The Spring Festival of 1989 had just passed, and nearly a year and a half had passed since Lin Chaoyang's last novel "The Great Era" was published.

For efficient players like Chen Jiangong and Zheng Wanlong, let alone writing a long novel, even a medium novel may not be able to finish the second part.

But for Lin Chaoyang, this is already a rare inefficiency.

After all, he was a ruthless person who finished writing "Enter Guandong" within 8 months. Even if Lu Yao was half as efficient as him, he wouldn't be tired before he gets old.

After getting the manuscript of Lin Chaoyang's new book, several people were very excited. There is only one copy of the manuscript and everyone wants to read it, so they will be ranked first.

Li Tuo was ranked number one. After reading five pieces of manuscript paper, he handed it over to the next person. This is called flow work.

At first, from time to time, someone complained because the people in front were reading too slowly. Later, everyone gradually became immersed in the story weaved by Lin Chaoyang. The room was silent except for the sound of papers being turned from time to time.

A group of people watched from noon to night, and when it got completely dark, everyone was shocked to realize that half a day had passed just like that.

Several people looked at the manuscripts in their hands with reluctant expressions.

"It's getting late, you guys go back first." Li Tuo assumed the attitude of a master and said to Zheng Wanlong,

Chen Jiangong and others said.

"You won't leave?"

"I'll keep this here tonight."

Initially, a few people were hesitant to leave, but after Li Tuo said this, they didn't want to leave.

"Go back when you need to. Why don't you stay up all night?" Li Tuo advised.

"You can stay up all night, why can't we?"

"Do you want to compare this too?"

Several people argued for a while and finally decided unanimously not to go home.

No reply means no reply, but you still have to line up and call home to say something.

After reading the novel all night, Lin Chaoyang took a look in the morning and saw that several people's eyes were as red as Mr. Rabbit's, but their spirits were very high.

After a few people had breakfast, they planned to finish reading the novel in one sitting. At this time, a group of people came to the west courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Alley.

In the afternoon, Li Tuo finally finished reading the novel first. He took Lin Chaoyang with him and was about to talk about his feelings with excitement on his face, when another group of people came to the yard.

Today is Saturday, movie night in the West Courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong. For more than a year, this event has become a source of happiness for many people.

Among the people who came were several young editors of literary magazines in Yanjing and students who were also studying at the Lu Xun Institute of Literature. There were more than a dozen people in the group, and the courtyard suddenly became lively.

Everyone originally came here for the movie. I heard that Li Tuo and others had just finished watching Lin Chaoyang's new work, and they immediately became interested. They stopped watching the movie and rushed to grab the manuscript.

Yu Hua, with his quick eyes and quick hands, grabbed the beginning of the novel that had already been read by Li Tuo and others.

"Enrollment".

The three-character title came into view, and it immediately caught Yu Hua's eyes and his heart.

It is not difficult to understand the literal meaning of the three words "Jishi". Yu Hua's parents are doctors, and when he was a child, he even took a nap in the hospital morgue.

It's just that this title is a bit too literal, and it doesn't fit in with the title in domestic funeral culture.

The thought flashed through his mind, and he didn't have time to think about it.

There were more than a dozen people nearby staring at the beginning of his hand, and he had to look at it quickly.

The novel that Li Tuo, Yu Hua and others saw was "Enter the Master" adapted from a Japanese film by Lin Chaoyang.

This film is adapted from the novel of the same name. It is a rare adaptation that surpasses the original work as the most representative film.

The movie tells the story of a cellist named Kobayashi Daigo who has a musical dream and is forced to return to his hometown due to life constraints.

It is difficult for Daigo Kobayashi to find a job without any skills.

Then he was attracted by an eye-catching job advertisement1, "No age limit, high salary guaranteed, very short actual working hours. We are looking for a journey assistant." Unexpectedly, when he rushed to NK Office to apply for the job with the advertisement, he learned that,

The person being recruited turned out to be a teacher.

Despite his resistance, Xiaolin Dawu accepted the job due to the pressure of life.

When he first got involved in work, he felt very uncomfortable with the various shocks he faced, but as the story progressed, he gradually changed through each experience.

From the initial confusion and confusion, to the later understanding, recognition and even love.

After the film was released in 2009, it received a high reputation from the audience and won the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

It is worth mentioning that "Enter the Master" is not the original title of the original novel and movie, but the translated title released in China.

The original name of the movie was "Diary of a Coffin Bearer", and "Coffin Bearer" is the name given to professional personnel in Japanese funeral culture.

The term "entering the funeral" was coined by domestic translators, but it unexpectedly enhanced the quality of the movie, and thus gave people in the funeral industry in China a decent title.

"Chaoyang, how did you come up with the idea of ​​writing about this subject?" Li Tuo asked.

Lin Chaoyang briefly talked about meeting Xiao Baicheng at the Hong Kong event, "At that time, I thought it would be interesting to write about this subject."

Li Tuo nodded slightly, Lin Chaoyang was right, this subject matter is indeed very interesting to write about, and not only interesting.

The theme expression of "Entering the Master" is naturally highly dramatic and ideological, because death is one of the eternal themes of mankind.

Lin Chaoyang's novel revolves around death and farewell, and the theme must touch on extremely profound and thought-provoking topics.

The discussion of life and death runs throughout. The profession of inspector directly faces death. Through the detailed description of their work process, the novel conveys a view on death that is different from traditional thinking.

In terms of narrative style, Lin Chaoyang uses extremely plain language without any fancy or ostentatious elements, which instead makes the novel more emotionally charged.

As a reader, there seems to be a touch of sadness hidden between the lines of the novel, which is everywhere.

But if you savor it carefully, you will find that its plot is not heavy. Instead, it talks about life and death, making people unconsciously immersed in it, creating a peaceful and solemn atmosphere, which heals people's hearts.

In addition to the discussion of life and death, the novel's discussion of professional prejudice, gender prejudice, and family love are also impressive.

Thinking of this, Li Tuo had to admire Lin Chaoyang. Over the years, he has always had extremely high pursuits in creation, not only in terms of style and technique, but also in terms of subject matter and content.

In his view, Lin Chaoyang's creative ideas have completely jumped out of the categories that contemporary Chinese writers are concerned about.

Going to higher dimensions.

"This novel of yours is more modern than your previous works." Li Tuo said suddenly.

The modernity he talks about is not the "Western modernism" or "modernism" pursued by many people today, but a conceptual innovation.

Li Tuo opened up the conversation when talking about his views and feelings about the novel.

"In our Chinese society, or East Asian society, death is an untouchable topic. The greatest advantage of your novel is that it provides our society with another perspective on death."

While Li Tuo was explaining his inner views, several other people also finished reading the novel and joined the discussion.

Everyone's evaluation of the novel is unexpectedly high. As a literary person, there is always an excess of romanticism in our hearts.

The profession of becoming a teacher is something that few people have access to, and it is full of mystery.

Once it is mysterious, it will immediately create legend and artistry in everyone's hearts.

Everyone discussed the novel enthusiastically. Zheng Wanlong said: "I think the beginning of "Enter the Master" is the best beginning among domestic novels in recent years!"

His bold speech won unanimous recognition from everyone.

Lin Chaoyang's version of "Enter the Master" is still set in Hong Kong.

Originally, he also considered setting the story in the Mainland, but the current social conflicts, professional prejudice and other issues in the Mainland are still not intense enough compared to a capitalist society like Xiangjiang, so after much deliberation he chose Xiangjiang.

The protagonist is Lin Dawu. He studied cello in his early years and was admitted to the famous Manhattan School of Music in the United States. However, he was not the kind of talented musician. In his middle age, he was laid off from the orchestra and suffered a career crisis.

After he couldn't find a good job in the United States, he planned to return to Hong Kong to work as a phoenix. However, it backfired and the job he had negotiated was lost.

It was difficult for a musician like him to find a job in Xiangjiang, so he had no choice but to enter the teaching profession.

From cellist to teacher, this identity change is full of drama and conflict.

"I think the biggest advantage of "Entering the Master" is that it is far away from ghosts and gods. Whether in the West or the East, death is often artificially related to religion.

"Entering the Master" is unique in this regard, completely abandoning religious connotations. Even though it contains descriptions of Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, those religious behaviors between Chaoyang's brushstrokes are nothing more than a placebo.

Focusing the topic on the relationship between life and death is closer to the essence of things, which can touch people's hearts more and mobilize people's true feelings."

The heated discussion continued late into the night. They had been excited about a novel for a long time.

It's time to get excited.

This evening was supposed to be a movie night, but everyone paid no attention to it. They were either reading novels or discussing novels.

By the next day, Sunday, those who came later had also finished reading the novel and participated in the discussion. The situation was even more lively than a seminar on the work.

It was not until Sunday afternoon that everyone finally got tired and stopped discussing.

Yu Hua finally asked Lin Chaoyang a question, "Teacher Chaoyang, our country does not have the title of 'Jishi', right? Why did you think of giving this novel this name?"

His question also aroused everyone's curiosity, and they all turned their attention to Lin Chaoyang.

"Being a funeral practitioner is indeed a coined word. Not only in our country, but also in many regions and countries, working in the funeral industry is an unpopular job.

In Hong Kong, these people are called workmen, and in Japan, these people are called coffin bearers. What lies behind these names is often the society's contempt for this kind of people.

In order to write this novel, I was at the Xiangjiang Funeral Home————·

Lin Chaoyang talked about his experience of collecting photos at Xiangjiang Funeral Home, and then continued.
To be continued...