Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 372 Flowing Water Reading
The conversation between Zhou Yang and Lin Chaoyang at the National Excellent Short Story Award Dinner quickly spread throughout the Yenching literary circles in the following two days and attracted widespread attention from their peers.

Compared with many writers in the south, writers in the north, especially those in Yenching University, are very knowledgeable about politics and will unconsciously reflect this tendency in their works.

Root-seeking literature is now very popular. In addition to the emergence of a large number of fans, it is also bound to face a wave of opposition and criticism from the literary, cultural and ideological circles.

The attitude of the official mouthpieces, which have not spoken out so far, is unclear. Zhou Yang's attitude, to some extent, also represents the official attitude.

It seems that the pressure from public opinion that root-seeking literature has to face is probably very great!
Speculations and discussions among peers will not change anything.

On the third day after the dinner, Lin Chaoyang's family held the annual cultural salon as usual. All 20 award-winning writers of this year attended, and many Yenching writers also attended, making the scene very lively.

Lin Chaoyang's cultural salon has been held since the second year of the National Excellent Short Film Award. In the five years since then, it has gradually formed its own history and tradition.

After the previous cultural salons were held, many award-winning writers wrote articles in magazines recalling their award-winning experiences, and they more or less mentioned the cultural salon, an unofficial itinerary.

Compared with the official itinerary, the atmosphere of the cultural salon is more relaxed, comfortable and casual, and is deeply loved by many writers.

Therefore, the cultural salon held after the annual awards ceremony has not only become one of the activities that every award-winning writer looks forward to after winning the honor, but has also become a widely circulated anecdote among people in the literary world.

This year's cultural salon was more lively than in previous years. In addition to "root-seeking literature", the most talked about topic was Lin Chaoyang's "Crossing the Guandong".

This novel has not yet been published, but the discussion and attention it has sparked in the literary world is greater than many already published works.

There really is a sense of mystery like "she finally appears after being called for many times, still holding the pipa and half covering her face".

Several of Lin Chaoyang's familiar friends had already borrowed the manuscript to read, so he felt a sense of superiority when discussing it with everyone.

Those writers from other places learned from them that Lin Chaoyang actually had a manuscript at home, and they couldn't help but ask to see it.

Everyone was looking forward to it so eagerly that Lin Chaoyang couldn't go against their wishes, so he had to take out the manuscript.

But there is only one copy of the manuscript, and how to divide it among so many people is a problem.

Li Tuo showed off again at this time, "This is easy. Let's play rock-paper-scissors. The winner looks at two cards first, and then passes them in order."

This method may seem like a joke, but it is very practical. Many people followed suit and started to do the "running reading" operation.

Their "reading in a flow" method sounds ideal, but everyone's reading efficiency is different, some read fast, some read slowly, and after a while, everyone started to quarrel.

Those who read quickly urge those who read slowly, and those who read slowly complain about those who read quickly.

After arguing for a while, everyone compromised and returned to silence to continue watching.

Such noise and silence, repeated over and over again, invisibly trained everyone's tacit understanding and cultivated some feelings.

The originally lively gathering suddenly became serious and quiet because of a manuscript, and Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but laugh and cry.

This situation continued until the evening when the sun was about to set, and then some people came to their senses.

Lu Wenfu said with a troubled look on his face: "The time is too short. We have only seen less than one tenth of it."

Everyone came to Beijing to receive their awards. The official activities have all ended. Today is the last day for many people to stay in Beijing, and he is no exception.

But he happened to see the manuscript of "Crossing the Guandong" at this time. It was like holding a beautiful woman in his arms. How could he let it go?

Everyone felt the same way about Lu Wenfu's complaint, but it had nothing to do with others.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "It will be published in about twenty days anyway, so it doesn't matter if we read it then."

Lu Wenfu frowned and said, "It would be fine if I had only heard of it before, but now I have seen it. It would be so uncomfortable if I don't finish reading it!"

"That's right! Chaoyang's novel is so special, I can't bear to let it go!"

"It would be better if it was shorter. It's so long that I can't finish it in one night."

……

Everyone was talking at once, and in the end they all started complaining that Lin Chaoyang shouldn't have taken out the manuscript. Now they were feeling very anxious and depressed.

Lin Chaoyang complained: "You blame me for this? It's not like I wanted to show it to you."

He thought about it and said helplessly, "How about this, those who are willing to stay and read can stay, and food and accommodation will be provided. Is this okay?"

"Then why are you so embarrassed!"

Lin Chaoyang's attitude was very sincere, so everyone could no longer act unreasonably.

It’s a nice idea to stay in Yanjing for a few more days just to read novels, but most people don’t have the time or strong desire to do so.

In the end, after much discussion, only three writers had requested a lot of leave and had no major family matters to attend to, so they decided to stay.

There are also two writers, Zhang Jie and Shi Tiesheng, who are in Yenching and are available to read books at any time.

After some discussion, seeing that the time was almost up, everyone said goodbye to Lin Chaoyang and his wife.

After everyone left, Lin Chaoyang arranged rooms for the remaining people.

The courtyard in Xiaoliubukou Hutong is so big that even if fifty or sixty people live there at the same time, it won’t seem crowded, so adding a few more people is naturally not a problem.

These people stayed at Lin Chaoyang's house for another three or four days and finally finished reading the entire text of "Crossing the Guandong", and they couldn't help but be amazed and praise it.

Then he said goodbye to Lin Chaoyang and his wife. After they left, Tao Yushu prepared to clean up the room they lived in. The house was as tidy as before they moved in.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife entertained everyone warmly. They cleaned the room before leaving. Tao Yushu even found a stack of food coupons and RMB on the table.

Those people didn't mention it when they left. I guess they collected it from everyone and were afraid that the couple wouldn't accept it, so they simply left it in the room and waited for them to find it.

Tao Yushu handed the food coupons and RMB to Lin Chaoyang, "What should we do?"

"What can I do if everyone has left? Just keep it."

March has passed, and with the beginning of a new month, the discussion about "root-seeking literature" has become more and more heated.

It has been more than half a month since the publication of "The Roots of Literature", and its influence continues to ferment. With the strong inflammatory articles such as "The Shocking Voice of Chinese Literature - The Birth of the "Zhuo County Declaration"" adding fuel to the flames, more and more people are paying attention to it.

The number of people paying attention to this literature is growing. As more people support it, more people oppose it. Since April, newspapers and magazines around the country have begun to publish articles opposing root-seeking literature. In addition, official media outlets around the country have also begun to speak out, and the evaluation of root-seeking literature is also polarized, with both praise and criticism.

This situation was quite normal in the 1980s. The whole country was crossing the river by feeling the stones. Except for the top leaders who made the final decision on certain key matters, no one could eradicate all new things.

This is not only a question of courage, but also a matter of realistic checks and balances.

In such an era, there will be various voices coexisting. It may not be a good thing, but it is not a bad thing either.

After returning to his hometown, Li Hangyu submitted his article "Sort Out Our Roots" to "Shanghai Literature" and it was successfully published, causing quite a stir.

This article is another powerful article on root-seeking literature after "The Roots of Literature". It enriches the richness of root-seeking literature to a certain extent and also adds fuel to the current lively situation of root-seeking literature.

The trend of root-seeking literature is still going on. Lin Chaoyang, the initiator, is experiencing both praise and slander. For the time being, it has no impact on him and his life is as peaceful as ever.

On the Sunday after Qingming Festival, he took his wife and children to visit the Old Summer Palace, and then went to Tao's house for dinner.

During the meal, the family members couldn't help but ask about the recent voices from the outside world. Lin Chaoyang remained very calm and was not affected at all.

Tao Yucheng said enviously: "Your influence is so huge now. You just published an article and it caused such a big discussion. If you develop it further, I think it will be as influential as Zhang Hua's rescue of the old farmer two years ago."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "You can't compare them like that. Zhang Hua's incident had a social impact and was related to social ethics. Our discussion is actually still focused on the cultural sector."

Father Tao has always admired Lin Chaoyang's ability to remain calm in the face of adversity, but he still smiled and said, "You don't have to be modest. It's already a great thing to be able to influence a certain field in this society."

The family was chatting casually when there was a noise at the door. It was Tao Yumo who came back.

When Mother Tao saw her, her expression suddenly fell, "You still remember to come back!"

Seeing that everyone had already started eating, Tao Yumo smiled. After she sat down, Tao Yushu asked her, "Where did you go? Why did you come back so late?"

Listening to Tao Yushu's question, Tao Yumo said awkwardly: "Sister, I'm already in my twenties, can you please stop controlling me like this?"

"Is it not okay for me to ask?"

Tao Yumo opened her mouth, and seeing her mother looking at her suspiciously, she replied helplessly, "I went to the movies."

"What about Du Feng?"

"Ah."

Tao's mother couldn't help but say, "He's doing business, why do you always try to take advantage of him?"

"It's not like I don't want to pay." Tao Yumo retorted.

Tao's mother sneered, "You give me money?"

Tao Yumo looked a little guilty, "I did give the money."

She did give the money, but Du Feng didn't want it.

How could Du Feng feel embarrassed to ask for money when his girl came to watch a movie?

It’s not that Tao Yumo didn’t understand the situation, it’s just that those movies were so good and they couldn’t be seen anywhere else for the time being, so she had no choice but to shamelessly go and watch the movies for free.

Recently, whenever she has time, she would rush to Du Feng's video room and watch videos all day long. She has almost watched all the videotapes that Du Feng brought back, and she never gets tired of it.

Because of Tao Yumo's return, the topic at the dinner table turned to Du Feng's video room.

After everyone chatted for a while, Tao Yucheng suddenly asked Lin Chaoyang, "Chaoyang, Yumo said that Du Feng's video hall is doing very well right now. Did you say before that this business wouldn't last two years?"

“It’s not that we can’t do it for two years, but the period of huge profits won’t last too long.”

Lin Chaoyang observed his brother-in-law's expression and saw that he was ready to make a move. He knew that he must have seen the booming business of the video hall and had become more creative.

As expected, Tao Yucheng said, "If we open a video hall in our area, business should be very good, right?"

Lin Chaoyang nodded, "Of course. There are so many universities around here, and the students don't have much money, but they are willing to spend money to try new things."

Tao Yucheng added: "This month a young man in our company resigned and went into business. He said he was going to the south to do business."

Zhao Li objected immediately after hearing this: "Don't think that it's easy to do business. What if you lose money?"

"Isn't it true that the video parlor business is now making money with your eyes closed?"

When Tao Yucheng said this, his eyes were looking at Lin Chaoyang, obviously asking for his opinion.

Lin Chaoyang said truthfully: "Indeed."

Listening to his words, Tao Yucheng suddenly became motivated and felt somewhat proud of his own excellent vision.

He was about to continue to explain his entrepreneurial ideas, but Tao's father spoke instead.

"We can't do this in the video room."

Tao Yuben's face was full of excitement, but when he heard his father's words, his face suddenly fell.

"Why, Dad?"

"You want to open a video parlor, do you have the money?"

Tao Yucheng looked embarrassed and shook his head.

“You have to borrow the capital from me and your mother, ask Chaoyang for advice, and then ask Du Feng to help buy equipment.

It is easy to do your business, but you are relying on the power of others.

What's more, Du Feng is currently working in a video hall, and you are taking advantage of him.

Your mother and I have no objection to your going into the sea business, but the prerequisite is that you can support yourself. "

Father Tao said with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)