Lin Chaoyang thought that Li Shifei came to ask for a manuscript, but he did not expect that he actually came with a "proposal composition".

Marquez won the Nobel Prize for Literature, making magical realism, a literary genre born in Latin America, a prominent school in the international literary world today.

This is even more true in China. As soon as the results of the Nobel Prize for Literature were announced in October, literary young people from all over the world started talking about "magical realism" and stopped talking about "the explosion of Latin American literature."

This phenomenon itself is very magical realism, but in this land, it is completely normal.

"Flower City" was the first domestic literary magazine to report on Marquez's award-winning speech. During this period, they also reprinted the magical realism works of writers such as Delfo and Marquez, but the effect caused made the magazine president

It feels almost meaningless.

Because the influence of imported and reprinted works is more limited to the group of literature lovers, if you want magical realism to truly take root and flourish in China, there must be a major influence.

Only local works will do.

One of the purposes of Li Shifei's trip to Yanjing this time was to connect with many writers and invite them to submit manuscripts. Another, more important purpose was to find writers who had the potential to cooperate with them in accomplishing this grand goal.

Some people may ask, magical realism is just something written by a foreigner. Why does "Flower City" have to spare no effort to promote this literary genre?

In fact, the reason is very simple. Literary genres are just things summarized by people in the industry or researchers. According to the current definition of magical realism, "Journey to the West" is actually a work of magical realism.

Therefore, regardless of the source of the hero, since it is a good thing and makes it interesting and useful for readers to read, what does it matter if it is "used as a doctrine"?

Then there is the consideration of "Flower City"'s own development. If any literary magazine wants to develop and form a strong influence, it must rely on something.

For example, "Harvest" has Ba Jin's signature brand, and "Contemporary" has the backing of the Humanities Society.

In addition, being able to publish works with great influence and promote talented young and middle-aged writers are all good ways for literary magazines to quickly expand their influence.

"Flower City" has been famous for its "foreign style" since its inception. In the past few years, the magazine's influence has reached a bottleneck period, which can also be seen from the magazine's sales.

One year after its first publication, the sales volume of "Flower City" reached 600,000 copies per issue, but there has been almost no significant change in the past two or three years.

Li Shifei said that Lin Chaoyang seeks innovation and change in his creations. Is this not the case for him and "Flower City" magazine?

Lin Chaoyang has been in the literary world for more than four years, step by step, and has achieved great fame with his works. Now with the blessing of the Mao Dun Literature Award, he has become the number one young writer in China.

It can be said that among the young writers in today's literary world, there is no one like him.

Looking at his creative achievements over the past few years, he has dabbled in many literary genres and styles, such as realism such as "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", stream of consciousness such as "The Death of Van Gogh", and "The Chess Master".

》This type of revolutionary romanticism.

In today's literary world, there are many people who write in a certain style to death, but there are very few writers like him who are constantly seeking innovation and change.

Now "Flower City" hopes to use their power to produce magical realism works with local colors, and Li Shifei feels that Lin Chaoyang is a good partner.

Lin Chaoyang not only has strong creative ability, but also has an enterprising spirit that is constantly seeking innovation and change. With both ability and motivation, he is the perfect candidate.

Listening to Li Shifei's request, Lin Chaoyang looked thoughtful.

Li Shifei saw that he seemed to be worried, thinking that he could not put down his dignity and was afraid that his creation of magical realism works would be said to be unfair.

Then he persuaded: "Magical realism is not a patent of Latin American literature. Domestic readers have an eager demand for works of this genre.

Our magazine wants to always let Chinese people read foreign works, so it is better to promote some magical realism works with our national characteristics."

Little did he know that Lin Chaoyang was not thinking about these things at all. Li Shifei was equivalent to the company's purchaser. How could he purchase goods without a price?

What's the use of just saying these nice words? Can I still give you the manuscript for free?

Zhang Guangnian has been working and living in Yanjing all year round, and has always heard about Lin Chaoyang's calculations about manuscript fees. Seeing that he has not spoken for a long time, he has a general guess in his mind.

He reminded Li Shifei in a joking tone, "Old Li, this requirement of your magazine is a 'proposal composition', so you have to pay more for it."

Hearing this, Li Shifei immediately felt blessed. He had also heard about Lin Chaoyang's style before coming.

"We at "Flower City" have always been generous in terms of manuscript fees. This time when we came to make an appointment with Chaoyang, we also showed great sincerity.

As long as the manuscript can pass the review, we are willing to pay 20 yuan per thousand words."

Listening to Li Shifei say the number "20 yuan for a thousand words", Lin Chaoyang's eyes couldn't help but light up.

You should have told me earlier!

20 yuan per thousand words, which is much more generous than the Humanities Society and Yanjing Publishing House.

This price was not given randomly by Li Shifei. Lin Chaoyang had just won the Mao Dun Literature Award. This was the first time they invited a manuscript for "Flower City", so it was reasonable to increase the manuscript fee.

After discussing the royalties, Li Shifei noticed the change in Lin Chaoyang's expression and asked with expectation: "Chaoyang, look..."

Lin Chaoyang finally spoke at this time, "This is a coincidence. I am currently working on a work with a magical realism color, and I can show it to you first."

Li Shifei was overjoyed when he heard this, "Oh, what a fate! Maybe your novel is tailor-made for our magazine. Can I read it now?"

Lin Chaoyang got up and went to the study to get the manuscript, "It is a full-length novel. It is expected to be 240,000 to 50,000 words, and there is still a part left to finish."

Hearing that it was a novel with a length of 240,000 to 50,000 words, Li Shifei was even more happy. He took the manuscript and wanted to read it immediately, but when he felt the thickness of the manuscript, he found that it was at least 170,000 to 80,000 words. It was not written all at once.

Can finish it.

"Chaoyang, I have a heartfelt request. Can you take this manuscript back to the guest house and look at it first?"

Writers rarely show unfinished works to others, let alone take them away.

If it is damaged or lost, it will be a major blow to the writer's creation. Such things happen from time to time in the literary world.

But Lin Chaoyang has always had a spirit of serving Party A. He thought for a moment and said: "It's better than this. You can stay at home these two days, and we will communicate after reading the manuscript."

"This..." Li Shifei hesitated, "I'm afraid it will cause you trouble."

These days, people are far less distant from each other than in later generations, and it is very common for friends to stay at home.

Many editors will stay at home when they go to writers to request manuscripts. Or, on the other hand, when writers go to the editorial department to revise manuscripts, they will also stay at the editor's home.

"It's no trouble. Just don't think the conditions at home are poor."

After agreeing to stay overnight, Li Shifei couldn't wait to turn over the manuscript.

He wanted to stay here tonight, no matter how late it was, but there was Zhang Guangnian beside him.

Lin Chaoyang looked at Zhang Guangnian, and the meaning in his eyes probably said: I'm going to see off guests.

Zhang Guangnian ignored his look and pulled him aside, "I have something else to talk to you about."

"What's up?"

"What else can I do? Join the Literary and Art Association."

"Didn't I tell you already? I'm not interested in this thing."

"Is this something you are interested in or not? We need unity. Do you understand unity?"

Zhang Guangnian saw that Lin Chaoyang was a bit indifferent, so he simply played the emotional card.

"It's a shame that I've been so busy with your childbirth the past few days, I'm so old!

It was past ten o'clock when I got home that day, but I was so exhausted that I had to rest for several days before I recovered."

On the day Tao Yushu gave birth, Zhang Guangnian and a group of award-winning writers waited with Lin Chaoyang in the hospital for most of the day.

Lin Chaoyang muttered: "Did I make you wait?"

"What did you say?"

"nothing."

Zhang Guangnian put moral pressure on Lin Chaoyang again, "Are you embarrassed to let me, an old man who is almost seventy years old, run around in the cold weather? If you tell me, people will poke your spine."

As the saying goes, a gentleman can be deceived. Fang Zhang Guangnian's good words before were of no use, but his current operation just took advantage of Lin Chaoyang's weakness.

"Why are you still trying to blackmail me?" Lin Chaoyang said helplessly.

"Is this blackmailing you? This is urging you to make progress!" Zhang Guangnian said righteously.

He added: "Joining the Literary and Art Association is not as troublesome as you think. You don't have to come to the meetings. If you participate in the occasional unavoidable activities, just take it as a way to relax and meet friends."

"In addition, our literary association not only holds meetings, but also conducts various collections and visits, which can increase your knowledge and help your creations."

When Zhang Guangnian said this, he seemed to have made up his mind and said to him: "Next year our literary association will be visiting Xiangjiang and I will give you a place."

Visiting Xiangjiang?

Lin Chaoyang disagreed. Putting aside the Hong Kong movie filter, this city was really unsatisfactory for tourists.

But he also understood that this was from the perspective of future generations.

Nowadays, being able to go abroad for a stroll is a rare experience in this life for most people. If any unit has such an opportunity, it will be beaten into a dog's head.

Strictly speaking, going to Xiangjiang is not going abroad, but it is no different from going abroad. After all, it is still under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

Zhang Guangnian offered up the quota for the visit to Xiangjiang, which was considered to be very sincere. Coupled with the pressure of relying on his elders and selling them out just now, Lin Chaoyang felt that it would be too unkind to refuse him any more.

"All right."

After talking for a long time, Lin Chaoyang finally let go, and Zhang Guangnian beamed with joy.

"That's right! Our Cultural Association is not a scourge. There are only advantages and no disadvantages in joining.

You guys really don’t let go of the rabbit in sight, you must know that the visiting places in Xiangjiang are very popular!”

Lin Chaoyang said: "It doesn't matter whether we go to Xiangjiang or not. You keep talking!"

"You can say that you are cheap and yet you act like a good boy!"
To be continued...