The literary era since 1979

"Teacher Fang, this is what I think."

Yu Hua said: "In a village, a series of murders took place by the river. The first victim was an elderly widow, and the second victim was a man. In both murders, the protagonist was seen walking by the river. And he was the first to find the heads of the victims. So, he naturally became the main suspect in both murders."

"Will it be like in The Hunt, where he is ostracized and bullied, and only when the truth comes out does he find out that he was wronged?"

Fangyan smiled and reminded, "Don't write like that."

Yu Hua had never thought of writing a plot similar to "The Hunt". The protagonist of "The Hunt" was able to survive in a high-pressure and cruel environment of questioning, bullying, hatred, etc. until the day when the truth came out, but the protagonist "Xu Liang" that he imagined was not that strong.

Under the police investigation and interrogation, as well as the alienation and fear of his family and villagers, Xu Liang began to doubt himself, suffered a mental breakdown, and kept having nightmares. Sometimes he dreamed that the murderer killed people and dumped the bodies, and there was another victim's head on the riverside; sometimes he dreamed that he was the murderer.

Under tremendous pressure, he went for a walk by the river again, and somehow he ran into the third homicide case again.

His fragile psychological endurance prevented him from being able to bear the fateful mockery, and he committed suicide in a daze, which ended up being a suicide out of fear of punishment.

As the story progressed, Wang Shuo, Lu Haiyan, Shi Tiesheng and others were attracted and listened to it from beginning to end.

"Gone?"

Fangyan cast a questioning look.

"Gone."

Yu Hua looked around, "What do you think?"

"Not very good. This is just a copy of the other teacher's book 'Hunting'. There is nothing new in the plot."

Wang Shuo was the first to stand up and showed no mercy.

Lu Haiyan said rather tactfully: "From the perspective of suspense and reasoning, this story has a strong start but a weak finish. No, it has a strong start but no finish. Who is the real murderer? What is the modus operandi and the murder weapon? What is the motive for the murder? Why was the body dumped by the river..."

With the help of others, Yu Hua added the subsequent plot of solving the case in the novel:
When the self-righteous police and the confused witnesses came to the river again, a fact that they had neglected or not noticed for a long time had been teasing them. It turned out that the real murderer was a madman known to everyone in the village, and he had no motive for killing.

Therefore, the meticulous investigative activities of the public security personnel, their self-righteous reasoning and judgment, as well as the witnesses' confusing statements, the preconceived suspects' clever assumptions and inexplicable imaginations, all seem bizarre, absurd and outrageous.

It was the collaboration between the villagers, the police and the madman that caused the mistakes to happen repeatedly by the river and drove Xu Liang crazy and to death.

"Teacher Fang, what do you think?"

Seeing that Fang Yan had not said a word since the beginning, Yu Hua felt uneasy and his words were not confident.

Fangyan turned around and asked, "Tiesheng, what do you think?"

"The entire story framework is already very complete, and the plot is pretty good, but can there be another unexpected twist?"

Shi Tiesheng asked: "Or an O. Henry-style ending, an unexpected ending?"

Not only Yu Hua, but also Wang Shuo, Lu Haiyan and others fell into deep thought, but after much thought, they still gained nothing.

"It's not easy to have such an ending." Zhong Acheng sighed, "Teacher Fang, what do you think?"

"I think if the protagonist is changed from 'victim Xu Liang' to 'investigator policeman', the story might become more interesting."

Fangyan gave a meaningful smile.

Yu Hua, Wang Shuo, Zhong Acheng and others all turned their eyes to Teacher Fang, eager to get the answer from him.

Under their expectant gaze, Fangyan said bluntly:

"Although this bizarre and absurd murder case has been solved and can be closed, how should a mentally ill person be sentenced for murder?"

"Faced with the laughter of the madman when he was arrested, the policeman shot the madman himself in anger. This was because he had failed to solve the case and had been fooled by a madman for so long, which had lost his face and dignity. He was also condemned by his conscience and became an accomplice in the murder of Xu Liang."

"hiss!!"

“Kill…kill!?”

Everyone was shocked by the unfolding of this plot, but upon closer thought, it was indeed unexpected yet reasonable.

"Teacher Fang, this reversal is amazing!"

As a lackey under his command, Wang Shuo was the first to applaud.

Fang Yan interrupted, "Don't be so quick to applaud, it's not over yet, there's more to come."

"Anything else?" Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

Lu Haiyan was the first to come to his senses, and once again analyzed the case from the perspective of criminal investigation:

"A madman is not guilty of murder, but a law enforcer who kills intentionally is guilty. Teacher Fang, are you trying to make a fuss about this?"

"That's right. In order to prevent a police officer from being sentenced for killing a murderer in anger, the only way is to prove that he is also a mental patient."

Fang Yan said: "The law does not punish madmen, so they can avoid legal responsibility and escape punishment."

Wang Shuo was shocked. "That's not right. How can a mentally ill person handle a case? This is too absurd!"

"Look, a more bizarre, absurd and unexpected twist is about to happen."

Fang Yan said: "Under the planning of the whole team, a farce that fooled the law was seriously staged. The police officer was very reluctant to be the mental patient and refused to accept the good intentions of his superiors and family. When he deliberately teased the doctor, he cooperated with the farce perfectly and got the certificate of mental illness. This was something he never expected."

Lu Haiyan's eyes lit up: "The policeman who killed a madman was finally proved to be a 'madman' by everyone. This is really absurd!"

"Yawako, you are combining absurd realism and hallucinatory realism, right?"

As soon as Shi Tiesheng said this, everyone nodded in agreement. Great! Teacher Fang is really great!

Yu Hua was even more impressed. He had originally intended to write a novel of hallucinatory realism based on "The Hunt", but he did not expect that with the guidance of Mr. Fang's "golden finger", his novel would not only have absurd realism, but also a bit of black humor.

I can't believe how wonderful a work like this can be written!

"The fates of the police, the murdered victims, the eyewitness villagers, the wrongly accused innocent people, the murderers and the madmen are intertwined to form a social picture that is absurd yet real, bizarre and dark."

Lu Haiyan said excitedly: "This novel must be published in "Mystery World". The sales of that issue will definitely be a big hit!"

Yu Hua hesitated again and again, "This... this..."

"This is not okay."

Fangyan waved his hand. "He wrote this novel to fulfill the creative assignment of Lu Xun Academy of Literature. It should not be published in Reasoning World. It is better to submit it to top literary magazines such as Contemporary, October, and People's Literature."

"Teacher Fang!"

Yu Hua was deeply moved and insisted on handing over the manuscript of "The Mistake by the River" to "Mystery World".

I even wanted to let Fang Yan write this story directly. After all, whether it was the various unexpected twists or the bizarre and absurd plot framework, they were basically his ideas, and I was just a carrier of Teacher Fang's inspiration.

"You came up with this story, so you should write it."

Fang Yan said: "We just made some suggestions, how can we take away someone's beauty?"

"But……"

Yu Hua opened his mouth.

"Yanzi just guided you in your writing in the name of deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature."

Shi Tiesheng interrupted, "If you really feel bad about it, when you finish writing the manuscript, just submit it to People's Literature for publication."

"Just do as Tiesheng said."

Fang Yan patted Yu Hua on the shoulder and urged him to write the new "The Mistake by the River" carefully.

Although Lu Haiyan tried to cover it up well, he could not hide the regret on his face, and he was worried about the manuscript arrangement for the next issue of "Mystery World".

"Don't worry, I've already thought of a manuscript for the next issue of the magazine."

Fangyan said confidently.

"Teacher Fang, what good story have you thought of?!"

Lu Haiyan, Wang Shuo and others were surprised and delighted.

"Look, you guys are anxious again, let's find a place to eat and talk."

Fangyan's words immediately received unanimous agreement from everyone. (End of this chapter)