Literary Master 1983

Chapter 372 Recruitment
It's also interesting that they recruited Nobel laureate James Watson.

Watson is the father of DNA and the advocate and implementer of the “International Human Genome Project”. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which he leads, is located on Long Island, New York.

This laboratory can be described as a superpower in the biological world, producing five Nobel laureates in later generations, much like the literary superpower led by Carmen (also five).

Yenching University's biology department was exceptionally strong in China, but compared to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at that time, it was insignificant.

President Ding Leisun called Yu Qie and said, "That Human Genome Project... it's a major scientific research project that we need to focus on and participate in, but our biological foundation is weak, we lack talent, and we lack equipment... The world's major powers have joined forces to decipher the genetic code of the human body, with the United States accounting for 54% and the United Kingdom accounting for 33%..."

"And what about China?" Ding Lei asked regretfully. "We only have one percent."

"Does this mean they look down on us? No! This is our level. One Watson and one Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are stronger than the entire Yenching University and the entire country combined!"

Watson is the uncrowned king of the biological world, but such a person is also very friendly to Yu Qie.

Through Harper's mediation, Yu Qie met Watson at a national textbook-related event. Several professors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who were visiting the United States happened to be there and struck up a conversation with him.

The professors couldn't help but look on with awe and reverence.

Yu Qie went straight over and said, "Professors...may I join the discussion?"

Watson smiled when he saw it was him: "You're that Yu? The one who wrote 'Happy Hunting'?"

“It’s me.” Yu Qie nodded. “In America, when people talk about me, they usually refer to either Columbia or Metro. You’re the first one to mention Happy Hunting.”

Watson said, "With all due respect, while Metro is imaginative, it has many illogical points... For example, you think that Native Americans and ancient Chinese are the same kind of people. Gene sequencing hasn't even started yet, but I'm pretty confident that the two are different."

“Your entire novel is wrong,” Watson said arrogantly.

Yu Qie certainly knew about this.

Momadi has always mistaken his father for someone else, but perhaps he doesn't care.

The deciphering of the human genome has uncovered many earth-shattering facts: for example, nomadic peoples were Han Chinese who were driven out of the Central Plains; there are super-families in East Asia with descendants numbering in the tens of millions; the paternal lineage of China is relatively simple, while the maternal lineage is much more complex... This suggests that the people of the Central Plains in history launched attacks everywhere and used the most ruthless methods to exterminate other races, leaving only women behind.

Furthermore, Japan is not a single-ethnic nation, but a multi-ethnic country; the Egyptians have been replaced; the Turks are essentially Greeks... and so on.

Internationally, this proves one thing: historically, humans did indeed originate from Africa, and we all share a common ancestor.

Historians never understood this matter until biologists and geologists finally figured it out.

Yu Qie asked, "Then why do you like 'Happy Hunting'?"

"Because East Asians are smart, they can be more Western than Westerners, using Western weapons to defeat the West... and become the beautiful steel fox in your book! But it's not necessarily the case in other places."

Yu Qie paused for a moment, then said, "This seems to involve a bit of prejudice..."

"bias?"

Watson laughed. “You want to say I’m racist? This isn’t discrimination, it’s a fact. East Asians generally have higher IQs, followed by whites, and people from South Asia, some island jungles in Oceania, and Africa… are indeed unable to receive modern education.”

"This has nothing to do with any system or tool; it's purely a matter of intellectual incompetence. They can't do any complex mental work, so how can you expect them to modernize?"

Yu Qie finally understood just how outrageous Watson was.

He looked around, unusually frightened.

Research on racial intelligence has always been a taboo subject in the scientific community; it can only be conducted discreetly and cannot be discussed publicly. It is also a taboo subject in the social sciences, a topic that cannot be touched.

"I actually came to invite you to visit China, Mr. Watson. It may not be appropriate to discuss such topics in the United States."

“China? I’ll go there.” Watson agreed immediately.

After that, Watson got Yu Qie's contact information, and he would ask Yu Qie every now and then, "When are you going to China?"

"This month."

“I can’t wait, Yu. I think it’s an excellent case study and a new breakthrough in my career.”

Yu Qie was puzzled as to why Watson was so eager to use technology to alleviate poverty.

Is he also a communist sympathizer?

It turns out that James Watson was a man with an insatiable thirst for fame. Like a capitalist craving capital appreciation, he never felt he had too much fame.

Moreover, Watson does things entirely according to his own preferences. In order to convince more people of his words, Watson is revising his popular science textbook "The Double Helix," in which he wants to add more examples from the 1980s to make his popular science articles more popular.

He and Yu Qie also worked together at Harper.

These days, a must-read book for biology students across the United States is "The Double Helix," while many literature students, especially those majoring in Spanish, have turned to the more fashionable "2666."

Watson has written many books, with *The Double Helix* being one he wrote in the 1960s. In this book, Watson disparaged many of the elites he worked with and boasted extensively about himself. He also included numerous gossipy anecdotes about his womanizing, shattering his image as a scientific luminary.

However, thanks to Watson's strong appeal in the biological world, many die-hard fans believe that his "Double Helix" deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Yes, Watson certainly thought so. Therefore, he considered himself a serious literary writer, not without humor, who exposed the hypocritical truths of the biological world; he and Yu Qie were of the same kind.

"You and I are the same kind of people. Yu, do you know when I made my Nobel Prize-winning discovery?"

"I do not know."

"I was twenty-five. But I didn't get that damn Nobel Prize until I was in my thirties. I always felt that I got it when I was twenty-five, and at that time I had already surpassed many people in this world."

"You're amazing, Professor Watson."

Watson was delighted by Yu Qie's flattery, even though he knew it was just polite talk. "You too, I wish you a speedy Nobel Prize win."

No one present thought his words were excessive.
-
“Scientists are so diverse. If I hadn’t been with you, I would never have known that Watson was such a person,” said Shao Qi of Xinhua News Agency.

Yu said, “You don’t think scientists are gods, do you? They have emotions and desires. In fact, many of them are probably not as good as ordinary people. They rarely suffer setbacks and may not even have a sense of right and wrong because their research is always breaking through past taboos.”

Among the many reporters, only Shao Qi followed Yu Qie completely. She didn't miss any of Yu Qie's news.

It was discovered that he frequently traveled to and from Paris, while Liu Xiangcheng had recently gone to Eastern Europe.

"What was Liu Xiangcheng doing in Eastern Europe? Was he there to film Gorbachev again?"

Shao Qi nodded: "Liu Xiangcheng is an expert on Eastern Europe, where some turmoil is happening, and Mr. Gorbachev is also writing a book recently."

What book should I write? That groundbreaking "Reform and New Thinking"?
"He writes books too!" Yu Qie was speechless. "Why is everyone suddenly writing books? Is being a writer a profession that anyone can pursue?"

Shao Qi couldn't help but laugh: "Teacher Yu only allows officials to set fires, but forbids ordinary people to light lamps!"

"He's the president, and I'm nothing..."

“In literature, you are a much bigger figure than him.”

"Enough, enough," Yu Qie waved his hand and said, "If you keep talking, I'll become so arrogant I'll lose my bearings."

These words made the comrades from Xinhua Society laugh.

Although Teacher Yu has been dealing with old men a lot lately, he is still a young man after all.

Unlike his last trip to the United States, when Yu Qie was practically a paragon of virtue, this year, after getting to know them better, he became more and more like a college student. In June, the NBA Finals were being held in Boston, with the Celtics and Lakers battling it out, and the American media was hyping up the "Magic vs. Bird" rivalry... Yu Qie was also moved by this.

He rented a car, got some tickets for them, and drove over 300 kilometers from New York to Boston to watch the NBA Finals.

Along the way, Yu Qie said emphatically, "That's what great writers, scientists... those people do. They always watch sports, play cards, chat, and then do the right thing at the right time."

"Does Mr. Yang Zhenning do this too?" A young man curiously reached out his hand to feel the wind blowing from the convertible.

“Yang Zhenning! Mr. Yang Zhenning is even more adventurous than me! He, Li Zhengdao, and two other classmates bought a used Chevrolet, started from Chicago, and drove across the entire United States, covering more than 10,000 kilometers!”

"Ah!" The reporters were all shocked, imagining the scene in their minds.

More than 10,000 kilometers, enough to travel all the way around China. Such a long distance, and not for any particular reason, just for fun, for a drive.

What a sin!
Could a groundbreaking discovery in physics possibly have anything to do with driving 10,000 kilometers?

Yu Qie saw through their little scheme and smiled, "The reason we work so hard in our jobs today is so that our children can live this kind of life. If we have the capacity, we should also let other people's children live this kind of life."

Shao Qi suddenly felt that she had finally seen Yu Qie's ordinary side.

She asked earnestly, "Is this why you do charity? People say you are the number one philanthropist in China."

“No!” Yu Qie said solemnly, “This is not a gift from me, but my duty! I am a writer who has been supported by my compatriots, and I can never betray them.”

"The more I do, the more likely I am to have a positive impact, and that is my true honor."

The fourth game at Boston Garden was a classic, with the score fluctuating throughout.

This made Yu Qie exclaim with great satisfaction.

Watching the game from the front row is a completely different experience. These players all have explosive physical abilities, even more exaggerated than Yu Qie. Their feet slam into the ground like hammers, you're afraid the floor will collapse under their weight.

In the final quarter, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle. With 12 seconds left in the game, Celtics player Larry Bird hit a crucial three-pointer, giving the Celtics the lead over the Lakers.

With 7 seconds left in the game, Lakers' Magic Johnson received the ball and, despite being triple-teamed, executed a crucial skyhook to secure the victory for the Lakers.

The Garden Arena was deathly silent for a moment before erupting into a cacophony of curses and cries… Celtics player Larry Bird stood frozen in place, unable to accept that he had lost a crucial game at home.

Then, a disappointed Bird covered his face and cried as he walked toward the players' tunnel, only to hear Yu Qie's voice.

"Failure is not terrible; what is terrible is the inability to face it."

He looked at the Chinese writer with whom he had once unexpectedly collaborated.

Just last year, thanks to the matchmaking efforts of Harper and NBA Commissioner Stern, the author and Bird had a remarkable meeting. Because both were winners and both lived in Boston, they came together.

At that time, Yu was a sensation across the United States, and a year later, he continued to win.

The Cervantes Prize is a literary prize that even Bird knew about.

Generally speaking, Americans are quite arrogant and don't care about news outside the United States, but the Cervantes Prize has been hyped up so much, and Yu Qielian has won several Spanish-language awards—Harper has been pushing it so hard that it's hard for you not to know about it.

It seems there are no undefeated champions in sports, but such things happen in literature.

Bird extended his hand to Yu Qie and said, "Congratulations, you did what I couldn't do in this match. I hope I can be as good a shot as you and hit my enemies every time."

Yu Qie didn't say much, but went along with it, saying, "You definitely will. I give you my blessing."

He suddenly pretended to be a charlatan, but the funny thing is, Yu Qie did do some really legendary things, and that's where the humor lies.

Bird smiled and said solemnly, "If someone as important as you is also a fan of mine, I certainly won't let you down."

After watching this match, Yu Qie didn't have much to do in the US.

He drove back to New York, then detoured to Washington, D.C., where he found a brand-new American Rolls-Royce—a Cadillac Eldorado—under his temporary residence. Its exterior alone exuded luxury: a two-tone body, chrome trim along the sides, and a handwritten emblem on the C-pillar…all showcasing the car's sophisticated style.

The car was a gift from Wang An's son, Wang Lie.

He saw the news about Yu Qie driving.

Since the beginning of this year, Wang An's condition has continued to deteriorate, and he is nearing the end of his life. His company was leaderless and on the verge of collapse, but Wang An's computer joint venture in Shanghai unexpectedly saved his family.

Shanghai workers, using extremely low labor costs, managed to lift Wang An's family up. While Wang An's company's technology was becoming outdated, its unparalleled low costs meant its products still offered excellent value for money.

However, the US government is quite sensitive about the export of "high-end technology" to China, even a simple assembly line. Wang Lie has had to lobby the government in Washington for a long time.

"Teacher Yu, how much does this car cost?" Shao Qi couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know. We only have this car for five minutes."

"Why?" Everyone was stunned.

"Because I plan to donate this car to the embassy, ​​and it's only a five-minute walk from the embassy."

"What's the point of donating?"

"Because Wang An's cooperation with the mainland is a win-win situation. When he returned to China, he donated a computer room to a middle school in Shanghai. There were only a few computers in the entire city of Shanghai... So many Shanghai leaders accompanied him for those few computers and the production line! He directly gave me a luxury car. What will others think of me?"

Yu paused for a moment, then said, "So this car wasn't a gift from Wang An, it should be from his son, Wang Lie."

(End of this chapter)