Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 447: A once-in-a-century monster
This year's Mao Dun Literature Prize award ceremony was not held in the People's Hall, but at the Yenching International Club on the eastern extension of Chang'an Avenue.

The original site of the Yenching International Club was the Western Gentry General Association of the Qing Dynasty. In the 1970s, when national policies were open and foreign affairs activities became more and more frequent, foreign officials lacked a large venue where they could easily communicate with envoys from various countries.

So in this situation, the Yanjing International Club was built on Chang'an Avenue, along with the WJ Apartments and Friendship Store.

The yellow mosaic facades, white window frames and black window lattices made these three buildings, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, a unique landscape on Chang'an Avenue in the 1970s.

With the success of the first award ceremony, this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize award ceremony was even more grand, with hundreds of guests from literary associations, publishing houses, and literary journals from all over the country gathering together.

Reporters from many authoritative media outlets including People's Daily, Literary Gazette, and China Youth Daily also came to the scene.

Lin Chaoyang stood in the crowd, as dazzling as a firefly in the dark night. When everyone saw him, their eyes would inevitably linger for a few seconds.

The reason is very simple, it’s too popular!
Chinese literary world has never produced such a popular writer!

In the past few months in the second half of the year, there has been no shortage of news about Lin Chaoyang.

First, there were news reports saying that he won a Golden Horse Award in Hong Kong. But as a writer, you said that winning a film award is nothing to brag about.
Then came the publication of "The Truman Show", with book signings and film adaptations. During those days when the new book was released, the literary world was abuzz with attention.

After the novel was published for some time, controversy arose and the popularity remained high.

The China-Japan Go Tournament has been extremely popular recently, and his novel and movie "The Go Master" have become popular again.

The novel has been published for three or four years, and you have to rush to buy it in the bookstore.

The movie was taken off the screen for more than half a year and was released again. Cinemas everywhere were still packed.

This directly shocked the literary world. This phenomenon has completely exceeded the scope of literature and has become a cultural phenomenon.

Who would have thought that in a peak Go match between China and Japan, the biggest beneficiary, besides the Go community and players of the winning country, would actually be a writer!
It has been more than half a month since the China-Japan Go Tournament ended. Although the news heat has subsided, the influence has continued to this day. Lin Chaoyang's appearance naturally attracted many eyeballs.

Standing with Lin Chaoyang is Li Shifei from Huacheng Publishing House. "Crossing the Guandong" was published in "Huacheng", which was also published by Huacheng Publishing House. Huacheng Publishing House certainly cannot be absent to win the award today.

The writers and critics present focused their attention on Lin Chaoyang, while those from publishing houses focused their attention on Li Shifei, their eyes full of envy and jealousy.

Huacheng Publishing House was originally a smaller subsidiary of Guangdong People's Publishing House. Apart from one well-known book, "Huacheng", it has no presence nationwide.

But now, after only a few years, people are already starting to get nervous.

The sales volume has exceeded 20 million for two consecutive years, and the performance is better than that of many national publishing houses.

Li Shifei attended the Mao Dun Literature Prize award ceremony today with an extremely proud expression on his face.

Many leaders of publishing organizations felt very uncomfortable. What were they so proud of? It was just that they had caught Lin Chaoyang, the cash cow!

Without him, your Huacheng Publishing House is nothing!
Tian Geng mingled with a group of publishing house leaders, and his mood was more complicated than others.

"The Chess Master" was published by their Yenching Publishing House at that time and sold very well. Later, they also published "Shutter Island". Both novels brought extremely considerable benefits to Yenching Publishing House.

Later, Lin Chaoyang came to them to discuss royalties payment, but they did not agree.

According to their thinking at the time, the current basic remuneration plus the remuneration based on the number of copies printed is already a very reasonable system. The royalty payment system is a product of capitalist society, so how could they agree to it so easily?

What's more, there is no document on it. If things get investigated, who can take the responsibility?
With such a cautious attitude, Yenching Publishing House rejected Lin Chaoyang's request and pushed him into the arms of Huacheng Publishing House.

Looking back now, this is undoubtedly one of the biggest mistakes made in the development history of Yenching Publishing House.

In just over two years, Lin Chaoyang contributed more than 20 million yuan to Huacheng Publishing House.

Such achievements not only shocked the publishing industry across the country, but also made them see the power of the market economy. It turned out that just one writer and two works could support the performance of a large publishing house.

In a culture that has advocated collectivism for decades, the role of the individual is infinitely magnified at this moment.

Since the China-Japan Go Tournament, the sales of the novel "The Go Master" have been rising as the competition has become more and more intense. At the end of the competition, the Chinese team won, and the sales boom of "The Go Master" was completely ignited.

According to statistics from Yenching Publishing House, in the year since the start of the China-Japan Go Tournament, "The Chess Master" novel has sold 160 million copies. If the sales in the previous three years are included, the cumulative sales of "The Chess Master" had exceeded 350 million copies before the start of the tournament.

After the tournament, the sales of "The Chess Master" skyrocketed, with daily sales reaching tens of thousands of copies, making it even more popular than when it was first published.

In just twenty days, nearly 90 copies were sold, and the total sales volume is already approaching 500 million copies.

According to the current trend, 600 million, 700 million, 800 million... I'm afraid they won't be obstacles.

The China-Japan Go Tournament is more than just a game. In addition to bringing honor to China, this victory has also stimulated the Chinese people's interest in the sport of Go. These people are all potential readers of "The Go Master".

In a few years, those national players who fight for the country may have grown up watching "The Chess Master".

Thinking of this, Tian Geng couldn't help but sigh. He really didn't know whether he should be happy or unhappy.

At 9:30 in the morning, the second Mao Dun Literature Prize Award Ceremony officially began. The process was no different from previous years, except that there were two fewer winning works this year than in previous years.

Only four people went on stage to receive their awards, namely Lin Chaoyang (Crossing the Guandong), Li Jun (The Yellow River Flows East), Zhang Jie (Heavy Wings), and Liu Xinwu (Bell and Drum Tower).

There is a reason for the ranking of the award list, which represents the number of votes these works received during the selection process.

In the official list of winners, Lin Chaoyang and "Crossing the Guandong" have always been ranked at the top, which naturally means that he was elected with a high vote during the award process.

Four people stood on the stage, Li Jun is 57 years old, Zhang Jie is 48 years old, and Liu Xinwu is 43 years old.

And Lin Chaoyang, 27 years old.

Among the award-winning writers on the stage, the second youngest is more than a generation older than him. The most important thing is that this is the second time Lin Chaoyang has won the award.

"Young man is so proud!"

This is the common voice of hundreds of guests in the audience.

Some people couldn't help but recall the same occasion and the same podium three years ago, when Lin Chaoyang was much younger.

They have reason to believe that there may never be such a young winner in the history of the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

A monster like this is rarely seen in a century!

After receiving their awards and delivering their speeches, Lin Chaoyang and several other award-winning writers walked off the stage, surrounded by congratulations.

Lin Chaoyang joked with Liu Xinwu, "How are you going to spend the bonus?"

The prize money for this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize is the same as the previous one, 3000 yuan. Although Lin Chaoyang often received royalties in the five or six figures, in 1985, 3000 yuan was already a huge sum of money for most people.

"Buy a color TV."

Liu Xinwu replied simply, and Zhang Jie said that she wanted to save it and earn interest, and the few of them talked and laughed.

Several award-winning writers are the absolute protagonists of today, but that doesn’t mean the award ceremony is over after they receive their awards.

The publication of a work is inseparable from the contributions of editors and publishers.

Among the four winning works of this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize, "Bell and Drum Tower" and "Heavy Wings" were published by People's Literature Publishing House, "The Yellow River Flows East" was published by Yenching Publishing House, and "Crossing the Guandong" was published by Huacheng Publishing House.

The leaders of the three publishing houses also came on stage to accept commendations, but their commendations were honorary in nature and there were no bonuses.

However, the editors of several award-winning works will receive material rewards from their units after winning the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Among these three publishing houses, Renwen Press is a national publishing unit and the highest temple of Chinese literature; Yenching Press, with the word "Yenching" in its name, is also a well-known large publishing house in China.

Only Huacheng Publishing House is located in a remote area and was established only in recent years.

Now that he can stand on the podium with these two publishing houses, Li Shifei feels proud but also has mixed emotions.

Huacheng Publishing House was established not long ago, is small in scale and has little reputation. Compared with those publishing houses and magazines in Yenching and Shanghai, it has inherent deficiencies.

In order to solicit manuscripts, the editors of Huacheng Publishing House usually offer greater sincerity and service than other publishing houses and magazines.

For example, during his last book signing event, Lin Chaoyang stayed at the five-star White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. That wasn’t really any special treatment; Huacheng Publishing House treated all of their promising writers with the same standard.

Lin Chaoyang only stayed for two nights. They asked writers to revise the manuscript, which sometimes took one or two months.

Without the advantage of time or place, the only thing they can work towards is harmony among people.

But even so, many of the manuscripts that writers give them are second-rate manuscripts of the writers themselves. For truly first-rate manuscripts, writers still give priority to top platforms such as "People's Literature", "Harvest" and People's Literature Publishing House.

Thinking of this, Li Shifei fixed his gaze on Lin Chaoyang in the audience, his eyes full of gratitude.

People only saw that in recent years, Huacheng Publishing House paid Lin Chaoyang extremely high royalties and was the first to implement royalty payments, but they did not expect that Lin Chaoyang would return the favor to Huacheng Publishing House.

Li Shifei thought proudly that this was a mutual achievement between Huacheng Publishing House and Lin Chaoyang.

There will be an award ceremony in the morning, and interviews and seminars in the afternoon.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang treated everyone to a dinner as usual. When everyone heard that he had recently had a daughter, they all gave him their blessings and gifts.

"What a coincidence, I remember that your eldest son was born when you won the Mao Dun Literature Prize that year, right?" Liu Xinwu asked.

"Yes. It just happened that he was born on the day we were having dinner."

Everyone was amazed. Li Jun joked, "Chaoyang has achieved both giving birth and winning awards. If she keeps up the good work, she might be able to win the award for the third time."

Everyone laughed.

After the guests left, Tao Yushu fed Yanyan and coaxed her to sleep.

Over there, Xiao Dongdong was still doing a rotation on the bed for a week and a half, as energetic as a donkey. Lin Chaoyang was afraid that he would bump into something, so he just watched him from the side.

"Go to sleep!" Tao Yushu came over with a stern face and said sternly.

Xiao Dongdong immediately got into bed tactfully, and did not forget to smile at Tao Yushu to show that he was very obedient.

"Close your eyes!"

He immediately closed his eyes tightly again.

She patted Xiao Dongdong with one hand and said to Lin Chaoyang, "You, don't spoil him too much. Haven't you noticed? He doesn't listen to you at all now."

"It's enough if there's one strict person in the family." Lin Chaoyang disagreed.

"So I have to play the bad guy, right?" Tao Yushu was dissatisfied.

"From now on, I will be the strict father and you will be the kind mother."

Tao Yushu hesitated for a moment and said, "Forget it. I'm afraid you'll indulge them too much."

Lin Chaoyang smiled silently. Strict father and kind mother or kind father and strict mother is not a division of roles, but because of different personalities.

Given Tao Yushu's strict personality, it is difficult to ask her to relax her requirements on her children.

Tao Yushu had been filming for less than ten minutes when the lively little Dongdong fell asleep, lying on the bed in various positions.

Tao Yushu suddenly said to Lin Chaoyang, "Hey, I have an idea."

"what idea?"

"How about we let Dongdong learn Go?"

In the past two months, various news reports on the China-Japan Go Challenge have been in full swing. The most direct impact of the victory in the competition is that the Go enthusiasm among the people has been completely boosted. Go classes in the Children's Palaces in various cities across the country have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and Go has begun to become the childhood nightmare of the post-80s generation of children.

"Why do you want him to learn Go?" Lin Chaoyang was afraid that Tao Yushu wanted to follow the trend, so he asked her this question.

"Don't you think your son is too energetic now? He never stops for a moment. Learning Go can help him cultivate his calmness."

Tao Yushu's reasons were very convincing. Lin Chaoyang thought for a moment and said, "Then let him learn. But he is only three years old. Isn't it too early for him to learn now?"

"Don't let him really learn. When you have time, play with him using the chess pieces so he can get familiar with them first."

"it is good."

A few days later, Tao Yumo sent back news from Hong Kong that the filming of "The Truman Show" had been completed.

The progress was more than half a month slower than the crew had originally expected, partly because of Ann Hui's meticulous polishing and partly because of the variable of Maggie Cheung.

Fortunately, there is plenty of time for post-production of the film, so this delay does not affect anything.

New Year’s Day had just passed, and Lin Chaoyang was reading a magazine that morning.

This issue of "New Sports" is full of news and information about the China-Japan Go Challenge Tournament. The first challenge tournament has just ended, and the second challenge tournament is already being prepared and is scheduled to start in March.

After the disastrous defeat last time, the Japanese team must be feeling very angry and want to get back at their team.

The most interesting article in this issue of the magazine is about the reaction of the Japanese team in their country after they lost the game in November.

According to the article, after the last game of the tournament was over, the news of the loss spread back to Japan and caused an uproar, with public opinion overwhelmingly criticizing those chess players who had originally been highly expected.

Among them, Go fans are naturally the most radical. Over the past month, there have been constant calls for the defeated Japanese players to commit seppuku to apologize.

Japanese Go, which has dominated Asia for more than half a century, lost to Chinese Go. The proud Japanese Go fans have never tolerated such humiliation!
Seppuku, seppuku must be committed!
It is naturally impossible to meet their absurd demands, but they should give an explanation to the people for losing the game. After all, the chess players made many bold statements before the game.

So after returning home, under the leadership of Fujisawa Hideyuki, Kato Masao and Kobayashi Koichi, the Japanese Go team collectively shaved their heads to show their sincerity in apology.

The article in "New Sports" exaggerated the incident of the Japanese team shaving their heads. The words were full of gloating, which made Lin Chaoyang couldn't help laughing.

Especially when he thought that Comrade Nie would continue to dominate the China-Japan Go competition in the next few years.

"I lose every time, and every time I pick a ball, when will it end?"

He said to himself in a joking tone.

Lin Chaoyang was reading a magazine with great interest when Du Feng, who had disappeared for several months, suddenly appeared.

As soon as he came, he first took out a cock while holding Xiao Dongdong, and then took out a toy gun. When Xiao Dongdong saw the gun, his eyes lit up.

"piu~piu~piu~"

Boys don't need to be taught how to use guns. This boy held the gun and imitated the plot in the TV series, even imitating the sound effects with his mouth.

"Good boy! From now on, you will inherit your uncle's glorious tradition." Du Feng said with a smile while touching Xiao Dongdong's head.

After receiving the gift, Xiao Dongdong was particularly affectionate towards Du Feng. Unfortunately, the child had little patience and ran to the yard to play after a while.

Then Du Feng took out a small gold lock and put it around Yanyan's neck.

"Oh my! My niece is so pretty, with watery eyes, a high nose bridge, and an oval face. She's a beauty at first glance. Sister, you're really good at giving birth!"

"Okay, stop flattering me and don't buy such expensive things next time."

"I don't buy it again and again, and mine isn't expensive."

The gold lock that Du Feng bought was of exquisite style. He had bought it in Hong Kong, where the price of gold was slightly lower than in the mainland.

"It's not expensive, but it's still a few thousand yuan." Tao Yushu scolded, then changed the subject and asked, "What have you been busy with these past few months?"

As soon as he heard her question, Du Feng immediately became alert.

"What else can I be busy with? I have to deal with the clothing city! After I came back from Hong Kong, I stayed in Guangdong for more than a month, and the supply channels have been preliminarily negotiated. These days since I came back, I have been working on building relationships, and I have also figured out the location for the clothing city."

"Okay, you're quite efficient." Tao Yushu laughed and asked, "So, you came here just to ask me for money?"

Du Feng nodded seriously, "Sister, the rest is up to you!"

Hearing him say this, Tao Yushu felt inexplicably excited.

After staying at home for nearly three months, she felt like she was almost rusty. The appearance of Du Feng was like a lifesaver to her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Transfer money!"

Tao Yushu waited for a long time, but Du Feng didn't say anything else. She asked unwillingly, "That's it?"

"Gone."

Tao Yushu's disappointment was beyond words.

"Oh, by the way..." Du Feng said suddenly.

Tao Yushu's eyes brightened up, "Anything else?"

"You will definitely have to show up a few times during the company registration and preparation process. Don't worry, it won't take long, it's just for show."

Du Feng was afraid that this would affect Tao Yushu's ability to take care of the children, but he didn't know that Ms. Tao was very eager for these jobs.

"It's okay. With such a large project like the clothing city, it's certain that you can't handle it all by yourself. I'm also a shareholder, so it's my responsibility to do some work."

Lin Chaoyang knew Tao Yushu's little thoughts clearly. After Du Feng left, he said in a faint voice: "Wife, our daughter is only two months old."

"I didn't say I was going to abandon my daughter. We have invested in the clothing store, so we can't just sit there and do nothing."

Tao Yushu's reasons were legitimate, but her flickering eyes revealed her true thoughts.

Lin Chaoyang was too lazy to expose her little thoughts and only made one request, "Then call Yumo back."

The couple looked at each other and felt a tacit understanding.

"That's right. The filming of The Truman Show has been completed, and she has nothing to do in Hong Kong for the time being."

At this time, Ms. Tao no longer cared about her sister's life or death. Besides, the pocket money was not from white-collar workers. It was time for Comrade Yumo to contribute to the family.

In the following days, Tao Yushu actively discussed the construction of the clothing city with Du Feng, which was completely different from his original attitude of only wanting to make a financial investment.

Lin Chaoyang was afraid that Du Feng would think too much, so he could only explain to him: "Your sister doesn't mean anything else, she just can't stay idle at home."

"Brother-in-law, look at what you are saying. You and my sister already contributed money to this business."

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, a special industrial and commercial registration was carried out at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Xicheng District, Yanjing City.

On April 1980, 4, China's first Sino-foreign joint venture, Yanjing Aviation Catering Co., Ltd., was approved for establishment.

Along with Yanjing Aviation Catering Co., Ltd., many other joint ventures were approved, including China Schindler Elevator Co., Ltd., XJ Tianshan Woolen Textile Co., Ltd., and Yanjing Jianguo Hotel.

These joint ventures have one thing in common: the foreign investment partners are all state-owned enterprises.

In the past few years, joint ventures have continued to emerge in various provinces and cities across the country.

It was not until 1983 that the first multinational automobile company to enter China reaped great success in Shanghai, with the successful assembly of Germany's Volkswagen's Santana car. This piece of news had a very strong implication and symbolism at the time.

In 84, the state relaxed restrictions on private enterprises.

The special thing about today's industrial and commercial registration is that the object of this foreign investment cooperation is not the state-owned enterprise that has dominated the domestic economy in the past, but a private enterprise.

This is the first joint venture between foreign capital and private enterprise in Yanjing.

According to the domestic Sino-foreign joint venture law, the form of the joint venture is a limited liability company, and the investment proportion of the foreign joint venturer shall not be less than 25%.

The newly established joint venture is named Yanjing Asia-Europe Fashion Co., Ltd., with the Chinese and foreign partners each holding 50% of the shares and a registered capital of RMB 100 million.

"Congratulations, Ms. Tao and Mr. Du!"

After the industrial and commercial registration procedures were completed, the head of the district industrial and commercial bureau expressed his congratulations to Tao Yushu and Du Feng.

Although the investment scale of Asia-Europe Fashion is not large, it is the first joint venture between Hong Kong capital and private enterprises in China. This is also a significant political achievement of their Xicheng District Industrial and Commercial Department.

The Industrial and Commercial Bureau even specially invited reporters from the Economic Daily and the Yanjing Daily to report on the incident.

Today, Tao Yushu is dressed like a beautiful young woman in Hong Kong style, which makes Du Feng beside her look a bit rustic, but it just fits the personalities of both of them.

One is a female entrepreneur from Hong Kong, and the other is a self-employed individual from the mainland.

Tao Yushu was followed by a reluctant little follower. Tao Yumo was transferred back from Hong Kong by her sister a few days ago and had been living a difficult life ever since.

Xiao Dongdong, who just turned three, is lively and energetic all day long.

Now there was another little girl who could only eat, drink, defecate, urinate and cry. Tao Yumo, who had lived a comfortable life in Hong Kong for half a year, could not adapt to such a huge gap for a while and almost became depressed.

She wanted to go back to work, but she was reluctant to give up the pocket money Tao Yushu gave her.

Before, she was worried that Tao Yushu would reduce her pocket money after she came back. Now, she just felt that the pocket money was still too little.

Seeing Tao Yushuo accepting the interview from the reporter in a very elegant manner, Tao Yumo couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Black-hearted female capitalist!
After the interview, the two families came out of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. Tao Yumo asked Du Feng, "What else are we going to do?"

Du Feng said proudly: "You have to call me Chairman now, Director Tao!"

Tao Yumo rolled his eyes at him and said, "Okay, Chairman Du, what are we going to do now?"

"Let's go! Let's go see our Asia-Europe Clothing City!"

Du Feng waved his hand and got into the car. Two Toyota Crowns, one black and one white, arrived at the Xidan Shopping Mall standing on Xidan North Street.

The current Xidan Shopping Mall is a new building built by the employees of Xidan Shopping Mall themselves in 1972. Its area is four times larger than that in early years, and its business area has reached 1.8 square meters.

This number may seem ordinary in later generations, but today it is the largest department store in Yanjing.

The five-story shopping mall faces east and west and lies across Xidan North Street. It is the most imposing building on the entire street.

The three of them stood in front of the Xidan Mall. Du Feng pointed at the mall and said, "The second and third floors, two floors with an area of ​​1000 square meters, will be our Asia-Europe Clothing City in the future."

The business area of ​​1000 square meters is far from the 2000 square meters that Du Feng boasted about at the beginning.

However, there is always a difference between ideal and reality. Xidan Shopping Mall is a state-owned shopping mall, and it is not easy for Du Feng and his team to open their own clothing store here.

Since the reform and opening up, Xidan Shopping Mall began to implement the contracting system. In principle, any enterprise or individual can sign a contract with Xidan Shopping Mall.

But in fact, without some connections, you can forget about renting a counter in such a shopping mall where every inch of land is valuable. What's more, Du Feng wants to rent a business area of ​​thousands of square meters. The coordination work involved is not something that ordinary people can do.

(End of this chapter)