Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 114 Following the Map

They had the idea of ​​going down the mountain to change horses and increase their income.

When Xiao Kai returned, Chen Tuo had already written down the whole story of how he fought the wolf the night before.

However, his account was heavily embellished, to the point that Xiao Kai thought Chu Maolin and Zhang Taibao were elite soldiers from the Songling Forest Area.

"Isn't writing about Chen Zhiqing (a former educated youth) in this way a bit of an exaggeration?"

Pointing at Zhang Taibao, who was working outside the window, Xiao Kai asked with a hint of jealousy.

"I'm still keeping this as a backup! How about I polish it up for them a bit more?"

"Stop embellishing it. This guy out there, he's always eating and never satisfied, he's always filthy, and he gets drunk as soon as he drinks. How could he be a hero of the forest?"

After finishing his discussion of Zhang Taibao, Xiao Kai brought up Chu Maolin.

"That Maolin guy is pretty much the same. He's all talk and no action, doesn't know who he is. Every time he talks about it, he's all talk and no action."

After finishing arranging Chu Maolin's story, Xiao Kai's eyes darted around, and he whispered:

"Chen Zhiqing, look, can I join you? Isn't it said that three heroes are needed to defeat Lü Bu?"

After going around in circles, Xiao Kai finally steered the conversation back to himself. Chen Tuo smiled and said:

"Why not? You're the eldest brother, and the other two are the second and third brothers. I'll write a story about the three heroes outwitting the foreign wolves..."

Chen Tuo spoke without hesitation, and Xiao Kai immediately got carried away. He actually knew some relevant information about the foreign wolves coming from the Russians.

Unlike the wolf packs in the Xingan Mountains, the Great Northern Wilderness, and the grasslands, which were scattered and defeated.

The number of Siberian wolves in Russia is much greater than in these places.

According to Xiao Kai, several large wolf packs, numbering over a hundred, are broken up every year at the Ussuri outpost.

Sometimes, the wolf packs don't just number a hundred; temporary packs of several hundred or even a thousand will cross the river in groups.

In summer and autumn, it's relatively easy for wolf packs to swim across the river.

Once the river freezes over in winter, the Russians don't just have wolf packs on their side.

It's common for deer, roe deer, wild boars, brown bears, black bears, and tigers to pass through.

Upon hearing the wolf coming from the north once again, Chen Tuo also found the source of the echo between the Blood Wolf Dog, the Blood Wolf Plain, and the Wolf Totem.

Chen Tuo does not agree with the portrayal of wolves as arrogant animals in Wolf Totem.

If humans are like this, what about wolves?

All grudges and affections ultimately boil down to food and survival.

These two points can be considered to have hit the pulse of the times.

After receiving the land use certificate from Xiao Kai, Chen Tuo began revising the Blood Wolfhound's paperwork, starting from the source of the wolf pack.

At the same time, the plot of Xiao Kai, Zhang Taibao, and Chu Maolin cleverly defeating the foreign wolves began to be polished.

With the addition of Xiao Kai to the cast, the personalities of the three characters also need to be differentiated.

At this point, Chu Maolin's retribution for offending him came.

The eldest brother, Xiao Kai, is wise; the second brother, Zhang Taibao, is benevolent; and the third brother, Chu Maolin, is reckless.

Chen Tuo acted rashly, which was bound to cause trouble. His second brother protected him, and his eldest brother gave him a warning. That's how the story unfolded.

The story of the three heroes cleverly defeating the foreign wolves is only part of the plot of Blood Wolfhound.

Chen Tuo's focus in making his cuts was still on keeping pace with the times.

The wolf pack in Bloodhound comes from the north, which is both a teacher and a mirror.

The wolf pack from the north died on the Blood Wolf Plains due to a conflict with the hunters, which marked the beginning of the Wilderness Era.

The northern wolves are dead, but the native wolves remain. The novel's perspective shifts from Blood Wolf Plains to Wolf Totem.

It's the infighting and wolf-like culture of the post-grassroots era.

The old and weak should be in front, women and children in the middle, the strong and young should provide protection, and the wolf king should bring up the rear. This is the wolf totem that Chen Tuo wanted to write.

Instead of portraying wolves as proud and sacred, only to be admired and speculated upon.

With a main theme that aligns with the times, there is a creative direction for sustainable development.

Once Chen Tuo started writing again, his thoughts flowed like a torrent. He spent several days revising the first draft of "Blood Wolf Dog" and began polishing the entire text.

Looking back at the entire Blood Wolfhound novel, Chen Tuo also found the key to novel writing.

It captures the pulse of the times, reflects the realities of life, and predicts future developments.

The key is to ensure that his writing touches both present and future readers.

Now it should be related to wounds and reflection; in the future, it should be related to development and the economy—that is, the specific operations to break through barriers.

Chen Tuo, a Chinese literature major, was not ignorant of these creative principles, but hearing them was one thing, and saying them was another.

But actually doing it is a different story.

To write a simple story, you have to sacrifice your writing style; to write a simple story, you can hardly write a simple one.

When struggling with the story and main plot, one must also consider the wounds, reflections, development, and the economy, which multiplies the difficulty of creation.

It is difficult to break through these barriers by simply studying the works of predecessors.

Fortunately, Chen Tuo had the future writing style and trends in mind. Once he understood the market's preferences, breaking through these barriers was as easy as following a map.

Chen Tuo stayed at the educated youth settlement and devoted himself to writing. Although he did not obtain Chu Maolin's consent, he wrote Chu Maolin's name into his novel.

Although in the novel, Chu Maolin's recklessness is somewhat negative.

But Chen Tuo kept his promise; at least in the process of fighting the wolves, Chu Maolin played a positive role.

After reviewing the document, Xiao Kai brought the wolf-hunting section to the Forestry Bureau.

While Wei Juncheng and Chu Mingshan weren't particularly fond of the story of the three heroes cleverly defeating foreign wolves, it was still much better than Chen Tuo's realistic portrayal.

With the approval of Wei Juncheng and Chu Mingshan, Xiao Kai and Zhang Taibao gradually began to fulfill the Forestry Bureau's promises.

Chen Tuo also underestimated people's reaction to his appearance in a novel.

After Wei Juncheng and Chu Mingshan tacitly agreed, what Xiao Kai got for him was not just compensation for him personally, but compensation for the entire Xiaoyangqi educated youth settlement.

We will replenish the kitchen and dining utensils that are missing in the educated youth settlement!

Please complete the list of tools that may be needed!

Please gather any necessary materials!

Replenish any missing winter supplies!

We will do our best to make up for any missing supplies allocated in previous years!

Taking advantage of the lull in the allocation of winter supplies, Xiao Kai, along with Zhang Taibao, began to fill the educated youth settlement with supplies at a rate of at least two tractors per day.

Looking at the row of wooden houses that were slowly turning into warehouses, Chen Tuo only offered polite words.

He was also very generous with what he wanted.

In addition to these daily necessities, he also obtained more than a dozen boxes of damaged knives from the Forestry Bureau.

When the forestry engineers first came to Songling, they didn't mention axes, large saws, bayonets, obstacle clearing knives, or entrenching shovels; they used them properly as tools for clearing forests.

Use inevitably leads to breakage. Some of these broken knives ended up in the Armed Forces Department, while the rest were stored in the Forestry Bureau's warehouse.

Chen Tuo opened his mouth, but Xiao Kai, eager to show off, wrote a large piece of paper and directly allocated a batch of old tools as repair materials to the educated youth settlement.

With a foothold at the educated youth settlement, ample living supplies, and enough meat to last for several months, Chen Tuo felt a little relieved.

Next, he will begin a creative period. Before the end of the year, he plans to finish writing Blood Wolf and at the same time produce the first draft of Wolf Totem.

To write about Wolf Totem, one inevitably has to write about life on the grasslands, but Hong Ye, Xiao Kai, and Zhang Taibao couldn't provide any material.

Because of the reappearance of wolves in the mountains, Bailong hadn't come down to see him for several days.

Sun Changkui did not show up, and Hu Yuling never came to the educated youth settlement to teach him a foreign language.

When asked about the Sun family's sons, they remained tight-lipped...