Literary Master 1983

Chapter 62: Big Spread

The Yan University Study Abroad Office was also very interested in it and, taking advantage of the popularity, hoped that Yu Qie would give a semi-official lecture.

It is for both international students and literature lovers, and is held in Yu Qie’s own New Reality Society classroom, which is already somewhat famous in Yanjing University.

The New Reality Society held meetings every week, so Yu Qie did not refuse and simply expanded the number of attendees so that everyone could come and listen.

As a result, because there were too many people listening, the school organized a temporary change to a large dining hall - this large dining hall connects the dormitory and the teaching area, so in addition to being used for dining, it is also the venue for many speeches, meetings, dances and other activities.

This was the situation that Zhao Deming and Zhao Zhenjiang encountered when they came to them.

From the inside to the outside, there was already a large crowd of people. The two of them were short and could not see where the people in front of them were. Relying on their status as professors, they were able to enter the innermost part.

They certainly didn’t know Luo Yihe, the editor of October, the poet Cha Haisheng, Yu Minhong, Wang Qiang and others… but they knew Ji Xianlin, the former director of the Department of Literature at Yan University, and the president Ding Leisun.

"Hey, Principal, you are here too!"

"I read that novel and was deeply moved. I happened to have nothing to do, so I came over to listen."

"Where's Director Ji?"

"After that, don't mention the director anymore."

The representative sent by the student organization was beaming with joy and said, "Next, let's welcome today's speaker, Yu Qie, the author of A Moment of Romance and The Big Scatterer, with the warmest applause."

There was thunderous applause immediately, and many students looked up fixedly. Many of them saw Yu Qie for the first time and had only heard of his name before.

Now they were all shocked: "If Gu Yan looks like this, his original wife would be a fool to abandon him to study abroad. Heaven is not in the United States, heaven is right beside Yu Qie."

"Writers make a lot of money. Gu Yan is not as good as Yu Qie."

"I still like Gu Yan. Gu Yan is in my hands, and Yu Qie must belong to someone else."

Yu Qi walked to the center of the podium in the dining hall, bowed, grabbed the microphone, and remained silent for ten seconds as usual.

The audience gradually became quiet.

"Hello everyone, I am Yu Qie, the author of "Da Saba"."

As soon as he spoke, the applause started again, but everyone knew to stop in time and it soon died down.

Anyone who has given a speech will know that if the speaker is placed in front of you facing outward, you will not be able to hear your own voice. Instead, the huge noise composed of all the small sounds in front of you will reach your ears without any obstruction.

So why do we need to keep the audience quiet? It’s not just to show off.

Yu Qie walked to the small blackboard next to the podium, where chalk had been prepared in advance, and wrote three questions on it:
Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going.

The words on the blackboard were relatively small. The students in the front row whispered to each other, and the words were passed on from row to row to the back. Everyone knew that these were the three philosophical questions from Socrates two thousand years ago.

Yu Qie said: "Let me answer this question first. My name is Yu Qie. I come from a small place called Wanxian. I want to go to Yanda University - this was my idea a few years ago."

The people in the audience listened quietly. They didn't need to think much, as most of them already had the answer in their hearts.

Yu Qie added: "Did anyone notice what I said a few years ago? Because my thoughts have changed now. After I came to Yanda, I found that it was difficult to watch TV and take a shower. I could hear annoying noises over Weiming Lake every day. I think Yanda is just like that."

"Yan Da is okay." Yu Qi concluded.

Although they were all from Yanda University, there was laughter from the audience - I had worked hard to get into Yanda University.

"Look, why are you laughing? Because you know that Yanda is already the best, what else can you do? Some people think more, and their answers become "I want to study abroad, or even emigrate abroad." I call this their next 'Yanda'..." "Do you understand what I mean? This 'Yanda' is what they imagine. They think that 'Yanda' is a paradise on earth, but it is not the Yanda they saw last time."

Yu Qie's eyes swept across the audience, and he smiled and said, "I noticed that some people were anxious. Abroad - I'll use the most developed country, the United States. He said the United States is the best, and I must go there... You don't know that your logical chain is invalid, because you have directly entered the last part, where am I going, and have forgotten the first two... Who am I and where do I come from?"

"You already have a presupposition about 'America'. Once you go there, you will be able to live freely. They generally accept your first two questions. It's like a believer who has passed the test and reached heaven. The church members are waiting for you, with endless wine and sweets to serve you..."

“The closest thing to this in reality is the Jews, who searched for thousands of years and returned to their promised land, which was a desert in the Palestinian peninsula, and they had to rebuild their own paradise.”

"Even in this desert, there are conflicts. Jews and Palestinians living here fight each other, and finally drive Palestinians to bad places... hills, inland, desert... You see, you think you are a Jew again, but in fact, you may be a Palestinian."

Now, the audience was completely quiet.

The Palestinians are so miserable. They were already miserable in the early 1980s, and it was reported on the news every day.

Yu Qie said: "I had many ideas when writing "Big Scatter". I really thought a lot. But now I just want to tell you one thing!"

He said slowly: "Other people's paradise is your hell."

Someone else's paradise is your hell?

What is this sentence?

It is short and powerful, and seems to tell the life stories of some unfortunate people who abandoned their own paradise and went to their own hell.

Yu Qie's words had the same explosive effect as a rock singer dropping his microphone. The people in the audience were stunned for a few seconds, as if they had not expected to hear this joke. Then they suddenly came to their senses and burst into applause.

Amid applause, Ding Leisun, the current president of Yanda University, said: "This Yuqie is really interesting."

why?
After Ding Leisun returned from a visit to the United States and took office, he implemented a system of elimination of professors who exceeded their age limit in the school. As a result, students complained bitterly, the quality of teaching dropped sharply, and finally some professors had to be invited back.

The laws of our ancestors are immutable.

He had some understanding of the saying "other people's heaven is your hell", and he also knew the meaning behind Yu Qie's flowery words: most people can't make it in the United States, so instead of running around, it's better to stay here.

However, students at Yanda University all have some artistic talent, and they are more receptive to Yu Qie's packaged words. And as the president, Ding Leisun certainly would not spoil the fun by exposing them.

After listening to the speech, Cha Haisheng liked it even more, and he felt like writing a poem. Cha Haisheng's younger brother wrote to him, saying that the copper mine at home had been mined. Cha Haisheng was happy that his family had developed because of this, but he couldn't bear to see the "scars" left by the mining.

[Asian Copper, Asian Copper, my grandfather died here, my father died here, and I will die here too]

You are the only place to bury people

Cha Haisheng was filled with joy and he told Luo Yihe, who had switched to become an editor in the poetry group: I have finished writing my poem.

I wrote this because I listened to Yu Qie’s speech!

Zhao Deming and Zhao Zhenjiang waited for Yu Qie to finish answering most of the questions and waited until the crowd had dispersed before they stepped forward to talk about this matter:

The book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" has been translated by comrades in Shanghai!
At this second Latin American Literature Research Conference, should we ask them to put your "Latin American Realism" on the first page of "One Hundred Years of Solitude"?

Zhao Zhenjiang suddenly remembered the Argentine poem he had translated today: I pray to God to help me sort out my thoughts, because at this moment, I want to recite the past, please let me remember it clearly and make me clear-headed.

Many years later, when facing later literary scholars, Professor Zhao Zhenjiang will recall that distant afternoon when he saw Yu Qie.

(End of this chapter)