Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 434 Who is the hero?

“Non-binary”?
David Miller is quite knowledgeable and is not unfamiliar with this term.

In fact, in the 90s, "genderqueer" culture began to quietly become popular among marginalized groups and trendy young people in North America.

A person who identifies as "genderqueer" may feel that their gender is between male and female, feel that they are neither male nor female, or both male and female, or completely reject any "gender".

But this culture has never entered the mainstream, as can be seen from the fact that the media uses the word "queer" to name it.

"Queer" means "abnormal", "sick", "weird"... In short, it is not a good word - this shows that mainstream culture still looks down on and despises these people.

David Miller noticed that Zhang Chao did not use the word "gender queer", but instead used the relatively neutral term "non-binary", which seems to imply that in his opinion, in the future in the United States, choosing to be "gender queer" will no longer be a so-called "underground culture", but will become a trend and fashion.

It is not even allowed to refer to them with derogatory words.

This reminded David Miller of the name for black people in American history - first it was "Negroes" and later it was "blacks"; after that person won the election, some people in Congress had proposed that even the term "blacks" should not be allowed, and only the term "African Americans" should be used.

Relevant legislation is said to be in the process of being enacted.

Thinking of this, David Miller realized why Zhang Chao made such an "inference" - as the representative group of American "subculture" and "non-mainstream people", the improvement of the "treatment" of black people will definitely lead to the improvement of the "treatment" of all subculture groups.

Previously, when he was chatting with Zhang Chao, he mentioned that American multiculturalism would replace the relatively conservative white elite culture and become the mainstream of American society, and Zhang Chao made his point concrete.

However, the targets Zhang Chao chose were particularly tricky, and no one knew how he knew these trivialities in the corners of American society.

David Miller couldn't help but wonder, if even "gender queerness" can enter the mainstream, then how open will other aspects of society's culture be?

For him, this is not something difficult to accept. Instead, he believes that this is what the United States should be like - any ethnic group, any ideology, and any culture can coexist peacefully on this land.

He was just wondering, since Zhang Chao thought that the United States would become such a fertile land of multiculturalism, then what was wrong with coming to the United States more often?

So he continued reading and found that the perspective of the novel had shifted from the news event to that "Wei Laosan".

From the description, "Wei Laosan" are obviously the common illegal immigrants from China. They are honest, kind and hardworking. They only stay in the kitchen of Chinese restaurants or do the dirtiest and most tiring work on some laxly supervised construction sites.

[Wei Laosan buried his face under the cold water pipe. The piercing tap water made him shiver violently, and finally washed away the last bit of sleepiness that clung to his eyelids. The faucet in the work shed was like an old man who couldn't breathe, and the water flow was pitifully thin. He wiped his face carelessly, and the water droplets flowed down his dark and wrinkled neck into the collar of his work clothes that had been washed hard. Mirror? There was no mirror here. There was only a small piece of blurry glass fragments covered with water stains and spider webs above the water pipe, which barely reflected half of his tired and swollen face, and the old scar on his forehead that was scratched by steel bars on the construction site in his hometown last year, like a dead earthworm.

His stomach was rumbling, making a frighteningly loud sound. His stomach was so empty that it felt like it was being rubbed by sandpaper. What about dinner? He ate half a piece of bread that was as hard as a brick with tap water. It was the foreman, Lao Wang, who saw that he was too hungry to work, so he broke it from his lunch yesterday. Lao Wang's slick face, which showed a bit of pity from his fellow villagers, flashed in his mind for a moment, but was immediately suppressed by the stronger feeling of hunger. He had to find something to eat, otherwise his calves would cramp when he climbed the scaffolding tomorrow.

The night in the city was so bright that Wei Laosan shrank his neck and walked along the shadows at the base of the wall. He didn't recognize any of the colorful, flashing neon signs with twisted foreign words and pictures on them, and his eyes hurt. The wind brought the smell of greasy fried chicken, the sweet smell of cake, and the choking smell of car exhaust, which mixed together and made his stomach churn. He sniffed hard, trying in vain to distinguish the smell of something he could eat. There was only the smell of cold dust in the air.

...]

David Miller smiled when he saw this. This passage must have been translated by Rheya from "Tide Culture", which accurately reproduces Zhang Chao's delicate style of loving objects.

It was this "Wei Laosan" who was in a worse situation. Not only did he seem to be exploited by his own people, but he also couldn't find a place to distribute free food.

Next, the "Wei Laosan" who had been looking for food in vain seemed to have accidentally entered the scene of the conflict mentioned in the news.

[Turning the corner, the lights and noise suddenly exploded. A crowd gathered in front of a bar. Wei Laosan instinctively wanted to go around it. Having worked on construction sites in China for a long time, he knew that watching the excitement could easily get him into trouble. In the gap between the crowd, he caught a glimpse of a colorful figure being pushed and shoved, and it seemed that he was punched. The figure had a huge, shiny thing on his head, like a strange bird with its feathers plucked.

Suddenly someone bumped into him from behind, and Wei Laosan rushed into the crowd like a bell hammer swinging in the air and stood in front of the "strange bird". A familiar smell of blood mixed with dust and sweat suddenly rushed to Wei Laosan's head.

"Hey! Chink! Get lost!" A bald strong man with a face full of flesh and a neck as thick as Wei Laosan's thigh, yelled at him while spitting, and his fist almost poked his nose.

Wei Laosan's heart was beating wildly in his torn cotton-padded jacket, as if it was about to burst out. He was a head shorter than the other man, and probably not as strong as him. He didn't understand what the foreigner was yelling, but he had heard the word "Chink". The white supervisors on the construction site would call people that when they were drunk and cursed. It was not a nice word. Fear flowed down his spine like ice water, and he clenched his fists, his nails digging into the flesh of his palms. Run? His legs were a little weak. Fight? He would definitely lose.

He suddenly remembered the "universal phrase" that Lao Wang had taught him - if you encounter a foreigner who is causing trouble, no matter what he says, just smile and say "Nao Prapuram! Nao Prapuram!" repeatedly, and you can usually fool him. Lao Wang said that this phrase means "It's okay, we can talk it over."

Yes, "Nau Prapuram"!
Wei Laosan tried hard to pull the corners of his stiff mouth, trying to force out a "smile", but the muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably due to tension and fear, and his expression looked more like crying. He raised his thin arms, not to fight, but just to block, to separate the casserole-sized fist from the trembling "strange bird" behind him. His throat was dry, and he tried his best to shout hoarsely to the strong men:
"Noise! ​​Prabhuram! Noise! ​​Prabhuram!"

But not a single letter came out. His throat was already hoarse, and his vocal cords had lost their ability to vibrate due to tension, so he could only helplessly squeeze out a meaningless "gurgle" from the depths of his throat, which was a bit like a struggle before death.

Wei Laosan felt dizzy from the adrenaline rushing through his head. He didn't dare look into the eyes of the sturdy men, but just stiffened his neck and continued to "cluck" - he didn't even realize that he didn't say those two words. Perhaps it was Wei Laosan's desperate and desperate "cluck" that produced some kind of absurd deterrent effect, perhaps they thought it was pointless to tangle with this scared little guy, or perhaps they saw that people around them were holding up their phones to take pictures of them, the sturdy men cursed a few more nasty words, spat on the ground, turned around in dismay, and staggered away into the depths of the neon lights.

The tension in Wei Laosan's body snapped with a snap, his legs went limp, and he almost fell to the ground. The cold sweat on his back instantly soaked through his old sweatshirt inside his torn work clothes, sticking to his skin coldly. He was breathing heavily, his heart still beating wildly in his chest.

At this time, the "strange bird" with a huge feather sequin on its head and a colorful face came over in shock. The strong smell of perfume mixed with sweat and a little blood rushed straight into Wei Laosan's nose. The "strange bird" excitedly muttered fast and urgent English, with a sharp and thin voice and a crying tone. While speaking, it opened its arms as if it wanted to hug him, and the huge feather headdress almost swept Wei Laosan's face.

...]

David Miller couldn't help laughing when he saw Xu Ruya spelling "no p" with a "Wei Laosan" accent. The Chinese worker's simplicity, embarrassment, and fear were almost vivid on the paper, making people sympathize and laugh - this is not a mockery.

However, David Miller also understood the origin of the previous report, which was a complete misunderstanding.

"Wei Laosan" did not intend to save anyone. He accidentally broke into the scene where "Zelina" was being bullied and accidentally saved "Zelina". All of this was captured by the cameras of people around him and began to spread rapidly on the Internet platform.

In the subsequent plot, "Catherine", a reporter, happened to pass by after get off work and immediately interviewed "Wei Laosan".

Facing the camera of the reporter, "Wei Laosan" was still terrified, but not afraid anymore, and his vocal cords returned to normal. He said shyly, "I'm Wei Laosan, Free...dom...good."

Wei Laosan was not quite sure what this sentence meant, but his fellow villager told him that if someone asked him a question with a smile, he could just say this sentence to get by.

Catherine wanted to ask something else, but "Wei Laosan" just said "Bye bye!" and left quickly, soon disappearing into the night.

David Miller vaguely realized what Zhang Chao wanted to write - Zhang Chao himself was an expert in online communication and marketing, and the deeds of "Wei Laosan" would surely make him a celebrity soon as long as they were fermented through online videos.

The title of the novel is "Running for Governor". I believe that no matter which candidate it is, he will be eager to get closer to "Wei Laosan".

A humble illegal immigrant named "Wei Laosan" suddenly becomes a hot figure who can influence the election results. Then, through his ignorant and simple eyes, he sees all kinds of ugliness...

I guess this is the main framework and structure of Zhang Chao's novel.

It is indeed interesting - but just like the suspense novel "Gone Girl" he wrote, Zhang Chao, as a Chinese, is still separated from the true underlying operating logic of American society.

David Miller foresaw that this novel would be brilliant, but it would fail to get to the heart of American politics.

Compared with his four works on Chinese society, it may be more interesting, but the literary depth cannot be compared - but it is already very good, and today's American youth are actually very unfamiliar with these.

Compared to who is running for mayor or governor in their city or state, they are more interested in the transfer news of football stars or whether there is any new video leaked of the porn star named Kardashian.

David Miller made another cup of coffee to fight off the late-night sleepiness and continued to flip through the manuscript.

The subsequent development was just as he expected. The video of "Wei Laosan" saving people soon caused heated discussion on the Internet, and he became a "hero".

“His gurgling sound is the ultimate accusation of the oppressed when their throats are strangled! It is the embodiment of institutional aphasia! It is more powerful than any impassioned speech! This is the most shocking silent protest against systemic oppression!”

"Look! His mouth shape is definitely saying 'No Problem'! He is using the calmest words to express the most extreme contempt for hatred! This is an Eastern-style, philosophical confrontation!"

“Freedom…dom…good. An ordinary person from China, using the only words he knows, shouted out the most core value of our land that is being eroded—freedom is good! This is the purest democratic motto from the grassroots! Wei Laosan is not just a person, he is the flesh and blood manifestation of the concept of ‘freedom’ in California!”

"He has the humility of a saint! He does not seek rewards or fame. After completing his mission of protection, he quietly disappears into the darkness. His fear is the proof of the brilliance of human nature!"

...]

This was just a message on the Internet. Soon, three gubernatorial candidates joined the ranks.

【“Last night, in the heart of our city, we witnessed the darkest hatred of humanity, and also the brightest light of humanity! Mr. Wei, this brother from the East, taught us all a lesson with his silent courage and the simple phrase ‘Freedom good’! What is true courage? It is not about talking big, but about standing up when others suffer injustice! What is true freedom? It is people like Mr. Wei who, even if they are on the margins, still firmly believe in and defend the universal value of ‘freedom is good’!
His "clucking" sound is a question to the conscience of all of us! If even an unsung hero like Mr. Wei is fighting for diversity and freedom in California, what reason do we, who hold power and voice, have for not doing more and better? ! Martha Brighton's government will engrave Mr. Wei's spirit into our governing platform! Fight hate crimes and defend everyone's freedom of expression and dignity of survival, no matter where they come from or who they are! Mr. Wei, you are the conscience of California!"】

“Friends, we live in a complex era. But last night’s incident gave me a ray of hope that transcends party lines. Mr. Wei, a hard-working worker, demonstrated the core values ​​we cherish most: personal responsibility, courage, and unwavering stance in the face of evil! He did not wait for the police, did not calculate gains and losses, he stood up! His silence is more powerful than ten thousand slogans!
What is the 'Freedom good' he is talking about? I think it is the freedom from fear and violence that our founding fathers defended! It is the freedom for hardworking people to make a living! It is not the so-called 'freedom' of chaos and disorder! Mr. Wei has proved with his actions that true courage and kindness have nothing to do with identity labels! I, Thomas Riggs, will work to restore law and order in California and ensure that everyone like Mr. Wei, who abides by the law and silently dedicates himself, can enjoy the freedom and security of pursuing a better life! This is the real 'Freedom good'! ”】

Seeing this, David Miller laughed again.

The two paragraphs of candidate speeches written by Zhang Chao really fit in with his impression of what American politicians would say. How many campaign videos did Zhang Chao watch to be able to write them so vividly?

Especially in the details of the language, the differences in positions between the two different parties, "Martha Brighton" and "Thomas Riggs", are vividly displayed.

But he still captured many linguistic details -

“Fighting hate crimes”

"Restore law and order to California"

——It seems that multiculturalism has impacted the normal municipal order. Does California seem to be in unrest?

David Miller couldn't imagine how chaotic the place of sun, beach and Hollywood could be, so much so that both candidates emphasized this point.

Zhang Chao seems to have slowly woven a web with his words, and a future American vision that is completely different from what he imagined is slowly unfolding...

(End of this chapter)