Chapter 467 You Are Different

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 are you alone? Where are your two best friends?"

Zhou Yan smiled. He didn't expect that he, Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng were all best friends in Wang Anyi's eyes.

"They are probably still sleeping now. I'll come to eat first and bring them some back soon."

"Tsk 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." Zhou Yan shook his head.

"You are still free. You just signed in yesterday and showed your face, and that was it." Wang Anyi looked envious.

She didn't want to stay in the Xijiao Hotel for meetings every day, but she was from the Shanghu Writers Association Creation Studio. She was a full-time writer of the Writers Association. She was different from ordinary members and had different obligations. Relatively speaking, she was not as free as Zhou Yan.

"The weather has been bad these days. Even if there is no meeting, there is no way to go out and play." Zhou Yan smiled and comforted.

It would have been better if he didn't comfort her. After comforting her, Wang Anyi felt even worse, "This is even worse. If the weather is good, I can go out and play when I have time. By the way, your new movie is about to be released. I heard Yu Hua tell me yesterday."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Sister Anyi, I was just about to ask you if you have time to go to the premiere to join in the fun."

Wang Anyi agreed very readily, "No problem, anyway, the writers' congress will be over by then, so it's a good time to go and watch a movie for free. I am very much looking forward to your love movie."

"Please give me some advice when the time comes, Sister Anyi. Everyone knows that you are good at exploring the theme of love."

Wang Anyi said with a smile, "In fact, there is very little love in my works."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, the women in your works are more like spokespersons for the city, and they exist to write about the city's culture and history."

Hearing this, Wang Anyi's eyes lit up, because this was exactly what she thought.

This year is a very popular year for her. After the publication of "Song of Everlasting Regret", she entered the vision of more people and her popularity increased a lot.

More and more ordinary readers see her works, and more and more people discuss her works.

"Song of Everlasting Regret" tells the story of a woman in the old times and the city of Shanghai. The heroine has been the third lady of Shanghai, the mistress of xxx important people, and has experienced unmarried birth...

But whether it is the war-torn pre-liberation, the 1950s of vigorous construction, the special period of xxxxx (revised), or the 1980s of xxx (revised), she has relied on her female intuition to get through it safely.

In this book, the story only revolves around the heroine's small world, away from zz, away from the magnificent and bloody times, and writes about some daily trivialities.

"Have you read "Song of Everlasting Regret"?" Wang Anyi asked.

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Of course, I have another copy at home. I will ask Sister Anyi to sign it for me when I have the chance."

"Of course I can sign for you, but for fairness, you have to sign for me later. I bought the collection of novels of the three of you."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Okay, I'll get them 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 Room 318, which was where Shi Tiesheng lived.

He knocked on the door, but it was a silver-haired old man who opened the door.

Zhou Yan said in surprise, "Editor-in-Chief Zhang."

The silver-haired old man was Zhang Shouren, the deputy editor-in-chief of "October". It is said that the news of Xu Chi's death also came from him.

Zhang Shouren was not particularly old, only in his early sixties, but his hair was already full of silver.

Seeing that it was Zhou Yan, Zhang Shouren smiled, "You are here 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 that came from nowhere.

Seeing Zhou Yan coming, he put down the 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 miss breakfast, so I brought you some."

"I've already eaten, but you can send it to the neighbors, they haven't gotten up yet."

Zhou Yan nodded, but didn't go over immediately. He turned to look at Zhang Shouren and said with a smile, "When we came here yesterday, we were still guessing who Tiesheng's roommate was. I didn't expect it to be you, Editor-in-Chief Zhang."

Zhang Shouren said with a smile, "I knew that the roommate was Tiesheng, and I was wondering how you could... Why don't you come to report. When I came back last night, I saw a person lying on the bed, and I was shocked. "

"Editor Zhang, have you eaten yet?"

"I went to eat with Tie Sheng. As we get older, we sleep less and wake up early. We went to the restaurant as soon as it opened and took the first bite of hot food." Zhang Shouren waved his hand, motioning Zhou Yan to sit down, and then asked Zhou Yan, "Do you have any new works recently? Have you ever considered submitting a manuscript to our October?"

Zhou Yan secretly sighed, Zhang Shouren deserves to be known as one of the four major editors in Beijing, and he asked him to invite manuscripts as soon as possible.

This is also the professional habit of editors. When they see a writer, they want to ask the writer for a manuscript.

Editors like to cast a wide net. Anyway, they will try their best to get a good deal. Whether your manuscript is used in the end is another matter, but the action of inviting manuscripts cannot stop.

Regarding Zhang Shouren, Zhou Yan heard a story from Yu Hua, which was related to Mo Yan.

Before, because of "Red Radish", Mo Yan became famous. Zhu Wei, the editor of "People's Literature", was very optimistic about Mo Yan. After knowing that Mo Yan was going to write a novel related to the Anti-Japanese War, he asked Mo Yan to give it to him after he finished it.

However, after Mo Yan finished writing, Zhang Shouren happened to see it, so he took the manuscript back to 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 take the manuscript back. Zhang Shouren of course refused, and the two sides quarreled.

Later, the leaders of the two magazines were alarmed. After coordination, the novel was still published in "People's Literature".

And the novel they were fighting for was the sensational "Red Sorghum".

From this incident, it can be seen that the desire of these editors for good works is very hot.

It is common for manuscripts to be snatched up, but it is rare for the case of Red Sorghum. In most cases, editors go to reserve a spot in advance.

Zhang Shouren asked Zhou Yan this question, naturally he also wanted to reserve a spot in advance. If Zhou Yan has any works recently, wouldn’t he be able to take a look?

Facing Zhang Shouren’s invitation to write, Zhou Yan shook his head and smiled, "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. When did Shi Tiesheng like to "meddle in other people's business"? This is not like his style.

Sure enough, he was influenced by being with Yu Hua for a long time.

Zhang Shouren heard Shi Tiesheng's words and looked at Zhou Yan curiously, "Really? Why don't you publish it?"

Zhou Yan's mouth twitched and said, "Because I am not satisfied with the works, I think there is no need to publish them." Zhang Shouren looked at Shi Tiesheng again, "Tiesheng, have you seen his works?"

"I have seen one page." Shi Tiesheng said.

"One page?" Zhang Shouren was surprised.

Not only Zhang Shouren was surprised, Zhou Yan was also surprised. He didn't know when Shi Tiesheng had read his unpublished novel, and it was only one page.

The only possible reason was that it was in his office.

There were some unpublished manuscripts in the drawer of his office.

But if Shi Tiesheng flipped through his drawer, he should have read more than one page.

"What was the page you saw?" Zhou Yan asked.

"There is not much content on that page, but it can be seen 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 were short stories, and the other half was a novel with only tens of thousands of words, all written in his spare time.

And what Shi Tiesheng saw was one page in that novel.

That novel was adapted by Zhou Yan based on "Don't Let Me Go", but he didn't write it after writing a small half and felt that there was no feeling, so he didn't write it anymore.

Zhang Shouren asked, "What kind of novel is that?"

Zhou Yan smiled, "It's a science fiction novel, definitely not suitable for October."

A magazine like October would definitely not publish science fiction novels.

Zhou Yan thought that Zhang Shouren would not ask again after he said that, but he obviously underestimated the thirst for knowledge and curiosity of an old editor.

When he heard Zhou Yan say it was a science fiction novel, Zhang Shouren was not disappointed, but became more interested, "Really? What kind of novel? How long is it? Have you finished it?"

"Well, it's a long novel, but I only wrote tens of thousands of words, and there are still many to write."

"Why didn't you continue writing?"

"No time." Zhou Yan made up a random excuse.

"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 up the inappropriate subject matter.

Zhang Shouren said with a smile, "Even if the subject matter is not suitable, can it satisfy my curiosity as an ordinary reader? Of course, the manuscript is yours, and the decision is up to you. I can't force it."

Under normal circumstances, October does not publish science fiction novels.

But that is under normal circumstances. If it is written by Zhou Yan, it may not be the case.

Zhang Shouren has no prejudice against the subject matter of science fiction. He believes that all themes are just a carrier. What kind of ideas can be expressed depends on how the author writes.

For example, Mr. Lao She's "Cat City", although it is a science fiction subject, it is definitely a very excellent satirical novel.

If it were an ordinary person who said that he had written a science fiction novel, Zhang Shouren would probably not be interested.

But the other party is Zhou Yan, the situation is different.

Zhang Shouren has read Zhou Yan's works and especially likes "Tree Hole" and "Death of the Mayor".

He even believes that if Zhou Yan is not too young, these two novels have the hope of winning the Lu Xun Literature Award.

Few writers 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 at the work. Even if the manuscript is not suitable for "" "October", you can also share it with us. It's better to be happy alone than to be happy 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 after he said this, Zhou Yan couldn't refuse, so he nodded and said to Zhang Shouren, "Okay, I'll 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.”

Since Zhang Shouren said this, Zhou Yan couldn't refuse at all, so he could only nod, "Okay, then I'll be waiting for you in the studio."

Seeing Zhou Yan's agreement, Zhang Shouren nodded with a smile, "Then it's settled, let's meet 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, go ahead and 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 immediately closed the drawer. 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 indeed 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 guys are quite ethical."

"Haha, I'm afraid you will tell me, so I haven't 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 hand 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’re actually quite curious about what you 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)