Chapter 2 (5)

  "No, I'm awake," Yu Xiang hastily said.

  "Come clean with me, what did you do to my friend? Susan doesn't have a habit of writing letters!"

  Lin Yuxiang proudly said: "My skill! Give me the letter!"

  "No way! No way!"

  Lin Yuxiang was about to pounce. Shen Xi'er teased Yuxiang for a while, got bored, and threw the letter saying: "You must not have any ideas about her!"

  "I didn't, I just—" Lin Yuxiang lowered his head to open the letter.

  "And I haven't even told you yet! I've already told Susan!" Shen Xi'er said with a smack of her lips.

  "What!" Lin Yuxiang was so shocked that he even forgot about the letter he had been thinking of opening just a few seconds ago.

  "Hey, listen carefully, I told Susan that Lin Yuxiang has a crush on you!"

  "How can you talk nonsense about others like that!" Lin Yuxiang's face turned red with embarrassment, and he asked in a low voice, "What did she say?"

  "Ten words!"

  "Ten words?" Lin Yuxiang racked his brain to come up with a ten-word sentence.

  "Let me tell you!"

  "What were the ten words she said?"

  "Don't jump off the building!"

  "No way! I'm optimistic and cheerful, looking forward to new life, how could that be!"

  "Then I'll tell you!"

  "Uh-huh."

  "Listen! Pasukaru!"

  "Speak quickly!"

  "She said ah——she said——"

  "What did she say?"

  "She said," Shen Xi'er coughed, tormenting Lin Yuxiang's body and mind, "She said, 'No feeling, just no feeling'."

  Yu Xiang's whole body felt chilled to the bone. This blow was severe, and without ten years of nursing, it would be impossible to recover. But since Susan had spoken up for him, regardless of whether it was good or bad, it was better than nothing, just like a starving person who would even eat the Buddha's food.

  "Isn't it sad? If you want to cry, just go ahead and cry!"

  "What's it got to do with me? She said those words and I'm the one who's affected?"

  "What's wrong?" Shen Xi'er's questioning tone was so detailed and precise that it made Yu Xiang feel inferior.

  "It's alright, you go ahead and do your thing!"

  "No, I'll keep an eye on you, so you won't go looking for death. If you die, I'll be heartbroken - because you still owe me a meal!"

  Lin Yuxiang scolded for so many years, worth a meal, angrily said: "None of your business."

  "Alright, you just calm down and think positively. You're still far from getting a turn in the queue anyway!" Shen Xi'er turned around and left.

  Yu Xiang lowered his head to read the letter, thinking that it wouldn't be good news, and couldn't bear to be sad again. The class teacher came in and handed out papers, scaring Yu Xiang into quickly shoving the letter under his butt - this class teacher was infamous for loving to tear up letters, wherever there were students' letters in sight, it was like a child seeing toys, they wouldn't rest until they were torn apart.

  After a few minutes of stunned silence, the class teacher left. The letter had been sat on for so long that it was warm and humid, already 60-70% ripe, all that was needed was to add some chili oil and ketchup, and it would become the famous Argentine cowboy-style roasted beef patty cooked with a temperature that could melt buttocks.

  Yu Xiang finally made up his mind to open the package. Inside was a pink notepaper with some words written on it, theoretically just enough to reject someone but not enough to accept someone.

  Yu Xiang made a huge decision and opened the letter. After reading it, he let out a big sigh of relief because the tone of the letter was extremely unclear: Yu Xiang: Happy to spread the news.

  Honestly, I don't understand your letter.

  Are you following me? I'm going to take the Tsinghua exam. Hope to see you there in four years. Everything will be said at Tsinghua Garden then.

  Lin Yuxiang was amazed at Susan's long-term plan. Lin Yuxiang still didn't know what his life would be like four days later, but Susan's blueprint had already been drawn up to four years later. The dream of Tsinghua University seemed unattainable, yet the desire to pursue it was urgent and unstoppable. Now that graduation was approaching and time was running out, if he didn't intensify his efforts, when would he? On Wednesday, Lin Yuxiang went to the magnificent building again to make up for a composition - originally not wanting to go, but had something to ask Liang Yangjun. The composition teacher was famous in the local area, unfortunately with a surname that was most taboo for a literary person - Niu (Cow). He hated it so much that he abandoned his real name and took on eight pen names, which were just enough to meet his needs, almost breaking Du Fu's record of nine names. He had once quarreled with Ma Debao. Ma Debao didn't despise his "Ma" surname, never taking a pen name, saying that Niu Hong's articles weren't good and used something like "Dong Ri", "Yi Bo", or "Hao Yue" to cover it up. Niu Hong quarreled with Ma Debao on the spot, escalating into a fight, the two of them fighting like animals, Niu Hong being half a head shorter than Ma Debao, at a disadvantage in the argument. But Niu Hong had learned the advanced technique of using his head to butt from Van der Sar in the World Cup, and on the spot butted Ma Debao's lips until they burst, thus overturning the idiom "a cow's head doesn't match a horse's mouth". Niu Hong vowed not to accept Ma Debao's students, but Lin's father and Niu Hong were good friends, so Niu Hong finally agreed.

  Niú Jiǒng is a fierce person, with two sword-like eyebrows that seem to be born for anger. Lín Yǔ Xiáng suppressed the words in his heart and listened attentively to the lesson. Niú Jiǒng said that writing compositions is just a matter of following formulas, very simple, and today they would start with short compositions. Then he gave the students several examples, such as "Marie Curie", "Watt", "Edison", and "Zhang Haidi". Recently, students have been tired of writing about Zhang Haidi, so they focused on the first three examples: diligent learning is Einstein, not afraid to fail is Edison, indifferent to fame and wealth is Marie Curie, forgetting sleep and food is Newton, helping others for joy is Lei Feng, working hard is Xu Hu, not fearing death is Liu Hulan, dedicating oneself to work is Zhou Silai, etc. These fixed examples have gloriously produced so many composition masters in Shanghai and even the whole country's exams and competitions. This shows how powerful literature is. No matter whether someone is doing scientific research or politics, they are actually all contributing to literature.

  Niu Jiong wants students to remember these examples and apply them freely, and then add a few sentences of commentary, high marks are guaranteed! The students heard such enlightening words for the first time. In the past, they only heard teachers say that writing essays is to promote Chinese culture, but now if they follow Niu Laoshi's essay formula, students only need to promote their scores.

  After a while, Lin Yuxiang dared to spar with Liang Yangjun. Lin Yuxiang said: "I sent the letter."

  "What's the result?"

  "There is a reply!"

  "I told you so."

  Lin Yuxiang took out Susan's letter to show Liang Yangjun, and Liang Yangjun praised "good handwriting"! Lin Yuxiang felt very comfortable in his heart. If others praise a man's beloved, the man will be proud of her, but only until further development, then he will feel inferior because of her. From this, it can be seen that Lin Yuxiang's feelings for Susan are still in the stage of admiration and pursuit.

  Liang Yangjun finished reading the letter and said: "Good! Younger brother, you have hope!" Lin Yuxiang excitedly asked: "Really?"

  Li Yangjun: "Don't be ridiculous! Of course it's true. Can you sense the subtlety in that letter?"

  "No!"

  "Are you out of your mind?! Can't you feel it even though it's so obvious?!" Liang Tiao Jun's heart was sensitive enough to detect micro tremors.

  "She just said—"

  "Idiot! You really don't get it! If she wanted to reject you, she would have done so long ago. The reason she wrote that is because she... what's the idiom... wants to stop but hasn't yet..."

  Better left unsaid.

  "Yeah, that's the feeling. Want to express but feel embarrassed, want to give up but can't bear to part with it. Kid, she has a crush on you!" Liang Diao Jun patted Yu Xiang's shoulder and said.

  "Really?" Yǔ Xiáng smiled and said, his heart bursting with excitement, wishing he had a space to laugh out loud to express his joy.

  "Li Yang asked people tirelessly and continued to chew on the words: 'The letter says Qinghua. What is Qinghua?"

  Lin Yuxiang said with a wise and foolish tone: "Tsinghua is a university."

  "How much does it cost to get in?" Liang Yangjun asked lightly. His mind was only on East China Normal University, because the normal university had fewer girls and relatively less competition. Today he heard about Tsinghua University, his research interest suddenly increased, and he asked Lin Yuxiang for information. Lin Yuxiang defended the few female students at Tsinghua and introduced Liang Yangjun to Beishida. Liang Yangjun found a place to settle down and focused on giving Lin Yuxiang advice: "She didn't mean to avoid you, but wanted you to study hard and get into a good school. You're so talented! Next step, you should write another letter and show off your other talents. What else are you good at?" Liang Yangjun unfortunately thought that Lin Yuxiang was a humble person who hid his light under a bushel, when in fact Lin Yuxiang had no hidden talents to speak of. Lin Yuxiang dug deep into the earth but couldn't find any new talent. He searched deep within his memory and finally said with joy: "I'm good at classical Chinese!"

  "Alright, although I don't understand, you can play profound and write her a letter in classical Chinese! By the way, are there any rumors about the two of you outside?"

  Nothing

  "You're being too secretive! This isn't good! It should be loud and clear! Just assume there are many rumors outside, you go to dispel them, this way the girls will be moved!" Liang Yangjun's words were full of wisdom.

  "Is this okay?"

  "No problem!"

  "How do you write it?"

  "It's written like this, saying that you and that professor from Qinghua University have been communicating a lot, got used to using classical language, and it just so happens..."

  Lin Yuxiang sighed in admiration. Unfortunately, he was not as good at playing with classical Chinese as the students in the university's Chinese department, and writing classical Chinese was not easy. Often, while writing, modern phrases would emerge, including trendy words like "patu" and "yangba". Niu Jiong happened to ask the students to write a short essay, and Lin Yuxiang asked him for a copy of an ancient Chinese dictionary. Niu Jiong didn't have one on him, but saw several in the reception room's red wooden bookcase and happily ran over. The dictionary was a reference book, fortunately, the organization's leaders took good care of it, and usually didn't even want to touch it, so when they flipped through its pages, they were as stiff as the leader's heart.

  With the help of a dictionary, it all came together smoothly - "smoothly" is an exaggeration, at most it was just passable. Lin Yuxiang spent half a day looking up words in the dictionary and finally managed to write a successful composition: Susan: Your letter has been received.

  Recently, rumors have arisen, and what is said is very low. I cannot help but feel uneasy. The more I hear, the more I want to understand. Who is spreading this? I want to investigate clearly, but it will take some time.

  Communicating with me and other Chinese professors at universities, they are used to using classical Chinese, which is now difficult to change. Reading it is gloomy and astringent, and seeing the tolerance is even more so.

  The ancients are not my intention. The ancient text, the words are small but their meaning is extremely large, and they can be used to illustrate a point and see the distant meaning. However, the pedantry of ancient texts is what I despise. You recognize characters and translate carefully. My writing often has words that do not quite express my intention, or sometimes one word suddenly gives rise to a profound meaning. Nevertheless, it is possible to rely on this to observe the acumen of understanding methods.

  Lin Yuxiang originally wanted to flatter and say something like "You were born with a beautiful face, elegant heart and noble character", but the paper was not enough, couldn't hold the words of praise, had to bear the pain and cut off the love. Finished and handed it over to Liang Yangjun for review.

  Liáng Yàng Jūn didn't seem to understand at first glance, but upon closer inspection, he was taken aback by the "grinding", "monk", and "diving" in the first section.

  Three brothers were stunned and asked Lin Yuxiang how these three words were so similar.

  Lin Yuxiang couldn't explain how to translate the dictionary, and coincidentally, three characters gathered together. He muttered that he didn't want to care about it, took out the last sheet of letter paper, and copied the letter again.

  Liang Yangjun wanted to see the incomprehensible feeling, and gave a very high evaluation to this letter, saying that this one was particularly crucial. The first letter is like bait, intended to attract the fish, while the second letter is like setting the hook, whether or not it can catch the fish depends on this move. Lin Yuxiang lightly tucked this esteemed letter between the pages of a book.

  Niu Jiong was a bit sleepy, yawning continuously. He hastily graded an essay and assigned a question before dismissing the class.

  The stars shone brightly in the night sky, and people's hearts were filled with a gentle desire to sleep. Rain Xiang had three parts of drowsiness, almost putting the letter into the mailbox outside the city. Waking up, thinking that good things take time to grind. But no matter how much grinding, it's still a good thing in the end. Thinking and thinking, he smiled drunkenly, sprinkling a string of discordant notes on the dark road. When he arrived home, his body and mind were already exhausted, without even doing his homework, he fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

  On Friday, Lin Yuxiang didn't want to attend the literary club's lecture. Ma Debao forced him to go no matter what, and Lin Yuxiang was coerced into going. During the class, Ma Debao didn't discuss aesthetics, literature, or philosophy; he just stood on stage smiling awkwardly.

  Company members were like Ma Debao's morning and evening, finally cultivating a literary foolishness, but they didn't dare to congratulate him. Ma Debao instead congratulated them, saying: "I congratulate everyone! Everyone's efforts have finally borne fruit!"

  All the staff were shocked.

  Ma Debao proudly put his hands on the podium and said, "In the last semester, our school was invited by the Chinese Culture Research Center in Beijing to write a part of the manuscript to participate in the competition. After the expert's rigorous selection, I received the notice and certificate yesterday."

  Wow!

  "Our literary society is very fortunate - of course, not just because of luck. We are thrilled to have won a national first prize!"

  Wow!

  Ma Debao unfolded a certificate and placed it on the table, leading the applause, saying: "Welcome Lin Yuxiang to receive the certificate!"

  "Wow!" All the staff members turned their heads to look at Lin Yuxiang. Lin Yuxiang's face suddenly turned red, his head swelled up, and he forgot all about dignity and shame, mechanically walking onto the stage with a smile to receive the award. As he sat down in his seat, he slowly came back to himself, his heart filled to bursting with joy.

  Luo Tiancheng insisted on taking away Lin Yuxiang's joy, saying indifferently: "I'm afraid the level of this competition won't be much higher than that!" The tone was filled with jealousy that was about to overflow.

  Lin Yuxiang's smile suddenly stopped, and it was clear that he had been caught off guard. He said: "I'm not sure, go ask the judges."

  "Not famous, but probably very rich."

  "I'm not sure about this."

  It seems that Ma Debao heard the two talking and explained, "This time, Lin Yuxiang won the first prize in the national competition, which is very glorious. Since this is not a commercial competition, there is no prize money. However, most importantly, so many famous scholars and writers know the name of Lin Yuxiang, which will be of great help to him when he enters the literary world in the future!"

  Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed. He thought that his fame had already reached Beijing, and he couldn't help but feel delighted. Money lost its grandeur in the face of fame. Fame and fortune, it's always been fame first and fortune second.

  Luotian Cheng told Shen Xier that this competition is fake. Shen Xier didn't get the prize, and both Luotian Cheng are drifters at the end of the world, nodding in agreement.

  Lin Yuxiang carefully unfolded the award certificate, wishing he could gaze at it for days, but with classmates around him, he only gave it a quick glance before rolling it up again. He felt sanctified. The first prize in the national competition was the top honor among all middle school students in China, and winning it was an excitement that people from other countries couldn't help but feel, except perhaps those from tiny countries like Andorra or Vatican City. Especially in a populous country like China, the joy of being crowned national champion was something to be savored for a lifetime.

  Lin Yuxiang realized this and his mind was so hot that he couldn't even listen to the lesson, the temperature on both cheeks made him forget about winter.

  After school, Lin Yuhan rushed home with a worried heart, and all the way can be said to be in a hurry.

  At the same time, Ma Debao is also planning a school-wide promotion. Since the founding of the Literary Society, there has only been one national grand prize, and it's about time for a broadcast to commend it. Ma Debao's interest in student literature has increased greatly, and he feels it's necessary to expand the Literary Society. He has already written half of the plan. Yu Xiang is about to leave, which means the Literary Society will have no one to take over. Those younger students from the lower grades may not have much experience, but they produce a new love story every week without fail. Ma Debao counted and found that in an elementary school girl's writing notebook, there were more than twenty appearances of Prince Charming. He sighed, thinking that he himself had not been with as many women as that little girl had written about men.

  But after seeing so many of these things, one gets used to them. The essays of 90s female middle school students seem like a horse stable, full of black and white Prince Charmings and endless puppy loves. Ma Debao can't stand the sight of his peers, and any essay that is even slightly ** is executed on the spot, resulting in the death of many an essay. Therefore, for Ma Debao, the most important thing is to find some talented young writers who are still innocent. In his words, he is "seeking talent like a thirsty man", and it's no small matter.

  Lin Yuxiang didn't think about the aftermath of the literary club, and only thought about going home to tell his parents. His mother was overjoyed when she heard the news, and almost forgot that she had to go play mahjong. She stuck the award certificate on the wall, looking at it and laughing out loud. To be honest, fame and monkeys aren't much different - their purpose is to entertain people and make them happy. Lin Yuxiang's "monkey" this time was a bit bigger, and big monkeys making funny faces are more effective at entertaining people than small ones. His mother was delighted, and called her friends to tell them that her son had won an award. Her friends were lucky to still have some humanity left in them, and they all praised Lin's mother for being so fortunate to have raised a writer as a son.

  At that time, the writer's father also came home from work. Lin's father's reaction was calm. A person who often wins awards knows that a certificate is the least valuable thing, it can't be eaten or spent. It's not as good as the actual prize money, nor as practical as the award itself.

  But Lin's father still had a proud face, and the national first prize was something that could be used to show off like the books in the Lin family.

  Lin Yuxiang's heart was like experiencing an earthquake, the main shock had passed, but aftershocks continued. Every time he thought about it, his body would feel a burning heat.

  The next day at school, he was afraid that the whole world wouldn't know, so he told everyone he met that he had won the national first prize. This is the immaturity of a newcomer to an award, thinking that when there's joy, it must be shared with others. But they don't realize that whether you have the "joy" of fame or the "joy" of wealth, friends only want to share in what drives your happiness, such as fame and money. In the end, happiness is still something that one can only enjoy oneself. Friends can't bask in Lin Yushuang's glory or get a share of his prize money, so they naturally can't experience his joy, but instead feel pain and resentment, and behind his back curse Lin Yushuang for being selfish and stingy, winning an award without even treating them to dinner.