Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 213: When the Wall Falls, Everyone Pushes It Down VS When the Wall Falls, Everyone Supports It
"Is this true?" is Mr. Fang's usual "starting move".

Whenever he encounters news events that are related to "truth or falsehood", Mr. Fang usually does not rush to take action. Instead, he waits for articles that match his inclinations to appear, and then he adds this sentence when reposting, which not only expresses his attitude but also leaves room for maneuver.

Once things are reversed and his speculation is proven wrong, he can say that he was just "suspicious" and quickly delete the post as if nothing had happened.

But if he decides to personally take part, he will often fight his opponent to the death in the public opinion battle. Compared with old bureaucrats in the literary world such as Bai Ye, being entangled by Mr. Fang, the "spokesman of truth", will either lead to falling into the abyss or rebirth.

Soon, the development of the situation exceeded Zhang Chao's expectations.

The day after he saw Teacher Fang forwarding Lianyue’s blog, dozens of news and articles appeared on online media and blog platforms, questioning by name whether Zhang Chao was “fabricated” by his father. The titles were all quite shocking:

From a "young writer" to a "fake youth", Zhang Chao is deeply trapped in the quagmire of ghostwriting

"The Artificial Zhang Chao Reflects the Arrival of an Era of Universal Ignorance"

"From a grand show to a grand funeral, where did Zhang Chao go wrong?"

"The truth behind "Midnight Tide" turns out to be "shameless plagiarism"? "

"The trial of Zhang Chao cannot be delayed!"

……

A columnist named "Yunfei" told reporters that he could bet 20 yuan. As long as Zhang Chao was willing to complete an article with a topic he set under his supervision and in the "independent environment" he arranged, he would believe that Zhang Chao was not a ghostwriter and would lose 20 yuan to Zhang Chao.

If Zhang Chao does not accept the challenge, it would prove that he is a ghostwriter.

This news was naturally widely reprinted. Reporters naturally called Zhang Chao's phone like crazy these past two days, but they still couldn't find any trace of Zhang Chao, let alone get a single word from him.

Now the voices of doubt became even louder. Many newspapers began to follow up on the incident. Some of them had a good relationship with Zhang Chao before, but they also expressed cautious suspicion. Because if they did not follow up at this moment, it would mean that they were endorsing Zhang Chao.

Even more noisy than the media were the various online forums, where posts about whether Zhang Chao was ghostwritten by his father almost flooded the screen. Tianya, Rongshushang, Dongci Hutong, Goupu... the discussion threads on these posts were often hundreds of stories long.

[You said Zhang Chao couldn't write those novels, but can his father write them? ]

[Then can you explain why Zhang Chao could post articles in the middle of the night when he was in his third year of high school? ]

[Can't he just go to the Internet cafe? After all his classmates are asleep, can't he just sneak out to the Internet cafe and spend the night there? ]

[It's a joke. I've heard of people chatting on QQ, playing Audition, playing Shabak City, playing Mephisto, and watching porn in Internet cafes... but I've never heard of people writing articles all night in Internet cafes.]

[Our Zhang Chao loves literature so much. What's wrong? Are you dissatisfied? Prove that he doesn't go to the Internet cafe to write articles! ]

[Even if he went to the Internet cafe to write articles, how do you explain the other questions? ]

[When you don’t believe in something, all explanations are just sophistry in your eyes; when you believe in something, all doubts are just nitpicking in your eyes.]

[The youthfulness in Zhang Chao's novels cannot be faked. Can you believe that his father, a middle-aged man in his forties, could write a work like "Your Name"? ]

[Hey, this is exactly the flaw. Don’t you think that the style of "Your Name" is very different from Zhang Chao’s other works? And in terms of literary quality, it is far inferior to works with realistic significance such as "Young Babylon", "Youth Like You" and "Dwelling Narrowness". ]

[It makes sense if you put it that way! Among these works, probably only "Your Name" was written by Zhang Chao himself, so the quality is the worst and the style is the most different. The others were written by his father. 】【Who said "Your Name" is of poor quality? This novel is obviously Zhang Chao's best work, okay! 】

……

Although most people still don't believe the outrageous speculation that "father wrote for me", the seed of doubt has been planted. If Zhang Chao cannot respond to the doubts well, then this seed will grow into a towering tree.

Zhang Chao only updated one sentence on his blog: There are still 7 days left before the trial release of the first issue of "Youth·Grand View", so stay tuned!

In fact, he really didn't have time to respond to these doubts during this period, because the publication of the new magazine was more important than his personal reputation. Although Zhang Chao did not write new novels or new essays for this magazine, it embodied the hard work of dozens of authors in the past six months.

Shuang Xuetao, Ma Boyong and others often saw Zhang Chao find an empty desk in the company where no one was there and start typing, so they were dismissive of the allegations about ghostwriting. At the same time, they were curious why Zhang Chao, who was always "combative", remained silent.

Zhang Chao only said one puzzling sentence: "Don't be anxious, let the bullet fly for a while!"

But Zhang Chao is not in a hurry, because there are many people who are worried about him.

The first to be anxious was Xing Siyuan. Summer vacation in the United States started early, and she was already in Yanjing, working hard on her first novel every day. However, her writing experience was limited, so her progress was slow, and she would probably not be able to complete the first draft until September.

When Zhang Chao was caught in this crisis, Xing Siyuan posted a blog using the account "Qi Gongzi" - "200 million reward, come and get it if you can!"

The blog expressed support for Zhang Chao and showed a table full of cash, telling everyone that if there was solid evidence of "ghostwriting", they could come and take the cash.

Then there are Zhang Chao’s teachers at Luyuan, Yanda, and Yanshi University. If Zhang Chao is “exposed”, what will happen to these three institutions?

The first person who couldn't sit still was of course Yu Hua. Zhang Chao's previous works had nothing to do with him, but his graduation work "Crime Police Glory" was actually discussed with him repeatedly from the conception stage. It would be better for Yu Hua to believe that Zhang Chao was his father's "ghostwriter" than to let him believe that Moyan won the Nobel Prize for Literature before him.

Yu Hua, who had never had a blog before, quickly registered one and uploaded an article on the same day titled "Zhang Chao and His Literary World", detailing Zhang Chao's two-year learning experience in the writer's class and several discussions the two had when writing their graduation work.

The second person who couldn't sit still was Kong Qingdong. He had a blog long ago and had won many fans with his humorous and angry attitude. He also wrote an article "I Advise You to Read More", explaining the reasons for the variety of styles and themes in Zhang Chao's works from the perspective of reading and literary creation.

He also pointed out sharply that Zhang Chao was unwilling to stay in his comfort zone and be a "simple" best-selling author, but had been challenging new fields. This was the courage and sense of responsibility that a young writer should have.

The third person who couldn't sit still was Professor Liu Yong of Yenching Normal University. He had just reviewed Zhang Chao's graduation project and was very satisfied with his performance. As one of the authorities in modern and contemporary literature research, he also didn't believe in the nonsense of ghostwriting.

He specifically accepted an interview with a reporter from Youth Daily, in which he said that the works of every writer with a unique personality have obvious "creative fingerprints". No matter how the subject matter changes, this "creative fingerprint" shows his age, reading accumulation and writing habits.

Although Zhang Chao's works are "jumpy" in terms of subject matter, his "creative fingerprint" is consistent and consistent, which is also in line with the characteristics of young people's writing. It is completely groundless to say that his father wrote it for him.

……

"Why don't you take action yourself?" Cao Wenxuan called Zhang Chao to his office and asked, pointing to various articles and reports supporting him recently.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "The biggest fish hasn't been caught yet. If I sell it now, won't it be a bargain for some people?"

Cao Wenxuan asked in confusion: "Is there someone behind this? Aren't there enough doubts?"

Zhang Chao shook his head and said, "Is it a lot? Not much..."

(End of this chapter)