Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 61 The Unevenness of Life! (Please continue reading)

Yenching University Library is located in the very center of the university. To its south is the main dining hall, which later became the Yenching University Centennial Memorial Hall. Walking north from the library leads to Weiming Lake.

In a cool corridor leading to Weiming Lake, Cui Daoyi waited for Liu Yimin. The pillars of the corridor were entwined with emerald green euonymus vines.

Cui Daoyi sat to the side and began to read Liu Yimin's draft attentively. He had already written about 20,000 words.

The current plot involves Lao Xue being caught in a sandstorm, and Xiao Ba bravely coming to his rescue. The dog first dug out Lao Xue's head and one arm, and then Lao Xue and the dog worked together to dig themselves out from under the sand.

If a dog were to dig a person out of the ground, that would be too surreal.

After Lao Xue was freed, the dog lay motionless on the ground, exhausted. Lao Xue initially thought the dog had died from exhaustion while saving him.

"Yimin, I have a question. In the first 20,000 words of the story, most of the focus is on the daily interactions between people and dogs, but there is very little writing about the dog protecting the forest and Lao Xue fighting against illegal loggers. First, there are only a few lines describing the existence of this phenomenon, and then there is only one scene of fighting against illegal loggers. Did you arrange this on purpose?"

After reading it, Cui Daoyi couldn't help but frown and ask a question. In his impression, most writers would focus on the plot of fighting against criminals to highlight the heroism of the protagonist. This was especially evident in the works of the Seventeen Years of Literature.

The "Seventeen Years of Literature" refers to a literary period between 49 and 66. Whether the works of famous or ordinary writers, they all contained a strong revolutionary spirit, and political nature was the main characteristic of literature during this period.

Liu Yimin's handling of the situation greatly surprised Cui Daoyi, who couldn't help but ask him the reason after reading it.

"Senior brother, the central theme of this novel is the harmonious coexistence between humans and dogs, touching the reader's heart through everyday moments. It's primarily about warmth rather than conflict. If there's too much depiction of conflict, it's easy to lose focus and make the main point overshadow the main theme. Besides, Lao Xue's daily life involves protecting the forest and planting trees; his heroic side isn't only shown by fighting criminals."

Glory lies in the ordinary, hardship lies in the long journey! To come alone to the edge of the desert, to work day after day for over a decade, enduring loneliness and storms—is this not enough to demonstrate his heroism?

After Liu Yimin finished speaking, the phrase "Glory lies in the ordinary, hardship lies in the long journey!" kept echoing in Cui Daoyi's mind. After pondering for a while, he seemed to wake from a dream and smiled at Liu Yimin, saying:

“What you said makes sense. Now that you mention it, I think your approach is extremely clever. There are too many stories about illegal logging, which does seem to overshadow the main point.”

As one of the four most famous editors in Beijing, Cui Daoyi was very accurate in judging manuscripts, and it was rare for him to be refuted by authors and still find his arguments reasonable.

"What is extremely brilliant? What is glorious and mundane? Let me see!" A sudden voice rang in their ears, carrying five parts sternness, three parts disdain, and two parts curiosity. In that instant, the manuscript was snatched away.

Cui Daoyi was about to unleash a torrent of curses when he saw the person who had arrived. He put on a smiling face, lowered his head, and said meekly, "Teacher, what brings you here?"

The man who came was an old man, a short old man, only about 1.6 meters tall, though he might have been 1.65 meters tall when he was younger. He had gray hair, wore glasses, and looked at the man very intently.

After looking at him for about half an hour, the old man looked up at Liu Yimin and asked, "Your name is Liu Yimin?"

Liu Yimin nodded. Although he didn't recognize the old man, judging from Cui Daoyi's attitude, he must be a Chinese literature professor, and a rather eccentric one at that. Having spent a long time in the Chinese literature department, Liu Yimin had seen all sorts of professors and was used to it.

"Not bad! No wonder Xiao Yan calls you the 'treasure tree' of the Chinese Literature Department, you're quite interesting." With that, the old man casually walked away from the veranda, hands behind his back, showing no intention of continuing the conversation. Hmm? Xiao Yan? Yan Jiayan?

"Don't recognize him, do you? He's the former head of the Chinese Department, and the longest-serving head of the department at Yenching University." Fearing Liu Yimin wouldn't understand the former head's importance, Cui Daoyi continued, "You know about the burning of Zhao's House during the May Fourth Movement, right?"

Liu Yimin, of course, knew that after the failure of the Paris Peace Conference, angry students stormed into the home of Cao Rulin, the traitor in Zhao Jialou Alley, on May Fourth, and brutally beat Zhang Zongxiang. Unable to find the escaped Cao Rulin, the students set his house on fire.

"Did he burn it?" Liu Yimin couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, he's the one who burned it. He's our old director, Yang Hui!"

The Chinese Literature Department is truly full of hidden talents; even an ordinary-looking old man turned out to be a hidden master.
“These are letters from readers of ‘College Entrance Examination 1977,’ the best ones I could find. This one doesn’t have a stamp; a girl from Xidan gave it to me directly at the editorial office entrance the day I met Mr. Ai Qing. She’s quite pretty, but…” Cui Daoyi paused at the end, not finishing his sentence.

"What's wrong?"

"She's quite pretty, but she has some eye problems!"

Liu Yimin took the letter and glanced at it. It read "Zhu Lin, Medical Student, National Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine." He hadn't replied to the reader's letter Cui Daoyi had given him last time; it was still sitting at the bottom of his drawer at home!

"I think this letter is well written. Please reply to it when you have time, and publish it in People's Literature and Art. There will be payment for the article!"

"it is good!"

"The last thing for today is that a colleague from China Youth Daily contacted me and said they wanted to commission an article from you. They should be here in a bit." Cui Daoyi originally wanted to say that Liu Yimin was too busy to write an article, but the other party said that Liu Yimin had already written this article and that it wouldn't take any time; it just needed some polishing. This made him very curious. What kind of article was it?
Liu Zhenyun, Li Xueqin, and Chen Dazhi came out of the library and saw Liu Yimin. They walked over to greet him, and their eyes kept falling on Cui Daoyi.

Liu Yimin took the initiative to introduce: "This is our senior from the Chinese Department, Cui Daoyi, who is now the deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature. Senior, these are my three roommates, all of whom are promising writers. This is my fellow townsman, who is very passionate about literature."

"Hello, my three junior brothers. You can submit your manuscripts to me directly in the future. Even if they are rejected, I will give you suggestions for revision. After all, we are all Chinese literature majors."

Liu Zhenyun and his two companions shook hands with Cui Daoyi excitedly. Cui Daoyi was the deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature and Art. Any student at Yenching University who wanted to submit a paper to him would know him. He was one of the four great editors and also a senior student. It would be extremely beneficial to get some guidance from him.

After shaking hands, the three of them looked at Liu Yimin gratefully. He was so kind to them!
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the three of them left the veranda with their satchels on their backs. Ever since Mr. Yan Jiayan assigned the homework of "Mr. Donkey", Liu Yimin had isolated the three of them, and the three of them spent every day together researching and writing book reviews.

After walking a dozen steps, the three of them turned back in unison, looking at Liu Yimin with envy. While they were still struggling to get their manuscripts approved, Liu Yimin was already chatting and laughing with the deputy editor-in-chief! They couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder when they would ever be able to reach his level.
"The vicissitudes of life!" Li Xueqin shook his head.

After a long pause, Liu Zhenyun said helplessly, "Why do I feel like we're not even in the same Chinese literature department?"

"Damn it, did our school set up this Chinese department just for him?!" Chen Dazhi wailed.
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(End of this chapter)