1980 My literary era

Early that morning, Lin Weimin rode his motorcycle to work. As soon as he entered the Chinese Literature Society, he felt the strange looks and whispers from the people around him.

After entering the back building, I came to the editorial office. When I entered the door, I saw several colleagues gathered around me.

"Really donated?"

"Good guy, it's 100,000 yuan! How many lifetimes will this take?"

…

Lin Weimin walked closer and asked, "What are you doing?"

Everyone turned to look over, their faces full of shock and... gossip.

Liu Yin held up a newspaper in her hand, "For the people, did you really donate?"

After Liu Yin asked this question, others looked at Lin Weimin expectantly.

What she was holding in her hand was today's "People's Daily". On the second page of this newspaper, there was a report about Lin Weimin's donation of 100,000 yuan to the National Association for Literary and Art Circles for the establishment of the Chinese Literature Foundation.

Lin Weimin nodded, "Donated!"

Everyone roared, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"That's 100,000 yuan. Why don't you just donate it?" Yao Shuzhi asked.

Lin Weimin joked: "Comrade Shuzhi, you are so superficial. I am donating this money for the vast number of colleagues who are in difficult circumstances."

Yao Shuzhi gave him a look, she would not believe Lin Weimin's lies.

"I'm afraid you don't want to work as an official in the Literary and Art Association, right?"

"You are judging a gentleman with a villain's heart." Lin Weimin said.

Zhu Changsheng stood by Lin Weimin, "If Weimin wants to gain a foothold in the Cultural Association, he does not need to donate money and just participate in more activities. His position in the Cultural Association will be indispensable in a few years."

"Lao Zhu still understands me."

Yao Shuzhi looked at Lin Weimin and couldn't understand why Lin Weimin was willing to donate so much money at once.

"Anyway, I won't be able to let you go."

Liu Yin joked: "So, you are not a leader!"

Everyone laughed.

On this day in late June, the news that Lin Weimin donated a huge sum of money to help the National Literary Association prepare the Chinese Literature Foundation was published in the newspapers and attracted countless attention.

After several days of fermentation, it has become a hot topic across the country. People's chats on the streets and after-dinner jokes are inseparable from this topic.

One hundred thousand yuan in 1984 was enough to keep even a high-paid senior cadre or a senior technician for several lifetimes.

In this era, people generally don't have the mentality of hating the rich. Besides, all Lin Weimin earns is royalties, which is clean and tidy.

The most common sighs people have are two.

First, as a writer, you really make money!

Second, Lin Weimin really dared to donate!

This is not ten or twenty yuan. You can just donate a hundred thousand yuan if you want. If you don’t have any courage, you won’t be able to do this to yourself.

However, people all over the country also know that Lin Weimin is also a wealthy writer among writers. They say that his novels have been published in the United States and China, and he has earned hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in royalties. It is right to donate this small amount of money. To others, it may not be a big deal.

The effect of the donation continues to spread outwards, and Lin Weimin is certainly the one who gets the most attention.

In addition, another party involved in the incident has also received attention, that is, the National Association for Literary and Art Circles.

The report also mentioned the term "Chinese Literature Foundation". As the report's influence spread, the China Literature Foundation, which was still in the initial stages of preparation, received great attention.

Outside public opinion has little impact on Lin Weimin. The only immediate impact is probably that he recently got a nickname in the club - Lin Shiwan. After being ridiculed by comrades in the club for a few days, this craze gradually died down. Go down.

Lin Weimin was reading a manuscript that day when an acquaintance came to the office.

"Hey, isn't this Master Shuo? But I haven't seen you show up for a long time!" Lin Weimin became angry when he saw him.

Wang Shuo chuckled, stretched out his hand and handed over a cigarette.

Seeing that his attitude was quite sincere, Lin Weimin took the cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and blew out the smoke ring. He didn't care about Liu Yin's disgusted look next door, and said, "What's the matter? All the money has been spent?"

Wang Shuo took out a post from his bag, and Lin Weimin became serious when he saw it, "Are you getting married?"

"Nonsense, isn't the post here?"

Lin Weimin put the post aside. I don't care whether you get married or not. Where is the manuscript?

You have to say this politely, otherwise you will easily be beaten to death.

"You've been busy with the wedding lately, so you don't have time to write a manuscript, right?"

"Isn't that right? I met a bunch of relatives. Shen Xujia's family still doesn't agree with us getting married." Wang Shuo complained.

"What should we do?"

Wang Shuo, a bachelor, said, "What can we do? Anyway, both of our certificates have been lost."

After saying that, he laughed twice more, with a look of pride on his face as he embraced the beauty.

"Do you have enough money?" Lin Weimin asked proactively.

"I know you're rich, so I read the newspaper. You're such a big bastard. One donation is one hundred thousand yuan!" Wang Shuo was full of envy, jealousy, and then said: "I won't use the money. I'll pay back what I borrowed last time." I haven’t paid it back yet, I’m afraid I won’t be able to pay it back if I borrow it again.”

What are you afraid of?

There are many small dark rooms upstairs!

Seeing that this guy was getting married, Lin Weimin didn't press for the manuscript anymore, but he still couldn't help but say: "You just got married, and you will have a lot of money to spend in the future. You need to write more manuscripts to make some money."

"I know, I'll write it when I have time later." Wang Shuo said to Lin Weimin in a very insincere and perfunctory way.

"Look at how idle you are, my sister-in-law still expects you to take care of her." Lin Weimin couldn't help but said something when he saw his virtue.

Wang Shuo said carelessly: "It's okay, she raised me the same way!"

After Wang Shuo said these words, the air in the office became quiet.

Colleagues all looked at him and said they had never seen such a shameless person.

Eating soft food is so justified.

Lin Weimin was very calm about this. It was not like he had never seen someone who was more outrageous than this.

After Wang Shuo was sent away, Xu Gang from the Institute of Literary Studies came to see Lin Weimin. The Chinese language and literature class at Wuhan University had already been contacted.

Lin Weimin quickly contacted Cheng Shixu, and Shixu naturally thanked Lin Weimin for his long phone call.

At the beginning of July, the fourth issue of this year's "Contemporary" was released, and one of the short stories won praise from countless readers.

This is Cheng's "The King of Chess".

Letters from readers like snowflakes were sent to the editorial department. Lin Weimin specially invited Acheng to the editorial department and pointed to the letter that fell in the corner of the office.

"Those are your letters, take them away!"

Ah Cheng looked at so many letters and scratched his head for a moment, "This is too much."

"Having many talents proves that you write well." Lin Weimin said.

It took Ah Cheng a while to sort out all the letters, tie them up, and then take out a manuscript.

"Can you see if this manuscript can be used?" Acheng said to Lin Weimin.

Lin Weimin suddenly became happy.

Look, this is called an author with subjective initiative. He does not need to be pushed by the editor and submits the manuscript on his own initiative.

Think again about that scammer Wang Shuo, who ruined his plum blossom watch for nothing.

"Tree King?"

Lin Weimin has the impression that in later generations, Acheng relied on the "Three Kings" to gain fame in the literary world, namely "The King of Chess", "The King of Trees" and "The King of Children".

Acheng told Lin Weimin that "The Tree King" was actually written before "The King of Chess", but it had always been in a scattered state. It was not until "The King of Chess" was published that Acheng had the confidence to sort out the novel and took it. come out.

Lin Weimin has read the manuscript, and the quality is as stable as ever. Acheng is really the kind of writer who reaches his peak right after his debut.

He happily accepted the manuscript and said to Acheng: "There is no problem with the quality of the manuscript. After everyone has read it, I will inform you to collect the manuscript fee if there is no problem."

Lin Weimin plans to let Cheng jump in the queue this time. It is best for "Tree King" to be released in the fourth issue in September.

For a publication, it is extremely influential to be able to promote a writer in one or two issues. This opportunity is not to be missed.

After Acheng left, Lin Weimin went to Meng Weizai and Tan Chaoyang to communicate with him. If Acheng enjoys such special treatment, if the news leaks out, other authors will definitely have opinions, and the editorial department must have a unified voice.

Meng Weizai and Qin Chaoyang agreed to the matter after reading the manuscript of "Tree King", and they talked about the "Shanxi Writers Account" again.

After Zheng Yi's article "Old Well" was revised and polished by Lin Weimin, with the consent of the original author Zheng Yi, and after being reviewed by other colleagues in the editorial department, it can be published in this "Shanxi Writers Issue". Other Shanxi The writer's work has basically been finalized.

After several people discussed it, they finally decided that this "Shanxi Writers Issue" would be the last and sixth issue of this year.

When Lin Weimin came back from Meng Weizai's office, he found a package on the table.

"Weimin, you had an international package that arrived just now, and we collected it for you."

International parcel?

It is a rare thing these days. Lin Weimin's first reaction was Random House. After opening it, he found that it was not, but a package sent to him by Arthur Miller.

Inside the package was the English version of the script for "The Intouchables", with some signatures on it that seemed to belong to the cast and crew.

In addition, there are stills from the performance, and the most important thing is the media reports after the performance of "The Intouchables", which are all newspapers and magazines specially collected by Arthur Miller.

Finally, there is a letter written to him by Arthur Miller.

Lin Weimin opened the letter, and the general content was to report to Lin Weimin the situation after the performance of "The Intouchables".

The preparation process after Arthur Miller brought "The Intouchables" to the United States was not smooth. The original work was a Chinese play and was not well-known, so the preparation for this play was Off-Broadway.

There are dozens of theaters on both sides of Broadway. Locals call the theaters from 44th Street to 53rd Street Inner Broadway, while the theaters on 41st Street and 56th Street are called Off-Broadway. Inner Broadway performs classic, popular, and commercial plays, while Off-Broadway performs experimental, unknown, and low-cost plays.

Although Arthur Miller is a very famous playwright in the United States, it is not easy to prepare an unknown Chinese work.

After all, drama requires investment. People's art has funding from the state and Yanjing City, but Broadway does not. Every drama is also a business.

On Broadway, a play usually only has one chance to premiere, just like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge. If it fails, the crew may disband overnight.

According to Arthur Miller's letter, "The Intouchables" performed well off-Broadway.

Thanks to Arthur Miller's reputation in the United States, even though it was performed off-Broadway, the attendance of the first few performances was good. After a few performances, the show's word-of-mouth effect gradually released.

"The Intouchables" gradually became famous off-Broadway, and many drama lovers came here to see it.

In this way, reputation is slowly accumulated through performances one after another.

This time Arthur Miller wrote a letter and sent a package to Lin Weimin. In addition to informing him about the performance, he also had good news to share with him.