Zheng Yuanjie's readers said: "He is always teaching his children to tell the truth, not to be snobbish, not to make a scene, and to hold on to their rights and dignity." For this reason, even if it offends teachers, parents, officials, big money, the most powerful people in the world, it doesn't matter. ”
| Author: Xu Xiaodi
In 1985, the first issue of Fairy Tale Kings was published. On the orange-red cover, Pippiru holds a wooden stick in his hand, protects his sister Lusisi behind him, and stares at the Bull Demon King who is coming from the clouds.
The Bull Demon King came to the human world, because the "Three Borrowed Banana Fans" fell into notoriety, everyone shouted and beat, and only Pipilu sympathized with him. Later, Pipilu fanned out the fire in the building with a banana, but was slandered as an arsonist; those who watched the fire became heroes. The Bull Demon King was stunned, he thought he was a bad person: his face was hideous and terrible, and he was open to fighting and doing bad things; but now, these people with good faces and evil hearts actually married children.
He and Pippilu bravely broke into the bandit cave, fought the thieves, and escorted the villains to the public security bureau. At the commendation meeting, the "hero" who took the risk of receiving the reward opened the bonus paper bag with a smile and found that inside was a polished mirror - take a look.
The first issue of "Fairy Tale King".
The story, titled "The New Biography of the Bull Demon King," and all the words in the magazine, were written by one man. His name is Zheng Yuanjie, a fairy tale writer who only went to the fourth grade of primary school and claimed to be "proficient in using 500 Chinese characters and calculating four with the support of a calculator."
Since then, Zheng Yuanjie has written "Fairy Tale King" for 36 years, published 495 issues, and the total printed number has exceeded 200 million copies. On November 15, 2021, Zheng Yuanjie announced on Weibo that "Fairy Tale King" will be suspended in January 2022.
The last issue of the magazine reproduced the contents of the inaugural issue, and the Bull Demon King came to the cloud, and time returned to the original point.
The last issue of Fairy Tale King.
Pippilu tore off the disguise of "hero" on stage and successfully cracked down on counterfeiting; 67-year-old Zheng Yuanjie stopped writing "Fairy Tale King" because he had to "devote all his energy to defending his rights with the 7197328 Pipilu trademark, the 8229932 Fairy Tale King trademark, and the 5423972 Shuk trademark."
In the past 20 years, Zheng Yuanjie has only successfully defended 16 trademarks. He had limited energy, "At this pace, I may have to 'borrow another five hundred years from heaven.'" Zheng Yuanjie told the "Global People" reporter.
For 36 years, in the middle of every month, Zheng Yuanjie was busy finalizing the draft and reading the layout, and now he is idle and messed up the biological clock. "A person who has not lost sleep for a minute has insomnia for 3 consecutive days."
Pipilu and Rusisi
Zheng Yuanjie, 67, frankly said that the driving force of writing was "to make the ex-girlfriend's family regret."
In 1977, when China resumed the college entrance examination, the girlfriend's family gave an ultimatum to Zheng Yuanjie, who was working in elementary school: break up without going to college. "I can take the test, but I don't accept the threat." He broke up decisively, made up his mind, decided to do a career, and went to the newspaper and television every day.
On the back of a wall calendar, Zheng Yuanjie wrote down all the occupations that could be engaged, crossed out one by one, and finally selected writing. After trying it out on various subjects, he decided to set up camp in children's literature.
He divided writers into two categories, one with a literary name that is greater than a person's name, and one with a personal name that is greater than a literary name. He wanted to be the first, to write well-known literary characters.
In 1981, Zheng Yuanjie returned to Shanxi for the Spring Festival, planning to use the holiday to write a novella fairy tale. Visiting the door to the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, he began to write. This is a story dedicated to boys, the protagonist is a boy who is "naughty and mischievous, but kind in nature and compassionate".
"The name is very important, it can't be a ready-made Chinese phrase, and in the future, it will be defended, and people say that this is left by the ancestors." Taking precautions, the male protagonist named "Pipilu", which is not only a nailed Chinese surname, but also a full name that is different from the name of ordinary Chinese, which is easy to arouse the curiosity of children."
Six days later, the 30,000-word "Pippiru Biography" was born.
The 12-year-old Pipilu rode the "second kick" to the sky, and accidentally hit the "Clock of the Earth". People sink into dreams, each hegemonic side, fight each other, and set up many strange countries:
The citizens of the "Three-Eyed Nation" all have "snobbish eyes" and "do not recognize people, only recognize brands"; the cities ruled by the president of 12345 have a meeting addiction, "the more they open, the more they want to open, the more they open, the more they love to open, they don't do anything, they can't do anything."
Animals also come out to sleepwalk, foxes are the minister of corruption, the name is not enough; wolves are the minister of plunder, called thieves; dogs are the minister of music, forcing everyone to learn to bark and learn to bark.
A year later, during the Spring Festival, Zheng Yuanjie began to write "The Outer Biography of Lu Xixi". In this fairy tale for girls, Lusisi also enters a wonderful world.
She met the fleet of captains, who sailed in the hearts of careful-eyed people, blasting, digging, cleaning, turning it into a vast ocean; and mistakenly entered the University of Chi Chi, which specializes in recruiting jealous talents, "Whoever has the ability, we hate him, we are angry, we are red-eyed"...
The siblings project the shadow of each child and expose the absurdity of the adult world.
In "The Little Man in the Can" (1984), they formed a "united front" of outstanding and backward students, and in the face of the teacher's preaching and parental control, they launched a thrilling "backwater battle".
In September 2021, the movie "Canned Villain" adapted from Zheng Yuanjie's novel of the same name was released.
Years later, Zheng Yuanjie's readers said: "He is always teaching his children to tell the truth, not to be snobbish, not to be playful, and to hold on to their rights and dignity." For this reason, even if it offends teachers, parents, officials, big money, the most powerful people in the world, it doesn't matter. ”
Shuk and Beta
In addition to rebellious boys and girls, Zheng Yuanjie's pen also has animals that "my life is up to me".
In 1970, Zheng Yuanjie came to the army and was responsible for repairing the J-6 fighter jets. That year, he was 15 years old, and when he first filled out the form, he learned that his grandfather was a "kulak", and his heart was broken. "It was a kind-eyed country boy, and he was clearly not a bad guy with green faces and fangs."
At that time, the animals in fairy tales also had their origins. Little white rabbits, little goats, and big roosters are "good people", big bad wolves, foxes and mice are "bad people", and monkeys, cats and pigs are "intermediate characters".
In 1982, Zheng Yuanjie wanted to rehabilitate the "bad guys" in these fairy tales and write a story of a "good mouse". The good mouse is called Shuk, zheng yuanjie, who has been the ground staff of the air force for 5 years, and assigned him a plane.
Shuker was born into a family of rats who "everyone shouts and beats", but he is not willing to be a thief. He pulled out his beard in pain, put toothpaste on his face, wrapped his tail around his waist, flew the plane, and became a hero. He would rather die than keep his "reputation": "As long as people don't recognize him as a rat, they will be friendly to him." But once people know that he is a mouse, they will definitely ignore him. ”
An old editor saw this article "The Little Mouse Who Drove the Helicopter" and his eyes were moist. His father was a landlord and, like Shuk, suffered from a bad birth.
After Shuk, Zheng Yuanjie wrote a good rat beta. Beta has no home and has been tortured by the great white cat Miri since birth. He plucks up the courage to get into the tank and defeat Mili, but when the other side is besieged by wildcats, he lends a helping hand; he makes a big fuss and makes Mili shine in front of her master, but can only hide under the dark bed and watch all this. "He also wants to be as popular as Mili, and Beta understands that it's a dream."
Later, Shuk and Beta go on an adventure and encounter pipilu, the human. With Pipilu's help, Shukbeta sets up an airline to fight the pirates in the air...
In 1989, the Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio produced the animated film "Shuk and Beta", which swept the country after it was broadcast. The Adventures of Shuk and Beta features 350 episodes in which two little mice pilot a five-pointed flying saucer, migrate to Gemini, once become humanoid, modify their genes, and become mice back.
In 1989, the cartoon "Shuk and Beta" was broadcast and swept the country.
"I'm really tired, I think it's silly to live like that." Shuker sighed. They flew to Mount Wutai and settled in the rat hole in the temple. The cave was destitute, and only Shuck typed a picture on his computer: There was nothing in the original, where to stir up dust.
"Shuker and Beta feel like they're the richest beings on earth."
This was the last episode of The Adventures of Shuk and Beta, published in Fairy Tale Kings, No. 7, 1996. Many people did not catch up with the ending, and waved goodbye to childhood.
"A generation can go after reading it"
On May 10, 1985, "Fairy Tale King" was launched, just over a month before Zheng Yuanjie's "Thirty and Standing". He saw the American writer Stephen King in the magazine, who did not take the royalties of the manuscript fee, and decided to do the same - 6% for circulation below 200,000, and 15% for more than 1 million.
The following year, "Fairy Tale King" sold more than 1 million. Speaking of this matter, Zheng Yuanjie was very proud, he said that his father was from Shanxi and his mother was from Zhejiang, and he was a combination of "ticket number" and "Qianzhuang".
The 1st of every month is the delivery day, in order not to be disturbed, Zheng Yuanjie made a "dark room" at home, from the outside is a mirror, he sits inside, you can see the outside, as soon as there is a visitor, the family said that he was not there. Later, he simply adjusted his schedule, went to bed at 8:30 p.m., got up at 4:30 a.m., and wrote until 6:30 a.m. When writing, he listens to songs, "Yan Weiwen or symphony is the most emotional."
The end of "The Adventures of Shuk and Beta" also opened a turning point in Zheng Yuanjie's creation. Starting from "Pentium Money Detector", "Germ Concentration Camp", "Biochemical Nanny", "White Guest", "Wisdom Teeth" and so on have appeared one after another, and the content of "Fairy Tale King" has gradually become adult.
"Since the children like to read my books, why don't you beat the rabbits in the grass and write them interesting stories, and popularize a little physiological knowledge that mom and dad don't talk about?" Therefore, Zheng Yuanjie let Pippi Lu dream and Lu Xixi came to menstruate. Some parents expressed dissatisfaction and reflected it to CCTV. "Today's Sayings" criticized by name, calling Zheng Yuanjie's fairy tale "inappropriate for children".
In 2002, Zheng Yuanjie announced that "Fairy Tale King" would only publish old works, 13 unpublished novels, and republished 100 years after his death. After four or five years of persistence, he did not hold back and began to update again. He calculated that even if he only published the old works, he could maintain it for 9 years without repeating, and "a generation can go after watching it."
When "Fairy Tale King" was founded 20 years ago, Zheng Yuanjie inscribed on the title page of the commemorative book: "Personality makes it happen." He said that he did not have a good personality, "not open-minded, and his eyes will be rewarded", but if he did not, he would not have written a magazine for 36 years alone.
Over the years, he has struggled with infringers. Calling on readers to report, he swept along the street, and visited the pirate printing factory with his assistant late at night. Because of the trademark lawsuit, he was familiar with the full text of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, wrote his own complaint, issued a statement in court, took off the draft, and after 50 minutes of speech, the judge was also fascinated, asked him, is there anything else?
Zheng Yuanjie was interviewed after a trial.
The public opinion war with the "zombie children's book" has been repeatedly launched. He refused to be on the "Children's Book Writers List", and he was disdained by various unspoken rules and catty operations: some writers took away the books bought by students and let the staff sign them at the hotel; what is more, they wrapped their healthy fingers in gauze and told the children that their hands were injured and could only be stamped.
"Zheng Yuanjie Universe"
There are many people whose lives have been changed by "Fairy Tale King".
In the 1980s, Peng Yangwei, a young boy in Youxian County, Hunan Province, watched "The Adventures of Shuk and Beta" and had the dream of "flying like Shuk". In 2010, Peng Yangwei carried out the first passenger flight mission in his life. A year later, he found a man named "zhengyuanjie" in the passenger list, opened the hatch with questions, and Zheng Yuanjie sat in the first row.
Also in the 1980s, Deng Jianpeng, from the countryside of Jiangxi, collected waste products to save money, walked half an hour of mountain roads every month, and went to the county town to buy "Fairy Tale King". Later, he left the mountain village and went into the city, where he went all the way to his doctorate and became a professor of law. On the title page of the textbook "History of the Chinese Legal System", Deng Jianpeng wrote: "I would like to dedicate this book to Zheng Yuanjie, whose fairy tales brought rare joy to my childhood. ”
Since 2015, every day when she woke up, Zheng Yuanjie of "8G Surfing" first greeted all netizens on Weibo, and then selected some questions to reply to. His Weibo has become a "tree hole" for young people to pour out their hearts: some people say that they don't want to get married, he says "this is the right given to you by the civil code"; some people want to get rid of single children as soon as possible, he said that "it is better to die than to live in the same bed and dream, it is better to be alone and defeated."
Because it is too active, some netizens left a message: "Is this you?" "I said please, who but myself can answer so many golden sentences?"
Zheng Yuanjie always maintains close communication with young readers.
"What's the difference between today's young people and the young readers of the past?"
"It's all the same. Hate writing homework, parents do not let early love, teachers are difficult to talk, except for Walkman replaced by mobile phones. Times have changed, what has changed is a prop, feelings, mentality, troubles, confusion are the same. Zheng Yuanjie said.
In 1984, Zheng Yuanjie wrote "The Taming of the Rabbit": In school, obedient children will turn into rabbits and receive school recognition. In the face of the "all rabbit class" that continues to emerge throughout the grade, Pipilu, who maintains his nature, becomes the "eye nail" of his teachers and classmates, and finally succumbs to reality and wears a rabbit mask that symbolizes obedience. At the end of the story, Zheng Yuanjie wrote: "Pipilu hopes to take off the rabbit clothes one day, and he is afraid to wear it from the bone marrow for a lifetime." ”
In 2018, the short film "Taming of the Rabbit" based on this was broadcast. At the end of the film, the physically and mentally exhausted Pippiru meets the elderly giant panda played by Zheng Yuanjie. The giant panda touched Pippiru's rabbit head: "Child, it doesn't matter, it's just a fairy tale." ”
"I don't actually agree with that." Zheng Yuanjie said, "How is this a fairy tale? This is a reality that fairy tales dare not say. ”
In the short film "Taming of the Rabbit", Zheng Yuanjie guest starred as the elderly giant panda. (Video screenshot)
Going around, we still haven't left the "Zheng Yuanjie Universe".
In 2020, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, "maintaining a distance of one meter" and "reducing gathering", various prevention and control requirements spoke to the heart of Zheng Yuanjie, who was afraid of the community since childhood. Since then, he has gotten up at 2:30 p.m. every day and went to bed at 6:30 p.m., extending the time spent alone in the morning from 2 hours to 4 hours.
On the day of the telephone interview, the time reached 6 p.m., and Zheng Yuanjie said "good night" on the other end of the phone on time.
Early the next morning, he would be active on Weibo again. The road is long, and there are 672 infringing trademarks waiting for him.
In "Rejuvenation Pills", Zheng Yuanjie wrote about the scene when the great bad wolf Roark was on his eightieth birthday. By that time, Pipilu's hair was gray, Rusisi was faltering, Shuk had few teeth left, and his speech was leaking. At this time, Beta took out a small bottle, and one of them sent a rejuvenation pill, which instantly changed from eighty to eighteen. As they became younger, they couldn't even talk about words, and they ran away with their legs, "Seize the time and live again."
For many people, "Fairy Tale King" is their "rejuvenation pill", although it has ended, but the song has not dispersed.