This invitation letter from Peking University not only interrupted Huo Yaowen's arrangements to return to Hong Kong, but also made him very curious, how could Peking University send him an invitation letter?

It has been almost a year and a half since the reform and opening up of the mainland in 1978, but most of the direction of reform and opening up has been in the economy and construction, and there has not been much change in the cultural and educational fields.

So don't look at Huo Yaowen's fame in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and abroad, but his popularity in China is basically not as good as Beidao and Munke, who were famous for the magazine "Today" not long ago.

"Today" is an underground literary magazine founded by Bei Dao, Meng Ke, Huang Rui and other literary and artistic young people at the end of 78, and the purpose of the magazine was mainly to satisfy those who love poetry and literary works.

At first, the magazine was very simple, and Kitajima and others copied some of the poems and prose they had written over the years on a large white paper, word by word, and then cut them with scissors little by little, and then bound them with thumbtacks.

Ten copies of the first issue of Today magazine were made in this way, and they were only circulated among friends in the North Island, and then somehow the magazine was circulated outside.

Different from the current literary works, the hand-copied magazine "Today" contains many different poems and prose of the present, which immediately attracted the restless hearts of the literary youth in Beijing.

In just half a month, this local literary magazine has become popular all over the capital, but all young people who have a little love for poetry, prose, and literature know that there are a few great people in the capital, and they have privately made a very different literary magazine.

At first, Kitajima and others didn't know that this "Today" hand-copied magazine was circulating, until one day when several young people who also loved literature came to the door and wanted to publish their poems and prose in this magazine, which made Kitajima and others know that those lost "Today" magazines were quietly popular all over the capital.

Not only did many literary young people copy the poems and prose in magazines, but it also attracted a large number of literature lovers who wanted to publish their works but had no way to do so.

When Kitajima saw this situation, he immediately discussed with Munch and others, and everyone was a little scared at first, after all, the 80s had not yet left the shadow of the 70s, which caused this local literary magazine to die easily.

But in the face of enthusiastic readers and literature lovers who want to submit, Kitajima and others gritted their teeth and decided to publish the second issue of "Today"!

The second issue of the magazine was not as humble as the first, and Kitajima and the others, with the help of a reader who loved literature, and through his family connections, got an old-fashioned printing press that could almost be sold as scrap metal.

With the printing press, it is natural to publish real publications, so that the typesetting, content, issue number, ink and other things that need to be published must be prepared.

The typesetting and issue number are all simple, but the content is a troublesome matter, and Kitajima, Munch and others have published almost all the poems and essays they have written over the years in the first issue, and where to get new content has become the key.

Originally, a few people wanted to solicit manuscripts from the outside world, but after all, it was an underground weekly, and it was easy to attract the attention of others with a large amount of fanfare.

As for how to publicize the solicitation of manuscripts, there is no need for Beidao and others to worry about it, as long as one or two literary lovers know, then the literary youth of the entire capital will probably know.

At this time, the private communication between the literature lovers in the capital is still very ordinary, firstly, there is no entertainment, and secondly, the early years of going to the mountains and countryside have provided too much inspiration for these, although the quality is uneven, there are still many works that can be accumulated.

In just two days, Huang Rui's home received more than 100 letters, almost all of which were works that the sender had accumulated over the years and could not be published.

It only took three days for Kitajima and others to complete the review, typesetting, and printing, and the second issue of "Today" magazine was successfully released.

A total of 100 copies of the second issue of the magazine were printed, and at first Kitajima wanted to give it away for free, but because they thought that there would be a third issue in the future, they could not afford to pay the third issue, so they had to sell it at a price of two yuan each.

At first, Kitajima and others were worried that they wouldn't be able to sell it, but who would have thought that they would be bought by literature lovers who rushed to hear the news on the first day. This not only brought impetus to Kitajima and others, but also had the funds to start printing the third issue.

But because the second issue was printed too little, it was not enough for the literature lovers in the capital, so they had to print it again for the second time and the third time.

It was printed eight times, and more than 800 literary magazines were sold out.

Before the publication of the third issue, thanks to the quality of the second issue of the magazine, more and more people wrote letters to Kitajima and others, dozens of letters were sent every day, dozens of letters were sent, and the review almost became the shadow of Kitajima and others.

After half a month of screening, a total of five new people were recruited, all of whom had sent letters and wrote works of great quality, the most representative of which was "Gu Cheng".

Gu Cheng is different from Beidao and others, he is a person who has published his works in newspapers and magazines, and he chose to join this underground magazine, mainly because of his love for poetry.

With the expansion of personnel, the number of publications of this magazine "Today" has also increased, and at the same time, through the movement of personnel, these magazines have been brought to all parts of the country.

Overnight, literature lovers in the entire mainland knew that there were so many cattle in the capital who had started an underground magazine called "Today".

By the beginning of 79, the letters of submission from all over the country were almost piled up in the huts where Kitajima and others temporarily lived, and "Today" also became the cradle of domestic literature lovers to publish their works.

At that time, the influence was so great that even the national "Poetry Magazine" magazine published a poem in "Today", that is, Shu Ting's "To the Oak Tree".

When Huo Yaowen returned to the mainland last year, he read this poem in the "Guangzhou Daily", and the fact that it was published in the official newspaper also benefited from the "Poetry Magazine's eclecticism".

It is precisely because of the publication of the poem "To the Oak Tree" in Poetry Magazine that "Today", a local magazine, appeared in the public eye for the first time, and more and more people became curious about this magazine, and at the same time attracted the attention of the people above.

Although this is only a literary magazine, it has not received a regular issue number, and it is a three-no product, so it was ordered to stop publishing in March this year.

As the newspaper reported this incident, it also made more people know that several people in the capital published a local literary magazine, and the fame of Beidao, Meng Ke, Shu Ting, Gu Cheng and several others became popular all over the country at once.

At the beginning of 1980, he became the most well-known poet and writer in China.

So at this time, Huo Yaowen can basically be described as an unknown junior in China.

...

PS: I got up today and had diarrhea, woo, and sold miserable subscriptions and monthly passes.