Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 222: Changes in the Competition
"Let them resent, I will not forgive any of them" is the most resolute and sonorous sentence in Mr. Lu Xun's last essay "Death" before his death.

The ancient Chinese said, "When a man is about to die, his words are kind." Before dying, Europeans must seek forgiveness from both God and all those with whom they had grudges during their lifetime.

But the great master neither wants those "good people" to claim to be "good", nor does he want to reconcile with the "upright gentlemen".

Not only did he have no regrets about his struggles during his lifetime, he would not compromise in the slightest for fear of what the mediocre people would say about him after his death.

The other side of "I don't forgive any of them" is "I don't need any of their forgiveness either". It is to put all the grievances on the chopping block of history and let future generations judge them in a bloody way.

Zhang Chao certainly doesn't have the strength and courage of a great master, but he has been involved in disputes over the past two years, and he is somewhat similar. There are also many "peacemakers" in the literary world who have "kindly" reminded him in newspapers and media not to be like a "fighting cock" that pecks people at the first sign of trouble.

Although Zhang Chao could see it occasionally, he really had no time to respond. Since he was given a chance this time, he would make it clear all at once. Moreover, Zhang Chao decided to use the most cruel way to tell these people that they thought their failure was a matter of luck, but in fact, failure was doomed from the beginning.

[I can honestly tell you that from the moment Lian Yue published the first article questioning whether I had a "ghostwriter", I quickly figured out all the logical traps they had set for me - including the conviction that this was a conspiracy, not Lian Yue's personal behavior. ...]

[I have also thought of all the coping strategies, so I have long been certain that I am invincible—but “invincible” is not what I pursue. …]

[I can even show you the evidence you saw in the live broadcast on the Internet as soon as I see the article. After all, it doesn't take long to mail the floppy disk from Fuhai. ...]

[But I still choose to remain silent and watch from the sidelines - if necessary, I can even act "guilty as a thief", "panic", "talk without thinking" - just to make everyone involved in the conspiracy feel that I will soon be ruined, and then fall into the carnival before victory. ...]

[So, Mr. Fang, Lianyue, Nanfeng, and all the organizers and participants, you should really resent me. Because the pause button of this game has always been in my hand, but I just don't press it. I just want to watch you dancing gracefully - you dance so beautifully, and you dance so ugly. ...]

[I even foresaw your "end" today. But this is fair, isn't it? You win, I lose my reputation, and may even be imprisoned; then if I win, why do you still fantasize about getting away with it? ...]

[For this "victory", I did enter the game hastily and passively at the beginning, but the current results are mostly within my design. ...]

[The reason why I am not tolerant of you is very simple, because I never thought that I could get tolerance from you if I failed. You will lose, not because you are not bad enough, but because you are too cunning, always thinking that you can win big with a small investment...]

[I don’t want to win any sympathy, nor do I want to discuss the political games behind this conspiracy. I just want everyone who has malicious intentions towards me in the public opinion field to shed the blood they expect me to shed. …]

[Rather than saying I am "aggressive", I want "fairness". Why can't you accept such a fair result? ]

[Although I have always been reluctant to call for anything or advocate anything in my articles, in order to avoid being labeled a "youth opinion leader", I will make an exception today and call for something - I hope that in the future, all grievances in the cultural community will be resolved by following my model. …]

[Since you dare to light a forest fire, you must be prepared to be burned to death. ]

After reading the article, Wang Meng fell into deep thought. After a long time, he sighed and called Vice Chairman Tie Ning, saying in a relaxed tone: "Have you read the article? Well, Zhang Chao has helped us out."

Tie Ning talked on the phone for a while, and Wang Meng said: "I have thought about it for a long time. If Zhang Chao goes against his usual behavior and starts to speak softly, it will make our document seem too ambiguous.

When Zhang Chao told me that the Americans were behind the "ghostwriting scandal", I thought it would be a long tug-of-war. I didn't expect it to be resolved so neatly, but it also gave many people room for imagination.

Now, Zhang Chao has snuffed out the last shred of imagination. Anyone who wants to use literature as a tool for struggle will have to think twice. It won’t be that easy to fan the flames, drag down, flatter, or attack from behind! ”

Tie Ning said something else, and Wang Meng said, "Okay, we'd better hold a meeting tomorrow to finalize the document. Although we are not a law enforcement agency, we still have to guide the industry's work.

Although Zhang Chao refused to submit an application, he still helped us do a lot of work, intentionally or unintentionally.”

The Writers Association's document was soon released, and the full text was published in an authoritative media outlet - "A Letter to National Literary Workers". Although this open letter did not mention the dispute between Zhang Chao and Teacher Fang, Lian Yue and others, it seemed to mention it in every sentence:

[We call on literary workers across the country to adhere to principles and keep their original aspirations in mind when participating in foreign academic activities with an open and inclusive attitude, and to demonstrate the vision and backbone of Chinese writers...]

[Don’t attend banquets that exceed reception standards, don’t accept gifts that exceed etiquette, and don’t agree with opinions that go against national dignity and public opinion. …]

【Adhere to the independence of writers’ creation. ……】

[In the face of differences in ideas, we must adhere to seeking truth from facts, be frank with each other, and argue more and fight less...]

[Let the works speak more, and let the qualifications speak less, to create a good environment for the growth of young writers. …]

[We must have the courage to break the rigid atmosphere of harmony and not seeking merit but avoiding mistakes. …]

Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng received the document while they were visiting Jincheng. They were resting in a tower that was left over from an ancient city wall with local Shanxi writers and accompanying staff.

After reading it, Shi Tiesheng laughed loudly and said to Hua: "Your student is really extraordinary. Many people will be pissed off now!"

Yu Hua laughed and said: "Many people who have fought with him for a few moves said that you can't really treat him as a 20-year-old kid, or you will suffer a great loss."

Shi Tiesheng said: "If he hadn't stirred up the stagnant waters of the literary world, the Writers Association might never have issued this document."

Yu Hua said: "Who says it's not true? In fact, this is the responsibility of our generation. But when we really want to do something, we find that we have become part of this stagnant water."

Shi Tiesheng sighed and said, “In the 80s, when I first started writing, I met so many good writers and editors who helped me. Sometimes, it was almost you who carried me forward…

Who could have imagined that in less than 20 years, the prosperous and vibrant environment back then would become what it is today? We want to criticize, but all we see are those faces that were once so kind, so friendly, and so familiar, and we can’t open our mouths.”

Yu Hua said: "In fact, we are also among these 'familiar faces'. Haven't we also blocked the way for those who come after us? When we first started writing, our level was not very good, but we still published one article after another.

Young people today are different. They have to write much better than we did back then to have a chance of getting published. We took advantage of the times, but we didn’t manage our own literary era well.” Shi Tiesheng said, “You’re right—if you can’t use it, I’ll use it.”

Yu Hua laughed and said, "Use whatever you want."

Shi Tiesheng said: "Fortunately, Zhang Chao emerged from the stone. Otherwise, how would future generations evaluate the literary history of these years when they look back?"

Yu Hua did not answer, but pushed Shi Tiesheng's wheelchair out of the tower. It was already evening, and the sky in the distance was a large area of ​​brilliant red, lighting up the clouds.

Yu Hua was surprised and asked, "Fire clouds?"

Shi Tiesheng nodded and said, "Fire clouds. 'If it burns early, you can't go out. If it burns late, you can travel thousands of miles.' It looks like tomorrow will be a sunny day."

The shock caused by this article "Let them hate, I won't forgive any of them" went far beyond the literary circle, and triggered a major discussion that affected the entire society.

The fundamental reason is that Zhang Chao's frankness, which is almost "showing off", subverts people's inherent cognition - it turns out that "good people" can also plot against "bad people"! ?

In traditional concepts, "good guys" must be persecuted by "bad guys" until they have no other options before they can fight back, and only then will the legitimacy of the fight back be fully utilized. How can we accept that "good guys" set up traps for "bad guys" and force them into a desperate situation?
But Zhang Chao didn't care - he even acted more scheming and cruel than those "bad guys". Many older people find such "good guys" offensive.

However, no matter how disgusted he was, he couldn't say it out loud. Because Teacher Fang and Lian Yue were now proven to be "colluding with foreign countries", criticizing Zhang Chao at this time would only make him unhappy.

There are some "good" folk debate teams that have already made it a topic of debate.

"What the other debater is talking about is not a 'good person', but a 'mediocre person'. The 'good' of a 'good person' should not only be 'good to others', but also be 'punishing evil and promoting good'. 'Kindness' and 'cowardice' are not the same thing. In Buddhism, there is also a 'wrathful Vajra'..."

"The other debater said 'punish evil and promote good'. Is Zhang Chao's behavior 'punishing evil and promoting good'? No, he also admitted that his tolerance was a disguise. The ultimate goal was to magnify the 'evil' of the questioner so as to punish the other party to the greatest extent. Although it cannot be called 'evil', it can never be called 'good' either..."

"The other debater overlooked one point. If we all have the mentality and strategy of Zhang Chao, then it will also be a huge deterrent to bad guys. The reason why bad guys are so unscrupulous is that they are sure that good people are not on guard..."

"My opponent..."

Although Zhang Chao's views are not welcomed by older people, they are very popular among young people. They suddenly heard that there are still "successful people" in this society advising them not to accept fate and not to be a pushover, but to take the initiative to fight and eradicate evil.

This is so exciting!
Therefore, in major forums, all the battles that Zhang Chao had fought over the years were reviewed, and it was found that it was indeed as Zhang Chao said, every time the opponent tried to drag Zhang Chao into the quagmire of morality, ethics, and logic, in the end Zhang Chao would kill him with the weapon that the opponent was best at.

But Zhang Chao is only 20 years old, how can he be so slippery? The only explanation is that he is gifted.

However, Zhang Chao was not carried away by the incident. Instead, after the article was published, he used various channels to cool down his attitude, especially to prevent the media from using the incident to hype up "China-US confrontation", "cultural infiltration", "youth leader"... Some newspapers even prepared to call him a "national hero..."

If I didn't step on the brake, who knows how exaggerated things would be.

However, this surprised many people. Even Wang Meng, who was asked by him to pass on the message to the publicity department, said: "This is a good thing. Why would you refuse it?"

Zhang Chao's reason was also very good: "I still want to go to the United States to infiltrate the people there. Now they are almost praising me to death. How can I infiltrate the people there in the future?"

Wang Meng became serious upon hearing this, and said repeatedly: "Yes, yes. Your responsibility is even greater. I will go and say hello for you to calm this matter down first, or at least not to add fuel to the fire for political reasons."

Zhang Chao finally hung up the phone with peace of mind. He didn't want any of these titles. The most important thing was to sell more of his novels in the United States. After all, the royalties for a book in the United States were five or six times higher than in China...

The most important thing for Zhang Chao right now is the rematch of the "8th National Youth New Concept Composition Competition" to be held at the end of the month.

This is the first time that the "New Concept Composition Competition" has held the semi-finals in the summer vacation, and it is also the first time that young people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have participated in the competition.

However, since the results of the competition are no longer linked to admission to prestigious universities, the total number of manuscripts has not returned to the terrifying level of 40 in its heyday, but it is still far more than the previous session (less than 5000) which was cut short at the ankle.

There were 3 preliminary manuscripts and over 1 preliminary contestants (one person could submit multiple manuscripts). Finally, 2000 candidates were selected for the semi-finals, including 260 from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

During this period, Zhang Chao read the manuscripts of the contestants in the semi-finals whenever he had free time. It took him nearly half a month to finish reading all of them. He confirmed that there were no ones trying to take advantage of the situation and that most of them were talented.

What is even more commendable is that the works of these semi-finalists have finally broken away from the style of Han Han and Xiao Si, and are no longer pretentious or pretentious, but each has their own writing style and aesthetic pursuit.

The New Sprouts magazine was familiar with organizing the semi-finals, so they didn't have to worry about it. However, how to set the questions for the semi-finals would be a real test for Zhang Chao.

Whether it was the bitten apple in the first competition or the ball of paper that sank to the bottom of the cup specially for Han Han, they have become classics.

This year is the first competition of the "New Concept Composition Competition" after its rebirth. If the topics of the semi-finals are too mediocre or even not exciting enough, it will undoubtedly disappoint everyone's expectations.

That's why Zhang Chao couldn't make up his mind.

While he was deep in thought, Shuang Xuetao hurried into the office and said to Zhang Chao, "There's something wrong with the contestant from Hong Kong Island. He may not be able to come. The contestant from Taiwan Island may also withdraw from the semi-finals."

Zhang Chao's heart sank, and he asked hurriedly, "What's going on?"

(Two chapters in one)

(End of this chapter)