Training the Heavens

Chapter 88: Submit Internal Reference Again
In the future, there will be four major awards in the domestic literary world: the Mao Dun Literature Award, the Lu Xun Literature Award, the Lao She Literature Award, and the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award. Now only the Mao Dun Literature Award has been established, which is awarded every four years. It was just awarded in 84. Gao Jialin will have to wait two years to win the award.

There are now rumors that the Lu Xun Literary Award is being planned and will be announced next year, but the first award was not presented until 97.

The Lao She Literature Award and the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award have not yet been organized, so Gao Jialin can only compete for a few awards. Among those that he can get immediately, the People's Literature Award is the most important one.

This award, like the Lu Xun Literary Award, is also in the preparation stage. Because it is backed by the People's Literature Publishing House, the preparation of the People's Literature Award is much smoother than that of the Lu Xun Literary Award. The first list of winners will be announced in 1986.

It is already December, and 1986 is almost here. This means that the award will be officially presented in a few months, and we won't have to wait as long as for the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

When it comes to a writer's achievements and status, the first thing to look at is naturally his works. If your works are well written, your status will naturally be high. The second thing to look at is what awards he has won. The higher the level of the award, the higher the status.

When Gao Jialin published his first book, he was just a promising young writer. However, if he could win the People's Literature Prize, his status would immediately rise several levels and he would become a nationally renowned writer, so he must be happy to hear the news.

The editor-in-chief was also delighted. "Our Mengya magazine has been around for quite some time, but unfortunately, we've never won any major awards. Two years ago, Peng Jianming's 'That Mountain, That Man, That Dog' won the National Excellent Short Story Award, which gave us several celebrations. Your winning this time is even more reason to celebrate."

It is understandable that "Mengya" has won few awards. After all, it is a magazine that mainly publishes works by young authors, and there is definitely a certain gap between young authors and senior authors in writing level.

And those famous authors often prefer to submit their works to the four major magazines, "Harvest", "Huacheng", "Dangdai" and "October". How can they win awards if they can't get high-quality manuscripts?

"I'm just a nominee now, and I haven't won the award yet. Compared with those great writers, my writing is still a bit immature." Gao Jialin said modestly. This cannot be celebrated in advance, otherwise it will be as embarrassing as Vinicius.

"The People's Literature Award has been prepared for a long time, and the shortlist may have been decided long ago. If they don't plan to give you the award, why would they add you in at the last minute? Besides, your work is indeed outstanding. If I were a judge, I would definitely vote for you." The editor-in-chief is more confident than Gao Jialin.

In terms of literary value, "Spring Breeze in Plum Blossom Town" was already very high, and coupled with the meaning expressed in the book, now that Hong Kong's return has just been confirmed, which judge would dare not give an award to such a work?
The editor-in-chief had also heard some rumors. Where did all the recent recommendations and analyses in the newspapers come from? It was said that a senior leader had recommended it. If the senior leader had given the order, how could the reviewers stop it?

"Our editorial department will also help you. We'll contact the people we need to get in touch with and organize a literary gathering to build momentum for you. This time, we have to win this award! Furthermore, this isn't just about us at Mengya. If you win, it will be a glory for the entire Shanghai literary community. The Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles will certainly be busy too, so rest assured."

When it comes to selecting any award, you can’t just wait for the results. You still have to prepare. The harder you work, the greater your chances of winning.

The editor-in-chief was not as capable as Weinstein, but he was not there to sit around and do nothing. He quickly got busy. With someone to take care of things for him, Gao Jialin didn't have to work too hard. While preparing for the final exams, he just appeared in some public occasions as arranged by the editor-in-chief, gave speeches, and talked about his creative experiences.

Everything went smoothly on the final exams. Having inherited the knowledge of a PhD from a top university, Gao Jialin's brain was working much better. After so much time writing, he'd developed the skills he needed. Facing the Chinese Department exams was no problem at all, easily earning high scores. Even with such a long leave, he was still top of the class. After the last exam, his roommates couldn't wait to go home. Gao Jialin, however, didn't rush to leave. The furniture factory's holiday was a little later, and he had to get his salary paid before he could leave.

It would be a waste if he did nothing during this period, so Gao Jialin imitated his experience of going to Guangdong during the summer vacation and wandered around Shanghai, conducting some research on the current development status of Shanghai's private economy.

During the day, I would go around with the insiders I found through connections, talk to self-employed individuals and factory managers, and find out how their business was going, what troubles they had in doing business, and what were the most pressing issues that needed to be resolved.

I returned to the villa in the evening, sorted out the information, and then conducted a detailed and in-depth analysis of these phenomena based on the current situation and future development, and proposed solutions to some minor problems in an exploratory tone.

Gao Jialin said these words in a more tactful way, using phrases such as "Is this possible?" or "How did Hong Kong solve these problems?", which made it easier for the leaders to accept.

After accumulating enough materials, Gao Jialin selected some representative cases, wrote them into articles according to the above routine, and sent them to Zhang Lifeng by express mail.

A few days later, Zhang Lifeng called. "This article isn't as broad-minded as the last one, but it's more practical and in-depth. I can see you've made progress. Just like last time, I've also submitted this article for internal reference."

"They were very satisfied with it and decided to publish it in the last internal reference magazine. They also asked me to tell you that next time you have a similar manuscript, you don't need me to help forward it. You can submit it yourself. They will send you the submission address and submission requirements later. Please check it."

"By the way, I heard you were nominated for the People's Literature Award? You'll probably come to Beijing to receive the award. Buy your tickets and give me a call. I'll pick you up at the train station."

"Thank you, Teacher Zhang. I will treat you to a meal when we arrive in Beijing." Gao Jialin said sincerely.

"Now that you're in Beijing, I should be the one treating you. I'll take you to eat Peking duck."

Before returning home, Gao Jialin received the letter. The submission address was Xinhua News Agency, which was normal. It has always been their responsibility to produce internal reference materials. Reference News was produced by Xinhua News Agency. Now that Reference News has been made public, there must be other internal reference magazines that have not been fully made public.

Gao Jialin submitted the manuscript to them, and then they decided which magazine to publish it in.

I can say that I can hear it directly from heaven. Gao Jialin put the envelope with satisfaction, took a bunch of gifts, and set off on the journey back home with Gao Jiawang.

(End of this chapter)