Literary Master 1983

Chapter 382 Luxury Car
It turns out that Watson's series of praises of intelligence after his visit to China rekindled the public's desire for "child prodigies".

Intelligence has been elevated to an unprecedented level, and the publishing industry, naturally, has catered to this trend, compiling "Professor Watson's Picks" intelligence tests. Most of these tests lack real scientific value but offer significant emotional benefits.

Because test takers often score high marks, they believe they are highly intelligent geniuses.

The next day, Yu Qie went to the bookstores in Dengshikou and Xidan and bought several books and a set of this year's exam papers.

The exam papers are handwritten "cam versions" based on the recollections of high school graduates, and can be used to estimate scores. Traditionally, after the college entrance examination, the test-setting team will provide a simplified answer key the following year. Of course, students cannot wait for the official answer key, so they will write down the questions from memory some time after the exam and find experts to solve them as "reference answers".

Those books are all "intelligence test questions" published in the last two months. They cover a wide range of topics, including tests of common sense and a lot of simple calculations.

All I could see was the name "Watson" on the top of these test questions. Some were even authored by "James Watson," and the book jacket even stated "A work by 1962 Nobel laureate Watson."

Look at the photo above—isn't that American movie star Marlon Brando?

Broad shoulders, slicked-back hair, wearing a well-tailored suit, and a wide chin...

This is the actor who played the Godfather!
Watson doesn't look like that at all. He's skinny and has no luck with women. He dreams of looking like the Godfather.

Yu Qie randomly picked a set of questions to take and found that he actually got a perfect score.

That's impossible, of course.

Wouldn't Yu Qie be the smartest person in human history? The reason he got a perfect score is because the test paper could only have that many points.

If he could get 300 or 400 points, wouldn't he be able to surpass Einstein and the most intelligent human being in the last world, the German writer Goethe?

There's something wrong with this question!
He went back and gave the test papers to Zhang Li to do, while he himself was responsible for doing this year's college entrance examination math and English papers.

Two hours later, the two graded each other's papers. They both received high marks.

Zhang Li's IQ score is over 150, making her undoubtedly a genius. But it's clear she couldn't possibly have such a high score.

Yu Qie said, "This question is too easy. I've done test papers made by James Watson, and they're much harder than this."

Zhang Li said, "The questions on this list involve pictures, logic, vocabulary... there must be a method to them, they can't just be made up. But they are indeed too easy, I don't believe I'm that smart!"

It's neither fabricated nor exactly as advertised...

Yu Qie slapped his thigh and suddenly understood: the test papers on the market are for preschoolers, and even middle school and primary school students no longer use them.

Intelligence tests are divided into different groups of questions based on different age groups, namely adult group, children's group and preschool group.

Because a person's vocabulary and logical reasoning abilities improve significantly during development, any adult placed in a preschool group would be considered a prodigy among prodigies.

The same principle applies to these questions.

Next, Zhang Li graded her own score based on the answers to the test paper that Yu Qie had prepared.

All I saw was her writing down her lost points on the paper, carefully assigning scores, and finally letting out a soft exclamation after calculating the total!
"what happened?"

Zhang Li looked up and said angrily, "I did better than expected in both math and English! I think I underestimated them."

Zhang Li applied to the Broadcasting and Television Academy, which later became the Communication University of China. She is good at socializing, and now that her husband is a prominent figure in the cultural field, it's natural for her to apply in that direction.

"You applied to the journalism department, right?"

"Yes. The Broadcasting and Television Academy doesn't have many top-tier majors, but the Journalism Department offers a wide range of employment opportunities. Graduates can work in newspapers, media, or start their own companies."

Zhang Li said with distress, "I applied to a lower-ranked school... If I had known, I should have aimed for a better one."

She was quite upset and stood up, pacing around the room. She slumped miserably in her chair, looking up at Yu Qie as if she had lost a fortune.

Yu Qie pinched Zhang Li's cheek, but his mind was on something else:
Zhang Li applied to the journalism department and will work in the cultural field in the future... Isn't she following in Chen Xiaoxu's footsteps? What will Chen Xiaoxu do in the future?

In the original timeline, Zhang Li was a successful real estate businesswoman, while Chen Xiaoxu was a media tycoon.

Alas, never mind.

I have already changed many things.

During this period, students applied for universities before the exam, so they tended to play it safe. Often, students with scores high enough to get into top universities ended up going to second- or third-tier schools.

Those who don't seek stability, like Yu Qie before them, repeat the same grades every year.

Yu Qie then comforted her, saying, "The Open University is also good; many people from CCTV study there. It's not about which school is the best, but whether it aligns with your aspirations."

“But…” Zhang Li was quite sad. “My ambition is to do business! It’s just that I want to do business in the cultural field… If I had known that my grades could be so much better, I would have applied to the School of Finance and Banking, or even tried for Renmin University.”

This is also true.

Slow!

Yu Qie suddenly remembered that in two years, the Broadcasting Institute would be able to establish a new independent department—Advertising. Historically, the Advertising Department of the Broadcasting Institute had been very prestigious, producing a number of well-known figures in the media field.

The later director of CCTV, the president of Phoenix TV... all these outstanding figures from the 1990s onwards came from this advertising department.

Although the Advertising Department of the Broadcasting and Television Academy was not established early, it developed rapidly due to its location in Beijing. In the year the Advertising Department was established, many candidates were unwilling to apply, resulting in low admission scores. Soon it became the most popular major, ranking first in the number of students transferring in for several years.

Thinking of this, Yu said, "The school you applied to has great potential. Don't underestimate your future alma mater."

Hearing the seriousness in Yu Qie's tone, Zhang Li stopped complaining and said, "I've been feeling anxious and insecure lately. I don't know why, sometimes I feel like I'm not myself."

Feeling anxious?
Now that I'm going to study and pass the exam, I won't have to worry about my future expenses, so what's there to be anxious about?
"I think you need to study more. Once you relax, you feel uncomfortable all over."

As it happened, the table was covered with unfinished test questions. Yu Qie said, "Let's go somewhere else and check your study progress properly."

"Investigate again? Investigate again?" Zhang Li couldn't persuade him, and soon, the sounds of one responding to the other echoed from the large rosewood bed.

All that could be heard was Yu Qie saying:

"There is a family of five who need to cross a log bridge at night. They only have one lamp, which can only be used for thirty seconds, and they all need to cross the bridge! The crossing time for the five people is as follows..."

"Brother Yu, please...please stop testing me. Turn off the lights. Turn...turn off the lights..."

"Why do you want the lights off? I can't see the words clearly."

"Do you keep the lights on even in broad daylight?"

"It only feels right when the lights are on during the day."
-
In late August, Yu Qie's novel "The Village Teacher" became increasingly popular.

This novel is available in both Chinese and English and received positive feedback after its publication in the United States.

Clark had questioned the relationship between Watson and Yu, but now James Watson is showing off his manuscript from "The Rural Teacher" everywhere, claiming: "Yu and I have reached a consensus on the issue of rural education in China, and we have a very good relationship."

He spoke from a patriotic perspective, while I spoke from a pragmatic perspective—the Chinese are indeed more intelligent.

In a way, this is similar to the values ​​embodied in *Metro*. Before the question of human continuation, everything else is trivial. But this story isn't as brutal as *Metro*.

As a short story addressing rural education, Yu Qie embodies a fairytale-like warmth.

In his commentary, Li Duo of Beijing Literature believes that Yu Qie has returned to his former glory: "After winning the Cervantes Prize and studying in Europe and America for several months, Yu Qie has entered a new creative period."

"It is conceivable that he will experience another surge in his output afterward. Writers often need to be in a good state to write good articles, and the Cervantes Prize has inspired Yu Qie's ambition."

Given that few people in China criticize Yu Qie anymore, or raise objections to some of his articles.

Therefore, much of this creative impulse stems from Yu Qie's own "dissatisfaction," as he constantly sets new goals for himself.

Historically, many writers have been greatly influenced by external factors.

For example, in the 1930s, Lu Xun encountered the Great Depression that affected the whole world, which made him feel that making a living was quite difficult. He wrote five or six manuscripts, but they were all blocked and he did not receive a penny. Lu Xun was exhausted and had no mood to write novels.

Mao Dun, who lived next door, had a better grasp of theoretical concepts and was also good at stock trading. He enthusiastically wrote about the dire situation of the Shanghai stock market during the Great Depression, pointing out that red represented hope. Lu Xun, on the other hand, had never systematically studied this kind of theory, and could only constantly complain in his diary.

Despite this, Lu Xun still maintained a refined lifestyle, which was entirely "middle-class." Xu Guangping frankly stated in her memoirs that he spent a considerable amount of money on books and was very generous; when he went to watch movies at the Xinguang Grand Theater, he always went to the "flower brothel."

This means that Lu Xun paid several times the price just to sit in the best seat when watching a movie.

When Lu Xun was unable to receive his royalties, he had to translate more than twenty foreign works within a year or two to earn this risk-free quick money. This greatly reduced the time he could spend thinking, which prevented him from making any significant achievements in the field of novel writing.

Yu Qie pays close attention to this matter; he is never held hostage by royalties. Compared to his extremely high income, he is by no means extravagant in his lifestyle.

At the end of August, Zhang Li's long-awaited university admission letter arrived on Gulou Street, and she was overjoyed. To celebrate his wife's admission to university and her becoming a proper intellectual, Yu Qie bought a Santana for the family ahead of schedule.

The Yu family will soon have a four-wheeled vehicle.

The car was obtained through a friend named Ai Feng, an editor at the Economic Daily. Ai Feng was a well-known car enthusiast in the arts and literature circles and had supported the privatization of cars throughout his life.

At that time, the mainland market was filled with a batch of Soviet-made cars, and the better ones were Citroën and Japanese cars. The Santana stood out from the crowd and was very popular with businessmen and local governments. It was almost impossible to buy it at the original price.

When the Santana arrived at Yu Qie's house, Zhang Li came out to see it. She saw the car parked at the alley entrance, its lines sharp and its paint a matte black. It was both mysterious and domineering.

Zhang Li was about to ask: Whose car is this?

Yu Qie gestured for Zhang Li to come closer and joked, "This is my car, but ultimately, it's also your car, Zhang Li."

Zhang Li exclaimed excitedly on the spot.

"Who wouldn't be excited!" Ai Feng jumped out of the car and said, "Look, Professor Yu, you've got your Santana! There are so many foreign cars in Beijing, but only the Santana is a real car. It's a truly good car!"

"What's so good about it?" Yu Qie asked.

"Fortunately, it's almost entirely an imported car, with 95% of its parts imported from Germany. Driving this car is no different from being in the United States or Germany!"

As Ai Feng spoke, he couldn't help but circle around the Santana: "Maybe you've seen too much in America and Europe and don't think much of it, but even local officials would want one of these cars! And this is a fully imported Santana!"

"After the Santana was introduced to Shanghai, although the localization process went smoothly, it has to be said that more and more minor problems arose. As a result, the 87 Santana was not as good as the batch that came in 83... Collecting cars is popular abroad. If you collect this car well and take good care of it, its value might increase in the future! This is a rare find!"

Yu Qie, after all, was a person from later generations and was used to seeing nice cars.

No matter how much Ai Feng said, he didn't find it particularly surprising.

Ultimately, the Santana is an ordinary car. It only achieved its glory in a special era.

Seeing this, Ai Feng revealed an inside story to him: there is actually a batch of genuine luxury cars in Shanghai, Audi 100s. This model was only launched in Germany five years ago, and its body structure is made of lightweight materials, resulting in an extremely low drag coefficient. It is a true world-class luxury car.

There are probably two or three hundred of them nationwide.

Yu Qie was startled: Audi has entered the Chinese market so early?
Isn't Audi manufactured by FAW?
Sigh~ This Audi is not that Audi! But it is definitely an Audi!
Ai Feng shook his head and then revealed new information: SAIC has produced about two to three hundred Audi 100s using the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) method. These cars have Santana-style door handles and the rear of the car has the "Shanghai Volkswagen" logo.

Although it's not a 100% Audi 100, apart from the door handles and the logo, it's practically the same car.

Yu Qie was puzzled: "According to what you said, this kind of car is probably being hyped up to an astronomical price. What's the point of telling me this? I won't spend a lot of money to buy something that's obviously being hyped up."

Ai Feng said, "You wrote 'Da Sa Ba,' and the background of your story is the cooperation between the Volkswagen Group and the Chinese government. They have always been grateful to you for writing such a story... You portrayed Volkswagen car owners as loyal and lucky Chinese men like Gu Yan."

"If you want it, I think they'll definitely give it to you. Watson was willing to speak up for you after reading your novel... There's more than one James Watson in this world!"

(End of this chapter)