Chapter 130

In May, the "Youth Award" entered the final stage of review by the judges.

This time, the judges were not only Aso Akiya who coaxed his wife, Rando who was coaxed to play, and Natsume Soseki who came after hearing the news. The three of them sat together, which can be regarded as elevating this "Youth Award" competition.

After all, it was just a small competition supported by the government at the beginning.

Aso Aki also reviewed the novels together with other judges.

Rando used a critical eye to check which novel would be written by Shibusawa Tatsuhiko.

Natsume Soseki had the mentality of watching the fun, and was sincerely pleased with what kind of works Edogawa Ranpo, Oda Sakunosuke, and Shibusawa Tatsuhiko would write.

The Japanese literary world is lonely, what will be the result if these geniuses are allowed to write novels?

Natsume Soseki, who has never seen Ranpo's works, maintains high expectations. In fact, he has successfully avoided the novels written by the famous detective in the past. For those who are familiar with it, it is estimated that it is difficult to expect Edogawa Ranpo.

For a work to enter the finals, it was simply a joke for previous novels.

"Oh, I saw an acquaintance."

Looking through the printed paper novel, Aso Qiuya suddenly smiled.

"Let me have a look." Lan Tang had a tacit understanding and poked his head in the direction of Qiuya. Aso Qiuya deliberately blocked Lan Tang's sight and indulged in reading. The name of the novel is "Lengchou", which tells the story of a third-rate man.

The story of a killer who is about to starve to death after losing his job has an interesting plot and rich details. It describes the trivial things that hit a wall in life for the killer.

Aso Qiuya was absent-minded: "Lantang, go look at the manuscript in your hand."

Lan Tang was fed up with it.

For the sake of the novel, Qiuya actually kept it secretive and made it interesting!

Could it be Shibusawa Tatsuhiko’s?!

Lan Tang put aside the typed manuscript of a boring novel and read the next one. A total of ten novels were selected for the finals, basically all short stories, and there were ten judges, all of whom were well-known editors in the publishing industry‌literary authors

, each judge has enough time to slowly read all the novels.

Then, Lan Tang saw a short story called "Three People/Wives", and his eyelids jumped.

Erotic novel?

The author of this novel is very bold.

He stole a glance at the other judges to make sure that everyone was looking at their own opinions, lowered his head and started reading, with a happy smile at the corner of his mouth.

The content of the novel tells a love story...

It just so happened that Lan Tang liked to watch it.

The third judge, Natsume Soseki, got an article... oh no, it was a thick novel. He looked at the others in surprise, why were the ones in everyone's hands thin and only mine thick?

Natsume Soseki secretly muttered to himself which one had submitted the article. He wrote so much that he outshone the others.

He looked at the title of the novel, and oh haha, a "dark", "mysterious" and "secondary" atmosphere came to his face. He judged that the person who wrote this novel must be young!

——"Black Magic Notes".

Natsume Soseki opened the prologue of the novel, calmed down to read the content, and wrote at the end: "I want to reveal the secret of magic here - although it is magic, it is nothing like the former Matsuugusa Tensho, the recent Russian Circus

There is no connection with the vulgar tricks performed by Mr. Keogh and others of the regiment. They are from the childhood when human beings lived in caves and were ignorant of their wisdom..."

Gradually, Natsume Soseki was changed by the calmness revealed in the language of the novel.

No wonder we made it to the finals, it’s a bit interesting.

Suddenly one of the three judges read a novel in one breath, and tears filled his eyes: "It's a rare mystery novel! Ever since Mr. Kudo Yusaku moved to the United States, there has been no successor to mystery novels.

But abroad, a good seedling has finally appeared!"

Aso Qiuya suddenly raised his head, what, a mystery novel?

Lan Tang closed the novel with the exciting title without a trace of anger, and quietly asked Qiuye: "Is this Ranpo? I remember that he has been writing mystery novels."

Aso Qiu was not sure either: "Ranpo's level... is a mystery."

Ranpo has been working very hard recently, but whether he can write a good manuscript is another matter.

He rummaged through the ten novels, skipping the familiar novel names, and successfully came across a novel belonging to Edogawa Ranpo - "Two Copper Coins". The story tells that the protagonist gets a two-copper coin.

There is a note in the gap of the copper coin, and the protagonist takes this as an opportunity to solve the mystery about the theft.

Aso Qiuya also became excited.

This is the first pioneering work of the three-dimensional Edogawa Ranpo!

Another literary giant has awakened!

For the whole day on Sunday, Aso Qiuya and Rando were reading in the room where the "Youth Award" was held. The sound of rustling pages was very slow because everyone was reading carefully and chewing repeatedly, not wanting to

Missing the talents of Japan’s younger generation of writers.

Natsume Soseki rubbed his eyes and finally finished reading "The Notes on Black Magic" before looking at the others. The others had already finished reading the short stories, and they were all reading the longest and most profound novel.

"Is there no word limit for the competition?" Others wrote short stories, but this author wrote long stories.

"No." The person from the organizer answered him, "They only mentioned the minimum word count requirement, so everyone's entries were basically short stories of 10,000 to 20,000 words."

"Oh, that's right." Natsume Soseki turned to the homepage to see who the author was who wrote about black magic.

Natsume Soseki found it interesting that the author's name is Shibukawa Ryuuji.

People cannot be judged by their appearance.

Bai Qilin was so obsessed with these things back then.

It is certain that the author of the novel is Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, who, at the request of Aso Akiya, wrote out the shameful black history. The amount of content is amazing.

Natsume Soseki happily read through the remaining nine novels and was surprised by the performance of the new generation of authors.

Old-timers in the literary world have some ideas about rankings.

Bai Qilin lost...

It’s not unfair to lose.

When Ran Tang saw the novel written by the author "Shibukawa Ryuuji", his first reaction was that this guy is too arrogant. Qiuya's novel has not yet been officially published and promoted, but this person actually used the name of the protagonist in it as a pen name.

, as if he was afraid that others would not know about his relationship with Aso Akiya!

People who don’t know may think that Aso Akira also wrote a novel for Shibukawa Ryuuji.

Damn, even though that's the truth.

‌ Outsiders don’t need to know!

Ran Tang resisted the idea of ​​tearing up the book, and smiled coldly, which made Aso Qiu next to him shiver. Aso Qiu was also confused. Why did Lan Tang meet with Shibusawa Tatsuhiko?

There are signs of blackening in the hall? Shibusawa Tatsuhiko is only more than two years older than Ranpo!

Aso Qiuya called out: "Lantang?"

Lan Tang said reservedly: "Don't worry, I voted fairly."

The first weekend of May passed, and the rankings of the "Youth Award" competition were announced on May 8th.

First prize, mystery short story "Two Copper Coins", author: Edogawa Ranpo!

Second prize, realistic short story "Cold Sorrow", author: Sakunosuke Oda!

Third prize, absurd short story "Dr. Wind", author: An Wu!

Excellence Award, Love Short Story "Three People/Wives", author: Tokutaro!

The novel "Black Magic Notes", which has a longer title than them and a content that is twice as long as all of them combined, was so miserable in this competition that it did not even get the top four spots.

Because in terms of the interest of the novel, it lost!

It lost out to those short stories!

Shibusawa Tatsuhiko: "..."

In a fit of anger, white mist emerged, and a strange scene of fog appeared indoors.

The servant looked at the depressed Master Long Yan with fear, knowing that he stayed up for so many days and finally finished writing a novel, but in the end he didn't even get a single ranking!

Shibusawa Tatsuhiko looked at the list announced on TV as if he were looking at his own must-kill list.

Bai Qilin's Death Gaze.jpg

No matter how unhappy he was, he closed his eyes, suppressed his murderous intention, and a trace of grievance that had not appeared in many years, and said: "It doesn't matter, as long as I can get first place."

The servant was worried that Master Long Yan was going crazy, so he said anxiously: "The game is over."

Shibusawa Tatsuhiko said coldly: "No."

After he pressed a message send button on his mobile phone, another message was inserted into the live news on TV: "The short story competition of the Youth Award has come to an end, and the results of the novel competition of the Youth Award are now being broadcast.

The first prize is "Black Magic Notes"! This novel has a novel theme and tells about things related to 'black magic'. It is a rare and good work..."

The servant saw something unspeakable: "..."

Shibusawa Tatsuhiko's gloomy expression improved, and he turned his head to look at the scenery outside the window.

I lost when I wrote a novel.

It doesn't mean it can't be made up for in other ways.

He has money, power, strength, and brains, so why should you people compare their works? His experience in Yokohama made him understand one fact: Don't compare your strengths with others!

The butler of the Shibusawa family came over with a fruit platter and smiled: "Congratulations, Master Long Yan."
To be continued...