Literary Master 1978

As Fu Yonglin and Zhang Dening expected, after mid-August, more and more reviews of the novel "The Chess Master" appeared in newspapers and magazines, and the discussion of the novel in the literary world entered a full-scale stage.

The discussion gradually divided into three styles. One is the article "On the Narrow Nationalism of "The Chess Master"" in "Shanghai Literature", which seized the "patriotic complex" in the novel and insisted on saying it was "narrow nationalism" or "populism" and attacked it desperately.

One is the discussion on Go, mostly Go and literature enthusiasts. These people generally believe that the plot written in Lin Chaoyang's novel is too idealistic, out of touch with reality, and completely the novelist's fantasy.

Another is the praise for the novel.

Among the many comments, the third type of comments has the largest number, but the spread of public opinion is about the eyeball effect.

Seeking truth from facts usually does not attract much attention from readers. If it is alarmist, people's attention will naturally be attracted, and the articles criticizing "The Chess Master" are like this.

Therefore, although there are not many such articles, their influence cannot be underestimated. For a time, they competed with those who affirmed "The Chess Master".

The waves of praise or criticism from the outside world for "The Chess Master" did not affect Lin Chaoyang. He still lived a life of going to and from work every day, and occasionally went to trust stores and cultural relics stores to shop for treasures on weekends.

He promised Tao Yushu that he would only take a quarter of the manuscript fee to collect, so it was impossible to spend a lot of money like he did in the Foreign Guest Service Department of the Forbidden City. Every time he made a move, he was careful and calculated, and spending money was not so pleasant, but he also found some pleasure in picking up bargains.

But earning fast is not enough to spend slowly. "The Chess Master" was published in "Yenching Literature", and the standard remuneration was 10 yuan per thousand words, and 130,000 words was 1,300 yuan.

He got a quarter, which was 325 yuan, and it was gone after a few trips to the store.

Collecting is really too expensive!

Just when Lin Chaoyang was worried about not having enough money to collect, a remittance slip from Hong Kong broke his anxiety.

Some time ago, a delegation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong visited Yanda. The poet Xia Chengying who came with the delegation signed a publishing contract with Lin Chaoyang on behalf of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, intending to publish Lin Chaoyang's "Death of Van Gogh" at a price of 300 Hong Kong dollars per thousand words.

After such a long time, the manuscript fee finally came. It seems that the time for "Death of Van Gogh" to be released in Hong Kong is not far away.

The full text of "Death of Van Gogh" is 220,000 words. This time, the manuscript fee paid by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press is as high as 66,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is the largest manuscript fee Lin Chaoyang has received since his creation.

After receiving the manuscript fee, Tao Yushu was also very excited. He arranged to go to the Bank of China with Lin Chaoyang to withdraw money. Tao Yumo also wanted to join in the fun and found a very reasonable reason.

"Brother-in-law, you want to withdraw so much money. It's safer to have more people."

As a result, the three of them came to the Bank of China and got good news from the teller who handled the business.

Two months ago, the state just promulgated the new "Foreign Exchange Management Regulations", which stipulates:

Chinese, foreign nationals and stateless persons living in China must sell foreign exchange received from foreign countries and Hong Kong, Macao and other regions to the Bank of China; for each large remittance of RMB 3,000 (including RMB 3,000) or more, 10% of the foreign exchange is allowed to be retained. The RMB obtained from the above-mentioned sales to the Bank of China can enjoy the relevant preferential treatment for overseas Chinese remittances.

The regulation of compulsory foreign exchange settlement has not changed, but allowing individuals to retain 10% of foreign exchange is good news for Lin Chaoyang.

This time, the publishing house remitted him 66,000 Hong Kong dollars. Retaining 10% of the foreign exchange is 6,600 Hong Kong dollars, which is a considerable foreign exchange reserve.

This money cannot be taken out directly. If he wants to use it, he has to exchange it for foreign exchange certificates.

However, Lin Chaoyang will definitely not exchange this money for foreign exchange certificates. He is not short of foreign exchange certificates now, so it is better to keep it in his hand. If he wants to go abroad in the future, won’t it be useful?

Nowadays, although you can apply for a foreign exchange quota from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange when going abroad, the quota you apply for is usually shockingly low, so it is better to have foreign exchange in your own hands.

In addition to keeping this good thing, there is another sentence in the new regulations: RMB obtained from the sale of RMB to the Bank of China can enjoy preferential treatment for overseas Chinese remittances.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country's foreign exchange was tight. At that time, in order to raise as much foreign exchange as possible for national construction, the government called on overseas Chinese to mail foreign exchange to relatives and friends in China, which is overseas Chinese remittances.

These foreign exchange must be converted into RMB when they arrive in China. The people are not stupid. Who is willing to do such a thing?

In order to encourage overseas Chinese to bring back foreign exchange, the government came up with an idea to issue a batch of special tickets-Overseas Remittance Coupons.

In the 1950s, anyone who brought back foreign exchange equivalent to RMB 100 from abroad could use the Overseas Chinese Remittance Coupons to increase the supply of 6 kilograms of grain, 1 kilogram of cooking oil, 1 kilogram of sugar, 1 kilogram of fresh meat, and 10 feet of cotton cloth.

Such generous policies naturally attracted many ordinary people to participate enthusiastically. In the past few years, in some southern provinces with many overseas relations, some ordinary people could buy houses just by relying on the remittance vouchers exchanged for foreign currency from overseas relatives.

1981 was a somewhat special year. The economic reform that had been hot for several years stagnated.

At the beginning of the year, GWY issued two emergency documents "Combating Speculation". The main reason was that the government discovered that township and village enterprises, which had been booming in recent years, began to compete with state-owned enterprises for markets and raw materials, which had a huge impact on the development of state-owned enterprises.

Therefore, the government has introduced a series of macro-control policies, but this series of measures has objectively caused two facts. On the one hand, it has effectively controlled the direction of the macro-economy and avoided various turbulences and risks that may occur due to overheating. Unstable.

On the other hand, it also caused the nascent township and village enterprises to suffer the first cold wave. The economic indicators of almost all enterprises founded around 1980 in 1981 declined or stagnated.

In the past July, the British "Economist" magazine published an article pointedly pointing out that "tight foreign exchange reserves, serious domestic inflation, bottlenecks in oil production, declining exports, and heavy dependence on rare energy resources have caused serious economic changes in China." question."

The promulgation of the "Foreign Exchange Regulations" is in response to the domestic economic environment this year.

Lin Chaoyang cannot control whether the country's economic development is good or bad, but the promulgation of the "Foreign Exchange Regulations" is indeed a good thing for him.

The 66,000 Hong Kong dollar manuscript fee paid to him by the publishing house, excluding 10% of the foreign exchange retention, would be just over 18,000 yuan when converted into RMB according to the official exchange rate.

By the 1980s, overseas remittance coupons, which could only be used to purchase designated daily necessities in the past, also evolved. The types of goods that could be purchased included not only daily necessities, but also many industrial products, and they could also be exchanged for tickets and shopping vouchers.

Overseas remittance coupons can be used for all goods that can be bought in the market, covering almost all aspects of people's lives.

You can also buy some imported goods that are in short supply in China. In terms of function, they are almost the same as foreign exchange coupons.

However, unlike foreign exchange coupons, overseas remittance coupons are composed of the main coupon "overseas remittance RMB" and the "actual receipt" for purchasing supplies.

The main coupon is printed with the name of the overseas remittance coupon, the amount of the overseas remittance in RMB, the serial number, the validity period and the seal of the issuing institution. The actual coupon is printed with the type and quantity of the goods that can be purchased.

Because it is a combined currency and coupon, there is no need to pay additional RMB when using overseas remittance coupons to purchase supplies.

According to Yanjing City's current policy on product quotas for overseas remittances, the money Lin Chaoyang sells to the Chinese people will bring him more than 1 ton of grain and more than 100 kilograms of cooking oil, as well as hundreds of non-staple food coupons and shopping coupons. Thousands of them.

Listening to the bank teller settling accounts for them, Sister Tao Yu was almost stunned.

"Can you give me so many things?" Tao Yumo murmured to himself.

After the shock, Tao Yushu returned to her usual shrewdness and asked a very important question.

"Comrade, how long is the validity period of this overseas remittance voucher?"

Tickets these days have expiration dates and become invalid upon expiration.

The teller said: "We have two types of remittance coupons, one is valid for one year and the other is valid for two years."

After hearing her answer, Tao Yushu said to Lin Chaoyang: "Shopping vouchers are okay, we can buy things. Food stamps, gas stamps, non-staple food stamps, etc., we may not be able to use them in five years!"

She asked the teller again, "Can I get less grain, oil and non-staple food coupons?"

The teller shook his head, "Comrade, these overseas remittance coupons are uniformly issued by the Commerce Bureau, and the product quotas are also fixed. You can only digest the many things by yourself."

Lin Chaoyang whispered: "Let's handle it privately."

Tao Yushu nodded, no longer entangled.

After coming out of the Bank of China, Lin Chaoyang took stock of what he had gained from withdrawing money today.

The publishing house remitted him 66,000 Hong Kong dollars, 10% of which was deposited in the foreign exchange account of the Bank of China, which is 6,600 Hong Kong dollars.

The remaining Hong Kong dollars were settled into RMB, totaling 18,063.54 yuan, and deposited into the passbook.

In addition, there are 180 overseas remittance coupons with a face value of 100 yuan, and the total face value is equivalent to RMB deposits.

These overseas remittance coupons can provide Lin Chaoyang with 1.8 tons of grain, 270 kilograms of cooking oil, 900 non-staple food coupons, and 3,600 shopping coupons.

When we were doing the math just now, everyone actually had no idea.

But it’s only when you actually get these overseas remittance coupons that you understand the impact. The key is that these are all given for free after the exchange is settled. It’s hard not to feel like you’re getting money for free.

Tao Yumo swallowed hard while looking at the overseas remittance coupon in her sister's hand, "Sister, I feel like your family won't have to spend money on rice, flour, grains and oils for five years."

After saying this, she immediately corrected herself, "No! It's not just rice, flour, grains and oils. You can buy four or five color TVs with these shopping coupons."

After she finished speaking, she couldn't help but exclaimed, "Oh my God! I finally understand why those overseas Chinese students in our school are so popular."

"Go home first!"

As the saying goes, wealth should not be revealed. It was too dangerous to wander around on the street with so many valuable things. Tao Yushu urged his sister to leave.

After returning home, the three of them gathered together again and looked at the thick stack of overseas remittance coupons on the table.

The foreign exchange and money are all stored in the account, so there is nothing to think about. The difficult thing now is the processing of these overseas remittance coupons.

"I'll find a way to sell these overseas remittance coupons tomorrow," Tao Yushu said.

Lin Chaoyang said: "Don't be in a hurry to sell it, we have to use it ourselves."

"Just leave a small part."

As she spoke, Tao Yushu divided the overseas remittance coupons on the table into two piles. She pointed to a pile of 100 coupons and said, "I will sell these."

Then he pointed to a pile of 80 sheets and said: "We keep these for ourselves. They are valid for two years and are enough for us. Unfortunately, my parents can't use these. I'll exchange them for some national food stamps and gas stamps and send them over." ”

The "parents" Tao Yushu mentioned were naturally Lin Erchun and his wife. Lin Chaoyang counted 10 remittance coupons from the 100 and said, "Send these to my family."

The home he mentioned was the Tao family. Tao Yushu said: "There is no shortage of things at home."

"It's not a matter of shortage, it's our intention. With these overseas remittance coupons, our family's living standard will be able to reach a higher level this year."

These days, there is no family that does not lack daily necessities. The only difference lies in how much they lack and whether they live a nourishing life.

The advantage of overseas remittance coupons is not the money, but that it has the advantage of combining currency and coupons, allowing people to buy things without having to consider the issue of coupons.

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Tao Yushu's eyes were filled with sweetness, and the couple was filled with affection.

Tao Yumo almost choked at the unexpected dog food.

"uh-huh!"

A slight cough interrupted the couple's eyes. Lin Chaoyang glanced at his sister-in-law and took out another overseas remittance coupon.

"Here's this for you. You've done a good job in escorting me today." Lin Chaoyang said easily.

Tao Yumo was immediately overjoyed. He took the overseas remittance coupon with both hands and almost bowed to Lin Chaoyang.

"Thank you, brother-in-law!"

Tao Yushu didn't have time to stop Lin Chaoyang and complained: "Why did you give her this? It's not like she doesn't have money!"

A 100-yuan overseas remittance coupon contains 20 kilograms of grain, 1.5 kilograms of oil, 5 non-staple food coupons, and 20 shopping coupons. If calculated in RMB, it is definitely not as much as 100 yuan, but it is definitely thirty or forty yuan. Worth it.

"You have a share in seeing me. Yu Mo has been having a hard time opening letters from readers recently."

Lin Chaoyang's words made Tao Yumo grateful, "Brother-in-law, you are the best to me. You are the best to me in our family!"

She was busy showing her loyalty, but she knocked over a boatload of people with one stroke. Tao Yushu next to her almost rolled her eyes to the sky.

"I'm not good to you, right?"

Tao Yumo immediately turned around, his face full of flattery, "You and your brother-in-law are the best to me."

Tao Yushu snorted coldly, "That's not what you just said."

"Sister~" The little girl started acting coquettishly, and Tao Yushu was unable to resist at all, so he told her: "Don't show off this thing. Your wealth is in vain if you don't show it, do you understand?"

Tao Yumo immediately became serious, "Understood!"