Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 258 ONE PIECE
Seeing everyone's eyes focused on her, Shan Juanzi smiled and said, "I am a writer. I don't know much else, but I know a little bit about culture. What this young man just said about 'beauty', 'truth' and 'purity' has some truth to it, but is also a bit biased.

Although Shilei Village has retained relatively primitive ethnic village features and customs, and can attract some experienced hikers and folk lovers, the tourism is aimed at ordinary tourists. What they want to see is that the folk village shows its own cultural characteristics and gets a different experience in the shortest time.

We just took a tour of the village. The houses in Shire Village are dilapidated, the smells are mixed, the roads are rugged, and there are not many local villagers who wear ethnic costumes on a daily basis. There are also no special decorations at the doorsteps or around the houses like many villages we have visited before.

If you need to live here for two months like you did to appreciate the cultural characteristics of Shilei Village, I'm afraid few tourists would be willing to travel all the way here. It would be better to let Shilei Village continue to maintain its original appearance and become a research base for ethnic culture.

This may be better for the village and the villagers. If a large number of tourists come in, it will destroy the appearance of this place. Do you think it makes sense?"

These views are indeed quite provocative and have won the approval of many people. One person echoed: "What Teacher Juanzi said makes sense. Besides, Shilei Village lacks the experience and resources to receive tourists. You are just an example, young man."

The village chief didn't know how to refute for a moment, and could only look at Zhang Chao with eager eyes. Zhang Chao sighed inwardly, knowing that his days of seclusion in Shilei Village seemed to be coming to an end. However, starting the countdown to leaving in this way was a mixed bag.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Everything Teacher Shan Juanzi said is right, but it smells a bit too much of money." Before the people with changed faces could speak, Zhang Chao continued to speak like a machine gun:
"I heard from Accountant Liang that this inspection is to pave the way for the national ministries to select 'Famous Historical and Traditional Cultural Villages'? That's right, the experts are here to see the 'history', 'tradition' and 'culture', not to see how suitable this place is for tourism.

Although I have not seen the selection criteria, it is not difficult to tell from the name "Hearing the strings and knowing the elegant meaning" that the experts will definitely evaluate based on how much distinctive culture the village has retained and what kind of traditional style it can present.

This is not something that the local villagers can just get away with by wearing some traditional clothes and hanging a sheep or cow skull on the door after receiving a sudden notice.

I know that once such villages are selected, there will be relevant special funds and grants to maintain and improve the infrastructure of these villages and improve the living standards of the villagers - tourism development is not the only purpose of the selection!
Of course, improved infrastructure will certainly be beneficial to tourism development, but this is a result after the evaluation. We cannot use a result that has not yet appeared to infer the cause.

So these views you mentioned have made two big mistakes - the first is the inversion of cause and effect, and the second is generalizing from a single case. I am afraid that it is not optimistic to prepare for the reception of experts according to this idea.

I didn't expect that as a writer, you only think about how to receive guests... and tourists. The fact that there are few tourists in Shilei Village just proves that it is the most suitable place to be rated as a 'famous historical and traditional cultural village'!"

Shan Juanzi was so angry that she blurted out, "You... you are slandering me! What do you know! - Director, why did we allow this outsider to participate in our meeting?"

She said the last sentence to the man with gold-rimmed glasses. But the "director" obviously took Zhang Chao's words to heart and was very interested. He ignored Shan Juanzi's provocation and said to Zhang Chao: "Young man, what you said makes sense - we did focus on the tourism potential in the early stage of the investigation, and did not take the factors you mentioned into consideration.

You said you were from Yanjing? Are you a college student? "

Zhang Chao said: "Not anymore, I just graduated this year."

The director asked curiously: "Oh? Which university?"

Zhang Chao thought about it and told the truth: "Yanshan University, and Yanshan Normal University."

As soon as the words came out, everyone was shocked. Even the village chief knew the reputation of Yanda and Yanshida. However, this also aroused some people's suspicion. Someone immediately questioned: "Is it Yanda or Yanshida? Did you say Yanda first, then thought it was exaggerated, and then changed it to Yanshida?"

Zhang Chao explained helplessly: "Undergraduate degree from Yanda University, postgraduate degree from Yanshi University."

Everyone was in an uproar——

"Hey, you're out of breath when I tell you you're fat? Why don't you mention that you're a doctor at Qinghua?"

"That's right. How could students from Yanda and Yanshi University not look for jobs after graduation and hide in the countryside?"

"Haha, you probably can't find a job, so you hide here?"

"You are a Yanda student who wants to be a villager. How dare you say that?"

……

The director also began to doubt it. He took a look at Zhang Chao's appearance and found that he really looked like an unkempt local youth. If it weren't for his accent which had nothing to do with this place, he really looked like a hired helper by the village chief.

The director coughed twice, and the discussion stopped. He said to Zhang Chao gently, "Young man, why don't you go and do your own thing first - I saw you holding a hair dryer, you must be cooking. Let's discuss this further."

Why would Zhang Chao leave at this time? Instead, he found an empty seat and sat down leisurely, saying to the village chief: "Village chief, you told me yesterday to settle down in the village, learn a craft, live in a village, and get married. Do you think I should leave now?"

The village chief looked at Zhang Chao, then at the director and others, and said to everyone, "Xiao Zhang has lived here for more than two months and has become a member of our village. I am not good at speaking, and I can't express many things clearly. Let Xiao Zhang speak.

If he is wrong, I will correct him. I agree with everything he said just now!"

The village chief thought, at worst, he could not be selected as a "Famous Village of Historical and Traditional Culture", since he had missed many similar opportunities in recent years. Let Zhang Chao try, even if he still cannot be shortlisted, he can still vent his anger for being ignored and even despised for many years.

The village chief not only represents administrative power in the village, but is also one of the most prestigious people in the clan. After he said this, no one else could force Zhang Chao to leave.

Zhang Chao was already used to grabbing the right to speak. Seeing everyone's hesitation, he immediately continued, "Protecting culture is the goal, and promoting tourism is the means. Otherwise, why would people come to Yunnan and Guizhou to see these real villages? Shenzhen has a man-made scenic spot called Splendid China, where the Miao and Dong villages are more "characteristic" than any village here.

Comparing characteristics is a dead end and will only lead to vicious competition. If you go everywhere and there are men and women wearing silver headdresses and double-breasted clothes singing to you, does it matter where you go? Can any village here compare to the Xijiang Miao Village?
Small villages need to highlight their characteristics, not just on the surface, but in the bones. The number of tourists who go on in-depth tours is not large, but it just fits the carrying capacity of small villages like ours. And the willingness to spend on in-depth tours is often stronger..."

Zhang Chao became more and more excited as he spoke, incorporating his experience and thoughts from his ten-day self-driving tour in this area, which was naturally fascinating. The director and others didn't care at first, but gradually, some people began to take notes.

Zhang Chao spoke for nearly ten minutes before he stopped and concluded: "Being named a 'Famous Historical and Traditional Culture Village' is not only a name card for Shilei Village; Shilei Village is also the best footnote to the title of 'Famous Historical and Traditional Culture Village'."

Shilei Village is a great treasure of Shandu, ONE PIECE! "

The last part of the English sentence was a bit confusing. No one understood it, but everyone understood the first part. After looking at each other for a while, someone asked cautiously, "Young man... are you studying tourism management?"

Zhang Chao shook his head and said, "I studied Chinese."

The director pondered for a while, and suddenly said to Shan Juanzi: "Teacher Shan Juanzi, you are here on behalf of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Please tell us what you think."

Shan Juanzi couldn't help herself and said, "Tourism is certainly not the only purpose of selecting the 'Famous Historical and Traditional Cultural Village', but it is the most important purpose. Without tourists, how can the villagers get extra income and improve their living standards?

You may say that I am greedy for money, but I don't mind. However, the selection of "Famous Villages of Historical and Traditional Culture" is an important strategy for the whole county. It is impossible for experts to inspect every village. Of course, we must try our best to select the villages that are most likely to be selected for the experts' reference.

Choosing Shilei Village means that another village may be excluded from the reference range. The infrastructure conditions in Shilei Village are so poor that the car ride is so bad that it makes your bones fall apart. Wouldn’t the experts have a bad first impression? "

At this time, someone took over the conversation and said, "In addition to screening, our visit to each village this time has another important purpose, which is to shoot special promotional videos for each village."

The director nodded and said, "You probably haven't seen the popular documentary called "Sanjin Fengliu" that was recently broadcast on CCTV10. It invited more than a dozen writers to travel around Shanxi to show the local customs and cultural characteristics. It was very successful! It gave us some inspiration!"

The director's speech was brief, and naturally someone helped him to continue: "The director is right. We want to learn the shooting mode of "Sanjin Fengliu" and invite our writers from Yunnan and Guizhou to Shandu to experience the village customs.

This filming task was planned and implemented by our Shandu Federation of Literary and Art Circles—to be more specific, it was Ms. Shan Juanzi who was responsible for planning and implementing it.”

Shan Juanzi puffed out her chest proudly and said, "As I said, I am considering the issue from the perspective of the whole county, not the gains and losses of a village or a village. I think that although Shilei Village has potential, it still lacks some cultural heritage compared to other villages.

Apart from anything else, other villages have more or less cultivated some college students from famous universities, writers, and experts. When shooting promotional videos, inviting them to appear in the scenes and talk with the writers will certainly have a better effect than just shooting a landscape documentary.

Village head, have you ever had any famous people in Shilei Village? How many people have passed the college entrance examination? When a writer comes to the village, who can come out and talk to him? "

The series of questions overwhelmed the village chief and he was unable to answer at all.

Zhang Chao reached out and patted the village chief on the back, signaling him not to panic, and asked him, "Village chief, you said that I am already a member of our village, isn't that right?"

The village chief nodded in bewilderment. Zhang Chao said to the crowd, "In this case, I am a student of Yan University and Yan Normal University. I should be qualified to represent Shilei Village and have a dialogue with the writer you invited, right?"

Shan Juanzi sneered and said, "If you are really from Yan University, then you are indeed qualified - but your Yan University, are you just bragging?"

Zhang Chao sighed and said, "In this case, you don't need to invite writers to Shilei Village."

Everyone: “…Hmm?”

Zhang Chao continued, "If the Shandu Federation of Literary and Art Circles doesn't like the promotional video for Shilei Village, then I can find someone to shoot it myself?"

Shan Juanzi was amused by Zhang Chao's anger and asked, "You shoot? Do you mean find a DV, shoot a few videos, and then upload them to the Internet? Then just shoot whatever you want."

Zhang Chao looked at her deeply and said, "When I say filming, I mean asking the CCTV10 production team to film it and then broadcast it on CCTV10."

Everyone: "Huh?"

Zhang Chao ignored the way everyone looked at him like a madman and continued, "There's no need to invite writers from the Shandu Federation of Literary and Art Circles. I'm afraid they're not good enough. I'll ask the Yunnan-Guizhou Writers Association to recommend one."

No matter how slow Shan Juanzi was, she realized something was wrong and asked in surprise, "You, who are you?"

Zhang Chao ignored her and continued, "In principle, I usually don't participate in talks, but this time the situation is special, so I'll serve as the representative of Shilei Village. I've lived here for more than two months, so I'm barely qualified."

The director could no longer sit still. He leaned forward slightly, as if he was about to stand up, and asked, "Young man, who are you?"

Shan Juanzi was in the same field after all, and usually paid more attention to news in the literary circle. She carefully looked at Zhang Chao's facial features, and then carefully recalled Zhang Chao's voice and speech on TV. After eliminating all the options, the remaining one, no matter how bizarre it was, seemed to be the only possible answer:

"You, you, you are Zhang Chao?"

"Zhang Chao? Which Zhang Chao?"

"The name sounds familiar."

"Which star is it?"

"You don't even know Zhang Chao? The great writer Zhang Chao."

"What? Don't be ridiculous. Didn't the news say he was recuperating?"

"Isn't this recuperation in Shire Village?"

"……No way?"

When everyone was discussing, Zhang Chao stood up and said in the most calm tone: "Oh, my name is Zhang Chao, Zhang the bowmaster, and Chao as in tide."

"Hiss~~" More than one sound of people gasping for air was heard in the room, and then it became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Zhang Chao's voice remained calm, as if he was talking to someone else: "I am a writer. I don't know much else. As for culture - well, I know a little bit."

"I did just graduate this year. I studied Chinese at Yanda University as an undergraduate and studied writers at Yanshi University as a graduate student."

"I'm not in a hurry to find a job, so I came to Shire Village to experience life. I've had a very happy time in the past two months."

“I planned “Sanjin Fengliu”, thank you for your love for this documentary.”

"I have just explained the cultural characteristics and advantages of Shilei Village very clearly. Do you have any questions?"

"Oh, there's no need to ask Teacher Shan Juanzi anymore."

After saying that, he looked around at everyone. Although his appearance had changed a lot, it was mainly his skin color and hair, his facial features and outlines would never change. He had appeared on TV so frequently in the past few months, so some people still remembered his appearance.

Before, the gap was too big, and no one would connect the two. Now that he had revealed it himself, the dark-skinned Shui Jialang in front of him naturally overlapped with the young writer on TV.

The village chief didn't know how famous Zhang Chao was, but he had watched "Sanjin Fengliu" a lot in the past two months. After knowing that this was planned by Zhang Chao, he was shocked and speechless.

The director was the most knowledgeable and calmed down the fastest. He quickly stood up and shook Zhang Chao's hand: "Student Zhang Chao, I have heard of your name for a long time! I am glad that you can come to our Shandu for a stay!"

Zhang Chao had a good impression of the director and thought that people wearing gold-rimmed glasses were probably good people - he also reached out and shook hands with him.

At this time, everyone became lively and said:
“The conditions in Shire Village are good!”

“The scenery is beautiful and the people are simple and honest. It is worth a visit!”

“This kind of primitive scenery can attract tourists!”

“The village has been built for more than 500 years, so it has history; the wooden buildings with railings are well preserved, so it has tradition; it can attract great writers to live here, so it has culture!”

"Yes! With all the historical and traditional culture, it should be shortlisted as a 'famous village'!"

……

Shan Juanzi was the only one present who said nothing and looked pale. She wanted to leave, but she was too far from the door; she wanted to agree, but she couldn't open her mouth.

Zhang Chao had long been accustomed to this change of wind direction, and did not care. After a brief greeting with the director, he shook the hair dryer in his hand and said, "I still have to help with dinner, so I won't chat with you guys."

After that, regardless of the director and the village chief's attempts to keep him, he left the village committee and went to the villager's home to "eat", leaving the room in silence and shock.

The villagers didn't know why Zhang Chao had been gone for so long, and complained: "You need to have the hair dryer returned, the fire can't even burn well..."

Zhang Chao smiled but said nothing. He turned around and looked in the direction of the village committee. He saw the sky full of sunset glow and the forests dyed in all colors, so brilliant that it seemed like something he could only see in a dream.

……

A week later, the news that Zhang Chao had gone to a small Shuizu village in the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou and lived in seclusion for more than two months spread in the industry. No one understood why he made such a strange choice when he had won "everything".

But soon, a legend spread within the publishing industry: Zhang Chao wrote a completely new work in that small village, which could even be called a "masterpiece"; he also left the manuscript of this work deep in the vast mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou.

Only the most determined and persevering editor will get his hands on this manuscript!
Soon, Chunfeng Publishing House, Changjiang Publishing House, Writers Publishing House, Huacheng Publishing House... more than 20 publishing houses sent their capable people to Shilei Village after a long journey.

But they did not see Zhang Chao. Only the village chief was holding a pile of messy manuscripts with a blank look on his face. He looked at the exhausted people and said:

"Zhang Chao said that whoever can build a road for our village will get this stack of paper."

(End of this chapter)