Su Yu spent a full hour sharing the creative process behind these poems, and then, finally, the highlight of this public lecture arrived—the Q&A session.
Following the order of registration, participants began to display their works one by one.
These works varied in style, with both ancient poems and prose full of charm, as well as modern poems brimming with contemporary flair.
The works displayed at this exchange meeting were naturally carefully selected; none were mere imposters, as they had all undergone multiple strict reviews by Yan University's administration.
In fact, Yan University organized this literary exchange event largely hoping to leverage Su Yu's personal influence to help more people understand and appreciate excellent works in the current literary world, with the greater significance being promotion and publicity.
Therefore, the dramatic scene of someone tactlessly trying to challenge Su Yu and step on him to rise, with Su Yu composing a poem on the spot to put them in their place, did not occur.
However, towards the end of the exchange meeting, the teachers and students of the Yan University Literature Department still made their request, hoping that Su Yu could improvise a poem on the spot to bring a perfect close to this public lecture.
They especially hoped that Su Yu could show his skills in the field of modern poetry, as there has always been a competitive relationship between modern poetry and classical poetry.
Because Su Yu's classical poetry works have frequently emerged and shone brightly in recent years, modern poetry has found it difficult to gain prominence for a long time.
They naturally hoped that Su Yu would not favor one over the other but could also demonstrate outstanding talent in modern poetry.
As for thinking that Su Yu cannot write modern poetry? Or that this would be Su Yu's weakness? Absolutely no one would think that way.
In fact, Su Yu had already considered this possibility when preparing for the lecture and had carefully prepared three modern poems.
One was "Dead Water," whose profound meaning and critical spirit were self-evident, but it was clearly not suitable for the current occasion; another was "To the Oak," which, with love as its theme, also did not quite fit the atmosphere at this time.
So, only the last one, "Facing the Sea, With Spring Blossoms," remained.
This modern poem, selected for textbooks, was perfectly suited to the current scene in terms of both its depth of thought and its beautiful implications, practically tailor-made for this public lecture.
"I did prepare a modern poem that I want to present to all the teachers and students present!"
Su Yu responded with a slight smile, his voice steady and powerful, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
However, just as Su Yu was about to pick up a piece of chalk and write the poem on the blackboard, the dean of the Yan University Literature Department, with a smiling face, walked onto the stage with several students.
The students held brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, clearly hoping that Su Yu would leave his calligraphy.
"Teacher Su, would you mind writing this poem down and leaving it with our Yan University Literature Department? Everyone has been looking forward to it for a long time."
The dean said with a beaming smile, and that address, "Teacher Su," gave Su Yu goosebumps all over.
But since they had already presented the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, how could he refuse in public?
Thus, under everyone's eager gaze, Su Yu picked up a calligraphy brush, dipped it in thick ink, and with powerful regular script, slowly wrote "Facing the Sea, With Spring Blossoms" on the Xuan paper.
"From tomorrow on, be a happy person.
Feed horses, chop wood, travel the world.
From tomorrow on, care about grain and vegetables.
I have a house, facing the sea, with spring blossoms.
From tomorrow on, correspond with every loved one, tell them of my happiness.
The lightning of happiness tells me, I will tell everyone.
Give every river, every mountain a warm name.
Stranger, I also wish you well.
May you have a brilliant future.
May you find your true love.
May you find happiness in this mundane world.
I only wish to face the sea, with spring blossoms."
When Su Yu put down his last stroke, the scene instantly fell into silence.
Everyone was immersed in the beautiful artistic conception created by the poem, savoring its profound meaning.
Some scholars who had studied modern poetry for many years couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Indeed, Su Yu was not incapable of writing modern poetry; it was just that there had been no suitable opportunity before.
If they had rashly challenged Su Yu with modern poetry before, the outcome would have been obvious: they would have lost miserably.
"Oh no, the homeroom teacher has already made us memorize this modern poem! They said it might be on the final exam!"
"Holy crap, good thing I graduated, otherwise the sky would be falling again!"
"'Prelude to Water Melody' for the mid-term, this for the final, Su Shen is going to become a public enemy of students!"
"Isn't it better than having to memorize things you don't like? You don't know how good you have it!"
...
Dense bullet comments instantly surged like a tide, but the topic was a bit off-kilter.
However, those Chinese teachers who directly assigned homework were truly keeping up with the times, knowing how to leverage Su Yu's influence to ignite students' love for literature.
Su Yu's public lecture and the modern poem "Facing the Sea, With Spring Blossoms" undoubtedly went straight to the top of social media trending topics that day.
The long-dormant literary circle, this time riding on Su Yu's momentum, made a strong push and greatly boosted its presence, drawing more people to rediscover the charm of literature.
Just as the dean of the Yan University Literature Department carefully held Su Yu's "calligraphy," as if it were a rare treasure, preparing to have it meticulously framed, Su Yu, along with Jiang Hua and Jiang Yu, had quietly left the Yan University campus.
They did not go directly homecoming, nor did they go to Tianxing Entertainment, but were enthusiastically pulled by Jiang Hua to his own courtyard house.
Don't ask why; if you must ask, it was because the old man absolutely adored the modern poem Su Yu had just composed and was eagerly looking forward to discussing it thoroughly with his grandson-in-law.
Su Yu actually felt a bit embarrassed every time he came to the courtyard house, as each visit, the old man would treat him warmly and spend quite a bit.
Previously, many items, big and small, from the old man's collection had successively appeared in Su Yu's study.
Su Yu often felt that if he kept taking things, the old man's place would soon be emptied by him.
However, correspondingly, the paintings and calligraphy Su Yu left there also increased.
As Jiang Hua put it, it's hard to say who was truly at a disadvantage.
After all, the outside world's adoration for Su Yu's calligraphy and paintings had long exceeded Su Yu's own imagination.
This was largely because Su Yu's calligraphy and paintings mostly appeared online and on television, with almost no actual pieces circulating.
The few people who owned Su Yu's works naturally cherished them as treasures, unwilling to sell or give them away.
Like Jiang Hua, Han Jianhua, and Wang Tianfeng, which of them would be short on money?
Of course, many people had tried to use their connections to buy Su Yu's calligraphy and paintings, but so far, no one had succeeded.
This time, Li Fengshan of the Calligraphers Association also came to the courtyard house; he was one of the lucky few who owned Su Yu's calligraphy.
After all, the poem "Painting" was inscribed by Su Yu for his painting.
Li Fengshan's visit this time was, on one hand, because he was a regular guest at Jiang Hua's place, enjoying coming to see Jiang Hua's "collection" when idle; on the other hand, he indeed had serious matters to discuss with Su Yu.
