Chapter 121: The Three Musketeers

As the September sun began to wane, the annual soccer tournament at Shuangdun Middle School commenced once again. This time, Zhang Tan didn't bother organizing much, so the second-year Class Four, with only seventeen boys, simply failed to field a team. It wasn't out of fear of being crushed, but rather the sheer impossibility of rounding up enough players.

This was the tragedy of liberal arts classes; last year, the previous second-year liberal arts class had also sat out the competition.

Zhang Tan, however, was still a member of the school team, so he was recruited to referee a few matches—a way to participate, if nothing else. After several games, Class One of the second year snatched the championship.

By then, it was already October.

It was another bustling National Day holiday.

The news was flooded with reports about the "Golden Week," showcasing scenes of tourists across the country spending wildly, nearly bursting the seams of parks and shopping malls. After joining the WTO, the predicted disaster of being dumped with foreign goods never materialized; instead, inexpensive domestic products began to be exported in massive quantities.

Politically, following 9/11, the American empire shifted its focus to counter-terrorism, loosening its constraints on China. This allowed China to enjoy a period of relaxed development. President Bai, while in office, focused entirely on the economy, following the plans laid out in the Five-Year Plan to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

Now, everyone was working hard to make money. With their pockets bulging, they naturally increased their consumption, driving a new round of economic growth.

Zhang Tan suggested that his family go on a trip.

But his parents refused; the National Day holiday was also a peak time for the internet café, and they were busy from morning till night.

Since his parents wouldn't go, Zhang Tan decided to travel alone.

"Can you handle it by yourself? It's chaotic out there," Tan Mingxia said, worried.

"It's fine. It's not like I've never been out before."

"No, absolutely not."

Zhang Tan couldn't win against Tan Mingxia's concern; she was dead set against him traveling alone. Finally, they came up with a compromise: let his grandfather, Zhang Henong, take Zhang Tan and Zhang Yan on the trip. She figured that Zhang Henong had plenty of life experience, and Zhang Yan, being a girl, was more attentive.

With the three of them together, even a long trip would be safe. Besides, taking his grandfather along was a display of filial piety from a child and grandchild.

To this, Zhang Tan was speechless.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet, agree, and set off with his grandfather and sister.

Zhang Tan had originally set his sights on Mount Tai. His greatest regret in his previous life was never having climbed it. Mount Tai was the foremost of the Five Great Mountains, the place where ancient emperors performed the sacred *Feng* and *Shan* sacrifices. The poet Du Fu had written the timeless lines, "I shall climb to the very peak, and see all mountains looking small." During his school years, Zhang Tan had studied Feng Jicai’s essay "The Mountain Porter," which also described the sights of Mount Tai.

He had long yearned for it.

During a business trip once, Zhang Tan had visited Tai'an City at the foot of Mount Tai, but with limited travel funds, he could only admire it from afar.

So, this time, he truly wanted to climb it and experience the heroic feeling of seeing all mountains looking small. However, with his grandfather in tow, Mount Tai was no longer an option. His grandfather couldn't make the climb, and taking the tourist cable car would strip away the joy of the ascent. Not being able to climb it himself would truly lack any sense of accomplishment.

"How about I take the cable car with Grandpa, and you climb it yourself?" Zhang Yan suggested.

"Forget it. If Mom finds out we split up, who knows how she'll blame us. Let's just climb the Great Wall instead. 'He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man'—climbing the Great Wall is the same thing."

Climbing the Great Wall was suitable for both young and old, so it was settled.

Zhang Tan immediately asked Li Yan to help arrange a travel agency. The October Golden Week wasn't actually the best time for tourism, but it just happened to be when everyone was on holiday, making it crowded. Fortunately, when one is willing to spend money, one can enjoy the best services. The next day, they were on a plane to Beijing, where they enjoyed a wonderful meal of Quanjude roast duck.

Only then did they head toward the Badaling Great Wall to enjoy their excursion.

Rarely does one get to return to their youth; one must seize the day.

Standing under the blue sky and white clouds, atop the Great Wall stretching for ten thousand miles, gazing at the vast mountain ranges, Zhang Tan couldn't help but cup his hands around his mouth and let out a loud shout.

There is no greater triumph in life than this.

"One must enjoy life to the fullest: buy houses and cars, eat fine food, travel, drink the best wine, ride the wildest horses, and sleep in the most beautiful... beds."

...

While Zhang Tan was filled with such high spirits, the third volume of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* had already been published, with an initial print run of 500,000 copies. Given the popularity of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* during this period, selling 500,000 copies wouldn't be difficult. Moreover, only by saturating the market with the new books immediately could they effectively beat the pirates and capture more legitimate readers.

Likewise, along with the hot sales of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, many people came to know of a sixteen-year-old youth named Zhang Tan. He was the standard-bearer of mainland *wuxia*, a new generation grandmaster, a leader, a flag-bearer. Gradually, he began to leap out of the small circle of *wuxia* and expand his influence into mainstream media.

A sixteen-year-old bestselling author.

This title alone was enough to attract attention.

No longer needing the publisher to pull strings, reporters were already itching to interview Zhang Tan.

Even more anonymous busybodies had crowned Zhang Tan with the title of one of the "Three Swordsmen of Post-80s Literature." It is said that this title first circulated on the website "Rongshuxia." It started because a fan of the author Guo Han was frantically promoting their idol's new book, *The Edge of Sex and Pain*, and listed Guo Han alongside Han Jingming and Zhang Tan as the "Three Swordsmen."

All three were born in the 1980s and had started writing novels in high school, hence the moniker.

Han Jingming was undoubtedly the most famous of the three. With the high sales and high topicality of his novels like *Three Gates*, *Forty Degrees in the Heat*, and *Galloping Like a Youth*, his name echoed throughout the country. Zhang Tan, meanwhile, relied on his three *wuxia* novels to lead the mainland *wuxia* culture circle, though he kept a slightly lower profile.

As for Guo Han, he had once used the screen name "Sixth Sense" and published many articles on Rongshuxia, capturing a large number of followers who gave him the nickname "Little Six Guo." Last year, he won the first prize in the New Concept Composition Contest with his piece *If There Were No Moon*. This year, he struck while the iron was hot and published his personal essay collection, *The Edge of Sex and Pain*.

It had a total print run of 10,000 copies.

Yes, 10,000 copies, and he was crowned one of the "Three Swordsmen" and reported on by the media.

When Zhang Tan returned from his trip to Beijing, he heard this news.

The news was brought by a reporter from *Southern Weekly*. In view of the popularity of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*—not just in the mainland, but also in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian Chinese communities—*Southern Weekly* had specially dispatched a reporter for an exclusive interview.

When the reporter mentioned the "Three Swordsmen," Zhang Tan's first reaction was: "What the hell? Who came up with this 'Three Swordsmen' nonsense? It's dragging down my status!"

As an author who stood aloof from the world, writing of blades and shadows in the *jianghu*, he was being lumped together with authors of youth novels who played with decadence, bluffed about youth, and feigned sorrow.

So, Zhang, with a stiff face, said unhappily, "I'm sorry, I'm not one of the 'Three Swordsmen.' I'm just an author who likes writing *wuxia*. Let's not mention the 'Three Swordsmen' again; let's talk about something else."

The *Southern Weekly* reporter in front of him raised an eyebrow: "Why don't you like the title 'Three Swordsmen'?"

"First, I don't know Han Jingming or Guo Han. Second, I specialize in *wuxia*, and our attributes are different. Third, I don't like it, so I don't like it," Zhang Tan stated.

He had a wilder heart, pursuing a high-class, artistic flair. The romance of *wuxia* was transcendent; wielding a sword in the *jianghu* was about the true spirit of a hero, life and death, parting, and the great cause of the nation. Youth literature, with its melancholy, nostalgia, and baseless agonizing, was truly contrary to the style Zhang Tan envisioned.

In a word: Zhang Tan had his own reserved, low-key arrogance.