Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 707 Frequent Communication
Back home, the three of them went to their respective rooms to change their clothes. When they came down to the living room, Jiang Lili immediately picked up the magazine and began reading Chen Fan's paper, "Looking at the Origin of Cultural Heritage from Bronze Ware," with her eyes glued to it.

Jiang Tiantian first brewed a few cups of tea, then picked up the two little monkeys, chased Banjin and Balang aside to lie down, and sat on the sofa next to Chen Fan. Before she spoke, she smiled and said, "When I attended the party, several teachers came to me and asked if I knew that you had published a paper."

I had no idea about this, so I asked them what paper I had written. I was also wondering why a history professor would come to me if I had published a paper.
Then my professor showed me two magazines.

She turned to look at Jiang Lili, then turned back, her smile widening. "One is the authoritative literary journal 'People's Literature,' and the other is this 'Historical Research.' That's when I realized that your paper was published in two authoritative journals, one in literature and the other in history."

At this moment, the way she looked at Chen Fan was very different from before. The bright light was almost no different from Jiang Lili's, and there was only one person's figure in her clear pupils. "They know you are here. The history department teacher gave me this book 'Historical Research' and hopes that you can go and talk to them when you have time."

After recounting the whole story in one breath, Jiang Tiantian still stared intently at Chen Fan and asked curiously, "Everyone wants to know how you came up with the idea of ​​using cultural relics as a link to combine history and literature?"

Chen Fan nestled on the sofa, holding a teacup in his hand, legs crossed, a smile on his face, leisurely watching Jiang Tiantian.

After she finished speaking, he smiled and said, "It was nothing more than a flash of inspiration. Professor Xu is well-versed in both ancient and modern knowledge. When he taught me, he also talked about the past and present, and always liked to start from the historical background to analyze the literary works of that time. So the reading list he gave me also covered the two major fields of history and literature."

The more books you read, the more creative ideas you'll naturally have. Once, while listening to my teacher talk about the evolution of porcelain and the various stories and literary works inspired by it, I suddenly had a thought: could we approach history and literature from the perspective of cultural relics, offering a different way to interpret and study them?

He chuckled as he spoke, glancing at the magazine in Jiang Lili's hand before turning back to her and saying with a smile, "Later, I shared this idea with my teacher, who agreed with it and arranged for me to go to the Jiangnan Provincial Museum to learn about cultural relics from Director Zhang. Combining that with the knowledge I gained from my teacher over the past year, I came up with this thesis."

Jiang Tiantian had completely forgotten about managing her expression, and the light in her eyes shone even brighter. "I heard from my teacher that 'Historical Research' and 'People's Literature' are the top journals in the fields of history and literature, respectively. Being able to publish a paper in either of these journals qualifies you to become an expert in that field. And your paper was published in both of these journals at the same time, which makes you fully qualified to become a professional researcher. That's amazing!"

Chen Fan glanced at her, and for a moment seemed to be burned by her intense gaze. He unconsciously turned his head away and took a sip of tea, pretending to be calm.

After a couple of seconds, he chuckled softly, “I never expected that my teacher would help me submit articles to both journals at the same time, and even list my name as the first author. He and Director Zhang were only listed as authors. This is paving the way for me. I can never repay such a kindness.”

Even if Professor Xu hadn't modified some details of the paper, given his reputation, having Director Zhang of the Jiangnan Provincial Museum credit him would certainly not be an attempt to ride on his coattails.

It's obvious to anyone that these two are protecting Chen Fan.

Moreover, given Professor Xu's rigorous academic approach, no one would doubt that this paper was not written by Chen Fan himself.

It can only be said that Professor Xu's actions are a way of showing the world that the mantle of the "Xu family" has been formally passed on to Chen Fan!

Every industry has its own circles, and where there are circles, there are hierarchical relationships and disdain.

But regardless of the industry, academia will always have a place at the top of the hierarchy of contempt.

The same applies to the literary world: popular literature is not as good as serious literature, and serious literature is not as good as traditional Chinese studies.

Now that Chen Fan has published a paper in one of the top historical academic journals in China, it means that he has already stepped into the circle of traditional Chinese studies. With Professor Xu's support, when people introduce him in the future, the title of vice chairman of the Jiangnan Provincial Branch of the Writers Association can be put down a little, and the first thing to be mentioned should be "renowned scholar".

The reason for publishing this paper in "Historical Research" instead of Jiangnan University's own journal "Historical Studies" is as follows.

This is something Chen Fan only understood after seeing the list of authors of the paper.

As for the possibility of it being published in "Historical Studies", the answer is absolutely not.

Unlike literary works, academic papers are strictly prohibited from being submitted to multiple journals simultaneously. The reason why they were published in both "People's Literature" and "Historical Research" is because these are professional journals in different fields, one representing history and the other representing literature.

This unconventional approach highlights the uniqueness of this paper: it uses cultural relics as a starting point while also possessing historical and literary research value.

In the current research field, this can be considered a unique and unconventional approach.

This point was also made clear in the comments section before the paper, which is how the editors of the two journals announced the arrival of the "new school of thought".

……

Jiang Lili took a long time to finish reading the paper.

After finishing reading, she held the magazine, still somewhat reluctant to leave. When she looked up at Chen Fan, she only regretted that it wasn't just the two of them at home now.

After a moment, she came to her senses, pursed her lips slightly, glanced at her sister who was talking to Chen Fan, and a thoughtful look flashed in her eyes.

Chen Fan noticed that she had closed the magazine, so he turned to look at her and smiled, "Finished reading?"

Jiang Lili snapped out of her daze, her face instantly breaking into a smile, and nodded vigorously, "I've finished reading it, it's really well written!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. "You understood it?"

He wrote about bronze artifacts, including many rare inscriptions. These inscriptions mostly record the events of sacrifices and wars during the Western Zhou Dynasty. He then extended these inscriptions to the content of the Book of Songs, and then corroborated the two, thus forming a closed loop between cultural relics, history, and literature.

It must be said that everything inside is quite professional.

This paper is different from a program like "National Treasures Can Talk". The program aims to be popular and easy for everyone to understand, while the paper requires professionalism and research depth. What if the teacher and the journal editorial board think that he is not good enough if he doesn't write it professionally?
Anyway, before he took graduate courses, he wouldn't have been able to understand it very well.

I never expected Jiang Lili to be able to understand it.

Then Jiang Lili shook her head and said earnestly, "I don't understand."

Seeing the slight twitch at the corner of Chen Fan's mouth, she nodded vigorously again, "But it's amazing. Anyway, you're so incredible!"

Jiang Tiantian nodded repeatedly, "The arguments inside are very professional. Our classical Chinese teacher said that he would go back and study them carefully, which is why he especially hopes that you can go and exchange ideas with us."

Then, looking at Chen Fan with hopeful eyes, she asked, "Are you willing to go?"

If others don't know, how could she not?

Whether or not Chen Fan goes is solely up to his own will; it has nothing to do with whether he is available or not.

Chen Fan was never particularly busy. Apart from writing his novel for two hours every day, he spent the rest of his time killing time.

He used to go out for walks or find safe places to eat and drink, but these days, with the snow and cold weather, he's too lazy to even leave the house. He either goes out to buy a lot of good food to cook, plays with the monkeys in the living room, or plays and sings in the music room on the third floor.

Sometimes Jiang Tiantian wanted to ask him if he had assigned the task of publishing the magazine to her so that he could slack off.

In other words, she didn't ask. If she had dared to ask, Chen Fan would definitely have given her a definite answer. Why sit when you can lie down? Why stand when you can sit? Why do the work yourself when someone else is doing it?
This capitalist's behavior would probably make even Zhou Zhengdong weep.

However, this time Chen Fan gave it serious consideration.

First, Jiang Tiantian asked herself if she was willing, rather than whether she had time, which means she wanted to go herself.

Secondly, I will be teaching at Jiangnan University by the second half of next year at the latest. As one of the top universities in the country, Fudan University's teaching ability and experience are beyond doubt. If I can go there to exchange ideas and learn from them, I should be able to gain a lot.

Finally, Jiang Tiantian fell ill just a few days after enrolling in school, and the teachers and leaders of the school went to great lengths to treat her better than ordinary students. We cannot refuse this favor.

In conclusion, Chen Fan nodded slightly, looked at her and smiled, "You arrange the time, just let me know when it's set."

Jiang Tiantian was overjoyed. "Okay, I'll arrange it."

Seeing this, Jiang Lili's eyes flickered, and she suddenly said, "What if our school also invites you?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately turned around, his eyes still showing a hint of astonishment.

The Textile University is still a purely engineering school, so why would the Chinese Literature Department and the History Department need to exchange ideas?

However, when he saw Jiang Lili's cheeks flushed, he immediately understood and couldn't help but laugh, "Sure, if your school needs me, I'm always ready to help."

Jiang Lili touched her slightly flushed cheeks, put down the magazine with a hint of panic, and said, "I...I'm going upstairs to wash up."

After saying that, he turned and walked upstairs.

Seeing her sister's reaction, Jiang Tiantian suddenly realized that her sister was jealous.

At the same time, I realized that my behavior tonight was not right, and I immediately felt a little flustered.

But when she saw Chen Fan laughing silently with his head tilted back, she inexplicably calmed down, let out a soft breath, stood up and said, "I'm going up too. Don't drink too much tea tonight, get some rest early."

After the two of them went upstairs one after another, Chen Fan looked around and saw that there were only a few small animals left to keep him company. What did that mean?
He immediately extinguished the fireplace and got up to go back to his room.

The two raccoon dogs had already darted up the stairs, while the two silly monkeys were still lying on the sofa.

Chen Fan shook his head, walked over, and hugged the two little monkeys in his arms. He gave each of them a flick on the forehead. The two little monkeys pitifully covered their heads, looked at each other, and their eyes were full of innocence and deep questions.

What happened?

……

In the following days, Chen Fan realized that he had underestimated the paper.

Or rather, they underestimated Professor Xu's influence in academia.

For ordinary people, those who are not in this circle or do not qualify for academia are not affected much; they either don't know about it or can only look up to it with envy.

Only a literary master like Ba Jin, who has transcended the limitations of his circle and can be compared with top academic giants, is qualified to calmly discuss academic issues with Chen Fan.

However, it has already caused a huge uproar in academic circles.

The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and several qualified key universities in the city have extended exchange invitations to Chen Fan.

For the next week, Chen Fan worked tirelessly, shuttling between these different units and chatting with them day and night.

Even Jiang Tiantian regretted chatting with him, realizing she shouldn't have started this for the school. She originally wanted to help Chen Fan improve his status and expand his network, but she ended up getting him involved.

The two sisters advised Chen Fan to stop picking them up and dropping them off, but Chen Fan didn't listen and continued to do so every day, then went between several different workplaces.

This frequent communication only stopped as the weekend approached.

The Shanghai Art Theatre, originally named Lyceum Theatre, was built in March 1867 with funds raised by British expatriates. It was originally a venue for performing plays. It was destroyed by fire a few years later and then rebuilt at a new location. It mainly performs dramas and dance dramas.

Later, when the film entered China, the theaters also began to show the film, making it one of the most famous cinemas in Shanghai at the time.

Today, the entrance to the Shanghai Art Theatre was packed with people, even more bustling than usual.

On the theater's advertising wall, there were several movie posters, the most eye-catching of which was "The Ferryman".

"The Ferryman" was written by Xia Yan and adapted from the novel of the same name by renowned author Chen Fan. It brought together some of the most famous film actors from Shanghai Film Studio and took a year to produce.

Today is the day that "The Ferryman" is released.

Those who had already bought movie tickets were already lining up in a long queue at the entrance, and at the ticket window next to it, the queue had turned onto the street, stretching for more than a hundred meters.

A moment later, a loud shout came from the ticket window: "Tickets sold out! Please come back tomorrow."

Before the man leaning against the window could speak, the ticket window was slammed shut.

The next second, the queue surged with excitement, with everyone shouting that they wanted to buy tickets.

Unfortunately, the veteran employees were used to this scene and remained unmoved.

The people in line eventually had no choice. The clever ones went around asking people for tickets, offering to pay a high price, but no one paid any attention. The honest ones could only wait on the sidelines, and very few left.

Chen Fan stood in the crowd waiting to have his tickets checked, carefully protecting the two sisters in front of him. Seeing this, he couldn't help but turn up the collar of his coat and pull down the brim of his hat, and whispered, "Luckily, the exchange meeting these past few days wasn't a waste, I managed to get a few movie tickets."

He sighed again, "I have to buy a ticket to see my own work, and I almost couldn't get one. It's just outrageous."

Just as Jiang Lili was about to speak, the gate opened, and with a shout of "Tickets checked!", the crowd surged forward.

(End of this chapter)