Chapter 228: Heart Darkened
1984 was the Year of the Pig. On the first day of the Lunar New Year this year, Lin Weimin was much busier than before.
He got up early, wished his brother-in-law a happy new year, and hurried to the train station. Today, his girlfriend and her Xiao Baihua Yue Opera Troupe were returning to Zhijiang, and he had to see them off. They wouldn't be able to see each other for at least a few months.
But when Lin Weimin arrived at the train station, he waited and waited but did not see the large group of Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe.
Seeing that it was already past eight o'clock, and waiting any longer would delay his visit to his teacher's house for New Year's greetings, Lin Weimin rode his bike all the way to the Temple of Heaven Hotel.
"Comrade, has the Xiao Baihua Yue Opera Troupe left?"
The Spring Festival Gala rehearsal lasted for a month or two, and the staff at the front desk already knew Lin Weimin. "No, they extended it for another day."
What's going on?
Lin Weimin asked the front desk to make an internal call to Tao Huimin, and she came down from upstairs after a while.
"What's going on? Didn't you say you were leaving?" Lin Weimin asked.
Tao Huimin's face was filled with joy. "We packed up and prepared to go to the train station this morning. The leader of the group received a call and asked us to stay in Yanjing for a few days. He said that a leader watched our show and appreciated it very much. He asked us to stay in Yanjing to perform for a while before returning to Zhijiang. I couldn't contact you and wanted to go to the train station to find you. I didn't expect you to come so soon."
So that's how it was. Lin Weimin was happy, at least he could meet Tao Huimin a few more times.
"Can you guys still have a holiday?"
Tao Huimin shook her head, "I don't know. The group leader is communicating with them right now. If the schedule is really set, they should perform during the Spring Festival holidays, right?"
"That's too hard." Lin Weimin held her hand and said, "Come to my house one day, and I'll make you something delicious to replenish your body."
Tao Huimin said shyly: "I won't go."
His tone was not as firm as before, Lin Weimin said: "Just to get acquainted with the place and have a meal."
Tao Huimin hesitated and said, "I'm afraid there's no time."
"It's okay. If you squeeze in, you'll definitely get one. When you have time, I'll take you there."
Tao Huimin agreed reluctantly.
The two talked for a while, and Jiang Yao came down to find Tao Huimin, saying that the troupe leader had called them to a meeting, and it was estimated that there was some progress on the performance.
"Then you go up first, I'll come see you tomorrow."
After leaving the Temple of Heaven Hotel, Lin Weimin went straight to Muxidi.
Mr. Wan was in good spirits today and talked to Lin Weimin about last night's Spring Festival Gala.
"This Spring Festival Gala is very interesting. The two skits you wrote are also good. The structure is simple, but the jokes are just right. The actors' performances are also good. The actor who plays Huang Shiren is your nephew, right?"
"Yes, I just joined the People's Art Theatre not long ago, and my acting skills are average."
"It's OK. But the two young people who acted with him really performed well."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Teacher, you really have a keen eye. Those two are from the actor training class of the People's Art Theater. The People's Art Theater is very optimistic about them. Maybe they will become the mainstay of the People's Art Theater in the next few years."
Mr. Wan shook his head and laughed, "Oh, I really don't go there often. I can't even recognize our people."
After talking about the Spring Festival Gala, Mr. Wan talked about the novel "The Horse-Tapping Man".
"The Horse Tamer" was published in the supplement of "People's Literature" in January this year. It has been more than a month since then. Mr. Wan has been busy with work and has just finished reading it.
"Overall it's excellent. But I think the treatment of the character of Bayin is a bit too light, which makes people feel unhappy!"
"You mean, his ending was too good?"
Mr. Wan nodded and said, "It might be better if there was a cause and effect cycle at the end, like the turmoil in the 1950s. If it is used on Bayin, it would be very suitable, and the sense of fate would come out immediately."
“I did consider this approach before, but I finally decided to use the current ending mainly because I took into account the feelings of many comrades who have experienced buzzing.
Scar literature has been very popular in recent years, and the protagonists are mostly persecuted, so everyone can naturally empathize with them.
Now if I were to rashly do the opposite and turn the persecuted people into villains, it might hurt the feelings of many comrades.
The current ending lacks a bit of weight, but it’s better in terms of irony. You always have to make a trade-off!"
Lin Weimin finished his speech with a carefree smile.
Mr. Wan had been listening to him carefully until he finished speaking, then he nodded and said, "Yes, you have considered it very carefully."
"but……"
He looked directly at Lin Weimin and said, "If it is simply to take into account the feelings of certain people, there is no need to change this ending."
Then his expression relaxed again, "But your two endings are similar, which shows that you put a lot of thought into it."
Lin Weimin breathed a sigh of relief; at least he was not criticized.
"You have just been promoted to deputy editor-in-chief, so you must be very busy. Have you started writing recently?" Mr. Wan asked again.
This topic cannot be avoided every time they meet, and Lin Weimin has become accustomed to it.
"It's just started. It's about a rich young man in Shanghai and a poor French girl."
Mr. Wan found it interesting. "It is important to control the details, whether it is Shanghai or France, including the feminine perspective. These are things you have never experienced before, so you must pay attention."
"Yes, these questions require a lot of time and energy, just like when I wrote "The Horse Catcher" before."
Mr. Wan slapped his thigh at this time, "By the way, wait a moment."
As he spoke, he walked into the study, and after a while, he came out with a few books.
"These books were prepared when I visited France in 1980. They are just what you need."
Lin Weimin took the book and said with a smile, "That's great. At least you saved me the time of going to the Capital Library a few times."
In the days before the Internet, looking up information was definitely a task that could take a lifetime of study.
After leaving Mr. Wan's house, Lin Weimin went to Shi Tiesheng's house to pay New Year's greetings.
After finishing the work, the morning had passed.
Starting from the second year of junior high school, he visited the teachers in the Institute of Literature and several leaders of the Chinese Literature Society.
Time flies and the holiday is over.
Tao Huimin's Xiao Bai Hua Yue Opera Troupe was one of the first groups to benefit from the Spring Festival Gala. After their troupe finished performing "Five Women Paying Homage to Their Parents" on the night of the 30th, they received a call on the first day of the new year asking them to stay in Yanjing to perform. The performance officially started on the third day of the new year.
It was actually at the Huairen Hall, and Lin Weimin couldn't even go to support his girlfriend.
Then he went to the People's Hall for a special performance. He went to places that Lin Weimin could not enter. He originally wanted to take the opportunity to meet him privately, but he was not given the chance at all.
Tao Huimin did take the time to call Lin Weimin, and her tone was extremely excited on the phone.
On the morning of the day she called, the Xiao Baihua Yue Opera Troupe had just been received by a leader at an important state location. For artists of this era, this was already the highest honor, and Xiao Baihua could not help but be excited.
"Then I am not worthy of you this time!"
Lin Weimin has won several national awards, but he has never been received by the first or second level leaders. It seems that the Literature and Art Association is still not good enough!
"What nonsense are you talking about? The leader is just meeting us, we are just ordinary actors..." She said shyly, "Actually... you are much better than me!"
Lin Weimin liked to hear this and asked his girlfriend to say more, but she hung up the phone.
Lin Weimin came out of Qin Chaoyang's office and returned to the editorial department, continuing to read the newly published "Wenyi Bao".
Since its resumption in 1978, Literary Gazette was first a monthly, then a biweekly, until it became a monthly again last year.
The copy of "Wenyi Bao" in Lin Weimin's hand has just been published. The article that Lin Weimin wrote before the New Year in response to the commission of "Wenyi Bao" was published in the "Discussion" column of this issue - "Our literary creation needs a hundred flowers to bloom."
In the article, Lin Weimin first elaborated on the historical reasons for the formation of the current domestic literary creation environment and the current trends, and then talked about the views and corresponding actions of "Contemporary" as a domestic first-line literary magazine on these phenomena and trends. Finally, he proposed from a high-level perspective that major literary newspapers and magazines should open their arms and embrace all rivers.
In the article, the first issue of "Contemporary" this year was also used to speak out. Although this may be suspected of self-boasting, the achievements of the first issue and the response it caused are there, and others cannot refute it even if they want to.
Rong Shihui, who had just finished reading the Literary Gazette, said in a teasing tone, "Weimin is in the limelight now!"
Liu Yin said: "You will definitely be in the limelight, but you will also definitely be scolded."
As she said this, she laughed with glee.
If we look at this article published by Lin Weimin in the Literary Gazette from the perspective and viewpoint of later generations, it is extremely correct no matter how you look at it.
But in 1983, this was not entirely true.
After the turmoil of recent years, domestic public opinion and creative trends seem to have become more open and inclusive, but in fact the garbage of history cannot be swept away so easily.
Why was it that Lu Yao's "A Thrilling Scene" could not be published despite being of good quality in several publications?
Why was Xu Jingya criticized so much after the publication of "The Rise of Poets" which advocated Misty Poetry, and even had to publish an article in the People's Daily to engage in self-criticism a few years later?
Why is it that when some editors give the extremely avant-garde works created by young authors such as Yu Hua the evaluation of “not a novel”? Such evaluation is even worse than “shit” because it fundamentally denies your creation.
Lin Weimin's article "Our literary creation needs to let a hundred flowers bloom" has a very high tone. At first glance, I thought this person was really good at talking big and singing high-sounding slogans.
But if they knew Lin Weimin's identity and the content of the first issue of "Contemporary" this year, they would know that Lin Weimin and "Contemporary" are interpreting their ideas with practical actions.
Literary creation should be a place where a hundred flowers bloom.
While Lin Weimin was flipping through this issue of "Wenyi Bao", this freshly published publication was also placed in front of countless readers across the country.
There were conservative people who sneered at his big talk; there were fair and peaceful people who pondered for a long time after reading the words in the publication; and there were also those who were as bright as the rising sun, who were excited and encouraged by Lin Weimin's words, as if they had found a guiding light.
The article "Our literary creation needs to let a hundred flowers bloom" published in the second issue of "Wenyi Bao" in 1983 was bound to cause a sensation in the domestic literary world and among the vast number of literature lovers.
But for the time being, this kind of disturbance has not affected Lin Weimin.
After reading this issue of Literary Gazette, Lin Weimin turned his attention to the letters from readers.
The influence of the first issue of the magazine in 1983 was still raging, and letters from readers had filled up the mailroom during the Spring Festival holidays.
Just picking out the letters that readers sent to the author of this issue took up a large part of the editorial department's energy. Faced with tens of thousands of letters, Lin Weimin was so anxious that he scratched his head.
"Leader, let's recruit some people!" He ran to Meng Weizai's office to offer suggestions.
Meng Weizai spat out a mouthful of tea foam, "You said you want to recruit people, so you want to recruit people. Do you think our editorial department is a streetside restaurant?"
Lin Weimin felt that what Lao Meng said was a little inappropriate. Nowadays, all restaurants are state-owned and you can't just enter whenever you want.
"I mean to get some volunteers."
Meng Weizai became interested in this new term, "Why are we looking for volunteers? We are not a charity organization."
“They are called ‘volunteers’ in the euphemism of being temporary workers. There are so many chores in the office and everyone is so busy that it takes a lot of time every day just to deal with these chores.
As you know, since the first issue was published, the number of submissions to our journal has almost doubled in the past month.”
Teacher Lin is now a famous writer, but he also has an official position.
Once you become an official, your heart becomes black!
Meng Weizai couldn't imagine where all these weird ideas of Lin Weimin came from. At first they seemed extremely unorthodox, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that they could actually be implemented.
"How do we recruit this person?" Meng Weizai pulled Lin Weimin to sit on the sofa and started to consult him in detail.
"Looking for college students! Nowadays, how many college students are not literary youths? If they heard that we are recruiting volunteers for Contemporary Magazine, they would probably bring their own food to work."
Meng Weizai waved his hand and said, "That won't work. It's not enough to ask people to work for free, but you also ask them to bring their own food?"
"Leader, I am just describing their feelings. How can we not give them money? Isn't that even more cruel than Huang Shiren?"
"Then how is this treatment calculated?"
"We'll give subsidies on a daily basis. Didn't we give two yuan a day to those who edited the manuscripts? One yuan a day is enough for these college students. Young people are easy to ignore... They are all good comrades, well-educated and have ideals. This can be considered a contribution to the literary cause of our great motherland!"
As Meng Weizai listened to Lin Weimin's increasingly outrageous words, he really wanted to kick him, but this kid was causing trouble for the editorial department after all, so Old Meng decided to endure it for the time being.
Lin Weimin looked at Meng Weizai for a long time without any reaction, and couldn't help but ask, "Leader, what do you think of my idea?"
(End of this chapter)
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