1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 360 "Another story, one without animals."

In the late Qing Dynasty, officials' salaries were so low that they could barely make ends meet.

But Fu Sanming's father, Fu Xinghuai, had a lot of money.

Fu Xinghuai is a very rational and cold-blooded person. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is blinded by greed and profit-driven.

He did not care about the life or death of the dynasty. During the various movements in the late Qing Dynasty, he amassed a large amount of wealth through various channels.

But Fu Sanming did not like his father's behavior and was even very disgusted by it, so he was not close to his father.

Others also said that Fu Sanming's personality was more like his mother, who was a Buddhist monk, and his brother Fu Sanli was more like his father Fu Xinghuai.

After the Wansheng Garden was built, Guangshan Temple was directly designated as a part of the Wansheng Garden. The Buddha statues were demolished, and iron fences were placed in front of the Buddha hall, with tigers and leopards placed inside.

Once, Fu Sanming and Fu Sanli took advantage of lax supervision and entered Guangshan Temple, trying to make friends with the famous Bengal tiger "Richard Parker". This move was discovered in time by the supervisor, who taught Fu Sanming a lesson with a bloody lesson on the spot:
"Animals think differently from humans, and forgetting this can kill you."

With the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, the political situation became turbulent, Wansheng Park was unable to make ends meet, and the national finances were under pressure. In order to help the court solve the problem, Fu Xinghuai photographed most of the animals in the park.

Not long after, Puyi abdicated. In order to find a new way out, Fu Sanming's father Fu Xinghuai decided to migrate his family and the animals to the United States across the ocean, start from scratch and seek a new life.

Before leaving, Fu Sanming's confidante Lan Xin came to say goodbye to him.

Unfortunately, Fu Sanming could no longer recall the scene of their farewell. He only remembered that Lan Xin tied a red knot around his wrist.

When the cargo ship went out to sea, Fu Sanming's mother worshipped monks and ate vegetarian food. Because of the issue of vegetarianism, Fu Xinghuai, who had always been strong, had an argument with the cook on the ship.

But this time, without his official status, he was humiliated by the fierce cook.

That night, Fu Sanming, who had trouble sleeping, saw his father Fu Xinghuai feeding sedatives to the animals.

Fu Xinghuai told Fu Sanming that this was to prevent the animals from getting seasick.

Unfortunately, that night, the ship Fu Sanming was on suddenly encountered a storm on the way.

In an instant, the ship sank.

In the chaos, Fu Sanming luckily climbed onto a lifeboat.

At the same time, a female gorilla also floated onto the lifeboat sitting on a banana.

After calming down, Fu Sanming realized that in addition to the female gorilla, there was also a hyena and a zebra with a broken leg in this small space with him.

The fantastic drifting journey begins here.

Fu Sanming was afraid of the hyena and tried to fight it, but he was unable to defeat it.

At night, the hungry hyenas bit the injured zebra to death fiercely and brutally.

The female gorilla was also killed in order to stop the hyena's atrocities.

Fu Sanming witnessed all this and felt extremely frightened and desperate, but he could only watch helplessly.

He knew that after the hyenas had dealt with the injured zebra and the female gorilla, he would be their next target.

So he took out his knife and decided to duel with the hyena. Just as he and the hyena were confronting each other, the famous "Richard Parker" suddenly appeared from under the half-covered canvas and bit the hyena to death.

At this moment, only Fu Sanming and Richard Parker were left on the lifeboat.

Faced with the ferocious tiger, Fu Sanming had to make a float with his life jacket and paddle, jump into the sea himself and keep a distance from Richard Parker.

Sometimes, Fu Sanming would take advantage of Richard Parker's laxity and go on board to get some emergency food and water.

Richard Parker also tried to attack Fu Sanming, but always failed.

In this way, Tiger on the boat and Fu Sanming on the raft were connected by a rope, drifting aimlessly in the endless ocean.

Fu Sanming knew very well that he had to find a way to coexist with Richard Parker in order to survive.

He began to use the limited resources on the lifeboat to build a simple shelter for himself and tried various methods to obtain food and fresh water. He also learned to fish and found ways to collect rainwater.

During the long drifting process, Fu Sanming experienced countless hardships and dangers.

He encountered a strong storm and was almost overturned in the sea; he also experienced the scorching sun, which made him extremely dehydrated.

But he never gave up hope of survival.

Fu Sanming and Richard Parker spent their days in mutual vigilance and dependence.

Sometimes, when Fu Sanming looked at the tiger's eyes, he would feel deep loneliness and fear.

But sometimes, he feels a sense of companionship because of the tiger's presence.

One man and one tiger, competing against each other and relying on each other, witnessed together the magnificent spectacles on the sea.

But a storm plundered Fu Sanming's supplies again.

Richard Parker was on the verge of death, and Fu Sanming also felt desperate.

The man and the tiger were unconscious for an unknown period of time. After waking up, they found themselves drifting to an island shaped like a woman.

The island was full of edible food. Fu Sanming, who was almost starving to death, ate the vines and rhizomes on the ground without hesitation, thus saving himself from death.

After filling his stomach, Fu Sanming wrapped the knot given to him by his girlfriend Lan Xin around the roots on the island.

Because of being soaked in sea water, the originally red knot has faded to white.

There were also many meerkats on the island. Richard Parker ate a few of them to satisfy his hunger, but the meerkats were not afraid of Richard Parker.

Fu Sanming originally wanted to rest temporarily on the island, but he soon discovered that this island was a cannibalistic island. Terrible changes would occur at night. Fresh water would turn into acid and digest living things. Fu Sanming even found a tooth in a lotus.

In order to survive, Fu Sanming loaded the boat with fresh water and edible roots and returned to the sea.

After drifting on the sea for an unknown period of time, Fu Sanming and Richard Parker finally arrived at the coast of Mexico.

The skinny Fu Sanming struggled to climb down from the lifeboat and was immediately carried away by several locals.

Richard Parker dived into the jungle and left Fu Sanming crying like a baby without even looking back at him.

"I cried, not because I was excited about my survival, although I was excited."

“It wasn’t because my brothers and sisters were right in front of me, although that was very touching to me as well.”

"I cried because Richard Parker left me so casually."

"I wish I had said to him -- yes, I know, to a tiger, but I'm going to say it anyway -- I wish I had said: Richard Parker, this is over. We survived. Can you believe it? I can't thank you enough. I couldn't have done this without you."

"Well, good-bye, Richard Parker. Good-bye."

"."

Nie Hualing raised his eyes from the manuscript paper and saw Jiang Xian curled up in the corner writing something, his eyes full of admiration.

She put the manuscript on the table, and the sound startled Jiang Xian who was writing.

Jiang Xian raised his head, eyes full of expectation, "Teacher Nie, have you finished reading it?"

Nie Hualing nodded, "I've finished reading it."

"how are you feeling?"

"good very good!"

Nie Hualing took a deep breath and expressed his love for the novel in a few short words, and then added: "Fantastic and magnificent, the flying fish in the sea, oh, so imaginative, you wrote about the passion of life fighting against nature.

Do you know "The Old Man and the Sea"? Americans regard Hemingway as the father of their spiritual civilization. I think your "Drifter" has a lot of his flavor.

No matter how difficult the situation is, as long as we hold on to hope and face it bravely, we will be able to find a way to survive and usher in the dawn of life.

A man can be destroyed but not defeated!"

Jiang Xian couldn't help laughing. He waved his hand and interrupted Nie Hualing's statement:

"Teacher Nie, you misunderstood." Hearing his words, a hint of doubt flashed across Nie Hualing's face.

"I misunderstood? What did I misunderstand?"

"The core idea of ​​my novel is a little different from what you think, and it doesn't extol the spirit of a tough guy like The Old Man and the Sea," Jiang Xian said with a smile.

".What?"

Nie Hualing frowned.

She spent so much time and read Jiang Xian's novel thoroughly.

As a result, at this point, Jiang Xian said that there was something wrong with her understanding.

"It's not your fault. After all, I haven't finished writing this novel yet."

"Not finished yet?"

Nie Hualing became even more confused.

In her opinion, the novel "The Drifter" should mainly tell the story of drifting.

After the drifting is over, the main part of the story has been told, and at most there are some endings to complete the content.

Just like "Robinson Crusoe", after being rescued, all that remains are some epilogues.

What else is there to write about?

"How much more do you have to write?" Nie Hualing asked puzzledly.

Jiang Xian thought for a moment, "I have planned to write this novel in three parts. In terms of geographical location, the first part is Beijing, the second part is the Pacific Ocean, and the third part is Mexico and the United States."

"What you are looking at is the end of the Pacific Ocean section, and there is about one-third left."

"Another third?"

Nie Hualing was incredulous for a moment, then lowered his head to take another look at the manuscript.

"Hasn't Fu Sanming been rescued? You haven't finished telling this story yet?"

Jiang Xian smiled and said, "No, I just finished writing a part when you were reading it just now. How about you continue reading it?"

"it is good."

Nie Hualing was already extremely curious, so she took another stack of manuscripts from Jiang Xian and spread them out on the table.

".
Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto of the Marine Transportation Division of the Japanese Ministry of Transport, now retired, was in Long Beach, California, on unrelated business, when they received word that the sole survivor of the Japanese ship 'Tsimchum', which had vanished without a trace in the Pacific Ocean several months earlier, had landed in a small town called Tomatan on the Mexican coast.

Corey instructs them to contact the survivors to see if they can learn the fate of the ship.

Mr. Okamoto found Mr. Fu Sanming and talked with him for nearly three hours. He recorded the conversation. The following is an excerpt of the verbatim transcript:
"

The third part is entirely recording and dialogue.

Mr. Okamoto felt confused after listening to Fu Sanming's story about the fantastic sea story.

The serious Japanese felt that Fu Sanming treated them as fools.

“This story doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.”

"A banana cannot keep a gorilla afloat."

"Carnivorous trees, algae that produce fresh water and feed on fish, and aquatic rodents that live in trees, all of these things simply don't exist when analyzed from every discipline: botany, zoology, oceanography."

"There can't be a wild tiger in America, otherwise the police outside would be going crazy."

"The key is."

"The Chinese history book 'Cixi and Guangxu's Passing of the Heaven' has detailed records that Empress Dowager Cixi was never frightened by tigers."

"There is no such thing as the famous tiger 'Richard Parker'!"

After repeated investigation and questioning by Okamoto, Fu Sanming finally spoke:
"Do you want to hear another story?"

This is a place with no tigers or gorillas, no hyenas or zebras, no meerkats or meerkats.
A story without animals.

A story without animals that could explain why the Tsimchum sank.

After the shipwreck, a total of four people boarded the lifeboat, namely the cook, the sailor, Fu Sanming and his mother.

The cook and the sailor got on the lifeboat first. The cook threw a lifebuoy to save Pie on the lifeboat, while the mother grabbed a bunch of bananas and got on the lifeboat.
See here.

Nie Hualing felt a sudden chill for no apparent reason.

The heart, which was sunny and calm just now, suddenly became windy. A flash of lightning illuminated the entire sea. The rain fell heavily, and the huge waves were surging and unstoppable.

The cook soon fell into the fear of hunger. He began to eat everything, including flies and mice. Fu Sanming and his friends refused to share this "feast" with the cook. In response, the cook bluntly called them fools and idiots.

The sailor broke his leg when he jumped onto the boat. The wound became infected and his injury became increasingly serious. The cook suggested amputating the sailor, and Fu Sanming and his mother helped hold the sailor down.

But without anesthesia and drugs, the sailor still died.

The cook used the sailor's meat to fish.

Only then did Fu Sanming's mother realize that the beastly cook was not trying to save the sailor's life, but was trying to kill the sailor and use him to catch fish.

Nie Hualing immediately recalled the passage “Flying Fish on the Sea” written by Jiang Xian in the previous “Pacific Ocean” section.

At that time, she was happy for Fu Sanming and praised it as a miracle of the sea and a gift of life.

At this moment, Nie Hualing felt cold all over, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

She continued to look down, her eyes trembling slightly.

The cook's bestiality gradually emerged. He began to eat the sailors' remaining meat and selfishly stole food and water.

Fu Sanming accidentally let a turtle escape, and the cook was furious and beat him. The completely enraged mother rushed over to beat the cook, calling him a beast. Finally, the cook killed his mother with a knife and threw her body into the sea to be eaten by sharks.

Fu Sanming killed the cook the next day. The cook did not fight back. Fu Sanming dealt with the cook's body just like he dealt with the sailor.

Fu Sanming said that the cook brought out the devil in him.

He ate the cook and finally drifted to the coast of Mexico and was rescued.

Jiang Xian only wrote here. After Nie Hualing read the last line, unlike the emotion just now, the blood in her chest boiled and she found it completely difficult to accept it emotionally.

This story can be completely connected with the previous stories about animals.

The zebra corresponds to the sailor, the cook corresponds to the hyena, the gorilla is the mother, and the tiger is Fu Sanming himself.

Following this line of thought, Nie Hualing continued to think further.

The cook, the sailor, the mother, and Fu Sanming all boarded the lifeboat. The cook first killed the sailor, ate his flesh, and used it to fish. Then, in the conflict, the cook killed the mother, and Fu Sanming killed the cook.
Nie Hualing suddenly thought of the incredible seaweed island in the Pacific Ocean, the seaweed island that looked like a woman.

Fu Sanming said his mother's body was thrown to feed sharks.

Is it really as he said?

"Teacher Nie, I made lean meat porridge. Would you like to try some?" Rao Yuemei came over with a bowl of steaming meat porridge.

"No, no need."

Nie Hualing covered her mouth and nose to prevent herself from smelling the meat, and at the same time she felt a strong nausea in her stomach.

I'm afraid it will be a long time coming.

She doesn't want to see meat as an ingredient anymore.

(End of this chapter)