Chapter 47: That Day, Fang Xinghe Was Driving a Big Rig…

The next day, before Wang Tong had even left, the Xinmin Daily had already published the manuscript he had faxed back.

"Fang Xinghe: I Am the Lone Man"

The front page of the society section carried the headline, with a photo, and the literary section also ran that piece "The Added Value of Reading."

The already soaring fervor got another bucket of fuel poured on, burning through half the sky.

How should one describe that deafening uproar?

No way to pin it down precisely — anyway, those cursing him grew ever more vicious in their words, while those supporting him slapped the table and beat the beat.

The two sides met at close quarters and truly struck sparks.

After Wan Fu saw it, he said dotingly to his daughter: "You keep asking me every day what kind of person Fang Xinghe is — look, now he's given you the answer himself."

Wan Bao'er felt this version of Fang Xinghe best matched her imagination, and she was deeply proud of it, yet she insisted on talking back: "Fang Xinghe wouldn't care how others see him at all! And I don't care either!"

Mhm, there's a bit of that "follow the host's taste" flavor to it now…

Then, after classmates deliberately sniped, "Fang Xinghe's writing isn't as good as Han Han's, his looks aren't as good as Lu Yi's," she immediately teamed up with her good friends and got into a fight with them.

Fang Xinghe truly didn't care, but the Fang fans truly did.

Cute~~~

……

Wang Yali suddenly tossed down the newspaper and slammed the table: "Lone man? Asking nonsense, writing rubbish!"

She turned and called Zhao Chunhua, but the call was rejected.

……

Zhao Chunhua burst breezing into the office area, and in a loud voice began directing: "Stop staring at Xinmin Daily — it doesn't compete with us directly! Follow 'Added Value' right now and dig deep. Don't take the lone-man angle — write about his loyalty to friends, write about the softness and warmth deep inside him!"

Nice work!

Chunhua, you really get traffic.

……

Feng Yuanzheng went to the theater for work, greeting everyone with a beaming smile and cupped fists, the Xinmin Daily tucked under his arm, but he absolutely never brought up Fang Xinghe on his own.

My good friends, please have the decency to play along.

The most considerate He Bing played right along: "Oh, I was just looking for Xinmin Daily — Old Feng, how's your student's new article, is it punchy?"

Feng Yuanzheng's spirits lifted at once, and he immediately pulled the paper out and stuffed it to him, though his pose was one of frowning and shaking his head.

"This one's just so-so, the cockiness is a bit over the top — personally, I'm not a big fan…"

Wang Gang and Song Dandan had been about to come over, but hearing that, their faces immediately went speechless; they gave him a couple of air-pokes with their fingers, turned around, and slipped away.

Trying to act cool in front of us?

Hah — won't give you the chance!

……

Chen Danya went to her brother's place and asked for a piece of calligraphy: "A gentleman is cautious when alone." But after thinking it over, she held the piece back, not planning to send it off so rashly.

Hoping he becomes a gentleman is of course the most beautiful wish, but the problem is — if a fourteen-year-old boy himself doesn't want to become a gentleman, then what?

Let's wait a bit longer.

……

Elsewhere, Yu Hua and Liu Zhenyun went together to visit Shi Tiesheng; the three of them chatted idly, and naturally and inevitably the talk turned to Fang Xinghe — Shi Tiesheng and Liu Zhenyun asked, he answered.

Shi Tiesheng: "Is Fang Xinghe easy to get along with?"

Yu Hua shook his head hard: "No, no — he stings!"

Liu Zhenyun: "How so? Even you have someone you're wary of?"

Yu Hua shook his head again: "Not wary — it's that the youngster has plainly made it clear he doesn't want to play with us."

The two grew more curious: "How could you tell?"

"We belong to the Confucians; he's heading toward the Daoists."

Yu Hua then repeated the casual chat from that drinking gathering to the two of them — Fang Xinghe's words, almost word for word.

Look — actually, Scruffy Puppy is also a clear-hearted person; he sees everything, but that still doesn't stop him from continuing to admire Fang Xinghe.

And Shi Tiesheng and Liu Zhenyun were silent for a long time, and finally both let out a sigh.

"A lone man…"

"Youth is wonderful — so clear-headed, so free and easy, so wild, so unbridled!"

Yu Hua's face was full of vexation: "A pure little con artist — the more I mull over the drinking thing, the more something feels off. Damn, I was actually intimidated by him that day!"

"Normal — your courage isn't much bigger than a mouse's."

After the laughter, Liu Zhenyun said in a seemingly offhand way: "Our family's Liu Yulin also likes Fang Xinghe. If he's planning to publish a book, get me a copy — as a return, I can write him a preface."

Yu Hua pointed at him and laughed out loud; Shi Tiesheng couldn't help but laugh too — those abacus beads were practically bouncing into his face, so of course they laughed.

Liu Zhenyun wasn't annoyed either, and forced an explanation: "I'm just curious — I want to know what a special young man like him would actually write. I don't really mean anything else."

"Fine, I'll buy it — Tiesheng, did you buy it?"

Shi Tiesheng didn't back him up, but sighed: "It's not just Zhenyun who's curious — I am too. That kid is really outrageous; just reading the interview I feel he's outrageous."

"Illiterate man — weren't you trying to say 'wayward and unorthodox'?"

"No — just outrageous."

Shi Tiesheng explained seriously: "Wayward and unorthodox people exist in every age, but they're still within the same framework — you can roughly judge where they come from and where they're going.

Take Wang Shuo, for example — that guy is wayward and unorthodox enough, right? Actually pretty easy to read.

But Fang Xinghe is different. Watching him, everything feels off — how can a fourteen-year-old child be like this?

I don't know how to put it either, so I just lumped it together as 'outrageous.'"

"Damn! You really know how to sum things up!"

Yu Hua let out a strange cry and stuck up his little finger.

Liu Zhenyun, however, grew serious and spoke sincerely about his personal feelings.

"I've read all his interviews. Through those articles and talks, Fang Xinghe has very successfully built a completely mature literary image, but that image is too peculiar. There is an indescribable rift between it and his external image—physically still a child, yet spiritually self-sufficient, contradictory and abrupt, profound and weighty.

So I think Mr. Wang Meng and Mr. Ba Jin's expectations are reasonable. This kid is truly worth looking forward to."

"Maybe that's what genius is..."

Just as Yu Hua finished sighing, he turned his head again to find Shi Tiesheng and Liu Zhenyun staring at him with eager, pleading eyes.

"So... get an early look at the manuscript?"

"Write a preface?"

"Are you two making wishes to me?" Yu Hua waved his hands in fright. "I might not even see it! A kid isn't a friend!"

"He can become a friend!"

Liu Zhenyun looked utterly unconvinced, while Shi Tiesheng seemed lost in thought: "He seems under a lot of pressure right now? You should pitch in and help..."

Yu Hua's eyes widened in shock: "You two want to see his draft and are egging me out to fight?!"

Shi Tiesheng spoke with righteous indignation: "Then you moved me to the goal to guard it!"

Old Tie had been paralyzed in his legs for years and could only sit in a wheelchair, yet Yu Hua, that damn dog, had pushed him onto the soccer field to guard the goal with his face. A huge soccer ball whizzed past his head, scaring him so much he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Bringing up that incident, Liu Zhenyun immediately burst into cackling laughter, so Yu Hua rolled his eyes and pushed him out.

"Anyway, I'm not doing it. Zhenyun is the most curious; let him go."

Liu Zhenyun, who was naturally a quiet, mischievous, and non-confrontational type, immediately refused: "Then forget it. Actually, I'm not that curious either."

These three middle-aged kids rambled on without any bounds, but after going in circles, they got nothing out of it; it was all just empty talk.

However, they saw the matter very clearly.

Liu Zhenyun declared: "Fang Xinghe's remark about 'human-blood buns' offended too many people. Right now, there must be a huge number of people who hate him."

Shi Tiesheng agreed: "Those who curse the layoff policies and those who preach quality education are the same group. Their main job is stirring shit, and their side job is cursing. Normal people don't have the energy to waste on them. This kid doesn't know the weight of things; slapping left and right, he'll have big trouble later."

Yu Hua, unexpectedly calm, said: "The media has made things chaotic and foul-smelling. Someone needs to teach them a lesson."

Liu Zhenyun and Shi Tiesheng were instantly stunned.

"Wait, who is teaching whom a lesson?"

"You've got it backwards, right? I don't even know how Fang Xinghe is managing to survive."

Yu Hua, with a cigarette in his mouth, stood with his hands on his hips in a cocky manner, his face full of smugness: "Tsk, survive what? You guys are underestimating Fang Xinghe."

Liu Zhenyun immediately sensed there was a scoop and perked up: "What's going on? Is there inside information?"

Shi Tiesheng sniffed, took a deep drag of his secondhand smoke, then greedily reached out his hand: "I'll buy you a cigarette; you tell me slowly..."

Slap!

"Get lost! What are you smoking!"

Yu Hua swatted Old Tie's hand away, then revealed a bit of the real truth to the two of them.

"What you've seen is the Fang Xinghe portrayed by the media, so you two, like readers outside, think he has potential and talent, but that's all for now, not worth much more attention.

We judges are different; we see more.

Let me ask you two a question: judging solely from the perspective of the works, how would you rank Fang Xinghe's articles and interviews?"

Liu Zhenyun pondered for a moment and slowly said: "For me, 'The Small-Town Exam Taker' is first, 'Knowing But Not Following' is second, and 'Reading' is third, but it is still above Xiao Han's 'Peeking into the Cup,' winning on theme and scope by a huge margin."

Shi Tiesheng added: "As for the interviews, 'I Fought with Fate' has the most power, 'The Outcome Is Undecided' is the most arrogant, and 'The Despot' is the most unrestrained."

Yu Hua chuckled.

"The ones that have been published can be ranked however you like, but in our hearts, he has two more articles that are even more awesome!

One is called 'Damn Youth, F***ed by Dogs,' wild beyond belief.

One is called 'Sex, Violence, and Lies,' absolutely number one in my heart.

So you see, a normal contestant only has comments from one judge, and Han Han has two, but Fang Xinghe has a full seven. The seven that were published are them, but actually, more than seven people wrote comments at the time; some just felt theirs weren't good enough and gave up."

"Ah?!"

Stunned, completely stunned.

"Really, it's that exaggerated!"

Yu Hua spread his hands, contributing a tilted-head emoji expression that said, 'I'm speechless too, damn it.'

"When we first read the manuscripts, we concluded Ding Yan was a genius, then we thought Han Han was a genius; that kind of spiritual quality was obvious at a glance. But when we later saw Fang Xinghe, we were all damn shocked.

That was no longer spiritual quality. The level at which he thinks about problems is already far above all young writers.

Do you know what he wrote in 'Sex, Violence, and Lies'?

I made a copy and read it often after going home; I can even recite certain passages.

He wrote: 'The suppression or泛滥 of sexual needs has never been a moral issue, but an economic one. Once men and women have money, they are all damn promiscuous. Even eunuchs living slightly comfortably want to find a palace maid for a partner. Imagining these damn matters or dick matters as too sacred or too vulgar is a sickness; if you're sick, go get treated damn quickly.

In contrast, giving birth but not raising is not an economic issue, but the liberation of the dark side of human nature after neoliberalism has been abused and misused without limits.

This liberation not only destroyed the already precarious moral bottom line of certain humanoid creatures but also constructed a new firewall in their self-awareness—where is responsibility compared to freedom?

In the demonic paradigm where freedom is supreme, all beauty in the world can be re-priced.

How to price it? By one's own heart, depending on my mood.

This sounds not entirely terrible; there seems to be room for discretion.

But what is truly terrifying is that this firewall only blocks others, not themselves. They will only become more and more insane.

Then you will gradually discover that what they crave is never spiritual freedom, but the wantonness of demanding from the outside, the tyranny of 'I can do it but you can't say it,' and the hegemony of 'Those who benefit me can do it again and again; those who harm me are all criminals.'

Freedom seems like a cesspit; anything can be shat into it.

Essentially, this is having no damn shame.

But they will find many reasons to beautify this point; what is decent enough is called a lie, and what is not decent enough is violence...'"

……

Listen to this! What do you call a TMD genius?!

Do you think Wang Meng, Yi Ning, and Ye Xin—three vice-chairmen of the Writers' Association, along with top professors like Wu Zhipan from Peking University and Chen Sike from Fudan University—haven't spoken out yet for no reason?

They're all just holding back, saving up something huge!

Indeed, there is no love without cause, but for Fang Xinghe, there isn't just one or two people willing to shoulder this pressure and help him.

If not for respecting the young one's cold and aloof personality regarding the Dao of Confucianism, someone would have stepped forward long ago.

So don't worry blindly; not only can he himself scold a huge crowd into silence, but even if he needs help, we might not even get a spot to jump in.

When the time comes, if you want to join the fun, go ahead and drum up some support; if you're too lazy to move, just sit back and watch the show. As for him, nothing will go wrong.

"Hiss..."

Shi Tiesheng and Liu Zhenyun stared at each other, momentarily losing all ability to express themselves.

Absurd, and getting more absurd by the minute.

Yet this result is strangely correct in logic.

As fellow top-tier writers, they understood all too well the weight behind those angry curses.

To put it simply, any top-tier literary figure writing such sentences could build the core of a Mao Dun Prize-level work from them.

This profound insight, this essence returning to truth through seamless transitions, this critique of the bottomless excess of neoliberalism, this imaginative connection of elements—it is almost a masterwork of legendary caliber.

And what made everyone's scalp crawl the most was another layer of contradiction—

If a top-tier writer of the same generation had written these words, then fine, you're awesome, I'll give you a thumbs-up, is that enough?

After going home, I'd still nag my old partner about where you wrote poorly, then spread out paper and swear to write something even more awesome to crush you.

Hey, don't say it, but once inspiration strikes, you might actually be able to write it.

But when these words come from a fourteen-year-old boy...

Damn, this problem is huge!

If we criticize, we can't bear to lose face, and we truly can't nitpick at a young kid;

If we praise, it feels wrong inside, because this isn't a level where you can brush it off with a condescending "the younger generation is formidable." Either don't open your mouth, or if you do, you must give full respect; otherwise, you just look blind and incompetent.

So it's actually better to shut up, stay out of it, and pretend we didn't see anything.

But then again, we can stay silent outside and fool ourselves, but inside at home, our hearts are still troubled!

Damn, he's only fourteen! Do you want us old folks to survive at all?!

"Damn!!!"

Liu Zhenyun rubbed his face hard, muttering to himself: "Truly f***ing awesome..."

"This damn thing is getting more absurd by the minute..."

A strong sense of confusion surfaced in Shi Tiesheng's eyes as he asked, not entirely confident: "Also, is it just my illusion? How does Fang Xinghe's 'Sex' fit the current situation so perfectly?"

"It does fit perfectly. As soon as anyone dares to pivot toward freedom of speech or individual will, 'Sex' will be the first blow they receive."

"Whoa, once this gets released, won't that bunch of demons and monsters go crazy?"

"They will go crazy." Yu Hua nodded solemnly. "Anyway, when we first saw it, almost no one dared to believe it. Li Qigang didn't even stay in his office; he went to the reception area and guarded him for three days..."

Shi Tiesheng was confused: "Then why didn't anyone mention it? I saw your reviews were quite restrained and general."

"We discussed this matter."

Yu Hua explained: "'Sex' isn't suitable to release yet. 'Youth' and 'Growing Up' are specifically written for teenagers. Praising him heavily now would be hard for the public to accept, so everyone decided to hold back for now and wait until his big novel or essay collection hits the market."

Liu Zhenyun suddenly spotted a blind spot, exclaiming with a "Wa!": "Wait! Does that mean none of the people currently cursing Fang Xinghe know that behind him actually stands all of you judges?!"

"Mmm-hmm~~~ Exactly!"

Yu Hua spread his hands, letting out a series of cackling laughs, both sinister and cute.

Liu Zhenyun and Shi Tiesheng broke out in goosebumps all over, hissing and sucking in cold air, completely numb.

"Good heavens, isn't that too mean of you?!"

Yu Hua refused to take the blame, innocently shrugging: "What are you saying! Did I tell them to chase Fang Xinghe and curse him? They did it to themselves~~~"

The two thought about it and realized he was right, so they put aside their unnecessary worries and joined Yu Hua in anticipation.

"Well, this bunch of idiots has kicked a steel plate. What bad luck..."

"They deserve it!"

Shi Tiesheng pushed his wheelchair to the window, Yu Hua stood beside him with his hands behind his back, and Liu Zhenyun crossed his arms and automatically fell into line; the three stood in a row like mobile phone signal bars.

In the courtyard, grass and trees grew thick; even the corners that never saw the sun were covered with unknown wild grasses and flowers.

"So full of life..."

"Mm."

"We are all getting old..."

"You certainly are, but I am not."

"Old Yu."

"Mm?"

"When exactly will Fang Xinghe release his new book?"

"You're asking me? I'm more anxious than you, okay? Damn, just thinking about it makes me itch."

"Same here, I want to see it."

The three kindred spirits scratched their heads and ears, wishing they could fast-forward straight to that day.

It would be a bright, sunny day with gentle winds. Fang Xinghe would drive a heavy-duty truck, stomping the accelerator hard amidst the ruins of civilization, crashing through everything, smashing every demon and monster on the road to smithereens...

To announce his official arrival.