Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 220 Everyone has their own way of dying
"I was wrong!"

Surprisingly, the first person to publicly admit his mistake in front of the media was Pink, a media person who rarely spoke during live broadcasts and did not even say any sensitive remarks during the backstage argument.

On the night of the incident, people on the Internet who were curious had already matched each sentence of the "microphone gate" with the corresponding person based on the voice of everyone speaking at the scene. Pink did indeed only say one sentence at the beginning to indicate that it was the first time he met Teacher Fang, and he did not participate in the quarrel.

In his early years, Pink was a radio host and one of the pioneers in China to play rock music by Cui Jian, Tang Dynasty and Black Panther on the radio. Later, he worked as a special correspondent for BBC Chinese Channel, a media consultant for MTV in China, and planned many records.

In recent years, I have been mainly engaged in podcast work. So generally speaking, I am close to the music circle and far from the literary circle.

When facing the interview of the reporter, Pink very calmly cleared himself of all blame: "I was indeed wrong. My mistake was that I should not have gone to CCTV to participate in the live broadcast yesterday. This was a conspiracy!"

The reporter pressed the issue: "Conspiracy? Are you saying that Zhang Chao designed a conspiracy to frame you?"

Pink quickly said, "Of course not, don't get me wrong. I was saying that my suspicion of Zhang Chao's ghostwriting was a conspiracy. I didn't pay attention to Zhang Chao at first, but later a colleague who used to work for the BBC forwarded Lian Yue's blog to me online.

After reading it, I felt that what Lian Yue said made sense. Although I am a musician, I couldn't help but write an article out of my sensitivity and sense of responsibility for the creation rights of my works as a literary and artistic worker. But please note that my article did not completely agree with Lian Yue's point of view. I just thought that Zhang Chao needed to explain the situation to the public. Isn't this normal?

But I still want to apologize to everyone and say, "I was wrong!" I shouldn't have believed other people's inferences without verification. From now on, I will abide by the duties of a musician..."

The reporter still did not give up and continued to ask: "So what do you think of Zhang Chao now?"

Pink gave a thumbs up and said in an almost exaggerated tone: "Zhang Chao is undoubtedly an outstanding representative of the best young writers emerging in China - no, I should say in the world!
In the live broadcast, he not only proved his innocence, but also showed his honesty, wisdom and agility. If there is a chance, I would like to invite him to my podcast channel..."

The reporter obviously didn't want to hear this, so he asked, "Then can you explain to us the meanings of the names 'Yanjing Spring', 'Editor-in-Chief Ma', 'Director Liu', 'Eliza', and 'Carlson'?"

Pink waved his hands hurriedly and said, "I said, I am a musician. These people in the media or literary circles are more familiar with me, such as the former reporter Nanfeng who participated in the live broadcast yesterday. He knows me best!

As far as I know, Nanfeng now has a bar called "Cube" in Tianhe, Huacheng, and often holds lectures. He should have returned to Huacheng now, you can go to his bar to interview him. "

Soon, Pink's interview was broadcast on TV.

"It's so boring..." Nanfeng cursed when he saw the live broadcast and threw the remote control away.

It was still noon, and the "Cube Bar" he opened had not yet opened for business. He sat alone at the bar, drinking and watching TV. After a while, he saw Pink selling himself on the noon news.

Nan Feng has always been a fearless person. The person who was shouting the loudest in the backstage yesterday, besides the collapsed Lian Yue, was him. The reason why he was fearless was because he was not afraid of big things, but was afraid of small things.

The phone on the bar table vibrated. Nanfeng picked it up and saw that it was not a reporter, but a friend who had originally scheduled to give a lecture at his bar tonight, so he picked up the phone. But after a while, his brows furrowed and his voice became louder:
"What? You don't have time to come? Do you have no time, or do you not have the courage?"

"...No matter how stubborn Zhang Chao is, he is still in Yanjing. It is not his turn to run wild in Huacheng!"

"...Aren't you known for having no taboos? Let me tell you, I've already sold the tickets for your lecture tonight!"

"Get lost! You have no place here anymore!"

Nan Feng pressed the hang-up button in annoyance. Other bars rely on resident bands to attract customers, but his bar has two ways to make money. One of them is to invite some "opinion experts" from time to time to talk about "things that are not allowed to be broadcast on TV" to attract young people around, especially college students.

Young people love keyboard politics and like excitement, so whenever there is a lecture, his place is packed with people. An admission ticket can be sold for 20 yuan, and only a pitcher of beer is given.

This friend didn't come tonight, which made him feel passive, but he couldn't really return the money. So he called another friend:

"...Are you free tonight? Lao Wei... Lao Wei is not feeling well and can't come..."

"...You're not free either?"

"……All right."

Nanfeng hung up the phone again in anger. Then he called two more friends, but was rejected without exception.

At this time, he began to feel a little panicked. After the live broadcast incident yesterday, he went back to Huacheng without saying a word to avoid the limelight, and started the "seclusion" mode, neither answering calls from media friends nor surfing the Internet to understand public opinion.

In his opinion, no matter how serious the problem is, it can be solved by hiding for a while. But his "friends" don't seem to think so.

Nanfeng drank for a while and was in a daze until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, there was a hurried knock on the door. Although he was always carefree, he felt a little panicked.

Nanfeng tiptoed to the door of the bar and tried to go out through the crack in the door. As a result, he made eye contact with another person who was looking inside through the crack in the door.

The knocks on the door became more intense, accompanied by shouts: "Everyone, there's someone inside! It's Nanfeng, I saw his big beard! Open the door! Traitor! Open the door!"

More people started to make noise, all young voices: "Traitor! Open the door! Traitor! Get out!" Judging from the noise, there were at least twenty or thirty people.

Nanfeng knew that these were young people from the neighborhood, and many of them were probably regular customers. They watched those people at the bar lectures speaking passionately and advocating for the people all day long, and they really thought they were "real intellectuals."

The result? They talk about ideology but think about business!
Nanfeng could only be thankful that the college students were on vacation, otherwise the number of people gathered in front of his bar would have multiplied several times.

If he went out now, he would definitely get beaten up. Nan Feng was not that stupid. The door of the bar had been reinforced to prevent drunk people from making trouble. These people didn't really have a door hammer. As long as he didn't open it, no one could do anything to him.

The crowd at the door made a lot of noise for a while, but when they saw Nan Feng pretending to be dead and not showing up, they lost interest and were about to disperse. Nan Feng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief...

But soon someone knocked on the door again, but the voice was different from the previous one, it was very steady, and then a routine voice came: "Is anyone there? Please open the door immediately, we are the police."

Nanfeng was shocked, thinking how could such a small matter cause the police to come to his door? Could it be a scammer? So he looked out through the crack in the door, and sure enough, there were two men in hats, and there seemed to be a camera lens behind them...

Nanfeng knew he couldn't escape it, and thought that this was an opportunity to become famous. If he was "punished for his words", it would be considered as a token of his allegiance to the NED.

So he steeled himself, gritted his teeth and opened the door of the bar. The afternoon sun stung his eyes a little, so he stretched out his hand to block it. Looking at the men in caps in front of him and the journalists behind them who were eager to take action, he summoned up all his courage and shouted, "You have no right to arrest me. I am a citizen and I have the right to freedom of speech..."

Before he could finish shouting, a man with a big hat interrupted him and said, "Who said you were arrested? Are you Nanfeng, the owner of the 'Cube Bar'?"

Nan Feng: “…Huh!?” He stood there in a daze.

The big hat said: "Yes, or no?"

Nan Feng said: “…Yes.”

The man in the big hat took out a piece of paper and shook it in front of him, saying, "We are from the Anti-pornography and Anti-illegal Publications Office. Someone reported that your bar is suspected of selling illegal pornographic audio and video products. Please cooperate with the investigation."

Nanfeng's brain suddenly exploded, and before he could organize his words, several other big-shot guys filed into the bar.

At this time, the reporters also took the opportunity to plug the microphone and asked in unison:
"Mr. Nanfeng, may I ask why you and Mr. Fang and others suddenly quit the live broadcast yesterday?"

"Mr. Nanfeng, how much money did you receive from the Yanjing Spring Foundation?"

"Mr. Nanfeng, may I ask what is the full name of Mr. Carlson?"

The man in the big hat obviously had no intention of stopping the reporter, but stepped aside. However, Nanfeng's attention was obviously not on answering these questions, but he looked anxiously into the bar from time to time.

But the reporters in Huacheng obviously learned from the best of many sources, especially the best of Hong Kong Island reporters, and always asked a question that would break people's defenses: "Mr. Nanfeng, some people say that when you were studying in Harbin, you were warned by the judiciary for sexually harassing a girl. Is that true?"

Nan Feng collapsed on the spot and cursed: "Just talk about live broadcast, what's the point of talking about things that happened more than ten years ago? You are crazy..."

At this moment, a sentence that made him despair came from the bar: "Found it! There is a secret compartment behind the wine cabinet!"

After a while, several men in caps came out carrying three rather heavy cardboard boxes. In front of the reporters, they took out a disc with an extremely revealing cover and shook it. Then they said to Nan Feng, "Is this also within the business scope of the bar? It seems that you need to go back with us for further investigation."

Nanfeng's despair was not without reason. This was another way for his bar to make money - a disc cost 10 to 20 yuan, and the purchase cost was only more than 2 yuan, so the profit margin was comparable to that of selling alcohol. His bar was called "Square", and the logo was a square made up of a "convex" character and a "concave" character, which was obviously sexually suggestive.

In his worldview, "sex" and "power" are the source of everything!

If he was imprisoned for questioning Zhang Chao, it can be considered that he "died a worthy death". In the future, he will have the capital to operate through the foundation under NED and become a visiting scholar at an American university.

But because of selling pornographic discs, my reputation is completely ruined. Who will care about me then?
Looking at the big hats and reporters in front of him, as well as the large group of young people around him with contemptuous expressions and taking pictures with cameras or mobile phones, Nanfeng felt that his eyes went dark...

After sitting on the iron chair, he sobered up a little and said repeatedly: "I confess! I confess everything! The director Liu who asked me to write the article, his full name is..."

The big hat was helpless and interrupted, "This has nothing to do with us. You should first explain the matter of the discs, who did you buy them from, and how long have you been selling them..."

The news of Nanfeng selling pornographic discs soon made it to the evening news of major TV stations that day. Lian Yue, who first started this storm, hid in his home in Xiamen, anxiously and panickily dialing a number repeatedly.

When his wife came home from get off work, she was furious to see her husband in such a state of disarray. She scolded him, "It's already this late, and you're still looking for that Ma Cheng. What's the use? He's already hidden away!"

Lian Yue murmured, "No, no, Editor-in-Chief Ma told me that he has a way to get me to Japan to avoid the limelight. He will also give me a sum of money to settle down..."

The wife sneered, "He even ate the money given to you by the higher-ups, and you still expect him to help you hide in Japan? He's the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, he has status, position, and connections, but he's sure you're cowardly and have no ambition!"

When Lian Yue heard what his wife said, he slammed the table and stood up, his eyes wide open, saying, "Old bastard! Isn't he afraid that I will expose his past?"

The wife still said in a gloomy tone: "If you really dare to expose it, you are still a man..."

Lian Yueyin smiled and said, "Now some people are calling me a traitor - I'll show them who the real traitor is!" After that, he got up and went back to his study.

Late at night, many netizens who stayed up late suddenly discovered that Lian Yue’s blog, which had been silent for several days, was suddenly updated with the title: "Two or Three Things About Teacher Ma Cheng".

The article does not directly mention Zhang Chao, but starts from the first meeting with Ma Cheng:
[I met Mr. Ma Cheng four years ago when he was the editor-in-chief of XX Newspaper. In my impression, he is a kind and knowledgeable elder...]

[Teacher Ma Cheng was sent by the newspaper to visit Japan in 2002. After returning, he told me about his experiences in Japan. In his description, Japan is the cleanest, most civilized, and most polite country in Asia and even the world...]

[During his exchange visit, he specially visited the famous "Jingguo Shencai" to pay homage, praising the quiet environment there. People went there to worship for peace, not to summon the souls of war criminals...]

[Under the influence of Teacher Ma Cheng, I also began to love the culture and environment there...]

[This time, when questioning Zhang Chao, it was Teacher Ma Cheng who came to Xiamen to find me and had a deep conversation with me...]

After the article was published, it once again shocked the public opinion circle.

In fact, it is no secret in the circle that Mr. Ma Cheng is pro-Japanese, and he has published several books on the subject. However, these books were published with other people's funds and did not sell well, so any outrageous words he said were just a "storm in a teapot."

Before, everyone was not sure who this "Editor-in-Chief Ma" was, but now the target is clear! A few days later, on his way home, Ma Cheng was put in a sack and beaten by several big men who had been waiting for a long time.

The XX newspaper also responded quickly and immediately let him retire early...

……

Looking at the disturbances in the country, Mr. Fang broke out in a cold sweat. But these had nothing to do with him, as he was already on a plane to the United States and was about to land at the Los Angeles airport.

As long as I complete the entry procedures and hide in a villa in San Diego, in a few years, I will be a brave man again!
But what he didn't know was that in the airport lobby, there were several "uninvited guests" waiting for his arrival...

(End of this chapter)