Literary Master 1983

Chapter 267 "Infiltration" (End)
As soon as the book was finished, Yu Qie took it to the Harvest magazine office. The entire editorial department had been notified in advance and came to wait for him.

"We've been waiting for this day and night, and finally we've seen Yu Zecheng's final fate," Li Xiaolin said.

The novel was handed to them, and the manuscript was passed around page by page, the only sound the rustling of pages turning. After spending some time reading it, Li Xiaolin paused for a moment and said, "Yu Zecheng faked his death and then came back. But isn't that a bit too blatant...?"

After putting down the manuscript, everyone else had similar expressions.

Yu Qie said, "I did consider giving him an ending where he's still in hiding. For example, one day, the long-lost comrade from the deep sea suddenly sends Morse code to report his current situation... Experts decipher it and find that it's the sentence 'The infiltration continues,' meaning that the comrade from the deep sea has sent a signal again after 30 years. But I also want to give him a clear ending, to tell everyone that this person is alive."

"Why do I have to write it so clearly?" Li Xiaolin wondered.

In novel writing, there's a saying about having a "leopard's tail," meaning the ending should be abrupt and leave a lingering impression. Coincidentally, the ending of "Lurking" has several scenes that could serve as a conclusion, each a perfect "leopard's tail."

When the city was heavily besieged, our radio stations broadcasted a poem, almost explicitly announcing that Comrade "Deep Sea" should return soon: "Mother will keep watch for you on New Year's Eve, mother will pray for you! Come back, my son, mother is waiting for you to come back and welcome the spring of 1949!"

Then, with a barrage of cannon fire, they stormed into the city.

Is that all there is to the story? Did Yu Zecheng become an inside agent for the uprising within the city? Or was his identity exposed at the last moment? Let the readers decide.

Alternatively, when Yu Zecheng was ordered to go to Taiwan, at the airport, he suddenly met Cuiping, who was disguised as a peasant woman. The couple met, but could not reveal their identities. At the airport, Yu Zecheng suddenly imitated a rooster crowing like a madman. On one hand, he was telling Cuiping that he had put the last piece of information in the chicken coop. On the other hand, he was also implying that the darkness was about to pass and the dawn had arrived.

The novel could end when Yu Zecheng is taken away on a plane and leaves the mainland—this would mark the beginning of Yu Zecheng's new life as an undercover agent.

Yu Qie said, "Because this novel has developed to this point, just like 'Dream of the Red Chamber,' many versions have been discovered by focusing on details, and some of the ideas are ones that I myself had never thought of. Yu Zecheng is a good person, and good people deserve a good ending."

"What happens next? What will happen then?" an editor asked.

“Yu Zecheng has worked hard for most of his life, let him retire and go back to his hometown. My teacher Ma Shitu did underground work all his life, and now he makes a living by writing his memoirs. Yu Zecheng is not an individual, but a group of people.”

Li Xiaolin immediately took the manuscript back to Ba Jin to read, saying, "Yu Zecheng survived and became a wealthy businessman. Yu Qie said that Yu Zecheng has thousands upon thousands of assets, and his undercover work continues."

After reading the story, Ba Jin couldn't help but shed tears. He placed the manuscript on the small table of his wheelchair, looked up at the sky, and closed his eyes.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Li Xiaolin asked.

Ba Jin took a deep breath and said, "This novel was originally written for his teacher, Ma Shitu. Ma Shitu was never able to reunite with Liu Yiqing in his life. Writing ten or a hundred articles to recall her was of no use. In this book, at least Ma Shitu has found a home. I had some interaction with Ma Shitu before. He is a very sentimental person. He will probably cry a lot after reading this."

"In the novel, Ma Shitu and Liu Yiqing meet again."

Li Xiaolin finally understood Yu Qie's good intentions. It turned out there was such a relationship; this master and apprentice pair is truly a celebrated story in the literary world.

Actually, in the original timeline, when filming for the TV series "Lurking" wrapped up, everyone had their own opinions on the ending. The actress who played Cuiping originally poured her heart out while bidding farewell to Yu Zecheng, giving a very emotional performance. However, she later requested a reshoot of a more subdued scene. She felt that, from Cuiping's perspective at the time, she couldn't have known she was about to be separated from him forever; she would have thought it was just an ordinary parting. Cuiping had no reason to be overly sad.

The screenwriter was also dissatisfied with the ending. The original plot of the script was that Yu Zecheng would be killed immediately, and Cuiping, as an underground member who had lost contact, was not trusted. The soldiers who came to the scene were quite indifferent to her... The story went towards an eternally dark and cruel ending.

The production company, the TV station, was also dissatisfied with the ending. Yu Zecheng shouldn't have died, as it would significantly impact ratings. The production team had to find a way to salvage the situation… The final product was a result that considered all opinions. Yu Zecheng died, yet it seemed he didn't. While he clearly didn't die in the story, the visuals included a black-and-white photograph hinting at his death. Yu Zecheng's final fate remained in a state of ambiguous uncertainty.

Now, with a wave of his hand, Yu Qie has arranged everything.

Listen to me, Yu Zecheng is alive! Don't overthink it!
It was already late October, and the magazine immediately arranged for the publication of the next issue. At the same time, the standalone edition of "Lurking" was also handed over to the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House for publication. Yu Qie personally designed the cover of the novel—a radio station transmitting a message, below which was an open drawer full of medals, but none of the medals had a name on them.

A ray of sunlight divides the scene into two sides, one of light and one of shadow. The side bathed in sunlight is blurred and indistinct, while the side in shadow is dark yet substantial, with tiny Morse code visible. This hints at Yu Zecheng's dual life.

If someone were to decipher the Morse code, they would arrive at a very interesting result: the code means "The deep sea is still lurking."

This corresponds to Yu Zecheng's faked death, his trip to Hong Kong, and his life as a businessman in the latter half of his life—during which countless stories unfolded.

Perhaps this wealthy Chinese businessman is still working underground for the Communist Party.

As soon as the design was released, almost everyone praised it. Li Xiaolin said, "I didn't expect you to have such talent, Yu Qie! Lu Xun used to like designing the covers of his own novels, and now you've followed in his footsteps. It's just that this design is too complicated; I don't know if it can be printed."

Yu Qie said, "Let's give it a try."

The novel was handed over to the publisher for typesetting and design, and then sent to the printing plant. The Shanghai printing plant had an expert who was in charge of cover design. Upon seeing the cover, he said, "This cover design is excellent and contains a lot of information. In the past, our covers contained very little information and were mostly composed of geometric lines, not only for simplicity and beauty, but also to control printing costs. This novel has set a new trend."

Yu asked urgently, "Does our printing factory have the capacity to print that?"

“What’s so difficult about that? We’ve been able to do these things for a long time. Do you know those Western figure paintings? And the textbooks used in art academies, the organ diagrams used by doctors—we’re responsible for all of that. The printed images are incredibly detailed, even more realistic than when compared to photographs.”

Xinhua Printing Factory made a solemn pledge: "To complete the task with guaranteed quality and quantity."

The cover design was exceptionally good, and the price was also very high. Xinhua Printing Factory quoted a high price, so Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House asked Yu Qie, "If we remove this cover, is this exquisite picture worth ten sheets of paper?"

This is an interesting question, quite similar to the situation faced when "Children of Heaven" was published in Japan. The results last time proved that readers were perfectly capable of affording the cost.

But those are Japanese readers; they have ample funds to buy novels. Would mainland Chinese readers accept that?
Li Xiaolin said, "The cover may be nice, but it has nothing to do with the story, and it costs more money. When I was studying at the Shanghai Drama Academy, most of the students didn't look at the book cover. Instead, they copied the story content and shared it everywhere. This shows that the public doesn't pay attention to the cover."

That's completely wrong.

Li Xiaolin, after all, was Ba Jin's daughter, with a vast collection of books in her home. She failed to notice the details of how ordinary people read. Ordinary people, when reading, flip through the pages repeatedly, almost memorizing every single page number.

Yu Qie immediately pressed the original manuscript onto the paper and bound them together. He held up the book and said, "Li Xiaolin, have you ever read a novel in its entirety? Do you know what it means to feel unsatisfied?"

Yu Qie, the author of "Lurking," is now at the height of his fame. "Harvest" magazine was revived entirely by "Lurking," and more than ten publishing houses are vying for his attention... When he asked a question, Li Xiaolin thought Yu Qie was blaming him.

Li Xiaolin was stunned and stammered, unable to say anything.

Yu Qie did not mock Li Xiaolin, but patiently said: "Reading novels is like this: after we finish reading a novel, we are still not satisfied, so we start to look at the author of the novel, the title of the novel, and use our fingertips to rub the workmanship of the outer kraft paper to see if the novel has a preface or an afterword... There was a writer named Guan Moye who read 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' many times and also read the preface I wrote many times."

The more Yu Qie spoke, the more everyone lowered their heads. Yu Qie said, "After we finish reading the entire novel, close the book, recall the plot in our minds, and open our eyes, we will find that the cover of this book condenses the entire plot! And that's not all. If you are interested in learning Morse code, you can decipher the code on it and find that the second half of Yu Zecheng's life, which he did not write about, is also contained in that one sentence."

"If you buy this book and read it again five or ten years later, you'll find new details."

Everyone was convinced. Yu Qie explained that the cover of the standalone volume was itself part of the story. Later, after hearing about this, cartoonist Zhang Leping (author of *Sanmao*) said, "If Yu Qie were to draw comic strips or cartoons, he would definitely be a master!"

Of course!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The standalone edition and the latest issue of "Harvest" were printed simultaneously. Yu Zecheng's final fate fell into the graphite of the printing plant, and was spread by word of mouth among the workers. The whole of Shanghai knew that Comrade Shenhai was still in hiding, and Yu Zecheng had become a very wealthy businessman.

"—The novel 'Lurking' is finished!"

The news also flew across the river and reached the Shanghai Film Studio dormitory in Pudong.

“Yes! I was on a business trip today, and everyone at the film studio was talking about this.” Gong Xue said to her younger sister, Gong Ying.

Gong Ying asked, "Is this novel going to be made into a movie soon?"

"It can't be filmed!" Gong Xue shook her head. "Where would we get the money to make it into a TV series? Even if it were a movie, we'd need to make many parts, and our factory would go bankrupt!"

"So that's how the novel ends? It wasn't adapted into a play, it wasn't published as a comic book, it wasn't...it wasn't..."

Gong Ying listed many things that were not there.

Gong Xue said, "Of course! I heard that CCTV Broadcasting has taken on this job and invited Zhao Zhongxiang and Lu Jing—the two news anchors—to record it. It will be broadcast to the front lines to encourage the soldiers. The Beijing People's Art Theatre is also thinking about how to adapt it, just waiting for Yu Qie to return to the capital... This novel is very popular, and several publishing houses want to publish it, even Russian and Japanese versions!"

CCTV? Beijing?
CCTV's address isn't in Shanghai; it's the number one national media outlet. Gong Ying suddenly realized that since the novel had come to an end, wouldn't Yu Qie be returning to the capital?

This man stayed in the small studio dormitory for two months, during which time the two sisters truly witnessed what it meant to "break down the iron gate." Local literary and artistic celebrities in Shanghai lined up to talk to Yu Qie, and letters from all over the country and overseas had to be filled with two heavy canvas bags and delivered to the door.

Just the stamps used to send letters are enough to fill countless commemorative albums.

The red wine sent by North Korea, the mobile phone issued by the "October" magazine... these were all things they could see. During this period, there were many other gifts that Yu Qie himself did not even notice, such as the food coupons given to him by readers, all of which Yu Qie donated.

Now that Yu Qie is leaving, Gong Ying suddenly felt particularly lost. She said, "I only started to look at Yu Qie differently because of you. After he came here, I ran errands for him every day, cooked for him, and sometimes even did his laundry. Gu Zilinuer even tried to take the job from me. But knowing that he's leaving, I realized that he really is different."

Gong Ying took out the reply letter that director Yang Jie had written to her: "This female director is also a fan of Yu Qie's books. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to meet someone who hasn't read Yu Qie's books."

They took out a map, already covered in toothpicks, and the sisters had also made notes on the islands outside the map. Gong Xue looked at it and sighed, "That Zhang Tielin ran off to England, saying the rumors were too much for him to bear... If things continue like this, who knows, one day the British will be reading Yu Qie's novels, and where will Zhang Tielin hide then? In Antarctica?"

Gong Ying said, "There's a place, and another place, that we haven't thought of yet."

"Where?"

As a white index finger traced across the map, the two sisters saw the same place: a small island shaped like a banana leaf.

Gong Xue sighed, "This is no easy feat."

Just a few days after this conversation, Yu Qie received a letter from the "Great Wall" research station. This station was China's first research station in Antarctica, and at the time, only male staff were allowed, with strict weight control—if someone weighed less than 100 pounds, they would be blown away by the strong winds.

When you urinate, the urine freezes into icicles as soon as it comes out; it's also dangerous to cry from the cold, because the tears will freeze into icicles and stick to your eyelashes while they are still in your eyes.

The letter was simple: "October is the founding month of the People's Republic of China, as we all know! For the Russians, it's the day their Aurora fired at the Winter Palace! For the penguins, it's the day they lay their eggs. There's a type of penguin here called the Adelie penguin, which usually starts laying eggs in October, beginning the continuation of the next generation of their colony. Professor Yu, this is the Great Wall Station, located at 62°13′ south latitude. We've experienced almost half a year of polar night, without a single ray of light, only these Adelie penguins keeping us company, and they're also lying in wait."

"And your novel 'Lurking' will be transmitted to us via the radio technology used by Yu Zecheng. This is truly great news. Although nearly half a century has passed, we, like Yu Zecheng, will stay in front of the radio to listen and fight against the wind and snow."

(End of this chapter)