"This tradition should be maintained." Yu Bixiao said with longing.

"It should be maintained."

Yu Hua swallowed. He was obsessed with the meal at the Xunweizhai Cultural Salon. He kept thinking that one day he would win a national literary award, and he would definitely eat it.

He and Yu Bixiao had a lively chat, and Yu Bixiao asked about his novel. Yu Hua took out the manuscript that he had just asked Lin Chaoyang to correct.

"This is my first time writing a novel and I have little experience. Teacher Chaoyang gave me a lot of valuable advice."

The two were chatting about novels. Zheng Xian got up and wanted to help Lin Chaoyang. Su Weizhen remembered the sign at the door of the West Courtyard and asked Cao Yiwen: "Can I go to the West Courtyard and have a look?"

Cao Yiwen was not familiar with the West Courtyard. When he was hesitating, Yu Hua got up with a discerning eye and said, "Let me show you around."

Su Weizhen got up and went to the west courtyard with Yu Hua. There was a third courtyard with the same layout as the east courtyard. As it was the weekend, before they even entered the inner courtyard, the two heard a noise.

"Milan Kundera's novels are just not good. They can only be regarded as third-rate in the world."

"You fart! Milan Kundera can't do it, but you can? Write me "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and let me read it!"

"What's your logic? I think his novels are not good, so I have to write better than him?

Besides, when I say that his novels are not good, I am comparing him with those great novelists. There is indeed a big gap between him and greatness, and even his reviews are better than his novels!

Have you seen "Wei Mu"?"

The quarrel was so loud that it could be heard clearly through the window and the yard more than ten meters away.

Su Weizhen was a little worried when she heard such a voice. Wasn't she about to start a fight?

Yu Hua saw what he was thinking and smiled heartlessly, "Don't worry, it's normal for them to quarrel.

As long as there are people in the west courtyard, there will be noise every day."

Hearing this, Su Weizhen's worries faded away, and Yu Hua added, "Everyone has their own preferences and aesthetics. When we get together, if you say this is good, and he says that is good, there will be quarrels."

While the two were talking, Yu Hua led Su Weizhen into the west chamber.

Ma Yuan and Zhu Wei, who were quarreling with red faces, saw someone coming and did not stop arguing.

Li Tuo was still sitting in the room, and he was very happy watching the two people arguing.

Yu Hua was calm and composed after entering the door. On the other hand, Su Weizhen was meeting Zhu Wei and Ma Yuan for the first time, so he couldn't help but feel embarrassed watching such a scene.

"Lao Zhu, I have guests here. You two, please stop arguing!" Yu Hua said.

Zhu Wei snorted coldly, "You think I want to quarrel with him? I'm good at reading novels, but he doesn't want to watch his movies. He comes over to me and criticizes me. Milan Kundera is a third-rate actor.

You ask what level he is?

Isn’t it just because I read more novels?”

Ma Yuan said without giving in: "Yu Hua, listen, listen! How domineering, I can't comment anymore?"

Yu Hua ignored the two of them and instead showed an apologetic smile to Su Weizhen.

"Reporter Su, I'm really sorry for making you laugh!"

Before Su Weizhen could speak, Zhu Wei turned to look at Su Weizhen, "Reporter?"

"Well, he's from Wandao!"

As soon as these words came out, Yu Hua felt that the expressions of Zhu Wei and Ma Yuan changed, and the tense atmosphere just now disappeared.

I saw two people with kind faces and kind eyes, looking as friendly as possible.

Zhu Wei asked with concern: "Why did the journalist comrade from Wandao come to our Yanjing?"

"Come to interview Mr. Chaoyang."

Zhu Wei said "Oh", "Is it for the Neustat International Literary Prize?

1

Su Weizhen nodded, "Yes. The news that Mr. Lin won the award caused a lot of discussion on the island."

Zhu Wei and Ma Yuan were both interested. They asked Su Weizhen a few questions about the response to Lin Chaoyang's award in Bay Island. After listening to what he said, the two couldn't help but sigh:

"This award is so influential!"

Yu Hua, who was left out in the cold, introduced the identities of Zhu Wei and Ma Yuan. Su Weizhen asked with great interest: "I heard you two were arguing about Milan Kundera just now——"

When it comes to later generations, Milan Kundera is definitely considered a famous Western writer in China. Many people even thought that he was a writer who was active in the first half of the 20th century and had long since passed away.

In fact, Milan Kundera did not die until 2023.

He is a native of Czechoslovakia and gained international fame with his novel "Joke" in the late 1950s.

In 1968, due to the failure of the Czech Communist Party, the Soviet Communist Party actually took control of Czechoslovakia. Milan Kundera was banned by the Soviet Communist Party. He later went to France and wrote many works.

As early as the 1970s, Milan Kundera's works were introduced into China, but at that time it was still in the name of internal reference.

As for Milan Kundera's real popularity in the country, it was only in the past few years.

First, Jing Kaixuan translated his "The Party for Farewell", and then Han Shaogong translated "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", which set off the "Milan Kundera fever" in China.

"When it comes to writing novels, Milan Kundera really can't do it. He has to be Hawthorne! Let me tell you, the greatest novelist in the world is Hawthorne!"

Su Weizhen, Zhu Wei and Ma Yuan chatted about Milan Kundera for a while, and Ma Yuan suddenly said this.

Su Weizhen was so convinced and strong by his tone that she didn't dare to speak for a while.

"Yes! Here we go again." Zhu Wei shook his head and said to Su Weizhen: "Reporter Su, don't listen to his nonsense. He is just short-sighted."

"What does it mean that I am short-sighted? Listen to me and analyze it for you————·

Zhu Wei did not listen to him and argued: "You said Hawthorne is the greatest novelist, but I also said Chaoyang is the greatest!"

Ma Yuanhu's eyes widened, "Chaoyang is second-rate at best."

"Do you dare to say this to his face?"

"What am I afraid of?"

Seeing the two of them arguing again, Su Weizhen suddenly felt a headache.

Why are you so excited when talking about these topics, it's like taking a shot of chicken blood?

Yu Hua noticed his distress and suggested in a low voice: "How about we go out first."

"good."

After the two of them left the west wing, Yu Hua explained: "The atmosphere in this courtyard is like this. From time to time there will be a fight.

But don’t worry, we definitely can’t fight, it will be fine after a while.”

Su Weizhen smiled politely, "Although it's a little uncomfortable, it's actually quite good. Looking at their state, I can recall that in the Bay Island literary world more than ten years ago, many writers occasionally did this when they gathered."

The two chatted and laughed, and Yu Hua led Su Weizhen to the window of another room, where they were watching a movie, "Dead Poets Society" starring Robin Williams.

This film has not been imported into China, and the subtitles are in Cantonese. Lin Chaoyang asked someone to send them back from Xiangjiang.

"Everyone can come to Teacher Chaoyang's courtyard. Everyone's favorite is this room, where you can watch all kinds of movies.

There is also a movie night every weekend, which is called ‘Movie Night’, but actually everyone can watch it whenever they want,” Yu Hua introduced.

People in the room were watching the movie intently. Yu Hua wanted to lead Su Weizhen in, but Su Weizhen stopped him.

"Let everyone watch, don't disturb the atmosphere."

Yu Hua said: "Then I will take you to the backyard to see there is a small library there."

With that said, Yu Hua took Su Weizhen to the back room in the backyard.

Several rooms in the back room are connected and are filled with bookshelves. The bookshelves are packed with books. Visual inspection shows that there are at least tens of thousands of books.

Su Weizhen felt that Yu Hua was right, this place was indeed similar to a small library.

When they came in, there were two people inside who were looking for books.

One of them was Hong Feng, a classmate of Yu Hua's class, and the other was unknown to Yu Hua and could not be introduced.

The other party introduced himself and said his name was Lu Wei. He was currently writing a script for director Chen Kaige and had just moved to Xiaoliubukou Alley yesterday.

"Director Chen said that the atmosphere and environment are good, which is conducive to me writing scripts."

Lu Wei's words attracted Yu Hua's approval, "Don't tell me, I don't know anything else. More than one of them said that the efficiency of revising manuscripts here is really high. Sometimes while chatting with everyone, I can figure out all the crux of the matter.

Already."

Su Weizhen asked: "Is Director Chen Kaige going to make a new film?"

Cross-strait information exchanges are not developed these days, but even Su Weizhen, who is on the Bay Island, has heard about famous directors like Chen Kaige who won two Silver Bear Awards at the Berlin Film Festival.

In fact, it is the same in China. Hou Hsiao-hsien won the Venice Golden Lion Award. Everyone in the cultural and film circles knows, "Yes!"

"What's the story of the new film?"

"What was changed is a novel written by Xiangjiang writer Li Bihua, called Farewell My Concubine."

Su Weizhen knew Li Bihua's name, but he hadn't seen "Farewell My Concubine", so he asked a few more questions.

Lu Wei briefly told the story. Su Weizhen didn't know what he thought of the novel, but the story was indeed a good one.

After chatting for a while, Su Weizhen suddenly remembered the purpose of his visit to Yanjing and asked Lu Wei: "Have you had any contact with Mr. Lin? What do you think of him?"
To be continued...