Shaanxi, Xi'an, inside the courtyard of the Cultural Association.

More than two months have passed since the Spring Festival of the Wuchen year, but the couplets on the courtyard gate are still there, mottled by a rare new rain in Shaanxi spring.

"Lu Yao, there is a letter!" The security guard who had been stuck in the gatehouse all year round was rarely dispatched and sent a letter to Lu Yao.

Lu Yao, who was buried in his desk, didn't hear his voice and didn't react until the letter was thrown on the table.

"Where did the letter come from?"

"He's from Yanjing."

The guard replied and left. Lu Yao was fascinated by the postmark certificate on the envelope.

After a moment, he opened the letter.

The person who wrote him the letter was Ye Yongmei, the editor of the China National Radio. She was an educated youth who went to the countryside in Shaanxi and was an old acquaintance of Lu Yao.

Last spring Lu Yao was invited to visit West Germany and met Ye Yongmei in Yanjing. The two had not seen each other for many years and had a good time. Before parting, Lu Yao gave Ye Yongmei the first volume of "The Ordinary World" published by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company as a gift.

Gift.

Lu Yao didn't expect that Ye Yongmei would contact him a few months later and said that he wanted to record "The Ordinary World" into a radio program. Of course, Lu Yao was happy to see it happen.

By the end of March this year, the first and second episodes of "The Ordinary World" were officially broadcast on China Central Radio's "Long-form Series" program, and the presenter was Li Yemo, a rising star in the broadcasting industry.

His works were transformed from words into sounds and spread to the ears of hundreds of millions of listeners. Lu Yao was filled with joy.

After getting rid of the gloom of the previous novel's publication and lack of success, I devoted myself more actively to the creation of the third part of "The Ordinary World".

Last summer, Lu Yao completed the second manuscript of "The Ordinary World" and sent the manuscript to the editorial department of "Flower City".

The first part of "The Ordinary World" was first published in "Flower City" magazine. After the second part was completed, according to Lu Yao's idea, of course he wanted to finish it from beginning to end and continue to publish it in "Flower City".

Unfortunately, things went against expectations. In the second half of last year, there was a major staff change in the editorial department of "Flower City".

After the second manuscript of "The Ordinary World" arrived at the editorial office, there has been no movement.

It happened that during that time, Lu Yao also vomited blood due to overexertion, sought medical treatment everywhere, and no longer had the energy to care about his work.

It was not until November last year that he sought treatment from a famous doctor in Yulin, and his condition showed initial results. He immediately and eagerly devoted himself to the creation of the third part of "The Ordinary World".

During this period, he corresponded intermittently with "Flower City". After the first part of "The Ordinary World" was published, the response in the literary world was not ideal, which also affected the reputation of the work among readers to a certain extent.

Coupled with the large changes in editorial staff, many comrades in "Flower City" had reservations about publishing the second volume.

The deputy editor-in-chief Xie Wangxin who originally supported him has now been transferred to the publicity channel. The deputy editor-in-chief Du Jiankun who succeeded him is committed to increasing revenue and reducing expenditures, and does not agree to continue publishing the second part of "The Ordinary World". As the editor-in-chief, Li Shifei is faced with this situation.

Du Jiankun's move was not unreasonable. Since 1986, when Lin Chaoyang's works disappeared from "Flower City", the magazine's sales have declined significantly.

This decline is not a phenomenon unique to "Flower City", but is nationwide.

Literary magazines that were once widely popular among readers and sold hundreds of thousands of copies seemed to have become less attractive overnight.

In addition to the decline in sales, the costs of paper, ink, printing, distribution and other links have generally increased, which has also put great pressure on the editorial department of "Flower City".

Therefore, "Flower City" even had to increase the magazine's price from 1.2 yuan to 1.8 yuan last year.

Under such circumstances, the second part of "The Ordinary World" was released to poor response to the first part, and the reviews were not good.

It is indeed a bit difficult for "Flower City".

In the end, Lu Yao had no choice but to stop placing his hope in "Flower City" and instead contacted Li Jinyu, the editor of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company.

As early as the year before last, when the first part of "The Ordinary World" suffered setbacks in submission, Li Jinyu had a keen eye and fell in love with this novel. However, Lu Yao always insisted on being able to publish it in famous magazines in order to gain greater influence after the work was published.

Published in the last issue.

Later, after the first volume of "The Ordinary World" was published in "Flower City", it was soon published by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company.

Now that he had given up the idea of ​​publishing it in a prestigious journal, Lu Yao no longer had to bear the burden and directly handed over the manuscript of the second volume to the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Company.

When Ye Yongmei recorded "The Ordinary World", she got the proof of the second part.

When the "Ordinary World" program is officially broadcast, the second part of "The Ordinary World" will also be published.

Ye Yongmei mentioned in the letter that the response from the audience after "The Ordinary World" was broadcast was very good, which made Lu Yao feel a little gratified.

At the end of the letter, Ye Yongmei also mentioned that radio stations in other provinces and cities recently wanted to broadcast the "Ordinary World" program, and she wanted to seek Lu Yao's opinion.

Seeing this text, Lu Yao was inspired and even happier.

Is there anything else to ask for opinions on? Agree! Must agree!

He happily planned to write a letter to Ye Yongmei. As soon as he laid out the letter paper, he felt that this was too inefficient, so he might as well make a phone call.

So Lu Yao borrowed the Literary Association's phone number to contact Ye Yongmei. After the two communicated for a while, Lu Yao revealed his disappointment at the mediocre response to the novel's publication.

Ye Yongmei consoled her: "Lu Yao, I always firmly believe that "The Ordinary World" is an excellent literary work. I hope you won't be angry because of the setbacks you are facing."

"Yongmei, I understand, I will sort out my mentality."

Hearing the sadness in Lu Yao's words, Ye Yongmei added, "By the way, have you heard? "The Ordinary World" has been shortlisted for this year's Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award. I heard that the chances of winning are pretty good."

"Really? That's a good thing!"

Lu Yao pretended to be a little excited and chatted with Ye Yongmei for a few more words before hanging up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, he showed a sad face.

Lu Yao knew about the news that "The Ordinary World" was shortlisted for the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award ten days ago, and he was excited for two days at first.

After he calmed down, he wasn't so happy anymore.

"The Ordinary World" is a work that he wrote with great painstaking efforts. He attaches great importance to the work, but he has not yet lost his mind.

This novel has just been published, the first and second volumes have been published, and the "big world" in his mind has not yet unfolded.

If it were after the planned trilogy was written and published, then he would be very confident about winning this award, but "The Ordinary World" is an unfinished work after all, and he really wasn't confident.

In fact, he feels that it is a very happy thing to be nominated as a finalist.

Winning a prize!

Lu Yao looked up at the sky. When the day comes when "The Ordinary World" is finished, he will definitely give it a try.

The bonus of 100,000 yuan is really tempting. How many packs of cigarettes can I smoke!

Shanghai, Fudan University.

In May, the South China is hidden in a lush scenery. The camphor trees on both sides of Nanjing Road are tall and straight, with lush branches and leaves, exuding a unique fragrance, and using their shade to shade the students walking underneath.

In front of the lawn of Xianghui Hall, a group of students wearing summer clothes gathered.

Their eyes are shining, their expressions are excited, they talk eloquently, and their spirits are high when they look around.

"I think the best novel award must go to "Muslim Funeral". It is also about family history. It uses love tragedy as a clue to show the complexity of human nature, the conflict of cultures and the impermanence of fate.

In my opinion, the writing style is much more beautiful than that of "The Ancient Ship", and it also has more profound thoughts on issues such as history and culture, the value of life, love and faith."

The female student with a ponytail talked about her favorite things, her brows were full of joy, and her hands were gesticulating in the air from time to time.

As soon as she finished speaking, a male classmate who was half lying on the lawn next to her took over.

"It's not that easy to win an award! Our literary club's nomination only represents part of the consensus of the students on campus.

"Muslim Funeral" is indeed excellent, but that does not mean that other works are inferior.

Ke Yunlu's "Night and Day", Jia Pingwa's "The Impetuous", Ling Li's "The Young Emperor" - there are too many excellent works, and "Muslim Funeral" is not necessarily better than these novels."

The girl with the ponytail didn't agree with the male classmate's words and was about to refute when the classmate and roommate beside her suddenly said: "You have all ignored a work."

"What work?"

"The Ordinary World" by Lu Yao.

The girl with the ponytail was slightly surprised, "That book? Isn't it finished yet? It's already far-fetched to be nominated."

The group of students chatting freely on the lawn of Xianghui Hall are all members of Fudan University’s Chunsun Literary Club, which is one of the primary institutions for the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award.

These days, the connections between universities are much closer than in later generations, especially the connections between literary societies and poetry societies.

After the preliminary lists of each university were submitted to the jury, many universities exchanged their respective nomination lists. Therefore, students who often participate in literary club activities know more about the nominated works than ordinary writers.

"It's not finished yet, but I think the novel is quite good."

When the girl with the ponytail heard what her roommate said, besides being surprised, there was also a trace of disdain hidden in her eyes.

The first volume of "The Ordinary World" did not get a good reputation after its release, which is almost a consensus among the members of Chunsun Literary Club.

"Not bad? I remember you said before that this novel is an old lady's foot-binding cloth - smelly and long."

"I used to feel this way, but recently I was listening to the novel broadcast on China Central Radio, and when I heard the second part, I felt that my evaluation of the first part was a little too hasty."

The roommate's words aroused the interest of the people around him, and everyone asked: "You mean the second part is much better than the first one?"

"Not only is it better, but the key is that the story unfolds, and the sense of grand narrative becomes stronger and stronger."

At this time, some classmates also agreed with the roommate's view, "I also listened to the performance, and the second part really feels like it is getting better."

The second part of "The Ordinary World" was just published last month. Due to the reputation of the first part, very few people have watched it, but there are quite a few listeners of the show.

Seeing that both of them rated the second part of "The Ordinary World" so highly, the students around them became even more interested. Some of them had already decided to buy the book and read it in the next two days.

The work of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award Jury is a huge project. Even though the award regulations and rules have saved the judges a lot of work in the preliminary stage, the final selection time of only one month is not enough.
To be continued...