Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 440 The Conscience of Chinese Society

Er Maitai nodded and said truthfully: "Didn't I tell you before that Afang's family gave 3,000 yuan, and Afang and I raised another 5,000 yuan. Now we still owe the Housing Authority 4,000 yuan."

Ermaitai's new home was the smallest apartment in Hongling Building, only 42 square meters. But fortunately, there was no such thing as public space at that time, so the 42-square-meter house was squeezed into two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

It is enough for a young couple to live in, and it will be enough even if they have children in the future.

After the couple bought the house, they didn't even have the money to renovate it, so they asked their co-workers to help with a simple renovation.

"Afang and I have calculated that if we save a little, we can pay back the money by the year after next."

Er Maitai's face was full of joy when he talked about this matter.

If they work for just one more year, he and Luo Huifang will be able to own a house of their own in Shenzhen.

When he came out of Xiaoyangtun, he never thought that one day he would be able to take root in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, marry a wife and have his own house.

A high-rise residential building with more than 30 floors and an elevator is a luxury house for ordinary people of this era.

After talking about the house, Er Maitai revealed another piece of news to Lin Chaoyang: Luo Huifang was pregnant.

"You're great, kid! Get on the bus first and buy the ticket later." Lin Chaoyang teased.

Er Maitai couldn't help but scratch his head and grin foolishly, with a hint of pride on his face.

The two chatted for a while, and Er Maitai took Lin Chaoyang to his father-in-law's house.

The Luo family had always known that their son-in-law had a childhood friend who was a famous writer, but they had never met him. Thanks to the wedding, Lin Chaoyang finally showed up, which also made the Luo family more glorious in front of the neighbors.

Not long after Lin Chaoyang arrived at the Luo family's house, their house almost became a tourist attraction, with all the neighbors coming to see the great writer, and the scene was chaotic for a while.

When a distinguished guest comes, the Luo family naturally has to give him a grand reception. Lin Chaoyang comes to attend Er Maitai's wedding to make things more special. He accepts everyone who comes and soon gets drunk.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang reeked of alcohol when he woke up, and he didn't feel better until he had breakfast.

Then he attended a wedding in the morning and when writing the gift bill, Lin Chaoyang only wrote down 20 yuan, which was considered high among a group of relatives and friends, but not outrageously high.

The master of ceremonies at the wedding was Zhang Guidong, Ermaitai's leader at the China World Trade Center construction site, and the witness was Li Chuanfang, deputy director of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau. Being able to invite both of them, it seemed that Ermaitai had some face in the unit.

After Li Chuanfang finished his speech, Zhang Guidong called Lin Chaoyang out and asked him to say a few words.

It was another appearance to fill the scene. As soon as Lin Chaoyang stood up, he naturally became the focus of the whole audience.

Nearly half of the people present were Er Maitai’s co-workers. They had often heard Er Maitai mention his childhood friend who was a “great writer”. When Lin Chaoyang showed up today, everyone realized that Er Maitai was not bragging.

There was no need for any profound speech at this time, just say whatever was festive. Lin Chaoyang talked about New Year greetings, fully demonstrating the Northeastern people's eloquence and making the guests laugh non-stop.

In the afternoon after the wedding, Lin Chaoyang was about to leave Shenzhen for Guangzhou, and the Ermaitai couple specially sent him to the station.

"Is the wedding still being held in my hometown?" Lin Chaoyang asked Er Maitai.

"We have to wait until the New Year to go back and then we can just host two tables of wine and invite some relatives."

"That's good, it saves us trouble."

After chatting for a while, Lin Chaoyang took out a brown paper bag and handed it to Er Maitai. When Er Maitai took it and looked at it, his face was full of surprise, and he hurriedly wanted to return the brown paper bag to Lin Chaoyang.

"Chaoyang, what are you doing?"

Lin Chaoyang held his hand and said, "It's not easy for you and Afang to work hard in Shenzhen. You can decide whether to use the money to pay off the house or start a small business."

After he said that, without waiting for Er Maitai to react, he carried his luggage into the station.

Er Maitai stood there in a daze. Luo Huifang listened to their conversation and knew that the bag given by Lin Chaoyang contained money, and it was definitely not a small amount.

She took the brown paper bag and saw that it was filled with a thick stack of Da Tuan Jie. She opened her mouth in surprise.

"How much is this?"

Ermaitai finally came to his senses and said, "At least four thousand yuan."

Luo Huifang was curious about how he could tell at a glance, and Er Maitai said, "I told Chaoyang that the two of us still owed the Housing Authority 4,000 yuan."

After listening to Er Maitai, Luo Huifang carefully counted the money.

"More than four thousand, five thousand!"

After paying the money back to the Housing Authority, the couple will still have one thousand yuan left.

Luo Huifang was happy but also a little overwhelmed. "Isn't this too much money?"

Ermaitai sighed, "Yeah, that's too much."

He looked into the station again, but Lin Chaoyang's figure was no longer in his sight.

Luo Huifang asked Ermaitai, "What should we do with the money?"

Er Maitai hesitated for a few seconds, then said with a wry smile: "Take it. I owe you a lot of favors. I'll pay you back slowly when I have the chance."

In fact, he understood that given the current gap between him and Lin Chaoyang, he might never be able to repay this favor in his lifetime.

With his words, Luo Huifang accepted the money with peace of mind and began to daydream again.

"Hey, what do you think we should do with this money?"

"Didn't Chaoyang say that? Pay back the money or do some small business."

"Start a small business? I can't bear to give up my job at the hotel. Why don't you quit?"

"I'm not cut out for business!"

……

It was already evening when Lin Chaoyang arrived in Guangzhou from Shenzhen. He first stayed in a guesthouse near the train station for one night, and then came to Huacheng Publishing House.

As soon as he showed up, he attracted the attention of all the employees of Huacheng Publishing House.

In the past two or three years, Huacheng Publishing House has achieved astonishingly good results thanks to its cooperation with Lin Chaoyang.

The publication and publication of the two works "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong" alone generated more than 20 million yuan in revenue for Huacheng Publishing House during this period.

If it weren't for Lin Chaoyang, it would have taken at least six or seven years for Huacheng Publishing House to achieve the same performance as before.

A writer like him is naturally an important guest of Huacheng Publishing House.

Therefore, when Lin Chaoyang arrived, he was immediately invited to the president's office, accompanied by President Su Chen and Editor-in-Chief Li Shifei.

When Su Chen heard Li Shifei say that Lin Chaoyang had been living in Hong Kong in recent months, he expressed his concern during the conversation and asked Lin Chaoyang if he planned to settle down in Hong Kong.

"I won't settle down there. I mainly have some cooperation with some companies in Hong Kong. I may go to Hong Kong more often in the future."

Su Chen said again: "Lao Li said when he came back last time, and I saw the news on Jade Channel recently, "The Truman Show" is going to be adapted into a movie?"

"Yes."

"This is good news!" Su Chen looked happy.

"The Truman Show" was decided to be adapted before it was even published. It was invested by Golden Harvest Films, directed by Ann Hui, and starred by Benz Hui and Cherie Chung. Such a lineup can definitely be said to be a big-cast production in the Hong Kong film industry.

If the movie can be released in mainland China in the future, it will also help the sales of the novel.

"I see the cast is strong and a lot of money has been invested, right? Can it be shown in our mainland?"

"With an investment of HK$500 million, this film is a transitional work for Xu Guanwen. He and several main actors did not receive high salaries, otherwise the budget would have to be increased by two to three million.

As for the release in mainland China, that will depend on Golden Harvest’s operations at that time.”

Su Chen added, "Your previous works have been adapted into movies with great success. If The Truman Show can be shown in mainland China, it will surely be good. At tomorrow's press conference, the movie will also be a promotional point."

Huacheng Publishing House has put a lot of effort into publishing "The Truman Show".

Over the past month, we have placed a wave of saturated book and magazine advertisements in well-known magazines and newspapers across the country.

According to Su Chen, the subscription volume of "The Truman Show" has exceeded 45 copies, which is an astonishingly good result, and this is the result of their publishing house not trying its best.

"Chaoyang, you have won the Best Screenplay Award twice at the Academy Awards, which has brought honor to our domestic film industry. This month's Popular Film even reported on it.

Now that you are working with a Hong Kong film company, are you planning to focus on drama in the future? "

Li Shifei asked the question in his mind.

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "The script just happened to come up. I'll write when there's a suitable opportunity. I'll continue writing novels."

Hearing him say this, Su Chen and Li Shifei seemed to feel relieved.

The president and editor-in-chief chatted with Lin Chaoyang for the whole morning. In the afternoon, they took Lin Chaoyang to visit tourist attractions in Guangzhou. In the evening, they arranged a welcoming banquet for Lin Chaoyang at the White Swan Hotel.

The White Swan Hotel is the first joint venture five-star hotel in China. It was jointly funded and built by Mr. Huo from Hong Kong and GD Province.

The hotel is located on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Almost all the equipment, building materials and furniture in the hotel are imported from abroad, with a total investment of more than 1.8 million yuan. In this era, it is definitely a representative of luxury in the domestic hotel industry.

Huacheng Publishing House not only chose this place for its welcoming banquet, but also for Lin Chaoyang's accommodation in Guangzhou and tomorrow's new book launch.

They have put a lot of effort into Lin Chaoyang. Which cadre can withstand such a test?
The next morning at nine o'clock, in the grand banquet hall of the White Swan Hotel.

In the past, most of the events held here were government investment promotion activities, but the layout of the venue today is very different from the past.

Directly north of the venue, there stands a huge backboard.

The background of the back panel is a blue sky with white clouds. A staircase extends from the lower left side of the back panel to the upper right side, where there is an open door and behind the door is endless darkness.

The man walking on the stairs looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, touching them with his hands, as if he was touching a world he had never touched before.

The painting on the backboard is a hand-painted oil painting. For this painting, two editors in charge of cover design at Huacheng Publishing House worked on it for more than half a month.

The inspiration for this painting came from a still from the TV series "The Truman Show". When Li Shifei was communicating with Lin Chaoyang about the cover of his new book, Lin Chaoyang described the general artistic conception to him, which was then implemented by the cover design editor.

The new book cover also uses this painting. When it is magnified hundreds of times, the picture has an unexpected artistic tension. When entering the venue, almost everyone's attention was attracted by this painting. After appreciating it for a while, everyone noticed the words on the banner above the backboard - "The Truman Show" new book launch.

There are two smaller lines of words below, which read "Works of Xu Lingjun" and "Sponsored by Huacheng Publishing House and GD Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles".

"Your new book launch is even more grand than a movie launch."

Tan Mu, who was invited to attend the meeting, just arrived at the venue. He stood in front of the backboard and admired the paintings for a while before jokingly speaking to Lin Chaoyang.

"You'll have to ask Huacheng about this. They spent a lot of money to prepare for today's event."

Tan Mu smiled and continued, "They won't do anything without profit. Once they hold on to you, their cash cow, they won't let go."

Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but laugh twice when he heard this.

As the two chatted and laughed, more and more people entered the venue.

Most of them were reporters, mostly from TV stations, newspapers and magazines in South China. There were also two or three reporters who rushed over from Shanghai after hearing the news.

Among the remaining people, there were two propaganda officials, several leaders of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the rest were some well-known writers and critics in South China, all of whom attended as guests.

The presence of so many reporters here today is closely related to the support of the publicity department for Huacheng Publishing House.

Seeing such a scene, Lin Chaoyang was actually a little surprised. Su Chen and Li Shifei had talked to him about the preparations for the press conference before, but the scene was even bigger than he expected.

Although compared with the high-tech press conferences of later generations, today's press conference is a bit simple in stage design, but precisely because of this, it highlights the cultural attributes behind the press conference.

The press conference officially began at 9:30 in the morning.

There were five people sitting on the rostrum, Lin Chaoyang sat in the middle. He was the absolute protagonist of today.

On his left are Su Chen and the head of the GD Provincial Literary Association, and on his right are two literary elders in GD Province, Tan Mu and Huang Qiuyun. Both are famous essayists and literary critics of the older generation in China.

Huang Qiuyun became famous in the 1930s for his reportage "The Mine" which reported on the lives of coal miners in Mentougou. In the 1960s, he published a series of review articles on Sun Li's works, which caused quite a stir in the literary world.

Su Chen opened the press conference with an introduction, "Dear leaders, colleagues in the literary world, and journalists, good morning..."

Dozens of reporters from various provinces in South China gathered in the audience today, fully demonstrating Huacheng Publishing House's determination to promote "The Truman Show".

This was the first time for these reporters to participate in a press conference for a book, so they were extremely serious. At that time, recorders were not yet popular, so the reporters were taking notes with pens.

When Su Chen introduced Lin Chaoyang, the reporters' eyes brightened even more than before.

The biggest highlight of today's press conference is Lin Chaoyang and his new works!
Last year, a novel called "Crossing the Guandong" was popular from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Now, more than a year has passed since the novel was published, and comments and research articles about the novel can still be seen from time to time in many domestic literary magazines.

Not to mention the readership, the total sales of the two issues of Huacheng magazine that published "Crossing the Guandong" exceeded 600 million copies, and the sales of the novel have reached 380 million copies since its publication.

The readership of these publications has already exceeded 10 million people. Since its publication, Crossing the Guandong has aroused strong repercussions among all classes in the country.

Even this year, Huacheng has reprinted in two issues the reviews of Crossing the Guandong by overseas media such as Kaijuan, Bafang and Chinese.

"Huacheng" has always liked to do this kind of cool stuff. In the past, it often reprinted literary works from Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, and was deeply sought after by readers.

Those two issues that reprinted articles from overseas media received quite good reviews among the readers. This is the same as how people in later generations watch foreigners praising China on Douyin.

Among the many works created by Lin Chaoyang over the years, the influence of "The Garland under the Mountain" is undoubtedly unique.

However, this work is full of bugs and cannot be compared.

Therefore, if we speak seriously, "Crossing the Guandong" should be regarded as the most influential work created by Lin Chaoyang so far.

The momentum created over the past year or so is three times stronger than when Cheng Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain" came out in 1993.

After all, when "White Deer Plain" was published, the literary craze of the 1980s had gradually died down, while "Crossing the Guandong" caught up with the golden age of literature.

After writing such a masterpiece that will be passed down through the ages, Lin Chaoyang's position in contemporary Chinese literary circles has been greatly consolidated.

After a year and a half, his new work was published again, and reporters naturally showed great interest.

Moreover, Guangdong is adjacent to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's TV stations can be seen in many places. It is almost known to everyone in Guangdong that Lin Chaoyang won the Best Screenwriter Award at the Academy Awards in Hong Kong for two consecutive years some time ago, and this news has also spread in the domestic film industry.

This further increased the reporters' interest in Lin Chaoyang.

There was nothing new in Lin Chaoyang's speech. He first briefly summarized the story of "The Truman Show" and then talked about some of his creative experiences in this novel.

To some extent, today's new book launch is equivalent to a public work symposium.

The story of "The Truman Show" tells the story of the protagonist Truman who was chosen from birth to be the protagonist of a reality show. He lives in a studio called Utopia Island and knows nothing about everything around him, including his "family" and "friends" who are all actors.

By chance, the unexpected appearance of his "father" made him begin to doubt his life, and then he gradually realized that his life was abnormal.

Finally he discovered the truth about Utopia Island and decided to escape from this fake world and look for real life.

He overcame numerous obstacles, discovered that the sky and the sea were also part of the studio, and finally found the door to freedom.

The concept of "reality show" was first established in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, but it is still a very novel concept for the vast majority of Chinese people today.

Not to mention that Lin Chaoyang's imaginative concept of "reality show" was taken to the extreme in the novel to the point where it was almost comparable to the real world. Just by listening to him talk about the content of the novel, the reporters felt it was very novel and they couldn't wait to take a look at it.

After Lin Chaoyang finished speaking, it was Qin Mu and Huang Qiuyun's turn to speak.

To put it bluntly, the two were invited by Huacheng Publishing House today to endorse "The Truman Show", so of course they had to say something good.

However, these compliments were not said against their conscience. The two old comrades had already received a sample copy of "The Truman Show" and had read it several times during this period. They knew the advantages of this novel by heart.

“To be honest, I have read many of Comrade Chaoyang’s works. His creative level is beyond doubt, and almost every one of his works is of high quality.

But I think that the novel "The Truman Show" has reached a peak in terms of speculation since Comrade Chaoyang's creation.

The place where Truman lives is a huge studio. This setting itself has a strong symbolic meaning, reflecting the phenomenon that human beings are media-oriented, commercialized, and symbolized in modern society...

Moreover, the character of Truman is also very literary. He awakens from an arranged life, gradually gets to know himself and searches for the truth. This growth process is similar to that of the protagonists of many classic literary works.

But the protagonist Truman reflects more than just an awakening. In him, we can see the contradiction between reality and illusion.

His world is fake, but his emotions and experiences are real. This strong conflict between reality and virtuality can easily trigger readers' thinking about self-cognition and the meaning of existence.

......"

"I agree with Comrade Qin Mu's views on The Truman Show. I like Comrade Chao Yang's Crossing the Guandong very much, but I also had a concern when I was reading the novel.

That is, after creating such a brilliant and magnum opus, what kind of works will Comrade Chaoyang bring to the Chinese literary world in the future?

Some time ago, comrades from Huacheng Publishing House came to my house with "The Truman Show" and asked me to read the novel and give my evaluation.

After reading the novel, my first reaction was "new", and this "new" is reflected in every aspect of the novel.

First of all, the content is new, telling stories in the form of a reality show, which is probably extremely trendy in our Chinese and even world literary circles.

Secondly, the structure is new. The play-within-a-play structure adopted by Comrade Chaoyang has greatly enhanced the multi-directionality and richness of the story.

Another thing is that the style is new. From my point of view, the literary genre of this novel can be classified as absurd literature, which is relatively rare in our domestic literary creation.

Comrade Chaoyang discusses the reality and illusion, freedom and control, privacy and attention in his novels... All these propositions show the absurdity of human existence. He also explores the essential issues of human existence through absurd methods.

……

Western literary critics believe that the philosophical basis of absurd literature is existentialism, and "The Truman Show" explores this core theme.

All the above contents I said are my feelings after reading it for the first time. Later I read the novel for the second time, and this time I had some new feelings.

The feeling is that compared to those exaggerated, distorted and extreme absurdist literary and dramatic works, "The Truman Show" seems to have better completed the realistic interpretation of "absurdity".

He uses "absurdity" as an artistic means to highlight the absurdity of the whole while keeping the details realistic, thus maintaining the purity of art while adhering to the logic and interest of reality.

To put it simply, it has reached a state of being appreciated by both the elite and the masses, and I think this is what Comrade Chaoyang has always been pursuing.”

Qin Mu and Huang Qiuyun each spoke for more than ten minutes about their views on "The Truman Show", and their evaluations were highly positive.

At their age and qualifications, it is impossible for them to praise against their will; these words were their heartfelt approval after reading the novel.

There were many spoilers about the novel in their speeches. After listening to their speeches, the guests and reporters present became even more curious about "The Truman Show" and were eager to watch it.

After the head of the Literary Association finished his speech, it was the turn of the reporters to interview. These people raised their hands impatiently, and Su Chen was the first to call on the reporter from Guangzhou Daily.

“I just listened to several people’s introduction to The Truman Show, and they all thought it was an excellent literary work.

But I have a question and would like to discuss it with Comrade Lin Chaoyang.

According to your description, is the story of "The Truman Show" somewhat out of touch with the lives of ordinary Chinese people at this stage? In the contemporary literary world with realism as the keynote, are you worried that your attempt will be too highbrow for the masses? "

The quality of journalists these days is much higher than that of journalists in later generations.

Stupid questions like "Many people care about how high you fly. Are you tired from flying?", "You always say that little Paris is the best. Let me test you, do you know the English word for best?", "Whose concert do you want to see?" are definitely not something that today's journalists can ask. It is simply a discredit to the journalist industry.

"This reporter's question hits the nail on the head. The story of The Truman Show is indeed quite different from the lives of ordinary people today, so I chose to set the story in Hong Kong.

The development of capitalist society at this stage is, to some extent, a mirror for us. When our society becomes highly commercialized, human alienation is inevitable.

I wrote this story, you can regard it as a warning, as a concern, or even as a protest.

In fact, none of these are important to me. What is important is that readers like and recognize this work.

The world presented in "The Truman Show" is absurd, but the themes it explores are extremely serious.

I hope that readers can gain some insights into life and society from such works. Even if it is just a tiny bit, it will be my honor.

Let’s talk about the novel again. The Truman Show is indeed an absurd story, but behind the absurdity is the deep sorrow for reality and the great disappointment in innocence.”

If it were more than 30 years later, Lin Chaoyang would have been ridiculed in private if he had made such a literary and artistic statement in front of a group of reporters.

But the reporters present today listened to Lin Chaoyang's words with solemn faces and full of admiration for Lin Chaoyang in their hearts.

Such writers are the hope of Chinese literature and the conscience of Chinese society!
(End of this chapter)