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

Chapter 388 The meaning of life is to live.
Inside the study, Liu Yimin and Liu Zhenyun chatted casually, with candies and preserved fruits laid out on the table.

Liu Zhenyun took a novel out of his pocket and handed it to Liu Yimin, hoping he could give some comments.

"Is this your reflection on your work?" Liu Yimin asked with a smile after reading it.

Liu Zhenyun honestly said, "It tells the story of a young man who has just started working and feels unprecedentedly confused and lost when faced with the differences between school and work."

"It's more like Wang Meng's 'A Young Man Arrives at the Organization Department.' The more I read your character setting, the more it seems to be about Chen Dazhi."

Liu Yimin reread the short article. The insights were Liu Zhenyun's, but the background setting was almost identical to Chen Dazhi's current workplace.

"These are our shared insights. Dazhi and I correspond frequently, and we encounter similar problems. However, it's even more challenging for him, since he is truly in the officialdom."

Liu Yimin offered several suggestions: the novel only portrays confusion but doesn't depict the ambitious side of young people; it would be better if ideals and reality were contrasted.

"I think that if we're going to write, we should observe things more closely, which might even provide some guidance for our actual work."

Liu Zhenyun understood Liu Yimin's meaning: the information obtained from letters was limited, and one had to conduct in-depth observations on one's own.

As an editor of the Farmers' Daily, Liu Zhenyun was naturally entitled to apply for a business trip to gather information. He immediately decided to apply for a leave of absence from Beijing for a period of time after the Spring Festival.

"Let's go see Tiesheng!" Liu Zhenyun suggested.

"Okay, let's go take a look!"

Liu Yimin greeted Zhu Lin from the eaves and left the courtyard with Liu Zhenyun. Zhu Lin sat in a windless corner under the eaves, knitting children's shoes while basking in the sun.

At No. 26 Yonghegong Courtyard, Liu Yimin parked his motorcycle in front of the low-rise houses facing the street. Children ran around with sugar figurines or wooden guns, shouting "Don't move, catch the thief!" and some were singing nursery rhymes.

The bright red handwritten couplets pasted on the door added a touch of festive cheer to the dilapidated house.

As they walked into the cramped and dilapidated courtyard, Liu Yimin and Liu Zhenyun each had their own thoughts. Liu Zhenyun, who lived in a 10-square-meter dormitory, felt a little envious looking at the courtyard.

Several families lived in the courtyard. The first thing you saw when you entered was not the house, but the kitchen that the neighbors had built with broken bricks they had picked up.

Shi Tiesheng was leaning against the wall, reading a book and basking in the sun, while Shi Lan was eating sunflower seeds, and Shi's father was busy somewhere.

"Tiesheng, Shilan!" Liu Zhenyun shouted excitedly.

Upon hearing the voice, Shi Tiesheng excitedly raised his head, and his wheelchair rolled half a step: "I knew you were coming, so I waited for you here."

Liu Yimin said, "I knew you were going to wait for us, so we came quickly."

"Happy New Year, Yimin and Zhenyun!" Shi Lan stood up, patted the remaining sunflower seed shells off his hands, and greeted the two men.

Liu Yimin and Liu Zhenyun took out red envelopes from their pockets and stuffed them into Shi Lan's hands. Shi Lan pretended to refuse for a couple of times, then happily stuffed them into her pocket and ran back to her room to get some melon seeds for the two of them.

"Tiesheng, what are you looking at?" Liu Yimin asked.

"I'm reading 'One Hundred Years of Solitude,' and I've read it several times. Every time I read it, I feel that it has a different meaning." Shi Tiesheng fiddled with the cover so that the two of them could see the title clearly.

When Liu Yimin saw it, he realized that pirated copies of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" were already rampant!
Liu Zhenyun shared his insights, mainly focusing on the writing style. However, Shi Tiesheng had his own understanding of "One Hundred Years of Solitude," emphasizing the theme of "solitude."

Shi Tiesheng was "lonely," ever since he was confined to a wheelchair.

"I tried to understand 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and find the meaning of life in solitude. The essence of a person's life is to live alone. So-called family affection and love are only temporary possessions, and solitude is the norm of life. But the important thing is to learn to embrace solitude and always cheer up and keep going no matter what kind of grief you experience."

Liu Zhenyun said, "Tiesheng, you are not alone. You still have us. Loneliness is the norm, but we can try to reduce the proportion of loneliness."

"The purpose of living is to do meaningful things, but what is meaningful? Meaningful means living well, and living well is meaningful. Once you understand this, eating, sleeping, and even cursing become meaningful things."

Like Wen San'er, the protagonist in "The Flames of War in Beiping," life had already been a form of bullying and abuse for him, yet he still struggled to survive. Is it tragic? From our perspective, it is somewhat tragic. But from his perspective, he wasn't even aware of the problem; all he wanted was to survive. When he was hungry, half a pancake could make him happy for a whole day.

Shi Lan, who was standing next to her, couldn't understand, so she quietly lowered the sound of her eating sunflower seeds to a minimum so as not to disturb the conversation between the three of them.

Looking at the withered leaves under the tree roots, Shi Tiesheng said, "The moment a leaf's life ends is not the moment it falls from the tree, but the moment it completely merges with the soil. The withered yellow leaves are another kind of beauty of green leaves, and they still contribute to the fertility of the soil when they merge with it."

Liu Yimin and Liu Zhenyun originally intended to have a casual chat, but unexpectedly, the conversation turned directly to philosophy. To the other residents of the courtyard, their discussion was like listening to gibberish.

Everyone listened intently for a few minutes before stopping, but they weren't surprised by the three men's words and actions, since everyone knew that the Shi family's eldest son, who was in a wheelchair, had become a writer.

After discussing the meaning of life, Liu Zhenyun exclaimed, "Tiesheng, your insight into the essence of life is so profound. It seems your literary achievements will advance by leaps and bounds in the future. I hope to see your name appear in major literary awards one day. You don't know, I just saw many telegrams in Yimin's study announcing awards to him. After reading them, I felt truly ashamed."

Liu Yimin smiled and said, "Tiesheng's 'My Distant Qingping Bay,' published last year, should be able to win the short story award in the Lu Xun Literary Prize this year."

"I'm so ashamed, so ashamed!" Liu Zhenyun wailed.

Shi Tiesheng hurriedly said, "There's no specific news yet, it might not be me. I don't care about literary awards, I just want to express what I want to express."

Finally, Liu Yimin suggested that Shi Tiesheng apply to join the Writers' Association. Currently, Shi Tiesheng is unemployed and supports himself solely through meager royalties. If he joins the Writers' Association, he will receive subsidies, and if he becomes a full-time writer for the association, he will have a stable source of income.

After leaving Shi Tiesheng's home, Liu Yimin took the opportunity to visit Liu Zhenyun's dormitory. The ten-square-meter dormitory could only fit a bed, with books piled under the bed and manuscripts on the desk.

"The house is small, which saves me from having to run a long way to get something. Most things are within easy reach, which is much more convenient than your big yard," Liu Zhenyun said with a wry smile.

When Liu Yimin was leaving, he ran into Guo Jianmei, who was looking for Liu Zhenyun, so he treated the two of them to a meal.

Guo Jianmei, who graduated a year ago, seems to have matured a lot, and her words imply a desire to make a name for herself.

Liu Yimin laughed and said, "Zhenyun, you have an iron lady in your family!"

This remark made Guo Jianmei blush, and Liu Zhenyun said, "Even an iron lady has a tender heart."

"Hahaha!"

Guo Jianmei shoved Liu Zhenyun: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Yimin isn't an outsider. When we get married, Yimin will have to use his two legs as if they were four!"

After dinner, Liu Yimin returned to the courtyard house. Over the next few days, Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin visited many people and gave out quite a few red envelopes.

On the way home, Liu Yimin touched Zhu Lin's belly and said, "We can receive red envelopes next year too!"

After the Spring Festival in 1984, Liu Yimin took Zhu Lin to work on the first day. Inside the rehearsal hall, Xia Chun, Ouyang Shanzun, and others had been rehearsing with the actors for a long time, while the directors who didn't have any scenes to rehearse sat below and watched them.

Xia Chun and Ouyang Shanzun gave them a strict order: no matter what happened on stage, the director watching was not allowed to say a word, or they would all be asked to leave.

Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin walked over to Lan Tianye, greeted him, and then sat down to watch the rehearsal.

Lan Tianye said admiringly, "Comrade Xia Chun is indeed worthy of having rehearsed 'Teahouse.' His rehearsals are truly exceptional. Look at this set design, it's so professional!"

The old-fashioned cabinets, tables, chairs and benches on the stage are the same ones used in "Teahouse". The celadon teapot with floral patterns is placed on it, and the atmosphere of the restaurant comes out.

On stage, Liang Guanhua plays the eldest son, and Xia Chun is teaching him how to act and how to portray the playboy.

Lan Tianye pointed at Liang Guanhua and said, "This student is good. I think he can take on a leading role at the Beijing People's Art Theatre in the future."

Liang Guanhua is currently a student at the Beijing People's Art Theatre and will not graduate until June of this year. However, Liang Guanhua has had a smooth start, making a name for himself on stage even before graduating, and has won a second-class award for leading role.

Liu Yimin said, "When rehearsing with veteran actors from the Beijing People's Art Theatre, it's still noticeable that I'm a bit inexperienced and easily lose my rhythm."

“Young actors all have to go through this process. Comrade Xia Chun has a knack for training newcomers. Just wait and see, the premiere will definitely be great,” Su Min interjected from the side.

Zhu Lin said, "Liang Guanhua's eyebrows and eyes look very festive, so he will probably be able to take on a lot of comedic roles in the future."

After watching for a while, Liu Yimin walked into Cao Yu's office. At the beginning of the new year, Cao Yu was wearing a brand new outfit and looked two years younger.

Cao Yu said, "Old Ba has written to you, also praising your 'Beloved.' Look at it, it's full of praise, commending your accurate grasp of literary techniques and American history and social reality." Cao Yu handed the letter written by Ba Jin to Liu Yimin, who glanced at it and said, "Old Ba actually read it so carefully, and his analysis is very accurate."

“He read it more than once; Xiaolin said he read it many times.”

After finishing discussing the letter, Cao Yu sighed, his expression a mixture of disappointment and anger. Seeing this, Liu Yimin assumed someone had offended him.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Liu Yimin asked with concern.

Cao Yu sighed again: "Nicky told Lao Ba about something she had just discovered, and Lao Ba reported it to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and also wrote to inform me."

After hearing this, I could hardly believe it; in fact, I was shocked and ashamed.

Seeing Cao Yu's expression, Liu Yimin became even more curious. After pressing him for details, Cao Yu finally explained the whole story.

"You know the magazine *Huacheng*, right? *Huacheng* magazine usually translates and publishes foreign literary works, which is nothing unusual; the translation is perfectly legitimate. But Niki reported that she accidentally flipped through a few issues of the magazine and saw that many domestic writers had translated foreign literary works and published them under their own names. Isn't that theft?"

After listening to Cao Yu's explanation, Liu Yimin was no longer shocked. If people still did this kind of thing in the internet age, where communication is so convenient, then it's unthinkable today.

However, nowadays there are fewer professional writers doing this kind of work; more often, it's people who know foreign languages ​​who occasionally translate a piece to supplement their income.

"The comrades at the Federation of Literary and Art Circles were deeply shocked upon hearing this and have already instructed the Writers' Association to thoroughly investigate the matter," Cao Yu said angrily, then looked at Liu Yimin: "Yimin, why aren't you shocked?"

"Teacher, of course I'm shocked, but not surprised. As long as there's profit involved, whether it's money or fame, there will always be people willing to take the risk," Liu Yimin said helplessly.

"There's not much the Writers' Association can do, because we don't have a quick way to compare them. We can only find out about them through reports or by chance and then take some measures against them."

Liu Yimin carefully analyzed the psychology of these people for Cao Yu, as well as the actions the Writers' Association could take and what kind of punishment would be brought to them.

In summary, it boils down to two points: first, it is currently very difficult to detect; second, the cost of plagiarism is low.

“But taking action is always better than turning a blind eye,” Liu Yimin said.

As Cao Yu said, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles held a special meeting on this matter, and the main participants were all members of the Writers Association.

When Zhang Guangnian, the secretary of the Writers' Association, learned of this, he was furious. He ordered a thorough investigation and demanded that all major literary magazines carefully review submissions to ensure early detection of any issues.

Articles confirmed to be plagiarized will have their royalties recovered from the authors, and a notice will be issued to the authors' original work units. If the authors are members of the Writers' Association, they will be immediately expelled.

Just after the Lantern Festival, Zhao Xiuwen, a member of the Beidaihe Creative Home, took the train to Yanjing to deliver an apple tree to Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin.

"Old Zhao, just give me a call, I'll go to Beidaihe." Liu Yimin quickly invited Old Zhao inside.

Zhao Xiuwen took a sip of tea and said, "You writers are all busy. Anyway, it's cold now, and no one is going to Beidaihe for recuperation. I have nothing to do, so I just brought it to you directly."

Liu Yimin gave an awkward smile; he wasn't actually that busy.

"Comrade Yimin, where should we plant the apple trees?" Zhao Xiuwen asked warmly.

The second courtyard already had crabapple and ginkgo trees, and planting an apple tree would make the courtyard too crowded. So, led by Liu Yimin, the two went to the third courtyard.

They found a sunny spot that wouldn't be in the way, dug a big hole, and planted the apple tree inside.

Zhao Xiuwen carefully explained the precautions to Liu Yimin, and gave a detailed explanation of how to water the plants to increase their survival rate.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, if there's anything you don't understand, just call our Creative Home and I'll explain it to you."

After Zhao Xiuwen finished taking care of everything, he was about to leave when Liu Yimin pulled him back and said, "Old Zhao, don't leave yet, have some food before you go."

After Liu Yimin's repeated invitations, Lao Zhao finally agreed to have lunch together.

Liu Yimin took Zhao Xiuwen around the Beijing People's Art Theatre and invited Zhu Lin to eat at a state-run restaurant outside. Remembering that Zhao Xiuwen also knew Cao Yu, he went and pulled Cao Yu over as well.

During the meal, Zhao Xiuwen held Cao Yu's hand and talked about the past. Cao Yu also recounted the scenes of Zhao Xiuwen taking care of him in Beidaihe.

"The conditions will be much better when you visit our Beidaihe Creative Center this year. With the support of the Planning Commission and the Finance Department, our Writers Association has redeemed the land occupied by the nearby Instrument Factory. I heard there are also construction plans, so the conditions will only get better in the future," Zhao Xiuwen said happily.

While the group was eating, Liu Yimin left the restaurant and went to the department store next door to buy pastries and candies, which he put in a net bag. He also took out five yuan and put it in as payment for Lao Zhao's train ticket.

When they got back, Lao Zhao refused to take it, but Cao Yu finally said, "Lao Zhao, you can keep it and share it with the comrades at the Creative Home."

Old Zhao then accepted the money, and Liu Yimin took him to the train station on his motorcycle.

On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Yenching University officially started its new semester. When Liu Yimin arrived at the Chinese Department office, a thorough cleaning was underway both inside and outside the school, as well as in the office building.

Yan Jiayan led Liu Yimin into the logistics warehouse, where the newly printed textbooks were stored. Led by their class monitors, the students took the textbooks one by one from the logistics staff.

Yan Jiayan picked up a book and said, "This year, all second-year Chinese literature students will be using your new textbook."

"Professor Yan, how many universities are using our textbooks now?" Liu Yimin asked.

"Nearly thirty schools, with more than half from the north. So I contacted the Chinese Department of Fudan University and the American Literature Research Association to prepare for a comparative literature seminar in Shanghai, inviting professors and scholars from major universities, mainly those in the south. Our goal is to promote our textbooks. What do you think?"

"You've already made the contact, why are you asking me how it went?" Liu Yimin put the book back where it was.

"Haha, let's do it that way then, and try to hold it in early March."

Liu Yimin followed Yan Jiayan back to the Chinese Department's office building, which had been almost completely tidied up.

Upon arriving at the office, Wu Zuxiang said with a smile, "Yimin, what do you think of this analysis I wrote based on 'Beloved'?"

“Professor Wu, your knowledge of literary theory is definitely stronger than mine.” Liu Yimin took Wu Zuxiang’s article and began to read it.

Several professors nearby were talking about how they had been reading this novel around the time of the Lunar New Year, and how they found it captivating and memorable.

Wu Zuxiang's analysis was written entirely out of personal interest and he did not intend to publish it. His earlier novels leaned towards rural literature, and his later shift to theoretical research was not a study of modern literature.

It means they're not professional!

Just then, Zhu Guangqian walked in, picked up Wu Zuxiang's article and started reading. After a while, he shook his head and said, "Old Wu, you should stick to studying your 'Dream of the Red Chamber'!"

The other professors laughed heartily, but Wu Zuxiang wasn't angry at all: "If I write well, wouldn't you modern literature writers be out of a job?"

No one had classes on the first day, and the office was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. Liu Yimin met with Yan Zhen and a few others, and looked at their graduation theses and novels.

"Yan Zhen, I won't go into your novel. You two need to prepare for your thesis defense and try to pass it on the first try. Have you already secured jobs?"

"It's all been arranged."

"Okay." Liu Yimin didn't say anything more and let the three leave. Liu Yimin had recommended Yan Zhen to Yan Jiayan, but it seemed that Yan Zhen wouldn't be able to stay in the Chinese department.

Near the end of the workday in the afternoon, Li Jun called the Chinese Literature Department and asked excitedly, "Yi Min, are you at the courtyard house or the Overseas Chinese Apartment tonight?"

"I'm in the courtyard house, Director Li, what's going on here?" Liu Yimin asked in confusion.

Li Jun smiled and said, "See you at the courtyard after get off work. I'll bring a friend to find you there."

"Who?"

“You don’t know him yet, but you will in the future. He came all the way from Guangxi Province. He’s been feeling a bit lost lately and asked you to give him some pointers!” Li Jun said and then hung up the phone.

P.S.: Sorry, only one update today, I'll make up for it tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)