Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 336 The Youngest Editorial Board Member

Lin Chaoyang really wanted to say to Tao Yushu, Zhang Dening and his gang are probably waiting for you to leave!
But for the sake of family harmony and his own safety, he changed his words when the words came to his lips.

"Going to People's Literature is not out of town. It's all in Yenching. Our home is right in front of Yenching Literature. If I miss my old colleagues, I can come back and see them anytime."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Tao Yushu nodded slightly, seeming to be interested.

Lin Chaoyang then said, "But you have to think carefully about going to People's Literature. The waters there are deeper than those at Yenching Literature."

"What do you mean?" Tao Yushu looked at him.

"Old Li, have you forgotten?"

The "Old Li" mentioned by Lin Chaoyang is Li Qingquan, the former head of Yenching Literature.

Li Qingquan was the editor-in-chief of People's Literature in the 1950s. After a few years of ordinary life, he was transferred back to Yenching to serve as the editor-in-chief of Yenching Literature.

In just two years under his leadership, the magazine was transformed and produced a large number of works with wide influence.

Because of his work achievements, Li Qingquan was transferred back to People's Literature in July of the previous year as the second-ranked deputy editor-in-chief.

After more than 20 years, Li Qingquan returned to the place where he had fought, and he was determined to make a comeback.

But the reality is that after he returned to People's Literature, he became silent and no longer as vigorous as he was at Yenching Literature.

At the same time, through Li Qingquan's experience, we can also see how big the leap Wang Meng has taken is.

One was the editor-in-chief of Yenching Literature, and was transferred to People's Literature as the second-ranked deputy editor-in-chief;
One was the nominal deputy editor-in-chief of "Yenching Literature" and was transferred to "People's Literature" as editor-in-chief.

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Tao Yushu didn't have any worries. "How can I care so much about their leaders' affairs? I just want to do my job and publish good works!"

"People's Literature" is a golden signboard in the literary world and a literary palace that all writers aspire to. If you can work there, the quality of the works you can access will undoubtedly be the best in the country.

Lin Chaoyang could understand Tao Yushu's idea. Seeing that she had her own idea, he said, "Then I support you. Let's go to People's Literature."

"But I can't bear to leave you all." Tao Yushu looked reluctant.

Well, what I just said was all in vain, woman!
After much talk, Tao Yushu finally decided to follow Wang Meng to People's Literature.

No matter how deep the friendship between colleagues is, it cannot stop Ms. Tao's ambition to succeed.

What's more, she also understood that the situation was different between when she went to People's Literature now and when she was assigned there after graduating from university.

If she was assigned there after graduation, she would have to sit on the bench for several years or even more than ten years to gain experience. But now she is following Wang Meng, the parachuted leader, and she can almost foresee that she will be valued by Wang Meng, the editor-in-chief.

Such career development is an irresistible temptation for Tao Yushu.

A few days later, as Tao Yushu had said, Wang Meng took up the position of editor-in-chief of People's Literature, and a few days later Tao Yushu received a notice of job transfer.

On her last day at Yenching Literature, Tao Yushu handed over all the manuscripts to her colleagues. As the workday approached, she tidied up her office and said goodbye to her colleagues one by one.

"Old Zhou!"

"Dening!"

"Wang Jie!"

Her colleagues were reluctant to let her go and they escorted her out of the Cultural Bureau compound during the rush of getting off work.

Lin Chaoyang came to pick up Tao Yushu, mainly to help her carry things. He stood aside and watched Tao Yushu and her colleagues bid farewell to each other.

"Go and work hard there, and don't bring shame to our Yenching Literature journal!"

"Don't be afraid if anything happens. Our Yenching Literature will always be your home."

……

Several female colleagues held Tao Yushu's hands and said all kinds of sweet words, which made her eyes wet. She hugged everyone and said goodbye.

When she came to Lin Chaoyang, she took a deep breath and said to him, "Let's go!"

Lin Chaoyang followed her footsteps and couldn't help but turn his head to take a look at the few salted fish in "Yenching Literature".

The smiles on their faces that showed they had survived a disaster turned into sorrow the moment Lin Chaoyang turned around, and they waved silently at Tao Yushu's back.

Just act it out! Just act it out!

Early the next morning after bidding farewell to Yenching Literature, Tao Yushuo mounted his own chariot, as heroic as he had been back then.

She drove east along Chang'an Avenue with the roar of her motorcycle, and soon arrived at No. 52, Dongsi th Street.

Today, the publication of "People's Literature" has been returned to the Writers Publishing House by the Humanities and Social Network. Because the office conditions of the Writers Association are now tight, the "People's Literature" magazine can only stay here.

The building belonged to the Drama Association, and the editorial department occupied two large rooms and three small offices in the building. The fiction group and the administrative group were in the large room, the poetry, prose and commentary groups were in two of the small rooms, and the other small room was for the executive deputy editor-in-chief.

As for the editor-in-chief, most of the editors-in-chief of "People's Literature" are part-time, and most of their offices are located in the Literary Association.

Since she just started working, Wang Meng has been working in the editorial department recently.

As soon as Tao Yushu arrived, he took her to introduce her to many editors in the editorial department. Facing Tao Yushu's arrival, the editors of People's Literature were very enthusiastic, but behind this enthusiasm, there were also some subtleties.

June and July of 83 were turbulent months for People's Literature.

Editor-in-chief Zhang Guangnian resigned and was replaced by Wang Meng. Of the three deputy editors-in-chief Ge Luo, Li Qingquan, and Liu Jianqing, two left, leaving only Liu Jianqing, which was a big move.

This is not the end. As soon as Wang Meng arrived at the editorial department, he transferred Tao Yushu from Yenching Literature and Zhu Wei from China Youth on the grounds that the magazine lacked young cadres and capable personnel, thus adding fresh blood to the editorial department.

Everyone in the editorial department understood that these two people were Wang Meng’s confidants.

Of course, in addition to finding a capable assistant for herself, Wang Meng also understands the importance of uniting old comrades.

He advocated personnel reforms in the editorial department and reorganization of the original editorial board, calling on the older generation of writers to withdraw from the editorial board and have a group of young and middle-aged writers in their prime join.

Then the deputy editor-in-chief will be selected from among them. In this way, the deputy editor-in-chief must be selected from the old staff of the editorial department. The old staff will not be afraid of the newcomers stealing the credit, and the prestige of Wang Meng, the new editor-in-chief, will surely increase greatly.

In just a few days, the situation was sorted out through various maneuvers.

Tao Yushu heard all the above information from Zhu Wei. Zhu Wei arrived two days earlier than Tao Yushu. He and Lin Chaoyang are friends, so the relationship between them is naturally closer than with other people.

What's more, they were both transferred here by Wang Meng, so there is naturally an extra layer of trust.

After learning about the current internal situation of the editorial department, Tao Yushu did not say much. She came to People's Literature to work.

Lin Chaoyang's "Wreaths under the Mountains" was published in "People's Literature", and Cui Daoyi was the editor-in-charge. He was another acquaintance of Tao Yushu in the editorial department.

With the editor-in-chief's support and familiar colleagues around him, Tao Yushu quickly adapted to the environment as soon as he arrived at the editorial department.

When she got off work in the evening, she just walked to the door of the building and heard Wang Meng calling her.

"Editor-in-Chief, what instructions do you have?"

Wang Meng smiled and waved her hands, "What editor-in-chief? Just call me Lao Wang."

He then asked, "What is your Chaoyang busy with recently?"

"What else can he do? Besides working, he can write novels."

"No wonder he has such a high output. His creative attitude is really very upright."

Wang Meng chatted for a while and then asked to visit Tao Yushu at home, which Tao Yushu naturally could not refuse.

Tao Yushu rode a motorcycle, followed by Wang Meng who rode a bicycle, and the two of them came to Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

This was Wang Meng’s first visit after Lin Chaoyang and his wife moved. As soon as he entered the yard, he couldn’t help but exclaim: “Your yard is really big, even bigger than Mr. Ye’s yard.”

Diagonally opposite Building 52, Dongsi th Street, where the People's Literature magazine is located, is the courtyard of Mr. Ye Shengtao. It covers a large area, but it is still inferior to the courtyard of calligrapher Tao Yu.

"At the time, I thought it would be convenient for me to go to work since I was pregnant, but I didn't expect to change jobs after only living here for a year."

Wang Meng laughed and said, "It seems like this is my fault!"

They walked into the house chatting and laughing. Tao Yushu poured Wang Meng a cup of tea and chatted with him. Almost twenty minutes later, Lin Chaoyang came back.

"Old Wang? You are a rare guest!"

Lin Chaoyang saw that Wang Meng was very happy, and then he said: "You will be our Yu Shu's direct leader from now on, I have to treat you to a good meal today!"

Wang Meng joked: "You weren't my direct superior before? You invited me to dinner too late!"

"Good food is never too late. Isn't this also the same as celebrating your promotion?"

The two of them were joking with each other. Tao Yushu got up to cook. After she left, Wang Meng started talking about business.

“As you know, I recently took up my post at People’s Literature. In order to carry out my work, I put forward several proposals, one of which was to reform the editorial board.

The original editorial board was not bad, but they were all respected seniors, and many of them had basically retired. This time, I wanted to add some fresh blood to the editorial board.

How about it? Are you interested in becoming an editorial board member? "

Back then, Zhang Guangnian also proposed that Lin Chaoyang join the editorial board of "People's Literature", but that was all to coax him into joining the China Writers Association.

Lin Chaoyang didn't expect that this boomerang would fly back again after a few years.

There are no substantial benefits to being an editorial board member of People's Literature, but just like being a member of the Mao Dun Literature Prize jury, it represents a kind of qualifications.

Just look at who was on the original editorial board and you will understand the value of joining.

Sha Ting, Zhang Tianyi, Yan Wenjing, Wei Wei, Xie Bingxin, Sun Li, He Jingzhi... It can be said that they are almost all the most outstanding masters in China's modern and contemporary literary world.

Lin Chaoyang really wanted Zhang Guangnian to take a good look at this and see that Old Wang was a leader who could get things done.

"Okay. This is a good thing. There is no reason for me to refuse." Lin Chaoyang said happily.

"Thank you Chaoyang for your support." Wang Meng listened to his words, happily shook his hand, and laughed and said: "Come to think of it, you are the youngest editorial board member since the establishment of People's Literature!"

(End of this chapter)