When Zhou Yan went to the restaurant to have breakfast, he found that there were not many people. He only met one person he knew, Wang Anyi.
Seeing Zhou Yan coming out to have breakfast alone, Wang Anyi asked curiously, "Why is it just you, and where are your two best buddies?"
Zhou Yan smiled. He didn't expect that he, Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng were all close friends in Wang Anyi's eyes.
"They are probably still sleeping at the moment. I came to eat first and will bring some back to them right away."
"Tsk, you are so considerate."
The two of them walked to a table with breakfast and sat down. Wang Anyi asked again, "Will you attend the meeting this afternoon?"
"Probably not participating." Zhou Yan shook his head.
"You are still free. You signed in yesterday and showed your face and that's it." Wang Anyi looked envious.
She doesn't want to stay in the Xijiao Hotel every day for meetings, but she is from the Ueto Writers' Association's creative studio and is a full-time writer of the Writers' Association. She is different from ordinary members and has different obligations. She is not as free as Zhou Yan. .
"The weather has been bad these days. Even if there is no meeting, I can't go out to play." Zhou Yan comforted him with a smile.
It's okay that he didn't comfort her, but Wang Anyi felt even worse after comforting her, "That's what makes it even worse. If the weather is good, I can go out and play in time. By the way, your new movie is about to be released. Yesterday I heard from Yu Hua Told me.”
Zhou Yan nodded, "Sister An Yi, I was just going to ask you if you have time to go to the premiere and join in the fun."
Wang Anyi readily agreed, "No problem. Anyway, the author meeting will be over by then, so I'll go watch a movie for free. I'm really looking forward to your love movie."
"When the time comes, please ask Sister An Yi to give me some advice. Everyone knows that you are good at exploring the theme of love."
Wang Anyi said with a smile, "Actually, there is very little love in my works."
Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, the women in your works are more like the spokespersons of the city, and they exist to write about the city's culture and history."
Wang Anyi's eyes lit up when she heard this, because this was exactly what she was thinking.
This year has been a year when she has been in the limelight. After "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" came out, she came into more people's sights, and her popularity suddenly increased a lot.
More and more general readers are seeing her works, and more and more people are discussing her works.
The Song of Everlasting Regret tells the story of a woman from the old days who kept up with the city of Shanghai. The heroine worked as the third young lady in Shanghai, as the mistress of an important person, and experienced giving birth out of wedlock...
But whether it was the war-torn pre-liberation period, the 1950s when construction was in full swing, the special period of XXXX (revision), or the 1980s (revision), she relied on her female intuition to get through it safely.
In this book, the story only revolves around the small world around the heroine, far away from the zz, the majestic and bloody times of the times, and the stories are all about daily trivial matters.
"Have you ever watched "Song of Everlasting Sorrow"?" Wang Anyi asked.
Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Of course, I still have a copy at home. I will bother Sister An Yi to sign it for me when I get the chance."
"Of course I can sign it for you, but to be fair, you have to sign it for me later. I bought the novel collection of the three of you."
Zhou Yan nodded, "Okay, I'll take them both to sign for you later."
"Then I have to take it back and frame it."
……
After breakfast, Zhou Yan packed some breakfast and went to 318, which is the room where Shi Tiesheng lived.
He knocked on the door, but it was an old man with silver hair who opened the door.
Zhou Yan said unexpectedly, "Editor Zhang."
This silver-haired old man is Zhang Shouren, the deputy editor of "October". It is said that the news of Xu Chi's death also came from him.
Zhang Shouren is not particularly old, only in his early sixties, but he already has silver hair.
Seeing that it was Zhou Yan, Zhang Shouren smiled and said, "Come to see Tiesheng. Come in."
He stepped aside and let Zhou Yan in.
Shi Tiesheng had already gotten up and was sitting in a wheelchair, holding a book from nowhere in his hand.
Seeing Zhou Yan coming, he put down his book and said with a smile, "You're here."
Zhou Yan raised the breakfast in his hand, "I was afraid that you would get up late and not have breakfast, so I brought you some."
"I've already eaten, but you can send it to the next door, they haven't gotten up yet."
Zhou Yan nodded, but did not go over immediately. He turned to look at Zhang Shouren and said with a smile: "When we came yesterday, we were still guessing who Tie Sheng's roommate was, but we didn't expect it to be Editor Zhang."
Zhang Shouren said with a smile, "I had known that my roommate was Tiesheng, and I was wondering why you didn't come to report. When I came back last night, I was shocked to see someone lying on the bed."
"Editor Zhang, have you eaten?"
"Tie Sheng and I went to eat together. We are old, sleepy, and woke up early. We went as soon as the restaurant opened and took the first bite of hot food." Zhang Shouren waved to Zhou Yan to sit down, and then Ask Zhou Yan, "Have you published any new works recently? Have you ever considered submitting a manuscript to our "October"?"
Zhou Yan secretly lamented that Zhang Shouren was worthy of being hailed as one of the four major editors in Beijing, so he immediately approached him to invite manuscripts.
This is also a professional habit of editors. When I see a writer, I want to ask the writer for a manuscript.
What editors like most is to cast a wide net. Anyway, it is a matter of success or failure. Whether or not your manuscript will be used in the end is another matter, but the action of making appointments for manuscripts cannot stop.
Regarding Zhang Shouren, Zhou Yan heard a story told by Yu Hua, which was related to Mo Yan.
Zhu Wei, the editor of "People's Literature" who was famous for "The Red Carrot", was very optimistic about Mo Yan. After learning that Mo Yan was going to write a novel related to the Anti-Japanese War, he told Mo Yan to give it to him after he finished it.
But after Mo Yan finished writing, Zhang Shouren happened to see it, so he asked the manuscript to go back and read it.
After reading it, Zhang Shouren said that he would publish the manuscript in "October".
This made Zhu Wei very anxious, so he ran to Zhang Shouren to ask for the manuscript back. Of course Zhang Shouren refused, and the two sides started to quarrel.
Later, the leaders of the two magazines were alarmed. After coordination, the novel was published in People's Literature.
And the novel they were fighting for was the sensational "Red Sorghum".
It can be seen from this incident that editors like them are very passionate about good works.
Snatching for manuscripts happens from time to time, but the situation like "Red Sorghum" is relatively rare. In most cases, editors rush to take advantage of the situation in advance.
When Zhang Shouren asked Zhou Yan, he naturally wanted to take advantage of it in advance. If Zhou Yan had a recent work, wouldn't he be able to take a look?
Facing Zhang Shouren's invitation to publish, Zhou Yan shook his head and said with a smile, "There's been nothing recently..."
Before he finished speaking, Shi Tiesheng suddenly said, "He actually wrote a lot of works, but he didn't publish them."
Zhou Yan was stunned. Since when did Shi Tiesheng like to "meddle in other people's business"? This is not like his style.
Sure enough, he had been with Yu Hua for a long time and was affected.
Zhang Shouren heard Shi Tiesheng's words and looked at Zhou Yan curiously, "Really? Why don't you publish it?"
Zhou Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Because I am not satisfied with the works, I feel there is no need to publish them." Zhang Shouren looked at Shi Tiesheng again, "Tiesheng, have you seen his works?"
"I've seen one page," Shi Tiesheng said.
"One page?" Zhang Shouren looked surprised.
Not only Zhang Shouren was surprised, but Zhou Yan was also surprised. He didn't know when Shi Tiesheng had read the novel he hadn't published, and it was only one page.
The only possibility is in his office.
There are some unpublished manuscripts in the drawer in his office.
But if Shi Tiesheng looked through his drawer, he should have read more than one page.
"What is that page you saw?" Zhou Yan asked.
"That page doesn't contain much content, but you can tell that the story takes place in a rural school." Shi Tiesheng said.
"Oh." Zhou Yan nodded.
He already knew what Shi Tiesheng saw. In the drawer of the studio office, there were actually only two and a half works.
Two of them are short stories, and half of them are novels of only tens of thousands of words, all written in his spare time.
What Shi Tiesheng saw was one page from the novel.
That novel was adapted by Zhou Yan based on "Never Let Me Go". I was only halfway through writing it, but I didn't feel like it, so I stopped writing it.
Zhang Shouren asked, "What novel is that?"
Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It is a science fiction novel, and it is definitely not suitable for publication in October."
A magazine like "October" will definitely not publish science fiction novels.
Zhou Yan thought that if he said this, Zhang Shouren would definitely not ask again, but he obviously underestimated the thirst for knowledge and curiosity of an old editor.
When Zhou Yan said it was a science fiction novel, Zhang Shouren was not disappointed, but became even more interested, "Really, what aspect? How is the length? Has it been finished?"
"Well, it's a long story, but I've only written a few tens of thousands of words, and there's still a lot left to be written."
"Why didn't you continue writing?"
"No time." Zhou Yan randomly found a reason.
"You are indeed very busy." Zhang Shouren nodded and asked eagerly, "Since you have written tens of thousands of words, can you show it to me?"
"This...the subject matter is not suitable for "October"." Zhou Yan once again brought out the inappropriate subject matter.
Zhang Shouren said with a smile, "Even if the subject matter is not suitable, can it still satisfy my curiosity as an ordinary reader? Of course, the manuscript is yours, and the decision-making power rests with you. I can't force it."
Under normal circumstances, "October" does not publish novels with science fiction themes.
But that's under normal circumstances. If it was written by Zhou Yan, it might not be the case.
Zhang Shouren has no prejudice against the subject of science fiction. He believes that all subjects are just a carrier. What kind of thoughts can be expressed depends on how the author writes.
For example, Mr. Lao She's "Cat City", although it is a science fiction novel, is definitely an excellent satirical metaphor.
If an ordinary person said that he had written a science fiction novel, Zhang Shouren would probably not be interested.
But the other party was Zhou Yan, so the situation was different.
Zhang Shouren has read Zhou Yan's works and particularly likes "Tree Hole" and "Death of the Mayor".
He even believed that if Zhou Yan hadn't been too young, these two novels would have had the chance to win the Lu Xun Literature Award.
There are few writers who can write such mature works as "Death of the Mayor" and "Tree Hole" as soon as they debut.
So even though Zhou Yan said his novel was science fiction, Zhang Shouren was still very interested.
When Zhou Yan was struggling, Shi Tiesheng said next to him, "The writing conference is for writers like us to sit together and communicate. Zhou Yan, don't hide it, take it out and take a look. Even if the manuscript is not suitable for "" "October", you can also share it with us. It's better to have fun alone than to have fun together. How can you write a manuscript and hide it from others."
Looking back at Shi Tiesheng, Zhou Yan curled his lips. Shi Tiesheng was really not normal today.
But when he said this, Zhou Yan couldn't refuse, so he nodded and said to Zhang Shouren, "Okay, I will send the manuscript over for you to take a look at when I get the chance."
He thought that it would be okay to agree now. Anyway, he didn't say when he would deliver it, so he just delayed it like this. If he delayed it later, Zhang Shouren might forget about it.
But Zhou Yan once again underestimated Zhang Shouren's enthusiasm. When Zhou Yan said this, Zhang Shouren said directly, "Don't look for time. I heard from Tiesheng that you have to go back to the studio today. Let's do it. After the meeting in the afternoon, I will go How about a visit to your studio? I happen to be going home tonight, so it’s a good idea.”
When Zhang Shouren said this, Zhou Yan had no way to refuse and could only nod, "Okay, then I will wait for you in the studio."
Seeing Zhou Yan's agreement, Zhang Shouren nodded with a smile, "Then it's settled, let's see you this evening."
Having said this, Zhang Shouren stood up and said, "In this case, I have to go to Lao Feng for something. I'm going out first. You guys can talk."
"Okay, get busy."
……
After Zhang Shouren left, Zhou Yan looked at Shi Tiesheng, "When did you see that page of manuscript?"
"Yu Hua showed it to me. He had finished smoking his own cigarettes that day and wanted to look for cigarettes in your drawer, but when he opened the drawer, he saw a pile of manuscripts."
"So you just watched it?"
"When he first thought it was a document, he closed the drawer immediately. But then he thought it was a manuscript, so he couldn't help but open the drawer and read it, and found that it was really a manuscript."
"Then you only read one page?"
"According to what Yu Hua said, if you look at one page, you can only say that it was an accident, which is excusable. If you look at the following pages, it will be a bit unjustifiable."
Zhou Yan rolled his eyes, "You are quite ethical."
"Haha, I'm afraid you will tell me, so I never asked about it."
"Then why did you say it today?"
"I think it's time to say it." Shi Tiesheng took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit one for himself, "Editor Zhang doesn't smoke, so I feel uncomfortable holding it in."
"I don't smoke either." Zhou Yan said angrily.
"You are different." Shi Tiesheng waved his hands and smiled, "Actually, we know that you usually write a lot of things, and there should be more than just the manuscripts in the drawer. Logically speaking, you decide your own affairs, and we can't interfere. But we can’t help it, and we are actually quite curious about what you usually write. You always actively share your music with us, so why not literary works.”
Zhou Yan heard the concern in Shi Tiesheng's words and understood his thoughts. In fact, Zhou Yan was not angry at him for "selling out" himself.
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "If you have anything to ask in the future, just ask me directly. Even if my work is not published, I can still show it to you."
Shi Tiesheng nodded, "Yes, I remember." (End of Chapter)