After my rebirth, I became the son-in-law of the Provincial Party Committee Secretary

Xue Chuqing's eyes flickered. She could see that Zhou Yi was emphasizing that Wen Mosheng was not simply "morally flawed" and his works were not "great" either, in order to refute the fallacy that "the author's moral flaws do not affect the greatness of the work."

Gu Qitan, on the other hand, proved the excellence of Wen Mosheng's works and argued the opposite way forward by saying that works have nothing to do with character, and that it is unreasonable to ban Wen Mosheng's works!

Although Zhou Yi's logic is clear and precise, Gu Qitan's performance is also by no means ambiguous!

"Gu Qitan, be careful with your words!" Zhuo Cheng couldn't help but remind him.

"The truth will not be clear without argument. This is just a discussion. We should give young people a chance to speak!" Zheng Hua still looked like a smiling and kind elder. It was impossible to tell whether he was supporting Gu Qitan or being impartial and sticking to the facts.

It’s really no big deal!

Everyone has the right to express their own opinions. It's freedom of speech. We should listen to whoever is right.

The Standing Committee talks about democracy, let alone a symposium!

"The decision on how to deal with someone's work was made by the relevant departments of Jiangnan Province. You or anyone who has any opinions can report them to the relevant departments, but you are talking to the wrong person when you tell me this," Zhou Yi said in a cold tone.

Gu Qitan felt a little uncomfortable with the criticism and frowned, saying, "I am not reporting the problem to you. I am just explaining that My Hometown is a rare and excellent work."

Zhou Yi shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I really can't agree with your evaluation of this book, because it doesn't align with my values!"

Gu Qitan was stunned for a moment. Are your three views different? Then he immediately retorted: "Excuse me, your three views cannot be used as an objective basis to measure whether a work is excellent, so your disagreement cannot represent the opinions of the vast majority of people!"

Zhou Yi smiled and asked, "So, can your evaluation represent the opinions of the vast majority of people?"

Gu Qitan replied without changing his expression: "That's why we have to discuss and reason and distinguish right from wrong. Isn't this the significance of holding a symposium?"

Beautiful retort!

Xue Chuqing's eyes lit up, and she felt that this plain-looking middle-aged man was very eloquent and charming.

I am ashamed to say that I haven’t read his famous work “Everyone is Drunk” carefully yet!

Well said! The representatives present nodded secretly, not only because they were on the same level, but also because they admired Gu Qitan's dignified and reasonable answer.

Yao Caizhi and Dong Qing smiled bitterly. Actually, there was nothing wrong with Gu Qitan's remarks, except that they were a little politically incorrect. So they were worried about what to do if Zhou Yi got embarrassed and angry.

But it would not be appropriate to forcibly interrupt Gu Qitan's speech. There are many respected people among the representatives here. Zheng Hua has just clearly expressed his support for Gu Qitan. If a backlash is aroused, the result will not be good!

Zhou Yi didn't want to discuss it, because he didn't want to waste his breath on things that were not related to his work, but there was a mysterious force in the world that always arranged for him to encounter such a plot, forcing him to respond.

"Talk about reason and distinguish right from wrong? Okay, then let's talk about reason in detail and distinguish right from wrong!"

Zhou Yi didn't have a trace of annoyance on his face. Instead, he nodded and said seriously, "I don't like Wen Mosheng's works, not because he uses a gray style to describe the heavy sufferings experienced in that era. Before reading his works, I read excellent works such as "Bitterness" by Teacher Dong Qing, "Struggle" by Teacher Pingfan, and "My Father's Life" by Teacher Zheng Hua. These works made me deeply understand the sufferings and sins that people of that era, including my parents, went through. It also allows us to more realistically understand the backwardness, ignorance and sadness of that era."

"In my opinion, the works of the three teachers are well-deserved outstanding works of contemporary literature!"

Hearing this, all the writers present couldn't help but look serious, and looked at Zhou Yi with a little more attention.

Apart from anything else, just by seeing that he could accurately name several works and his impressions of the works, they could judge that Secretary Zhou was also a cultured person!

Dong Qing, Pingfan and Zheng Hua were particularly surprised. They had never thought that Zhou Yi had read their works.

At the same time, I couldn't help feeling a little proud, thinking to myself, Xiao Zhou, you have good taste!

Xue Chuqing frowned slightly. She could feel that Zhou Yi said these words not to show off his talent or to flatter his grandmother and others, but to pave the way for his next remarks.

"Both are works about that era, so why do I only deny the value of Wen Mosheng's works? There is only one reason, that is, his motivation and purpose for writing are different from those of other teachers!"

"In his works, there is only despair, no hope; only ugliness, no beauty; only darkness, no light!"

"He used almost all the negative words for his own hometown, but he was generous in praising other countries."

"He has won numerous honors by exposing the social injustice and the dark side of human nature in his hometown, but he said that his awards have nothing to do with his hometown and are all his personal achievements."

"In his logic, so-called literature and art is to expose the darkness of one's own country and the darkness of human nature in one's own country, and only such works can 'truly' reflect the real life of every Chinese."

Sure enough, Zhou Yi's next series of words completely destroyed Wen Mosheng and made him nothing.

At the same time, it also makes some people's eyes flicker and feel uneasy.

Gu Qitan was about to open his mouth to refute, but Zhou Yi did not give him a chance and continued, "There is no need to deny that there are indeed all kinds of dark and unfair phenomena in society. I have discussed this issue with Comrade Xue Chuqing before. I said that the human nature shown in some of the cases I personally investigated is ten times darker and uglier than what you imagine and indirectly collect."

"But can you deny all of humanity because of a few individual cases? Similarly, can you deny the entire country and society because of every negative news event? Ask yourself, is our social environment getting better or worse?"

"I have always agreed with what a senior writer said - literature and art are never tools for singing praises or whitewashing the truth, but similarly, they are not a ladder for some people to curry favor with foreign countries and deny themselves to gain fame and fortune."

These are Zhou Yi's heartfelt words. In his previous life, he suffered setbacks and was depressed, but he was still able to look objectively at the people and things he had experienced.

This society is certainly not as perfect as described in the news broadcast, but if you insist on thinking that it is either black or white, that there is darkness everywhere and injustice everywhere, then you are either stupid or evil!