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

Chapter 395 Premiere of "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven"

Inside his office, Principal Ding Shisun gave a long explanation. As an elected principal, he naturally had to listen to the opinions of his subordinates, especially the Chinese Department, when making decisions.

Liu Yimin thought to himself that asking for funds seemed like a deal between the two parties.

Yan Jiayan was very cautious about this issue and asked many questions. Finally, Yan Jiayan looked at Liu Yimin: "Yimin, what do you think?"

"I'll sit here and watch!"

The slightly tense atmosphere between the two men dissipated at Liu Yimin's words. Liu Yimin then said seriously, "The matter of changing departments can indeed prevent talented people from being placed in unsuitable places, but we also have to complete the national plan!"

"Every student wants to study a good major, so they all flock to a particular major, which means there aren't enough qualified teachers for that major."

In the 21st century, most universities in China allow students to change their majors; some do so freely, while others impose certain requirements. While future generations may not need to follow nationally planned professional talent training programs, this is something we cannot ignore now.

Yan Jiayan suggested, "Why don't we set a threshold? The top students in each major could be eligible to switch majors?"

“Professor Yan, this is a paradox. He’s already among the top students, how could he not like this major?” Liu Yimin said.

Ding Shisun nodded in agreement, and Yan Jiayan spread his hands: "Then what should we do?"

“I think under the current conditions, there can be restrictions on changing majors. There should be no academic threshold for changing majors, but the departments that accept students can assess the applicants and approve their admission only after they pass the assessment,” Liu Yimin said.

Yan Jiayan thought this was a better approach, as it would control the number of students changing majors. Ding Shisun, however, wanted to maintain a degree of "freedom" and neither agreed nor disagreed with Liu Yimin's suggestion.

After staying a while longer, Ding Shisun got up to leave, saying as he left, "Yimin, keep it up. I hope to see more of you on the international stage."

After seeing Ding Shisun off, Yan Jiayan asked, "Do you think the funding will be approved?"

"Principal Ding isn't the petty type. If he says he'll approve it, he will. If the school can't handle it, there's always the ministry!"

Liu Yimin's words didn't make Yan Jiayan happy much. Yan Jiayan patted Liu Yimin on the shoulder: "If you write more articles, once you become famous, even if we don't ask, people will send us money for the scholarship."

At noon, Yan Jiayan did not let Liu Yimin go to the canteen for lunch, but instead took him to his home for lunch.

"If you went to the cafeteria, the students would probably eat you for lunch!" Yan Jiayan joked.

Yan Jiayan did not live in Yannan Garden or Yandong Garden, but in Langrun Garden. Yannan and Yandong Gardens were full of old professors, and by the time Yan Jiayan became a teacher, both places were already full.

Langrun Garden faces the Yuanmingyuan Garden. It was originally a garden bestowed by Prince Qing Yonglin during the Jiaqing period, later by Prince Gong Yixin, and finally by Zaitao.

Zai Tao, a member of the imperial family entrusted with important responsibilities in the late Qing dynasty, served as a minister of the Imperial Guard and participated in the Zongshe Party, but his abilities were actually limited. However, he had one strength: he loved horses extremely much and was skilled at training them.

Having studied at the French Saumur Cavalry School, he finally had the opportunity to make his mark after liberation and was appointed as an advisor to the horse administration.

Upon entering Yan Jiayan's home in Langrun Garden, Yan Jiayan's wife, Lu Xiaorong, was cooking. When she saw Liu Yimin arrive, she hurriedly added ingredients.

"Yimin, please sit down. This is your first time visiting our home, so please make yourself at home," Lu Xiaorong said with a smile.

Yan Jiayan said something to Lu Xiaorong, then pulled Liu Yimin into his study. The study was filled with manuscripts, and Yan Jiayan told Liu Yimin to pick them up and look at them.

When the meal was ready, Yan Jiayan said with a smile, "Our family mainly eats southern cuisine, so please don't find it unpalatable!"

"Professor Yan, I have a good appetite."

Lu Xiaorong said, "Next time you come, tell Lao Yan to let me know earlier. I can also cook Northern cuisine."

"Northern palates need to try southern cuisine from time to time."

After finishing his meal, Liu Yimin pulled out two theater tickets from his pocket and said with a smile, "Consider this my meal payment for today. These are two tickets to the play 'The Best Restaurant Under Heaven.' If you have time, you can go see it."

Yan Jiayan said happily, "It seems I made the right decision to treat you to this meal today."

The office was even more lively in the afternoon. Liu Yimin, seeing that he had no classes, simply left Yenching University.

Upon arriving at the courtyard house, Yu Jiajia called Liu Yimin to congratulate him and asked him a few questions over the phone.

Liu Zhenyun didn't argue with Yu Jiajia about the news because he was away on a business trip in Yanjing, and even if he saw Liu Yimin's novel, he couldn't get through on the long-distance call for a while.

Zhou Yanru called Yu Hua to revise the manuscript, and it took her a whole day to get through. Liu Zhenyun, on the other hand, didn't have time to sit by the phone and call Liu Yimin all day.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Yimin sat in his study revising the script of "The Button". When he returned, Huang Zumo sent him a letter with several thousand words of his opinions.

At the end of the letter, he said that after sending the letter, he would go to Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province to find Zhang Huamei and experience firsthand the changes in Wenzhou and Zhang Huamei.

Liu Yimin, combining his opinions with his own, made extensive revisions to the play script. At the time, this version of the script used a lot of language that was very much in the style of stage plays, which would seem somewhat stiff if used in a film.

At 5 p.m., Liu Yimin picked up Zhu Lin from the Beijing People's Art Theatre to go home. On the way back, Zhu Lin mentioned that everyone had been discussing "The Beloved" that day.

"Teacher Lan has no plays to direct, and today he suddenly suggested to me that we could rearrange the order of the novel and turn it into a screenplay. However, it's just an idea for him; he feels that adapting it would be too difficult," Zhu Lin said.

"Director Lan is getting anxious!"

"How can we not be anxious? The year's plan starts in spring, and we can only stage a few plays a year to begin with."

The following day, the newspaper also published news about "Beloved," directly titled "The Márquez of the East," and gave a detailed account of the novel.

The novel *Beloved* caused a great sensation in the West; both *The New York Times* and *Time* magazine hailed it as the emergence of a young, world-class writer in China.

Along with the reports on "Beloved," another piece of news was less of a surprise to readers and the literary world.

"Born Out of Nowhere" and "The Acacia Tree in the Minefield" won the Lu Xun Literary Prize for novellas.

Many people are already numb to the fact that Liu Yimin won the award; it's not surprising that he won, it would be strange if he didn't.

What? Two books won awards? That can't be right, "The Legendary Shopkeeper" hasn't won an award yet!

"The Best Restaurant Under Heaven" was published in 84, so it won't be until next year if it wins an award.

In the past, when Liu Yimin won the Lu Xun Literary Prize, people would call to congratulate him. Although there were not as many people congratulating him as when he won a foreign literary prize, there were still quite a few.

Now, not even a congratulatory voice can be heard. Liu Yimin lamented that people's hearts have changed beyond recognition, and jealousy has made everyone unrecognizable!
On March 18th, Liu Yimin once again attended the Lu Xun Literary Prize award ceremony. When Liu Yimin entered the venue, the award-winning authors all stood up and applauded to welcome him.

Jiang Zilong followed Liu Yimin into the venue and also received a round of enthusiastic applause.

"Yimin, look, everyone's standing up!" Jiang Zilong looked at Liu Yimin's back and was filled with emotion. This was the influence Liu Yimin had in the literary world!
A sense of pride welled up inside me; when could I be like that?

The applause only stopped when Liu Yimin reached his seat. Many of the award-winning writers were acquaintances of Liu Yimin, such as Feng Jicai and Li Cunbao.

In addition, there were Zhang Xianliang, Jia Pingwa, and Liang Xiaosheng, whom I had never met before. Overall, the proportion of young writers this time was very large.

Next to Liu Yimin was an old man who had stood up the latest, naturally because he was the most senior. He was Lu Wenfu, the author of "The Gourmet," now the chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Writers Association, and later the vice chairman of the National Writers Association.

“Old Lu!” Liu Yimin reached out his hand.

Lu Wenfu, with graying temples and a thin face, smiled and said when he saw Liu Yimin's outstretched hand: "Comrade Liu Yimin, I don't deserve to be called Old Lu. Your works are so well written that I feel ashamed of myself!"

"Your work is also excellent!"

"Haha, I'll have to learn from you from now on."

Liang Xiaosheng, Jia Pingwa, and others gathered around and introduced themselves to Liu Yimin.

Liang Xiaosheng's winning work is "Tonight There Will Be a Snowstorm", and Zhang Xianliang's is "Green Trees".

“Comrade Liu Yimin, I’ve read your novel ‘Beloved,’ and it’s really well-written. I should learn from your writing style in the future,” Jia Pingwa said.

Liang Xiaosheng said, "Comrade Liu Yimin, I'm from Beijing Film Studio. You've visited our studio a few times, and I've seen your back from afar, but unfortunately, I've never had the chance to say hello to you."

"Hello, Xiaosheng, Director Wang praised you to me, saying you are a very good editor," Liu Yimin said.

Liang Xiaosheng asked back, "Really?" He regretted it as soon as he asked; it was definitely just a polite question.

"Really!" Once everyone had arrived, the awards ceremony officially began. The organizing committee hadn't originally planned for Liu Yimin to speak, but after watching his film "Beloved," they invited him to speak on stage at the last minute.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, winner of the first prize for novella in the Lu Xun Literary Prize, won the award for his works 'The Acacia Tree in the Minefield' and 'Born Out of Nowhere.' Let us congratulate Comrade Liu Yimin and invite him to say a few words to us."

After receiving the award, Liu Yimin stood on the stage and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Chinese Writers Must Have Their Own Style." He addressed the current literary trend of hastily learning Western literary techniques, urging writers not to blindly imitate without critical thinking, but to develop their own unique styles.

"Realism is our characteristic. The bestseller status of 'The Best Restaurant Under Heaven' shows that our readers still prefer to read local realist works."

"Beloved" received a lot of attention in academic circles, but in terms of sales, it did not achieve the explosive popularity and hot sales of works such as "The Birth of a Nation" and "The Best Restaurant in the World".

This shows that there's a disconnect between what academia favors and what the general public likes. What academia deems good, readers may find difficult to understand; even high school students may struggle to comprehend it.

Therefore, we should write more about things that appeal to the general public and avoid writing too much abstract or metaphysical stuff. That concludes my remarks.

Lu Wenfu said to the person next to him, "Comrade Liu Yimin is making it sound like he's holding a self-criticism meeting!"

Jia Pingwa raised his hand and said, "Comrade Liu Yimin, is this issue of 'Harvest' really not selling well?"

Liu Yimin said, "Currently, sales are expected to reach around 1.5 million, which is a significant drop compared to the sales figures when 'The Birth of a Nation' and 'Triumphant at Midnight' were published."

The people below immediately fell silent; comparisons are truly infuriating.

Liang Xiaosheng's "Tonight There Will Be a Snowstorm" was only published in "Youth," a second-tier magazine, while the others were published in magazines such as "October" or "Zhongshan."

Jiang Zilong said to the person next to him, "His standards are different from ours."

Then many people asked whether Liu Yimin's description of the United States was extreme and one-sided.

"The United States used to be a society like this. The United States is much better now, but racial discrimination is still serious. We should view the United States correctly and not deliberately beautify it just because its economy is better than ours."

"Comrade Liu Yimin, the United States has so many problems, so why is it still able to develop so well?"

“Comrade Zhang Xianliang, if we were neighbors, and I frequently robbed your house, wouldn’t I be a little richer than you?” Liu Yimin said.

Zhang Xianliang paused for a moment and then said, "You can't rob me of any money because I'm poor!"

"Hahaha." The crowd below the stage burst into laughter.

After the Lu Xun Literary Prize was awarded, Liu Yimin said goodbye to everyone and left the meeting room with Jiang Zilong.

Jiang Zilong said, "Yimin, are you aware that there's been some talk about this lately?"

"What are you talking about?"

"They say you've won too many awards, preventing many up-and-coming talents from winning awards and becoming famous!"

"Really? They insisted on giving me the award. Comrade Zilong, the awards we received are actually about the same. Let some people chatter on and on. If they can chatter until the rules for literary awards are changed, that's fine too," Liu Yimin said nonchalantly.

With only two days until the premiere of "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven," Liu Yimin gave Jiang Zilong a ticket to the play and told him to watch it before leaving.

On March 20th, banners and posters were displayed outside the Beijing People's Art Theatre, as if they wanted everyone passing by to see them—today the Beijing People's Art Theatre premiered the play "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven".

Liu Yimin arrived at the Beijing People's Art Theatre early in the afternoon. Xia Chun and Ouyang Shanzun were making final preparations, repeatedly reminding the actors not to make any mistakes.

As the time drew near, more and more academic commentators and journalists arrived, and Liu Yimin, Xia Chun, and Ouyang Shanzun shook hands with each of them to express their welcome.

A long queue of audience members formed outside the door, with some holding up small banners that read "Forever Remember 'Teahouse'".

Upon seeing the banner, Xia Chun whispered to Liu Yimin, "When 'Teahouse' was first shown, it was just as grand. It's been almost thirty years since 'Teahouse' was staged. Back then, I could still walk briskly, couldn't I? Your Excellency?"

“Yes, yes, it only takes two minutes to walk to the nearby residential compound,” Ouyang Shanzun joked.

Xia Chun wasn't angry and continued to stand at the door welcoming the audience and special guests.

As the time drew near, the audience was all seated. The lights on the seats went out with a "click," followed by the ringing of a bell, and the noisy and distinctive sounds from the stage reached the audience's ears.

The antique-style set design, coupled with the distinctive shouts, instantly transported the audience back to the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.

After "Ke Wu" appeared, the audience's laughter never stopped. The audience's emotions changed with the plot development on stage, and they cheered silently with each character's appearance.

The focused expression and the tense clenched fists both demonstrate the charm of the play.

The lively performance on stage and the engaging "show" for the audience are the two key factors that attract viewers, and "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven" has both.

Jiang Zilong said, "This is the kind of grand production that Beijing People's Art Theatre needs: it has a high impact, is enduring, has regional characteristics, and showcases the strength and style of Beijing People's Art Theatre!"

As the play ended, prolonged applause erupted from the audience.

Xia Chun and Ouyang Shanzun led the actors in taking their bows to the audience. Xia Chun was moved to tears as he listened to the audience's heartfelt praise.

He began to tell the story of rehearsing the play "Teahouse" and the story of Mr. Lao She. Often, before Xia Chun could even open his mouth to speak, another round of applause would erupt from the audience.

Xia Chun, a seasoned director, wiped away tears repeatedly with his hands, eventually breaking down in sobs.

Ouyang Shanzun exclaimed, "The lingering charm of 'Teahouse' remains, and 'The First Restaurant Under Heaven' will recreate the Beijing People's Art Theatre."

These words were met with another round of applause. The actors and director bowed repeatedly on stage before the audience reluctantly departed.

Jiang Zilong, holding Liu Yimin's hand, said, "I want to watch it again tomorrow!"

"I'm out of tickets here, and the theater is out of tickets too. You can come to the rehearsal room tomorrow to watch a full rehearsal."

Jiang Zilong shook his head and said, "It's different, it's different. Restaurants are all about the noisy atmosphere."

"If you don't mind, you can bring a small stool and sit in the corner tomorrow!"

"A word is settled!"

As Liu Yimin walked backstage, the actors opened their arms to him one by one. Liu Yimin thought that since Lü Zhong was a woman, it would be better to shake hands, but to his surprise, she hugged him even tighter than the men.

Liang Guanhua wore a simple, honest smile. Because of his weight, he sweated more than usual and was too embarrassed to hug Liu Yimin.

Looking at Lü Zhong and Liang Guanhua, Liu Yimin realized that with Wu Zetian and Di Renjie standing together, Liang Guanhua appeared too inexperienced.

After greeting the actors, Liu Yimin walked out of the backstage area. Cao Yu was standing alone on the stage, seemingly lost in thought. His shadow appeared exceptionally lonely in the light and shadow.

"teacher!"

Cao Yu turned around and said, "That's right, let's hurry home!"

Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin returned to the courtyard house. As agreed by Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin, Zhu Lin officially took a vacation starting today.

The next day, while the newspapers were buzzing about "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven," Liu Yimin took Zhu Lin back to the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

The heating was off, but the room wasn't very cold.

"Teacher Liu, let me mop the floor for you!"

"No need, I can do it myself."

Zhu Lin laughed and said, "I wish that courtyard houses could be as convenient and comfortable as this apartment building someday."

"Let's renovate the courtyard house sometime!"

Two days later, a symposium for literary and media circles on "The Best Restaurant Under Heaven" was officially held at the Beijing People's Art Theatre!

P.S.: Thanks to the user "自扰者忧天" for the 200 reading coins.

(End of this chapter)