From Chief to Ball

The young man smiled and said, "Ji Xia, you always think that people eat because they are hungry. This is true, but it is not absolute. Maybe I will eat something if I am not hungry. Just like a cow has four legs, This is the rule between heaven and earth. But some cows are born with three legs, and there is always something different...I am that three-legged cow."

"Jixia thinks that rebellion is possible for the sake of land, wealth and rights. It is correct to say so, but it cannot be said that rebellion must be for the sake of land and wealth slaves!"

Chen Jian was amused by the young man, not because what he said was funny, but because he skillfully used some things in mathematics: for example, simple logic to refute Chen Jian.

It was probably the most pleasing fruit he had had under the education system over the years, even if it was built on rebellion.

The young man looked at Chen Jian, looked up at the sky halfway, and said slowly: "Ji Xia, during the past few days of being imprisoned, I have been thinking about why I opposed you. After thinking for a long time, I finally remembered a sentence that lasted a long time. What you told us before."

He sighed and recalled: "It was the autumn of 32. You and we went to pick fruits on the mountain. Suddenly a big, big squirrel ran past our feet, and several people and I chased after it. A few days ago, you told us a story. You said that there is a difference between humans and animals. Humans know that they will be hungry tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even next month, and they will accumulate food, but animals will not. Let us think further, don’t Only see what is in front of you, otherwise you are no different from an animal."

"It turned out that when we found the big squirrel, we found a tree hole. There were pine nuts, hazelnuts, and acorns in it. Obviously, the fruits didn't run in by themselves, but were brought in by the squirrel. I was terrified at the time. , because I thought you must be right, so I took a stone and smashed the tree hole to pieces."

Chen Jian was stunned, wondering: "Just because of a squirrel?"

"No, later I gradually understood what you meant, and gradually forgot about it, or in my heart, I also understood that what you said and what I saw were not the same thing. It's just that these days after being captured by the white horse, I always dreamed about this incident, and I realized that maybe it was because of that incident that I had the desire to rebel."

"Ji Xia, do you know? It was you who led us out of the forest. Just like before, we only saw black mist before our eyes, but you opened our eyes to discover that there are other colors besides the wild mist. It is precisely because Seeing these colors makes people like me."

"If I were the guy who only thought about hunting tomorrow and catching birds the next day, I would never think so much. If it was just learning to read and count, maybe I still wouldn't think so much, but you also taught us other things , Let us learn to think, let us try to see farther, let us understand many things that we should not understand, so there is my rebellion."

The young man didn't blame or beg for mercy, but said very calmly: "Later, Jixia went to meet with the tribes of Dahe, and then went to Yucheng. I couldn't go because of illness. During those days when I was lying down, The one who looked after me was a female slave, whom we caught in the nearby forest."

"One day it occurred to me that when Jixia and the tribes of Dahe met for an alliance, they said that they were one family, but there were still slaves from other tribes in the tribes of Dahe; if we counted relatives, the people in the nearby forests were actually closer to us. close, but they were also taken as slaves."

Chen Jian was even more puzzled, and said strangely: "Since you think so, you should think that I am right to accept them as Chinese people instead of slaves?"

The young man also wondered: "Don't you think that relatives are shit, and people with the same surname can be captured as slaves? No one can believe it except yourself and people from your own clan!"

"At that time, I was sick and didn't need to work. These things were on my mind every day. I was thinking that the Meteor tribe might be closer to us, and maybe even had the same mother hundreds of years ago. But the Meteor tribe still captured the nearby tribes as slaves, and we wiped out the Meteor tribe again."

"So I thought, Jixia must be wrong, someone pretending to be an ancestor must be guiding you. Jixia said that we are too few to see so many slaves, so we can kill them! Kill those who can't be controlled. Wouldn't it be enough to keep those who can manage it and kill those from the other clans?"

Chen Jian looked at the young man blankly, and said with some distress: "What you said is not wrong, you can prove that your eyes are really farther than others... It's like you are supposed to be a plant that can build ships. The big tree turned into firewood. You had such a question back then, why didn't you ask me?"

The young man shook his head and said, "I'm afraid, because I know Ji Xia that you can convince me, so I won't ask. I believe that what I think is right, it is the guidance of the ancestors."

Chen Jian sighed and poured another bowl of wine for the young man. The young man took the drink and let out a long breath.

"When the news of Yucheng's reform came, I became even more afraid. Not only worried that Jixia would turn those escaped slaves into Chinese, but also the Department of Planning and Statistics."

"What's so scary about that? Didn't a workshop be built to make everyone's lives better?" Chen Jian was even more puzzled, not knowing what this young man was thinking.

"Ji Xia, I followed Ji Song to the tribes of Dahe. They have no iron and very little copper, but the life of their clan is different from ours. They can use exquisite jade, which slaves spent a long time carving out ; They don't have iron, but they can build beautiful stone statues of houses by people..."

"But Ji Xia, would you and the Department of Planning and Statistics let a slave spend several years carving a stone statue or polishing a piece of beautiful jade? They can do it without copper and iron, so what is the point of us making copper and iron? ? As long as there are enough slaves, is there anything they can’t do? One ox and one iron tool can grow food; can’t thirty slaves with stones not grow?”

"Besides, everyone wants to eat a pear, so the Department of Planning and Statistics arranges people to pick pears; everyone wants to eat fish, so they arrange people to catch fish."

"But... if I want a different piece of flute music, I want a different, luxurious silk dress, can these planning and statistics divisions do it? Another example is if I want a date, the planning and statistics division It is said that the jujube forest is too far away to pick it up, and there are pears nearby. In fact, pears and dates are both fruits, and they are both sweet. You can eat a pear instead..."

"When I was in Dahe Zhubu, a relative of a certain clan liked silk strings, and there were slaves for him to eat and drink. After thinking hard for several years, he finally played a melodious tune. Is it possible to put it in our city? Department of Planning and Statistics I can plan ten thousand wheat cakes or steamed buns, but I can't plan such a piece of music!"

"If Ji Xia wants to say that the Department of Planning and Statistics will let everyone live well, but I want to say that if there is no Department of Planning and Statistics, and those people are captured as slaves and killed if they can't control them, we can still live well, and Qi Jixia doesn't need to be so tired."

"I want to eat dates, I just need to tell the slave, and he will pick them for me instead of telling me to eat a pear..."

Chen Jian smiled helplessly: "Then what are you doing? Just lying on the kang?"

The young man hurriedly waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, I can do what I like! I can work in the fields when I want to, but I don't work because I want to eat. This is different!"

"What I like... such as thinking, such as thinking about some things, thinking about it every day, from morning to night. Thinking about what a person is, what a clan is, what a city is, where people come and go..."

"But no, without slaves, I can only do what I don't like to do. What I like to do can't make wheat cakes, so I am particularly afraid of the Department of Planning and Statistics.

"Because this thing makes people think that only producing food, copper and iron is labor, and rhythmic thinking is not labor, but I don't think that's the case. If we don't think like Jixia said, we won't be where we are today .”

"I think that what a slave can do is not a matter, and if there is no iron, more slaves can be used to replace it; but such as thinking is a matter, which cannot be done by 1 slaves. Or if you have to say it is a matter If so, the latter is expensive and the former is cheap.”

"I thought about it for a long time, and it suddenly occurred to me that if we had a lot of slaves in charge, and the people of our clan would just do what they liked. I worked in the fields when I wanted to, but not because I wanted to eat; I thought Just think about whatever you think about, and don’t worry about having nothing to eat.”

"This is the real person. Otherwise, wouldn't we be slaves to hunger and cold? Only when I am not afraid of starving to death or freezing to death, have food and clothing, can I know what a real person is, and I can unlock the truth." That squirrel and Jixia brought me doubts back then!"

Chapter 90 Country (Twelve)

"The more you know, the more you think. The more you think, the more pain you will have."

Chen Jian didn't answer the young man's words directly. He was silent for a long time, then shook his head and said, "I can't answer your question. Maybe you are right, but I will still kill you."

"Those betrayers are just a thunderstorm. After the rumble, it will always be sunny. No one will remember it except for the fallen flowers that have fallen on the ground and are about to turn into mud. And you are like the autumn wind. When it blows, it is not cold or even a little cold. It’s pleasant, but before you know it, everything dries up.”

"But now it's spring, it shouldn't be autumn, it's not the time yet."

The young man smiled, as if he was late for the cooked wheat rice for the first time since he walked out of the forest a long, long time ago.

"This is the best compliment to me. When others see the spring flowers, I have already started to smell the sweetness of the fruit, but this fruit may be poisonous."

He suddenly grabbed the pottery bowl full of wine with both hands, and poured the strong wine into his eyes, the eyes were blurred under the scorching of the strong wine.

"I hate these eyes. Jixia wiped away the darkness we had in the cave, and let us see the colors under the sun. But under the sun, not only the wheat seedlings sprouted green, but also the tigers and wolves bit off the necks of deer and sheep. bloody."

"You let us see farther, but you don't allow us to see colors that are different from yours! It's better that you didn't allow us to see so far from the beginning!"

His tone suddenly became a little crazy, his eyes were red, dripping from tears or wine, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"What you did must be right?"

Chen Jian smiled calmly: "If you want to look at the sun, you have to risk the pain of being blinded by the sun. What I do is not necessarily right. It is because I don't know whether I am right or wrong that I let you see it." Farther. It's just that for the time being I win and you lose, that's all."

Standing up, no longer caring about the crazy young man behind him, he opened the straw curtain and was about to leave.

The young man suddenly rushed towards Chen Jian, and stretched out his hands to strangle him around his neck. However, due to his long-term weakness, he had no strength left. Chen Jian grabbed the young man's hand, straightened his waist upwards, and straightened him from behind. fell straight to the ground.

The black-clothed guards outside rushed in, and without waiting for the young man to make any further moves, two bronze swords pierced the young man's shoulder blades and lungs.

The blood flowing out from the wound also took away the vitality and soul of the young man. Pink blood with bubbles flowed out from the corner of his mouth. Accompanied by severe coughing and struggling to curl up, his breath gradually weakened, but it did not immediately die.

When his eyes gradually became lax, he showed a look of relief. It was already difficult for him to speak, but he still said in a weak voice: "This is very good. People have actually died since they were seventeen or eighteen years old. Every day of life is just looking at the bronze mirror. Where the cheeks are beautiful, the bronze mirror will be polished; where there are scars or spots, the bronze mirror will be dull.”

"I can never change, I will always be stuck at that time, repeating constantly. This is the reason why I don't want to die. I can't change anymore, but what Jixia wants to do is different from what I want. It will only change day by day. If the pain continues, my soul is like a mold and cannot be changed..."

After coughing a few times, he suddenly grabbed Chen Jian's hand with all his strength and asked, "Ji Xia... You said that you can really see your ancestors after death, right?"

Chen Jian squatted down, let the other party's dying and powerful hands squeeze his hand painfully, and said lightly: "Yes, I can see it."

"Then... what kind of place is that? Is it... immortality, endless food, endless wine, and wonderful flute music that we have never heard before?"

The young man's eyes are full of anticipation. The anticipation before death is always looking forward to the whereabouts of the soul after death. Just a nod can make him die with a smile.