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

Chapter 471 1985 Institute of Literature Year-End Meeting
"Have the Seven Swords combined yet?"

Did the Seven Swords actually combine their powers?

"Yimin, say something!"

Zheng Yuanjie quickly walked over to Liu Yimin, who was making tea, with the manuscript in hand. The slower Liu Yimin made the tea, the more anxious Zheng Yuanjie became.

"Old Zheng, is this a fairy tale? What's the rush?" Liu Yimin said, rubbing his temples.

Zheng Yuanjie then realized what was happening and sat down opposite Liu Yimin, saying, "Hey, you really are something. If you removed the fairy tale-like names like 'Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit' and replaced them with real names, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a work of popular literature."

Zheng Yuanjie was convinced of Liu Yimin's conclusion that fairy tales were another variant of adult literature, as Liu could not only summarize in theory but also put it into practice through writing.

"You figured it out in just the first chapter?" Liu Yimin asked with a smile.

"Of course, if you put this Black-Hearted Tiger's attempt to seize the Qilin of the Spirit Forest and dominate the world into other popular martial arts stories, it would be that a certain sect was overwhelmed by a large army, the entire sect was wiped out, and the young master escaped."

But isn't this 'Jumping Jump' a protector of the Demonic Cult? Why is he helping Rainbow Cat?

Liu Yimin has finished writing the first two chapters of "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit: The Seven Swordsmen" this time: the first chapter is about the emergence of the demonic path, and the second chapter is about breaking through the sea of ​​fire.

In the Enchanted Forest, all kinds of animals lived in harmony. One day, Black Heart Tiger led the demonic army to the forest. Rainbow Cat's father was the master of the Rainbow Sword. Only by combining the seven swords could Black Heart Tiger be defeated. However, at this time, only Rainbow Cat's father remained as the master of the seven swords. Rainbow Cat's father gave the Rainbow Sword to Rainbow Cat to find the other seven sword masters.

Rainbow Cat's father perished along with the demonic cult's army, but unfortunately, none of the cult's main figures died. Rainbow Cat and Qilin returned to try and save their father but were discovered and subsequently surrounded and pursued by the demonic cult's army.

Jump (the monkey), one of the protectors of the Demonic Cult, came to the rescue, allowing Rainbow Cat to escape on a Qilin.

Tiao Tiao is actually the successor of "Qing Guang Sword," one of the Seven Swords. His parents were killed by Hei Xin Hu. He endured hardship and served as a protector of the Demonic Cult, rescuing the other Seven Swords successors on several occasions.

"Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit: The Seven Swordsmen" is considered a pinnacle of martial arts animation, but unfortunately, its glory and decline were equally swift, and it could not escape the fate of being banned.

The theme perfectly embodies the spirit of justice and chivalry, and Rainbow Cat is respectfully addressed as "Young Hero Rainbow Cat" by both the righteous and the evil factions.

The overall plot is not too childish; the logic is very strong, both sides have spies, and the characters on both sides are well-developed.

Like many descendants of emperors, Black Tiger's son, Black Little Tiger, could not condone his father's actions, but for his father's sake, he had no choice but to follow the dark path. Torn between justice and darkness, his love for Blue Rabbit marked the tragic beginning of his life.

"Is Tiaotiao an undercover agent?" Zheng Yuanjie was surprised by Liu Yimin's answer. Even fairy tales have undercover agents.

Liu Yimin said with a smile: "The readership of 'Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes' is not only children aged five or six or under eight. I also want to use this fairy tale martial arts story to broaden the readership of 'King of Fairy Tales' to around eleven or twelve years old, that is, teenagers."

Liu Yimin originally wanted to say fifteen years old, but then he thought that children in this era were precocious and different from those in later generations. In junior high school, they were still working hard to collect all seven fluorescent swords in the toy.

Children from poor families mature early; in this day and age, far too many children mature early.

"Yimin, you've got a lot on your mind, haven't you? How come you've only written two pages? Who's going to read these two pages?" Zheng Yuanjie shook the manuscript in his hand. That's it?
"It's a serialized story."

Zheng Yuanjie said helplessly, "I think it's good even though I look at it. My eldest son won't see the sequel, and he'll probably come here complaining. The readers of 'King of Fairy Tales' will be full of complaints. It will take two months to see the sequel. Why don't you write more?"

"I'll write the content for four episodes in that issue and send it to you after I finish writing it."

Zheng Yuanjie crossed his arms and said, "You can write it today. It's Sunday, and you don't have to go to work. I'll take it home when you're done."

Without waiting for Liu Yimin's agreement, he walked out of the study to chat with Yang Xiuyun: "Ximei, I'll have lunch here today!"

Xi Mei smiled and said, "Editor-in-Chief Zheng, what would you like to eat? I'll make it for you at noon."

It's almost 11 o'clock now, time for dinner.

"No need for special preparations, I'm a simple person," Zheng Yuanjie said with a smile.

Liu Yimin glanced at Zheng Yuanjie. This guy was shouting so loudly outside so that he could hear him, which was to tell Liu Yimin that he wasn't leaving.

Zheng Yuanjie played with Liu Yu and Liu Lin while talking to Yang Xiuyun or Xi Mei.

At noon, Ximei made a stir-fried liver tip dish, a twice-cooked pork dish, sliced ​​sausage, and two cold dishes.

By the time Ximei called Liu Yimin for dinner, the two new chapters had already been written.

During the meal, Zheng Yuanjie and Liu Yimin discussed the revenue sharing issue of "King of Fairy Tales". Since Liu Yimin had written a story and it was showing signs of becoming a big hit, the revenue sharing could not be simply based on the original ratio.

“We’ll split the bill 50/50. During the serialization of your fairy tale, we’ll split the bill 50/50. If it becomes even more popular, you’ll split it 60/40 and I’ll split it 40/50,” Zheng Yuanjie said readily.

There's a standard for this to be even more popular: sales must climb to 500,000 copies in a short period of time.

After dinner, Zheng Yuanjie nudged Liu Yimin, urging him to go inside and start writing. Seeing Liu Yimin sitting motionless on the sofa, he tentatively asked, "Finished writing?"

"Well, I barely managed to finish writing it," Liu Yimin said.

Zheng Yuanjie strode into the study, looked at the manuscript Liu Yimin had just finished writing, and ran out to say, "Yimin, you're even faster than me! How about this, let's start another magazine, and we can each write one?"

"Old Zheng, stop joking." Liu Yimin shifted to a more relaxed posture.

"I'm not joking. At your speed, even if I stood right in front of you, I'd have to look up to see you. And the manuscript doesn't even need much revision. How did you train to read this fast? Teach me!" Zheng Yuanjie quickly read through the manuscript.

"There's no secret to it; just calm your mind, relax, and stay focused."

Zheng Yuanjie pondered for a moment and realized that this made sense. He did spend several hours each day focusing on writing, but his efficiency was not as high as Liu Yimin's. After finishing a piece, he would often need to check for any logical flaws, and if there were any, he would have to revise it.

Zheng Yuanjie discussed with Liu Yimin how many copies had been printed in January. Zheng Yuanjie thought the first print run should be 350,000. Children have more money during the Spring Festival, and he felt that the content of this issue of "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes" was excellent. He believed that the sales target of 350,000 copies could be achieved.

The previous issue of the magazine sold 250,000 copies, which is equivalent to an increase of 100,000 copies compared to the previous issue.

"Three hundred and fifty thousand it is." Liu Yimin was also very confident about the sales of "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes".

Upon hearing Liu Yimin's agreement, Zheng Yuanjie happily exclaimed, "I hope we can do a reprint. I have no idea what it feels like to sell out and need to reprint!"

When he got home, Zheng Yuanjie first showed it to his son and observed his reaction. Seeing that his son loved it, Zheng Yuanjie was relieved.

As December 1985 arrived, Liu Yimin had a lot to do. Fortunately, in addition to Yan Zhen, the Institute of Literature and Art had gained several more helpers, including Dai Jianye.

Inside the research institute, everyone was busy, with too many documents to organize. Liu Yimin observed Hai Zi, who seemed much better recently than before, and occasionally cracked a joke with Dai Jianye and the others.

Hai Zi loved listening to Dai Jianye talk about traditional literature, especially the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. If he could hear about Li Bai collecting the immortal herb, he would listen all day long.

Yan Jiayan walked into the office of the Institute of Literature and saw everyone busy discussing literature. He said to Liu Yimin, "Your small office has gathered so many brilliant minds."

"Professor Yan, what brings you here?" Liu Yimin asked.

"This is a document about the 'Yimin Literature Award.' The school intends to extend this academic award to the entire school, and the school office asked us to study its feasibility."

Liu Yimin took the notice from Yan Jiayan. The document was very optimistic about the "Yimin Literature Award" and the "learning and surpassing" trend it had sparked in the Chinese Department. Of course, more importantly, it mentioned the name "Liu Yimin".

The document clearly states that Liu Yimin holds a high position in the hearts of young people, and that the Yimin Literature Award can inspire students to emulate Liu Yimin.

“What’s there to study? As long as the money is there, it can be done anywhere in the country!” Liu Yimin handed the document back to Yan Jiayan.

“You’re absolutely right. It’s just that we don’t have enough money. We need to allocate some from the school’s education budget.” Yan Jiayan was worried that if this scholarship were made available to the entire school, it would greatly dilute the number of Chinese literature students who would receive it.

He has no objection if the entire university follows this ratio for the Chinese department, but he is afraid that the university will adopt egalitarianism and reduce the number of Chinese departments.

Liu Yimin went to Yan Jiayan's office and discussed it with him, instructing him to directly state the difficulties faced by the school's students when writing the report, and to increase the number of awards for impoverished students throughout the school, writing that the number should be increased.

The university office reviewed the report and concluded that even if it came to bargaining, there was room for negotiation between the two sides. If all else fails, a dual-track system could be implemented, with the Chinese Literature Department maintaining its current size.

If you ask why, the biggest reason is that Liu Yimin is in the Chinese Department, and besides, part of the current funding comes from the Chinese Department.

Starting this year, the number of scholarships and the amount of money awarded for Yimin Academic Scholarships have increased. The number of scholarships has increased from eight per grade (excluding seniors) to twelve per grade. The academic excellence award and the poverty award have each increased by fifty yuan, to one hundred and fifty yuan and one hundred and thirty yuan respectively.

In addition, the department selects one student with the best academic performance each year, who receives a scholarship of 200 yuan. The annual expenditure for the Yimin Academic Scholarship is about 5,000 yuan. If this standard is applied to the entire school, the school's expenditure on scholarships would be about 200,000 yuan.

Even if it's 200,000 per year, the school might not be willing to pay that much.

Liu Yimin suddenly said, "I heard that the ministry is discussing reforming the people's student aid system and establishing a special academic scholarship system. I think we can link this with the ministry's scholarships and have the ministry fund it."

"The ministry?" Yan Jiayan thought Liu Yimin's idea was good. He had also heard that someone in the ministry had mentioned it. So he went back to his desk and started writing an application report, applying with the school office to become a pilot program.

The People's Scholarship system is a monthly subsidy provided by the government to college students. Since each student does not pay tuition fees and receives a subsidy, the financial burden on the government is too heavy. Therefore, the government has begun to explore gradually replacing the People's Scholarship system with scholarships for outstanding students and student loan systems.

After the abolition of the people's student aid system, the tuition system was gradually implemented.

Liu Yimin still had a lot of things to do at the Institute of Literature and Art, so he quietly left Yan Jiayan's office.

The Institute of Literature and Art has almost finished preparing the materials. Submitting them to the Ministry of Culture will serve as a report on this year's achievements.

"Have all the meeting notices been sent out?" Liu Yimin asked Yan Zhen.

Yan Zhen said, "They have all been sent and I'm sure you received them."

In the evening, Liu Yimin went to the Beijing People's Art Theatre to watch the premiere of the play "Amnesty 1959". Rehearsals for "Amnesty 1959" began in mid-October and lasted for about two months.

The people standing on top are the actors, while those sitting below are all the original owners of the body. Huang Wei laughed heartily when he saw himself in the drama.

The first two rows of seats on the first floor were occupied by Gongdelin practitioners. Regardless of the scenes being performed, they all wore faint smiles.

The audience in the back row burst into laughter at some of the trainees' comical antics, turning "Amnesty 1959" into a comedy.

After the performance, Huang Wei and his group shook hands with the audience.

Huang Wei said to Liu Yimin, "Now I know why ancient Chinese people, whether emperors or generals, cared so much about their evaluation in historical records."

“Yes, we’re unprecedented in the world, leaving behind a good name both before and after our death. We can see our own names after death,” Zheng Tingji chimed in.

As Liu Yimin followed them out, he could still hear many audience members saying things like, "So-and-so is too funny," and in these discussions, the name "Huang Wei" was always mentioned.

When Liu Yimin got home, he held Liu Yu and Liu Lin and read fairy tales to them for a while. Seeing that the two were extremely sleepy, Yang Xiuyun carried them back to the bedroom.

After showering and entering the room, Liu Yimin found that Zhu Lin had already gone to Shanghai, leaving him alone in the empty room. Lying in bed, Liu Yimin thought for a while about Zhu Lin in Shanghai, deciding to call her the next day to ask how she was doing.

On December 26th, the countdown to the Institute of Literature and Art's year-end meeting began. In addition to Dai Tielang, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio also had director Yan Dingxian and another director, Xia Bingjun, present.

Yan Dingxian and Xia Bingjun were hired as researchers at the Institute of Literature from the beginning, but they did not come last year.

Liu Yimin asked Yan Zhen and the Yanda University motorcade to pick up the people. Yanda University has a dedicated motorcade, and this was Liu Yimin's first time using a car.

Yan Zhen announced Liu Yimin's name, and the convoy immediately replaced the Jeep with a sedan.

After Yan Zhen picked up the three, he first took them to the guesthouse, and then came over to inform Liu Yimin, who went to the guesthouse to visit the three.

"Director Yan, welcome to Yenching University." Liu Yimin glanced at Yan Dingxian.

Later, many people spread rumors that Yan Dingxian deliberately targeted Dai Tielang, causing Dai Tielang to retire early and stopping "Black Cat Detective" from its fifth episode.

In an interview with reporters, Yan Dingxian explained that he was not clear about the reasons, and that he himself retired at the age of 60. He believed that people should retire when it was time, and that if the older generation did not step down, new people would not have the opportunity to direct.

Shanghai Animation Film Studio has a fixed quota of 700 minutes of animation per year, but it has accumulated a large number of directors, resulting in a situation where there are too many wolves and not enough meat.

Yan Dingxian shook hands with Liu Yimin and said, "Comrade Yimin, thank you for your contributions to domestic animation. Since last year, the ministry has begun to conduct targeted research on the problems of animation. Our animation quota has been increased from 700 minutes to 800 minutes."

Not only has the animation quota increased, but the funding has also increased significantly.

Liu Yimin said, "Director Yan, animation is a profitable industry, and I am just doing my part."

One of the important reasons why Yan Dingxian attended the Institute of Literature and Art Research meeting was that he saw the institute's potential, whereas he had previously thought it was just a small-scale operation.

Liu Yimin shook hands with each of them and asked them what was wrong. Yan Zhen brought them some fruit and snacks like melon seeds.

"These are sunflower seeds roasted by our brigade. Everyone can try them."

Liu Yimin stayed at the guesthouse for an hour before leaving.

The next morning at eight o'clock, the Institute of Literature and Art began to bustle with activity as the 1985 year-end meeting officially began, and Xia Yan arrived early.

Yan Dingxian saw Xia Yan, shook hands with him excitedly, and gave a brief report on the current situation of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

The meeting entered the formal discussion phase at 8:30. The office was packed with people, and Dai Jianye and his colleagues could only sit at the back and listen to the meeting.

After Xia Yan gave a brief speech, Liu Yimin began to report on the research achievements of the Institute of Literature and Art in 1985. A total of seven effective papers were produced, one report on domestic and foreign film industry policies was published, and a textbook on journalism was compiled by the journalism professors of the Cultural Invasion Group, which was under review by the Ministry of Education's Higher Education Textbook Compilation and Review Committee.

This type of effective paper output refers to those that can provide consultation to relevant departments or be included in internal reference materials for leaders at all levels to consult.

"The first kung fu movie supported by the Institute of Literature and Art is currently being filmed," Liu Yimin said, closing his folder.

After listening to Liu Yimin's report, Xia Yan said, "Overall, the research results of our Institute of Literature and Art have increased significantly compared to last year, which has indeed achieved the desired effect when the Institute of Literature and Art was established."

In the field of animation, China has gradually formulated policies to oppose the dumping of foreign animation at low prices or for free. I believe this is relatively favorable to our domestic animation studios.”

Because of this incident, CCTV has some reservations about Liu Yimin, as he used to be able to purchase goods for free, but now he has to pay for them.

Yan Dingxian said, "Thank you for the support from the Ministry. This year, our Shanghai Animation Film Studio has produced many excellent animations, and the audience feedback has been very good."

"Support from the Ministry isn't enough; we have to work hard ourselves."

In the afternoon, each group presented their research plans for next year. The film studio's group focused more on policy issues, while the other two groups mainly continued their research projects from this year, such as textbook writing.

New projects require separate funding, while ongoing projects need additional funding.

Hearing this, Liu Yimin felt a headache coming on; there were just too many places where money needed to be spent.

(End of this chapter)