Literary Master 1983

Chapter 263 Big Brother

Since the situation had already developed to this point, Li Xiaolin stopped insisting.

She went back to the editorial office of Harvest and held a small meeting, where she stated her thoughts: "Harvest is indeed a bimonthly publication, but we can also publish a supplement..."

Before he could finish speaking, the entire company cheered. Finally, they didn't have to keep the secret anymore; they had been so bored these past few days!
Li Xiaolin waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet:

“Some people may ask me why you didn’t publish a supplement before? There’s a reason for that. We just published a thicker version of Harvest magazine in the last issue, and the price has increased a lot. For some loyal readers, it’s already hard to accept, and they probably don’t have the money to buy it anymore. Now we have to urgently sell another issue. You know, Harvest magazine has always been expensive. I’m worried that this will drain the potential of our readers and they will eventually give up on this issue.”

“It’s not so bad to give up our Harvest magazine; what’s really bad is that it affects the reputation of the novel ‘Lurking.’ If, in terms of sales, people think that ‘Lurking’ started strong but ended weak, then that would be my biggest sin!”

The colleagues in the organization suddenly seemed to realize something and also remembered other problems.

Previously, everyone was blinded by the joy of victory, and only now are they taking the time to properly consider the pros and cons.

Yes, it's fine if it affects this issue of the magazine, but if it affects the novel "Lurking," wouldn't that be doing more harm than good?

In fact, there are many other factors to consider. Li Xiaolin also mentioned: "If we add a new issue, we will inevitably have to select some novels that were originally going to be published in the next issue. Now we have to put them after Yu Qie's 'Lurking,' which is not fair to other writers, because they submitted their works specifically for our bimonthly publication... It is because of so many considerations that I try my best to avoid adding a new issue."

But Li Xiaolin changed the subject: "These are all things I had considered before, but now I'm not going to care anymore and I've decided to publish this issue." She said eloquently, "Good wine needs no bush! The quality of 'Lurking' will burst forth with vitality no matter what it is. My opinion is that we can have an extra issue."

The entire staff of Harvest magazine immediately began voting.

Then, hands were raised one after another, like a steel jungle. Li Xiaolin's gaze swept from one side to the other, but he couldn't find a single empty hand.

It passed unanimously!

To illustrate the negative aspects, Li Xiaolin had described the situation as bleak as possible, but unexpectedly, the entire editorial team unanimously approved it once again. One editor who had read the second issue of *Lurking* said, "Mr. Li, in all my years as an editor, I've never had so much confidence in a novel. In my opinion, this novel represents Yu Qie's new pinnacle in combining commercial appeal and artistic merit; it's become an indispensable source of spiritual nourishment for me!"

Another editor said, "Whatever happens, the whole company will stand together and take responsibility!"

With the entire publishing house so insistent, Li Xiaolin was filled with pride. Her father, Ba Jin, was the editor-in-chief of *Harvest* magazine and had also agreed to publish it ahead of schedule. Now that everyone was on the same page, there was nothing to worry about, no matter what happened!

Harvest magazine immediately sprang into action, busying itself with the publication of the new issue of "Lurking," and some writers were also called to inquire whether they wanted to publish it together with Yu Qie's novel.

Most of the writers declined.

For a new writer, appearing in the same supplement as Yu Qie is a tremendous opportunity, a dazzling resume for entering the literary world. However, for those writers who are already quite famous, it's a bit like "kings don't meet," even if they are minor figures, they don't want to be completely dominated by another big name.

Since its serialization, "Lurking" has been unstoppable, sweeping all before it. Top-tier works of the same period might be considered third- or fourth-rate in comparison.

Look at Li Duo's reviews in *Beijing Literature*, look at Qian Zhongshu's reviews from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences—even *Red Crag* pales in comparison. This book, *Lurking*, has completely reversed the trend of "favoring the ancient over the modern." Who dares to rank it alongside such a work!
Guan Moye dared to do it.

He received a call from Li Xiaolin and was taken aback. After pacing back and forth in his room, he finally agreed to do it.

Guan Moye said, "I have read the book 'Lurking'. I don't think I can compare with Yu Qie, but I feel that if others can read my novel after reading 'Lurking', I will be very satisfied."

That's what they say, but nobody really knows what Guan Moye is thinking.

After all, he has always been a stubborn person.

Guan Moye set a good example, and other writers also agreed to put their novels in the supplementary issue. The new issue of Harvest was finally published and handed over to Shanghai Xinhua Printing Factory for printing.

The printing factory workers quickly finished reading the novel, showing no professional ethics whatsoever, and immediately went back to brag about it! Three or four days later, the plot summary of "Lurking" began to circulate among people, and it became more and more detailed. The day before the supplement to the novel was to be published, Li Xiaolin went home for dinner and discussed the novel. Suddenly, the youngest member, Duan Duan, said, "Yu Zecheng is still alive, but Li Ya is in danger."

Li Xiaolin was dumbfounded and asked Duanduan, "Where were you looking? How did you know?"

Duanduan said, "There's a classmate in our class whose father is the manager of a printing factory. He already knew the plot and told his child about it... This morning, the whole class was discussing this."

Li Xiaolin was utterly devastated!

Even with everything done so quickly, some plot details still leaked.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, the editorial department of the magazine "October" heard about this: the southern magazine "Harvest" was about to publish several issues in a row for the novel.

What they saw was not that Harvest was forced to publish, but rather that Harvest had the momentum to be revived by "Lurking".

Damn it, I've only been the boss for a few years!

Zhang Shouren, the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine, took the lead in repenting: "I made a huge mistake. I believed that Yu Qie could submit less important manuscripts to other magazines, and I believed that our 'October' pure literature journal's leading position was as solid as Mount Tai... This is all false. Without Yu Qie, we have nothing; as long as we have Yu Qie, we can create another 'October,' 'September,' 'August,' whatever the name may be!"

Editor-in-Chief Su Yu also expressed remorse: "Our entire organization did not pay enough attention to Teacher Yu, nor did we show it clearly enough. It was Ba Jin himself who came to solicit articles for Harvest, but we arrogantly waited for Teacher Yu to submit his manuscript. This situation must never happen again."

The entire editorial department of "October" was filled with a heavy atmosphere, as if their home had been robbed. In the end, the group decided to promote Yu Qie to the position of special editor-in-chief of the magazine; all articles written by Yu Qie must be paid at the highest possible rate, including punctuation marks; in addition, Yu Qie must be given a mobile phone.

Commonly known as the "Big Brother".

In late 84, the first mobile phone with a personal number was issued in Guangdong Province in southern China. Afterwards, mobile phones quickly became popular within a small circle. Because only Motorola phones had this function at the time, and they were extremely expensive, costing tens of thousands of yuan, and primarily targeted "street vendors" and high-ranking government officials, this phone was nicknamed "Big Brother." Zhang Shouyi, despite his advanced age, personally went to a department store to buy this "Big Brother." When he returned, holding up the two-pound "Big Brother" mobile phone, he cheered to the entire editorial department like a king inspecting an army:
"We shouldn't have any emotions, let alone feel wronged. In our magazine, isn't Yu Qie the big brother?"

The novel was released ahead of schedule, and the publication date of the new issue of Harvest magazine was moved to the National Day week. On October 6th, as red flags fluttered throughout Shanghai, explosive news spread among literary magazine readers: the second issue of "Lurking" was on sale.

Whether Yu Zecheng is dead or alive, and how steadfast his faith is, will be revealed in this episode.

Soon after, the latest installment of "Lurking" indeed caused a strong reaction. Yu Zecheng was noticeably more experienced in this part; after returning home, he would drop incense ash on his door to determine if his house was being monitored; he thrived in the intelligence station, and through sowing discord, he even became the deputy station chief; Yu Zecheng and Cuiping developed feelings for each other, and he began to teach Cuiping about intelligence work, just as Zuo Lan had taught him.

It fully fulfills the reader's imagination of Yu Zecheng; this little guy has grown up.

A new villain has appeared, unlike the obvious villains we've seen before, such as Lu Qiaoshan, Xie Ruolin, and Station Chief Wu... This new villain, Li Ya, is actually a villain who is brave, resourceful, and even has a strong belief.

To paraphrase Station Master Wu, this is quite romantic.

Yu Qie is really bold!
Li Ya's character is established through several events in the story:
One is that he always likes to talk to himself, saying how loyal he is to the Party and the country.

One was when he talked to people about his life ideals. Li Ya said, "I hope that children can live a better life and that ordinary people can have a happy life."

Many readers are completely bewildered when they reach this point, and go back to read the novel "Lurking," even thinking they've misjudged the character's faction.

Li Ya initially had a good impression of Yu Zecheng. He didn't like to play power games or curry favor with his superiors. In order to have a good environment for espionage, he tried to give Yu Zecheng his connections and abilities, helping Yu Zecheng become the deputy station chief of the espionage station.

This person is a man of faith and ability. He initially helped Yu Zecheng frequently, but the things he did were very abstract and he often messed things up, which created a wonderful comedic effect in the character, making it hard for readers to hate him.

This is a very popular villain. Yu Qie even wrote this villain as a handsome man, based on the actor who played Li Ya in the TV series! How could it not cause controversy?

The literary and artistic circles quickly split into two camps regarding how to view the character Li Ya.

One faction believes that Li Ya is an anti-traditional villain who should be the most wary of. Wang Meng, the chairman of the Writers Association, said at a writers' seminar in Beijing that people like Li Ya are the reason why we encountered difficulties in liberation. He is a die-hard and not worth being moved by; on the contrary, we should destroy him.

“Even in Gongdelin, there are die-hards who pretend to be mentally ill until the very last batch before being released. How can ‘Li Ya’ not exist? There’s probably more than one Li Ya, many Li Yas. It’s just that if the path is wrong, everything is in vain. The more people like Li Ya there are, the more questionable their beliefs become.”

Another faction believes that someone like "Li Ya" should not be in the enemy's camp. They acknowledge the historical basis for this argument, but feel it goes too far.

Yu Qie's novels are often introduced to students, but students don't have much discernment. If they think Li Ya is interesting and try to emulate him, then they'll be in trouble.

This year's college entrance examination essay topic was an excerpt from Yu Qie's "Little Shoes." Among the top-scoring essays in the national college entrance examination, one was titled "My Brother Yu Qie."

There are also some third-party figures, such as Ba Jin. He believes that Yu Qie is clearly writing about "all aspects of life," and that Li Ya, who defected to the Communists, must have been a talented individual, but it was just a momentary lapse in judgment. In fact, the villains in these intelligence stations, such as Station Chief Wu who was only interested in making money, were willing to go through fire and water for the Kuomintang in their youth.

Xie Ruolin, who was greedy for money, had previously worked for the Kuomintang; Lu Qiaoshan, who was eccentric, had also risked his life.

Even Yu Zecheng himself initially held faith in the Kuomintang. He even single-handedly assassinated a traitor—at the time, he was an underground intelligence agent for the Kuomintang.

What turned these people into villains? Because the old society turned people into ghosts.

The verbal battle escalated, making "The Novel" even more popular. Even the small-time magazine vendors at the bookstalls wrote on their paper with ballpoint pens: "The appearance of the Kuomintang villain Li Ya in 'Lurking' puts Yu Zecheng's underground life in crisis!"

……

In Chang'an, Guan Moye had just finished drinking with his comrades and was strolling alone on the street. Two years ago, it was on this very street that he happened to see "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and was immediately struck by the word "Yu Qie" in the prologue.

Guan Moye is a genuine retired soldier who originally started out writing military literature. Because he published many articles in "Military Literature" and was appreciated, he was selected to enter the military writers' training class, where Xu Huaizhong (Nguyen Thi Ding Huong) was his teacher.

Not long ago, he corresponded with Yu Hua, a writer from Haiyan County. Yu Hua is a loyal reader of Harvest magazine, subscribing to every issue. Of course, he saw the serialized story "Lurking" in it, as well as the strange publication schedule of Harvest magazine recently.

Harvest magazine also contacted Yu Hua, asking him to include the article in a supplement, but Yu Hua declined.

Yu Hua, however, encouraged Guan Moye to compete against Yu Qie on the same stage: "He is your inner demon. You must keep up with him, or at least not fall too far behind, before you are qualified to achieve a new breakthrough."

This is worse than death.

You're essentially asking Shi Tiesheng to race Lewis in the 400 meters. Even if he had great legs, it would be impossible!
Guan Moye was thinking to himself, "Why don't you, Yu Hua, surpass Yu Qie?" Yu Hua, however, seemed to have known Guan Moye's thoughts all along, and replied in his letter, "I have always acknowledged Yu Qie as my teacher and my guide. My mind is very clear, and I will never compare myself to Yu Qie in this lifetime. But you are different."

"You always have a bold fantasy, and you don't submit to any authority."

"You only have two options: either you're a man, and you choose the hardest path."

"Either you join the Yuqie student family like me."

"In fact, after I returned this time, I established the Yixin Reading Club in the literary circles of Jiangsu Province. But to my surprise, some literature lovers here have already established the organization... Rumor has it that it was first started by a very daring middleman from Sichuan Province."

(End of this chapter)