Chapter 458: Light Shines in the Dark

Chapter 458: Light Shines in the Dark

Chapter 458: Light Shines in the Dark

The youngest son Ren Chuanliang looked at his father with expectant eyes.

The five families were very angry, and their first reaction was to change the subject and scold their children for why their scores on last week's math test were lower.

Even though they had criticized it at the time, it was just a casual thing to bring it up again. But soon, the five families put an end to this idea. It is still necessary to have some reason when educating children.

"I asked Chuanliang to ask before. Seventy to eighty percent of the students in your class have not read The Little Prince or heard of the author Gu Lu. On the contrary, the most well-known work is Pillow Man." The five families calmed down and realized a problem.

Pillow Man is the representative work of the Five Families. It tells the story of a group of pillow aliens who came to the blue planet. The pillows of some children were possessed. Then, with the efforts of the protagonists, the pillow aliens gave up the idea of ​​invasion, and the protagonists also studied hard and got high scores.

It was because of the investigation of their own children, coupled with the information collected by the five families on the Internet, that they implemented the action of stepping on Gu Lu to take the position.

"That's right, but the teacher said we should organize an activity today." Ren Chuanliang is still young, so he explained clearly, but it was a bit long-winded, so he briefly summarized it.

The Communist Youth League’s activity, “Be the Young Pioneers and League Members of the New Era,” was first implemented in Beijing, with all public elementary, middle and high schools participating.

They sang "We Are the Successors of Communism" and "Glory to the Communist Youth League of China", "Study from Advanced Examples", held "Red Reading Clubs" and shaped correct outlooks on life, life and values.

Among them, Gu Lu’s journey from a Young Pioneer, to a member of the Communist Youth League, and then to a Party member (he was forced to join the Party on the spot when he entered the think tank), can be said to be an advanced example.

The teachers also mentioned: When Gu Lu became a Young Pioneer, he was an excellent Young Pioneer. He became a member of the League, reformed the unreasonable school anniversary system, and stood up to supervise the hygiene of the school cafeteria... Make progress together with the school. Classmates, do you have any ideas? Write a 500-600-word application essay and submit it this week.

Then Ren Chuanliang and his classmates chatted: "I have Gu Lu's books at home. You don't know, Gu Lu is a very famous writer," "That's nothing. I have 20 or 30 complete sets of books at home," "You can't do that. My dad is also a fairy tale writer and took photos with Gu Lu." And so on. The more he boasted, the more outrageous it became. The classmates didn't believe him, so Ren Chuanliang shouted that he would show them the photos tomorrow.

"Gu Lu is so despicable, he actually used tricks outside the game!" The first reaction of the five families after knowing the whole story.

In the eyes of the five families, this move was obviously because Gu Lu was worried that he would lose in the publication of the "New Fairy Tales" series, and he couldn't save face, so he resorted to this desperate measure.

"Haha, it's useless. If you're writing fairy tales for adults, I admit defeat. You're good at writing about the Little Prince and martial arts. But writing for children - I win this round!"

The inner drama was interrupted by the child's childish voice, "Dad, you are laughing so happily, do you really know the powerful Gu Lu?"

The five family members came back to their senses and coughed dryly, "We are now participating in the same book publishing event, but he and I haven't communicated much..."

"Oh, so Dad, you are not at the level to recognize Gu Lu?" Even though Ren Chuanliang is only five or six years old, he can summarize.

He said, "Then let's photoshop it."

The five families tried to let their youngest son know that their father was not bad either. "In terms of fairy tales, he and I are equally good. In some ways, I am even better than him."

"Really?" Ren Chuanliang widened his eyes.

"Of course, you will see news reports after a while. My new article is better than his," said Wu Jiajia.

"Then why does Gu Lu's name appear in our books," Ren Chuanliang said, "On the second to last page of our Chinese textbook, there is the recommended extracurricular reading list, Flatland. Why is there no dad's book?"

"Uh..." The five families didn't know what to say. I'm sorry, I didn't let Master Gu Lu enjoy himself?
"Will we be able to see it after a while, right?" Ren Chuanliang felt that he had some good material to brag about.

I believe you can see that the activities of the Communist Youth League have already started in Beijing.

The teacher said it was “not compulsory”, but it was equivalent to homework. This was the first time that the name Gu Lu left a deep impression on the post-2000s students.

Many young people secretly complained: "Why is Gu Lu so annoying? He is everywhere", "Why should we learn from him?", "He is the second most annoying person to me after Lu Xun."...

If you want to leave an indelible impression on people, the best way is in childhood, in homework.

It is becoming famous in China and is no less famous abroad. The wonderful drama "Light Shines in the Dark" from the Bear Country has begun performances!
Act 1, Scene 1 The stage is a covered terrace in a rich country house.

In the foreground are three actors, two women and one man, playing the wife, Maria, the wife's sister, Alexandra, and the brother-in-law, Peter.

In the background are several actors, playing the roles of the young priest, the nanny, Liuba, Lizanka, Styopa, Vanya, etc.

Why do we say that many plays have a threshold for viewing and their development is restricted? This is a clear example.

There is no clue at the beginning. Maria, her sister and brother-in-law are just telling how her husband Nikolai (a character based on Tolstoy himself) is going to hand over all his property to others to manage. If you don't have a bit of patience, you will find it hard to immerse yourself in the story. It feels nonsensical.

The first line of Act 1, Scene 1 is spoken by Alexandra, the elder sister. She says that if Nicholas was not her brother-in-law, she would very much approve of it, but since it was her brother-in-law who did this, then this behavior was nonsense!
This statement sets the tone for the early part of the play - "When good things hurt the people around you, they are no longer good things."

The plots in scenes 2, 3, 4, etc. are about Alexandra accusing her brother-in-law Nicholas of his behavior to the priest, her daughter, and her relatives.

There was even a very interesting conversation with the priest: "Then why don't you give up worldly pleasures? Look, you're smoking a cigarette." "Because of weakness of will, that is, incompetence."

The highest state of Orthodoxy is to give up worldly enjoyments, which is impossible for priests. However, this does not prevent believers from supporting them in doing so. Ironically, it is reasonable that Tolstoy was expelled from the Russian Synod.

If you only watch the first part, you would think that Nicholas is a fool who has been brainwashed by a sect. This impression could not be changed until Varvara (the actress who plays Nicholas) came on stage.

The first plot is that a farmer secretly cut down ten trees on the manor and was to be sentenced, but Nicholas thought he should not be sentenced.

Nicholas believed that he owned 900 acres of forest, with 500 trees per acre, which meant 450,000 trees. Why should he let the peasants lose everything just because of one in 45,000 trees?

"If I don't ask for compensation for this 1/45,000, the remaining 44,999/45,000 will soon be cut down." "I have no right to own this forest at all, because the land belongs to everyone, that is, it cannot belong to a single person." ...

Deputy Minister Yan frowned. The land in the country is state-owned and does not belong to any one person, but theft should not be tolerated. So what exactly is this drama trying to express?
There are Chinese subtitles at the top (on the curtain bar). Deputy Minister Yan’s Russian is average, so he might have heard it wrong, but he will never make mistakes in Chinese.

But this was written by Tolstoy, a writer known as the "mirror of the Russian Revolution", so the connotation should be deeper, right?

"The script of the play hasn't been changed, right?" Deputy Minister Yan asked the person next to him in a low voice.

There were quite a few people discussing in low voices in the audience. It's not like there would be discussion every time there was a plot, and it's not like we were listening to classical music... Don't think it's that high-end.

Of course, the discussion volume cannot be loud, as it is not good to affect others in such occasions.

The person next to him was Gu Lu, who responded in a low voice, "No, it's the original text. Nikolai is a reflection of Tolstoy, and Nikolai's experience is almost his own experience."

To be honest, those who can sit in this position, even if their literary literacy is ordinary, their IQ is definitely enough. Deputy Minister Yan has been too hard. Using himself as the prototype - letting the female supporting role appear first, and then the religious people can't do it, and the "selfish" behavior affects the marriage of his daughter Liuba, all of which are using storytelling techniques to write himself (Nikola) so difficult to understand, even annoying.

It is definitely not the reader Dihua. Can you imagine that the great writer Tolstoy did not know how to describe characters in his later years?

“No one understands. This is Tolstoy. He wants to express his situation that no one understands, not even the audience understands him?” Although Deputy Minister Yan’s inner thoughts were questions, they were basically affirmative.

End of act one.

Entering the second act, the plot turns to the closest person, the wife Maria's direct criticism. She took out a letter written to her by her husband Nikolai: "... My plan is this. We will give all our land to the peasants, leaving only 50 acres of land and gardens, vegetable gardens, and waterlogged meadows. We will work hard ourselves, but we will not force ourselves or the children. After all, what we leave behind can bring us an income of about 500 rubles."

Most of the plot of the play is driven by dialogue, which shows that Maria has given birth to nine children for Nicholas and her body has aged. Now forcing her to work is simply incomprehensible!
Whether in the Bear Country or China, letting the family live a good life is the pursuit of most people.

Not to mention his relatives, even the serfs that Nicholas wanted to help could not understand him and thought that the "master" was destroying the serfs' stable lives.

All the emotions accumulated to the limit.

Varvara, the actor who played Nikolai, showed his strength as a leading man.
He shouted: For example, today, I spent a morning among the homeless in the Lezhanov apartment. I saw a baby starving to death, a little boy became an alcoholic, and a washerwoman with tuberculosis went to wash clothes for others. Later, I returned home, and the servant in a white tie opened the door for me. I saw my son, a little boy, and asked the servant to bring him some hot water. I saw such a large number of servants serving us. ...

When Nicholas realized that his wealth was obtained by plundering the common people and exploiting their land, how could he continue to enjoy the fruits of the labor of the hungry?

The plot enters the second stage.

“Man is the environment. He describes the oppression and involvement of the environment, and then he should peel himself off in blood…” Writer Oksana had read “Light Shines in the Dark” a long time ago, but the wonderful performances of the actors still made her completely immersed.

"My decision not to write a sequel to The Brothers Karamazov was the right one. The depth of thought of writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is simply beyond our reach and it is difficult to even get close to it," said Oksana.

Edward Welkin said, "Keep your voice down, something more exciting is coming."

That’s right, why is the plot of the second stage “falling into”? Because the third and fourth acts are all about the struggles in Nikolai and Tolstoy’s inner world.

Varavall is indeed a good actor with very delicate acting skills. He acted out the storm in Nikolai's heart and also wrote the conversations between his son, daughter and wife, trying to convey his own feelings.

But, it has no effect.

Without correct ideological guidance, Nicholas' awakening was too tragic, just like the most common potatoes in this land. After peeling off the dirty and muddy skin and leaving the flesh in the air, it will turn black in a short while.

Scientifically speaking, it is the involvement of oxygen that makes potatoes turn black, which causes an enzymatic browning reaction.

So what is it that makes Nikola what it is?
It's the system.

It's all the systems that are good to him, and all the systems that are bad to him.

It's everyone.

All those who are oppressing the serfs, and all the serfs who are oppressed.

The last straw that broke the camel's back was that Boris, in accordance with Christian teachings, refused to take an oath and refused to obey an order issued in the name of the state to deprive others of their lives (to serve in the military).

Was thrown into prison.

Scene 14, dancing people serve as a transition.

During this scene, the other actors leave and the props on the stage are removed.

Only the lonely Varvara (Nicholas) was left on the stage, staring at the ceiling, as if staring at God. "Vassily Nikanorovich (priest) has returned to the church. I am responsible for Boris' death. Liuba is going to get married. Am I wrong? Am I wrong for believing in you? God, help me!"

"The Light Shines in the Dark" - the original work did not shine, Tolstoy stopped writing, and at this point, he could not write anymore.

Nicholas couldn't survive any longer, just like his real life, he couldn't go on.

The great writer Tolstoy also did not find the answer to continue. In the original work, Gu Lu read it by force, and the series of foreign names made his head hurt.

But through the drama performed by excellent actors, Gu Lu seemed to be able to glimpse into the heart of the great writer.

Even though you need to watch it with the subtitles at the top, the actor's portrayal is amazing. The man looking up seems to be asking God for help, as if he is whimpering helplessly.

Writers who had read the original novel, such as Big Brain Mensa, Bearded King, and Oksana, applauded because they knew that the wonderful performance was over.

It's time to applaud, isn't there another scene? Other viewers who haven't read the book are surprised, but they still applaud.

slam-la-

Loud applause.

So, how dare you continue such a posthumous work? Oksana looked at Gu Lu, and when he didn't respond, she looked at Yuri who was delivering the book.

Salikov also looked at Gu Lu. He wanted to see his embarrassment, because any normal author would be frightened when seeing such a work.

"No matter what the work is like, my heart is very stable." Salikov, also known as the Big Brain Mensa, retracted his gaze.

The stage was set, and Valavar had aged noticeably compared to his previous stage appearance.

The narration explains that it was sixteen years later.

The sequel is written so late? Oksana was surprised.

The first line spoken by the actor playing the student is: "We just want to ask Leo Tolstoy something - just one question, of course, very important to us, and probably to him too..."

People like Salikov, Edward Welkin and Oksana Vasyakina were stunned.

Is it your real name?
The audience was also stunned. The author Tolstoy's name appeared directly? A stage error?!

Yuri likes others who have never seen the world, and a smile appeared on his face. The real shock has just begun!
(End of this chapter)