Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 411 I would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix

In the early years, most restaurants in Yanjing City served Shandong cuisine. Fengzeyuan was one of the representatives and was also considered a famous restaurant in Yanjing City.

While everyone was eating and chatting, Lin Chaoyang found out that this table of food would cost 88 yuan.

It turns out that whether in the past or now, getting married is a business that costs money like water!
There are fifteen tables of guests, and the banquet alone will cost one thousand three hundred yuan. Most people's contribution is five yuan, and ten yuan is very little. If you really do the math, the cost of hosting the banquet cannot be recovered.

Everyone at Lin Chaoyang's table was familiar with the Yenching Writers Association. They ate and chatted, and the atmosphere was harmonious and joyful.

Not far from him were his classmates from the Class of 77 of the Chinese Department of Yan University.

Today was Liang Zuo’s wedding. Except for those who went abroad or were assigned back to their hometowns, all the classmates who stayed in Yenching who could come came.

Liu Zhenyun sat among his classmates, including Chen Jiangong, Liu Zhida, Li Tong, Cen Xianqing and others. He had many feelings in his heart as he came to attend Liang Zuo's wedding today.

He was born in the countryside and felt the gap in family background and living standards between him and his classmates when he was in school. Liang Zuo's wedding today showed this gap to the fullest.

A table of banquet costs 88 yuan, which is equivalent to Liu Zhenyun's one and a half months salary. He has been working for nearly three years since graduation, and has only saved 800 yuan, which is not enough to pay for ten tables of banquets, not to mention other expenses of the wedding.

Then there are the guests. Liu Zhenyun only knew that Liang Zuo’s mother was the writer Chen Rong, but he didn’t know that his father was actually the deputy editor-in-chief of People’s Daily.

Both of their parents were celebrities in the cultural world, so naturally the guests who came and went were no ordinary people. In comparison, their classmates from Yanda University became the most inconspicuous presence at the wedding.

"Zhenyun, when do you and Jianmei plan to get married?" Chen Jiangong suddenly asked.

Liu Zhenyun’s girlfriend Guo Jianmei graduated from the Law Department in 79 and only started working last year.

"Soon, maybe in half a year."

The two of them started dating when they were in school, and it has been more than four years now, which is definitely a long-term relationship in this era.

The most fundamental reason for not getting married is of course lack of money. Both of them are from rural areas, and their parents can't provide much support, so they have to save money on their own.

Therefore, the two of them could only save money slowly.

"Zhenyun will get married next year?"

The two were talking when a voice came from the side. They turned around and saw that it was Lin Chaoyang holding a glass of wine and looking at everyone with a smile.

Liu Zhenyun quickly stood up and replied, "Yes."

"Has a date been set?"

"Not yet, I just had this idea."

"Then please notify me when the time comes." Lin Chaoyang said.

"Definitely."

After talking about Liu Zhenyun's marriage, Lin Chaoyang chatted with everyone for a while, drank a glass of wine with everyone, and then left.

After he left, Li Tong suddenly sighed, "I didn't understand it when I was in school, but I understood it after I entered society!"

"Understand what?" Liu Zhida asked.

"I understand that the gap between people is so big. Look at Chaoyang. When we were in school, we were all just friends.

If you meet again now, would you be ashamed to go up to her and put your arm around her shoulder as you did before?"

Li Tong's words were rough but reasonable, and everyone fell silent for a moment.

Although everyone was still talking and laughing as before during the chat just now, the atmosphere when they were together was far less relaxed than before.

In the final analysis, their identities have changed. They went from being the pride of Yanda University to being cogs in the society, while Lin Chaoyang's reputation has been at its peak in the past two years.

Even Chen Jiangong, who had achieved some success among his classmates, pales in comparison when standing in front of Lin Chaoyang.

There is a saying in later generations: Your university teacher may be the person with the highest social status you will ever come into contact with in your life.

Lin Chaoyang is not the teacher of this group of people. After graduating from Yan University, these Yan University students come into contact with people of high social status.

But when we were in the ivory tower of school, we really couldn’t feel the huge gap between people.

Only after they entered society did they suddenly understand this truth.

"That's a problem with your own mentality. Once you have power, fame and money, are you no longer the same person?" Chen Jiangong retorted.

Li Tong emphasized: "I mean the mentality. Do you understand the mentality?"

"That's because you have an unbalanced mentality!"

What Chen Jiangong said was not without reason. These Yan University students were truly trained to be the pillars of the country when they were in school, and they all entered good companies after graduation.

But they are still young people after all. Once they enter the unit, they are just nobody. How can they get ahead without working hard for 10 or 20 years?

This gap between ideals and reality will indeed affect people's mentality.

"Forget it. I can't explain it to you. You are a famous writer now. You are not from the same class as us poor people."

Chen Jiangong laughed and scolded: "No wonder the reports in the People's Daily are becoming less and less down-to-earth. I think you are the one who corrupted the atmosphere."

After graduation, Li Tong was assigned to work as a reporter for People's Daily.

The two of them were arguing loudly, and the others followed suit. The atmosphere at the table became lively, and it brought back some of the feeling they had when they were in school.

Liu Zhenyun looked at his classmates making noise, a hint of nostalgia flashed in his eyes, and then he couldn't help but sigh.

Don’t listen to what these people say, as if they are so miserable. Who has a bad background?

Chen Jiangong's parents both work in cultural units, Li Tong's parents work in government agencies, Liu Zhida's family lives in Baiwanzhuang, and Cen Xianqing, like him, is from a rural background, but she is a lesbian, so she doesn't have to worry too much about getting married.

Watching Liang Zuo getting married, he felt a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

The wedding banquet cost 88 yuan per table. The dormitory was allocated by the company, and the young couple bought furniture and appliances.

The washing machine is a Hitachi fully automatic one, priced at 750 yuan; the electric fan is a Watson floor fan, priced at 158 ​​yuan; the TV is a Peony 14-inch color TV, priced at 1050 yuan; the stereo is an Aerospace brand, priced at 420 yuan; the five-piece concave and convex furniture, priced at 720 yuan...

He recalled the conversation with Liang Zuo in the morning. In addition to pressure, he felt mostly envious. Getting married cost several thousand yuan. Liang Zuo had just started working for less than three years, so he naturally couldn't afford such expenses. Thanks to his parents' financial support.

Liu Zhenyun did not expect his wedding to be so luxurious, he just hoped to give Guo Jianmei a more decent wedding.

He has been studying writing since college, but has not achieved any results so far. After such a long time, an ordinary person would have given up long ago, but Liu Zhenyun still persists.

In addition to his love for writing, a more important reason is that he urgently hopes to change his financial situation through writing.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhenyun couldn't help but cast an envious look in Lin Chaoyang's direction again.

Buying a house and a car by writing is his simplest dream.

After attending Liang Zuo's wedding, Lin Chaoyang returned home and told Tao Yusu about Lin Jinlan's wish. She was stunned after hearing it. She didn't expect such a good thing would happen.

She thought about it for a long time, and asked Lin Chaoyang hesitantly, "Do you think I should go back?"

"You have to ask yourself. If you want to go back, then go back. If you don't want to go back, that's fine too."

Tao Yushu glanced at him in reproach, "It's the same as if you didn't say anything."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and asked, "Then let me help you decide?"

"no need."

"It's over!"

His wife has always been a person with her own ideas. Lin Chaoyang knows her too well. Who forced him to get the marriage certificate back then?
The next morning, Lin Chaoyang was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly pulled out of bed.

"I've made up my mind!" Tao Yushu's eyes were as red as a rabbit and his expression was extremely serious.

Lin Chaoyang yawned and asked, "What's been decided?"

"I want to go back to Yenching Literature."

"Oh." Lin Chaoyang nodded. This decision was just as he expected.

Although Wang Meng paid attention to Tao Yushu's work at People's Literature, the seniority system was very serious. Given Tao Yushu's age, he would have to wait for ten or eight years even if he was very outstanding.

It’s different with Yenching Literature. Once you go there, you’ll be the deputy editor-in-chief. After a few more years of hard work, it’s not impossible for you to become the editor-in-chief.

It's a bit lacking in class, but I'd rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.

Given Tao Yushu's progressive character, "Yenching Literature" and "People's Literature" seem to be a multiple-choice question, but in fact it is an easy-to-get-point question.

"Lao Lin will take up his new position next month. If you have time, go meet him and discuss the details. Once everything is confirmed, talk to Lao Wang."

"it is good."

Having made up his mind, Tao Yushu stopped hesitating, got up, washed, and went to work as usual.

A few days later, Lin Chaoyang first received a package from Ming Pao Publishing House.

Among them were sample copies of "The Chess Master" and a letter from Dong Qiao.

As early as October, a sample copy of "Crossing the Guandong" published by Ming Pao Publishing House had been sent to Lin Chaoyang, and the novel was already on sale in Hong Kong in November.

According to Dong Qiao's letter, "Crossing the Guandong" sold well after it was launched in Hong Kong, with most of the first print run of 1 copies sold out in the month of its launch.

In the past two months, sales have reached 1.8 sets.

The fact that such good results were achieved has a lot to do with the admiration of this novel by the Hong Kong cultural community.

It has been more than half a year since "Crossing the Guandong" was published in the mainland. It has already become a phenomenal literary work in 1984. It has received enthusiastic responses from readers and high evaluations from the literary community. It is unique in the contemporary Chinese literary scene since the reform and opening up.

Although communications between the mainland and Hong Kong were not well developed these days, there were still many contacts.

In particular, Huacheng Publishing House was the one that published and published "Crossing the Guandong". Guangdong is adjacent to Hong Kong, so in recent months, many people in the Hong Kong cultural circle have already heard about the sensation this novel has caused in the mainland.

Before "Crossing the Guandong" was released in Hong Kong, literary magazines such as "Kaijuan", "Banfang" and "Suye Literature" had recommended this novel to Hong Kong readers.

"Kaijuan" magazine even bluntly said: This year, a novel with a sensational effect appeared in the mainland literary world. After its publication, it was in great demand and quickly sold well across the country. It can be said to be the biggest surprise in the mainland Chinese literary world in 1984.

Before the novel was released, literary magazines in Hong Kong had already praised "Crossing the Guandong", which naturally attracted the interest of many literature lovers in the novel.

Therefore, after the Ming Pao Publishing House edition of "Crossing the Guandong" was released, it quickly became a favorite among Hong Kong literature lovers.

Considering Hong Kong's population base and number of readers, the first print run of Crossing the Guandong was 1 copies, and most of them were sold out in the month of its release, which is definitely a super bestseller.

Dong Qiao believes that according to the current momentum of "Crossing the Guandong", the sales volume should be guaranteed to reach 80,000 sets, if not 100,000 sets.

You have to know that in Hong Kong, even for first-line writers of popular novels like Yi Shu, the sales of their works are not guaranteed to reach 80,000 copies.

However, "Crossing the Guandong" is a serious literary work, and its sales volume shows its value.

The success of "Crossing the Guandong" also made Ming Pao Publishing House more confident about "The Chess Master", especially since the movie "The Chess Master" had only been shown in Hong Kong for a short time.

In order to catch up with the popularity of "Crossing the Guandong" and the movie, Ming Pao Publishing House worked overtime and planned to launch the novel to the market in mid-January.

At the end of the letter, Dong Qiao mentioned the issue of royalties again.

This time, Lin Chaoyang will receive two royalties, one is the third royalty for "The Death of Van Gogh" and the other is the advance payment for the publication of "The Chess Master".

Among them, "The Death of Van Gogh" has sold nearly 6500 copies in the past six months, and the cumulative sales have exceeded and approached 4 copies. If the version published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press is included, the total sales volume is nearly 5 copies.

For a book like "The Death of Van Gogh" which has almost no publicity, achieving such results in Hong Kong is already a huge success.

In this royalty settlement, Lin Chaoyang received about 4 Hong Kong dollars. In the future, this novel will continue to provide royalties for Lin Chaoyang, but as time goes by, the amount will definitely become less and less. After all, Hong Kong is a very small market.

In addition, "The Chess Master" was published in Hong Kong, with an initial print run of 1 copies. Ming Pao Publishing House prepaid Lin Chaoyang a royalty of HK$10.8.

This time, Lin Chaoyang earned a total of 14.8 Hong Kong dollars.

Thanks to the best-selling works, Ming Pao Publishing House has become much more efficient in both royalty advance payment and settlement, not to mention its attitude, which is much better than before.

(End of this chapter)