Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 125 of "Mr. Donkey" - Tickets are in high demand.

In May, there is another major event that the literary world is looking forward to: the selection of "Representative Figures of Young Writers" by the China Youth Daily. The China Youth Daily has set the deadline for returning votes at the end of the month, with the vote count to be announced in June.

This is equivalent to setting a one-month voting period, since the ballots are all handmade now and need to be mailed back by everyone. For those who live far away, it can take anywhere from five or six days to mail them back.

However, after the China Youth Daily published the news, the readers' enthusiasm was beyond everyone's expectations. The postman threw bags of letters at the entrance of the China Youth Daily.

At first, the postman would help carry it in, but later he got annoyed and just threw it at the door and left, and the newspaper staff slowly carried it inside.

The circulation of the current issue of the China Youth Daily, which included a ballot, surged, making it the top-selling newspaper nationwide. Editor-in-Chief Xu Zhuqing was overjoyed at this momentum and continued to publish the ballot in several more issues.

Looking at the mountain of letters piled up in the editorial office, Xu Zhuqing felt panicked for the first time. Just opening these letters would take several people, not to mention counting the votes.

They calculated that at least ten people would need to work continuously after the calculation was completed in order to successfully obtain the result.

"Xiao Yu, the leaders of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles told us that Comrade Liu Yimin recently visited the French literary scene and achieved a series of results. He has returned today, and they want you to interview him as soon as possible and write a positive report."

Xu Zhuqing knew that Yu Jiajia and Liu Yimin had a good relationship, so he directly assigned this task to Yu Jiajia.

Yu Jiajia took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement. After so much effort, the company was finally assigning her important interviews.

“Okay, editor-in-chief, I’ll go tomorrow morning!” Yu Jiajia said.

"Remember, be sure to ask a lot of questions and get good material. Also, could you ask him how we're going to count that mountain of ballots? We simply don't have enough manpower!"

Xu Zhuqing felt a headache coming on as he looked at the packages of letters, his former high spirits completely gone from when sales were soaring.

The next day, Liu Yimin arrived at the Chinese Department early in the morning. He went to the department office to complete the formalities and told them that he had returned and canceled his leave.

The first lesson was still Wu Zuxiang's "Dream of the Red Chamber." As soon as Liu Yimin walked in, he caused a stir in the classroom like a celebrity.

Liu Zhenyun walked arrogantly ahead of Liu Yimin, glanced at the classroom from the doorway, finally locked onto the seats, and led the three dormitory members over.

After they sat down, many people craned their necks to look over, laughing and shouting things like "Welcome back home!" Others, like Liu Zhenyun and his companions, asked him what France was really like.
The classroom quieted down after Wu Zuxiang walked in.

He didn't see Liu Yimin at first, but halfway through the lecture, he found Liu Yimin taking notes. So he stopped the lecture and asked Liu Yimin to talk about his experiences in France.

Wu Zuxiang visited the United States with a delegation when he was young, so he was one of those people who knew a lot about the Western world.

Liu Yimin talked to them about the Paris Commune, which was of most interest to them, as well as the current literary ideas in France.

Wu Zuxiang also expressed great interest when he heard the concept of avant-garde literature.

"Literature needs constant exchange to spark new ideas. Baoshu, I hope this trip to France will inspire you to create even more excellent works. When I was young, I visited the United States, and the Americans were very arrogant towards us. I think the French are the same way."

The only way to stop their arrogance is for us to surpass them. At that time, I…

Wu Zuxiang seemed to be reminiscing about his youth, or perhaps lecturing to his students. After class, as he walked out of the classroom, Yu Jiajia was already waiting at the door.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper asked me to interview you. Are you available now?" Yu Jiajia asked, looking at Liu Yimin, who seemed no different before and after going abroad.

"It's inconvenient for others, but it's definitely convenient for you! Comrade Yu Jiajia, you stood up for me, and I haven't even had a chance to thank you yet!"

Yu Jiajia tossed her hair and said nonchalantly, "I was just telling the truth."

"Come on, I'll treat you to dinner, and we can talk while we eat!"

Upon arriving at the Long March Hotel, Liu Yimin first presented Yu Jiajia with a fountain pen he had brought back from France and ordered two of her favorite dishes. The two were old friends, so there was no need for a formal interview.

You can eat and talk at the same time, doing whatever you want, and you'll feel more comfortable while talking.

After finishing her story, Yu Jiajia held her pen and said, "I never imagined you'd go through so much in less than twenty days. Those French journalists are really mean, always asking tricky questions."

Yu Jiajia's notebook is already full of information.

"The more they do this, the more people will read them. Western newspapers serve their sales and the investors behind the scenes. Comrade Yu Jiajia, you should also learn to make things difficult for your interviewees in the future, but you have to make things difficult in a high-level way, hahaha."

That's the kind of job journalists do!

"No wonder the Federation of Literary and Art Circles asked us to interview you. The publication of your book in France is indeed a great and inspiring event. Comrade Liu Yimin, I will definitely write this report well!"

Yu Jiajia said confidently. After speaking, she asked Liu Yimin about the vote counting process and how to proceed.

"We received so many tickets?" Liu Yimin was also taken aback.

Yu Jiajia said that, conservatively speaking, they received more than 80,000 letters.

“Yes, we didn’t expect this either! The entire editorial department is now worried about the letters. Our China Youth Daily has just resumed operations and we are already short-staffed. We have interview and distribution tasks every day, and we really can’t spare that many people,” Yu Jiajia said with distress.

Liu Yimin thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "That's a good idea. Go to universities in Beijing and find some journalism students. Tell them you're doing an internship at a newspaper. Have these students do the statistics, and you just need to send someone to manage them."

Yu Jiajia's eyes lit up after hearing this; it was indeed a good idea. Journalism students are a treasure these days; they had never imagined using them in this way!

In an instant, Yu Jiajia seemed to have her meridians opened up, and she hurriedly said goodbye to Liu Yimin and ran back to the newspaper office.

Xu Zhuqing's expression was also incredibly interesting after hearing this: "Young people really have ideas! Let's do it this way!"

At the end of May, news of the premiere of "Mr. Donkey" spread through the newspapers, and the citizens of Yanjing rushed to buy tickets when they heard that a new play was going to be staged.

Tickets for the first performance sold out immediately upon going on sale. People kept calling the Beijing People's Art Theatre, asking them to reserve some for internal use, but the theatre simply shrugged: "We really don't have any. Do you want any for the following performances? If you do, buy them quickly, or they'll be gone again!"

(End of this chapter)