Literary Master 1983

Chapter 128 Returning to China
Kobayashi, a member of Iwanami Bookstore, has just arrived at the company.

He lived in the suburbs and was a little late. After rinsing the cup, he made a cup of coffee and sat down.

Then I found that people in the company were whispering: "Japan is going to be destroyed, Japan is going to be rich and strong."

Nani?

Kobayashi suspected that there was something wrong with his hearing, so he took the initiative to participate in the conversation. He learned that the content recorded in the editorial was exactly the summary of the speech by "Chinese writer Yu Qie".

Why does Xiao Lin know the Chinese writer Yu Qie?

Because the Iwanami Shoko where he works specializes in publishing traditional masterpieces from various countries.

A few days ago, he and the company president attended a cocktail party with Chinese writers, where they negotiated the publishing rights of Yu Qie's "New Reality" trilogy, and agreed that subsequent works would also be published by Iwanami Shoko first.

Xiao Lin drank and sang with the protagonist of the newspaper and knew that he was a gentleman. After returning, the president praised Yu Qie highly and said, "We must print a photo of Yu Qie in every book."

It turns out that Yu Qie has a new literary idea!

Kobayashi was extremely excited and read the entire editorial of the Asahi Shimbun. He immediately became interested in this literary setting. His family was from Hiroshima, where the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb in actual combat.

Because of the widespread nuclear radiation, no one dared to live in Hiroshima for many years. Later, Japan experienced several major typhoons and heavy rains. Some nuclear radiation particles were swept into rivers and oceans, and the nuclear pollution of the land was alleviated. The Japanese government then established "nuclear radiation" monitoring stations in various parts of the city. Only then did Hiroshima begin to be regarded as a place where people could live.

So Kojima is well aware of the fear that people have for this kind of land after nuclear radiation, and Yu Qie's novel written with this background will definitely be popular. To this day, the Japanese are still afraid of nuclear explosions and suffer from the shadow of nuclear trauma.

The Japanese government will also vigorously promote this kind of novel. They are at the forefront of the Cold War and they will be the first to be bombed if a war breaks out.

Then, just as Xiao Lin was about to report to the president, he saw the president coming to him in a hurry: "The Chinese writer is leaving tonight, we have to talk to Yu Qie about his novel."

"More than eight million people in Japan read the Asahi Shimbun. This guy can sell any youth novels he writes."

Xiao Lin said, "President, other publishers will also come to Yu Qie!"

The president nodded and said, "So I bought you a plane ticket to Shanghai. You and a few other people will go there and get his manuscript."

On the construction route of the Tokyo subway extension, a young construction worker named Tanaka was slacking off and reading the Asahi Shimbun. He shared the report with another veteran worker, Masao Yamagami.

Civil engineering is hard work even in the golden age of the economy. Yamagami graduated from Kyoto University and was part of the country's elite. After becoming an engineer, although he made a lot of money, Yamagami could only go home a few times a year because he was always building tunnels.

If I do something else, it won't be bad either. I really shouldn't do this.

He had a child four years ago and named him Tetsuya. Although he loved the child very much, he was unwilling to accept his situation, which led to Yamagami Masao often committing domestic violence, and also affected the relationship between him and the child.

So, when Yamagami Masao saw it, he immediately started cursing: "The top is fake, the bottom is real."

Tanaka asked him, "Can't Japan's tomorrow be better?"

Yamagami Masao said: "It's not good at all. I feel that this kind of work is almost destroying my body. I hope my child can exercise well in the future and not be like me. If he encounters injustice in the future, I hope he can stand up and resist."

In a hospital in Tokyo, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son was temporarily bedridden and also read the Asahi Shimbun.

Masayoshi Son loves reading books, from comics like Astro Boy and Doraemon to serious books from all over the world, he reads them all. He especially loves to read popular novels, especially refreshing novels, and science fiction novels.

Three years ago, in order to sell the software he represented, Masayoshi Son founded "Software Bank" magazine. Later, he founded and published 7 magazines. He can be considered half a media person.

When Masayoshi Son saw the editorial in the Asahi Shimbun, he thought of the exact opposite: in the future, the children of politicians will continue to be politicians, and the children of chaebols will continue to be chaebols.

Is this a nuclear wasteland? Isn't this what it's almost become?

If what the Chinese writer said is true, then he only has a limited window of time left. Making money and becoming a millionaire in the future is not only his personal pursuit, but also a necessity for his family inheritance.

In this social design, except for the people at the top who can win all, the wealth of everyone else is false. No matter how much money they earn, they will spend it all on artificially created "social needs."

Luxury goods, religion, social life...all kinds of scams will make people spend all their money.

Although Japanese society is not a "nuclear wasteland", the principle is the same.

Just as some people can learn how to be a good capitalist by reading "Das Kapital" backwards, Masayoshi Son is a Korean-Japanese, but his ancestral home is in Zhejiang, China. He has no morals or sense of belonging, and he just uses whatever method works.

Yu Qie is really prescient! As expected, China is the country that wrote "The Art of War". I must go to China to meet him in the future.

------

The Chinese writers' delegation was the last to know about it, but they are the ones who will never forget it.

Everyone celebrated all night long, then slept until noon the next day. They didn't even have time to eat lunch and were all spending money buying home appliances.

Don’t contact me anymore about literature, interviews, or news. I want to buy home appliances.

Deputy head of the delegation Jiang Zhenghan had many marriages and a lot of things to buy: a Panasonic tape recorder, a Hitachi TV, an old-fashioned Sanyo double-door refrigerator...he spent several thousand dollars.

He was short of money and asked everyone: "Do you have any money?"

Translator Chen Xiru said: "No more."

"You're gone? Who else is?"

"Go find Mr. Ba. He has all the money."

"——How can I have the nerve to ask him for money?"

Chen Xiru said: "Then you can find Yu Qie. He has made tens of thousands of dollars, but he is still sleeping. He likes to sleep."

"It's not good to sleep in." Jiang Zhenghan said.

Since we are talking about this, Jiang Zhenghan asked: "What did Yu Qie say at Tokyo University last night? Didn't you report back when you came back last night?"

"We are going to report to Ba Lao, but Ba Lao is also sleeping."

Huh? Are you sleeping too?

"——Sleeping is a necessary rest, but didn't you report to the ambassador?"

"The ambassador went to another cocktail party and now he is in Nagasaki." No wonder!
Jiang Zhenghan was moved and went back to the hotel to wake Yu Qie up.

Yu Qie made a lot of money but didn't spend much of it, which was really a waste.

When the writers visited Japan, all kinds of allowances were handed over to the group leader for safekeeping - in fact, it was the group leader's daughter Li Xiaolin who was looking after them.

To withdraw this money, Yu Qie himself must come forward.

As a result, they didn't find anyone at the door of Yu Che's room. Jiang Zhenghan and Chen Xiru came down and saw the entire visiting group in the hotel restaurant. They all surrounded Yu Che and watched him eat pasta with red faces and shocked expressions in their eyes.

Jiang Zhenghan was thinking in his heart: It’s a pity that Yu Qie didn’t go to Mr. Uchiyama’s house last night, nor did he attend the cocktail party. After all, the food and drinks at high-end private banquets are much better.

What exactly shocked everyone?
I saw that there was a TV in the hotel restaurant, and it was playing a short film produced by NHK TV, which was about the welcome Chinese writers received during their seven-day visit. The two countries are now very friendly, not only are Chinese people welcomed in Japan, but Japanese are also honored guests in China.

Thousands of Japanese college students were invited to attend the youth party of the two countries held in China in batches, and some of them were able to go to Yanjing to participate in the National Day.

Among them, students from the University of Tokyo are definitely the top priority. In the 1960s, the University of Tokyo was the ideological base for young people across Japan, and many activities were initiated at the University of Tokyo.

The Japanese government chartered a special plane for these Tokyo University students to go to China.

The special plane has landed at the airport.

The TV station switched to a live broadcast, with students preparing to board the plane on the runway in the background.

The male and female hosts said in unison:
"Now, some people from the University of Tokyo have gathered at the airport to send off the Chinese writers who are returning home in advance and meet them again in Yenching in the future... We especially want to mention an interesting event: Chinese writer Yu Qie was unexpectedly invited to share literature at the University of Tokyo, where he expressed his views against nuclear war and shared his latest ideas on literature in the nuclear age."

"It was published in the Asahi Shimbun!"

"Yes, it was published in the Asahi Shimbun."

"That night, many students and teachers from Donghua University attended Yu Qie's sharing session. He talked about some new things and the students liked him very much. When Yu Qie left the school, he distributed some Chinese books he brought with him and signed his name for the novels brought by the students. It's a pity that Yu Qie has not yet published a novel in Japan. If his novel is published, it will definitely be very popular."

"Yes, but I have a novel here with his name on it."

"Really? It turns out that Yu Qie has also published a separate volume, Kuniya Yuko, where did you get it from?"

Kuniya Yuko took out the book, which was Lu Xun's "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk".

"This is the book of the great writer Lu Xun!"

"Yes, but it's Yu Qie's name that's written on it. In order to express his respect for Mr. Lu Xun, he wrote it on the last page of blank paper. Let's let the audience see it." Kuniya Yuko held up the book and deliberately showed Lu Xun on the cover and the last page.

"Ah~ We will have some romantic associations. The inheritance of two generations is written in a book. This is simply uncontrollable! Picking up flowers that fall in the morning and picking them up in the evening. What we pick up are the flowers of literature and the flowers of friendship."

Kuniya Yuko said: "Yes, this is a really romantic imagination. Mr. Lu Xun came to Japan three times in his life. The latest research shows that he also came to Japan once in 1910. He actually came to Japan four times."

"Is this time to study medicine?"

"No, he came to Japan to create literature. His brother Zhou Zuoren wrote in a letter that his brother's visit to Japan had nothing to do with medicine. At that time, Sino-Japanese relations were becoming increasingly tense. Mr. Lu Xun wanted to use his power to examine some Japanese national characteristics from Japanese literature. He hoped to help his compatriots."

"Is that so? Fortunately, the tensions between our two countries are no longer as tense as they were in the past - this is a flight of unity."

The plane carrying dozens of Southeast University students and students from other universities closed its doors and was slowly sliding on the runway.

NHK TV had a camera crew on board, so the students' actions were recorded in the live broadcast before the signal disappeared. They raised the national flags of China and Japan and waved to the camera.

"This is Nagoya University!"

“This is Northeastern University!”

"This is Kyoto University!"

"This is... Tokyo University. They... ah! They picked up a lot of books, including The Tale of Genji, Snow Country, and No Longer Human! Murasaki Shikibu, Kawabata Yasunari, Dazai Osamu... It turns out that the students brought the works of those outstanding literary masters in our country's history. They want to bring these books to their friends in China."

But the scene is not limited to this, Ba Lao's "Family" and the Japanese version of "Dream of Red Mansions" also appear.

“And there are Chinese literary masters, who turned out to be Asia’s great writers—I also read Rabindranath Tagore’s Stray Birds.”

The plane was about to take off and the picture was about to disappear. At this moment, the students from the University of Tokyo suddenly turned to the last page of the book, which was where Yu Qie signed for them that night.

Because he felt that he was not yet worthy of these literary masters, Yu Qie signed on the last page to express his respect.

I cut!

I cut!

I cut!

The last page of a classic Asian literary work is filled with those two words.

Kuniya Yuko was on the verge of tears. She understood almost immediately: "Students from the University of Tokyo expressed their wishes for Yu Qie, hoping that he could be like those influential writers in history."

“We don’t know whether it was his personal charm or the speech that took place, but he won the respect of Eastern University students. This is about being a writer!”

The plane took off, and because there was no signal, the screen disappeared. After a brief black screen, the audience returned to the book "Dawn Flowers Plucked at Dusk". At this time, the audience knew more about the importance of "flowers that fell in the morning, picked up in the evening".

The Chinese writers delegation also saw this scene at the end. Although most of them did not understand Japanese, they could understand what happened just by associating the previous and subsequent images.

Everyone suddenly woke up: I didn’t come to Japan to do purchasing on behalf of others or buy second-hand coats. I am a writer.

Although in such an era, pursuing these ethereal things seems unrealistic and beyond one's ability, who doesn't have some ideals in their heart?

Chen Xiru asked Jiang Zhenghan: "Teacher Jiang, are you looking for Yu Qie to borrow money?"

Jiang Zhenghan was in his seventies and was blushing with embarrassment. He had once been a great patriotic poet, but now he felt again the kind of high spirits and romance that he had not felt for decades.

This made him almost stutter: "I don't, I am, alas, alas - I don't have the face to go again."

(End of this chapter)