Exciting 1979!

Chapter 292, "The Human World," concludes the novel, setting a benchmark for the Mao Dun Literature Prize.
The awards were announced quickly, without any of the fancy stuff that comes with later generations, and Wei Ming didn't have time to do any mental preparation or manage his expressions.

Zhang Junxiang, the 70-year-old chairman of the judging panel, quickly read out the winner, "Ye Nan, 'Bashan Night Rain'."

Then Wei Ming saw an old man who looked exactly like the screenwriter Bai Hua go on stage.

Bai Hua had hosted Wei Ming in Wuhan, and the two had a good relationship. Recently, Wei Ming's film "Bitter Love" was thoroughly criticized, and he is keeping a low profile. So even though his film "Tonight the Stars Are Bright" was a hot contender and was nominated for Best Director at the Golden Rooster Awards and Best Film at the Hundred Flowers Awards, he didn't come.

However, Ye Nan's arrival is equivalent to his arrival, or perhaps Ye Nan is actually played by Bai Hua, since the two look exactly alike and they are twins.

Bai Hua, the younger brother, has written works such as "The Peacock Princess", "Dawn", "The Last Noble" and "Prime Minister Liu Luo Guo".

His older brother, Ye Nan, also wrote works such as "The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895", "Night Rain in Bashan", "Ao Lei Yi Lan", "The Kapok Robe", and "Emperor Tang Ming".

Both brothers are extremely talented screenwriters.

Although Wei Ming did not win an individual award, he was not too disappointed. After all, he was standing on the shoulders of giants, so he was happy to win, since he had made his own adaptations. He was not disappointed to lose either, and he would just keep trying.

Soon it came to the awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director.

Only Zhu Shimao and Li Zhiyu were nominated for Best Actor, again for "The Herdsman" versus "Bashan Night Rain".

However, the judging panel was quite idiosyncratic, feeling that no one was quite qualified, so the award was left vacant, leaving Lao Mao both amused and bewildered, unable to understand the logic behind it.

Next, for Best Actress, Gong Xue received one nomination, veteran actress Tian Hua received one nomination, and Zhang Yu received two nominations for "Bashan Night Rain" and "Lushan Love".

Zhang Yu ultimately won the first Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress for her role in "Bashan Night Rain," and the Hundred Flowers Award for her role in "Romance on Lushan Mountain." She has completely taken over the niche left by Chen Chong.

Hearing the result, Wei Ming felt a little sorry for Xue Jie, but there was nothing he could do. Although her character in "The Herdsman" was outstanding, she had too few scenes.

The Best Director award went to Xie Jin, who also won the Best Director award at the first Hundred Flowers Awards. His qualifications and status are unmatched in the Chinese film industry.

Next, the Best Animated Feature Film award went to "Three Monks," which was well-deserved, while the Best Opera Film award was left vacant.

The Best Feature Film Award was nominated for three films: "The Herdsman," "Bashan Night Rain," and "Inside and Outside the Courtroom," two from Shanghai Film Studio and one from Emei Film Studio. The winners were "The Herdsman" and "Bashan Night Rain."

It's here, it's here! The familiar double-yolk egg flavor is back!

I originally thought that "The Herdsman" would replace "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" and there might be some changes, but I didn't expect it to be the same double yolk from the previous life.

After the awards ceremony and commendations were completely over, there was a banquet, which Wei Ming ate at the guesthouse this time.

During the meal, Director Xie Jin was in high spirits, raising his glass to greet and see off everyone. Everyone congratulated him on being the biggest winner, and Director Xie happily drank one glass after another.

Wei Ming and Zhu Shimao, standing nearby, focused on their meals. The food at the guesthouse was quite good, prepared with great care. The braised bamboo shoots were crunchy and the eight-treasure tofu was bouncy and chewy.

After finishing their meal, Wei Ming, Lao Mao, and Lao Tang were about to go for a walk and enjoy the lake breeze when Shui Hua, the director from the Beijing Film Studio, stopped them.

"Little Wei, come here." He beckoned to Wei Ming.

Among this year's judges, Wei Ming is only familiar with director Shui Hua and factory director Te Wei, and he also knows teacher Xie Fei. He is unfamiliar with the other dozen or so people. In fact, Wei Ming is not considered to be in the film industry.

Director Shui Hua took out an envelope: "Old Xia couldn't come to Hangzhou because of his advanced age, but he entrusted me to give you this letter."

Xia Yan is the Vice Minister of Culture and the Honorary Chairman of this year's Golden Rooster Awards. He participated in the entire Golden Rooster Awards process, so he already knew the results. This letter was written in advance.

In the letter, he expressed his regret that Wei Ming did not win the award, explained the reasons, and advised him to take it easy.

The main reason is that "The Herdsman" did not reflect thoroughly enough and was too mild. Having just come from that era, the judges had all suffered some injustices during that time, so they preferred films like "Bashan Night Rain" that clearly criticized the issue.

Wei Ming thought to himself: Sogas!
However, Xia Yan also affirmed in his letter that "The Herdsman" has a higher overall artistic quality, a higher film standard, and is more popular with a wider audience, which is an important reason why "The Herdsman" was able to win a double yolk.

Finally, Xia Yan mentioned the original manuscript of "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes," and the old man became somewhat embarrassed because after he lent the manuscript out, it was broken into smaller parts and distributed chapter by chapter among different retired cadres.

He has now recovered most of the second part, while the third part is still out there. He said he would help him find it as soon as possible, since the May issue of Harvest magazine is about to be released, and those who want to see the finale can read the magazine directly.

Wei Ming smiled after reading it, not paying much attention. Even if he didn't get all the original manuscript back in the end, getting a preface from Elder Xia shouldn't be a problem.

The second day was a day for the participants of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards to go sightseeing, such as taking a boat tour of West Lake, admiring the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, and visiting Lingyin Temple, Yue Fei Temple, and Liuhe Pagoda, which are also worth seeing. Wei Ming took photos and group photos.

In addition, there are cultural performances. Zhejiang is the ancient land of Yue, so Yue Opera is very popular. Wei Ming doesn't know much about Yue Opera, except for Xiao Baihua, but Xiao Baihua doesn't exist yet.

Besides sightseeing and cultural performances, the next big thing was shopping. Wei Ming was the most enthusiastic shopper in the group.

Hangzhou's silk, silk umbrellas, and Hangzhou fans are quite good. Silk can be used to make clothes, while silk umbrellas and Hangzhou fans can be used as home decorations.

Although you can buy them at the Beijing Friendship Store, since we're on vacation, it's more meaningful to bring them back from the place of origin.

He also bought a few beggar's chickens wrapped in hard mud shells, which he could eat on the way and wouldn't spoil when he got home.

Of course, West Lake Longjing tea was also indispensable. Wei Ming bought the most of it and spent the most money on it. They were all in exquisite gift boxes, so he could give away any he couldn't finish.

Old Mao, who was carrying Wei Ming's bag, roughly calculated that the money spent on tea alone was equivalent to his entire year's salary!

He felt sorry for him the whole way back to the dormitory. Wei Ming immediately stuffed a can of tea into his bag.

"Oh, no, no, it's too expensive," Old Mao declined.

“Take it, take it. I’ll give another can to Old Tang,” Wei Ming said generously.

Wei Ming: I've been so generous, you guys have to help me carry my bags when I go back.

On the way back, Wei Ming followed the large group from the August First Film Studio and Beijing Film Studio back to Beijing by train. After boarding the bus, Li Xiuming looked at Tang Guoqiang and Zhu Shimao in surprise and said, "You bought so much stuff? Aren't you going to live on it?"

The two men glanced at each other, then looked at Wei Ming behind them, who was also carrying two identical snakeskin bags.

Li Xiuming: I knew it! You two don't look like you're very rich.

Wei Ming writes novels and works as a screenwriter, and his income is much better than that of actors.

Take "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" for example. It's ten yuan per thousand words. For a long novel of more than 60 words, that's more than 6000 yuan, enough for them to earn several years' salary.

There will definitely be standalone editions published in the future, and then the direct income will exceed ten thousand! One book can make you a ten-thousand-yuan household.

They were unaware that Wei's income also belonged to him; otherwise, they would have been even more shocked, considering that Wei Ming had Melinda transfer over 30,000 US dollars into his domestic account.

Upon arriving at the station, Lao Mao asked, "Is today the 25th? The day Harvest magazine is published!"

Tang Guoqiang: "Wait, I'll go buy two copies of 'Harvest' for everyone to read."

The final chapter of "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" captivated readers across the country for four months. During that time, countless articles were written to decipher the story and speculate on the real-life figures behind the protagonist.

Many of the people on the bus were from the August First Film Studio, and most of them were middle-aged men. They were very interested in this genre and had even considered adapting it.

However, adapting works that span a long period of time, involve numerous characters, and involve real historical figures is extremely difficult.

However, another form of expression, "TV series," is more suitable for "The Right Path in the World."

Tang Guoqiang bought two copies of "Harvest" magazine, but when he returned home, he found that his colleagues were all staring at him. In a dilemma, he first gave one of the copies to Mr. Yu Yang and kept the other one for himself.

Seeing this, the others thought that the journey would take more than thirty hours and waiting for others to finish reading would be too agonizing, so they all went to buy the magazines and bought them all.

Even so, it's impossible to have a copy of "Harvest" magazine for everyone.

Wei Ming didn't have one, but he bought a Hangzhou local history book yesterday. It was published during the Republic of China era, in traditional Chinese characters and vertical format. It was a thick book, and he found it quite interesting.

Lao Mao asked Wei Ming, "There are so many copies of 'Harvest' on a small stall on a train, the circulation of this issue must be quite large."

Wei Mingdao: "It seems the first print run was 130 million copies."

This is another historical record. The goal of Harvest was to satisfy the demand of the entire nation for Harvest in one go. After 130 million copies were sold, there was no plan to reprint it. Moreover, the standalone edition will have to wait until the second half of the year to allow the market to digest the demand.

Old Mao hissed, "130 million copies is 130 million in sales. Even with the paper, printing and distribution costs, there's still a profit of several hundred thousand. It's only right that Teacher Wei makes this money."

Wei Ming couldn't have a moment's peace along the way, because as the original author, everyone would come to him with any questions about the work or anything they wanted to discuss.

Often, the conversation would turn into a group discussion. There were several comrades from the August First Film Studio on the bus who had actually been to the battlefield. Not to mention those from far away, there was a photographer who had just come back from filming a documentary on the Laoshan front. So they could talk about the war in great detail.

It's heartbreaking to talk about the cruelty of war.

The third part of "The Road to Awakening" begins with Japan's surrender and can be described as a war between brothers and compatriots.

The biggest highlight of this part is the indirect battle of wits between the Jiang brothers, Jiang Lizhong and Jiang Limin. Caught in the middle, Jiang Lihua simply chooses to go abroad to avoid seeing them and getting annoyed.

Jiang Lihua's perspective from the United States is also important. Through her words, the Liberation War is presented as seen by Americans and overseas Chinese, a perspective that is quite novel to Chinese people.

Wei Ming's works always contain something new, which is why his works are always in high demand.

~
At Tang Shengming's home, the outstanding graduates of Gongdelin University gathered again to read books.

In this work, Tang Shengming saw himself as someone who could navigate both sides successfully while maintaining a sense of righteousness.

Shen Zui witnessed Boss Dai's death and his own humiliation and backstabbing. Wen Xiaoqiang saw the helplessness and bitterness of his own path to ruin. If he hadn't acted rashly and had spoken properly to his cousin, he might not be among the top ten handsome men, but he would certainly have been among the top ten generals.

Huang Wei also came today. He's an old man who's nearly eighty years old. After leaving Gongdelin, he devoted himself to the research of perpetual motion machines, but ultimately didn't come up with anything.

Now, seeing his familiar history again, the author is satisfied that, although he doesn't think highly of his own tactical skills, he hasn't insulted his own character.

After reading the entire novel, the story ends with Jiang Chixia's tombstone in his hometown, below which are his four children: Jiang Lizhong, Jiang Lihua, Jiang Limin, and Jiang Lizu.

“The Chinese nation, the Chinese nation,” Huang Wei sighed. “This idea is really good. It’s a pity that Lao Du will not be able to see this ending.”

Just two weeks ago, Du Yuming passed away at Peking Union Medical College Hospital at the age of 77.

Du was a graduate of the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy and can be considered a representative figure of the Whampoa clique, known as a "tiger general".

Later, he also earned the title of "firefighter," because Chiang Kai-shek would send him wherever the situation was unfavorable, even if he was sick.

Even at Gongdelin, he was still a big shot, and Wen Xiaoqiang and others all respected him.

In his later years, Du dedicated himself to the cause of reunification. Even though his son-in-law held a high position in the United States, he ultimately chose to return to China to do some things.

Tang Shengming smiled and said to Wen Xiaoqiang, "You don't need to worry about that. If Lao Du wanted to see it, he would have seen it long ago."

He knew that the original manuscript of this novel was circulating widely online, but it was so sought after that he hadn't managed to get his hands on it.

~
Not to mention Tang Shengming, they couldn't even get their hands on some major newspapers.

On this day, Comrade Li Guoyi from Shanghai's Wen Wei Po visited Mr. Ba at the editorial department of Harvest. His purpose was to convey on behalf of Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po the desire to serialize "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes".

Cai Shengsan's previous article introduced Hong Kong readers to "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes". Now, four months later, many Hong Kong intellectuals have become familiar with the novel through reports on the work in Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, but they still do not know the full picture. Therefore, the demand to read the full text is growing.

Mr. Ba said regretfully, "You're too late. We've already promised Ta Kung Pao that we'll start serializing it in June."

Wei Ming will then receive another share of the revenue from reposting, still in Hong Kong dollars.

After seeing Li Guoyi off, Ba Jin looked at the final draft of the judging criteria for the Mao Dun Literature Prize, which would be made public the next day.

~
As darkness fell, Wei Ming leaned back in his seat and dozed off. Lao Mao had already obtained the right to read "Harvest" from Lao Tang. When he read the final chapter, he couldn't help but get teary-eyed. The handling of this sense of national sentiment was so damn well done, so damn sophisticated!
From the very beginning, in the prologue, Jiang Chixia goes from the martial arts world to the army, and in the final chapter, in the burial of Jiang Chixia, the names of the four brothers and sisters of the "Chinese nation" are lined up and engraved on the tombstone.

However, "Zhong" fled to Taiwan, "Hua" went to the United States, "Min" remained on the mainland, and "Zu" was still a minor.

At this moment, Jiang Limin looked at his father's tombstone and had only one thought: he hoped that his four siblings could kneel before their father's grave, kowtow three times in unison, and after standing up, sweep the dirt off their knees, leave behind the unpleasantness of the past, hug each other, laugh, and walk home along the quiet path, watching their youngest brother play carefree, growing up little by little without them even realizing it...

This passage is so well written, simple yet moving, with profound implications. Lao Mao really wanted to discuss it with everyone, but unfortunately, everyone had already read it and discussed it once. At this moment, some were asleep, some were drowsy, and no one was talking to him.

He could only hold it in, and when he couldn't stand it anymore, he would go to the train toilet to relieve himself, and then he would feel sleepy when he came back.

~
The next day, at the film academy, Zhu Lin, who was attending class, was overjoyed to hear her classmates discussing "The Road to Awakening," because it was written by her man.

Ah Long was also very proud when he heard his classmates' discussion: That was written by my brother!
At this time, Liu Rulong was preparing for his trip to Hong Kong. They had already completed the first three chapters of "Qin's Moon," which was an unprecedented stylistic innovation for the mainland comics industry.

However, because it was too innovative, it could only target overseas markets.

In the same dormitory building, Zhang Yimou had just finished reading "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes". As his uncle also lives in Taiwan, he was deeply moved after reading the last chapter.

If my eldest uncle came back a couple of years ago, at least he could see my grandmother. But now when he comes back, there's only a grave. And the thing my grandmother missed most before she passed away was her eldest son who wasn't by her side.

At this time, there was no correspondence between the two sides of the strait, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive.

At this moment, Gu Changwei, who shared a dormitory with me, came in with a copy of the "Literary Gazette".

"Look, look! The criteria for the Mao Dun Literature Prize have been released!"

Another classmate, Lü Ledao, said, "Let me see, let me see."

Zhang Yimou didn't look at it; his classmates just read it aloud.

First, there are the selection criteria.

"It must be a novel of more than 13 words and must be published in mainland China. Multi-volume works must be submitted after the entire book is completed, and works written in minority languages ​​must be translated into Chinese and published..."

The first selection period covered works from 1976 to 1981, and thereafter it was divided into three-year periods (later changed to four years).

Another classmate, Zhang Huijun, asked, "Do you think 'The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes' has a chance of winning an award?"

Gu Changwei: "Isn't Wei Ming too young? Sometimes it's not just about writing well that you can win awards. Didn't you see the reports about the Golden Rooster Awards? He didn't win an award."

Lü Le: "I think so too. After all, he's only 20 years old. He'll have plenty of opportunities to win awards in the future, so the judges will definitely think of giving the awards to the seniors first."

Zhang Li said, "Moreover, this novel portrays many positive Kuomintang characters. Although I like it very much, I only regret that it is not my work. However, it is actually quite controversial in the outside world."

Finally, Zhang Yimou closed the magazine "Harvest" and said calmly, "Don't forget what Mr. Mao Dun's last article was before his death."

"Hiss!" Zhang Li gasped, "How could I have forgotten about this?"

Then everyone remembered that Mr. Mao Dun's last article before his death was the preface to "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes," but this article had never been published, and everyone had almost forgotten about it.

This is incredibly symbolic; perhaps the author decided on the award eligibility of "The Right Path in the World" before his death.

Gu Changwei said, "Actually, judging by the quality of the work and disregarding the author's age, I think 'The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes' should be the benchmark for excellent novels. The characters, story, background description, and the depth of the central idea are all second to none among contemporary novels. I don't know how much effort the author has put into it. Unlike some long novels, which lose their way as they are being written, and the ideas are inconsistent, as if they have been written by a different author."

The students nodded in agreement. Just then, Tian Zhuangzhuang from next door came to find Zhang Yimou and the others.

"We've found the courtyard; let's go scout it out."

They are currently doing pre-production work on "The Courtyard," and will officially start filming once they have their vacation.

~
In fact, "The Right Path in the World" was not originally slated for a Mao Dun Literature Prize nomination, but other nominated works were destined to be compared with it.

In terms of characters, stories, writing style, themes, and reach, it surpasses it in every aspect, let alone all of them.

Wei Ming only saw the Mao Dun Literature Prize selection criteria after getting off the train. He didn't think too much about it; if he won, he was lucky, if he lost, it was fate.

I won't dwell on works that have already ended; the best is always the next one.

When I got home, I divided the gifts among myself and then arranged to meet Sister Lin at Tuanjiehu to pick up the gifts. I tricked her into coming over, closed the door, drew the curtains, and threw her onto the bed.

"Wait, wait a minute," Zhu Lin stopped the impatient Wei Ming. "The phone is ringing, answer it first."

I don't know much about this number, and I don't know if it belongs to Xiao Mei Biaozi or...

"Mother?" Wei Ming asked in surprise. "Oh, oh, I see."

"what happened?"

Wei Ming: "I told you not to get angry."

"I am not angry."

Wei Ming: "There was a telegram from Britain that I needed to sign for, but my mother couldn't find me, so she called here."

"From Britain, a telegram." The tone was already a bit off.

Wei Ming: "We usually write letters, I don't know what urgent matter required sending a telegram."

"Do you want to go back and sign for it now?" The sourness was already quite obvious, much more sour than West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce.

Wei Ming shook his head: "I'm not in a hurry. We can sign for it at the post office tomorrow and then continue. Sister, you have no idea how I've been these past few days. I've been sharing a room with Zhu Shimao every day, but he snores when he sleeps."

Zhu Lin chuckled: "I didn't realize that."

“That’s right, that’s right.” Wei Ming hugged Sister Lin tightly and acted coquettishly.

Zhu Lin then said, "Do you know that you snore when you sleep?"

"What? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Zhu Lin: "Hmph, wait until I record your snoring today, then let's see if you admit it."

In the end, Zhu Lin didn't record it because she was too exhausted and fell asleep first. The next day, Wei Ming got up earlier than her.

Wei Ming went to the post office early to see what had happened to Melinda.

……

(This is a guaranteed minimum today, please give me double monthly votes!)

(End of this chapter)