Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 16 The Curtain Falls, the Tide Rises

Even the longest night will bring sunrise. But sunrise does not mean warmth and hope to everyone.

Just like the organizers of the "New Concept Essay Contest" at this moment, the editor-in-chief of "New Sprout" magazine Zhao Changtian, deputy editor-in-chief Li Qigang, and the judges of the semi-finals such as Wang Meng, all know in their hearts that sunrise may be the beginning of another trial.

At ten o'clock in the morning, with the scoring of the last article completed, after a simple statistics, the award results were clear.

The award certificates were neatly printed one by one, but no one felt relaxed at the moment.

At this moment, the students and parents had also learned about yesterday's incident and were even more worried. They were afraid that public opinion would affect the results of the semi-finals, so they gathered outside the meeting room of the organizing committee early in the morning to inquire about the situation.

The parents' doubts were slightly dispelled because Zhao Changtian tried hard to explain and guarantee that all students' essays would be scored fairly and impartially in the semi-finals and that the award ceremony would be held as before.

At 1:30 p.m., the award ceremony was held as scheduled.

The large conference hall had the judges' seats in the front row, the participating students in the middle, and reporters waiting for interviews in the back row - but this time the number of reporters and photographers exceeded the limit, so many people had to stand in the aisles.

The award ceremony went on as planned.

The finalists are:

The second prize winner is:

The first prize winner is:

What was different from the past was that when the names were announced and when the candidates went on stage to receive their awards, the applause seemed a bit hasty and perfunctory.

Pang Yun sat in the crowd with a pale face, muttering to himself: "How come I'm not even shortlisted? How come I'm not even shortlisted?" His mother, like other parents, was blocked outside the conference room, so she didn't know what was going on inside.

But this did not prevent Pang Yun's mother from identifying several parents of "future alumni" for her child, and they even exchanged mobile phone numbers with each other.

After the award ceremony, there will be interviews with reporters as usual, and then the judges and special admissions representatives from various universities will communicate with the students who won the first and second prizes to decide whether to make an exception for admission or to be admitted with a lower score.

This is also the most anticipated and newsworthy part of the event.

But before the reporters could come forward to ask questions, Cao Wenxuan, the representative of Yanda University among the judges, took the host microphone and announced to all the students and reporters:

"Out of respect for public opinion and public will, the leaders of Yanda University have discussed overnight and decided to suspend the plan of making special admissions and lowering the admission scores for the award-winning students of this year's 'New Concept Essay Competition'. I hope that the students will not be discouraged, and will continue to work hard after returning to school, study hard, and take the college entrance examination. As long as you get good grades, the door of Yanda University will still be open to you!"

The whole audience was in an uproar, and a girl who won the first prize even burst into tears.

Afterwards, judges from the other thirteen schools, including Qingdao University, Fudan University, and Yanshi University, also came on stage and said the same thing, extinguishing the last glimmer of hope for the students.

At this time, it was not just the girl who was crying, even some boys started sobbing.

Zhao Changtian was indescribably sad. In fact, he had received calls from university leaders early this morning, informing him of the result. But when he saw the scene in front of him, he still found it hard to accept. He knew that the glory of the "New Concept Essay Contest" had officially come to an end today. Even if the contest was held next year, it would not be as popular as before.

Rise and fall is an objective law, and Zhao Changtian is not unable to accept it, but he originally thought that this process would be very long - just like all traditional literary awards, which are glorious at the beginning but gradually fall into decline.

Even the Mao Dun Literature Prize, which is regarded as the highest award in Chinese literature, who else pays attention to it now, apart from the literary circle?

However, the three articles of "Midnight Tide" and the promotion of "Southern Weekend" unexpectedly caused the competition to "suddenly die". Just imagine who will submit to the "New Concept Essay Contest" after the live news broadcast today?
However, what he was most worried about was the future of "New Sprout" magazine. At the end of the last century, the sales of "New Sprout" fell to the bottom, with only 1 copies. It was almost unable to pay the royalties, and it was barely able to maintain itself by relying on financial grants.

But since the "New Concept Composition Competition" was held, "New Sprouts" has been reborn, with sales reaching over 50 copies, making it the headquarters of Chinese youth literature.

Now that the competition’s decline is irreversible, will “New Sprouts” also be dragged into the abyss?
Zhao Changtian shuddered when he thought of the difficult days when he could only sell 1 copies per issue. He was about to retire, so it didn't matter, but what about the young people in the magazine?
However, his thoughts were soon interrupted by the reporters who surrounded him:

"Editor-in-Chief Zhao, facing this result, what do you want to say to literature lovers and audiences across the country?"

Zhao Changtian could only bite the bullet and deal with it. Now no one could share the pressure with him - Wang Meng, every judge present, and several students who were crying miserably, all had at least two or three reporters around them asking questions. The scene was already in chaos.

Soon some students couldn't stand it anymore and ran out of the venue wiping their tears to seek comfort from their parents; then the parents outside also knew the result.

The children didn't dare to act rashly, but none of the parents could tolerate this. They rushed into the venue and started questioning all the organizing committee staff they could see.

The loudest among them was Pang Yun's mother. She almost pulled Li Qigang's collar and questioned: "Why does it not count when it's our child's turn to win the award? Do you know how hard our Pang Yun works? Before the competition, he would recite his essays until late at night every night, and he even had dark circles under his eyes! You made him stay up all night in vain! Our money was also wasted!
As soon as she said this, she immediately became the focus of the whole audience. Pang Yun, who was beside her, didn't even have time to cover his mouth. The reporters let go of their respective interviewees and pointed their cameras and microphones at Pang Yun's mother. She was immediately given a Shamatte beard.

"Excuse me, parent, you said your child memorized the composition before the exam, right?"

"My dear parent, you said 'our money was wasted', what did you spend the money on?"

……

Zhao Changtian also heard Pang Yun's mother's yelling. He was so angry that his brains were about to burst out of his seven orifices. He no longer cared about his image and shouted, "Call the security quickly, clear the venue! Stop the interview! Stop the interview!"

Just like that, the sixth "New Concept Composition Competition" came to an embarrassing end amid chaos.

Outside the venue, the reporters and parents who had been kicked out still gathered and started interviewing at the gate.

Wang Meng, the chairman of the jury, boldly stepped forward and answered a few questions honestly and directly, and personally assured everyone that the review process was fair and rigorous. He took out a thin stack of manuscript paper from his pocket and said to the reporter:
"This is a manuscript we reviewed last night. After two judges and myself's appraisal, we all thought it was a copycat, so we didn't give it a score. No matter what other aspects of this competition are lacking, in the review process, each of our judges has a clear conscience!"

Before leaving, he left a meaningful message to the reporters on the scene:
"The person you should be asking right now is not these parents, but that 'Midnight Tide'. Who is he? I want to know too!"

This sentence immediately opened up the minds of the reporters! We must find the butterfly flapping its wings. If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be the storm in the past two days!
Careful reporters have already started contacting Southern Weekend...

(End of this chapter)