Chapter 165: The Book of Heaven

There was still some chill in the Magic City in March, and coupled with the lack of heating, Wei Lin really couldn't bear to leave the quilt he had warmed up for a whole night in the morning.

However, he still had many things to do today, so he got up at eight o'clock in the morning and went out to find a restaurant to eat.

When he came last time, he was discouraged by the restaurants in the Magic City, but now it was different: a portion of pork ribs with rice cakes, a bowl of small wontons—he didn't care about the price at all.

Today, he could even arrange a meal at the Peace Hotel.

After he entered the editorial department of "Harvest," Li Xiaolin was first surprised by the title of Wei Lin's book. Using the poem of a great man directly as a name—would this be inappropriate?

However, after reading the outline and seeing that the story ended with our army taking Nanjing in '49—"Heaven, if it has feelings, will also grow old; the righteous path in the human world is the vicissitudes of life"—it was truly a suitable name.

"Ma Xiaowei, come and meet the editor-in-chief with me."

"Okay!"

Arriving at Ba Lao's office, his spirit was no worse than last year, and he smiled: "Ma Xiaowei is here, sit, sit, sit."

It seemed that Editor Li had already told him about this new work of Wei Lin. He reached out and took the outline directly, and was obviously stunned when he saw the name.

He praised: "Good name."

This name could be seen as Wei Lin indicating his position. Since I have taken this name, I certainly cannot make principled mistakes.

What was feared was that with such a magnificent book title, the content inside would be written timidly, losing its boldness.

"The Righteous Path in the Human World Is the Vicissitudes of Life" told the story of a landlord family surnamed Jiang in Hebei. The outline started directly from the anecdotes of the old master Jiang Chixia, who practiced martial arts when he was young, then joined the army, and retired after witnessing many major events. The prototype was his Great-Great-Grandfather Wei Jiang, so the protagonist's family was surnamed Jiang.

Wei Lin planned to put the story of Old Master Jiang in the prologue, using a relatively short length to pass through the history from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Xinhai Revolution, but a short piece of content involved big figures like Yuan Shikai and Feng Guozhang, and all had inextricable connections with Old Master Jiang.

When Ba Lao was looking at the outline, he felt that the sense of expectation was very strong, and based on the few words describing Jiang Chixia, he saw the shadows of many realistic figures in the Republic of China period, such as Du Xinwu, Sun Lutang, Li Shuwen, etc.

Then the perspective came to 1925, when Mr. Sun Yat-sen passed away, and introduced the next generation of three brothers and sisters: Jiang Lizhong, Jiang Lihua, and Jiang Limin.

In fact, there were four brothers and sisters. Jiang Chixia and his sister-in-law gave birth to the youngest, Jiang Lizu, making up a "Chinese nation," but the scenes were not many, and the outline did not mention it; it was to be used for the theme at the end.

The three brothers and sisters of "Chinese Nation" were none of them easy to deal with, and they all had inextricable connections with the high-level KMT and CCP figures of that period.

Writing according to this creative idea of Wei Lin, it was indeed very easy to commit taboos, and many high-level figures who were even still alive and held important positions would appear. No wonder he had the worry that "Harvest" would not dare to publish it.

3,000 words were read quickly, but for a full-length novel, 3,000 words might not even be able to write out the main characters. Ba Lao could only see that the ambition of this novel was extremely great, and the writing difficulty was also high. If he could write it, it would surely be a masterpiece.

This reminded Ba Lao that when he created "The Torrent Trilogy" back then, he was only 27 years old. Young people should dare to challenge high difficulty; when they are old, they won't have that spirit.

And as a writer, a full-length novel was a type that tested a writer's ability very much. Ba Lao considered that his status in the literary world was almost established by "Family," "Spring," and "Autumn," especially "Family," which was created earliest.

Mr. Lu Xun's disadvantage was that he didn't have a full-length novel work, otherwise, the few of them wouldn't be worthy of being discussed together with Mr. Lu Xun at all.

Ba Lao asked: "How long do you plan to write this novel?"

Wei Lin: "I estimate it will be at least 500,000 words."

Li Xiaolin exclaimed, 500,000 words! The length was ten times that of Wei Lin's previous medium-length novels!

500,000 words, spanning 25 years, would write about Whampoa study, Whampoa Eastern Expedition, Zhong Shan Ship, Northern Expedition, April 12th, Jinggangshan, Xi'an Incident, Pingxingguan, Wannan Incident, Chongqing Negotiations, the Three Great Campaigns, etc. It was still very tight, and Wei Lin hoped to write it more compactly.

Seeing that Wei Lin wanted to challenge such a large length for the first time writing a full-length novel, Ba Lao worried that he would write it off-track. Many authors who write full-length novels would make this mistake, and when they reached the end, they would forget why they started.

"Does this novel have a core idea that runs through the whole book?" Ba Lao asked.

Wei Lin thought for a while: "The ideology of saving the country and the conflict of ideals are what I want to explore in the book."

Ba Lao nodded. The word "conflict" should be on the two brothers Lizhong and Limin. They were the protagonists, and the younger brother Limin was the core protagonist.

The few strokes of portrayal of Limin in the outline had already let Ba Lao see a vivid, unusual image of a high-level general of our party.

Ba Lao had another question: "The characters that appear in this period of history are almost all big figures who have been defined, and their lives can stand scrutiny. It's okay for the other side; if it's a dramatization, it's a dramatization. Many old generals on our side are still alive, and even if they are not alive, their descendants also hold important positions. How do you balance reality with the dramatic appreciation of the novel?"

Wei Lin understood what the old man meant. A novel is a dramatized creation, and dramatic conflict is very necessary, otherwise, it would be better to write a celebrity biography directly.

But it was writing about modern history, so many things did not allow excessive dramatization. A writer of Wei Lin's fame must be watched by many people.

Wei Lin said: "The main characters in the novel, such as the three brothers and sisters of the protagonist, the eldest sister's husband, the protagonist's teacher's wife, etc., will all be original characters. At most, some characteristics and experiences of real characters will be added to them. There are also some big figures who are currently in office. I will try my best to arrange them in the background of the story and not let them formally participate in the plot."

Ba Lao pondered for a moment and finally nodded. Wei Lin asked: "Ba Lao, then am I definitely allowed to write it?"

"Write," Ba Lao said firmly, "As long as it is not against your conscience, what can't be written? As long as you dare to write, we dare to publish."

With this sentence from the second person in the current literary world, Wei Lin could write with his arms wide open.

Not only that, Ba Lao also gave him a book list, saying that it might be helpful for his creation.

"Your Peking University library may not be able to find all these books. You can go to the Beijing Library to look for them."

The Beijing Library was the later National Library, and also the library with the most collections in China, but some ordinary people could not view these books. Ba Lao told him to find the Writers Association to help open a certificate.

Looking at these book titles, Wei Lin felt that the day he wanted to start the book would be delayed again.

At this time, Editor Li also asked him: "About when can you finish writing?"

Wei Lin put the book list away preciously: "It's hard to finish this year. If it doesn't go well, it will be next year."

It meant it might take another year, which was very normal for a novel of over 500,000 words, and even a bit fast.

Li Xiaolin indicated: "For such a long novel, we must publish it in at least three issues. If you finish writing 200,000 words, you can notify me."

!

"That's good."

After leaving the editorial department of "Harvest," Wei Lin did not immediately return to the guesthouse to create, but took a taxi to the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang.

Wei Lin found Director Wang Bairong, who had been in contact with him before. Hearing that Wei Lin had come, Director Wang put down his work and came out to receive him.

Wei Lin actually wanted to ask whether the British side agreed or disagreed with the script, and when his royalties would arrive.

He didn't want to say it so thoroughly, so he took out the script of the puppet short film "If I Were Wu Song" to hint at them.

Wang Bairong laughed: "Great, our puppeteers are waiting for your script. I will let finance settle the royalties later. As for 'The Book of Heaven,' we still have to wait."

"Does the BBC agree or disagree? Why is there no definite word?" Wei Lin even wanted to find Melinda to ask.

"After all, they are foreigners, and they have to translate the script into English. It must take longer, which is very normal," Wang Bairong suggested, "Why don't Writer Wei visit our production process of 'The Book of Heaven'?"

Wei Lin: "Ah, has production already started?"

Wang Bairong said: "That's right, no matter whether the British invest or not, our Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang has decided to film this film. Oh, by the way, 'The Toothless Tiger' is also in production, and the progress is even faster. You can take a look together."

According to Wang Bairong, "The Toothless Tiger" could be produced this year, "If I Were Wu Song" was estimated to be until next year, and it would be good if "The Book of Heaven" could be completed the year after next.

So in the future, there would be fairy tale adaptations by Wei Lin released every year.

Wei Lin glanced at it. "The Book of Heaven" was currently redoing the character design images, which was considered to be redrawn on the basis of him and Liu Rulong, adding more details and reaching the fineness of a movie level.

And some segments of "The Toothless Tiger" had already started to move. Wei Lin was quite moved when he saw the tiger and the fox, and he had the intention to add this pair of enemies to the "Black Cat Detective" series to play a cameo.

Speaking of which, this month's "Children's Literature" was also about to be released. I wonder if this detective would be liked by children like the animated version?

After visiting the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang, it was also time for dinner. Wang Bairong called the two directors of "The Book of Heaven," Wang Shuchen and Qian Yunda, to accompany Wei Lin to Nanjing Road for dinner.

They also knew that Wei Lin was Wei Lin, so their attitude was still respectful. Wei Lin was not arrogant. Director Wang had filmed "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," and Director Qian later had works like "The Sloppy King."

The meal in the Magic City was not as extravagant as in Guangzhou, but it was acceptable.

During the meal, Wang Bairong also mentioned that "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" was invited to participate in this year's Cannes Film Festival in May, and Director Wang Shuchen would also go to Cannes as the head of the Chinese film delegation, which was a very great honor.

Recently, the three major European film festivals were very enthusiastic about Chinese films, and the intention to win over was very obvious.

Wei Lin truly knew about this matter. Originally, "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" was invited as a main competition unit film, but because of errors in material reporting, it missed it and could only enter the screening unit.

It was not until "The True Story of Ah Q" in '82 that mainland films entered the main competition unit for the first time.

One mistake, it was estimated that international copyright could sell for much less money~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 166 =====