Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Editor Fang, we are friends and I won't give you a slap in the face. It's okay for us to report on your meeting, but as you said, we need to take a group photo and submit it to the newspaper. I'm afraid it's a bit difficult."

It turns out that in addition to carefully arranging the content of this meeting, Fang Minghua also did a good job in publicity.

Qin Provincial TV Station and Qin Provincial Daily have agreed to send reporters to conduct interviews and reports, but Fang Minghua feels that there is a lack of a national publicity media. After all, the first two are limited to Qin Province and cannot be seen by people from other provinces.

It was also he who thought of Guangming Daily, a reporter he knew well.

I called Li Wei to ask him for an interview and the other party agreed. However, Fang Minghua made a request and the other party refused today.

The purpose is to publish a group photo of all participating writers in Guangming Daily.

"Editor Fang, you know that newspapers have much stricter requirements for publishing photos than text. I am only the reporter stationed in Qin Province, not the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. I can't make the decision." Li Wei said.

"Actually, Webmaster Li, do you think the writers here are not of a high enough standard?" Fang Minghua made it clear.

"Hey, I didn't mean that." Li Wei corrected: "It's not me, it's our headquarters editor who thinks so."

"If all the people who came to the meeting were like you, Mao Dun Award winners, or Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa, it would be no problem. But most of the people who came to the meeting were Liu Sola and Mo Yan. At most, they were newcomers to the literary world. He is still far from a famous writer, and I have never heard of Gao Jianqun or Liu Yong (Ge Fei)."

Fang Minghua felt helpless after hearing this.

It's not that Li Wei deliberately made things difficult for him. After all, the decision-making power is not in Li Wei's hands. He is just the reporter station manager, and there are more than 30 station managers like him in the country, not including overseas ones, and they have N news every day. Manuscripts are sent to Yanjing headquarters.

The editors at the headquarters naturally select the best among the best.

"What if..." Fang Minghua suddenly thought of an idea: "If our Qin provincial leaders take part in a group photo and leave a message, will your newspaper publish it?"

"Provincial leader, what level?"

"Standing Committee."

"Can you please invite the Standing Committee? Of course there is no problem." Li Wei said: "It's just that the provincial leaders are very busy, and the provincial leaders in charge of you are not members of the Standing Committee, right?"

Li Wei was very skeptical.

"Don't worry about it. If the Standing Committee really comes, then you have to take pictures and publish it."

"Don't worry, if you can come, we will focus on reporting!"

Li Wei chatted for a while and then left. Fang Minghua then dialed a phone number, which was for Zhao Hongjun.

"Red Army, has your father been busy these days?"

"He's busy every day. What's wrong, why do you care about my dad?" Zhao Hongjun felt a little strange on the other end of the phone.

Fang Minghua briefly told Zhao Hongjun his thoughts and the content of his chat with Li Wei.

"I can't be my father's boss in this matter."

"Please help me ask some questions."

"You should tell my dad about this in person. I guess you can speak better than me in front of my dad."

I @#￥%……

"Okay. Then I'll go look for him in his office. I don't know if I can get in." Fang Minghua laughed at himself.

"You are now the vice chairman of the Provincial Writers Association, so there is no problem in entering. However, there are often leaders of various ministries and bureaus waiting to report to him at the door of his office. You have to wait in line for a long time." Zhao Hongjun laughed on the phone.

"You'd better come to my house in the evening. If you have anything to discuss at home, the atmosphere will be good."

"But your dad is a busy man, and he doesn't know when he will be back." Fang Minghua said.

"Let's do this. If he comes back in the evening, I will call you and you can come over quickly."

"also."

In the evening, after dinner at their mother's house, Fang Minghua and Song Tangtang did not leave as usual. Instead, they watched TV with their mother at home, of course waiting for Zhao Hongjun's call.

Since Fang Minghua and Song Tangtang got married and moved to Xingfu Community outside Nanmenwai, Fang Minghua asked someone to find connections and found the deputy director of the Xijing Post and Telecommunications Bureau, and installed a landline phone in his new house and in his parents' home.

My parents are older and don’t live together now, so I can’t contact them if there’s an emergency.

Although the initial installation fee for two landline phones cost 4,000 yuan, which is almost three years of salary for an employee, and the monthly rental fee is 4 yuan, but it is worth it.

Nowadays, installing a phone is very troublesome. If you don't find someone to help you, you have to pay the initial installation fee and wait in line until the end of the year of the monkey. Not to mention a month, a year is enough.

The phone came in handy today.

Fang Minghua and his wife accompanied his mother to watch the recently popular TV series "Liao Zhai" when they heard the phone ringing on the high and low cabinet in the living room, and he hurried to answer it.

It's Zhao Hongjun's phone number.

"Minghua, come here, my dad is back."

"Okay, I'll be right over." Fang Minghua hung up the phone and said to Song Tangtang, "Tangtang, let's go to the Red Army's house."

"Mom, let's go over first." Song Tangtang stood up, put on her coat and walked out with Fang Minghua.

The Provincial Family Courtyard where Zhao Hongjun lives is also near Houzaimen, very close to Song Tangtang’s house, and not far from the Family Building of the Planning Commission. The two of them rode over there. There were sentries standing guard outside the compound, but Zhao Hongjun was already waiting at the door. He took the two of them in.

It is very similar to the military compound where Song Tangtang's father and others live. There are buildings in the front and rows of bungalows in the back. The real leaders all live in the bungalows, and each family has its own garden.

The three of them entered a small courtyard. He took out the key and was about to open the door, but the door opened. A middle-aged woman with short hair and a very elegant look stood at the door.

"Hello, Auntie." Song Tangtang greeted quickly.

The visitor was Zhao Hongjun's mother. She saw a smile on Song Tangtang's face: "It's Tangtang. You have rarely come to play in the past two years. Oops. Isn't this Minghua?"

"Hello, aunt." Fang Minghua also greeted quickly.

"come in."

I put on my slippers at the door, and after passing the door was the living room. A man wearing glasses and an old-fashioned woolen sweater was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper.

When he saw someone coming in, he put down the newspaper.

It is Zhao Hongjun’s father, Zhao Linhai.

"Hello, Uncle Zhao." Song Tangtang called sweetly.

"Tangtang, come in and sit down." Zhao Linhai showed a kind smile on his face and looked at Fang Minghua again:

"Chairman Fang."

"Uncle Zhao, please call me Xiao Fang." Fang Minghua said quickly.

Zhao Linhai smiled slightly, said nothing, and asked them to sit down.

"Tangtang, how is your dad's health? He's had a cold for two days, is he feeling better?" Zhao Linhai asked with concern.

"Uncle Zhao, my dad didn't catch a cold. Minghua and I went back last night and didn't see my dad getting sick." Song Tangtang was a little surprised after hearing this.

"This old Song is actually being naughty!" Zhao Hongjun's father laughed and cursed: "This morning during the Standing Committee meeting, he actually said that he had a bad cold and asked for leave! It's better not to talk about this to avoid some trouble."

Zhao Linhai looked at Fang Minghua again when he said this: "Xiao Fang, I heard the Red Army said you were looking for me?"