The Bailing Book Fair is the largest bookseller fair in the whole of Bailing Prefecture, the book fair lasts for 20 days, and booksellers from all over the country will bring their own manuscripts to participate.

Of course, there were also many literati who participated alone, some to sell their manuscripts for a good price, and some to promote their literary fame.

Li Xuejin took Shen Lang and went straight to the book club.

At this moment, it is much quieter than half a month ago, after all, most of the booksellers have already made deals.

The reason why it is still left now is to participate in various cultural meetings to contact feelings, and on the other hand, it is also to wait for the birth of the final "extreme work".

The so-called "extreme work" is the highest honor of the Bailing Book Club, if it is obtained by an individual, then his works will be sold by the Bailing Book Store to the whole country. If the work recommended by the book store is selected, then the book store will also get great benefits and can participate in the distribution and operation of the book.

It is said that the reason why there is such a rule is because the first owner of Bailing Book Store was because a demi-saint helped recommend his works, so that he achieved a career.

This word is widely preached, but not many people really believe it.

The half-saints are all big names enshrined in the Temple of Literature, can they have time to help you sell books to a bookseller?

However, one thing is certain, if you can get the evaluation of "the best work", it is equivalent to getting the ticket to become famous all over the world.

Shen Lang walked all the way through the venue and saw booksellers from all over the world.

One by one, there was no secular copper smell in the whole venue, but there was a feeling of participating in the reading and humanities club.

"Originally, the selection of this masterpiece should have ended the day before yesterday, but something went wrong in the middle, which has been delayed until today." Li Xuejin said with a smile.

Shen Lang also heard Zhang Yu say about the work of the pole, after all, Zhang Yu went to Qingyun Academy to ask Xue Nanting that day. It's a bit slim, but it's not like it's a complete impulse.

It wasn't until Shen Lang's article "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian" came out that Zhang Yu's confidence swelled to the extreme.

"What's wrong?" Shen Lang thought about it slightly, and then wondered, "My manuscript?" ”

Li Xuejin nodded slightly, and said: "There are a total of 632 manuscripts for this election, and twelve of them were finally shortlisted, including the book "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian". ”

Shen Lang nodded slightly, this was not his expectation.

"Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian" is also a top literary work in that world, although it is not as good as the four famous novels in terms of literature, but in the short story, it also has an absolute place.

I heard Li Xuejin continue: "Among the twelve articles, three of them are completely in line with the theme of this conference, but among these three articles, I have never been able to decide. ”

"In addition to Nie Xiaoqian's article, what are the other two?" Shen Lang asked curiously.

He has been in this world for more than two months and has read a lot of books. According to his understanding, it is absolutely overwhelming to talk about the story alone. Whether it is emotional drama, character portrayal, storytelling, and some of the morals, they are far beyond the stories of this world.

Most of the stories in this world, even in the initial stages of fiction, will eventually go around to the classics of the saints and be reduced to didactic reading, which is by no means like chatting about the strange things, putting the excitement and drama of the stories in the first place.

Of course, it's not that the kind of story in this world is bad, Shen Lang even thinks that to a certain extent, the story of this world is more entertaining and educational, but Liao Zhaizhi is better than a novelty in the concept, which is incomparable to other books.

Listening to Shen Lang's words, Li Xuejin just smiled slightly, and led Shen Lang into a room.

There were three middle-aged scholars sitting in the room, they were all bowing their heads to review the manuscript, and when they saw Li Xuejin entering, they only nodded slightly, and immediately buried their heads in front of the desk and continued to read.

On the table in front of them, there were thick manuscripts, all of which seemed to be works that had been selected for selection.

"These are the first round of manuscripts that were brushed down, some of them have the wrong subject matter, some of them have problems with their views, and they all missed the final extreme work. However, Bailing Books will rate them according to the rules, and some good works will be recommended by Bailing Books to be published in other book stores. In previous years, there were also some second-round works, and the final sales were on top of the best works. Li Xuejin explained.

Shen Lang suddenly understood, no wonder there were so many literati to participate. This latter review system is to add a layer of insurance to the manuscript, so that some high-quality articles will not be buried.

After the two entered the book meeting venue, those documents that followed had already been dismissed by Li Xuejin.

After leading Shen Lang into the "editorial department", he walked into a small room in the innermost, and Li Xuejin invited Shen Lang to sit down and took out three manuscripts from the cabinet.

The one placed on the top is Shen Lang's "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian". Looking at the handwriting on the cover, Shen Lang knew that this was copied by Liu Huaikuan, and then handed it to Zhang Yu.

The second article below is an article called "The Narrative of the Tomb".

Shen Lang contemplated, opened the manuscript and looked at it carefully, after about a stick of incense, he frowned slightly, and gently closed the manuscript.

Then I opened the manuscript of the third volume, which was an essay called "The Buddha Comes to the East." Another stick of incense time passed, and Shen Lang closed it again.

Li Xuejin didn't speak when Shen Lang was reading, but after making two cups of tea, he sat behind the desk with a teacup and waited quietly.

Seeing Shen Lang close the manuscript, Li Xuejin smiled and said, "Shen Gongzi, how do you feel?" ”

Shen Lang shook his head and chuckled, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then sighed: "You can't underestimate the people of the world!" ”

Li Xuejin laughed and said: "That's right, but I'm still the most optimistic about the article "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian". ”

Shen Lang chuckled, he had just read it once, and he found that those two articles were surprisingly good, and even to some extent, they were not worse than his "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian"!

However, there are many problems with it.

He vaguely understood the reason why the Bailing Book Society had not decided on the best work for a long time.

"Can Shen Gongzi see the reason?" Li Xuejin said with a smile.

Shen Lang thought for a moment and said slowly: "The Bailing Book Club is my Confucian and Taoist Book Club. ”

Li Xuejin clapped his hands lightly and said, "Exactly!" ”

Those two manuscripts are good articles, "Tomb Narrative" tells the story of ghost monks and ghosts, which is somewhat similar to "Liao Zhai", in which there are many descriptions of beautiful corpses and female ghosts.

There is no publication review in this world, as long as it is not too explicit and insulting, it can be released.

But the key is that there are a lot of beautifications for the cultivation of the ghost path, which seems to give people the illusion that "as long as you cultivate the ghost way, you can have countless wives and beautiful families".

"The Buddha Comes to the East" and "The Tomb Narrative" are just the opposite, if the tomb is the ultimate fragrance, then the Buddha is the ultimate self-discipline. It tells the story of a monk who came to the east and saved the people all the way, and later in the story, the monk even cut meat to feed the famine people, and finally became a Buddha on the ground. The story highlights the Buddhist concept of compassion and self-esteem.

But this article also has the same problem as "Tomb Narrative", that is, the extreme beautification of Buddhism and Taoism, Spring and Autumn penmanship, Confucianism and Taoism are the best at it, and you can see the problems of these two books at a glance.

"So what's the problem now?"

The question that Shen Lang said naturally does not simply refer to the problems of the stories of these two manuscripts.

Li Xuejin sighed and said: "In terms of a single round of stories, these two articles are indeed good articles. ”

Shen Lang nodded, even he had to agree with this.

"Now there are two opinions on the side of the judges, one is that they think that the Bailing Book Club is my Confucian and Taoist Book Club, and it is extremely inappropriate to promote other Taoist systems in this way. And with Shen Gongzi's talent, it should not be difficult to see what these two books are trying to do. ”

Shen Lang smiled: "Extreme, one-sided beautification, only describes the beauty of that point, and avoids talking about other shortcomings." ”

Li Xuejin clapped his hands and agreed: "That's it! What is the Buddha and the ghost way, we all know it very well in our hearts, but the common people don't know! ”

Shen Lang nodded and said: "In the ideological battle, there must be no relaxation. ”

Li Xuejin was stunned for a moment and muttered: "Ideology...... Wonderful! Shen Gongzi's use of this word is really incomparable! ”

Shen Lang smiled and said nothing, he had seen too much of this kind of thing in his previous life, and how many people were confused by the Western powers when they painted a big pie.

"What about another opinion?" Shen Lang asked.

Li Xuejin was still carefully reminiscing about the "ideology" that Shen Lang "created", and only reacted after hearing this.

"There is another one that is not as thorough as Shen Gongzi, but I also think that my Confucianism and Taoism should not be preached by other Taoist systems."

Li Xuejin glanced at Shen Lang and said, "What advice does Shen Gongzi have?" ”

Shen Lang groaned and said slowly: "I personally think that these two books can be released, but they must not be the best works. Of course, for the sake of fairness, I will take back the manuscript and withdraw from the final selection ......"

"This must not be!" Li Xuejin hurriedly said.

Shen Lang shook his head and said: "I made this manuscript just for a momentary interest, not really for any literary name or anything like that. And since Li Zhi asked me for my opinion, then I must avoid suspicion. ”

Li Xuejin didn't get entangled, and continued to ask: "Why can it be released, but can't you take the best work?" ”

Shen Lang thought for a while and said slowly: "The ideological battlefield must be fought for!" These two articles are not terrible, since the other party can concoct these two articles, then they will definitely be able to write more similar ones. Today, the Bailing Book Society has banned it, and they can also publish it through other channels. ”

"What's really scary is that the official platform is for it!"

"The Bailing Book Club is called the Bookseller Exchange Conference, but since Li Zhi has made you sit here, it has an official background. If you label one of these two books as a 'pole', you are officially acknowledging its values. This is on the battlefield of public opinion, and he has personally put himself into the upper hand. The two sides don't have to argue, and once there is a conflict, this will give the enemy a sharp edge! ”

Shen Lang's words made Li Xuejin's face serious.

At first, he thought these two stories were good, then he vaguely sensed that something was wrong, and then he felt that he was preaching too much Buddhism and ghosts.

And now after listening to Shen Lang's words, he suddenly realized.

Recalling that he almost made one of these two manuscripts the best work, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

Li Xuejin got up and saluted respectfully towards Shen Lang: "Li Xuejin and Mr. Xie Ziyu instructed!" ”

Shen Lang hurriedly got up and helped him up, and said with a smile: "I can't talk about advice, it's just some ideas." The Bailing Book Club is my Bailing Prefecture event, these must have been considered for a long time, and Shen Lang is just talking nonsense. ”

As the two were talking, there was a knock on the door outside.

"Come in."

I saw a small official walk in quickly, hugged his fist towards Li Xuejin and said, "Lord Li, Mr. Huaiting is here." ”

"Mr. Huaiting?"

Li Xuejin narrowed his eyes, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Shen Langqi said: "Who is Mr. Huaiting?" ”

Li Xuejin looked at Shen Lang and smiled slightly: "This Mr. Huaiting, Mr. Ziyu, you must be interested." ”

Shen Lang saw that what Li Xuejin said was mysterious, and he was immediately a little curious, but he didn't correct Mr. Ziyu's statement.

"Why?"

"This one claims that "Liao Zhai Zhi Nie Xiaoqian" was written by him." Li Xuejin said with a smile.