Chapter 522 Recommended to Hong Kong
After returning to Yanjing after several months, Lin Weimin felt a long-lost sense of familiarity.
However, after getting off the plane, there was an unusual smell in the air.
The customs officers checked the passengers getting off the plane very carefully. When it came to Lin Weimin, he received the same treatment as the last time he returned to China. He brought back hundreds of books from abroad, and the staff checked them even more carefully than last time.
It took him most of the day to get out of the airport, get home, and after a day of adjusting to the jet lag, Lin Weimin returned to work at the Guowen Press.
Early in the morning, the black Mercedes-Benz that had disappeared for several months appeared again in the Chinese Culture and Social Sciences College, and immediately attracted the attention of colleagues who were about to go to work.
When everyone saw Lin Weimin getting out of the car, they did not come up to him enthusiastically as before, waving or nodding to say hello. Instead, they went into the building without even saying a word.
Lin Weimin came to Cheng Zaochun's office. He had just arrived a while ago.
Seeing Lin Weimin, Cheng Zaochun's face was full of smiles. "You're finally back. I thought you were going to stay in the United States!"
"How could that be possible!" Lin Weimin laughed.
Cheng Zaochun's worries are not groundless. The storms in the past few months have made the whole country uneasy. One employee of Guowen Press chose to "go abroad to visit relatives."
Cheng Zaochun asked Lin Weimin about his experiences abroad. They chatted and laughed in a harmonious atmosphere, but when it came to the past few months in China, he couldn't help but sigh.
“What a troubled time!”
Lin Weimin could see that it was not easy for Lao Cheng to be the president. After only a few months, his hair turned white.
Cheng Zaochun suddenly stared at Lin Weimin for a long time. After seeing that Lin Weimin was frightened, he asked, "You kid didn't expect this and ran away early, did you?"
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Leader, this is feudal superstition. We are all cadres, how can we believe in such supernatural things?"
"I didn't say you can tell fortunes, you want to interrupt me, don't you?"
"What do you mean I'm interrupting? I'm just trying to correct your wrong thinking!"
Lin Weimin is an expert at changing the subject. He diverted the topic with just a few words, and Cheng Zaochun even forgot about it.
After chatting for a long time, Lin Weimin prepared to return to the editorial department.
Cheng Zaochun said, "By the way, I stopped the article "The Golden Age" that you were going to publish in April."
Lin Weimin looked at Cheng Zaochun and was about to speak when Cheng Zaochun stopped him from saying anything. "Don't argue with me. I am just considering the overall situation at this critical moment."
"I want to say, you are wise, leader!"
Cheng Zaochun naturally wouldn't believe Lin Weimin's lies. He didn't know how this kid was cursing him in his heart.
Lin Weimin didn't know that Cheng Zaochun was a mean person, otherwise he would have spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on his face and scolded him for looking down on others.
When Lin Weimin returned to the back building and walked up to the second floor, he saw Tong Zhonggui looking out the door of the editorial department. Seeing him, Tong Zhonggui smiled brightly and waved at Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin!"
Hearing his movements, colleagues in the editorial department also popped their heads out, and even someone from the next office poked his head out.
After not seeing each other for a few months, it was natural to feel a sense of familiarity when we met suddenly.
Lin Weimin opened his bag and gave everyone the small gifts he brought back from the United States. The gifts, which cost only ten or eight yuan, made everyone very happy.
Lin Weimin had just returned from abroad, so naturally everyone asked him to talk about his experiences and observations abroad. Everyone couldn't find a better excuse to slack off.
The whole morning passed like this. When it was almost time for lunch, Tong Zhonggui finally remembered and said to Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin, Wang Xiaobo's article "The Golden Age" was not published."
Lin Weimin said: "My boss has told me about this. It's a special period, and there's nothing we can do. Call Xiaobo later and ask him to come over when he has time. I'll talk to him about publishing the novel."
"good!"
Tong Zhonggui called at noon, and Wang Xiaobo came to the editorial office at around 1:00 p.m. Today is a working day, so it goes without saying that he must have left early and seemed very anxious.
Because of the turmoil outside, the editorial department temporarily withdrew his manuscript. Wang Xiaobo was extremely anxious. Unfortunately, Lin Weimin went abroad again at this time. He couldn't even find a leader he could talk to. Tong Zhonggui and several other editors in the editorial department comforted him for a long time before he was able to put his worries aside.
Several months passed in a flash, and Wang Xiaobo received a call from Tong Zhonggui, saying that Teacher Lin had returned and wanted to talk to him about publishing the novel. Wang Xiaobo was so excited that he didn't even bother to attend class and ran straight to the Chinese Literature Publishing House.
"You must have been getting impatient waiting these past few months, right?" Lin Weimin poured a cup of tea for Wang Xiaobo and asked with a smile.
Wang Xiaobo smiled shyly and said truthfully: "I am a little anxious. No one expected such a change to happen."
On his way here, Wang Xiaobo was thinking about the purpose of Lin Weimin calling him here. According to what the editorial department had told him before, the content of "The Golden Age" was too explicit. Now that the outside world was in such a storm, Guowen Publishing House did not dare to publish it casually. At least it had to wait until the storm had passed.
Under such circumstances, Wang Xiaobo couldn't help but wonder why Lin Weimin called him here.
"I'm afraid your novel won't be published in the short term!"
Lin Weimin's words made Wang Xiaobo's heart skip a beat. Was he called here today just to tell him the bad news?
"Teacher Lin, is there a specific time?"
Lin Weimin thought about it and said, "It's definitely not going to work this year, let's see next year!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaobo couldn't help but reveal disappointment on his face. There was no hope this year, and it would depend on the situation next year. He really didn't know how long he would have to wait.
Upon hearing that there was no hope of publishing his work in a short period of time, Wang Xiaobo became a little dazed and didn't even hear what Lin Weimin said.
"What did you say?" Wang Xiaobo heard Lin Weimin say something in a trance, and he couldn't help but ask again.
"I said, I plan to help you contact a publication in Hong Kong to publish first."
Wang Xiaobo was so surprised that he didn't react for a while. After a while, he asked, "To present in Hong Kong?"
Lin Weimin nodded, "Yes. Your novel is very well written. We don't know when it will be published. I have some friendship with Mr. Liu Yichang of Hong Kong Literature. In recent years, I have recommended some of our works to him."
Wang Xiaobo finally showed joy on his face, "Thank you so much, Teacher Lin!"
"It's just a recommendation. The manuscript may not be used."
Lin Weimin said so, but since he recommended Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum" to Liu Yichang, none of the works he recommended in the past few years have been rejected by "Hong Kong Literature".
"Thank you anyway. It would be great if I could get the chance to publish it," Wang Xiaobo said gratefully.
Due to circumstances, his novel could not be published, and it had nothing to do with the editorial department.
Teacher Lin took the initiative to recommend his novel to be published in Hong Kong, which was a huge favor to him.
After talking about the publication of "The Golden Age", Wang Xiaobo left the editorial office with gratitude and joy. Lin Weimin took the time to call Liu Yichang and explained the situation of "The Golden Age" to him.
In recent years, "Hong Kong Literature" has published many works by mainland writers, many of which were introduced by Lin Weimin. Liu Yichang has great trust in Lin Weimin's recommendations.
After the two communicated, Lin Weimin sent a copy of the manuscript of "The Golden Age" to Hong Kong the next day.
The work content of the editorial department is relatively fixed. Even though Lin Weimin has been away for such a long time, everyone's work has been proceeding in an orderly manner. The only difference is that the person making the decisions has changed.
Lin Weimin spent two days flipping through the publications of the last few months. He was responsible for the final review of most of the works in the April and May publications, so they looked familiar to him.
However, by June and July, there were some parts that Lin Weimin had not seen.
Overall, the quality of the manuscripts in the past few months has remained the same.
There is just one problem. Contemporary has not published any heavyweight works for several months in a row, and the works published in recent months have not caused any strong response so far.
After reviewing the quality of manuscripts in recent months, Lin Weimin looked through the existing manuscripts in the editorial department and then held a meeting with his colleagues.
There is only one purpose for the meeting, which is to collect manuscripts.
The sales volume of each issue of Contemporary Magazine now stably exceeds 1.5 million copies, making it the undisputed “number one” in the field of domestic pure literature, even Harvest cannot compare with it.
The editorial department receives hundreds of submissions from all over the country every day. With so many writers who have published their works in Contemporary Magazine, as well as writers discovered and cultivated by Contemporary Magazine, Contemporary Magazine has never worried about the source of manuscripts.
But not having to worry about manuscripts does not mean that editors do not have to compile manuscripts.
Although the quality of recent issues of the publication has not declined significantly, the lack of influential works is an indisputable fact. At this time, we need everyone to exercise our subjective initiative and see if we can put together some high-quality manuscripts to boost the recent influence of the publication.
Lin Weimin had a calm expression and spoke calmly and confidently about his ideas to everyone. Everyone took turns to talk about the recent creative work of the authors they were responsible for.
When it was Tong Zhonggui's turn, he mentioned Alai.
"Teacher Lin, Alai told me a while ago that his novel was almost finished, so I asked him to mail the manuscript over. He was worried and said he would send it to Yanjing himself. It should arrive in Yanjing in the next few days."
Lin Weimin looked a little excited. "Has Alai finished writing his novel? He's pretty efficient!"
When Teacher Lin praises others for their efficiency, everyone just listens and no one can be faster than Teacher Lin.
The day after Tong Zhonggui mentioned Alai, Alai came to the editorial office carrying a suitcase.
"Speaking of the devil, here he comes. Xiao Tong just mentioned you yesterday, and you came!" Lin Weimin was very happy to see Alai.
Alai arrived in Yanjing after a long journey. As soon as he sat down and drank a few sips of water, he hurriedly took out the manuscript. He came to Yanjing just to deliver the manuscript.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
