Although Ji Qi's words were short, they revealed a huge amount of information.
Yang Jinglun, who was sitting opposite, was clearly still awake. When he heard Ji Qi knocking on the door, he put on his coat and opened the door, anxiously asking, "Are you serious? Has your new pen name been exposed?"
"Why would I lie to you? This is what the telegram sent from the telegraph office said." Ji Qi took out the telegram from his pocket and handed it to Le Jing.
Le Jing took it without looking at it, "Come in first and talk later."
The windows were foggy, and outside the night was dark and cold, with heavy snow falling. Ji Qi's face was red from the cold, his eyebrows were frosted, and there was still frost and snow on his cotton coat.
"Hurry up and shake your clothes." Le Jing said, "Otherwise, your clothes will be soaked when the snow melts."
Ji Qi quickly shook off the snow on his body, then sat down by the stove and started warming his hands.
Le Jing sat down in front of the window and carefully read the telegram in his hand by the warm candlelight. Yang Jinglun did not bother to greet Ji Qi, but walked behind Le Jing and stood still, his eyes also fixed on the telegram.
Because telegrams were charged by word count, the telegram in Le Jing's hand was particularly concise and to the point. It only used a few dozen words to briefly describe the situation. What Ji Qi had just said was all the content of the telegram.
The overall tone of the telegram was relatively calm, and it was clear that the situation was not as serious as imagined.
Le Jing put down the telegram and fell into deep thought.
Ji Qi asked worriedly: "Jingran, do you have any way to deal with it?"
Yang Jinglun also cast his expectant gaze towards Le Jing. In his opinion, his master was meticulous and handled things flawlessly, so he would definitely be able to come up with a solution!
Le Jing hesitated for a moment, "Now we can only wait."
"wait?"
He spread his hands helplessly, "The information provided by the telegram is limited, so now we can only wait."
Yang Jinglun blinked his eyes and seemed to understand a little: "Sir, do you want to see who will jump out?"
Le Jing nodded, feeling somewhat helpless. If it were modern times, a phone call would have been enough to make things clear, but in the Republic of China, we could only wait.
At least he would have to wait until the telegraph office opened tomorrow, and then he would send a telegram to Beijing to inquire about the matter in detail.
"Don't worry, it's just the same old story." Le Jing smiled and comforted the two worried people: "I was released on bail at the beginning, and I don't think they will arrest me again now."
"If that happens..." Le Jing raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Then I'll just stay in Shanghai and not go back."
…
One week later.
Peking.
Wu Yi, the editor-in-chief of Literary Newspaper, has been a little annoyed lately.
There are many authors in their newspaper who changed their pen names and started over because of being banned. As long as the authors did not continue to publish sensitive articles, the authorities would turn a blind eye to it. How could a night watchman cause so much trouble?
The fact that Wheat Field is Night Watchman is a tacit secret among many people in their newspaper. After all, Yang Jinglun was the editor-in-charge of Night Watchman before, and now he has been replaced by a Wheat Field editor who came out of nowhere. Even a fool can know that Wheat Field is the new pen name of Night Watchman.
Wu Yi issued a gag order, prohibiting those who knew about the matter from talking about it outside.
Even so, I still couldn't guard against the temptation of money.
One of their editors was bribed by someone who appeared out of nowhere, and he leaked the news, and the newspaper immediately reported it. Wu Yi fired the editor immediately after learning about it, but the news spread.
Before being banned, Night Watchman was a representative of emerging writers who were gaining popularity. He did not produce many works, but each one was a masterpiece.
Although the novel "Murder in Fengtian Secret Chamber" was Mr. Wu's debut work, its writing style, conception and plot were all excellent, and it also triggered a series of imitations. Wu Yi had seen many copycat novels with similar themes in many tabloids, but they were all imitations of Mr. Wu's essence.
The series "Rat Eyes Look Down on People" which came to an abrupt end because the author was banned is still remembered by many readers. Now their newspaper still receives many letters from readers asking when the articles will be reprinted.
The play "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan" is still being performed in major theaters, not to mention that it has now been remade into a movie in Shanghai. Although the movie was not shown in Beijing, the newspapers in Beijing have also reported on it.
Then there is "The Last Man Who Doesn't Take Drugs".
The banning of Night Watchman actually made The Last Man Without Drugs a success. For a book to be banned by the authorities for discussing sensitive issues is itself a sign of its uniqueness.
Therefore, Night Watchman's last work, "The Last Man Who Doesn't Take Drugs", also attracted a lot of attention and curiosity. This is what is called the more it is banned, the more popular it becomes.
Wu Yi had long known that "The Last Person Who Doesn't Take Drugs" had actually been circulating in a small circle, and even Wu Yi himself had collected clippings of the article from that time.
It is really a pity that such an outstanding author was banned by the authorities.
In addition, Mr. Li's new serial "Wandering Adventures" under the pen name Maitian is now a bestseller. I don't know how many people were moved by Mr. Li's book to do charity. I also heard that the son of the Fu family opened an orphanage to help street children. The street children in Beijing are living a much better life than before.
Now that the newspapers have revealed that Wheat Field is actually the Night Watchman, one can imagine the frenzy this incident will cause among readers.
That group of resourceful reporters not only surrounded their newspaper office, they even dug out Mr. Li's new home address, wanting to interview the person involved.
Wu Yi couldn't help but feel fortunate that Mr. Li went to Shanghai and avoided this incident.
Although the incident was making a big fuss in the newspapers, and many people suddenly jumped out to say that the authorities should ban the banned author from republishing, Wu Yi just thought it was a bit troublesome and did not think it was a big deal.
First, Marshal Xue had bailed Mr. Li out before, and there was nothing illegal in Mr. Li's new article, so the authorities didn't need to continue to embarrass him. Second, Mr. Li was in Shanghai anyway, so at most he could just stay in Shanghai for a few more days to avoid the storm and then come back. There was also a branch of their "Literature Newspaper" in Shanghai, so at most he could just change his pen name and publish his articles.
Nevertheless, he thought he had to tell Mr. Li about this, so he sent a telegram to Mr. Li.
The next afternoon, he received a telegram from Mr. Li in reply. The telegram only contained three words: Is it troublesome?
Wu Yi immediately replied firmly: It's just a small matter.
However, on the third day, Wu Yi was slapped in the face.
What happened next really left him dumbfounded.
…
Fu Kemao put down the newspaper in his hand. The excitement in his heart caused by today's "The Rise of Dynasties" turned cold because of a report published in other newspapers.
A man who claimed to be an old friend of the Night Watchman published an article in the newspaper saying that the Night Watchman's real name was Li Jingran, and his ancestral home was Fengtian in Northeast China. In fact, he was a gangster who was addicted to eating, drinking, gambling, and taking drugs. He was notorious in the local area and had no knowledge at all. His articles might have been written by someone else.
[This boy was idle every day, uneducated and unskilled. He dropped out of high school before finishing. He indulged in eating, drinking, gambling, whoring and taking drugs. He was a well-known gangster in Fengtian.
That day, he was locked up by his father for smoking opium and was ordered to quit. However, instead of reflecting on himself, he spoke ill of his mother, which made her sick. Then, when his father was away, he kidnapped his younger sister and left home, where his whereabouts were unknown.
Poor girl, just promised by her parents, now her innocence is ruined and she can't get married. For the sake of the reputation of the Li family, Li's father can only marry his other daughter to him. In order to appease his in-laws, he also gave a lot of dowry...
………
Li Jingran is a two-faced person who is very good at disguising himself. Don't be fooled by this villain! His articles are full of righteousness and morality, but he is actually a very vicious and dirty person with a lot of male prostitutes and female thieves. Just like he wrote an article advocating a ban on smoking, but he himself is a heavy smoker. Don't you think it's ridiculous?
………
...Li Jingran is only 16 years old this year and has not been to school properly. How could he write such a profound article? In my opinion, he must have hired someone to write it for him...]
Before, this article would not have touched Fu Kemao much, at most he would have sighed that people's hearts are hidden. But when he learned from the newspaper that the wheat field was actually the night watchman, he could no longer stay out of it.
He really liked "Vagabond Adventures"! It is no exaggeration to say that this book pointed out a way out for him when he was confused at that time and gave him a direction to strive for.
He now runs an orphanage outside and a street children aid association on campus. He is so busy every day that he doesn't even have a penny in his pocket. He is now truly penniless.
But he is still very happy, fulfilled and passionate.
He is happier now than when he was living a life of extravagance and debauchery! He has never felt for a moment that his life is meaningful and that he is useful.
Even his father, who had always been stern and cold to him, had become much gentler towards him recently. Yesterday, his father even patted his head with satisfaction and said that he had grown up.
He started crying at that time.
There were also some tears in the corners of Dad's eyes.
It was at that moment that he suddenly remembered the conversation he had with his father that day.
At that time, his father asked him: "If you fight, you will die, and if you don't fight, you will live. What will you do?! What can you do?!"
Fu Kemao has not figured out the answer yet, he is too stupid. But he vaguely feels that as long as he continues to do things within his ability to help others, he will be able to answer his father's question one day.
One day he will find the thing that his father said is "more important than anything else in this world" and that will make him "sacrifice his life and blood, and do whatever it takes."
Fu Fanlin thought he was on the right path, but at this moment he discovered that his guide was most likely a liar who deceived the world and stole his reputation. How could he not feel like he was falling into an icy cave and be shocked and angry?
In the end, he couldn't help but ran to find Fu Fanlin: "Dad, tell me, is the night watchman that kind of person?"
Fu Fanlin looked up at the confused young man and felt in his heart that he was still too young.
“It doesn’t matter who he is,” he told his young children. “What matters most is who you want to be.”
Fu Kemao seemed to understand something, but also seemed to understand nothing. Fu Fanlin waved his hand and said, "Go down and think about it carefully."
After Fu Kemao left, Fu Fanlin turned his attention back to the newspaper spread out on the desk. On the front page was the article criticizing the Night Watchman that Fu Kemao had just read.
"What would you do?"
Fu Fanlin fell into a long period of contemplation.
At his age, he certainly wouldn't be easily influenced by one or two articles. But this article still aroused doubts in his heart.
There is no doubt that he had admired the Night Watchman's articles before.
However, the Chinese literary community has always believed in a saying that the quality of one's writing reflects one's character. In other words, an article written by a good person must be a good article, and an article written by a bad person must be rubbish.
Take Qin Hui for example. Actually, his articles were excellent, he was quite strategic in governing the country, and his calligraphy was outstanding. But because he killed Yue Fei, he was a treacherous minister, so his articles and calligraphy were rubbish and not worth studying and learning.
So if the Night Watchmen are really as despicable as described in this article, then there is no need to study this article written by a villain.
So, what will the Night Watchman do? If he cannot prove his innocence, he will be forever exiled from the literary circle and forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history, and he may really be infamous for thousands of years.
The author has something to say:
So, what will the Night Watchman do? If he cannot prove his innocence, he will be forever exiled from the literary circle and forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history, and he may really be infamous for thousands of years.
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