Back to 80: My Literary Life

After discussing the matter, everyone went home.

Fang Minghua drove back to his small courtyard in Chaoyangmen. His wife and two children were sitting in the back seat, and he heard Song Tangtang sigh quietly.

Fang Minghua laughed and said, "What? Are you worried that my eldest sister's business will fail? It's okay, I will give her the full answer."

"No, the eldest sister is a bit like your mother in her aggressive behavior. I think she is quite suitable for business."

"Then why are you sighing?"

"I was thinking, how come such a good textile factory is like this now? Minghua, do you still remember the novel "Red Dresses Are Popular on the Street" you wrote?" Song Tangtang asked.

"Why don't you remember? That was in 1982, and it was later made into a movie." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Yes, whether it is in novels or movies, the female textile workers described in them wear the most fashionable clothes. After work, they go to the park in groups in three or five groups - a catwalk for fashionable young women, cutting off (exhibiting) their skirts... How enviable!”

"But now we are facing layoffs! Some time ago, the company recruited three cleaners to clean the house, and a lot of them came. Most of them were laid-off female workers in the textile city! They were all over forty years old. One eldest sister cried and said She and her husband have both been laid off, and their son is now in his third year of high school. He is good at studying and can be admitted to a key university, but he heard that the university charges tuition fees and the family cannot afford it. I felt sad at the time. "

"Then you recruit a few more." Fang Minghua said.

"However, we also have to consider the company's economic benefits." Song Tangtang sighed: "Later, we hired two more, including the eldest sister, and another eldest sister whose husband is sick and has to wait for long nights."

"You did a good thing."

"But our power is limited after all. There are so many laid-off female workers." Song Tangtang sighed again.

"There may be more in the future." Fang Minghua's tone was very calm: "Now society is transforming, enterprises are restructuring to develop, and they need to reduce staff and increase efficiency. These are all unavoidable, but the national social security system has not been fully established. All of a sudden, Pushing these many people out into society is a big problem.”

"What should we do?"

"It might be better to go step by step and get through this stage. At that time, the country will be relatively wealthy and gradually establish a relatively complete social security system. But this is something the government considers. We can only do our best to help. People." Fang Minghua continued:

"When the Red Army makes money from real estate in Hainan, I want to use part of the funds to specifically help the families of laid-off workers. As for what measures to take, I have not thought about it. We will discuss it at that time."

"Actually, the best way is to re-employ them. Having a job and receiving wages is better than assistance." Song Tangtang expressed her opinion.

"It's easier said than done." Fang Minghua sighed:

"You just said that all the laid-off workers are female workers in their early forties with low educational level. Apart from the textile work they originally did, what else can they do? Most of them are just cleaners, nannies, hotel and restaurant waiters, like the eldest sister. After all, there are only a few people who want to open clothing stores and restaurants and be their own bosses.”

"Yeah, too."

Couples often talk about this kind of topic, unanswerable topics.

The time soon arrived on the sixth day of the first lunar month, and it was time to go to work again.

The shortlisted works for the first World Chinese Literature Award were announced in Guangming Daily two years ago, but the final selection process will not take place until mid-April. The members of the jury must be given enough time to read these shortlisted literary works.

By then, 13 members of the jury will gather in Xijing. After repeated discussions, they will finally select the winning works, and then a grand awards party will be held in Xijing at the end of April.

Fang Minghua has nothing specific to do recently. The weather is nice today, his wife is at work, and his uncle has taken his two children home to play. Fang Minghua is bored at home alone, so he simply gets in his car and goes wandering on the street.

Driving through Chaoyang Gate and heading east along Changle East Road, you will soon arrive at Baqiao, which is the Textile City.

Going southeast along the main textile street, this is the core of the textile city, with the fourth, fifth and sixth national cotton factories lined up.

In fact, Fang Minghua rarely comes here. What he remembers most clearly is when he was writing "Red Dresses on the Street" in 1982. Fang Minghua also spent three days at the No. 6 National Cotton Factory where his eldest sister Fang Mingmei worked, and collected stories on the spot.

Driving slowly over, Fang Minghua discovered that the street architecture had not changed much from ten years ago. There were Soviet-style buildings everywhere.

The so-called Soviet-style buildings are all multi-story old Soviet buildings built by Soviet experts in the 1950s. They are symmetrical on the left and right sides, with the middle high and the two sides low. The main building is tall and the corridors are wide and slowly extending; followed by the "three-section style" As for the structure, the "three sections" refer to the eaves, wall body and legs.

This is better than the Tongzi Tower, with thick blue brick walls, warm in winter and cool in summer, simple and solemn.

Fang Minghua remembered that in the early 1980s, the buildings in this area were relatively good in Xijing, but now it seems that they have begun to lag behind.

The streets are bustling with people coming and going, perhaps because it’s almost time to go to work, but there are still a sea of ​​bicycles.

Fang Minghua simply parked the car on the side of the road and looked at these female workers at work.

It seemed to him that there were far fewer young girls than ten years ago, and many were middle-aged women in their thirties. The textile job that was once enviable was now slowly being abandoned by young people.

The female employees riding bicycles are still chatting and joking, but they no longer have the proud look they had ten years ago.

Their time has passed.

The future looks even bleaker.

Fang Minghua watched for a while, and then drove back after there were fewer workers on the road. He looked at the factory buildings on the roadside and suddenly remembered the TV series "Flower" that he had watched before he traveled to this era.

The TV series used a lot of words to tell the story of Mr. Fan, the director of Hangzhou Huxi Knitting Factory, who bravely went to Shanghai to create a national brand, and Miss Wang from No. 27 The Bund who won the jeans order.

The TV series was still warm and affectionate. Mr. Fan and Miss Wang were successful in the end, and a large number of employees in their factory also had a livelihood.

But in reality, many cotton mills were eventually restructured or even closed down, but whether it was restructured or closed down, there was one result: a large number of workers were laid off.

In fact, there is also a very niche movie directed by Wang Quanan.

Speaking of Wang Quanan, before Fang Minghua came to this era, netizens mentioned this name, and the first thing they thought of was piao prostitution.

Secondly, it was his ex-wife Zhang Yuqi.

Finally, it may be the identity of director.

But now, in 1992, he had just graduated from Yanjing Film Academy and was assigned to Xijing Film Studio as a director, in his prime.

More than a decade later, he wrote and directed the biographical film "Tuya's Marriage" starring Yu Nan and Sengge. The film won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and became famous overnight.

Two years later, he collaborated with Yu Nan again to shoot a relatively niche film called "The Weaving Girl".