Chapter 23 first quarter
In a place far from Tokyo in the western suburbs, Toji Chofu, who lives a secluded life, received an invitation from the weekly magazine R, partly by chance.
Chofu Tonji is a writer in his fifties.When he was young and popular, he often wrote family novels, love novels, etc., and published them in women's magazines, earning the tears of many readers.There was no television at that time, and most of his novels were immediately put on the screen, making his works even more sensational.The name Chofu Tonji is more idolized in film companies than in magazines.
However, times have changed.New writers emerged one after another, and without realizing it, Tonji Chofu was left behind.He could no longer hold the interest of the readers of the women's magazines, he felt.It can be said that the era of Changfu Dunzhi ended twenty years ago.Now, I occasionally write some short readings or essays, but at least the readers have not completely forgotten his name.
He disposed of the house in Mita built during his peak period, sold his collection of art, and retired to a rural area near the mountains of Tokyo.Due to the inconvenient transportation, even some curious old editors were alienated.If the magazine wants to ask him to write, a phone call is enough, and after the manuscript is finished, there will be no special messenger to pick it up, asking him to send it by express mail.
Ten years ago, Toji Chofu died of his wife who was a painter.There are two daughters under her knees, and of course they already have husbands' families, and they are currently living with the old servant and his wife.Fortunately, before disposing of Sanda's hometown, I accepted a friend's suggestion and half-jokingly bought a land of about 400 square meters here, which was more than enough to build a country house.And this house was built when the number in the passbook hadn't started to decrease, so it became a chic house with a tea ceremony style that is rare in this area.There are also natural groves and small bamboo groves in the garden. Water was brought from the stream and many carps were raised, so it can be regarded as worthy of his reputation in the past.In fact, people who visit may mistakenly think that it is some chaebol's villa.
It was a cold day in early spring, and a car came very rarely and stopped in front of the door.From the car, a man came down with a gift of Ginza Western Dim Sum and a business card of the deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine.
The deputy editor-in-chief asked him to write serial novels.This magazine has female readers as the main body, and asked him to write a "time novel" suitable for this type of readers to be serialized for half a year.
Changfu Dunzhi readily agreed.Of course, the issue of manuscript fee still needs to be discussed, but after such a long time, there is another opportunity to write a serial, and Xinyue has occupied his heart first. R magazine is quite popular among women's weekly magazines.What makes him feel strange is that the serials in this weekly magazine are all written by active writers, how could they come to him who is no longer popular?He asked half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"I hope that my husband can give full play to his talents. He is still young, so it's not appropriate to put on an old face so early."
The vice president replied with a smile.
"I'm not an old man."
He became famous very early. In this regard, "everyone" is worthy of his name.However, the vice president's implication seems to imply pity for a gradually forgotten person, a writer who has just entered the old world, and it seems to be a gamble.No, not only that—I only realized it later: so coincidentally, the next serial in the schedule was due to a sudden illness of the master writer who was unable to write for the time being, so I found him here.
Therefore, the time is very tight.The works currently being serialized will end in three weeks.When the club was in a panic, they asked several writers for help, but no one could accept it.Everyone is too busy.
An editorial meeting was held in the agency.It is easy to temporarily suspend publication of a serial, but the original space must be filled by the editorial department with general manuscripts.The editorial department simply does not have such spare capacity, so novels are still needed to determine the length of novels.At this moment, a female editor mentioned the name of Changfu Tonji.The situation was urgent, and although the editor-in-chief was not very happy, he still had to accept it.
The serialization of Tonji Chofu started from this accident.
However, regardless of the motivation, it is extremely gratifying for Touji Chofu to be invited to serialize a novel after a long absence.In the past, his modern novels and period novels were equally divided, so he was not at all embarrassed to receive an invitation to write period novels.His chest, which had been empty for a long time, suddenly swelled up, and vitality also gushed forth along with it.
Before long, however, he began to worry.The matter was agreed to, but I just couldn't think of what to write.
Maybe it's because I haven't written a novel for a long time, and I don't even have a clue.A brain that lacks experience seems to be paralyzed.
He is restless.I finally spent a lot of effort and weaved two stories, but even I felt that it was too pale.The agreed delivery date is approaching relentlessly.In the end, I wanted to find some cold rice to stir-fry. I ran around the second-hand bookstores in Kanda for two or three days, but I still didn't find anything satisfactory.He found that all the more interesting novels were written by other novelists.The rows of bookshelves in the second-hand bookstore looked so desolate in front of his eyes.
A week passed in a blink of an eye, and there were only twenty days left before the deadline.The real house leak happens to rain all night.About a month ago, he accepted an invitation from the Fuchu City Board of Education in Hiroshima Prefecture to give a speech, and he had to make such a trip the day after tomorrow.He really wanted to say he was sick and call to report his leave, but he also thought that he might go over there to change the atmosphere, maybe a good idea would suddenly appear, and he didn't know.Anyway, only stay for one night, and fly back the next day.
This place in Fuchu is to go to Hiroshima first, then turn back for about three hours, and then change to the branch line from Fukuyama to enter the mountainous area. The traffic is quite inconvenient.Normally, this inconvenience would be a pleasure to him, but this moment just made him anxious and impatient.In the midst of all this tossing, the deadline was still pressing.If it is too late, it is very likely that this may be the last chance, and it will be missed.
As a last resort, I hurriedly dealt with the speech.He declined all the subsequent symposiums and the banquet hosted by the Education Committee, and returned to the hotel.Originally hoped that this change of atmosphere would bring good ideas, but it seemed to be in vain.He walked out of the hotel almost in desperation, and walked on the street.
Fuchu is indeed a rural town.It is said that in the past it was the seat of the government of the Bingo region, and after that only the "Bingo Kasuri" is famous in the world.But at present, this local product has also declined, and it has become a lonely small town.Changfu Dunzhi turned from the main street to the back street, and happened to see an old bookstore beside the dark alleyway.Half of the store is filled with antiques and old furniture.
Changfu Dunzhi walked in without any expectation.It was past nine o'clock, and he was the only one in the store.Those old books are not worth looking at, and the history books are only local history.Among them, he happened to see a thread-bound book and pulled it out.It's really old and stinky, but the cover looks like brocade cloth.The title of the book is "Evening Tales in Muromachi", and if you flip through it casually, it is all printed in old-fashioned typesetting.Look at the back cover, it is "issued in April, Meiji 25".The author's name is "Akio Hayashida, a scholar of literature", and it is divided into three volumes.
He read a few pages in the first volume, which, as the title indicates, seems to be a historical story of the time when Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Yoshimitsu brothers were "shoguns".
The bald old man sitting inside got up sleepily and walked over.Tonji Changfu still didn't have any expectations, he was rushed to buy the book just because the boss seemed to be closing.The asking price is a total of 1,000 yen for the upper, middle and lower volumes.
"This Mr. Hayashida Akio is a man from our house. He is a great man. You have bought some good things."
The old man told him so after wrapping the book in old newspaper.Changfu Dunzhi had never heard of the name Hayashida Akio, and thought it was just a country second-hand bookstore owner boasting about a local character and saying something nice about it.
In fact: he unearthed a treasure.
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