Chapter 574: Efficiency of Sending the Plague God
During the Spring Festival, apart from visiting new years relatives and friends, people spend their time eating, drinking and playing mahjong.
This was the case in later generations, and it is almost the same now.
Lin Weimin didn't have many relatives in Yenching, but he had many teachers and friends. When he visited each family during the New Year, he could only stay for twenty minutes, so it took him two days to travel, and almost all his time was wasted on the road.
"If this continues, Yanjing will be jammed with traffic in a few years."
Lin Weimin was driving the car with Lao Meng and Lao Qin. He had just come out from their homes after paying New Year's greetings. During the conversation, they talked about Rong Shihui who was in the hospital, and they decided to go see him together.
"The increase in private cars proves that more people are getting richer and ordinary people's lives are getting better," said Meng Weizai.
"Only a small number of people have become rich. If we don't achieve common prosperity, problems will arise sooner or later!" Qin Chaoyang retorted with a different opinion.
“Only those who are rich first can help others become rich!”
"Can those who get rich first lead those who get rich later? The tenants of the landlords would have turned over a long time ago and become the masters!"
The older they get, the more stubborn they become. Neither of the two old men can convince the other, and they are fed up with each other.
The car arrived at the hospital and the three of them went to the ward together. Rong Shihui was lying on the bed and his wife was feeding him porridge.
"Old Rong!"
Qin Chaoyang and Meng Weizai couldn't help but let out a sigh when they saw Rong Shihui, who was skinny and weak on the hospital bed.
Rong Shihui saw the three people and smiled, "Why are you here?"
"I came to wish you a happy new year! Happy New Year, Lao Rong!" Meng Weizai said with a smile.
"Happy New Year! Happy New Year!" Rong Shihui tried hard to bow to several people.
He has been undergoing chemotherapy for more than half a year. This treatment can effectively curb cancer, but it also causes great damage to the body's functions.
He is now weaker than when Lin Weimin came to see him half a year ago.
Rong Shihui looked at Lin Weimin and said, "Weimin, congratulations. The last time Liu Yin came to see me, he said that you were the editor-in-chief."
Lin Weimin responded with a smile, but he felt uncomfortable.
Rong Shihui was very weak now. After talking for a while, he began to pant. Lin Weimin and others had no choice but to say goodbye.
Before leaving, Lin Weimin held Rong Shihui's hand and said, "Old Rong, persistence is victory!"
Rong Shihui smiled, his lips turning pale, "Persistence is victory!"
Qin Chaoyang and Meng Weizai left the hospital sighing, and Lin Weimin was also sighing.
Last year, Lao Rong said he wanted to ride in his car when he was discharged from the hospital, but I’m afraid that day won’t come soon.
After driving home to send Elders Meng and Qin, Lin Weimin also returned home. As soon as he entered the house, he saw Tao Huimin chatting with guests.
"Teacher Lin!" Wang Xiaobo and Li Yinhe stood up, "Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year! Happy New Year!" Lin Weimin said with a smile and asked the two to sit down.
Wang Xiaobo is shy and unsociable. Today, Li Yinhe brought Wang Xiaobo to pay New Year's greetings. She said, "Thanks to your help, Xiaobo can pursue his dream of writing."
"It's just a small favor, but his own writings are better." Lin Weimin said, and suddenly remembered, "Oh, Xiaobo, I bought two of your novels in Hong Kong last time."
"Ah! Really?" Wang Xiaobo responded with a somewhat unnatural expression.
Lin Weimin fully understood the reason for Wang Xiaobo's unnatural expression. The novel was published in Hong Kong, and he must have received the sample copy.
The book is titled "The Romantic History of Wang Er", but the most outrageous thing is the cover, which directly depicts the intertwined naked bodies of a man and a woman. It is obviously designed based on the male and female protagonists Wang Er and Chen Qingyang in "The Golden Age".
The publishing house basically treated it as an obscene novel, which is in line with the nature of Hong Kong people.
Lin Weimin skipped the title of the book and asked, "How are the books selling?"
"It's OK. They say the sales are about 2,000 to 3,000 copies a month."
"The Hong Kong market is small, so 20,000 to 30,000 copies a year is a very good result."
Wang Xiaobo nodded. He didn't have much material needs. If he really wanted to pursue material things, he would not return to China.
"Stories of Tang People" and "The Romantic History of Wang Er" were published one after another. He earned a lot of royalties and was able to support himself and his family with the royalties. He was already very content.
"By the way, I saw that you have published several essays during this period, and it seems that the response is quite good." Lin Weimin asked.
When talking about this matter, Wang Xiaobo showed a helpless expression on his face.
He has been writing novels for many years, but so far only a few of his works have been published, but his essays have been published very smoothly.
Especially after I became a full-time writer, I published one article after another, almost without stopping, and it was indeed very popular.
Also because of the popularity of his essays, in the past two years, Wang Xiaobo's influence in the domestic intellectual circle has been much greater than in the literary circle.
In the literary world, he is just a nobody.
"I wrote essays just to earn some money, I didn't expect that."
Lin Weimin knew that Wang Xiaobo's ideal was to focus on literary creation rather than academic research.
"I happen to know a publisher in Wandao. I'll ask him in a few days to see if your novels can be published in Wandao."
In recent years, Guo Feng's New World Literature Publishing House has introduced works by mainland writers on a large scale, which has set off a "mainland fever" in Taiwan. Lin Weimin recommended "White Deer Plain" by Cheng Zhongshi to Guo Feng.
In addition, many works of writers who have cooperated with Guowen Publishing House have been introduced to Wandao by Xindi Literature Publishing House.
Wang Xiaobo never expected that he would encounter such a good thing just by coming to pay New Year's greetings.
A smile spread across his face, "Thank you so much, Teacher Lin."
Lin Weimin waved his hand. "You are now a full-time writer and your novels are published. Only when you have income can you devote more energy to writing."
Wang Xiaobo and Li Yinhe were deeply moved by what he said. After leaving the Lin family, Li Yinhe said to Wang Xiaobo: "Teacher Lin is your mentor!"
Wang Xiaobo is grateful to him not only as a mentor but also as a confidant.
Taking advantage of the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, Lin Weimin drove Tao Huimin and Tao's father and mother to the second courtyard next to the Forbidden City, which had been empty since Han Zhuangzhuang moved out.
During the two days of the Spring Festival, Tao Huimin had already communicated with her father and mother and decided that once she became pregnant, her mother would come to Yanjing to take care of her.
The couple decided to leave the courtyard next to the Forbidden City for Tao's father and mother to live in.
"Dad, Mom! Weimin is worried that you won't be used to living with us when you come to Yanjing. You can live here. It's not far from us. There's also a house in Tuanjiehu, but it's a little far from here, in the eastern suburbs. If you're not used to living in a courtyard house, you can live there."
Tao Huimin took her parents for a walk and said.
Tao's father and mother stood in the yard, looking at the wall of the Forbidden City in a daze. They had never thought of living next to the Forbidden City in their entire lives.
"Dad, Mom, what do you think?" Tao Huimin asked again when she saw that her parents did not respond.
"As long as there's a place to live, it's fine. There's nothing to be picky about." Father Tao came back to his senses and said, he looked around the yard again, "This yard is too big, how can the two of us live there?"
"What's wrong with a bigger size? It will provide a place for relatives and friends to stay when they come over. So it's settled then." Tao Huimin said casually.
The holiday is over and the streets of Yanjing City are bustling with traffic. The army of bicycles ridden by office workers has now been mixed with a large number of motorcycles. Compared with private cars that only a few people can afford now, the increase in motorcycles better represents the improvement of people's living standards.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Guowen Publishing House received a reply from the agency titled "Approval to restore the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House under the National Literature Publishing House."
Guowen Publishing House submitted an application to the agency more than half a month ago to resume the operation of Popular Literature and Art Publishing House. It was approved after the Spring Festival, which can be said to be very efficient.
Generally, this efficiency will only appear when sending away the God of Plague.
The restoration of the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House is a happy event for Guowen Publishing House.
Over the years, Guowen Publishing House has had many sub-publishings, but not many of them have been able to flourish and survive to the present day. Since the reform and opening up, several sub-publishings have become independent one after another, and Tongpu Literature and Art Publishing House is the first sub-publishing to be reorganized.
After receiving the approval, the first thing Guowen Publishing House did was to hold a meeting to finalize the organizational structure and rules and regulations of the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House.
This matter was being done years ago, and holding a meeting now is just a formality. Lin Weimin also serves as the president and editor-in-chief of the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House, so no one is surprised by this.
Everyone already knew that Lin Weimin went to the agency to argue for his approval of Jin Yong's collection of works, and the restoration of the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House was naturally no secret.
As for the rest of the organizational structure, administrative personnel are basically concurrently employed by relevant departments of Guowen Publishing House, and only the business department needs to set up a dedicated editorial department.
The Popular Readings Publishing House was incorporated into the Guowen Publishing House several decades ago. The editors back then are either old or have passed away, so it is unlikely that we will be able to use them again.
Lin Weimin took into consideration that the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House had just been established, the books it produced were all popular readings, the business volume was relatively small, and it was a secondary publishing house, so the editors from other editorial offices would definitely be somewhat resistant to the transfer.
In the past, when I chatted with people, as soon as I told them where I worked, I would say Guowen Publishing House, and they would look at me with respect; now when I chat with people, as soon as I tell them where I work, I will say Tongsu Literature and Art Publishing House, what introduction?
The gap is too big!
Lin Weimin discussed with Cheng Zaochun that since the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House had just been established, there must be some benefits, otherwise why would anyone come?
The two men convened a meeting of the members of the job evaluation committee to discuss job title quotas. After some arguing, the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House obtained the job title quotas of two deputy editors and two editors.
Then, Lin Weimin called over several young editors from the Second Editorial Department of Contemporary Literature who were in charge of compiling the collection of Jin Yong's works for a talk.
From Guowen Publishing House to Tongwen Publishing House, the gap in status was inevitable, but with the sweetness of professional title, after some persuasion from Teacher Lin, several young people readily agreed to change jobs and join the big family of the editorial department of Tongpu Literature and Art Publishing House.
When Lin Weimin was feeling happy about having recruited a few younger brothers, Tong Zhonggui found him and expressed his wish to join the Popular Literature and Art Publishing House.
"You were doing well at Contemporary, why did you want to come here?" Lin Weimin asked.
"I just want to work under you." Tong Zhonggui said.
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment, then said, "Xiao Tong, I think you should continue working at Contemporary. You have been there for so many years and have done a very good job. It would be a great loss if you were suddenly transferred to the popular literature and art department."
Tong Zhonggui was a little surprised. He didn't expect Lin Weimin to reject him, but he also knew that Lin Weimin was doing it for his own good.
He nodded somewhat disappointedly, "Okay then, I'll listen to you."
Although he rejected Tong Zhonggui, Lin Weimin was inspired by him and picked up the phone.
(End of this chapter)
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