1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 142: Final Decision
Three days later, Zhang Dening returned from Inner Mongolia after collecting manuscripts.

Before she had even seen Jiang Xian's manuscript, she had already heard her colleagues in the editorial department praising the manuscript.

“It is written with great sincerity, and everyone can relate to it after reading it.”

"The language is so tight and beautiful! The creative techniques are so mature."

"Liu Heng even cried!"

This made Zhang Dening feel completely incredible.

She had discussed this manuscript with Jiang Xian and had read a little bit of the beginning, but she never imagined that his short story would be so good that it made Liu Heng cry.

"Where's the manuscript?"

"It's with Liu Heng, and he's too embarrassed to see anyone now. I'll get it for you." Editor Chen Shichong said with a smile.

Zhang Dening put down his shoulder bag, tidied up the table briefly, and took out from his bag a manuscript he had collected from the Inner Mongolian writer Lin Er, titled "The Waist Knife and the Wolf," a story about the grassland.

This was a manuscript she had selected from Lin Er's several saved manuscripts. She had already read it on the train and gave her own approval opinion. She would submit it to her superiors together with "Letter from a Stranger" later.

"De Ning." Chen Shichong handed her a not-too-thick manuscript. "It's more than 30,000 words. Please take a look. If you haven't read it yet, we would like to send it to Comrade Yang Mo for you."

"Then I'll review it quickly." Zhang Dening took over the novel with great anticipation, which would win the praise of all the editors. This was also a manuscript that she had been thinking about for a long time.

"A letter from an unknown woman."

Zhang Dening was quickly attracted by the words on the manuscript.

She read it word by word, and it took her nearly half an hour to finish the novel of more than 30,000 words.

"call--"

When she raised her head again, the bright morning sunlight shone through the office window, casting a layer of clean light on the table.

She really couldn't describe the feeling in her heart. She felt lost and the bright scenery around her seemed a little distorted. All the noise in her ears also made her feel out of place.

"How is it?" Fu Yonglin had stood behind her without her knowing.

Zhang Dening was in a trance for a while before he calmed down and nodded slightly, "It's really well written."

After saying this, I realized that my throat was choked up.

Look at the line on the paper:

[I love you so much. I believe that even if I die, I will still be able to stand up from the bed and follow you when I hear your call.]
What kind of infatuated love is this!
Zhang Dening vaguely felt that the brilliance of this article was enough to make her ignore its lack of thoughtfulness.

I read this short story twice and still found it full of charm.

But it was already noon.

Her colleagues urged her to go to lunch, so she had to hold the pen and quickly write a line of review comments.

After lunch, Yang Mo came to her seat in the office with the help of her secretary.

As soon as she sat down, the leader of the novel group, Zhao Jinjiu, handed two manuscripts to her desk, "The Knife and the Wolf" and "Letter from a Stranger Woman".

She put on her reading glasses and carefully looked at the review comments on the two manuscripts. The editor of the first review was named Zhang Dening, and the review comments she wrote for both manuscripts were very high.

Yang Mo picked up "The Knife and the Wolf" and read it once. His eyes lit up and he nodded slightly.

This novel has strong artistic quality and a good story. It features a protagonist who is not a worker, peasant or soldier, which is truly thought-provoking.

After thinking for a while, he marked next to the manuscript: Schedule it to be published as the first item in the next issue, so that it will be eye-catching.

Putting down "The Knife and the Wolf", she picked up another manuscript, "Letter from a Stranger".

Zhang Dening gave the following review comments for this manuscript: "The amazingly sincere tone, original personal theme, and unique expressiveness made me extremely shocked after reading it!"

With such high evaluation, Yang Mo naturally had to read it carefully.

Outside the window, the sunset glow gradually filled the sky. The sounds of scrambling could be faintly heard from the court downstairs. The light on the table became dimmer, but Yang Mo's eyes became brighter.

"What a letter!"

I originally thought that the article "The Knife and the Wolf" was a rare good article, but I didn't expect that this article "Letter from a Stranger Woman" was even better than that one!

She thought for a moment, crossed out the line of annotation she had just left on "The Sword and the Wolf", and then said to her secretary:

"Go and call this editor over."

After a while, Zhang Dening came to her big office and greeted her.

"Comrade Yang Mo, hello!"

"Comrade Zhang Dening, I have read the two manuscripts you submitted." Yang Mo said with a smile.

"How do you feel?"

"They are both good. Of course, I personally prefer Letter from an Unknown Woman."

Zhang Dening chuckled, "I'm afraid your feelings are also the feelings of many comrades in the editorial department. Although it may seem a bit impolite to say this, in comparison, I personally think that "Letter from a Strange Woman" is better."

"This author is a good writer. I would like to hear his thoughts when he created this work. This kind of writing style is rare in China, but it is more common abroad."

"You don't know him? This writer is Jiang Xian, a new writer who has recently emerged in the domestic literary world." Zhang Dening introduced: "I talked to him about his creative ideas, and he said that he got the idea of ​​this topic because he received a letter from his girlfriend."

"Is it really like this?" Yang Mo was surprised, with a bit more appreciation in his eyes.

"I thought this was a work by a female writer. Such delicate psychological descriptions are so much like a woman's weeping and complaining. How could it be written by a male writer?
Do you know him? Call him over and let’s talk about the manuscript.”

"That's no problem." Zhang Dening agreed immediately.

Jiang Xian received the call and came over quickly to meet Yang Mo, the new person in charge of "Beijing Literature and Art".

"Comrade Yang Mo, hello."

After the greetings, Yang Mo said with a smile: "You are the male writer who understands women best that I have ever met."

Jiang Xian was stunned for a moment, then explained, "Teacher Zhang Jie and I often exchange ideas about literature, and I learned some delicate and crisp expressions from her."

"Zhang Jie is a female writer who has published her works several times in our Beijing Literature and Art magazine," Zhang Dening introduced.

Yang Mo nodded. "You and your novel remind me of Nabokov."

Vladimir Nabokov is a Russian-American writer, whose representative work is "Lolita".

"You're too polite. I'm still some distance away from him." Jiang Xian said politely and calmly.

Yang Mo was secretly surprised, not only because Jiang Xian knew Nabokov, but also because of his calmness.

Being neither arrogant nor impatient is a rare quality.

The three of them talked about the manuscript for another half an hour before Yang Mo made the final decision.

“Although this manuscript has some minor flaws, it is generally a very good manuscript.”

"Before the editorial board discusses it, at least I think it can be published."

(End of this chapter)