1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 325: "Yanhe" commissioned article

The blood of the Han people is petal-shaped nails, while the blood of the Xiongnu is a whole nail?

Can you tell whether someone is of Hun descent by looking at the nails on your toes?
Whether it was Chen Zhongshi, Lu Yao or Jia Pingwa, it was the first time they heard this statement.

Quite rare.

Jia Pingwa even had a strange urge and couldn't help wanting to take off the shoes and socks of the people around him and look at their feet and toes to confirm whether Jiang Xian's statement was true.

“That’s an interesting statement.”

Chen Zhongshi smiled and said, "The four of us all have petal-shaped nails. Doesn't this mean that the four of us are pure Han Chinese?"

Jiang Xian was very alert and immediately emphasized, "Teacher Chen, don't say such things. Regardless of Han blood or any other blood, today, we are all one family, and we are all Chinese."

"Yeah, yeah, how does that song go?"

Jia Pingwa began to hum:
“Fifty-six ethnic groups are like fifty-six flowers, and fifty-six brothers and sisters are one family.”

This is also the trendy single of this year. It was just created by the China National Song and Dance Troupe and quickly became popular.

“When I first saw this statement, I was also full of curiosity.”

Jiang Xian continued, "I looked for some more information to verify this statement, and found some interesting statements."

"The mother of Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Yuan, Dugu, a Xianbei, had a slight defect on her little toe nail, while Li Yuan's wife, Empress Dou, had a noticeable split in the middle of her little toe nail.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, his empress, Empress Changsun, had no nail on her little toe. So missing or split little toe nails may also be a national characteristic of the Xianbei people.

Chen Zhongshi was happy.

"What the hell?

Am I of Xianbei blood again?"

"Don't worry, it's not over yet."

Jiang Xian said again:

"I continued to research and found another similar statement."

"besides?"

"It is recorded that in order to balance the population, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the migration of a large number of people from the densely populated Shanxi to various parts of the Central Plains.

The people of Shanxi gathered under the big locust tree in Hongdong County and were pushed and shoved to leave their hometown.

But before leaving, the Shanxi people wanted to leave behind a thought so that their descendants would know that they were descendants of Shanxi immigrants, making it easier for them to trace their roots in the future.

At this time, the escorting soldiers cut the nail of everyone's little toe. From then on, anyone with a crack on the little toe nail or a split little toe nail would be an immigrant from the Dahuaishu area of ​​Shanxi.

So there is a folk song that goes like this: "Whoever has two petals on his toenails is the child under the big locust tree."

By this time, all three carriages in the room were stunned.

Is he of Han descent? Or of Xianbei descent? Or an immigrant from Dahuaishu?

At the same time, he couldn't help but admire Jiang Xian a little more.

Chen Zhongshi put himself in the other person's shoes and thought that if he had heard such a thing about the little toe nail, he would probably just take it as an interesting anecdote. He would never have done the research and been so serious about getting to the bottom of the matter like Jiang Xian did.

In fact, if it was Jiang Xian who did this, it wouldn't be strange. He remembered that Jiang Xian had a novel called "Brown Lychees", and the origin of the novel was a poem that many people have heard of: "A horse gallops through the dusty world, and the concubine smiles. No one knows that it is the lychees coming."

How the imperial concubine came to eat lychees can be used to write a novel, and it is written so vividly and well.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this kind of character that he can maintain such strong creativity and produce one excellent work after another.

"In fact, from a scientific and biological point of view, even if you cut your toenail, how can it be passed on to your offspring?" Jiang Xian said to himself.

The wine had been finished, so Lu Yao took out his own coffee and brewed some for the three of them.

"Besides, I don't believe that foreigners' toenails are not flap-shaped like ours?"

"Can they be pure Han Chinese with blond hair and blue eyes? How can we Han Chinese look like this?"

"This is not a joke."

Jiang Xian explained with a smile, and the three of them agreed after hearing it.

Chen Zhongshi said: "It's fine to treat this as an anecdote, but now we are talking about seeking truth from facts. This kind of statement is obviously not seeking truth from facts."

"But in my opinion, these magical and absurd legends are also a treasure of our Chinese culture."

Jiang Xian said, "I have seen their Latin American magical realism works. In terms of language expression, they have widely absorbed some local ancient Indian myths and legends."

"The characters in the work seem to be people in a dream. They come and go in mysterious ways. There are often people who turn into wolves on a full-moon night, the dead resurrected, or ghosts talking to the world. Flowers rain down from the sky, and there are passengers carrying train carriages across the mountain stream. There are even monks who use shackles to pull down the prison and fly across the Atlantic in shackles."

"These plots are absurd and bizarre, and they make extensive use of their ethnic dialects and even crude vernacular that has not been recorded in writing."

“However, this creative method of blending reality and fantasy has become popular all over the world.”

"But our country and our nation have too many anecdotes that sound absurd yet mysterious."

“Not to mention ethnic groups, even every village has its own myth.”

Chen Zhongshi and Lu Yao both agreed with Jiang Xian's words.

“We have a legend there.”

Chen Zhongshi smoked a cigarette and said, "There was a rumor in the old society that eating soaked dates can make your body strong and healthy. This thing nourishes people."

"Soaked dates? What soaked dates?" Lu Yao looked innocent.

Jia Pingwa also didn't understand, "What's so good about soaking dates? Only soaking ginseng in liquor can nourish people."

Only Jiang Xian quickly thought of something and his mouth twitched.

Teacher Chen started: "This is a folk saying. It is said that soaked dates, also known as Yin dates, are soaked by women for a few days and eaten, and they can restore youth."

"Is there such a saying?"

Jia Pingwa's eyes widened as he listened with great interest.

"Just soaking dates? Can you soak other things?"

"What? You still want to pickle lychees?" Jiang Xian retorted.

Why say lychee?

Because that's what this guy wrote in "Wasted City".

Teacher Chen also wrote about soaked dates in "White Deer Plain".

Coincidentally, these two novels were published in the same year.
As he was speaking, Jia Pingwa said to Jiang Xian, "Doesn't your Red Sorghum also contain such plots mixed with local legends?"

"Which part?" Lu Yao asked.

Jia Pingwa said, "The sedan chair bearers are wearing phoenix lotus."

That was when Dai Fenglian was getting married. The sedan bearers shook the sedan hard, threatening to make Dai Fenglian pee out.

Where is Dai Fenglian?

She held on to the seat tightly, her stomach churning with the two eggs she had eaten in the morning. She bit her lips and tried hard not to vomit.

why?
Because the locals believe that vomiting in a sedan chair is the most unlucky thing and that if you vomit in a sedan chair you will have no good luck for the rest of your life.

After Jia Pingwa said this, the other two were inspired.

"If we talk about magic, it has to be that part." Lu Yao said. "Which part?"

“Sorghum wine with urine.”

That was in the novel. After the Shan family father and son that Dai Fenglian married were killed by Yu Zhan'ao, she became the manager of the Shan family winery, and Yu Zhan'ao came to the winery to work as a wine maker.

At that time, competition among wineries was fierce, and the only way for wineries to survive was to constantly improve and innovate their technology, so Yu Zhan'ao came up with a secret family recipe.

What's the secret recipe?

Yu Zhan'ao urinated into the sorghum wine jar as a prank.

I didn't expect that such a casual move would have such an unexpected effect.

The guys didn't dare to deal with the basket of wine in which Yu Zhan'ao had urinated, so they moved it to the corner of the yard.

As time went by, the guys got used to the smell of sorghum wine, and suddenly they smelled a more mellow and rich aroma.

On a windy night, the rich and simple aroma of the wine spread throughout the Yu family's yard.

Uncle Luohan followed the smell and discovered that it was sorghum wine mixed with urine.

After taking a sip without fear, he finally confirmed that the pure aroma of the wine was due to Yu Zhan'ao's urine. By accident, they obtained the "secret formula" that made the wine more mellow.

And through repeated exploration and experimentation by Dai Fenglian and Uncle Luohan, they created a simpler, more precise and accurate blending process using the urea attached to old urine pots to replace urine.

This kind of plot is absolutely magical enough.

Jiang Xian picked up the coffee and took a sip slowly. "During this period, many things in Shaanxi have stimulated my inspiration, including this legend about the Huns. I have been thinking whether I should cherish these inspirations, put them on paper, and write a novel."

As soon as he said this, the three of them sobered up a little.

writing a novel?
Or a novel about Shaanxi?

So you have been chatting with us for most of the day just to sort out your own ideas for writing!

"Write it. You must write it down."

Chen Zhongshi was in high spirits.

He had been discussing this before and was looking forward to the release of a Shaanxi version of "Red Sorghum" in the future.

If Jiang Xian were asked to write this novel, this article would definitely be great and would be a feast for his eyes.

Lu Yao was moved: "Jiang Xian, if you write this article, why not publish it in our Yanhe."

These three people all worked at Yanhe, and when they heard Lu Yao's ideas, their minds immediately became active.

"Yes, since it is a novel about Shaanxi, why not publish it in our Shaanxi magazine Yanhe?"

"Don't worry, our Yanhe will definitely not bury this novel, and the royalties will definitely be given to you according to the standards given to you by other magazines."

Jiang Xian felt helpless.

He was just talking to these three people and laying the groundwork so that when his novel came out it wouldn't seem abrupt.

Unexpectedly, these three people took the opportunity to make an appointment with him for a manuscript.

"I will talk to the editor-in-chief Comrade Wang Pixiang, and when the time comes, your novel, 'Yanhe' must be promoted with the greatest possible effort." Chen Zhongshi said earnestly.

Among the three leaders, Chen Zhongshi is the oldest and has the most experience. He is currently the deputy director of a district cultural center in Xi'an.

"Yes, we are old friends, why don't you believe us?" Lu Yao, the editor, also spoke with anticipation in his tone.

"Row."

Seeing that the three leaders were so sincere, Jiang Xian didn't put on airs and simply agreed.

"I just agreed to write a novel like this with your Yanhe."

Although Yanhe is not considered one of the top domestic publications, it has an important position and influence in the literary world.

Since its founding, Yanhe has always maintained extraordinary literary performance, launched many excellent literary works and writers, and is known as the "Little People's Literature".

For example, many of Chen Zhongshi's novels were first shown in "Yanhe". The novels of young Shaanxi writers such as Jingfu and Mo Shen were also discovered by "Yanhe".

When Ru Zhijuan finished writing the short story "Lily", it was a sensitive period. She sent it to many publications, but all of them rejected it on the grounds that "the emotions were dark and could not be published."

After the novel traveled around most of China, it was finally the editor of Yanhe magazine who, with his professional acumen and courage, made Lily bloom in Yanhe magazine.

This kind of courage shows the uniqueness of this publication.

Therefore, Jiang Xian did not feel wronged when he commissioned his novel to them.

The next day, Jiang Xian prepared to return to Beijing, and before leaving, he bought some local specialties in Xi'an.

Jiang Xian heard from Lu Yao that Demaogong's crystal cakes were quite famous and he always brought a few boxes when visiting relatives during festivals, so he went to buy a few boxes and prepared to take them back for his family and friends in Beijing to try.

Although there are various kinds of cakes in the capital, his family may not like to eat them, but after all, it’s a token of his heart.

Well, don’t worry about not being able to get it to your heart’s content.

So I carried my things and was sent to the train by a group of writers from the Shaanxi Writers Association.

The journey was long, so I just read the newspaper. Even after such a long time, there were still reports about the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards in the newspaper.

Jiang Xian also saw an interview with Zhu Lin.

When asked by the reporter about her state of mind when playing Ai Jinghua, Zhu Lin replied, "I performed with my whole heart."

At the end of the article, the reporter commented that Zhu Lin was one of the actresses who reached the peak of her acting career the fastest. Within two years of becoming an actress at the Beijing Film Studio, she quickly won the Best Actress award.

Zhu Lin said frankly that she felt she was very lucky, meeting the right person at the right time and acting in the right film.

Jiang Xian couldn't help but smile.

As I said before, Zhu Lin’s winning of the award was to a certain extent due to Jiang Xian’s planning.

But at least as far as the result is concerned, Zhu Lin's winning of the award is something that both the audience and the actors are convinced of.

In other words, it can convince the public.

This is not like later generations.

As for the Best Actress award, let’s not talk about whether the majority of stupid netizens will accept it or not.

At your award ceremony, people were cursing "shady dealings".

The 32-character policy set by the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers is:

“I don’t recognize my relatives, I only recognize my works;

The wind blows from all directions, and you steer the ship yourself;
Don't hold prejudices, and be willing to accept good advice;
Fully consult and take the overall situation into consideration. "

Only seven words remained of the last thirty-two characters:
"The golden rooster is powerless and the flowers are withered."

Not particular.

It's too unrefined.

As a reborn person, he was afraid that the role of Best Actress would not be enough to convince the audience.

Capital doesn't even want to act.

(End of this chapter)