Literary Master 1983

Chapter 442 Qatar's Gift
He said, "I've never sung a praise song for anyone in my entire life!"

Qian Yuan said, "I know you don't like to speak publicly. Could you, like Ba Jin in Shanghai, lend your name to others?"

“No. No,” Qian Zhongshu said.

Even when facing Yu Qie, a friend of a much older age, he was unwilling to make an exception.

Qian Yuan said, "Yu Qie said he wanted to win the Nobel Prize in Literature back for the nation! We were naturally encouraged! But we also knew that it would be very difficult!"

"We are worried that Yu Qie will fail again. As the saying goes, too much rigidity leads to breakage! We must protect his spirit! We cannot let him stop writing and lose interest!"

It turns out that, despite Yu Qie's pronouncements, as Zhu Shengchang of Contemporary thought, because no one had ever done it before, no one dared to believe that it could really be accomplished!
What if you fail again and lose face, becoming disheartened?
Qian Zhongshu suddenly realized a problem: Where is Yu Qie?
How could Yu Qie not attend a major conference?
Where is Yu Qie?

“Yu Qie’s foundation is another matter entirely!” Qian Yuan said. “We heard that Liu Daoyu from Jiangnan University had an interview at Yu Qie’s foundation, and he and Liu Daoyu had a huge argument…”

This Yu Qie, he has so many things going on with him!

Qian Zhongshu sighed inwardly.

He didn't agree, but Qian Yuan stood up on her own and said, "Do you know that I was originally wanted by Yenching Normal University? The leaders of the Education Department misappropriated our college's donation (the one million from Cha Liangyong)! Yu Qie went to negotiate and got that one million back!"

"What does this have to do with you?" Qian Zhongshu asked.

"Because of this million, the school was able to pay salaries and had extra positions available, and Yu Qie spoke up for me. Otherwise, how could I have gone to Yenching University?"

Qian Yuan graduated from Yenching Normal University, so it was only natural that she would become a teacher there. Qian Zhongshu was very proud and refused to lower himself to ask for favors. If Yu Qie hadn't said a few words and actually gotten the money, Qian Yuan would never have come to Yenching University.

“Oh, I see,” Qian Zhongshu said, then fell silent.

After leaving the room, Qian Zhongshu's wife, Yang Jiang, asked Qian Yuan, "What did he say?"

“Father won’t do it,” Qian Yuan said dejectedly.

"Impossible. He loves you the most, he would definitely agree." Yang Jiang pointed out the obvious.

When Qian Yuan was admitted to Yenching Normal School to study English, she wrote a letter to Qian Zhongshu in English. After reading it, Qian Zhongshu commented: "The sentence structure is appropriate, but the handwriting needs improvement." But at the end of the letter, he secretly added a sentence in Chinese: "Don't go hungry, my dear, eat your fill."

This is a father who loves his daughter.

Qian Yuan also figured it out: "If he's unwilling to help, I'll resign! I'll put pressure on him! If I can't help Professor Yu, what will people say about me? Those people in the School of Literature and the School of Economics aren't talking nonsense! They know how powerful they are, they have to make a show of standing on Professor Yu's side!"

Yang Jiang also found it a tricky situation, but she still said, "Your dad loves you the most, there's no way he would disagree."

Sure enough, the night passed, and Qian Zhongshu went out for a walk, getting up earlier than Qian Yuan somewhere. However, Qian Yuan found a letter left by her father:
"I've been caught red-handed! But let me make this clear, sweetheart, it's not because of you this time!"

Qian Yuan burst into tears immediately.
-
Yenching University established a "Yuqie Academic Committee," which is a rather abstract concept. Especially considering Qian Zhongshu's involvement.

Qian Zhongshu was a very clever and prudent man, but also very mean-spirited.

He appeared cautious and discreet in the latter half of his life, but it was all an act. Qian Zhongshu's nature was hard to change.

Taking "Fortress Besieged" as an example, Qian Zhongshu, through the words of "Fang Hongjian," criticizes Xu Zhimo's poetry achievements as not high, saying that they are "only equivalent to the level of people like Yang Ji in the early Ming Dynasty, which is too pitiful." That's not all; he also writes about "syphilis," saying that if Chinese people don't know about it, they should read "French novels translated by Mr. Xu Zhimo." Considering Xu Zhimo's own dissolute love history, it is hard to say whether he is mocking Xu Zhimo.

Yu Qie was actually worried that Qian Zhongshu would write about him indiscriminately, which would damage their relationship.

Guo Moruo, Chen Yinque... almost every intellectual of the previous era was subjected to Qian Zhongshu's sarcastic remarks.

He believed that Guo Moruo was too "opportunistic" and too slick, and that Chen Yinque's achievements were not high. He said that his "research on whether Yang Guifei was a virgin before entering the palace" was like "research on what kind of porridge Keats drank," which was a kind of useless literary research. However, Chen Yinque did indeed do a lot of such research throughout his life.

Damn it, it seems like Yenching University is trying to do more harm than good!

Why does nobody believe I can win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Even more abstract is the story of Qiao Gong inviting Yu Qie to play cards.

This time it wasn't at Xiyuan Garden, but on a proper occasion. The visitor was Hamad, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Qatar. After visiting China, he noticed that Chinese literary youth seemed to harbor some resentment towards their Arab brothers because of the Nobel Prize issue.

That year, Qatar and China established diplomatic relations. They bought a two-story villa in the diplomatic apartments in Beijing and hung up the flags of many countries, only to find some university students from Beijing standing there, holding books and not moving.

"Are you holding a Sinicized version of the Scriptures? It is truly an honor for a great nation like Qatar to admire the essence of our national culture!"

“No!” the Chinese students said. “This is Yu Qie’s novel. We are here to protest.”

It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding!

Najib Mahfouz is a great writer in the Arab world; he's been on the waiting list for ages! He's also the number one figure in the Arab world. The Arabs fought and bled in several Middle East wars, and then launched two oil crises to "extort" two generations of Westerners…

What is there to complain about for an Arab winning an award?

Hamad then requested a meeting with Yuche. After some mediation, Yuche and Comrade Hamad played a unique game of poker.

The outcome, of course, was a resounding victory for Yu Qie, who showed no mercy whatsoever.

“Professor Yu, on behalf of all Arabs, I extend my greetings to you, a literary giant.”

Yu Qie shook hands with him.

Then Hamad said, "Mr. Najib Mahfouz, do you know him?"

"I don't know much about it."

“That’s such a pity. Although he is not as famous as you in the world and is not from Qatar, he is truly a great writer in our Arab world. I think he deserves it. His award has brought honor to all of us Arabs.”

Yu Qie did not respond.

According to declassified documents from later generations, if Shen Congwen had not unfortunately died in April, he would have defeated Najib Mahfouz and become China's greatest writer and the savior of the literary world.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs." Old Shen was defeated by his poor health.

Seeing Yu Qie's displeased expression, Hamad thought for a moment and then said something that Yu Qie would never forget: "The Nobel Prize winner has one million crowns (about six million RMB). We are giving you the equivalent amount in US dollars to commemorate the literary friendship between our two countries."

What the hell!

Yu Qie stood up abruptly!

So this is my brother I've never met before! I've been writing the Vietnamese version of "Joint Security Zone" for almost half a year, and I haven't received a single penny in royalties. This Arab brother, just because of a few words from me, is willing to give me a fortune—he's truly a brother I should cherish!
The others around were also shocked: Qatar was a small country that had only gained independence in the 1970s. At the time of independence, it was poor and lacked ambition, and had no voice in the world. However, a super-large gas field larger than the entire country was discovered to the north of this small country—like an inexhaustible treasure trove, with its gas outlet in Qatar.

This large gas field propelled Qatar to become the world's richest country within a decade, with its per capita GDP surpassing that of the US and Japan by several times. After several years of economic crisis and population explosion, it unfortunately fell to become the world's second richest country. Today, the wealth of a Qatari is still equivalent to hundreds of times that of a Chinese person.

Yu Qie did not have the habit of refusing donations from foreigners, but he asked, "Are there any conditions?"

“This is our apology,” Hamad said.

"What about the conditions?"

"The condition is that I hope you can accept our apology."

“I accept!” Yu Qie said.

After Hamad left, Qiao Gong privately asked Yu Qie, "You really don't know that Arab writer?"

"I don't know it. Arabic literature has almost no voice in modern literature."

"Then why did they win the award?"

"Because the Arabs have risen up. A person's achievements are certainly due to his own efforts, but also to the opportunities of the times."

"It seems this writer has been elevated by his nation?" Qiao Gong remarked with emotion.

“Yes!” Yu Qie nodded. “We often say that material life and spiritual life should be on par, but if a place does not have a rich material life, the spiritual life it develops will not be recognized by Western society.”

At this point, Yu Qie added a few more words. "Poor countries that want to win awards often have to write about the bizarre and the suffering, satisfying Westerners' fascination with the ugly. Because when people from poor countries write about 'civilization and morality,' they are indeed hampered by their economic foundation, and others do not recognize the civilization and morality of poor countries."

"That Arab writer has never won any major awards in his life. He is currently seventy-seven years old. His main achievement is the 'Cairo Trilogy,' which depicts the impact of modernization on several generations of people in the Arab world."

"Isn't this the same as your three books, 'New Reality'?" Qiao Gong suddenly realized.

Indeed, what this Arab writer achieved in most of his life was, for Yuche, only a few years ago. Based on the "New Realities" trilogy alone, Yuche could have worked hard for decades and would have won the Nobel Prize no matter what—but that was naturally thanks to the support of the Chinese.

It is the economic miracle created by countless people in the future that has propelled Yuqie to new heights, and Yuqie is merely one of the witnesses.

As he said in his 1983 speech at the Yenching University "New Reality Society," he was a witness. For many writers, doing this well is already the greatest achievement of their lives.

But Yu Qie's goals now are very different from those back then. He is going against the tide, otherwise he cannot be considered to have achieved anything. In his heart, he knows that he has not done his best.

Yu Qie explained the Nobel Prize mechanism in just a few words. Everyone immediately realized that Yu Qie's failure to win the prize wasn't due to inferior literary skills, but rather to some external factors.

Qiao Gong was a little sad: "Someone told me that many students from Yenching University go abroad to study and never come back! I said that people strive for higher positions, and water flows downhill... If they want to leave, we can't keep them!"

"Now you're facing this kind of situation. If you were American or Swede, would it be easier to win an award? What do you think?"

Yu Qie smiled and said, "A true hero is one who can do what others cannot. I don't want to say anything more, but this time I want the Arabs to know that even among Nobel Prizes, there are different levels."

The amount of money was so large that not all of it went into the "Yuqie Foundation".

Yu Qie only needs one-sixth or one-seventh of it, roughly one million RMB, which he transfers to the foundation. To date, the Yu Qie Foundation's deposits have reached several million RMB, exceeding those of many large local foundations.

The record-breaking transfer price of one million crowns was naturally reported in major media outlets.

This foundation has great potential and is already capable of doing some truly significant things!
On Jianguomen East Road, in a two-story villa near the Children's Foundation, former Jiangnan University President Liu Daoyu walked into the foundation and brushed past a round-faced female student.

Round face!

For some reason, Liu Daoyu felt that this female student looked familiar.

He caught up with him and tentatively asked:

"Comrade! Are you here to apply for a position at the Yuqie Foundation?"

"Yes, you must be the president of Jiangda University?" the man said.

She smiled, her face showing two dimples. In a flash, Liu Daoyu suddenly remembered that this was Chen Yun, a PhD graduate from the United States who had studied at the Children and Teenagers' Foundation. She was not a female student.

The wife of the deputy director of the agricultural development institute!

She works for UNICEF, and she actually applied for a job!
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Chen Yun, Liu Dao's mood grew increasingly heavy. He walked into the courtyard and saw Yu Qie sitting there looking at candidates' resumes. In just a few days, his desk had accumulated a considerable number of job applications.

Is that strange?
It's not surprising that the foundation has millions of dollars at its disposal!
Liu Daoyu got straight to the point. "I shouldn't have argued with you last time, I admit my mistake."

He then said, "But I think I'm more suited to apply for this job. I originally wanted to start my own foundation, but you started it before me, you're more famous than me, and you've gathered more resources than me. My foundation will definitely never be as successful as yours."

"Teacher Yu, you are the chairman of the board, you are in charge of the overall situation, and your friend is the secretary-general, in charge of personnel. I am managed by someone on both sides, so don't worry, I won't do anything out of line!"

Yu Qie looked at Liu Daoyu in front of him.

Liu Daoyu is a controversial figure, but he is undeniably talented. He also attracts considerable attention, offering advice and suggestions every few years, quickly gaining mainstream media attention. He's the kind of "rebel king" figure from the 1980s and 90s, making him a perfect fit for this private foundation.

Yu Qie said, "We had a fight last time, have you changed your mind now?"

“It’s changed,” Liu Daoyu said in a muffled voice. “If you want to put the money into basic education, I think it should be invested in higher education… Now you win, this is your foundation, whatever you say goes.”

Does Liu Daoyu really think that way?

Yu Qie was too lazy to argue, and he waved his hand.

"Okay! I have three conditions. If you agree, you come; if you don't, you leave. I don't have much time, so think it over."

"please say."

"First, you don't have a salary, so why would you need a salary to do charity? I hate people who pay themselves a salary to do charity."

The first rule was enough to make Liu Daoyu lose his composure.

He asked, "I used to be the president of Jiangda University. After I left, many universities in the south invited me to take up the post... but I refused them all! Now that I've come here, you should at least pay me a salary."

(End of this chapter)