The literary era since 1979

Japan, Tokyo.

An airplane landed smoothly at the international airport. After it stopped, the passengers on board got off the plane one after another.

Fangyan carried the suitcase and walked out of the cabin with Suzuki Yoko, and then arrived at the airport pick-up gate.

Among the crowd, there was a sign holding up high that read "Welcome Dialects to Japan", and it was written in both Chinese and Japanese.

The person holding the sign was a staff member of Yuhikaku. Suzuki Shunjiro, led by his subordinates, had been waiting for a long time.

"Odo-san!"

Yoko Suzuki was surprised and happy. She waved her hands and ran towards her father whom she had not seen for a long time.

Suzuki Shunjiro was happy in his heart, but said with a straight face: "I've told you so many times, when in public, you should refer to your position!"

"Hi, hi, hi, branch chief, yeah, you should call me vice president now."

Yoko Suzuki put her arm around her father's shoulders and smiled.

"Congratulations, Vice President Suzuki."

Fangyan congratulated Suzuki Shunjiro on his promotion from the Kyoto branch to the position of vice president of the Yuhikaku headquarters.

"Haha, I can make further progress at this age, all thanks to Fang Yan-kun."

Suzuki Shunjiro's words were a bit exaggerated, but no matter how exaggerated, discovering such a world-renowned great writer for Yuhikaku was indeed a great achievement. What's more, the novels of this great writer, both in terms of quality and sales, are the best in the entire Japanese literary world.

The combined sales of the two volumes of "The Ring" alone have now reached about 355 million copies, second only to "Japan Sinks".

"I'm just the icing on the cake."

Fangyan waved his hand.

"Mr. Fangyan is really too modest."

Suzuki Shunjiro bowed slightly and said apologetically, "A great writer like you should be greeted by our president, Uehikaku, in person. But I'm very sorry that the president has something urgent to do, so please let me apologize to you on his behalf."

"It's not necessary!"

Fangyan then heard that Yuhikaku had prepared a grand welcome banquet.

"Then the president and his son will be present to personally toast you and apologize."

Shunjiro Suzuki led the way forward and led the way to a Cadillac.

Yoko Suzuki was sitting in the passenger seat. Through the rearview mirror, she saw Fangyan and his father sitting side by side in the rear driver's seat.

"Mr. Fangyan, you came at a great time."

Suzuki Shunjiro said, "In a few days, the Edogawa Ranpo Award will be held. I wonder if Fangyan-kun is interested in participating?"

Yoko Suzuki was worried that the dialect was not clear about the origin of the Edogawa Ranpo Award, so she gave a brief introduction.

The Edogawa Ranpo Award was established on the 60th birthday of Edogawa Ranpo, the "Father of Japanese Mystery Novels", in order to boost the development of Japanese mystery literature. The first two awards were given to people who made outstanding contributions to mystery literature, which is equivalent to an achievement award.

However, starting from the third session, it became a newcomer award to encourage emerging writers of mystery literature, and then evolved into an exposure window for Japanese mystery novelists to debut, as well as a channel for them to make the leap to success.

Strictly speaking, any mystery writer who fails to even make the Edogawa Ranpo Prize shortlist cannot be considered to have made an official debut.

"I see."

Fangyan suddenly realized, "But it seems that I and my "Malice" were not nominated for the Edogawa Ranpo Newcomer Award?"

"Because this award can only be given to mystery writers from this country."

Yoko Suzuki said: "Otherwise, let alone being on the list, I dare to say that Malice will definitely win the Edogawa Ranpo Award!"

"I have to say, this is indeed a pity." Suzuki Shunjiro couldn't help but sigh.

For Fangyan, winning the award is secondary. The key is the prize money, 1000 million yen, which is equivalent to to US dollars.

Although housing prices in Tokyo, Kyoto and other places have skyrocketed, it is at least enough to cover a down payment!

…………

After arriving at the hotel arranged by Youfei Pavilion, he rested for a while, then dressed formally in the evening and attended the specially prepared welcoming banquet.

The chairman and president of Yuhikaku were both present. Father and son were on the same stage, toasting each other with Fangyan, clinking glasses and drinking one cup after another.

After three rounds of wine and five kinds of dishes, I was a little tipsy and was invited to enjoy a massage.

During the massage, Suzuki Shunjiro once again mentioned the "Edogawa Ranpo Award Ceremony".

Fangyan, who was half drunk and half awake, agreed without hesitation, and so a few days later he appeared at the 30th Edogawa Ranpo Award Ceremony.

At this time, reporters from Fuji TV set up their cameras and aimed them at the crowd who were communicating, reminiscing and laughing.

Fangyan was walking around with a glass of champagne in his hand, when suddenly he saw a familiar face in an inconspicuous corner.

Keigo Higashino, who debuted only two years ago, was standing alone, with no one paying attention to him, looking like an ant.

"Ah, are you the one who wrote "Malice" and "The Ring"?..."

"That's right!"

Suzuki Yoko, as the dialect translator, answered for him, "He is the dialect teacher!"

Keigo Higashino's body trembled. He never dreamed that he would be able to meet such a great writer. He held Fangyan's hand tightly and shook it.

Seeing him hesitantly introducing himself, Fang Yan smiled and said, "This is my first time attending an award ceremony like this. Where's Dong Ye-kun?"

"It's my first time too."

Keigo Higashino blushed and said frankly that although it was his first time attending an awards ceremony, it was his second time participating in the competition.

The Edogawa Ranpo Award accepts submissions in January every year. It was my first time participating in the competition and I had no experience, so I rushed to finish writing "The Dolls' House". Naturally, I didn't win the award, but the result was still good and I was shortlisted for the second round.

This also gave Keigo Higashino a certain amount of confidence. He felt that if he polished his work well and wrote seriously, his chances of winning the award next year would be very high.

As expected, the work "Magic Ball", which he had created carefully, made it all the way to the finals of this year's Edogawa Ranpo Award.

"Congratulations, Higashino-kun."

Fangyan and Suzuki Yoko looked at each other.

Higashino Keigo shook his head and laughed, "Teacher Fangyan, the award results have not been announced yet, and the winner may not be me."

Suzuki Yoko asked curiously, "Does Higashino-kun's "Magic Ball" sound like a traditional novel?"

Keigo Higashino said that he likes classic works of the orthodox school, such as Edogawa Ranpo and the Sherlock Holmes series. He was also influenced by the "new orthodox school" founded by Shoji Shimada, so he brought the orthodox school's techniques into campus reasoning.

While they were talking about mystery novels, Fang Yan suddenly noticed that Morimura Seiichi and others had entered his sight. "Mr. Morimura!"

"Mr. Fangyan, it's been a long time."

Seiichi Morimura looked at Yoko Suzuki and others with a kind look and greeted each other.

"Yes, if you count the days, it should be more than a year."

Fangyan asked: "How is your health now?"

"It's okay, there's no rush to meet Yokogo-san."

Morimura Seiichi was referring to the late Seishi Yokomizo. Together with the "founder of social reasoning", Seicho Matsumoto, the three of them are the "three peaks of Japanese mystery literature". Their status and reputation in the mystery world are second only to Edogawa Ranpo.

Faced with such a master, Keigo Higashino stood there in a daze, not daring to even breathe.

Fangyan and Morimura Seiichi talked about the publication of "The Devil's Feast" in China and the founding of "Mystery World".

"Great! This is a great event that is worth celebrating for the entire mystery literature community!"

Seiichi Morimura said: "I am looking forward to more Chinese writers like Fangyanjun who are good at writing mystery novels to stand out."

"To be honest, I only know a little bit about detective literature."

Hearing Fangyan's words, Suzuki Yoko jokingly said, "Teacher Fang, you are joking again. It's obvious that you have created a new school of reasoning."

Keigo Higashino was startled and thought he had heard it wrong.

It turns out that Fangyan, like Soji Shimada who founded the "Shin-orthodox school", has also created a completely new genre of mystery literature that has never existed before?

Morimura Makoto was doubly interested and cast an inquiring look.

"Forensic reasoning style." Suzuki Yoko replied: "The Song Dynasty Criminal Prosecutor Song Ci, which was serialized in the Mystery World, is the pioneering work of this style."

Seeing that Morimura Seiichi was very interested, Fangyan explained seriously:
"This school of reasoning was born out of the ancient Chinese forensic medical texts and public case novels..."

"Forensic doctors can conduct medical investigations and track evidence collection, providing key evidence for investigations, such as scars, bloodstains, biological samples, etc. These evidences are very helpful in determining the identity of the suspect and even reconstructing the crime scene. They can also perform autopsies on corpses."

"Through the autopsy of the deceased, we can gradually deduce and reconstruct the course of events, determine the cause of death, time of death, and other information."

"And throughout the process, it can not only popularize forensic knowledge, but also demonstrate the scientific logic of solving cases..."

While Suzuki Yoko was trying her best to translate, she noticed that more and more people were coming over, apparently showing an interest in the forensic reasoning genre.

After all, many elements of forensic reasoning can be drawn upon and used by the orthodox, social, and alternative schools.

Just when the atmosphere of the conversation was harmonious and cheerful, a discordant voice emerged from the crowd:
"Fang Yan-san, you saw that the social reasoning school was going to be a dead end, so you took a different approach and created this forensic reasoning school, right?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole hall was in an uproar.

Even though the social mystery genre has declined, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and it is still the largest genre in the Japanese mystery literature world.

Most of those who attended the Edogawa Ranpo Award ceremony this time, whether they were judges or writers, were from the social reasoning school. Cursing "the social reasoning school is on its last legs" in front of so many people is like rebelling in front of the emperor!
Everyone's eyes immediately turned to the person who had just spoken so arrogantly.

When Keigo Higashino saw the face clearly, he took a breath and found it was Soji Shimada!

"Shimada-kun, what do you mean by the end of social reasoning?"

Faced with the question, Shimada Soji curled his lips and said, "It means exactly what it says. Why, isn't the social reasoning school declining?"

"Nanda (What are you talking about)!"

"Baka! How could the social reasoning school possibly decline?!"

"Shoji, don't think that just because you wrote a book called 'Astrology Murder Magic' and created a 'new orthodox school', you can speak freely and recklessly to us seniors and the social reasoning school. You really don't know the rules!"

"Your new orthodox school is just a side path. Do you want to challenge the orthodox status of the social reasoning school?"

"........."

All of a sudden, everyone was furious and they all started scolding and criticizing Shimada Soji.

"No Road Race!"

"It is a fact that the social reasoning school is declining and on its last legs! How long are you going to keep deceiving yourselves?"

"Look at today's readers. They are too lazy to read your boring novels that are full of bitterness and hatred and criticize human nature. Instead, they enjoy the mystery novels that pursue "mysteries", "murderers" and "unexpected, interesting and complex puzzles" in completely fictional stories."

“Only wild and imaginative tricks can conquer readers of this era.”

"No matter how much you try to show off, there is only one truth: the era of Matsumoto Seicho has ended, and the new era of orthodox school will finally arrive!"

Soji Shimada held his chin high, looked down upon the many aggressive writers, and there was even a hint of contempt in his tone.

"How dare you, Shoji!"

Everyone was furious and shouted at Shimada Soji to leave the award ceremony immediately, otherwise they would leave together.

Under the threat of choosing between the two options, the atmosphere took a sharp turn for the worse and became tense and solemn.

Seeing the two groups of people on the verge of a fight, the most senior bosses present, such as Seiichi Morimura, stepped forward to mediate.

Fangyan watched this drama of "the lower class overthrowing the upper class" and was happy to be a bystander.

Suzuki Shunjiro rushed over with a face full of shame, "Teacher Fang, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

"It's okay, it's okay. It's unavoidable that there will be arguments during literary discussions."

Fangyan waved his hand and said, "But the contradictions and differences between the new orthodox school and the social reasoning school seem to be huge."

"This..."

Suzuki Shunjiro revealed with some reservation that Shimada Soji's aversion to the social reasoning school was understandable.

At the beginning, the social reasoning school dominated the Japanese mystery world. Since the publication of "Astrology Murder Magic", Shimada Soji has been criticized one after another in the mystery literature community. Even in the Edogawa Ranpo Award, Shimada Soji was not awarded the Newcomer Award.

Instead, the award was given to the historical mystery novel "Sarumaru's Vision".

Soji Shimada was deeply ashamed and complained many times. He felt that "The Astrology Murder Magic" involved astrology and black magic, and was full of extremely complex and difficult to solve continuous mysteries. It could be said to be a new paradigm of traditional puzzle reasoning, and opened up space and ideas for orthodox creation.

As a result, it has always been suppressed, excluded and belittled by the social reasoning school.

In a rage, Soji Shimada simply set up his own school, the "Shin-orthodox school", which was specifically designed to compete with the social reasoning school.

The fight between the two factions became more and more intense, to the point that many social mystery writers jointly called for Shimada Soji to be expelled from the mystery literature world.

"No wonder, it turns out to be this kind of origin."

Fangyan smiled, which was quite similar to the dispute between the Japanese navy and the Japanese army. (End of this chapter)