1978 Synthetic Writers

Isn’t Chapter 396 a bit childish?

Zhao Zhenkai carried Jiang Xian's manuscript back to Damochang Hutong where he and his wife lived.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw a huge unfinished Chinese painting by his wife Shao Fei hanging on the wall. In the painting, Nuwa was making little people out of yellow mud.

"Zhen Kai, you are finally back."

As soon as Shao Fei saw Zhao Zhenkai, he pulled him aside and pointed at the two people sitting at home, "This is Comrade Hu Wu and her lover. Comrade Hu Wu is a top-grade art designer at the Bayi Factory."

"Hello, comrade."

Zhao Zhenkai greeted him skillfully.

He was already used to having people visit him.

In this small house of less than 30 square meters, he entertains friends from all over every day.

To put it nicely, it means listening to the different experiences and lofty ideals of young artists from all walks of life.

To put it bluntly, every day a group of literary and artistic young people from all over the world come to his house to eat for free.

Sometimes he and Shao Fei couldn't bear the food any more, and they had to leave home and hide for a while.

"Since you're here, just eat something at home while you're here."

"It's troublesome."

"No trouble, no trouble."

After chatting with the guest and talking about art, Zhao Zhenkai hid in the inner room, spread Jiang Xian's manuscript flat on the table, and then took out a "New English-Chinese Dictionary".

This is a dictionary published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 1978. It is the first large-scale English-Chinese dictionary in China. It includes a large number of commonly used words and phrases. It is also the most important reference book for English learners today.

After making these preparations, Zhao Zhenkai plunged into the novel "War Horse".

Hu Wu helped Shao Fei with cooking and assisted her. The two also took this opportunity to talk about art, after all, they were both engaged in art work.

"Okay, these are all we have at home. We can just make do with them. Don't mind." Shao Fei said apologetically.

"No way."

Huwu smiled and said, "I'll go get Brother Zhao to eat."

"it is good."

Hu Wu walked into the house, lifted the curtain of the inner room, and saw Zhao Zhenkai sitting upright at the table. Just as he was about to call him, he saw Zhao Zhenkai suddenly cover his face with his hands, and then took deep breaths, as if he was suffering a great grievance and was trying hard to endure it.

"Brother Zhao, what are you doing?" He shouted.

When Zhao Zhenkai heard the voice, he quickly wiped his eyes and looked up at Hu Wu as if nothing had happened.

"I am fine."

"Are you really okay?" Hu Wu looked at Zhao Zhenkai in disbelief.

His eyes were still red.

Seeing that he had no way to get away with it, Zhao Zhenkai just coughed twice to ease the embarrassment.

“It’s because of this novel.”

"You are reading a novel."

"Well, I took a look at my friend's manuscript. I didn't expect it to be so touching, so I couldn't control my emotions just now."

"I see."

At the same time that Hu Wu suddenly realized what was going on, he became very interested in the manuscript that Zhao Zhenkai was reading.

Among these literary and artistic young people, Zhao Zhenkai is a recognized idol and the leader of the Misty School.

He is calm and profound, and his poetry is full of clear thinking and intuitive thinking.

How could such a person find it difficult to control his emotions because of a novel?

This is either because Zhao Zhenkai has a sensibility that is different from his poetry.

Or it may be because this novel really has a powerful charm that touches people's hearts.

Zhao Zhenkai had no idea what Hu Wu was thinking at the moment. He was still immersed in the world of the novel "War Horse", so much so that for a moment he felt that everything around him was somewhat alienated.

Jiang Xian's "War Horse" does not have many new words, except for a few nouns related to horses that need to be looked up in the dictionary. It can be said that even some English beginners can understand this novel, so Zhao Zhenkai did not have any difficulties when reading it and read it almost smoothly.

The protagonist of the novel is not a human being, but a pony named Joey, a chestnut-red pony with an eye-catching white cross pattern on its forehead and four hooves as flawless and dazzling as snow.

The novel is set in Europe before World War I.

In the Devon countryside of England, a six-month-old pony named Joey was bought by an alcoholic and taken to his farm. In front of the stable, he met the alcoholic farmer's son, the 13-year-old boy Albert.

When Joey first arrived at the family, he didn't know how to plow the fields and he kicked the drunk farmer in resistance. In order to prevent Joey from being shot to death by his angry father, Albert made a bet with his father that he could tame Joey and teach him carefully.

In this way, Joey successfully learned to plow the fields, which helped Joey win the bet and became Albert's farm horse.

It and Albert snuggled together and grew up happily together.

However, the peaceful and fragrant pastoral life was eventually broken by the outbreak of war.

The farmer's father was in debt due to gambling. In order to save the farm which was on the verge of bankruptcy, he secretly sold Joey to the British army.

Albert was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do.

After Joey went to the military camp for training, Albert also found ways to go to the front line to join the army. Eventually he became a nurse at a veterinary station and traveled to many battlefields, looking forward to reuniting with Joey one day.

In this way, Joey and Albert, one on a horse and one on a man, were both caught up in the war.

Because it involves war, Zhao Zhenkai naturally believes that there must be a righteous side and the other side belongs to the evil camp.

But what surprised Zhao Zhenkai was that Jiang Xian did not set anyone as a character belonging to the evil camp.

For example, the British soldier who took Joey away, a captain, actually promised the young Albert very seriously that he would do his best to take good care of Joey.

Later, the captain died in a battle with the German army, and Joey and another warhorse, Topthorn, also fell into the hands of the Germans.

German soldiers Gunther and Karl took care of the two horses.

Not what Zhao Zhenkai imagined.

Gunther and Carl are kind-hearted brothers who hate war and desire peace. They secretly protect the two horses.

However, fate is always full of surprises. Once when avoiding artillery fire, Joey and Topsan mistakenly entered a French farm and were taken in by a little girl named Emily and her grandfather.

Emily suffers from a serious illness but loves horses very much and spent some peaceful time with the two horses.

Unfortunately, the German army came to requisition horses again and the two horses were forcibly taken away.

Here comes the most depressing part of the story.

Long-term fatigue and hunger destroyed Topsong, and it eventually died on the battlefield.

Joey lost his companion and ran wildly in the no-man's land in despair and fear. As a result, he was entangled in the barbed wire and was seriously injured and dying.

At this moment, British and German soldiers found Joey trapped in the trench.

A British soldier and a German soldier were willing to temporarily put aside their hostility and cease fire. The two worked together to rescue Joey who was entangled in the barbed wire, and decided the ownership of the horse by tossing a coin.

This is exactly the part that moved Zhao Zhenkai:
".
'In about an hour, maybe two, we'll be killing each other with all our might. God knows why, and I don't think even God has remembered why. Goodbye, Welsh. We've shown them, haven't we? We've shown them that if people trust each other, any problem can be solved. Just trust each other, right?'

The short Welshman took the rope and shook his head in disbelief. 'German, I think if they would let us spend an hour or two together, we could sort this mess out. There would be no more weeping widows and crying children in our valley, and the same with yours. Even if the worst came to the worst, we could make the decision by flipping a coin, so why can't we do that now?'

'If we can.' The German chuckled. 'If we can do that, we will win. But maybe your Prime Minister Lloyd George will be unhappy.'

As he spoke, he placed his hands on the Welshman's shoulders and held that position for a moment.

'Take care, my friend, and good luck to you. Good-bye.'

As he said this, he turned and left, slowly crossing the no-man's land back to the barbed wire.

'Hey, good luck to you, too,' the Welshman shouted to him, then turned and led me away from where we were, towards the row of soldiers in khaki uniforms.

"

While eating, Zhao Zhenkai couldn't resist the desire to share and told this story to everyone.

"At this moment, there is no hatred between everyone, and everyone is a victim of war," Zhao Zhenkai sighed.

Shao Fei frowned. "That's impossible."

"what happened?"

"Look at the plot. Isn't it a bit too childish? The warring parties choose to cease fire and come out of the trenches waving white flags to save a horse? Isn't this story a bit too dreamy?" Shao Fei said.

As soon as Shao Fei raised his question, it was quickly acknowledged by Hu Wu.

If you think about it, the British and German armies were hostile to each other.

Two groups of soldiers in the trench stopped fighting because of a horse and gave the horse to each other. This behavior could be regarded as aiding the enemy.

Is it possible for such a story to happen in the real world?

So dreamy!

This is somewhat suspicious of making up a story for the sake of telling a story.

"In my opinion, Joey should have died on the way to escape. This is more reasonable. The part after being entangled in the barbed wire should be a warm imagination." Shao Fei said.

"."

Zhao Zhenkai remained silent, just thinking about how to argue.

He strongly disagreed with Shao Fei's idea.

Such a cold-blooded and rational judgment is too preconceived, and is based on the direct belief that both warring parties have lost their humanity.

In Zhao Zhenkai's view, the soldiers are also flesh and blood and have emotions.

How could such a miracle not happen right between the two trenches?

"I have heard a story." Hu Wu's lover spoke at this time, quickly attracting everyone's attention.

"I've heard that there was a legendary 'Christmas Truce' on the battlefields of World War I.

You should know that Christmas in foreign countries is as important as the Chinese New Year.

That Christmas, German and British soldiers temporarily laid down their weapons, and soldiers from both sides walked out of the trenches to celebrate Christmas together.

They sang Christmas carols together, exchanged cigarettes and souvenirs, gave each other gifts, looked at photos of their relatives and friends, and held a burial ceremony for the fallen together.
Oh, and they played several football games together. "

Several people listened quietly to Hu Wu's lover telling this story. Shao Fei and Hu Wu were a little surprised that such a miracle could actually happen on the battlefield in reality.

Zhao Zhenkai also said excitedly, as if he had found a perfect argument in a debate competition:

"See, I told you not to underestimate the brilliance of human nature. How could it be impossible for the two warring parties to walk out of the trenches and shake hands with each other? I remember seeing similar reports somewhere when the Americans were fighting monkeys."

"Then this novel is really true to reality."

"How could Jiang Xian's novels be written randomly? His novels have always been well-researched." Zhao Zhenkai said.

"Written by Jiang Xian?"

Hu Wu and Shao Fei looked at each other and suddenly felt that it made sense. "No wonder Brother Zhao likes this novel so much. It turns out to be Jiang Xian's novel."

In Hu Wu's opinion, almost every novel by Jiang Xian that can be found on the market is of very high quality and the content is fascinating.

It is reasonable and logical that his novel could move Zhao Zhenkai.

"Is this Jiang Xian's new manuscript? Brother Zhenkai, can I take a look at it?" When Hu Wu's lover heard that this was Jiang Xian's novel, he was a little excited for a moment and couldn't help wanting to take it and take a look.

He is a literary youth and of course he likes reading. He has read almost every work of Jiang Xian and is considered a loyal reader of Jiang Xian.

"It's not that I don't want you to read this manuscript."

Zhao Zhenkai smiled and said, "No matter whether Jiang Xiantong agrees or not, this manuscript is written in English. I'm afraid you won't be able to read it even if I give it to you."

"Ah? An English manuscript?"

"Yes."

Zhao Zhenkai said.

After explaining to everyone, he hurriedly finished the remaining rice in the bowl, chatted for a few words, and then couldn't wait to go into the inner room.

There is only one last part of "War Horse" left to read.

At the end of the novel.

Joey followed the British soldiers back to the army.

Coincidentally, Albert, who had joined the army, happened to be in this team.

As an adult, Albert joined the army, but he was blinded by poison gas bombs on the battlefield in France.

Nevertheless, when Albert heard that the army had bought a "war horse that could plow the fields", he immediately thought of Joey and concluded that the horse was Joey.

Relying on his familiarity with Joey, Albert clearly described all of Joey's characteristics and conquered all his comrades who had doubts about the matter.

In this way, Joey and Albert finally reunited after experiencing the vicissitudes of war.

Their story also touched other comrades and superiors, and Joey, who was originally about to be executed for tetanus, received treatment.

Zhao Zhenkai read every word hungrily, and at the same time, he was praying in his heart almost all the time.

He was praying to Jiang Xian, praying that Jiang Xian could give this poor man and horse a happy ending.

The war finally ended and the military decided to auction off the remaining military horses.

Joey is one of them.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhenkai's heart was lifted again.

Joey was very popular at the auction and was soon sold at a high price, a price that Albert could not afford.

And the person who offered the highest price was a butcher.

"do not do that."

Zhao Zhenkai's palms were sweating.

I felt anxious and nervous.

Just when he was feeling somewhat desperate, a voice suddenly came from the crowd.

"I'll pay twenty-eight pounds for the horse, and I'll keep bidding no matter how long the sale lasts or how high the price goes. I'll pay a hundred pounds if I have to."

"No one will get this horse except me."

"This is my Emily's horse, it always belonged to her!"

"That's great!" Zhao Zhenkai was cheered up.

Seeing Joey being saved, he was happier than if he were saved himself.

The final bidder was Emily's grandfather.

He eventually photographed Joey.

However, by this time, Emily had died of illness.

After hearing Albert's story, he gave Joey to Albert.

At the end of the story, Joey and Albert returned to their farm in Devonshire at Christmas time again, where they healed the trauma of war in the quiet country life.

After reading the last line of text, Zhao Zhenkai's heart, which had been fluctuating, finally settled down.

He let out a sigh of relief.

“Great novel!”

“Absolutely great novel!”

It can make readers feel so distressed.

He was so distressed that when he was reading it just now, he couldn't help but ask Jiang Xian to be kinder in his writing and more tolerant towards the characters.

Such novels can certainly be called good.

(End of this chapter)