Chapter 275: The Spark of Literature

"Sensei, it's time to take your medicine."

Jin Shang sat on the tatami, took the water and medicine handed to him by the woman beside him, and swallowed them directly.

Watching his actions, the woman kneeling beside him showed a worried look.

Her name was Honma Kurumi, Jin Shang's granddaughter, and also a lecturer in the Department of Literature at the University of Tokyo.

But out of respect, she had always called her grandfather "Sensei."

If Akiwara Yuto were there, he would discover that she was the middle-aged woman who had been sitting in the tea room last time.

Honma Kurumi looked at Jin Shang's listless appearance and couldn't help but sigh.

Jin Shang was already 73 years old this year; although he was still 9 years away from the average life expectancy of Japanese men, he could completely be considered an elderly person of advanced age.

And because his writing life was irregular when he was young, he was left with many underlying illnesses.

According to the family doctor, his body was far worse than that of an old person of this age.

Therefore, Honma Kurumi did not agree from the bottom of her heart with his action of leaving home to meet Akiwara Yuto at the teahouse last time.

In her view, with Sensei's status, he could have just let Akiwara Yuto come to visit him.

However, although dissatisfied, Honma Kurumi, as a junior, did not have much right to object.

Seeing the old man finish his medicine, Honma Kurumi took the water cup and put it away, then asked a question that had been puzzling her.

"Sensei, do you value Akiwara Yuto that much?"

Besides going out personally to meet the other party, he even said a lot of words encouraging the other party to let traditional literature "bloom" longer.

Even before this, he had also refuted his own top disciple, calling Akiwara Yuto an "excellent writer."

But in Honma Kurumi's view, Akiwara Yuto was nothing more than a young writer who had only written one traditional work.

And Akiwara Yuto had always claimed to the outside world that he was a detective writer.

Hearing his granddaughter's question, Jin Shang laughed.

"Kurumi, many times, you shouldn't look at what a person says, but look at what he does."

"Akiwara Yuto's mind might indeed lean more toward detective fiction, but for the development of traditional literature, he has truly played a driving role."

"If the public doesn't pay attention to traditional literature, even if traditional literature defeats detective literature verbally, so what?"

"In the end, it will only further accelerate its demise..."

Before he finished speaking, his coughing worsened, and Honma Kurumi on the other side saw this and immediately reached out to help him pat his back.

After catching his breath, he said again: "The important thing is that the works he writes are indeed excellent traditional literary works."

His previous actions also had his inner thoughts.

Regarding the future of traditional literature, he and Akiwara Yuto actually held the same thought, which was that popular literature had already surpassed traditional literature, and the latter would become increasingly declining.

Although this matter was very sad, it currently seemed irreversible.

Therefore, Jin Shang's commission to Akiwara Yuto was just to bury a seed in his heart, so that he would not forget traditional literature while continuing to write detective fiction.

As long as there are excellent writers who keep writing, then no matter how declining traditional literature is, there will be some loyal readers who will feel comforted.

For Jin Shang, this was already enough!

What he wanted was just to leave a spark for traditional literature!

Just then, a knock came at the shoji door. Honma Kurumi stood up and walked out, returning after a while with a package, which she handed to Jin Shang.

Jin Shang lowered his head and took a look, discovering that the sender was written as "Akiwara Yuto."

This is? He was a bit confused for a moment.

On the other side, Honma Kurumi took a utility knife and helped unpack the package, and Jin Shang was able to see the content inside—a thick manuscript.

On the first page of the manuscript, the title *A Personal Matter* was written.

"Sensei, it's time for your nap, let's read it later."

Honma Kurumi looked at her restless Sensei and said hesitantly.

She knew her Sensei's character and was worried that he would ignore his rest and start reading immediately.

"Kurumi, do you know? Excellent works are like fine wine to a drunkard for a writer, so let's skip the nap today."

Jin Shang laughed.

"Since that child Akiwara sent this work to me, it means he has great confidence in this work. As a senior, I naturally have to read it carefully."

Hearing Jin Shang say this, Honma Kurumi couldn't stop him and could only sigh in her heart, then poured a cup of tea and placed it to the side.

Jin Shang's mind was no longer on the tea; he held up the manuscript and began to read it carefully.

As a leading figure in the literary world, he had only read the first two pages when he discovered that this work was vastly different from the previous *Snow Country*.

The previous *Snow Country* was undoubtedly extremely beautiful in its phrasing and sentence structure, extremely representing the thoughts of aesthetic literature.

But this *A Personal Matter* in his hand seemed to have cast aside this point, being more plain in its phrasing.

Could it be that Akiwara Yuto wanted to change his style?

Thinking of this, Jin Shang frowned, even having the thought of calling the other party to advise him.

For an average writer, it was enough to write one style well and to the extreme.

Just like him, from his debut until now, he had always persisted in the aesthetic style; although there were differences in focus, the core remained unchanged.

Many of those who debuted at the same time as him and did not persist in their initial thoughts often ended up being lost in the crowd or even withdrawing from the literary world.

Of course, this matter was not absolute.

If one encountered a bottleneck while creating, or could no longer advance on one path, then changing direction was not impossible.

But Akiwara Yuto had only written one *Snow Country* on the path of aesthetic literature, and yet he was already giving up halfway.

This point was something Jin Shang did not like; he thought that child Akiwara Yuto was a bit impetuous.

Although dissatisfied, he still lowered his head and continued reading.

No matter what, since Akiwara Yuto had handed the work to him, he should read it once before giving his opinion, even if he had more objections.

However, he decided that if this work was not good, he would inevitably "criticize" it severely.

Although Akiwara Yuto was not his apprentice, he was currently the "junior writer" he valued the most.

Since that was the case, he had to treat him with a stricter attitude.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon 4 hours had passed. During this time, Jin Shang basically kept reading the book, not even touching a sip of tea.

But when he turned to the last page, a earth-shaking change occurred in Jin Shang's heart.

God of Learning, how much literary talent have you given Akiwara Yuto! ===== CHAPTER 276 =====