Literary Master 1983

Chapter 314 Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Carlos
"What's the matter? Exhuming the body for an autopsy takes time and requires evidence."

Carmen thought Yuche was referring to Neruda's death.

This matter is now widely recognized as a conspiracy. This occurred after the assassination attempt on Yu Che in Chile, which was subsequently thwarted by the perpetrator.

“I’m referring to Gu Hua, a Chinese writer who betrayed his nation.”

Carmen spent some time figuring out what had happened, and then she learned that there had been a writer named "Gu Hua" in the delegation led by Yu Qie, and that this person had defected.

"He's a nobody, not worth your time. I can easily find someone to kill him."

Carmen, with tears streaming down her face, looked like a Spanish woman at a fruit stand, making it hard to believe she had just said such harsh words.

Yu Qieque said: "Perhaps in the Latin American world, it is common for writers to have foreign citizenship, live abroad, and deliberately write about the wounds of their own people to make a living, so as to provoke people's curiosity and smear their compatriots...

“But I won’t allow that to happen.”

Gu Hua once wrote "Hibiscus Town," and he was fundamentally a peasant writer. If he continued to write the same kind of works in North America, Yu Qie wouldn't say anything.

However, in order to make money, he fabricated stories, claiming that everyone was persecuting him.

He's a bit too urbanized.

Historically, Gu Hua had marital problems and had an affair with his female editor. He then took advantage of a lecture trip in France to flee to Canada, where he made a fortune by writing commissioned articles. Now, Gu Hua has fled again during his visit to the United States in order to make money.

Although things turned out differently, Gu Hua made the same decision, but Yu Qie wouldn't let him be so lucky anymore.

Six months have passed. Did you think I had forgotten?
I won't let any of them go!

Looking at Yu Qie's expression, Carmen suddenly sighed, "Do you know why I believed so much in your ability to succeed?"

"Because I wrote something good?" Yu Qie said.

Carmen nodded and then shook her head: "This is just the beginning; I've discovered you're energetic and ambitious, very proud, yet sincere, and you don't allow anyone to go against your ideas..."

"Don't say you're not!" Carmen cut off Yu Qie's attempt to explain.

Then she continued, “This gives you a lot of storytelling potential because you will go to great lengths to punish others for going against you, often with a good purpose hidden beneath; but it can also be viewed from the other side, whether it’s this massacre or your decision to punish that writer, or you killing the Vietnamese... the root cause is that they didn’t listen to you at the crucial moment.”

Now, Yu Qie also felt a bit like Márquez; he got goosebumps.

Yu Qie has always possessed a certain arrogance, stemming from his knowledge of what was to come. This led to a detached indifference towards current events, people, and things. He knew Marquez was a gambler and a scoundrel, so he held no admiration for him. He knew Nie Weiping would win the championship, so unlike Cha Liangyong, he wasn't so excited as to kneel and formally become Nie Weiping's disciple when he was with the "Chess Saint"...

He knew perfectly well that Kenzaburo Oe would win the Nobel Prize and that Father Francis would become Pope, so he talked to them with great interest, forgetting that these people were now extraordinary individuals.

Because Yu Qie knew the entirety of these people's lives, he watched everything unfold with great interest, like a "god" looking at NPCs.

With just a little guidance, these people might not reach the same heights as in their previous lives, or they might even reach a higher level, which is hard not to find fascinating.

He also expressed regret over the shortcomings in history and wanted to make amends, because he knew everything and therefore he must be right; when he encountered fools who went against his good intentions, he would naturally be furious.

Others didn't know that Yu Qie was necessarily right; in their eyes, Yu Qie was simply outrageously domineering.

Why should things always go according to your ideas, and not mine?

What's infuriating is that, because of Yuqie's foresight, Yuqie always emerges victorious in the end.

So one by one they became his stepping stones.

Is this a good thing for a great writer?
Carmen, however, exclaimed, "This is wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"

She uttered the exact words Yu Qie had told Nie Weiping in Japan, which, when translated into Chinese, were almost identical: "The profession of writer is sometimes a personal miracle; you are the god of your own world!"

"He who trusts you, let him build Noah's Ark and survive!"

"Promise those who defy you the destruction of the world!"
-
The Colombian Capitol Building in mid-September.

Hundreds of lawmakers and legal professionals gathered to discuss and pass a provisional bill, named the "Yuche-Marquez Act." Its aim is to permanently track and investigate historical massacres until the truth is revealed.

Previously, the bill had a lengthy name and was attached to the country's "major infrastructure" plan. Because the country will continue to carry out infrastructure construction and land reclamation for decades to revitalize its economy, it will inevitably have to dig up a lot of ground in many places.

This is similar to how the construction of high-speed railways in later Chinese history led to a large number of archaeological discoveries.

This bill has now been specifically introduced, given the same importance as "major infrastructure," and its name has been simplified.

The new president, Barco, a civil engineering graduate, cautiously stated, "Yuche told me that forgetting history is tantamount to betraying history, but I've found that how history is defined is primarily determined by those in power. For example, massacres are history, warlord rule is history, and colonization is also history..."

"Fortunately, we now have a group of idealists who have decided to make the investigation into the massacre a top priority for uniting all of Colombia. We are Colombians because others are not Colombians; they will never understand our fate and suffering..."

Barco published a lengthy treatise of approximately eight thousand words.

Marquez and Yuche, sitting in the audience, said: "Colombia has always been a small place, unable to resist the colonial West, and unable to completely purge the warlords, because they were also our own people. Only those who committed massacres were our enemies. We became Colombians because we had such a common enemy."

Betancur is also here. Strictly speaking, he is still the president of Colombia, but he has now relinquished power. He said, "We used to have a Greater Colombia, as you mentioned in your speech. I think it was because our enemies didn't bully us badly enough, didn't suppress us severely enough, that we collapsed on our own. Greater Colombia disintegrated itself."

“We all speak Spanish and Portuguese here, and we could have been a much bigger country. Of course, that won’t happen.”

Yu said, "Then wouldn't I be involved in Colombia's national identity?"

Betancourt nodded and said, "Yes, but from now on, you are also a Colombian."

“China does not recognize dual citizenship!” Yu said.

“I asked your Ambassador Tang, and he didn’t say that. He said he wouldn’t know anything,” Betancourt laughed.

Shortly after he finished speaking, Barko invited former President Betancourt to the front of the stage, and then stepped down himself.

Applause erupted in the Capitol. Betancourt smiled and said, “This is the last thing I do as president: award a medal to a writer. In a way, he saved me, ensuring I don’t leave with regrets. I believe this won’t be his end; he will go even higher. The higher he goes, the fewer regrets I will have.”

"Some people ask me, where else can he go?"

"He has so many places to go!"

Everyone listened quietly. The cameras were focused on Betancourt and Yuche, whom he was talking about.

Bertancourt, the editor of the weekly newspaper and the translator of the Spanish version of "Getting Home," has spent most of his life as a lawyer and politician. Now, finally, on this occasion, he is showing a glimpse of his literary talent.

"Bogotá is a city built on a plateau, but friends, how small Bogotá is! From an Earthly perspective, we are just a small flat area at the foot of the Andes Mountains (the world's longest mountain range). This mountain range runs across the entire South America, with an average elevation of 3,600 meters. Its massive ridgeline can be seen even from outer space!"

"Because humanity is so insignificant in nature, even the capital city is so insignificant, only thought can reverse humanity's disadvantage, and thought can even contain the universe. Are our thoughts truly our own? What we think about are actually ready-made products of the thinking of some great people, who have given us this wisdom free of charge, and we have learned to use it."

"Like the fire that Prometheus gave us..."

He made a joke that only the Chinese-speaking world knows about.

The room grew increasingly quiet, because this involved how Bettancourt defined Yuche and why he awarded the prize to Yuche.

All that was heard was Beitankure saying:

"Only a select few in the world can engage in the most profound speculation, arriving at the most philosophical conclusions. They carve a path out of chaos. Today, all of Colombia believes that Yuche is such a person!"

"To recognize this person's tremendous contributions and to extend our best wishes to him, Colombia wants to..."

He didn't finish speaking because the entire audience erupted in applause. Some people stood up, their faces flushed, looking at Yu Qie, as well as Marquez and others.

Bertancur could only gesture for everyone to be quiet several times before finally saying, "Colombia wants to award him the 'Grand Cross of the Order of San Carlos'! Let's cheer for him!"

Yu Qie jogged up to the stage and received the medal.

It was a cross-shaped medal inlaid with gemstones and set in gold. The design wasn't complicated, and it wasn't as valuable as the gold-inlaid jade material that had shielded him from the bullet. But Yu Qie was still very happy. He shook hands with Betankur and smiled under the flashing lights of the media.

Following the "Order of the King of Thailand", he received the "Order of Saint Carlos" once again.

Many Chinese writers in later generations, despite winning some foreign literary awards, rarely amassed a large following around the world, received various honors and medals, or became guests of kings like the Western literary giants of the 20th century.

It is clear that those novels may not have truly moved anyone.

From this perspective of dissemination, Liu Cixin might just be the leading figure in Chinese literature. At the very least, this electrician has created a cool culture that is popular around the world, and he is frequently used by political and business tycoons to gain attention.

In the wake of the massacre, a group of celebrities in the Spanish-speaking world claim to have seen "2666" and witnessed a miracle. Have they really seen all of them?
Let's just assume they really did see it.

Yu Qie received the "San Carlos" Medal!
This news was featured on a Chinese program, where host Lu Jing said, "In recognition of Yuche's great contributions to Sino-Colombian relations and his foresight in the excavation of the El Dorado airport massacre, the Colombian government awarded Yuche the Grand Cross of the Order of San Carlos."

"This is the first time a writer from our country has received this Colombian medal, and it is also the first time the medal has been awarded to a foreign writer. Mr. Gabriel García Márquez, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, said, 'Yuqie is the tip of a Chinese sword, an eternally sharp angle, a nightmare for the enemy and a reliance for the friend'... We thank Mr. Márquez for his remarks."

He said he would come to China later, following Yuche's example of his trip to Colombia.

CCTV dispatched a team from the United States to Colombia for an exclusive interview with Yu Qie. News of him in Colombia comes in daily, and the public is very concerned about whether Yu Qie is injured and how serious his injury is.

And whether Yu Qie's novel will win the "American Book Critics Circle" award.

It's a bit funny, even though the Cervantes Prize, to be awarded next April, is a much bigger award than the Book Critics Circle Award, but the Chinese only have eyes for America.

Carmen is promoting Yu Qie, and she has invited some American writers to endorse his novel.

Because opposing massacres is a fundamental value, many writers are happy to participate in such events to show that they stand with the conscience of the public.

The United States still has some outstanding writers, such as the female writer Carol Oates, who is a spiritual successor to Dostoevsky, Faulkner and others. In China, she is most famous for appearing on Douban as a feminist pioneer, but in reality, she has a happy marriage and has many children.

Louise Erdrick, a stunningly beautiful white German-American, claimed to be an Indigenous female writer.

Cormac McCarthy, author of the novel that inspired the Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men, is labeled as "the only legitimate heir to Faulkner and Hemingway" and "the eternal representative of Southern and Western literature."

……

But most of them were foreign writers, from Eastern Europe, Latin America and other places. They wrote about their own nationalities, mostly about trauma. Yu Qie called these people "foreign trauma writers", and then they became thoroughly American writers.

Clearly, the American stage is not easy to navigate; everyone has their own tricks up their sleeve.

Gu Hua may have been using a path dependency approach, but his skill level was so low that he couldn't even make it work.

Carmen provided this information to Yu Qie, explaining that she did so because of its "storytelling" aspect: "The more famous a person is, the more stories they have, and your story is much stronger than theirs. You just need time."

indeed so.

Yu Qie felt as if he possessed a top-tier cultivation technique and overflowing talent in a cultivation world.

Any big shot who sees this will say: This kid must not be allowed to live!

Fortunately, Yu Qie comes from one of the world's five top schools of martial arts, so those who try to harm him will face retaliation.

In late September, Yu Qie flew back to the United States to promote his deluxe edition of "2666," while Nuclear Literature's first novel, "Metro 1," will also be released this month.

At this point, the CCTV reporter finally arrived.

Why is it so slow?
Because they brought a film crew to track Yu Qie's life in the United States in all aspects, wanting to shoot a documentary, and they also brought a letter from Zhang Li.

Is this another one of those plot points?

I was extremely poor in the United States, yet I persisted in upholding the polite and courteous traditions of the Chinese people, always repaying evil with good. I treated every American writer equally, trying to influence them with love. Meanwhile, my wife entrusted me with some money, hoping that I could maintain the purity of my heart and refuse the handouts from Americans.

A saintly Chinese writer won a major award in the American literary world. Was he also as poor and pure-hearted as a saint, disdainful of wealth, fame, and status?
NO! I want them all!
(End of this chapter)