Literary Master 1983

Chapter 375 The Two Kings of the East and West
The visit of several Nobel laureates to China is truly a grand event for the country.

Among them, Gabriel García Márquez and James Watson need no introduction. Shizuo Kakutani was a mathematician who spanned Japan and the United States and came from an artistic family with extensive connections. His arrival prompted two titans of the Japanese mathematics world, Kunihiko Kodaira and Shigefumi Mori, to visit China.

Both of them are Fields Medal winners, which is equivalent to the Nobel Prize in mathematics.

Following closely behind, another group of mathematical teams from Germany and France prepared to visit China, and other leading figures from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory also declared, "I am willing to come to China to see for myself"... Like dominoes, once one falls, the others follow suit.

They believe that if even a complete villain like James Watson, a moral criminal, can be treated with courtesy by the Chinese, then the exaggerated negative propaganda circulating in the rumors has likely been greatly demonized.

This is a safe place, no different from anywhere else. And Chinese people are very studious.

Xinhua News Agency wrote in its press releases over several days: "Although we have never welcomed so many international scholars before, we are well prepared for this."

"Why are they willing to come to China? Yu Qie should have something to say. They are all new friends Yu Qie has made, and they will also be friends of the Chinese people."

James Watson: East Asians (Chinese) are the smartest people in the world, and I believe they can achieve modernization because they have the talent and potential to do so.

"Gabriel García Márquez: China is bigger and more beautiful than I thought! I don't want to say there is hope here, because there is hope here."

There were so many reports about these academic luminaries that it was impossible to keep up for a while.

However, readers paid more attention to the scene where Yu Qie shed tears.

This was a scene almost unseen in the past. Yu Qie actually shed tears. He had always given people the impression of being as resolute as a warrior in a magazine, sometimes even seeming "fake"... But when Yu Qie leaned against the airplane window and shed tears for the elementary school students in Beijing, this moment touched the hearts of many readers.

This did not make them feel that Yu Qie was weak. On the contrary, many people shed tears because of Yu Qie's tears!
The Daily and Guangming Daily followed up with several in-depth reports, reviewing the past development of literature.

"Since Yu Qie won the Akutagawa Prize, the voice of Chinese writers suddenly appeared on the stage of the developed world. Now, two years later, although Yu Qie still goes the furthest and achieves the highest honors, we have seen Wang Meng win an Italian literary prize, writer Jia Pingtu win the Mobil Pegasus Prize for Literature, and his novel has also been translated into English; poet Jiang Haicheng won the French Order of Arts and Letters in the same year, and Shen Congwen was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. In Sweden and France, a Shen Congwen craze has emerged..."

"The Taiwanese literary magazine *United Literature* has, for the first time in its history, serialized three mainland novels by Guan Moye, Wang Shuo, and Wang Xiaobo! And look at Hong Kong's *Ming Pao* and *Oriental Times*... They also exist in overseas Chinese communities, in Malaysia and Thailand, wherever there are Chinese people, they all recite my poems..."

"...Princess Sirindhorn expressed her best wishes to Yu Chee and was delighted with the achievements of Chinese literature. 'Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots' was translated into Thai in her hands, marking her seventh translation of Yu Chee's work. She said she could continue to work hard."

"We are moving towards the world. This is unstoppable. Standing in the ninth year since the reform and opening up, we have seen earth-shaking changes, which are more obviously reflected in the liberation of people's minds and in the flourishing of words."

On the campus of Yenching University, Lu Buxuan and others enjoyed free pork ribs again.

All that could be seen were students who had just entered, running and shouting:
"Extra number! Extra number!"

I wish I could run around the entire cafeteria a few times!

Cheng Guoping stopped the man and asked, "Extraordinary, what's the matter, classmate?"

"Senior Brother Yu is crying!" the man said.

Lu Buxuan flew into a rage and stood up abruptly!
"How could you say such a thing about Senior Brother Yu? He has never shed a tear, only blood and sweat! Stop slandering him!"

The short Lu Buxuan actually wanted to beat up the messenger.

The man immediately said, "You've misunderstood me. Senior Brother Yu really cried this time! He cried for the child."

"Could you bring me the newspaper to read?" the poet Chu Fujun asked.

"Of course. Seven cents."

"Isn't the Daily News always five cents? Why are you raising the price arbitrarily?"

“I queued up to get it, but you can’t buy it now. If you don’t want to, you can try again later, right? I’m not forcing you.”

What a reason!
Isn't it a wonderful thing for Yenching University students to borrow books from each other? Why is it so materialistic?

Just as Cheng Guoping and Chu Fujun were about to start arguing, Lu Buxuan pulled out the seven cents. "Take this, and give me the newspaper."

"okay!"

Lu Buxuan, forgetting about eating, immediately looked at the front page of the Daily News, where he saw a photo of Yu Qie with tears in his eyes! He felt his heart tremble. Looking further, he saw that more than two thousand students from major middle and high schools in Beijing were forming a large sign that read "China Welcomes You" in support of the Nobel laureate.

Who exactly are we welcoming?
It doesn't necessarily mean Yuqie.

However, the report also stated that these two thousand people were all students who had undergone the "Spring Rain Action" vaccination program, which undoubtedly made "China welcomes you" a message from the motherland.

Based on the incidence rate of polio, if these people are not vaccinated, one or two will contract the disease. This would mean one or two empty spaces in the 2,000-person formation.

So Yu shed tears again after getting off the plane, saying, "We can't lose a single one of our people."

Lu Buxuan felt his vision blur and tears welled up in his eyes. "The best thing I've done in the last year or two was reading Yu Qie's novel. I truly believe that literature can have some purpose, and that it's not just some worthless writing for oneself."

"It makes beauty even better and adds a ray of light to the darkness."

Upon hearing this, Chu Fujun couldn't help but laugh and said, "Lu Buxuan, you can already write poetry. Although you've failed at writing novels recently, you might be able to write poetry."

What's the point of writing poetry?

“Writing poetry is easy, writing modern poetry is even easier. Recently, innovation has become popular. It doesn’t need to rhyme, it doesn’t need imagery, and it can even lack aesthetic appeal… As long as you make a name for yourself, readers can figure out the meaning from those strange words.”

"I'd rather not." Lu Buxuan chuckled a few times, unwilling to humiliate himself.

Since he first encountered Yu Qie's novels in March, four months have passed, and Lu Buxuan has already finished reading them all. He tried to become a novelist, but all his attempts were unsuccessful, rejected, and ignored.

Lu Buxuan's passion for literary creation quickly faded, but he still had feelings for literature.

Forced by circumstances, he has returned to being a middleman, a situation that Lu Buxuan feels deeply guilty about. The fact that Teresa Teng's concert ultimately didn't happen actually saved Lu Buxuan from a loss, as he indirectly made money from Yu Qie.

Yu Qie seemed unchanged as a person; he was still the same middleman doing business. But only he knew in his heart that he had been completely transformed. Literature also requires talent; you really can't force unrelated people to create.

"Is my connection with literature really over?" Lu Buxuan sighed deeply.

Cheng Guoping gave him an idea.

"Actually, many literary awards are organized by wealthy people. For example, the Prince of Asturias Prize that my senior brother Yu received was sponsored by the royal family; and look at Jia Pingtu's Pegasus Prize, which is a charitable award established by Standard Oil..."

"Wait a minute!" Chu Fujun's eyes widened. "I thought what the Daily News said was true! It turns out that Jia Pingtu's award can't compare to Senior Brother Yu's award at all? But the newspaper makes it sound like they're equally important..."

Cheng Guoping waved his hand and said, "Sigh! There aren't many people who win big prizes to begin with! And you can't expect everyone to be like Senior Brother Yu, can you? Jia Pingtu has brought some glory to the country. Even a little light is still light."

“But…” Chu Fujun muttered.

"Let's go back to those literary awards! You can see that although these high-ranking officials and nobles don't have the ability to create, they are still an indispensable part of literature. They use this method to get close to literature and develop it..."

The conversation went into great depth.

As a recognized "expert in Yu Studies," Cheng Guoping had a thorough understanding of the significance of domestic and international awards, and many people at that time were completely unaware of these inside stories.

A group of people gradually gathered around the small table where the three of them were eating, and everyone listened with great interest.

It turns out there are differences between awards, even greater than the differences between people and dogs!
Chu Fujun then asked whether domestic awards such as the Mao Dun Literature Prize were funded by businessmen.
Cheng Guoping replied no, but said he was unsure about the future.

He said that the sponsorship of literature is an inevitable trend.

Because literature is a typical public good, meaning that if a dozen or so people create novels, enough for hundreds of millions of people to read, then a few people can make a fortune. However, there are at least several million writers here, and most of them are starving and living in extreme poverty.

"Even among top writers, there is a huge gap in their ability to generate revenue. We see many internationally renowned writers who have never been particularly wealthy in their lives, and they also have many extravagant habits... People like Brother Yu are rare."

"And look at the Cervantes Prize! It's just a way to make a name for yourself. Cervantes lived during the Ming Dynasty, so he should have been forgotten long ago. But the Spanish are spending money to commemorate this great writer, and gradually Cervantes has been remembered by the rest of the world."

……

Lu Buxuan listened quietly to their conversation, his heart surging with emotion.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind.

I'd like to establish a "Yuqie Award"!
Someday in the future, many years later.

Although I will never be able to write anything useful, I can at least participate in literature indirectly.

He shared this idea with his friends, who were both shocked, but instead of mocking him, they simply asked, "Where does your money come from?"

"Leaving aside those international awards worth tens of thousands of dollars, let's just talk about the Mao Dun Literature Prize in China! This prize is thanks to the 250,000 yuan in royalties donated by Mr. Mao Dun. The first and second winners received 3,000 yuan each, and I heard that it will be increased to 5,000 yuan next year!"

Cheng Guoping did the math and said, "Look, do you think Yu Qie is inferior to Mr. Mao Dun? You don't. So you need to donate far more than 250,000 yuan, otherwise the prize money of the 'Yu Qie Award' will be inferior to the Mao Dun Award, and you will end up damaging Yu Qie's reputation!"

"Because in the public's eyes, Yu Qie is far inferior to Mao Dun. It's like the Cervantes Prize for Literature is far inferior to the Nobel Prize in Literature, because the prize money is vastly different! Cervantes' prize is worth $100,000, while the Nobel Prize is worth a million dollars!"

"But only those of us in the industry know that there isn't that much difference between them! But who can blame them when Nobel is rich? And who can blame them when the Swedish royal family is willing to sponsor him? That's a million dollars! Nobel has become a god, and his fame is far greater than his achievements."

Lu Buxuan thought to himself, "So sponsoring literature is really expensive!"

No wonder it's all high-ranking officials and wealthy people who do this; how could ordinary people afford it?
Literature is so expensive!

But Lu Buxuan still refused to give up. He said, "I heard that a tycoon with tens of millions of yuan came from Yu Qie's hometown. He's also a fan of Yu Qie's books. He made his fortune in just a few years as a reseller. Who knows, maybe he will in the future! Who knows!"

"I'm just afraid that although I graduated with a degree in Chinese literature, all I've learned is how to butcher pigs. I'm afraid that one day when I finally make money, Teacher Yu will think that I'm not of high status and won't want my money."

Cheng Guoping and Chu Fujun exchanged a glance and said, "You're a butcher in the literature department! We're really worried about the others, but Professor Yu wouldn't be like that. He's only happy that you made money. But you have to make sure that money is clean."

It must be clean!
"I won't be a middleman forever."

Lu Buxuan put down the newspaper, carefully tore off this page, and declared: "Today is the day I reconnect with literature. I have to leave it temporarily so that I can embrace it in the future. Even if others don't remember me as a pig butcher from Yanda University, but remember the Yuqie Award, I will be content. I didn't study in the Chinese Department for nothing!"

At this point, Lu Buxuan couldn't help but choke up.
-
“Yu Qie, the scenery of the capital is beautiful. The Great Wall is long and the Forbidden City is magnificent, but my heart is filled with Wanxian, the place where you once lived.”

"Carmen asked me to tell you this. She was also a child from the streets of Barcelona, ​​and she came from a poor background. You were once like siblings, from the same social class. Don't keep me waiting any longer. I hope to see you completely reconcile."

"Llosa and I have already reached an agreement. Alien, you'll get the top spot in the class, and you'll be the leader! I understand, you want to be the Pope? Rome had two emperors, East and West. From now on, you'll be the Pope of the Eastern Hemisphere, and Carmen will be the Pope of the Western Hemisphere. In our literary kingdom, everything can be negotiated..."

In July, Márquez sent several letters to Yuche.

He also seemed to have picked up the peculiar habit of older generations of Chinese writers, enjoying writing letters. Ma Shitu, Ba Jin, and their group loved writing letters and exchanging calligraphy. When Márquez visited Ba Jin in Shanghai, Ba Jin presented him with a calligraphy scroll that read "May the friendship between China and Colombia last forever."

And he said, "If you don't write letters, how will others know that you've done these things in the future?"

Marquez then became obsessed with writing letters. He was genuinely worried about being forgotten, and his doctor had also advised him to write down everything about himself so as not to forget it all.

Yu Qie received several letters from Márquez, and couldn't help but chuckle after reading them.

This old man.

These days it's Zhang Li's turn to take the college entrance exam. Yu Qie rode his bike to take her to the exam. She didn't talk much when she came back for the first two days, but when she came back on the third day, Zhang Li was both nervous and excited.

I was nervous and my performance was mediocre. I forgot many of the questions on the exam and could only write down what I could.

What's exciting is that the political exam did indeed include a question that Yu Qie had previously covered, and the essay topic was also related to Yu Qie.

(End of this chapter)