Literary Master 1983

Chapter 309 The Forgotten Colombians

"The president of the Christian Church in Argentina, Francis, publicly spoke in support of Yuche."

Within Chile's warlord government, someone reported to the higher-ups.

"What? Why would Francis come to support the Chinese? They are all atheists, this is truly baffling!"

The person being reported to was Pinochet, the current de facto leader of Chile, also known as "General Pinochet".

In 1973, it was he who led the military in a coup that ended the country's constitutional history. He is now the head of government and the ruler of the country.

The reporter then presented the information, which made General Pi feel troubled: the situation was much more serious than he had thought. Francis was actually supporting Yuche, and because of the prevalence of religion in South American countries, he was as influential as the Confucius family in ancient China.

If Yu Qie is God's messenger, the one who goes on God's way, then wouldn't I be on the side of the villains?
The proletarian writer has actually joined forces with the priest to oppress him. This is no longer an ordinary comradeship; we must take strong measures!

Pi Dashuai stood up angrily and shouted, "What does the death of a writer have to do with the Chinese? What does it have to do with the priest? China is more than 20,000 kilometers away from Chile. Does he think he's God?"

Then, feeling powerless, he began to think of a solution. General Pi slumped deeply in his leather chair, saying nothing.

Chile has a long tradition of constitutionalism and compares itself to the Americans; "Chileans know how to govern" is a common saying among them.

However, all of this changed in 73. Parliament was closed, a large number of newspapers disappeared from newsstands, and almost all public institutions in the country were directly supervised by appointed generals, admirals, army colonels, and captains, including the Chilean Football Federation.

Perhaps the Football Association really does need the military to take charge...

In the 1928 Banana Massacre, Márquez estimated the number of victims to be as high as 3,000. However, this is a small fraction compared to the various atrocities that occurred in Chile after the coup. At the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile temporarily established a torture center where at least 7000 people were killed.

Chile has a population of 12 million, and hundreds of thousands of people have now fled overseas. At least one in every 100 Chileans has been arrested.

In order to maintain its rule, the Chilean government is also reckless and disregards international repercussions. They send assassination squads across the country to kill any disobedient exiles.

The former Chilean army commander and his wife, in exile, were blown to pieces by a car bomb in Buenos Aires! A Christian politician fled to Rome, but was still shot and narrowly escaped death.

The story reached its climax with an assassination attempt in Washington in 76, in which Chile's then-ambassador, Lettrell, a man close to former leader Allende, was killed by a car bomb in front of his embassy.

This incident is far too heinous. To send someone to carry out a car bomb assassination in the capital of the world's most powerful nation—no, this is no longer an assassination, it should be called a public murder!
This incredible and sensational act forced General Pi to disband the "National Intelligence Agency," which was responsible for assassinations, and to reduce its size and keep a low profile for many years afterward.

Today is not the 1970s, but the 1980s. Chile, like Colombia, is now in a severe economic recession, and discontent with the government is spreading throughout the nation. Boss Pi is well aware of this.

He had already made arrangements for himself, with all his savings in Swiss banks. If things changed, he would escape to a neutral third country to live out his days in peace.

Dragons will always be slain by heroes, their blood staining the crowns of the new warriors. This is a truth known to every dragon.

But that's something a mere writer like you can't possibly challenge! Even a priest should grovel at my feet!
General Pi was furious and summoned a trusted member of the intelligence agency for a quiet discussion. General Pi said, "We must kill Yu Qie and let the whole world know our power. But not in Márquez's villa; that would make us the target of public condemnation once again."

"So, where is it?" his subordinate asked.

"You need to keep a close eye on him and wait until he leaves. Make sure things are done quickly and efficiently."

"As ordered!"

The intelligence agents scattered, and a hastily formed assassination squad moved from south to north, preparing to infiltrate Colombia.
-
Meanwhile, Yu Qie was sending Gong Xue a manuscript of a novel of about 30,000 to 40,000 words titled "The Death of Ruan Lingyu".

The story is essentially a retrospective of Ruan Lingyu's life and explores whether the suicide note she left before her death, containing the words "gossip is a fearful thing," was forged.

This has been definitively proven to be a forgery in later generations. However, the oppression Ruan Lingyu faced was real; otherwise, people wouldn't have so easily believed that those were words written by Ruan Lingyu.

Because Ruan Lingyu was indeed a pitiful woman. Although she was a famous actress during the Republic of China era, she was still subjected to domestic violence and treated as a money-making machine. Because she longed for a genuine relationship, she was constantly fooled by various scumbags. Before her death, Ruan Lingyu was severely beaten. She finally lost her heart and swallowed sleeping pills to commit suicide.

"The Death of Ruan Lingyu" was originally written by Shen Ji. He lived in Hong Kong for a long time, which gave him the opportunity to privately interview everyone who had ever met Ruan Lingyu. These conversations became the factual basis for the novel. When he serialized the novel in the "Liberation Daily," it caused a sensation. Each issue contained new content, gradually revealing the mystery.

Yu Qie could only find the answers in publicly available materials, so he simply wrote very short articles. Moreover, he stated at the beginning that Ruan Lingyu died from domestic violence.

Having already written "The Death of Neruda," he found this research article easy to write.

At the end of the article, Yu Qie connected Ruan Lingyu and her experiences with Gong Xue: "Recently, a well-known actress has been involved in a hooligan case and suffered an undeserved disaster, which makes me think of Ruan Lingyu in history; Ruan Lingyu's tragedy was inevitable, and her suicide note of 'public opinion is a fearful thing' was forged, but we can reasonably believe that Ruan Lingyu would say such a thing."

"Because she suffered a tremendous injustice! Let's not let this tragedy happen again, and let's not let the phrase 'public opinion is a fearsome thing' become the true testament of the new era."

The novel was faxed to People's Literature in Beijing.

A fax machine is a good thing. In recent years, with more money, People's Literature, as a national-level institution, already has a fax machine made by Panasonic of Japan. The Writers' Association next door sometimes borrows it, and the Chengdu-based poetry journal Stars also spent a lot of money to buy one.

"We should not only publish articles by mainland Chinese writers, but also by Chinese writers all over the world and overseas students. We are going global, and Chinese writers are going global as well."

"Therefore, a fax machine is necessary. Otherwise, how would we contact them?"

It was this statement that allowed Liu Shahe to secure funding from the Chengdu government.

The fax machine beeped, and a moment later, Yu Qie's manuscript was printed out.

"Yu Qie is writing an article again! Editor-in-Chief Wang!"

Someone told Wang Meng.

Wang Meng rushed over to read it, only to find it was a short story. It was alright, but nothing particularly remarkable. If Yu Qie had written it, it would have been just another ordinary novel in his literary career.

Wang Meng said, "It seems that Yu Qie is itching to investigate the truth about Neruda, and he might as well investigate the truth about Ruan Lingyu as well."

As Wang Meng read to the end, he suddenly noticed that Yu Qie had mentioned Gong Xue. He immediately remembered that Gong Xue and Yu Qie had worked together before, and had even visited the front lines of Laoshan together, leaving behind a famous photo of them together.

Wang Meng had also heard about the trouble Gong Xue had recently encountered.

Gong Xue was clearly framed, but what does that have to do with Wang Meng? Of course, he wouldn't stand up for Gong Xue.

The biggest news in the arts and culture world in the first half of the year was the "hooliganism case" involving Gong Xue. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the "Ice Melting Journey" which diverted public attention, Gong Xue would probably have been criticized for even longer.

But Yu Qie did just that! He has a high level of public favorability, and if he speaks out, the public will stop and think about whether there is any injustice involved.

So this was for a friend, even at the cost of his life! Gong Xue was his friend!

Think about it again, I'm his friend too!

Sigh, Yu Qieyuan is in Colombia, yet he can still stand up for Gong Xue in Shanghai (he doesn't know Gong Xue went to the United States). When I was sent down to the countryside, many people saw it to my face, but almost no one said a word for me.

Moved by the story, Wang Meng arranged for "Ruan Lingyu" to be published in *People's Literature*. Upon learning this, *October* magazine in Beijing also applied to publish the article early the following month. The word spread quickly, and *Harvest* magazine in Shanghai also decided to reprint it.

Li Xiaolin, the editor of Harvest magazine, is a woman, so she should naturally support this kind of article, both morally and logically.

So, six months after Gong Xue was embroiled in trouble, she finally saw a glimmer of hope.

To avoid the dead rats that had been sent to them and the paint that had been splashed on their house, Gong Xue's family had been staying at a friend's house for quite some time. Her younger sister, Gong Ying, received an anonymous letter from a colleague at the Shanghai Film Studio. Gong Ying was afraid to open it, fearing it was another curse directed at her sister. A few days later, however, Gong Ying opened the letter and found it to be an apology letter.

"I misunderstood you. I was deceived by the media. I'm sorry!"

Gong Ying burst into tears and told her parents the good news. The group immediately returned home. Neighbors brought them toilet paper and fruit. The paint that had been splashed on them had been scraped off sometime during the day.

Gong Ying's parents also cried. Was this disaster finally coming to an end?
It's not completely over yet.

It takes time for a storm to pass. There are still people pointing fingers at Gong Xue's family, but when they look back, those people no longer say with the same righteous indignation as before: "Why are you looking at me? I'm a party involved in a hooliganism case! A bad guy!"

Instead, she avoided their gaze with a hint of lingering fear.

That's enough, that's enough.

Gong Xue's family called Gong Xue in the United States: "Come back, child."

Gong Xue, however, was unwilling to return. "I haven't seen Yu Qie yet; he is my benefactor."

"What are you doing staying there? You can still see Yuqie when you come back. America is too dangerous."

"No, I want to see him in America. The more dangerous it is, the more I want to stay here."

Yu Qie has a girlfriend, a fact that Gong Ying mentions every day, so Gong Xue's parents couldn't be unaware. Gong Ying often says, "Two is better than one!" Moreover, the age difference between Gong Xue and Yu Qie isn't small; these days, relationships between older women and younger men aren't taboo—Wang Meng's first wife was more than a year older than him.

The passionate Wang Meng fell in love with his wife at first sight and immediately confessed his feelings.

But if you're more than five years older, that's a bit too much.

Although Yu Qie looks mature and Gong Xue looks young, this is a problem that cannot be ignored.

"Why is Gong Xue so determined to commit to Yu Qie? She's willing to wait alone in America; isn't that a form of commitment?" Gong Xue's parents sighed. "Mr. Yu Qie is indeed wonderful, but this is... not quite right."

Gong Ying disagreed: "When my sister was in trouble, no one in the world could help her. Now that someone is helping her, you're all being picky, as if she's so willing to help."

“Of course we can’t just watch our daughter be willing,” Gong Xue’s parents said.

“I’m talking about Yu Qie, but Yu Qie might not be willing!” Gong Ying said.

Gong Xue's parents could only sigh.

They never wanted to live like that again.

They called Gong Xue and made their stance clear: "No matter what you do, your parents will support you."

These words had no specific meaning, but Gong Xue somehow understood them. In her phone call to Yu Qie, she said, "Yu Qie, as long as you are still on this continent of America, I will be waiting for you in America. We fought together on the front lines of Laoshan. The war took women away, but after the war, women are still there, waiting for you forever."

"I have nothing else to say, I won't leave unless you come back. I will stay here forever."

That was so clear; there was no way Yu Qie couldn't possibly misunderstand it.

On the battlefield of Laoshan, many soldiers who charged forward hoped that their girlfriends or fiancées would say these words, but they never got to hear them.

The photos taken back then have actually come true?

Yu Qie couldn't help but recall the time when Gong Xue, holding a steel helmet, came to comfort him as if he were a peculiar new recruit from Yanda University.

"Where is home?"

"From Wanxian County, Sichuan Province."

"How old is this year?"

"21."

Have you ever been to school?

I studied at Yenching University.

"..."

He never imagined that those few careless words he uttered back then would become a debt he carries. Now, he grips his pistol once more, ready to put himself in danger.

A week later, a shooting occurred in Bogotá. Such things happen every day in Bogotá. The victim was named Carlos. His impoverished home was ransacked, but nothing was taken. What was left at the scene was a T-shirt with Yu Che's name on it, which was pierced by a bullet.

Carlos was stripped naked and hung in the room. He had no family or friends, and he died peacefully. He was a petty thug who had witnessed the chaos of the lower classes; his only opportunity to connect with powerful figures became his death warrant.

He is a forgotten Colombian.

The blood-stained T-shirt was brought to Yu Qie, and Yu Qie clenched his fists as he looked at it.

(End of this chapter)