Chapter 37 postscript

The fourth unfinished draft meets readers.It reflects that after Sichuan's false independence in 1911, the constitutional party compromised and surrendered to the reactionaries, and was helpless against the chaotic situation; Yin Changheng seized the opportunity to seize power, reorganized the military government, and appointed himself a governor, etc. The old edition was published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1937, with three volumes.After liberation, under the meticulous care of the party, encouraged by the party's policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend, and literature and art policies, Mr. Jieren had more time to reorganize relevant materials while serving as the deputy mayor of Chengdu. Sou Bo Cai, on the basis of the old version, was brewed again and developed into four parts.The fourth part originally decided to write more than 400,000 characters, and the historical facts that will be involved are: the Comrade Army marched into Chengdu to maintain order and suppress the rebels; Zhao Erfeng’s restoration conspiracy continued to be exposed. At the same time, under the auspices of Comrade Wu Yuzhang, the Shu military government in Chongqing suppressed the extremely dangerous restoration activities, and the military governments of Chengdu and Chongqing merged; the reactionary politician Hu Jingyi usurped the military and political power in Sichuan, which created momentum for the restoration of the thief Yuan Shikai, etc.Unfortunately, Mr. Jieren only wrote four chapters, about 120,000 characters, and stopped writing in front of this colorful and intense historical scene, forever!

Mr. Jieren plans to complete this fourth part by the end of 1963.He was diligent and serious about writing. In his rare years, the day before he fell ill, he insisted on writing thirty-one lines, each line was about forty-eight characters; Unfinished 300,000 words.He once said that only after liberation did his creation reach a new youthful period, and he did not close his pen until he was eighty-five years old.Unfortunately, his ambition was unfulfilled, and scurvy enteritis took his precious life.On December 24, 1962, he passed away.This is a great loss to the literary world! To a considerable extent, this novel truly and vividly reflects the historical storm in the late Qing Dynasty. It uses the refined and vivid Sichuan dialect to make a more profound analysis of the dynamics of various strata in the early days of the democratic revolution, the plots of the speculators, and the faces of the reactionaries. depict.In writing, Mr. Jieren has absorbed the excellent traditions of Chinese literature, showing that Chinese style has made important contributions to the nationalization of novel creation.

We read the last word of Mr. Jieren’s posthumous manuscript, thinking of the 300,000 words he had not finished writing, and thinking of his grand writing plan: after finishing the manuscript, we will write about intellectuals before and after the May Fourth Movement. The dynamic novel "Under the Turbulence" will also be rewritten to reflect the trinity of compradors, bureaucrats, and profiteers during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the novel "Dance of the Demon", which reflects speculative activities, does not feel sad.We have deep respect for Mr. Jieren's loyalty to the literary career and his diligent and serious writing attitude, and we would like to express our heartfelt condolences for his passing.