Originally, he had no time to serve as a judge on the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award Jury, but Lin Chaoyang forced himself to do something difficult, and he was the one who handled the matter.

The preliminary selection for the awards in April ended and the final selection in May began. The members of the judging panel gathered in Xiaoliubukou Alley.

Running an award requires not only bonuses, but also a lot of other manpower and financial resources. In order to save money, Lin Chaoyang donated the house in the west courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

During this month, it served as a guest house, a conference room, and a reading class.

On weekdays, the judges all have their own work. For this time, some people, such as Lu Xu and Hong Zicheng, took special leave for the evaluation of the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award.

Some people have no way to ask for leave and can only use their spare time after get off work and weekends to participate in the review, such as him.

Wang Meng has been coming to Xiaoliubukou Alley after work these days. If it is over before nine o'clock in the evening, he will go home. If it is too late, he will spend the night here.

In order to solve the worries of the jury, the Cultural Association specially arranged three comrades to be responsible for temporary logistics work. The hardware and software conditions of Xiaoliubukou Hutong are still very good.

The atmosphere of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award Jury is slightly different from previous awards that Wang Meng has participated in. Perhaps because some non-literary people have joined the committee, the atmosphere here is more relaxed and diverse.

In addition to reading books, reviewing nomination lists, and discussing works, everyone also talks about the professional fields and issues of outside judges from time to time.

Such chats not only open up thinking, but also contribute to the harmony of the overall atmosphere of the jury.

"Chaoyang!" Wang Meng called Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang turned around, "What's the matter?"

"I think it's getting late, so let's go to bed early."

The jury is a temporary organization with very loose discipline. Everyone usually comes and leaves whenever they want.

The biggest workload of the judges is to read the nominated works, but reading does not have to be done here.

Wang Meng's excuse was so poor that Lin Chaoyang didn't even bother to expose him. Xie Jin on the side heard what he meant and immediately answered:

"Oops! I didn't notice that it's already so late!'

His tone was surprised, as if he had just experienced a day-and-night work.

Xie Jin looked at Lu Xu again and asked with a natural expression: "It's already this time, is Xiao Lu hungry?"

When he asked, several people in the room looked at Lu Xu. Lu Xu looked a little embarrassed and hesitated, "Are you hungry?"

Xie Jinsha nodded matter-of-factly, "Young people are in good health, and they get hungry quickly. We can't let people work hungry, Chaoyang——..."

As he spoke, his eyes turned to Lin Chaoyang.

"I asked you two, can you use some new words?"

Lin Chaoyang's tone was slightly dissatisfied. Wang Meng and Xie Jin sang together not for the young man's health, but for their own greed and alcohol addiction.

This scene has happened several times in the past week.

"It doesn't matter whether it's new or not, as long as it's useful." A proud smile appeared on Wang Meng's face.

There were six or seven people in the room, all with smiles on their faces.

Eating late night snacks and drinking small drinks, this is probably the biggest difference between the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award jury and other awards.

It also directly increased the happiness index of the judges.

Lu Xu washes the vegetables, the logistics guy Zhao Qie Duner, and Lin Chaoyang cook the dishes. The professionalism of the chefs in the judging panel is comparable to that of a five-star hotel. There are also a bunch of old guys commenting on the operations of a few people.

"Xiao Lu, you didn't wash the cabbage leaves cleanly!"

"Xiao Zhao, this shredded radish needs to be chopped finer, otherwise it won't taste good."

"Chaoyang, you need to be less angry, the peanuts are almost burnt!"

Lin Chaoyang threw the pot and said, "That's so good, you do it!"

The kitchen was quiet.

It doesn’t take long to put together the dishes to go with the wine: scrambled eggs with green onions, fried peanuts with salt, and cold pork head.

Sweet and sour shredded radish, the dish is neither expensive nor rich, but it is large in quantity and affordable.

Except for Xiao Zhao from the logistics department, there were a total of 14 judges staying in the west courtyard today. Except for two or three old comrades who went to bed early, everyone else gathered in the restaurant in the east wing.

"Come on, come on, Xiao Lu, fill it up for yourself, and Yimou, too."

Xie Jin didn't have a good time without wine, and started to get excited as soon as the table was served.

After taking a sip of Fenjiu, Lu Xu felt warm in his stomach. This wine was really good.

He took another bite of shredded radish, which tasted refreshing and crispy.

At this moment, Lu Xu felt an indescribable feeling of comfort in his heart. Under the catalysis of alcohol, he felt as if he had been in a dream. Everything was so unreal.

Obviously half a month ago, he was an ordinary cleaner in Guangzhou, and now he had the opportunity to sit and drink with characters he had only seen in books and news in the past.

The encounters in life are so amazing!

Lu Xu is a literature lover and an amateur author. His amateur creative career began six years ago.

There was almost no splash in the first four years.

Not to mention publishing works, even if I write one or two submissions that satisfy me, I don’t have one or two.

It was not until the year before last that he published an article the size of a piece of tofu in Guangzhou Daily. After that, his works were published in newspapers and magazines one after another.

As expected, the article made no splash, but fortunately, he joined the Guangzhou Literary and Art Association last year based on his several publishing experiences.

It was precisely because of joining the Literary Association that he had the opportunity to become a member of the jury of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award.

Most of the judges of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award are invited. The only difference is that the readers are judges.

Because of the professional nature of the awards, the organizing committee cannot really invite ordinary people who know nothing about literature. Even ordinary readers must have a certain amount of reading to be the judges.

The reason why Lu Xu was selected was because the Literary and Art Association randomly selected five people from among the members of domestic municipal literary associations, and then through the provincial-level literary association to learn about the reading volume of several people in the form of assessment, he was determined.

This selection of judges.

The other two of the three reader judges are enthusiastic readers selected through "People's Literature", and their requirements are basically similar to Lu Xu.

From an ordinary worker to an amateur author, to a judge of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award, Lu Xu felt like he had struck a lucky chord and cherished this opportunity.

In addition to wanting to complete the review task perfectly, he also wanted to learn something through this opportunity.

When a group of people were drinking and chatting, he was always listening silently, absorbing and digesting all kinds of knowledge.

Lu Xu felt that these chat contents opened the door to a new world for him.

"Chaoyang's speech at Yanda some time ago seems to be spreading more and more widely," said Hong Zicheng.

Lin Chaoyang's "message" to Yanda was just unintentional. At first, it was only published in the Yanda campus newspaper, and there was not much response.

Later, I don’t know why, but this “message” was circulated in the student publications of several universities around Yanda, triggering heated discussions among many college students.

If it were in later generations, Lin Chaoyang's remarks could be said to represent political correctness and would easily win the approval and approval of many people.

Claims represent positions, attitudes and classes. In this short period of ten years, many debates on specific claims occurred at the same time and have continued.

This kind of controversy is reflected in the social level and is discussed again and again.

Lin Chaoyang's "message" is a personal opinion, but people have attitudes and will be classified. His views are clear and firm, and he is directly classified as a conservative.

"What kind of speech? I just said a few words casually." Lin Chaoyang said.

Hong Zicheng joked: "Don't underestimate your influence. I don't know about your speech this time. At least the students in this circle in Haidian almost made a fuss."

"Yenjing Daily" published an editorial last week on your matter, criticizing those voices in society that seek total Westernization."

Lu Xu listened to the conversation between Hong Zicheng and Lin Chaoyang, filled with envy.

One speech can cause such a big stir. This is the influence of a great writer.

The supper in the west courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong lasted for more than an hour, and the number of people gradually dwindled. It was late at night, and everyone could not bear to go to bed. Only a few energetic night owls were still toasting and drinking, holding candles and talking at night.

Lu Xu tried his best to support his eyes and tirelessly absorbed the knowledge and experience of his predecessors.

The final review of the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award continued in such a relaxed and happy atmosphere.

As the days passed, as the judges read and understood all the nominated works in depth, it became clearer and clearer to the works they wanted to choose.

Starting from the third week of May, the atmosphere in the West Courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong has gradually changed. The relaxed and happy atmosphere is still there, but it is a little more solemn.

The time for the jury to vote on the final winning works is getting closer and closer, and everyone is paying more and more attention to the award.

Not only the jury, but also during the period after the final selection of the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award, this courtyard house in Xiaoliubukou Hutong also attracted the attention of countless literary practitioners and lovers across the country.

That's a bonus of 100,000 yuan. Such an astronomical sum is enough for a writer to live comfortably for a lifetime.

It is definitely a bit vulgar for literati to talk about money, but who made the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award give too much?

Who will win such a big prize in the end?

No matter what others think, at least in the minds of most writers across the country, the status of the new Zhuang Zhongwen Literary Award is by no means lower than that of the Mao Dun Literary Award.

Don't ask, asking means treating honor as life!

May 20, 1988, the third Friday in May.

Today, the 25 judges of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award jury gathered in a rare gathering in Xiaoliubukou Alley. In the past half a month, such a scene has only occurred once on the day when the jury met.

According to the judging rules of the jury, the third Friday in May is the day when the judges vote for the first time.
To be continued...