The exchange between Zhou Yang and Lin Chaoyang at the National Outstanding Short Story Award Dinner quickly spread throughout the Yenching literary circles in the next two days and attracted widespread attention from colleagues.

Compared with many writers in the south, writers in the north, especially those in Yanjing, are very knowledgeable about politics and will unconsciously reflect this tendency in their works.

Root-seeking literature is currently gaining momentum. In addition to the emergence of a large number of fans, it is also bound to face a wave of opposition and criticism from the literary, cultural and ideological circles.

The attitude of the official mouthpieces who have yet to speak out is unclear, and Zhou Yang's attitude also represents the official attitude to a certain extent.

From this point of view, the pressure of public opinion that root-seeking literature has to face is probably still great!

Conjecture and discussion among colleagues will not change anything.

On the third day after the dinner, Lin Chaoyang's family held the annual cultural salon as usual. All twenty award-winning writers this year attended, and many Yanjing writers also attended. The scene was lively.

Lin Chaoyang's cultural salon has been held since the second year after the birth of the National Outstanding Short Film Award. In the past five years, it has gradually formed its own history and tradition.

After several previous cultural salons were held, many award-winning writers have more or less mentioned the unofficial itinerary of the cultural salon when they published articles in magazines recalling their award-winning experiences.

Compared with the official itinerary, the atmosphere of the cultural salon is more relaxed, comfortable and casual, and is deeply loved by many writers.

Therefore, the cultural salon held after the annual award ceremony has not only become one of the activities that every award-winning writer looks forward to after winning the award, but has also become a widely circulated allusion among people in the literary world.

This year's cultural salon was more lively than in previous years. Besides "root-seeking literature", the most talked about thing was "Crossing Guandong" by Lin Chaoyang.

This novel has not yet been published, but it has generated greater discussion and attention in the literary world than many published works.

There is really a sense of mystery that "it comes out after being called out for a long time, but its face is half-hidden with the pipa in its arms".

Several of Lin Chaoyang's familiar friends had already read the manuscript, so he felt particularly privileged when discussing it with everyone.

Those foreign writers learned from their mouths that Lin Chaoyang still had a manuscript at home, and couldn't help but request to take a look.

Everyone was so eagerly anticipating it, and Lin Chaoyang couldn't resist everyone's wishes, so he had to take out the manuscript.

But there is only one manuscript, so how to divide it among so many people is a problem.

Li Tuo showed off again at this time, "This is simple. Let's play rock, paper, scissors. The winner will see two cards first, and then pass them on in order."

This method may seem like a joke, but it is very practical. Many people followed it and started a "flowing reading" operation.

Their "flowing reading" method sounds ideal, but everyone's reading efficiency is different. Some are fast and some are slow. After reading for a while, everyone started to get noisy.

Those who watch quickly urge those who watch slowly, and those who watch slowly complain about those who watch quickly.

After arguing for a while, everyone compromised and calmed down again to continue watching.

Being so noisy, quiet, and repeated over and over again invisibly exercised everyone's tacit understanding and cultivated some feelings.

The originally lively gathering suddenly became serious and quiet because of a manuscript. Lin Chaoyang was inevitably in a state of tears and laughter.

This scene lasted until the sun was about to set in the evening, and someone finally woke up.

Lu Wenfu said with a troubled face: "The time is too short, I haven't even seen a tenth of it yet."

Everyone went to Beijing to receive the award, and the official activities have ended. Today is the last day of stay in Beijing for many people, and he is the same.

But he happened to see the manuscript of "Crossing Guandong" at this time. It was like having a beautiful woman in his arms. How could he let go of her?

Lu Wenfu's complaint resonated with everyone, but it had nothing to do with anyone else.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said: "Anyway, it will be published in twenty days. It will be the same if I read it by then."

Lu Wenfu frowned and said, "I just heard the name before, but now I've seen it all. It's so uncomfortable not to finish it all!"

"That's right! Chaoyang's novel is so extraordinary that I can't bear to let it go!"

"It would be nice if it was shorter. I can't finish it in one night if it's so long."

…

Everyone was chatting with each other, and finally complained that Lin Chaoyang should not have taken out the manuscript. Now they were upset and confused.

Lin Chaoyang said aggrievedly: "Is it my fault? It's not what I want to show you."

He thought for a while and said helplessly: "Well, if you are willing to stay and read, you can stay and take care of food and housing. Is that okay?"

"Then why are you so embarrassed!"

Lin Chaoyang's attitude was considered very sincere, and no one could stop making trouble unreasonably.

It’s a wonderful idea to stay in Yanjing for a few more days to read novels, but most people don’t have the time or the strong desire.

In the end, after much deliberation, only three writers asked for a lot of leave and had no mundane matters at home, so they decided to stay.

There are also two writers in Yanjing, Zhang Jie and Shi Tiesheng, who can read books at any time.

After some discussion, seeing that the time was almost up, everyone bid farewell to Lin Chaoyang and his wife.

After everyone left, Lin Chaoyang arranged rooms for the remaining few people.

The courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong is large enough that fifty or sixty people can live there at the same time without feeling crowded, so having so many people is not a problem.

These people stayed at Lin Chaoyang's house for another three or four days, and finally read the full text of "Crossing the Guandong", and they were indispensable for their admiration and praise.

Then he said goodbye to Lin Chaoyang and his wife. After they left, Tao Yushu was going to clean up the wing room where they lived. The room was as tidy as before they moved in.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife warmly entertained everyone. They also tidied the room before leaving. Tao Yushu also found a stack of food stamps and RMB on the table.

Those people didn't mention it when they left. It must have been gathered together by everyone. They were afraid that the couple wouldn't accept it, so they simply put it in the room and waited for them to find it.

Tao Yushu brought the food stamps and RMB to Lin Chaoyang, "What should I do?"

"What can we do now that everyone is gone? Let's keep it."

March has passed like this, and at the beginning of a new month, the outside world’s discussion on “root-seeking literature” has become more and more heated.

"The Roots of Literature" has been published for more than half a month, and its influence continues to grow. There are also highly provocative articles such as "The Shocking Voice of Chinese Literature - Recording the Birth of the "Zhuoxian Declaration"", which has added more and more followers.

.

The base of attention is getting bigger and bigger. With more supporters, there are naturally more opponents. Starting in April, articles opposing root-seeking literature began to appear in newspapers and magazines across the country.

In addition, official mouthpieces from various places have also begun to speak out, and the evaluation of root-seeking literature is also polarized, with both praise and criticism.

This situation could not have been more normal in the 1980s. The entire country was trying to cross the river by feeling its stones. Except for the top leaders who made the final say on certain key issues, no one could rush to eliminate all new things.

This is not only a matter of courage, but also a matter of realistic checks and balances.

In such an era, there are all kinds of voices coexisting, which may not necessarily be a good thing, but it cannot be said to be bad.

After Li Hangyu returned to his hometown, he submitted the article "Li Yili Our Roots" he wrote to "Shanghai Literature" and successfully published it, which aroused considerable repercussions.

This article is another powerful article on root-seeking literature after "The Roots of Literature". It enriches the richness of root-seeking literature to a certain extent and adds fuel to the current lively situation of root-seeking literature.

The trend of root-seeking literature is still going on. Lin Chaoyang, the pioneer, has experienced praise and slander. For the time being, it has no impact on him personally, and his life is as peaceful as ever.

On the Sunday after the Qingming Festival, he took his wife and children to visit the Old Summer Palace, and then went to Tao's house for dinner.

During meals, family members must pay attention to the recent external noises. Lin Chaoyang acted very calmly and was not affected at all.

Tao Yucheng said with envy: "Your influence is too great now. A random article can actually cause such a big discussion. If it develops further, I don't think it will be less influential than Zhang Hua's incident of saving an old farmer the year before last.

"

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "You can't compare it like that. Zhang Hua's incident had a social impact and was related to social ethics. Our discussion is actually focused on the cultural world."

Father Tao had always admired Lin Chaoyang's ability to remain calm despite changes, but after listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, he still smiled and said, "You don't have to be modest. It's already a great thing to be able to influence a certain field in this society."

The family was chatting, and there was a sound at the door. It was Tao Yumo who was back.

When Tao's mother saw her, her expression suddenly dropped, "You still know how to come back!"

Seeing that everyone had already eaten, Tao Yumo smiled with her face. After she sat down, Tao Yushu asked her: "Where did you go to play? Why did you come back so late?"

Listening to Tao Yushu's question, Tao Yumo said awkwardly: "Sister, I'm already in my twenties, can you please stop taking care of me like this?"

"Is it okay if I ask?"

Tao Yumo opened her mouth and saw her mother looking at her with a worried expression. She helplessly replied: "I went to watch a movie."

"Du Feng?"

"Um."

Tao's mother couldn't help but said: "He is doing business, why do you always take advantage of him?"

"It's not like I won't give you money." Tao Yumo retorted.

Mother Tao sneered, "You give me money?"

Tao Yumo looked a little guilty, "I did give you money."

She did give the money, but Du Feng didn't ask for it.

My girl came to watch a movie, how dare Du Feng ask for money.

It's not that Tao Yumo doesn't understand the truth, it's just that those movies are so good and can't be seen elsewhere for the time being, so she can only shamelessly watch them.

Recently, whenever she had time, she would go to Du Feng's video room and watch it all day long. She almost watched all the video tapes that Du Feng brought back, and she never tired of it.

Because of Tao Yumo's return, the topic at the dinner table turned to Du Feng's video room.

After everyone chatted for a while, Tao Yucheng suddenly asked Lin Chaoyang, "Chaoyang, Yumo said that Du Feng's video studio is doing very well now. Did you say before that this business wouldn't last two years?"

"It's not that we can't do it for two years, but the profiteering period won't be too long."
To be continued...