Entertainment Era: My Good Sister Is All Over the World

All of that is gone forever... The people are singing their hearts out. Their songs are more numerous than the stars in the sky, and more mellow than the mead brewed on the grasslands.

—Wang Meng, "The God of Songs" (1979)

……

"Could I take a look at this manuscript?"

A woman in her thirties with tousled hair and wearing a plaid shirt stared at Huang Wenbin without blinking.

Huang Wenbin didn't recognize her, so he could only look at Liang Xiaosheng.

"This is Li Xiaolin, the editor of 'Harvest,' and the daughter of the late Ba Jin," Liang Xiaosheng introduced softly.

Huang Wenbin stood up and quickly greeted them, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. There's no place here to serve you tea."

"It's nothing." Li Xiaolin's eyes looked at the manuscript paper on the table.

Huang Wenbin picked up the manuscript paper and slowly handed it over: "Then please have Editor Li review the manuscript for me."

Li Xiaolin took the manuscript paper, gave Huang Wenbin an apologetic smile, then walked to the corridor, found a quiet corner, and began to read it carefully.

The other two people also walked behind Li Xiaolin and watched together.

"How could you write this... this novel?" Liang Xiaosheng looked at Huang Wenbin with some confusion.

The mainstream of literature today is "scar literature," which mainly reflects the tragic experiences of the times.

It originated from Liu Xinwu's short story "The Class Teacher" published in People's Literature in 1977, and was named after Lu Xinhua's short story "The Wound" published in Wenhui Daily in 1978.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, "scar literature" was the absolute mainstream, giving rise to many influential works.

Similarly, there were many pseudo-scar literature works written to follow the trend, "scars for the sake of scars," which led to considerable controversy surrounding this literary school in later generations, and it was quickly replaced by reflective literature and reform literature.

Novels from this era were quite immature in their techniques, or even nonexistent.

It is a simple and straightforward description, and the content is relatively simple and lacking.

Huang Wenbin's "Bloody Romance," published last year, had already generated a great deal of discussion within People's Literature and was heavily criticized by many researchers in the field after its publication.

The final decision was to give it a cold shoulder; there would be no further promotion or discussion of the novel, and it would not be published for the time being.

Actually, we just need to see the wind direction first.

This revised version of "Going Out into the World at Eighteen" is even more unique, directly bringing in magical realism.

Liang Xiaosheng is also a literary creator, so he was well aware of the uproar this novel would cause after it was published.

While most mainstream writers in the literary world are still immersed in the "scar literature," you actually wrote this kind of "obscure poetry" novel, which is simply outrageous.

Moreover, it comes from a foreign literary school, so its stance might be questioned.

However, Huang Wenbin was not afraid.

All he wants is fame!

Become famous as soon as possible!

Moreover, he was more aware of future trends than people of this generation, and he also knew the old man's desire to break free from constraints and stride forward.

This strong signal will be sent after the National Congress of Literary and Art Workers, and by the mid-1980s, countless masterpieces that can be called literary works will be produced.

By then, his magical realism novel was nothing compared to the great work.

Therefore, he needs to seize the high ground as soon as possible.

If we were to compile a history of literature in the future, we would definitely need to mention him.

"I just wanted to write, so I did!" Huang Wenbin smiled casually.

Looking at Huang Wenbin's smile, Liang Xiaosheng sensed a hint of inexplicable arrogance and fearlessness, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly: He's right, if a writer doesn't even have this much determination, then he shouldn't write any books.

Then, he thought of the novel about educated youth that he had always wanted to write, and a rare surge of courage welled up in his heart!

Perhaps now is the time to create it!

Liang Xiaosheng clenched his fists involuntarily.

"What's wrong with you?" Huang Wenbin asked, somewhat puzzled by Liang Xiaosheng's greatly encouraged expression.

Liang Xiaosheng immediately lost his composure and awkwardly said, "It's nothing."

"What are they here for?" Huang Wenbin gestured with his eyes to the three people on Li Xiaolin's side.

Liang Xiaosheng then came to his senses and slapped his forehead: "I forgot to introduce them to you."

"I already spoke to Ms. Li Xiaolin about that earlier."

He pointed at Li Xiaolin, then pointed to a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit next to him, "This is Chen Sang, the editor-in-chief of the Huacheng magazine. Huacheng was just launched this April, and he came to ask you to contribute an article."

"They want to commission an article from me?" Huang Wenbin was taken aback and said somewhat strangely, "Isn't the *Huacheng* magazine based in Guangdong Province? How would they know me?"

Liang Xiaosheng was amused by Huang Wenbin's words and said, "You haven't forgotten about serializing your martial arts novel in Foshan Literature and Art, have you?"

Huang Wenbin was stunned: "I used a pseudonym, how did he know!"

"Editors share information with each other," Liang Xiaosheng explained to him. "There are only a few writers who can produce good works. If a good work or a novel suddenly becomes a hit, they will definitely ask each other about it. Since they are all from Guangdong Province, they can naturally find out."

Huang Wenbin was speechless. If that's the case, then why should I use a pen name?

"A pen name is for the readers." Liang Xiaosheng guessed Huang Wenbin's thoughts. "Even if the editor knows your pen name and real identity, they won't reveal it casually."

Huang Wenbin didn't care that much. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have chosen a more domineering pen name, such as "Tianxia Bachang" or "Cangtian Bazhu", or something like "Add Three Spoons of Sugar" or "Kuang Kuang Kuang Kuang Kuang".

Young Ah Bin was a name he gave himself as a prank.

Liang Xiaosheng pointed to the younger man and said, "This is Zhu Wei, a literary trainee editor at People's Literature. He's also here to commission a manuscript from you."

"Oh, I know this editor." Huang Wenbin nodded. "He was the one who replied to my letter when I first submitted a manuscript to People's Literature. We just never met."

Soon, the three editors finished reading the more than 10,000-word book, "Leaving Home at Eighteen."

The three of them exchanged a glance, then remained silent.

Zhu Wei was completely stunned. He never knew that novels could be written like this, with profound artistic conception and a lingering aftertaste.

Chen Sang was aware of this literary school, but he had only read a few translated novels and had not studied them in depth.

He never expected that a young man like Huang Wenbin, who was not even twenty years old, would have such a profound understanding of this school of thought, and that his first work would be a masterpiece.

"Could we submit this novel to our Harvest Publishing?" Li Xiaolin, being the daughter of the late Ba Jin, made a decision immediately after a brief consideration.

Neither Chen Sang nor Zhu Wei, who were standing nearby, spoke up to compete for it.

They did come to commission an article, but they really didn't dare to accept this one; it was far too ahead of its time.

Even if we accept it, we'll have to hold a big meeting to discuss it when we get back, and we might not even be able to reach a conclusion then.

Only Li Xiaolin dares to accept these kinds of manuscripts; after all, she's Ba Jin's daughter.

Huang Wenbin nodded: "Of course, I also read 'Harvest' often and have long admired Mr. Ba Jin, but I have never had the chance to meet him."

"Perfect, then come with me to meet him." Li Xiaolin suddenly smiled and said to Huang Wenbin, "Actually, my dad has been paying attention to you for a while and has been wanting to have a talk with you."

"what?"

Huang Wenbin looked at Li Xiaolin with some disbelief: "How would Mr. Ba Jin know about me?"

"Don't you know how famous you are now?" Li Xiaolin said, somewhat surprised.

Huang Wenbin shook his head. He had only published a few decent novels, and the movies he was involved in were not even released yet. How could he have any fame?

"It was your essay 'Bloody Romance' that caught my father's attention."

Li Xiaolin casually explained, "He read it last year and liked it very much. At the time, critics felt that your novel was somewhat unconventional, and they even held a special seminar to criticize you as a typical example."

My father spoke up for you. He felt that the literary world should encourage this kind of innovation, and even said that if the literary circles in Yenching didn't dare to publish it, then it should be published in *Harvest*. However, in the end, it still couldn't beat *People's Literature*.

"Is that so?" Huang Wenbin really didn't know about this, and no one had told him about it.

At the time, People's Literature magazine did indeed review the manuscript for quite a long time, and at one point he thought it was going to be rejected.

Huang Wenbin solemnly said to Li Xiaolin, "Then thank you very much, Mr. Ba!"

Li Xiaolin invited, "My dad is staying at the Yanjing Hotel. Let's go there now and have him take a look at this manuscript for you!"

"Now?" Huang Wenbin was really not mentally prepared.

"My dad came here to attend the literary and art congress, so he doesn't have much free time," Li Xiaolin explained softly. "The meeting just ended today, and he happens to have some free time. After today, his schedule is already full, and we'll go back to Shanghai after the meeting."

Huang Wenbin nodded and said, "Okay, I'll change my clothes first."

He was dressed quite casually, wearing a white tank top and shorts.

Soon, after changing his clothes, Huang Wenbin followed Li Xiaolin to see Ba ​​Jin.

Liang Xiaosheng stubbornly followed, and the other two editors naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity either.

Before long, news spread from the Beijing Film Studio that Ba Jin was going to meet with young people from the literary and artistic circles at the Yanjing Hotel, and countless people inside and outside the studio immediately wanted to see the old man Ba ​​Jin in person.

Fortunately, factory director Wang Yang reacted quickly and stepped in to dismiss these people.

However, he himself naturally joined the group that went to see Mr. Buffett.

Despite being the director of the Beijing Film Studio, it wasn't easy for him to meet with Ba Jin. This time, he only got the chance because of Huang Wenbin.