The first time in a parallel world that a singer won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The first time the laureate's acceptance speech was actually a song.
The first time the Swedish Academy had to spend time verifying the author's identity.
The 2027 Nobel Prize in Literature was full of firsts.
SVT, the Swedish national television, was live-streaming, though not many people were actually watching. Leighton only caught a glimpse while using the bathroom in his hotel in Sweden.
The Hilton five-star hotels have tiny TV screens in the bathrooms…
That single glance froze Leighton in place for over ten seconds. He didn't even realize he'd peed a little before he snapped back to reality.
"Fuck—what kind of species is this Chinese guy?" Leighton muttered. He didn't even trust the SVT news and opened Google Chrome to check the official Nobel Prize website.
There wasn't a separate site for the Literature Prize. The main Nobel website, run by the Nobel Committee, had already updated the winner news.
[2027 Nobel Prize in Literature
Let poetry bloom in our world.
The 2027 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to Chu Zhi, a Chinese poet known by the pen name Huainan, "for works shaped by diverse languages, exploring the boundaries of human civilization."]
The official news was split into three parts: the date, the Swedish Academy's selection focus for the year, and an evaluation of the winner.
The second part clearly echoed Laparm's "barren poetry" argument.
Seeing that, Leighton hurriedly pulled up his pants, didn't even wash his hands, and rushed to share the news with his friend.
His friend was Horman.
For guys, there's an unspoken rule—you better hold the dick or you'll make a mess—so handwashing is usually essential.
Why was Leighton so frantic? Even he probably didn't realize it, but there was a fan-to-fan thrill of sharing news about their idol accomplishing something huge.
Horman wouldn't have been following the news either. He'd been on a global tour since September and was completely slammed.
Western stars usually only hit Asia once if their main tour is in Europe or America. A Chinese global tour would do the same—like one major stop in LA.
As Leighton expected, Horman had been busy since morning, hadn't even eaten lunch, and had invited seven friends from his band as guest performers. The Nobel Prize in Literature? Not his concern. He wasn't exactly a literature buff.
Leighton arrived at the venue and had this conversation with Horman:
"Got some shocking news, and even more shocking news. Which do you want first?"
"Hit me with the shocking one."
"Chinese poet Huainan just won the Nobel Prize in Literature."
"That's not shocking. It just proves the Swedish Academy finally paid attention to poetry. And besides Huainan, I can't think of anyone else who could win. So what's the even more shocking news? I want to be truly shocked."
"Huainan's real identity is the singer Chu Zhi—the same Chu Zhi we all know, who once won the Nobel Peace Prize."
"Fuck, are you joking?"
Horman's eyes were as wide as his glasses; "stunned" didn't even begin to cover it.
"A singer winning the Nobel Prize in Literature? That alone puts him leagues ahead of everyone else in history," Leighton said.
It wasn't just leagues ahead. The Peace Prize was already ridiculous. And now this? The absurdity was off the charts.
For the next fifty years, no one would surpass him. Horman thought of that narrow but incredibly broad back.
The news didn't need face-to-face sharing. The journalists on-site would spread it globally in under three minutes.
Reuters: [World Headline #Huainan's True Identity Revealed!]
AP: [From "Global Pop King" to "World's Greatest Poet"]
TASS: [Swedish Academy Confirms Huainan's Identity as Chu Zhi]
AFP: [Chu Zhi Shines in the Blue Hall]
Middle East News Agency: [Why He's the Most Unique Singer in the World]
Zhongtong News: [Nobel Laureate Chu Zhi's Acceptance: "Poetry that can be sung is a song; what can't be sung I'll publish through the press."]
A quick note: the last "Zhongtong" isn't the usual courier service, it's Hong Kong China News Agency.
The Middle East headline was slightly sloppy, probably because the agency's director was Little Fruits—too excited to stay calm. News agencies are usually precise; you have to make it clear who's being reported.
The Swedish royal family and Academy president Wilson left the Blue Hall, all still dazed.
"Mr. Wilson, giving the Nobel Prize to a celebrity won't make the award look bad, right?" King Carl XVI asked nervously.
Frankly, the prize was a huge tourist draw for Sweden—they couldn't afford any mishaps.
"We're not awarding a celebrity. The winner just happens to be a celebrity," Wilson replied. "The character in Mr. Cogito alone would cement his place in the poetry world, let alone his other works."
"This year's prize focused on poetry. Over fifty poets worldwide were eligible, but Huainan—Chu Zhi—and Rick Morty led the first three voting rounds. In the last five rounds, Chu Zhi crushed Rick Morty by a landslide," Wilson said.
Rick Morty, the famous Canadian playwright and poet, created the legendary "Canada Export" miracle in the late 20th century.
Back then, the US president wanted to raise tariffs on yew and corn. Canadian leaders panicked, but once they learned he was Rick's fan, Rick helped lobby successfully. The tariffs were canceled.
Even such a powerful poet still lost to Chu Zhi at the Swedish Academy—proof of how extraordinary the win was.
"So again, we're not awarding a celebrity; the winner is a poet, who happens to have a side career as a singer," Wilson said confidently.
King Carl XVI said, "I don't know much about poetry. Can a singer's poems really be that good?"
Wilson hesitated, searching for the right words. After a few seconds he said, "Chu Zhi's poetry collection is the best of the 21st century, bar none."
Being first in literature, or in any cultural field, is almost impossible unless you surpass two or three contemporaries by a huge margin. This statement made the king understand the value immediately.
"I'm old, and yet this winner appears," Carl XVI said. "He even won the Peace Prize. The world really belongs to the young."
Hearing that, Crown Princess Victoria felt something stir inside.
But no one noticed her reaction. Wilson nodded, thinking about the king's words.
Winning both the Nobel in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize—what a concept. For context, Winston Churchill, hailed by the BBC as Britain's greatest man and supposedly the English language's master, won the Literature Prize and was only nominated for the Peace Prize. Chu Zhi had already surpassed that.
And Churchill was a politician. Chu Zhi? Just a singer. The gap between the two careers is massive.
So yes, this shook the world as if the planet had stopped spinning.
"Holy shit!"
"What?"
"Why?"
"Can't comprehend?"
"Is this real?"
Questions came in Japanese, Chinese, English, French, German—everyone seeing the news had little question marks popping up in their heads. To save space, we'll pick a few highlights.
American netizens commented:
"When Chu sang Jesus Loves Me, everyone said his voice was blessed by God to deliver the angels' message. Now I think maybe God didn't bless him, but gave him part of His power."
"Agreed. Otherwise, how could one human achieve stunning success in both singing and poetry, even becoming a master in both? My God, he's not even thirty, only a third into his life."
"I disagree. Do you know Da Vinci? His main career was as a painter, yet he left countless works and even wrote Treatise on Painting to explain technique. He excelled in multiple fields. Descartes, Russell, Aristotle, all achieved incredible feats in different areas."
"Da Vinci is considered the ultimate Western polymath. But notice this—you're already comparing Descartes, Russell, Aristotle, and Da Vinci to a celebrity."
…
Previously, U.S. President Steele had tried to rope in Chu Zhi to help swing votes by sending his chief of staff, but needless to say, it was a total failure.
Chu Zhi's reason for refusing was simple: he couldn't interfere in another country's politics, in any form. It wasn't about Emperor Beast's moral high ground, he just knew that if he got involved in the U.S. election, even with a team of bodyguards from Zhongnanhai, nine lives wouldn't be enough to save him.
No way he'd risk his life for that.
The matter should've been over long ago, but seeing that Chu Zhi was actually Huainan, a cultural figure as well as an entertainment celebrity, Steele's mind started scheming again.
"Deporto, we need to offer Mr. Chu a price he can't refuse," Steele said.
Chief of staff Deporto nodded, fully aware it had to be an offer that was truly irresistible.
Fame can be scary, just like pigs fear getting fat. Emperor Beast had to tread carefully.
UK netizens discussing:
"After checking the Nobel website, over its hundred-year history, only five people have won two Nobel Prizes. Chu Zhi is the sixth, and the only one to win both the Nobel Literature Prize and the Nobel Peace Prize."
"Only six? I thought there'd be more."
"Google the first five: Curie, Pauling, Banting, Frederick, Sharpless. Except for Pauling, the other four were insurmountable giants in their fields."
"Pauling? What about him?"
"Even though I'm a fan of the Frozen Band, I have to admit, Chu Zhi is also an insurmountable giant in pop music."
Wait a minute.
The United Kingdom, formerly called the British Empire—or the 'empire on which the sun never sets'—fun fact, very few people know that phrase originally referred to Spain.
Back on topic, Huainan's smaller persona is more popular in the UK than in the U.S., while the bigger Chu Zhi persona is less popular there than in America.
This is naturally due to different national circumstances, nothing to debate further. In short, the UK just has a stronger poetry culture.
Famous British writer Uta Frankel, born into a wealthy Jewish-Czech family, was praised in his youth as "the only young person to whom the future of British literature can be entrusted." At twenty-eight, he started traveling the world, producing poetry, novels, biographies, and plays. His biographies and short stories brought him particular acclaim.
How accomplished was he? Even after immigrating to the UK, his former country, the Czech Republic, established the Uta Short Story Award in his honor. That award is one of the world's top three short story prizes, and he's still alive!
After hearing about Chu Zhi's feats, Frankel was eager to study this miraculous Chinese man: poet, pop king, peacemaker, angelic voice—each title alone could fill a book, and all together? What a life!
"If possible, I want to write a biographical novel about Chu Zhi," Frankel thought, boarding a plane to China.
If he actually starts writing, it'll also be a breakthrough for him, since he's long set a rule: he never writes about living people.
Living people can always do something to change others' opinions of them. That's Frankel's belief.
He's a longtime rival of famous literary critic Rapam—not a love-hate thing, but a true mortal enemy. They could actually come to blows.
Their feud began when Rapam wrote a biography to help a presidential candidate rise to power. Frankel considered that enough to disqualify Rapam from being a biographer.
Meanwhile, Chinese netizens had their own discussion:
"It's understandable. Think about how beautiful brother Jiu's lyrics are, and then think about how he reads every single day without fail. No wonder he won the Nobel Literature Prize… holy shit, I can't even keep going!"
"Brother Jiu's daily schedule used to be insane. Even on his busiest days, he'd carve out time to read. Now I'm wondering, two albums a year, plus various events, plus publishing a poetry book each year? Does time flow differently for him? I just can't comprehend it."
"Holy shit, I just bought Huainan's translation of Searching: 18th Century French Art. Our teacher recommended it. She studied at Lyon National School of Fine Arts, and she says Huainan is a phenomenal translator. Didn't know it was brother Jiu?!"
"Actually, from a linguistic standpoint, brother Jiu is an incredible polyglot. Not just a fan talking—All Nations, Vol. 1 alone used eight languages in the lyrics."
"Here's a ghost story: brother Jiu never went to university. He dropped out to become a trainee, so all his knowledge is self-taught."
"…"
In China, Chu Zhi's stronghold, hardcore fans tend to take their idol's achievements as their own.
Even Little Fruits, the most devoted fans, were stunned this time. They truly never expected their idol to have so many surprises.
"Look at your own Chinese skills, barely enough to pass a paper. Now look at your idol, a Nobel Literature Prize winner," Xiao Yue said to his daughter.
Xiao Qing was blown away and asked her father, "Dad, do you think this makes sense?"
"I think it makes perfect sense," Xiao Yue said calmly. "People were debating who Huainan really is. Three criteria came up: first, he must have extremely high cultural literacy and knowledge, otherwise he couldn't have written Mr. Cogito or the epic poetry In Harmony.
Second, he must have delicate and versatile thinking, otherwise eight poetry collections from different perspectives wouldn't exist.
Third, he must have deep knowledge of foreign languages, because Huainan's poetry collections are special, and he personally wrote many of the foreign language versions.
So overall, Chu Zhi fits perfectly," Xiao Yue said.
"Well said, I have nothing to argue," Xiao Qing admitted.
"Another striking example: Huainan released In Harmony…" Xiao Yue paused, "Have you read it?"
"Of course, that's the poetry collection facing the sea with spring flowers. I even shared a passage on my friend circle," Xiao Qing replied. "'Stranger, I wish you a bright future. I hope your true love finds you, I hope you find happiness in this world. I only wish to face the sea, with spring flowers blooming.'"
"Yes, only someone gentle can write such lines. Chu Zhi is unbelievably gentle," Xiao Yue said. "Do you know what he was doing when publishing this book?"
Xiao Qing thought, but she wasn't sure, mostly because she didn't know the release date of In Harmony.
"The release of In Harmony coincided with the August 2025 announcement of his world tour," Xiao Yue said.
Harmony—that's basically the global concert tour, right?
Finally, the fans in Japan went wild when they learned Chu Zhi and Huainan were the same person. Many danced in the streets, some even shouting and taking off their shirts, like fans at a soccer stadium losing their minds.
Chu Zhi's fans include both men and women.
When Ojima Matsushika heard the news, he nearly took off his pants to celebrate, but his wife Sasaki Kira stopped him. Don't ask why celebrating involves pants—he was just overwhelmed and his brain short-circuited.
Later that night, he went to karaoke, and the night's bill was on him!
Some fans were so excited that the owner of Monkey Lang Izakaya, whose wife had passed and whose life had been touched by Chu Zhi's songs, started offering discounts when he learned Chu Zhi had won the top literary award.
Other stores followed suit. Soon, hundreds of shops in Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama hung banners saying, "Celebrating Rong-san's Nobel Literature Prize!" Most were jumping on the trend, but it definitely boosted Chu Zhi's fame.
Outside the izakayas, Japanese chain bookstores reacted fastest. Normally selling books, CDs, AVs, and manga together, they began bundling Chu Zhi's CDs with his poetry books.
Under the banner: "Poetry and Song, Understanding Chu Zhi Better."
Sociologists in Japan called the social change "The Post-Chu Zhi Effect."
Because of his immense popularity, he easily influenced mass psychology, creating a huge real-world impact.
There's also a "Pre-Chu Zhi Effect" from several years ago, when Emperor Beast endorsed lipsticks and cosmetics in Japan, and anything he endorsed would become a hit.
Japanese culture, like the West, likes to make grand labels for everything—and then go overboard.
Huainan's editor, Ono Akio—nicknamed "King Nan" in Japan—rubbed his eyes repeatedly when he saw the news, doubting himself.
After confirming the source, Ono Akio drank water—then more water—then more, gulping down 2 liters before calming down.
"My two idols… are actually the same person?" he hiccuped, finally speaking after a long pause.
This pretty much sums up global fan reactions. Now, as for the main character:
He's living normally, future full of potential.
He sleeps under a blanket, eats with chopsticks, and his prospects are limitless.
His mood is calm too, because when Emperor Beast appeared on national news for the second time, it wasn't as thrilling as the first.
Right now, all he felt was annoyance.
"The follow-up stuff is such a pain," Chu Zhi sighed. Life wasn't easy.
After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, a huge stack of associations started inviting him. First came the writers' association, the poets' association, the translators' association, and the publishers' association, all asking him to join.
Well, if joining's joining, he thought, he could just agree and hang his name there.
The real headache came from the lecture invitations from top literature schools. Tsinghua, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Fudan, all the top Chinese universities sent invitations. A batch of prestigious foreign universities did too.
He could just say no to all of them, but part of him wanted to say yes. And saying yes would be a hassle.
Caught in that dilemma…
"No wonder they call it the Nobel curse. Who could handle this?" Chu Zhi thought.
The Nobel curse meant that once someone won the Nobel in Literature, they'd never be able to write a better work again.
The curse had a reason. First, the average winner's age was about fifty-eight, so their mental energy naturally declined afterward. Second, the flood of fame and fortune after winning would overwhelm anyone, which is exactly what Chu Zhi was feeling now.
Here's a little example to give those who haven't crossed over to this Earth a tiny jolt from a parallel world.
The "Chu Zhi (Huainan) Complete Works" published by Modu Publishing included:
The Collection of Birds
After Eternal Silence
I'm a Willful Child
The Great Enigma
In Harmony with Chu
Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night
Mr. Cogito
How the World Ends
Priced at 350 yuan for the set, or 48 yuan per volume.
Don't think that's expensive. If you do, it just means you haven't been to a physical bookstore in a long time. These days, any hardcover book costs forty or fifty yuan at least, and collector editions rarely go under sixty or seventy.
The Modu edition of this complete set was nicely printed, with comfortable paper and covers.
The timing was perfect. In just two weeks, 2.1 million copies were sold. That's insane, considering the current physical book market is sluggish, and selling twenty thousand copies already counts as a bestseller. No doubt, Chu Zhi would top this year's writers' income chart.
The explosive sales weren't just from fans. Plenty of casual onlookers bought copies too. Think about it: a singer you usually hear in loops suddenly wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wouldn't you want to see what they wrote?
Because of this, Chu Zhi's poetry collection sold eight million copies worldwide in just half a month.
"I sweep or you sweep?"
"All right, thanks."
Gu Duofu had grabbed a full set from Sisyphus Bookstore. Eight books were a bit heavy, but he ran home like the wind.
He'd never read poetry before, but now, to understand Chu Zhi better, he had to.
"Mommy, no wonder brother Jiu writes lyrics so well! A Nobel-level poet, how could his lyrics be bad?" Gu Duofu kept getting more amazed. The complex, layered collections were one thing, but The Collection of Birds, I'm a Willful Child, and In Harmony with Chu were just stunning, so romantic.
"From a poet's perspective, brother Jiu really held back," Gu Duofu thought, planning to write another review, exploring Chu Zhi as a legendary Chinese superstar from a different angle.
Abroad, people were thinking the same thing.
"Come to think of it, it actually makes sense. I've listened to Chu Zhi's albums. His songs feel so split, like if they weren't glued together, they'd fall apart next second. Huainan's poetry collections are like that too. Each volume is like a completely different mind."
Huainan's hardcore fan, America's household name, village salon member, and 2025 Nobel laureate in Literature—Roberts Hussein—
Went from disbelief to thinking it was inevitable.
"When I read Mr. Cogito, I felt this overwhelming sense of tragedy. I even thought, did Huainan go through something…"
Roberts checked the timeline. That period coincided with the White House assassination attempt. Almost dying, of course there'd be tragedy.
"Analyzing simply, Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night shows the poet's deep longing for deceased loved ones, The Great Enigma reflects a difficult youth."
Cross-referencing the materials with the texts, it matched perfectly. Chu Zhi was still young, so his "youth" was his teenage years. He lost both parents young, so the person he missed must've been his grandfather.
"The more depressed someone is, the more they notice the world's beauty. I'm a Willful Child and The Collection of Birds were born from that," Roberts wrote in the Chicago Post, titled About Huainan.
The title alone says little, but the subtitle nails it—Huainan is Chu Zhi. Something none of us expected, but if not him, then who?
Time flows like water. You can see it, you can touch it, but you can't hold it.
Chu Zhi's Chinese album The Four Classics went on sale on June 11, 2028. Southeast Asia's sales even surpassed the previous album, In Harmony with Chu, hitting nearly 20 million copies worldwide.
Most of the sales came from Asia, as Chinese classical culture still deeply influenced the region.
Japan and Vietnam reacted with the most enthusiasm. Japanese Sinologists said, "This is the perfect album showcasing Chinese classical elements. If I could produce something like this, it'd be the pride of my academic career."
Globally, more and more scholars started paying attention to Chu Zhi. A Nobel-winning poet and pop superstar, there was just so much to study, and the outside world's interest was huge.
The brand Mu Chi Re started selling through Asia, with offline stores in Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Doha, Jakarta, Kuwait City, and Mumbai. Online, it was mostly Amazon, Tmall, JD, Newegg, Best Buy, and Target.
Chu Zhi had supported this clothing brand for five or six years. Even the design director had changed three times. Now it finally stood on its own. He felt a little excited.
So not only did he endorse it, he shot five ads, over ten posters, and two audio pieces. Chu Zhi poured so much time and energy in. For other brands, anything less than forty million USD in a single year wouldn't even get close to this kind of treatment.