After the third week of classes in Huangcao Village, Yu Dong packed up his things and prepared to go back, but was stopped by Yu Hua.
"Commissioner, help me bring something back."
"What is it? Brought to my sister-in-law and Haiguo?" Yu Dong asked curiously.
Yu Hua shook his head, then took out a roll of manuscript paper and said with a smile, "I wrote something two days ago. Please help me send it to Zhongshan to see if they will publish it."
"Manuscript?" Yu Dong's eyes widened in disbelief.
Yu Hua's output is the rarest among them. In the past two years, he occasionally published one or two essays. In the past two years, he has basically produced nothing. Unexpectedly, he wrote one after staying here for more than two weeks. articles.
"Let me take a look?" Yu Dong asked.
"Look, Lao Wang has already seen it." Yu Hua said casually.
"Novel or essay?" Yu Dong asked again.
"novel."
Yu Dong looked at the manuscript in his hand and roughly estimated it. It only amounted to thirty or forty sheets of manuscript paper. Counting three hundred and fifty words per page, it was estimated to be more than ten thousand words.
This amount can be said to be very small for Dong. Sometimes he can write so much in half a day. Not only with Yu Dong, but also with some writers with a slightly higher output, the output can only be written in a day or two.
But for a contestant like Yu Hua, being able to write more than 10,000 words in more than two weeks can be said to be very productive. Moreover, Yu Hua certainly did not start writing as soon as he came to Huangcao Village, so the writing time must be less than Half a month.
"How long did it take you to write this novel?"
Yu Hua thought for a while and said, "About a week."
In one week, I wrote an average of nearly two thousand words every day, which was very fast.
"I thought you were playing cards with them every day here." Yu Dong joked.
Speaking of playing cards, Yu Hua felt a little embarrassed, "Hey, I still have to play cards, mainly to connect with other teachers. Of course, I also have to write articles, mainly because I don't have anything else to do here. Doing and writing something can also pass the time.”
Yu Dong nodded happily, "Okay, I will send your manuscript to "Zhongshan". If they don't accept it, they will send it to "Harvest"."
Yu Hua smiled and said, "Actually, I don't care which company I send it to, you can do whatever you want."
Yu Dong nodded, "Okay, I'll go then."
On the way back, Yu Dong unfolded Yu Hua's manuscript. What surprised Yu Dong was that the title of the novel was neatly written on the top of the first page. What surprised Yu Dong even more was that this novel The title of the novel is actually - Going on a Long Journey at the Age of Forty-Two.
This name reminds Yu Dong of Yu Hua's famous novel "A Journey at the Age of Eighteen". Compared with the novel "A Journey at the Age of Eighteen" itself, Yu Dong is more familiar with the story behind this novel, because every The first time he drank, Yu Hua would always talk about what happened at that time.
At that time, Yu Hua had been writing for several years. He had also published novels in the "Yenching Literature" magazine and even won the "Yenching Literature" award. However, he was still a little transparent in the literary world and did not have much reputation. .
But the year "Going Away at the Age of Eighteen" was published was the first highlight of his life. At that time, he published several novels in "Yanjing Literature" and "Harvest", and added Lu Xun's literary works
The college literature workshop was also the time when Yu Hua was most passionate.
Some people say that if you want to get to know the writer Yu Hua, you must read his "To Live", but if you want to get to know the pioneering writer Yu Hua, then you must read "Going Away at Eighteen".
This does not necessarily mean that "Leaving a Journey at the Age of Eighteen" better reflects Yu Hua's pioneering nature than "Shouting in the Drizzle", but "Leaving a Journey at the Age of Eighteen" does better summarize the early Yu Hua.
At that time, Yu Hua's writing was not as proficient as "To Live" and "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood". When reading "Eighteen Years Old and Traveling Far Away", some readers may even think that this novel may be written by a junior high school student.
It was written by a student, and it must be a junior high school student with average academic performance. The use of words in this novel will indeed give people this illusion.
When reading "Going Away at the Age of Eighteen", it is easy to think of Kafka. In fact, Yu Hua himself admitted that he was deeply influenced by Kafka, at least when he wrote this novel.
.
The story of the novel is very out-of-the-box, giving people a sense of absurdity and weird discontinuity.
After withdrawing his thoughts, Yu Dong took a slow breath and began to open the manuscript in his hand.
"Old Man Li's son asked someone to come back with a letter to report that he was safe. Along with the letter, he sent back five hundred yuan. After half a day, everyone in the village knew that Old Man Li's son Li Laizi had made a lot of money outside..."
Yu Dong was sitting on the tractor. The speed was very slow, but the road was too bumpy. Yu Dong and the manuscript in Yu Dong's hand moved together in the same rhythm as the unharvested rice in the field.
When the tractor was approaching the town, Yu Dong finished reading the novel.
The story begins when Li Lezi, a famous bastard in Dahuang Village, asked someone to send 500 yuan back. Because of the 500 yuan, everyone in the village said that Li Lezi had made a lot of money outside. Because of this rumor, the young and old in the village
They are very good to Mr. Li.
"I" am a substitute teacher in the village. I am in my forties and have been married. However, my wife ran away and now I live alone. After hearing that Li Lezi made a lot of money, "I" felt very uncomfortable.
, People like Li Lezi can make money, but peaceful people like me have to endure poverty.
Finally "I" decided to go to the city to see if I could make money.
The farthest "I" had ever gone out before was to go to the county town to buy things for the school, but in order to make a lot of money, "I" decided to go to Pengcheng where Li Lezi lived.
In order to go to Pengcheng, I prepared for a long time and brought all the money I had saved for many years. However, on the bus from the county to the city, I was robbed and lost all the money I had. I could not go again.
Pengcheng because I can no longer afford the train ticket to Pengcheng.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! I have two choices, one is to stay in our city, the other is to return to the village. No matter which choice I choose, it is very difficult for me.
Going back to the village, first of all, I would lose face because before I came I had told people that I was going to Pengcheng, and I needed a bus ticket to go back to the village. If I walked, I wouldn't be able to go back for a few days.
If I stay in the city, I am now penniless and don't even have a place to live. It's a problem to survive.
In the end, I decided to stay in the city, and luckily found a job at a construction site. The daily salary was ten yuan, and I lived at the construction site. I thought about saving for a while, and when I could save enough to travel to Pengcheng, I
I set out again, and when I got rich and returned to the village later, no one knew that I had stayed here for a while.
But unfortunately, our contractor ran away before I got paid.
The contractor ran away, and I followed my fellow workers to ask for wages. After a few days of asking for wages, I gave up because I wanted to live, and the money in my hand was almost not enough for me to eat.
Although I was deceived by the contractor, I still had no choice but to work at other construction sites, hoping that the next contractor would be a good person.
On the second day after arriving at the new construction site, a big thing happened at the construction site. Two workers fought and one of them was beaten to death. I followed the others and ran over to see. There was a man lying in a pool of blood, and he had no sound.
And I recognized at a glance that the dead person was Li Lezi.
Later, the police came to the construction site and asked who knew Li Leizi, but no one responded, including me.
Later, Li Leizi's father came to the construction site to claim the body. I hid in the work shed and did not dare to go out. The reason why I did not dare to go out was because I was worried that old man Li would go back and tell people that I was working at the construction site.
A few months later, I saved some money and did not go to Pengcheng. Instead, I spent money to change my clothes, bought some wrapped gifts, and went back to the village.
People in the village said that I had made a fortune, and everyone gathered around me. I shared with them what I had seen and heard in Pengcheng.
Others asked me if I had met Li Lezi in Pengcheng. I heard that Li Lezi became a big boss in Pengcheng.
…
After reading this novel, Yu Dong thought of "My Uncle Jules". Both novels talked about vanity, but they were not only about vanity. "Going Away at the Age of Forty-two" also tells the story of China's current situation.
Social conditions reflect the exaggerated disparities in society.
However, compared with the "Eighteen Years Old and Traveling Away", although the style of this novel also has many absurdities, it is much softer and not as sharp as before. As Yu Hua himself said, in the past he
He always thought about how to write, but now he was thinking more about what to write.
In addition, although the novel does not go into too much detail, it also reflects a social problem, that is, many teachers now choose to "go to the sea", either to do business or go out to work, because they do earn more when they go out to work.
Although Li Laizi's situation is quite special, in reality many people go to big cities to work, and their monthly salary can be several hundred yuan, and the better ones can be stable to thousands. There are also some special jobs, which can be several hundred yuan a month.
You can earn thousands.
These people returned to the village and built big houses one after another. How could other people not be jealous?
Yu Dong carefully put the manuscript away and then smiled. He really did the right thing by sending Yu Hua here. He was now looking forward to more works from Yu Hua.
And Wang Xiaobo, whether it's "The Bronze Age" or "The Iron Age", please come out as soon as possible.
…
After returning to Jinling, Yu Dong did not even return to Jinyi. He drove the car directly to the "Zhongshan" magazine and then sent the manuscript directly to Su Tong.
According to the general submission process, the manuscript must be sent to the literary editor first. If the literary editor feels that the work is passable, he will recommend it to the novel team leader, who will then recommend it to the top. The novel will be submitted to the magazine and then published.
There is a long process.
However, since it was Yu Hua's manuscript, it was naturally privileged. He skipped other procedures and entered the editor-in-chief's office.
Su Tong was reading the manuscript for the next issue. When he got tired, he was about to light a cigarette when he saw Yu Dong knocking on the door.
Su Tong was very surprised to see Yu Dong, "Why are you here?"
Yu Dong often came to their magazine in the past, but there have been fewer visits in the past two years. On the one hand, Yu Dong is really busy, and on the other hand, his current situation is not suitable for running around.
Yu Dong raised the manuscript in his hand and said, "I'm here to deliver the manuscript to you."
"Manuscript? Yours?"
Su Tong put away the cigarette case and stood up quickly. They hadn't received a manuscript from Yu Dong for a long time, so he seemed very excited when he heard that Yu Dong had sent a manuscript.
Yu Dong smiled and said, "It's not mine, it's Yu Hua's."
"Yu Hua's... is fine too, show it to me quickly."
Whether it was Yu Dong or Yu Hua's manuscript, they were both heavy enough, and they hadn't received Yu Hua's manuscript for a long time.
Yu Dong smiled and walked over and handed the manuscript to Su Tong's hand, "I just brought this manuscript from Huangcao Village. It's still warm."
Su Tong suddenly said, "Oh, you recently went to the countryside to support teaching. I asked you why you suddenly delivered the manuscript yourself. How about it? Teaching in the countryside is quite difficult, right?"
"Actually, it's not bad. The students are pretty well-behaved."
"Students in rural areas have a relatively poor foundation. I need you to put some thought into it... Darling, the title of the novel is Traveling at the Age of Forty-Two. Is Yu Hua already forty-two years old this year?"
"Your focus is quite strange."
"Haha, I didn't expect that he is already over forty. Time flies so fast. Please sit down for a while while I read the manuscript. I won't pour you tea."
"No, you should read it quickly and decide whether to use it or not. If you don't use it, I will give it to Harvest to have a look at."
When he heard "Harvest", Su Tong rolled his eyes and said, "No, I can give you the answer now. We at Zhongshan will definitely use this novel. If it doesn't appear in the next issue, it will definitely be included in the next issue.
"
"You won't decide until you read it?"
"No, don't wait here anymore. Leave the manuscript here with me while Yu Hua waits for us to publish it. The royalties will be paid to you and other authors."
Seeing Su Tong's determination, Yu Dong smiled and said, "In that case, fine, I'll go back first."
"Well, you can go back. Deep Space must be very busy these two days. Are there any new games online today?"
Yu Dong gave a thumbs up, "You actually know about this?"
"Yes, even people like me who don't play computer know that I read it from the Yangtze Evening News, saying that a game company under your company released a game some time ago, and it has now become popular all over the world, and
There will be another game coming out today, which is also highly anticipated.”
"If you're curious, can I take you to play a new game tonight?"
Su Tong waved his hands repeatedly, "Forget it, I don't have the talent in this area. As you know, Yu Hua and Wang Xiaobo laugh at me every day, saying that I can't even use the keyboard well."
Yu Dong smiled. Yu Hua, Wang Xiaobo and others were right. Su Tong was indeed not good at using the keyboard, let alone playing games. It was a problem for him to type on the computer.
Chapter completed!