his wife's calm face, Father Tao couldn't help but feel guilty.

Lin Chaoyang realized that he seemed to have set a trap for his father-in-law.

"It's all in the past. There aren't many of our classmates still alive today."

I have to say that Mr. Tao's change of topic was a bit abrupt.

Everyone seemed to have noticed something was wrong, and the atmosphere at the table suddenly became subtle. Lin Chaoyang secretly observed the expression on Mother Tao's face and said with a smile, "That night there were two people from Yan University..."

After dinner, when the family had all left, Tao Yushu complained, "Why don't you just eat? Why are you talking nonsense?"

"Can you blame me for this? I didn't know that Dad had such a past when he was young!"

Tao Yushu's beautiful eyes were full of anger, "Stop talking nonsense, or I'll tell dad about it."

Lin Chaoyang didn't expect that even after returning home, there would be a small incident during his visit to Hong Kong. He didn't know how his father-in-law would be treated after he returned tonight.

As he thought about it, he couldn't help laughing out loud.

The next day he went to the library to find Xie Daoyuan to cancel his leave.

"What? Bribery?" Xie Daoyuan couldn't help asking as he looked at the beautifully packaged bag that Lin Chaoyang placed on the table.

Lin Chaoyang looked relaxed, "Did anyone use chocolate to bribe officials?"

"I have bad teeth."

"There's nothing good to buy. Just treat it as something new for your kids to try."

Xie Daoyuan accepted the gift with a smile, "How did you gain from your trip to Hong Kong?"

"It's nothing more than participating in some activities and meeting some people. Their economic development and material level are much richer than ours. If we want to catch up with them, I'm afraid we still have a long way to go."

"How come you, a writer, go on a visit like an official going on an inspection?" Xie Daoyuan joked.

After chatting for a while and calling it a day, Lin Chaoyang came out of the office and went to the library to distribute some candies to his colleagues, which made everyone smile. Du Rong told him that Hong Zicheng had come to the library to look for him a few days ago.

After lunch, Lin Chaoyang ran to the Chinese Department office to find Hong Zicheng, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Hey, you're back from Hong Kong? How do you feel?"

I am asked by everyone I meet about my experience of visiting Hong Kong, which is one of the aftereffects of this visit.

After Lin Chaoyang said a few perfunctory words, Hong Zicheng got down to business.

"Nothing. The novel "The Ferryman" has been extremely popular recently, and our Chinese department students also love it very much.

I want to see if you have time to come to a communication class. "

"Exchange what?"

"What else could it be? Creative ideas and experiences."

“Is there any tuition fee?”

"It's awkward to talk about tuition fees. You took so many classes in our Chinese department in the past few years. Now it's time for you to pay back your debt."

After joking a bit, Lin Chaoyang said, "Okay, then what time is the class?"

"How about this Saturday morning?"

"can."

On Saturday morning, Lin Chaoyang came to the Chinese Department as scheduled to teach students.

The Chinese Department specially arranged a tiered classroom for today's class, which can accommodate two to three hundred students at the same time.

But when Lin Chaoyang walked in, he saw a classroom that was packed with people. Even the aisles and the area under the podium were crowded with people. It looked like there were at least four or five hundred students.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang coming in, the noisy classroom immediately quieted down, and the students all saluted him in unison. For some reason, Lin Chaoyang was reminded of the scene when he attended classes in the Chinese Department a few years ago.

The old gentlemen walked into the classroom calmly, and the originally noisy students immediately quieted down, their eyes full of admiration.

So much time has passed unknowingly, and unknowingly he has become the person standing on the podium.

"When Brother Zicheng invited me, he said that The Boat Crossing has been very popular recently, and he wanted me to talk about my creative ideas and experiences..."

Lin Chaoyang walked up to the podium and started speaking without any polite words.

Among the students who came today, half of them were students from various grades in the Chinese Department, and the rest were students from other departments. They all came here because they heard that Lin Chaoyang would be giving a class in the Chinese Department today.

All the students knew that Lin Chaoyang was an employee of Yanda University, but for the students after the 80s, their impression of Lin Chaoyang was distant and vague.

Because when they came to Yanda, Lin Chaoyang had little communication with students, so everyone's impression of him was that of a well-known writer rather than a school employee or a friend that they could get close to.

In February, "The Boat Crossing" was published in the first issue of "Huacheng" magazine in the new year. In more than two months since then, it has successfully achieved sales of 2 million copies.

This not only set the highest sales record since the founding of Huacheng Magazine, but also sent a bombshell to the Chinese literary world in 1983!

Sales of 208 million copies per issue are not something that pure literature magazines, nor even comprehensive magazines and popular literature magazines that are known for their entertainment value, can achieve.

This sales volume will probably become a chasm for many well-known literary magazines for a long time to come, making it difficult for them to cross it.

Of course, this is based on the premise that Lin Chaoyang has no new works released.

Behind the huge sales volume are millions of readers, and college students, who are generally literary youths, are one of the main forces among them.

"The Ferryman" itself has a strong magical realism color, which is very popular nowadays. College students are proud to read such works.

Moreover, this novel adopts a double-layer structure and narrative perspective. The plot is confusing and full of various images. The ending is full of twists and turns again and again, and the blank space at the end is meaningful and thought-provoking.

It almost meets all the reading expectations of these college students and naturally wins their preference.

When Lin Chaoyang was lecturing, the audience was completely silent. Everyone was listening attentively to his thoughts and taking them as the guiding principle.

“I think that domestic realist creation seems to have fallen into a vicious circle in recent years.

Many people mistake realism for reality. Their creations are completely based on reality and are almost equivalent to reportage.

It can even be said that they wrote novels as reportage, while ignoring the most important factors in novel writing.

Everyone should understand that for a novel, structure is far more important than other creative techniques.

Or we can say that the novel is the art of structure.

Let me take "The Boat Crossing" as an example. The biggest turning point of this novel occurred when Du Sanjiang told the writer the second story.

This passage is not long in the novel, with less than a thousand words excluding the beginning and the end, and most of it is Du Sanjiang's own narration.

But it is this 1,000-word self-narration that completes the refinement of the second-level structure of the novel, and also points out the overall intention of the novel and most of the images that appeared in the previous text..."

During the lecture, Lin Chaoyang kept using his own work "The Boat Crossing" as an example. At first glance, it might sound a bit self-boasting, but no one present thought there was anything wrong with it.

The excellence of "The Crossing" is recognized by the world, and they would rather have the sharing of Lin Chaoyang than ever before.

The one and a half hour lecture was over, and the students were still not satisfied. As soon as Lin Chaoyang stopped, someone immediately reached out to ask a question.

Even after class, there were still many people surrounding Lin Chaoyang.

The students were so welcoming and fond of Lin Chaoyang that even Hong Zicheng, a senior lecturer in the Chinese Department, couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

Afterwards, he joked with Lin Chaoyang, "It's a pity that you don't come to our Chinese department to be a lecturer!"

"What's the point of being a lecturer? If you want to be someone, just be a professor!"

Hong Zicheng was over 40 when he became a lecturer. If Lin Chaoyang became a professor, wouldn't he be living a useless life at his age?

Hong Zicheng felt the deep malice from the young people!
(End of this chapter)