Chapter 6 (3)

  Back at the dormitory door, he found himself without a key. He knocked several times, but there was no response inside. Unfortunately, Yuxiang had never heard of Shakespeare's view on this issue: "Knock gently on the door with compassion, and even the hardest door will open for it." So the more he knocked, the more violent he became, blaming himself for being too thin and the door too strong, otherwise he could have imitated the "kick in the door" in police movies, mighty and powerful. After knocking for who knows how many times, his fingers were numb, but the door was still heartless. Yuxiang knocked until he was frustrated, preparing to use his foot when the door suddenly creaked open with a loud noise. Yuxiang's whole body was excited, and he had a strange thought: if it was Qian Rong who opened the door, all grievances would be settled then and there.

  A listless face appeared at the door, it was Xie Jingyuan. Qian Rong was shouting on the bed in room 1: "Don't open, Do‘tope!" Seeing the door opened, Yu Xiang's upper body had already come over, pointing at Xie Jingyuan and saying: "Mind your own business." Yu Xiang wanted to thank Xie Jingyuan, but Xie Jingyuan turned around and walked towards room 2, leaving Yu Xiang hanging there.

  Lin Yuxiang glared at Qian Rong, speaking English for the first time outside of class: "You, wait and see!" Lin Yuxiang called out to Qian Rong, but it was just a one-sided wish. In fact, "wait and see" is like restoring diplomatic relations, requiring joint efforts and mutual cooperation from both parties. Lin Yuxiang was determined to work hard in the literature club and achieve something, wanting to make Qian Rong wait, but Qian Rong wouldn't be foolish enough to just wait quietly. The best approach would be to take the initiative and launch a counterattack.

  The school's clubs, the most prestigious is the TV station, and the reporter team recently merged into the TV station, making it suddenly prosperous. On the other hand, in school, literature is the most respected, but the Literature Club is the least respected. The newspapers they distribute are almost nobody wants to read, although the literary criticism written by Yuxiang caused a stir, but after all, it's already old and weak. Wan Shan vowed to make the Literature Club famous throughout the city, but before he could create a reputation, students were criticizing non-stop, saying the articles were rigid and the style was monotonous. Inside the Literature Club, there is also internal strife, poet Lianlian Jiang left first, saying it's because Yuxiang's article took up their space, and they started a "Heart Tide Poetry Club", after which there was no news, the position of club president is being fiercely contested, and can't be decided, to be re-elected on another day.

  The literary society was in disarray, and the TV station had ambitions to take it over. As Sun Tzu's "Art of War" says, "Attack by five", now the TV station's forces should be five times that of the literary society. However, the literary society has long been housed in the Hu Shi Building, imbued with Hu Shi's ideas, and is unwilling to compromise, strongly demanding independence and autonomy. Although the internal strife within the literary society is currently intense, there still exists a spirit of united resistance against external enemies, which cannot be easily shaken for the time being.

  The teachers of Shi Nan San Zhong like to walk out of the campus and into society. Two days ago, Wan Shan went to Beijing to attend an important pen meeting, leaving behind a literary club that he doesn't manage. The club's regular meetings are chaotic and uncontrollable, with every patriotic member wanting to speak up, but no one can say more than two or three words before being interrupted by a chorus of opposition. Originally, it was just the boys arguing, while the girls watched, but now it has developed into a situation where members of both sexes attack each other indiscriminately, as soon as someone opens their mouth. The conversations in the air are tangled and knotted, often with one person standing up to say "I think" only to be met with a landslide of "I disagree!" As a result, those who want to speak can only summarize their words, trying to make them as concise as possible, like modern household appliances, just to preserve their dignity.

  The president waved his hand and said, "Alright! Alright!" This sentence was like a cheer, which made the members' morale even higher. Yuxiang didn't go to fight because he was a literary critic, and had no relationship with either of the two families, so he really didn't have an obligation to stir up trouble. Watching people argue was a very comfortable thing, Yuxiang smiled and thought that this year's selection method for the Literary Society was really fierce, cultivating crickets that loved to fight, except for a few exceptions like the president, Yuxiang even suspected how the president had been chosen.

  The director's face turned bright red, his lips trembling, and he suddenly slammed his fist on the table. The employees were shocked, forgot what they wanted to say, and stared at the director in a daze.

  The president's accumulated courage and anger were all released in that one punch, but his emotions were not properly allocated, so when he spoke, he could only rely on his remaining courage and leftover anger. In fact, there was nothing left to say, it was just a helpless situation, like the inertia of braking or the stiffness of a dead body: "Please everyone... don't make any more noise, let's be quiet for a moment, okay? We are all members of the literature club, we shouldn't be arguing internally, we should work together!"

  The room fell into an unusual silence. Everyone was surprised to hear the president speak for so long, and they were all stunned. The president received an unexpected reaction, and he couldn't help but think that his charisma was impressive. But in reality, it wasn't his charisma that caused the commotion, just people's curiosity and disbelief, like if a sheep suddenly announced it would stop eating grass and start eating meat, or if Clinton suddenly claimed he would only focus on politics and not chase women anymore. People would be shocked into silence. The president, while admiring his own charisma, didn't forget to take advantage of the momentary silence, saying: "I think I'm an unqualified president." Members almost couldn't help but agree, which was the first consensus reached among the literature club members since its establishment.

  The director said in a low voice: "I am not capable of being the director. I think it is necessary for everyone to elect a new director today. I recommend Lin Yuxiang."

  Lin Yuxiang was so surprised that he almost jumped up, wrapped in happiness, and couldn't help but say: "How can I do it!" It seems that the Prose and Poetry Societies wouldn't let an outsider become their president. On the contrary, they were wary of each other, fearing that the other would take over, and also worried that their own people wouldn't obey them. Now, with Lin Yuxiang suddenly appearing, everyone expressed their approval. Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed, but only for a few seconds, before his position changed greatly. After declining several times, he reluctantly accepted, saying: "I can only temporarily take on the role of president, I'm unworthy. The Literature Society is a great organization, with many achievements in literature development. Now everyone has encountered some trouble, and there are some disagreements, but it's nothing major. We're mainly threatened by the TV station, which is a new thing, and students are curious about it. To be honest, it's just a phase! After a while, student enthusiasm will fade, and interest will shift elsewhere." When Lin Yuxiang said this, he pretended to think deeply, as if Qian Rong was an old friend from his past life, "His name is Qian Rong, right? He's the kind of person who loves to show off on the surface but is actually very selfish and incompetent. What's there to talk about?" The room fell silent, as if Lin Yuxiang had finally revealed Qian Rong's true nature.

  Yu Xiangyue spoke with increasing fervor, feeling a sense of relief and satisfaction that had been pent up for too long. He thought to himself that having an official position was indeed different. Continuing, he said: "This kind of motley crew is nothing to be afraid of, literature has its own unparalleled power. The main thing is that we have some minor internal differences, which are unnecessary. I think it would be best if the Literature Society could be divided into two small groups, one for prose and one for poetry, with equal space on the page, and each group selects a leader. Everyone can exchange ideas, learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and it would be great to unite the 'Heart's Desire Poetry Society' as well, so that we can all learn from each other and get along harmoniously. After all, writers are all one family!"

  The applause that lasted for a long time after the speech. Yu Xiang also couldn't believe that in such a short period of time, he had actually opened his mouth and created a great river, and his heart was still being lifted by joy like an ancient person sending a feather from a thousand miles away, light enough to fly into the sky. The old president clapped the most fiercely, as if he couldn't wait to put all the applause of his next life in today's round of applause.

  Yu Xiang's face turned red with excitement, and he said: "I also plan to open a column on 'Chu Lu' to help classmates relieve their worries, which can increase its affinity."

  "Good!" All members raised their hands and shouted, praising the president's great talent that moved tens of thousands of people.

  After returning to the classroom, Lin Yuxiang first thought of venting his anger and asked Qian Rong: "What position are you in at the TV station now?"

  Qian Rong's face showed pride as he was about to answer, but Yao Shuqin hastily said: "The male host and deputy director, what, wanting to ask for a favor?"

  Qian Rong had already told his girlfriend everything, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that their hearts were connected. The pride on his face grew twofold, almost to the point of overflowing.

  Yu Xiang snorted and said, "What's with the 'deputy'?"

  Yao Shuqin's mouth was like a freshly sharpened knife, swift and intimidating: "And what about you? The great member of the Great Literature Society?" Then she waited to see Yu Xiang's embarrassed expression.

  Yu Xiao finally waited for this sentence and went up to say: "I am now the president of the company."

  Qian Rong was taken aback, and immediately laughed: "Come on, you're really something!" Yu Xiang didn't wait for him to finish his sentence, saying: "I was just elected today, in terms of position, I'm one level higher than you."

  Qian Rong laughed even harder and said, "Are you guys in such a state of internal chaos today? Have you been killing each other to the point where almost everyone is dead, that's why you were chosen?" Yao Shuqin burst out laughing on the side, like the war drums of ancient times, although they couldn't directly kill the enemy, but it added a lot of momentum to this sentence.

  Lin Yuxiang is not as well-prepared for war as Rong Yutang, and his morale is three points lower. "Is that possible? It's a collective evaluation."

  Qian Rong laughed so hard he couldn't straighten his waist, saying: "Alright, alright, a bunch of young society members playing at electing, your 'Zhou Zhuang' ran off to Beijing, you're bored and playing this? Interesting! Are you planning on being the president for a few days just for fun, then quitting?"

  Yao Shuqin beat the war drum and changed to sing a war song, giggling.

  "It's true!"

  Qian Rong asked: "Can we change our options without a counselor?"

  Yu Xiangxue fabricated Jiang Qing's will, saying: "That 'Zhou Enlai' instructed in person before he left that you should hold elections, don't you believe it? Wait for him to come back and ask."

  Qian Rong: "That's wonderful! I'll bring a TV station to make a documentary about you, and President Lin will have to give his blessing."

  As he spoke, his hand flicked to the side, as if Lin Yu Xiang's face had been slapped away.

  Yu Xiang obtained the rights and argued with Qian Rong: "Do you want me to give you 'Chu Lu' for advertising?"

  Qian Rongdao: "No need for the president to worry, we don't... it should be that our popularity has already far surpassed your company's, right?"

  Lin Yuxiang threw down a sentence: "Look, your TV station won't last long." Afraid of being ridiculed by Qian Rong, he immediately ran out to find the "Heart Lake Poetry Society". The poet was like a shark, needing to move every moment, otherwise his life would be in danger, so it was extremely difficult to find them. Yuxiang ran all over the campus, but couldn't find anyone, with the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, he couldn't give up, and had to run through again, but unfortunately, the poet's actions were too mysterious, searching for him a thousand times was in vain.

  Yu Xiang suddenly thought of a book that said poets have a wild nature, so if that's the case, then poets must be in the wilderness. In the depths of the forest at Municipal Third Middle School in the south of the city, there was a dilapidated schoolmate pavilion, Yu Xiang thought that if he were a poet, he would definitely go to that place, made up his mind and rushed over.

  Yu Xiang still has a poet's intuition. The "Heart Lake Poetry Society" is indeed under the Alumni Pavilion.

  "Poetry" has been neglected until now. Upon learning that the new president of the literary society had come to invite him, he spoke a few words of complaint and obediently returned to the team.

  The new issue of the newspaper must have a new look. Yu Xiang was thrilled to receive so many manuscripts for the first time in his life; he thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of shooting down manuscripts. The first article to be rejected was the masterpiece of another writer, who had a keen insight into human psychology and wrote about voyeurism and kleptomania. As soon as Yu Xiang saw that the article mixed Chinese and Western styles, he felt a sense of disgust and rejected it without even reading its content, which made the other writer exclaim: "Hy!"

  Lin Yuxiang had only sung a discordant note to himself once, and it was too humiliating for him to say "I'm not good enough", so he shut his mouth.

  Then Yu Xiang posted again the article that often mistakenly wrote "you" as "nǐ", and humorously added: "Nǐ can't go up either!" The person asked, "Why?" Yu Xiang suddenly felt the resentment he had accumulated for a long time was about to be unleashed, glanced at him and said, "Are you the president or am I the president?"

  The man's words hit a dead end, and he could only swallow his anger, feeling a wave of disappointment in his heart.

  The first issue of "Initial Exposure" after Lin Yu took over the Literature Society was finally born, and he anxiously waited for feedback. Since there were no active members who would voluntarily report back, the society members had to temporarily become spies, following Lin Yu's orders to gather intelligence. At the meeting, after gathering all the information, most people said they hadn't read it, while a few who did thought it was slightly better than before, but couldn't understand why there was no "Literary Criticism" section! No reason at all! You always love to argue with me. Lin Yu expressed his dissatisfaction, saying that he didn't have much to say about the article because he hadn't read many books; on the other hand, he had listened to many songs and forced himself to write a "literary criticism" of popular music, but only criticized without evaluating, completely dismissing the entire music scene, saying that today's songs are worthless, those singers seem to be singing for animals, their pronunciation is unclear, and their lyrics are obscure, ordinary people can't understand them. Moreover, the quality of the singers is too low, with no inner meaning to speak of. Not only that, but "men's voices sound like women, women's voices sound like men; plus they have strange appearances, some male singers like Ren Xianqi have hair long enough to do shampoo commercials, while some female singers like Fan Xiaoying have hair so short that it would be impossible for a tyrant who likes to grab women's hair to find a place to start..." He made a bunch of absurd arguments. Lin Yu was very pleased with his own comments, thinking that people with discerning tastes would definitely resonate with them, and he studied the article by Lin Shaochang with great enthusiasm, praising it repeatedly, wishing that all the students at Nan San Zhong who loved literature would love his article as much as he did. He never expected that someone would "express dissatisfaction", and in anger, he wanted to copy their homework, asking: "Who is it?"

  The staff member shook his head and said it was unclear. Lin Yuxiang snorted and said: "These superficial people are so common."

  "Staff suggested: 'Boss, the scope of that article is a bit broader, it's better to be more specific.'"

  That proposal was subconsciously rejected by Lin Yuxiang, who originally wanted to refute him a few words. But thinking that he himself had high hopes and didn't need to bother with it, his heart suddenly opened up and said: "You're right, I'll pay attention next time." The member couldn't help but feel delighted and sat down smiling.

  Lin Yuxiang didn't quite live up to "being more careful", but was only a little bit careful, thinking that in the future he should write more about people's names, with evidence and facts, and naturally the scope would be smaller. So he wrote an article criticizing Taiwanese lyricist Xu Changde, just as it was about to be published, bad news arrived, Wan Shan returned from Beijing. Yuxiang didn't dare go himself to tell the new editor-in-chief, so he asked the old editor-in-chief to explain things to him, to give Wan Shan some mental preparation. Unexpectedly, Wan Shan was shocked and lost his composure, pointing at the old editor-in-chief saying: "I'm not with you... Lin Yuxiang this person is too... Alas!" He wanted to see the newspaper edited by Yuxiang, after reading it he calmed down a bit, saying: "It's passable. His first article was well-written, but the second one went off on some tangent about 'songs'! It doesn't make sense." Again he wanted to see the latest draft, after reading it he wrote under "_I say Xu Changde_" : "This article has many mistakes, absolutely cannot be published". The old editor-in-chief was very embarrassed, saying that this would be best handled by Teacher Zhou himself. Wan Shan called over Lin Yuxiang, originally wanting to remove him from his position, and had even prepared words of criticism, but as soon as he saw Yuxiang's serious expression, his heart softened, and with a few pointed words, he tactfully took away his right to review manuscripts: "You're still a student, you're quite busy, why not send over the drafts every week, I'll review them and publish them, okay?" Yuxiang didn't have the courage to say "no", and compromised.

  Wan Shan learned advanced experience in the capital and decided to teach university textbooks in the literary society, called "pre-education".

  I experienced the pain and pleasure of being a university professor in middle school, and I even wrote an educational paper on it. Algebra is something outside of Wanshan's academic scope, so I didn't take it seriously. After the reform, the "Chulu" literary society published over 100 articles in municipal publications, which was more boastful than the Soviet people when Roman Rolland visited the USSR, attracting visiting teams from other schools like ants before a rainstorm, queuing up to seek guidance.

  Yu Xiang's position as the president is actually in name only. Yu Xiang has lost all interest, because originally as the president he could dispose of manuscripts at will, and there was a kind of pleasure in shooting down others; now he can only send out manuscripts that have been shot down by Wan Shan, and naturally feels a kind of pain from collecting other people's corpses.

  The mid-term exam has just ended, and Lin Yuxiang's grades are all red. Mathematics, chemistry, and physics are all within the acceptable range, with no major issues. Chemistry relied on residual memories from middle school and scored a pink 53 points. Physics, however, did not have the same continuity with the content before the mid-term exam, and Lin Yuxiang unexpectedly scored a bright red 45 points. Mathematics is getting increasingly difficult, with fewer multiple-choice questions, and Lin Yuxiang scored a dark red 31 points.

  After leaving his mark on all the science subjects, two liberal arts subjects also suffered casualties. One of them was computer science, which Lin Yuxiang has always been resentful about. China's computer education seems to be blindfolded, unable to see the trend of global development. Moreover, it is a lazy person who does not want to explore in the dark and only stays in a safe place.

  At that time, idos98 was about to be released, but the school was still teaching outdated things like Fhase. Students would say, "Today's learning is for tomorrow's abandonment." In reality, it was not the students' learning that was abandoned, but rather the computer's functionality. The good computers in school were underutilized, and fortunately, they did not have autonomous thinking, or else they would be so angry that they would commit suicide.

  Lin Yuxiang hated Foxbase even more than he hated Fox, and his heart was not in the computer class, resulting in a score of 27 points, which was red to the point of being purple.

  The last subject that fell was English. Yu Xiang was so traumatized by Qian Rong that he got nervous whenever he saw English, and scored 58 points. But what made him relieved and surprised was that Qian Rong only scored 60 points as well. Qian Rong explained: "Shit! This exam paper is so boring, I fell asleep for an hour, didn't expect to still pass!"

  Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed when he saw that he had just passed the Chinese, history and politics exams. He took a look at Xie Jingyuan's scores and was shocked to see that they were all above 80 points, with physics being only one step away from full marks. Lin Yuxiang's mouth began to water as he gazed at the scores, but he pretended to be nonchalant and said, "China's education system is still cultivating those high-scoring individuals." He omitted the word "low-ability", but it was implied, just like how a martyr's position is left vacant even after they're gone. So Lin Yuxiang paused for a moment after saying "high-scoring", allowing Xie Jingyuan to fill in the blanks with his imagination.

  Xie Yun said seriously: "Lin Yuxiang, this is very dangerous for you. High school is not like middle school, it's hard to catch up in a short time. What if you fail and have to repeat the grade?"

  Yu Xiang was frightened by that "that" and had a chill, thinking that if he really failed to advance to the next grade, it would be a great shame. He felt heavy-hearted but spoke lightly: "Is it possible? But there's still plenty of time for this kind of thing."

  "Tomorrow and tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow, this way goes on..."