Chapter 51: "Distant Mountain Town"
Even a talented person like Mr. Wan had to face the situation of lack of creativity after entering middle age, so when he saw Lin Weimin distracted by making money, he spoke out to persuade him.
But he didn't know that Lin Weimin had no ambition to become famous or get rich, and his talent did not rely solely on his own brain, but on the inexhaustible materials provided by future generations.
After being taught a lesson by Mr. Wan, Lin Weimin felt a little ashamed, but fortunately the old man knew the principle of giving a sweet reward after a slap in the face.
"Here." Mr. Wan took out a few tickets from the drawer of his desk.
"Teacher, this is..."
"The tickets to the National Theatre of China are a benefit that I, your teacher, have secured for you," Mr. Wan explained.
People's Art Theatre?
Lin Weimin immediately thought of his teacher who still held the title of director of Yenching People's Art Theater.
Mr. Wan was the first president of the People's Art Theatre. After the reform and opening up, he was appointed by higher authorities to return to the position of president.
Lin Weimin took the ticket without even saying a word and said, "Thank you, teacher!"
Mr. Wan said: "These plays are the signature of the People's Art Theatre. Study them carefully."
"Don't worry."
While the two were chatting, Lin Weimin heard the sound of a door opening outside. From the sound of talking, he thought it should be Wan Fang who came back, so Lin Weimin stood up and said goodbye.
When he came out of the study and saw Wan Fang, Lin Weimin called her "senior sister". Wan Fang smiled and nodded. She is now working as a screenwriter at the Central Opera House.
"Teacher, Master's wife, Senior Sister, I will leave first."
"Go ahead."
The next day, Lin Weimin had nothing to do, so he went to No. 166 Chaonei Street again. This time he came to play with Lu Yao.
Unfortunately, Lu Yao was so exhausted from revising the manuscript that he had no interest in it at all.
Lin Weimin didn't want to go back just like that, so he just wandered around the "guesthouse".
It is called a guesthouse, but in fact it is a temporary dormitory set up by the Guowen Publishing House to accommodate writers from other places who come to revise their manuscripts. It is on the second floor like the editorial department, and is only ten steps away if you turn right.
Lin Weimin was a very outgoing person. After walking around for a while, he started chatting with several writers. Their laughter could be heard throughout half of the second floor.
I don’t know if it was because the noise was too loud that it alarmed the editors in the editorial department, but Lin Weimin was chatting enthusiastically when a person came to the dormitory door. When he saw that it was Lin Weimin, his face immediately fell.
"Who has such a loud voice? What are you doing here?" The person was Rong Shihui.
"Editor Rong, I'm here to hang out with Lu Yao and chat with everyone."
Rong Shihui saw Lin Weimin and a few others chatting happily together, so he asked angrily, "Have you finished revising the manuscript?"
The others were suddenly silent.
Lin Weimin took a look and thought, okay, let’s not keep it from being an eyesore, so he prepared to run to the editorial office.
After he left, Rong Shihui couldn't help but lecture him, "You guys, stop thinking about playing with others. Don't you see how long it takes them to write an article? How long does it take you to write one? Use that time and energy to revise the manuscript. Do you still need me to nag you every day?"
The most famous writer in the dormitory was only in his early thirties, and Rong Shihui had no pressure in scolding them.
After he left, several people couldn't help but wonder why the editor didn't let them play with Lin Weimin, so they went to find Lu Yao.
Lu Yao said faintly: "Why? I'm afraid of delaying your business."
"What do you mean?" Several people asked cutely with big eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Revise the manuscript!"
"Lin Weimin has never revised his manuscript."
"Ah..." Several people were surprised.
"He wrote a 200,000-word novel in less than a month."
“Aaaaaaa…”
Several people were stunned, and immediately understood Editor Rong's painstaking efforts.
Playing with this guy is like a poor student following the lead of the top student in the class all day long, foolishly thinking that he is as ignorant as oneself, while not knowing that he is the one who can get 100 points in both exams with his eyes closed.
On the other side, Lin Weimin originally planned to take a walk around the editorial office, but unexpectedly ran into a familiar face halfway.
"Why are you here?"
Gu Hua carried his luggage and asked, "Why can't I be here?"
"Speak properly, kid."
Gu Hua laughed, with a bit of pride on his face, "I wrote a manuscript in my hometown, and when I came back I showed it to the editor. I didn't expect that he would let me live here and revise the manuscript."
"I see. Why didn't you go back to the dormitory?"
"I was anxious. I just wanted the editor to see if my manuscript was good enough..." Gu Hua briefly described what had happened.
It turned out that before the school holidays, he had already written a lot of writing sporadically, and he had told Lin Weimin and others about it before. After staying in his hometown for almost a month, he wrote more than 100,000 words of the novel manuscript, which was three-quarters of the length. He couldn't wait any longer, so he took a bus back to Yanjing overnight.
He went to the editorial department like a reckless man. Fortunately, he was now a little famous, so the editor really read the manuscript in person and decided on the spot to let him stay and revise it.
When Lin Weimin heard the name "Distant Mountain Town", he immediately realized that this should be the first draft of "Furong Town".
While helping Gu Hua put his luggage into the dormitory, Lin Weimin began to pay attention to his novel.
Seeing that Lin Weimin wanted to see the manuscript, he was a little embarrassed and said, "The editor just pointed out a lot of problems with it. I will show it to you after I revise and finish writing it."
"That's fine."
Lin Weimin had already seen the movie "Furong Town" and the plot of the novel was not much different. He wanted the manuscript purely out of curiosity.
Gu Hua said that he planned to live here during the period before school started to facilitate his revisions.
Lin Weimin knew that the story of "Furong Town" had consumed a lot of his energy and had been conceived for a long time. He had told this story to his classmates in the institute more than once before.
Having been lonely for a long time during the holiday, Lin Weimin suddenly saw an acquaintance and said, "I'll stay here today, too."
"Why are you living here? You're not revising the manuscript."
"It's your call whether I revise the manuscript or not."
Lin Weimin ran directly to another room to borrow a mat and pillow, and moved into Gu Hua's dormitory.
"I'm wondering about you..." Gu Hua didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
When it was almost time to get off work, Lin Weimin and Gu Hua went to the cafeteria to eat and saw Rong Shihui who was about to leave.
"Why haven't you left yet?"
"I'll stay here tonight to keep Lao Gu company."
Rong Shihui frowned instinctively. Why did he feel more and more that he had brought disaster to Contemporary Magazine?
After dinner, I returned to the dormitory.
The weather was hot and humid. Lin Weimin looked out the window and felt the wind was a little cool.
"It looks like it's going to rain."
There was no outsider in the dormitory. Gu Hua, with his bare chest, brewed a pot of bitter tea that he brought from his hometown.
"It's good to have rain, it's cool!"
Less than two minutes after he finished speaking, lightning and thunder flashed in the sky and heavy rain poured down.
Both of them were a little excited. Gu Hua no longer thought about writing at the moment. He moved a chair and sat by the window with Lin Weimin.
We drank tea and had a long chat while enjoying the heavy rain outside.
(End of this chapter)
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