Literary Master 1978

Lin Chaoyang was touched when he saw her exhausted. He thanked her twice and asked with concern: "Why did you come here? You must have had a lot of trouble on the way."

Zhang Manling said nonchalantly: "What's the trouble from Tianjin to Yanjing? I came out after lunch and it was very convenient to take the bus all the way."

She apologized again: "I was a little rushed and didn't prepare a gift for you."

"It's awkward to say these things. Come in quickly. The weather is so cold."

The arrival of several waves of guests made Lin Chaoyang's home very lively. It was originally planned to have dinner at six o'clock, but because of the large number of people, it had to be postponed to seven o'clock.

Fortunately, there were many people helping today, so Lin Chaoyang was much more relaxed as the chef.

Because there were too many people, two tables were set for dinner, one for relatives and the other for friends. Everyone came to congratulate Lin Chaoyang and sat together happily, full of laughter.

At the table, everyone was eating and chatting, and Zhang Manling mentioned the shortlist for this year's Mao Dun Literature Award.

There were eight works in total, seven of which won awards, and only one was shortlisted. Her tone was funny, calling the unsuccessful work "the unlucky one", which caused everyone to laugh.

At this time, Li Tuo said mysteriously: "You only think that the remaining one is the unlucky one who didn't win seven out of eight, and you didn't think of another possibility?"

His words immediately attracted everyone's curious eyes, and Zhang Manling asked him, "What do you mean? What possibility?"

"I remember that Chaoyang was shortlisted for two works."

When Li Tuo said this, everyone was surprised, and the originally joyful atmosphere suddenly quieted down because of this sudden news.

"Are you saying that the unsuccessful work is "The Death of Van Gogh"? Is it true? Who told you that?"

Zhang Manling asked like a machine gun, and everyone also looked at Li Tuo eagerly.

The news he said was really shocking. If it was true, the influence might be greater than all the winning works of this year's Mao Dun Literature Award combined.

Li Tuo's words were actually just a joke he made when he was chatting with people at the Literary Association. He just said it in a joking way when he heard Zhang Manling talking about the unlucky person who failed to be selected.

Seeing that everyone took it seriously, he immediately refuted the rumor and said, "I just said it casually. It's all a joke, a joke. Don't take it seriously!"

His statement immediately attracted the criticism of everyone.

"Do you have any business? You can make such a joke!"

"He really doesn't tell the truth!"

...

Everyone criticized him, but some people didn't give up, thinking that what Li Tuo said just now didn't seem to be a lie.

Wang Zengqi asked him, "Li Tuo, do you have any gossip? It's okay, there are no outsiders here today, just say it openly!"

Li Tuo waved his hand quickly, "Please forgive me, what I said just now was really nonsense."

Listening to the conversation between the two, other people around couldn't help but become suspicious again.

Did Li Tuo reveal the truth to everyone just now by joking?

Everyone started to speculate wildly, and Li Tuo was speechless for a while.

Zhang Manling laughed and teased: "Let's see if you will continue to talk nonsense in the future?"

Everyone laughed too.

At this time, Wang Zengqi said with emotion: "Your generation of writers has caught up with a good time. As long as you have talent, there is a stage to shine."

Wang Zengqi was born in the 1920s. The golden age of creation for writers of their generation was after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Unfortunately, fate played tricks on people, and many of their generation wasted their talents.

"Old Wang, you are only half right. The achievements you and Old Lin have made in the past few years are no worse than those of us young people. Now the good times are not only enjoyed by our generation, but also by you."

Lin Chaoyang's words made Lin Jinlan laugh, and he said to Wang Zengqi: "Look at you, you are old, but you are not as open-minded as young people."

After that, he turned to the crowd and said, "Chaoyang, what you said is good. For your words, we should also make a big fuss."

Everyone immediately raised their glasses and drank a glass.

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang received a registered letter from the National Literary Association's Creation Research Office, which is also the Mao Dun Literature Award Office.

The content of the letter was very simple, more like a notice, notifying Lin Chaoyang to report to the Overseas Chinese Hotel in Wang Daren Hutong, Yanjing before December 14.

Lin Chaoyang knew that this was the preparation of the jury for the award ceremony. The seven winners of the Mao Dun Literature Award this year were scattered all over the place, and they must be gathered before the award ceremony.

After receiving this letter, he planned to use this as an excuse to go to the unit to ask for a long vacation of half a month.

As soon as he entered Yanda, Lin Chaoyang felt that many students on the road were focusing their attention on him.

He has worked at Yanda for four years, and this face has long been familiar to Yanda students. Almost every student recognizes him.

On today's university campus, students are all literary youths. Yesterday, the People's Daily just announced the list of winners of the Mao Dun Literature Award. It took less than a day for the news to spread on the Yanda campus.

Lin Chaoyang is an employee of the Yanda Library and a member of Yanda. Students also feel proud of him for winning the award.

When he came to the library, Lin Chaoyang first accepted the enthusiastic congratulations of his colleagues, and then came to the director's office.

Xie Daoyuan saw Lin Chaoyang smiling and congratulating him. When he heard that he was here to ask for leave, he jokingly asked: "Is half a month enough? If not, ask for more!"

"If you approve the leave, I won't be polite."

Lin Chaoyang took advantage of the situation.

Xie Daoyuan asked, "Yushu is about to give birth, right?"

"Almost, in the next half month."

"Great, you won the award and gave birth to a child, it's a double blessing.

Your award this time is also a glory to our library. I will grant you three months of creative leave. Try to make persistent efforts and achieve more success!"

Xie Daoyuan winked at Lin Chaoyang while speaking.

Lin Chaoyang immediately understood that this three-month vacation was called creative leave, but in fact it was maternity leave.

"Thank you!"

Xie Daoyuan looked at Lin Chaoyang's back as he left the office, and felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment in his heart.

When this young man came to the library, he was just a penniless rural youth. He was able to work in the library because of his father-in-law.

But who would have thought that in just a few years, he had grown into a towering tree.

Xie Daoyuan dared not say how much of his own contribution was in this, but he witnessed the imprint of Lin Chaoyang's growth at every step, and was extremely proud of this young man.

He could not help but think of the summer vacation in 1978 when his old friend came to him with an embarrassed look on his face.

Xie Daoyuan had known Tao's father for more than 30 years, and knew that his old friend had never asked anyone for help in his life, so when he asked for a job for the son-in-law he had not met yet, Xie Daoyuan could not refuse.

Now that I think about it, my original decision not only helped my old friend, but also made a talented young man!

Coming out of the director's office, colleagues heard that the director approved him for three months of creative leave, and they were all envious.

But no one envied Lin Chaoyang for getting this extra-long vacation. With the creative achievements that Lin Chaoyang has made now, he has jumped out of the three realms and is not in the five elements among the staff of the library.

If everyone is jealous, they will only be jealous of colleagues around them with similar conditions, and will not be jealous of someone who is far superior to them.

After saying hello to his colleagues, Lin Chaoyang was about to leave the library, but was blocked by several students.

The leader was Tao Yumo, and the others were all members of the May Fourth Literature Society, including the president Yan Zhen.

Yan Zhen was a student of the Chinese Department in 1980. By their class, the Chinese Department had expanded two classes, and Lin Chaoyang no longer went to the Chinese Department's classes, so he didn't know the students of the Chinese Department.

Similarly, the students of the Chinese Department are not familiar with Lin Chaoyang now.

For most of them, Lin Chaoyang's image exists more in the mouths of seniors and in the figure who bowed his head to read a book at the front desk of the library. This sense of distance made the students unconsciously feel awe and admiration.

Yesterday, the list of winners of the Mao Dun Literature Award was announced. The most popular discussion among Yan University students was undoubtedly a group of people from the May Fourth Literature Society. Those who can enter this club are all serious literary youths.

They were all familiar with Lin Chaoyang's name on the list of winners. A staff member of Yanda University won the Mao Dun Literature Award. The first reaction of the simple-minded students was to feel proud that Lin Chaoyang was a member of Yanda University.

Someone proposed to invite Lin Chaoyang to give a speech, which immediately won everyone's approval.

But who should come forward to invite Lin Chaoyang? This became a problem.

After the graduation of the 77th and 78th classes, Lin Chaoyang had very few interactions with the student group.

The first person they thought of was Tao Yumo, who was Lin Chaoyang's sister-in-law, making her the perfect fit.

After Tao Yumo made the request on behalf of the students, Lin Chaoyang agreed without much hesitation, which immediately made the students very happy.

Lin Chaoyang asked about their schedule again, and Yan Zhen said, "It depends on your schedule."

Lin Chaoyang thought that there was still nearly a week before the Mao Dun Literature Award was presented, and he didn't want to be bothered by idle things before Tao Yushu gave birth, so he said, "Then let's do it in the next few days. When you have arranged it, let Yumo notify me."

"Okay, okay."

Several students agreed happily and watched Lin Chaoyang leave.

One of the students, a boy with long hair and glasses, looked at Lin Chaoyang's back as he left, and he couldn't suppress his excitement.

He just entered the school in September this year. After entering the school, he only saw Lin Chaoyang from a distance a few times, and never had the opportunity to talk to him. Therefore, today's close communication with Lin Chaoyang made him feel excited.

"Xichuan, let's go!" The classmates around him shouted to him.

"Here you come!"

After taking leave, Lin Chaoyang was free.

In the next few days, many familiar friends came to his home to visit and congratulate him on his award.

On the morning of the 12th, he went to Yanda to give a speech to the students. The venue was still the dining hall. The students who came to listen to the speech filled the dining hall. The scene was crowded.

Thunderous applause broke out from time to time in the venue. The speech was a great success.

After his speech, he accepted questions from students for more than an hour before ending.

In the evening, Tao Yumo went home and described the enthusiastic emotions of Yanda students today.

Tao Yushu recalled the reactions of people around him in the past few days after the announcement of the Mao Dun Literature Award winners, and asked in confusion:

"In fact, the Mao Dun Literature Award and the National Excellent Short and Medium Novel Award are both national literary awards. Except for the length of the works, there is no difference in essence. Why do you feel that your winning this time has such a great influence?"

"The celebrity effect! Mr. Mao Dun is so famous. This award was established according to his last wish and is named after him. The award itself has great commemorative significance." Lin Chaoyang explained.

Lin Chaoyang did not mention another reason. Later, the domestic literary world has successively seen literary awards named after several great people in the modern and contemporary literary world, such as the Lao She Literature Award, the Lu Xun Literature Award, and the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award.

But to be honest, the Mao Dun Literature Award is still the first in terms of influence and popularity.

The reason is also very simple. The Mao Dun Literature Award is the first literary award named after an individual in China, and it has received the greatest dividends from public opinion.

It is difficult for future generations to emulate it, but it is difficult to surpass it.