Chapter 34: Reform Literature and Ducks

"I plan to write a Modu story this time. There are some local slang terms that might need your help, Professor Qu, as a local."

"Oh, what type?"

Wei Ming thought for a moment: "It can be considered reform literature."

Reform literature was a fresh concept. Compared to educated-youth literature, scar literature, and reflection literature, reform literature was younger, with the short story by Jiang Zilong two months ago as the pioneering work.

Of course, it was also the only representative work of this genre at present, but the storm it stirred up was no less than the other genres. "Factory Director Qiao" had now almost become synonymous with reformers.

Although, from Wei Ming's later perspective, *Factory Director Qiao Takes Office* had the limitations of the era, the influence of this novel would persist for the next few years, and there would be film and television adaptations later.

Moreover, Jiang Zilong later served as the chairman of the Tianjin Writers Association and vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. It could be said that the glory of his later life was based on this short story.

This period was when *Factory Director Qiao Takes Office* was in full swing. Professor Qu naturally had heard and read it. She worried that Wei Ming was chasing trends and advised: "You haven't worked in a factory; what reform literature are you writing?"

The model of *Factory Director Qiao Takes Office* was deeply rooted in people's hearts and had a deep influence on the creations of later writers like Li Guowen, Gao Xiaosheng, and Ke Yunlu. "Taking office" and "factory" had almost become the distinct labels of reform literature.

And now reform was mainly aimed at state-run factories, so it was not strange that Professor Qu would think so.

Wei Ming laughed: "Who says reform literature must write about factory matters? I'm writing a story about ducks."

"Ducks?"

"Yes, 'The spring river water warms, the ducks know first.' In the wave of reform, those sensitive little people are also worth paying attention to. I plan to start from this aspect."

The *Two Donkeys* and *Two Oxen* that Wei Ming had already written did not follow existing creative styles and rules. Writing reform literature, he naturally didn't think about following the *Factory Director Qiao* template.

Hearing Wei Ming say this, Professor Qu nodded with a smile: "Then I'm looking forward to it."

"Rest assured, I'll let you see it first after I finish writing. There must be many inadequate places that need you, a local, to correct."

Soon, Sister Chen Chong also knew about this.

"What, you want to start a new novel while revising your manuscript?!"

Wei Ming spread his hands: "I've almost finished revising. To wait for Professor Qu to return to Jingcheng together, I can only find something to delay the progress. Besides, this is already the second piece."

What kind of talk is this? Is this appropriate!

Sister Chen Chong finished her meal quickly and hurried into her room to revise her manuscript. She also hoped that the three of them could accompany each other back. This feeling was probably "rolling" (competing).

Before leaving, she left a sentence: "Let me see it before you submit it."

Previously, she had already read Wei Ming's *Two Donkeys* and felt she had benefited a lot. She and Wei Ming were both young writers, but Wei Ming's novel technique was skilled and mature, and there were many innovations. It felt like he had been practicing writing since he was in the womb.

Two and a half days later, Wei Ming finally completed this 15,000-word short story, titled *The Spring River Water Warms, the Ducks Know First*, and immediately let Professor Qu look it over and revise it.

"Don't you have another novel called *Two Oxen*?" "Yes."

Professor Qu laughed: "Donkey, ox, duck—what do you plan to write next time? Horse or mule?"

I can write a story about mules and horses. Before becoming a boss in his past life, he had also been a mule and horse for 40 years.

"I've noted these two topics. Let's talk about the duck matter first." Wei Ming urged, and Professor Qu immediately began to read.

Wei Ming applied the story template of Xu Zheng's *The Duck Prophet*, starting from the elementary school student "Little Wang's" composition *My Dad*, and leading into the main thread with a father-son story.

In Little Wang's composition, it showed Old Wang's various money-saving tricks that made people laugh and cry. These detailed descriptions were very Modu-man-like. The point about hanging up the phone while timing it was simply too real. Professor Qu said it was very consistent with people she had truly seen.

There were also this father's magical fantasies about the future: making phone calls without phone lines, trains running without wheels, there would definitely be many bridges on the Huangpujiang, many high-rise buildings would be built in Pudong, drinking coffee would be as casual as drinking water, etc.

Because of this, he got the nickname "Duck Prophet." "The spring river water warms, the ducks know first" was also a phrase he often kept on his lips, and he himself was the duck that first sensed the temperature in the tide of reform and opening-up.

Little Wang's composition also revealed that because of his outstanding performance, Old Wang was promoted to the sales department head of the No. 2 Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory, which led to the problem of backlogged medicinal wine. Next was the time to show Old Wang's wisdom.

To promote the medicinal wine, the awkward scene of him and his son performing a cross-talk on the bus made Professor Qu laugh until her stomach hurt. He thought of many ways, but they all ended in failure until he accidentally heard the word "advertisement."

In the country, advertisements had been extinct for many years. Past views held that advertisements were a product of capitalism and an act of using false information to deceive consumers. Although, in fact, there were indeed many such advertisements, advertisements also played an indispensable role in commercial activities.

!

Last year, the *Tianjin Daily* took the lead in establishing an advertising department and released the first commercial advertisement in New China at the beginning of the year, introducing Tianjin toothpaste brands, including the "Blue Sky" brand that was "delicious to eat," in the newspaper. From then on, print media advertising began to rise.

That is to say, it was only in '79 that the country had the concept of advertising, and the Department Head Wang in the novel thought even further: what he wanted to do was TV advertising, which didn't exist at the time!

Next, Wei Ming detailed the process of the birth of China's first TV commercial. Besides the fictional male lead, everything else basically adopted real people from reality. Wei Ming carried a notebook when gathering material and recorded several pages.

What surprised Professor Qu was that this novel was even illustrated.

"You can also draw?"

"I know a little, I know a little."

A third-level artist was no joke. Wei Ming had seen the later-lost master tape of the Ginseng-Angelica Nourishing Wine commercial at the TV station and, based on his memory, drew a four-panel comic while writing the novel. He would send it out together, and maybe it would be adopted.

Professor Qu continued to read. Although the commercial was filmed, whether it could be broadcast became a problem. After all, there were no relevant regulations before.

In the novel, Wei Ming added the character Director Zou. In reality, it was a TV station person in charge named "Zou Fanyang" who withstood the pressure and allowed this commercial to be broadcast smoothly. This was also a missing part of the movie *The Duck Prophet*.

Finally, it was naturally a happy ending. The backlogged medicinal wine was bought up by the citizens of Modu, and the factory's crisis was resolved.

At the end of the article, the male lead, Department Head Wang, strolled by the Huangpujiang and saw a group of ducks.

Other ducks were still hesitating, but one of them bravely jumped into the Huangpujiang, being the first to enjoy the clear river water and the delicious fish and shrimp.

He associated it with himself and then ascended to the overall view of reform and opening-up. The sentence "Brave people enjoy the world first" could be considered the best annotation for those trendsetters in the era of reform and opening-up~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 35 =====