Chapter 10 Because These Already Exist
Chapter 10 Because These Already Exist
"Do you understand what I am saying?"
Yang Yanan tilted his head back, his eyes fixed on the little girl's eyebrows, but the latter shook her head even more happily after hearing this: "Tell me the truth, senior."
"The little one seems... seems to be even more dizzy."
Xu Yichi's eyes were full of sincerity, which made her even more dizzy. She began to doubt whether she was really like Yang Yan'an said, that she was young but her thoughts were more stubborn and feudal than hers, and more like an antique left over from the old times.
——The two sentences Yang Yanan just said were completely contrary to the opinions she had received in her daily life. She really couldn’t figure out what she meant!
"Tsk." Yang Yan'an smacked her lips in response. The look on her face was no longer one of disgust. Xu Yichi felt that she was looking at a fool.
"I say you young people are simply... Never mind. Since you have contributed so many bags of potato chips in the past two days, I will be merciful and give you a good talk today."
The little girl stood up and clapped her hands and walked around in a circle. Upon hearing this, Xu Yichi immediately sat up straight, put his hands on his knees, and looked like he was listening attentively.
Yang Yanan saw her look from the corner of his eye, and subconsciously sneered, then crossed his arms and spoke slowly: "First, I say that whether it is spiritual character or humanistic connotation, most of these are interpreted and added by later generations-"
"This is because when people are really facing those situations, they won't think about so many messy things in their minds."
"When soldiers stand in front of the battlefield, they don't think about how they will show their loyalty to the emperor and their patriotism—"
"They stood there, looking at the enemy troops opposite them and the rows of weapons shining with dazzling white light, and they only thought that what they were protecting behind them was not anything else but their home, their homeland - the place where they were born and raised."
"The people in the city are unarmed, and among those unarmed are their relatives, their friends, their parents, wives and children, or the girl whom the soldier had made a new pair of insoles for before leaving, or the soldier's beloved girl."
The little Loli spread out her hands and slowly told Xu Yichi about the countless scenes she had actually seen at the border over the past thousands of years.
The cool breeze blowing out of the air conditioner in the corner was inexplicably chilly. Listening to the subtle buzzing sound, the girl felt as if she was being pulled to Yanmen - to the tall, thick city wall covered with snow and dust and eroded by the wind.
"Those people may still be guarding the old house, waiting for them to return victoriously to have a hot meal; some may have unfortunately died in exile, and turned into a pile of bones in some unknown corner."
"But the soldiers on the front lines didn't know this. They only knew that every inch they retreated, there would be more souls who died in vain in the city behind them. They only knew that every inch they retreated, they were one step closer to the destruction of their country and their families."
"——No one knows whether their relatives or friends will be the next soul to die." Yang Yan'an's eyes were calm, and his voice was slightly deep, as distant as a bell, and as vague as chanting Sanskrit.
"So they can't retreat—and no one is willing to retreat." "Being a deserter means that you will have to struggle in the shadow of killing your relatives and friends in your hometown for the rest of your life; fighting forward with all your life may leave you a heroic name as a martyr."
"How many saints and heroes are there in this world who are born willing to sacrifice themselves for others? It was just that when he stood in that place, when he faced the enemy's swords and guns, when he recalled the soft and muddy little muddy road in his hometown when he was a child... and thought of his closest comrade who died tragically in the artillery fire yesterday."
"The purest emotion in the human heart will give him the most powerful strength at this time, so the courage at that moment transcends life and death and even transcends time - Xiao Xu, you must know that war is the conquest of the strong against the weak, the resistance of the weak against the strong, the game of power, desire and ambition of the superiors, and the contest between countries and strength..."
"But for the vast majority of ordinary soldiers, there is no such thing as endless success and fame, no such illusory power to be feared by the world... For them, war is just putting their heads on their belts - standing behind them are their fellow villagers, and what they want to protect is the hope of their wives, children and friends to live safely in the future."
"That's all... That's all! That kind of courage, at that moment, might inspire them to be full of generosity and heroism of 'sacrificing their lives for the country', but tracing back to the source, what triggered this courage was probably just that small, soft, and often overlooked point."
"Before they calmly go to their deaths, they might think, 'Hey! I've been a hero in my life'; or maybe they don't think about anything, but just miss the bowl of plain noodles sold at the small stall at the entrance of the village for no reason..."
Yang Yanan kept talking, and her tone was clearly not passionate at all, but one could always hear her enthusiasm for no reason.
"In short, countless people have walked the path of their predecessors again and again in this process, and finally turned into a sentence in history books that was lightly written: 'In a certain year and month, there was a riot in a certain place, and so and so many people died in the battle.'"
"——People always like to pick out those with official titles and names, write them up as models, and sing songs about their lives over and over again. They praise their character and loyalty... But those 'so-and-so' who also died in exile here but are unknown in history books, don't they have any such character and loyalty?"
"Not necessarily. It's just that writers and poets are so good at extracting the character and loyalty of countless people and condensing them into a fictional or fictional character, and then worshipping them on the altar, turning them into a tangible embodiment of a spirit that inspires future generations."
"So, do you understand what I mean, Xiao Xu?" Yang Yan'an's hands, which were originally loosely spread out, suddenly clenched into fists. "You don't need to make too many interpretations of their so-called 'spirit' and 'connotation', because all of this character and blood already exists in their bodies."
“You can’t overdo it, or underdo it—you just need to present their stories honestly and naturally in a way and style that you like, without exaggerating or distorting them.”
“Legends with souls will naturally pass on that flavor to the hearts of everyone who loves them.”
“——If you want to emphasize those ‘spirits’ too much and pay too much attention to those ‘contents’, your works will only become shallow, one-sided and deliberate.”
The little girl said expressionlessly: "No need. If you really do that, you will really mess up this project... and ruin the meaning of the existence of 'Yang Family Generals'."
Damn, I played too much and forgot to upload it
(End of this chapter)