Li Qingquan and Zhang De'an listened quietly to Lin Chaoyang's words, and slowly understood his thoughts.
Lin Chaoyang's stance is not an extreme one, but a macro-perspective of history. The country is willing to make amends with Japan for the sake of its own interests.
But some people among the people regard their enemies as friends, which is really confusing.
"At that time, the things many people have done will become knives stabbing ourselves!" Lin Chaoyang said quietly at the end.
Li Qingquan comforted him: "Don't think too much. After all, this is a matter between countries. It cannot be changed by you alone."
Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "I don't regard myself as a savior. I just want to express my position."
After talking about the novel, Zhang Dening mentioned the annual National Outstanding Short Story Award.
This year is the third year since the award was established. It has formed a unique influence in the domestic literary circle and has achieved great success because of the award. This year, the Literary and Art Association has added the novella award to the selection of short stories.
Activity.
In October last year, the selection notice for these two awards was published in "People's Literature".
The selection of the Outstanding Short Story Award is still based on the year, while the Outstanding Novella Award is held for the first time, so the selection range is the novellas published in newspapers across the country from 1977 to 1980.
Seeing that there is less than half a month left before the award ceremony, the literary circles are constantly discussing the final results of this year's awards.
Lin Chaoyang had no short stories published last year, but he has published three novellas so far, all of which are within the selection range of this year's Outstanding Novella Award, namely "Little Shoes", "Garland Under the Mountain" and "Parental Love"
”, all achieved good response.
If I had to rank them, "Wreaths Under the Mountain" would undoubtedly be number one, followed by "Little Shoes", and finally "Parental Love".
This can also be seen from the sales of the three novels after their publication. "Garland Under the Mountain" has been blessed by Mr. Hu and has sold nearly 4 million copies so far. "Little Shoes" has sold nearly 800,000 copies in more than a year after its publication.
sales volume.
Comparatively speaking, "Parental Love" is not that big of a splash. The novel was published by the Humanities Society in January this year. In two months now, the first printing of 80,000 copies has just been sold out, and the additional 50,000 copies are still sold out.
On sale.
The sales volume of "Parental Love" is already quite impressive if compared to general contemporary literary works, but compared with Lin Chaoyang's other two novels, there is a huge gap.
According to the evaluation requirements of the National Outstanding Novella Award, these three novels by Lin Chaoyang are eligible for evaluation, and in terms of response, they are also strong contenders for the award.
According to Li Qingquan, three of Lin Chaoyang's novels were nominated. This is not uncommon because the selection method for outstanding short and medium-sized novels is based on public recommendation and expert review. Based on the influence of Lin Chaoyang's novels,
Nomination is a breeze, and he is not the only writer whose works have been nominated at the same time.
However, nominations are nominations, and the actual award depends on the votes of the masses and the results of expert reviews.
While chatting about the awards, Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but think of the phone call Zhang Guangnian had given him some time ago. He probably would have asked him to talk about joining the Literary and Art Association during the award evaluation.
After lunch, Lin Chaoyang said goodbye and left. Li Qingquan told Zhang Dening, "This time, please show me the manuscript!"
Feeling the deep distrust in the leader's words, Zhang Dening cursed, "Isn't that a problem that I can't see? It's because you didn't pay enough for the manuscript!"
After returning to the Overseas Chinese Apartment from "Yanjing Literature", Lin Chaoyang saw his father and a thin old man sitting in the pavilion in the garden chatting as soon as he entered the courtyard.
"Dad!" Lin Chaoyang walked over and called Lin Erchun.
When Lin Erchun saw Lin Chaoyang, he introduced the old man with a smile on his face: "Brother Wu, this is my son, his name is Lin Chaoyang."
The slender old man wore brown glasses. During the beginning of spring, the weather turned warm and cold. He wore a black leather jacket, and he had an elegant and calm temperament.
"I heard before that a great writer moved into the community." The old man smiled and extended his hand to Lin Chaoyang.
"Hello, Uncle Wu!" Lin Chaoyang said hello politely, and then said: "You are very grateful. You just wrote a few novels and we have met several times."
When Lin Chaoyang went to work in the morning, he would occasionally see the old man buying pancakes and fruits, but the two never talked.
After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Chaoyang returned home. It was more than half an hour before Lin Erchun came back.
Lin Chaoyang asked: "Dad, do you two know each other?"
"We met while walking downstairs. You and Yushu work together and go to school. You don't even know a few of the neighbors, right?"
Lin Chaoyang smiled, "Yes. Do you know what he does?"
"I said I was a painter, but I didn't ask in detail. Do you know?"
"Yeah. That Uncle Wu is a painter, so he should be quite famous."
"Don't you know each other? How do you know?" Lin Erchun asked.
"Before I moved in, I heard that there was a painter named Wu Zuoren in this courtyard. You already said that he is a painter, his surname is Wu, and he is about the same age."
Lin Erchun exclaimed: "Oh, I really didn't realize it! Is he famous?"
"Xu Beihong, do you know?"
"Then who doesn't know? It's the one who painted the horse."
"He is Xu Beihong's disciple."
"Ouch!" Lin Erchun exclaimed. He had no idea about Wu Zuoren's fame, but in his opinion, Xu Beihong was a first-class painter. Since he was his apprentice, he was also a master.
He sighed: "The people living in your hospital are not ordinary people! How do you say that? What's the point of talking and laughing..."
"There are great scholars who talk and laugh, but there are no idle people who come and go."
"right!"
One day later, Lin Chaoyang and his family appeared together in Mianmian Hutong. Today was the last day for Li Quanfu and his family to move.
In the past few days, Lin Erchun came here every day to visit, fearing that Li Quanfu and his family would take things with them when they moved.
What was originally a very amicable matter, forced their home to make everyone uncomfortable, and this time the courtyard was finally vacated.
This was the first time Tao Yushu came to the courtyard after she bought it. She took Lin Chaoyang and looked around.
"This house needs a lot of repairs!"
After the initial excitement, Tao Yushu discovered many problems with the courtyard house. After all, it was a house that was hundreds of years old. Except for the main house where Li Quanfu's family had always lived, there were more or less problems with the other houses.
"It's an old house. You'll definitely need to clean it up after you buy it."
Lin Erchun took out a small notebook from his pocket. It has been three months since he bought the house, and he has not been idle. During this time, he has already written down all the places in the courtyard that need to be repaired, and even what materials to use.
The statistics and quantity are almost accurate.
"Your mother and I are thinking that we are leaving in two days, and you have to clean up this yard yourself."
Lin Erchun suddenly talked about returning to his hometown.
"It's not spring plowing yet, let's stay a while longer," Lin Chaoyang advised.
Lin Erchun shook his head, "I can't wait any longer. I've been at home all winter, and I have to pack up and get ready when I get back. A month has passed in a blink of an eye."
"When will you come back?"
"After finishing the autumn harvest."
After spending a winter in Yanjing, Lin Erchun and his wife were quite accustomed to the life in Yanjing. After all, they were from the north.
In particular, Lin Chaoyang's house is large and spacious, has heating and running water, and is really comfortable to live in.
However, there are also disadvantages. First, there are no villagers around. Although I usually don't like to see some people at home, I still miss them when I leave that familiar land.
Second, there is no land or yard. The couple always feel that this life is not grounded and feel empty every day, so the couple often talks about returning to the Northeast.
After finally waiting until spring, Lin Chaoyang had no reason to stop the two of them. After all, last winter, they had agreed to let them return to the Northeast in spring.
"Then you have to come back, otherwise I bought this house for nothing and repaired it for nothing. It costs thousands of dollars."
After Lin Chaoyang said this, Lin Erchun complained, "I advised you not to buy it at first. How about putting the money in the bank to earn interest? Now it's just empty."
He is a calculating person, so it's okay if his son doesn't mention it, but when he mentions it, he can't help but feel distressed because of the waste.
"If you feel sorry for me, don't go back." Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.
Lin Erchun's face showed a bit of struggle, but in the end the homesickness in his heart took over, "No."
"Okay, you can go if you want."
Lin Chaoyang understands the attachment of the older generation to their hometown. Anyway, his parents are not in their 70s or 80s. The climate in Northeast China is quite comfortable in spring, summer and autumn, so it would be nice to come to Yanjingmao for a winter stay.
"I'm worried that the house will be empty. Once the repairs are almost completed, you can rent this house out and leave two rooms for us, the old couple.
With popularity, you won’t have to worry about the house breaking down, you can still earn some rent, and you’ll have money to repair the house in the future.”
Lin Erchun warned again worriedly.
"Don't worry about this."
Lin Erchun had a good idea. If all the dozen or so houses in the courtyard in Mianmian Hutong could be rented out, he would be able to earn at least forty or fifty yuan a month, and the yard would not be empty.
But Lin Chaoyang didn't think so. If the courtyard was really renovated with money, the investment would cost at least 7,000 yuan. If they were all rented out, it would be completely destroyed in a few years. The current courtyard in Yanjing City would have been destroyed long ago.
It was not what it is now.
Besides, if there were ten or eight more households in the yard, he wouldn't know how much time would be wasted by talking nonsense all day long.
For that little rent, I really can't afford it.
After spending a whole morning in the courtyard, Lin Chaoyang and his son finished planning the renovation.
Knowing that Lin Erchun and his wife were going back to their hometown, Tao Yushu took them to Xidan to buy some specialties and asked them to take them back to their hometown.
When he got home in the evening, Tao Yushu said to Lin Chaoyang: "Chaoyang, my parents didn't go to the Forbidden City when they came here. It just so happens that you have time in the past few days, so take them to visit the Forbidden City before they leave.
"
Zhang Guiqin said: "It's not like I won't come here anymore, you just have to be busy with your work."
"It's okay. Mom, what Yushu said makes sense. I just have nothing to do at home these days, and the weather outside is warm. I will take you to the Forbidden City tomorrow and buy tickets the day after tomorrow."
These days, you don’t need to make an appointment in advance to visit the Forbidden City. The Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City is currently under renovation, and you don’t have to queue up to buy tickets at the ticket office. It’s a working day, so early in the morning there are no people at all. On the contrary, there are foreign guests, and there are more people at the overseas Chinese ticket office.
.
“There are so many foreigners!”
Zhang Guiqin saw foreigners up close for the first time and felt as happy as watching monkeys playing.
"Mom, please pay attention to your expression. I didn't buy a ticket for you."
"Go! Just take your mother and let me have fun."
A family of three jokingly entered the Forbidden City. Two imperial guards stood at the entrance of the passage wearing court clothes. The court clothes were made of azurite full-body cloud satin with velvet edges. They had one square pleat on the front and back, and four rows on the waist. There were pleats in the middle.
The lining, collar and sleeves are also made of azurite satin.
Lin Chaoyang took a closer look at the two of them. The degree of restoration of the COS was quite high, even the hair style was restored, and there was nothing wrong with their dressing up. They were much more dedicated than some COSERs in later generations.
When he arrived at Taihemen Square, Lin Chaoyang noticed that there was a Hongqi car in the corner of the square, and there was a sign next to the car.
"As long as it does not affect our work, spectators will be charged 2 cents for using vehicles."
Well, I’m not that lucky!
There were not many people in the square. They had all just entered through the Meridian Gate. Many of them were overseas Chinese and foreign guests. Lin Chaoyang's family of three fell behind a few foreigners. Lin Erchun and Zhang Guiqin couldn't help but look at the monkeys.
"This foreigner is so hairy!" Zhang Guiqin muttered.
Chapter completed!