1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 238 The First Person to Guess the Riddle

At the beginning of 1981, a cold air mass spread over the capital.

Taking advantage of the fact that it was not too busy before the Spring Festival, Jiang Xian and Zhu Lin's families had a meal together at Quanjude.

After dinner, Jiang Guoqing held a copy of People's Daily and read the instructions written in red.

“It is not allowed to sell industrial products without the approval of the administrative department.”

“The sale of a certain type of agricultural product is prohibited.”

“Private individuals are not allowed to purchase large transportation vehicles such as cars, tractors, motor boats, etc. to engage in trafficking.”

Professor Zhu understood the spirit of the message and pondered for a while, "Emergency document, this is a change of tone."

"How did it change?" Jiang Guoqing looked at him.

"Crack down on speculation? Is this to regulate the market order?" Professor Zhu said as he thought.

Jiang Xian took a sip of tea and said calmly, "Dad is right. I think the higher-ups want to control the situation and control the individual private businesses."

"control?"

Both of his fathers looked at him.

Jiang Guoqing said: "Weren't we encouraging private enterprises at the end of last year? The newspapers were reporting about the eight people in Wenzhou every day. Why did the trend change now?"

"The authorities are also crossing the river by feeling the stones. If they relax for a while, they will definitely tighten up for a while. If they don't care anymore, they will have to spend money like Nian Guangjiu." Jiang Xian said.

Last year, Nian Guangjiu's melon seeds business became more and more popular, and he made more and more money.

At this time, the largest denomination banknote was the 10-yuan Great Unity, so Nian Guangjiu did a very high-profile "stupid" thing
——Show off your money.

What does it mean? Nian Guangjiu said that when it rains, the money in the sack will get moldy. He put all the money in the yard to dry, so there is no need to worry about it getting moldy.

Others asked him: Are you looking for death? How dare you show off your money? You are really brave.

He argued: My money is moldy, what should I do if I don’t dry it in the sun?
To put it bluntly, it's just being naughty and showing off wealth in various ways.

It is also common in later generations. Famous bags and watches are placed on the ground. People pose for photos and then send a message on PyQ: "Who knows, family members? I fell off a Porsche 911."

This is a low level one, a higher level one: rush to close on Monday, avoid people, and have fun~
"Last year and the year before last we both encountered cold snaps. The reform and opening up will definitely be disrupted by a cold snap." Jiang Xian made an analysis.

Professor Zhu, who studies economics every day, couldn't help but nod his head with appreciation, "I didn't expect that you, who study literature, have such a profound understanding of society."

"Look at what you said." Jiang Xian smiled. "We who engage in literature cannot turn a deaf ear to what is happening outside the window. We cannot ignore reflection and scars. In recent times, there is Jiang Zilong's reform literature, and in the distant past, there is Mr. Mao Dun's social analysis novels."

Mr. Mao Dun's novels observe and analyze social phenomena from the political and economic levels of society.

This also resulted in a very high threshold for reading his works, with few people touching on them in later generations, and even some derogatory voices appearing.

It is understandable if you don't read it, but it is narrow-minded to denigrate it.

When reading Mao Dun's articles, one must consider the background of the times. Although the old gentleman appears to be gentle and elegant, his pen name is actually Mao Dun. Ye Shengtao changed his name to Mao Dun. In that period of time, he led many literary battles.

Like Lu Xun, he was a writer who realized very early on that words cannot be just whining. The two were good friends and fellow townsmen from Wuzhen. One's article was like a javelin and the other like a dagger, both stabbing into the enemy's heart. It's just that this background color is difficult to appreciate in peacetime.

"What's so special about being an individual or private enterprise? It won't affect your writing skills anyway." Rao Yuemei thought about it and slapped her thigh. "It seems like writing novels is a good thing for you."

Jiang Xian smiled and said nothing.

There are so many troubles in the literary world. They are just invisible smoke of war. Just an anti-spiritual WR is enough to make you upset.

Zhu Lin has enrolled in the amateur training class of Beijing Film Academy and is studying the "Stanislavsky Acting System" every day.

When she got home that day, she shared with Jiang Xian: "Many students in our class have been discussing recently what they would wish for after being hit by a car."

In January, "Beijing Literature" published Shi Tiesheng's "Half an Hour for Lunch". This short story quickly sparked huge discussion among readers. For a time, the hot topic among the people became: What is your wish after being hit by a car?
In this way, Shi Tiesheng's name came into people's attention.

Zhang Dening came to the door soon and said excitedly: "Tie Sheng's novel is really popular."

She counted on her fingers, "Comrade Wang Anyi, Mr. Wang Zengqi, now there is another Shi Tiesheng. Jiang Xian, you have brought up another writer!"

"It has nothing to do with me. Gold will always shine." Jiang Xian smiled indifferently.

In Zhang Dening's eyes, this calmness and indifference meant "let the clouds roll and the wind blow, I remain unmoved", a complete master's demeanor!

She took a sip of water and said shyly, "Teacher Jiang, I have one more thing I want to ask you."

"Teacher Dening, you go ahead."

Zhang Dening smiled and said, "Can you write a literary review of Tie Sheng's article? With your influence, once this review is published, Tie Sheng's novel will surely receive wider attention."

"Literary review?"

Jiang Xian thought about it and didn't rush to agree. He said with some concern: "I rarely write literary reviews, so I'm afraid I'm not as professional as a real critic."

"Try writing it first." Zhang Dening looked expectant. "No matter what, you are the first person to come into contact with this novel. Tell me your opinion. How bad can you write it?"

“Then I’ll try to write.”

Jiang Xian agreed. He thought writing literary reviews was not a difficult task. Besides, as his status improved in the future, it was inevitable that such things would come to him.

Before writing, he studied other people's writing methods, and the novel he studied was also a novel he was very familiar with.
——"Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".

Since its publication last month, the discussion about "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" has never subsided.

The last time Wang Fu came to deliver a reader's letter to him, he excitedly told him that the sales of the December issue of People's Literature, which published "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood", were quite encouraging. 12 copies had been reprinted, and the current sales volume was million copies.

Although this only exceeded their first print run of 800,000 copies, it is extremely rare to achieve this result in such a short period of time.

Moreover, the December issue only published the solo manuscript of "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood". The sales of 12 million copies can be said to be entirely due to the appeal of Jiang Xian alone.

This grand occasion is almost as big as the "Scars" published by Wenhui Daily a few years ago.

Jiang Xian couldn't help but wonder, if this sales volume was not published in "People's Literature" but published, how much royalties would be earned? After all, their magazines don't pay royalties based on the number of copies printed.

Moreover, this publication will have a great impact on the future publication of "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood", which is also an important reason for the gradual decline of traditional literary publications.

But thinking back, since he had been given the honor of being the first to publish his work in its entirety in People's Literature, he could reluctantly accept it. It would be a shame to take advantage of the situation.

With the sales of "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" being so great, the literary criticism circle is naturally not too quiet.

Jiang Xian first read Ru Zhijuan's literary review "From the Moon to Selling Blood - "Reading Xu Sanguan"" in this issue of "Shanghai Literature". She analyzed this article in conjunction with "Glass Moon Shining on Copper Coin Street". These two novels, one is about highbrow literature, and the other is about lowbrow literature. She thinks these two novels can be regarded as the same series.

They all express the simple, ignorant, helpless and true side of human nature, reveal the noble and little-known side of human nature, are overflowing with human warmth, and also make people feel bone-chilling cold. They are all thought-provoking works.

Finally, he penetrates the works and directly analyzes Jiang Xian's own creations, praising him for his spiritual bearing in literary creation and his clear persistence in his understanding of literature.

She denied the criticism that Jiang Xian's works were out of touch with the masses, and ended with this sentence:

“A person with a talent as great as a string of a river is rare, and a person with wisdom, ingenuity, and vigor as great as a string of a river is rare indeed.

Jiang Xian has always been a voice of the people, and his works are always written to cheer for the people. He can be regarded as the conscience of society, which is a blessing for Chinese literature!"

After reading Comrade Ru Zhijuan's comment, Jiang Xian felt a little embarrassed.

Although he helped promote Wang Anyi, it is clear that Comrade Ru Zhijuan's evaluation is quite objective and true. Well, no matter what the truth is, it does feel good to be praised by others.

And even if there is a bit of personal sentimentality, in essence it is because Jiang Xian's own articles are good enough to support such praise.

Some people write a lot of shit and fart throughout their articles. Even if they want to praise someone, it's useless.

After reading a few other people's reviews, Jiang Xian was most impressed by Mr. Lei Da's literary review. His review was quite ingenious, like writing a novel, and he directly made up a story based on it:
"Someone asked Chinese writer Jiang Xian to guess a riddle, and said that no one had solved it in 30 years.

Jiang Xian claims that he has not encountered a riddle that he cannot solve since he was 3 years old.

The riddle is: put a 2500 gram chicken into a bottle that can only hold 500 grams of water, how to take it out.

Jiang Xian immediately replied: "Whatever tool you use to put it in, I will use the same tool to take it out."

Radar uses this fictional story to illustrate his point:

"In the past 30 years, Jiang Xian is the first person in China to guess this riddle!"

"The tool he skillfully uses is 'language'!"

Reading the multiple profound meanings in it, Jiang Xian smiled knowingly.

In the past 30 years, no one has solved the riddle that has not been solved since the age of 3.
The former is a metaphor. After liberation, Chinese writers knew very little about linguistics.

The latter is a metaphor for Jiang Xian's amazing talent.

The rest will not be analyzed one by one.

A humorous little story that expresses Radar's feelings after reading the novel "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".

"How can literary criticism be written like this?" Jiang Xian was quite surprised.

He filled the pen with ink, held the pen, thought for a moment, and started writing.

Wang Yang, the director of Beijing Film Studio, found Jiang Xian and proposed his idea of ​​making a documentary on "Chinese Literature". With Wang Yang's help, the higher-ups finally agreed and approved the filming, and also approved a huge sum of 1000 yuan.

Jiang Xian reluctantly accepted this result. Compared to the funds, the filming permit was more important.

Again, cameras and printers are all under state control.

The "Chinese Literature" documentary crew was officially established, with him as the only member.

After returning to No. 15 Hufang Road, Jiang Xian went to find Lin Xinghan and asked him for help. He invited Wang Fulin to direct the documentary, and the people who worked on "The Sancha Lane Robbery" were also used for camera, lighting, and sound recording.

Like all units at the moment, CCTV is also undergoing reforms, especially Lin Xinghan's TV drama department, which is extremely poor. In order to survive, this year they tried to introduce a contracting system, advocating that everyone find ways to take on jobs, hand in 30% of their income, and keep 70% among themselves.

So when Jiang Xian called out, everyone was quite excited and agreed enthusiastically.

The reason for inviting Wang Fulin was because Jiang Xian wanted to shoot with imported color film instead of black and white.

At that time, all domestic TV dramas were in black and white. The first color TV drama was Wang Fulin's "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp", and he had experience in real-life shooting.

No one in China had ever made a documentary before. The first one was "Wandering in Beijing" shot by Wu Wenguang, who was therefore called the "Father of Chinese Independent Documentary".

One thousand yuan was definitely not enough, so Jiang Xian put in another thousand yuan of his own money. Wang Fulin calculated that if he used it sparingly, it would be enough for 35 minutes of filming.

“Then let’s shoot one episode first.”

The makeshift team was hastily set up, and another problem arose.

This time we had the help of Wang Fulin’s team for the shoot, what about next time?

Jiang Xian's film will definitely be shot for a long time, so he must gather his own team and his own people.

At night, he sat at the table, made a list of each task, and then held a pen and filled in the corresponding candidates at the back.

"What are you writing?" Zhu Lin came closer and asked, wrapping her slender arms around his neck.

"I have set up a crew, and I almost have my own people."

Zhu Lin glanced at it and said, "This seems to be from our Beijing Film Academy, right?"

Jiang Xian chuckled, "You're already in Beijing Film Academy? You've integrated pretty quickly."

He thought about it and realized that Zhu Lin's academic qualifications were quite impressive. She was a graduate student at the Medical College.

After further study at Beijing Film Academy, I have made further progress!
He had to hurry up and catch up.

"I will go to Beijing Film Academy with you tomorrow."

Silent all night.

Jiang Xian got up early in the morning and rode his bike to the Beijing Film Academy campus with Zhu Lin.

He came here naturally to poach people, and he could have asked the Beijing Film Studio to help make the contact, but the students were about to go on winter vacation, so he might not have enough time.

Soon they found Chen Aige. The little prince who recited poems was very surprised to see Jiang Xian, "Brother Jiang, why are you here!"

"I came here to look for some people. I wonder if you can recognize them?"

"Who is it?" Chen Ai Ge asked in a very showy manner.

Different from the stereotype of "Arthur, please take a seat" held by many people, Chen Ai Ge is actually a person who would rather fall into the sea than let his words fall on the ground.

His ex-wife Hong Huang once described him like this: "He is really good at talking. No matter how boring the matter is, he can make it sound like a flower. You have to admit it even if you don't want to."

(End of this chapter)