Chapter 8 h

The writer walked lightly into the children's room on the second floor.The night is getting late, and the calendar has turned a new page.There are two beds in the small space of six stacks, and the two sons are lying face to face, showing similar sleeping faces.They all kicked back the covers and struck acrobatic poses.The closed eyelids, the long eyelashes, the slightly parted lips, everything shows the defenselessness of this society.The writer felt that he could not bear such trust from them, and he felt guilty as if his heart had been twisted. He closed the door quietly and retreated into the hallway.Back in his room, he looked at the manuscript.Suggested revisions written in red letters floated from the paper, leaping out of thin air.

He recalled the movies he had seen before. It was a film by a German director set during the Vietnam War, and it told the story of a captured U.S. air force planning an escape.The airman was taken somewhere by the enemy and asked to sign a document saying "My country is wrong", but he flatly refused and was tortured as a result. Movies are interesting.Although I watched it twice in the cinema, the part that impressed me the most was the promotional video and extras I watched on TV later.In line with the scene where the protagonist refuses to sign, the director's voice can be heard: "Here, he was asked to sign a document that betrayed the motherland. The enemy said 'everyone else signed', but he insisted on his belief."

Yes indeed!When seeing this, the writer thought that at this moment, the soldier was tested his faith. "Hey, is it okay?" The wife entered the room.Walked into the room while knocking on the door, so knocking was just a formality, but he wasn't angry.In fact, in nearly twenty years of life, he has noticed that his wife's carelessness has saved him who is both timid and nervous many times.The wife handed over the special steamed buns that the neighbor's wife had brought back from a trip, and said, "You seem more worried than usual." The writer began to worry about whether to express his uneasiness.He wanted to tell his wife about the mysterious pressure brought on him by the mysterious revision of the mysterious man, and hoped that his wife would laugh it off.

"The cheating is about to be discovered." The writer prevaricated deliberately with a serious face.In fact, he did have a history of cheating, so this sentence is almost a half-joking confession. The wife smiled nonchalantly. "Then don't worry. I cheated on you too, so it's even." She left after saying this. Facing the printed manuscript, the writer looked at the large number of revision comments annotated, and although he wanted to study it carefully, he quickly sighed. "Did you tell me when we met today?" Hearing his wife's voice, he raised his face.are you back?The writer was thinking in a trance, talking about the topic he heard in the hotel, using the analogy of ants praising freedom and children hindering them.

"The story of ants and children or something, I don't understand what it means at all." "Ah, this stuffing is really delicious." The wife said with steamed buns in her mouth, and then replied as if nothing had happened, "No, I think it's understandable." The writer was taken aback. "Understand?" "Doesn't it mean that there is an inviolable torrent in this world?" The writer didn't understand what his wife meant, but suddenly looked around to see where the torrent was. "This world is like an incredible river, connecting all kinds of things, won't it flood when it reaches a certain level? For example, what was taught in that school, do you know the fuse of the First World War?"

Why are you bringing up something that happened almost a hundred years ago?The writer, though surprised, replied: "The Austrian crown prince and his wife were murdered by a young man in Serbia. Taught in school history classes." "When I learned this, I was terrified that such a murder would be linked to the World War." "me too." "And then, I read a book in your room earlier." The wife began to walk around the room, and then pulled AJP Taylor's "Why the War Started" from the shelf inside.The wife flipped through the book and said: "Well, it is said that when the Austrian crown prince and his wife visited Serbia, many people opposed it because they were dissatisfied with being annexed by Austria. The rebel group caused the incident. In fact, five people failed to assassinate that day. "

"There are five more?" "The first and second failed to draw a gun; the third felt sorry for the crown prince's wife; the fourth ran away; the fifth failed despite throwing a bomb. Then, the sixth heard Frustrated after the first five failed, they walked into a cafe." "It's like the story of the three little pigs. The first little pig built a thatched house, and the second little pig built a wooden house." "On the other hand, the crown prince, pissed off by the riots caused by the bomb blast, said 'I don't want to be here anymore' and was leaving."

"If I were him, I would do the same, run away." "As a result, in this way, the lost sixth man who got into the cafe just now found the escaped crown prince." "Should it be a coincidence, or what?" "It's amazing, isn't it? Because of the confluence of various coincidences, the crown prince and his wife were assassinated and died, and the world was involved in war." "I feel like if the first piggy is successful, war will happen." "Although this is the case, I feel that there is a huge force that transcends personal power and promotes the development of things."

"Did you mean fate or something?" "It's something more chaotic than fate. The 'cause and effect' that happened in this world are actually inexplicable. It's just a mere murder, but it has something to do with the world war that killed 10 million people. relation." This is when the writer remembered that World War I was the main cause of the spread of the Spanish flu.Such a development, that is to say, the assassination of the crown prince was even related to the spread of Spanish flu.Let's go on, it was the young man's sudden desire to go to the cafe on a whim because of his depression, which affected the lives of countless people.

"I don't think it's good, but maybe it's this kind of connection that drives the world. The repeated accumulation of small changes drives the world to change in completely unexpected ways. Different people receive different orders in different situations. " "You can say such difficult things as a matter of course." The writer found that his wife was not the same as usual, and he finally realized that his wife at this time was very strange. "However, isn't it easy to think so?" His wife narrowed her eyes calmly, "People will face tests in certain aspects at a certain point, and what you are facing is a kind of situation that you can't help but think about breaking your head. Huge strength, isn’t it easy to think so? Among the dominoes placed, even if one piece wants to resist, it will still fall when it should fall.”

"So, what should I do? If there is a huge force trying to push us, is my will and decision still meaningful?" "It's very simple. No matter what you do, it won't have much impact." "so?" "So it's good to choose something that makes the kids proud." "Is that so?" the writer asked back, only to find that his wife was gone. The door is closed.The room was silent.Until he said something like "cheating", the wife was still real, and after that, it was the phantom conversation between himself and his wife.After realizing this, the writer couldn't help but blush. The writer holds Taylor's book in his hands.Thinking about it, it is impossible for a wife who is not good at reading typefaces to read the books in her room. He read the revision comments on the table.After only a cursory glance in the hotel lounge, he failed to understand what these revision suggestions were based on. Now that he read it carefully again, he found that after the revision, the original color of the work was completely changed. He picked up the receiver and called the editor in charge. The other party answered the phone immediately. "About the revision of the manuscript, I just re-read it." "Please wait a moment." After the editor in charge said something, he immediately heard another voice saying "what's the matter", it was the man in the suit that he had seen in the lounge.Why is he still by the editor's side?The writer was surprised that the man never left the editor, and they couldn't possibly be lovers.He hesitated for a moment, but he still got down to business—he didn’t object to revisions, but such revisions would make the content of the novel shallow—he conveyed it this way. "Shallow, what do you mean?" "The dark parts of the story are missing, and the whole thing becomes flashy." "Isn't it good to be flashy?" The man retorted coldly. "I'm afraid my readers will be disappointed." "Is that so? I don't think there is a problem. It should be better than before." "It's hard for me to agree." "This matter that is difficult to agree with will eventually get your approval." The man asserted, "because something big will happen." At this moment, the matter of the First World War once again passed through the writer's mind.The five little pigs all failed, and finally the sixth little pig killed the crown prince and his wife, and the result was the outbreak of World War.But thinking the other way around is also possible.Isn't it because the five little pigs failed to follow the instructions that "big things" happened?The First World War was enough to call it a "big event." The phone has been hung up unconsciously. The manuscript was spread out on the desk in front of him, and the writer stared at it without moving. "He stuck to what he believed in." The narration spoken by the director of that war movie flashed in his mind again. Not only yourself, but everyone's principles and beliefs will suddenly be tested one day?Isn't there a time when you are tempted and threatened?Aren't the frequent unrequited love and dereliction of duty in the world the most concise and easy-to-understand manifestation of similar tests? Facing trials distorts one's beliefs. Giving up on someone, compromising, getting frustrated, every time there is dross settling down.The writer imagined such a scene.The belief that was abandoned by someone turned into a terrible crow feather and floated to the ground.There are more and more black feathers, as if someone turned the light switch, and the bright future is gradually surrounded by dark shadows. In addition, he also envisioned the opposite situation. One man, in order not to distort his own beliefs, has brought disaster upon many for the sake of personal obstinacy and self-satisfaction.Wouldn't there be such a thing? In the morning, the writer goes to the dinner table and the family is all up. At the dinner table, the writer talked about the private flying car that might appear in the future to the sleepy children.The children's eyes sparkled.Seeing the children seriously discussing whether the windshield wipers would still work after the flying car flew into the clouds, the writer squinted his eyes.