Bearing the blue sky

Chapter 318 Novelist! A Novel!

A congratulatory song?!

Upon hearing this name, Sun Chuan was suddenly startled.

"Could it be, could it be—"

He raised his hand, trembling, and pointed at Zhu Ge: "This one, this one is—"

The True Lord of Oblivion laughed and said, "That's right, he is the master of the Six Paths Palace, the founder of the Yi Dao, the creator of newspapers, and the author of 'The Old Man and the Sea.' He is known as Master Tianji, who sits in his carriage and calculates everything under the world."

"This, this—" Sun Chuan was shocked and speechless for a moment.

Upon hearing what the True Lord of Annihilation said, Zhu Ge shook his head helplessly: "Alright, Second Brother, there's not enough room for so many people here. Only Zhu Ge is here."

He looked at Sun Chuan: "What do you want with me?"

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and in the cramped space of the carriage, it was like a pebble falling into water, creating a clear echo in the brief silence.

Sun Chuan sat opposite him, and when he heard those words, he felt his fingers tighten slightly on his knee.

It was as if something had gently touched the edge, but it quickly returned to normal, like a surface of water that had been briefly rippled by the wind slowly smoothing out.

"I—" He didn't answer immediately, but took a deep breath.

First, she shifted her gaze from Zhu Ge to the creases on the edge of the newspaper on her lap, which had been repeatedly turned over, as if searching for a suitable opening.

He remained silent for a while before raising his head again.

After much thought, all the questions ultimately boiled down to one sentence.

He looked into Zhu Ge's eyes and asked, "I want to ask you, what exactly was the old man in 'The Old Man and the Sea' struggling with?"

"Struggle—" Zhu Ge pondered, "If you're asking about struggle, I need to ask you other questions first—"

He seemed to have anticipated this question, or perhaps he was waiting for it to be raised.

He turned his head to look at the riverbank outside the car window, then looked back at Sun Chuan: "How many times did you read it?"

"Many times," Sun Chuan said firmly. "I can almost recite the whole thing from memory."

Zhu Ge nodded slightly: "Then what do you think he's fighting against?"

Sun Chuan was silent for a while, as if organizing the answers he had thought of but never said: "At first I thought he was struggling with the fish, then I thought he was struggling with the sea, and then later, when I was walking on the road, I felt that he was actually struggling with himself?"

"So what do you think now?" Zhu Ge smiled.

"I think now," Sun Chuan frowned, "he might just be confirming one thing with himself—whether he can still go to sea?"

Sun Chuan's tone was somewhat uncertain.

"Okay, these are your answers." Zhu Ge nodded with a smile. "Now I'll share my thoughts. Take them with a grain of salt; it's normal if they don't suit your taste."

Sun Chuan immediately sat up straight, and even the emaciated True Lord of Oblivion showed a look of curiosity.

Whom is the old man fighting against?

"In my opinion, it's a struggle with oneself," Zhu Gexian stated the conclusion.

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuan's expression immediately relaxed, as if he had finally found the answer.

He was about to thank her when Zhu Ge waved his hand and said, "Just listen to the rest."

Sun Chuan was surprised to see this, then nodded and sat down again.

"I'll tell you something, and you'll understand what I'm thinking," Zhu Ge said with a smile. "When I was a child, we lacked food, so I liked to go into the mountains with my friends from the village to pick mushrooms. But mushrooms are hard to pick, and some are poisonous, and some can even become 'mushroom gods'."

"I will compete with the gentleman, because I believe that my hardships and hunger are caused by mushrooms, and I must pick mushrooms."

"Later I realized that mushrooms are like chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep. From their own perspective, they also want to live and do not want to die, so they fight against it."

"Later, I discovered that the chaos in the world was due to the death of the Holy Emperor, and that the powerful figures in the world were powerless to control it. So I thought that my hunger and suffering were all because of the great people."

"But everyone in this world, whether a nobody or a big shot, does things for their own benefit. When a nobody has power, they will be more likely to help themselves and those around them, rather than help strangers."

Zhu Ge spoke calmly, explaining his thoughts. Sun Chuan's eyes grew brighter as he listened, and the True Lord of Oblivion nodded thoughtfully.

"Therefore, I think the world is the one that is wrong." Zhu Ge laughed: "The world is wrong because there are demons, ghosts, monsters, and gods. It is wrong because demons, ghosts, monsters, and gods all have intelligence. It is wrong because of the Holy Emperor. It is wrong because why didn't the Holy Emperor nip the signs of chaos in the bud before he died?"

"The fault lies with those city lords, prefecture lords, and border lords; they only care about their own selfish interests and never shoulder the great responsibilities of the world."

"The mistake lies in our morality and etiquette, which fail to restrain those who truly deserve restraint."

"The world is wrong, the rules are wrong, the system is wrong, everything is wrong."

Zhu Ge smiled and shook her head: "But, the one thing I never expected was that I was wrong."

Zhu Ge pointed to the tea in front of her: "I can't stand simple food and drink. I'm not satisfied. I want a better life."

"Is it alright if I eat ten copper coins' worth of food every day? Of course, it is, but I am not satisfied. I want to eat ten silver coins, ten gold coins, or even one hundred gold coins' worth of food per meal."

"Sometimes, even if the same dish is presented differently or has a different name, it can cost ten times more than the original dish. I'm willing to do that because it makes me stand out from the people around me. I call it vanity."

"My cultivation level is low, so I need to cultivate. My fists are getting bigger and bigger because I believe that strength is the only true necessity for survival in this world."

"But even a powerful emperor has passed away. How can I achieve immortality? Everything in this world eventually decays!"

"Then, I saw mayflies."

Zhu Ge smiled broadly.

"Mayflies?" Sun Chuan's expression changed. "The kind that emerges at dawn and dies at dusk?"

"Yes." Zhu Ge nodded: "Tell me, what are mayflies drinking to fight against? Do their lives have any meaning?"

Sun Chuan's expression changed slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "It's a struggle against oneself, and it's meaningful."

"Oh? You actually think so too?" Zhu Ge was also surprised.

It seems that although Sun Chuan is young, he is still very quick-witted and has not been affected by his environment.

It's important to understand that in today's environment, etiquette and rules are deeply ingrained in people's minds.

"Yes." Sun Chuan nodded: "To you, I am but a hundred years old, while you are hundreds or thousands of years old. You and I are like mayflies to me. I think I have meaning, and so does the mayfly."

"good."

Zhu Ge smiled and said, "You and I are somewhat similar."

"Going back to your initial question, what is the old man struggling with? I think he is struggling with himself."

"Whatever awards, prizes, gold and silver treasures, official positions, etc., a person gains in this world will eventually just vanish."

"Since that's the case, why should I compete with others? I can retire to the countryside, or live in a humble alley, with just a bowl of rice and a gourd of water, and be happy."

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuan nodded in agreement.

Even the True Lord of Annihilation nodded repeatedly.

However, at this moment, Zhu Ge changed the subject: "Therefore, some people say that a person's life should be spent in such a way that when he looks back on the past, he will not regret wasting his years, nor will he be ashamed of having accomplished nothing."

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding literary atmosphere began to surge.

In fact, this sermon had already caused the literary energy within Zhu Ge's body to fluctuate at the very beginning.

However, it was forcibly suppressed by Zhu Ge.

Now is not the time for him to make a breakthrough.

As the surrounding literary energy fluctuated, Zhu Ge once again waved his hand to disperse it.

As a result, after dispersing the surrounding literary energy, Zhu Ge was astonished to find that most of the gathered literary energy had actually converged around Sun Chuan.

A sudden realization?!

Zhu Ge exchanged a surprised glance with the True Lord of Obliteration.

Sun Chuan suddenly had an epiphany!

However, before Zhu Ge could finish speaking, in order not to interrupt Sun Chuan's sudden realization, he continued, "Therefore, there are actually many ways to live a person's life."

"What The Old Man and the Sea is about is naturally the wonderful life of the old man, the wonderful life of the sea, and the wonderful life of the fish."

"But how should one live their life? I think it can be any way."

"You can waste your years, or you can live a life of leisure. You can pursue fame and fortune and become the highest official, or you can retire to the countryside and live a simple life."

As the saying goes, fame and fortune, simple meals, leaving a name in history, or being infamous for eternity—it's all acceptable.

"A person should live the life they want to live."

"This kind of life shouldn't be decided by others, but by oneself."

"So, does that answer your initial question?"

At this moment, Sun Chuan's eyes gradually shone with a visible light: "I understand, I—"

"Wait a minute!"

Zhu Ge smiled and shook his head: "I am imparting my teachings to you today, not wanting your teachings to be flawed."

As she spoke, Zhu Ge took out the manuscript she had already written.

"This is the story I imagine. In this story, there is a country completely different from ours, a world entirely different, and there lives a man named Hamlet—"

The manuscript for the blessing song was handed over.

The four large characters written on it were: "Hamlet"!

In the past, Zhu Ge would always localize the stories he wrote.

However, for some classic works, Zhu Ge could only write down the simple translations he remembered.

And then they fabricated a background.

Anyway, people are quite accepting of it.

The reason Zhu Ge didn't want Sun Chuan to be affected was that everything he had just said was his own.

He didn't want Sun Chuan to be covered in his marks.

"This is----"

Sun Chuan spoke with an air of literary refinement, though he himself was unaware of it.

"You should see for yourself first," Zhu Ge said with a smile.

When Sun Chuan took the stack of manuscript papers, he felt a faint warmth the moment his fingers touched the paper.

It's as if the paper has just been exposed to the sun, or as if the handwriting itself is radiating a temperature that hasn't completely cooled down.

The manuscript paper was thinner than newspaper paper, and the edges were not neatly trimmed, as if it had been hastily arranged.

However, the handwriting is clear and neat, with appropriate spacing between each line, as if the writer had already thought about the position of each character when putting pen to paper.

He didn't open it immediately, but first looked up at Zhu Ge.

Zhu Ge didn't urge him, but leaned against the carriage wall, her gaze fixed on the manuscript in his hand, waiting for him to decide where to begin reading.

Sun Chuan lowered his head and turned to the first page.

"Long ago, in a remote country, there lived a prince named Hamlet—"

The beginning of the story is written in a simple and straightforward manner, without any complicated exposition.

Sun Chuan continued reading and was quickly drawn in by the story itself.

The young prince faces a series of events: his father's death, his mother's remarriage, his uncle's ascension to the throne, his father's ghost appearing in the castle, and the recurring question: "To be or not to be, that is the question."

He didn't read very fast. After each paragraph, his gaze would linger on the page for a moment, as if to confirm whether he truly understood the meaning of the passage.

Zhu Ge did not interrupt, nor did the True Lord of Obliteration speak.

Liu Jianjian had quieted down at some point and was leaning against the car door, looking at him with her head turned to the side.

Only the sound of the carriage wheels rolling over gravel came from outside, continuous and steady.

"————" By the time Sun Chuan turned to the last page, it was already getting dark.

He closed the manuscript, not looking up immediately, but first glancing down at the four words on the cover for a while, as if waiting for them to settle completely on the paper, before slowly raising his head to look at Zhu Ge: "What is the ending for this prince?"

"He's dead." Zhu Ge shook his head and said, "He did what he wanted to do, and then he died."

Sun Chuan didn't ask "why he died" or "whether his death was worthwhile," but rather seemed to have already accepted the ending itself.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Will this Hamlet regret it?"

"It's not written in the story," Zhu Ge said with a smile. "But I guess he won't, because he's already done what he wanted to do."

Sun Chuan nodded, then looked down at the stack of manuscript papers again, as if to confirm that he had indeed finished reading them. He then neatly folded the papers and handed them back to Zhu Ge.

He hesitated for a moment, as if testing the weight of a sentence on the tip of his tongue, or perhaps considering how to organize that still-forming thought into a sentence that could be uttered smoothly: "Different readers might draw different conclusions from the same story?"

"There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes." Zhu Ge took the manuscript, her voice devoid of deliberate emphasis, as if she were simply stating a fact that had been verified many times: "The same sentence, read by different people, will be seen differently. What the prince sees in your eyes and what he sees in another person's eyes may be the same story, but the meaning that person interprets will be different from yours."

"This doesn't mean who is right or wrong, but rather that different people see what they need to see in the same story."

Sun Chuan did not respond immediately.

He looked down at his fingers for a moment, as if to confirm whether the outline of that sentence was clear in his mind, and then said, "Just like when I read 'The Old Man and the Sea'."

"Yes," Zhu Ge said. "What you read is your own sea, but what I told you is mine."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Chuan shone brightly, exuding a scholarly aura.

"My enlightenment today is all thanks to the teachings of my teacher, Zhuge."

Sun Chuan's eyes shone with a refined elegance, his spirits soaring, a far cry from his previous impoverished beggar appearance: "Master Zhu, may I ask what the name of my path should be?"

"The path you have established today is the Way of Literature, or perhaps the Way of Confucianism, but like my Way of Change, it should be a school of its own." Zhu Ge smiled upon hearing this and said the name he had long ago thought of: "I thought of this when I published an article in the newspaper. I want to name it—The Way of Novel."

"From this day forward, besides the Confucian school, there will be another school of thought in the world, called the School of Novelists!"