Chapter 3 (1)

  This award was not as sensational as Lin Yuxiang had imagined, and it didn't even have the energy to make a splash in this school. Yuxiang had originally expected that "all major newspapers would report on it", so he flipped through the papers eagerly, but unfortunately those newspapers were out of touch with the news, and such a big event wasn't even reported. Lin Yuxiang even read the advertisements carefully, and became an expert on which places offered discounts and which places treated gonorrhea. Then he hoped to "see it in all the newspapers", but the newspapers didn't have the leisure to do so.

  After the disappointment, Lin Yuxiang just hoped that everyone in the small town would know about it. He thought that the power of the science award last time was still there, and this time he didn't know how much fuss the liberal arts award would make. But the liberal arts seemed to be less prestigious than the sciences, and a week later, the small town was still quiet, with no signs of excitement.

  The lukewarm reaction of the people to this made Yu Xiang heartbroken. In the end, Ma Debao somewhat satisfied Yu Xiang's vanity and prepared a radio show for him. Yu Xiang didn't dare go on the radio, first because he was afraid of being nervous, secondly because after all it wasn't suitable for him to boast about himself, so it would be better if Ma Debao spoke in his place, and could also praise him more lavishly.

  Luotiancheng also often congratulated Yuxiang, these congratulatory words are obviously not "heartfelt" but "stomach" words, all sour to the point of making people's teeth ache, which is a typical characteristic of things that come up from the stomach, but in any case, Luotiancheng's "high praise" can be considered as "words from the belly".

  Lin Yuxiang waved his hand and said, "Nothing, nothing, doesn't matter." He had an air of being detached from fame and wealth. In fact, there are only two kinds of people in this world who can be detached from fame and wealth: one is those whose reputation is too small to make a name for themselves even if they want to, the other is those whose reputation is too big and they don't need to make an effort to be famous; the former doesn't care, the latter has no desire, both have "let go" of fame and wealth. If someone becomes famous but only to a moderate extent, then he will definitely not be detached. Lin Yuxiang definitely belongs to the first kind, anyone with discerning eyes can see that, but Luo Tiancheng, this great thinker, didn't think of it.

  At the same time, Lin Yuxiang eagerly hoped that Susa would know, and it was through someone else's mouth. He often anxiously asked Shen Xi'er if Susa knew, and the answer was always "no". The old letter also flew like a yellow crane, and there has been no response so far. Since returning from Shuixiang last time, not a word has been said to Susa, but it's comforting that Liang Yangjun scientifically explained this phenomenon, saying "being too good with a girl and talking too much can only make friends and not girlfriends", no wonder Chinese people believe in "words can't be absolute". This is because when words are exhausted, you can't get a girlfriend.

  With this, Lin Yuxiang can laugh for a long time without speaking. Laughter is indeed one of human's instincts, and among all creatures, only humans and horses can laugh; no wonder there is a constellation called Pegasus. When a man sees a beautiful woman, he will involuntarily smile, so maybe men are evolved from horses; while women see a big tree and want to lean on it, it's clear that women are truly evolved from monkeys. Every time Lin Yuxiang walks past Susa, he always flashes a smile, and Susa responds with a pursed lips smile. As a result, Lin Yuxiang has lost two rows of teeth, and his heart can't help but feel some injustice, always waiting for an opportunity to speak, either discussing literature or chatting about history. But every time he encounters Susa's smile, all the literature and history are forgotten. Afterwards, he is even more miserable.

  It's good that Shen Qi'er is around. Shen Qi'er often goes to find Susa, and also brings some words related to Lin Yu Xiang along the way. So Lin Yu Xiang learned her lesson and tells Shen Qi'er things. Shen Qi'er has made great contributions in delivering messages, and often receives praise from Lin Yu Xiang, and shrimp flavored jelly is always a must-have reward.

  Susa's mind should be an abstract and elusive thing, but every time Shen Xi'er would express it in a way that was as clear as a straw showing the direction of the wind. Lin Yuxiang praised her for her merits. But Shen Xi'er was strange, this time when Lin Yuxiang won the national award, she refused to tell Susa about it.

  After winning the award, Ma Debao and Lin Yuxiang were inseparable. Ma Debao took in a disciple and only then did he realize that taking in disciples was actually a very joyful thing. No wonder people like Socrates and Confucius would take in disciples. When the disciples failed, it was because of their own lack of effort, but when they succeeded, it was because of the good teaching of their master. Taking in many disciples and teaching them what he knew was just like putting money in a bank, guaranteed to earn interest without loss.

  Lin Yuxiang only did it to repay the kindness he had received. The things Ma Deke taught were useless, no matter whether it was for the middle school or high school entrance exams. In other words, those things were all useless.

  Ma Debao gave Lin Yuxiang the manuscript of his new prose collection. The book is called "Dreams and Reality, Tomorrow's Tomorrow", which is very attractive. In the preface, Ma Debao said that he had a "life of wind and rain" and "had not read many books but had many insights".

  Lin Yuxiang was very surprised. These words did not match Ma Debao's violent personality. Lin Yuxiang was puzzled for a long time, and finally knew that others could take pictures of Ma's butt, but Ma couldn't take pictures of his own butt. So he took a photo: "Teacher Ma's body is very powerful."

  "The article is written very beautifully!"

  Ma Debao brushed it off: "Generally speaking, you're a student your teacher can be very proud of!"

  Are you vomiting?

  "You're very perceptive!"

  Yu Xiang was praised until he felt embarrassed.

  Ma Debao continued to introduce his upcoming book manuscript: "This book of mine, the publisher is rushing me very tightly, I plan to send it out this Saturday, alas, it's really too rushed. Writing articles should be inspired and spontaneous, rushing them out won't make them good. These few articles of mine, the first few are quite satisfactory, but the later ones aren't. Alas, it's not my intention, readers like them, but if someone says the later ones are good, their appreciation level is..."

  Lin Yuxiang just flipped to the back of "Poetic Spirit in the River", was about to praise, mouth already open, was scared by Ma Debao's last sentence and couldn't even react. But since the curtain has been opened, the actors must come on stage, so I had to make do with saying: "Actually, Teacher Ma's last few pieces are not bad, a thousand people in the eyes of a thousand Hamlets!"

  "That's right. Ah, yes, Lin Yuxiang, your article that won the national first prize, I sent it to Beijing at the same time, and also sent it to Guangzhou's "National Excellent Essays Selection", this issue has been published, take it back, this is a sample book, coincidentally it's here with me."

  Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed. He hastily took the essay book, thinking that this "National Excellent Essay Selection" should be of high quality, but unexpectedly, the paper felt strange to the touch. Upon closer inspection, he found that the paper quality was poor. Combining his father's teachings as an editor, he concluded that the circulation and influence of this magazine were very small. The name sounded so grand, thinking that the Chinese nation was indeed a place where patriotism had become famous for its extravagance, even a small magazine like this one wanted to carry the name "National". Suddenly, he also began to suspect the national essay competition, but his doubts quickly passed, thinking it wouldn't be fake.

  Ma Debao: "Your recent gains are quite substantial."

  "Hmm, yes, thank you Teacher Ma."

  "Don't say that, Teacher Ma just did what a teacher should do, isn't that right?"

  "Haha, I'll have to learn more from Teacher Ma about writing essays in the future," said Lin Yuxiang.

  Ma Debao, after all, has been in the literary world for many years, and his face is as thick as his manuscript. He said: "Haha, Ma's style will be passed on! However, you should still focus on reviewing and preparing for the exam. With your brain, you won't pass the entrance exam of Shi Nan No. 3 Middle School, what a pity! Alright, go back and review!"

  Lin Yuxiang returned home and carefully read the "National Excellent Essays Selection". He couldn't help but feel disappointed. His beautiful essay was the eighth one, located in the middle. Unfortunately, this type of magazine is not like a fat fish, where the middle section is the most delicious. This small book emphasizes the beginning and end, with the main article at the beginning and physiological consultations at the end, making people drool. Yuxiang read his essay that was ranked first in China and felt unfamiliar. Below the essay, there were "Famous Critics' Comments" by a famous critic named "Bo Yu", who had lived for over a thousand years. After calculating, Bo Yu would be Peng Zu's great-great-grandfather's great-great-grandfather. Bo Yu had cultivated himself for a thousand years and became a spirit, so his comments were particularly concise, only two lines, saying that Yuxiang's essay "has a bold and unrestrained writing style, with a natural tone, somewhat like a master's work".

  However, the structure is still lacking in consideration.

  Lin's mother saw her son publish an article, and she was overjoyed as if she had won a big prize. She read the article several times, saying that among all the articles in the book, her son's was the best. She made nearly ten copies at work and distributed them to colleagues and friends, which was equivalent to distributing them to gamblers. She also sent one to Lin Yuxiang's elementary school teacher. Lin's father was on a business trip in Yunnan, and when he returned home after a long time, Lin's mother reported the good news. Lin Yuxiang's elementary school language teacher quickly responded with a letter, saying that Lin Yuxiang was born clever and she had expected this day to come.

  Lin Yuxiang sent a copy of the letter to Susa. After sending it, he asked Shen Xi'er about Susa's reaction again. Recently, Shen Xi'er was unhappy because Zhang Xinzhe's album "Leaving Emotions Everywhere" received criticism, and severely criticized Lin Yuxiang for being timid and cowardly, not daring to hand-deliver the letter. Lin Yuxiang defended himself by saying "emotions are meant to be sent", that's the principle, emotions are meant to be sent, only then can they be considered emotions.

  Shen Creek scolded him for being slick, and falsely claimed that Susa had another crush, a guy who looked like Xiangyuan Chong, studying English at Hua Shi Da. Yu Xiang scolded him for being stupid, and Shen Creek falsely claimed again that apart from having another crush, Susa also had another one, a guy who looked like Jiangkou Yangjie, studying mathematics at Hua Shi Da. Yu Xiang and Shen Creek parted ways unhappily.

  Lin Yuxiang said it was impossible, but he was secretly afraid. He comforted himself by thinking that the two Japanese men would definitely fight over her, but then suddenly remembered that Eastern warriors were not like European knights who would duel over a woman. The two of them must have gotten along very peacefully. He had fallen twice in love and was badly hurt.

  He happened to see the photos of Aoi Sora and Yosuke Kuroda in a movie magazine that afternoon, staring blankly at them with envy. Then he thought of writing a melancholic poem for this love affair.

  Shenxi'er told him that was false, she feared Lin Yuxiang would seek revenge. After speaking out, she regretted it and thought of keeping Lin Yuxiang in this world as a threat to her Chinese class representative. Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed and jumped around excitedly.

  During self-study class, he ran to the gatehouse to check his mail. He was startled when he saw that there were over twenty letters addressed to Lin Yuxiang. He brought them into the classroom with a mixture of confusion and excitement. As soon as he entered, he couldn't help but show off. Sometimes having many letters is more delightful than having a lot of money, because money can be earned, but letters are hard to come by. His classmates were shocked, thinking that Lin Yuxiang had posted a marriage advertisement. Lin Yuxiang proudly opened his letters.

  After opening the first letter, I finally understood where it came from. Those people had sent them after reading Lin Yuxiang's article. The first letter was brief and to the point: "I read your article, thought it was great, if you want to be pen pals with me, please reply, address is..." The second letter came all the way from Inner Mongolia, you could tell it had traveled a long distance, and the weather wasn't suitable, it was hot and tiring, like a dog in the summer heat, panting with its tongue out. The envelope was already open, and the letter paper was exposed. The main text of the letter followed the style of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, endless and boundless: "Don't think we're country bumpkins, we're actually city people. My father is a teacher, my mother is a housewife. My little sister is three years old this year, and we're planning to find her a kindergarten. Is it called a kindergarten there? Shanghai is a prosperous metropolis, full of longing and fantasy..." It went on like that for thousands of words, covering everything from astronomy to geography. Yuxiang finally understood that while letters can't earn money, they can be fabricated, just like students' essays. Yuxiang decided not to reply.

  It was then that he first felt the superiority of being famous.

  Most of the letters that followed were similar in style and content to the previous ones, covering various parts of China. Guangdong, being his hometown, had as many as ten letters. The writers had all read "National Excellent Essays" and quoted Bo Yu's words to praise him, without any new ideas. Lin Yuxiang found that modern people's writing styles still had a north-south divide, with southerners continuing to be elegant and refined, while northerners were bold and threatening, saying "You must reply!" Lin Yuxiang was glad he was in Shanghai, neither south nor north. When he opened a letter from someone in the same city, his joy disappeared as the Shanghainese writing style combined the northern threat with the southern elegance. Moreover, the writer, who had grown up drinking water from the Huangpu River, possessed double the "yellow" and made a clever remark that Lin Yuxiang's article lacked textual evidence and was prematurely concluded. Then he quoted Huang Shui Dong, saying that this clever remark came from Taiwan's Dong Qiao, which was consistent with Dong Qiao's style. Lin Yuxiang didn't know what "Dong Qiao" referred to, thinking it might be a mistake for "Kong Qiao", as there wouldn't be a Daoist bridge in the KMT bandit's place. Since he couldn't determine its meaning, the letter from his fellow townsman could only be put aside.

  There were only three letters left. The third from the bottom caught his eye, it was from the "Lu Xun Literary Academy" in the capital.

  Lu Xun's fierce spirit still lingered, and the name shook Lin Yu Zhi. Taking out the letter, the first thing that came to mind was the mistake made by the "Academician" of the Literature Academy, who had handwritten "Lin Yu Xiang" but then printed "Mr." with a stroke of the pen, leaving only "Miss" to follow. The letter to Miss Lin Yu Xiang read: Our academy is a place that cultivates young writers, a paradise for literary youth. Here, talented young men and women from all over the country gather together, exchanging ideas. Famous writer XXX

  Wait, they all turned out to be outstanding talents from our hospital.

  Our college has a high level of management and aims to promote Chinese literature.

  You are fortunate to have been spotted by a professor of our institute. Our institute is sending you this letter to indicate that your literary level already has a considerable foundation.

  But still needs expert guidance to further improve.

  Our college adopts the correspondence education method, and the correspondence fee for each semester (half a year) is 180 yuan. Our college has its own teaching materials. Each semester, you need to submit two essays of over 1,000 words (no genre restrictions, 30 lines for poetry), which will be reviewed by famous teachers. Excellent works will be recommended to "National Excellent Essays" and "Renowned Excellent Essays".

  "National Middle School Students' Composition Selection" and other influential magazines. Sending students' newsletters every semester.

  Please remit the payment to XXXXXXX, do not send cash in the mail. Wishing you a writer's dream! Helping you achieve a writer's dream! Lin Yuxiang was hesitant and decided to take it home for his father to review. The second-to-last letter was even more frightening: Dear Sir/Madam, I received your letter out of the blue and felt very strange! I am a distant friend who has been silently watching you from afar, with a long gaze. So I decided to write this letter. This kind of letter may not have much to say, but I couldn't help myself from writing it, or maybe even sending it. Probably because your article was too good! If you have time, please reply.

  Lin Yuxiang was shocked after reading it, thinking that Lu Xun's spirit had sent a letter from heaven. Looking at the signature, it was almost identical to Lu Xun's, named Zhou Shuren, with a note saying it was a pen name, from a certain middle school in Hubei. Brother Shuren is unfortunate to have been born 100 years too late or 100 years too early. Lin Yuxiang suddenly thought that this person might be the proud alumnus who "walked out" of the "Lu Xun Literature Academy", and couldn't help but laugh.

  The last letter was written in a familiar and beautiful font. Lin Yuxiang stared at the words for a while, almost calling out loud.

  The last letter was the most important one, from Susa. Lin Yuxiang quickly opened it and carefully pulled out the letter. The content of the letter was no different from the previous one, advising Lin Yuxiang to study hard and adding a few words of praise for his writing. He read those dozens of words several times, staring at them intently as if he wanted to see right through them, fortunately, those words didn't blush, otherwise, he would have been embarrassed to death.

  This time going to the guard room was very valuable, these letters fell into the hands of the class teacher, and the consequences are hard to say. Lin Yuxiang returned home after harvesting, on the way he had great respect for that rotten magazine, originally thought its circulation was only twenty or thirty copies, it seems that there were actually more than that. It can be seen that although these students who wrote essays were thinking and stupid, behind them there were still a group of students who couldn't write broken essays and were even more thinking and stupid.

  Lin's mother heard about the invitation from Lu Xun Literature Academy and strongly advised Yu Xiang to attend. In fact, she didn't like Lu Xun at all, but was influenced by the books of that era and had a grudge against Liang Shiqiu. She quoted a military philosophy, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." So, since it's an invitation from her friend's academy, she must show her face. She then passed on the good news to Lin's father, who recently had a small disagreement with Lin's mother. Following the logic, "The friend of my enemy is my enemy," he strongly opposed it, saying it was definitely a scam.

  In the evening, I went to make up for math class. The old teacher was very enthusiastic and had a loud voice, but he was also hard of hearing. As a teacher, being hard of hearing is also a kind of blessing. He was a retired high-level teacher, but now having the title of "high-level" doesn't mean much, as there are even higher titles like "special-level". Maybe in a few days, we'll have "super teachers" too. The high-level teacher lectured on math with great passion, and his right eyebrow had grown into a standard parabola; his left eyebrow looked like a report number, and the vision of his eyes under his eyebrows was opened several times by that root, so weak that he needed 800 degrees glasses to recover. He cared deeply about his students, treating them as if they were math itself, but the students treated him like literature, badly. This time, no one wanted to listen to his class either.

  During class, Lin Yuxiang showed all the letters he received to Liang Yangjun. Liang Yangjun picked a few with the worst handwriting and said that these were worth responding to. Lin Yuxiang asked for the reason, and Liang Yangjun quoted their math teacher's words: "Generally speaking, a woman's beauty and handwriting are inversely proportional; the prettier she is, the uglier her handwriting."

  Lin Yuxiang was convinced again, and together with Liang Yangjun, they opened up a research topic. The two of them studied tirelessly and achieved remarkable results.

  The final conclusion is that Susa is a rare person among girls, appearing as frequently as great writers, one in five hundred years. Lin Yuxiang feels treasured. Liang Lujun asked for her phone number, and Yuxiang vigilantly said he didn't know.

  Liang Yangjun disappointingly estimated the value of the letter in his hand and planned to sell it another day. Lin Yuxiang asked in surprise, "Can letters be sold for money?" Liang Yangjun said, "Nowadays, people may look like they're playing wildly on the surface, but their hearts are not too empty! This kind of letter can at least be sold for five or six yuan each. Haven't you seen all those pen pal ads in magazines lately?"

  "Uh-huh"

  "Are you giving everything to me?"

  "No problem!"

  The math teacher is old and can't take it anymore, half of his body has already gone to heaven. His head often hurts too. He's reluctant to leave, saying he wants to fill up two and a half more hours. Bai Gao High was afraid that the old man would die here, making it troublesome to collect the body, so he didn't dare keep him for long and politely sent him away.

  It was only half past seven. Liang Yangjun asked Lin Yuxiang to go to the "ghost house". Lin Yuxiang thought it was still early, her father was not at home, and her mother must have gone to gamble, she was in a different state of mind. Suddenly, she became bolder and said: "Let's go!"

  "Do you know where the haunted house is?"

  "I don't know."

  "You're really wasting your life, you don't even know about such a famous place!" Liang Lujun teased him.

  Lin Yuxiang felt both wronged and inferior, and a feeling of watching a celebrity video arose. He asked: "Has that place been haunted?"