Ermatai nodded and said truthfully: "Didn't I tell you before that A Fang's family gave you three thousand yuan? A Fang and I collected another five thousand yuan, and now we still owe the Housing Management Bureau four thousand yuan."

Ermatai's new house is the smallest unit in the Hongling Building, only 42 square meters. Fortunately, there is no public area at this time. The 42-square-meter house has two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom squeezed into it.

It is enough for a young couple to live in, even if they have children in the future.

After the couple bought the house, they didn't even have money to decorate it, so Ermitai asked his coworkers for help to do a simple renovation.

"Afang and I have calculated that if we both save some money, we can repay the money in the next year at most."

When Ermatai talked about this, her face was filled with joy.

As long as he works for more than one year, he and Luo Huifang will be able to own a building of their own in Shenzhen.

When he came out of Xiaoyangtun, he never thought that one day he would be able to take root in the special zone of Shenzhen, marry a wife, and own his own building.

A high-rise residence with more than 30 floors and an elevator is considered a luxury house for ordinary people in this era.

After talking about the house, Ermatai revealed another news to Lin Chaoyang: Luo Huifang was pregnant.

"You guys can do it! Get on the bus first, then buy the ticket." Lin Chaoyang joked.

Ermatai couldn't help but scratch his head and giggle again, with a bit of pride on his face.

The two chatted for a while, and Ermatai took Lin Chaoyang to his father-in-law's house.

The Luo family has always known that their son-in-law has a great writer as a child, but they have never seen him. Just in time for the wedding, Lin Chaoyang finally showed up, which also made the Luo family more glorious in front of the neighbors.

Not long after Lin Chaoyang arrived at Luo's house, their house almost became a tourist attraction. They were all neighbors who came to see the great writer, and the scene was once chaotic.

When distinguished guests came to their door, the Luo family naturally had to entertain them grandly. Lin Chaoyang came to attend Ermatai's wedding to make a scene for him. He accepted all comers and soon became drunk.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang smelled of alcohol when he got up, and he didn't feel much better until he had breakfast.

Then he attended a wedding the next morning, and when writing the gift account, Lin Chaoyang only wrote down 20 yuan, which was considered high among a group of relatives and friends, but not outrageously high.

The master of ceremonies for the wedding was Zhang Guidong, Ermitai's leader at the Guomao construction site, and the witness was Li Chuanfang, the deputy director of the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau. Being able to invite them both here, it seems that Ermitai had some respect in the workplace.

After Li Chuanfang finished speaking, Zhang Guidong called Lin Chaoyang out again and asked him to say a few words.

Another grand appearance, Lin Chaoyang naturally became the focus of the audience as soon as he stood up.

Nearly half of the people present were Er Maitai's co-workers, and they had often heard Er Maitai talk about his "great writer" career. Today, when Lin Chaoyang showed up, everyone realized that Er Maitai really wasn't bragging.

There was no need for any profound speech at this time, and all the talk was about New Year greetings. Lin Chaoyang gave full play to the Northeastern people's tongue-in-cheek skills and made the guests laugh non-stop.

In the afternoon after the wedding, Lin Chaoyang was preparing to leave Shenzhen for Guangzhou, and Ermatai and his wife specially sent him to the station.

"Are weddings still held in my hometown?" Lin Chaoyang asked Ermatai.

"We have to wait until the Chinese New Year is approaching before we go back. Then we can just have two tables of wine and invite some relatives."

"That's fine, it saves you the trouble."

After chatting for a while, Lin Chaoyang took out a brown paper bag and handed it to Ermatai. He took it and took a look, his face was full of surprise, and he hurriedly returned the brown paper bag to Lin Chaoyang.

"Chaoyang, what are you doing?"

Lin Chaoyang held his hand and said, "It's not easy for you and A Fang to work hard in Shenzhen. You can decide for yourself whether you use the money to pay off the house or do some small business."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for Ermaitai's reaction, he carried his luggage and entered the station.

Ermaitai stood there in a daze, while Luo Huifang listened to the conversation between the two and knew that the bag given by Lin Chaoyang contained money, and it was definitely not a small amount.

She took the brown paper bag and saw that it was filled with a thick pile of large dough balls. She opened her mouth wide in shock.

"How much is this?"

Only then did Ermaitai come back to his senses and said, "Speak less of four thousand yuan."

Luo Huifang was curious about how he could tell it at a glance, and Ermatai said, "I told Chaoyang that the two of us still owe the housing authority four thousand yuan."

After listening to Ermaitai's words, Luo Huifang counted the money carefully.

"Not just four thousand, but five thousand!"

After paying back the money from the Housing Authority, the couple still had a thousand yuan left.

Luo Huifang was both happy and at a loss, "Isn't this money too much?"

Ermatai sighed, "Yes, it's too much."

He looked into the station again, but Lin Chaoyang's back was no longer visible.

Luo Huifang asked Ermaitai, "What should I do with the money?"

Ermatai hesitated for a few seconds, then said with a wry smile: "Take it, I owe you a lot of favors, I'll pay them back slowly when I have the chance in the future."

In fact, he understood that with the current gap between him and Lin Chaoyang, this favor might not be repaid in his lifetime.

With his words, Luo Huifang accepted the money with peace of mind and started thinking again.

"Hey, what do you think we will use the money for?"

"Didn't Chaoyang say that? Pay back the money or do some small business."

"A small business? I can't bear to work in a hotel. How about you resign?"

"I'm not a business material either!"

…

It was already evening after setting off from Shenzhen and arriving in Guangzhou. Lin Chaoyang first stayed at a guest house next to the train station for a night, and then came to Huacheng Publishing House.

As soon as he showed up, the employees of Huacheng Publishing House gathered to watch.

In the past two or three years, Huacheng Publishing House has achieved astonishing benefits due to its cooperation with Lin Chaoyang.

Just the release and publication of two works, "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong", created more than 20 million yuan for Huacheng Publishing House during this period of time.

Without Lin Chaoyang, it would have taken at least six or seven years to achieve Huacheng Publishing House's previous performance.

Writers like him are naturally important guests of Huacheng Publishing House.

Therefore, after Lin Chaoyang arrived, he was immediately invited to the president's office, accompanied by president Su Chen and editor-in-chief Li Shifei.

Su Chen heard that Li Shifei said that Lin Chaoyang had been living in Xiangjiang in recent months. He was concerned about it during the chat and asked Lin Chaoyang if he planned to settle in Xiangjiang.

"I won't settle down. Mainly because I have some cooperation with some companies in Xiangjiang. I may go to Xiangjiang more in the future."

Su Chen added: "Lao Li said it when he came back last time. I recently watched Jade Channel and saw the news that "The Truman Show" is going to be adapted into a movie?"

"yes."

"This is a good thing!" Su Chen looked happy.

The adaptation of "The Truman Show" has already been decided upon before it has even been published. It is invested by Golden Harvest Films, directed by Ann Hui, and starring Xu Guanwen and Zhong Chuhong. Such a lineup can definitely be regarded as a big cast production in the Hong Kong film industry.

If the movie can be released in the mainland in the future, it will also help the sales of the novel.

"I think the lineup is strong and a lot of money has been invested, right? Can it be released in our mainland?"

"With an investment of HK$5 million, this film is Xu Guanwen's transformational film. He and the main actors did not receive high salaries, otherwise the budget would have been increased by two to three million.

As for the mainland release, this still depends on the operation of Golden Harvest."

Su Chen added: "The movie adaptations of your previous works have been quite successful. If "The Truman Show" can be released in the mainland, it will definitely be the same. At tomorrow's press conference, the movie will also be a publicity point."

For the publication of "The Truman Show", Huacheng Publishing House has put in a lot of effort.

In the past month or so, a wave of saturated book advertisements have been placed in various well-known magazines and newspapers across the country.

According to Su Chen, the subscription volume of "The Truman Show" has exceeded 450,000 copies, and the results are simply astonishing. This is the result of their publishing house not doing its best.

"Chaoyang, you won the Best Screenplay twice at the Academy Awards, which can be regarded as bringing glory to our domestic film industry. This month's "Popular Films" even reported on it.

Now that you are cooperating with a film company in Hong Kong, do you plan to focus on drama in the future?"

Li Shifei asked the question in his mind.

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "The script just happened to happen. I'll write it when I have the right opportunity. The novel will continue to be written."

Listening to what he said, Su Chen and Li Shifei seemed to feel relieved.

The president and editor-in-chief chatted with Lin Chaoyang all morning. In the afternoon, they took Lin Chaoyang to visit the scenic spots in Guangzhou. In the evening, they arranged a reception banquet for Lin Chaoyang at the White Swan Hotel.

The White Swan Hotel is the first joint venture five-star hotel in China. It was jointly funded and built by Mr. Huo from Xiangjiang and the GD Province.

The hotel is located on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Almost all the equipment, building materials and furniture in the hotel are imported from abroad. The total investment exceeds 180 million yuan. In this era, it is definitely a representative of luxury in the domestic hotel industry.

Huacheng Publishing House not only chose this place for the reception banquet, but also Lin Chaoyang’s accommodation in Guangzhou and tomorrow’s book launch conference.

They have worked so hard for Lin Chaoyang. Which cadre can withstand such a test?

At nine o'clock the next morning, the grand banquet hall of the White Swan Hotel.

Usually, the most government investment activities held here are, but the layout of the venue today is very different from the past.

Directly north of the venue, a huge backboard stood there.

The background of the backboard is a blue sky and white clouds. A staircase extends from the lower left to the upper right of the backboard. There is an open door there, and behind the door is endless darkness.

The man walking on the stairs looked at the blue sky and white clouds, touching each other with his hands, as if he was touching a world he had never touched before.

The painting on the back is a hand-painted oil painting. For this painting, the two editors responsible for the cover design of Huacheng Publishing House have been busy for more than half a month.

This painting was inspired by a still from the later "The Truman Show". When Li Shifei was communicating with Lin Chaoyang about the cover of his new book, Lin Chaoyang described the general artistic conception to him, which was then implemented by the cover design editor.

This painting is also used on the cover of the new book. When magnified hundreds of times, the picture has an unexpected artistic tension.

Entering the venue, almost everyone's attention was attracted by this painting. After admiring it for a while, everyone noticed the text on the banner above the backboard - "The Truman Show" book launch conference.

There are two lines of smaller words below, which are "Works of Xu Lingjun" and "Huacheng Publishing House, sponsored by GD Provincial Literary and Art Association".

"The launch of your new book is bigger than the press conference for the movie."
To be continued...