Chinanews.com client, Beijing, June 30 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) In June this year, the online drama "Secret Corner" was successfully released. Although the drama has finished broadcasting, the discussions about the original family and parent-child relationship have been Never stopped.
Stills of "The Secret Corner"
Also popular with this online drama is Zijin Chen, the author of the original novel "Bad Child". Others envy him for being famous, but he feels that the experience of being a celebrity is not so good. "Life has become very busy, disrupting the rhythm of my creation. I hope this state will pass quickly."
Struggle with twists and turns
A hot search a few days ago brought Zijin Chen, a young author of reasoning novels, into the public eye: Zhu Chaoyang's prototype in "The Secret Corner" is himself.
At the age of 9, his parents divorced. The father soon remarried and had another daughter. Zijin Chen and her mother live together, and they have a lot of energy in mind, thinking that they will earn a lot of money in the future, and they can live well with their own efforts.
From elementary school to junior high school, Zijin Chen has always been at the forefront, and mathematics, physics and chemistry are strong points. The more difficult the three subjects in the exam, the higher the score. He likes mathematics the most, and does self-study in the evening. It is the happiest time of the day.
At the age of 19, he was admitted to Zhejiang University as he wished. After graduation, he ran to an Internet company as a product manager, earning more than 3,000 yuan a month. The salary is okay, but he cannot achieve the small goal of "making a lot of money", he thought twice and decided to resign.
In the process of looking for a new job, Zijin Chen read many books and was very impressed with "Suspect X's Devotion". Taking another look at the reader market and writing circles, he came to a conclusion: writing inference novels should make money.
This road was not as smooth as imagined. One year ago, Zijin Chen had to prepay 20,000 royalties to the publisher. When it comes to scratching his head, he even wonders if he has no literary talent at all.
However, just in 2013, his novel "The Crime of Undocumentedness" became an explosion. The meticulous logical reasoning and compact storyline attracted a large number of fans and popularity. In the eyes of the author in the circle, he is already the "great deity" of reasoning novels.
Zijin Chen. Photo courtesy of interviewees
The upsurge of IP adaptation has risen, and Zijin Chen has got more opportunities to "ride the wind and waves". In 2017, the online drama "The Crime of Undocumentedness" became popular; in 2020, "The Hidden Corner" was screened, and another online drama adapted from its work "Long Night Is Hard to Know" is also about to be released.
As if overnight, his name spread across the Internet.
"Bad Child", which is more "evil" than the drama version
The screen of "The Secret Corner" has indeed triggered a great discussion: the divorce of parents makes Zhu Chaoyang sensible and sensitive; his father Zhu Yongping misses his son, but he is partial to the daughter born after remarriage; his mother Zhou Chunhong loves his son, but this love is strong Suffocating...
Apart from praising actors' acting skills and examining the good and evil of human nature, many people distressed the fateful children of Yan Liang, Zhu Chaoyang and Pu Pu in the play. Compared with their peers, due to family reasons, they had to face the helplessness and difficulties of life early.
Compared with the ending of the online drama, the original work shows "pure evil": Zhu Chaoyang pushed his half-sister off the window sill, used Zhang Dongsheng to kill his father and stepmother Wang Yao, and stabbed Zhang Dongsheng with a knife. It was able to elute the suspect.
Many people are thinking about the harm caused to their children by the original family, and continue to assume that if Zhu Chaoyang's parents are not divorced, he has not been "blackened". Will this be the case in his life? What is good for children?
Zijin Chen noticed a similar problem. "Bad Child" was a work he conceived after writing "Undocumented Crime". At that time, his wife was just pregnant, thinking that he would have children, and thinking about the reports of juvenile delinquency that he saw on weekdays, he was determined to write this novel. .
He has paid attention to the divorce rate in recent years, and also found that many children have unfortunate childhoods because of family reasons. Those who seem to be happy in the sun have unknowing sorrow in their hearts, but generally do not tell others.
Image source: Video screenshot of "The Secret Corner"
But he does not agree with marriages that are difficult to consider in order to consider children. The relationship between parents after divorce and giving children equal care and love are the most important.
Zijin Chen also hopes that adults can see that the child's heart is not as simple as "You are still a child", "Adults have all been children, they should have understood children very much, but we have forgotten this after we were parents."
"People may have dark thoughts at a certain stage of life, but they will not be put into action, because of moral constraints, and because most people have good hearts." Zi Jinchen said, "Bad Children" is a tribute to every heart. The injured adult.
Reconciliation with the native family
The novel is niche, and it can be cruel to make more people reflect, this is the purpose. Most of Zijin Chen's writing considers the issue of adaptation, but "Bad Kid" does not, so he can receive so much applause after the broadcast, which is completely beyond his expectations.
Through the reactions of relatives and friends, Zijin Chen felt the influence of "The Secret Corner": Not long after the play was broadcast, many people called him, "Even my mother received a commission from several friends to come to me signature."
"The Secret Corner" poster
There were many invitations for interviews, and he declined, because many questions were similar in the future; but in the end, I tried to accept it as much as possible: because I was embarrassed to refuse, then how much can I answer.
Zijin Chen frankly answered every question, including the influence of childhood divorce, some weaknesses in his personality and so on. After more than 20 years, he has already achieved reconciliation with his native family.
He said that he was the prototype of Zhu Chaoyang, but he was definitely not that type of person in his life. He likes to tell jokes and often spit out funny things. Many book fans are happy to turn his Weibo, and there is a sense of humor between the lines.
After chatting with others, he will naturally tease himself, "I have opened a script company, and I failed to earn a penny in two years. I closed. There are only two or three assistants left as studios."
Busy and troubles after the "popularity"
"Hidden Corner" brought Zijin Chen fame, but also brought a little trouble: life became very busy, and the rhythm of creation was chaotic.
Zijin Chen. Photo courtesy of interviewees
He wanted to return to his quiet life as soon as possible. When I saw someone on the Internet vomiting that my writing was poor, I occasionally argued weakly: "It's not so bad, otherwise, when there is no film and television, there will be many publishers who will not mine me."
Working from 8 to 9 in the evening, Zijin Chen usually "opens overnight" until 6 in the morning. He continues to express himself in writing. At present, he is writing a reasoning novel with a soft science fiction shell. It is thinking about class solidification.
Sometimes, looking at the chaos, he wonders if there will be a different life if he insists on finding more jobs or changing other types of work. But just thinking about it, "I don't write novels now, what else can I do?"
He is still willing to try different ways of earning a living, and even planning to write the manuscript on hand, he will give away a few weeks of takeaway, "I love this kind of free work." (End)