The diary of a child under the white magnolia

White magnolia blooms in early spring in March. The spring breeze blows, as white as jade and as fragrant as orchids. When people see it, they know that spring has arrived and there will be no more ice.

It was an accident that I met Zeng Pengfei. One year ago, on July 21st, it was a very hot day, with dazzling white light and overwhelming heat.

Returning to Huichang, I went to the county party committee building. I came to the right side of the first floor, a room in the back, which was Xu Jia’s "Secretary-General Office of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles."

The name is very famous, but the house is quite simple, and there is no air conditioning. There is a ceiling fan hanging on the roof. When it is turned on, the leaves of the ceiling fan are swinging around like a drunkard, which is very scary.

On that day, Xu Jia, who frequently went to the countryside, happened to be there, and the guests from afar stayed.

It was a rare meeting, but he was very enthusiastic, polite, and offered a cup of hot tea (there was no ice water in that place). My heart was burning, getting hotter and more intense!

Took out two books (inferior books, not worth mentioning), self-written. When Xu Jia took a look, as usual, he praised and encouraged me, which moved me to tears.

After chatting for a long time, a middle-aged man walked in from the door. He was of medium height, simple and elegant, slightly thin, and wore glasses. He sat down in the empty seat opposite Xu Jia and picked up the My book, look through it.

"Director Zeng..."

Xu Jia said something.

"Are you Zeng Pengfei?"

I suddenly realized it, like lightning.

"Yes"

He nodded and continued to read the book, looking very carefully and meticulously.

"You have been working in the Civilization Office for more than ten years?"

"Hey! Yes."

The real situation is that it has been almost ten years. , at that time, my information was general and vague.

Actually, I don’t know Zeng Pengfei, and I have never met him. But it is a miracle that you can call each other by name as soon as you meet. As for the reason? To this day, I can’t even begin to talk about it.

When you meet a close friend, a thousand cups are too little, so we got to know each other and started chatting.

The "seat" that Zeng Pengfei stepped on was a half-used wicker chair. A well-known woman usually sat there. Recently, she held a (or was held in) a cultural salon. , the scale is jaw-dropping.

At that time, the man had already left, and he could see some traces of the fairy in the shadows.

Zeng Pengfei is not someone who is "daunted" by seeing us. I estimate that at that moment, he knew that I was coming and came here specifically to chat.

That day, we hit it off and had a good chat, from the "Secretary's Office" to the "Civilization Office", because the "Secretary's Office" did not have air conditioning and the temperature was not very pleasant.

In the cool and breezy Civilization Office, we chatted for a long time, from 3:30 to 5 o'clock, which lasted for two classes.

Zeng Pengfei is a reserved and reserved person. He has an extraordinary sensitivity to literature, from literary planning to literary aesthetics, from literary conception to literary income generation, from Huichang literature to Chinese literature, and then to world literature. The complexity of the content, the breadth of knowledge, and the far-reaching coverage are astonishing...

Later, I learned that Zeng Pengfei was a celebrity in the Huichang cultural circle. In addition to literary attainments, he was also proficient in calligraphy. , and also serves as the chairman of the County Calligraphers Association.

From this point of view, Zeng Pengfei’s cultural quality and artistic accomplishment are indeed well-known in that small town that values ??literature and Confucianism.

That day, when I left the quiet courtyard, I noticed a white magnolia tree growing on the side of the middle door of the building, next to the window of the Civilization Office, tall and tall, with luxuriant branches and leaves. In the spring, In the new season, the quiet fragrance of white magnolia has already filled the courtyard.

After returning to Ganzhou, I was full of passion and couldn't calm down. I spent three days writing a prose of more than 5,000 words - "From the County Party Committee to the Writers' Association" to describe this trip to the County Party Committee. The entire process was recorded.

Zeng Pengfei saw this article and liked it very much. He mentioned it countless times on the phone until a year later.

Last winter, he came down for a meeting, stayed at the Jingan Hotel, and gave me a call at three in the afternoon. Unexpectedly, I hurried over.

The process was very troublesome. I first took the bus, made many twists and turns, stopped and stopped along the way, and looked for a few places, because on the phone, I heard "Jin Gan Hotel" as "Jin Gan Hotel". "Junjia Hotel". When we arrived in Jingan, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

Entering the hotel room, Zeng Pengfei was sitting on the small sofa, watching TV quietly.

That day, we chatted until eight o'clock in the evening. In addition to half an hour for dinner, we chatted for three and a half hours.

This is a cultural salon for two people, the smallest work seminar in the world.

Zeng Pengfei is a devout literary believer. He has incisive and unique literary insights. In addition, literary criticism, literary appreciation, literary planning, and literary creativity are all his strengths. I often wonder, how many people like Zeng Pengfei are there around us?

So far, I have only met with Zeng Pengfei a few times, not more than five times in total, because I rarely go back and he doesn’t come out often. Occasionally I would make a phone call and have a chat, but the other end of the phone was often "unable to get through" because he was a leader, and a leader always had to be busy with government affairs, welcoming people to and from places, attending meetings and going to the countryside.

The white magnolia flowers are withering and blooming, and the waiting under the white magnolia is so earnest. For ten years, Zeng Pengfei has been waiting in that window, on the chair of the Director of the Civilization Office, for a tenth of a century.

Ten years of ups and downs are so vast that I cannot forget them without thinking about them.

Ten years have passed by like a fleeting moment. The white magnolia outside the window has grown from a small seedling to a towering tree, but the child under the white magnolia remains the same, continuing his career, waiting silently, doing his duty with all his heart, doing what he should do, spreading the light of civilization and passing on civilization Fire, the sword of inherited civilization!

Praising beauty, spreading morality, and promoting righteousness are the responsibilities and missions of the Civilization Office. This has also created a good trend of people in the Civilization Office advocating civilization and loving literature. Zeng Pengfei is one of the representatives.

In my memory, Zeng Pengfei is not only good at literary planning and literary criticism, but it is also his second specialty.

He has read many of my manuscripts, including novels and essays, totaling no less than 500,000 words. Whenever there is an important chapter and some highlights are found, he will reply promptly, make a phone call and comment. Generally, it is first affirmed, praised for a while, and encouraged, and then points out some shortcomings, or areas that "can be improved".

Usually, Zeng Pengfei’s opinions are insightful and pertinent.

In the early stage of creation, I made many strategic mistakes and spent almost all my time and energy on the novel. Although I made some "progress", the overall strategy suffered Frustration resulted in no harvest and a tight economy.

After learning from this painful experience, I calmed down. After repeated consideration, we decided to make a major strategic adjustment, shorten the front line, and change the "long-form breakthrough" to "short breakthrough", placing prose and short stories at the tip of the knife, and prose at the tip of the knife. . The style is slimming, focused, and exerting force unevenly.

When I communicated with Zeng Pengfei, he immediately reacted on the phone and blurted out only five words: "The boat is small and easy to turn around!"

Highly condensed theory , precise and profound gaze, which is the innate talent of a cultural planner.

If these are ordinary little things, insignificant, then what happens later has such a great impact that it can change the trajectory of a scholar and change the course of his life.

When it comes to literature, from ancient times to the present, the usual thinking is that "gentlemen are poor". Literati should avoid talking about money, and there is no need to talk about money. It seems that if they talk about money, they will not become literati, and they will be contaminated with The smell of copper is gone, and a little less bookish. In fact, this kind of judgment is extremely foolish! This actually pushes literati into the abyss and drives literature toward death.

Before the soldiers and horses are moved, food and grass go first. Zeng Pengfei understands this principle very well. He worked very hard on this and planned many creative ideas.

It is true that due to various reasons, many ideas are not popular in the actual market and fail to achieve immediate results. In those dark and difficult days, in that time of struggle, in such a tortuous literary road, Zeng Pengfei lit a candle, giving people infinite courage and hope.

It is said that those who are good at learning will become officials, but that is a matter for government literati. When it comes to grassroots writers, this law may not be applicable.

Zeng Pengfei has always had too much sympathy, understanding and support for the bitterness of grassroots writers.

Zeng Pengfei’s position is not that of high officialdom, solemn venues, or affordable fame and fortune. It’s not like friends occasionally make guest appearances, go through the motions, cheer for them, and then disappear, exiting midway, never being heard from again, and finally being on the sidelines.

For literature, he is a kind of trust, a belief, and a belief. A trickle of water, a gentle breeze, and a thread of tenderness.

In short, for friends; in simple terms, for hometown; in broad terms, for society.

Simple philosophies and simple truths are integrated with each other, but in reality, some people understand, some may not understand, some are ignorant, and not everyone is Zeng Pengfei!

Every year in early spring, the white jade flower blooms brilliantly, white and fragrant.

The innocent child under the white magnolia carries the fire of civilization and radiates the light of infinite hope.

After painstaking exploration, searching high and low, accumulating experience, a clear path finally emerged. The pain of traveling, the pain of confusion, the pressure of hunger and cold, will turn into yellow flowers overnight.

Culture goes to the countryside, promotes agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and promotes tourism. It uses documentary and vivid writing and beautiful and plain techniques to reveal the ancient countryside, prosperous new villages, simple folk customs, beautiful scenery, and Those countless hard-working rural workers are the cornerstone of society and the country rooted deep in the soil.

A new literary model was born, and a new literary subject sprouted!

It is true that writers cannot be slaves of the market, but only by binding and integrating literature with the market can literature go on and go further. Otherwise, literature will become a rootless duckweed. Living water without a source, a building without a foundation.

Zeng Pengfei is the discoverer, initiator and leader of this idea.

Everything in this world is for profit, and the iron law has formed a rolling flow of traffic, flowing to the endless distance.

Among the traffic, there are also people who are willing to withdraw and become a paving stone to rest on the pier, watching the wind and rain as dark as the sky, the sound of the waves remains the same, and the tide rises and falls.

Great creativity, like white magnolia, is white and crystal clear, and has a strong fragrance. It will ferment, spread and sublimate over the years.

As a discoverer, his sincerity for his hometown is like the white magnolia tree, green and lush, standing upright on the land of his hometown and rooted in the heart of every pathfinder.