The Christmas dinner hosted by the embassy was not extravagant, but the dining atmosphere was very good. Most of the guests did not know each other, and they could chat softly during the meal.

Sitting next to Lin Chaoyang was an old man with a Chinese face. He saw Lin Chaoyang and his wife acting intimately and smiling in their eyes.

Lin Chaoyang only found out after chatting with him that the other party was actually Xiao Qian.

Xiao Qian has many identities, including writer, reporter and translator. Behind each of his identities, he has achieved great achievements.

As early as the 1930s, he wrote the poetic novel "Valley of Dreams", which is known as the most significant and charming autobiographical love tragedy in modern Chinese literature. It is considered by modern literature researchers to be the representative of Beijing School literature in the 1930s. One of the representative figures.

The "Lixia Collection" written by him was once highly praised by Shen Congwen: "Except that I think it is very good, I can't express any other opinions."

During the Anti-Japanese War, he wrote many influential reportage works such as "Seeing and Hearing" and "Ashes".

At the same time, he has also made great achievements in translation. He translated the Chinese version of James Joyce's important work "Ulysses", one of the founders of postmodern literature and stream-of-consciousness literature.

Lin Chaoyang didn't know Xiao Qian, but Xiao Qian knew him.

"You have no impression of me, but I have an impression of you. This year's National Outstanding Short Story Awards, I am sitting down to watch you accept the award." Xiao Qian said with a smile.

"I have long admired your name!"

"It's because I have admired your name for a long time. "The First Floor in the World" is very well written, and it is another classic work for people and art."

Xiao Qian's words immediately reminded Lin Chaoyang of the performance of "The First Floor in the World" in May. The other party also wrote an article praising "The First Floor in the World" at that time.

"Thank you for your kindness."

Faced with the praise from his seniors, Lin Chaoyang certainly had to be humble.

"Have you written a script recently?" Xiao Qian asked.

"I wrote it, but it's not a play, it's a movie script. One is an adaptation of my own "The Wrangler" and handed over to director Xie Jin of Shanghai Film Studio. The other is written for director Li Hanxiang of Xiangjiang."

Xiao Qian sighed after listening to his words, "Your work "Lai Zi's Summer" was also published this year, right? One novel and two scripts a year. After all, you are a young person!"

""Raiko's Summer" was written at the end of last year."

Xiao Qian nodded slightly and said, "Whenever the movie comes out, I will go and support you."

"Thank you for your support, but it's too early for the movie to be released."

Xiao Qian asked again: "Do you also want to participate in the international writing program?"

"International Writing Project?" Lin Chaoyang was stunned for a moment, feeling that it sounded familiar. He thought that he had talked with Li Tuo before when he was a guest at home.

He shook his head, "No, I didn't participate in that writing project. I came here at the invitation of a friend."

The "International Writing Project" that Xiao Qian refers to is an activity initiated by the Chinese-American writer Nie Hualing and her husband, the famous American poet Paul Angel.

Last year was the first year of the implementation of the international writing program. Xiao Qian was invited to be the first batch of Chinese writers to participate in the event and conducted exchange activities in the United States for more than four months.

Xiao Qian mistakenly believed that Lin Chaoyang was invited to attend the dinner at the embassy because he wanted to participate in the international writing project.

"That plan is going well. Going abroad can broaden your horizons. If you have the chance, you should go out for a walk." Xiao Qian suggested.

Xiao Qian's suggestion was sincere, but he didn't have the final say on the matter. The two of them were just chatting.

The dinner didn't last long, only an hour.

After it was over, everyone moved to the large restaurant, where the embassy held a cocktail party.

Compared with the dinner party, which only had more than 20 people, the cocktail party was much larger.

Today is Christmas, and Yanjing Hotel is one of the few hotels in the city with a Christmas atmosphere. Therefore, many consulate officials and foreigners in Yanjing have chosen to spend the holiday here.

Therefore, the reception after the banquet included not only American guests who were being hosted by the embassy, ​​but also foreigners from other countries.

In addition to these guests, a 14-member orchestra was arranged at the reception to play music. A special space was opened in the center of the reception for the guests to dance.

As soon as the reception started, many foreigners joined the dance floor.

Tao Yushu looked at the foreigners on the dance floor with colorful hair and chattering languages, and sighed: "I have lived in Yanjing for so many years, and I have never seen so many foreigners. I just said too little, I feel more than half , it should be that all the foreigners in Yanjing are here, almost catching up with the United Nations."

Lin Chaoyang took her hand and asked, "Shall we dance a bit too?"

Tao Yushu immediately took out his hand and said, "I can't jump!"

"What are you afraid of?"

Lin Chaoyang still wanted to pull her, but she was so frightened that she shrank back.

She couldn't do it in public like those foreigners did, shaking their heads and posing.

On weekdays, their classmates from Yan Normal University would also have dance parties in private. Tao Yushu had always been indifferent to these things.

Seeing her resistance, Lin Chaoyang stopped dancing and pulled him to the dessert table.

"Then let's have some snacks."

The food at the reception only had desserts, but there were many types, including vanilla pudding, tiramisu, rumbaba, donuts, apple pie, waffles...

When Chinese people still needed to buy pastry shops with pastry tickets, the dazzling array of pastries on the dessert table was extremely luxurious.

Women are inherently incapable of resisting desserts, not to mention that Tao Yushu inherited her mother's inheritance and is even more irresistible to sweets.

The Western food at the dinner is only half-full for the Chinese stomach, and the snacks can just make up for the emptiness in the stomach.

However, when Tao Yushu was getting snacks, she carefully observed her surroundings and took only as much as others took.

In contrast, Lin Chaoyang was much more unrestrained and ate several pieces of snacks.

He doesn't like desserts or pastries, but because these days you have to buy pastries with a ticket, and he doesn't eat for a long time, and there are so many delicious desserts here, he wants to indulge occasionally.

"Pay attention to your image." Tao Yushu reminded him.

"You can't get enough if you're thin-skinned, but you can't get enough if you're thick-skinned. You don't even know this?"

Lin Chaoyang said without any worries, stuffed another piece of snack into his mouth, then stopped with satisfaction and wiped his hands.

Although Tao Yushu usually said that Lin Chaoyang was thick-skinned, on an occasion like today, what she felt from Lin Chaoyang was a real sense of relaxation, which was a trait and confidence that it was difficult for her to possess.

.

The desserts at the reception were provided by Yanjing Hotel, but the taste was based on American tastes. It was so sweet that after eating a few pieces of Tao Yushu, I was so tired that I didn’t want to eat it anymore.

She looked at the desserts piled on the dessert table and felt sorry for her small appetite.

It would be great if I could take so many desserts home.

When she was feeling regretful, Lin Chaoyang noticed that there was a foreigner in front of the dessert table who was also eating too much. The foreigner seemed to have noticed Lin Chaoyang as well.

"Hi!"

"hello!"

"Lin Chaoyang!"

"Paul Theroux!"

"writer!"

"writer!"

After introducing himself in a coded manner, Paul Theroux said: "The desserts here are good."

"Yes."

“It’s rare to have desserts in China that are as sweet and cloying as those in the United States.”

Lin Chaoyang felt a little awkward listening to Paul Theroux's words. He belittled two countries in one sentence. Brother, you are a talent!

"Have you just come to China?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"Yes, I've only been here for more than a month. Man, your English is really good."

Paul Theroux has been in China for more than a month. Apart from the official translators he has met, Lin Chaoyang's spoken English is the most fluent he has ever heard.

"You Orientals look so young! Did you learn English in college?"

In the eyes of Westerners, it is difficult to tell the age of Easterners because their looks are so deceiving.

Just now Lin Chaoyang introduced himself as a writer. Paul Theroux thought he was just like the Chinese people he saw, but he looked young, but in fact he might be in his forties.

"That's right."

While the two were chatting, Sharon Woodcock came over and said hello to them.

"It seems you already know each other."

Paul Solu and Lin Chaoyang looked at each other, "Yes."

"But you must not know what works the other party has." Sharon Woodcock smiled and sold it off.

The two of them looked at her and waited for her introduction. Sharon Woodcock said: "Speaking of which, I have read both of your works in the past six months."

She told Paul Theroux: "Lin has written an excellent stream-of-consciousness novel, which is available in English in China's official foreign literary magazine, Chinese Literature."

Paul Theroux's mind flashed back to the magazines he had read when he was bored on the train. For foreigners traveling in China at this time, apart from the foreign reading materials they brought with them, it was difficult for them to read foreign books in China.

version of reading material.

"Chinese Literature" is one of the few reading materials that has no reading threshold, so this official magazine does have many readers among foreigners in China.

Paul Theroux bought a copy of "Chinese Literature" because he was bored by taking the train.
To be continued...