Literary Master 1983

Chapter 32: Neo-Realism (II)
That day, Yu Qie received two letters, both from the same place.

He originally thought that Mou Qizhong was released from prison early and asked him for the code name of the flower cards, but he didn't expect it to be "Hongyan" magazine.

The magazine's editor-in-chief Huang Xingbang urged Yu Qie: "Teacher Yu, when will you finish writing your war novel? Please publish it in Red Rock magazine as agreed!"

"I sent the letter a little late. By the time it arrived at Yanda, the new issue of Red Rock had already been published for some time."

What Huang Xingbang meant was that when Yu Qie got the October sample issue, the October issue of "Red Rock" had already started to be sold on the market.

Attached to the letter was about 600 yuan and a sample issue of the October issue of "Red Rock".

Indeed, "A Letter from My Fiancée at the Battlefield" had not been completed yet, and Yu Qie had just started school, so he was really too busy to do anything else.

But considering the creative efficiency of authors in this era, Yu Qie's move is not really slacking off.

Then, Yu Qie carefully read the "Red Rock" magazine.

Since the resumption of publication in 1979, Yu Qie was the first to publish two novels in the same issue. "College Entrance Examination 1979" is already a thing of the past, and Huang Xingbang has always been most optimistic about "A Moment of Romance".

"A Moment of Romance" was placed in the middle of the magazine, and the page numbers were marked on the cover.

The cover design of this issue is equally exquisite; it is an overpass of unknown direction, surrounded by high-rise buildings composed of lines.

This corresponds to the ending of the story, where the heroine has a premonition that the hero Huadi is going to die, so she runs wildly on the bridge holding up her skirt. In fact, no matter which direction she goes, she will not get a happy ending.

I don't know if it's a clever arrangement of the magazine...

It shouldn't be necessary to design a cover just for a novel.

Yu Minhong boasted that he had read at least two books every day since he entered college. He became the second person in Yanda to read A Moment of Romance and cried his eyes out after reading it.

Yu Qie asked him if it looked good.
"It's not a good or bad thing, Yu Qie, I feel a huge sorrow, just like something happened to someone around me, a person who could have been fine, but didn't get a good ending in the end!"

"Huadi was beaten to death!"

"He could have gone to college. He should have gone to college!"

Yu Minhong said: "Luckily I went to school, fortunately I didn't become a farmer, I can't even fight, I can only get beaten."

"So you like this novel very much?"

"Yu Qie, there is no one who doesn't desire a lover like Qiao Qiao. She and I are very different in status, but she sees my soul without hesitation. I simply... fell in love with Qiao Qiao. She is a real Chinese woman!"

Yu Minhong couldn't stop crying, and "A Moment of Romance" became his favorite novel from that day on.

It is Tuesday when Yu Minhong reads novels.

On Thursday afternoon, several girls came to the "New Reality" club.

Yu Qie asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"Looking for Huadi."

Oh, these female classmates watched "A Moment of Romance".

“There’s no Wah Di here.”

"We are here to look for Yu Che. We heard that Yu Che is the author of the novel."

"Okay, I'll ask around for you, but to find Yu Qie, you have to join our club first... Yu Qie is the president, and he doesn't welcome everyone." The girls looked around, and finally all agreed: "Then let's join the club."

Fill out forms, read information, and write notes.

Yu Qie applauded and said, "You have joined the 'realism' school. Our club has activities every Tuesday and Thursday, mainly literary activities."

The girls breathed a sigh of relief, but became anxious again:
"We want to find Yu Qie. You take us to find Yu Qie. Where is Yu Qie?"

"I am Yu Qie."

The same thing happened again on Thursday of the second week. This time, dozens of people came, all of them came to read the novel.

Yu Qie realized that the publication of the novel "A Moment of Romance" seemed to have a tendency to become Yu Qi's masterpiece.

Yu Qi had already thought of its dissemination effect, so he planned to do many things after the publication of A Moment of Romance, but when it actually happened, it was far beyond his expectations.

"College Entrance Examination 1977" is an excellent article about educated youth, but neither Yu Qie's writing level at the time nor the story itself was enough to support it becoming a popular work with wide dissemination.

How many people still know "Class Teacher" written by Liu Xinwu today?
How many people still know "Triumph at Midnight"?
"A Moment of Romance" is the exact opposite.

Iconic works need to be combined with iconic historical events. A novel is great because of the people who read it, and readers give it a transcendent status.

Without communication, there would be no literature.

The public security situation in 83 was particularly severe, and since September, things have been changing dramatically. Yanda is a peaceful place. Under the Boya Tower, the surface of the Weiming Lake is rippling, and beyond its edge, a violent storm has actually swept across the country!
In fact, in the last few months of 1983, almost nothing could compare to the maintenance of public security, which was the top priority of the people across the country.

Countless people came forward to report and provided clues to relevant departments.

Some elements were roaming around and constantly committing crimes, so the authorities formulated targeted capture plans. Tens of thousands of police officers entered the deep mountains and forests to carry out encirclement and suppression. Even the most lovely people were dispatched to prevent more vicious incidents.

In just two months, more than 50 guns and rounds of bullets were seized, and countless other weapons such as kitchen knives and crowbars.

It is the largest and most unprecedented operation in history.

"Organize one, two, three severe crackdowns... Every large and medium-sized city should organize several within three years. Hit a large group of them at a time, and keep doing this!"

Mobilizing the masses is not a simple matter; it actually affects almost everyone, and each of them has the ability to access "A Moment of Romance", a novel that is closely related to their lives.

The popularity of A Moment of Romance spread to an incredible degree. Countless literary journals requested to reprint this novel, but they could not print it until next month at the earliest, which triggered an unprecedented rush to buy Red Rock magazine.

When Yu Qie was getting worried about the large number of people joining the "New Realism" society, Huang Xingbang's letter came again:

"I'm going through a lot of controversy. Everyone tells me that it was me who chose to publish A Moment of Romance in October, and that I discovered you among the writers..."

“But I knew, I was just sitting there and then I saw this article and that’s when I knew I had to publish it!”

"We printed 50,000 copies, which is more than usual... because Red Rock Magazine is a regional publication, and now we are printing more and more..."

"Is it possible to have 100,000 copies? I think there will be 200,000 copies!"

"I heard that readers have sent countless letters, requesting that your A Moment of Romance be published in the next issue of People's Literature."

"Teacher Yu, no matter who contacts you, please send your new war literature to Red Rock, and at most Sichuan Literature. You are a writer from our native land."

(End of this chapter)