Chapter 87 People's Literature Award
"Gao Jialin has a new work again?" Many young readers paid for it without hesitation when they saw the three words "Gao Jialin" on the cover of "Mengya".
But when they opened it, they found that "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town" was different from what they thought. It was not a work reflecting the lives of teenagers, but a story about food.
"What?" Many readers were a little disappointed, but the opening scene of the four families joining forces to cook a victory banquet quickly attracted them. They all grew up watching films such as "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" and "Railway Guerrillas", and the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was indeed worth celebrating.
As they looked at the dishes, they could not help but drool. The exquisite dishes at the victory banquet, especially the last dish "Four Joys of Dragon and Phoenix", opened their eyes. It seemed that they could smell the fragrance of the dishes through the book.
When Li Lang, a descendant of the Li family, walked into the reopened Meilong Town, he kept finding faults with Fang Zhenjin's cooking skills, which made them sigh again and again, saying, "How come such good dishes are gone?" I also thought that if I make money in the future and go to Shanghai, I will also go to Meilong Town Restaurant to try it.
I was wondering, how come this old man is so amazing? He turned out to be the descendant of Li Yishao? He should still remember how to make these dishes, right? Next, it's time for old man Li to teach Fang Zhenjin how to cook, right?
But what about the other two families? Could it be that Li Lang also knows the cooking skills of the Mei and Long families?
Soon, the readers' doubts were revealed. The Victory Banquet had to be recreated with the gathering of descendants of four families, while the descendants of the other two families were in Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively.
Oh, this is a difficult problem. How can we get all these people back?
Most readers think so, but some people, like Niu Xinliang, slap their thighs. They see the intention of Gao Jialin's writing. This is not about food, but about the feelings of home and country! As the story progresses, Fang Zhenjin and Li Lang go to Hong Kong together. The prosperity of Hong Kong opens Fang Zhenjin's eyes, and readers also gain some knowledge. So Hong Kong is like this? And the various expressions of those old people in Hong Kong when they miss their hometown make them cry.
Many readers who work or study in other places said when they saw these elderly people, "What I miss most these years is the taste of my hometown and the dishes my mother cooked for me."
They couldn't help swallowing their saliva again. Mutton soup steamed buns, hot dry noodles, sticky bean curd, Zheergen, clay pot soup, rice noodle rolls. All kinds of local snacks made by their mothers in their childhood immediately came to mind. Some people couldn't help but shed tears while watching them. They missed home too! They also wanted to eat the food made by their mothers.
Mei Hua, a descendant of the Mei family, also came to Hong Kong. Fang Zhenjin used pan-fried buns and pork ribs rice cake to evoke her childhood memories. When she was a child, her father often made these Shanghai snacks for her, so although she was born in Taiwan, she has always retained Shanghai's eating habits.
She has never seen her hometown, but everything about it is deeply engraved in her soul through these delicacies and her parents' thoughts. She also regards Shanghai as the hometown of her soul.
This is true for young people like her, not to mention the elderly who came from the mainland. Gao Jialin tells the story of two elderly people through the mouth of Meihua. They met and fell in love on the mainland, and were pushed to Taiwan by the tide of the times. They gave birth to children here and missed their hometown all the time.
This yearning went deep into their bones, driving them to write the following words on the gate: "A little girl who grew up in Yandaixie Street, Shichahai, Beijing, married a young man from the Dabie Mountain Youth Army. They have been together for 60 years, with children and smiles. The hardships of the great era revealed true love. My hometown after decades of separation! I will always miss you."
In just a few lines, the tide of the times comes upon us, allowing readers to feel the two old men's deep longing for their hometown.
An old man who had personally experienced these great waves of the times could not help but take off his glasses and wipe them. These words made him feel grit in his eyes. "Blood is connected, these are our compatriots connected by blood! Regardless of their stance, they are our compatriots after all."
The following story also made him nod his head repeatedly. The descendants of four families from both sides of the Taiwan Strait jointly rebuilt Meilon Town. He certainly understood what it meant. If the motherland could be unified, it would surely stand on top of the world again.
"Borrowing foreign cooking methods to make Chinese food? This paragraph is well written! Why do we need to carry out reform and opening up? Isn't it to introduce foreign technology to accelerate domestic development? Even a food writer understands this principle, why don't so many people understand it?"
After reading the whole story, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and called, "I just saw a very good work published in the latest issue of 'Mengya' magazine, called 'Spring Breeze in Meilong Town', I recommend you to read it too."
The person who received the call immediately found the magazine to read. Not only did he read it himself, he also asked the people in his unit to read it together. After reading it, they understood why the old man called specifically to mention this work.
"You guys should start writing some recommendation articles right now and submit them to the newspaper. I will contact the newspaper and ask them to make room for publication as soon as possible. Such good works deserve to be seen by more people."
"Also, call the People's Literature Prize Organizing Committee to ask if they have finalized the first round of nominees. If not, please recommend this work as well. Such a work with both ideological and literary qualities should be on the list."
Within a few days, these articles appeared in major newspapers. Many readers were attracted by their recommendations and thought, "This story is really good, right?" I went to read it myself.
Soon, the 300,000 copies of this issue of "Mengya" were sold out, and calls for restocking came from all over the country. The editor-in-chief of "Mengya" was very happy and immediately asked the printing factory to print more copies.
The publishing house could no longer sit still; they had originally planned to wait until the impact of this issue of the magazine had fermented before launching the physical book, but they didn't expect that in just a few days, the influence of "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town" would be so great.
"Hurry up and invite Jialin over to discuss this. If he has no objection, we should hurry up and get the new book out. With the current trend, I'm afraid the first print run will be 200,000 copies."
"How can 200,000 copies be enough? I feel like 300,000 copies might not even be enough."
Gao Jialin rushed to the publishing house and finalized the publication in a few words. He received the first payment for the number of copies printed. Before he left, he received another piece of good news.
The editor-in-chief came over in person and said, "Jialin, I just received a phone call from Beijing informing me that your work "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town" has received praise from many leaders and has been successfully shortlisted for the People's Literature Award."
People's Literature Award? Now he's really going to become a great writer.
(End of this chapter)
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