Literary Master 1983

Chapter 167 "Way Out" (Happy New Year to Everyone)

Yu Qie stayed at the Sheraton for three or four days. During the day, he traveled around Bangkok, taking notes and repeatedly asking about things that happened decades ago.

At night, I write novels based on the information I have collected.

Eventually, he wrote a novella titled "A Way Out."

The plot of this novel is taken from a TV series originally produced in Singapore: in the play, three protagonists from different social classes all come from the Minnan region of China, where clan power is particularly important. When the Japanese invaded China, in order to escape the war, they came to the relatively stable Nanyang to make a living.

However, unexpectedly, the war soon broke out in Southeast Asia, and they had to face the joint oppression of local indigenous people and foreign colonists. Under such circumstances, three different people went through decades and encountered various major events in Southeast Asia. In the end, they either lived a dull life or became prosperous again and returned to the mainland to trace their ancestors after the reform and opening up.

The story of "A Way Out" reflects the magnificent era through the lives of small people. Once the TV series was broadcast, it became a milestone masterpiece in the "History of Suffering of Chinese in Southeast Asia" and sparked discussions both in Singapore and on the mainland.

In Singapore, a country with a large Chinese population, he even won the TV station's Red Star Award.

Yu Qie drastically deleted many unnecessary emotional lines in the story and focused on three major events that took place in Nanyang:

The first was the Second World War, the second was the widespread anti-Chinese incidents that occurred in a series of Southeast Asian countries in the 1950s and 1960s, and the third was after the reform and opening up, when the Chinese people traced their roots and returned to China to invest.

Many people died here, and many people were born, but what remained unchanged was inheritance and mutual assistance.

When they returned to their homeland again, many of them thought they had been forgotten by their clansmen. However, their tablets were still maintained by their clansmen, and the brothers and sisters who had seen them off that year also appeared on the ridges of the fields and told them about their past friendship.

This is simply a tear-jerking bomb, bringing out the bloody history of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, an unknown "elephant" that concerns tens of millions of people but has been deliberately concealed by various governments. Once this article was written, it was widely circulated among the visiting delegation.

Ji Xianlin and Zhao Puchu finished reading it one after another, and the two old men felt hot all over.

Ji Xianlin said: "Your novel can be used to answer Mr. Cha's doubts. He thinks you are agitating and propaganda, but I see the most basic compassion. A writer writes such a novel first because he loves his compatriots."

Zhao Puchu also said: "Yes, the Chinese in Southeast Asia pay special attention to the inheritance of culture. We Chinese are good at doing business and cultivating carefully. No matter what difficulties we encounter, as long as we are given a piece of land, we can make a comeback!"

"I used to not understand why the people in the Walled City were unwilling to move out. Now I understand how the colonists in history killed the Chinese! Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of the rope for ten years! The reason why they don't move out seems to be their ignorance, but in fact it is because they understand the colonists!"

Zhao Puchu was so angry that his liver ached when he talked about this: "Zha Liangyong was clearly an investigative reporter, but he made such irresponsible remarks. I really misjudged him. In his novels, he always slandered our Shaolin Temple! I never bothered with him!"

This time, Yu Qie couldn't hold it anymore.

In Cha Liangyong's novels, Shaolin Temple is hypocritical, Quanzhen Sect is slandered, and the enlightened master Yin Zhiping becomes a despicable villain in the novel. Although he later apologized solemnly, his wonderful fan fiction has overshadowed the "historical originals", causing immeasurable consequences.

How could this not be similar to his nonsense about Kowloon Walled City?
Yu Qie said: "I think if he read this novel, he would understand that he has lost his voice. He is indeed a great writer of martial arts novels. Wherever there are Chinese, there are Zha Liangyong, but everything should not exceed the scale of martial arts novels... Otherwise, everyone will be disappointed." Zhao Puchu felt helpless, "He succeeded because of writing novels, and he failed because of writing novels. It seems that not everyone can become an official after writing novels."

Zhao Puchu was a special Buddhist. On the one hand, he had a high level of knowledge in Buddhist scriptures. On the other hand, he was a realist. He realized the role of novels like Yu Qie in "attracting sponsorship."

Those piglets who went to Southeast Asia back then have become the richest minority group in Southeast Asian society today, but they lack political influence.

It is reasonable for them to miss their motherland and they hope that their motherland will become stronger, so they donate money and materials and contribute their efforts.

"Yu Qie!" Zhao Puchu said, "When will your article be published? I want to take your article to introduce it to the Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia, so that they know that although the motherland is very poor now, it has a blood relationship with them and cares about their past sufferings."

Yu Qie said, "You can tell me what you want. If it really works, even if my novel is leaked, what does it matter?"

Zhao Puchu sighed, "Your novels may be more effective in attracting investment than my rituals!"

That being said, the novel still had to be published as soon as possible. Using a phone line in Thailand, Yu Qie contacted the domestic magazine "October" and expressed his desire to publish it as soon as possible.

"October" is a bimonthly magazine and is published slower than "People's Literature". After reading the manuscript, Zhang Shouren thought about it for a whole day. Considering Yu Qi's personal development, he suggested that he give the manuscript to Wang Meng, the editor-in-chief of "People's Literature".

"My heart and my liver are aching." Zhang Shouren teased.

Yu Qi laughed out loud and then sent it to Wang Meng.

Needless to say, Wang Meng was delighted after reading the novel. He loved the content that filled in the "blanks" written by Yu Qie the most. Before him, no domestic writers had ever written a single word about it.

“Yu Qie!” Wang Meng’s voice sounded very excited over the phone. “I’ll arrange for you to publish it immediately. I also hope that the story about Kowloon Walled City can also be written in People’s Literature, so that other people will know that you originally wanted to criticize the British Hong Kong government.”

"Also, your novel has too many words. We have to publish it in two issues. You can publish it in areas outside the mainland. It's up to you."

Since the boss of People's Literature said so, Yu Qie naturally followed suit.

So, the matter fell on Sirindhorn's head. Sirindhorn is widely loved by the Thai people. Because she has translated Chinese literary works for a long time and published her own original novels, Sirindhorn has some familiar publishing media in Thailand.

Just two days after Yu Qie wrote the novel, the first chapter of his novel appeared in the China Daily, the largest Chinese daily in Thailand.

(End of this chapter)