Back to 80: My Literary Life

To be honest, Fang Minghua rarely had contact with Liao Runbo except for attending classes.

Moreover, Fang Minghua discovered that the other party seemed to have little contact with other students and kept to himself. He had a better relationship with Qian Yuliang, the youngest in the class in the same dormitory.

Fang Minghua was a little surprised that he took the initiative to send a manuscript today, but on the surface he remained calm and invited him to come in and sit down.

"Teacher Fang, this is a novel I wrote. Take a look." Liao Runbo said.

It is a short story called "Into the Unexpected".

It writes about an encounter of a rural young man named Li Tiao in the city, an unexpected encounter.

At the beginning of the story, Li Tiao was like a falling leaf, walking haphazardly on the street. He didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do. He just kept walking forward.

He had three dollars on him, and it was these three rotten banknotes that led him to pick up a large color TV set on the street, which was the "disability lottery" issued by the Disabled Persons' Federation.

Li Tiao felt that what he needed was not a color TV but money, so he sold the color TV to an electrical appliance store. Li Tiao walked into the accident step by step.

Finally, he was injured and admitted to the hospital. By the time I was discharged from the hospital, I had no money left. Just like at the beginning of the story, I only had three dollars left.

The difference is that those three banknotes have turned into three cold coins. Looking at the three coins, Li Tiao wanted to cry.

He limped down the street holding the three coins, heading towards the place where he first drew the prize. But the place was empty, as if nothing had happened...

The author uses a calm tone to describe a series of things that happened to an ordinary young man as a result of "winning". There is no excessive sensationalism or lofty ideals, but he is all struggling with the original daily trivial matters.

Fang Minghua quickly thought of a word:

New realistic novels.

It seems that when avant-garde literature is at its peak and overwhelming, some young people are starting new writing attempts.

Fang Minghua did not tell Liao Runbo that this is a new realistic novel writing technique and will become the next hot writing topic in the literary world in the future.

To be fair, this novel is as it is now, and it is quite crudely written, far inferior to Chi Li's "Troubled Life".

Of course, that is also a work after several revisions.

After Fang Minghua read it carefully, he said to Liao Runbo who was sitting on the sofa: "Liao Runbo, your novel is good overall, but it still needs further revision, such as here."

Fang Minghua picked up the manuscript and pointed at one section. Liao Runbo quickly stood up and came over.

"The protagonist Li Tiao, the part about winning the prize is too trivial. This is not the focus of the novel. The focus is on the various encounters after winning the prize, so I will write it simply here."

"And here, it's a bit sensational." Fang Minghua pointed to another place and said: "We must maintain a sense of alienation. Watch Li Tiao's life as a bystander, and don't express all kinds of emotions easily. Do you understand?"

Liao Runbo was silent for a moment and nodded.

"clear."

"Take it back and modify it before giving it to me." Fang Minghua said.

"good."

Liao Runbo returned to his dormitory, and Qian Yuliang, who was reading a book, hurriedly asked: "Brother Liao, what do you think of that novel, Teacher Fang?"

"He said that overall it was OK, but there were still some problems. He asked me to take it back and revise it before handing it over to him."

"Isn't that going to be published soon?"

"It's still early. I don't know how many revisions it will take." Liao Runbo said calmly, but his face could not hide the joy.

The other party did not refuse.

"Brother Liao, if your novel is published, I will treat you to a treat." Qian Yuliang joked.

"good!"

Liao Runbo happily agreed: "No more, I have to revise it quickly."

On this day, the lights in Liao Runbo's dormitory were turned off very late.

Early the next morning, as soon as Fang Minghua returned to his dormitory after dinner, Liao Runbo came to his room with the revised manuscript.

"Has it been modified?"

"Um"

"You sit down first." Fang Minghua greeted, picked up the manuscript and read it carefully.

Sure enough, this draft is much better than the previous one.

But there were still some problems with certain paragraphs and wording, so Fang Minghua simply picked up a pen and helped him revise it.

The two revised it while discussing it. For a whole morning, the novel was changed beyond recognition.

"It's almost done, that's it." Fang Minghua handed the manuscript to Liao Runbo.

"You take it back, copy it, and give it to me. I will publish it in "Yanhe" in June. How about a fee of ten yuan per thousand words?"

Ten yuan per thousand words is not high.

But for a little-known author like him, it's pretty good.

"Thank you, Editor Fang." Liao Runbo said quickly.

"You're welcome. Are you going to publish under your real name or a pen name?" Fang Minghua thought of a question and asked.

"I have a pen name called Guizi."

"Japanese?!" Fang Minghua was surprised that someone actually had such a pen name.

"In our hometown, the Japs are not bad people. There are Japs police and Japs bosses...many smart children were almost all called Japs when they were young," Liao Runbo explained.

Ah?

"Okay, sign your pen name as you wish."

The next day, Fang Minghua sent Liao Runbo's novel back to Xijing, along with his comments.

But what he didn't expect was that just two days later, he would receive a letter from him that afternoon.

When Fang Minghua got his letter from the delivery room, he saw that the handwriting on the envelope was written by Bai Miao.

You wouldn't receive a letter so quickly and reply to it, would you?

Moreover, the registered letter looked particularly thick, as if it contained a manuscript.

Fang Minghua returned to the dormitory and opened it. It was really a manuscript.

It turned out to be Chi Li's famous work "Troubled Life"!

Oops

Some time ago, Fang Minghua wrote a personal letter to Chi Li requesting a manuscript, but there was no reply.

He didn't know if the other party didn't receive it, or if he didn't intend to submit the manuscript to "Yanhe" after receiving it, but he didn't expect to send the manuscript directly to "Yanhe" magazine.

But, what does Bai Miao mean by sending me the manuscript again?

Not sure?

There is also a personal letter from Bai Miao:

"Editor Fang, I received a message from a female writer named Chi Li in Wuhan, saying that she received a letter from you asking for a manuscript, so I sent this article "Troubled Life"."

"This is a very strange novel. It is not like the avant-garde novels that are popular in the literary world now. It is a bit like the realistic novels of the past. However, it does not write about major themes. It writes about the survival of a very ordinary person like Yin Jiahou. State, his daily life, trivial things, and the author's description is very objective, calm, and unemotional, so I sent it to you because I was not sure. "

Sure enough, I'm not sure.