Literary Master 1983

Chapter 259 We must now stop at nothing.
Military Literature also published a review, in which Li Cunbao, the author of Garland at the Foot of the Mountain, said, "A new literary form has been born. Before that, it was a vague chaos. We may have seen some similar fragments here and there. However, 'Lurking' combines the strengths of various authors, making it a novel genre that may be welcomed for a long time."

"And this is only part of it. Only half or a third of 'Lurking' has been published. What else will we see? I'm waiting every day."

Military Literature not only commented on it but also reprinted it in subsequent issues. That summer, border conflicts gradually eased, and the central government announced the demobilization of some military personnel. Countless battle-hardened soldiers who had experienced countless hardships entered the workforce. They possessed both military sentiment and the knowledge to read articles, thus creating a vast reading market. As a result, military literature reached its peak in those years.

In the annual short story competition, military fiction dominated, becoming the largest category of fiction.

However, military literature also began to suffer from aesthetic fatigue that year. Many military works were of poor quality, and only a very few were truly excellent. At this time, Yu Qie's "Lurking" pioneered a more enduring literary genre.

When introducing this work to readers, military writer Liu Jiaju said: "Lurking is not a fierce hot war, but a sudden burst of decisive victory in a long period of deathly silence, which is similar to regional conflicts with comparable technology.

"The role of intelligence in war is underestimated! We spend most of our time traveling, digging trenches, living in caves—and then waiting for orders from headquarters. Where do those orders come from? From the random, refracted radio waves in the sky, which have been indelible since the birth of the universe."

There are many reposts of "Lurking," and not only reposts, but some film studios have already contacted Yu Qie, hoping to film this work.

Back then, it would take at least a week for a traditional novel to have an impact locally—that was the fastest time it took for a novel to go from words to the printing press. Outside the local area, it could take anywhere from a week to several months.

The more popular the novel, the shorter the above time will be.

When did Ma Shitu see this article?

After he returned to Wanxian, one day, Huang, the editor-in-chief of the Sichuan-Chongqing literary magazine "Red Crag," called him.

This person was the editor-in-chief of the magazine where Yu Qie first published his articles. The literary journal *Hongyan* was named after Luo Guangbin's novel of the same name. The name was directly borrowed from that novel.

Editor-in-Chief Huang asked Ma Shitu to take a look at the novel "Lurking," and he bluntly said:

"Mr. Ma, many people don't know that Yu Zecheng is you, Mr. Ma. As for why Yu Zecheng is called Yu Zecheng, perhaps it is because he used his own surname, hoping to participate in that silent war with you in the past and fight alongside you."

"I hope that you, as the protagonist of this event, can offer some literary commentary on this novel."

What's the comment?

Although Ma Shitu was excited after hearing this, he was not actually overwhelmed with emotion.

He knew all along that Yu Qie would write such a novel, and he also knew that Yu Qie would most likely create it according to his template.

Otherwise, why write that long letter?
Nevertheless, when Ma Shitu actually read the novel, he soon broke down in tears. He cried so hard that his daughter, Ma Cuilan, thought he was going to die: "Dad, don't cry, what could have happened to make you so sad?"

Ma Shitu said haltingly, "Only I... know that Zuo Lan, Cui Ping, Wan Qiu... are all... your mothers..."

Upon hearing this, Ma Cuilan burst into tears.

Ma Shitu actually remarried later. This old underground party member faced the following situation before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China: his first wife was persecuted to death, and his eldest daughter, Ma Cuilan, disappeared. He did indeed bring about the rise of the new world after a lifetime of hard work, but his own family was completely destroyed.

This is absolutely terrible.

The organization tried every means to find Ma Shitu another spouse. However, this spouse also passed away early, in the 1960s. After that, Ma Shitu felt he was cursed and never remarried, raising his four children alone.

At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ma Shitu was already a leader in western Sichuan, and later he was transferred to Chengdu to serve as the director of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department. If his second spouse was able to benefit a little from his position as a high-ranking official's wife, his first wife was someone he met from humble beginnings and received no good fortune from him, and was always in the midst of struggle.

On the contrary, his first wife was in a better position than him.

What kind of age is 26?
Some people have already lived their entire lives.

Currently, the influence of the novel "Lurking" is limited to the novel itself; many people are unaware that it corresponds to a real person. When the truth comes to light, people will begin to remember this truly "spring-like" woman again, and perhaps that will be when Ma Shitu will be even more captivated.

Objectively speaking, this is something Ma Shitu was unable to do in his original timeline.

He felt this matter was important, so he first called Yu Qie to express his gratitude for Yu Qie's novel.

On the other hand, he was also rushing to write a new "memoir" and literary criticism articles, explaining the reasons behind it, in conjunction with the publication of the second part of Yu Qie's "Lurking".

Ma Shitu first wrote a review article: "Lurking is certainly not my entire experience, and it is difficult to call it my autobiographical novel, but it does use some of my stories."

Ma Shitu was dissatisfied with the role of "Yu Zecheng":

“Yu Zecheng is not as good as me. Regardless of his beliefs, he did not have the psychological qualities of a spy from the beginning. I am different. Whatever the organization asks me to do, I must complete it.”

In short, I am more capable than Yu Zecheng.

Then, he became dissatisfied with Yu Zecheng's woman:
"To advance the plot, the flaws in these female comrades' personalities were exaggerated. In reality, there aren't many female comrades like Cuiping in our team..."

"But the story is just so good that it makes the dull and boring spy war thrilling and exciting. This article will probably inspire many young people to apply to military academies..."

Ma Shitu repeatedly read the novel *Lurking*, and suddenly realized that Yu Qie had deliberately made the characters imperfect, so he deleted his original review. After thinking for a long time, Ma Shitu rewrote it:
"The novel 'Lurking' may be such a novel, drawing on some of my experiences, but Yu Zecheng is an ordinary intellectual who does not yet have faith, or whose faith cannot be tested. In other words, he is actually a character written for contemporary intellectuals."

"Yu Zecheng is us."

------

"Teacher Yu, I read your articles every day in the Yixin Society. Do you think I have the potential to play the great role of Yu Zecheng? This is very important, and I hope you can reply as soon as possible!"

"Jiang Wenliu, an early member of the Beijing branch of the Yixin Reading Club."

Jiang Wen's letter.

This kid slipped up.

Jiang Wen's letter, written in a semi-classical style, was originally meant to test others, but now it's been turned into a letter he wrote specifically for Yu Qie.

"Lurking" is a drama that would be difficult to film today because it requires the same level of meticulousness as a movie, yet it would need to be made into a series of dozens of episodes like a TV drama. At that time, the mainland film and television industry simply could not afford such a cost.

The first full-length TV series to be filmed in mainland China was "Dream of the Red Chamber." However, due to the long filming period, it ultimately did not become the first full-length TV series to be broadcast.

Yu Qie naturally refused.

He wrote a reply to Jiang Wen: "This won't work."

After reading it, Jiang Wen was so frustrated that he couldn't sleep. He managed to borrow the phone number of the Beijing Drama Troupe and called the editorial department of "Harvest" magazine to leave a message: "Is it that the matter won't work out, or that I, your foolish brother, am incapable of succeeding?" Yu Qie called back: "You are very good, it's just that the matter won't work out."

Jiang Wen breathed a sigh of relief after reading it and sent over a letter of apology. It roughly said, "Brother Yu, I will never dare to do it again. I was a bit impolite this time."

Yu Qie burst into laughter!

Jiang Wen actually wrote an apology letter!
"Lurking" truly lives up to its reputation as a top-tier spy drama; its quality is simply too high. The original novel surpassed another phenomenal drama, "My Chief and My Regiment," in every aspect of its awards, considered the most complete victory at the Magnolia Awards (the highest television award) in 20 years. The main creators seemed to enter a state of "flow" while filming, practically coming alive; even they themselves haven't produced a work of the same caliber since.

Now that Yu Qie has linked this work to the real Ma Shitu and literaryized it, it's no surprise that it's become so popular.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

It's unrealistic to adapt "Lurking" into a film or television series, but Yu Qie's previous works are reliable.

Especially his short stories and novellas.

Because of the success of "Children of Heaven", the Shanghai Film Studio held another internal seminar and came to the conclusion that "Yu Qie was the champion before we came, Yu Qie was the champion when we came, and Yu Qie will obviously win the championship after we come."

In short, if you want to win at the box office and become a champion, you have to follow Yu Qie.

The film market is already in such a difficult state that the Film Bureau has even allowed studios to start making cult films and encouraged the production of romance movies, leading directors to criticize them while making them! If this continues, it may reach a point where the government can no longer tolerate it!
Yu Qie's novels, however, strike a balance between artistic merit and commercial appeal, making them incredibly sought-after. If the books sell well, how could the films flop?

The director of the Shanghai Film Studio was Xu Sangchu. After taking office, Director Xu took stock of the studio's assets and found that there were more than 1,000 employees, more than 500 basic staff who were proficient in costumes, props and sets, and 108 talents with a level of arts and literature of level six or above. It seemed like there were many talents... but there was a lack of stories.

Everyone is very skilled with their hands, but they lack the brain to think of stories.

Even a renowned figure like Xie Jin, whose original works were generally not recognized by the market.

I heard that someone named Jiang Wen at the Beijing Film Studio has started a reading club called Yixin Reading Club. Is she planning to start a reading club at the studio? Is she looking for inspiration from Yu Qie's books?
No matter what, we will firmly follow Teacher Yu's lead. Whatever Teacher Yu writes, we'll see if we can film it.
"Gong Xue, Gong Ying!"

Factory Director Xu summoned the two top sisters.

Where are you staying now?

Gong Xue honestly replied, "I live at home."

“We have staff dormitories in Pudong, and we’ve assigned you there too. Why don’t you go and live there?”

Gong Xue said, "Pudong is not very developed..."

"Teacher Yu is there recently. Please go and visit him on behalf of our factory."

Upon hearing this, Gong Xue was somewhat confused. "Condolences to Yu Qie? Are we going to buy fruit for Teacher Yu?"

That's why they say sisters have to work together!

Gong Ying immediately twisted her sister's arm: "The factory director wants us to show our faces to Teacher Yu, to ask him what's going on, so that he'll remember us—bah! Remember our film studio!"

“That’s right!” Factory Director Xu nodded. “To be honest, we’re now resorting to almost any means necessary.”

Gong Ying, clinging to her sister's arm, answered first, "We're going right now!"

Pudong, dormitory of Shanghai Film Studio.

Yu Qie got out of bed and fanned himself with a palm leaf fan. His forehead was covered in sweat—it was too hot that day.

Let's go back to the capital.

Or should I just buy a house in Shanghai?
If I were to buy a house, should I go to East Putian or West Putian?

At this time, Pudong was not a good place. Before development, it was just a large area of ​​silt.

Pudong is one of the worst places in Shanghai. The terrain is terrible. Driving a stake in there is like sticking a chopstick into thin porridge and trying to make it stand upright.

Otherwise, why would it have been developed only in the 1990s?

The Shanghai Film Studio arranged a good place for Yu Qie anywhere, except that Pudong was a bit awkward.

I heard that the Gong sisters both have dormitories here, but they rarely come. It's because they'd rather stay at home and squeeze in than come to Pudong.

I went downstairs and had a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup.

Yu Qie returned to writing his novel; he had almost finished the second part, the manuscript neatly stacked to one side. After weeks of relentless writing, the story had progressed to the point where Yu Zecheng's adversary, "Li Ya," would make his appearance.

"Lurking" has several aspects that clearly surpass other spy films. One is the well-developed female characters; another is the character "Li Ya," who is a popular villain, a character rarely portrayed before.

After that, not many dared to do it like that—Li Ya was awesome, but Yu Zecheng was even more awesome. Li Ya died, but readers shouldn't see him as a stereotypical villain. Instead, they should think, "You were a beautiful woman, but why did you become a thief?"—Li Ya also had beliefs, but you believed in the wrong things.

Let's get some fresh air.

Yu Qie opened the window, took a few breaths, and then went back inside to write his novel.

Suddenly, "Bang bang bang!"

"Who?"

"Teacher Yu, I... ha... ha... ha..."

Why is she still panting?
The voice was both familiar and strangely unfamiliar. Yu Qie pondered as he opened the door.

When she finally showed her face, she was quite pretty, just like the fair-skinned girl, except she had black hair. Also, she had even more sweat on her face than Yu Qie.

"Guzilinur? What brings you here?"

Isn't that the actress from the Xinjiang class?

(End of this chapter)