Literary Master 1983

Chapter 275 1986
The mainland's *Southern Weekly* immediately realized something was amiss and sent several local reporters from Shenzhen to Hong Kong to verify the matter, then reprinted the news in its own edition. A week later, as soon as the news was printed, mainland readers immediately learned that the novel *Lurking* was also quite popular on the other side of the strait.

"Extra! Extra! Yu Qie's novel has broken out of the fjord!"

In Shenzhen, the latest issue of Southern Weekly hangs on the outer wall of a bookstore, with the owner writing this line on a large white plaque.

"Give me a copy of the Southern Weekly newspaper. Is there any left over in this issue?"

"Yes! Absolutely genuine, the real deal!"

As usual, Wang Shitou, a passing businessman, bought a copy of the Southern Weekly newspaper. He was a fan of Yu Qie's books and had written to Yu Qie before, but unfortunately, his letter went unanswered.

Hey!
How could someone as important as Yu Qie possibly notice someone like me?

Wang Shitou is currently a middleman, running a company called "Modern Scientific and Educational Instrument Exhibition and Sales Center." His daily business involves reselling electrical appliances and instruments imported from Japan, and also includes businesses dealing in clothing factories, watch factories, beverage factories, printing plants, and more.

In his own words, Wang Shitou was involved in all the basic businesses except for prostitution, gambling, drugs, and arms dealing.

Although he was a middleman who made his fortune through speculation, Wang Shitou was essentially an artistic youth.

He tried writing poetry, writing novels... but nothing came of it! He even tried writing a novel about the ups and downs of the business world, but after writing a few thousand words, traditional novel publications wouldn't accept it. Instead, he attracted the attention of local authorities, making a fool of himself. He had no choice but to vow never to write these things again!
In 1983, a copy of "1587" was often placed by his bedside. In 1984, this must-read book by his bedside was replaced by "Da Sa Ba". After the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House edition of "Lurking" came out, the novel was replaced by "Lurking".

He was a die-hard fan of Yu Qie's books. Now that he had money, he would buy any book Yu Qie wrote, even a single word.

When Wang Shitou opened this issue of Southern Weekly, he saw only the front page headline, a report reprinted from Ming Pao. The picture showed two middle-aged people and a suitcase, and it seemed... to be at an airport.

Upon closer inspection of the report, he discovered it contained several sets of the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House edition of the "Lurking" series, and his jaw dropped in astonishment. Then, he saw the statement, "This series has most likely been taken to Taiwan, perhaps specifically for a select few to collect"—and realizing what this meant, he suddenly jumped up as if possessed, shouting:

"Comrade Deep Sea, the Farmer has sent you a message! Please contact the organization immediately!"

Then, Wang Shitou moved to the other side, rolled up the Southern Weekly, and looked directly at the photographs. They contained battlefield photos taken by Yu Qie at the Laoshan front.

Wang Shitou stood ramrod straight, saluting the photograph as if in reverence, and said, "Report! The deep sea is still lurking!"

This middleman was even more ecstatic than if he had made a profit himself. He immediately took a taxi back to the company and announced to everyone, "Look at this! Yu Qie's novel has even taken him to the other side of the ocean—is there anything in the world we can't do! Don't tell me it's difficult! Siberia, the Sahara, the Amazon... there's no place in the world we can't do business!"

"We must apply the same faith that Yu Zecheng had in doing business; even a Stypunk (a luxury car from the Republic of China era) is not a dream!"

This story was originally only known to a few people in the literary world, but now the whole world knows about it.

The experiences of the reporters from Southern Weekly who went to Hong Kong were also quite interesting. Although they were from a prestigious newspaper, they couldn't get a plane ticket to Hong Kong no matter what they tried. At that time, going to Hong Kong required going through many layers of screening. The few newspapers that had the right to be stationed in Hong Kong were Ta Kung Pao, Xinhua Daily, and other such publications.

In utter despair, the group even considered going to Thailand first and then to Hong Kong, a roundabout route. Unexpectedly, Xinhua News Agency contacted them, hoping they would report on the incident.

Why should we be the ones to report on this? Compared to Xinhua News Agency, we're just a small publication!

Xinhua News Agency's colleagues in Hong Kong at the time said, "It seems more convenient for you to report first."

This group was thus given an easy time and quickly went to Hong Kong. By then, the local press had already been buzzing about the novel's journey across the strait!
Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong.

Located in Kowloon City, this airport is currently one of the world's busiest airports. However, it has only one runway and is surrounded by high-density buildings, making the space extremely cramped. Whenever planes take off, they almost brush past the nearby Kowloon Walled City, creating a deafening noise. Thanks to the novel "The Way Out" by writer Yu Qie, Kai Tak Airport has gained considerable fame in the Chinese-speaking world, attracting many tourists and exacerbating local congestion.

For a time, tourists from Southeast Asia and Taiwan came to visit Kai Tak Airport. When the plane flew over Kowloon Walled City, the passenger by the window took out his camera and a copy of "The Way Out" to commemorate the moment.

The Kowloon Walled City, with its concrete walls piercing the sky, intertwined with the commercial aircraft of Western industrial civilization... it has become part of the nation's vibrant vitality.

So it's normal to have tourists from Taiwan here.

In early December, Hong Kong customs officials noticed two suspicious-looking middle-aged men who had only been in Hong Kong for less than a day and had only visited a bookstore. When they passed through customs, the machine scanned their suitcases and found only a few thick stacks of books. Out of habit, the security officer asked what was inside the suitcases and whether there was any inappropriate advertising... As a result, the two middle-aged men suddenly turned pale and broke out in a cold sweat.

This alarmed customs officials, who demanded the boxes be opened for a thorough inspection. At that time, the port had no extradition treaty with most parts of the world, making it a haven for crime; and due to its complex history, it was not only a trading hub but also a center for espionage. At its peak, it housed nearly one-third of the world's spies.

The two middle-aged men looked extremely grim. They didn't want their suitcases opened and hoped to speak directly with security personnel... Of course, that was impossible. Their suitcases were opened in public, and people discovered that they contained several sets of the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House's novel "Lurking".

What's the big deal?

The Hong Kong government opposes the public reading such novels, but this particular set of books has already circulated so widely in Hong Kong that it's impossible to investigate them all. Customs officials, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief and, to prevent the two middle-aged men from committing the offense again, politely escorted them out of the country.

Unexpectedly, a reporter from the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao was present. He keenly sensed that there might be something fishy about these people buying books in Hong Kong, and took a photo. He then bribed a British customs officer and obtained the passport information of the two middle-aged men... A shocking truth emerged: these two men actually had intricate connections with the other side.

Their public identities are business managers of a real estate company, but behind the scenes they are key figures in the Hongmen branch, and in reality they are front men for certain people.

In other words, it wasn't these two people who wanted to watch; it was other people who wanted to watch.

As we all know, "Lurking" is a spy novel, so how did it end up there? Could it be...?

That same day, Ming Pao consulted its editor-in-chief about whether to publish this major news. Editor-in-chief Pan Yuesheng felt the matter was of great importance and went to Repulse Bay to find Ming Pao's founder, Cha Liangyong.

Not long ago, Cha Liangyong wrote a letter to Nie Weiping: "Teacher Nie, you relied on a fan and a pair of bridge cards to defeat a group of top-level Japanese masters and send them back to their country. It is a feat as heroic as one man defending Mount Hua and defeating the entire martial arts world... I humbly request that you take me as your disciple, and I will write you as a great master in my novel!" Before he even received Nie Weiping's reply, he saw this.

It's Yu Qie again! Yu Qie's spy novel!
Although Cha Liangyong was inept at politics, he understood it to some extent. Leveraging his status as a grandmaster of martial arts fiction in the Chinese-speaking world, he was a guest of honor in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He immediately murmured, "I know what's going on, I know..."

Cha Liangyong had also read the "Lurking" series. He had also spoken with Yu Qie. Unexpectedly, he had broken through the barriers in such a bizarre way.

Just as Wen Ruian said: "Qi Shaoshang escaped from the pursuit of ten thousand troops with only a sword and a horse—you think he is a stray dog, no, those people are the stray dogs!"

After a moment's thought, Cha Liangyong said, "Send it. Let me handle anything that comes up."

Ming Pao immediately drafted the headline "Yu Zecheng Has Boarded the Plane!" The article was quickly reprinted by other newspapers. Sing Tao Daily described the incident as a "secret agent book theft case," considering it a typical example of cultural breakthroughs; Xin Wan Bao sent a reporter to Taiwan to investigate and found that the serialized version of the book "Lurking" was already widely available, only lacking a standalone volume.

They speculated that the two agents came to Hong Kong because of the standalone book, which contained another part of the ending... In the serialized version, after Yu Zecheng left the mainland, the next page showed his return decades later, and it was rumored that the standalone book contained more details about Yu Zecheng's experiences in Hong Kong.

People come all the way here to buy the single volume, isn't it just to find out the ending?

As time went on, things got closer and closer to the truth.

Some Hong Kong media outlets with informants in various locations reported that, according to their sources, when the serialized version of "Lurking" was published two months ago, local authorities suddenly prohibited any mention of the novel about Yu Qie. Although it was already circulating widely among the public, personnel in the unit were strictly forbidden from reading it publicly. If caught, they would be criticized at best and dismissed at worst. Two months later, they suddenly strongly recommended reading the novel "Lurking," causing the novel to experience two extreme reversals in a short period of time.

In other words, this novel is moving from being "an elephant unseen from inside a room" into the sunlight.

The martial arts novelist Wen Ruian was extremely excited and wrote a short news report about the incident, which he sent to the *Oriental Daily News*. At this time, his novel was already being serialized in the *Times Weekly* in Taiwan, but because of this incident, the authorities withdrew his work, rendering him virtually unknown again. However, Wen Ruian didn't care at all; instead, in a letter to a friend, he wrote:

"Don't worry about me! My novel has been published in multiple places! I'll never have to suffer the stench of being broke again!"

"Cha Liangyong has reached the pinnacle of martial arts novels, so he naturally turned his ambitions to politics. However, he sometimes appears quite naive. His handling of the Kowloon Walled City situation was extremely disappointing... But this time, he put everything aside and actually did something great!"

Wen Ruian said excitedly, "I suddenly feel that a wave is coming! In human history, some great things are not always well thought out and driven step by step by many people. On the contrary, they are often forcibly reversed by one or two people through their personal will and coincidence!"

A friend advised Wen Ruian: "Things are still unclear, you should be even more careful."

Wen Ruian immediately said, "On Qi Shaoshang's journey, half the heroes of the martial arts world died to save him. Although I know Qi Shaoshang, I am not worthy to be Qi Shaoshang. I am just a Malaysian Chinese hero who knows Luohan Fist! Am I also to die for him? Are you discouraged? I am not discouraged! If that is the case, I believe I will die a worthy death!"

This question and answer was like a bombshell, first igniting the undercurrents in the literary circles of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. At this time, Wen Ruian was no longer the impoverished writer who had been on the run just two years earlier. After writing the hit book "Against the Tide," Wen Ruian became a new master of martial arts fiction in the world of Chinese martial arts novels.

His novels are so popular that they have been published in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and many other places. His novels have been selected by several television stations and film companies for adaptation into film and television works.

In other words, Wen Ruian is already a very influential figure.

His remarks inspired many literary figures who had originally wanted to exchange ideas.

Professor Gao Kun of the Chinese University of Hong Kong told his students: "We really need to strengthen exchanges and put everything in the open! We are not mice; not only should the literary world exchange ideas, but the scientific and technological community should also exchange ideas. We need to gradually turn the connections between the two sides into reality!"

There's a writer from Taiwan named Li Ao who said on a TV program: "Novels are very fair. As long as I know two words, I can read them. You can't say that only you can read them and I'm not allowed to, or that I have to read them secretly. I've had enough of this kind of life! Today I'm going to announce it widely and proclaim that I'm reading a novel written by Yu Qie, and that I like Yu Zecheng."

"Of course, if you ask me if I like Li Ya? I actually like him half and half, but he's too stupid, utterly hopeless stupid, so I don't like him that much anymore."

Okay, these are all lunatics!
Wen Ruian started going to jail as a teenager and was constantly on the run, while Li Ao made a name for himself by spending so much time in prison. Gao Kun, a university professor specializing in science and engineering, naturally dared to "make outrageous remarks."

But others are not like that.

Yu Guangzhong, a poet from Taiwan, sent a literary essay to the mainland publication *Stars*, tentatively mentioning the person "Yu Qie". At that time, any letter that was to cross the strait needed to be verified, and this letter was a prelude to his testing the waters.

Yes, a sign.

Just like the letters Yu Guangzhong replied to Liu Shahe, they were all actually checked beforehand.

Still fearing trouble, Yu Guangzhong gathered writers who wanted to have a dialogue with him, including Lin Qingxuan and Li Ao. They signed the letter together and sent it to the other side of the sea.

"We yearn to exchange ideas about literature."

The letter took an unusually long time to arrive; it should have taken two weeks, or at most a month, but in reality it took almost two months.

The waiting time was particularly unbearable. Yu Guangzhong often felt that he would be rejected at any moment, followed by a polite remark that "this road is blocked," and he might even be detained. During this period, he simply couldn't write a single poem or a single word.

As the New Year's bells rang, someone came to tell him: Yu Guangzhong, didn't you want to send a letter to the "Stars" poetry journal?

"How's the mailing going?" Yu Guangzhong couldn't help but ask.

"It's already been sent to the poetry journal 'Stars' in mainland China!" the person said.

On January 1, 1986, New Year's Day, the letter was informed that it had been delivered—a day remembered in history. Because the letter was sent in December 1985, it was later recognized as the biggest event in the cultural world that year.

(End of this chapter)