Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 469: Thoroughly Cruel

After receiving Lin Chaoyang's call, Li Shifei was overjoyed and rushed to Yanjing like wildfire.

Nearly a year and a half has passed since Lin Chaoyang completed the manuscript of his last novel. If it were another writer, writing a novel in a year and a half would be extremely efficient.

But Lin Chaoyang is different. For a writer who finished writing "Crossing the Guandong" in less than a year, this is simply a snail's pace, a waste of artistic life, and a huge crime.

However, Li Shifei only complained in private. As soon as he saw Lin Chaoyang, his expression changed again.

"Oh, Chaoyang, your efficiency is really high. It only took you a short time to finish the novel."

Li Shifei held the manuscript in his hands, his tone was so eager and his expression was so sincere.

After the two chatted about the writing of the novel for a while, Lin Chaoyang asked Li Shifei to stay in the west courtyard first and talk about it after he finished reading the manuscript.

During lunch and casual conversation, Li Shifei asked Lin Chaoyang: "Are you familiar with Lu Yao?"

Because he holds cultural salons all the year round, Lin Chaoyang has always been very popular in the literary world, although he seldom socializes actively.

"Not bad. We write occasionally, but we haven't been in touch this year. What's wrong?"

Li Shifei sighed and said, "Old Xie from our publishing house brought back a novel from Xi'an. It was written by Lu Yao. I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm a little unsure about his novel."

The Old Xie he mentioned is Xie Wangxin, the deputy editor-in-chief of Huacheng. Some time ago, on the recommendation of critic Li Bingyin, he went to Xi'an to retrieve Lu Yao's new manuscript.

"That novel...it seems like Lu Yao has devoted all his energy in recent years to it," said Lin Chaoyang.

The last time Lin Chaoyang contacted Lu Yao was last year. Lu Yao wrote to him at that time, mainly to share the joy of being appointed as a member of Group D of Shaanxi Literary Association.

The letter also mentioned the novel he was preparing to write. Because it was a large-scale novel, he had been preparing for the past two years, reading, collecting materials, and experiencing life...

The novel currently being written is "Ordinary World", which made Lu Yao famous in later generations.

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang seemed to know something about the novel, Li Shifei quickly asked, "What do you think of the novel?"

"I only got the general idea of ​​the story from the letter, and I haven't read the specific content of the novel, so how can I explain it well?
Haven't you read the novel? You should be able to judge what is good and what is bad, right? "

Li Shifei hesitated. "The novel... purely in terms of content, it's well written. It has its advantages, but its disadvantages are also obvious. You haven't read it, so I can't explain it clearly. Now I have a few questions."

"what is the problem?"

“First, the writing style of Lu Yao’s novel is a bit outdated. This is not just the evaluation of one person, but the evaluation of most people who have read it;

Second, this novel had been rejected by Contemporary Magazine and Writers Publishing House for the same reason mentioned above.

Third, his novel consists of three parts, and only the first part has been completed. It is said that it may take up to one million words.

This is one million words! Such a huge project..."

When Li Shifei said this, the worry on his face was evident.

Lu Yao has only completed one third of his novel, and no one can predict what his last two parts will be like.

If Huacheng wants to publish this novel, it will inevitably take certain risks.

The reason why Huacheng dared to publish Crossing the Guandong in two issues was because Lin Chaoyang gave the editorial department the entire manuscript.

Furthermore, Lin Chaoyang has accumulated rich experience in writing novels over the years.

But Lu Yao is different. Before this new novel, the longest work he had created was only "Life", which has 130,000 words.

The difficulty of jumping from 130,000 words to one million words in one go can be said to have increased exponentially.

For writers, this is a huge test, and the concerns of Li Shifei and others are understandable.

"Of the three points you mentioned, the first two are not important. What do you mean by outdated?

In the past two years, various foreign literary thoughts and expression methods have flooded the world, like a revolving lantern, dazzling and overwhelming.

Everyone is afraid that they are not cutting-edge or fashionable enough, and will be called old-fashioned and outdated.

But the question is, among all the new trends that so many people are pursuing, how many of them will last? I think this is a question mark.

Speaking of Lu Yao's creative style, his creative method is typical realism.

Although I do not completely agree that this method and route should completely dominate our literary world, I think it is also extremely undesirable to deny this creative method just because it is not fashionable enough.

If you reject manuscripts simply because they are "rustic", "outdated", or "old-fashioned" instead of considering the most fundamental content, you may miss out on many excellent works."

Lin Chaoyang's tone was very serious when he said this, but it could not be said to be criticism or condemnation. Li Shifei also understood that he had been advocating "root-seeking literature" in recent years and did not firmly believe in those things of Western modernism.

Moreover, his creative style has always been varied and flexible, never confined to one form, and therefore often gives people a bright and shocking feeling.

Li Shifei could also hear from Lin Chaoyang's words that he admired Lu Yao.

"What about the third point?" Li Shifei asked.

Lin Chaoyang spread his hands and said, "There's nothing we can do about this. If you want to publish, you have to trust the author. Without trust, nothing you say will work."

Li Shifei said dissatisfiedly: "You are just speaking for Lu Yao!"

"Isn't that nonsense? He is a writer, and so am I. We are both the workhorses of the publishing house, so we are naturally on the same front."

Li Shifei burst out laughing.

After lunch, Li Shifei stopped chatting with Lin Chaoyang and ran back to the West Courtyard to review the manuscript.

Tao Yushu went to the telegraph building to make a phone call in the morning and came back in the afternoon. This was her habit after returning to Yanjing. She would call Tao Yumo every week to find out about the company and the crew.

A few days after the couple passed away, "A Better Tomorrow" was released in Hong Kong, and the final box office was fixed at HK$3692 million, which was more than HK$ million more than later.

The film is still being shown in other overseas markets, and it has performed very well in the countries and regions where it is currently being shown. Cinema City estimates that the film's overseas revenue may set a new record for their company.

Even the overseas revenue of "The Truman Show" is likely to be no match for "A Better Tomorrow".

Tao Yumo also mentioned that Tsui Hark came to the company more than a week ago and wanted to talk to Lin Chaoyang again. It seemed that he was still unwilling to give up and wanted Lin Chaoyang to continue writing the script of "A Better Tomorrow 2".

The more successful "A Better Tomorrow" became, the greedier he and Cinema City became. The greedier they were, the more they would worry about gains and losses.

They want to achieve the level and revenue of the first film or even exceed it, but they don’t want to damage its reputation.

"I told Yumo not to pay attention to them. Your feathers are much more valuable than the estimated box office, and Cinema City can't possibly give most of the profits to us."

Lin Chaoyang nodded in agreement with Tao Yushu's words, and asked, "What else did you say?"

“‘The Romantic Comedy’ will be finished in a dozen days. I have to go back to discuss the cinema chain with Golden Harvest in the post-production stage.

They will definitely reserve the Christmas and New Year schedules for their own blockbusters, so I have to fight for a better schedule."

"You can contact Yindu when you go back. It should be easy for us to get on the Shuangnan Line. You can also try to contact Shaw Brothers and get on as many as you can."

"Okay." Tao Yushu responded, and then said, "There is another big event in Hong Kong recently."

"what's up?"

"The United Exchange officially opened. A grand banquet was held at the Hung Hom Stadium. The presidents of major international stock exchanges were invited to celebrate. All the wealthy and famous people in Hong Kong attended. The celebration was broadcast live to London via satellite."

Tao Yushu is now experiencing the ups and downs of the business world and pays close attention to financial information. In her words, Lin's Pictures may also go public in the future.

Before 1986, there were four stock exchanges in Hong Kong, namely the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Far East Exchange, the Gold and Silver Exchange and the Kowloon Stock Exchange.

The four stock exchanges were all established after World War II. The benefit is that they promoted the localization of securities trading, broadened the channels for Hong Kong local companies to go public and raise funds, and attracted active investors to enter the market.

But the disadvantages are also obvious. The coexistence of four exchanges and four associations, each fighting on its own, coupled with imperfect securities regulations and weak supervision, has led to unhealthy competition.

Over the years, a large number of companies have been listed on the Hong Kong securities market. Many problems such as being established and listed in the same year, falsifying accounts, misreporting assets, insider trading, and varying suspension periods have caused frequent market chaos.

This chaos was also one of the reasons for the Hong Kong stock market crash in 1973. After the crash, the government proposed the idea of ​​merging the four associations.

After more than ten years of efforts, the four stock exchanges finally merged into the Hong Kong United Exchange, and held its opening ceremony on October 10 this year.

Listening to Tao Yushu's words, Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said, "That Principal Li is really..."

Lin Chaoyang did not say the words "ambitious".

"Principal Li" is Li Fook-sz, the chairman of the United Exchange of Hong Kong after the merger of the four Hong Kong stock exchanges.

Li Fook-shiu was born into the Li family, one of the four major families in Hong Kong. He is the youngest son of his father Li Guanchun and has shown outstanding financial talent since he was a child.

In 1969, he took the lead in establishing the Far East Stock Exchange, breaking the monopoly of Hong Kong securities market by foreign brokers.

His personal wealth has also increased over the years, reaching HK$70 to HK$80 billion, ranking him among the top ten richest people in Hong Kong.

If we take into account the family wealth behind it, it would be even more terrifying.

Hong Kong people have always been happy to pry into the privacy of the rich and famous, and everyone knows that Li Fook-sz is a flamboyant person.

The establishment of the United Exchange brought Li Fuzhao to the pinnacle of power in his life. He was full of pride and confidence.

"…It's a good thing after all. At least it's a little harder for those black-hearted capitalists to exploit the common people than before."

"I don't think so. The United Exchange has created such a big fanfare, and I don't know how many ordinary people will rush in with their savings accumulated over the years. The more people enter, the easier it will be for them to make profits.

The reason you haven't been cut is simply that the sickle hasn't hit your head yet."

Lin Chaoyang joked: "Mr. Tao's understanding of the securities market is getting deeper and deeper. Since it is said that it is a place to cut leeks, why do you still say that you want to go public?"

"We are not raising money to make money. If the company really wants to grow bigger in the future, financing is an essential step."

The couple chatted for a while, and Tao Yushu set a date to return to Hong Kong.

Two days later, Li Shifei appeared in front of Lin Chaoyang again, with red eyes, disheveled and messy hair, unkempt, but extremely excited.

"Chaoyang, I've finished reading the novel!"

As soon as he saw Lin Chaoyang, Li Shifei almost shouted this sentence, as if his heart was full of pent-up enthusiasm.

"how do you feel?"

"it is good!!!"

Lin Chaoyang waited for a long time, and Li Shifei excitedly uttered a word.

"End?"

"Of course I'm not done yet. I'm just organizing my thoughts."

Li Shifei pulled Lin Chaoyang to sit down and asked seriously, "Chaoyang, I feel that this novel is somewhat similar to The Truman Show."

"Your feeling is correct. We do have something in common."

Hearing this, Li Shifei's eyes lit up.

“In a broader sense, the core of these two novels is actually criticizing the cruelty of capitalism.

The difference is that The Truman Show uses absurdity as decoration and the pursuit of freedom as a cover, while this novel faces the bloody reality directly. "

Li Shifei nodded repeatedly as he listened to Lin Chaoyang's words, "Well said! Your novel is indeed cruel. The cruelty between the lines makes people feel like it is drilling into your bones. And..."

Li Shifei stroked the manuscript in his hand with admiration, his eyes falling on the title of the book.

“After reading the first half, I thought the title of your book was about Lao Jin’s family. It was only after reading the latter part that I realized that it was actually about the chairman’s family, or the bourgeoisie.

Considering the title of the book, the twist in the later part is really shocking.”

After he finished speaking, he looked up at Lin Chaoyang and said with emotion: "It seems that living in Hong Kong has indeed brought you many different experiences and creative materials. Although the content of this novel is similar to "The Truman Show", the style is unique, dark and cruel, completely different from your previous style." Li Shifei attributed the change in the style of the new novel to life in Hong Kong. Lin Chaoyang had to admit that writers can use their imaginations.

"…The style of your novel is so unique that it makes people feel so depressed after reading it. The Truman Show is like a pill coated with sugar. You can only feel its bitterness after you eat it and chew it over and over again.

But this was completely cruel, and when I think back on it now, I feel an indescribable depression..."

Li Shifei expounded his views on Lin Chaoyang's new work in an unsystematic manner. The word "cruel" was mentioned repeatedly, proving that he had indeed seen through the core of this novel.

"I can't say how successful your novel will be in the end, but I think it will stand the test of time."

At the end, Li Shifei's tone was serious.

In the context of literary people, "being able to stand the test of time" is a very high evaluation. What kind of works can stand the test of time?

Definitely those classics.

Comparing Lin Chaoyang's new work with classic masterpieces, isn't this evaluation high enough?

"That's exaggerated, that's exaggerated!" Lin Chaoyang waved his hands.

Li Shifei smiled easily, "I don't have time to flatter you, this is my true feeling. After all, I have been an editor for more than 30 years, so I still have some vision."

Lin Chaoyang asked jokingly: "Why can't you read Lu Yao's book well?"

"How dare you say that. You said those techniques of expression are unimportant, but your novels are getting more and more ornate!

I think it's good, can I say it's bad against my conscience? "

Lin Chaoyang was speechless. Is it because I wrote a good novel or is it my fault?

Li Shifei added: "Your novel has many advantages. It can be said that there are disadvantages, but they are very few. But Lu Yao's novel is different. Its advantages and disadvantages are very obvious, so everyone is not optimistic about it."

"Then think about it from another angle. Real readers only look at the advantages of a novel. Who would look at the disadvantages? Only those critics who love to find faults would pick on the disadvantages."

Li Shifei was suddenly stunned by Lin Chaoyang's tricky angle. He sat there thinking for a long time and felt that it seemed to make sense.

It is true that "An Ordinary World" has its shortcomings. The writing style is old-fashioned and outdated, the narrative is verbose, and the author often inserts long paragraphs of discussion from a God's perspective.

If you don't have the patience to watch, you will be defeated in no time.

Under such circumstances, the editors of Contemporary Magazine and Writers Publishing House gave up on the novel.

But Xie Wangxin gave Li Shifei a heads-up after receiving the manuscript, so he was very patient with "Ordinary World".

After reading it, I found that this novel is not that bad at all, it is even very good.

His current hesitation is largely due to his obsession with the shortcomings of "Ordinary World". It would be great if those shortcomings could be corrected!
But Li Shifei is an old editor, and he also understands that some novels can be revised, but some cannot.

The content of "Ordinary World" is a whole, and it also reflects Lu Yao's personal thoughts and will.

Even some changes in chapters and paragraphs cannot eliminate its shortcomings and may even make its strengths mediocre.

After thinking for a moment, Li Shifei stopped worrying about "Ordinary World" and instead sought Lin Chaoyang's opinion.

"Chaoyang, would you like to publish this novel in our Huacheng first..."

As soon as he said this, he saw Lin Chaoyang shaking his head. He immediately added: "We can give you a generous fee of one thousand words."

"How generous?"

Although he had made up his mind not to publish it in the magazine, Lin Chaoyang still couldn't help but ask.

"Two hundred yuan per thousand words, how about that?" Li Shifei quoted a price, staring at Lin Chaoyang with burning eyes.

Two hundred yuan for a thousand words?
Lin Chaoyang's new work has a full text of 300,000 words, and the price is 200 yuan per thousand words, which is 60,000 yuan. This price is indeed very sincere.

Nowadays, most writers are already very lucky if they can earn three to five thousand yuan for publishing a novel.

"not so good."

"Think about it again. In fact, publishing in a magazine will also help the influence of the novel ferment and help with future sales."

It cannot be said that what Li Shifei said is completely unreasonable, but that is only true for a less famous writer.

At Lin Chaoyang's stage, he has no worries about lack of readers, regardless of whether he is published in a magazine or not.

"I've told you before that novels will no longer be published in magazines, so don't waste your time on them."

Lin Chaoyang's decisive refusal made Li Shifei's face full of disappointment. He wanted the first release rights of Lin Chaoyang's new work just to help "Huacheng" increase its sales and influence.

He now misses the time when "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong" were published in "Huacheng". He was so happy, but unfortunately this happiness was too short-lived.

Li Shifei could only comfort himself that even if the magazine could not be published, at least it was published by Huacheng Publishing House.

He added, “When it’s published, I plan to organize a seminar on the work with a few review magazines.”

"It's up to you. I may not be here."

"I'll let you know in advance, so please arrange your time and try to come if you can. After all, it's your novel.

There is no point in holding a seminar on a work if the writer is not here. You are not gone. "

"Bah, bah, bah! You're cursing me just because I don't participate, right?"

Li Shifei was merciless in his words, forcing Lin Chaoyang to agree. The next day, Li Shifei returned to Guangzhou with the manuscript.

On the second Saturday of October, "The Truman Show" finally landed in cinemas in various cities across the country, nearly five months after winning awards overseas.

On Sunday, Tao Yucheng first arranged for the whole family to go to the Capital Cinema to watch a movie.

Ever since "The Truman Show" won the award at Cannes, he has been bragging about the movie whenever he chats with his colleagues.

There's nothing he can do about it, since this movie that won a big award abroad was written by his brother-in-law, he's proud!

After watching the movie, the family went to Sichuan Restaurant to eat Sichuan cuisine.

During the dinner, Tao Yucheng talked about the release of "The Truman Show" with some regret in his words.

"It would have been better if your movie had been released earlier. Many video halls already have the tapes, which means you've lost a large number of viewers."

Tao Yushu is currently making a movie and is very sensitive to issues like piracy, so he couldn't help but ask his eldest brother a few more questions.

Tao Yucheng's video hall business is not as popular as it was in the first year of its opening, but it is still profitable. The money comes easily, and he is too lazy to try new ways.

Nowadays, there are few video halls on the street that show domestic films. Most of them are Hong Kong films, with a small number of Japanese, European and American films.

Sometimes, those foreign movies don’t even have dubbing or subtitles, so the video hall will have a small blackboard specifically for writing a summary of the content.

The dialogues have to be guessed, but the audience still enjoys watching it.

Movie piracy in 1986 was not as rampant as in the s, but nearly five months was enough time for pirated videotapes of "The Truman Show" to reach the mainland.

Starting from August and September, pirated videotapes of "The Truman Show" appeared in video halls on the streets of Yanjing.

Listening to Tao Yucheng's words, Tao Yushu felt a little worried, but Lin Chaoyang was not worried at all.

Firstly, the box office of the movie has nothing to do with him. Secondly, this is not the 1990s and movie ticket prices are high, forcing ordinary people to watch pirated copies.

The ticket prices for video halls and movie theaters are similar, but they take a differentiated approach.

The cinemas mainly show domestic films and foreign films, while the video halls mainly show Hong Kong films. Everyone lives in peace and harmony.

"But it doesn't matter. I saw that there were still so many people watching this movie in the cinema. After all, it won a big award," said Tao Yucheng.

Tao Yushu recalled the crowded audience in the cinema and felt that he was being a little too worried.

Two days later, Tao Yushu returned to Hong Kong to inspect the quality of "The Romantic Comedy" and arrange its release. Lin Chaoyang stayed in Beijing to enjoy the short-lived autumn.

As soon as Tao Yushu left, Du Feng ran over.

When they met, Lin Chaoyang almost didn't recognize him.

“You ate yeast?”

"Brother-in-law, I'm just drinking with people."

"Take it easy. You don't make all your money in one day. How much weight have you gained?"

"More than twenty pounds."

When Du Feng was in the army, he was a cultural soldier. Although he played the trumpet, he managed to maintain a pretty good figure.

He has become visibly stronger after retiring from the army a few years ago. I haven't seen him for a few months this year, and he looks like a balloon, having gained a lot of weight.

He is less than 1.75 meters tall, and weighs at least 170 to 180 kilograms.

"Well, the weather in Yanjing has been good recently, so I invited the merchants from Guangzhou to travel to Yanjing and drink with them every day."

Du Feng's words may seem like a complaint, but in fact they are just showing off.

"It seems like business has been good in the past few months?" Lin Chaoyang asked casually.

When it comes to business, Du Feng can't stop smiling.

"Not bad, not bad, it's growing steadily. Now our reputation in Yanjing City has been established. When ordinary people talk about buying clothes, the first thing they think of is our Asia-Europe Clothing City."

The clothing city's business is booming. In addition to making money, what makes Du Feng even more proud is the reputation of the clothing city among the people.

In the past few months, he has stood very straight in front of his father.

Doing business, what's wrong with doing business? Which ordinary people in Yanjing don't praise our conscientious merchants?

"In the first two months, our daily turnover exceeded 50,000 yuan. Winter is coming soon, and winter clothes are selling well. The unit price is also high. Our daily sales are heading towards 70,000 yuan. I estimate that this trend will continue until the end of the year..."

Du Feng became excited as he was calculating the bills for Lin Chaoyang.

It has been exactly half a year since the clothing city opened, and its cumulative turnover has exceeded 900 million.

Next is a long winter. The unit price of clothing is high, and the reputation of the clothing city has also improved. The turnover will only be higher than the first half of the year, not lower. The annual turnover is definitely expected to exceed 2000 million yuan.

This figure not only easily meets Xidan Mall's turnover requirements and profit and tax standards for the clothing city, but will also bring Du Feng profits beyond his expectations.

"Six million! Brother-in-law, I conservatively estimate that we can earn at least six million yuan by the beginning of next spring!"

Du Feng was like a child who had just received a certificate of honor and was asking for praise, so Lin Chaoyang had to praise him a few words.

"Well done! The clothing store has such good business in its first year. You have managed it well.

If we continue to grow at this pace, we should be able to make over 10 million yuan in profits in two years.”

Du Feng became even more excited after receiving Lin Chaoyang's praise.

"I feel there will be hope next year. Brother-in-law, if business is still this good in the first half of next year, I plan to open a clothing store in Shijiazhuang."

"It's up to you to decide."

Although Lin Chaoyang and his wife have invested money in the clothing city business, they are just hands-off managers and don't want to worry about these things.

Du Feng added: "Brother-in-law, I have another idea."

(End of this chapter)