Chapter 173 Betrayal of Fate

After work that day, Lin Weimin met Wang Shuo, who had not been seen for a long time. He came to see Lin Weimin specifically.

"Hey, isn't this Mr. Shuo? I haven't seen you for such a long time, I thought you died in the south." Lin Weimin said sarcastically.

Wang Shuo retorted unwillingly, and after a few jokes, he finally stated his intention.

This guy followed Xie Jingnan to deal in electronic watches last year and made some serious money. Recently, he plans to open a restaurant.

The hotel will open tomorrow, and I plan to invite Lin Weimin to come and support us.

"I wonder why you keep going backwards the more you work? Running a restaurant is hard work!" said Lin Weimin.

"What's not hard? Dealing with electronic watches is not a long-term solution. I'm just looking for a legitimate business, right?"

"Not bad. You've improved after not seeing each other for such a long time!" Lin Weimin patted Wang Shuo on the shoulder.

"Fuck you. Tomorrow morning at nine, the restaurant is in Shawoer, it's called Tianfu Restaurant."

"Okay, I'll be there tomorrow."

After agreeing to Wang Shuo's request, Lin Weimin rode his motorcycle at around eight o'clock the next morning, bought two flower baskets, and then went to Wang Shuo's restaurant.

Shawo is not far from Wukesong, and in later generations it would be part of the West Fourth Ring Road.

Lin Weimin searched along the roadside for a long time and finally found the Tianfu Restaurant that Wang Shuo mentioned.

The building is an ordinary street residence these days, which has been converted into a restaurant. The decoration is in line with the characteristics of this era.

The first private restaurant in Yanjing City opened in 1980, so it is now a legal business for individuals to run a restaurant.

Lin Weimin walked in carrying a basket of flowers. Wang Shuo and Xie Jing were already busy in the store. When they saw Lin Weimin, they were very enthusiastic. He was the first one to arrive today.

The restaurant just opened at this moment and hired a Sichuan chef, two waiters, and Wang Shuo and Xie Jing, which are the only people there.

Wang Shuo and Xie Jing are partners in the restaurant business, and they also did the electronic watch business. Now they divide the work and cooperate with each other, one of them looks after the restaurant, and the other goes to Guangzhou to buy goods, so they can exchange work without any delay.

The Xingfu 250 parked at the door was also bought by the two of them together, which shows the relationship between Wang Shuo and Xie Jing.

While they were chatting, many more friends came to Tianfu Restaurant. They were all childhood friends of Wang Shuo and Xie Jing who grew up in the compound.

None of the so-called "Beijing bigwig" Lin Weimin, who is familiar to later generations, was seen, and at this time, Wang Shuo was not the world-famous ruffian writer.

Lin Weimin was the biggest celebrity he could invite today. He introduced Lin Weimin to this group of childhood friends who grew up together. He received enthusiastic support from everyone and Wang Shuo couldn't help feeling a little proud.

After setting off the firecrackers, a group of people crowded at the entrance of the hotel to take photos. Lin Weimin was arranged by Wang Shuo to sit in the middle.

His presence today can be regarded as a way to help Wang Shuo hold up the situation.

After taking the photos, Tianfu Restaurant was officially opened.

Xie Jing was busy assigning tables to everyone, while Wang Shuo went to help in the kitchen. The restaurant had to be lively on the first day of its opening, so everyone had to help boost its popularity.

After a long time, the food and drinks were served one after another. Wang Shuo and the two waiters were serving the dishes. Lin Weimin joked, "When they open a restaurant, they print business cards and are managers. Why do you just change to waiters?"

Wang Shuo was all smiles today. "We don't mind that. It's our own business. Why are we pretending to be grandsons?"

"Come on, come on, eat quickly! Eat quickly! Everyone, please don't be polite!"

Wang Shuo tried his best to get everyone eating and drinking to liven up the atmosphere. Today was the first day of opening, so he had to at least get a few tables of customers to come.

As a result, the store was lively and the shouting of these young men could be heard on the street, but no one dared to come in to eat.

It’s called a restaurant, but it sounds more like a human meat bun shop. Who would dare to go in?

Lin Weimin was not familiar with everyone, so he said goodbye to Wang Shuo and Xie Jing after dinner. Wang Shuo saw him out, and Lin Weimin stuffed a big unity card into his hand, but Wang Shuo refused to accept it.

"How can you do business like this? You are running a business, even if your father or father comes, you have to pay, otherwise you will lose everything."

Wang Shuo disagreed, "We are all friends. You help me and I help you. It would hurt our relationship if I asked for money."

Lin Weimin did not insist, but patted his shoulder and said, "Come to me when you lose all your underwear, and I will treat you to a meal at Donglaishun!"

"Get lost!" Wang Shuo cursed with a smile and waved goodbye to Lin Weimin.

Time flies and it is already May. The third issue of "Contemporary" this year has just been released, and the atmosphere in the editorial department is relaxed.

Liu Yin took a newly bought copy of Zhongshan and threw it on Lin Weimin's desk, "Comrade Weimin, you are betraying your life!"

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I have infiltrated the enemy. I have consulted the leader for instructions."

He is the editor of "Contemporary". In order to avoid suspicion, it is impossible for him to publish his works in "Contemporary". However, "Contemporary" belongs to Guowen Publishing House. Can his works still be allowed to flow into the fields of outsiders?

This time the work was published in "Zhongshan". He specifically told Qin Chaoyang that "Zhongshan" had been very kind to him and this time he would just repay the favor.

Opening "Zhongshan", his latest novel "Talk It Out Nicely" was published on it, which was the novel he had promised Yu Zhaohuai and had spent another half a year writing.

Zhu Changsheng then said: "Weimin, I just finished reading your novel."

"How is it?" Lin Weimin asked.

"It's quite different from your previous novels."

"Yes. Just tell me how it feels?"

Lin Weimin made some changes to Zhang Yimou's "If You Are the One". That movie was set in the 1990s, but Lin Weimin changed it to the 1980s and made major changes to the plot, but the core remained unchanged.

"It feels small and exquisite to me, although it is clearly a long novel..." Zhu Changsheng had a somewhat conflicted look on his face.

Yao Shuzhi interrupted and said, "I think your writing this time is just average. It's just a trivial matter, and you keep talking about it over and over again. It's too thoughtless."

Lin Weimin nodded without comment.

At this time, Rong Shihui put down the pen in his hand and said, "I don't agree with Xiao Yao's opinion."

Several people looked at him, and he took off his reading glasses. "I think Weimin's attempt was very bold. In recent years, our literary creation seems to have fallen into a vicious circle, either praising something or criticizing something, always using words like profound, soul, and thought, which dazzles people. It seems profound, but in fact it is divorced from reality and just pursues superficiality."

"However, Weimin's "If You Are the One" breaks this kind of empty and false inertia and returns the novel to its narrative essence."

Yao Shuzhi said: "Teacher Rong, it is not wrong to pursue grand propositions and critical thinking. You are generalizing."

“That’s certainly not wrong, but it ignores the essence of the novel.”

"The essence of fiction? What is it?"

“The word fiction was first seen in Zhuangzi’s External Things: If one raises a fishing rod and goes to the ditch to fish for carp, it will be difficult to catch a big fish; if one embellishes a fiction to become a county magistrate, it will be far from achieving great success.

"Xian" is the ancient Chinese character for "xuan", which means high; "ling" means beautiful, and "gan" means pursuit. It means that holding a small fishing rod and fishing line, running between the irrigation ditches, you can only catch small fish such as loaches, but it is difficult to catch big fish.

Zhuangzi's remarks at the time may seem far-fetched when used to explain the meaning of "novel", but they happen to point out the essence of the novel.

Trivial and shallow remarks and small truths are exactly what a novel should be.

I am not against grand narratives, nor am I against so-called profundity and criticism, but these things must be built on a solid foundation, otherwise they are just superficial, like a castle built on the beach, which will be exposed once the sea comes in. "

When it comes to understanding novels, Yao Shuzhi can hardly compare to Rong Shihui, who has been an editor all his life.

Lin Weimin laughed heartily at this time and said, "Teacher Rong is really good. He speaks with allusions and teaches us another lesson."

Rong Shihui smiled and said, "Why don't you sound like you are praising me?"

"Teacher Rong, you are just being overly suspicious. I am sincere."

The two of them started arguing, and the atmosphere of the discussion, which had been a little serious just now, became relaxed.

The editorial department is not unanimous in its evaluation of Lin Weimin's "If You Are the One", "If You Are the One",

This phenomenon is similar to what Lin Weimin expected. Each type of work has its own different audience, and he does not force his work to be popular.

With the hot sales of "Zhongshan", "If You Are the One" has received more and more attention. This work is very different in style from Lin Weimin's previous works, which has opened the eyes of countless readers and left a deep impression.

In the early 1980s, when scar literature was popular in the literary world, the absurd and exquisite story of "If You Are the One" was like a clear stream, exuding a unique temperament.

Because of the gimmick of publishing "Lin Weimin's latest long masterpiece", the sales of the latest issue of "Zhongshan" have been rising steadily, and the momentum is obviously much stronger than previous issues.

This is great news for "Zhongshan", which just underwent a revision at the beginning of this year.

Far away in the editorial office of "Zhongshan" in Jinling, Yu Zhaohuai looked at the subscription information compiled from post offices and bookstores from all over the country, and he couldn't stop smiling.

Editor-in-chief Hai Xiao praised: "Zhao Huai, you have done a great service to our editorial department this time."

"You should thank Lin Weimin. Without his burst of inspiration, I wouldn't have achieved such good results if I hadn't forced the short story I promised to write into a long novel."

"Haha, that's right!"

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(End of this chapter)