Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 184 We are all college students, why do we have to show off our seniority?
Cha Haisheng is a student of the Law Department, Class of 79. When he entered the school last year, he was only fifteen years old, the youngest student in the department and even in the entire school.

He was born in a rural area of ​​Anhui Province, into a poor peasant family, but he showed superior IQ and learning ability since childhood. He skipped a grade in elementary school because of his excellent grades. In 1979, he took the college entrance examination and was successfully admitted to the Law Department of Yan University with the top score in liberal arts in his hometown of Anqing.

This news caused a sensation in AQ City at that time and made Cha Haisheng a celebrity in his hometown.

On the day he received the admission letter from Yan University, his father happily slaughtered the pig that they had raised for half a year. He borrowed some money and used the money he left for him for living expenses and travel expenses, and used the rest to prepare a banquet.

His brother went to the town to wholesale 100 popsicles, spending a full 5 yuan. All the children in the village who came to watch the fun got one each.

My younger brother also bought two kilograms of sugar, poured it into a bucket, stirred it evenly and let the villagers who came to the banquet drink it.

There were nine tables set up in the yard, with not only food but also cigarettes and alcohol. Even farm families did not have such a grand wedding.

Being admitted to Yanjing University was the most glorious experience in Cha Haisheng's life before he was sixteen years old, but this glory quickly faded after he entered Yanjing University.

After entering Yanjing University, Cha Haisheng discovered that he was not the smartest one, nor the one with the best grades, and many of his classmates even had much better backgrounds than him.

He is not vain and does not think that having a good background means anything. However, a good background does have an advantage that he cannot match, which is that he is knowledgeable and experienced. The gap between him and his city classmates once made him feel inferior.

Fortunately, Yan University treats all students equally. After living and studying here for more than a year, he has been exposed to many new things that he has never encountered before.

I ate chocolate for the first time in my life, watched a play for the first time, listened to a symphony for the first time, and listened to a report by a vice-level leader for the first time...

Studying at Yanjing University not only broadened his horizons, but also stimulated his inner thirst for knowledge.

One afternoon when I was busy reviewing in high school, a classmate from a county town family took out a copy of Yenching Literature and Art and said that there was a novel in it that told the story of a protagonist who was labeled a member of the Y faction. It was written very movingly.

Cha Haisheng took the book and read it. He thought the novel was well-written, but he did not have any deep feelings or resonance with the content. He only remembered the name of the novel - "The Shepherd".

He was born in the countryside, and the greatest influence he received during his time was participating in some criticism meetings, as a spectator.

When he was in high school, his favorite novels were martial arts novels. He started by reading ancient chivalrous novels such as "Three Heroes and Five Gallants".

Later, some of his classmates circulated Liang Yusheng's Hong Kong martial arts novels such as "The Heroes of the Children of the Family" and "Seven Swordsmen", and he was fascinated by them.

One day after entering Yanda, a classmate suddenly asked him, "Do you want to go see Xu Lingjun?"

"Xu Lingjun? Who is Xu Lingjun?"

"The writer who wrote The Horse Herder and The Little Shoes!"

Cha Haisheng vaguely recalled that afternoon in high school when he followed his classmates to the Yanda Library. His classmates pointed to him and said, "Look, that's Xu Lingjun!"

Cha Haisheng met a writer, whom he had previously only known through lead type, but after reading his works he felt that the writer seemed to be an ordinary person as well.

A few days later, when he returned to the dormitory after dinner, he heard several classmates having a heated discussion. He listened carefully for a while and found out that they were discussing a novel called "The Garland under the Mountain".

Out of curiosity, Cha Haisheng borrowed a copy of "People's Literature" that his classmate had just bought and read it. Unexpectedly, he couldn't put it down after reading it.

The playboy Zhao Mengsheng, the loyal and enthusiastic Liang Sanxi, the fiery Jin Kailai... every character is so vivid and full.

Cha Haisheng was a country boy, and he particularly liked Jin Kailai, a rough man of humble origins.

When he read the second half of the story about how Jin Kailai sacrificed his life for the country but was not awarded credit because he violated discipline, he angrily slammed the magazine on the table.

"That's unreasonable!"

"Hey hey hey! Just read the book, why did you throw my book?"

The magazine owner reminded him in dissatisfaction, and Cha Haisheng then realized his gaffe.

He patiently continued reading the novel and discovered that the author of the novel was none other than Xu Lingjun, the writer he had read at the library a few days ago.

But unlike his previous experience of watching "The Shepherd", this time he was deeply moved by "The Garland under the Mountain" and also had an extra filter for the writer Xu Lingjun.

Xu Lingjun did not write many novels, just one short story and three novellas. After reading the novels, he went to read Lin Chaoyang's creative talks published in "Yanjing Literature and Art" and his review articles in "October".

At the end of March this year, classmates suddenly started to spread the word that Xu Lingjun had published works under another pen name. Cha Haisheng couldn't wait to go to the library and find the two works signed by "Wang Qinglai".

Cha Haisheng particularly likes the novel "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" because reading this novel makes him feel close to it. He feels that Xu Lingjun really understands the countryside and rural society very well.

After reading all of Xu Lingjun's works, he admired this writer even more.

In April, the novel "Lai Zi's Summer" was published in "Contemporary".

This was the first time that Cha Haisheng came into contact with the concept of stream-of-consciousness literature. When he first read the novel, the jumping timeline, complex psychological descriptions and various textual intentions in the novel made him dizzy.

When he read novels in the past, he liked those with strong storylines. He was not used to reading novels of this style all of a sudden.

After patiently reading it and discussing it with his classmates, he gradually understood the greatness of this novel and found it more and more interesting the more he read it.

Understanding the style of stream-of-consciousness literature greatly expanded the depth of Cha Haisheng's reading. After that, his reading became more extensive and in-depth, and he also discovered that the charm of literature seemed to be far greater than that of law.

Last month he heard that "Lai Zi's Summer" was published, so he went to a bookstore outside the school to buy the book. However, because he went a little late, he almost didn't buy it. Fortunately, his classmate Tao Yumo gave him his book.

He seldom goes to bookstores outside to buy books unless he particularly likes them.

Because his monthly living expenses are not much, after deducting the food money, there are only a few dollars left, so he has to spend carefully. A few days ago, "Contemporary" once again published Lin Chaoyang's novel "The Death of Van Gogh".

If Lai Zi's Summer opened up Cha Haisheng's understanding of stream-of-consciousness literature, then The Death of Van Gogh opened up his understanding of novel writing.

He had never thought that someone could write a novel like this.

The Death of Van Gogh is a 220,000-word book, and it took him two and a half days to finish reading it, before the final exam.

It's not that he didn't take the final exam seriously. On the day he bought the magazine, he just wanted to read a few pages casually, intending to put it down after getting a rough idea of ​​what the story was about and then concentrate on reviewing. He didn't expect that he would never put it down after reading it.

This novel seems to have a powerful magic that can firmly capture the readers' eyes and minds.

While reading the novel, Cha Haisheng completely forgot about the outside world. His thoughts followed the author's pen and wandered in 19th century Europe. He was immersed in Aaron and Van Gogh's journey through time and space, unable to extricate himself.

After reading the novel, he couldn't calm down for a long time. He had never read such a novel before.

In terms of storytelling, it is more exciting than all the martial arts novels he has ever read. The idea of ​​a soul traveling through 19th century Europe alone is amazing enough, not to mention the way the novel combines real history with suspense elements.

The film perfectly blends Van Gogh's life experience with the experience of time traveler Aaron to create a world that is so real that it is hard to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

In terms of literary quality, it is equally as good as those works of famous artists that he once applauded.

When it comes to the abstract term "literariness" of a literary work, most people always find it difficult to understand. But in fact, if we understand it simply, literary quality is all the aspects that constitute the unique quality of a work.

The use of rhetoric, the structure of the text, the uniqueness of narrative techniques, and the exploration of profound propositions through the construction of plots and characters are all literary contents.

"The Death of Van Gogh" has a unique narrative structure. The text makes extensive use of symbols and metaphors, and has exquisite character creation and psychological description, especially the description of Van Gogh, who is between genius and madness, which is wonderful.

The language of the novel is exquisite and full of beauty, which is his unique literary feature.

In terms of ideology, Cha Haisheng feels that the topics explored in this novel go beyond the contemporary literary works he has read before.

The novel opens with rioters from an extreme environmentalist organization setting fire to a famous painting and Aaron sacrificing himself to save the painting, surrounded by onlookers.

The author used 3,000 words to describe the reasons for the emergence of extreme environmental organizations and their logic of action. There was a sentence in the novel that impressed him deeply. The author said it through the mouth of a bystander - the earth does not need to be saved, it is us who need to be saved.

When he saw this sentence, Cha Haisheng felt like he was struck all at once. It was so insightful and profound.

When writing about the reactions of the onlookers, the novel says that everyone was crying and shouting, but no one took any action. The description of just two or three hundred words vividly displays the hypocrisy of human beings.

The thoughtfulness of such works is beyond the reach of most other works.

After finishing reading the novel before the final exam, Cha Haisheng was still a little absent-minded during the exam. All that flashed through his mind were the words and various images from the novel.

Although watching "The Death of Van Gogh" affected his exam performance, Cha Haisheng had no regrets at all.

For him, it was a blessing to have the opportunity to read such a masterpiece.

After the exam, the students began to leave school, and Cha Haisheng was also packing his bags.

But when he was about to leave, he thought of "The Death of Van Gogh" again. The novel had such a strong aftertaste that he was still thinking about it even after several days of reading it.

An idea suddenly popped up in Cha Haisheng's mind, and he wanted to go and see Xu Lingjun again.

When he arrived at the library, because he was shy by nature, he didn't dare to go up to Xu Lingjun to talk, and just watched him from a distance.

He is young, small in stature, with a round face, and still childish. Since he entered school, the boys in his class have nicknamed him "Dongzi".

In addition, the weather was cold, so he wore more clothes and a Lei Feng hat. From a distance, he looked like a moving meat ball, which was very eye-catching.

As Cha Haisheng was looking around, he saw the person opposite him suddenly stand up and walk towards him. He stood there nervously.

"Classmate, do you want to borrow a book?" Lin Chaoyang asked the meat ball in front of him.

“I don’t lend books.”

Cha Haisheng was only 1.6 meters tall, and could only look up slightly at Lin Chaoyang, who was 1.8 meters tall. This was the first time he observed the writer at such a close distance.

"Are you here to read books with your family?"

family?
Cha Haisheng was stunned at first when he heard this, then he instantly understood what Lin Chaoyang meant. His childish face darkened, and the excitement of seeing his idol just now was instantly broken.

In this era, people’s nutrition is generally not up to par, and many people only enter puberty in high school.

Cha Haisheng went to college at the age of 15. He was short and developed late. In the eyes of many adults, he looked no different from a junior high school student.

He was from the class of 79. There were many older men in their twenties in his class. The boys called him "Dongzi" and the girls called him "Xiaocha". In short, they treated him like a child.

Although everyone had no ill intentions and usually took good care of him, this made Cha Haisheng very unhappy.

We are all college students, why do we have to show off our seniority?
Therefore, what he hates most is others looking down on him because of his height or age.

Lin Chaoyang asked him right away if he was here to read books with his family, obviously mistaking him for a junior high or high school student.

(End of this chapter)