Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 56 The Wind Comes from the Sea

The students of Changfu No. 3 Middle School saw the news about Zhang Chao in the newspaper again, along with a large photo.

The editor-in-chief and president of Huacheng Publishing House, Xiao Jianguo and Zhang Chao, held a check billboard as big as a plaque on the left and right, with the Arabic numerals "1000000" and the capital Chinese characters "一佰万元" written on it.

The report called Zhang Chao a "double million" young writer - Huacheng Publishing House announced to the media before the signing began that the first print run of "Young Like You" would be 100 million copies, and paid Zhang Chao the first royalty of 100 million yuan.

Subsequent reports described in detail the popularity of Zhang Chao's book signing. He was the only young writer in the audience who signed books from morning till night, and there was a long queue in front of his booth.

Of course, there are also reports pointing out that the main reason why Zhang Chao was able to take the lead this time was because Guo Xiaosi did not bring any new books this time, as his previous works "Fantasy City" and "How Many Flowers Fall in Dreams" have already passed their popularity.

Xiao Si told reporters that he would not only bring new books to the Shanghai Book Fair in August this year, but also bring the strongest writing team he has assembled. His words and deeds all indicate that he wants to have another battle with Zhang Chao.

Now Zhang Chao has a new nickname in school, which is "The Walking Million Dollar Man". When Chen Huan plays basketball with him, he doesn't dare to block his shots, for fear that Zhang Chao will get hurt and he won't be able to afford the compensation.

After class, classmates came one after another to ask him for his autograph with the copies of "Young Like You" and "Flower City" they had bought.

Only Lan Ting and Song Shiyu treated him the same, neither trying to get close to him nor being distant from him. However, Lan Ting did ask for his autographs on behalf of many of her classmates.

Zhang Chao also knew that this commotion was too loud, so he waited until after class on Saturday, had dinner at school, and waited until after 9 o'clock in the evening before quietly returning home.

Smelling the smoke filling the living room and the table piled with melon seed shells and orange peels, Zhang Chao couldn't help but feel a little scared.

When Zhang Chao placed a golden bank card in front of his parents, they didn't know what to say. Zhang Chao said, "This is the first payment of royalties. Although the publisher sold 100 million copies, they didn't get all the money back, so part of it was paid to me in advance."

"...In other words, there is more to come?" Zhang Chao's mother suddenly remembered that last time she was worried that Zhang Chao would not be able to submit the manuscript and would have to return the 20 yuan that Lu Jinbo paid in advance.

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Yes. One million copies, based on a 100% royalty, should be 15 million. After deducting the tax, there will be more than 450 million left. Huacheng Publishing House has agreed to pay me in installments according to the progress of the payment."

This number is really beyond the imagination of the couple who have been earning a fixed salary all their lives.

Zhang Chao said: "I don't need so much money right now, and I'll have more later. It's better to keep this money at home and improve the family..."

"Oh...it would be great if you could get into university again..." Zhang Chao's parents are both old college students who took the college entrance examination after its resumption, and they still feel a little bit resentful that their child could not get into university.

"..."

The spring in Fuhai is very short. It is extremely hot just after April.

During this period, Zhang Chao's various extracurricular affairs finally came to an end. In addition to burying himself in writing, he also worked hard on history, geography and politics. He had a good foundation in these three subjects and scored nearly 260 points in the college entrance examination that year.

Going to college was not only his parents' expectation, but also Zhang Chao's own wish. Although a college degree was no longer of practical use to him, college life was still very attractive to him. He was no longer as naive as he was at the beginning of his rebirth, afraid of everything and trying not to deviate from his original life track.

Now that it’s here, let’s fight it!
Moreover, he found that the identity of a student and the campus environment could bring him many conveniences in his creation, which was a kind of offensive and defensive situation. Zhang Chao even thought self-deprecatingly that in the future, at worst, he would be promoted from a junior college to a university. But at least he had to get 400 points in the exam and not make a fool of himself in public opinion.

It’s all Southern Weekend’s fault. They tried too hard!
But the turning point came soon, and it was completely beyond Zhang Chao's expectations. One afternoon in early May, Zhang Chao was called by Director Zhou in the office and asked to answer a phone call. The reporter on the other end of the phone was from Hong Kong Island. He spoke in a very labored Cantonese and asked Zhang Chao if he was interested in studying at a university on Hong Kong Island.

Zhang Chao was confused. After a long and difficult communication, the reporter finally explained the whole story. A few days ago, Ming Pao in Hong Kong published an interview with Xu Zidong, professor and dean of the Chinese Department of Lingnan College. In the interview, Xu Zidong mentioned that starting from this year, Lingnan College will also follow the example of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (since 1998) and the University of Hong Kong (since 2003) and start recruiting students from the mainland. Compared with mainland universities, one of the major advantages of the University of Hong Kong is that it has more flexible admission conditions, and the college entrance examination scores are not a fixed threshold.

He specifically mentioned Zhang Chao, saying that a mainland high school student like Zhang Chao, who was not good at one subject but had certain literary achievements, was fully qualified to be admitted to Lingnan College. As long as Zhang Chao applied, he would do his best to mediate and facilitate this matter in the school board.

Xu Zidong believes that Zhang Chao's two novels prove that he has a rare literary ability, which is to cross serious literature and popular literature. The advantage of Lingnan College's Chinese Department is the research of modern and contemporary literature. If Zhang Chao can come to study, Lingnan College can not only provide him with a good learning environment, but he himself can also be studied by students in the Chinese Department.

How many Chinese departments in the world have the opportunity to allow students to observe so closely how a writer who may one day go down in literary history learns and grows?

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

Subsequently, the arts departments of the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong also successively stated that if college entrance examination candidates like Zhang Chao were willing to apply for their admission, they could be considered for special admission after qualification review.

In 2004, many print media and online media were out of sync, and there was an information gap between Hong Kong and the mainland. So when Zhang Chao received the call from this reporter, it was already several days later, which made him feel like a blessing from heaven.

It’s not that Zhang Chao really wants to go to university in Hong Kong Island. Firstly, he knows that universities in Hong Kong Island have been competing with mainland universities for students in recent years, and they often offer generous conditions such as million-dollar scholarships to provincial champions. Admitting him as an exception is more of a means of buying a horse with a lot of money; secondly, going to university in Hong Kong Island means that he will be away from the center of Chinese culture for the next few years, and will be in a remote corner, which will still have an impact on the development of his literary career.

But he was indeed very grateful to Xu Zidong. He didn't expect that after just a brief encounter in "Three Generals Going Together", he would be willing to help him so much.

But Xu Zidong's approach was a little weird——

When someone asks you, "What are you studying at the university on Hong Kong Island?"

How did Zhang Chao answer? "Being studied..."

Let’s get back to the point - the interesting thing about this matter is that it was proposed by the Island University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong media, and Zhang Chao had no prior knowledge of it.

Ever since Zhang Chao's three articles exposed the fraud of the "New Concept Essay Contest" and cut off the path to "going to college with one essay", the question of whether he should go to college and how to go to college has fallen into an embarrassing situation for Zhang Chao himself and those who wanted to help him.

No mainland media outlet is willing to bring up this topic, and no mainland university dares to spread this rumor.

Not to mention Zhang Chao himself. If he showed any sign of wanting to go to university based on his literary achievements, he would surely be greeted with overwhelming backlash from public opinion.

But the universities in Hong Kong are different. They have their own educational philosophy and admissions standards, do not occupy the admission quota of the mainland, and have never participated in the previous "New Concept Essay Competition" public opinion storm. Naturally, it can be assumed that they have excluded conflicts of interest and recruited Zhang Chao purely out of love for talent.

For some sutras, it is really necessary for outside monks to recite them first before others can start.

Zhang Chao made an extremely correct and resolute decision at this time. He said to the reporter:
"I just learned about this as well. I'm concentrating on preparing for the college entrance exam, so I don't have any opinion, sorry. But you can talk to your colleagues in the mainland."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chao told Director Zhou that he would not answer any interview calls in the near future, not even a single one.

“I want to study hard!!!”

(End of this chapter)