Back to 80: My Literary Life

A few people chatted while eating, naturally talking about martial arts novels in the literary world.

I only heard Ni Kuang say: "Minghua, you wrote the next "Swordsman in the Snow" and stopped writing martial arts. It is a big loss to the martial arts novel industry."

Before Fang Minghua could answer, his sister Yi Shu, who was sitting next to Ni Kuang, teased: "Second brother, didn't you say privately that if Minghua doesn't write about martial arts, you will be less stressed?"

ah?

this?

Ni Kuang was quite embarrassed after hearing this.

Fang Minghua smiled heartily: "Although I don't write, there are many people who write martial arts novels. The older generation includes Liu Canyang, Zhuge Qingyun and others. The new generation is like Wen Ruian and Huang Yi who are here. There are many people like Yangtze River Houlang Zhui. The posture of the front wave.”

Speaking of this, Fang Minghua suddenly asked: "Hey, I remember that you also have a young man who also writes martial arts, Huang Ying, who I have a relationship with. How is he doing now?"

Mentioning the name Huang Ying, several people's expressions became complicated.

Finally it was Ni Kuang who spoke: "He is dead."

"Dead, how did you die?"

"Cerebral hemorrhage".

"Cerebral hemorrhage? Huang Ying is not very old, how could he have a cerebral hemorrhage?" Fang Minghua looked surprised.

Several people looked at me and I looked at you, not knowing how to answer.

Finally, it was Ni Kuang who said: "To tell you the truth, he told the outside world that he died of cerebral hemorrhage, but in fact he borrowed a loan shark to make a movie. As a result, he was seriously injured by the debt collector and died tragically at home."

As Ni Kuang spoke, the others also sighed. It seemed that the cause of Huang Ying's death was an undisclosed secret.

"Minghua, Huang Ying is so arrogant that he won't listen to you. In 1986, you asked me to send him a message, telling him to concentrate on writing martial arts and not make any zombie movies. This guy just didn't listen! If I had listened to you back then. Yes, how can we be in such a miserable situation today?" At the end of the sentence, Ni Kuang sighed deeply.

Fang Minghua shook his head repeatedly after hearing this.

Some people and some things are destined and no one can change them.

After a party, Fang Minghua declined Ni Kuang's invitation to sing in the karaoke hall. He had other business to do tomorrow.

The next morning, Fang Minghua had breakfast alone in the hotel restaurant. Liu Jiawei, the deputy manager of Sanlian Bookstore whom he met yesterday, brought people to the hotel to pick Fang Minghua up to attend this year's Hong Kong Book Fair.

The Hong Kong Book Fair is organized by the Hong Kong Economic Development Bureau and has been held since 1990. It is held every July at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. This year is the second edition.

Fang Minghua followed Liu Jiawei to the Convention and Exhibition Center by car and found that the audience was queuing up to buy tickets to enter the venue.

Only now did he know that he still had to buy tickets to participate in the book fair, which cost 10 Hong Kong dollars each.

So I couldn't help but ask Liu Jiawei: "Manager Liu, do you still need to charge an entrance fee to buy books? There are so many people coming in? Are people in Xiangjiang so fond of reading?"

Liu Jiawei smiled mysteriously after hearing this: "Not exactly, Mr. Minghua, you will know when you go in."

Fang Minghua followed Liu Jiawei into the venue - of course he did not need to pay ten Hong Kong dollars, Liu Jiawei arranged to use the VIP channel.

When he went in and took a look, Fang Minghua couldn't help being surprised.

Damn it!

Is this a book fair? !

Fang Minghua has participated in several book fairs in the Mainland. For example, Xijing itself has held a book fair, which was in Lianhu Park. Major publishing houses from all over the country gathered in Xijing, and each set up a temporary exhibition booth with plastic sheets, which contained books published by his own publishing house. There are all kinds of books, and there are densely packed readers standing outside.

But today, at the Hong Kong Book Fair, it seems that more people are not readers, but Hong Kong audiences who come to see the stars!

I saw a very beautiful girl standing on a stage in the middle, wearing a silver crown and holding a silver scepter.

Miss Xiangjiang? !

Fang Minghua took a few steps forward out of curiosity but couldn't get past it. The stage was already completely surrounded by the audience.

Although she was far away, Fang Minghua could still clearly see the beautiful female star standing on the stage.

"Guo Aiming?!" Fang Minghua blurted out.

"Hey, Mr. Minghua, do you also know Guo Aiming?!" Liu Jiawei was a little surprised. "This is our new Miss Xiangjiang champion this year. Pretty, isn't she? She is highly educated and graduated with a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. She is really both talented and beautiful."

Hearing Liu Jiawei's emotion, Fang Minghua nodded.

Beautiful indeed.

Fang Minghua first saw Guo Aiming's beauty when he watched Jet Li's "New Fang Shiyu", where he held Guo Aiming on the river and fought against Japanese pirates.

Guo Aiming looked stunning in a red dress.

Liu Jiawei told Fang Minghua that in order to increase the popularity of the book fair, the organizers invited some popular celebrities to support them. Of course, Miss Hong Kong is one of the most popular celebrities. This year it was Guo Aiming, and last year it was Anita Yuen.

"Just last year, Anita Yuen finished cutting the ribbon and walked around the library platform. After walking out, a Hong Kong entertainment reporter asked her if she had bought any books and how was the atmosphere?" Anita Yuan said to the reporter: " Ah, I like reading very much." In fact, she didn't buy a single book. "

Liu Jiawei finally smiled.

"Of course, Guo Aiming has a master's degree from the University of Southern California. Naturally, he likes reading. He might actually buy a copy."

Although Miss Hong Kong was beautiful, everyone did not forget about business. Fang Minghua followed Liu Jiawei and continued to move forward.

The exhibition hall is very large, and there are various book booths. Fang Minghua was very interested in reading while walking, mostly popular novels.

Martial arts, science fiction, romance.

"Ming Pao" Publishing House, Luo Bin's Global Publishing House, and Xiangjiang Literature and Art Publishing House are basically publishing houses of popular novels in Xiangjiang. We also saw publishers from Taiwan Feitian Publishing House and Crescent Publishing House, but not from the mainland.

Maybe it’s because the books published by mainland publishers are all in simplified Chinese characters?

Damn it!

I actually saw an acquaintance!

Wen Ruian and Huang Yi were each sitting at their own publishing house's booth, signing books and selling books. When they saw Fang Minghua coming, they both smiled heartily and said hello.

It's lively.

There is even a photo album! Fang Minghua passed by a book exhibition and saw several books placed on it, all with photos of beautiful women in thin clothes.

Seeing Fang Minghua stop, Liu Jiawei, who was following behind, explained: "Mr. Minghua, you don't know something. Hong Kong's laws do not restrict the freedom of creation and publication of publications. Any book can be published, but Hong Kong's laws restrict the freedom of publication." Distribution scope.”

"For example, photo albums that do not reveal three points can be displayed at book fairs, but photo albums that exceed three points must be covered with a black plastic envelope, printed with warning text, and can only be displayed and sold to people over 18 years old, and are prohibited from selling to People under the age of 18 are called "eighteen-year-olds".

"Sure enough, the book has its own Yan Ruyu." Fang Minghua also joked.

"Haha. Mr. Minghua, what a witticism." Liu Jiawei also laughed.

When we came to the booth of Sanlian Bookstore, it was on the east side of the exhibition hall. In addition to Sanlian Bookstore, there were also Commercial Printing House and Zhonghua Bookstore. They were all booths selling serious literary works. Naturally, there were many fewer readers than in other areas.

According to Liu Jiawei's request, Fang Minghua also started selling books from behind a table in the Sanlian Bookstore booth.

A poster had already been erected next to the booth, which read: "Signing event for the latest collection of essays "Fragments of Civilization" by Mr. Minghua, a famous young writer from the mainland, winner of the Mao Dun Literary Award, and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award." Below. The content of this collection of essays is also briefly summarized.

Maybe this sign still attracts some people, and some people come to Fang Minghua to buy this collection of essays for Fang Minghua to sign.

Of course, the number of readers who came to sign autographs was much smaller than those who signed for the two novels "Enter Guandong" in the United States and "Skywalker" in the mainland.

How can prose be as good as martial arts romance?

Besides, it's deserted here, and there are no celebrities or beauties to see.

At this moment, a large group of people suddenly came over. The accompanying reporters took their cameras and pointed at a beautiful woman in the middle surrounded by bodyguards. She was the newly elected Miss Hong Kong Guo Aiming that Fang Minghua saw just now.