Generation Z Artists

Chapter 100: One person wrote the book, and everyone panicked
When the media's deconstruction began to go deeper, people in the entire Northeast, both those who should and shouldn't be panicking, started to panic.

Southern Weekend published an article written by Xiong Peiyun.

Because the chief editor Yan Lieshan was so angry that he broke down, cursing wildly and clamoring to sue Fang Xinghe to death, so he had to replace someone to deal the real damage.

The title of the article is "A huge net covering the sky of Northeast China - the dark iron curtain in Fang Xinghe's eyes"

As soon as this article was published, it shocked the literary world, education circles, media circles, middle school students, and... people in Northeast China.

Because this guy really understood a lot of details in "Cang Ye Xue".

“I read it as soon as possible and read it three times in the middle of the night. I would like to put forward some different opinions from you to help you understand this book.

I personally think that the pain in "Cang Ye Xue" is a deep and desperate pain. Many well-known contemporary writers do not like the ending of "Cang Ye Xue", but I think it is in line with the context of the times and more in line with the core purpose that Fang Xinghe wants to express.

Fang Xinghe used two perspectives, one bright and one dark, one main and one secondary, one front and one back, and handled it particularly skillfully.

From Chen Cang's perspective, the world is vivid and simple, neither particularly good nor bad. It is the kind of world that I can escape from if I want to, does not exist if I don't look at it, and can be changed if I want to. "I thought what I saw was real." In all the odd-numbered chapters, Chen Cang's naivety and wishful thinking as a teenager are vividly displayed.

Including the final revenge, did you notice that it is an odd chapter?

Fang Xinghe knows very well what today's young children like. He uses detailed writing to construct enough revenge justice, and finally releases the emotions to meet the expectations of ordinary young readers.

But this is just an appearance, something he is leading you to see.

And from the God's perspective in the even-numbered chapters, the world is truly real.

Take Song Zude’s famous saying as an example: We built this net together, and those in power are the ones who cast the net. You bunch of peasants are destined to never turn over.

For example, in the last even-numbered chapter before revenge, Fang Xinghe wrote that Boss Yan wanted to show his family style to his son's fiancée - something that did not exist at all.

This is not only a wonderful irony, but also an extremely profound reflection of reality.

He deliberately moved into an old house, used old furniture, and did the cleaning and housework himself to show his simplicity and remembrance of his roots.

However, that old house is the best leadership house in the machinery factory, with an area of 120 square meters. Compared with Chen Cang's house of 37 square meters, isn't it particularly absurd?

There are all kinds of so-called old furniture and the most fashionable home appliances, but Chen Cang's neighbor's house always lights candles.

The so-called cleaning by yourself means finding someone to do all the dirty and tiring work, and then doing some superficial work.

In the end, Chen Cang curled up in the corner of the top floor and hid until dawn before he could get out. This was because there was a security guard standing guard downstairs, but at that time, the equipment in the machinery factory had long been sold out, and the only place where he needed to stand guard was the secret door converted from his own home.

Fang Xinghe's original text is: 'Liu Xinda squatted in the corner of his house with his hands in his pockets, shivering. Even so, he was wary of everyone passing by his house. From time to time, his wife's shameful and painful groans could be heard from the thin glass window covered with newspapers. Chen Cang walked past a few meters away without looking away. He took a quick glance and saw the words "Work hard for 100 days" on the window paper.'

What wonderful words!
I couldn't help but applaud.

In even-numbered chapters, the world is the real world, and the Northeast is the real Northeast.

In his fate interview, Fang Xinghe defined the mass layoffs as a natural disaster, while in "Cang Ye Xue", he focused more on describing the man-made disaster. The two form a perfect closed loop, reflecting the severe pain caused by the times when they were concentrated on him personally.

"Cang Ye Xue" is full of man-made disasters.

The factory was dug up by bad guys, but the person who did it got promoted and made a fortune.

My father was accidentally killed by a worker, but the law does not hold everyone responsible, and his superiors, eager to make Chen Aiguo a scapegoat, hastily closed the case.

The mother ran away because she was bullied by the neighbors. Most of the neighbors at the machinery factory, represented by Cheng Yizhong, knew that Chen Aiguo was not corrupt, but they had no place to vent their hatred for being laid off, so they vented it on the more vulnerable orphans and widows.

Chen Cang himself is a focus of contradictions. His former subordinates have turned against him because pleasing him no longer brings any benefits, but bullying him can make his perverted and twisted heart happier.

What is human nature?
Fang Xinghe presents it nakedly in front of us. Do you feel creepy?

Why is human nature like this?

This time he no longer generalized and hastily attributed it to freedom. No one was sacrificed because of liberalism. It was essentially an inappropriate one-size-fits-all policy that ran into a complex local group within the system. They were eager to get rich overnight, so they squeezed the bottom of the society and wanted to take away the last bit of things from the poor.

Lou Yexue is the last thing Chen Cang has.

We see with our own eyes how he becomes penniless. In the odd-numbered chapters, he loses everything bit by bit, and in the even-numbered chapters, he has nothing at all.

Until the very end, Chen Cang and Lou Yexue were unable to sublimate their sacred and pure love, which made people feel suffocated.

Fang Xinghe is a pure bad guy. He has been hinting and emphasizing from the beginning to the end that a wild child like Chen Cang with no background does not deserve to have anything good.

People who have nothing will definitely become hysterical.

So what's wrong with Chen Cang's revenge ending? It's really good!
It fully demonstrates how a person, an extremely immature boy, is alienated into a ghost.

To kill someone, one must first kill oneself. In fact, in the split plot three years later, Fang Xinghe was writing about a ghost, not Chen Cang, because Chen Cang was already dead!

Or perhaps, Chen Cang had gone crazy a long time ago.

Feel the text in the second half. The writing in the odd-numbered chapters loses its warmth little by little and moves closer to the even-numbered chapters. Except for the difference in perspective, there is actually no distinction between odd and even in the latter part.

Throughout the book, everyone is alienated, without any exception.

Lou Yexue is essentially Chen Cang who has just been alienated. His parents have both passed away, he has been bullied, he has an extreme personality, and he is obsessed with trivial matters. In the last period of time, her words and deeds have always been close to those of the former Chen Cang. Fang Xinghe did not write about what Chen Cang was like when he just became an orphan, but showed it to us through Lou Yexue.

This cruelty is secretive and sad, chilling to the bone.

But when you feel sorry for her, when you are indulged in campus love, can you look deeper?
Look a little more, and then we will sink our speculation into a darker and crueler abyss—

Maybe there is no such thing as Lou Yexue at all!

All of this is just Chen Cang's fantasy, his self-salvation. Lou Yexue is the embodiment of Chen Cang's subconscious desire to save himself!

Blue night, dark night sky.

There is snow on the building at night, a small building, the night sky, and a layer of white snow on the ground.

The dark sky and the white snow on the ground complement each other, the night sky becomes darker and the snow becomes purer.

But in the picture, the two are one and the same!

If we think from this perspective, we can explain many minor inconsistencies in the book.

You see, as soon as Lou Yexue transferred here, she took the initiative to talk to Chen Cang. Faced with his resistance, Lou Yexue tried again and again, to an excessive degree of enthusiasm.

She is a rich girl from a big city.

Why did she fall in love with Chen Cang as soon as they met, and even give up her pride to help him?
Let us pay attention to the real details: the timeline of the whole text should be one and a half years, but Fang Xinghe did not write about the scene of Lou Yexue’s birthday.

Where was her birthday?

A young couple actually didn’t celebrate their birthday?

Fang Xinghe wrote a lot of sweet details about their time together, but there was no mention of their birthday, which was simply too unreasonable.

There was also the only conversation between Lou Qingshan and Chen Cang: "That day it was at your house, the old house you live in now, you and Xiaoxue were only that old, you looked at her and didn't dare to go forward, you didn't move, Xiaoxue took the initiative to rush over and call you brother, wanting to play with you..."

But Chen Cang clearly had no memory of this!

He heard this and had no reaction.

Should the little girl who was your childhood sweetheart be shocked even if she has no memory of it at all?
A child over three years old must have remembered some things. Fang Xinghe clearly wrote that Chen Cang was a smart man with a good memory, and he remembered both grudges and love.

He shouldn't have no impression of Lou Yexue at all, and Lou Yexue has never mentioned the fact that they played together when they were young. Normally speaking, Lou Qingsong should at least have mentioned to her that the two of them knew each other when they were young.

As a result, none of them.

And the words that Lou Yexue said when she insisted on suing -

Yes, he didn't take away everything I had, but he destroyed the dignity of both of us! If there is no result to prove to everyone that I was forced, how can I love you openly?
This is not right. This is too Chen Cang, just like Chen Cang's persistence and stubbornness in kicking the door downstairs.

And the emotional focus is dignity, which is strange, too strange.

Furthermore, the deaths of Lou Qingsong and Lou Yexue's mother were extremely abrupt and the transition was particularly brief, as if their deaths were natural and they were supposed to die.

This doesn't seem like a mistake Fang Xinghe would make.

There is another particularly big loophole, I don't know if you have noticed it - Lou Yexue's mother never appeared from beginning to end, she has no name, no image, and no personal mark.

Does such a person really exist?

Could she be the image symbol of Chen Cang's mother who has passed away?

He didn’t write a single word about his girlfriend’s mother. I don’t know what you think, but I think this is ridiculous. At least Lou Yexue should talk to Chen Cang about her mother, right?

But no, really not.

But if we think from a different angle, everything will become clear.

Lou Qingsong is the other side of Chen Aiguo, a side that is not impetuous, does not like to complain, is calm and positive when encountering things, and has a sense of family responsibility. In other words, this is Chen Cang's ideal father.

Lou's mother is Chen Cang's escaped mother. Chen Cang is extremely conflicted about her. He wants her to be around, but he doesn't know how to face her. So he simply keeps silent about her, plays ostrich, and turns a blind eye.

The two people had an accident and were hit and killed by a large truck, which corresponds exactly to Chen Aiguo's accidental fall from the building.

In the original text, Fang Xinghe wrote meaningfully: "To be patriotic is to jump down by yourself."

Except for Chen Aiguo, who took the blame, all the former directors of the machinery factory shouted patriotic slogans while eagerly poaching talents from the state.

Fang Xinghe used nine words to describe this kind of active degeneration: Patriotism is jumping down on your own.

But Chen Aiguo is not like that. Like Lou Qingsong, he is very passive.

The people above him forced him to death, labeled him a corrupt official, and publicized to the outside world: to be patriotic, you have to jump down on your own.

At the same time, it completes the dual metaphors of dark reality and inner comfort, making it seem as if everyone is the same, so we can feel at ease.

This is so poignant that when I reread this passage, I couldn't help but applaud the workers' reaction.

His eyes flickered and he shrank back, and he defended himself by saying, "Aiguo said he was sorry to everyone..."

Chen Aiguo definitely did not say that, and the person who accidentally fell from the building had no chance to say that.

However, Fang Xinghe wrote that Chen Aiguo was sublimated from the unqualified father in memory into a sacrifice - a sacrifice in the dark carnival of human nature.

When a group of adults lie to a child, it is not only to shirk responsibility and escape the condemnation of conscience, but also a metaphor for a deeper evil.

If we feel that he has let us down, then he has let us down.

Although the greater responsibility lies with Boss Yan and Song Zude, they are still alive! They are still in power! We dare not hate them, so you orphans and widows should bear the debt for Chen Aiguo.

It was clearly them who killed Chen Aiguo, but they still used morality to suppress Chen Cang. Chunxin made the mother and son feel guilty and sorry for everyone.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is so evil.

This point is vividly demonstrated in the attitude of Erlangzi's father towards Song Zude in the later part of the story.

Look, how many times did Fang Xinghe respond?
This is no coincidence.

As the opposite of Chen Aiguo, Lou Qingsong adopted a completely different way of dealing with the mess of the machinery factory, which was also the way Chen Cang most wanted to deal with it - stay away, don't play with Boss Yan, and don't be fooled by him.

Chen Cang essentially resented his father for being the director of this crappy factory, which brought him no benefits at all. He would not come home for days on end when he was working on a difficult problem, and when he did come home he did not give him any love. Instead, he was mostly picky and disliked his father for his lack of ambition. It was because being a factory director was too stressful, so Chen Aiguo chose to release the pressure on his family.

But Chen Cang still hopes that his father can escape this disaster and that the family will not break up.

Lou Qingsong and his mother are the reflection of that fantasy.

They left the vortex.

However, what is even more profound and dark is that, under such a big net, no matter what choices you make, you can't escape it in the end. Is it sad?
No, Chen Cang is simply too weak to be sad. If you look closely, you will find that he does not have any such emotion as sadness.

Fang Xinghe is such a bad guy who kills people without spilling any blood!
At first glance, Lou Qingsong’s car accident seemed like an accident, with very little description, but in fact, its inevitability was hinted at through various details very early on.

The most important thing here is the account book.

It can be seen from the text that the account book eventually fell into Lou Qingsong's hands, so a new question arises: how did it get there?

Chen's home was searched, but nothing was found.

Maybe Chen's mother took the account book away? But it was even more impossible for it to fall into Lou Qingsong's hands.

Judging from the details in the article, Chen Aiguo and Lou Qingsong have not seen each other for more than 10 years. The last time they spoke on the phone was about 8 years ago when Chen Aiguo became the factory director.

It is impossible for Chen Aiguo to leave any secret code for Lou Qingsong to find the account book. Given Lou Qingsong's personality, he would not look for it.

In fact, Lou Qingsong shouldn't even know about the existence of the account book, and no one would tell him about such a thing.

How did the account book end up in Lou Qingsong's hands?

Unless, the account book has always been in Lou Qingsong's hands.

Lou Qingsong once wanted to protect himself. He asked Lou Yexue if she was willing to get engaged to Yan Lieyu. In fact, everyone understood it as Chen Cang asking himself: Are you willing to give in to Yan Lieyu, are you willing to bow to power? That would be more interesting.

Let’s go back to the first chapter. How does Fang Xinghe describe the conflict between Yan Lieyu and Chen Cang?

He came up and mocked directly: "Hey, isn't this our Cang Shao? Who has beaten you up again?"

The ending is: 'You are nothing, why are you still so proud!'

In fact, there is no real structural conflict between the two.

Boss Yan was the previous director of the machinery factory, and it was he who promoted Chen Cang's father. The two men are naturally from the same faction, so Chen Cang should naturally be Yan Lieyu's younger brother.

However, Chen Cang refused to accept the result. He neither flattered nor submitted, so Yan Lieyu suppressed him everywhere.

It's just this little contradiction that I even found it ridiculous when I first saw it.

But looking back, wow, it’s so interesting!

Isn’t this a metaphor that those who do not bow to power will always be attacked and persecuted?

I know some people may say that I am over-interpreting, but you see, one mistake may be a coincidence, two mistakes may be the author's negligence, three mistakes, four mistakes, ten mistakes, the whole story will definitely fall apart, and there will be logical loopholes everywhere.

But there is not the slightest confusion in the whole book. Both the continuity of the plot and the completeness of the structure are excellent and are not noticeable at all.

Well, doesn't this prove that Fang Xinghe did it on purpose?
Anyone who has really done creative work knows that it is extremely difficult to ensure that the structure is flawless. And to ensure that the structure is flawless with so many flaws is even more difficult.

So the points you are discussing are all wrong, absolutely wrong!
The point at which Chen Cang went crazy was definitely not the dark stare at Wang Zhigang in the police station!

That was a jamming bomb he deliberately used to guide and deceive you!
The most popular interpretation on the market now is: Chen Cang was caught after Lou Yexue's death, and then the bad guys framed him for pushing Lou Yexue down the stairs. Because there was insufficient evidence, they put him in a mental hospital and made him crazy. Wang Zhigang's guilty and evasive eyes are the evidence.

But what if there is no Lou Yexue at all?
If Chen Cang had gradually fallen into madness the moment his mother left, and the subsequent stories did not exist at all and were all just an absurd fantasy, wouldn't the structure of the entire story be more complete?
With this idea in mind, let’s look back at the first chapter of the story. Does Chen Cang look like a madman?
He slammed down the stairs, kicked the neighbor's door, and then kicked down a row of bicycles in the shed. Finally, he got up and kicked the black dog, breaking all of its limbs...

Is this like a normal person?

Moreover, the police station in the story was functioning normally. If he really broke the black dog's limbs, why didn't anyone catch him?
The matter was passed over lightly. Heigou did not call the police, nor did he ask him for medical expenses. You know, Heigou is Yan Lieyu's lackey, so why didn't Master Yan mention this matter?

There is only one truth - starting from the first chapter, everything is Chen Cang's fantasy!
In his fantasy, he never surrendered and always fought against all the bad guys and bad things. If the black dog bullied him, he would fight back. If he couldn't defeat him head-on, he would launch a sneak attack.

But the truth is, only at the moment when he looked in the mirror did the wounds on his face caused by others appear real, and the rest were all fantasies in his mind.

As I write this, I feel so depressed that I can't breathe.

Now let's discuss a new question. Why did Fang Xinghe use a structure that alternates between two perspectives to write this youth campus love story?
Showmanship? No.

Contrast? No.

I can't think of any other possibility except hiding information.

There are too many similar details, but Fang Xinghe deliberately ignores them and focuses on the main plot, making us subconsciously follow him in circles.

But looking back, is that the right amount of detail and omission?

That's just playing around!
Because each chapter and the previous and following ones are not inertial continuous structures, we cannot feel the break, but dig into it bit by bit in the jumps.

The more I dug, the more something felt wrong.

If you can't dig it out, then you will be shocked by him in the last chapter.

So this is not some crappy youth literature at all. The love paragraphs account for less than 1/3 of the book, and all the textual details exist to outline that net.

When everyone was dead, Chen Cang disappeared for three years and then reappeared. His writing style gradually became unified, the perspective began to rise, the exquisiteness of the structure was gone, and the intensity of emotions reached its peak.

And he used his emotions to completely lead you astray, causing you to ignore the most fundamental thing in your tears, which is also what he really wanted to express -

The deepest despair for this dark land.

He is a Northeasterner, but he does not love the Northeast.

He is a Chinese, but he doesn't love China either.

He was still a young man, but he quite hated his age and was extremely eager to grow up quickly.

Of course, I completely understand him.

As an orphan, he must have suffered hardships that we cannot imagine and seen the darkness of human nature that we cannot imagine, so that he could write such a great work without any light.

Yes, considering his age, this work will definitely go down in history.

How many faces, how many tragedies, and how many gluttonous feasts did a 14-year-old boy see to be able to write such a socially relevant work to its current level?
I feel sorry for him, and I want to question the bad guys in Northeast China: when you do those bad things, don’t you do them behind other people’s backs?

Women and children all know it! Young people are watching!
They are in cahoots with each other! Shameless as hell!
......"

The public didn’t care much about the following angry criticism of the Northeast environment, but those who really cared came directly to the door.

Mr. He and President Jin came to the door looking almost disheveled.

"Xiao Fang, I'm going to screw you over!"

The first thing President Jin said was a complaint, while Mr. He looked him up and down, shook his head and sighed: "I was wrong. I am really old and my eyes are blurry. I was wrong."

Fang Xinghe chuckled, invited the two to sit in the seat of honor, then sat down below, rubbing his hands, with a very obedient attitude.

I've taken all the advantages, so what's the point of pretending to be good~~~
"Why, do the higher-ups have any objections?"

"Yes, but it's not convenient." President Jin scratched his head and looked at him, "So, you take the initiative?"

"what?"

Fang Xinghe looked up in confusion, and the 14-year-old boy's clear eyes were filled with four words: What does it mean?
Mr. He couldn't help laughing, and pointed at him: "You, you... OK, tell me the truth, so I can report it to you - do you really have any problems with the environment in our Northeast?"

"Objectively speaking, that is not an opinion, but a criticism of the status quo."

Fang Xinghe implicitly acknowledged Xiong Peiyun's analysis, but his reasons were very sufficient.

“Good is good and bad is bad. If a writer writes serious things without a bit of criticism, it would be meaningless to continue writing.

I was born in the Northeast and have seen a lot of bad things. I love them deeply and criticize them harshly, so it is justified for me to write them down in my works and expose them.

I don’t know what other places are like, so I can’t write about them.

But I didn’t use any other factors to criticize them, nor did I attribute it to a one-sided reason. I just felt unhappy when I saw it, so I threw it in to criticize them. I won’t say anything if the higher-ups change it or not, and I can’t control how the lower-ups view it…”

Mr. He was a little angry: "You are irresponsible!"

“Who should writers be responsible to?”

Fang Xinghe spread his hands, his expression extremely serious.

"Any words written by a writer will contain strong personal emotions. My personal emotion is that I hope Northeast China will be better, and I hope China will be better. But I will not go against my conscience and say that you are doing a good job now.

No, it's much worse, it's really not good enough.

Great men ask us to be brave enough to criticize. Now I have criticized them in a fair and fair manner without any distortion or abuse. So those who are hurt should reflect on themselves instead of asking me to sing their praises. "

President Jin couldn't help but nod: "Yes, writers should be critical!"

He Lao glared at him and said, "Have you forgotten how embarrassed you were when you were scolded?"

"It's okay to be in such a bad situation, but the money we earn can keep the company going for a few more years."

President Jin was indeed a bit like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. He shook his head and laughed: "In just a few days, 150 million copies have been sold!"

What an exaggerated result.

Therefore, its influence has skyrocketed, no wonder the province is unable to sit still.

"Not only that!" President Jin chuckled, "Now the people regard you as a representative of public opinion who dares to speak the truth. Some of our practices are indeed outrageous."

"Hey……"

Mr. He sighed and said bluntly, "In short, your work makes people passive. It doesn't matter if the two of us bear some responsibility, but you'd better think of a way to eliminate the impact quickly, otherwise it will not be good for your image."

"What can I do?"

Fang Xinghe spread his hands, also looking worried.

He originally thought that the metaphors in the book would take some time to be deciphered. Who would have thought that the leaders of the public intellectuals these days would be so sensitive?
That idiot is really outrageous. Wang Yali cried so many times but still didn't understand anything, and he almost tore it apart overnight...

"Well, what are you afraid of? You are a genius writer!"

President Jin is carefree and still thinks it's not a big deal.

He is not a pure idealist, and neither is Fang Xinghe, so their thinking is quite simple.

“Hold it first, and when you can’t bear it anymore, retreat and hide for a while. When you come up with better works next time and establish a strong enough positive influence, everyone will smile at you again.”

It’s a good idea and it has long been on Fang Xinghe’s list of alternative candidates.

However, if possible, Fang Xinghe still wants to do something to relieve the pressure on his hometown. At least the people in his hometown have been very kind to him.

But what to do?

For a moment, he really didn't have any good ideas, because they could all be used, but they were not enough.

Then, at this moment, Liu Jing suddenly called him.

"Fang Xinghe! Mr. Sun wants to have you on a show!"

"Mr. Sun?"

"Sun Jie, the chief producer of Focus Interview!"

Mr. He and President Jin looked at each other, and suddenly pressed down his arms on both sides.

Damn it, little brat, just agree to it!

***************
(End of this chapter)