Japan, Tokyo.
A plane landed smoothly at the international airport. After it stopped, the passengers on board got off the plane one after another.
Fang Yan carried the suitcase, walked out of the cabin with Suzuki Yoko, and then went to the pick-up gate.
In the midst of the overwhelming crowd, there was a sign "Welcome Mr. Fang Yan to Japan" held high, and it was written in both Chinese and Japanese.
The person holding the sign was the staff of Youfei Pavilion. Shunjiro Suzuki led his subordinates and had been waiting for a long time.
"Odo-san!"
Suzuki Yoko was filled with surprise, waving her hands and running towards her father who had been away for a long time.
Suzuki Shunjiro was happy in his heart, but he said with a straight face: "How many times have I told you, when in public, you should address your position!"
"Hey, hey, hey, branch chief, yeah Yeah, I should call him the vice president now."
Suzuki Yoko hugged her father's shoulders and said with a smile.
"Congratulations, Vice President Suzuki."
Dialect said congratulations repeatedly, congratulating Shunjiro Suzuki on his promotion from the Kyoto branch to the Yufi Pavilion headquarters as vice president.
"Haha, I am able to make further progress at this age, all thanks to Mr. Fang Yan."
Suzuki Shunjiro said it was a bit exaggerated, but no matter how exaggerated, for you Feige's discovery of such a world-famous writer is indeed a great achievement. What's more, this writer's novels are the best in the entire Japanese literary world, both in terms of quality and sales.
Only the two volumes of "Midnight Ring", the total sales volume now seems to have reached about 3.55 million copies, second only to "The Sinking of Japan".
"I'm just the icing on the cake."
Fang Yan waved his hand.
"Fang Yanjun is really too humble."
Suzuki Shunjiro bent down slightly and said apologetically: "Originally, a great writer like you should be... We have the president of Feige to greet you in person, but I am very sorry that the president is temporarily busy, so please ask me to apologize to you on his behalf."
"No need to do so!"
Fang Yan then heard that Youfei Pavilion had prepared a grand welcome banquet.
"The president and the president and his son will be there at that time to personally toast you and apologize."
Suzuki Shunjiro led the way to a Cadillac.
Suzuki Yoko was sitting in the passenger seat. Through the rearview mirror, she saw Fang Yan and her father sitting side by side in the rear driver's seat.
“Fang Yanjun, it’s a coincidence that you came here this time.”
Suzuki Shunjiro said: "In a few days, the Edogawa Rampo Award will be held. I wonder if Mr. Fangyan is interested in participating?"
Suzuki Yoko is worried that the dialect is not clear about the Edogawa Rampo Award. The origin of it, so I introduced it briefly and concisely.
The Edogawa Ranpo Award was established on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Edogawa Ranpo, the "Father of Japanese Mystery Novels", in order to promote the development of Japanese mystery literature. The first two editions, They are awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to mystery literature and are equivalent to achievement awards.
However, since the third edition, it has become a newcomer award to encourage emerging writers of mystery literature, and then evolved into a window for Japanese mystery novel writers to make their debut, and a channel for carp to leap over the dragon's gate.
If a writer of mystery novels cannot even be shortlisted for the Edogawa Ranpo Award, strictly speaking, it is not considered an official debut at all.
"I see."
Fang Yan suddenly realized, "But it seems that my "Malicious" and I were not shortlisted for the Edogawa Ranpo Newcomer Award?"
"Because this award can only be awarded to the home country. Mystery writer."
Suzuki Yoko said: "Otherwise, let alone being on the list, I am sure that "Malicious" will definitely win the Edogawa Rampo Award!"
"I have to say, this It is indeed a pity." Shunjiro Suzuki couldn't help but sigh.
For Fang Yan, winning the prize is only secondary. The most important thing is the bonus, which is 10 million yen, which is equivalent to 40,000 to 50,000 US dollars.
Although housing prices in Tokyo, Kyoto and other places have skyrocketed, they are at least enough to cover a down payment!
…………
After arriving at the hotel arranged by Youfei Pavilion, I took a short rest, dressed in formal attire, and attended the specially prepared reception banquet in the evening.
The president and president of Youfei Pavilion were both present. Father and son were on the same stage. They toasted to each other with Fang Yan, changing glasses, and drank one cup after another.
After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food, and until I was slightly tipsy, I was invited to enjoy a "horse killing chicken".
During the massage, Shunjiro Suzuki once again mentioned the "Edogawa Ranpo Award Ceremony".
The half-drunk and half-awake Fang Yan agreed, and a few days later, he appeared at the 30th Edogawa Ranpo Awards.
At this time, the reporters from Fuji TV set up their cameras and focused each lens on the crowd who were communicating, reminiscing and joking.
Fang Yan was walking around with champagne in hand, and suddenly found a familiar face in an inconspicuous corner.
I saw Keigo Higashino, who had only debuted for two years, standing alone with no one paying attention, as if he was "standing like an ant".
"Ah Nuo, are you the one who wrote "Malevolence" and "Midnight Bell"..."
"That's right!"
Suzuki Yoko, as the dialect translator, answered for him, "He is the dialect teacher!"
Higashino Keigo was shocked. He never dreamed that he could see a great writer of this status. He held his hands tightly The hand holding the dialect shook.
Seeing him hesitantly announcing his home address, Fang Yan smiled and said, "This is my first time attending this kind of award ceremony. Where is Higashikata-kun?"
"It's my first time too."
Keigo Higashino blushed. Frankly speaking, although it was his first time to participate in the award ceremony, it was his second time participating.
The Edogawa Ranpo Prize accepts manuscripts in January every year. It was my first time participating in the competition and I had no experience, so I hurriedly finished writing "The Doll's House". Naturally, I didn't win the prize. , but the results were pretty good and he was shortlisted for the second round.
This also gave Keigo Higashino a certain degree of confidence. He felt that if he polished his work and wrote seriously, he would have a high probability of winning the award next year.
Sure enough, "Magic Ball", which I carefully created, made it all the way to the finals of this year's Edogawa Rampo Award.
"Congratulations, Mr. Higashino."
Fang Yan and Suzuki Yoko looked at each other.
Higashino Keigo shook his head and laughed: "Teacher Dialect, the results of the awards have not been announced yet, I may not be the one who won the award."
Suzuki Yoko said curiously: "Higashino-kun's "Magic Ball" sounds like Like a Benguet novel? ”
Keigo Higashino said that he liked Edogawa Ranpo, the "Sherlock Holmes" series and other classic Honkaku-pa works. At the same time, he was also influenced by the "New Honkaku-pa" founded by Shimada Shoji, so he brought Honkaku-pa's techniques into campus reasoning. middle.
While they were talking about mystery novels, Fang Yan suddenly noticed Morimura Seiichi and others breaking into his line of sight. "Teacher Morimura!"
"Fang Yan, it's really been a long time no see."
Morimura Seiichi looked at Suzuki Yoko and others with kind eyes, and exchanged greetings.
"Yeah, there should be more than a year, and it should be more than a year."
Dialect said: "How is your body now?"
" Meet Sang.”
What Morimura Seiichi is talking about is the deceased Yokomori Masashi, and together with Matsumoto Seicho, the "originator of socialist reasoning", the three of them are the "three peaks of Japanese mystery literature", and their status and reputation in the mystery world are , second only to Edogawa Rampo.
Facing such a master, Keigo Higashino stood there blankly, not daring to take a breath.
I saw Fang Yan and Morimura Seiichi chatting from the publication of "Devil's Fullness" in China to the founding of "Mystery World".
"Okay! This is a great event worthy of celebration for the entire mystery literature world!"
Morimura Makoto said: "I am very much looking forward to more stories like this. Chinese writers like Fang Yanjun who are good at writing mystery novels stand out."
“I feel ashamed to say it, but actually I only know a little bit about mystery literature.”
Hearing Diao Yan’s words, Suzuki Yoko jokingly said: “Teacher Fang is here again. Just kidding, you obviously created your own school of reasoning.”
Keigo Higashino was shocked, thinking that his ears had heard wrongly.
Dialect, like Shoji Shimada who founded the "New Honkaku School", also created a new genre of mystery literature that has never existed before?
Morimura Makoto was twice as interested and cast an inquiring look.
“Forensic reasoning stream.” Yoko Suzuki replied: ““Song Dynasty’s Criminal Prosecutor Song Ci” serialized in “The World of Reasoning” is the pioneering work of this genre.”
Seeing that Morimura Seiichi was in high spirits, Fang Yan began to explain seriously:
"This school of reasoning was born based on ancient Chinese forensic books and public case novels..."
"Forensic medicine can not only conduct medical investigation and follow-up evidence collection, but also provide key evidence for investigation, such as injuries, Blood stains, biological samples, etc., these evidences are very helpful in determining the identity of the suspect, and even reconstructing the crime scene and performing an autopsy on the body.”
“Through the anatomy of the deceased, we can infer and restore the incident step by step, and determine the cause of death, time of death and other information.”
“And throughout the process, we can not only popularize forensic common sense, but also It can demonstrate the scientific logic of solving crimes..."
While doing his best to translate, Suzuki Yoko noticed that more and more people were coming over, obviously interested in forensic reasoning.
After all, many elements of forensic reasoning can be borrowed from the original school, the social school, the change school and other schools for their own use.
Just when the atmosphere of the conversation was harmonious and cheerful, a discordant voice emerged from the crowd:
"Fang Yansang, you also saw the end of the social reasoning school, so you Are you going to find another way and create your own forensic reasoning stream?"
As soon as these words came out, the whole room was in an uproar.
Even though the social reasoning genre has declined, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and it is still the largest genre in Japanese mystery literature.
Most of the people who attended the Edogawa Rampo Award Ceremony, whether they were judges or writers, were from the social reasoning school. In front of so many people, cursing that "the social reasoning school is at its end" does not mean that Are you going to rebel in front of the emperor?
A series of eyes immediately turned to the person who just "spoke so brazenly".
Higashino Keigo took a breath when he saw his face clearly, it turned out to be Shoji Shimada!
"Shimada-kun, what do you mean when you say that the social reasoning school is coming to an end!"
Faced with the question, Shimada Shoji curled his lips, "That's what it means literally. Why, could it be that Isn’t social reasoning in decline? ”
"Nanda (what are you talking about)!"
"Baga! How could the social reasoning school decline!"
"Shouji, don't think you wrote a book "Astrology Kills People" "Magic", I created my own "New Original Style", so that I can face our seniors and the society. You are a reasoning sect, you talk nonsense, you act arbitrarily, no matter how big or small, you really don’t understand the rules!”
“Your new sect is just a heresy, do you want to challenge the orthodoxy of the social reasoning sect? Status?”
“………”
All of a sudden, everyone was outraged, and everyone directed a stream of reprimands and criticisms at Shoji Shimada.
"No road race!"
"Isn't it true that the social reasoning school is in decline and is at the end of the road! How long are you going to deceive yourself and others!"
“Look at today’s readers, they are too lazy to look at you miserable and hateful people who criticize human nature. Instead of interesting novels, I enjoy mystery novels that pursue 'mysteries', 'murderers' and 'unexpected, interesting and complex puzzle solutions' in completely fictional stories."
"There is nothing but imagination. , and whimsical tricks can conquer readers of this era. ”
"No matter how brave you are, there is only one truth. The era of Matsumoto Seicho has come to an end, and the new era will eventually come!"
Shōji Shimada raised his chin and frowned at the many aggressive writers. There was even a hint of contempt in his tone.
“How dare you, Shoji!”
Everyone was furious, shouting that Shoji Shimada should leave the award ceremony immediately, otherwise they would leave the venue collectively.
Under the threat of choosing one of the two, the atmosphere took a turn for the worse and became tense and solemn.
Seeing the two groups of people at war with each other, Morimura Seiichi and other senior leaders stood up to break up the fight.
Fang Yan was happy to be a bystander as he watched this wonderful show of "lower overpowering upper".
Shunjiro Suzuki rushed over with a face full of shame, "Teacher Fang, I made you laugh."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, sometimes quarrels occur during literary discussions, and it is inevitable. .”
Fang Yan waved his hand, “But the contradictions and differences between the New Basic School and the Social Reasoning School seem to be huge.”
"This..."
Suzuki Shunjiro revealed with reservations that Shimada Shoji's dislike of the social reasoning school is understandable.
At the beginning, the Japanese reasoning world was dominated by the social reasoning school. Since the publication of "Astrology Killing Magic", criticism of Shimada Shoji has come one after another in the mystery literature circle, and even in the selection of the Edogawa Rampo Award , the Newcomer Award was not awarded to Shoji Shimada.
Instead, the award was given to the historical mystery-solving novel "Sarumaru's Vision".
Shimada Shoji was deeply ashamed and complained many times. He felt that "Astrology Killing Magic" involves astrology and black magic, and is full of complicated and difficult continuous mysteries. It can be said to be a new twist on traditional puzzle reasoning. A model that opened up the creative space and ideas of the Benge School.
As a result, he has been suppressed, excluded and belittled by the social reasoning faction.
In anger, Shoji Shimada simply set up his own school and founded the "New Honka School" to specifically compete against the social reasoning school.
The battle between the two factions became more and more fierce, so much so that many social mystery writers jointly wanted to expel Shimada Shoji from the mystery literature world.
“No wonder, it turns out to be such a connection.”
Fang Yan smiled, quite like the dispute between the neon navy, army and red deer. (End of chapter)