Back to 80: My Literary Life

1986 is coming to an end. This is an extraordinary year.

This year, people's material life has improved significantly. Except for grain and oil, most tickets have been cancelled, and the era of shortage is over. Private cars and credit cards have begun to enter the field of private consumption.

The economic system reform was stable. On August 3, the first state-owned enterprise since the founding of New China, Shenyang Explosion-Proof Equipment Factory sadly declared bankruptcy. At the end of the year, large and medium-sized enterprises were also allowed to conduct joint-stock pilot projects.

At 11:11:24 on August 25, 1986, Beijing time, a researcher named Wu Weimin from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences remotely logged in to a machine at CERN in Geneva through a satellite link on an IBM-PC at the BJ710 Institute. An email was sent to Steinberger in Geneva from VXCRNA Wang Shuqin’s account.

In this sense, this email predates what became known as the first email from China by a full year.

China's Internet began to send its first tweet to the world.

The U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded, and none of the seven astronauts survived.

An explosion at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear power plant caused a fire and caused a nuclear leak.

This year, in the sports world, the women's volleyball team achieved "five consecutive championships", and Maradona's "Hand of God" enabled Argentina to eliminate the England team in the World Cup in Mexico.

In the literary and art world, this year CCTV broadcast the 1986 version of "Journey to the West", which transformed and eliminated the transcendent ethical and bloody murder content in the original work, and integrated it into the lively and free atmosphere of the 1980s literature and art. Sun Wukong, Tang Monk, Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng have more contemporary atmosphere and positive thoughts and characters.

In the music world, Luo Dayou released "Pearl of the Orient" in Hong Kong, and hundreds of mainland singers held the "Let the World Be Full of Love - 100 Singers Concert" at the Capital Workers Stadium to commemorate the "World Peace Year". The chorus of "Let the World Be Full of Love", Cui Jian took the stage to sing "Nothing", and Chinese rock music was born. This year is also defined as the first year of mainland pop music.

In the literary world, there is also a lot of excitement. In the novel world, avant-garde literature represented by Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum", Yu Hua's "1986", and Ma Yuan's "Fiction" is in full swing, and has the potential to sweep the entire literary world.

In the poetry world, "Shenzhen Youth Daily" and "Poetry News" held the "1986 Chinese Modern Poetry Group Exhibition" in Pengcheng, which exhibited 64 genres, more than 100 poets, and more than 130,000 words of poetry and poetry. The declaration is spectacular.

At the end of the year, Chengdu's "Xingxing" poetry magazine launched the "My 10 Favorite Contemporary Young and Middle-aged Poets" campaign, and 10 people including Shu Ting, Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Li Gang, and Yang Lian were selected. It is said that the poets in Chengdu at that time were The recital is sold out, and the real "I'm crazy about poetry" is true.

However, in the middle of the journey, young poets from Shu Province shouted the slogan "Pass Shu Ting in Beidao" in front of the poet. This was like knocking Mengwu Shi to the ground and then stepping on one foot, which cast a shadow on the future development of poetry. An ominous shadow.

In the literary world of Qin Province, Jia Pingwa's first novel "Impotent" has caused a sensation when it came out, and is now actively planning to publish it in the United States.

Chen Zhongshi continued to work quietly and published his first novella collection "Early Summer", as well as the novella "Four Sisters", the short story "Going Behind the Poplar Tree", the essay "On the Mekong River - Notes from a Visit to Thailand", The reportage "Pi Shi" and other works have achieved remarkable results.

Another young writer from Qin Province, Fang Minghua, focused on editing "Yanhe" magazine and signed a group of new writers. The sales volume of "Yanhe" magazine increased rapidly. By the last issue, the circulation had reached 220,000 copies. It has doubled compared with the beginning of the year.

At the same time, he visited Xiangjiang twice, and by the way, he wrote a full-length martial arts novel and a horror novel, which turned the popular literature world of Xiangjiang upside down.

In comparison, Lu Yao, another heavyweight writer in Qin Province, appears to be much inferior. The novel "The Ordinary World", which he worked hard for several years, is almost unread, and he himself is sick in the hospital due to overwork. .

Lu Yao spent New Year's Day in 1987 in a hospital bed.

On New Year's Day, Fang Minghua bought some nutritional supplements and milk powder, and drove to Xijing Hospital to visit Lu Yao. As soon as he arrived at the door of Lu Yao's ward on the sixth floor, he heard a quarrel coming from inside.

He pushed the door open and saw Lu Yao half-leaning on the bed arguing with Linda about something.

Seeing Fang Minghua come in, Lu Yao immediately shut up, but Linda said: "Minghua, you came just in time, please advise Lu Yao, he is going to be discharged from the hospital!"

"Discharged?" Fang Minghua was surprised and looked at Lu Yao, "You haven't recovered yet. What kind of hospital will you be discharged from?"

"I feel like it's almost done." Lu Yao replied.

"Absolutely? This morning the doctor made rounds and said that his condition has just stabilized and he cannot be discharged from the hospital at all! I know that you just can't put down your novel! What if you really have a problem with me and Yuan Yuan?" After finishing speaking, Linda started to cry.

Fang Minghua said nothing.

Historically, it was not that Lu Yao had no chance of survival. It was just that on the one hand, he did not pay attention to it and did not receive regular treatment. On the other hand, he was too tired to write books and his condition worsened.

Seeing his wife crying and thinking of his daughter, Lu Yao sighed repeatedly, not knowing what to say.

At this time, Fang Minghua stepped forward and said, "Brother Lu, my sister-in-law is right. The most important thing now is medical treatment. If the person dies, everything will be lost. As for the novel, I can't write it until you are completely recovered from the illness."

"It's completely healed? When will it be completely healed? One year? Or two years? I can't wait." Lu Yao murmured.

No one can say for sure.

Song Tangtang and her second aunt said that hepatic necrosis caused by hepatic ascites is inherently difficult to cure. After active treatment of small-scale infections, people may survive for decades, but large-scale infections may lead to liver failure and death within a few days.

Historically, Lu Yao lived until his death in 1992. He has been fighting the disease in the following years. Now he is admitted to the best hospital in Xijing for active treatment. He may not be in danger of life, but he must rest in bed and must not be tired.

But for him who has been writing diligently all his life, lying on a white hospital bed every day and staring at the ceiling with nothing to do is definitely a kind of torture.

Fang Minghua is not a doctor and cannot answer this question. He can only comfort him not to be impatient and that his health comes first.

In fact, he also knew in his heart that his words of comfort were useless.

Seeing that Lu Yao calmed down, Fang Minghua sat for a while and then left, but Lu Yao stopped him again.

"Minghua, don't leave in a hurry. I want to tell you something."

Fang Minghua stopped and looked at him.

"Minghua, how about you help me write the third part of "The Ordinary World"?"