1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 35 Brother, Stop Saying
"Luguomaoba Laocao."

This saying has always been in the Chinese literary world.

Even in later times when traditional literature has faded, the names of these six people are household names, and they are masters of literature and art known to every Chinese.

In fact, this ranking order was proposed by Zhou Yang, and after Cao Yu, Zhou Yang also mentioned someone else——

The founder of the "Yam Egg School", Zhao Shuli.

In addition, in the order proposed by Zhou Yang, Ba Lao's position needs to be changed.

According to his original meaning, the order should be: Lu, Guo, Mao, Lao, Ba, Cao, Zhao.

As for Mao Dun, there is no need to introduce him. He has too many works, including "Midnight", "The Shop of the Lin Family", "Eclipse", "Frosted Leaves Are Red Like February Flowers", and "Spring Silkworms".

The "Mao Dun Literature Prize" remains the highest award in the Chinese literary world, not the "Lu Xun Literature Prize".

With excitement in mind, after waiting for a few days, the symposium was held as scheduled at Renwenshe.

A total of 40 writers from all over the country attended the meeting, and Wei Junyi, the head of People's Literature, presided over the meeting.

Jiang Xian was holding the mimeographed materials, looking around in his seat when he suddenly heard someone whisper, "Mr. Mao is here."

Almost at the same moment, all the writers in the venue stood up and burst into warm applause.

Jiang Xian followed suit and applauded. From the gap in the crowd, he saw an elderly figure with a hint of heat in his eyes.

What a great writer!

The 82-year-old Mao Dun slowly bowed to everyone, and everyone returned to their seats.

Zhou Yang and Feng Mu, whose status was similar to that of Mao Dun, did not enjoy this special treatment.

Yan Wenjing, president of Renwen Publishing House, gave an opening speech. Yan Wenjing is famous for his children's literature and is considered one of the earliest children's literature writers in China. His works include "Tintin's Strange Journey" and "Tang Xiaoxi at the Next Port".
This symposium will last for a full week.

Mao Dun rarely spoke, and the two big figures Zhou Yang and Feng Mu stole the limelight. They had different opinions and argued fiercely.

Jiang Xian was whispering to the writers around him.

"Do you know the four most haunted houses in Beijing? No. 81 Chaonei Street, nicknamed 'No. 81 Beijing', is not far from here. Turn out and walk towards Xinhua Bookstore. It's only a ten-minute walk away.

I heard from old Beijingers that when you pass by there at night, you can hear the sound of glass breaking and high heels stomping on the ground."

"This is too horrible." 21-year-old female writer Tie Ning was stunned.

"Is it really that mysterious?"

"That's impossible. The dragon energy is so strong under the imperial city that it can suppress the city to death."

"We all grew up under the red flag, and you still believe this?"

"Since it's close, we can go over there to explore at night." Someone made a bold suggestion.

This man's name is Jiang Zilon, a native of Tianjin. He came to Beijing to discuss his short story "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office". According to him, this novel was "forced" to be written by "People's Literature".

"There are many evil places on Chaonei Street. To the west of the old Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is a large compound where a cleaning team is stationed. It is also a haunted house.

When Chongzhen was escaping, he passed by this courtyard and asked the fortune teller inside to predict his fortune for "友". The fortune teller said, it's not good, the rebels are coming out, and the character for rebel with the head is "友". Chongzhen changed it to "有", and the fortune teller said, it's even more ominous, "有" is the "大" in Daming missing a stroke, and the "明" in Daming missing a "日", so Daming is incomplete. Chongzhen changed it to "酉", and the fortune teller finished, the emperor is "尊", and the character "尊" is missing a head and a foot, so it is "酉", "尊" has its head and feet cut off, can it still be "尊"? When Chongzhen heard this, he ran to Jingshan in despair and hanged himself. "

"Oh, Brother Jiang, please stop talking. It's too scary." Tie Ningxu covered his ears, feeling naive but loving to listen.

"I haven't finished yet. Do you know where that courtyard is? It's the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Yuan Dynasty."

"No wonder!" exclaimed Jia Pingwa, a 26-year-old writer from northern Shaanxi.

"Later, the Qing Dynasty felt that the place had brought death to the emperor and was too evil, so they even banned the burning of incense there."

Jiang Xian picked up some unofficial history and told it all, and the more he told it, the more nonsense it became. He even told the story of Hua Tuo's son named Hua Xiong.

The authors also loved to listen to it, especially Jia Pingwa, who admired it very much. He thought that he was worthy of being a writer from the capital, who knew a lot, had a broad range of knowledge, and spoke humorously. He especially liked the story of "Dong Zhuo wiping charcoal, and Lu Bu's teeth turned black."

The conference was held at Renwenshe, and the writers' meals and accommodation were all provided by Renwenshe. Jiang Xian wanted to be more convenient, so he just stayed at the guesthouse of Renwenshe.

I have meetings during the day and write articles at night.

Renwenshe is the People's Literature Publishing House. Although it also has the words "People's Literature" in its name, it is actually two different units from "People's Literature". Don't confuse them. Renwenshe sponsored another famous publication "Contemporary".

However, due to the lack of professional cadres in literature, when People's Literature was resumed in 75, the editorial department was set up in Renwen Press, under the dual leadership of the Publishing Bureau and the Ministry of Culture.

Feng Jicai, who was eating and drinking for free at People's Literature, came to sit with him at night.

"How does the environment compare to yours?"

"That's definitely better than our place. Many rooms in the Beijing Literature and Art Guesthouse are empty. I see your Humanities Press is pretty crowded here. It's quite lively."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that there are so many writers here, chatting, smoking, and drinking tea every day. In the end, many of them couldn't revise their manuscripts and left in disgrace. I have seen an old writer who was gloomy every day and later died in Tieling."

Sometimes the reason why you can’t revise a manuscript is not because your writing skills are not good enough, but because things keep changing. Today a character is a good guy, and tomorrow he becomes a villain. In the end, the whole article collapses.

"You told me something terrifying."

"Let me tell you something that's not so scary. There's a guy named Zheng Yi living here, Tiesheng's middle school classmate. He cut off his finger downstairs."

Zheng Yi wrote "Old Well", which was later made into a movie starring Zhang Yimou.

“Why did you chop your hands?”

"Because of his partner."

"Still a romantic."

The two chatted until nine o'clock. Feng Jicai said goodbye and left because he was afraid of affecting Jiang Xian's condition the next day.

Jiang Xian washed up, sat at the table, holding a pen, and recalled what he had heard during the day.

Feng Mu said that you can write down what you feel and what you comment on.

“Just don’t write to the level of “Wasted City.” Jiang Xian imposed a restriction on himself.

Beijing literature and art.

The early morning sunlight shines through the glass windows of the office, illuminating the room.

Zhang Dening sat at the table, feeling sour.

Together with Ba Jin's daughter Li Xiaolin, she went to visit the amateur writer Chen Rong. Unexpectedly, she saw an unfinished manuscript titled "Middle-Aged Man" on the table at Chen Rong's home.

Chen Rong said that in order to write this novel, she went to Beijing Tongren Hospital to study, read several ophthalmology books, and even went into the operating room to watch the surgery in person.

Currently, only one-third of the outline of the novel has been completed, and Chen Rong plans to write it into a novella.

Zhang Dening was extremely moved by this novella.

However, Li Xiaolin is a senior, and Chen Rong had published an article in "Harvest" before, so she has promised to hand "Middle-Aged Man" to "Harvest".

Zhang Dening, who lost the competition, had to sit in the office feeling sour.

"Teacher Dening." The tall Jiang Xian suddenly pushed the door open and walked in hurriedly.

Zhang Dening looked up in surprise.

Immediately realizing something, she looked at him expectantly.

"Did you finish writing?"

"It's finished."

(End of this chapter)