Literary Master 1978

This Mao Dun Literature Prize Award Ceremony was not held in the Great Hall of the People, but was held at the Yanjing International Club located on the east extension of Chang'an Avenue.

The original site of the Yanjing International Club was originally the Western Gentlemen's Association in the Qing Dynasty. In the 1970s, when the national policy opened up and foreign affairs activities increased, WJ officials lacked a large-scale event venue where they could easily communicate with envoys from various countries.

So under this circumstance, Yanjing International Club was built on Chang'an Street, along with WJ Apartments and Friendship Store.

The yellow mosaic facade, white window frames, and black window lattice made these three Chinese and Western buildings a unique scenery on Chang'an Street in the 1970s.

With the success of the first awards ceremony, this year's Mao Dun Literary Award Award Ceremony became even more grand, with hundreds of guests from various literary associations, publishing organizations, and literary journals gathering together.

Reporters from many authoritative media such as People's Daily, Literary and Art News, and China Youth Daily also came to the scene.

Lin Chaoyang stood in the crowd and was as dazzling as a firefly in the dark night. Everyone's eyes inevitably stayed a few seconds longer when they saw him.

The reason is also very simple, it is too popular!

There has never been such a popular writer in the Chinese literary world!

In the past few months of the second half of the year, there has been constant news about him, Lin Chaoyang.

First, there were news reports that he won an Academy Award in Hong Kong. You said that you, a writer, won a film award. What is there to show off?

Then came the publication of "The Truman Show", a book signing, and a movie adaptation. In the days after the new book was released, the literary world was paying close attention.

Some time after the novel was published, controversy arose and the popularity remained high.

The recent Go competition between China and Japan has been a mess, and his novel and movie "The Master of Chess" has become popular again.

It has been three or four years since the novel was published, and I had to rush to buy it in bookstores.

More than half a year after the movie was released, it was re-released, and movie theaters everywhere were still full.

People in the literary world are dumbfounded. This phenomenon has completely exceeded the scope of literature and has become a cultural phenomenon.

Who would have thought that from a peak Go showdown between China and Japan, the person who would benefit the most from the Go matchup between China and Japan, apart from the Go community and players of the winning country, would be a writer!

It has been more than half a month since the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament ended. Although the popularity of the news has dropped, its influence continues to this day. Lin Chaoyang's appearance naturally attracted a lot of attention.

Standing with Lin Chaoyang is Li Shifei from Huacheng Publishing House. "Crossing Guandong" was published in "Huacheng" and was published by Huacheng Publishing House. Huacheng Publishing House will definitely not be absent from the award today.

Most of the writers and critics present were focused on Lin Chaoyang, while those from the publishing house were mostly focused on Li Shifei, their eyes filled with envy and jealousy.

Huacheng Publishing House turned out to be the younger brother of the Guangdong People's Society. Except for its famous book "Flower City", it had no sense of presence nationwide.

But now, after only a few years of work, people are starting to tremble.

Ma Yang has exceeded 20 million for two consecutive years, and its efficiency is better than that of many national-brand publishing organizations.

When I came to attend the Mao Dun Literature Prize Award Ceremony today, Li Shifei had a very proud expression on his face.

Many leaders of publishing organizations feel very unhappy. What are they proud of? Isn’t it just to seize Lin Chaoyang’s cash cow?

Without him, your Huacheng Publishing House is nothing!

Tian Geng was mixed among a group of publishing house leaders, and his mood was more complicated than others.

At that time, "The Chess Master" was published by Yanjing Publishing House, with excellent sales. Later, they also published "Shutter Island". Both novels brought extremely considerable benefits to Yanjing Publishing House.

Later, Lin Chaoyang came to them to discuss royalties and remuneration, but they did not agree.

According to their thinking at the time, the current basic royalties plus royalties for prints are already a very reasonable system. The royalty payment system is a product of capitalist society. How can they just agree to it casually?

Moreover, there are no documents on it. If the time comes to investigate, who can bear this responsibility?

With such a cautious attitude, Yanjing Publishing House rejected Lin Chaoyang's request and pushed him into the arms of Huacheng Publishing House.

Now it seems that this is undoubtedly one of the biggest mistakes made by Yanjing Publishing House in the history of its development.

In just over two years, Lin Chaoyang contributed more than 20 million yuan to Huacheng Publishing House.

Such achievements not only shocked the publishing industry across the country, but also allowed them to see the power of the market economy. It turns out that one writer and two works alone can support the performance of a large publishing house.

In a culture that has advocated collectivism for decades, the role of the individual is infinitely magnified at this moment.

Since the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament, the sales of the "Chess Master" novel have been rising as the competition intensified. By the end of the game, the Chinese team won, and the sales boom of "Chess Master" was completely detonated.

According to statistics from Yanjing Publishing House, in the year since the start of the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament, the novel "Chess Master" has sold 1.6 million copies. If the sales of the previous three years are included, the cumulative sales of "Chess Master" have already been reached before the start of the competition. It has exceeded 3.5 million copies.

In the period after the arena competition, the sales of "Chess Master" surged, with tens of thousands of copies sold every day, even more popular than when it was first published.

In just twenty days, nearly 900,000 copies were sold, and the total sales volume has reached 5 million copies.

According to the current trend, 6 million, 7 million, 8 million... I'm afraid it's not an obstacle.

The China-Japan Go Challenge is not just a game. In addition to bringing honor to China, this victory also stimulated the Chinese people's interest in the sport of Go. These people are potential readers of "The Go Master".

In a few years, those national players who fight for the country may have grown up watching "The Go Master".

Thinking of this, Tian Geng couldn't help but sigh. He really didn't know whether to be happy or unhappy.

At 9:30 in the morning, the second Mao Dun Literature Award Ceremony officially began. The process was no different from previous years, but this year's award-winning works were two fewer than the previous year.

Only four people went on stage to receive the award, namely Lin Chaoyang ("Crossing Guandong"), Li Jun ("The Yellow River Flows East"), Zhang Jie ("Heavy Wings"), and Liu Xinwu ("Bell and Drum Tower").

The order of the award list is explained, representing the number of votes these works received during the selection process.

In the official list of winners, Lin Chaoyang and "Crossing Guandong" have always been at the top, which naturally means that he was elected with a high vote during the award process.

Four people stood on the stage, Li Jun is 57 years old this year, Zhang Jie is 48 years old, and Liu Xinwu is 43 years old.

And Lin Chaoyang is 27 years old.

Among the award-winning writers on the stage, the second youngest is more than a generation older than him, and the most important thing is that this is the second time Lin Chaoyang has won the award.

"Young and proud!"

This is the common voice of hundreds of guests in the audience.

Some people can't help but recall three years ago, the same occasion, the same rostrum, when Lin Chaoyang was even younger.

They have reason to believe that in the history of the Mao Dun Literature Award, there may never be such a young winner again.

Such a monster is rare in a century!

After receiving the award and giving a speech, Lin Chaoyang and several other award-winning writers walked off the stage, and there was no lack of congratulations around them.

Lin Chaoyang joked with Liu Xinwu, "How do you plan to spend the prize money?"

The prize money for this year's Mao Dun Literature Award is the same as the previous one, 3,000 yuan. Although Lin Chaoyang often received royalties of five or six figures, in 1985, 3,000 yuan was already a huge sum of money for most people.

"Buy a color TV."

Liu Xinwu replied simply, and Zhang Jie said that she would save it to earn interest. Several people talked and laughed.

The award-winning writers are the absolute protagonists today, but it does not mean that the award ceremony is over after they receive the award.

The publication of works is inseparable from the contributions of editors and publishers.

The four winning works of this year's Mao Dun Literature Award, "Bell and Drum Tower" and "Heavy Wings" were published by People's Literature Publishing House, "The Yellow River Flows East" was published by Yanjing Publishing House, and "Crossing Guandong" was published by Huacheng Publishing House.

The leaders of the three publishing houses also came on stage to accept the commendation, but their commendation was honorary and there was no prize money.

On the contrary, the editors of several award-winning works will receive material rewards from their units after winning the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Among these three publishing houses, Renwen Publishing House is a national publishing unit, the highest temple of Chinese literature; Yanjing Publishing House, with the word "Yenjing" on its head, is also a well-known large-scale publishing house in China.

Only Huacheng Publishing House is located in a remote area and was established in recent years.

Now that he can stand on the podium with these two publishing houses, Li Shifei is proud and has mixed feelings.

Huacheng Publishing House was established a short time ago, is small in scale, and has a weak reputation. Compared with those publishing houses and magazines in Yanjing and Shanghai, it is inherently insufficient.

In order to collect manuscripts, the editors of Huacheng Publishing House usually have greater sincerity and service than other publishing houses and magazines.

For example, Lin Chaoyang stayed in the five-star White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou for the last book signing event. That was not a special treatment. Huacheng Publishing House has this standard for writers they are optimistic about.

Lin Chaoyang only stayed for two nights. They asked the writer to revise the manuscript, sometimes it often took one or two months.

Without the right time and right place, they can only work hard on the right people.

But even so, many writers give them second-rate manuscripts. For truly first-rate manuscripts, writers should give priority to top platforms such as People's Literature, Harvest, and People's Literature Publishing House.

Thinking of this, Li Shifei's eyes were fixed on Lin Chaoyang in the audience, his eyes full of gratitude.

People only saw that Huacheng Publishing House had given Lin Chaoyang a super high remuneration standard in recent years and was the first to implement royalties payment, but they did not expect Lin Chaoyang to repay their Huacheng Publishing House.

Li Shifei thought proudly that this was a mutual achievement between Huacheng Publishing House and Lin Chaoyang.

After an award ceremony in the morning, there were interviews and seminars in the afternoon.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang treated everyone to dinner as usual. Everyone heard that he had just had a daughter recently, and each of them gave blessings and gifts.

"What a coincidence, I remember that your eldest son seemed to be born when you won the Mao Dun Literature Award that year, right?" Liu Xinwu asked.

"That's right. It just happened that he was born on the day of the banquet."

Everyone was amazed. Li Jun joked: "Chaoyang is giving birth to a child and winning an award at the same time. If he keeps up the good work, he may win the award for the third time."

Everyone laughed.

After the guests left, Tao Yushu fed Yanyan and coaxed her to sleep.

Over there, Xiao Dongdong was still doing twists and turns on the bed for a week and a half, as energetic as a donkey. Lin Chaoyang was afraid that he would bump into him, so he watched him from the side.

"Sleep!" Tao Yushu came over and said sternly with a bluster on his face.

Xiao Dongdong immediately got into bed knowingly, not forgetting to smile at Tao Yushu to show that she was obedient.

"Close your eyes!"

He immediately closed his eyes tightly again.

She patted Xiao Dongdong with one hand and said to Lin Chaoyang: "You, don't spoil him too much. Haven't you noticed? He doesn't listen to you at all now."

"It's enough if one person in the family is strict." Lin Chaoyang disagreed.

"If I co-write, I have to be the popular one, right?" Tao Yushu was dissatisfied.

"From now on, I will be responsible for being a strict father, and you will be responsible for being a loving mother."

Tao Yushu hesitated for a moment, "Forget it, I'm afraid you'll indulge them too much."

Lin Chaoyang smiled dumbly. Whether a strict father and a loving mother or a loving father and a strict mother is not due to the division of roles, but because of different personalities.

With Tao Yushu's strict character, it is difficult for her to relax her demands on her children.

Tao Yushu took the photo for less than ten minutes. Xiaodongdong, who was originally very lively, fell into sleep, lying around and constantly changing positions on the bed.

Tao Yushu suddenly said to Lin Chaoyang, "Hey, I have an idea."

"What's the idea?"

"How about we let Dongdong learn Go?"

In the past two months, various news reports on the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament have been in full swing. The most direct impact after the victory of the game is that the Go fever among the people has been completely stimulated.

Go classes have sprung up in children's palaces in various cities across the country, and Go has become a childhood nightmare for the children born in the 1980s.

"Why do you want him to learn Go?" Lin Chaoyang asked her specifically, fearing that Tao Yushu wanted to follow suit.

"Don't you think your son is too energetic now? He doesn't stop for a moment. Learning Go can cultivate his calmness."

Tao Yushu's reasons were very good. Lin Chaoyang thought for a while and said: "Then let's learn. But he is only three years old, is it too early to learn now?"

"Don't let him really learn. You have time to play with him with the chess pieces, and get familiar with them first."

"good."

A few days later, Tao Yumo came back from Xiangjiang with news that "The Truman Show" had been completed.

This progress is more than half a month slower than the crew originally expected. On the one hand, it is because of Xu Anhua's meticulous polishing, and on the other hand, it is also because of the variable Maggie Cheung.

Fortunately, there is plenty of time for post-production of the film, so the delay does not have any impact.

Just after New Year's Day, Lin Chaoyang was reading a magazine this morning.

This issue of "New Sports" is full of information and news about the China-Japan Go Tournament. The first tournament has just ended, and preparations have been made for the second tournament, which is scheduled to start in March.

After experiencing the last disastrous defeat, the Japanese team may be holding back their anger and want to regain their place.

The most interesting article in this issue of the magazine is about the domestic reaction after the Japanese team lost in November.

According to the article, after the final game of the arena match, the news of the loss spread back to Japan, causing an uproar, and public opinion overwhelmingly criticized the chess players who had originally had high hopes.

Among them, Go fans are naturally the most radical. For more than a month, there have been endless calls for the defeated Japanese national players to commit seppuku.

Japanese Go, which has been popular in Asia for more than half a century, lost to Chinese Go. How could the proud Japanese Go fans be so angry?

Commit seppuku, must commit seppuku!

Their absurd demands are naturally impossible to satisfy, but if they lose the chess game, there should be an explanation to the people. After all, the chess players made many bold statements before the game.

So after returning to China, under the leadership of Hideyuki Fujisawa, Masao Kato and Koichi Kobayashi, the Japanese Go team collectively shaved their heads as a sign of sincerity.

The article in "New Sports" reported on the Japanese team's head shaving with added vigour, and it was full of gloating between the lines. Lin Chaoyang couldn't help laughing when he read it.

Especially when he thought that Comrade Nie would continue to dominate the Sino-Japanese Go competition in the next few years.

"Losing once, picking once, when will you be the boss!"

He said to himself in a joking tone.

Lin Chaoyang was reading magazines, and Du Feng, who had disappeared for several months, suddenly appeared.

When he came, he first held Xiao Dongdong and took out a chicken, and then took out a toy pistol. When Xiao Dongdong saw the pistol, his eyes lit up.

"piu~piu~piu~"

Boys don't need to be taught how to play with guns. This boy held the gun and imitated the plot in the TV series, and he also imitated the sound effects.

"Good boy! From now on, you will inherit your uncle's glorious tradition." Du Feng touched Xiao Dongdong's head and said with a smile.

Just after receiving the gift, Xiao Dongdong was particularly affectionate to Du Feng. Unfortunately, the child was impatient and ran to the yard to play after a while.

Then Du Feng took out a small gold lock and put it on Yan Yan's neck.

"Oh! My niece is so beautiful. Her eyes are watery, her nose is so high, and she has an oval face. She looks like a beauty at first glance. Sister, you are really good at giving birth!"

"Okay, stop flattering me and don't buy such expensive things next time."

"It's not like I'm going to buy it again. Besides, it's not expensive for me."

The gold lock Du Feng bought was exquisite in style. He had bought it back in Xiangjiang, where the price of gold was lower than in the mainland.

"It's not expensive, but it's still a few thousand yuan." Tao Yushu blamed, then changed the subject and asked, "What have you been busy with these few months?"

When he heard her question, Du Feng immediately became energetic.

"What else can I be busy with? I'm busy with the clothing city! After I came back from Hong Kong, I stayed in Guangdong for more than a month, and the supply channels have been preliminarily negotiated. I've been running relationships these days since I came back, and I've also figured out the location of the clothing city."

"Okay, you're efficient enough." Tao Yushu laughed and asked again, "So, you came here to ask me for money this time?"

Du Feng nodded seriously, "Sister, the rest depends on you!"

Hearing him say this, Tao Yushu felt inexplicably excited.

After staying at home for almost three months, she felt that she was almost rusty, and Du Feng's appearance was like a rescuer from the water and fire.

"What do you need my help with?"

"Just transfer money!"

Tao Yushu waited for a long time, but Du Feng didn't respond. She asked unwillingly, "No more?"

"No more."

Tao Yushu's disappointment was beyond words.

"Oh, by the way..." Du Feng suddenly said.

Tao Yushu's eyes brightened, "Anything else?"

"You must show up a few times during the registration and preparation process. Don't worry, it won't take long, it's just a show."

Du Feng was afraid that it would affect Tao Yushu's childcare, but he didn't know that Ms. Tao was eager for these jobs now.

"It's okay. You can't handle such a big project like the clothing city by yourself. I'm also a shareholder, so I should do some work."

Lin Chaoyang knew Tao Yushu's little thoughts very well. After Du Feng left, he said in a faint tone: "Wife, our daughter is only two months old."

"I didn't say I would abandon my daughter. We have invested in the clothing city, so we can't just be a hands-off boss."

Tao Yushu's reasons were fair and square, but her flashing eyes revealed her true thoughts.

Lin Chaoyang was too lazy to expose her little thoughts, and only made one request, "Then call Yumo back."

The couple looked at each other and felt a tacit understanding.

"That's right. "The Truman Show" has been filmed, and she has nothing to do in Hong Kong for the time being."

At this time, Ms. Tao could no longer care about her sister's life or death. Besides, the pocket money was not for white-collar workers. It was time for Comrade Yumo to contribute to this family.

In the following days, Tao Yushu actively discussed the construction of the clothing city with Du Feng, which was completely different from his original attitude of just wanting to make a financial investment.

Lin Chaoyang was afraid that Du Feng would think too much, so he could only explain to him: "Your sister has no other intentions, she just can't stay idle at home."

"Brother-in-law, look at what you said, you and my sister have already contributed money to this business."

On the Laba Festival, a special business registration was carried out in the Xicheng District Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Yanjing City.

On April 10, 1980, China's first Sino-foreign joint venture-Yanjing Aviation Catering Co., Ltd. was approved for establishment.

Along with Yanjing Aviation Catering Co., Ltd., many other joint ventures were approved, including China Schindler Elevator Co., Ltd., XJ Tianshan Woolen Textile Co., Ltd., and Yanjing Jianguo Hotel.

These joint ventures have one common feature, that is, the objects of foreign joint ventures are all state-owned enterprises.

In the past few years, joint ventures in various provinces and cities in China have continued to emerge.

It was not until 1983 that the first multinational automobile company in Shanghai to enter China bore fruit. The German Volkswagen Santana car was successfully assembled. This news had too strong implications and symbolism at the time.

In 1984, the state loosened restrictions on private enterprises.

The special thing about today's business registration is that the foreign investment partner is not the state-owned enterprise that used to dominate the domestic economy, but a private enterprise.

This is the first joint venture between foreign capital and private enterprises in Yanjing.

According to the provisions of the domestic Sino-foreign joint venture law, the form of a joint venture is a limited liability company, and the investment ratio of the foreign joint venturer shall not be less than 25%.

The newly established joint venture is called Yanjing Asia-Europe Fashion Co., Ltd., with Chinese and foreign joint venturers each holding 50% of the shares and a registered capital of 1 million yuan.

"Congratulations, Ms. Tao and Mr. Du!"

After the business registration procedures were completed, the head of the district industrial and commercial bureau expressed his congratulations to Tao Yushu and Du Feng.

Although the investment scale of Asia-Europe Fashion is not large, it is the first joint venture between Hong Kong capital and private enterprises in China, which is also a significant achievement of their Xicheng District Industrial and Commercial Department.

The Industrial and Commercial Bureau also specially found reporters from the Economic Daily and Yanjing Daily for this purpose, hoping that they would report it well.

Today, Tao Yushu is dressed like a beautiful young woman in Hong Kong style, which makes Du Feng look a bit rustic, but it just fits the personality of the two.

One is a female entrepreneur from Hong Kong, and the other is a self-employed person from the mainland.

Tao Yushu is followed by a reluctant little follower. Tao Yumo was transferred back from Hong Kong by her sister a few days ago, and has lived a life of misery since then.

Xiao Dongdong, who just turned three years old, is lively and energetic all day long.

Now there is a little girl who can only eat, drink, defecate, urinate and cry. Tao Yumo, who has lived a comfortable life in Hong Kong for half a year, can't adapt to such a huge gap for a while and almost gets depressed.

She wants to go back to work, but she can't bear to give up the pocket money Tao Yushu gives her.

Before, she was worried that Tao Yushu would reduce her pocket money after she came back. Now, she just felt that the pocket money was still too little.

Seeing Tao Yushu accepting the interview from the reporter in a dignified manner, Tao Yumo couldn't help but feel crickets in her heart.

Black-hearted female capitalist!

After the interview, the two families came out of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. Tao Yumo asked Du Feng: "What else are we going to do?"

Du Feng said proudly: "You have to call me chairman now, Director Tao!"

Tao Yumo rolled his eyes at him, "Okay, Chairman Du, what are we going to do now?"

"Let's go! Let's take a look at our Asia-Europe Clothing City!"

Du Feng waved his hand and got in the car. Two Toyota Crowns, one black and one white, came to the Xidan Shopping Mall standing on Xidan North Street.

The current Xidan Shopping Mall is a new building built by the employees of the Xidan Shopping Mall themselves in 1972. The area is four times larger than in the early years, and the business area has reached 18,000 square meters.

This number is mediocre in later generations, but it is now the largest department store in Yanjing.

The five-story shopping mall faces east and west, and is located on Xidan North Street. It is the most imposing building on the entire street.

The three people stood in front of the Xidan Shopping Mall. Du Feng pointed at the mall and said, "The second and third floors, two floors with an area of ​​1,000 square meters, will be our Asia-Europe Clothing City in the future."

The business area of ​​1,000 square meters is far from the 2,000 square meters that Du Feng boasted at the beginning.

However, there is a difference between ideal and reality after all. Xidan Shopping Mall is a state-owned shopping mall. It is not easy for Du Feng and others to open a self-operated clothing city here.

Since the reform and opening up, Xidan Shopping Mall has begun to implement the contract system. In principle, any enterprise and individual can sign a contract with Xidan Shopping Mall.

But in fact, without some connections, you can't even think about renting a counter in such a shopping mall where every inch of land is valuable. What's more, Du Feng wants to rent a business area of ​​thousands of square meters. The coordination work involved is not something that ordinary people can do.