The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Zhou Hexuan's new work is called "Dog Officer", which can barely be regarded as a work of realistic magicism.

The protagonist of the novel is Gu Wangzhi, who was poor when he was young, but smart and clever. With the support of his mentor, he studied abroad in Japan, gave up his studies halfway, and went to make revolution with enthusiasm. After overthrowing the decadent Qing government, he, who originally tried to serve the country, gradually lost himself in power and wealth.

Gu Wangzhi abandoned Fa's wife (the daughter of his mentor) and married the daughter of a wealthy local businessman. Relying on his father-in-law's local financial resources and his reputation as a revolutionary pioneer, he climbed up step by step. He then followed suit, clung to the powerful, and finally became a provincial official.

All the above are the backgrounds of the characters, and the novel begins with a banquet.

Several wealthy businessmen invited Gu Wangzhi to dinner. They wanted to build a large factory, and they chose a location near a certain village for the convenience of cargo transportation. Because the good land and cemetery of the villagers will be occupied, the relocation work cannot be carried out, and the profiteers are unwilling to spend too much money on resettlement compensation.

Coupled with the need for official support, the rich businessmen decided to give Gu Wangzhi the dry stock of the new factory. And Gu Wangzhi also agreed, and after the banquet was over, he sent his men to bring the hooligans to make trouble. In the end, there was a bloody case. In the name of murder, the government arrested and shot several villagers who resisted the most.

One day, when Gu Wangwai was going out, he heard people calling him a dog official. He laughed, didn't take it seriously, and said to his followers: "It's hard to be an upright official, but it's easy to be a dog official. In this world, one must be a dog official."

That night, he went home and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he found that he had really turned into a dog, and he was still a dirt dog.

When the wife saw a dog lying beside her, she yelled in horror, called her son and servants, and drove Gu Wangzhi, who had turned into a dog, out of the house.

Gu Wangzhi wanted to explain, but when he said it, it was just a cry of "Wow, woof, woof". In desperation, he fled to his aunt, only to find that his aunt was stealing a man, and the other party was a famous local opera actor.

When the aunt saw a dirt dog coming into the house, she immediately beat him out with the wild men.

Gu Wangzhi, who was covered in bruises, started a conversation with his aunt's pet dog at the door of the house.

The pet dog said: "The hostess has been cheating on her for a long time. With the money you sent, she bought a car for that little boy. Even her son is not your own."

Gu Wangzhi said: "I am your master, you should help me and drive that wild man away."

The pet dog said: "You used to be my master, but now you are worse than me. You are just a dirty, smelly and injured dirt dog. You may die in a few days. Why should I help you?"

Gu Wangzhi said: "You ungrateful dog, if you have milk, you are a mother."

The pet dog said: "Aren't you the same?"

Gu Wangzhi sneaked into the courtyard through the dog hole, and watched the woman who slept with him with a white face use his money to live in his house, barking with anger. The cry startled the boy, so he picked up the stick and beat him again.

Gu Wangzhi was limping and wandering on the street. He was so hungry that he panicked. When he saw someone pouring bad water, the vicious dog rushed over. As a result, he met two beggars. The beggars not only robbed him of his bad water, but also caught him and peeled him to eat.

When Gu Wangzhi managed to escape the catastrophe and was about to starve to death, a little girl adopted him.

The little girl lived in a village on the outskirts of the city. Originally, there were several acres of Susukida at home, but they were requisitioned by businessmen to build factories. Even the little girl's father was arrested by the government. The family was impoverished, the mother was taken by the bullies in the village, and the little girl was sold into a kiln. She started receiving customers when she was only twelve or thirteen years old.

The little girl had to secretly feed Gu Wangzhi every day. Once he waited for a long time at the door of the kiln, but the little girl hadn't come out yet. Only later did he know that the little girl had contracted the willow disease and was already terminally ill.

Gu Wangzhi rushed into the brothel to comfort the little girl, but was beaten out by Gui Gong.

He limped and continued to wander, and met the wife and mentor he had abandoned. The mentor is old and seriously ill, and his wife has gray hair when she is less than 40 years old, and she makes a living by washing, washing, and mending. But they still took Gu Wangzhi in, giving him a rare place to live.

But the good times didn't last long, the local war was fought, and the warlord ordered the collection of exorbitant taxes. Even the pots and stoves at home had to be taxed, and Fa's wife had to smash the pots and push the stove, and went outside the house to set up stones for cooking every day.

Until one day, Fa's wife went to the city to buy medicine for her teacher, and never came back. When Gu Wangzhi went to look for it, he found that his wife had died of illness on the side of the road, and when he returned home, his mentor had died.

Gu Wangzhi continued to wander, observing from the perspective of a dog the country he had established during the bloody revolution, poverty, hunger, war, natural disasters, plague...

The whole novel is a dog that keeps wandering, showing all aspects of social problems in the Republic of China.

In the end, Gu Wangzhi was captured and eaten by soldiers, and the commander of that army was his eldest son who was sent to the military academy.

People in troubled times are not as good as dogs, but many dogs steal high positions and become humans.

If you insist on comparing "The Dog Officer" with "The Goddess", then "The Goddess" is more cold-blooded and cruel, while "The Dog Officer" has more or less warm tones. For example, there is warmth in the famine, and there are good people in troubled times, but these good people often do not end well. Some good people are forced to become bad people in order to survive.

Zhou Hexuan showed Zhang Leyi the first tens of thousands of words written, and Zhang Leyi only said one sentence after reading it: "I will never read your novel again, it's too scary!"

"Haha, how can you alert people if you don't scare them?" Zhou Hexuan packed the novel manuscript and sent it to the "Novel Monthly" magazine at the post office.

A week later, Zheng Zhenduo in Shanghai received the manuscript and saw that it was signed by Zhou Hexuan, so he immediately opened it and read it excitedly.

Because the name of the novel is "Dog Official", Zheng Zhenduo thought it was satirizing bureaucrats, but after reading it, he found that Zhou Hexuan was actually describing a "dog" official.

"This perspective is really amazing!" Zheng Zhenduo couldn't help admiring.

Much of the suffering that the dog in the book goes through is his own fault. In Zheng Zhenduo's view, the purpose of Zhou Hexuan's writing this book is to let the officials see how many stupid things they have done and how much harm they have caused to the people and society.

If you evaluate the novel's protagonist Gu Wangzhi alone, this gentleman is not as good as a dog. When you are a human being, you don't do human things, but when you become a dog, you still have some conscience, know how to repay kindness, and know how to protect your master.

Needless to say, the headline novel of the next issue of "Novel Monthly" will be Zhou Hexuan's work again.

And when "Dog Officer" came out, the sensation it brought was even bigger than "Goddess". Because "The Goddess" is written in a mess, with various flashbacks and fantasies, readers with insufficient brains can't understand it at all.

"Dog Officer" is different. This novel is described linearly from beginning to end. The language is simple and straightforward, and anyone who can read can understand it. And everything described in the book is actually happening all over the country at this moment.