Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Are you talking about the book "Little Dongmei's Wanderings of Mountains and Seas"?" Jia Pingwa took up the topic: "When I saw this title, I thought that Minghua had changed his career to writing fairy tales. How could it be published in "Yanhe"? The editor gave himself a back door."

The other two people laughed when they heard it. They really felt that way when they saw this topic.

"Later I read the content and realized it wasn't Minghua. Latin America's magical realism writing techniques make you extremely skilled in the game." Jia Pingwa praised.

"Throw a brick to attract jade, throw a brick to attract jade," Fang Minghua said quickly.

It’s not that Fang Minghua is modest. Among the masters of domestic magical realism, Mo Yan is first recommended. His masterpiece "Life and Death Fatigue" is his masterpiece. The other is Yu Hua, who first recommends "Brothers".

Of course, none of these works have come out yet.

At this time, Chen Zhongshi said: "I plan to use this writing technique in the book I am going to write."

"you?"

Jia Pingwa forgot to play mahjong after hearing this, and looked at Chen Zhongshi sitting opposite him in surprise.

"I originally planned to be purely realistic like Minghua's "Crossing the Guandong", but now I feel that it would be more interesting to use some magical colors in the novel." Chen Zhongshi replied.

"Yeah?"

"We have to follow the trend, so as not to say we are stubborn." Chen Zhongshi said humorously.

Fang Minghua was not surprised at all by Chen Zhongshi's thoughts.

There are indeed magical elements in his "White Deer Plain". Magical images such as "white deer", "white wolf", "銊子" and "moth" are all expressed in mysterious and absurd forms. There are also weird and bizarre plot designs.

But Jia Pingwa and Lu Yao were surprised.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zhongshi, who looks the most "clumsy", would also change his style!

In particular, Jia Pingwa is thinking about whether her next novel can also learn from this style?

The mahjong game lasted until almost six o'clock when Chen Zhongshi's wife came out of the kitchen and told them that the mutton had been stewed and they could start dinner.

"Stop fighting, eat, eat." Lu Yao quickly stood up and left the stall.

I'm too unlucky, I always lose.

Everyone cleared up their mahjong and washed their hands. A pot of stewed mutton had been brought to the table, and the aroma was permeating the air.

Fang Minghua, the three of them, Chen Zhongshi, his wife and their two children, the seven of them gathered around the table to eat.

The mutton is paired with Guokui and a few plates of sauerkraut. It tastes extremely delicious. Of course, I won’t forget to open a bottle of Xifeng wine.

Lu Yao couldn't drink, and Fang Minghua said he couldn't drink while driving. But these days, there was no rule against drinking and driving, so he had no choice but to drink.

To be honest, a bottle of wine for three people is nothing to them.

The four of them chatted while eating, mostly about the literary world.

Liu Xingwu was dismissed from his post as editor-in-chief of People's Literature because of Ma Jian's novel.

Shen Congwen was nominated for this year's Nobel Prize for Literature but unfortunately lost.

More than 30 writers and editors, including Jiang Zilong and Liu Xingwu, were involved in a car accident during a summer trip to Mount Wutai. Fortunately, they were all slightly injured.

Finally, it was Chen Zhongshi who raised his glass: "You three launched the Qin Army's Eastern Expedition. Next time we do a second Eastern Expedition, I must drink this drink!"

"Come on, cheers!"

Lu Yao also raised his own teacup.

After dinner, Fang Minghua and others chatted for a while, then said goodbye and left.

Fang Minghua drove back to Xijing City, first sent Jia Pingwa home and then sent Lu Yao back to Xingfu Community.

Lu Yao usually talks a lot when a few people are together, but today at Chen Zhongshi's house, he seemed to talk a little less.

"Brother Lu, are you worried?" Fang Minghua asked while driving.

"Hey, look at the three of you, you are all very ambitious, and I am a useless person now." Lu Yao sighed.

"Don't say that. You are still recuperating now. When your body recovers completely, it will be too late." Fang Minghua comforted him.

"Also, I feel that "The Ordinary World" seems to have exhausted all my efforts. Now you ask me to write it, and I don't know what to write."

"I just said at Teacher Chen's house, didn't you want to write a family history?" Fang Minghua asked rhetorically.

"That's what I said, but it's difficult to write an epic novel like family history. You wrote it and won the Mao Dun Award. You were also preparing for the exam. Judging from the way he vowed to do it, it seems that he will never do it until he achieves certain results. Let it go. I’ll write again, I’m afraid.”

Lu Yao didn't finish his words, but Fang Minghua understood what he meant.

The front is the benchmark, and the pressure to write about the same subject later is even greater.

What's more, there are always people in the literary world who compare the four of them together, intentionally or unintentionally.

Fang Minghua didn't know how to persuade him for a while.

Historically, "The Ordinary World" was Lu Yao's swan song. Now that Lu Yao's body is no longer in danger, he can pick up the pen and continue writing after a period of recovery.

Of course Fang Minghua didn't know what he could write.

However, before coming to this era, Fang Minghua once read a post on the Internet, which wrote about some unknown "cold knowledge" of Lu Yao. In addition to the pen name "Lu Yao", Lu Yao has several other There are several pen names, one of which is called "Ying Yihong"

Lu Yao especially likes rainy days. When buying cigarettes, you must wear a mouthpiece, but you must pinch off the filter when smoking.

However, Fang Minghua didn't notice this hobby of his.

There is also a paragraph saying that after Lu Yao finished writing "Ordinary World", in the early 1990s, the international situation suddenly changed, Eastern Europe changed dramatically, and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Lu Yao stayed up all night and chatted with a writer. He said that he thought of the collapse of several old cadres' families in a certain city in Qinbeibei. He tried to explore the mysteries of the world through several families and planned to write a large-scale novel titled "Collapse".

He also said that it was like writing about an old locust tree in the loess gully of his hometown. Under the tree, there were several pairs of young men and women with expanding happiness and concentrated suffering. That was the history of Adam and Eve on the Loess Plateau.

Of course, this is written in the post, and it is impossible to verify whether it is true or not.

However.

Now that Lu Yao has finished writing "Ordinary World" and is still alive and kicking in front of him, he can ask him whether he has ever had such an idea?

Forget about "Collapse". It is not the early 1990s yet. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are all fine. Ask if the idea of ​​Adam and Eve is true?

Thinking of this, Fang Minghua asked with a smile: "Brother Lu, can you continue to write about your Qinbei Plateau? Have you ever thought about this idea, writing about the happiness and suffering of a few young men and women under an old locust tree on the Qinbei Plateau, which is equivalent to Adam and Eve on the Loess Plateau, and writing from this perspective?"

"Then isn't it basically a novel about the sexual desire of men and women?" Lu Yao laughed: "Pingwa is good at this, I'm not good at it, why do you want me to write this?"

Fuck!

That post is a lie!

Think about it, it's really not like Lu Yao's style.

In Lu Yao's novels, there is almost no overly explicit description of sex between men and women, which is different from Jia Pingwa and even Chen Zhongshi.

Fang Minghua quickly covered up and said: "I'm just talking casually."

What Fang Minghua didn't expect was that he was at work the next afternoon and suddenly received a call from Lu Yao.

"Minghua, last night you talked about the story of Adam and Eve on the Loess Plateau. I thought about it carefully today and found it quite interesting. I also want to break away from my previous writing style."

"You want to try it?"

"Yeah."

Fang Minghua said several times in his heart.

Will Lu Yao write a novel similar to Jia Pingwa's "Wasteland" in the future?

That would be exciting!