Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 25 Interview with New Yanjing Newspaper
At 3: in the afternoon, Zhang Chao tactfully arrived at the small conference room in the school's administrative building half an hour early.

Before the interview, he still needed to take care of his appearance. He often played basketball before and his skin was tanned. Teacher Zhang Ting thought it would not look good in photos, so she took out her own cosmetics to put some makeup on Zhang Chao.

When she was putting on makeup, her hair would occasionally brush against Zhang Chao's face, and her soft breath would occasionally blow against Zhang Chao's ears, making Zhang Chao feel as if he couldn't breathe.

I have to admit that having close contact with teacher "Tingmei" is a test for boys.

Her makeup skills were considered quite good in this era. Zhang Chao was not painted with white cheeks and red lips like a primary school choir, but her skin tone was naturally brightened, so that it would not look so dark in the camera.

Li Lie took one look and praised, "Ms. Zhang's makeup skills are pretty good, not worse than some makeup artists in TV stations."

At this time Dongfang Xing called Zhang Chao out again and told him to mention "Blog China" more often during the interview, and Zhang Chao agreed.

After talking with his parents for a while, the interview was almost about to begin. Director Ou from the city's propaganda department helped take a few photos, and then only Li Lie and Zhang Chao were left at the scene for a one-on-one conversation.

"Student Zhang Chao, or should I call you 'Midnight Tide'?"

"It doesn't matter which one. They are all me."

"What's the meaning of this pen name?"

"Ha... maybe my mind is more active at midnight."

At the beginning of the interview, the questions were relatively mild. However, Li Lie quickly got to the point.

“Why do you choose to publish your articles on the Internet instead of in newspapers or magazines?”

"I chose 'Blog China' as my publishing platform mainly because I value the freedom of the Internet. As long as I register an account, I can express my opinions freely. The publishing process of traditional paper media is too long."

"Are you afraid that if you submit your work to a print media, you will miss the semi-finals of the 'New Concept Essay Contest'?"

"That's the reason. When I was thinking about writing these articles, it was less than a week away from the semi-finals of the New Concept Essay Contest. If I submit them to a print media, the semi-finals may have ended before the editors saw them."

"So this was all 'premeditated'?"

"You can say that. But this kind of 'premeditation' is a psychological assumption that any author will make before writing. As a writer, it is impossible for me not to have expectations for the expression effect of the article, and I certainly hope that my views can be more widely recognized. So it is better to say 'planning' rather than 'premeditation'. The word 'premeditation' is too offensive."

"But your three articles are more offensive. 'Murder scene', 'apology', 'blood-dipped steamed buns', the words you used are all very horrifying. Do you write in this style to attract attention?"

"Of course it's to attract attention." Zhang Chao did not shy away from the question, but admitted it openly, which surprised Li Lie. However, Zhang Chao quickly added: "If these articles did not attract enough attention, you would not be sitting here to interview me, right?"

Li Lie didn't expect Zhang Chao to ask back, but as a senior reporter, he reacted quickly and asked: "So, your goal is to become famous overnight? How is it different from your peers who participated in the 'New Concept Essay Competition'?"

The questions started to become pointed, but still within the scope of the interview outline. Zhang Chao's answer was still very confident: "In terms of motivation, maybe it's very similar. No one who loves writing doesn't want to be famous overnight. But the biggest difference between us is that they have very certain awards and special admissions to top universities to strive for. And I don't have any predictable promises waiting for me. So even if the motivation is similar, I can't be equated with them."

"Did you write those three articles out of jealousy?"

"The basis of jealousy is that one's expectations are not met while others are met. If I also participated in the 'New Concept Essay Contest' and did not enter the semi-finals, or did not get the ideal ranking in the semi-finals and could not be admitted to a prestigious school, then I might be jealous of those successful people. But in fact, I have never submitted an article to the 'New Concept Essay Contest'. You can verify this with the 'New Sprout' magazine."

"Now that all universities have given up or stopped recruiting winners of the 'New Concept Essay Contest', what do you want to say?"

"I think it's a pity."

"Oh? Doesn't this fit in with the main theme of your three articles?"

"I always believe that the bottom line for university recruitment is to abide by the rules. If the existing rules allow them to win the special recruitment competition, then they should boldly recruit. If the rules have loopholes or are inappropriate, they should be improved afterwards. They cannot quell public pressure by hurting the contestants. In the current situation, I think these universities are a bit too hasty."

"Do you feel sorry for the contestants?"

"Of course not. I am only responsible for my own words, not for the actions of others. I will not make cheap apologies, nor will I offer insincere comfort."

Zhang Chao's strategy for dealing with Li Lie's interview was actually very simple, that is, to tell the truth, but not the whole story. To a senior reporter like Li Lie who is good at seeing through people's minds, lying is the stupidest option.

Li Lie did not focus the interview on the issue of the "New Concept Essay Competition", but paid more attention to Zhang Chao as a person.

Because for Li Lie, the "New Concept Essay Contest" was already a "dead object" in public opinion, at most "dead but not stiff". It didn't really matter whether he stabbed it again or not.

The most recent focus of public opinion should be this 80-year-old boy. His sharp writing style and sharp eloquence, as well as his attitude of not being servile or rebellious, are truly a breath of fresh air among the "post-s" writers in recent years.

However, he did not intend to ask questions entirely within the scope of the interview outline; he had his own strategy.

At the end of the interview, Li Lie suddenly asked: "I heard that you are seriously biased in your studies. In this mock test, your total score is only 337 points, of which Chinese accounts for nearly half. This score reminds me of Han Han who became famous a few years ago by participating in the 'New Concept Essay Competition'.

Do you think you are like him? Are you following the same path to fame as him? "

This question was not in the outline at all, and Zhang Chao’s total score in the mock exam was never revealed to Li Lie by any school personnel, so it was unknown from which channel he got the information.

This is the characteristic of Li Lie's interviews. When the other party thinks that they have successfully dealt with all the tricky questions, he suddenly throws out an unexpected piece of information to hit the soft spot. He believes that only in this way can he force the interviewee's truest side to emerge.

He originally did not intend to use this method in the interview with Zhang Chao, because Zhang Chao was just a high school student after all.

But Zhang Chao’s previous answer was so brilliant that he couldn’t help but use this “backup plan”. He wanted to see if this young man was really as sincere and calm as he appeared.

(End of this chapter)