Literary Master 1983

Chapter 214 1985
Amid the heavy snow, the car arrived at Yanda Cancer Hospital.

"squeak!"

stop.

Yu Qie found a place to lock his bike and put his helmet on it. He walked straight to Wang Shimin's ward, where his family, colleagues from the publishing house, and some well-known writers were already waiting in the corridor.

Cha Haisheng, Luo Yihe, Liu Xinwu, and even Wang Shuo, who only wrote one or two articles... are all here.

Everyone's expression was very sad. When they saw Yu Che, they suddenly became excited. But when they thought about the fact that Wang Shimin had cancer, there was nothing they could do even if Yu Che came.

Luo Yihe wanted to say something to Yu Qie, but Yu Qie waved his hand and gave him a look: Not now.

In the ward, there was not much grief, but no one was talking. Zhang Shouren accompanied him, and when he saw Yu Qie, his eyes lit up, and then he pursed his lips and shook his head at Yu Qie: it meant that there was indeed no hope.

At this time, Yu Qi nodded and went to the corridor to shake off the snowflakes on his body - because he came in such a hurry, his coat was covered with snow.

"What's the matter?" Yu Qie asked Luo Yihe.

Luo Yihe said: "The leader said that the new editor-in-chief will wait until all comrades generally agree before considering approval. If you have anyone to recommend, you can also raise it to the higher-ups."

"I don't have anything to recommend. Wang Shimin is Wang Shimin. There is only one person like him."

After tidying up, Yu Qie entered the ward again. He asked Zhang Shouren if Wang Shimin could still hear any sounds.
Zhang Shouren said he didn’t know.

Well, Yu Qie just stood there to express his condolences. After a while, Wang Shimin's wife said with great grief: "Yu Qie, you are the writer that Wang Shimin is most proud of. Thanks to you, he and October magazine are remembered by more people."

"I also heard that you were nominated for a Japanese literary award. You will definitely win it! When he was well, he often talked about your novels at home..." Wang Shimin's wife recalled, "He said that "Little Lady" revealed a sense of pettiness, and "Music of the Kingdom of Sleepwalking" was grand and meaningless. Yoshiyuki Rie and Shimada Masahiko are definitely not your opponents!"

"I didn't know these Japanese people at first, but he talked about them every day, and even I remembered them."

It turns out that Wang Shimin was also obsessed with novels during the last period of his life. This is in line with Wang Shimin's workaholic nature. He was simply a novel fanatic.

Yu Qi suddenly felt his breathing become heavier, and Zhang Shouren had already started wiping away tears.

Wang Shimin's wife added, "He also said that your novel Happy Hunting has a fantastic imagination and creates a new world. Although it is still a little ahead of its time, it will surely be appreciated by more people in the future!"

Yu Qie said: "Even Mr. Ba didn't understand this article. Editor-in-Chief Wang Shimin is very capable and deserves to be one of the four famous editors."

He walked in front of Wang Shimin, not caring whether Wang Shimin could hear him or not, and said to him: "Editor-in-Chief Wang, we are mutually beneficial! If you hadn't dared to help me publish the article, I would have to struggle for at least a longer time - I salute you!"

"You are an old revolutionary, an old comrade, and you have lived up to your lifelong ambitions. No amount of praise is too much for us to give you!"

After these words came out, many people in the ward couldn't help crying. After all, Wang Shimin had devoted the rest of his life to the career of novels. Now that he could be recognized, how could he not be proud?
Lu Xun's child recalled the day his father died. He thought his father was "so quiet as if he was asleep" and therefore was not very sad. Many people also behaved calmly, but Lu Xun's student Xiao Jun burst into tears as soon as he arrived.

However, when Lu Xun's body was covered with a white cloth with the words "National Soul" written on it, and people of status and position read eulogies for him and summarized his life, many people could no longer hold back and secretly wiped away their tears - at that moment, he was probably really dead.

Yu Qie's words were exactly what a writer of status said when he delivered that eulogy.

There was no miracle. That night, Wang Shimin's heart stopped beating and he was sent for emergency treatment as usual. Then he was pushed out and the doctor shook his head.

Wang Shimin was buried in the People's Cemetery in Babaoshan. Everyone can come back tomorrow to send Wang Shimin to the mountain.

Yu Qie rode his bike back to rest for a night, only to find that his motorcycle helmet had been stolen.

Oh shit!

Luckily the car was locked and not stolen.

Isn't this a hospital? Is there any law?
Without caring about being angry, Yu Qie went back in the wind and snow. When he got home, his face was covered with ice.

He came in a hurry again the next day.

There are two cemeteries in Babaoshan, one is for cadres, and the other is a people's cemetery for scientists, writers, senior intellectuals, etc. Lin Huiyin, Shu Qingchun and others are buried here.

Wang Shimin's tombstone is in a secluded corner, with his name and main identity written on it.

Cremation was not mandatory in the capital until the next year, but Wang Shimin had chosen cremation before his death. His funeral was also very simple, with some of Wang Shimin's favorite books and novels he had written during his lifetime placed on the table. Colleagues from the editorial department of October collected some paper-cuts of novels that had caused a sensation and were published in October... and put them all in.

The translated manuscript of the conversation between Yu Qie and Iwanami Publishing President Midorikawa Toru was also given to Wang Shimin as a "gift".

At the memorial service that followed, some writers who had not had time to come to Yenching or who were unaware of the news participated in various forms: Wang Meng, Li Duo, Shi Tiesheng, and Chen Jiangong, who had had a dispute with Yu Qie.

Wang Shimin's memorial service turned out to be a review meeting. I wonder if it was his idea. In the last moments of his life, Wang Shimin worked hard to write a review article - as we all know, "Happy Hunting" was not published in China, but was sent directly to Japan.

Therefore, many domestic readers have neither read this novel nor know the beauty of the novel.

Zhang Shouren read the review for Wang Shimin:

"We have been paying attention to new trends in literature every year. In the past, there have been several changes. For the time being, Happy Hunting is a brand new novel theme. It is not only unavailable in China, but also in foreign countries."

"The fox demon in this novel was forced to undergo mechanical transformation during the modernization process, which is a metaphor for the 'violence' of the Western Industrial Revolution on East Asian civilization. The fox's transformation from an animal to a human and then to a mechanical fox is a metaphor for the process of modern China's transition from a feudal dynasty to forced modernization and active technological breakthroughs. Of course, it also has elements of respect for women, as well as some philosophical and fatalistic meanings, and is combined with traditional myths..."

Zhang Shouren stopped here and said loudly to the audience: "The writer Yu Qie has the creative power to dissolve the cultural barriers between the East and the West! If this article is published in October, it will be one of the best articles in 1984."

"Or is it the opening number of 1985?"

"If published in October, should we allow this article to pass? I vote yes!"

Afterwards, the writers raised their hands to express their approval of the novel, and Zhang Shouren asked Yu Qie to come up and speak.

Yu Qie only said one sentence: "People die twice, once physically and once in memory. I always have to talk about this... But literature continues today, so the work left by Wang Shimin continues."

The memorial service was met with thunderous applause.

Among the many superstars of Babaoshan, Wang Shimin is just an inconspicuous figure, but the more everyone pushes literature to a higher level, the more he will be remembered by more people as a part of the collective.

The Beijing Evening News used a small space to describe the news of "the death of Wang Shimin, a famous Beijing editor". Coincidentally, many years ago, a series of reports on model workers written by him were also serialized in the Beijing Evening News. This can be regarded as a kind of reincarnation. The continuous snow for several days turned the capital into a silvery place. It was a bit dangerous to ride a motorcycle in this weather, and it was a bit unlucky to have my helmet stolen during the New Year.

Yu switched back to a Phoenix 28-bar bicycle and commuted between schools.

Weiming Lake was frozen over, and the young couple could no longer be seen in Boya Tower. Yu Qie briefly reviewed for a few days and took the final exam.

He felt very bad and felt that his grades were between passing and failing, and it all depended on whether the teacher would give him a break.

The day after the exam, Hu Daiguang invited him to his office, took out the "New Reality Trilogy" and asked him to sign it.

"Oh! Teacher Hu, you are still reading novels." Yu Qi said in surprise.

"My daughter wants your autograph."

"Who is your daughter?"

"She got married." Hu Daiguang looked at Yu Qie's face and said with a bit of regret.

Later, Hu Daiguang mentioned a request from the Department of Literature: "Ji Xianlin recommends that you transfer to the Department of Literature, or at least get a diploma from the Department of Literature. Are you interested?"

"I'm not going." Yu Qie said.

I'm about to be a guest teacher at Lu Xun Academy of Literature, and you still want me to attend classes at the Department of Literature? Isn't that ridiculous?

I have already won the CBA championship, why should I play for the CUBA second team?
Unless it's a special case like Lin Yifu who gives a master's degree directly to students who audit for one year, it's a special case!

Hu Daiguang nodded: "Many economists are actually chemists or physicists... I recently discovered that Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, was also a teacher in the literature department. Maybe talented people can always draw inferences from other things. It all depends on whether they are willing to put in the effort."

He said, "But you can only choose one department in Yanda. To be honest, your score is not high, but I have a higher subjective weight..."

Yu Qi understood what he meant: as long as he was willing to study in the Economics Department, Hu Daiguang would definitely find a way for him.

"Of course I am a proud member of the Economics Department of Yanda University." Yu Qi said immediately.

Hu Daiguang was very satisfied with his answer and said, "I hope that after you graduate, we can become colleagues and see you in the economic world one day."

it is good!
It seemed like the matter had just passed.

The Economics Department of Yan University started organizing spring outings again. Yu Qie declined this time because he was writing a novel. Several female classmates were very disappointed and announced their withdrawal from the outing. Even the female classmates' admirers withdrew from the outing - in the end, everyone was bored and the outing did not take place.

Organizer Ping Xinqiao sighed, "Yu Qie, if you don't come, even the students from Luda won't come. But if you come, we can have this social gathering... It's not for you, but for the happiness of our classmates."

This was an extremely bleak statement, so Yu Qie had no choice but to promise, "Definitely next time."

The economics department of Yanda has produced many talented people in the past two years, and all of them will hold important positions in the future, but the girls are not bad either, and some of them are not much lower than Qu Tiening. Luda is also another mountain of economics in China, and it is still better than Yanda.

These tough guys also worried about finding a partner when they were young.

In the next two weeks, Yu Che gave up his courtyard house for heating renovation and stayed in his dormitory at Yanda to write his novel. When the duo from the Spanish Department learned that Yu Che was at Yanda, they came to play cards with him.

The result is that these two people combined are not as good as Yu Qie.

Wang Qiang was stunned: "Didn't they say you always lose money playing cards? You're really good at it!"

"The people I lost to were all those geeks from the physics and math departments—what did you study? Do you know what calculus is?"

The fight continued, and Wang Qiang and Yu Minhong continued to lose.

Wang Qiang was anxious: "Yu Qie, you have to let us have some experience."

Yu Qie then changed to playing the favor card. He made the handoff very smoothly and naturally. While playing cards, he asked the two: "Is there any way to make money quickly?"

The two brothers said, "You ask me, who should I ask?"

Yu Qi received over 100,000 yuan in royalties last year. It is said that he earned 40,000 yuan just for interviews in Japan. Why would he ask us?

Yu Minhong said: "You are the richest person I know. You still want to make more money. How much do you want to make?"

Yu Qie estimated the price of the trivalent sugar pill.

In the next ten years, the mainland will have to give birth to 200 million people born in the 1980s and 1990s. If each person gets one dollar, that would be 200 million. Of course, it is impossible for an individual to accomplish this feat, but at least it should not be lower than the trend caused by last year's "A Way Out", which means it would have to be several million.

"At least several million!" Yu Qie said.

Yu Minhong opened his mouth wide and sighed: "There is no end to the money in the world. Yu Qie, what do you want so much money for?"

Yu Qie suddenly burst into laughter and patted Yu Minhong on the shoulder: "I hope you will still remember what you said decades later."

During this period, the first batch of novels from the Hangzhou Conference came out, such as Yu Hua's "Going Far Away at the Age of Eighteen" and Ke Yunlu's "Night and Day"... Yu Qie was invited to write reviews for these novels. Novels began to have a phenomenon, either going far in experimental nature, or being very readable, and it was obvious that they were going to sell, and the latter was much more common.

Readers from the mainland are blessed.

After the heating renovation was completed, Yu Qie finished writing his novel.

"Little Shoes".

The original plot is an Iranian film, but it was filmed in Kashgar, my country. The plot revolves around Ali accidentally losing his sister Sarah's only pair of shoes, and the brother and sister have to take turns wearing old shoes to school. Of course, various mistakes will be made, and in the end, the brother participates in a city-wide long-distance running competition just to win a pair of running shoes.

This is a very warm and sincere story, with no big characters or big events, but Yu Qie wants to use it to promote big events. In the story, although the two people only have one pair of shoes, they can at least run freely.

Of course, this alone is not enough.

(End of this chapter)