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

Chapter 404 This is an insult to everyone!

Inside the study, Zhu Lin silently teased the little guy, holding a book in his hand, saying that he wanted the little guy to experience the fragrance of books from a young age.

Outside, Yang Xiuyun was watching TV with another child in her arms; both of them had their own children to take care of. Liu Yimin was hunched over his desk, writing furiously, trying to finish "The Stage" as soon as possible.

Once the article "The Stage" is finished, Chen Peisi, who is in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, will probably read it all night long.

"The Stage" is a play written by Yu Yue and directed by Chen Peisi. The background is set in the Republican era, a time of warlordism. The Peking Opera profession was caught in the turmoil, and its members were both sought after by the powerful and the common people, and ignored by the powerful.

They're willing to flatter you when they like you, but deep down they're full of contempt.

When Commander Hong's troops stormed into the capital, the leader of the Wuqing Opera Troupe, along with the famous actor Jin Xiaotian, planned to perform for three consecutive days in the capital's theaters. The city's elites and gangsters were secretly vying for the right to book the entire theater.

Commander Hong is a rugged man, but he has a beautiful sixth concubine. In order to win her favor, Commander Hong plans to book the entire theater, just to make her smile. The sixth concubine has long been infatuated with the famous actor Jin Xiaotian.

The absurd story unfolds as the famous actor Jin Xiaotian faints from opium addiction before the performance begins, causing great anxiety among the troupe.

Commander Hong, in plain clothes, came to the back of the stage and happened to run into the loud-voiced man who was delivering steamed buns to the opera troupe. By a twist of fate, he mistook the loud-voiced man for Jin Xiaotian and insisted on watching his performance, asking him to play the role of the King of Chu and sing "Farewell My Concubine".

The troupe leader was terrified that the loud-voiced actor would ruin the performance, but since Commander Hong had a gun, he could promote whomever he wanted. Commander Hong shot and killed the gangster boss who was vying for the entire theater, proving that even a powerful dragon could suppress a local snake.

If a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake, it means the dragon isn't powerful enough!

While Commander Hong was discussing opera with the loud-voiced man, the sixth concubine next door was having marital relations with the famous actor Jin Xiaotian.

The adoration of idols makes women willing to give everything, and the first thing they are willing to give up is their bodies.

Later, when the sixth concubine escaped, she saw the loud-voiced man impersonating the Overlord and embraced him again. Ironically, so-called theatergoers are sometimes just pretending to know what they're talking about; they're only interested in the Overlord character in the play.

To protect his troupe, the troupe leader obeyed Commander Hong's orders and allowed the fake Xiang Yu to perform. When the troupe sang the scene from "Farewell My Concubine" where Xiang Yu commits suicide at the Wujiang River, an even more absurd scene unfolded: Commander Hong jumped out and insisted the troupe change the script.

Because his greatest idol was the Overlord, the Overlord could not die.

The Peking Opera profession has always adhered to and inherited the rules passed down from their ancestors, but as the saying goes, they have guns.

Obeying the rules of our ancestors meant nothing in the face of death, so the opera troupe began to hastily change their plays.

So-called art is extremely fragile in the face of power, which is not just brute force, but also capital.

No wonder a screenwriter once lamented, "When coal mine owners were investors, they had no other requirements besides finding actresses." Coal mine owners gave screenwriters and directors considerable creative freedom, which boosted the market's prosperity.

Finally, Jin Xiaotian woke up and went on stage to perform "Farewell My Concubine". He did not listen to Commander Hong's request to change the play. When he saw the King commit suicide again, Commander Hong was furious and prepared to shoot. But at this moment, another bad news came: Commander Lan had entered the city and Commander Hong was about to escape.

Using an absurd style, a series of coincidences and misunderstandings are linked together, and a satirical and abusive style is used to criticize some unhealthy trends. Through humor and satire, a reflection on history is achieved.

When this play premiered, it could be said to have revived the Tianjin Grand Theater. At that time, the Tianjin Grand Theater was heavily criticized for its various small-scale productions, musicals, and foreign plays, and the people of Tianjin who loved watching stage plays were no longer willing to pay for them.

The emergence of "The Stage" successfully convinced the people of Tianjin to vote with their money once again.

After Liu Yimin finished writing the ending, before he could even stand up and stretch, the phone rang.

"Yimin, congratulations! Congratulations on the birth of your twins!" Liu Zhenyun's voice came through the phone.

Liu Yimin asked with a smile, "You're back from your field trip?"

"I'm back. I heard about your situation as soon as I got back, so I quickly found a phone to call you. I gained a lot from this trip, but I also got to endure a lot of sandstorms. Xiao Guo said I looked like I went into a coal pile and came out."

On the phone, Liu Zhenyun spoke eloquently about what he had seen, heard, and felt recently. In addition to his field research, he had also submitted a lot of local news to the Farmers' Daily; otherwise, the editorial department would not have allowed him to continue his field research since after the Lunar New Year.

Seeing Liu Yimin chatting, Zhu Lin took the novel "The Stage" from Liu Yimin's hand and slowly began to read it.

Yang Xiuyun came in from outside, picked up the sleeping Liu Yu, and whispered to the two of them, "Don't work too late, you should go to sleep early too."

The two little ones are sleeping in Yang Xiuyun's room now. They cry once a night occasionally, but overall they are quite considerate of their grandmother.

"How's your writing coming along?" Liu Yimin asked.

Liu Zhenyun's voice softened: "I'm going to scrap the old version and rewrite it from scratch."

"So you're saying not a single word has been written yet!" Liu Yimin said helplessly.

"That's not quite right. The ideas are all in my head. I'll start having a burst of inspiration tomorrow, and I believe I'll be able to write them down very soon."

Seeing Liu Zhenyun trying to "make excuses," Liu Yimin encouraged him, "Write slowly, there's no rush."

"I'll go see your two darlings tomorrow," Liu Zhenyun said enviously.

"it is good."

After agreeing on a time, Liu Yimin hung up the phone. Zhu Lin looked up from her manuscript and said to Liu Yimin, "Zhenyun is really thoughtful; he called as soon as he got back."

"I'll treat him to a nice meal tomorrow!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Zhu Lin placed the manuscript on the table, his expression complex.

Back in the bedroom, lying on the bed, Zhu Lin nestled in Liu Yimin's arms and softly shared her thoughts: "After reading this novel, I had many thoughts. For example, the relationship between art and power, the relationship between actors and theatergoers, and the relationship between writers and readers."

"Zhu Lin, you understand it very well!" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

"Back then, Mr. Lao She's 'Teahouse' was revised again and again. Many people didn't understand drama, but they insisted on pretending to understand it. In the end, it was completely changed beyond recognition."

Some people pretend to be cultured and know everything, speaking eloquently and claiming to be drama and theater enthusiasts, but in reality, they are just following the crowd.

Some viewers become almost obsessed with an actor because of a certain role, and they themselves become involved in the role.

Some actors or writers, while talented, are like Jin Xiaotian—indulging in vices such as drinking, gambling, and womanizing, morally corrupt, making it difficult for them to earn the reputation of being both virtuous and talented.

After Zhu Lin finished speaking, Liu Yimin scratched the back of Zhu Lin's head with his other hand and said, "Why do I feel like there was something hidden in your last words?"

Zhu Lin chuckled and gently stroked Liu Yimin's cheeks with both hands: "Teacher Liu, what do you think? The entertainment industry is inherently chaotic, and the chaos is ingrained in its very nature. For thousands of years, the so-called tales of talented scholars and beautiful women have become an excuse for many people to ruin their careers."

After saying that, Zhu Lin rolled over and pinned Liu Yimin down, looking directly at Liu Yimin with a smile on his lips, and recounted his father's concerns at the time.

Liu Yimin listened without saying a word, but put his arms around Zhu Lin's shoulders; the silence spoke volumes.

In the darkness, the chirping of insects outside the apartment was incessant, urging the tender leaves on the treetops to grow rapidly. At first, there was no heavy rain or strong wind, only a gentle drizzle.

[Our station reports that tonight's weather will change from light to moderate rain, then moderate to heavy rain, heavy to torrential rain, and in the early morning, torrential rain will turn back to moderate rain.]

After finishing, Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin opened the window and breathed in the fresh air after the rain, the scent of herbs from the lawn filling their nostrils.

The next morning, the sun shone through the gaps in the leaves onto the bed. After they got up, Zhu Lin tidied the sheets and threw them into the washing machine.

Liu Yimin walked to the balcony feeling refreshed. Looking at the tender green leaves, he sighed that the long-awaited drought had been alleviated.

Looking at the lawn of the apartment after the rain, Yang Xiuyun said, "I wonder how things are back home. It's almost time to harvest the wheat, and we can't afford to encounter strong winds and heavy rain." "Mom, don't worry, it might not rain here. Besides, even if it does rain, it will make the wheat grow fuller. As long as the weather is okay from the end of the month to the beginning of June, it'll be fine."

Liu Yimin planned to buy Yang Xiuyun a radio so she could listen to operas and the weather forecast. Although the weather forecast wasn't very accurate at the time, it would at least provide some comfort.

Around 10 a.m., Liu Zhenyun arrived. Upon seeing Yang Xiuyun, he greeted her sweetly as "Auntie."

Yang Xiuyun had a deep impression of Liu Zhenyun and warmly invited him to sit down. Seeing Liu Zhenyun's dark and thin appearance, she asked him with concern where he had been.

Liu Zhenyun recounted his travels in Shanxi Province in detail. He not only spent some time in Taiyuan, but also visited some well-known places in Shanxi Province. He even went deep into the coal mines and wrote a report titled "The Heart of Energy," praising Shanxi Province's contribution to coal resources and expressing safety concerns about the operation of small coal mines.

"It must have been really tough, visiting so many places!" As a rural person who makes a living by farming, Yang Xiuyun had never heard of many of these places.

Upon hearing Liu Zhenyun mention the "Big Locust Tree," he quickly replied, "It's a story passed down by word of mouth among the elders; we walked from the Big Locust Tree to Henan Province."

Zhu Lin and Liu Yimin, who were standing nearby, listened to the two chatting with smiles.

During the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, the Central Plains region was a strategically vital area, frequently embroiled in wars. By the early Ming dynasty, the Central Plains was a desolate wasteland, devoid of any sign of life. To expedite the restoration of production, the only option was to relocate people to cultivate the land.

Because of its high mountains and dense forests, Shanxi Province was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it did not suffer much from war. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang forced the people of Shanxi Province to migrate to other provinces in the Central Plains. Afterwards, the Big Locust Tree was remembered as a collective memory of the migrants for generations.

Whether the Liu family were immigrants from the Big Locust Tree or not, Liu Yimin didn't know.

After chatting for a while, Liu Zhenyun finally turned his attention to Liu Yu and Liu Lin, and took out some trinkets from his pocket to amuse them.

"Yimin, I'm tired of saying I'm envious," Liu Zhenyun joked.

Liu Yimin said with a smile, "You should also hurry up and marry Xiao Guo. Xiao Guo's mother is seriously ill and definitely hopes that you two can get married as soon as possible."

"I'll go back and do some persuasion," Liu Zhenyun said with a smile, but he felt uneasy. A thousand words from him wouldn't be as effective as one word from Guo's mother. If the old lady wanted to see the two get married sooner, a single word would seal the deal.

Liu Zhenyun took out another red envelope from his pocket. Yang Xiuyun was about to push it back when Liu Zhenyun chuckled and said, "Auntie, I don't have much here. When I get married and have a child, I'll have to pay back a big one, right? This is an investment!"

Liu Zhenyun's words amused everyone, and he showed Liu Yimin his diary entries about his observations. Liu Zhenyun had spent half a month at Chen Dazhi's workplace, obtaining a lot of firsthand information.

While Liu Yimin was reading his diary, Liu Zhenyun also picked up the manuscript of "The Stage" to read.

After reading it, Liu Zhenyun was filled with thoughts: "You really dare to write this, aren't you afraid of being analyzed in a bad way?"

"Nonsense analysis? I haven't argued with anyone in a long time, and I'm itching to get my hands dirty." Liu Yimin smiled faintly.

Liu Zhenyun nodded and said, "That's true. It's also possible that you won't need to do it yourself; someone else will take care of it for you. There are a large number of people in the literary world who greatly admire you. When I went to the cultural department in Shanxi Province, the full-time writers were all learning from you. They even summarized your past works and formed a special summary group."

"Saying that makes it sound like there's a Liu family clique in the literary world," Liu Yimin couldn't help but laugh.

"Haha, I didn't say that."

Liu Zhenyun explained his story ideas. After lunch, Liu Yimin took him to People's Literature and Art Publishing House, partly to submit his own manuscript and partly to let Cui Daoyi listen to it, since he was a professional editor.

When Liu Yimin arrived at *People's Literature and Art*, the editors all greeted him warmly. Liu Yimin was not only an author but also a member of the editorial board.

When Cui Daoyi saw Liu Yimin, he let out a gluttonous laugh and looked Liu Yimin up and down as if he were a delicacy.

Liu Yimin first pushed Liu Zhenyun over and asked Liu Zhenyun to tell Cui Daoyi about his story ideas.

After Liu Zhenyun finished speaking, Cui Daoyi looked at Wang Meng's office and said with a smile, "This is similar to Comrade Wang Meng's 'A Young Man Came to the Organization Department.' You can write it down. After you finish writing it, you can come to me directly or send me a letter. But whether it can be published depends on your storytelling and writing style."

Liu Zhenyun thanked Cui Daoyi, but Cui Daoyi said nonchalantly, "No need to be polite, we're all fellow students. You work at the Farmers' Daily, so you know how difficult the editing work is."

After they finished talking, Cui Daoyi rubbed his hands together and extended them to Liu Yimin. Liu Yimin smiled and handed the manuscript to Cui Daoyi.

"Yimin, I heard you started an Institute for the Protection and Development of Chinese Culture and became its deputy director. Not bad, you've risen through the ranks pretty fast," Cui Daoyi said in a friendly greeting.

Liu Yimin said, "Our research institute focuses on research, not administration. It's a secondary research institute within the department, so its administrative level is irrelevant."

“This isn’t a secondary institute; it’s actually managed by the ministry,” Cui Daoyi remarked.

The levels in schools are not simply divided according to the administrative levels in the government; in addition to the so-called administrative levels, there are also different lines, and professors at different levels enjoy different treatment.

After Cui Daoyi finished speaking, he focused on reading the manuscript. Liu Yimin and Liu Zhenyun sat next to him, chatting familiarly with the editor of "People's Literature and Art". Editor Xu Yi jokingly said that Liu Yimin was going deep into the grassroots and caring for the masses.

While everyone was chatting, Wang Meng came back from outside and happily asked Liu Yimin what good works he had written recently.

Cui Daoyi waved the manuscript at him, and the two immediately huddled together to study it.

Liu Zhenyun felt he had stayed there too long, so he told Liu Yimin that he was leaving early.

After reading it, Cui Daoyi and Wang Meng remained silent for a while before Wang Meng said helplessly, "Yimin, you've insulted the whole person."

Wang Meng was a little overwhelmed and led Liu Yimin into his office.

After closing the door, Cui Daoyi said, "There's a lot of criticism here, you've really scathingly criticized everyone. Commander Hong, artists, audience. I could list several people just representing this famous actor."

Liu Yimin crossed his legs and said, "If we can't publish it, I'll find another magazine!"

"No, I didn't say it can't be published. It's good to expose some of the chaos, but I need to garner some support. Yimin, give me two days, I'll take the manuscript and visit around. If I can succeed in visiting people, it'll still be in time for the June issue."

After finishing his sentence, Wang Meng didn't waste any more words and immediately got up and headed towards the Writers' Association. The first person he found was Zhang Guangnian from the Writers' Association.

Seeing Wang Meng leaving in a hurry, Cui Daoyi said, "I feel that it will be published in the end."

“If we can’t publish in People’s Literature, we still have Harvest!” Liu Yimin said.

Cui Daoyi took Liu Yimin to dinner, and on the way, he teased Liu Yimin, asking him to help him transfer to a research institute if he was ever unhappy at People's Literature and Art.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Cui Daoyi raised his teacup and clinked it against Liu Yimin's, recounting his impressions of the film "Mr. Donkey" when he first saw it.

"But it felt absurd and ridiculous at first glance, but upon rereading it, it took on a different, deeper meaning. At that time, I felt that this novel had to be published, and I didn't care about the so-called three reviews and three proofreadings, so I went to find Lao Zhang. After reading it, Lao Zhang immediately approved its publication."

Years have passed, and this sense of absurdity has returned, now tinged with humor, more absurd and laughable than before. But to us, it also carries a deeper sense of sorrow.

Cui Daoyi has a deep understanding of the works and also understands the helplessness of being in the middle of a whirlpool. After all, he came out of the whirlpool himself and was jokingly called "the editor-in-chief comes and goes, but Cui Daoyi is always there".

Editors-in-chief come and go like a revolving door, but he remains steadfast.

“I see myself in this troupe leader. People used to say that I, Cui Daoyi, must be a sycophant, otherwise how could I remain so unmoved? In reality, my mind is only on the content.”

Liu Yimin laughed and said, "The novel even made you, senior brother, feel sad!"

“Things of the past are so vivid!” Cui Daoyi said with a smile.

The two sat in the restaurant until after nine o'clock before leaving. Cui Daoyi not only talked about the past, but also talked about the situation that Liu Yimin had to face after the publication of "The Stage" to prevent the discussion from going astray.

(End of this chapter)