Generation Z Artists

Chapter 152 Laughing Angrily

"The protagonist, Fang Ye, is like a fragment peeled off from Fang Xinghe. He is fierce, wild, and straightforward, not very smart but sincere. He has great personal charm and also has an innate stubbornness."

The character's richness and intrigue made the story passionate from the very beginning, but ultimately, that passion burned him.

This is not a clever design, but a great insight.

Fang Ye, the character Fang Xinghe separated from himself, is a 'normal' teenager. Lacking Fang Xinghe's wisdom and perseverance, he makes the same mistakes we all make, and is more like a microcosm of the foolishness we all experienced during adolescence.

Fang Ye's failure in love was fate; the pace of growth of teenagers meant that they could only walk together for a very short time.

He inevitably missed the more mature summer, just as we have also missed the white moonlight in our hearts.

No one can remain calm when thinking about this, but we will eventually find peace. On some night, we will light a cigarette, gaze into the vast emptiness, recall those fleeting years, sigh, and then smile.

Laugh at others, laugh at yourself, laugh at the past.

This is a good book that is worth reading repeatedly; it is a must-read for adult men.

—Zhang Yimou.

This is quite rare, as Zhang Yimou has not made any significant achievements in literature; he can't even write a good screenplay, so he rarely expresses his opinions on such matters.

However, he is currently trying to win over Fang Ge. The contract for the role in "Hero" has not yet been signed, so he has to keep his precious Fang Ge happy. Therefore, he specially bought a new book, read it as soon as possible, wrote a review, and posted it on the literature section of Beijing Youth Daily.

This was not the first publicly published review, but it had a huge impact.

It was widely believed that Fang Xinghe, with his arrogance, must have offended all the big directors in the film industry and had a terrible reputation. Who would have thought that Zhang Yimou would actually go out of his way to flatter him?

Many people were furious and wrote articles criticizing him as well, with poets being particularly disdainful.

"Some people haven't even had the chance to write a preface, yet they fawn over younger generations like this, utterly lacking in integrity, which is astonishing..."

Zhang Yimou didn't even acknowledge him; after praising him, he went to prepare for the film crew's production.

He never argues with anyone; if he can't win an argument, he's too lazy to argue.

Anyway, I highly recommend it, guys, trust me!

The person who actually wrote the preface for "Our Youth" is the one no one dares to criticize.

"This is a youth that is completely different from ours. It belongs to the post-80s generation and was established in the millennium, but it is just as sincere and passionate as the youth of every generation."

In this book, Fang Xinghe abandons his elaborate construction skills and writes along the timeline in a very simple and straightforward manner.

Compared to "The Snow in the Night," which made him famous, "Our Youth" is not sophisticated, profound, subversive, rugged, dark, or terrifying; it is simply about youth.

But that doesn't mean it's ordinary.

When Fang Xinghe stops manipulating structures and playing with information, and focuses all his attention on the words themselves, it possesses a magic that can pull anyone back to that age—the power of sincerity.

Every character and every plot point in the book is so believable, and on that basis, they are full of wit and humor.

Although the story has a disheartening ending, it is not sad, because it truly depicts the opposite of youth that we can all relate to—after passion comes embers, and after giving our all, there are always regrets.

"Better Days" evokes both laughter and tears, leaving a lingering and warm feeling.

I strongly recommend that everyone read it.

—Wang Meng.

Professor Wang Meng hasn't written a preface for anyone in a long time. He cherishes his reputation even more than Mr. Ba Jin, or as one might say, he is "more cautious in mentoring younger generations."

But this time, he forcefully snatched the opportunity to write the preface for "Our Youth" from Yu Hua, and his reasons were very compelling—

“I also started by writing youth literature. My son and I resonate with each other. It’s a kind of literary philosophy that we pass on. You don’t understand.”

"..."

Yu Hua stared wide-eyed, thinking: Damn, I really know this all too well. An old man who is shameless is a thief, and you are a thief!

But he couldn't withstand the pressure and was eventually pushed to the bottom.

It's the afterword of "We," at the end of the main text.

Yu Hua wrote very bluntly—

"My youth didn't have many interesting stories, and I'm not an interesting person myself, so looking back now, my youth seems to be just a combination of labor, tension, anxiety, fatigue, and boredom."

Do I miss my youth?

No, there's not much to reminisce about; most of the memories are already blurred. On the contrary, my youth after the age of 20 gradually became more exciting.

Did I ever fantasize about a better youth?

Yes, I often fantasize that my youth could be more exciting, that I could achieve success at a young age and be full of vigor.

Become a powerful and influential figure, lead a group of interesting friends on all sorts of wonderful adventures inside and outside the school, win applause, win the favor of beautiful girls, make some silly mistakes occasionally, but always succeed in the end.

Fang Xinghe's new book fulfills 99% of the youthful fantasies of an awkward middle-aged man.

The missing 1% is because Fang Xinghe didn't write about himself.

He clearly possessed a perfect youth filled with reckless abandon and domineering ambition, yet he was extremely stingy with his writing, refusing to write about himself and instead deliberately creating an ordinary protagonist whose character was greatly diminished.

Damn, would it kill you to let us have some fun?

Before opening this book, I was so looking forward to Fang Xinghe writing a super cool and exciting youth journey based on himself.

As it turned out, the book was very good, but it was completely different from what I had expected.

I complained to my friend about this several times, and Tiesheng laughed and advised me: "Don't overthink it. If Fang Xinghe really wrote it based on his experience, it would be so exaggerated and absurd, like the wild thoughts of someone half-awake. How could ordinary people like us resonate with it?"
Huh? !

After pondering for a while, I suddenly jumped three feet high—the reason why "Better Days" is so good and keeps me so calm is because Fang Xinghe lowered his own intensity and wrote a youth story that specifically caters to ordinary people?!

Friends laughed and exclaimed: "Indeed."

"Better Days" is not Fang Xinghe's real youth; his youth was higher, broader, grander, more intense, and more exhilarating.

"The Young Us" is our youth.

It is the joy and sorrow of ordinary people who are not so talented, being pulled along by fate during their adolescence.

This pains me—how could he be so proud? He writes realistically but sheds himself, unwilling to share his youth with us even in his writing.

This makes me admire him—he didn't write about the easiest things, but chose an extremely difficult way of writing—using his calm observation and sharp insight to write about the youth of ordinary people, from naivety to adulthood, from aspirations to regrets, seeing through half a lifetime at a glance.

This is not an ordinary youth literature; it is a masterpiece even greater than "The Snow in the Dark Night".

I can't understand why Fang Xinghe can sense our feelings.
He clearly didn't have that kind of impulse, that kind of confusion, that kind of weakness, or that kind of regret, yet he vividly and realistically wrote about everything.

Could a genius like him understand ordinary people?
With doubts in my mind, I read it a second and a third time.

I gradually discovered that "Better Days" carries a sense of compassion, not out of pity or sympathy for anyone, but in a warm touch that soothes the inevitable regrets of youth.

Raising my perspective, I seem to see the author's serene and peaceful smile. He tells us: Don't be discouraged, don't be anxious. Youth is like this. It is destined to bring us regrets, make us imperfect, and make us look back with tears in our eyes. But it is precisely because of its imperfections that it is so precious.

To have a passionate, brilliant, yet imperfect youth is the ultimate fortune for ordinary people like us. I have never had it.

I can only watch from the sidelines.

And it's wonderful that your generation of young people still has the opportunity to elevate your youth to a vibrant and brilliant level.

Therefore, the wishes that Fang Xinghe didn't write in the book, I'll write in the afterword—

May you be brave and sincere, with a heart that disregards gains and losses, to pluck the stars from the sky, and with a spirit that lives up to your youth, to embrace the sun and moon.

In this way, the world will become a better place.

The scribble-writing puppy put on a big show in the afterword of Fang Xinghe's book.

Many readers couldn't help but mutter when they saw this: Fang Xinghe is a genius, so how can you be an ordinary mediocre person?

Damn it, a max-level pro pretending to be a newbie, shameless!
However, Yu Hua's afterword perfectly summarizes "The Best of Us"—it pulls readers back to their youth with a moderate intensity of sadness and regret.

Therefore, Fang Xinghe's main fan base, consisting of children under 16, was unhappy with the story, while young adults between 25 and 40 years old felt deeply moved.

Mao Xiaotong asked her mother with a heavy heart, "I don't understand, they clearly love each other so much, why can't they be together?"

The mother replied gently, "Because love can't solve everything..."

Adults understand and can let it go, but Baby's Breath was once again held back.

On the StarNet, posts from underage fans complained endlessly, floor after floor. Fortunately, there were older female fans and mothers to balance it out, otherwise it would be unbearable to read.

"I feel tightness in my chest."

"Fang Ye is so great, Xia Shi must be crazy!"

"You're wrong. Xia Shi is right. It's Fang Ye who's too naive."

"I can't accept that they're not together!"

"They were all fine, it was just the timing that was bad. The sun wasn't good that day, the wind wasn't good, and even the scent of pear blossoms in the air wasn't good."

"I don't understand, but I feel like I've lost my strength, I feel empty, and I have no energy to do anything."

"Same."

"I'm in an even worse situation. I'm a sophomore in college, and I've been dating my boyfriend for four years. But I've suddenly realized that he's just as impulsive and immature as Fang Ye, but he doesn't have Fang Ye's resilience and charm... Damn it! How am I supposed to continue this relationship?!"

"Buy him a copy of 'The Best of Us'!"

"Yes, yes, let him look carefully. If he understands, there's still hope. If he continues to be self-righteous, then it's better to break up."

"Sisters, I feel so sorry for Fang Ye!"

“Little sister, every 18-year-old girl is like summer, 24 is like autumn, and 28 is like winter. She can’t wait, and neither can we. You’ll understand eventually.”

"Fang Fang is such a good writer. This line from Xia Shi made me cry buckets of tears, I couldn't stop."

"I'm 30 years old this year. Five years ago, I couldn't understand this sentence, but now I truly understand it."

Those with life experience praised "Us" to the skies, so even though the naive teenagers couldn't believe their youth would end in such a mess, they no longer questioned it.

Beyond the fans of Fang, the reputation of "We" has also exploded.

Ji Bao: "As a benchmark for youth literature."

Su Tong: "Purely speaking, 'We' is more authentic than 'Cangye Xue'. It's not as literary, but it's more realistic. It's like I've really returned to my youth."

Li Qigang: "Delicate and realistic, joyful and sorrowful, reading it is like drinking ice wine."

Liu Zhenyun: "This is a book worth rereading. It is easy to understand and has a long-lasting aftertaste. Fang Xinghe's writing skills have improved again, with many memorable sentences. It couldn't be better."

Li Xiaolin: "The plot is rich but not chaotic; it's humorous but not boisterous; the love is pure and genuine; the overall tone is artistic but not superficial. A good book, a good book!"

Apart from a small number of old-timers in the arts and culture world, it has also received great recognition from the general public.

That's hilarious.

In fact, from the perspectives of literature, society, and art, "Cang" is a better literary work, while "We" is just a pure portrait of youth. The two are not equivalent in value at all.

However, "We" is deeply loved by the public, and few readers over the age of 25 do not praise it.

Those who criticized "Cang Ye Xue" for being dark and heart-wrenching are now no longer criticizing "We" for being childish, and are even actively finding reasons to support Fang Xinghe's work.

"Fang Xinghe is fully capable of writing profound stories, but he downgraded himself to write about youth, which truly demonstrates his exquisite skill and masterful control..."

"The first two works are completely Fang Xinghe's, sharp, obsessive, and crazy, while 'We' should be Fang Xinghe's work from twenty years later. I don't understand how he wrote it now."

"I originally thought this would be a more insane and chaotic coming-of-age story, gloomy, stream-of-consciousness, structured like a devil's labyrinth, and written in a condescending style... But I was wrong. Fang Xinghe completely played with me in a different way. Reading 'Us' is so comfortable that it doesn't feel like Fang Xinghe at all."

This is not something that one or two people are trying to cover up, but rather a broad consensus within the Asian literary community.

The Japanese exclaimed, "As a eccentric genius madman, Fang Xinghe-san is able to write about the family, love, and friendship of ordinary people in such a warm and realistic way. He is truly a genius."

The South Korean side was even more confident: "While 'We' may seem like just a lighthearted coming-of-age story, it's actually a testament to Fang Xinghe's growing skill. Its writing difficulty far exceeds his previous two works; it's an unnatural product of extreme restraint, yet it flows as naturally as a gentle stream..."

There are so many similar comments that they've made many normal people lose their self-confidence.

"real or fake?"

"Could it be that we just didn't understand it?"

"But I really can't figure out what makes it so difficult?"

Yang Mi pointed to Xinghe's face at the top of the poster, speaking with righteous indignation: "Look at his face, then think about his talent, and recall carefully what losses he has suffered, what tricks he has been tricked, which girl has rejected him, when he has ever been weak or confused?"

"so?"

"So someone like him, a born winner with a high spirits, simply can't write about losers! If he did, it would be writing it out of the guise of his true thoughts. And to write it so well even with such a forced approach, isn't that amazing?"

"Oh, I see, that's really amazing!"

When Fang Xinghe returned to school, his classmates looked up to him as if he were a god.

His friends would ask him whenever they had the chance: "Dude, are you a literary master? They all say that writing about ordinary teenagers is your weakness, that you lack real experience, so you must have a prototype... Is it me, bro!"

Fang Xinghe was so annoyed by their constant pestering that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Yes, yes, it's you."

Everyone who asked said the same thing, and then the Thirteen Eagles started fighting amongst themselves... Damn it, I'm the hidden protagonist!

Look how outrageous this is!
But things are so magical. Fang Xinghe's "self-restraint" has been highly praised by the literary circles of various countries. Judges of various literary awards have sent him letters, and it seems that some people are really considering that "Our Youth" deserves a prestigious award.

Fang was silent for a while, then laughed in anger.

(End of this chapter)