Maupassant stood up from the sofa, pacing in the living room and saying,
"…Yes, that was originally Lionel's personality, but—he met me!"
Zola, Flaubert, and others gave him incredulous looks when they heard this.
Although they all liked this talented young man, they also knew his character well.
To say that Maupassant could bring any positive influence to Lionel Sorell was probably unlikely.
It would be a miracle if he didn't take Lionel to every brothel in Paris.
Maupassant awkwardly cleared his throat and began to explain casually:
"I once told him my teacher's famous quote—'The most glorious day in a person's life is not the day they achieve success, but the day they rise from sorrow and despair, bravely embracing life's challenges with unwavering will.'
I believe it was this very sentence that helped him overcome the inferiority complex stemming from his humble origins, allowing him to challenge life's adversities and embark on a new day through his creative work."
Maupassant secretly glanced at Flaubert, and seeing that his teacher's expression had relaxed slightly, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But Maupassant's flamboyant personality compelled him to continue:
"I also once told him Mr. Zola's famous saying—'The only happiness in life is to keep moving forward.'
Lionel thus realized that mere cynicism would only halt his life's progress; only by turning life's minutiae into poetry, like Mr. Zola, could he find happiness in moving forward."
Although Zola was skeptical, he still nodded slightly in approval.
Maupassant became even more excited, turning to Turgenev:
"Mr. Turgenev, Lionel also greatly admires you…"
Turgenev quickly interrupted:
"Alright, I'm not too interested in knowing what you told him about me—what I'm more interested in is how is this Lionel Sorell doing lately?
Is he still so destitute?"
Maupassant's old face flushed.
In truth, ever since he treated Lionel to a public dinner, he hadn't seen him again.
Each subsequent episode of the "Legend of Poor Lionel" short play was a result of his impromptu performance.
He had told himself countless times,
"I can't talk about Lionel at this salon again!"
But alas, the hosts of those salons, especially the bored noblewomen, for some reason particularly loved hearing this story of a "poor boy's comeback."
So he could only turn the short story into a serial, often needing to lay groundwork, foreshadow, introduce twists, climaxes, and epilogues... all the skills Mr. Flaubert had taught him were put to use.
He would also occasionally draw inspiration from "side stories" heard at other salons...
He usually ended by saying:
"This is my young friend Lionel, he is poor but upright, irritable but learned, rude but eloquent.
Please forgive me for bringing such a coarse story to such an elegant occasion; I will certainly advise him properly!"
Then the noblewomen would cover their smiles with their fans and instruct in a slightly enchanted voice:
"Guy, don't… just let Lionel be himself.
Oh my goodness, 'Poor Lionel,' 'Rude Lionel,' 'Irritable Lionel'… Are there really such poor boys in Paris!?"
Maupassant was furiously jealous inside and wanted to yell at them,
"I can be rude too, I can be irritable too…"
However, Maupassant wasn't without his gains—it was precisely because of his brilliant storytelling that he received sponsorship, allowing his play, Old Stories, to be staged at the Théâtre des Variétés.
Although the reception was lukewarm, it was still a successful start.
"Guy, what's wrong?"
Turgenev, seeing Maupassant silent for a long time, couldn't help but remind him,
"Haven't you met Lionel recently?"
Maupassant snapped back to attention and quickly remedied,
"Lionel has been engrossed in his writing lately, I haven't actually seen him.
But he… should still be living in the 11th arrondissement, I think it's… Aubervilliers Street.
Yes, it's Aubervilliers Street!"
Turgenev then turned to Zola and Flaubert:
"Mr. Zola, Mr. Flaubert, I think it might be a good idea to invite this 'Poor Lionel' to our salon.
Aren't you curious what kind of person this young man actually is?"
Upon hearing this, Zola first took a sip of red wine, then stood up from the sofa, walked to the desk, picked up the Sorbonne Academy Bulletin, and there, dominating the entire page, was The Old Guard.
Zola read slowly, with a habit of taking notes as he read, so the margins of the newspaper and the spaces between the lines were filled with his pencil marks.
He quickly scanned the novel before speaking with emotion:
"What a magnificent pathological slice! This young man, he saw society's illness through a microscope, but he did not—or simply refused to—prescribe a remedy.
And this very calmness is the most severe indictment!"
He immediately turned to Flaubert:
"We must meet him; his method deserves serious consideration by 'Naturalism'!"
Flaubert nodded:
"Lionel Sorell… his gaze is too sharp, and his heart too hard—but isn't that precisely the quality a good writer must possess?
I agree, this piece, The Old Guard, is enough to prove that he is one of us!"
Having said this, Flaubert turned to Maupassant:
"Guy, go invite him. This Sunday, to my house."
Maupassant swallowed hard and agreed:
"Yes, Teacher!
I'll go find Lionel tomorrow!"
Alphonse Daudet, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly smiled:
"Guy, you've found yourself a good 'rival'!"
Looking at Daudet's all-knowing gaze, Maupassant's heart inexplicably grew anxious.
——————
Lionel's life, at the center of the storm, was calmer than expected.
Due to the class segregation and the delayed media information of this era, the tide brought by The Old Guard had not yet reached his shore.
The congratulations from his classmates were the biggest reaction he had felt in the past two days.
And Lionel now had a more urgent task: to deliver the first part of The Decadent City, "Temptation and Ascent," to Garibuel.
The ending section happened to be Helena Drunkenly Disrupting the Grapevine.
Compared to the original Jin Ping Mei, the plot progressed faster, as Lionel had already omitted many highly Sinicized and difficult-to-adapt plotlines.
He wasn't really trying to write this book as a classic French novel of manners.
Garibuel also didn't have the patience to wait for him to slowly refine the text.
The only thing Lionel regretted was that he didn't have time, nor could he hire someone to transcribe the manuscript—although he found Alice a transcription job, The Decadent City certainly couldn't be entrusted to her.
At the post office on Saint-Martin Avenue, he carefully packaged the thick manuscript, filled out the address, requested the post office's most expensive "same-day delivery" service, and paid a full 10 sous in postage.
Leaving the post office, he took a public carriage to school for class.
Who knew, as soon as he got off the carriage, he saw a luxuriously "gilded" carriage parked at the entrance of the Sorbonne.
The usual boisterous scene was gone; other students' and professors' carriages were parked far away.
Immediately after, the Sorbonne's main gate opened directly, allowing this carriage to drive majestically into the campus.
(End of this chapter)
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