I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 275: Teacher Beichuan is shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature!

Ever since Shizuko Kawaide and all the writers of Kawaide Shobo withdrew from the Japan Literary Society, this official organization in the literary world has become much quieter.

The collective meeting that was originally scheduled once a week was postponed for a long time because the old men and women were all dealing with their personal matters.

Early this morning, a middle-aged security guard at the society's headquarters building was picking his nose out of boredom when he was startled by a Japanese National Railways truck that suddenly came speeding by and then braked to a stop.

He hurriedly ran out of the guard room, hurriedly put on his hat, buttoned his uniform, stood up straight, and bowed 90 degrees to greet the truck as it drove in.

Japan National Railways is a state-owned enterprise in Japan's transportation industry, equivalent to the post office next door.

In 1997, national railway transportation was still very low-key and generally did not deliver goods to private companies or individuals.

The fact that the goods can be delivered by national railways shows that the goods inside are extraordinary!
The truck stopped properly, and a national railway employee in blue clothes and white hat jumped out from the passenger seat. He was holding a beautifully wrapped letter in his hand and was about to hand it to the middle-aged security guard, but it was suddenly intercepted by a frowning hand.

"I'll sign for this myself."

The middle-aged security guard stood up. The voice was very familiar. He looked up and found that it was the president Tanizaki Ichiro who had not come to the academy for eight hundred years!
"Teacher Tanizaki! You..." He wanted to say something, but the other party didn't even look at him, and strode back to the society's headquarters building with the letter.

The national railway transport trucks also roared away again.

"It's really strange. The national railway transport delivered the goods so early, and was it just a letter?" The middle-aged security guard scratched his head, puzzled.

Just when he was about to find someone to ask what happened, brand new luxury cars suddenly drove here one after another.

He looked carefully and found that they were all cars owned by the big guys in the society.

My goodness, he has been working as a security guard here for 8 years, but this is the first time he has seen these big guys driving here to work before o'clock in the morning!

Without giving it much thought, he quickly stepped aside, bowed and acted as a gatekeeper directing traffic - since the bubble economy burst, the society has also cut a lot of expenses. Originally, there was a security team on duty outside the gate, plus three gatekeepers responsible for receiving cars.

Now, only he and his son are left.

Two people work in three shifts. Even though it's hard work, it's at least better than being a barbecue boss on the street, isn't it?
In just a short while, dozens of luxury cars had arrived at the society.

There were men and women, young and old, getting off the bus. Everyone had a serious expression, as if something big was about to happen.

Holding the punishment letter and shortlist sent by the Swedish Academy, Ichiro Tanizaki felt for the first time how heavy the small envelope was.

There are a total of 1,234 steps from the steps outside the headquarters building of the Japan Literary Society to the conference hall where the conference is held.

He didn't come here often, but he always remembered this number.

Because thirty-seven years ago, it was here that he was named "the best in the world", and later after publishing "The Devil's Tattoo" in "Shincho", it was here that he became "the best in the world" in the Japanese literary world.

He was also the first one to enter the conference hall today.

Just like that time thirty-seven years ago.

After several minutes, the girl who served tea and water came in tiptoe.

She looked at herself nervously and with admiration, probably in order to stay with the "god" in her mind for a while longer, she even deliberately knocked over the teacup - there were no tea leaves in it, only plain water, and not a large amount, so it was obviously intentional.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Tanizaki, I'll get you another cup right away!" The little girl ran outside and came back in a few moments later.

She wiped the table and carefully rearranged the tea set. This time the tea leaves, water and heat were just right.

"Fill up all the seats in the conference room and refill the teapots," he began.

Does your voice sound lifeless?

What was the little girl’s expression when she heard this voice?

Does she also know about the Nobel Prize scandal?

What is she thinking?
He picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Be careful of the heat, Tanizaki." The little girl seemed startled.

But after seeing him drink the whole thing in one gulp, he took back his words and then obediently went to set the table and serve new tea.

It's really hot.

Would it be better if I burned my stomach at this time and ended up in the ICU like Ichiko Sadaji?

For the first time in his long eighty years of life, Ichiro Tanizaki felt what it was like to be in a state of confusion.

The letter was just placed on the table, but I didn't have the courage to open it.

The little girl who fiddled with the tea sets had just come to learn how to work. She entered the literary world because she admired Mr. Tanizaki and hoped to become a great writer like him.

There have been recent rumors that Mr. Tanizaki stole Ms. Kitagawa's Nobel Prize nomination, but she doesn't believe it!
These two teachers are her idols.

One represents the top strength of the Japanese literary world in the past, and the other represents the ceiling strength of the Japanese literary world now.

They should be good friends, maybe master and apprentice. How could it be possible?
"Teacher Tanizaki! I heard that you have signed for the punishment letter and shortlist from the Swedish Academy!" The person who rushed into the room was a panicked-looking Takeda Tsunekazu.

The little girl was stunned.

"Huh? Why are you still here? A lot of writers are coming to the meeting soon. Why don't you hurry up and prepare tea and desserts?"

Takeda Tsunekazu glared at her.
"You are such a tactless little fellow!"

The little girl was startled again, and quickly bowed to apologize, then ran out with the tray.

"It's because everyone is sent to the academy that we are in this situation." Takeda Tsunekazu sat down and drank a cup of tea. It was so hot that he got even angrier. "This idiot! Can't you let the hot tea cool down first? I'll talk to Ishida-san and have her fired."

"That's enough, Takeda." Tanizaki Ichiro, who looked as pale as death, interrupted his complaints, "Just wait quietly for someone."

"Yes, Mr. Tanizaki." When Takeda Tsunekazu saw the empty teacup in front of Tanizaki Ichiro, his heart tightened instantly and his arrogance was extinguished in an instant.

Teacher Tanizaki was also panicked.

The two of them sat in silence. The letter was placed in the middle, but no one dared to open it.

Takeda Tsunekazu originally wanted to take a look at the shortlist, but then he thought that even Momota Naoki was no longer eligible to judge, so what else was there to look at?

Now we can only hope that Mr. Tanizaki has enough connections in the literary world to help them get through this difficult time.

As time went by, the remaining core members of the Japanese Literature Society also came in one after another and sat down in their seats in turn.

As they entered the room, the first thing they saw was Ichiro Tanizaki, and then the letter sandwiched between him and Tsunekazu Takeda.

Everyone was silent, looking at Ichiro Tanizaki who rarely showed up once a year, waiting for him to open the letter.

Time passed by minute by minute.

During this period of time, Ichiro Tanizaki had quietly reviewed his literary career.

He couldn't understand what had gone wrong and why the Swedish Academy, with whom he had been friends for many years, would suddenly help an unknown young man.

Indeed, in terms of literary level and sales ability, Kitagawa Hide has been catching up with himself step by step, and after defeating Arima Yoshiyoshi and Hyakuta Naoki in one breath, his status in the literary world is close to "second in the world".

But so what?
No matter how outstanding he is, he is just an ordinary Japanese writer who has never been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature!

Unless one day his name appears in such a letter, that would be a real challenge to me, right?

Not to mention that Japanese literature has never been taken seriously in world literature. How could people from the Swedish Academy pay attention to such a trivial matter?
Is it really because the authority of the Nobel Prize is inviolable?

"Teacher" Tsunekazu Takeda next to him reminded him in a low voice.

Ichiro Tanizaki, who was frowning, came to his senses, nodded slightly, and finally reached out and picked up the letter that weighed a thousand pounds.

open.

The letter paper with the official seal of the Swedish Academy fell off.

Two in total.

One is the penalty letter and the other is the shortlist.

He casually threw the shortlist to Takeda Tsunekazu, then took the penalty letter, glanced at everyone, and finally said: "Gentlemen. Thank you for taking the time to come here and listen to an old man like me. The following is the content of the penalty letter."

Reading the penalty letter to the Japan Literary Society is a prescribed procedure of the Nobel Prize Committee and the Board of Directors.

They demanded that Ichiro Tanizaki read the punishment letter in public and apologize publicly, and that the entire process be recorded and videotaped and then mailed back. Originally, Ichiko Sadaji and Uchida Shozo were also to apologize.

However, Ichiko Sadatsugu was seriously ill and was still being rescued, and Uchida Shozo avoided the meeting on the pretext that he was summoned for a meeting by the Minister of the Ministry of Education.

It doesn't matter if they're not here.

It will be enough if Ichiro Tanizaki, the face of Japanese literary world, is here.

The content of this penalty letter is very simple, similar to the last notice, except that it is more official and the language is more intense.

It is obvious from this penalty letter that the Nobel Prize officials are really angry, and probably blame all the loss of credibility on them.

".Therefore, it is decided to revoke the nomination qualifications of Ichiro Tanizaki, Sadatsugu Ichiko, and Shozo Uchida, and to cancel the nominee Naoki Momota's selection qualification."

When he read the last sentence, Ichiro Tanizaki's voice became much softer, and his body, which had not been bent for many years, bent slightly.

"Here, as the former Japanese nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, I solemnly apologize to Kitagawa Hide!"

Fortunately, the Nobel Prize Council and the jury probably thought that the Japanese Literary Society was the most official organization, so they only asked them to make a public apology here.

If the other party asked them to apologize in front of the news media, Ichiro Tanizaki would feign illness and not come, and would definitely not make a fool of himself in public!
After saying this, Ichiro Tanizaki sat down slowly and turned to look at Tsunekazu Takeda who had been silent next to him.

Takeda Tsunekazu held the shortlist in his hand, with a look of astonishment all the time. He was like this from the moment Tanizaki Ichiro started reading the letter, and he remained like this until Tanizaki Ichiro finished reading.

Others also looked over, curious about what was on the shortlist and what surprised Takeda Tsunekazu so much.

"Takeda?" Ichiro Tanizaki frowned and called him.

Takeda Tsunekazu was still stunned.

"Takeda!" Tanizaki Ichiro couldn't help but increase his volume.

What's going on with this guy?

Wasn’t Naoki Momota disqualified from the selection?
There's no way he's on this list.

So what's so shocking about this?

There are many famous literary figures overseas, but Japanese people know very few of them, so it shouldn't surprise them so much that someone is shortlisted.

Moreover, Tsunekazu Takeda has never paid much attention to literary content.

He only knows how to make money and traffic.

"Takeda!!!" Seeing that he still didn't respond, Ichiro Tanizaki's voice was filled with a hint of anger.

At this point, Takeda Tsunekazu finally came to his senses.

He looked at the letter in disbelief, over and over again, at least a hundred times.

That’s right.

You really didn’t see it wrong.

In the shortlist, in the French column, there was a name that absolutely shouldn't have appeared!

Kitagawa Show!

He actually saw this familiar name on the shortlist for the Nobel Prize in Literature!

Is it the same name?

impossible.

There is a name written in Japanese on it!

So why is it in the French column?
The column for Japan is clearly blank!

"Tanizaki, could it be that Mr. Tanizaki's shortlist is fake?" asked Tsunekazu Takeda.

A group of people were stunned.

They all looked at Takeda Tsunekazu, wondering if this guy had taken some weird stuff and damaged his brain.

Ichiro Tanizaki was also furious, but he suppressed his anger and whispered, "Do you know what you are saying?"

"I...but, but it's Mr. Tanizaki." Takeda Tsunekazu was already sweating profusely.

He suddenly understood why the Nobel Prize officials suddenly helped Kitagawa Hide.

"what happened?!"

Ichiro Tanizaki didn't bother to talk nonsense with him. He snatched the shortlist from his hand and looked down.

Under the bright red title, the columns for one country after another were filled with writers he didn't know.

Looking down, he didn't find any problems.

Until I saw the French column.

"Kitagawa Hide!!!"

The eighty-year-old Ichiro Tanizaki's heart skipped a beat.

He opened his eyes wide, looked carefully, looked hard, looked seriously, and looked fiercely.

That's right.

That's the name.

Hide Kitagawa is on the French section of the shortlist.

What does it mean?
His brain suddenly froze and he couldn't react.

Others became even more curious.

From their perspective, first Tsunekazu Takeda was talking nonsense as if he was on drugs, and then Ichiro Tanizaki, who had grabbed the list of shortlisted candidates, was also stunned.

What on earth was written on it that could surprise them both so much?

It seemed like I heard some extraordinary name.

I must have heard wrongly.

"Teacher, do you think it is possible that it was France that recommended Kitagawa Hide to be selected for the Nobel Prize in Literature?" asked Takeda Tsunekazu bitterly.

"So what if we blacklisted his recommendation? Momota Naoki can't make the list anyway, and the list of recommended people is sealed. No one will know who we recommended in this life."

The words I said are still echoing in my ears.

But at this moment it seemed like a joke, playing over and over in his ears.

Ichiro Tanizaki turned his head to look at Tsunekazu Takeda, then looked at the others, and then thought that the punishment letter would be officially disclosed to the literary circles of various countries, and it was likely that the literary circles around the world already knew who was on the shortlist.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Want to say something.

But I can't say it.

At this time, has the shortlist begun to enter the attention of various media?

Are they still paying attention to the shady events?
Was it really the French literary world that recommended Kitagawa Hide?

Not only was he recommended, but he was also shortlisted?
In the history of Japanese literature, has the second writer successfully been shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature appeared?

Young man in his twenties
A mouthful of fire rushed up my throat.

"I am Kitagawa Hide"

The eighty-year-old Ichiro Tanizaki's eyes went dark and he fell backwards!
(End of this chapter)