On the autumn night of 1985, the sound of wine bottles breaking on the floor was heard in an old house in Taiwan, and it was not long before the sound of books falling was heard.
The overwhelming number of newspapers came one after another in the streets of Taiwan, and they all reported the same news -
Gu Long, one of the four great masters of martial arts novels, died last night, and the only thing accompanying him was a copy of the Heavenly End Bright Moon Knife.
What is even stranger is that when people count Gu Long's inheritance after his death, they find that he has no savings, and his life seems to be as destitute as his empty room.
01 Native family
On June 7, 1938, Gu Long was born in Hong Kong to a very wealthy family, his father was the secretary of the mayor of Taipei at the time, and his mother was a well-known secondary school teacher.
Gu Long's childhood was very happy, living the life of a rich young master all day long, enjoying the unique conditions created for him by his parents.
It was just that this quiet life suddenly broke down one day in 1943.
On this day, it was Gu Long's 5th birthday, and at this time, everyone's face was full of happiness.
It was just that Gu Long and his mother waited at home for a day, and did not see the figure of his father returning.
Late at night, Gu Long's mother began to comfort her son to go to bed, and she was here alone to wait for her father to return.
At that time, Gu Long was very stubborn, insisting on sitting at the door and looking at it: "I am waiting here, and my father said that he would buy me a big cake." ”
Looking at her son's expectant look, Gu Long's mother turned her head and wiped her tears, she really couldn't bear to tell such a young child the truth of the matter.
Just now, while she was sorting out her husband's study, she came up with a letter, which was, to be precise, a letter from Qingqing and me.
Naturally, this love letter was not from her teacher's hand, but the affectionate words on it made her, the teacher who taught Chinese, ashamed of herself.
The signature of the letter is no stranger to her husband's other female colleague in the Secretariat.
If I remember correctly, she only turned 20 this year and had just returned from studying in the United States.
Who can resist having such a young and beautiful woman by her side? Not to mention that Gu Long's mother has always been facing the sky.
This eccentric mayor's secretary is probably tired of the "yellow-faced woman" at home.
The letter said that after the two made an appointment for this month's salary, they went away to find a place where no one knew them and started their lives.
It's just that Gu Long's father seems to have forgotten that June 7 is not just an ordinary payday, but also his son's birthday.
In this way, on the day of Gu Long's 5th birthday, his father, the mayor's secretary, evaporated overnight, and from this day on, only his mother was left in his memory.
I thought that my life was hard enough now, but I never expected that God had made a big joke to Gu Long.
In 1948, Gu Long, who was still in elementary school, suddenly received urgent news from his neighbors, saying that his mother was suddenly seriously ill and was about to die.
After listening to the neighbor's words, Gu Long rushed home, but he was still one step late.
Because the moment he stepped into the courtyard, his mother died.
Gu Long did not dare or accept that his mother was the only relative in this world, and now he had left himself in this way.
02 Abandoning school and following the literature
Perhaps it was because he did not have the love of his parents since he was a child, and the young Gu Long was very bad at school, and even a little lonely, which made his classmates not like to play with him.
However, Gu Long did not suffer from this, on the contrary, he spent most of his time on reading, but the books he read were not books for study, but novels.
Like all adolescent boys, Gu Long is very passionate about reading the works of the Immortals.
Slowly, Gu Long read more and more books, and more and more inspiration in his mind.
He even wanted to create a world of immortals that was only his own, so as to escape from this world without a little warmth.
For Gu Long, as long as it is literature, he is willing to try.
Since 1954, when he was in high school, he has successively submitted articles to major newspapers in Hong Kong.
As time passed, Gu Long had the idea of dropping out of school, and he was ready to dive into a writing job and then create with peace of mind.
Just when Gu Long was hesitating, a newspaper in Taiwan called Morning Light Magazine threw an olive branch at him.
In September of the same year, Gu Long went to Taiwan alone, and it was from this time that his creative path was truly opened.
On September 15, Gu Long began to devote himself to creation, and at the end of 1955, he created his first novel, "From the North to the South".
This novel is naturally not a martial arts novel, but a literary novel like its name.
What people did not expect was that from the first day of its serialization in Chenguang Magazine, this novel attracted the love and pursuit of many young people in Taiwan.
Gu Long also gained a foothold in Morninglight Magazine because of the novel's bestseller.
Just when Gu Long was in the morning light magazine, the appearance of a girl made his life begin to have a little wave, this girl is Gu Feng.
It is worth mentioning that in fact, the reason why "Gulong" became "Gulong" is because of her.
What's going on? It turned out that Gu Long's real name was Xiong Yaohua, and it was only after meeting Gu Feng that he began to use gu long's pen name.
Because he was moved at the first sight of this girl, Gu Long preferred to give up his original name just to make the identities of the two people as the names.
Gu Feng naturally understood his intentions, and it was also from this day that these two outstanding young people began a tacit love affair in the Morning Light Magazine newspaper.
In the slow contact, Gu Long learned that Gu Feng was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Taiwan, and most of the shops on this street belonged to their family.
Hearing this, Gu Long knew that he and this woman would not have a good result, because the difference between their wealth and status was too great.
Sure enough, in 1957, Gu Feng quit his job at the magazine according to the family's arrangement, and turned around and married a son who was the right door.
This incident hit Gu Long very hard, and he didn't expect that his first love would end so quickly.
However, Gu Long's pen name has not been erased because of Gu Feng's departure, perhaps this is also a special way for Xiong Yaohua to commemorate his first love.
03 Big ups and downs
I don't know if it was because I was hit by the love injury of my first love.
In the period after Gu Feng got married, Gu Long was always depressed, and he even quit his job at Morning Light Magazine and locked himself in a room alone for several months.
And it was this meditation that became another turning point in Gu Long's creative path.
Because in the months of Gulong's retreat, he poured out his inner incomprehension and grief, and created such popular works as "The History of Wulin Waishi" and "Absolute Double Glory".
It was also from this time that Gu Long officially changed from literary and artistic creation to martial arts creation, opened a happy life like the protagonist, and became one of the four heavenly kings of Taiwan.
As the number of works continued to increase, Gu Long seemed to have entered the world of the immortal created by his hands as if he were also in a rage.
He began to be like the hero in his work, making many friends with righteousness, and then he shuttled through the flower streets and willow lanes all day long, enjoying life freely, completely restarting his father's life.
But he forgot that this was reality, not the perfect world in fiction, and that everything he did had to pay a price.
In 1960, a dancer named Zheng Yuexia came to the door with Gu Long's son.
There is no way, Gu Long can only agree to be with her, however, the child can never hinder Gu Long's fun-seeking nature.
In 1961, he mixed with another beautiful young dancer.
History is always strikingly similar, and when the dancer was pregnant, he met the Qianjin Mei Baozhu of a wealthy merchant in Taiwan.
Perhaps because Mei Baozhu's age and life are very similar to Gu Feng's, Gu Long also spent the most emotion and energy on her.
The two married in love and gave birth to a son, Xiong Zhengda.
It was only with the passage of time that Gu Long's manuscript fees were basically squandered, and he began to want to recreate some new works.
However, now Gu Long seems to have no longer the idea of happiness and revenge that he had when he was young, and the protagonist in his works has begun to end in tragedy and desolation.
The storyline of this kind of novel is naturally no more popular than those previous works, so Gu Long's career is also declining day by day.
In April 1974, Gu Long began serializing the fourth part of the Xiao Li Flying Knife series in The China Times, called "Tianya Mingyue Dao".
I thought that this novel would be as popular as the first three, but I did not expect that it would be accepted by the press in June because of its novel style.
There was no way out, so Gu Long had to transfer to Hong Kong's "Wuxia Spring and Autumn" to continue serialization, and began to publish in January 1975.
This work has gone through several twists and turns, which has dealt a blow to the heart of Gu Long, whose career is declining.
After years of drinking, he finally contracted liver disease in the midst of excessive anxiety and left this world on September 21, 1985.
04 Children go to court
What Gu Long did not expect was that after his death, this novel had become the only work he retained the copyright in a vacuum, which was of great value.
When Gu Long's other two sons learned of this, they rushed to fight for the copyright of this "Heaven end Bright Moon Knife".
Speaking of the two sons before Gu Long, it can't help but be a little ironic.
Because they all took their mother's surname, and they didn't know each other, let alone met.
I didn't expect to be gathered together now because of this large inheritance left by my father, not so much that they are brothers, but rather that they are extremely red enemies, after all, in the face of money, no one wants to suffer losses.
Zheng Xiaolong, the son born to Gu Long and the first dancer Zheng Yuexia, naturally considered himself to be the first heir, after all, he was the eldest of the three brothers and should be the eldest son.
Hearing this, Ye Yikuan, born of Gu Long and the second dancer, couldn't sit still, and naturally wanted to share a piece of the pie in it.
Only the youngest son, Xiong Zhengda, did not say a word, because he was so young, only 9 years old this year, he did not even understand what death was.
Based on various reasons, Xiong Zhengda's mother Mei Baozhu shouldered the "heavy responsibility" of fighting for her son's property and took Gu Long's other two sons to court.
In court, Mei Baozhu refused to distribute the copyright to the "Heaven End Bright Moon Knife" to the other two on the grounds that she was Gu Long's current wife.
Not only that, Mei Baozhu is also a woman who speaks very harshly.
She said in court that Zheng Xiaolong and Ye Yikuan were not surnamed Xiong at all, and that they were two "illegitimate children" in the end.
Xiong Zhengda is different, he is the son of Gu Long Ming media who married himself later, so what face do they have to compete for this inheritance?
In the end, she also took Xiong Zhengda's age as her last chip, because this child is not yet an adult, and this book should be the custody left by Gu Long to his son.
Under Mei Baozhu's eloquence, the court finally left the copyright to Gu Long's younger son Xiong Zhengda as he wished.
I just don't know if Gu Long's sons have ever thought that this father who once spent so much money has left only this valuable relic.
This martial arts writer who has been flowing all his life grows old alone in his old age, which is probably the last irony of the world.
05 References
Gu Long, China Social Science Network[Cited on 2021-10-22]
"The Four Great Masters of New Martial Arts" China News Network [Cited on 2021-10-29]
The National Library of China [Cited on 2021-10-29]
"Celebrity Talks About Cologne Wong Kar-wai: He's a Talented Rogue" Tencent [Cited on 2022-01-11]
People's Daily [Cited on 2022-01-11]