The literary era since 1979

Chapter 321: The First Year of Contemporary Chinese Mystery Fiction
Yenching University Shaoyuan, international students dormitory building.

Suzuki Yoko stretched and turned to look at Hashimoto Yui: "How is the translation of the news report going?"

“There’s only one article left.”

Yui Hashimoto shook her wrist, feeling a little sore.

“It’s two days faster than we thought.”

Yoko Suzuki was sorting out the translations of Japanese media reviews of "The Ring" when suddenly there was a series of knocks on the door.

"Yoko! Yui!"

Bai Ruoxue stood outside the room and was soon invited into the dormitory.

"This is?"

Seeing the October magazine she handed over, Hashimoto Yui blinked.

When Suzuki Yoko heard that there was Teacher Fang’s novel in the magazine, she was interested and immediately turned to the front page where "Malice" was located.

The editor's note at the beginning clearly states that this is another new round of attempts in the narrow area between popular literature and serious literature after "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong". It is a detective novel with realism as its core, with a turbulent plot and strict logic. What is complicated is not the case, but the human heart.

Pure kindness can easily lead to pure malice.

"Mystery novel!?"

Yui Hashimoto was surprised and delighted. "Teacher Fang finally wrote a mystery novel! Is it a traditional, new traditional, unconventional, or social mystery novel?"

"Of course it's the socialist school. You see, Teacher Fang made it very clear. Realism!"

Suzuki Yoko raised her head, "Isn't that right, Wakayuki-chan?"

Bai Ruoxue smiled and said, "Do you need me to reveal it?"

"Dame! Reading a mystery novel would be boring if you knew who the murderer was in advance."

Yui Hashimoto couldn't wait to flip through it.

The first thing we see is Li Feiyu visiting his old classmate Han Li, who treats him warmly with a fragrant meat hotpot.

Suzuki Yoko asked: "Ruoxue-chan, what kind of meat is fragrant meat?"

"It's dog meat." Bai Ruoxue said, "Didn't the movie 'The Grandmaster Huang Feihong' have a scene about Aunt Thirteen eating delicious meat?"

"I forgot."

Suzuki Yoko stuck out her tongue, and then Hashimoto Yui exclaimed, "Puppies are so cute, why do you want to eat them?"

"It's not just eating dog meat, there's also killing cats behind it."

Bai Ruoxue blurted out, then immediately realized that she had spoiled the story and quickly covered her mouth.

"Killing a cat? Han Li is too cruel!"

Yoko Suzuki and Yui Hashimoto looked at each other, then looked down with anger.

Unexpectedly, everyone thought the victim would be the harmless Li Feiyu, but unexpectedly it was the "dog-eating, cat-killing" Han Li.

In this criminal case, since Han Li is a nationally renowned writer, Criminal Police Captain "Fang Yan" personally stepped in to investigate the case.

"Ruoxue-chan, is the criminal police captain the police chief?"

Suzuki Yoko cast a questioning look.

Bai Ruoxue said that last year the Ministry of Public Security separated criminal investigation work from the Public Security Management Bureau and established a special Criminal Case Investigation Bureau.

"Isn't that equivalent to the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Division?"

Suzuki Yoko suddenly realized and chuckled, "Teacher Fang is really something. He wrote himself as the sheriff to solve the case."

Hashimoto Yui said: "This case doesn't look difficult. The murderer should be this Li Feiyu."

"It's not that simple. If that's the case, it would be too boring. Teacher Fang wouldn't write such a boring story."

Suzuki Yoko shook her head.

Yui Hashimoto also agreed with this. When she saw Li Feiyu confessing to the crime and admitting that he had killed someone on impulse but kept silent about his motive for the crime, she felt like "Fang Yan" in the novel and was full of curiosity.

However, when the motive for the murder was revealed, Li Feiyu did not seem hateful at all, but rather a little pitiful.

A talented man was caught by Han Li having an affair with his wife, and had to swallow his anger and serve as a "small account" and ghostwriter for him. He was simply the hypocritical Han Tianzun, no, Han writer, the pure love warrior Li Feiyu.

Although the love triangle between Li Feiyu, Nangong Wan and Han Li is very well written, but that’s it?
This socialistic reasoning is too simplistic!

"Yui, look behind you."

As someone who has experienced this, Bai Ruoxue showed a shrewd smile: "Don't forget the sentence at the beginning. What is complicated is not the case, but the human heart."

Yui Hashimoto continued to watch with half belief and half doubt, her face suddenly changed and she couldn't help but gasp.

I actually fell into Li Feiyu's trap. To be more precise, I fell into the trap set by Fangyan.

This is a perfect interpretation of what it means to say "The greatest malice is not to kill you, but to destroy you."

"Hiss~" After reading it once, Suzuki Yoko felt a chill down her spine: "Too evil, this Li Feiyu is so vicious and sinister!"

Yui Hashimoto sighed, "Yes, it's really abominable. What cheating, what ghostwriting, even the cat was not killed by Han Li, but by Li Feiyu. He just wanted to take away everything good from Han Li. I almost got deceived by him."

Suzuki Yoko slowly recalled: "Perhaps we fell into Mr. Fang's narrative trick from the very beginning."

"There is also a narrative trap between the first person and the third person, which makes it easy for people to put themselves in Li Feiyu's shoes and sympathize with him."

Bai Ruoxue smiled.

"Let's go find Teacher Fang!"

Yui Hashimoto couldn't wait to find Fangyan and talk to him in person about her experiences and thoughts about "Malice".

"Then I'll call Shengnan and Xiaoya, they also have the same idea."

Bai Ruoxue had just this idea in mind, and she and Suzuki Yoko walked out of the dormitory and shuttled through Yanyuan.

Along the way, many students discussed "Malice":
"Isn't Li Feiyu's reason for killing Han Li too far-fetched? Is it simply because 'the end is near and I'm not happy with him'?"

"I think it's quite reasonable. If you are jealous of others' goodness and hate their excellence, and if you are not as good as others in everything, you will want to kill them and take their place."

"And it's not without reason. Later, Li Feiyu's old classmates will tell you about his life of being despised."

"........."

At this moment, the weather is freezing cold and although there are not many people coming and going on campus, the members of the May Fourth Literary Society appear at the shore of Weiming Lake as usual and hold the first party of the new year. The main topic of discussion is still Fang Yan's "Malice".

Bai Ruoxue called out Su Ya and Tang Shengnan, and the group marched towards the house in Shichahai in a mighty manner.

What caught my eye was Gong Xing who had just returned from studying at Beijing Film Academy.

"Gong...Master's wife."

"Don't call me like that. Just call me by my name, or 'Sister Gong Xi'."

"Sister Gong Xi!"

Everyone shouted in unison.

Gong Xing smiled softly and said, "You guys go find Yan Zi. He's in the study."

All of a sudden, a crowd of people poured into the study.

After a brief greeting, Fang Yan pointed to the rosewood chair and said, "Look at you guys, don't be impatient, sit down and talk slowly."

"Teacher Fang, I have never read a mystery novel like Malice."

Yui Hashimoto was impatient: "It doesn't have those fantastic methods of committing crimes of the orthodox school, nor those cruel and perverted methods of killing of the absurd school, but after watching it, I just felt scared."

Fangyan smiled and said, "That's because the good and beauty, ugliness and evil in the world are all in the human heart."

"Yes, it's easy to guess the murderer, but not the motive. After guessing the motive, I didn't expect it to be a trick. After seeing through the trick, I found out that there was such deep malice behind it." Suzuki Yoko asked curiously, "But Mr. Fang, isn't this motive a bit too..."

"Too easy?"

Fang Yan waved his hand. "Some people hate for no reason. They hate themselves for being mediocre, untalented, and doing nothing. So the excellence, talent, kindness, and happiness of others become original sins. Moreover, Li Feiyu has a terminal illness. He doesn't want to be despised and unknown all his life. There is a saying in China, 'If you can't leave a good reputation for a hundred years, you should leave a bad reputation for ten thousand years.'"

He paused and said, "If this is accomplished, he can take away all of Han Li's honors and become famous. Even if he fails, it can be passed down as a classic criminal case and become notorious."

"Si Guoyi!"

Yui Hashimoto thought it made so much sense that she couldn't help but say it out loud.

"Teacher Fang, I feel that the first half of Li Feiyu's life in the novel is a bit fragmented and not detailed enough."

Yoko Suzuki said: "If you can write about his entire life that he despised, it will definitely be a good realist work!"

The dialect was a big surprise. You are really good at judging people!

Compared to Keigo Higashino's "Malice", I not only made a localized treatment, but also made the murderer's motive more rounded, just like "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils", "It's not that I'm afraid of death, but I'm afraid that no one will remember me after I die."

The first and second place brothers thought it was revenge or bounty seeking, but they didn't expect it was the third place who was playing in the ranking competition. Don't mess with the points slaves!
In addition, the story of "The Disliked Life of Matsuko" was applied to the murderer, making the whole character fuller.

There must be something pitiful about every hateful person!
"Teacher Fang, can you let Yoko and I do the translation of Malice?"

Yui Hashimoto's tone was full of anticipation.

"Even if you don't tell me, I will do it."

Fangyan said: "I think Mr. Morimura should also be willing to write the preface, right?"

"Of course!"

Yoko Suzuki, Bai Ruoxue and others firmly believed it.

After all, "Malice" is not only a masterpiece of contemporary social reasoning, but also the pioneering work of modern Chinese mystery novels!
If nothing unexpected happens, it will set off a small climax of mystery novels like "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and "Operation Sword".

"That's not enough. It would be better if there was a magazine that specializes in publishing mystery novels."

Fangyan took a sip of tea and had a new plan in mind.

(End of this chapter)