Literary Master 1983

Chapter 4: Red Rock's Reply
More than a week after the report was completed, a reply from Red Rock magazine arrived at Yu Qie’s home.

"Brother! Your letter!"

Yu Xian was extremely excited. He waved the envelope and stood on tiptoe nervously to watch.

Before opening, Yu Qie thought:
If my manuscript is rejected, I will submit it to a lower-level magazine and try again. If it is rejected again, I will try to submit it to another magazine.

It is impossible to revise the manuscript!
At this time, the editor-in-chief had a great influence on the selection of manuscripts. Rejecting his manuscript meant that the people at Hongyan magazine did not appreciate Yu Qie's writing style.

It's useless to be a bootlicker, just like looking down on your blind date. Hurry up and find the next one you like.

But the reply was beyond Yu Qi's expectations.

The letter stated that his manuscript had been accepted and would be published in the "Novel" column of the October issue of "Hongyan" magazine. However, the editor-in-chief hoped that he could reshape the character of "Hua Di" to make him more alert to the world and have educational significance.

In other words, the measure of Yu Tangent was not enough, and Huadi's experience at the end of his life was not tragic enough.

It’s not tragic enough. What if someone learns it?
Some people always think that pretending to be cool is for a lifetime, while eating peanuts is only for a moment.

The current scale of description is probably not enough for novels. After all, the expressiveness of words is not as good as that of movies and TV, and there are no slow motion or long shots.

The standards of traditional novels used to be quite broad. For example, in Guan Moye's "Sandalwood Death", you may feel that the author seems to be ridiculously curious. In fact, Guan Moye's series of novels have such characteristics and are not suitable for teenagers to read.

When Yu Qie was a child, he was overjoyed when he saw Guan Moye's book "Feng What Fei What". He thought it was a pornographic novel, so he opened it and was greatly disappointed, but not completely disappointed.

The letter invited him to attend a literary seminar in Chengdu this summer, led by the Sichuan Writers Association. Some colleagues who read A Moment of Romance were deeply impressed by Yu Qie and hoped to discuss literary creation with him. It is reported that this seminar will also invite literary masters to teach and share with everyone, "so this should be beneficial."

The letter was written in a semi-literary style.

Yu Qie put down the letter.

In this way, his submission is already successful, it just needs to be optimized.

The attitude of "Hongyan" magazine was very good. They first calmed Yu Qie's mind before inviting him to attend the meeting. In addition, the transportation and accommodation expenses for this trip were reimbursed.

If you write a novel during this period, it will not only be published in relevant magazines first, but you will also receive certain subsidies.

This is industry practice.

With the revival of literature, in the 1980s, there were indeed some literary training courses and creative activities in various places, aimed at discovering and cultivating a new generation of literary talents and improving the level of existing writers. The central government also had some, didn’t Comrade Lin Weimin go there?

At that time, there was no shortage of magazines, but there was a shortage of high-quality articles. There was no shortage of people who could write a few words, but there was a shortage of writers with high level of competence and output.

But, who is this “literary master” in the letter?
There are a large number of influential writers in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions, who occupy an important position in the domestic literary world.

Earlier writers included the greats Li Fugan, Ma Shi Tu, Li Jieren, Sha Ting and others, who continued their creativity into the 1980s. During this period, A Lai, He Kaisi, Liu Shahe and others also emerged. At the same time, there were also many writers from other provinces who had many connections with the Sichuan and Chongqing literary circles, especially those who published works in Sichuan literary journals, such as A Cheng, Jia Pingtu and others.

Yu Qie used his connections to search all the reading rooms in the county and looked up relevant information. He only knew that this seminar had been held regularly every year since 81, but there was no information about the speakers.

Apart from that, nothing was gained.

But I need this payment!
The royalties paid by Red Rock to authors are higher than those of other publications, ranging from five to ten yuan per thousand words. Yu Qi could get five to six hundred yuan for the full text of A Moment of Romance. If he wins an award or is reprinted, the amount will be calculated separately.

At the end of August, Yu Qie was going to report to Yenching University. Although there was no tuition fee for going to university at that time and other expenses were extremely low, he had to get published as soon as possible. After all, he had to carry a huge sum of money with him before he could go to Beijing with peace of mind.

So, Yu Qie finished writing College Entrance Examination 1977 and asked Yu Yuejin to find an opportunity to send it to Wanxian Daily. While replying to a letter about attending the seminar, he packed up his things, big and small, and took away everything worth keeping.

He was going to pay homage to the writers of Sichuan Province.

After that, he would change his route and take a train directly from Chengdu to Beijing, which meant that he would leave home now and would not come back for a short time.

His younger sister Yu Xian was reluctant to let him go, and agreed to meet at Weiming Lake in Yan University the year after next.

"I will also be admitted to Yanda University!"

His father Yu Yuejin hurriedly finished class and ran back to help him clean up.

"Where's the quilt?"

"The school wants to send it."

"You don't want the book anymore?"

“I’ll buy it when we get there.”

"How can you spend money like this? You can't just give up your manuscript?"

"Of course this is to be taken away."

"Grab a handful of broad beans and eat them on the way!" Yu Yuejin stuffed him a handful of broad beans and about a hundred yuan, which at that time was enough to sustain a college student's expenses for most of the year.

Since Wanxian’s railway station was not opened until the 1990s, there are currently only two modes of transportation: car and ship/train. The latter is cheaper and provides a better riding experience.

The next afternoon, Yu Qie arrived at the port, said goodbye to his family, boarded the river ship, and waved on the deck. He had no homesickness in his mind, but was thinking about something else. The night before, his father Yu Yuejin told him:

Yu Qie, do you want a wife or not?

You actually have a wife.

The girl was born in 65, a native of Chengdu. Her parents are said to work in government departments and their surname is Zhang.

The child marriage can be traced back to Yu Qie’s step-uncle.

After the end of the Korean War, Uncle Yu was transferred to Chengdu. He had a bright future at that time. Although he was old, matchmakers kept knocking on his door.

After Uncle Yu found a partner and their relationship became stable, his child, who was still unborn, also found a home. He and his colleagues agreed that if the children born from the two families were of the same sex, they would be brothers and sisters. If not, they would get engaged when they grew up.

Unfortunately, this cheap uncle who finally made it into the city had no time to enjoy his life. He met old man Marx before he had the chance to get married.

Yu Qie had already been born at that time, so the marriage fell to Yu Qie, the only male in the Yu family. Eighteen years later, they hoped that the two children would continue the friendship of the previous generation and renew their previous relationship.

Of course, it’s just a saying. It’s been so many years, how can we make a conclusion about it?

The emperor is gone, so of course his bloodline has become thin.

Yu Yuejin commented, "I am a stinking old ninth who teaches. I have long lost contact with people. If you hadn't gone to Chengdu this time, I would have forgotten this matter too."

"But since you've gone, I'll tell you that you were destined to be together."

Yu's father appears to be very relaxed, but in reality he is not.

Of course they were not worthy of each other before, but now my child has been admitted to Yanda University. Yanda University in this era means infinite possibilities, so how can they not be worthy of each other?

Even if there is no destiny, I can still breathe a sigh of relief and tell others that I didn't give up because I couldn't reach her. I have my own golden house and my own beautiful wife in the books.

However, very little information is available now.

All I know is that he is from Chengdu, two years younger than me, and is now eighteen years old.

It’s almost time for you to go to college this year. You won’t be an ugly guy, right?

If you are not good-looking, it is better not to see you.

Yu Qi shook his head to drive away the bad thoughts in his mind.

Instead of heading east along the Three Gorges route, the ship headed west. The ship was indeed safe. Yu Qie lay on the bed, thinking about this matter in his mind, occasionally looking at the river view, and soon fell asleep.

After waking up, I found that someone on the boat had brought a book, which was A Dream of Red Mansions. I borrowed it and read it, but didn't finish it. I have lived two lifetimes, but I can't finish reading it.

He read three of the four great classics, but picked up Dream of the Red Chamber several times and put it down several times. It's not that it's bad, but it's so well written that it makes people feel uncomfortable.

It takes one day and one night to reach the main city, and then take a train to Chengdu, which takes two days.

"We've arrived at Rongcheng Station!!"

The conductor walked quickly along the sleeper car and shouted:

"Passengers going to Chengdu, please get off the train!"

Yu Qi climbed up from the bed, and the first thing he did was to look for the hundred yuan in his pocket...it was not lost.

Next, it was my own luggage.

As I was opening the blue nylon woven bag, someone suddenly shouted diagonally across from me, "My money is gone!"

The shout was like a marching call, and everyone on the berth began to check their luggage.

Some unlucky people shouted that they had lost something and cried out:

"Mom, who stole my stuff!!!"

"Comrade flight attendant..."

Yu Qie's hands trembled for a moment, and he slowly untied the knot. In his luggage, there were essays and beautiful sentences he had written not long after he came here. These words could be worthless or worth a fortune.

The edge of the manuscript paper filled with words gradually appeared in my sight.

Apparently, the thief didn't notice it or thought it was not valuable.

Yu Qi breathed a sigh of relief and picked up his bag.

The journey to Chengdu was uneventful.

(End of this chapter)