: The Brand New "Half a Move Against Heaven"

After seeing Zhang Yimou and the others off, Huang Wenbin went on to continue creating.

The first novel, "Going Out into the World at Eighteen," has already been taken by Ms. Li Xiaolin, and Mr. Ba has said that it will be published in the next issue of "Harvest."

Huang Wenbin can now focus on creating his second work, "The Heavenly Game".

This novel is a short story published by the author Jiao Jian in 1981, with a total length of less than six thousand words.

The plot is not complicated. It tells the story of a folk chess fanatic named "Hundun" who accidentally enters the Valley of Bewitching Souls on New Year's Eve and, in a daze, plays chess with the God of Heaven in his dream.

In the middle game, chess masters and immortals from ancient times came to lend their support. In the final battle, the two sides fought a fierce ko fight. In the end, Chaos's black stones had one less ko threat than Heaven's. Finally, Chaos sacrificed itself as a black stone, kneeling and dying in a corner of the board to secure the victory, winning by half a point!

This novel was written in one go, and its grandeur and power are truly awe-inspiring.

However, in later generations, this novel became a huge hit because of the TV series "In the Name of the People". The character Qi Tongwei in the series repeatedly mentioned this novel and even compared himself to the line "Half a move ahead of Heaven" from it.

In fact, Huang Wenbin didn't think much of Qi Tongwei. Qi Tongwei's experiences in the first half of his life were indeed quite pitiful, but he later became an ungrateful beast.

All the favors he felt came from the Chen family. He received financial assistance from the Chen family when he went to university, Chen Yang bought him his first pair of sneakers, and Chen Hai would occasionally give Qi Tongwei food coupons.

The difficulties he faced were caused by the Liang family, and the oppression he suffered was inflicted by the Zhao family.

He harbored resentment, but dared not do anything to the Liang family or the Zhao family. However, he resorted to cruel methods against the Chen family.

On his deathbed, he did not expose the evil deeds of the Zhao family, nor did he drag the Liang family down with him. Instead, he said, "I will repay the kindness of the Chen family in my next life."

He was subservient to those who harmed him;

Those who help him, he will repay in his next life.

Therefore, his fate was entirely his own fault.

He had no advantage over fate whatsoever; he was just a cowardly coward who ran away from the situation.

Huang Wenbin originally planned to include Qi Tongwei's life experiences in "The Game of Heaven" to create a contrast with the chess fanatic in the book.

However, after carefully reviewing Qi Tongwei's life, it becomes clear that he is not worthy of the title "half a move ahead of fate".

After careful consideration, Huang Wenbin found another candidate, Li Xiang, for the role in "The Storm".

He plans to combine Qi Tongwei's early life experiences with Li Xiang's later life experiences to create a true "half-move victory over fate" ordinary hero.

Huang Wenbin began to draft a rough outline for the novel.

But as he continued to work through it, he realized that what he wrote would definitely exceed the length of a short story, so he simply let loose and wrote freely.

Just write another story after the short story.

The protagonist will be Li Xiang, whose identity and experience are similar to those in the original "Rampage," where he goes from an ordinary police officer to the captain of the city's criminal investigation team.

Similar to his previous work, "Leaving Home at Eighteen," he plans to break down the 6,000 words of "The Heavenly Game" into a dozen or so introductory paragraphs to serve as the beginning of each chapter, corresponding to each stage of Li Xiang's life in the story.

Hun Dun was a chess fanatic who was appreciated by others and came to the chess club.

However, he was straightforward and quick at chess, but he didn't understand interpersonal relationships and was incompatible with the chess club.

The chess club has a set of ancient chess games, said to be a fragment of a game played by heaven and earth in ancient times, which no one can solve.

Hun Dun placed a piece directly on the chessboard, enraging the entire chess club, who then kicked him out.

At the right time, strong winds and heavy snow occurred.

Chaos braved the wind and snow, mistakenly entering the Valley of Bewilderment. In a wooden hut, he played a game of chess with the heavens, giving it his all. After many twists and turns, he finally won by sacrificing his life.

As for the realistic part, Huang Wenbin created a fictional city without specifying which era it was set in.

Li Xiang's early life followed the same pattern as Qi Tongwei's: he came from a poor family but got into a good university through his own abilities.

He accidentally saved the daughter of a high-ranking official, and then became entangled with her.

Li Xiang already had a lover, so he resolutely refused and was then sent down to a remote mountain village.

……

The second half is the original Li Xiang's storyline.

Gradually, he also became somewhat confused.

He struggled repeatedly between desire and ideal, and amidst the disdainful gazes of his relatives and friends.

……

But he himself was indeed dirty, and he couldn't accept himself like that.

He took a gun and went to the cabin in the valley where he had once distinguished himself, cursing, "Godf*** you!"

Then, a shot rang out.

The story ends.

He spent ten days writing this manuscript, revising it several times along the way.

He then showed it to editor Liang Xiaosheng, as well as Zhang Yimou and a few others.

Based on their feedback, the manuscript was revised three more times from beginning to end. The final draft was about 50,000 words long, making it a short novella.

During this period, Zhu Wei visited several times, and he became one of the earliest readers of this novel.

He also gave a lot of practical advice, and of course, the manuscript was his too; he took it back to No. 166 Chaonei Street.

Then, a significant disagreement arose within the editorial department of People's Literature.

"This author is absolutely audacious!"

Chen Yupeng, one of the vice presidents, was furious and slammed his fist on the table.

He then roared, "Authors like him should be banned! No magazine should be allowed to publish his works anymore!"

Editor-in-Chief Wei Junyi did not refute him.

"You're just being unreasonable!" Chen Yupeng looked coldly at Wei Junyi, pointing at the old woman and saying, "I suggest anyone who wants to publish this work think twice!"

Yan Wenjing, president of People's Literature Publishing House, tapped the table: "Let's have a discussion, but don't label us. We're in the era of reform and opening up now. The elders at the literary and art congress said that what to write and how to write can only be resolved in practice. Don't interfere."

"This is like throwing dirty water, aren't we just going to do nothing about it?" Chen Yupeng still couldn't accept it.

Deputy editor Qin Zhaoyang, however, said optimistically, "I think this novel can serve as a warning to the world. Not only should we not oppose it, but we should strongly support it."

"No! Absolutely not!" Chen Yupeng's attitude was very firm.

Although the National Congress of Literary and Art Circles established the policy of full opening up of the literary and art circles, its implementation has been somewhat hampered, mainly due to a lack of concrete examples to provide evidence.

Yan Wenjing felt that this novel was a good test.

He said calmly, "Since we can't reach a conclusion, let's submit the draft and see what the higher-ups say."

After that, no one had any objections.

……

Huang Wenbin was naturally unaware of the discussions taking place within People's Literature Publishing House.

He felt a sense of relief wash over him, and realized he could put his writing aside for the time being.

Now I can focus on writing scripts and making money off Li Heizi.

In the past ten days or so, Zhang Lai has almost finished writing the first draft of "Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" and handed it over to Huang Wenbin.

Huang Wenbin took a look and thought it was pretty good; Zhang Lai's basic skills were indeed quite good.

However, Zhang Lai has a minor flaw: he likes to write permissions, which is clearly inappropriate in this script.

Huang Wenbin deleted Zhang Laihui's unnecessary scenes, made some modifications based on the original film, and then felt it was about right.

He handed the revised script to Liang Xiaosheng to see if it could be published in "Film Creation".

Not long after, Liang Xiaosheng returned with a serious expression and asked him to come to the main building for a meeting.

"A meeting?"

Huang Wenbin looked puzzled. "What's going on? What kind of meeting is this?"

"I don't know, but the factory manager told me to come and take you in!"

Liang Xiaosheng hesitated for a moment before saying to Huang Wenbin, "It doesn't feel like anything good. The factory manager doesn't look too happy."

Upon hearing this, Huang Wenbin couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Could it be that the script violated some taboo?

Or is there something wrong with the novels he submitted before?