Generation Z Artists

Chapter 93: On the third day, the news broadcast came
Liu Dashan's eyes turned red with jealousy and he paced back and forth in the office.

"That's Teacher Li! Mr. Ba Jin's daughter!"

It was already the afternoon of the 23rd, and Liu Dashan invited Fang Xinghe to his office for juice.

In fact, Teacher Li's status in the eyes of literature lovers is not high. After all, she is only the editor-in-chief of "Harvest" and her own works are not very outstanding. But when she used Ba Lao's reputation to pave the way for Fang Xinghe, it seemed particularly different.

"She actually praised you so highly!"

Fang Xinghe remained extremely calm about this matter: "That's because Mr. Ba Jin and Ms. Li are magnanimous and care about the younger generation, not because I'm really that great."

But Liu Dashan didn't care about that at all. He just asked: "Did you call Teacher Li to thank him?"

"No, I didn't make it..."

"Hurry up and call!" Liu Dashan pushed Fang Xinghe onto the office chair, jumping up and down anxiously. "Just use my phone, turn on speakerphone, I want to hear what you guys are talking about!"

"Okay, wait for me to ask someone."

Fang Xinghe was half helpless, but half also felt it was necessary, so he called Aunt Chen and asked her for Teacher Li's contact information.

While they were communicating, Liu Dashan's eyes rolled and he ran over to invite Xiao Wang as well.

"Xiao Wang" is actually the old principal. He and Fang Xinghe's class teacher are a couple. Both of them have the surname Wang, so Big Wang and Little Wang are divided according to their family status.

When Xiao Wang strolled over with a teacup, Fang Xinghe was just chatting about business with Chen Danya.

"Aunt Chen, Li Xiaolin is the editor-in-chief..."

"Want to thank Sister Li?"

Chen Danya smiled and said, "No need. She specifically told me about this. She said she's not ready to get to know you yet and doesn't know what to talk about. There's no need to thank you in vain..."

Listening to the explanation coming from the loudspeaker, Xiao Wang and Dashan looked at each other in confusion.

Oh my god, could such a big shot sitting at the top of the literary world be so chivalrous?
Fang Xinghe frowned slightly: "But I feel bad..."

"I know you don't like to owe favors to others, but this time it's different. Sister Li is not protecting you for herself, but for tradition, for Yuhui, for the old man's final innocence, and to give you some pressure."

Chen Danya spoke slowly, some of her words were vague, while others were very clear.

"You are a good child who knows how to repay kindness and has love in your heart. People like Mr. Ba Jin naturally don't need you to do anything. They just hope that you can live a good life and grow up well in the future. When you see the dark side of society, think about the great love in the world, think about the road you came from, and the people on the roadside who smiled and waved to you."

Fang Xinghe was silent for a moment.

He was really moved and kept chewing on the picture.

Chen Danya's gentle voice came to his ears again, taking him to the memory of an era.

"Mr. Ba Jin began to insist on 'telling the truth' in his later years. If you have read his 'Random Thoughts', you should understand that he also made mistakes and was deeply involved in repentance and reflection.

This is a real person, so you don't have to feel uneasy about Sister Li's reputation.

The old man once said in person: They criticized my "Destruction" as "slogan-style writing". I was 23 years old that year, my emotions were passionate, but my thoughts were shallow, and my ability to control words was not very good. I did shout too many slogans, but failed to meet the requirements on the narrative level.

Why am I so stupid?

But it is really difficult to pass the test. I am not a very talented writer, so I can only work hard slowly.

Later, when I was 27, I started writing "Family". I serialized it on and off for more than two years. When it was published as a single volume in 33, I suddenly felt it was immature.

Ah! Very good, very good! I have made progress again. I can begin to see the flaws that I never saw before.

……

This is the old man's realm and pattern. He dares to speak the truth and face up to his own shortcomings.

So when Sister Li uses Mr. Ba Jin before the age of 30 to reflect you, it is absolutely from the heart, and it carries an inside story that only very few people know - it was when Ba Jin, who re-examined his early works at the age of 30, really began to mature.

And this article of yours...

To be honest, I deserve all the praise.

In fact, you don't have to take our praise too seriously, as if we will be implicated by you if we stand up to praise you.

The mutual admiration among intellectuals neither constitutes a moral endorsement nor involves any risk to their reputation. Mr. Ba Jin, lying on his sickbed unable to speak, has long since put all these messy things aside. What he thinks about is not the present world, but the future.

So just bear with it. If you have the chance in the future, write a good work in the true sense to remember those people. This is probably the ending Mr. Ba Jin wanted to see the most.”

There was silence in the room. Dashan and Xiaowang had solemn expressions on their faces and were deeply moved.

The same goes for Fang Xinghe.

Generation Z has long lost its respect for literary masters - there were no literary masters at that time, and as the only Nobel Prize winner in literature in China, Mo Yan's position was extremely embarrassing.

And now, the old people who have lived through that era are emitting the last rays of light. Mr. Ba Jin, with his dual transcendence in literature and personality, leads everyone to glimpse a corner of that sea.

What kind of sea is that?

The sea of Chinese spirit, formed by the beliefs of countless ancestors, contains poems of patriots, lyrics of great men, the ideals, struggles and awakenings of generations of intellectuals, and the simple wishes of hundreds of millions of heroic souls.

How grand it is!
Generation Z is indeed more popular and professional than their parents, but they also lack the tempering of blood and fire, and are often not focused enough and have difficulty thinking deeply.

Fang Xinghe is a typical, thought-provoking member of Generation Z.

This stunning glimpse calmed his heart, which had become a little restless due to the sudden surge of starlight.

"I will think of these words often. Thank you, Aunt Chen."

"No need to thank me. We decided to create New Concept just for a day like this, right? I should thank you for giving my idealism a place to rest."

"I see."

Fang Xinghe only replied with these four words. These four simple words stirred something independent of wildness and utilitarianism.

Xiaofang is still growing, and so is Dafang.

It’s not bad to accept the imprint left by this era on yourself. It’s not bad at all!

……

When Fang Xinghe hung up the phone, Xiao Wang sighed: "I heard that the current literary world is declining, the Writers Association is also in chaos, and the entire cultural world is filthy. However, classical Chinese literati still exist today..."

Liu Dashan agreed with this and gave a thumbs up: "Principal, you are the best. This summary is brilliant!"

Fang Xinghe rolled his eyes at him, and all his feelings of gratitude disappeared.

Dashan smiled awkwardly and made small talk: "My dear, I don't see any news in the newspapers. With Ms. Li's endorsement, we will pass the test smoothly this time, right?"

"impossible."

Fang Xinghe remained calm: "She only represents herself, a daughter whose mother died of illness."

"Forehead……"

Liu Dashan was so annoyed that he added: "Anyway, no matter what, you are now a well-deserved writer, and Teacher Wang praised you so seriously."

"The higher the position, the more unrestrained they are in boasting. They are not afraid of me standing out."

Fang Xinghe continued to shake his head.

"And those monsters who don't rely on the Writers Association for their livelihood are definitely growing up in depression."

Xiao Wang took a sip of tea from the enamel teacup and said leisurely: "Although Ms. Li cannot represent the literary world, she can represent a large part of the children."

People become more cunning as they grow older. This sentence really hits the nail on the head.

Teacher Li’s attitude actually means that Fang Xinghe’s base has been expanded again, and it has expanded to an extremely special group of people - children who lost their parents due to accidents and have deep feelings for them.

This special group of people have an incredibly strong empathy for sex. As long as they can see it, they will definitely contribute a lot of starlight.

Many of them may be already quite old and no longer have the potential to become Fang Xinghe's die-hard fans, but even a one-time harvest would still be a huge income.

So the only question is how to get them to see it.

It is not 2030 now. With super accurate big data portraits, you can just click on the relevant software and the article will be pushed directly to you.

Now we can only rely on magazines and newspapers to spread the word. How can a single-day sales volume of 55 copies be enough?
Fang Xinghe touched his chin and started to have evil ideas again.

Well, this matter is still difficult to prevent.

"If there's nothing else, I'll go back first. Can you two collect today's evening paper and tomorrow's morning paper? I estimate that the real trouble will come tomorrow."

A prophecy.

On the 23rd, the media kept silent for the entire day.

On the 24th, we finally got down to work.

The Nanfang faction organized the first wave of counterattack hastily, and it happened to run into the boiling literary world, and there was a tragic scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere.

The in-depth article on the Li Wenhe case by Cheng Yizhong was never released, not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

If we don't fight now, and wait until the official media and the opposition have finalized the matter and criticized them, the losses will be immeasurable - they are all political rats who rely on their credibility for a living, who can tolerate being dug up?

There's no other way, I have to do it!
For a moment, it seemed as if the whole society was discussing Fang Xinghe, his article on sex, freedom and liberalism.

During the first class in the morning, Fang Xinghe asked for leave and went to Xiao Wang's office.

"What's the situation outside now?"

"Very good." Xiao Wang chuckled. "You've received mixed reviews, and those who praise you and those who scold you have different opinions. You've occupied more than ten headlines in the literature and society sections..."

"Old Wang, don't gloat over other people's misfortunes. You haven't quit yet. When the bad news spreads to the school, you'll have a headache."

"I have a headache now."

Xiao Wang drooped his eyelids and sighed, "Many sister schools want to come for a visit and inspection, and they specifically want to listen to your class's open class. The Provincial Education Bureau is also coming to inspect. Xiao Fang, you are now a top celebrity, are you sure you are ready?"

"Of course." Fang Xinghe raised his eyebrows, "I accept everyone who comes."

"That's good."

Xiao Wang slammed the table, and a stack of documents popped out.

"Application forms for provincial and municipal three-good students, commendation for outstanding literary and artistic workers in the provincial literature and art department, report on the provincial outstanding middle school students in the education department, the provincial Youth League Committee wants to nominate you as one of the top ten young people in the country and an outstanding member of the Communist Youth League in the country, and the county also hopes that you will make a report speech to all middle school students in the county..."

Fang Xinghe was stunned.

"They were all sent today? That's a bit outrageous..."

It is now the morning of the 24th, and exactly 80 hours have passed since the release of The Strongest Voice of 48s.

In this day and age, what can you do in 48 hours?

Liu Dashan spread his hands and said, "Almost all of them were notified by phone yesterday afternoon and this morning. The official documents are at the back. Mr. Fang, you seem to have no idea how popular you are."

That’s for sure. The influence is still spreading, and we can’t tell anything from the panel, so we have to rely on guesswork.

Fang Xinghe's judgment yesterday was: to ascend the throne of "the strongest middle school student", to set off a wave of trends among his peers, and by the way, to break a few bones of the public intellectuals and drill a hole in their solid fortress.

As for the social impact...I don’t really have high expectations.

The semi-literacy rate in 1999 was truly astonishing, and the threshold for "Sex" itself was relatively high, so the audience could not be compared with that of film and television dramas.

However, the current posture seems to be about creating a god?

"That's not the case."

Xiao Wang, who had been through a lot, shook his head and gave an objective analysis in the style of a wild fox.

"Our province definitely wants to promote you, but our cultural influence is the lowest in the country, so it's just a fuss. Those really capable provinces and cities won't bother to give you resources, so I guess provincial excellence is the limit at the official level.

Then there is the media industry, which is the most influential. You have offended them greatly.

The literary world seems to be your base. I saw that Yu Hua, Ye Xin, and Shi Tiesheng have all spoken out, but when has the literary world ever been united?

Ms. Li’s strong support was quite intimidating a few years ago, but now... you know the reason, it’s hard to say, hard to explain.

Anyway, I'm afraid that more than half of the people in the Writers Association would be happy to see you make a fool of yourself.

So when you think about it, it may seem like a raging fire, but in fact, there are hidden dangers. It is not easy to reap the full benefits.”

Fang Xinghe was silent for a moment and nodded slightly.

It’s similar to his judgment. Well, it’s a Ming Yi hexagram.

It symbolizes the damage to light, and implies a dark environment, villains in power, or major setbacks.

The hexagram says: "Ming enters the middle of the earth, Ming Yi. The gentleman governs the people, using obscurity to achieve clarity."

It means that you need to bide your time, restrain your edge, and wait for the right opportunity.

Fang Xinghe thought the same.

The literary world has never been his base; it has always been a loose group.

A good scholar has a calm character. It is totally fine to give him a few sincere compliments, but it is impossible to fight for him all the time.
The bad intellectuals are on the opposite side. They hold on to your interests and continue to attack you. Their fighting power is far better than that of gentlemen.

So even though they are evenly matched now, once that wave of positive praise fades, Fang Xinghe will have to bear the remaining pressure on his own.

Uh... he didn't want to carry it.

Another large wave of new fans has come in. It's time to let them feel the difficulty of chasing stars... Besides, why do you have to chase Fang Xinghe when there are so many people you can chase? Don't you know that this guy is the little prince of trouble?

While sitting there reading the newspaper, Fang Xinghe sold out all his Fang fans.

……

Just talking about today's situation, the pro-Party faction is beating the liberal faction.

It’s not that the public intellectuals are not strong enough, but Fang Xinghe’s autobiographical work “Violent Nuclear Bomb” is too violent.

They spent a whole day connecting, communicating and discussing, but in the end they still failed to come up with any strong criticism.

What should I do?
Just avoid the important issues and go for it head on.

"We have to fight a protracted war." Cheng Yizhong said with a gloomy face, "Seize the points of pornography and violence, and attack him fiercely and continuously. Don't get caught up in tactical entanglements. You can even fuck his mother!"

In private, Cheng Yizhong has always had this image.

Yan Lieshan is willing to play the role of a villain who will do anything to achieve his goals, but he is actually a purebred beast who can give up all his bottom lines for the sake of sales and personal interests.

So, the liberal style of painting is like this——

Butcher: "Fang Xinghe should be banned! I have never seen such pornographic and violent texts, and he is only 14 years old! If he is not a potential antisocial rioter, then who is?!"

Xiaochuan: "It seems that my previous point of view has come true. Fang Xinghe should be sent to a mental hospital for treatment. What kind of article is this? Dark, cruel, and morbid! It's normal for boys to yearn for sex, but your sexual enlightenment was formed by watching your father fuck your mother! No wonder you developed your current personality. Listen to me, go and have your brain examined!"

Similar insults are rampant in some tabloids.

They also know that this thing cannot be released in the core positions, so, it just looks disgusting, but it actually has no great influence.
However, some other articles that distorted facts and took quotations out of context were widely circulated by the difficult-to-prevent organizations.

Chen Nan: "Freedom of speech is a core element of democracy. It is not a sin for media professionals to pursue freedom of speech. On the contrary, it is the only solution to prevent similar tragedies from happening again and again. Fang Xinghe is angry and extreme and cannot see this point. It doesn't matter. I will explain it to you in detail..."

Law student Russell: "Freedom must of course be constrained within the framework of the law, but Fang Xinghe's dark revenge is also narrow-minded and uncompromising. His thoughts and actions are extremely dangerous. Not only has he abused his classmates, he has a strong patricidal intent. Such a person should never be a teenage idol. The harm of worshipping him is far greater than the positive impact he brings."

Cheng Yizhong was crazy in private, but he was extremely cautious in the articles he wrote.

"The structure of the article "Sex" is not very surprising, and the writing is somewhat fragmented. Only the core idea is worth reading, but it is not to the extent that Teacher Wang praised it.

I understand that Mr. Wang is planning for the future and hopes that there will be successors in the literary world. He regards Fang Xinghe, who won the New Concept Competition, as his disciple and treats him well, but this is not a reason that the public must acknowledge.

After reading it carefully, I found that this article is far from being a true masterpiece. As I am used to reading excellent works, it is difficult to read it without feeling boring.

Actually, I don't have a big problem with Xiao Fang. It's good that he is willing to write. But I don't understand those who are crazy about this article. Did you get paid? Or have you never read any serious stuff?
In addition, I would like to solemnly remind all parents: do not let children under the age of 20 read this article. I don't think it will do any good, and it is extremely easy to be led astray. Our children really can no longer afford such losses..."

Insidious, right?
On the one hand, he hinted that Wang Meng deliberately praised her own disciple because of off-stage factors, and on the other hand, he wanted to cut off Fang Xinghe's roots and hit the sales of "The Voice of Post-80s".

And it precisely targets its largest audience group - the group of "elite" intellectuals who are arrogant and look down on others.

The more intelligent a person is, the more humble he is. However, those half-baked intellectuals whose personalities are like placentas and whose appearances are like chicken intestines tend to sneer at anything that does not conform to their cognition.

Therefore, he really developed a sense of superiority and criticized the article severely.

And he is not the most sinister one.

Chen Danqing also joined in the fun and published a comment in the newspaper.

"I was standing on the streets of Manhattan, New York, reading Fang Xinghe's Sex, Violence, and Lies. The black and white people passing by me were wearing identical white shirts and blue suits, walking hurriedly with high aspirations. I did not see the sex, violence, and lies described by Fang Xinghe, but I knew deeply that when night fell, the three elements of freedom, big and small, would come and permeate the entire East, Down, Left, Right, and East...

Fang Xinghe is so sharp. Although his criticism of Western liberalism is just a passing mention, he clearly and neatly dissects it in the context of Chinese culture. Just look down and you will see everything.

I know that he gave up further discussion in order to maintain the balance of the overall structure. After all, the core of the article is not more profound criticism, but more contagious love and redemption.

He struck a good balance, with criticism and hope coexisting harmoniously without leaning to either side. I couldn't imagine that such a mature and appropriate approach came from a 14-year-old boy.

If you have really read Ba Jin's "Destruction" and Wang Meng's "Long Live Youth", you will clearly and truly realize that Fang Xinghe's level is already above them. Looking at the domestic masters, no one can beat Fang Xinghe in the age group under 25. My loss is not unfair."

In order to get the last dish of vinegar, he insisted on making a plate of dumplings.

On the surface, it is to whitewash himself and show his magnanimity, but in essence it is to flatter and kill, and to make enemies for Fang Xinghe.

Are "Destruction" and "Viva la Youth" the best works?

From today's perspective, it doesn't count.

On the one hand, it is immature and lacks maturity. On the other hand, it is out of context of the times and many sentences are no longer touching.

But this is by no means a reason to pull down.

Fang Xinghe sincerely believes that it is hooliganism to discuss a work without considering the era and the causes and consequences.

Sex is better, but only at this point in time.

In fact, he could have written something better than this, but he sacrificed some wildness for the sake of balance and approval. But does this mean that the all-out revision of Sex is a better work? No, it will only be a better work in 2025, not now.

The version written today is the most suitable for 1999 and for 14-year-old Fang Xinghe.

Chen Danqing may not be unaware of this. He chooses to play dumb and use Fang Xinghe to anger today's literary and artistic youth, which is very vicious.

But he did add a little volume to the voices that were bragging about Fang Xinghe.

Some people brag even more harshly.

The certain people here refer specifically to Yu Hua.

"After reading Fang Xinghe's Sex at the manuscript review site, I was furious for three days. Damn it, how could it be written so well!

I have been holding it in for a long time and I have to write it today.

What’s so good about “Sex”?

The first is good structure.

At first glance, it appears to be 10 fragmented small chapters. The titles neither follow the stream of consciousness pattern to make people guess, nor use fancy rhetoric to arouse emotions. They are just placed there so plainly that you will not notice them at first. Wait until you have finished reading the whole text and come back to think about it carefully. Wow, the more you think about it, the more charm it has!
Structurally, he breaks the traumatic memories into irregular fragments and puts them together in a messy way. The correlation is not strong but not separated, jumping back and forth but not interrupting the emotions. Finally, when the pieces are complete, they are directly sublimated, the theme emerges, and goose bumps appear.

The second point is restraint.

I served as a judge for the New Concept, and my biggest headache was the middle school students' overuse of rhetoric. Wow, they really wanted to turn everything imaginable into rhetoric and stuff it into their articles. It was all kinds of gorgeous chaos. At first glance, it looked like Wang Bo, but upon closer inspection, it was Spicy Chicken Neck.

Fang Xinghe is different. His expression is extremely restrained and most of his writing is plain. Especially when describing the sexual violence committed by Fang Tonghui against his mother, he is like an emotionless bystander.

This kind of cold and austere description, this technique of completely suppressing emotion under observation, would make people extremely uncomfortable if it was written by someone else, but he wrote it as a son, which instead created a more tragic tension.

The meaning of restraint lies in that he does not scream to the readers about how much pain he is in. He does not impose anything on the readers. He does not use sensationalism or complain. He just tells you what this situation is like. How you experience it is your own business.

This is amazing. Ordinary people don't have such control when writing, and they can't help but babble when chatting.

The third is good balance.

When it comes to balance, details are everywhere in this article.

For example, in terms of the balance of his writing techniques, Fang Xinghe does not just write in a plain way, he also expresses himself when necessary.

Plain description and catharsis are already very balanced in themselves, and there is also a balance within the cathartic text - jumping back and forth between swear words and poetic expression. The previous sentence was still the violent swear words of "this little shit and this little shit", and in a few sentences it turned into "what is decent enough is called a lie, and what is not decent enough is violence."

Now that I mention this, you may feel that this is schizophrenia, right? But I didn't mention it, but when you watched it yourself, did you feel out of place at all?

The absence of it means that he has already mastered this kind of subtle and silent balance of opposites to perfection.

And then what are the balances?

A balance between literary and social aspects.

Balance between responsibility and restraint.

The balance between Fang Tonghui's symbol of violence and his mother's endurance of humiliation.

In the process of pursuing the answer, Fang Xinghe uses violent catharsis as a way to solve the problem, showing a balance between thinking and practice, struggle and calmness, and fragmentation and reconstruction...

He even achieved a secret balance on the mother's pale knuckles that run through the entire text - in the early stage it was the mark of violence and the embodiment of Fang Xinghe's psychological shadow, but in the middle he was touched by the prostitute's pale knuckles, and in the later stage his mother's hands became the most precious memory, with all kinds of warmth.

The transition is subtle and natural. He didn't write it directly, but we can feel it from the whole line.

Despite such a simple and elegant idea, some people criticize Fang Xinghe for his crude writing...Have you graduated from junior high school?

The fourth good thing is the correctness of value orientation and cultural stance.

Some people should not just see Fang Xinghe's use of violence to fight violence. His anger is real, but his ultimate goal is love and redemption. This is not about making mistakes and then correcting them. This is a child who has no one to teach him struggling to save himself.

Some people should not dwell on the description of sexual violence. This is a real process of a child's observation and cognitive distortion of freedom, which is extremely serious. Only obscene people will find everything obscene.

In addition, in the confrontation between Eastern collectivist ethics and Western liberalism, Fang Xinghe's cultural stance is unquestionable.

Literary nature comes from this, social nature is established from this, artistry rises in poetic expression, and criticality is contained in every word and sentence.

Fang Xinghe used his brilliant and colorful writing to dissect a piece of rotten flesh that was parasitic in the depths of people's hearts. It was a cancer called unlimited liberalism. It was not only a literary unfolding of Fang Xinghe's dark childhood, but also a microcosm of the mental collapse of some people in the midst of social upheaval.

For a while I was very dissatisfied, thinking, damn, if he can write, why can't I? So I spent a lot of time and energy writing, hoping to write a more awesome and profound article, and then show it to him.

As of today, I declare that I officially give up.

Yes, he can write, but I can’t.”

Yu Hua is a middle-aged sly guy.

He did not focus on criticizing liberalism. He only mentioned it briefly and passed it by. He did not even mention the deep-seated contradiction between economic development and moral disorder.

However, Yu Hua truly lives up to the title of literary master.

His interpretation of "Sex" from the aspects of literary techniques, language style, structural design, etc. is comprehensive, detailed and appropriate, providing valuable guidance for many middle school students in reading the article.

Fang Xinghe discovered that after this group of writers' analysis and popularization from various angles, the growth rate of star value could actually be accelerated again.

Is there anything more enjoyable than this?
some.

CCTV News came to us - yes, that news broadcast that is broadcast every day at 7:00.

*************
Thanks to liangxxx for being the second leader, flowers~
(End of this chapter)