Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Leave it to the Foundation?"

"Yes, three million is definitely not enough. If the value of these courtyard houses rises in the future, wouldn't the foundation be able to make money if they were sold?" Fang Minghua explained.

"So troublesome? I said I might donate to your foundation in the name of the company, but you don't want it," Zhao Hongjun said.

"I said that all the funds for this foundation will be provided by me and I will not accept donations from anyone." Fang Minghua said with a smile: "You want to donate money? There will be many opportunities in the future."

"Okay, okay, your name will go down in history."

Fang Minghua smiled and said nothing.

The next day, the two went to Manager Sun again. After some bargaining, they finally bought the six courtyard houses for 2.65 million. The average price was around 400,000. The most expensive one was 600,000 in Dongsiliutiao.

Zhao Hongjun left this 600,000 yuan courtyard house, and a relatively good-quality courtyard house near Houhai for 480,000 yuan. The rest was left to Fang Minghua, totaling 1.53 million yuan.

The next step was to go through the transfer procedures, which was quite troublesome. Fang Minghua didn't have time to wait any longer, so he called Song Tangtang in Xijing and asked her to come to Yanjing to handle the rest, while he rushed to Shanghai.

It's more important to do business.

When arriving in Shencheng, Fang Minghua first visited Balao who lived on Wukang Road and explained his intention.

Ba Lao laughed after hearing this and said: "The Lu Xun Literature Prize has been organized since 1986, but we still have no idea. There are too many rules and regulations. I didn't expect you to organize this Chinese Literature Prize so quickly. Okay, I agree."

When Ba Lao agreed to this, Fang Minghua suddenly felt relaxed.

With the most prestigious boss in the literary world of this era sitting in the chair, the reputation of this literary award will greatly increase. What if it weren't for the fact that the director of the Mao Dun Award jury has always been Palladium?

After inviting Palladium, Fang Minghua was not in a hurry to leave Shanghai. He also went to Harvest magazine and invited Xiao Dai, deputy editor-in-chief of Harvest magazine, to be a judge.

Fang Minghua met Xiao Dai very early, in 1983, when Xiao Dai asked Fang Minghua to write a novel about the stream of consciousness.

Fang Minghua wrote the "The Legend of Wukong".

At that time, due to domestic environmental reasons, it was not published in "Harvest". Instead, at Xiao Dai's suggestion, it was published in "Ming Pao" magazine owned by Mr. Jin in Xiangjiang.

The two have known each other ever since.

Xiao Dai is the deputy editor-in-chief of the top domestic magazine (the editor-in-chief was Palladium until his death.) The editorial level is obvious to all, and since he is here, the invitation in person seems sincere.

When he arrived at the "Harvest" magazine office on Julu Road, Fang Minghua met Xiao Dai, explained his intention and emphasized that Ba Lao had agreed to be the honorary chairman of the jury.

Xiao Dai laughed after hearing this.

"Ba Lao serves as the honorary chairman, so how dare I refuse? OK, I agree!"

Fang Minghua chatted for a few words and then left. After exiting the corridor, he was about to go downstairs when he saw a familiar man in front of him.

Wearing a jacket, his hair is a bit long and he looks a bit unruly.

"Yu Hua?!"

"Teacher Minghua!"

Yu Hua was also very surprised when he saw Fang Minghua: "You came to Shanghai?"

"Yes, I have something to do with Editor Xiao. Let me talk to Yu Hua. I told you not to call me teacher. Just call me by my name. You were pretending to be my second cousin when you were in Shanghai!"

Yu Hua immediately laughed sheepishly after hearing this.

It turned out that in the autumn of 1983, Fang Minghua was invited to Shanghai to participate in the "Symposium of Young and Middle-aged Writers from Northwest and East China."

After Yu Hua heard about this meeting, he came to Shanghai from his hometown of Haiyan to find Fang Minghua with the new work "Stars" he had just written.

It was already evening when he arrived in Shanghai. After he arrived at the hotel for a meeting with writers, he asked the front desk clerk Fang Minghua's specific room where he lived. The waiter was worried that he would affect the writers' rest, so he kindly reminded him.

Unexpectedly, Yu Hua replied: "I am Fang Minghua's second cousin!"

Just like that, under the watchful eye of the waiter, Yu Hua swaggered upstairs.

Yu Hua later talked about this matter when he was giving a lecture in Luyuan, drinking and bragging with his classmates, and later spread it to Fang Minghua's ears.

Fang Minghua couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. The two even compared their ages. It turned out that Yu Hua was born in April 1960. Although he was the same age, he was a month older than Fang Minghua.

So, a classmate joked with Yu Hua behind his back, saying that your little cousin came to class.

Now Yu Hua smiled sheepishly when he heard Fang Minghua mention the embarrassing things from back then.

"Yu Hua, did you graduate from the graduate class of Yan Normal University?" Fang Minghua asked again.

"Well, well, I graduated in March. During my studies, I wrote a novel and submitted it to "Harvest". The editor Cheng Yongxin asked me to talk about it.

"novel?!"

"Oh, it's a novel, not a short or medium story. It's called "The Shout and the Drizzle"," Yu Hua explained quickly.

Hmm. That's pretty much it.

According to the great agreement signed at the Xijing Conference in 1985, short stories and short stories must be submitted to "Yanhe" first!

Novels are not included in this scope.

But, "Shouting and Drizzle" should be called "Shouting in the Drizzle", right?

I heard that the name was changed later.

This is Yu Hua's first novel. The novel begins with a woman's "lonely helpless cry" that emphasizes the sense of individual loneliness, as well as the narrative about individual loneliness and its transcendence throughout the novel. It is a narrative about the bonds of various social relationships.

The writing is quite good, and Yu Hua was awarded the French Chevalier des Lettres et des Arts for this novel.

Of course, the literary quality is not as good as "Alive" written by him.

"Okay, Yu Hua, go talk to the editor, I'm going back." Fang Minghua said and was about to leave.

"Minghua, don't be in a hurry to leave. Since you are in Shanghai, I want to do my best to be a good host." Yu Hua said hurriedly. "Wait a minute, I'll go see the editor, how about we have a meal together later?"

"Okay, you go ahead, I'll wait for you outside." Fang Minghua agreed, thinking to himself: OK, find a chance to talk to you about your next novel.

After leaving the magazine, Fang Minghua estimated that Yu Hua and the editor would still have some time to discuss the manuscript, and he was free, so he just walked around.

Along Julu Road to the east, there are private residences all along the way, "Ju Fu Chang" (the abbreviation of the three roads in Shanghai - Julu Road, Fumin Road, and Changle Road), all of which are old houses concentrated in the Republic of China period.

It is said that on this road, in later generations, a garden house changed hands, and the total transaction price was about 310 million yuan! The unit price was about 1 million yuan/square meter, setting a new record.

Of course, it is very cheap now.

Why not take the opportunity to buy one?

However, Fang Minghua doesn't like the climate in Shanghai. It is too humid, cold in winter, and sauna-like in summer during the rainy season. It is not as dry and refreshing as Xijing in the northwest.

At the end of Julu Road, go west and you will reach the famous Pudong New Area. However, Pudong New Area was not established in 1990. Although the new area has not been established, it has already begun to open up.

After a long walk, Fang Minghua returned to the magazine and saw Yu Hua standing at the door waiting anxiously.

Yu Hua saw Fang Minghua coming and hurriedly greeted him: "Minghua, I thought you left without saying goodbye?"

"Am I that kind of person? I just went around the neighborhood casually." Fang Minghua replied.

"Then let's go, take a bus to Hengshan Road." Yu Hua said.

Fang Minghua was a little puzzled:

"We still need to take the bus? We can just find a small restaurant nearby and order two dishes. Why go so far?"

"Hey, isn't Li Hongying studying at Fudan University? She hasn't graduated yet. I just called her school and contacted her. She heard that you came to Shanghai and wanted to see you. Let's meet at the southeast gate of Hengshan Road."

This guy.

Fang Minghua glanced at him.

"Okay, let's go to Hengshan Road."