Literary Master 1983

Chapter 122 Yu Xuanfeng is coming (Part )
Another housewife was selected. She didn't buy anything but was just hanging around in front of the bookstore, but she was also pulled in for an interview by the reporter.

“Do you know the Chinese writer Yu Qie?”

The answer is still unknown.

“Do you know the Chinese writer Lu Xun?”

“Who is Lu Xun?”

Got it!
This is someone who doesn't read literature at all.

Reporters also have a way to deal with this kind of people. They took out the photo of Yu Qie visiting the grave in Haode Temple: in this photo, Yu Qie was wearing a black suit and bowed solemnly in front of the tombstone.

He looks like the only wealthy eldest son left in a large family.

The housewife was shocked: "So this is Yu Qie? If writers can produce more people like him, how come their books won't sell?"

The "China whirlwind" is getting stronger and stronger. Under deliberate guidance, during the writers' visit, almost every detail was reported, they were invited to dinner almost every day, and they visited all the famous scenic spots in Japan. The upper class people from different fields accompanied them every day, and the extremely enthusiastic care made them reluctant to leave.

Yu Qi now has some understanding of how "international student literature" came about. With this kind of treatment, the foreign country you describe is of course a paradise on earth.

But is this the norm?

"Yu Qie? Do you think the two countries can become friends?"

Chen Xiru from External Relations asked Yu Qie this question. Chen Xiru is both the External Relations Officer of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the translator this time.

Writers need to leave the hotel in pairs, and Yu Qie and Chen Xiru are a pair.

This person is a die-hard fan of Ba Lao. He got a business card signed by Ba Lao and said he would treat it as a family heirloom.

"Why don't you answer me? Can the two countries be friends?"

Yu Qie said: "Of course we will become friends." Yu Qie did not tell Chen Xiru the truth.

Li Xiaolin, editor-in-chief of Harvest magazine and Ba Lao's biological daughter, asked Yu Qie: "You have received such a warm welcome. Do you like Japan? Will you become a writer in Japan in the future?"

Yu Qie: "I'm afraid I'll still focus on writing domestic literature, and write some foreign works as appropriate."

Li Xiaolin was puzzled: "Don't you think our two countries can become friends? Haven't you felt the enthusiasm of our Japanese friends? They like you so much!"

Yu Qie said: "Of course we will become friends, but friends won't always be friends." This was not what Yu Qi thought either.

Finally, he was introduced by Ba Lao to meet some Japanese booksellers in order to discuss the publication of Yu Qie's novels. The communications were very successful, and the Japanese got Yu Qie conditions that were only available to famous authors in their country.

Most new Japanese authors cannot even compare to Yu Qie. They have to go through years of hard work to become famous. Some poor Japanese writers have to publish their own manuscripts at their own expense, hoping to be appreciated by readers, and then fall into financial difficulties and be controlled by publishers.

Everyone drank sake, danced, sang together, and talked about the great writers who had influenced the history of the two countries.

"We were so close once, we were brothers, there will be no difference anymore," said the Japanese.

Yu Qi really believed that there must be someone among them who was sincere.

During the dinner, there were some young Japanese women serving everyone. They knelt down every time they served dishes and drinks. Yu Qie and Ba Lao were the most important guests, so the izakaya invited a hostess who was in her seventies. This grandmother-like figure who could live out her life in China, knelt down towards Yu Qie and offered him drinks while leaning over.

Yu Qi took it and drank it with a smile on his face, and did not do anything to spoil the fun.

After the banquet, Ba Lao was also very happy. He asked the same question: "Yu Qie, do you think we can be friends?" "I'm afraid not." Yu Qie told the truth this time.

"Why?" Ba Lao was not surprised.

"I saw that the Japanese respected the strong and respected the strong, but ordered the weak around. They couldn't even fully love their own compatriots, so how could they love us in a foreign country?"

Ba Lao nodded: "Yes, you are very clear-headed. The relationship between us as individuals can hardly replace the relationship between nations."

This is not an isolated case.

Not long after, the writers met the descendants of Professor Yanjiurong Fujino in the presence of the media. Professor Fujino was the Japanese professor who had taken care of Lu Xun. Lu Xun missed him and cherished him, so he specially wrote an article "Mr. Fujino".

Visiting Fujino's descendants is a standard procedure for performing in Japan: whether it is a politician or a writer, everyone has to go there.

The relationship between Fujino and Lu Xun has become a microcosm of the friendship between the two countries.

But writers discovered that Mr. Fujino's descendants did not understand literature or Chinese culture.

In fact, although Lu Xun wrote an article in memory of Fujino, he was very sober. When talking about Sino-Japanese relations, Lu Xun once wrote an article that "there is no real friendship without a balance of power."

Of course it is true. Without a winner, there can be no truly stable relationship.

The translator Chen Xiru felt something was wrong and asked Yu Qie: "This descendant of Fujino actually knows nothing about China. He is just a mascot. Do you think we can continue like this?"

Yu Qie did not answer him directly, but said: "Look, even our Friendship Exchange Association has been divided into 'Japan-China Friendship' and 'China-Japan Friendship'. The Japanese put them in front, so of course we put ourselves in front..."

Chen Xiru understood: "Well, it's just for a while. It's better than fighting in the past."

NHK's Kuniya Yuko invited Yu Qie to a private dinner she organized. Many people who were on the show at the time came to the dinner, as well as some young Japanese people who were interested in and "admired" Chinese literature.

Yu Qie brought his follower Chen Xiru, who also spoke Japanese, and the two of them went to Yokocho in Shinjuku District to eat high-end Japanese food.

Deyokocho is home to many izakayas, and Shinjuku is one of the busiest areas in Tokyo. Japanese office workers are having fun here, and the country is booming at the best economic stage in history.

This is also the stage when the gap between the two countries is the largest. How big is the gap?
After visiting Kyoto, the patriotic poet Jiang Zhenghan was most impressed by Minokichi, a high-end Japanese restaurant in Kyoto, and wrote a poem about it: "There is no moon or stars in the sky/but the world is full of stars/a moving Milky Way/with schools of glowing fish floating..."

“I am drunk even without drinking/Drunk in the sky/Drunk in the dream/Drunk in the air.”

This is simply paradise on earth.

After that, he wrote works such as "Ginza" and "The Cuckoo of Marunouchi Inn".

At this banquet attended only by young people, Yu Qie unsurprisingly became the star.

He could speak Japanese and write literature, an elite among elites, and as a Chinese who rarely traveled abroad, he made a fuss about almost nothing—sports cars, fruity alcoholic drinks, and neon lights.

When he stood up and toasted to everyone with a smile, everyone was dazzled by how tall he was. Under the lights, he even made people feel ashamed of himself:

What kind of person is this? I have never seen a Chinese like this before.

When Chen Xiru was in the toilet, he quietly pulled Yu Qie's clothes and said, "Yu Qie, you have made us Chinese proud!"

(End of this chapter)