Literary Master 1983

Chapter 225 Yu Lao Hu from Wanxian (I)

Yu Yuejin is an honest man. He chose to tell the truth: "Yu Qie has never had a hard life, otherwise how could he grow up to be such a strong young man? He does have a sister. Both he and his sister have sneakers. He has liked playing table tennis since high school. His racket even has rubber. It is a brand name, Double Happiness... not just a bare wooden board."

"In our school, almost all the rural kids who play table tennis use plain boards, and rarely use branded ones."

The reporter nodded and said, "So that's how it is. Although Yu Qie has a good life, he can see the reality of the general public. The rubber of table tennis balls gave him inspiration, prompting him to write a story between tennis shoes and ordinary shoes - this is his "Little Shoes", which is also the reading question you printed on the test paper."

Huh? Can we still contact each other like this?

Later, the reporter asked Yu Yuejin: "Did Yu Qie show a talent for writing novels when he was a child? Many writers have shown amazing talent in their childhood."

Yu Yuejin said: "Yu Qie's math, physics and chemistry scores have always been good, but his Chinese scores are not good. Even in the college entrance examination, his Chinese score was the lowest. But for some reason, he has become a writer now. I joked with the teacher in the office that if he did the reading questions of his own novel, he might not get any points."

Everyone in the filming crew immediately laughed quietly. It was hard to imagine that Yu Qie got a very low score on the reading test of his own novel!
The reporter couldn't help laughing, and after a while of adjusting himself outside the screen, he re-evaluated: "The reason why Yu Che gave up science and turned to literature must be that he believed that the current era urgently needed some talented writers to lead literature. Indeed, our literature is now facing the difficulty of a lack of successors. After Yu Che appeared, people felt that 'contemporary literature' had emerged in a substantial way."

Yu Yuejin was a rural mathematics teacher who knew nothing about literary theory. He did not know that the distinction between “contemporary literature” and “modern literature” was the latest research result of the recently reopened School of Literature, published in the Literary Gazette, and highly praised by editor-in-chief Feng Mu.

In another time and space, the boundary between contemporary literature and modern literature was indeed formed after the reform and opening up, and it was also in these few years. However, it was achieved by a group of people at that time, but now it has become the result of one person leading it.

If you don’t know how important this dividing line is, then I have to tell you that the previous dividing line was May Fourth Movement - the series of movements it triggered almost changed the world.

If Heaven had not given birth to me, literature would have been in darkness forever!

The reporter also asked a question: "If Yu Qie finally won the literature award, what do you think he should do?"

"He should be back. He hasn't been home for a long time. His sister is going to take the entrance exam to Yenching University, and she was counting on Yu Qie to tutor her, but Yu Qie hardly ever comes back, and only sends money home. The family has built a new building, has new furniture, and has new guests! I often have to receive visiting leaders here, especially recently!"

Yu Yuejin recalled: "At first it was the leaders from the town, then from the county, then from the city. A few days ago, even a senior leader I had seen on TV came here and stayed for a while... He grabbed my hand and asked me kindly, when Yu Qie left Wanxian, did he go by boat or on foot?"

"I said, Yu Qie grabbed a handful of broad beans, took a few books, and took a boat over. If he had walked, I'm afraid his legs would have broken!"

The leader laughed and said, "Yu Che really likes beans. He is now in the capital and will soon be abroad, looking for people everywhere to buy candied beans for the children with polio. But this kind of thing cannot be done by Yu Che alone. The government will gradually intervene and organize this matter... I just found out that Yu Che didn't even finish the handful of beans in his hand when he arrived in the capital. He wanted to share it with others!"

Yu Yuejin's humorous remarks made many people laugh. They immediately understood why Yu Qie's home was always visited. Although this was mainly due to Yu Qie's personal achievements, the fact that his family members could handle it was also an important factor.

The reporter asked: "Did the leader say anything else to you?"

"Of course he did!" Yu Yuejin said, "He said we are going to build a dam in the Three Gorges! The scale of this dam is unprecedented, and it may involve the migration of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. There is endless debate in the academic community... When he passed by here, he thought of Wanxian as the gateway to eastern Sichuan on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and that Yu Qie was from here, and an immigrant who had left! He also participated in the debate on the large-scale demolition of tens of thousands of people in Gangdi! So he made a temporary detour and came here to take a look."

"Comrade reporter, compared to the rest of the country, Wanxian is indeed a small place, but it also had its moments! In the past, the largest tiger in Asia, the Wanxian tiger, was born here, but it has since become extinct. The closest modern relative to the Wanxian tiger is the South China tiger, but scientists say that the South China tiger is also extinct! It seems that each generation is inferior to the previous one, and this is also true for literature, but is it really extinct? Maybe the South China tiger still exists, and maybe the Wanxian tiger can be restored with new technology in the future and reappear in front of the world!"

The reporter's eyes suddenly lit up, and he even burst into tears with excitement:
"Yes, the Wanxian tiger has left Sichuan! The Wanxian tiger has left Sichuan!"

All those who were moved by the interview immediately gave warm applause.

Yu Yuejin gradually understood, and the reporters also understood. In this scenario, no matter what is said now, the final result is that Yu Qie is great. Yu Qie was great when he was a child, and he is still great when he grows up. He came from greatness and will go from greatness. Because he is great now, he was great in the past, and he will be great in the future.

Even if he doesn't win any awards for what he has done, it doesn't affect his brilliance.

Unless one day Yu Qie devastatingly throws away his literary laurels and betrays the nation, but how could that happen?
After the program is recorded, it is quickly sent for review and editing, and finally meets the audience on TV.

This interview documentary titled "Yu Qie's Footprints" was sent for broadcast, revealing many interesting stories about Yu Qie. Yu Qie likes to play table tennis, and once hit the ball so hard that a female classmate had to run all over the floor to find the ball. Yu Qie is taciturn, and most of the time, he likes to do math problems. The most interesting thing is that Yu Qie's Chinese grades are not good, which surprised many viewers: even Yu Qie's Chinese grades are not good! He can't even answer his own reading questions.

Ma Shi Tu from Chengdu watched this program. He said with emotion: "Yu Qie was originally an engineer, maybe a civil engineering expert in dams, I don't know what he did, but now he has become a writer. He used to be silent, but now he is eloquent and fools people everywhere. What a big change!"

"But isn't it the same for me? I was supposed to be a chemistry teacher. Why did I become an underground d?"

"These Chinese reading questions are really weird. I was so angry after doing a few of them. I didn't think so at the time! These bastards who set the questions are really talking nonsense!"

Ma Shi Tu's daughter Ma Wanmei played bridge with him and won several games in a row without any hesitation. Ma Shi Tu was anxious: "Why don't you let me? What will you do when you play cards with your boss in the future? Yu Qie only knows how to give in."

Ma Wanmei works in the aerospace system. She smiled and said, "I'm just a small researcher. I don't need to worry about those candies. Let you guys think about it!"

Ma Shi Tu said: "Should I practice my card skills? There are times when I need to give up the cards too!"

"Dad, you don't need to give in. Just play at your true level, that's enough!"

------

CCTV had a news report that briefly explained the list of members of the delegation visiting Japan. They will visit various places in Japan for a period ranging from one week to half a year. Among them, "the famous writer Yu Qie is also in the delegation. The reason why he went to Japan again is that his novel "Happy Hunting" has been published in Japan and has achieved the best sales performance of mainland writers in recent years... The last work with such a performance can be traced back to Mr. Lu Xun, which was more than 40 years ago, nearly half a century ago."

“We’re getting back into it, onto the bookshelves in Asia.”

When the announcer said this, his voice seemed to brighten up a lot. It was obvious that he couldn't hide his excitement.

Unfortunately, the TV station had very few resources at that time and could not broadcast live for several hours, let alone invite a few literary masters to analyze Yu Qie's award-winning process and act as guest commentators. The news could only be replayed every once in a while to remind everyone that such a big event happened today.

In the TV room under the international students' dormitory at Yanda University and in the large classroom of the New Reality Society, heated discussions on literature are taking place.

The TV and radio were turned on, playing news in turn. Especially the radio, every time a new news came in, it would make a buzzing sound similar to frequency hopping, and at this time everyone would tacitly stop the sound to see if the news about to be played was about the literature award.

One moment it was: "At the end of February, my country's Antarctic Great Wall Research Station was completed! It is located on the Fildes Peninsula west of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, and faces a small bay in Maxwell Bay to the east."

"The bay here is wide and deep, with easy access. It is backed by a mountain slope covered with snow all year round, and has an abundant water source."

"It is a place that Chinese people have never set foot on. Now, we have left our footprints in Antarctica, the last continent of mankind, and named this place Great Wall Bay, and this research station is also named Great Wall Station."

Hi!
I want to hear about Yu Qie going to Japan, I don’t want to hear about the Antarctic station!

Although the Antarctic station is also a major breakthrough!

After a while it was again:

"Yanwu, Yanwu, one song brings out one love!"

It turned out to be Yan Wu boy!
Please don't get in the way!

The Chinese set foot on Antarctica, the Chinese began to make radios - but what students are most concerned about right now is the Chinese winning literary awards.

There has been no news about Yu Qie, and everyone is very disappointed. So they continue with their previous discussion: What level of award is the "Akutagawa Prize"?

In terms of status, it is naturally more recognized than the Mao Dun Prize in China. Japan has two Nobel Prize winners in literature and is now a first-class developed country, with its total economic output accounting for more than half of Asia.

But in terms of the level of the award, the Akutagawa Prize is indeed a newcomer award. Moreover, it is awarded twice a year, although sometimes there are vacancies, indicating that it is "better to have nothing than to have something sloppy", but compared with the Mao Dun Prize, which is held only every three or four years, this award is naturally "too frequent".

You must know that things are valuable because they are rare.

The New Reality Society's classroom was packed with people. Luo Yihe, Zha Haisheng, and Liu Zhenyun were all there. Luo Yihe said, "Although this award from Japan is significant, if we rise in the future and our economy develops, maybe its value will not be as high as the Mao Dun Literature Award."

Liu Zhenyun half agreed and half disagreed with his opinion.

"While what you said is possible, it's unlikely to happen. How many years will it take for us to catch up with Japan? Now that we have made some breakthroughs in literature, it is unimaginable to compete with and surpass others."

Cha Haisheng was very dissatisfied with Luo Yihe's statement: "Yu Qie is fighting the Japanese, how can you use things that will happen decades later to pressure him? We don't even know if we can live to see decades later!"

Luo Yihe knew he had said the wrong thing and quickly apologized: "I just expressed regret, because in my opinion, China has produced some writers who surpass their Japanese contemporaries, but we don't have a developed publishing system, and the rest of the world doesn't understand us."

Liu Zhenyun asked, "Are you talking about the novels of those people in the advanced study class of the College of Literature?"

Luo Yihe nodded: "It's theirs, but not just theirs. I have a pretty good eye. The writers I was optimistic about three or four years ago have all become successful now."

"You are okay too?" Cha Haisheng said, "You put Yu Qie together with those people and think highly of them equally. The fact is that they are not at the same level, and you underestimated Yu Qie. Now Yu Qie is the teacher of these people."

Cha Haisheng said excitedly: "Yu Qie is also my teacher. Of course, he didn't teach me literature, but taught me how to maintain my appearance! Yu Qie had so many students, but I was the only one who learned the real skills!"

Ever since Yu Qie taught him martial arts, Cha Haisheng has become "Yu's Guard"!
Luo Yihe was so amused by Cha Haisheng that he immediately forgot about the comparisons between Qin Qiong and Guan Gong and simply enjoyed the literary talk.

Students from Yan University expressed their opinions one after another. This student said: "We mainland writers have never won any decent awards abroad. They are always awards I have never heard of. They all say our works are good and our writers are good, but I never knew how good they are!"

Another student said: "The Chinese women's volleyball team won against the Japanese women's volleyball team, and then I knew I should support the women's volleyball team. The Chinese Go team won against the Japanese Go team, and then I knew I should support Go... I am so superficial, I don't know what is great, I like what I like. If Yu Qie wins the Japanese Literature Award, I will donate to his Spring Rain Action."

“How much money did you donate to support Yu Qie?”

“Donate my food money for a week!”

“How much do you eat a week?”

"Seven dollars!"

"How can seven dollars be enough? It is said that Yu Qie wants to raise millions, or even tens of millions. You only have seven dollars. How can he know you?"

"I don't want anyone else to know me. There are one billion people in China. If everyone donates seven yuan, we will have enough money to meet our every need."

Suddenly, the radio started to buzz again. It only took a few seconds for the crowd to go from noisy to quiet enough to hear a pin drop. This time, they were not disappointed. The radio said, "Yu Qie has arrived in Japan with the Japanese delegation and is preparing a speech."

Just such a simple piece of news suddenly caused an uproar at Yan University.

(End of this chapter)