Chapter 292 Hurting Others Hurts Yourself First
In early April, the April 1984 issue of People's Literature was published as scheduled.
Without any warning, a novel with the main plot of bandits fighting bullies became popular in a publication.
This novel neither closely follows current affairs and styles, nor does it have fancy writing techniques and narrative methods. Its creative techniques can be said to be plain and simple, but its writing is sophisticated and its story is portrayed vividly. It has been loved and sought after by countless readers in a short period of time.
At the beginning, everyone was naturally attracted by the gimmick that the real name of the character "Liuzi" in the novel was "Lin Weimin", and naturally linked this novel with the writer Lin Weimin who had been criticized and attacked some time ago.
For several months, various newspapers and magazines bombarded Lin Weimin, as if they wanted to kill him. Although there were many negative impacts, there were also some positive effects.
That means Lin Weimin became famous nationwide again.
It was not until the media, led by the Yenching Youth Daily, began to clear Lin Weimin's name that many people found out.
Oh, it turns out that this writer was wrongly accused.
For ordinary readers, this is probably the impact that the news in newspapers have on them.
Therefore, when people saw the plot like "Sixth Son's real name is Lin Weimin" in the novel "The Story of Stealing an Official", they were mostly there for fun.
Lin Weimin started receiving letters from readers forwarded by the editorial department of People's Literature in the past few days. He didn't expect that the pile of filth he threw at the opposite side would hurt himself first before hurting others.
"Lin Weimin, nicknamed Liuzi, godfather Zhang Muzhi, was born in the 12th year of the Republic of China. He died at the age of 18. He loved eating rice noodles all his life."
Liu Yin read aloud the contents of a letter from a reader, and colleagues laughed so hard that they fell over, creating a joyful atmosphere in the office.
Rong Shihui sighed, "For the people, for the people, isn't this called being too clever for your own good?"
He Qizhi said: "No, I think it should be said that before hurting others, you should hurt yourself first."
After that, he asked Zhu Changsheng next to him, "Oh, by the way. In Jin Yong's novel, there is a fist called what?"
Zhu Changsheng suppressed his laughter and said, "The Seven Injury Fist hurts yourself first, then hurts others."
He Qizhi clapped his hands and said, "Not bad, not bad. Weimin's move really captured the essence of boxing!"
Lin Weimin was disdainful of the bad taste of this group of people and piled up the manuscripts in his hand with a "bang bang" sound.
"We call this being popular. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
If the old-timers from the 1980s live long enough, they will probably understand what a “stalk” is.
Everyone laughed and ignored Lin Weimin.
On the contrary, Tong Zhonggui, who was standing nearby, said seriously, "Right now, the most discussed topic among students in our school is Teacher Lin's novel."
Everyone became interested and asked, "Oh? How did your classmates discuss this?"
Tong Zhonggui thought for a moment and said, "The most discussed part at the beginning was definitely the part about Liuzi eating noodles. Many people thought it was absurd at first, but the biggest feeling was still horror."
"Why do you feel scared?" Liu Yin asked.
"Because it reminds me of the old society where people were eaten without leaving any bones." Tong Zhonggui said this, turned his gaze to Lin Weimin, and asked: "Teacher Lin, a small number of students around me feel that this novel is ostensibly to redress your grievances and accuse those villains who defamed and slandered you, but in fact it tells another story."
Lin Weimin asked with a relaxed expression: "What's the story?"
"The story of an old man leading the people to conquer the world!" Tong Zhonggui's eyes flashed, "Teacher Lin, I have always wanted to ask you, is it really like this? Is there really such a deep meaning behind "The Story of Stealing Officials"? "
The laughter in the office subsided. Even college students could see the deep meaning and connotation, so how could colleagues not see it?
But no one asked Lin Weimin because everyone thought that since Lin Weimin insisted on writing the story in an obscure way, he must have his own intentions.
As for Lin Weimin, he was holding a cup of tea, looking calm and composed, with no expression of sadness or joy.
What the hell does this have to do with me? If you guys have the guts, go find Jiang Wen!
However, Lin Weimin later read those articles on the Internet that randomly interpreted "Let the Bullets Fly", so when he wrote the novel, he deleted and modified the metaphors that were too sensitive and easy to be misinterpreted.
"There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand readers. Every work is different in the eyes of different readers. This is not because of the work, but because of the people who read the work..."
There is a special term in Buddhism, called "playing tricks", which in layman's terms means talking nonsense, which is probably what Mr. Lin is in now.
After giving a long speech, Tong Zhonggui looked convinced.
He was greatly inspired by this conversation. When Mr. Lin was writing the novel "The Story of Stealing an Official", he may have thought about it 100% in his mind, but it became 70% after he wrote it. After deleting and revising it, only 50% was left. After reading it as readers, we can probably understand 30% of Mr. Lin's intention.
This is not a problem of Mr. Lin’s writing skills, but rather taking into account the readers’ feelings and external environment.
It turns out that Teacher Lin’s thoughts are beyond the comprehension of ordinary readers like us!
Compared with Tong Zhonggui's one-sided belief, the old hands in the editorial department are not so easy to fool.
The more Lin Weimin explained, the more people believed it.
If this guy wanted to curse people, he would never spend so much time writing such a novel. He cursed people, but there must be a deep meaning behind it.
Everyone has heard Lin Weimin recite the old man's poems more than once. After Yao Shuzhi and Liu Yin went to Lin Weimin's house, they also talked about the old man's poem "Man Jiang Hong" hanging on the wall of Lin Weimin's living room.
Through various clues, we can be 100% sure.
Lin Weimin should be a fanatical believer of the old man. Writing the novel "The Story of Stealing an Official" to scold those who attacked and slandered him was only a superficial reason. His real purpose was to popularize the old man's ideas.
Tsk tsk, this boy, don’t be fooled by his cheerful appearance, he is actually a deep-minded person!
At the same time, in the cafeteria of Yenching Normal University.
"Who do you think this martial arts candidate is?" asked Zhang Jianjun.
A boy with small eyes pondered and said, "I think that on the surface, Teacher Lin should be scolding the writer Wu Ruiping who previously wrote an article in the newspaper to attack him. Wu and Wu have similar pronunciations.
But if we really look into it, this military candidate should represent the bureaucrats and warlords of the Qing Dynasty. They are powerful, cunning, and at the same time want to please everyone and not offend anyone. They have ulterior motives and serve whoever is in power. "
Everyone nodded frequently as they listened to the analysis given by the boy with small eyes.
"What about Huang Silang?"
"Do I even need to ask this? Teacher Lin is scolding Literary Review. Huang Silang has two dogs at home, one is called Justice and the other is called People's Heart. Hey, do you still remember those two articles in Literary Review?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
"What about the implied character behind it?"
"Who else could it be? Chiang Kai-shek! In the novel, it's said that Huang Silang was once a revolutionary and could speak fluent English."
"No, no, I think it should be Yuan Gongbao. He stole the fruits of the revolution, pretending to be democratic, but actually being a dictator."
"I don't think Yuan Gongbao is very suitable. There are too many things that can match Chiang Kai-shek. Look..."
As they were talking, two of them started arguing. The others watched them with interest and ate while watching.
During the period after the publication of "The Story of Stealing an Official", everyone has seen and participated in such scenes countless times, but they never get tired of it.
Finally, they stopped when both of them said they were tired and the food in the lunch boxes had gotten cold.
Zhang Jianjun then said with emotion: "The more I read Teacher Lin's novel, the more profound it becomes!"
At this time, someone else retorted: "Who said this novel was written by Teacher Lin? The author's name is clearly Zhang Muzhi!"
After hearing this, everyone smiled maliciously.
Zhang Jianjun suddenly realized, "Right, right, right, Zhang Muzhi, Zhang Muzhi, look at me, I'm completely confused!"
Everyone couldn't hold back their smiles any longer and burst into laughter.
Obviously, he wanted to write a novel to insult people, but he chose to use a pen name. So many characters in the novel use pseudonyms, but a "Sixth Son" who was wrongly killed used his own name. This is pure disgusting to those people!
However, to these student readers, Mr. Lin's behavior seemed full of the stubbornness and dry humor of a scholar.
Teacher Lin is such an interesting person.
Ten months after the publication of "The Story of Stealing an Official", the popularity it triggered gradually formed a trend, especially as to which people who had attacked Lin Weimin were insulted in the novel and which historical figures were implied behind it, which became a hot topic for discussion among countless readers.
Under this trend, coupled with the continuous positive reports about Lin Weimin published by media across the country.
The negative impact on Lin Weimin caused by the criticism, attacks and smears in the past few months has completely disappeared. On the contrary, because of these two positive and negative waves of public opinion, Lin Weimin's reputation has become more widely spread.
When May was approaching, Lin Weimin went to Mr. Wan's house to have a meal.
The storm was completely over and the two were in a good mood. At the same time, Mr. Wan told Lin Weimin another good news.
It has been half a year since Arthur Miller returned to the United States, and the American version of the play "The Intouchables" will be performed on Broadway next month.
"This is really good news!" Lin Weimin said happily.
Mr. Wan asked, "How was it? Do you regret not accepting his invitation? If you had gone to the United States last year, you might not have had so many troubles."
Lin Weimin shook his head. "There's nothing to regret. The United States is not a paradise. I was just scolded for a few days. Compared with the suffering you teachers went through back then, it's nothing."
Lin Weimin's words touched Mr. Wan's heart. "Don't pretend with me. Do you think I haven't read your novel?"
Lin Weimin scratched his head and said, "Hehe, I have to vent after all!"
As they chatted, Mr. Wan suddenly asked, "How's the conversation with your girlfriend going?"
"It's still the same. She is still working in Zhijiang for the time being."
"Young man, it's not a good thing to be separated all the time." Mr. Wan sighed, and then asked, "Do you want me to ask for your transfer to the counterpart unit in Yanjing?"
Lin Weimin was a little surprised, but after thinking about it, he said, "I won't bother you, teacher. I can figure out a way to deal with this myself."
Mr. Wan is now over 70 years old, and Lin Weimin couldn't bear to ask him to use backdoors for his own benefit.
"Okay then!" Mr. Wan said a little disappointed.
After a while, while Mr. Wan went to the toilet, Li Yuru whispered to Lin Weimin, "He feels a little bad because he didn't help you before."
Lin Weimin felt sad after hearing this.
After Mr. Wan came out of the toilet, Lin Weimin said with a smile: "By the way, teacher. I heard that your "Sunrise" is going to be adapted into a movie?"
"How do you know that?"
"My brother-in-law used to be a director at the Shanghai Film Studio. Can you help me ask him if my novel can be adapted into a movie?"
Mr. Wan glanced at his wife and said, "Do you think I don't know? There are many directors who want to adapt your novel, but I haven't seen you agree to any of them?"
“Hehe!” Lin Weimin laughed and said, “Those are all unreliable makeshift teams!”
Although he saw through Lin Weimin's little thoughts and was relieved in his heart, Mr. Wan still said: "Don't be afraid that I, an old man, will feel lost. You young people will always grow up. It's just that your pace of growth is a little faster, and you no longer need my support."
"Look at what you said. I have to carry the banner of your disciple all the time and show off wherever I go!"
Mr. Wan said: "You'd better stop ruining my reputation!"
After saying this, the teacher and the student started laughing.
(End of this chapter)
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