A widower's entertainment

Chapter 387 [A Short Knife] (Please Subscribe)
When Lin Youcheng's short story "Love" appeared in the latest issue of People's Literature magazine, the literary circles in Beijing were taken aback. They knew that Lin Youcheng had written the screenplay for Taiwanese director Hou Xiaoxian for the film "Love," which had already been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival. Now that Lin Youcheng had published this story in People's Literature, they wondered if it was that story. Of course, more knowledgeable literary workers would know that there was much more to the story behind "Love."

Regardless, now that Lin Youcheng, a literary giant, has published his work, readers from all over the country are naturally drawn to it, and countless young people who love literature and literary workers are rushing to buy the latest issue of "People's Literature" magazine.

There's no other reason than Lin Youcheng published a new novel!

Who could blame them when Lin Youcheng publishes a new novel? It's absolutely the center of attention. Otherwise, why would editors of literary journals keep commissioning articles from Lin Youcheng? Because the name of Lin Youcheng as an author already signifies the moving and excellent nature of his works.

Moreover, Lin Youcheng's new novel is titled "Love"!
The novel's title is a single, simple word: "Love"!
This naturally aroused great anticipation among a group of literary enthusiasts, who were eager to know what kind of love story Lin Youcheng would bring.

Everyone knows that Lin Youcheng's specialty is writing love stories.

But none of the readers expected that Lin Youcheng's simple short story was a sharp dagger that stabbed directly into the hearts of all readers, leaving them bleeding profusely, yet burning with passion.

Yes, it was an extreme tearing apart, incredibly moving yet incredibly heartbreaking.

The story of "Love" is actually about the love between an elderly couple, but in the end, the husband smothers his wife to death with his own hands.

Seeing the end was truly chilling!

Shi Tiesheng never expected Lin Youcheng to write such a love story. Such sadness really touched him. Although he was in a wheelchair and did not choose death, he had also experienced such moments in his heart.

"I never expected Lin Youcheng's story 'Love' to be like this."

Shi Tiesheng was deeply moved by the ending. He hadn't expected Lin Youcheng to write about an elderly couple who had dedicated their lives to music education. The wife suddenly suffered a stroke and became paralyzed. Even the noble temperament cultivated by music over the years couldn't withstand aging and illness, and she gradually became unable to care for herself. The husband hired a caregiver, but the caregiver's rough treatment of his wife provoked him, and he resolved to take care of his beloved wife himself.

Their daughter came back to see her sick mother, and like most of us children, after seeing her, crying, and feeling the pain, she continued to choose the life she could not escape.

When people get old, they really become like children. The husband is clumsy, and the wife is silly. He clumsily helps her bathe, feeds her, and dresses her.

Every detail is so real, so real that Shi Tiesheng felt it was a story that happened right next to him. In this story, a proud wife looks at her husband, her eyes filled with a calm sadness, and says, "I've lived too long." While her husband is out running errands, she climbs onto the windowsill, intending to end her own life, but her husband arrives just in time and stops her.

But in the end, the husband still gave in to his wife's wishes and smothered her to death with a pillow.

Shi Tiesheng put down the People's Literature magazine in his hand, looked at his wife, and exclaimed sincerely, "Lin Youcheng's writing is truly superb. The narrative of the whole story is restrained and gentle, and the cold and sharp reality does not need any embellishment."

Hearing Shi Tiesheng's words, the lame woman nodded and said, "Yes, he writes so realistically and delicately. The people in his stories calmly and helplessly accept the arrangements of fate, like the gears of destiny turning, advancing steadily as always. That woman's health was getting worse and worse. He held her and told her stories of his youth. She was very tired and closed her eyes, wanting to rest. Then he picked up the pillow next to him until she stopped struggling..."

"Sigh—! I really didn't expect this!"

As he spoke, he let out an extremely sorrowful sigh.

Shi Tiesheng's heart was also very unsettled. Most people's lives are far from deserving the title of "magnificent and turbulent." They are merely trying to reach a dreamlike state through a life that can never be truly satisfying, amidst restrained and suppressed emotions and helpless choices and being chosen.

However, Lin Youcheng is now showing this seemingly calm love to everyone, revealing the turbulent emotions beneath that seemingly restrained and suppressed demeanor.

"As expected of Lin Youcheng, he's absolutely amazing!"

Clearly, just as Shi Tiesheng was deeply moved, Lin Youcheng's short story "Love" truly left readers speechless and deeply shocked.

Readers never expected that Lin Youcheng would write a love story about an elderly couple who had been married for many years, and the ending of this love story was so cruel and shocking.

Of course, some readers might think that such love is too great!
That's right, it's great!
But what's truly great is that Lin Youcheng's heart-wrenching love story takes on another extreme, with its complex human contradictions exceeding imagination. The boundaries of love seem to be infinitely extended at this moment, moving many readers to tears.

Not only the literary circles in Beijing, but the entire literary world was surprised that writer Lin Youcheng would bring such a special short story, "Love." It can even be said that this is more than just a simple love story. Some people in the literary world are discussing and exchanging ideas about the novel about love and marriage that Lin Youcheng mentioned Jiang Xia reading to Yang Ju in "The Reader." That novel is "Love"!
Undoubtedly, this hidden foreshadowing makes Lin Youcheng's short story "Love" even more complex and captivating. It's fair to say that discussions about Lin Youcheng's latest novel, "Love," quickly spread throughout the literary world, or rather, not just within it. The impact was considerable; whether it was Lin Youcheng's groundbreaking portrayal of love, or his discussions on dignity, death, and even life itself, all had a significant influence on the literary scene.

Literary circles across the country are discussing Lin Youcheng's explicit and unimaginable work, "Love."

It can be said that many literary journals reprinted it immediately, such as *Fiction Review* which reprinted it as a headline article, and *Selected Short Stories* which reprinted it immediately...

There's no way around it, the impact and influence of Lin Youcheng's novel are just too great!

Of course, such a discussion will naturally lead to debate, with the focus being whether this kind of love is great or cruel.

On August 19th, *Literary Review* published a review article by critic Zhang Hui on Lin Youcheng's short story *Love*, in which she made no secret of her appreciation and praise for the novel. The review stated: "Lin Youcheng's short story *Love*, in my view, is like a painting, largely unadorned, sketched with the most ordinary lines and delicate colors. Seemingly simple and easy to understand, it is full of profound meaning and moving emotion. The story revolves around an elderly musician couple who share the same hobbies and topics of conversation. They support and rely on each other throughout life's long journey, living a comfortable and ordinary life. However, the quiet onslaught of illness cruelly shatters this peaceful happiness. Due to a failed surgery, the wife's condition deteriorates. Their busy, troubled daughter is unable to care for her, leaving only the elderly husband to look after her. Tormented by illness and a change in mindset, how can love continue? How can it still be called love?"

"In Lin Youcheng's delicate, realistic, and even icy-restrained narrative, we witness the cruelty and desolation of a helpless and unpredictable reality. Often, faced with inescapable pain and irreversible disasters, seemingly incomprehensible extreme actions may be a powerful expression of love. Lin Youcheng's writing truly achieves a perfect, unadulterated effect, so real it's heartbreaking. A silent pain and sorrow permeate the calm, icy atmosphere, yet it's captivating nonetheless. The raw, cruel essence of love strikes at the heart, leaving an unforgettable impression. Often, only through loss and pain can one learn to cherish and be grateful. Love possesses infinitely profound and expansive meaning, and Lin Youcheng has actually written a deeper understanding of 'love,' using seemingly indifferent words to create a cruel and heavy vortex, allowing love to bloom sadly and sorrowfully within it..."

"Lin Youcheng seems to want to provide readers with a space and way to calmly and deeply reflect or change their mindset, to put down their restless hearts, open their seemingly limited perspectives, immerse themselves in the situation, feel the atmosphere, and appreciate the intention behind it. Hidden beneath the mask of cruelty and indifference is a deeply moving tenderness. Many people often say that tragedy is like a sharp sword that pierces the heart, and Lin Youcheng has precisely used this power to bring readers another way of thinking about love. Perhaps what is hidden behind death is a longer continuation of love, although it looks very desolate, very painful, and very sad... In the face of this cruel and unpredictable reality that is too much to bear, Lin Youcheng uses his unique way and style to movingly portray another way of surviving love."

……

This commentary undoubtedly resonated with many readers, reflecting their own thoughts, but their opinions went beyond that.

Many literary journals and periodicals have reprinted and published related commentary articles.

The journal *Selected Short Stories* reprinted Lin Youcheng's story "Love" and published a commentary: "It's hard to imagine that Lin Youcheng had the story of 'Love' in his story for *The Reader*, and it's also hard to imagine that he would have Jiang Xia read his work to Yang Ju. This foreshadowing is truly unbelievable. But what's truly unbelievable is how the husband could ultimately kill his beloved wife, especially when she was struggling under the pillow? It's an unimaginable cruelty and greatness!"

A literary critic in the *Wenlun Bao* commented: "Lin Youcheng's short story discusses the two grand and profound philosophical propositions of love and death. These seem to appear frequently in life, yet they are the kind of things that are difficult to understand until the end of life. Lin Youcheng blends these two elements into one story, while also raising the ethical paradox of 'living in pain and dying happily'..."

The Shanghai Literary Gazette also published a commentary by literary critic Huang Hui immediately, stating: "Love is not a hymn to love, but a gaze upon life. When life inevitably moves towards aging and death, can we face it calmly? This is also an extreme test of love, testing the limits of human endurance. Everyone must find their own place on the scales of imbalance between giving and receiving..."

Meanwhile, a literary critic in the magazine *Youth Review* praised this as Lin Youcheng's true masterpiece of love, stating: "For a wife who places dignity above life, is continuing to live in such a miserable state a blessing or torture? When she has lost the ability to express herself, her husband repeatedly teaches her to recall their youthful love: their dances, those incredibly happy times… He intends to awaken the remaining fragments of his wife's consciousness, but in reality, when she looks at those old photo albums, she has already bid farewell to the past. It is her husband who is forcibly keeping her life and her soul. In this novel, Lin Youcheng is not making any hypocritical moral judgments, but rather presenting the immense powerlessness and ultimate tenderness inherent in 'love' under extremely cruel circumstances…"

……

That's right, it's extreme powerlessness and ultimate tenderness!

These discussions about "Love" are becoming increasingly widespread and intense throughout the literary world. Because of Lin Youcheng's literary status and influence, every time his work is published, it receives a lot of attention. Now, he has brought us another work, "Love." The narrative structure seems simple and straightforward, but the story is still very impactful as the plot unfolds.

Yes, it really is a short knife that is extremely impactful to the heart.

Clearly, no reader or literary professional expected that Lin Youcheng, the former widower writer, would bring such a cruel love story after marriage, remaining a love executioner. The short love story he has written is like a dagger, suddenly piercing the heart of every reader.

The key point is that Lin Youcheng hid this dagger in the story of "The Reader" a long time ago.

Who would have thought that Lin Youcheng's seemingly insignificant mention of "Love" in "The Reader" would turn out to be so sharp and ruthless, like a gentle knife killing someone?

Like the husband who smothered his wife with a pillow, it happened suddenly, and she struggled...

It's like a knife suddenly plunged into the reader's heart, making them tremble, feel heartache, be shocked, and be moved...

(End of this chapter)