Lin Chaoyang went to Xiangjiang for a visit and brought back so many things for his family. The scattered items added up to several thousand yuan, which would be enough for an ordinary family to earn several years.

Everyone was very happy to receive the gift.

But Tao's mother's words stopped everyone's happiness. Her son (son-in-law/brother-in-law/brother-in-law) bought such expensive gifts for everyone but didn't buy anything for himself. How could they feel so happy?

Before Lin Chaoyang could answer, his uncle had already imagined a scene in his mind where his brother-in-law was forced to eat steamed buns in Xiangjiang in order to save money to buy gifts for everyone.

"Chaoyang..." Tao Yucheng patted Lin Chaoyang's shoulder with his hand, his face full of emotion.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said: "Mom, these things are not attractive to me."

What Lin Chaoyang said was true. He had experienced the Great Explosion of Matter and had never seen all kinds of exquisite industrial products from later generations. He was really not interested in these things.

But the more he said this, the more unhappy his family members became.

My son (son-in-law/brother-in-law/brother-in-law) has paid so much for this family!

With everyone thinking this way, the gifts in their hands suddenly no longer smell good.

Only the two brothers Tao Xiwen and Tao Xiwu were still tinkering with their toys carelessly, and then they were dragged to Lin Chaoyang by their uncle.

"Say thank you to my uncle properly!"

The two brothers immediately said thank you obediently.

Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but laugh and cry when he saw his family like this, and said helplessly: "I didn't buy myself any gifts, but others gave me a lot of gifts."

His eyes looked at Tao Yushu, and she immediately said: "Yes, he visited so many places in Xiangjiang, and was received and given a lot of gifts."

After listening to Tao Yushu's words, the expressions of the family members relaxed, so that they would feel relieved to receive the gifts.

"Not only did I receive a lot of gifts..." Before Tao Yushu finished speaking, everyone's eyes were on her again.

Lin Chaoyang looked at his wife and shouted in his heart: It's coming! It's coming!

"When I go to Xiangjiang this time, there is a publishing house that wants to publish his novel, and the contract has already been signed!"

As soon as Tao Yushu said this, everyone suddenly became happy.

Tao Yumo asked: "I remember that my brother-in-law published a book in Xiangjiang before, right?"

“The same book, The Death of Van Gogh, was released this time, but it was changed to a different publisher.

Last time it was a university publishing house, and the circulation was relatively small. This time the publishing house is Mingpao Publishing House, and the boss is Jin Yong, and the circulation is larger than last time." Tao Yushu explained.

"So my brother-in-law is going to be famous in Xiangjiang?" Tao Yumo asked again.

The two sisters sang and harmonized, just like the teasing and complimenting in cross talk. The audience listened with interest and asked questions.

"Chaoyang, what is royalty?"

“Royalty means the writer charges a certain percentage of the book price as a royalties.”

"Then how much money can you make from publishing this time?"

"That's hard to say, it depends on the sales volume."

…

After happily distributing the gifts, the family sat down to have a meal. Lin Chaoyang inevitably told some of his experiences in Xiangjiang and served them as side dishes.

He talked about the welcome banquet on the day he just arrived, and suddenly said to Tao's father: "Dad, do you know Han Suyin?"

When Tao's father heard the name, he didn't seem to have any thoughts, and a look of nostalgia flashed in his eyes.

"She was two years older than me, and she studied medicine. She was a famous beauty in our Yan University at that time..."

"I heard he's still a mixed race."

Tao's father was indulged in the nostalgia of the past and old friends. Tao's mother suddenly interjected a word that made him calm down immediately.

Seeing his wife's calm face, Tao's father couldn't help but feel guilty in his eyes.

Lin Chaoyang realized that he seemed to have dug a hole for his father-in-law.

"It's all in the past. There aren't many of our classmates alive now."

I have to say that the change of topic regarding Father Tao was a bit abrupt.

Everyone seemed to have noticed something was wrong, and the atmosphere at the table suddenly became subtle. Lin Chaoyang secretly observed Tao Mu's expression and said with a smile: "There were two other people from Yan University that night..."

After dinner, the family members left, and Tao Yushu complained: "You just eat, what are you talking about?"

"Can you blame me for this? I didn't know that Dad had such a past when he was young!"

Tao Yushu's beautiful eyes were full of anger, "Stop talking nonsense, or I'll sue my dad."

Lin Chaoyang didn't expect that everyone would go home, and there would be an episode during the visit to Xiangjiang. He didn't know how his father-in-law would be treated when he returned tonight.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud as he thought about it.

The next day he came to the library and found Xie Daoyuan to sell his leave.

"What are you doing? Bribery?" Xie Daoyuan couldn't help but ask as he looked at Lin Chaoyang's beautifully wrapped bag on the table.

Lin Chaoyang looked relaxed, "Have you ever bribed officials with chocolate?"

"I have bad teeth."

"There's nothing good to buy, just treat it as a taste for the kids at home."

Xie Daoyuan smiled and accepted the things, "How was your return to Xiangjiang this time?"

"It's just to participate in some activities and meet some people. The economic construction and material level are much richer than ours. If we want to catch up with them, I'm afraid we still have a long way to go."

"How can you, a writer, act like an official visiting for an inspection?" Xie Daoyuan joked.

After chatting for a while and selling off his vacation, Lin Chaoyang came out of the office and went to the library and distributed some candies to his colleagues, which made everyone smile.

Du Rong told him that Hong Zicheng came to the library to look for him a few days ago.

After lunch, Lin Chaoyang ran to the Chinese Department office to find Hong Zicheng, "What do you want from me?"

"Hey, you're back from Xiangjiang? How do you feel?"

Every time I meet someone, I will be asked about my experience of going to Xiangjiang, which can be regarded as one of the sequelae of my return visit.

After Lin Chaoyang said a few perfunctory words, Hong Zicheng got down to business.

"It's nothing. Isn't "The Story of a Crossing Boat" very popular recently? Our students in the Chinese Department also love this novel very much.

I wanted to see if you have time to take a communication class."

"Exchange what?"

"What else can it be, creative ideas and experiences."

"Is there any class fee?"

"When you talk about class fees, you're out of touch. In the past few years, you took so many classes in our Chinese Department. Now it's time for you to repay your debt."

After joking for a while, Lin Chaoyang said: "Okay, then when will the class start?"

"How about this Saturday morning?"

"Can."

On Saturday morning, Lin Chaoyang came to the Chinese Department to teach students as scheduled.

The Chinese Department has specially arranged a lecture theater for today's class, which can accommodate two to three hundred students attending classes at the same time.

But when Lin Chaoyang walked in, what he saw was an overcrowded classroom. Even the aisles and directly under the podium were crowded with people. It looked like there were at least four to five hundred students.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang come in, the originally loud voices in the classroom immediately fell silent. The students all saluted him with attention, which inexplicably reminded Lin Chaoyang of the time he took classes in the Chinese Department a few years ago.

.

The old gentlemen walked into the classroom calmly, and the noisy students immediately quieted down, their eyes full of admiration.

Before I knew it, so much time had passed, and before I knew it, he had become the person standing on the podium.

"When Brother Zicheng invited me, he said that "The Story of a Crossing Boat" has been very popular recently, and he wanted me to talk about his creative ideas and experiences..."

Lin Chaoyang came to the podium and started speaking directly without saying any polite words.

Among the students who came today, students from all grades in the Chinese Department accounted for half, and the rest were students from other departments. They all came here because they heard that Lin Chaoyang was coming to teach the Chinese Department today.

Lin Chaoyang is an employee of Yanda, and these students all know it. But for students after the 1980s, their impression of Lin Chaoyang is distant and vague.

Because when they came to Yanda, there was not much communication between Lin Chaoyang and students, so everyone's impression of him was that of a well-known writer, rather than a school employee and a close friend.

In February, "Crossing the Boat" was published in the first issue of "Flower City" magazine. In more than two months now, it has successfully sold 2.08 million copies.

This not only set the highest sales volume since the publication of "Flower City", but also sent a shock bomb to the Chinese literary world in 1983!

The sales volume of 2.08 million copies in a single issue may not be achieved by not only pure literary magazines, but also comprehensive magazines and popular literary magazines that are known for their entertainment.

This sales volume will probably become a huge barrier for many well-known literary magazines for a long time to come, making it difficult for them to overcome it.

Of course, this premise is that Lin Chaoyang has no new works released.

Behind the huge sales are millions of readers, and college students, who are generally young literary people, are one of the main forces.

"The Story of the Ferry" itself has a strong color of magical realism, which is very popular nowadays, and college students are proud to read this kind of work.
To be continued...