Chapter 244 So many hot spots
Chapter 244 So many hot spots
The interview location was originally scheduled to be at Gu Lu's home, but was later changed to a private room in a teahouse.
"Little Writer Gu, I saw you from afar at the traffic light just now and knew it must be you. You looked calm and Confucian."
Reporter Li Quan introduced himself, "Reporter Li Quan from the Literary Gazette."
Why do the reporters from the Literary Gazette look so much like they came from the Kuakua group? Gu Lu thought.
In fact, Li Quan was not talking nonsense. Compared with ordinary high school students, Gu Lu was indeed more outstanding.
When an adult travels back in time and becomes a student, there will definitely be some differences, even if they are affected by their body hormones and the environment.
Who is the old man next to the reporter? Gu Lu turned his gaze to another place.
The latter also introduced himself, "Hello, writer Xiao Gu, I am Feng Jingyuan, the editor-in-chief of the Popular Fiction Newspaper."
"I took the liberty of coming here with Li Ji from the Literary Newspaper. I read The Rural Teacher and was deeply touched."
The old man Feng Jingyuan explained, "So when I knew that the Literary Newspaper had an exclusive interview with writer Xiao Gu, I volunteered to be a writer."
A cultural consultant is a rather special profession in interviews. Generally speaking, if one wants to interview more professional people, one will invite people with the same profession to be alongside.
After all, the questions need to be more in-depth. Sometimes the editorial consultant will not appear in front of the camera, but will only provide some comments on the interview manuscript behind the scenes.
"Oh, hello, Editor-in-Chief Feng and Li." Gu Lu greeted them.
This wasn’t the first time, so Gu Lu still had some habits to get used to.
This teahouse is considered mid- to high-end in the area, so the private rooms have good sound insulation and are spacious.
There is an automatic mahjong table next to the round table.
Li Quan put up a small sign of "Wenyi Bao" next to him, turned on the recorder, and sat opposite the interviewee.
Wen Gu Feng Jingyuan sat on the left side by the window and also took out a small notebook.
The scene is very professional.
"Now our interview begins," Li Quan said, "Writer Xiao Gu, you said in an interview before that the beginning of writing comes from the need to live. Could you elaborate on this topic?"
I also watched Gu Lu’s previous interviews. I did my homework.
"A divorced family, a drunken father, and a young me, that's about it," said Gu Lu.
Uh, why does this sound so familiar? It seems similar to what the female technician said when I went to investigate the sufferings of the world before.
Li Quan had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but his expression was very professional. "No wonder the drunkard in The Little Prince and the lack of parental roles in Hyouka can be traced back to the past."
In fact, the roles of parents are basically invisible in Japanese light novels, but if you understand it this way, Gu Lu will not object.
"For a country to have grand ambitions, it is the result of the efforts passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, in the past two years, there has been a lot of attention on the topic of youth education. Writer Xiao Gu, you are both a teenager and a fairy tale writer. With the blessing of your dual identities, do you have any unique views?" Li Quan asked.
Huh? This question is a bit beyond the scope. After all, it is an interview with the Literary and Art Newspaper, and he really hasn't read it before.
"I don't have any unique opinions, but I have some personal experiences to share." Gu Lu took a few seconds to organize his words, and then said, "The trend of education is becoming more and more inward-looking."
“Involution?”
"That is, more families and students will have to work harder to compete for limited resources," said Gu Lu.
"From the tone of writer Xiao Gu, it seems that he doesn't like this approach?" Li Quan asked.
"The end point of involution is a decrease in the ratio of benefits to efforts. You can also say that involution is ineffective effort," said Gu Lu. "For example, high school is already tiring enough, but all students are tired. Then let the students sleep only five or four hours to get into the right school."
In his previous life, Gu Lu had heard that South Korea’s college entrance examination system required a four-fail and five-fail score, meaning that if one slept for five hours, he would fail.
"If you want to keep up with others, you have to do this," Gu Lu said. "Even if the country has been expanding enrollment, this trend cannot be curbed."
He said: "It will further lead to the devaluation of college diplomas and child-rearing."
Involution, chicken-raising, these little words are all mixed together. Li Quan asked what the meaning of chicken-raising was, which he could not understand.
"There is a famous book abroad called Chicken Soup for the Soul, which encourages people to work hard. Chicken Soup for the Soul means to encourage children to work hard at a younger age." Gu Lu said, "I don't know much about the education industry, Li Ji, let's talk about something else."
"Hahaha, writer Xiao Gu's ideas are very forward-looking." Li Quan said, "Then can I have one last question about education?"
"Excuse me."
"Regarding the devaluation of diplomas," Li Quan said, "the devaluation of diplomas has been happening all the time. Do you think there will be a significant devaluation?"
"Li Ji, you also said that it has been depreciating." Gu Lu said, "According to the current trend of internal circulation and expansion, I will make a bold statement. It is possible that college students will not be able to find a job when they enter society in the future."
"Hahaha, what writer Xiao Gu said is too exaggerated." Li Quan didn't take it seriously and continued to ask the next question, "When I first came to Fog City, I heard that Reading is holding an event called [Little Reading Star]. As one of the initiators, what do you think is the significance of this event?"
Little Reading Star? Me, the initiator? Gu Lu looked confused.
Li Quan, a reporter who has experienced many ups and downs, first paused the recorder next to him.
"Does writer Xiao Gu not know about this?" Li Quan said, "Maybe there is a problem in communication."
Then Li Quan introduced the activity, which was a public welfare activity held in Fog City, adding more public welfare books in counties and towns. Fairy tales in cities were also sold at discounted prices. In a word, it promoted children's interest in reading.
In addition, students under the age of fourteen can write a book review and send it to the organizer.
"Reading Stars" will be selected and rewarded, their articles will be published in the Pioneer Newspaper, and they can also take photos with the little prince Gu Lu.
According to the information provided by the organizer Fog City Books and Fog City Publicity Department, Gu Lu was one of the initiators, as evidenced by photos.
[Photo] Detailed description for those who can't see the picture: Gu Lu raised his right fist with a big smile on his face.
After listening to reporter Li Quan’s explanation, Gu Lu was silent. It was a good thing, but why didn’t he tell him?
As for the photo, Gu Lu recognized it at a glance. It was taken by the publicity department of Sha District when a book signing event was held for the Little Prince last year.
Killing two birds with one stone, right?
The final grand prize also requires taking a photo with him, and Gu Lu wants to see it. If he doesn't tell him now, how will he tell him when the time comes?
Sometimes the things the government does are really outrageous.
After figuring out the whole story, Li Quan put the recorder back into operation.
"Very good. You can learn a lot from reading. Reading is also the basis of writing. Even if you don't write in the future, maintaining a good reading habit can improve your knowledge reserve." Gu Lu said, "I read every day and read about five books a week."
"Then writer Xiao Gu must share the book list with readers," said Li Quan.
"Okay, no problem." Gu Lu nodded, "I'll write a book list after the interview."
"Writer Xiao Gu, let's have the next question." Li Quan said, "Wenhui Daily once criticized you, saying that your Little Prince is a fantasy fairy tale, and even your school-themed Hyouka is not a life that most high school students can experience. Wenhui Daily believes that realistic children's literature should be promoted. What do you think of this view?"
There are so many people criticizing me, so who is Wenhui Daily? Gu Lu thought to himself, but he modified his words. "I think the first thing to do between fantasy fairy tales and realistic fairy tales is to arouse the interest of readers. From my personal ability, writing fantasy fairy tales can attract more readers."
"Regarding Hyouka, it's absolutely true that this is not a life that most high school students can experience." Gu Lu nodded.
"I don't know about other cities, but my friend Li Guyuan has done some research. In Fog City alone, there are only five high schools that have the kinds of clubs I wrote about in my book, including private high schools."
Such precise data? What does Li Guyuan do? Reporter Li Quan was curious.
"Even the No. 8 Middle School where I studied was not as leisurely as in the book. So strictly speaking, Bingguo is my fantasy." Gu Lu said, "I am just providing readers with a fantasy."
If you say there is no sense of immersion, Gu Lu himself doesn’t feel any sense of immersion in Bingjia’s high school life!
His student life was a combination of writing and studying. He would occasionally get exhausted in the basketball club. Gu Lu's high school life was not as exciting as Zhou Lin, Lu Ping and others.
The reason why it is an exclusive interview is that the Literature and Art Newspaper has prepared fifteen questions.
For the previous questions, the sense of direction tends to be towards the author himself.
For the following questions, the focus is on the work.
Gu Lu was able to respond to subsequent questions more smoothly because he made sure to leave traces of any plagiarism.
It's as if his deliberate habit of using words did not appear in "New Interpretation of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio".
In this regard, King Guru had been waiting for people to ask about it. "Because the articles I submitted to People's Literature were used to prove myself, and People's Literature's review was also very strict. So I revised it many times, and I changed all the wording habits. You can see this from my draft."
That’s right, just in case, Gu Lu prepared a draft while typing on the computer.
First revise the article with pen and paper, and then type it on the computer for submission. Although it is troublesome, many writers Li Quan interviewed do this. Because writing with pen and paper seems to be more practical.
"We only have one last question left." Li Quan said, "At a literary conference in Beijing, President Jian of the Juvenile and Children's Literature Society revealed that writer Xiao Gu's new work is a subversive popular science work."
"Writer Xiao Gu just said that the best thing is to attract readers to continue reading. The new work is about popular science. Will it also prioritize fun?" Li Quan said.
Gu Lu also understood that just like "The Little Prince" invited Yu Xinyao, the new work "Flatland" also began to build momentum!
"To be precise, it's both entertaining and scientifically informative." Gu Lu responded.
"Is it really subversive?" Li Quan asked.
We can’t undermine President Jian’s performance. Gu Lu nodded when he heard this.
Very good. "Subversive popular science novel", "Gu Lu talks about "involution", "Gu Lu believes that college students will not be able to find jobs in the future". Oh, there is too much content in this session, and Li Quan can't find the main point for a while.
At the end of the interview, Feng Jingyuan, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"After reading The Rural Teacher, my reaction was that the author must have been born in the 1960s or 1970s," Feng Jingyuan said. "Otherwise, he couldn't have written such a work. Now I finally understand why. Although author Xiao Gu is young, he is very concerned about the education industry and has his own understanding of it."
"Editor-in-Chief Feng, thank you for the compliment." Gu Lu said.
"It's not an exaggeration at all," Feng Jingyuan said. "The Rural Teacher is a very romantic presentation of education and inheritance."
Then, Feng Jingyuan said something irrelevant, "Teacher Gu will receive a sum of money soon, but it won't be much, hahahaha."
“???” What money.
Then, no matter how Gu Lu asked, the other party just smiled and did not answer.
I've said it before, put the Riddler in Arkham and don't let him out.
Compared with the Literary Newspaper, Gu Lu felt that the previous interview with the Fog City Daily was a bit amateurish.
"It seems that we can't think of it that way. The former is a newspaper specializing in literature, while the latter is more concerned with current affairs and reputation. The focus is different."
Looking at the former editors-in-chief of Wen Yi Bao, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Feng Xuefeng, etc., they are all great writers.
Mao and Deng once set three responsibilities for the newspaper: "showcase the style of famous writers", "take a panoramic view of new trends in literature and art", and "let the world understand Chinese literature and art".
Regarding the last point, you are right that Literary Gazette has English, French and Japanese versions.
"It's a good thing I only accepted the interview with the Literature and Art Newspaper. This trip was so tiring." Gu Lu stretched lazily.
Normally, I would cook something delicious for myself every weekend, but today I have no energy at all.
Soon, someone's arrival turned the tiredness on Gu Lu's face into cheerfulness.
Tangyuan came to invite Gu Lu to dinner because Li Guyuan's relatives sent wild boar meat.
Let Gu Lu go and try it right away.
The last time Gu Lu ate something wild was "mountain bubble". He didn't know what its scientific name was, but it was red, tasted sour, and grew all over the mountains.
"What does wild boar taste like?"
"Hmm - it should be different from domestic pork."
"You make a lot of sense."
Come to the grocery store.
Gu Lu had been here many times, so he was familiar with the place and even helped sell things.
"Our Gu Yuan's grades are so good, thanks to Gu Lu. Come and eat more." Mother Li picked up some food during the meal. "His grades in the previous monthly exams were very good. He often follows you, so he must have learned a lot."
"Mom! My grades are better than Gulu's. We can tutor each other."
"What are you tutoring for? Does Xiao Gu need your tutoring?" Li's mother didn't believe it.
Father Li didn't believe it either, because they often heard their children say that Gu Lu was in the newspaper again, that Gu Lu had written some new work, and how great Gu Lu was.
Mr. and Mrs. Li, who don't read newspapers, only know about Gu Lu from what Li Guyuan told them when he brought back newspapers and magazines.
"I remember on your grandfather's birthday, he drank two cups of horse urine at night, then he hugged me and said, 'Gu Lu is my best friend, do you know that it was he who gave me the confidence to write and publish...'" said Li's father.
"Dad!" Li Guyuan's toes touched the ground. Damn it, how could he have said such a stupid thing.
Some things should just be kept in your heart, saying them out loud would be stupid.
This is what happens when you are drunk. Gu Lu still remembers last year's junior high school graduation dinner. Many classmates also drank. Zhang Yudong hugged someone (a classmate whose name he didn't remember) and shouted: "Teacher, do you know that this is my son? He is my son. We have the best relationship, hehe."
Looking at Li Guyuan who looked uncomfortable, Gu Lu confirmed, "As for studying, it was indeed Tangyuan who tutored me."
"Oh, that's because you gave Gu Yuan a chance. He should cherish this opportunity," said Li's mother.
"?" Li Guyuan felt like an outsider.
(End of this chapter)