Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 378: A Place in the Next Mao Dun Literature Prize

That night, Lin Chaoyang told Tao Yushu about Du Feng and Tao Yucheng's visit during the day. She couldn't help but frown and asked, "It's indeed more suitable for my sister-in-law to run this video parlor than my brother, but we have to pay for it..."

"It's a loan."

Tao Yushu blinked and looked at him, "Is there a big difference?"

Lin Chaoyang touched his nose and it was indeed not big.

"This kind of help will only help this time." Lin Chaoyang said.

Tao Yushu nodded and said, "Of course. He just needs to feed himself. If he still can't make money, he should just be a teacher in the future."

"Just be a good teacher now!" Lin Chaoyang said mischievously.

Tao Yushu couldn't help laughing when she thought of the scene where her husband and cousin teamed up to persuade her ambitious elder brother to give up.

After laughing, she asked again: "Do you think there is something wrong with Du Feng's method?"

"what is the problem?"

"He wanted to find someone to partner with him to open a video parlor, expand the scale quickly, and share the profits.

But the problem is that the investment in a video hall is neither big nor small. Judging from the current situation, a video hall will make back its investment in two to three months, or at most half a year. If they make money, won’t they have other ideas? "

Tao Yushu had a sharp mind and immediately found the most fatal problem in Du Feng's idea.

He has almost no constraints and control over his partners. Once a partner has other ideas, he can dismantle him and start a new business at any time.

"When doing business, you can't think of things as perfect right from the start. You have to go through a lot of trials and tribulations before you can become strong enough." Lin Chaoyang said calmly.

Tao Yushu looked at his expression and asked, "You've thought of this a long time ago, right?"

"It doesn't matter whether I think so or not. What's important is that Du Feng himself has to be aware of this, otherwise he will suffer in the future."

Originally, Tao Yushu was still somewhat resentful of Lin Chaoyang for not reminding Du Feng, but after listening to her husband's words, she suddenly understood.

It is useless to teach others with a hundred words; only events can teach people once and for all.

Seeing her in deep thought, Lin Chaoyang teased, "I think you have more business acumen than Du Feng, why don't you also go into business?"

Tao Yushu immediately shook his head and said, "I can't do it."

"I think it's okay. You become a strong woman in the future, and I will be the man behind you, living off you."

His jokes made Tao Yushu burst into laughter, "Hahaha! You just talk nonsense all day long. Oh, I'm dying of laughter!"

Take it seriously, I'm not kidding.

Lin Chaoyang said silently in his heart.

That morning, Lin Chaoyang played with Xiao Dongdong in the yard. The seventeen-month-old boy ran like the wind, accompanied by crisp laughter full of childish innocence.

"Dad! Daddy!"

Although he couldn't utter a complete sentence yet, he called out the word "Dad" very clearly. He shouted as he ran, meaning that Lin Chaoyang should chase him.

Lin Chaoyang pretended to chase him. He was so scared that he quickly stood up on his two short legs. His laughter was distorted with fear, but he did not forget to look back. As a result, he accidentally fell to the ground.

Lin Chaoyang walked forward in a hurry, and slowed down when he got to his side.

"Why don't you get up?"

At this time, Xiao Dongdong made a "big" shape on the ground with his head buried in the ground. He did not respond when he spoke.

"Just lie down where you fell for a while, right?"

Lin Chaoyang didn't go to help him, he just squatted down and looked at him.

After a while, Xiao Dongdong raised his head, pouting his lips, his eyes full of grievance. As soon as he opened his mouth and called out "Dad", tears poured out from his eyes like a flood.

This boy took after his mother, with a pair of big eyes, and he looks very pitiful when he cries.

Lin Chaoyang hugged him gently and said, "Look at your feet when you run, don't look around, so you won't fall."

It is common for children to fall down. He didn't quite understand Lin Chaoyang's lesson. He just knew that his father was holding him, and he felt much better.

She cried out twice, but before the third cry, her tears stopped and she struggled to run out of Lin Chaoyang's arms.

"Dad! Daddy!"

Ran out again.

The father and son played like this for a while, and little Dongdong was exhausted. He lay in Lin Chaoyang's arms, nodded for a while, and then fell asleep.

Lin Chaoyang had just put him back on the bed in the room when he heard some noise at the gate of the courtyard. When he went to the gate, he saw that it was Li Shifei from "Huacheng" and another old man.

"Chaoyang!" Li Shifei was very happy to see Lin Chaoyang. He greeted him and introduced the old man next to him to him, "This is Su Chen, the president of our Huacheng Publishing House." "Hello, President Su!"

"Comrade Chaoyang, you are too polite. Just call me Lao Su."

After a few pleasantries, Lin Chaoyang invited the two into the main room.

When entering the courtyard, Su Chen's eyes swept over the plants and trees here, full of the interest of life.

After they sat down in the house, Lin Chaoyang served them tea and said with a smile, "This year's pre-rain Longjing tea, Lu Wenfu just sent it to me a few days ago."

Li Shifei took the first bite and said with a refreshed look, "You are the one who knows how to live! The rest of us are just surviving at best."

Su Chen also took a sip of the tea, and felt the fragrance lingering on his lips and teeth, refreshing and comfortable. He didn't know how to taste tea, so he just said, "Good tea!"

"It's just a cup of tea, why are you talking so much about it? Their tea is good, but it's a pity that the water in Yanjing is not very good. Such good tea is wasted."

"And you still say you don't know how to enjoy life? We never complain about the water when we drink tea."

"Ha ha!"

After a few jokes, Li Shifei took the initiative to talk about the situation after the publication of "Crossing the Guandong".

Now, a whole month has passed since the second issue of "Huacheng" this year was published and put on the market. This issue of the magazine is almost the same as a special issue. Apart from the first half of "Crossing the Guandong", there is only a Hong Kong novel and a commentary from the editorial department of "Huacheng", which occupies very little space.

The author of the review article was Li Shifei. After watching "Crossing the Guandong" on New Year's Eve, he was so excited that he could hardly control himself, so he wrote this article in a hurry - "A New Epic of Magic Realism".

The article praised the grand and historical narrative of "Crossing the Great Wall", and even claimed that "Crossing the Great Wall" is one of the best novels in contemporary Chinese literature in the past decade.

To be honest, Lin Chaoyang felt a little embarrassed when he saw the review written by Li Shifei. It was such blatant praise, almost as much as Li Tuo's.

After this issue of "Huacheng" was published, it successfully exceeded 100 million copies in sales in just half a month. To date, the total number of copies commissioned by Huacheng Publishing House to print has reached 175 million.

At this rate, it will be easy for the sales of this issue of "Huacheng" to exceed 200 million copies. Only the final sales volume is still unknown, and no one dares to be sure.

What makes Huacheng magazine most excited is that only the first half of Chuang Guandong has been published, which means that the next issue of the magazine will still achieve the current sales volume, or even go further.

As the reputation and influence of the novel continue to grow, more and more readers will come to read it.

“When I reviewed the manuscript of ‘Crossing the Guandong’, I thought that this novel would be very popular, but the current effect is far beyond my expectations!” Li Shifei said in amazement.

After talking about sales, Su Chen also talked about the response of "Crossing the Guandong" in the literary world.

More than a month before the publication of "Crossing the Guandong", Lin Chaoyang proposed the literary concept of "root-seeking literature", which caused a great controversy in the literary world. There were both supporters and critics. The voices of opposition and criticism were so overwhelming that Lin Chaoyang was criticized severely.

This kind of public opinion battle is different from an elimination game. It does not mean that if more people agree with you, the criticism will disappear. On the contrary, those criticisms may become more severe because of the voices of those who agree with you.

However, in the period since the publication of "Crossing the Guandong", the critical voices in the literary world against Lin Chaoyang and "root-seeking literature" have indeed subsided.

It’s not that those people have stopped cursing, but that their voices are blocked by a thick barrier when they are transmitted to the readership.

And this barrier is "Crossing the Guandong".

"Crossing the Guandong" has received rave reviews since its publication, and it happened to be published after Lin Chaoyang proposed the concept of "root-seeking literature". The supporters of root-seeking literature cleverly raised this banner in the debate with opponents.

Didn’t you say that root-seeking literature is a restoration of the dregs of traditional culture and a new form of isolation?
Look! The pioneering work of root-seeking literature is here!

Take a closer look, is this true?
Using an epic work like "Crossing the Guandong" to refute the opinions of those opponents is somewhat like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but the effect is unexpectedly good.

After all, the novel is here. Who dares to criticize the artistic level of "Crossing Guandong"? Who dares to deny the artistic value of root-seeking literature?

The publication of "Crossing the Guandong" can be said to have provided the fans of root-seeking literature with an unstoppable weapon, which thwarted their opponents.

Only the first half of the novel has been published so far. When the second half is released to the public, the praise for this novel from the literary community and readers will probably reach a new level.

By that time, the opponents will probably be even more powerless to refute.

All we can do is stammer a few words like Kong Yiji's pale rebuttal, "'Crossing the Guandong' cannot be equated with root-seeking literature", "Isn't it also learning Latin American literature? What kind of root-seeking is that!" and so on.

After talking about the outside world's response to the novel for a while, Su Chen said with a flushed face: "I have read the novel carefully. Your novel will definitely have a place in the next Mao Dun Literature Award!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chaoyang quickly said a few humble words.

Li Shifei and Su Chen came up and told a lot of good news. The atmosphere of the conversation was very harmonious. After taking another sip of tea, the atmosphere fell into silence for a short time. Li Shifei then said:
"Chaoyang, I wrote to you before, and I'm sure you can guess. The main reason Lao Su and I came here this time is to talk to you about the publication of "Crossing Guandong"."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly, "I thought of it. Our previous cooperation can be called a pleasure. If we can continue to cooperate, I will certainly be more than happy."

This kind of polite talk was just for show. Li Shifei clearly heard Lin Chaoyang put emphasis on the word "if".

What do you mean by "if"? Of course, we have to agree to his request for royalties!
Royalties payment was the first time in China's publishing industry. Even though they had reached an understanding before coming here, when it came time to talk about it, Li Shifei and Su Chen were still confused.

Lin Chaoyang's expression was still calm and relaxed, and he was fearless, but in the eyes of the two men, he was full of confidence.

Your novel is popular, so you’re amazing?
(End of this chapter)