Back to 80: My Literary Life

Song Tangtang sent Li Li home, and Fang Minghua made himself a steaming cup of Longjing. He was just about to drink tea comfortably when he suddenly thought that it was almost ten o'clock and it was time for the child to go to bed!

So I took care of the two little guys to wash their faces, feet and brush their teeth.

When the child was lying on the bed, Fang Minghua continued to tell fairy tales, finally coaxing the child to sleep, and then walked out of the room.

When I looked at the Longjing I soaked in, it was already cold.

I changed my drink and then went to the study room to read the books Li Li brought back.

"Selected Minghua Pioneer Short Stories", "Selected Minghua Realistic Short Stories", "Minghua Science Fiction Collection", "Enter Guandong", "The Legend of Wukong". There are also two love novels written in the United States "The Bridge of Lost Dreams" ” “The Endless Love between Man and Ghost” is impressively on the list.

Fang Minghua had never seen several English translations, so he picked up one and flipped through it. The paper and cover were pretty good.

At this time, Song Tangtang came back, tiptoed into the study, and asked quietly: "Is the child asleep?"

"Yes, you sent Lili back?"

"Well, luckily I drove her there. It was windy and cold outside."

The child was sleeping and naturally could not move loudly. The two went to their bedroom and closed the door. Seeing Song Tangtang changing clothes, Fang Minghua said again: "Let me ask you something, how was Lili's discussion with that rich Chinese second generation? She gave you Did you say it?”

Song Tangtang rolled her eyes at him: "Lili was here just now, why didn't you ask him?"

"It's hard to speak."

"You are her brother-in-law, and it is only natural that you care about her life-long affairs. Why should you not say anything?" Song Tangtang scolded, but still said: "I asked, and he said that the young man was very kind to her."

"What about Lili?"

"How should I put it? I don't really hate it, nor do I like it, but my second aunt pressed me hard and often made international long distance calls to ask about it. Lili said that one time she got tired of hearing it and said: "Mom, you like it so much, you Just marry him. My second aunt was immediately angry. "

"The main reason is that Lili is not young anymore. If she were in China, she would have gotten married long ago." Fang Minghua said.

"Yes, Lili is only one year younger than me, but I am already a mother of two children, and Lili is still single, hey."

At the end of the sentence, Song Tangtang sighed quietly.

Seeing his wife like this, Fang Minghua quickly comforted her: "Don't worry, Lili will definitely find a good home."

"Okay, let's not talk about her anymore, let's talk about your book signing this time." Song Tangtang changed the subject.

"Everything goes well. Shu Bin is really capable. Although he is a scholar, he is also very financially savvy." Fang Minghua told Song Tangtang about advertising in the newspaper.

"It seems that we have found the right person for this flourishing publishing company." Song Tangtang said: "However, some people are quite critical of this kind of book signing activity, saying that your behavior is undoubtedly that of a businessman."

"who?"

"It was a review in a newspaper. The author is not famous, so I didn't remember it."

"Ignore it, no matter what you do these days, people will look down upon you." Fang Minghua said lightly: "Who am I? People like Lu Xun and Lao She are still promoting their own books, who cares about others?"

"Lu Xun and Lao She are promoting his books?" Song Tangtang was surprised when he heard this.

Fang Minghua told Song Tangtang what his grandma said when he had dinner with Song Tangtang's grandfather and grandma a few days ago in Yanjing.

Song Tangtang chuckled after hearing this.

"My grandma is so interesting and open-minded."

“Students from Jinling University for Women were definitely top-notch at that time.”

"That is."

"Okay, let's take a rest. I'm tired today, so I'm going to wash up."

"Um."

After the book signing event, Fang Minghua's life is completely free. As for the script of "Ordinary World", we will wait until after the Chinese New Year.

Fang Minghua's whirlwind publicity and promotion activities set off a sales boom. This book is claimed to be the first serious literary novel in the mainland in the 1990s. It uses a cold style, double-line structure, realism, symbolism, contrast and other techniques. The characters are portrayed and a group of vivid private teachers are created.

The famous critic Li Tuo commented in "Literary News": In this book, the sublimation of human nature in hardship and embarrassment, such as the poetic music of piano and flute in ordinary days, witnesses the operation of conscience and morality in people's hearts. Reality, a sense of destiny and the belief in the brilliant starry sky of the human spirit make the meaning of "Skywalker" solemn and far-reaching.

"Contemporary poet Bei Dao has a famous sentence in his "Reply": 'Despicableness is the passport of the despicable, and nobility is the epitaph of the noble.' Here, I tampered with Bei Dao's famous sentence to evaluate Minghua's novel. "Skywalker".

Of course, there are also criticisms, mainly because of his marketing methods and the use of book signings by writers in a capitalist society, turning his works into "commodities."

Fang Minghua ignored such accusations.

His current task is to take care of his two children at home.

The child is on winter vacation and cannot always be left at the mother-in-law's house. The elderly must also rest, and the wife has to go to work, so this glorious and arduous task is given to him.

Fortunately, having two children who are playmates doesn't make them lonely. Fang Minghua prepares bread and milk for his children in the morning, rice for lunch, and noodles or porridge for dinner together when his wife comes home.

When the weather is nice, I go out to walk my baby. When the weather is bad, I stay at home. Anyway, there is no homework for kindergarten.

One more thing.

It is a three-story building built on the land he bought in Nanfang Lane, Chaoyangmen, east of the city. It has been completed three months ago, and the rest is to prepare for decoration.

Fang Minghua has contacted the plumbers and tilers, and is waiting for the weather to warm up after the spring to start construction.

The Spring Festival in 1990 came early, and January 27th was the New Year's Eve.

This year's New Year's Eve was spent at my sister and brother-in-law's house, because my parents moved there to take care of my pregnant sister.

However, on the New Year's Eve, my brother-in-law Liu Jianjun took my sister Fang Mingli back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year. In fact, the family is just the old couple and Fang Minghua's family. There are two children in the house and it is very lively.

The songs of the Spring Festival in 1990 were unremarkable, but two skits were very interesting, one was "The Protagonist and the Supporting Actor" performed by Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao, and the other was a blind date performed by Zhao Benshan and Huang Xiaojuan.

The "Sketch King" of the Spring Festival Gala stage was born.

From then on, the national audience remembered Zhao Benshan's name. However, they did not know at that time that in the next 20 years, Zhao Benshan would become one of their reasons and motivations for watching the Spring Festival Gala.

Of course, starting from the first day of the Lunar New Year, Qin Provincial TV Station began to broadcast the TV series "Desire" on the prime channel at 8 pm, and two episodes every Saturday and Sunday, which immediately set off a viewing boom.

The Spring Festival still only has five days of holiday, which passed in a hurry. Song Tangtang had to go to work, and Fang Minghua had to start working on the script of "Ordinary World".

In the words of his wife, the earlier you finish writing, the earlier I will go to Yanjing to talk to Zheng Xiaolong.

Okay, listen to his wife.

Fang Minghua had to send the two children back to his mother-in-law's house and continue his coding plan.

"Ordinary World" has more than one million words. Fang Minghua decided that the length of the script should be about 40 episodes. Any longer would be water injection, and the cost should be considered. After all, this is the film era.

Each episode of the script is about 7,000-8,000 words, which is relatively small in the general TV script.

Fang Minghua has always insisted that screenwriters only provide directors with a reference template when writing scripts. A real director must do secondary creation. Writing too much detail will restrict the director's performance.

Of course, it is also lazy to some extent.

The spring of 1990 came late, and there were several cold snaps in the middle. Finally, at the end of February, the script of "Ordinary World" was completed.