Chapter 486 No Title
Time flies and it is the end of July. The country decided to liberalize the market prices of 13 kinds of famous cigarettes and liquors.
As soon as the news came out, there was an immediate rush to buy famous cigarettes and liquors in department stores and tobacco and liquor stores in major cities across the country.
Within a few hours of opening, all the cigarettes and alcohol prepared for a day's supply in these department stores and tobacco and alcohol stores were sold out.
As August began, there were rumors from somewhere that domestic goods would increase in price across the board starting September 1.
Then panic buying broke out in various places, and rice, noodles, oil, seasonings, matches, soap, washing powder, towels, sheets, aluminum pots...
Not only daily necessities, but also clothing, home appliances and even gold jewelry have become objects of panic buying. The nationwide buying frenzy is spreading, and the government has had to take emergency measures many times to cope with the large-scale buying spree.
The social trend affects every ordinary person. The Chinese Literature Press has also been in a state of panic recently. Many colleagues don't even have the heart to go to work every day. When there is a little movement outside, they run faster than rabbits, for fear that they will not be able to grab anything.
Many families now have enough rice stored to last for two to three years. Their closets are filled with clothes and they can’t even fit them all. Condiments like salt and soy sauce last at least ten years.
In the afternoon, colleagues were chatting in the editorial department, and Yao Shuzhi complained: "These people are like crazy, buying everything they see, even the slow-selling ones."
Zou Changyi said, "You said it as if you didn't rush to buy it."
Yao Shuzhi said helplessly: "Everyone is grabbing, how can I not grab? If I don't grab, what will I eat and drink?"
Everyone felt a sense of empathy after hearing this, and it was true.
Prices are skyrocketing and everyone is stockpiling supplies in advance. The more people stockpile, the more scarce the goods become, the more they are rushed to buy, and the higher the price of the goods will go.
It's a completely vicious cycle.
Most people with a discerning eye can see this situation, but the problem is, if you don’t rush to buy, others will buy up everything, and you won’t even have rice to cook tomorrow. What can you do?
You have to buy it regardless of the consequences. Not only do you have to buy it, you have to rush to buy it. Who knows if you will be able to buy it tomorrow?
While everyone was discussing this, Lin Weimin came back from a meeting outside leisurely. Seeing his elegant steps, everyone could not help but envy him. No one had ever heard Lin Weimin mention the topic of "rush buying", nor did they hear anxiety in his words or see panic on his face.
He seemed to be separated from the hustle and bustle of the outside world by a layer of transparent film. He saw that everyone was under the same sky, but they were not breathing the same air.
"Weimin!" He Qizhi called out to Lin Weimin.
"What's up?"
"Someone just called you."
“Who is it?”
"Your classmate, Jin Ying."
"What did you say?"
"No, I asked you to call me back."
Lin Weimin called Jin Ying back as He Qizhi instructed. At that time, she was staying in the guesthouse arranged for her by the Writer's Publishing House. When she received Lin Weimin's call, her voice was excited.
"It's not easy, a great writer, to still think of calling back an old classmate."
Lin Weimin said with a smile: "Compared to you, I am not a great writer. Comrade Xiao Jin, your future is limitless!"
"I can't argue with you. Do you have time tonight?"
"Yes, do you want to treat me to a meal?"
"You are the landlord, shouldn't you treat me?"
"That's fine, let's call Xiaowei over tonight."
"good."
After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin drove to pick up Qu Xiaowei. Hearing that he was going to have dinner with Jin Ying in the evening, he was a little excited.
Qu Xiaowei has now become the deputy director of a cultural center. He has abandoned the literary path and embarked on a career in politics.
"Look at them, and then look at you. You can't even make it in the Writers Association." Qu Xiaowei started to mock Lin Weimin as soon as he got in the car.
"As a career official, can you worry less about the affairs of our literary world?"
Lin Weimin's words made Qu Xiaowei shut up.
When we arrived at the dining area, everyone was naturally very cordial when they met each other.
It's been several years since we last met, and everyone has changed a lot.
Lin Weimin became a famous writer both at home and abroad. Jin Ying has written a lot of works in the past few years and received good responses. However, compared with her writing, her career is more successful. She is now the deputy head of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
Qu Xiaowei gave up his literary career. Although he became the deputy director of a cultural center, most of the people in his unit were looking to retire early. In the past two years, he gained weight rapidly, even faster than a sow.
The three of them exchanged pleasantries for a while.
"Come to think of it, the standard of your work seminar this time is quite high?" Qu Xiaowei asked Jin Ying.
“It was mainly because of the invitations from Writers Publishing House.”
Jin Ying came to Yenching this time specifically for the seminar on her works.
Two months ago, Jin Ying's debut novel "The Rose Gate" was published in "Literary Seasons", a magazine sponsored by Writer's Publishing House. Recently, Writer's Publishing House is convening a large-scale work seminar, and will also publish a single volume of the novel.
It can be seen that the publishing house attaches great importance to Jin Ying and her works.
"Tsk tsk tsk, she really is worthy of being the 30-year-old deputy leader of the Cultural Association. She is as capable as any man!"
Qu Xiaowei's ridicule was a bit sarcastic, which made Jin Ying roll her eyes.
"I know you don't like attending seminars, but can you help write a preface for my novel when it's published?" Jin Ying said to Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin has always kept his distance from various symposiums and seminars, and would only attend one occasionally because an acquaintance asked him to.
If Jin Ying had insisted on inviting him as a classmate, Lin Weimin would have gone, but she didn't do so.
Asking for help in writing the preface naturally saved Lin Weimin from embarrassment.
Otherwise, he could be the deputy leader of the Literary Association!
"Okay, no problem." Lin Weimin agreed immediately.
Seeing that he agreed, Jin Ying happily toasted him with a glass of wine.
After talking about the main business, a few people inevitably talked about their past studies at the Institute of Literature and Art.
"Sister Tang is very dissatisfied with you!" Jin Ying said to Lin Weimin.
Tang Kangmei was a member of the writers' group that visited France in April. Although he did not say anything out of line, the writers' group was criticized in China as a whole.
During this period, Lin Weimin's withdrawal from the Writers Association once again stole the spotlight, which was equivalent to standing on the opposite side of this group of people.
"She didn't tell me." Lin Weimin said without any pressure.
"You have already quit the Cultural Association, and she is afraid to provoke you again. She asked me to tell you something. Don't listen to the one-sided story reported by the reporters. In fact, many people were really open with each other at the event that day, and they were not deliberately trying to smear you."
Lin Weimin waved his hands and said, "It's all in the past. I don't agree with what some of them did. It's not that I don't want them to speak out, but I don't want someone to enjoy superior treatment in China and say nothing, but once they go abroad, they say that this is not good in China and that is not good there."
Seeing that his attitude seemed gentle but was actually tough, Jin Ying sighed, "I just hope that everyone won't have prejudices against each other because of this."
"If they have prejudices against me, I have no objection. But I won't feel the same way towards them," Lin Weimin said with a smile.
Jin Ying nodded. Based on her understanding of Lin Weimin, this man was impeccable in morals except that he was a little dull in emotions.
After finishing this topic, Jin Ying continued: "By the way, last year I was planning to go back to the Graduate School of Arts... No, it was the Faculty of Arts, to further my studies."
"Further study? Are you sure? We are the first batch after the Institute of Literature and Research resumed its operation. We are all seniors. Do you want to go back and study and make progress with those younger generations?" Qu Xiaowei teased.
"I can tell you're just uneducated!" Jin Ying scolded him. "The School of Literature previously co-organized a graduate class for writers with Yenching Normal University. You can go there for two years and get a graduate diploma."
Qu Xiaowei said tartly: "You are already the deputy leader, do you still need a diploma?"
Jin Ying rolled her eyes at him again.
Lin Weimin asked: "Why didn't you go later?"
Jin Ying said: "He has been rated as a first-class writer."
Qu Xiaowei was shocked and said to Lin Weimin, "Is this girl here to show off?"
Writer is also a profession, so naturally he has a professional title, from level one to level four, corresponding to senior, associate senior, intermediate and junior professional titles respectively.
Jin Ying is in her early thirties and has been awarded a senior professional title. If measured simply by career advancement, she has already surpassed 99% of her peers.
"I'm only a third-level writer!" Qu Xiaowei said dejectedly.
But he glanced at Lin Weimin and laughed again. There was someone even more useless.
"Weimin, what is your title?" Qu Xiaowei asked in a mean manner.
“No job title.”
Lin Weimin has two identities, one is a writer and the other is an editor. He is qualified for professional titles in both professions, but for all these years, let alone the title of writer, he doesn't even have the title of editor.
It's certainly not that he's not qualified, he's just too lazy to do it.
In this era, professional titles are directly related to many people's promotion and salary. When people are applying for professional titles, many people are scrambling to get them. Such an incident happened when Guowen Publishing House was piloting professional title evaluation a few years ago.
Lin Weimin is too lazy to get involved in these bullshit and simply never gets involved in them.
Knowing that Qu Xiaowei was mocking him, he said nothing and calmly put the keys to the Mercedes-Benz on the table.
Qu Xiaowei was silent for a long time, "This meal is boring."
Jin Ying burst into laughter, and Lin Weimin's mouth corners also curled up.
This funny guy!
After the party, Lin Weimin spent an entire night writing a preface and delivered it to Jin Ying the next day.
Jin Ying asked, "Why do I feel like this preface is a hot potato? Are you eager to throw it to me as soon as you finish writing it?"
"Are all you officials so concerned?"
After a few jokes, Jin Ying accepted the article and said, "Thank you."
When he went to work that day, Lin Weimin received a notice from the publishing house that "Life is Beautiful No Matter What" was going to be reprinted.
The Chinese version of this novel was released quietly, which is different from Lin Weimin's other works, which were all published in well-known magazines such as "People's Literature" and "Contemporary" and were only published after becoming known to many domestic literature lovers.
Because of Lin Weimin's reminder, the publishing house also adopted a conservative strategy in the printing of "Nothing", with an initial print run of 200,000 copies.
This number is higher than any other writer in the country. However, in Lin Weimin's previous publishing experience, such a number was only achieved in the first few years after his debut.
After Nothingness was released, sales in the first few days were indeed similar to expectations, but it did not have the same momentum as previous Lin Weimin works.
This situation continued for a few days until critical reviews came out and were published in several review magazines and newspapers.
Many readers only realized after seeing these comments that Lin Weimin’s new novel had been published, and a large number of readers flocked to bookstores.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
