1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Xu Chi lacks public recognition, but he is not an unknown person.

He definitely has a place in the literary world.

However, his literary achievements are mainly in reportage and translation of foreign literature. He has no achievements in novel writing, and ordinary readers know very little about him.

Zhou Yan has read the selected poems of Shelley translated by Xu Chi, "Tomorrow", "Selected Translations of Eliade", "The Cloisters" and "Walden".

There are also his reportages, and Zhou Yan has also read the more famous ones, including "The Light of Geology" and "Goldbach's Conjecture".

His sudden jump off the building was definitely a big event in the literary world.

Su Tong sighed, "Yesterday morning, I ran into Mr. Zhang Shouren in the hotel corridor and heard about this from him. I was also very shocked at the time. I didn't expect that Mr. Xu would choose this time and this way to bid farewell to the world."

"I heard it from Mr. Feng Yidai. Mr. Feng said that they got the news on the afternoon of the 14th. By yesterday, everyone in the Xijiao Hotel had known the news."

Most of the activities of this Writers' Congress were held at the Xijiao Hotel. Writers from outside Beijing basically registered at the Xijiao Hotel before the 14th. Those who were in Beijing registered later, basically on the 14th.

Logically speaking, Zhou Yan and his friends should have reported to the Xijiao Hotel on the 14th, but they did not go.

Reporting on the 14th was not mandatory, so it didn't matter if Zhou Yan and the others didn't go, but they didn't expect to miss such news.

Feng Yidai and Zhang Shouren are both senior figures in the literary world. There are slightly more connections between these senior figures, especially Feng Yidai. He and Xu Chi are only one year apart in age, one is 83 and the other is 82.

Therefore, they were also the first to hear the news of Xu Chi's death.

"Why did Mr. Xu do this?" Yu Hua asked.

Wang Anyi shook his head. "I don't know the details. These past two days, every room has been discussing these things. I'm not very familiar with Mr. Xu. Apart from his works, I know very little about him. According to some people who knew him well, there may be many reasons for his suicide. Zhao Benfu said that he probably chose this path because of his failed second marriage, the wrong person, and his children's alienation because of Ms. Chen. He was depressed and unhappy."

"Oh, that's possible. I heard that he hasn't seen his youngest daughter for a long time because of Ms. Chen." Shi Tiesheng said.

Zhou Yan glanced at Shi Tiesheng and was a little surprised. It was rare for him to pay attention to other people's gossip.

"When he wanted to remarry, many people were not optimistic."

"Yes."

……

Zhou Yan didn't know any gossip about Xu Chi. After listening to them chatting for a while, he found out that Xu Chi had started a twilight romance a few years ago and married an associate professor who was 20 years younger than him.

Although this relationship did not last long, because of Ms. Chen, his relationship with his children became very bad, even to the point of becoming enemies.

In fact, although there is a 20-year age difference, Ms. Chen is not young anymore. After all, it happened just a few years ago. At that time, Xu Chi was almost 80 years old, and Ms. Chen was almost 60.

It would be a bit unreasonable to say that Xu Chi was attracted by the woman's beauty. Perhaps he was just getting older and wanted to find someone to live with so that he wouldn't be alone every day.

However, no one is sure whether this is the real reason why Xu Chi jumped off the building. If he jumped off the building because of this, the timing would not be right.

Xu Chi's marriage to Chen was short-lived and they had separated a long time ago. If he wanted to commit suicide because of this, why wait until now?

There are several other versions. One is that Xu Chi became obsessed with computer games and was influenced by the decadent emotions spread by certain religions, which led to his own death.

Some said that he couldn't bear the pain and committed suicide.

Others said that it was because the writers from Hubei ran to say goodbye to him before attending the Writers' Congress, making him feel alone and lonely.

After all, Xu Chi is a director of the Writers Association. If he is in good health, he should have come to Yenching to attend the event.

……

The news of Xu Chi's death cast an invisible shadow over the venue, because the incident had just happened not long ago, and when everyone gathered together to chat, they inevitably brought up this topic.

It’s not that everyone is keen on spreading this kind of news, but when something like this happens, they can’t help but sigh.

Some older writers, in particular, even developed a sense of grief over the death of the rabbit and the grief of the fox, and believed that some of the problems faced by older writers should be solved.

Some people even suggested that the Writers Association build an apartment for the elderly for writers and provide them with caregivers to alleviate their loneliness.

It was not the elderly but the younger writers who made this suggestion.

As to why such a suggestion was made, whether it was out of concern for predecessors or for some other reasons, it is unknown.

Although these old veterans of the Writers Association are generally not as well-known among the public as young writers today, they control most of the resources in the literary world, and many of them are leaders of the Writers Association.

Before taking his seat, Zhou Yan met and chatted with about 30 writers, most of whom were well-known predecessors, such as Bi Shumin, Gao Hongbo, Zhao Benfu, Zhang Qie...

They were all quite interested in Zhou Yan. After all, among the more than 800 Writers Association members who came to attend the conference today, Zhou Yan could be said to be the most special one.

Zhou Yan has many identities. Compared with his identities as an actor, director and musician, his identity as a writer is the least noticeable.

When many people chat with Zhou Yan, they subconsciously still do not regard Zhou Yan as a person from the literary world.

When Zhou Yangang first came out, he wrote works such as "Death of the Mayor", "Knife in Clear Water" and "Tree Hole", which made a splash in the literary world.

At that time, many people were discussing the new writer named "Zhou Chan" who had suddenly emerged.

However, after this storm passed, Zhou Yan seemed to have disappeared from the literary circle, and no new works appeared.

Many people told Zhou Yan that it would be a great loss to the literary world if he did not publish new works.

It’s hard to say how much of these words are sincere, but if Zhou Yan really continues to produce works, people’s attitude towards him may not be as gentle as it is now.

Since ancient times, scholars have looked down on each other. Even though everyone is saying hello to each other when they meet at the venue today, they may not necessarily like each other in private.

……

The conference was extremely boring for Zhou Yan and his friends. Except for the beginning when the leader came to comfort them, Zhou Yan and his friends were completely in a state of absent-mindedness afterwards.

They didn't really listen to the content of the meeting.

When the meeting ended at about five o'clock, Yu Hua patted his head and said, "Nothing was put in."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Can you be a little more low-key?"

There were many people at the meeting, so one should be careful when speaking and avoid getting into trouble. Especially since Zhai Taifeng was standing not far away, he would definitely be unhappy if he heard what Yu Hua said.

At today's conference, Zhai Taifeng delivered a work report entitled "Standing at the Forefront of the Times and Welcoming the New Century of Literary Prosperity."

In this kind of report, form is inevitably more important than content. No matter who comes up and speaks, it will all be the same and equally boring.

Yu Hua smiled, looked up and looked around, and asked, "Are we going to Xijiao Hotel with the main group, or where else?"

Zhou Yan shrugged and said, "I can do anything. It's up to you."

The main purpose was to see Shi Tiesheng. It was such a cold day and Shi Tiesheng had difficulty moving. The Xijiao Hotel was far from the Ditan Park. If Shi Tiesheng went to the Xijiao Hotel at this time, it would be very late when he returned.

"Let's go and have a look. Minister Wang said that we should learn to integrate into the group." Yu Hua pinched Shi Tiesheng's shoulder again. "If it's too late, we can stay at Xijiao Hotel for one night. Anyway, they have reserved a room for us, so it would be a waste if we don't stay there."

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Well, this loss is really unacceptable."

……

On the way to Xijiao Hotel, Liu Zhenyun kept praising Zhou Yan's car for its luxury.

One moment he praised the softness of the seats, the next moment he praised the powerful air conditioning, and in the end, when there was nothing left to praise, he actually started praising the nice-looking steering wheel.

The car Zhou Yan was riding in today was not a luxury car, but a Santana 2000.

This car was only released last year and is currently considered a high-end car in China, but it is certainly not as good as Liu Zhenyun said.

Originally, Zhou Yan and his friends had no plans to bring anyone else with them, but they happened to meet Liu Zhenyun when they were leaving the house. He asked a question, and Zhou Yan then extended the invitation.

Buses were arranged from the conference hall to the Xijiao Hotel, but there were not enough buses and one group could not leave.

The rest of the people can either wait for the next bus or take the bus themselves.

Liu Zhenyun was smart and knew that Zhou Yan and his friends had a car, so he came over to ask.

Yu Hua had a headache listening to this and couldn't help but say, "It's not the New Year yet, you should save the New Year greetings for later."

Liu Zhenyun smiled and said, "I just got on board and have no way to repay you, so I'll just praise Zhou Yan a few words as a payment."

"If you said less, I'm sure Zhou Yan would be more grateful to you."

Zhou Yan sat in the passenger seat and said with a smile, "Teacher Liu, don't be so polite. It's my honor to let you take a ride."

"Look, when it comes to praising people, I'm still an amateur. Teacher Zhou is an expert."

After that, Liu Zhenyun stopped praising people indiscriminately and started communicating with them normally.

After chatting for a while, Liu Zhenyun said with emotion, "The times are getting better and better. I still remember a few years ago when we took Tiesheng to play in Northeast China, we carried him on our shoulders when we were catching the train. Now that cars are becoming more and more popular, Tiesheng will be able to go out more often in the future."

Shi Tiesheng smiled and said, "Transportation is convenient, but you may not have the time."

After he said this, there was silence in the car.

After all, things are different now than they were in the past. Everyone's lives have changed dramatically, and it's hard to have the courage of a few grown men to just go away on a whim.

Take Yu Hua for example. If he goes on a long trip, he has to leave Yu Haiguo to Chen Hong alone.

Although Chen Hong is the main person taking care of the children when Yu Hua is at home, whether he is at home or not is two different things.

At his age, family will definitely play an increasingly important role in his life.

Seeing their silence, Zhou Yan laughed, "If you want to go out, there's plenty of time later. We can make an appointment to go out and play together in the spring next year."

Yu Hua also laughed, "Why don't you take us with you when you go abroad to give concerts in the future."

"If you're willing to go, I have no problem with that. But you may not have time next year. 'Xu Sanguan Selling Blood' is about to be published in Korea, so you must go there next spring."

"What should I do?"

"If the book sells well, shouldn't you hold a few book signings to give back to the fans who support you?"

“I don’t know whether it will sell well or not.”

"If it doesn't sell well, you have to go there and promote it vigorously so that everyone will buy your book."

Liu Zhenyun smiled and said, "Teacher Zhou is right. Good wine needs a bush. If you don't show your face, no one will know who you are. But you can't do it yourself. You need others to do it to be convincing. After you go there, you must first build good relationships with some local writers and critics, treat them to dinner, drinks, and then play cards. After you get to know each other, they will also be willing to say a few good words about you in the media and newspapers."

"You are the best person to be a socialite. I tell you, the Koreans love your tricks the most."

"Which one do I have?"

"To flatter someone."

"Everyone in the world will fall for this." Liu Zhenyun paused and said, "Not everyone in the world will fall for it. I think Teacher Zhou doesn't fall for it. Since we met in the afternoon, I praised him so much, but he didn't take any of my compliments seriously. This is the first time I've failed in my career of praising people. It shows that Teacher Zhou is different from ordinary people."

If an ordinary person heard what Liu Zhenyun said, he would probably be in trouble.

But Zhou Yan himself is a "flattery master" and is well versed in the ins and outs of it. When he heard this, he knew that Liu Zhenyun was still flattering him.

He smiled and said, "Teacher Liu, you are praising me too much. I can't take it seriously. But after meeting Teacher Liu today, I really benefited a lot. You seem to be praising people, but in fact you are using this method to understand others. It doesn't cost anything and is very efficient. With such a philosophy of life, it can be seen that Teacher Liu is very wise. In this regard, we should all learn from Teacher Liu, don't you think so, Lao Yu?"

Yu Hua nodded, "He is indeed unique in this regard."

Even Liu Zhenyun was confused by this combination of punches. He waved his hands and said with a smile, "There's nothing to learn. I just like to observe and study more. If you observe more, you will understand it."

After he finished speaking, Zhou Yan and Yu Hua both pursed their lips. Shi Tiesheng looked at Liu Zhenyun with a smile, "Zhenyun, you hunt geese all day long, but you still got pecked in the eye by a goose."

Hearing this, Liu Zhenyun suddenly realized that Zhou Yan and Yu Hua were teaming up to flatter him.

He shook his head and sighed, "My theory is correct. There is no one in this world who doesn't like compliments, myself included."

Seeing his dejected look, the other three burst into laughter, and the car was filled with a happy atmosphere. (End of this chapter)