Back to 80: My Literary Life

On the morning of April 16, 2003, Mr. Jin Yong and his wife arrived in Xijing. Song Tangtang, general manager of Shengshi Film and Television, and Zhang Baiyan, director of Qin Provincial TV Station, went to Xianyang International Airport to meet them.

That afternoon, at the Sheraton National Hotel where Mr. Jin Yong and his wife were staying, Shengshi Film and Television and Qin Provincial TV Station held a grand welcome banquet. Provincial leaders and heads of relevant departments attended the welcome banquet, including relevant leaders of the Provincial Writers Association.

Chen Zhongshi, chairman of the Writers Association, did not come because he was attending a meeting in Yanjing. The other vice chairmen in Xijing, Lu Yao, Jia Pingwa, Bai Miao, Gao Jianyong, and some famous writers were also invited to attend.

But Fang Minghua did not show up.

It was not that he was arrogant, but that he had a cold the day before, and today there were signs of worsening, with a lot of runny nose and tears, so he had to call for leave.

After taking the medicine prescribed by the doctor and sleeping drowsily for a day, Song Tangtang returned from the banquet in the evening, and he was still lying in bed.

Song Tangtang was naturally very concerned, and the first thing he did when he came back was to go to the bedroom to see Fang Minghua's condition.

"How are you? Are you feeling better?" Song Tangtang asked with concern, and put his hand on Fang Minghua's forehead to touch it.

"No fever." Fang Minghua shook his head and replied in a muffled voice: "How was your reception for Mr. Jin today?"

"It was very successful. Minister Ma of the Propaganda Department personally attended the dinner in the evening, and the heads of the Cultural Department, Radio and Television Bureau, and Tourism Bureau also attended." Song Tangtang replied.

Minister Ma is a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee. As an unofficial event, Qin Province gave Jin Yong enough face this time.

"Minghua, Minister Ma also specifically asked why you didn't come. I explained that you were sick and couldn't attend. I told you to take good care of yourself because you still have to accompany Mr. Jin to climb Huashan in two days."

Huh?

You've got me.

"Mr. Jin cares about your condition and mentioned his relationship with you at the banquet, saying that you knew each other more than ten years ago."

It is true. It was in 1986 when Fang Minghua attended the founding conference of the Hong Kong Writers Association as the deputy head of the Chinese Writers Association delegation. Later, with the introduction of Ni Kuang, a banquet was specially arranged for Jin Yong and several other martial arts writers to attend. That was the only time I met Jin Yong.

If we say that they met earlier, it was earlier. In 1984, he wrote "The Legend of Wukong" and published it in Ming Pao, which was owned by Mr. Jin.

"Today, Mr. Jin and his wife were originally sitting at the main table with Minister Zhang and other leaders. Later, they took the initiative to ask to be transferred to the writers' seat next to them. They had a good chat with Jia Pingwa, Bai Miao and others." Song Tangtang said again.

Having a good chat?

Jia Ge and the others didn't want to participate.

Fang Minghua smiled secretly.

But they had to do their best to save face.

Three days later, after Mr. Jin Yong and his wife visited other historical sites, the last activity was to climb to the top of Huashan Mountain for the "Huashan Sword Contest".

Fang Minghua's health also recovered. According to the staff's arrangement, he rushed to the hotel where Jin Yong was staying early in the morning, and then everyone took the train to Huashan.

Song Tangtang, Zhang Baiyan and some martial arts enthusiasts also went there.

This was the first time Fang Minghua saw Jin Yong again after 17 years. Compared with the last time he saw him in Hong Kong, Jin Yong looked much older, but in good spirits.

"Hello, Mr. Cha." Fang Minghua took two steps forward and shook hands with him.

"Hello, Mr. Fang." Jin Yong also smiled: "We haven't seen each other for a long time."

"Yes, I remember it was in 1986. I went to Hong Kong and Mr. Ni Kuang hosted us. We had dinner together." Fang Minghao replied.

"Well, it was in 1986. Later I heard that you came to Hong Kong several times, but I didn't see you." Jin Yong said again.

Fang Minghua smiled.

Indeed, Fang Minghua went to Hong Kong several times later, but he didn't see Jin Yong. This involved some grievances in the Hong Kong martial arts novel publishing industry.

Later, Fang Minghua's book "Snow Swordsman" was handed over to Luo Bin of Global Publishing House, the rival of Ming Pao Publishing House, by Ni Kuang's sister Yi Shu, and serialized in "Martial Arts World" magazine.

Of course, this is all in the past. The two quickly changed the topic. Fang Minghua smiled and said, "Mr. Cha, you are coming to Qin Province this time. I will take you to appreciate the scenery of Huashan."

There is still a distance from Xijing to Huashan. A group of dozens of people took the train. When they arrived at Yuquanyuan at the foot of Huashan, they began to climb Huashan.

Jin Yong was already 79 years old at this time, so he naturally couldn't walk up. At this time, the Huashan cableway had not been developed, but the organizers had already prepared a sedan chair to carry him up.

If tourists want to walk around the entire Huashan, it takes seven or eight hours, but it takes less time to reach the North Peak. Everyone climbs the mountain while the tour guide explains the scenery of Huashan.

This is Fang Minghua's third time climbing Huashan. The first time was before he got married, when he climbed with Song Tangtang, but that was more than ten years ago.

Thinking back to that time when he held the girl's hand, the two of them walked briskly, but this time Fang Minghua was panting like a cow after only climbing halfway.

He's old.

Song Tangtang was also in the team, paying attention to her husband's situation from time to time. Seeing Fang Minghua like this, she quickly asked someone to find a crutch and handed it to him.

Well, my wife is still considerate.

After climbing for more than two hours, we finally arrived at the North Peak of Huashan. The staff here had already arranged it, with a circle of tables and chairs, and a giant stone tablet covered with red silk.

Everything went according to the agenda of the meeting. After a female host from Qin Province TV station delivered the opening speech, Song Tangtang and Zhang Baiyan, representatives of the two hosting the event, spoke separately to express their warm welcome to Jin Yong.

The next important agenda was to unveil the covered stone tablet, which had calligraphy and inscriptions written by Jin Yong in advance.

"Mr. Fang, how about we unveil it together?" Jin Yong invited Fang Minghua.

"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders." Fang Minghua smiled and walked to the other side, and the two of them unveiled the red cloth covering the stone tablet together.

"Huashan Lunjian" four bloody characters appeared on the stone tablet, and there was applause from the audience.

Fang Minghua looked carefully and found that the characters were well written, strong and powerful, and were greatly influenced by the style of Wei stele, and also mixed with Huang Tingjian's running script style.

Jin Yong made another impromptu speech, "I mentioned Huashan in novels before, but I didn't see Huashan at that time, I just saw the records in history books. Today I see such a majestic and steep mountain like Huashan, and Huashan is placed first in the novels when mentioning various mountains."

In the end, a group of people sat on the top of Huashan and talked about the rivers and lakes, drinking tea, which felt a bit like Huashan Lunjian, but the wind was a bit strong.

In addition to Fang Minghua, Song Tangtang and Zhang Baiyan, there were also a group of loyal martial arts fans present, and Wang Wei, the actor of Yue Buqun in the 2001 version of "Swordsman", also attended the forum.

Jin Yong mainly talked with a group of martial arts fans, and Fang Minghua rarely interrupted.

In such occasions, the protagonist is Mr. Jin, and he is just a representative of the Provincial Writers Association.

Jin Yong took the initiative to chat with Fang Minghua: "Mr. Fang, I have been in Xijing for a few days. I heard that you held a reading salon in a bookstore to explain the world's literary works. It is very interesting."