When he said this, his tone was sincere and his true feelings were revealed. The judges present, who always tried to judge the works from a professional perspective, couldn't help but look thoughtful when they listened to his words.

Wang Meng asked Lin Chaoyang in a low voice, "Did you anticipate this situation when you set the composition of the jury?"

Lin Chaoyang laughed, "Do you think I'm a fortune teller?"

"Then why do you insist on enriching the jury lineup?"

"I simply feel that the previous way of judging was a bit out of touch with the masses."

Wang Meng looked puzzled, "Why are you separated from the masses? Aren't the shortlisted works like those for the National Outstanding Short Story Award all voted for by readers?"

“First of all, there is a question about how many of those who voted are ‘ordinary readers’.

Second, the final evaluation power is always in the hands of experts.

Since I think ordinary readers have the power to decide, what does it matter if we add some such people to the judging team?"

After Lin Chaoyang finished speaking, Wang Meng fell silent. He was not convinced, but he understood that Lin Chaoyang's ideas were fundamentally different from those of them.

After the award evaluation, everyone chatted for more than an hour, and then dispersed after eating in Xiaoliubukou Alley.

After a busy month, it’s time for everyone to take a good rest. The judges from other places can take this opportunity to wander around Yanjing City. We will see you again next week when the awards are presented.

The work of the judges has been completed, and the work of the Literary and Art Association will continue.

Once the award results are announced, they will notify the winners as soon as possible.

Tashi Dawa, who is far away in Xz, received a call from the Association for Literary and Art Circles. Mo Yan, who is studying in Yanjing, also received a call from the Association for Literary and Art Circles. Only Lu Yao has not yet been contacted.

It turned out that after his health recovered last year, he devoted himself to the creation of the third part of "The Ordinary World". However, just a few days ago, his weak body showed a red light again.

In desperation, Lu Yao had to go north to northern Shaanxi again, traveling back and forth between Yulin and Yan'an to seek medical advice.

It took the Literary and Art Association two days to contact Lu Yao. He was recuperating in a Yulin hotel. This time, Lu Yao was unable to find Mr. Zhang Pengju, the famous doctor who treated him last time.

He was feeling depressed. When he received a call from the Literary and Art Association, he was both surprised and happy.

"Won an award? Did "Ordinary World" really win an award?"

Lu Yao repeated this in disbelief several times into the phone receiver, until finally he was so excited that he sat down on a chair and took a few seconds to regain his senses.

Then he had a few words with Xie Yongwang on the other end of the phone and discussed some matters regarding receiving the award.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Yao remembered something.

The Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award has a bonus of 100,000 yuan!

Thinking of the astronomical bonus, Lu Yao's heart was filled with joy again. It was for honor before, but this time it was for money.

He quickly picked up the phone and called his brother Wang Tianle, "Tianle, I have money! I will take you to Yanjing to receive the award!"

"What?""

Faced with his brother's sudden nonsense, Wang Tianle was puzzled.

"I won an award! I won a grand prize! Do you know about the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award? A bonus of 100,000 yuan!" Lu Yao said loudly.

Of course Wang Tianle knew about the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award, but he couldn't believe that his brother had only written two novels, and one was still unfinished. The jury dared to give him this award. How brave he was!

The two brothers talked for a while, and Wang Tianle finally confirmed the news and congratulated his brother.

Faced with Lu Yao's invitation to take him to Yanjing to receive the award, Wang Tianle hesitated but refused.

"You go alone."

"Why?"

"No matter how much the bonus is, you have to save some money. If you are so lax, you'd better spend less on the bonus and hold on to it for a few more years."

Listening to his brother's words, Lu Yao couldn't help but feel ashamed,

He is a well-known writer in Shaanxi. He has a salary, allowance and manuscript fee from the Literary and Art Association. His income is far higher than that of ordinary people, but at the same time he has consumption habits that are beyond ordinary people.

For example, when he was writing, he smoked at least three packs of cigarettes a day and drank several cups of coffee to refresh himself.

These things were nothing in later generations, but they are somewhat luxurious today.

Lu Yao's extraordinary spending habits often put him in a difficult situation of having no money. At this time, his younger brother Wang Tianle became his logistics minister.

Wang Tianle is not dissatisfied with this. If it weren't for Lu Yao, a writer brother, he might still be digging in the dirt, but now he is a glamorous and respectable reporter.

When the two brothers chatted about winning awards before, Lu Yao once said that when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the future,

He wants to take Wang Tianle to Stockholm to receive the award to reward his younger brother for his support and contribution to his writing career.

That's why Lu Yao said on the phone that he would take Wang Tianle to receive the award. He might not be able to go to Stockholm, but he would always go to Yanjing.

Lu Yao felt that there seemed to be a kind of providence in the dark. Today was June 1st. In the morning, he had just sent the manuscript of the third part of "The Ordinary World" to the Central People's Broadcasting Station, and then he received calls from all over the country.

Good news from the Literary and Art Association came from Yanjing.

On this day, he felt that he was the happiest person in the world!

It was already the third day after Lu Yao received the news of the award. As early as the second day after the award was announced,

"People's Daily" and "Literary News" simultaneously announced the winners of the first Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award.

Since the establishment of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award was announced, it has aroused huge attention among good readers in the domestic literary circle. Now that the results of the award have been released, the attention is even greater than before.

The Best Short Story Award was won by "The Soul on a Leather Cord", which is no problem. Last year, this novel won the National Outstanding Short Story Award.

The Best Novella Award was won by "Red Sorghum", which is the icing on the cake. "Red Sorghum" has received a lot of praise since its publication, and the film adaptation has won awards abroad.

The selection results of the first two awards have won the recognition of many writers and readers. You can wait for "The Ordinary World"

After the news emerged that the first and second novels won the Best Novel Award, some people couldn't calm down.

Why did it win the Best Novel Award?

Almost as soon as the award results were announced, doubts arose in the literary world.

Since the publication of the first part of "The Ordinary World", many problems such as outdated style, slow narrative pace, and dull characters have been criticized by the literary and critical circles.

Many self-proclaimed, tasteful and pursuing writers and critics are confused by this result, and some are even writing furiously, questioning whether the jury acted in secret.

Contrary to the skepticism in the literary world, after the news spread that "The Ordinary World" won the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award for Best Novel, the response from the reader community was joyful and encouraging.

After the first part of "The Ordinary World" was published, the novel did not receive much praise either in the literary world or among readers. However, now the novel's reputation among readers has undergone a 180-degree change.

The reason also starts with the broadcast of the Central People's Broadcasting Station.

Starting from March 27, China People's Broadcasting Station's "Long-form Continuous Broadcast" program will broadcast "The Ordinary World" to listeners across the country in two sessions every day.

At this time in 1988, although the number of domestic TV sets exceeded 10 million, for a country with a population of one billion, the penetration rate of TV was still not enough, and its dissemination was far inferior to that of radio.

After "The Ordinary World" was aired, it quickly aroused enthusiastic responses from the audience. When the second part of the novel was aired, the response became more violent and overwhelming.

Thousands of letters from listeners flew into the Central People's Broadcasting Station like snow flakes. Among the letter writers were students, teachers, workers, farmers, soldiers, retired cadres, unemployed young people -

These listeners jointly expressed their love for this novel in words. In the descriptions of many listeners,

They usually listen to "The Ordinary World" as a group of colleagues and classmates, and everyone is so mesmerized when they listen to it.

When a novel is published in a famous magazine, it is likely to be familiar to millions of readers, and it is featured on a "long-form broadcast" on the Central People's Broadcasting Station, which has hundreds of millions of listeners.

In the third year since "The Ordinary World" was published, the reputation among readers has finally turned around.

At exactly this time, the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award recognized "The Ordinary World". This news spread, which undoubtedly greatly enhanced the sense of identity and pride among readers and listeners of the novel.

The Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award recognizes "The Ordinary World", and readers and listeners will naturally reciprocate the favor and recognize the authority and fairness of the award.

With the blessing of tens of millions of listeners, the topic of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award has been rising all the way, and its influence is almost as much as that of the Mao Dun Literary Award, and it has also won unanimous praise from word of mouth.

Many people simply believe that a work like "The Ordinary World" that is close to people's lives and feelings should win the award.

June 6, 1988, Yanjing, West Chang'an Street.

Compared with ten years ago, Chang'an Street now is full of traffic, especially today is a Monday. A huge army of bicycles occupy the main force on the wide road, mixed with motorcycles and cars.

In the long flow of traffic and people, there was a small branch that turned into Daliubukou Street south of Chang'an Street, and then went into a small alley.

The alley, which is not usually very busy on weekdays, is suddenly filled with the sound of cars and people, making it lively and noisy.

The Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award was still presented in Xiaoliubukou Hutong. Today, Lin Chaoyang's house has four large doors across the east-west courtyard. There was no ceremony, no banners or flowers.

If you don't observe carefully, you won't even notice that this is actually a literary award ceremony.

The only thing that can be distinguished here is probably the amount of "literary" content in the crowd.

Today in Xiaoliubukou Hutong, not only the judges of the jury are present, but also many leading cadres of Wenhuakou, editors/deputy editors of many well-known domestic literary magazines, leaders of publishing institutions, many writers, critics, and people from many TV stations

, newspaper reporters, and more than a hundred guests in total were present.

Of course, in addition to these people, there is also a special guest today, who is the sponsor of the award, Zhuang Chongwen.

Zhuang Chongwen arrived in Yanjing yesterday and stayed at the Yanjing Hotel. The Yanjing Hotel is also on Chang'an Street, less than 3 kilometers away from Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

Early this morning, Zhuang Chongwen took a car to Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

When he saw Lin Chaoyang, he had a sincere smile on his face, took two steps forward and reached out his hand.

"Lin Sheng, thank you for your hard work!"

"Mr. Zhuang, you're welcome."
To be continued...