1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 114 Tang Monk Meat

The fans of Harvest magazine are actually in Shanghai.

Here's a little story: Taiwanese writer Li Ao confessed that when he went to Shanghai to study, he was bullied because he couldn't keep up with English and couldn't understand Shanghainese. So he was given a demerit for using a knife at school.

Wang Anyi also said that Shanghai rejected her as an outsider and did not give her a very good impression.

The people here seem to have always been somewhat xenophobic, and of course they are also more enthusiastic about local magazines.

Moreover, when organizing various literary competitions, such as Harvest and Shanghai Literature, they tend to favor people from the local literary circle.

So in the past two weeks, Harvest magazine has achieved remarkable results in Shanghai alone, selling more than 300,000 copies. With the national sales, it has reached 600,000 copies, which is an astonishing figure for Harvest magazine.

Undoubtedly, this is due to the influence of Harvest magazine itself, coupled with Zhou Xu's existing fan base, which led to the explosive growth in Harvest's sales this time.

In addition, the editorial department has received more and more letters from readers, reaching three to five hundred in just half a month.

Generally, opening and replying to letters is the responsibility of junior editors or new editors, but Li Xiaolin was particularly concerned about the results of "The Boy in Striped Pajamas," so she opened the letters herself.

First, some letters were from children, some in elementary school and some in middle school; they weren't very old.
"I finished reading this novel on my teacher's recommendation, and I want to ask my teacher, are Zhang Xiaoga and Sato really dead?!"

"This novel is really strange. What does the striped pajamas represent? Why can't the boy leave the fence at will? Where does the tension between the adults come from? I don't understand at all!"

Older children might ask, "Just because Zhang Xiaoga's father was a farmer and Sato's father was a military officer, did Zhang Xiaoga get locked up? That's so unfair!"

"..."

The adults' comments were much more straightforward: "If it weren't for Comrade Zhou Xu, I wouldn't even have known that the Japanese had committed such heinous acts in our Northeast!"

"Militaryism is shameful! Of course, after reading the novel, I also recommended it to my child. It doesn't have any bloody scenes, making it very suitable for children to learn from!"

"Zhang Xiaoga is still a simple and kind child. He is really pitiful. It reminds me of my own son."

Because the original film focused primarily on the male protagonist, who was also the officer's son, people felt more sorry for his death. This could be considered a kind of irony or a flaw in the film.
Zhou Xu made some changes to the original film, weakening the original subject's attributes and focusing more on the pitiful state of the persecuted Chinese children.

There was also a particularly long letter.

"The novel 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' is not just a book about describing the suffering in China. I feel that its analysis of war and its interpretation of human nature are very objective."

For example, the text presents the novel from the perspective of Sato, a Japanese child, and the protagonist's occasional selfishness and willfulness are entirely reasonable. As for Zhang Xiaoga, he is not only simple and kind, but he also gets angry and has his own emotions; it's just that he can't release these suppressed emotions from a young age…

In terms of the depth of films about the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhou Xu's "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" is undoubtedly one of the best domestic films of recent times...

Li Xiaolin was sorting through the manuscripts, which were piled up one after another, making her scalp tingle. However, Li Xiaolin was quite happy that the reviews for "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" were pretty good.

"Guo Zhuo? When I opened these letters, I saw quite a few positive reviews! What about you?"

Guo Zhuo suddenly looked up. He felt he hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, not because he had done anything wrong. Guo Zhuo yawned.

"That's right! Yesterday, a factory in Harbin even called to subscribe to 1,000 copies! They're quite generous! The military's subscription volume this time is also the largest, with the Jinan Military Region and the Shenyang Military Region subscribing the most, totaling 150,000 copies."

He has recently been mainly responsible for arranging the magazine's sales and distribution, and coordinating with the publishing house, so he often has trouble sleeping.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaolin smiled and said, "That's not bad."

Guo Zhuo buried his head, wanting to sleep, but he was still extremely excited. He continued, "Xiao Lin, you have to seize this opportunity and hold onto Comrade Zhou Xu, this cash cow! I feel that if we publish a few more similar works, we'll all become famous."

Li Xiaolin nodded in agreement.

Zhou Xu has written a total of four novels, except for his first novel, "Changjin Lake," which was his debut work and did not have a huge impact.

Whether it's "Garland Under the Mountain," "Lurking," or now "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," all of these works have achieved sales breakthroughs and garnered widespread social attention. If it only happens once or twice, is it just good luck?
But three consecutive hit works? Is that just good luck?
This demonstrates that Zhou Xu not only has a clear understanding of market trends, but also that all his writings are of high quality.

His popularity in the literary world is growing daily. If he hadn't failed to win an award, Li Xiaolin believes Zhou Xu could have achieved even greater success.
"But we might not be able to keep track of writers like that..."

Guo Zhuo patted Li Xiaolin on the shoulder and said with a smile, "People's Literature offended him! Now, besides People's Literature, what other magazine in China can rival our Harvest?"

"..." Li Xiaolin asked, "What did you offend?"

Guo Zhuo recounted the gossip he had heard, and Li Xiaolin nodded: "No wonder! 'Lurking' is indeed a bit cliché, but Cui Daoyi and his team commissioned a manuscript and then rejected it, which is really annoying!!"

However, I feel that "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" has indeed become much more profound. Without competition, we really need to seize this opportunity.

"..."

It's on the same floor.

Different editorial departments.

The commotion at Shanghai Literature was pitifully small. Zhang Jun, a veteran editor of Shanghai Literature since its inception, watched the extraordinary excitement at Harvest these past few days.

He said sourly, "They were really lucky this time." Ru Zhijuan picked up the manuscript of the novel in Harvest magazine and sighed, "This novel is indeed well-written, and there's a reason it's so popular. An Yi, what do you think?"

Wang Anyi looked up and said, "Hmm...it's an excellent novel about the War of Resistance against Japan."

Wang Anyi's literary career didn't begin until the mid-to-late 1980s; she is still just a children's literature writer who writes children's fairy tales.

“You should learn from them. You used to be in a performing arts troupe too. Look at them, they were also in a performing arts troupe! How come there’s such a big difference?” Ru Zhijuan couldn’t help but shake her head.

Wang Anyi pouted and said, "I understand."

Even when she's twenty-four or twenty-five, she still has to listen to her parents talk about other people's children...

……

A few more days passed.

Zhou Xu, who was in the Wuhan Military Region, finally received a letter from the editorial department of "Harvest" magazine, along with his royalties. Li Xiaolin's letter included praise for Zhou Xu's new work and also mentioned the novel's recent popularity.

Because the royalties were reformed in May of this year.

It's already July, so the payment will naturally be based on the new standard.

Zhou Xu received a total of 1180 yuan in royalties.

This is the largest royalty payment Zhou Xu has ever received.

Zhou Xu has saved almost two thousand yuan, but the most painful thing is that he can't use the money and can only anxiously hold onto it!
After he left the dormitory and arrived at the office, the political commissar said to him, "You will still be in charge of leading the team to visit and comfort people at the grassroots level this time!"

"Where to go?"

"Go to Xiaogan." The political commissar handed him the documents, arranged the work, and left.

Zhou Xu didn't seem to have any particular emotions. After all, being assigned to lead a team to visit and comfort people at the grassroots level was a way to enhance his resume as a leader, rather than just a writer going to a military academy for further study.

Before we knew it, the day to visit them arrived. In the morning, Leader Zhou got up, changed his clothes, and gathered the comrades from the song and dance troupe at the entrance.

"Ahem, this time I'm leading the team to Xiaogan for a performance to show our appreciation to the locals. Please take good care of us! Everyone, get on the bus." Zhou Xu waved his hand.

Xiaogan is just north of Wuhan, so you can get there by car.

Zhou Xu followed a group of people and got on the bus last.

Xiong Jiayuan asked, "Is it really you leading the team? It used to be always..."

Lei Yuansheng said, "Comrade Zhou Xu will soon be promoted to our new squad leader."

"Oh~" Xiong Jiayuan followed up with a meaningful reply.

The origin of Xiaogan's name is actually quite simple. It comes from Dong Yong, a filial son from the Eastern Han Dynasty who sold himself into servitude to bury his father, a story of filial piety that moved Heaven. Of course, this Dong Yong is the same Dong Yong who famously seduced the Seven Fairy Maidens.

It takes about half a day to get there by car.

On the bus, the group members idly flipped through novels or chatted with each other.

Lei Yuansheng glanced around and said, "They're all reading your novels."

Huang Xiaorui said, "Comrade Zhou Xu's novel is excellent! Besides... this was arranged by the military region."

"..."

Soon they arrived at the military region troops in Xiaogan.

Zhou Xu stepped forward and shook hands with the officer in charge of the troops: "Hello, we are the performance team from the Shengli Cultural Troupe..."

"Who are you?" The officer asked, somewhat puzzled by the young man before him.

Zhou Xu smiled and said, "I am Zhou Xu, the leader of the Shengli Art Troupe this time!"

"It's Team Leader Zhou! Sorry to keep you waiting. The regiment sent out a notice yesterday saying you would arrive today. I'm Officer Li, who's in charge of liaison, and I'm here specifically to wait for you."

Zhou Xu then handed over the pre-prepared list of performers and program: "Thank you for your hard work, Officer Li. This is our roster and program schedule for this event. Please take a look and let me know if there are any adjustments needed."

Officer Li took the form, glanced at it quickly, and pointed to the barracks not far away: "The procedures are all right, and the soldiers have been waiting for a long time. The stage was set up yesterday, over there on the parade ground. Would you like to go and check out the venue first? The room for storing the sound equipment and props is also ready."

Zhou Xu nodded: "That's great, we were just about to tune our instruments. Also, I wanted to confirm with you if the soldiers have any particular songs they'd like to hear? We can add them to the encore program."

"They've only heard others talk about 'The Song of a Strong Army' and 'When That Day Comes,' but they've never actually heard them perform... so they all want to see your troupe perform them!"

(End of this chapter)