Literary Master 1983

Chapter 37 Don't mess with Yu Qie

"Luo Yihe, what are you doing here?"

Yu Qie interviewed Luo Yihe and Liu Zhenyun separately in the classroom of the "New Reality" club.

He interviewed Luo Yihe first.

Luo Yihe stood up and bowed to him: "Yu Qie, I sincerely apologize to you. I shouldn't have published your novel in Unnamed Lake."

"Why didn't you apologize before, but now you want to apologize?"

Luo Yihe said bluntly: "Because you write well, you are a real writer, and we don't respect you."

Wow, this Luo Yihe is really able to let go of things.

No wonder among the three great poets of Yanda University, Luo Yihe developed the best at the beginning, and it was not only because of his professional skills. He found that the situation was not right, so he made decisive concessions.

Yu Qie nodded: "I accept your personal apology."

Okay, eh?

Luo Yihe was stunned when he heard this: "No, what about our May Fourth Literature Society?"

Yu Qie said: "Don't worry, it's not their turn yet."

What I mean is, I have let you go, but I won’t let others go.

In fact, according to Luo Yihe's reaction at the time, Luo Yihe should not have known that Yu Qi's novel "College Entrance Examination 1977" was published in "Wenming Lake" because he was busy dating.

Luo Yihe took the scapegoat for his fellow members.

"Weiming Lake" is a student publication. Many newcomers published their first articles on this platform. Their goal is to gain fame.

Just being published is an honor in itself.

For example, Liu Zhenyun wrote a novel a few years ago and wanted to publish it in Weiming Lake. The editor-in-chief of Weiming Lake at that time was also a cadre of the May Fourth Literary Society.

Among them, there was a beautiful girl from Northeast China named Zha Jianying. She spent several months helping Liu Zhenyun, a junior, to revise his manuscript, and it was finally published in Weiming Lake. Both of them were very satisfied.

However, if you are already a famous writer, you don't need to rely on "Weiming Lake" to build your fame. Instead, "Weiming Lake" should carefully publish the works of these famous writers to promote itself as a good magazine.

Who wants to read only sour articles written by college students? Who doesn't want to eat something good?

Shi Tiesheng's novel has been published in "Wenming Lake". The editors of the May Fourth Literary Society did not dare to comment on "Teacher Shi". If they had to comment, they would only give him flattering words.

So why the criticism of Yu Qie?
This brings us back to those three words from Luo Yihe, which are also the deep-seated reason why Yu Qie was angry: disrespect.

I am playing at a high level, you are not qualified to judge me.

Yu Qie said: "Luo Yihe, do you have any other ideas besides apologizing?"

"I'm here to sit in on your club." Luo Yihe said, "I can only write poetry, and now you're writing novels, so it's good to listen to you more."

"Sure, we usually have events on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you're welcome to come."

The next one is Liu Zhenyun.

Liu Zhenyun is a graduate student in the Chinese Department, the top scorer in liberal arts in Henan Province, and some of his works have been published.

Yu Qie asked the same question, "Brother Liu, you are so good, why do you come to our club?"

"I came here to feel the atmosphere. Poetry is popular in Yanda right now, not novels. The quality of novels is getting lower and lower. I feel that the New Realism Society is the most advanced novel circle in Yanda, so I came to take a look."

Liu Zhenyun summed up his behavior as follows: "If I always play chess with bad players, I will get worse and worse."

Yu Qie asked curiously, "Have you ever had a similar experience before?"

Liu Zhenyun complained to him, "Since the departure of seniors from the class of 77, Yenching University no longer has such a good literary atmosphere... I used to follow senior sister Cha Jianying and another classmate from the May Fourth Literature Society. We rode our bicycles late at night to attend an underground poetry gathering nearby because we heard that Bei Dao was there..." "For several hours, we listened fascinatedly. When we came back, our faces and heads were covered with frost, and our hands and feet were frozen blue. We didn't feel cold at all, but our hearts were burning."

"Bei Dao's views and insights have deeply influenced me..."

Yu Qie said: "But... man, we don't have Bei Dao here."

"Don't you have it?" Liu Zhenyun asked back.

Well, you're here to chase stars? You can come too.

------

The news that Luo Yihe had gone to the New Reality Society spread quickly, and the members of the May Fourth Literature Society were about to collapse: "Luo Yihe, what on earth are you going to do?"

When people go undercover in the enemy's territory, they send their thugs. You are our boss, so what are you going to do there?

Luo Yihe said: "I was there to audit the class, just on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. I didn't betray you."

The members asked: "If you always go to audit the lectures, then are you a member of our May Fourth Literature Society or their New Reality Society?"

Suddenly everyone was outraged and everyone had something to say.

Luo Yihe couldn't stand it anymore, so he set a date for his behavior: "Half a year, just half a year, I will be back by the next semester at the latest."

This matter was also known to the poet Cha Haisheng, who and Luo Yihe had been friends for three years.

Cha Haisheng had just graduated and was assigned to the editorial department of the school journal of China University of Political Science and Law to study philosophy. Philosophy almost drove him crazy.

He felt that this kind of life of slavery was hopeless, so he tried hard to write poetry in an attempt to escape his fate.

However, the poetry atmosphere at the School of Political Science and Law was not good either, and was far worse than that at Yanjing University. Cha Haisheng often came back to participate in Yanjing University's activities, and then he heard about this matter.

"Luo Yihe, I heard that you went to a new club. What are you doing there?"

"I'll go sit in on the class. Their president is a little different. I'll see if I can learn a few tricks from him."

"Undergraduate student?"

"Undergraduate student, just started school. He was born in 63, and repeated two years. He is one year older than you."

Cha Haisheng looked down on them. He was admitted to Yanda University when he was fifteen, so he looked down on them. "Who is their president?"

"Yu Qie."

"This name... Yu Qie... the one that wrote what, the one in 'A Moment of Romance'?" Cha Haisheng's voice became a little surprised.

Luo Yihe slapped his thigh and said excitedly: "It's him! Even you know that you are in the School of Political Science and Law, so I said I didn't make a mistake in his decision!"

He said, "I'm going to tell you the truth, because we have a good relationship...

"Haisheng, I will graduate next year and I am already an intern editor at October... After Yu Qie came to Beijing, his publication can't always be the provincial magazine Red Rock. It has to be a national magazine, such as October..."

"You say, I'm a future editor, how can I offend Yu Qie who writes novels? Am I not a fool?"

"You're right, Yihe, don't offend Yu Qie. It's not in the interests of our May Fourth Literary Society, nor is it in your interests."

At this point, Cha Haisheng raised his hand and said, "Yihe, I want to go with you to sit in on the class and meet Yu Qie."

　There is indeed such a thing as "neo-realist fiction", which was the main local genre from the late 1980s to the beginning of the new century.

　　Because reform literature was too much like model opera, people gradually lost interest in scar literature, while other root-seeking literature and modern (imitating Western) literature also failed to gain popularity.

　　Although the book says that Yu Che created it by "making up nonsense", it is actually the result of the natural evolution of literature. I think it is not an exaggeration to guide it ten years in advance, so that Yu Che can get the right to speak on the two main paths of foreign "Latin American realism" and local "new realism", and borrow both the western and eastern winds.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)