Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 704 Ye Wenjie: Her Story

The latter half of the web series "Red Coast" mainly tells the story of how Ye Wenjie made contact with the Trisolaran civilization in the Red Coast base.

This also incidentally resolved many plot issues in previous films of the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] series.

For example, the purpose of the Red Coast Base was ostensibly to develop microwave weapons targeting satellites in space. However, in reality, it was a means for China at that time to catch up and hoped to use microwave transmitters to send signals into outer space in order to find extraterrestrial civilizations and achieve technological breakthroughs.

In Ye Wenjie's view, this was a very forward-thinking idea and decision-making process, but the radio wave transmission equipment and methods used by Hongan were still very backward.

Because radio signals become weaker the farther they travel, and there are too many interfering radio waves in space, the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations receiving information sent by humans is very small.

Their research and calculations revealed that, in order for extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe to receive the radio signals from the Red Coast Base, the transmission power should be equivalent to the radiation power of a medium-sized star.

However, the Red Coast Base's transmission power is only one ten-millionth of the output power that Earth can mobilize. This shout from Red Coast is like a mosquito buzzing in the vast sky; no one will be able to hear it.

So even after many years of operation, Ye Wenjie's Red Coast Base still hadn't achieved anything.

Their calls received no response from extraterrestrials, and their own listening devices detected no sounds from other civilizations in the universe.

As a result, with no progress made, the importance of the Red Coast Base declined again and again, but Ye Wenjie's status within the base actually increased with age.

It was during this period that she inadvertently came across a news article titled "A New Strong Emission Source in the Solar System," and combined it with the mathematical model of the solar structure she had previously developed, she finally succeeded in discovering the principle of the sun's "energy mirror reflection."

According to her research, this thin film, which floats erratically in the sun-drenched ocean, possesses many amazing properties, the most incredible of which is its "gain reflection" characteristic.

In other words, these energy mirrors inside the sun do not simply reflect low-frequency electromagnetic radiation as they previously hypothesized, but rather amplify it.

Ye Wenjie also verified this theory by observing that the sun received electromagnetic radiation from Jupiter and then emitted it back, and the Earth received the amplified radiation twice with a time difference of 16 minutes and 42 seconds.

The sun is a radio wave amplifier!

This is Ye Wenjie's most important outcome at the Red Coast Base, and also the beginning of all the disasters that Earth is now facing.

Because Ye Wenjie used this theory and principle to broadcast to the universe, and this broadcast was successfully captured by the electromagnetic wave eavesdroppers of the Trisolaran civilization.

Faced with the three "do not answer" warnings from the Trisolaran civilization's monitors who had a change of heart, Ye Wenjie, who had long been disillusioned with humanity, still chose to ignore the warnings and sent out electromagnetic waves carrying information toward Earth.

"Come here, and I will help you gain control of this world. My civilization is powerless to solve its own problems and needs your intervention."

Although the message was transmitted in just three seconds, the information it contained ultimately helped the Trisolarans determine Earth's location.

However, after pressing the radio transmission button, Ye Wenjie fainted on the ground, and only then did she realize that she was pregnant.

……

The first half of the TV series "Red Coast" basically tells the story of young Ye Wenjie's past experiences, her story at the Red Coast base, and her psychological transformation during this period.

This part of the story is basically revealed through Ye Wenjie's interrogation after her arrest.

The young Ye Wenjie and the older Ye Wenjie together form a complex character, which is laid bare before the audience, sparking a huge discussion.

Although Ye Wenjie's existence was highly controversial after Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem: Earth's Past" was published, the TV series is different from the novel, and Wang Ziwen's performance gave the character a completely different appeal.

Many people even empathized with the character Ye Wenjie because of her experiences, gradually moving from opposing Ye Wenjie to questioning and understanding her.

On the internet, when the episode of "Red Coast" reached the point where Ye Wenjie pressed the button to send a message to the Trisolaran civilization, some people even posted comments like "Good job pressing the button" and "The world belongs to Trisolaris" on the screen.

Of course, many of these people were joking, but there were also quite a few who genuinely empathized with Ye Wenjie's experiences and actions, projecting their own experiences onto the story.

As some comments have said, "If I were Ye Wenjie, I would have pressed the buttons until they exploded."

In fact, such arguments are quite popular online, especially in recent years. In many TV dramas, villains are often more charming and popular than protagonists, such as Qi Tongwei in "In the Name of the People" and Ye Wenjie in "Red Coast".

This kind of emotional projection onto villainous characters has gradually become a trend in the internet age.

Of course, it may seem somewhat negative and immoral, but in reality, this trend of thought is more about the cheap "sense of sophistication" and "sense of superiority" brought about by a niche choice in the Internet age.

In the words of our ancestors, this is called "I am the only one who is sober while everyone else is drunk," or in modern terms, it is called "a contrarian."

Because I am the only one who is awake, I am superior, and I am better than you.

Going against the tide, being niche, opposing collectivism and the establishment, not following the crowd—these are spiritual "luxuries."

If mainstream thought approves of Qi Tongwei, then those who agree with Qi Tongwei and Ye Wenjie will immediately change their tune, because opposing Qi Tongwei will then become a new, more sophisticated viewpoint.

However, since "Red Coast" is a mainstream work of positive energy and has passed the approval of relevant higher authorities, it is impossible for it to make mistakes in ideology or spread bad values ​​for the sake of so-called traffic.

Therefore, in the latter half of the TV series, the creative team also restructured Ye Wenjie's character, but did not add any rationality to her behavior.

For example, in the TV series, when Ye Wenjie was working at the Red Coast Base, she formed a family with Yang Weining. Yang Weining treated her very well. However, in order to get rid of Lei Zhicheng, who knew about the Trisolaran civilization, Ye Wenjie cut the rope, which killed Lei Zhicheng and also caused Yang Weining, who was with Lei Zhicheng, to go down the cliff to check the equipment.

Regarding Ye Wenjie's behavior, the TV series specifically included a scene of her being interrogated in her later years. After listening to Ye Wenjie's recollection of this past event, Shi Qiang pursed his lips and asked:
"I was just asking, and you didn't record my answer. How did you feel at the time?"

Chen Jin, who plays the older version of Ye Wenjie, remained extremely composed at this moment, calmly replying:
"I did it calmly and without emotion. I found a cause to which I could dedicate myself, and I didn't care about the price, whether it was my own or someone else's. At the same time, I knew that..."

All of humanity will make unprecedented sacrifices for this cause; this is merely a tiny beginning.

“Hmm,” Shi Qiang nodded, “So your husband was sacrificed by you without your knowledge? Is that right?”

Ye Wenjie remained silent, and the creative team behind "Red Shore" did not offer a definitive conclusion regarding the rights and wrongs of this matter.

However, there is a new plot in the TV series that is not in the original novel: the special affairs department personnel went to Yang Weining's hometown to investigate Ye Wenjie and inquire about his situation.

The TV series tells the audience indirectly that Yang Weining was born into a rural family and was the eldest son. He got into university through his own efforts and often helped his family. He also has brothers, sisters and elderly parents.

However, it is clear that although Ye Wenjie went through a lot and fell into hardship, she was still a professor's daughter, and later became a professor at a university.

So even after marrying Yang Weining and having a daughter, she never went to her husband's hometown or met his parents after his death.

Whether she was afraid to face Yang Weining's parents, or simply didn't care about the elderly couple in the countryside and, like those who had killed her father, had never repented, only she herself knew.

Moreover, it wasn't just Yang Weining; even Lei Zhicheng, who posed a threat to Ye Wenjie, wasn't an isolated individual during the special investigation. He also had his own family, including parents, a wife, and children.

Does Ye Wenjie feel any remorse towards them?
After this plot development came out, the previously overwhelming support for Ye Wenjie on the internet began to diverge.

As the drama never explicitly states, Ye Wenjie is free to sacrifice for her ideals.

But sacrificing others for one's own ideals, especially without the knowledge of others, is unacceptable no matter what.

At the time, a comment about this plot point received a lot of likes online.

"This plot reminds me of the TV series 'Young Justice Bao' that I watched when I was a child. In many cases, the murderers had a lot of reasons to kill, but no matter how reluctant or sympathetic Bao Zheng was, he would stick to one principle: murder is murder. He only wanted to have a clear conscience. This is the charm of Bao Zheng, which makes him very memorable."

Clearly, Ye Wenjie's actions were not entirely without remorse or integrity; she was constantly making excuses and justifications for her behavior.

If the plot of Ye Wenjie murdering Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining at the Red Coast base without any remorse undermines the righteousness of her actions, then the latter half of the TV series "Red Coast" further eliminates the sanctity and rationality of her actions.

The latter part of the series does not give much screen time to the part where Ye Wenjie and Evans meet, because the structure of this part and the rebuttal of the rationality of Evans's actions have already been powerfully countered by Wang Hao's film "The Three-Body Problem" through the afforestation of the Mu Us Desert, which provides a strong rebuttal to these so-called environmentalists and their anti-human behavior.

The latter half of "Red Coast" focuses more on the story between Ye Wenjie and Qijiatun.

Perhaps this is a rare warm hue in Ye Wenjie's entire life.

Knowing that the people on Radar Peak were all learned, the children from Qijiatun came up there and happened to approach her, asking her a question about high school physics:
The textbook says that free fall accelerates at the beginning but eventually falls at a constant speed. The children in the village thought about it for several nights but couldn't figure it out.

"This involves a mechanical problem."

When Shi Qiang heard Ye Wenjie's recollection, he muttered something to himself in a very soft voice, so Ye Wenjie didn't hear him clearly and continued reminiscing.

In this recollection, because of the guidance given to the children that time, more and more children came to Radar Peak.

There were seven children at first, including the three who came before, and four more who came from more distant villages.

The third time, fifteen children came to see him, along with a teacher from the town's middle school, who also came to ask Ye Wenjie for advice on teaching.

After that, children would come to the Red Coast Base on the mountain every few days to ask Ye Wenjie for advice, so much so that a small blackboard was set up in the canteen of the base, which became the children's classroom.

Ye Wenjie's efforts have paid off.

On New Year's Eve in 1978, when Ye Wenjie finished her shift and returned to the dormitory assigned to her by the base, it was empty except for the child in her womb.

As she lay on the cold bed, listening to the howling wind outside, loneliness pressed down on her like a giant hand, and Ye Wenjie felt herself getting smaller and smaller.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Ye Wenjie opened the door and first saw the sentry, then a group of her former students. The children were carrying something in their arms. When the cotton coat was opened, it was a large porcelain basin filled with steaming hot sauerkraut dumpling filling.

After that, Ye Wenjie went into labor. Due to breech presentation, she experienced a difficult delivery, which turned childbirth into a life-threatening ordeal. The excruciating pain and severe bleeding caused her to faint, but she eventually survived, and both mother and daughter were safe.

The reason she survived was because dozens of farmers from Qijiatun donated blood for her when she was bleeding heavily. Many of them had children whom Ye Wenjie had tutored, but most of them were complete strangers.

Through this plot, "Red Shore" showcases the kindness of the Qijiatun villagers to Ye Wenjie and the viewers, revealing the beautiful and kind side of humanity. Even Ye Wenjie seems to be moved by the tolerance and kindness of the Qijiatun villagers.

In her own words, something in her heart gradually melted, and a small, clear lake appeared on the icy plain of her soul.

However, it would be superficial to think that the creators of "Red Shore" were trying to refute and criticize Ye Wenjie by saying that "human beings have diversity, humans still have good qualities, and humans deserve to be saved."

Because after telling Ye Wenjie's story, "Red Coast" immediately shifts its focus to Shi Qiang, telling another story that happened to him, which is somewhat similar but not the same.

(End of this chapter)