Chapter 156: Fans Seek Justice for Zhang Ye!
This poem had a long history.
Just about everyone from his previous world knew of this poem, or had even recited it before. This was quite a famous poem in the language textbooks!
It was during the revolution of April, 1949. As the underground political mouthpiece, “Advancement Report” was raided by the Kuomintang. The “Advancement Report” Special Branch’s Secretary, Chen Ran, was arrested. In prison, Chen Ran was subjected to all kinds of torture, but only confessed that he had handled all of the editing, printing and publishing of the paper. He was determined to sacrifice himself, in order to protect his team and comrades. His captors used threats and coercion to force his confession. So Chen Ran picked up his pen and wrote an earth shattering poem — “My Confession”.
This was a great revolutionary poem!
This was the freedom of a communist member, an uprightness that symbolizes the heroism of martyrdom!
If it wasn’t in extreme circumstances, Zhang Ye would not bring out this poem, since it was really extreme. But now, Zhang Ye no longer had any hesitations!
You want to torment me?
You want to insult me?
Sure! Then I will f**king torment and insult all of you, too!
……
He was done reciting the poem.
There was silence in the police station’s yard due to the shock!
The policewoman, Old Zhao, as well as the others in the police station, and even the reporters, drew a gasp because of Zhang Ye’s poem!
Or perhaps it was the Fruit of Charm’s effect. No, it had to be the Fruit of Charm’s (Voice) effect! Those 38 fruits had greatly increased the charm in Zhang Ye’s manner of speech and voice. They caused his poem to enter deep into their hearts, and showcased the soul of the poem to its fullest extent! There might even be some of the effects from the few Fruits of Charm (Eyes), which made the present Zhang Ye awe-inspiring. The aura emitted from his gaze, and the dauntless words he shouted out, had influenced a majority of the people present, turning them emotional and making them dumbfounded! Even those who were not heavily influenced by Zhang Ye could not help be slightly moved!
The policewoman’s eyes even turned red from hearing it!
The female reporter from the Beijing Times also shed a tear. She quickly wiped her eyes as she felt a surge of warm blood!
In the face of death, I laugh out loud?
The Devil’s palace trembles from the laughter?
Many of the people now had their eyes focused on Zhang Ye. What kind of a great spirit of a man would it take to write a sentence like this!
The female reporter came back to her senses. She hurriedly noted down the poem from memory! Many of those reporters reacted by noting it down, too!
This was news!
It was big news!
Before they came here, someone had talked to them. It was either their Leader’s instructions or friend’s request. But faced with the current situation, their reporter’s instinct had also taken over. Who cares about the story of Zhang Ye beating someone up! This poem was the highlight!
Why?
Because the message it conveyed was huge!
The reporters began to take a flurry of pictures. Instantly, Zhang Ye was flooded by bright lights, and especially the handcuffs on his leg, and the few bruises on Zhang Ye’s body, which were a result of the fight with Wang Cen, were specially focused on by the reporters. They kept taking photos with all they got!
“No photographing!”
“What are you doing?”
“No photography is allowed here!”
Superintendent Song panicked and tried to prevent it.
But with so many reporters, how could they control them in time!
The reporters behaved like they were on stimulants, acting all excited. But what made some happy, made others sad. With Zhang Ye’s poem, Superintendent Song and the old policeman had somehow been mesmerized by Zhang Ye’s inexplicable charming voice for a split moment, before they quickly regained their composure. They faces were already pale!
Zhang Ye!
F**k your grandpa!
A kid like you is such a grandson!
Superintendent Song and the old policeman wished that they could swear openly! Despite all their planning, they had never expected Zhang Ye to recite a poem, and it was such a poem!
The heavy iron shackles clang at my feet?
Iron shackles, your sister!
It’s just a handcuff! And it was loose! All the people locked in the small, dark room basically received such a treatment!
No matter how high you raise the whip?
Whip, your sister! Where did we have a whip!? We didn’t even lay a finger on you!
And that line about even if there is a bloodied bayonet by my chest?
Bloodied, your grandma! Bayonet, your grandpa!
Are you trying to malign our police station!?
What do torture and beatings amount to?
Who tortured you!?
Even death has no means to open your mouth?
Big Bro! My dear Bro!
At most, you had deliberately caused harm! According to this situation, you would at most be detained for fifteen days!
Death?
Death, your sister! You didn’t intentionally murder anyone!
What sort of adjectives are you using? What adjectives are they?
After a long time, the reporters were finally chased away.
Superintendent Song and company wiped their sweat and quickly brought Zhang Ye back to the small, dark room!
……
Afternoon.
The Beijing Times began selling!
“Zhang Ye’s ‘My Confession’” : This afternoon at the police station, our reporter witnessed the police taking Zhang Ye away. Under the flurry of verbal attacks by other reporters, Teacher Zhang said righteously in his own words a poem… No matter how heavy the iron shackles clang at my feet, no matter how high you raise the whip, I have no confession… The above was the poem’s original text. From this, we can tell that unless there was a great grievance and fury, how would a person be able to write such a poem? Together with the bruises on Zhang Ye’s body and the handcuff on his leg, we do not know what sort of unjust treatment Zhang Ye had endured in the police station. This matter will be followed up by our newspaper’s reporters!
The other city tabloids also published an evening edition!
“There are hidden facts behind Zhang Ye’s assault?”
“The police station tortured Teacher Zhang Ye?”
Of course, some of these tabloids were still discrediting Zhang Ye, writing him as being a heinous guy. They wrote that he hit others because of personal desires, or that he had taken a fancy to the female colleague!
……
Jiaomen East.
“Aunt, Zhang Ye was arrested!” Rao Chenchen said waving a newspaper.
“This kid’s getting into trouble again?” Rao Aimin frowned. She grabbed the papers to take a look and laughed, “Hur, this kid was already brought to the station, but still did not forget to write poems?”
Chenchen said anxiously, “What to do? What to do!”
Rao Aimin threw down the newspaper, “That rascal is smart; don’t worry about him.”
Chenchen pulled at Rao Aimin’s clothes and said, “Aunt, go and save him! Break him out of prison!”
“You wench, you are so protective of your Uncle Zhang?” Rao Aimin was speechless. “Break into the prison? This is a lawful and orderly society. It does not matter if you have the skills. Besides, your Uncle Zhang was just brought in to assist in the investigations. He hasn’t been judged yet!”
……
Caishikou.
Zhang Ye’s house.
An old neighbor knocked on the door and came in, “Old Zhang, things are bad. Your son was arrested!”
“What? Little Ye was arrested?” Dad shook his head, “Impossible. My son is a Party member! He’s law-abiding!”
A neighboring auntie threw them a Beijing Times newspaper, “Look at it yourself. It’s already in the newspapers!”
Zhang Ye’s mom, who was cooking in the kitchen, rushed over. Seeing this, she was alarmed, “Who dares to accuse my son? That bunch of bastards! And he even dared to beat my son?”
Dad was also furious as he got up, “Let’s go! To the police station!”
……
On the web, Zhang Ye’s “My Confession” had been spread!
If it were anyone else’s poem, it might not have attracted that much attention. But this was a poem by the author Zhang Ye, who had composed “Dead Water”, “A Generation” and others like them. Whether it was classical poetry or modern poetry, it would be anticipated highly. His least popular work even surpassed a million hits! You could imagine his popularity! Furthermore, “My Confession” was in a similar style as “Dead Water”! Everyone was even more interested!
“Great! This poem’s absolutely great!”
“Zhang Ye is truly talented! I’m convinced!”
The Devil’s palace trembles from the laughter? What a strong spirit! I am already beginning to like him! This person is so f**king charismatic!”
“Especially that last line. This is my, a communist member’s, confession. It’s so empowering!”
“I feel that even though many people in the literary world do not acknowledge Zhang Ye, no one can deny that no one can match the literary value and the ability to speak to one’s heart in his works! Personally, I think amongst all of Zhang Ye’s poems, this is the best!”
“Right. Especially this Confession. I stood up just from reading it. I never felt my body’s blood surge from reading a poem!”
“Teacher Zhang Ye must have definitely been framed! Look at the mass deletion of threads on several forums. Isn’t it clear? Someone is trying to entrap Zhang Ye! It was the last straw when Teacher Zhang Ye issued his angry roaring sound, feeling the senselessness in this! That bunch of people are too much!”
“Let’s go! Let’s post!”
“That’s right! Count me in!”
“I’ve prepared my clone accounts! If they delete the threads or ban us, let’s just carry on!”
“Right! They delete one! We post ten! Let’s see if they are faster or if we are faster! I don’t believe this world has no justice! Teacher Zhang is a person who can go to such means for a fan. Would he do something illegal? Only a ghost would believe so! This must be insidiously done by someone! They are guiding the public opinion!”
……
Inside Zhang Ye’s Nest Tieba.
The other netizens were only angry. But when Zhang Ye’s fans saw the “My Confession”, they were furious to the extreme!
“Bastard!”
“That bunch of bastards!”
“Teacher Zhang is in trouble! Everyone quickly come!”
A junior moderator posted, “Comrades, brothers. Everyone should already know what’s going on, so I won’t say anything else. I don’t even want to know the cause and course of the matter. All I see is that Teacher Zhang is in trouble! I ask all of you! When we fans were in trouble! Who reached out a helping hand!? Who was the one who dissipated all his wealth to pay the medical bills for a small fan?”
“It’s Teacher Zhang!”
“It’s Teacher Zhang Ye!”
The junior moderator said angrily, “Right! It’s Teacher Zhang Ye! When a fan was in trouble, Teacher Zhang reached out his helping hand without any hesitation! Now that Teacher Zhang is in trouble, it is time for us to help him!”
Big Saber Bro posted, “My large saber is again again again again again again again again again again again unable to endure the thirst!”
The junior moderator said, “Big Saber Bro is here, too? Good! All the brothers have gathered. Big Saber Bro, this moderator who doesn’t bother about the board or bothers thinking, please lead everyone to the various Tieba forums, Weibo and other public media sites and post Teacher Zhang Ye’s poem! Let’s seek justice for Teacher Zhang!”
“I’m going!”
“Count me in!”
“There’s me, too! I’m going all out!”
“They deleted a thread! I’ll f**king post a hundred!”
“That’s right! Let’s see if they have more people or if we have more people! I refuse to believe we have less manpower!”