1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

"Alright, alright, even if my brother-in-law writes well, that's fine, right?"

Seeing her elder sister just looking at her without saying a word, Feng Jiamo knew that her elder sister was brewing strong emotions.

I can't afford to offend her, nor can I avoid her, so I can only choose to please her sister, and quickly added.

But judging by the tone and attitude, it’s better not to make up for it.

Hopeless!
Fortunately, her brother-in-law was so good to her, but it was all wasted.

The two sisters-in-law nearby saw this and were really speechless about the sister-in-law. She was so stupid!

Wait!
The elder sister-in-law, Feng Jiayou, was still brewing her emotions. With her extremely protective temper, her younger sister-in-law was bound to suffer.

At the very least, she would have to lose her ten dollars pocket money every week.

Both sisters-in-law knew about the ten yuan pocket money. They can only say that the elder sister Feng Jiayou is too good to the younger sister.

Unfortunately, her arm turned outward. Let's see how her sister will deal with her.

"Hero Huo Yuanjia?"

Feng Jiayou flipped through the Yulin Literature in his hand. The cover was an illustration of the hero Huo Yuanjia. He asked again for confirmation.

"what!"

Feng Jiamo reacted and was a little unsure of his elder sister's attitude, but he knew it must be the calm before the storm and he couldn't afford to offend her and wanted to run away.

However, when her elder sister asked calmly if he was the great hero Huo Yuanjia, she nodded.

"They all say that their writing is better than your brother-in-law's?" Feng Jiayou asked again lightly.

"Ah... no, no, it was that girl from northern Shaanxi. She probably likes reading this kind of popular novel, so she said it was better than what my brother-in-law wrote!"

"But it's also possible that she was jealous of me having a brother-in-law, Xu Lingjun, who is a horse herder, so she said that on purpose!"

"Yes, yes, yes, he must be jealous that I have a brother-in-law named Xu Lingjun, and he wanted to outdo me, so he said that on purpose!"

Feng Jiamo, who realized it later, burst out with an unprecedented desire to survive and helped her sister analyze the situation.

"Well, I just heard you say that you thought it was better than what your brother-in-law wrote. You said it yourself!"

Feng Jiayou flipped through some Yulin literature and found only the novel about her man, Huo Yuanjia, worth reading. The rest were about Yulin's local customs and culture, which were indeed not very attractive.

"Nowhere is there!"

"These are just some unsophisticated popular novels. How can they compare to the real literature written by my brother-in-law?"

Feng Jiayou nodded, not knowing whether to agree or not. Without saying anything else, he turned and left.

This made the person involved, Feng Jiamo, confused, and even the two sisters-in-law who were trying to stop the fight looked at each other in bewilderment.

what's the situation?
There was a loud thunder but no raindrops at all. This seemed to be inconsistent with Feng Jiayou's extremely protective character of men!
If this had happened in the past, if the sister-in-law Feng Jiamu had done anything wrong to her brother-in-law, her brother-in-law wouldn't have needed to take action, as this sister would have been able to kill her.

But what happened today?
The younger sister-in-law Feng Jiamo was so confident that the manuscript written by her husband was not as good as the so-called "Hero Huo Yuanjia", but the elder sister-in-law did not react at all.

This seems to be totally inconsistent with Feng Jiayou's personality.

My sister-in-law and the others were confused, and even Feng's mother was equally surprised. What on earth was going on?
"By the way, Feng Jiamo, you can tell your classmate that the hero Huo Yuanjia was actually written by your brother-in-law!"

Suddenly, Feng Jiayou didn't look back, but broke the news to Feng Jiamo and the others.

Feng Jiamo was dumbfounded again, and exclaimed: "What? The hero Huo Yuanjia was also written by my brother-in-law?"

"When did my brother-in-law start writing his popular novel behind our backs?"

"Mom, did you hear that? This unpresentable popular novel was actually written by your son-in-law!"

"Your son-in-law is depraved. He actually wrote this kind of thing. What else do you have to say?"

"Your brother-in-law wrote it?" Feng's mother was shocked when she heard that. How come after all the quarrels, it turned out that all the things were written by her good son-in-law?

And when did her son-in-law start writing those low-brow popular novels?

The hero Huo Yuanjia?
Just by listening to the title of this manuscript, you can tell that it is a popular martial arts story. How can it be so irrelevant?

He immediately picked up the book of Yulin Literature that Feng Jiayou had left on the table, planning to take some time in the evening to read it carefully.

I want to read it and see how well it is written. It actually made Feng Jiamo, such a heartless person, say such things.

"Mom, I haven't finished reading it yet! Please finish reading it first!"

"What are you reading? You don't even understand your brother-in-law's other manuscripts. What's the point of reading these popular stories?"

"Hurry up, Feng Jiamo, I'm not kidding you. If you don't submit a manuscript before National Day, then you...then you will move into your school dormitory and don't come back!"

……

"is it?"

Cheng Xuemin also heard what his wife said and knew that his sister-in-law Feng Jiamo was actually fascinated by his article about the great hero Huo Yuanjia!

It’s not a big surprise!

After all, serious literature is indeed not as good as popular literature!
When Cheng Xuemin was writing before, his wife Feng Jiayou saw it, and she almost put a knife to his neck to urge him to write more. This shows how powerful popular literature is.

The current period is not so bad, as the reform and opening up has just started, and literature must take the lead. But it is not so exaggerated as to do it all at once and encourage popular literature to become popular.

The mainstream of literature now is still serious literature, especially the literature of educated youth who suffered from the scars of reform and opening up, which is very popular.

But the influence of popular literature must never be ignored!

Not to mention the distant past, just take the recently resumed publication of "Story Club". It may not be very popular now, but it may take another year or two!
Not to mention her mother-in-law's "October" or any Yenching Literature, she can't even catch up.

Even the most powerful "People's Literature" and "Harvest" in Shanghai have to feel ashamed and kneel down in front of the sales of millions of copies of Story Club.

This is the appeal of extremely popular and colloquial written stories.

Wait!
After officially connecting with Hong Kong, we introduced the martial arts novels of Jin Gu, Wen Liang.

In particular, the Jin Yong series of heroes completely opened the eyes of the Chinese people to martial arts, and that was the official arrival of the spring of popular martial arts novels.

By then, serious literature will have no chance at all and at best it can only aim to win literary awards.

The others are not even on the same level compared to popular literature!
Ah!
This is just my personal opinion, and it only concerns sales. Cheng Xuemin certainly wouldn't dare to say anything about other aspects.

"Whee!"

"If the girl in my last class knew that you also wrote the article about the hero Huo Yuanjia, I wonder what her reaction would be!"

Feng Jiamo sat on the back seat of Cheng Xuemin's bicycle, with her arms around his old waist. Thinking of Feng Jiamo's expression just now, it was so funny.

"You! You're already a mother, but you're still so clever and mischievous!"

Cheng Xuemin shook his head, thinking that this woman of his was becoming more and more adept at pretending to be powerful, and was showing a tendency to surpass him.

"Isn't this a coincidence? Your popular novel is so popular among the girls in the last class!"

“It’s fun just thinking about it!”

Feng Jiayou was still laughing non-stop.

Back at the Overseas Chinese Apartment, Cheng Xuemin took a shower and went into the study to continue working on the script for Love in Lushan. The next day was Sunday, and no one had to go to work or school. Cheng Xuemin was too lazy to sleep in, but when he came to the yard, he found that his mother-in-law had just woken up.

"Mom said that your article about the hero Huo Yuanjia was indeed well written, but don't spend too much energy on it. You still need to finish the manuscript for the October issue, so you have to hurry up. Mom is urging you to submit your manuscript!"

When the daughter-in-law Feng Jiayou saw her husband coming, she told him about her mother's thoughts after reading the novel "Huo Yuanjia" which she had read all night.

So, the mother-in-law stayed up all night again for her son-in-law? !

Cheng Xuemin touched his nose. It turned out that his mother-in-law was as enthusiastic about reading novels as his sister-in-law and daughter-in-law.

……

After the novelty of registering as a new student, I started my formal campus life at Yanda University.

On the first Monday of school, Cheng Xuemin also gave a large lecture to the entire Chinese Department class of new and old students.

The topic did not continue with the rise of the Qin Empire, but instead talked about the emergence and development of new literature according to the textbook.

What is talked about most is the historical background of scar literature and its future development prospects.

The large classroom was very lively. Almost the entire classroom was full of students, and many students were constantly coming into the classroom.

Obviously, at the beginning, the name of the horse herder Xu Lingjun must have been like thunder in the ears of the old students of Yanda University, but because the school had just started, they had not had time to pay attention to him.

Therefore, Cheng Xuemin’s first class did not cause much response.

Those who came were both old students from the Chinese Department and new students who had just enrolled this year. Students from other departments didn’t know that Cheng Xuemin was giving a lecture today.

But as the class began, students kept hearing that Cheng Xuemin, a pioneer in reform and opening up, had started teaching again, and the location was right over there in the big classroom.

The old students of Yan University heard the news and spread it to ten people, and soon students who had no classes rushed here.

Those students who have just enrolled in other departments are still in a state of confusion!
Everyone is wondering whose class is so popular?

Why are all the seniors going crazy and running to the big classroom over there?
No!

No matter which teacher is teaching the class, just follow your seniors and rush over first, you will definitely not go wrong.

I found out which teacher it was, but I was still confused.

Teacher Cheng?

Which Teacher Cheng?

Who is Cheng Xuemin? I don't see any introduction of this teacher in the class schedule!
What?

He is the reform pioneer Cheng Xuemin who wrote the novel “Horse Wrangler Xu Lingjun”. He is also a specially-appointed teacher of our Yanda University???

Oh my goodness, the school actually has his class, why didn’t the school notify us earlier?
Go quickly, go quickly!

If you go too late, you may not even be able to squeeze into the classroom!

The eyes of the seniors who heard this turned white. They knew that if they arrived too late they wouldn’t even be able to squeeze into the classroom, but that was still not bad!
If this is the same as last time, and the students from Huaqing University, Normal University, and Beijing Film Academy are also attracted here, then not only will they not be able to squeeze into the classroom, they may not even be able to squeeze into the gate of Yanda University, believe it or not! ?
Just like that, Cheng Xuemin’s first class after the school term was quickly packed with Yan University students!
This is the celebrity effect.

"Jiamo Jiamo, the one on the stage is your brother-in-law?"

"It turns out that he is not only a good novel writer, but also a brilliant lecturer. Moreover, he is a teacher at Yanda University?"

My sister-in-law, who was majoring in international politics, had heard the news long ago because she was an insider. Plus, there happened to be no classes in her major, so she called on all the sisters in her class to come over and grab a seat long ago.

The little girl who was obsessed with the hero Huo Yuanjia, when she learned that the hero Huo Yuanjia was actually written by Feng Jiamo's brother-in-law, immediately surrendered to him and called him her godfather. She regarded Feng Jiamo as her big sister and followed his lead, and became another of Feng Jiamo's brother-in-law's most loyal readers.

As the eldest sister, Feng Jiamo was also very righteous. When her brother-in-law gave his first internal lecture in the Chinese department, she brought her little girl followers to grab a seat.

However, it was not revealed in advance that this was her brother-in-law.

But when these little female classmates saw their brother-in-law giving a lecture on the stage for the first time, the gleam in their eyes was too exaggerated.

What kind of personality does Feng Jiamo have?

She certainly couldn't help but reveal the secret. The person on the stage was her brother-in-law, the horse shepherd Lao Xu.

In an instant, a wave of amazement was reaped again.

"Xuemin, Xuemin, from now on, your classes must be taken seriously in our department!"

"With today's class, even without much publicity, the entire classroom is packed. Next week, students from other schools will definitely come to listen to the class!"

Cheng Xuemin was not allowed to leave the get out of class. Under the protection of Director Yang and others, he returned to the office. Director Yang sighed with lingering fear.

"Everyone is just trying to find something new. After this period of time, my class will become a regular thing in school, and everyone will not be like this today!"

Cheng Xuemin did not expect that his class would become a hit without any publicity.

But think about it, everyone is just looking for the novelty, and wait until the excitement wears off. Those who still squeeze in to listen to his class later can only be said to be absolute die-hard readers.

"That's true!" Director Yang nodded. They were indeed just looking for something new.

Then he remembered something and asked Cheng Xuemin, "By the way, Xuemin, I heard that the book The Wrangler you wrote has been made into a movie and will be released soon, right?"

This was a rumor that suddenly spread within the Yanjing University campus, saying that Cheng Xuemin's manuscript of The Horse Shepherd had been adapted into a screenplay, and the film had been completed and would be released soon.

The rumors in school are very detailed and there are even some exaggerated revelations that when the movie is released, it will definitely give everyone a huge surprise.

The rumor sounded so real that even the teachers and professors at Yan University were very curious after hearing about it. They were all guessing what kind of surprise it was. Could it be so big?

The one who is close to the water gets the moon first. Director Yang felt that Cheng Xuemin, the original author of The Horse Wrangler, should know something, so he asked specifically.

"Oh, yes, yes! Yanying Studio has indeed completed the subsequent editing, and I heard that the film has been sent out. The release is scheduled to be around National Day, so it should be soon!"

Cheng Xuemin nodded when he heard this. In fact, it was not only The Shepherd from Yan Film Studio. The Loess Plateau from Xi'an Film Studio was completed even faster than The Shepherd, and the finished film had already been sent to China Film for review.

But it does not mean that whoever submits the film earlier or passes the review earlier will be able to be released first.

The current domestic film market situation is as follows: the Ministry of Culture has organized funding to give each film studio approval to start filming.

After the film is finished, each film studio does not have the right to distribute it on its own, but must send it to the China Film Group for review.

China Film Group Corporation, the full name of which is China Film Group, oversees all film studios, large and small, across the country.

All finished films shot by the production studios below them must be sent to China Film for review, and then China Film will organize cinemas across the country to come to Beijing to screen and select films.

Once cinemas across the country have selected a film, they can take a copy of the film back and officially release it in their local area.

China Film Corporation does not organize film screenings every day. In order to facilitate the gathering of cinemas across the country, it usually organizes a film screening once a quarter.

At that time, all new movies that have been submitted for review and approved this quarter will be screened at the film screening, and cinemas across the country will select varying numbers of copies to be taken back for official screening.

The China Film Studio's film screening of this quarter happened to be held on this Sunday. As early as the end of August, the Xi'an Film Studio called and invited screenwriter Cheng Xuemin to go to the China Film Studio to attend the film screening.

Now The Horse Wrangler from Yanying Studio has also been submitted for review. I believe that at this film screening, Cheng Xuemin will have two new films waiting to be selected for release.

When Director Yang asked about it, Cheng Xuemin nodded repeatedly, saying that this was the case. He also promised that after Yanying Studio gave the official notice, he would ask them to send more movie tickets and then invite Old Yang and others from the Chinese Department to watch the movie together.

……

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