Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 370 Official attitude
"Brother-in-law, do you think Du Feng can make money by running this video parlor?"

After watching a movie in Du Feng's video hall, they chatted for a while after coming out. On the way home, Tao Yumo asked Lin Chaoyang.

"Why do you ask that?"

"He spent so much money on the TV and VCR, the monthly rent is not small, and he also hired three people. Yet, I saw only a few people went in to watch the movie." Tao Yumo said worriedly.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Today is the first day of business. Many people don't even know what a video hall is. Business should be good in the future."

Video halls are a new thing nowadays. If you want to boost business, you must have a process of customers getting in touch with them and becoming familiar with them. This process does not take too long and may not even take a month.

"I've seen some movies that are all spoken in English. Will the audience be able to accept that?" Tao Yumo asked.

Many of the videotapes in Du Feng's video hall are American movies. Because they are distributed in Hong Kong, they are not brought in through formal channels, so both the dubbing and subtitles are in Cantonese. One can only watch the movies by looking at the pictures and guessing.

Other Hong Kong movies look better, because the Hong Kong movies that Du Feng picked out were all released in Taiwan, Malaysia and other places, all dubbed in Mandarin, with subtitles in both simplified and traditional Chinese, which basically does not affect the audience's viewing experience.

"Don't be afraid. As long as the movie is well made, you can understand it just by looking at the pictures. Don't underestimate the enthusiasm of the audience."

The love that ordinary people had for movies in that era is hard to imagine in later generations. Besides, there were Cantonese dubbing and subtitles, so it wasn't a big problem to just guess.

Du Feng has good business sense. According to the current scale of Fenghui Video Hall and its 16-hour operation per day, the full-load revenue may reach 700 yuan, which is 21000 yuan per month.

Of course, this is just an ideal level.

Even if he only reaches one-third of the level, Du Feng will only need three months to get his investment back. The monthly rent, labor and electricity bills are not a problem at all. He can earn thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan every month almost without doing anything.

Tao Yumo listened to Lin Chaoyang's calculations, and her eyes lit up. "Brother-in-law, is it really that profitable?"

"It is certain that you can make money, but how much is still unknown, and this business will not last long at such a lucrative stage."

"What do you mean?"

"If you were a businessman now, and you knew that Du Feng invested 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, and it would pay off in a month or two, and then he would just sit back and reap the profits, would you be tempted?"

"I see, brother-in-law, you mean there will be more and more video halls on the street in a few years."

"In a few years, there should be quite a few new ones opening this year."

"So exaggerated?" Tao Yumo was shocked.

"The video hall business is now a blue ocean market. You can invest money and make money with your eyes closed. As long as you are brave and have the capital, who wouldn't want to do it?" Lin Chaoyang said.

Tao Yumo nodded thoughtfully.

According to my brother-in-law, the video hall business may only make money for one or two years, and then it will have to face fierce market competition.

"It's a good idea to make some quick money for a year or two. I can just quit in the future."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "Your idea is speculative. How many businesses in this world can be done once and for all and make a lot of money? Only by constantly adapting to the market, discovering opportunities, and creating value can we remain invincible.

If all businessmen think like you, they will never be able to make it big. Even if they do make it big, failure is only a matter of time."

Facing Lin Chaoyang's preaching, Tao Yumo accepted it humbly on the surface, turned around and made a face at his back. Tao Yushuo on the side smiled and patted her gently.

Two days later, the National Excellent Short Story Award Ceremony was held in Yanjing, and Lin Chaoyang was invited by the Literary Association to attend the ceremony.

The National Excellent Short Story Award, which has been held for five consecutive years, now has a huge influence in the domestic literary community. Like in previous years, hundreds of guests were invited to attend this year's conference.

As soon as Lin Chaoyang showed up, he immediately became the focus of attention at the conference, and received more attention than those award-winning writers.

"The Roots of Literature" has been published for more than a week and has caused quite a stir in the Chinese literary world. In addition, some writers who attended the Zhuo County meeting have returned to promote it, and public opinion is still fermenting. This influence will become greater and greater as the discussion becomes more and more intense.

Moreover, the cultural and ideological circles have also begun to pay attention to the literary concept proposed by Lin Chaoyang. Everyone can see that the concept of "the root of literature" is also applicable to culture and thought.

Many people have a hunch that this wave of "seeking roots" in the literary world is just an undercurrent at the moment, but it may become a huge wave in the future.

Whenever there is an event in the Yanjing literary world, Li Tuo, a socialite, is indispensable. He pulled Lin Chaoyang aside and said, "Chaoyang, it just so happens that you are here too. Comrade Hang Yu has also written an article these days, which is in the same vein as yours."

Li Hangyu is a writer from Zhejiang. A few days ago, he attended a symposium on rural-themed novel creation held in Zhuo County and witnessed Lin Chaoyang's speech at the meeting. He is also one of the winners of this year's National Excellent Short Story Award, and his winning work is "Shazao Legacy".

After the symposium ended a few days ago, Li Hangyu did not follow the main force to Beijing, but returned to his hometown first. His wife had just given birth to a daughter for him some time ago.

Li Hangyu has been busy these days in his hometown. Inspired by Lin Chaoyang's speech at the symposium, he wrote an article entitled "Sort Out Our Roots", but he has not had time to submit it.

Today I attended the award ceremony and met Li Tuo and talked about the past few days since we last saw each other. When Li Tuo learned that he had written an article, he immediately pulled him in front of Lin Chaoyang.

Li Hangyu and Lin Chaoyang chatted about the details of the article. While they were chatting, several writers who had participated in the symposium came over to Lin Chaoyang.

Later, Chen Jiangong pushed Shi Tiesheng over to say hello to Lin Chaoyang. At the beginning of last year, Shi Tiesheng's "My Distant Qingping Bay" was published in the first issue of "Youth Literature" magazine.

It immediately received a lot of praise from the literary world and won the love of many readers, and also made Shi Tiesheng gain national fame from his original little fame.

As this work became more and more popular, Shi Tiesheng's health and fate also attracted more and more readers' attention. After more than a year, he has become an inspirational idol for a generation of young people. More and more people gathered around Lin Chaoyang, and soon the area was already crowded with people.

In the huge conference hall, among hundreds of guests, their gathering seemed very abrupt.

Not far away, Chen Huangmei sat with Zhang Guangnian and teased him, "Old Zhang, why do I feel that Lin Chaoyang is more like the leader of the Cultural Association than you? He's a bit like the chairman of the Folk Cultural Association!"

"Comrade Chaoyang is young and popular, unlike us old-timers who are annoying!"

Zhang Guangnian's words were self-deprecating, and he also cursed Chen Huangmei at the same time.

"You are such a mean person." Chen Huangmei laughed and criticized Zhang Guangnian, but he didn't take his words to heart. He added, "I heard that he wrote the article "The Root of Literature" when he was in Zhuo County. He even held a private meeting and stole your limelight?"

"These are all rumors. There is no such thing as stealing the limelight. It is a good thing that there were popular speeches at the meeting."

Chen Huangmei's eyes were meaningful. "No wonder his article was published in the Literary Gazette. You really protect him."

Zhang Guangnian glanced at Chen Huangmei and said, "Of course we should take good care of young writers!"

There was some unfinished meaning in what both of them said, but no one pointed it out.

In the days since the publication of "The Roots of Literature", it has received quite a response. It has been welcomed by many people, but also criticized by many people.

What is welcomed is the article's identification with national culture, while those who criticize it are naturally those who admire Western modernism. They believe that the concepts and ideas advocated by Lin Chaoyang are conservative and that he serves as the gravekeeper of a declining culture.

But in addition to the above two types of people and their ideas, there is another idea or force that has not yet taken effect.

That is the official position.

If Lin Chaoyang's article had appeared thirty or forty years later, it might have perfectly matched the social opinion and the government's ideological orientation at that time.

But now it is 1984, and the concept of "root-seeking literature" proposed by Lin Chaoyang has a clear retro tendency, which would easily be considered as a deviation from the mainstream ideology today.

To delve deeply into the connotation of national culture is, to some extent, a deviation from the creative direction of socialist realism and is regarded as heresy.

Since the publication of "The Roots of Literature", there has been an enthusiastic response from literary figures, literature lovers and ordinary readers, but there has been silence at the official level.

One reason for this is that Zhang Guangnian, the official leader of the Writers Association, supported and protected Lin Chaoyang, which suppressed the thoughts of many people.

On the other hand, the official level has always been slow to respond to the rise of this trend of thought.

But being slow does not mean not speaking out or taking action. Zhang Guangnian and Chen Huangmei are both leading figures in the literary world and have a good understanding of the actions of the official mouthpieces.

From their words, they both expressed some concern about the public pressure that "Roots of Literature" and Lin Chaoyang will face in the future.

"It's not the same as before now. Nothing will happen." Zhang Guangnian said softly.

The process of the award ceremony is fixed, including speeches, award presentations, and group photos. After all the operations, the ceremony is over in less than two hours.

According to the rules of previous years, the Literary Association organized a dinner and symposium after the award ceremony. This year's dinner was held at the Yanjing Hotel and served Western food.

Lin Chaoyang was invited to attend a symposium in the afternoon. He had planned to leave after the meeting, but he was unexpectedly dragged to the Yanjing Hotel.

Yanjing Hotel has a history of more than 80 years. The Western restaurant where Lin Chaoyang and others dined has also received many important figures from the political and business circles at home and abroad. It is full of a sense of history. Once you enter it, you can feel the changes of the times and the strong cultural atmosphere.

The restaurant is dominated by red and yellow, which make people feel warm and comfortable. There are some traditional murals and sculptures hanging on the walls.

For most of the writers who won awards today, Yanjing Hotel was the first time they had ever entered such a high-end hotel in their lives, and also the first time they had eaten authentic Western food, so they all behaved a little reserved and unnatural.

Lin Chaoyang was sitting next to Deng Youmei on one side and Shi Tiesheng on the other, with Lu Wenfu sitting between them.

Deng Youmei is a judge of this session's jury and also a foodie who loves food. He was chewing steak with great joy on his face.

Before liberation, there was not even Chinese food in the Yanjing Hotel, only Western restaurants, so the quality of Western food was guaranteed.

"Alas! It's a rare opportunity to have Western food, but it's a pity that I didn't get some wine to go with it."

Deng Youmei's complaints were relatively quiet. After all, it was the Writers Association that was treating them today. If he was picky, he would easily be criticized. Besides, several heavyweight veteran comrades such as Zhou Yang and Chen Huangmei were present.

Lin Chaoyang teased: "How about I order you a bottle!"

"You dare to order, but I don't dare to drink. No one else has any wine to drink, but I am the only one drinking. Do you want to make me the target of public criticism?"

"Look at what you said, it's not that exaggerated."

The seats where the two of them sat were some distance away from the leaders, and they were surrounded by acquaintances, so they told jokes casually without worrying about disturbing others.

While the two were talking, Zhang Guangnian, who was sitting in the distance, was talking to Zhou Yang, who was sitting next to him, and Zhou Yang was saying something in Zhang Guangnian's ear.

Zhang Guangnian looked calm, but his brows couldn't help but twitch slightly. While listening to Zhou Yang's words, he cast his eyes on Lin Chaoyang.

(End of this chapter)