The feedback received by "The Last Man Who Doesn't Take Drugs" was somewhat different from what Le Jing had imagined.
In the past two days, all newspapers were calm. There were occasional comments, but they were all insignificant and quiet. It was so quiet that Le Jing began to doubt whether his articles were too poorly written.
Yang Jinglun was relieved. He told Le Jing the truth, "As an editor, I certainly hope that your article will cause a stir, but as a reader, I hope that your article will never be noticed, and the less trouble it causes, the better." He looked at Le Jing affectionately and said seriously, "You are still young, and your future has just begun. I really don't want you to die too early."
Le Jing knew what Yang Jinglun meant. He was still too young and he still had decades to do what he wanted to do. So he didn't need to be anxious or discouraged. But was it really like that?
Ever since he had a serious illness, Le Jing had a sense of urgency. His time travel was sudden and uncontrollable, and he was worried that one day he would wake up and find that he had left this time and space. That was why he was so anxious. He wanted to do as many things as possible in the shortest time.
Just when Le Jing began to think about whether to write another article, the belated feedback finally came three days later.
Another old paper, Chaoyang Daily, published an article in response to "The Last Person Who Doesn't Take Drugs", and the author was surprisingly Principal Zhou Dezhang. However, considering how disgusted Principal Zhou was with the opium problem that day, it was not surprising that he would respond to Le Jing's article advocating a ban on smoking at the first opportunity.
In addition to Zhou Dezhang, there is another big shot who published an article in the Literary Newspaper to support Le Jing. This big shot is called Huang Qixuan, and his pen name is Huang Liangmeng. He is a boss-level figure who dominates the junior high school Chinese textbooks. Every year, the teachers who set the test papers for the high school entrance examination will use this big shot's articles as the key breakthrough targets for reading comprehension. However, what makes the later generations of spectators talk about more than his dominance in the examination room is the love-hate relationship between this big shot and his first wife.
Huang Da Lao and his first wife Xiong Meidie were arranged to marry. Xiong Meidie was a daughter of a general, and was very skilled in fighting. Huang Da Lao thought she was uneducated and could not resonate with him, so he never liked her. So not long after they got married, Huang Da Lao's thoughts became overwhelmed and he began to flirt with his female student.
Xiong Meidie soon found out about this. That night, she kicked open the study door and threw a kitchen knife at Huang Da Lao who was reading. The knife grazed Huang Da Lao's cheek and sank deeply into the wall behind him. Just as Huang Da Lao was sweating profusely and trembling, his wife said fiercely with murderous intent on her face: "Huang Qixuan, you dog, if you dare to hook up with other little sluts again, I will castrate you!" From then on, the couple treated each other with respect and became a model couple in the Republic of China.
Although Huang Qixuan is a weirdo in his emotional life (in a derogatory sense), and is often abused by his wife for having affairs, but she refuses to divorce him, he is actually a very upright and ethical scholar. In one sentence, he has good personal ethics and integrity. This can be seen from the book review he wrote for Le Jing. Huang Da Lao said in his book review:
[Reading "The Last Man Who Doesn't Take Drugs" - Is it me who is crazy, or is it society?
I first read this article on a sunny morning. My children were playing and fighting outside, and my beloved wife was whispering with the servants outside. I was sitting in the sunny study, feeling as if I had fallen into an icy cave, and my whole body was shaking.
The night watchman called opium drugs, and smoking opium was called drug abuse. There is no more accurate description than this! When reading for the first time, readers should think that the content of this article is absurd. How could there be a country and a government that would arrest citizens just because they don't take drugs? The various persecutions of the protagonist by drug addicts in the article also seem to be the ravings of a madman. However, are things really as they seem?
All the fiction in the article is based on the reality! The country in the novel that arrests healthy people who don't take drugs and encourages its citizens to take drugs is exactly our China!
In order to make farmers grow more opium for money, warlords in a certain province even used high grain taxes to intimidate farmers who wanted to grow grain! In order to plant more land on opium, land annexation in various grain-producing provinces intensified, and the land fell into the hands of big landlords and big capitalists! With the tax revenue from this small opium, it was easy to feed the "bosses" of the entire China. Their pockets were bulging by plundering the people's fat. I can't help but want to ask those "bosses", are these steamed buns stained with human blood delicious?
And what about our people? Please go to the smoking houses in the streets and alleys and take a look. How many heavy smokers are there in China who are puffing away on cigarettes and living a life of drunkenness without doing any work? !
Do we in China still have arable land?
Does China still have any soldiers available?
Do we Chinese still have healthy citizens?
When natural disasters strike, what else can our government give to its starving citizens except opium? !
Fuck the “Celestial Empire”, it’s nothing but the wishful thinking of a bunch of sick men of East Asia!
How long will this crazy world ruled by madmen last?
If China still wants to have a future, if the government still wants its citizens to live in a country where they can have enough food, then please ban opium! Give our descendants a peaceful and prosperous world! 】
The whole article was very passionate to read, but Le Jing was amused by Huang Da Lao's "loving wife" who had a strong desire to survive. After laughing, he sincerely began to thank Huang Da Lao. Although he didn't know how his article caught Huang Da Lao's eye, but with two seniors, Principal Zhou and Huang Da Lao, endorsing his article, his article was destined to no longer remain unknown.
And things developed just as Le Jing expected.
The two big men's words were like a huge rock falling into the lake, causing huge waves and creating a shock no less than thunder. It was as if countless people suddenly woke up from a dream and found "The Last Non-Drug Addict" published by the Night Watchman in the "Literary Newspaper". The calm surface was finally broken, and then there was a "bang", and the gunpowder barrel exploded completely.
However, the Night Watchman, who made his mark in the literary circle of the Republic of China with a few articles, was not taken seriously by many people. So when "The Last Person Who Doesn't Take Drugs" was first published, the overall attitude of the cultural circle towards this article was indifference.
But with Zhou Dezhang and Huang Qixuan, two senior leaders, standing up for the Night Watch, things are different. Unlike the previously unknown Night Watch, these two are long-established veterans who have their own supporters in the cultural circle and are well-known tough guys. The opponents are not stupid either, of course they will pick on the weak, not to mention that the Night Watch is the culprit of everything.
Thus began an unprecedented war of words against the night watchmen in the newspapers.
The other debaters are: drug addicts, lackeys of warlords, government writers, drug dealers’ thugs, and literati from the big landlord and capitalist class...
Drug addicts and enthusiasts accused the night watchman of lying and confusing right and wrong. Opium is clearly their muse of inspiration and is not harmful to health at all.
The lackeys of the warlords said that the opium tax was beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood. It was precisely because of the opium tax as military expenditure that China, which was so poor and weak, had the money to buy airplanes and cannons and mobilize the army to resist foreign troops. Moreover, the people planted opium completely voluntarily, which was beneficial for them to grow opium to support their smoking, allowing the people to smoke low-priced opium and reduce the burden on the people. Once smoking is banned in the country, the people can only buy high-priced cigarettes from foreign opium dealers! The night watchman must have received money from foreign opium dealers to write articles advocating a ban on smoking in the country! How is this different from being a traitor?
The government's court writers said that opium tax has become an important part of the government's fiscal revenue. Building bridges and roads, establishing education, purchasing foreign goods, national defense and security... all aspects are inseparable from the funding of opium tax! The opium tax is only to make the poor quit smoking and the rich smoke less, so as to achieve the purpose of prohibition without prohibition. Moreover, domestically produced medicines are different from foreign medicines. Domestically produced medicines have the earth's air in the ground to neutralize the toxicity and are harmless to the Chinese people. The night watchman's proposition is shallow and ridiculous. If someone really acts according to his proposition, he will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history in the future and become a sinner of the Chinese nation!
…
Although many interest groups have sent people to put accusations and slander Le Jing, China has never lacked sober and clear-minded people, nor has it lacked some hard nuts to crack.
As the great writer said, "Since ancient times, we have had people who work hard, people who work hard, people who plead for the people, and people who sacrifice their lives for the law... Even the so-called "official history" that is equivalent to writing genealogies for emperors and generals cannot cover up their glory. This is the backbone of China."
Then Le Jing saw that those big and small figures, some of whom left their names in history or died in obscurity, stood up one after another, wrote articles in newspapers to support him, and spoke out for him in the market.
The debate on the ban on smoking lasted for a long time, and gradually developed from a small-scale "gang fight" against Le Jing at the beginning to a battlefield where the anti-smoking faction and the smoking faction of the whole China confronted each other, and countless people were implicated. Countless people lobbied for their interest groups, and countless people also waved the flag for fairness and justice in their hearts.
Le Jing is just a spark that ignites the powder keg. How long this explosion will last and what the outcome will be is a mystery to everyone involved.
Perhaps this grand debate will leave a strong mark in the history books of later generations, and as the fuse and initiator of the debate, Le Jing will also leave his name in history. Le Jing does not know what kind of evaluation people in the future will make of him, but he has no regrets about everything he has done.
Then, one day at noon, Yang Jinglun knocked desperately on Le Jing's door, his voice breaking the tranquility of late autumn, "Sir, sir, hurry up and open the door!"
Le Jing sat at the desk, closed the pen cap, and put the pen into the pen holder.
Soon the yard was filled with the sound of Yang Jinglun's stumbling running and his hoarse roar: "Sir, hurry up and leave here with me. The police will be here soon!"
"What?! Why did the police come to arrest my brother?"
"No time to explain! Where is the sir?"
"In the study! I'll take you there!"
Le Jing stood up and gently smoothed out the wrinkles on his white gown. He was very focused on tidying it up. After the door of the study was broken into, he turned around and smiled brightly at the breathless Yang Jinglun and Li Shuran.
How to describe this smile?
As bright as the sun rising into the sky, as comfortable as the gentle breeze and bright moon in one's arms, as steadfast as a seeker of truth who never gives up.
Yang Jinglun was stunned for a moment before he found his words again. He ignored the strange feeling in his heart and said hastily, "Sir, the police will be here soon. I have prepared the car and the boat ticket to Japan. Let's set off quickly!"
Le Jing smiled and shook his head: "I'm not going anywhere."
Yang Jinglun opened his eyes wide in astonishment, "Sir?"
Le Jing smiled and said, "Is there any news more sensational than the initiator of this anti-smoking campaign being arrested by the police? That's why I can't leave."
Let his imprisonment add fuel to this increasingly fierce movement, making the fire burn even more fiercely.
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