wavenovel Chapter 21 "Take Her Glasses"
Chapter 21 "Take Her Glasses"
After the assistant with the gold-rimmed glasses left, the two children sat on their own sofas, neither of them saying a word.
The delicate child took out a set of Lego bricks from the bag he was carrying and placed them on the table, where he began to assemble them seriously.
Luo Jinnian then took out the science fiction magazine that he had just asked Teacher Xiao Fei to buy for him and began to read it carefully.
He simply reads books without ever making any notes or marks, because he feels that would be distracting.
The reason Luo Jinnian wanted to buy science fiction magazines was because he felt it was time to broaden his writing scope; he couldn't just publish thrillers all the time.
So he thought he would see what kind of science fiction works were popular in China and then copy books accordingly.
In his past life, he was a die-hard science fiction fan. There were so many science fiction works worth copying and sharing with the world, such as "Blood Music," "The Icicle Bride," "Flowers for Algernon," and "Poetic Clouds."
Humanistic science fiction is indeed popular in any world. After looking at the cover of "Science Fiction Vision" in his hand, Luo Jinnian pondered for a while.
After reading his two consecutive thriller short stories, readers will realize that if they were to write a moving and tear-jerking science fiction story, it would definitely exceed everyone's expectations, and they would not be perceived as someone who can only write about bizarre and grotesque things.
Another advantage of copying science fiction is that it requires less scientific expertise, and at his age, it's somewhat believable—although it's hard to believe someone who's still a genius.
But what should he write about? Luo Jinnian's first thought was "The Heartbroken," a work by He Xi, one of the "three great sci-fi writers" in China.
"The Heartbroken" tells the story of the protagonist He Xi (yes, the author uses his own pen name as the protagonist) who is obsessed with the research of "micro-continuum theory" but no one understands him.
His masterpiece went unnoticed, but his mother, though ignorant of the theory, secretly hid it in the library as a rare copy.
One hundred and fifty years later, his theory was finally discovered and became the mathematical cornerstone of the unified model of the universe. This recognition, which came a century and a half late, proved the greatness of maternal love.
"The greatness of maternal love...?"
Luo Jinnian thought about what a middle-aged woman would look like, and then he thought about how the author's writing was always connected to the author's real-life experiences by the readers. If his book "The Heartbroken" was read and people thought that the middle-aged woman was great, he would feel unlucky.
"The Heartbroken One" - It's not my fault, it's this chaotic world that ruined you.
The delicate child, still building with blocks, looked up and stared curiously at the boy next to her, who was constantly scribbling and drawing on his workbook.
He loves studying so much.
This was Gu Yanxi's first impression of the boy.
Then, based on his impression of Maginot, he continued to recreate it using building blocks.
Luo Jinnian's eyes lit up. "I've got it! That's right, I should have thought of that sooner!"
You can copy "Take Her Eyes" yourself. It's the only domestic science fiction work to be included in textbooks. Everyone says Liu Cixin is a science guy, but he actually has a deep humanistic spirit.
From "The Village Teacher" to "The Road to Dawn," it's clear that only someone with a love for life could write such works.
He glanced up and saw what the boy in front of him was working on—to be honest, it seemed very illogical at first glance.
On the left side of the model, there is a thick city wall, with bunkers and turrets crammed together, so densely packed that they are impenetrable. On the right side, however, there are only a few scattered low mounds, with a large blank space in the middle, and further to the right, there is nothing at all, with a bare tabletop exposed.
The entire defense line is heavily weighted on the left and light on the right, as if it was only half-built before construction was halted.
Luo Jinnian glanced at it twice and couldn't help but say, "What you built is wrong."
The delicate child stopped what he was doing and looked up at him.
"Look how thick the wall is on the left, and the right side is completely empty." He pointed to the empty space with his finger. "If I were on the attacking side, I wouldn't even bother to crash into that wall on the left—only a fool would crash into a thick wall. I would just go around to the right, cut through that gap, and the whole defensive line would be ruined."
After listening, Gu Yanxi gave a soft "hmm".
"This wasn't built in the wrong place," she said. "It's the Maginot Line."
Luo Jinnian was taken aback.
He thought he was hallucinating.
"That's how the French built it back then. They piled all their strongest fortifications on the Franco-German border, thinking that the Ardennes region, with its dense forests and rivers, would be a natural barrier, so the right flank was almost undefended. As a result, in 1940, the main German force circled around from the Ardennes, and the entire defensive line became a joke without firing a single shot."
After Gu Yanxi finished speaking, he bent down and inserted the last building block into the gap in the row of bunkers on the left.
This is the Maginot Line, yes, this is the Maginot Line.
Ah, no, is this something you should be grasping at your age?
It turns out I've been scaring myself all along. There are countless young heroes in the world, so it seems... quite reasonable for a young literary giant like myself to emerge.
Luo Jinnian's audacity in copying "Take Her Eyes" has grown even stronger.
Like Yu Hua, Liu Cixin is a very realistic idealist. One of them changed the ending of his novel to a bright one in order to get it published in a magazine, while the other cut his already short novel "Take Her Eyes" from 8000 words to 2000 words in order to get his article published in a textbook.
The 2000-word version in the textbook significantly simplifies the original text's description of the harsh environment of the Earth's core and simplifies the complex scientific background, such as the "Sunset" project, to lower the reading threshold.
The official explanation is that the harsh scientific details were cut to suit students' minds.
In conclusion, Luo Jinnian still recommends that regardless of age, it is better to read the original work directly if possible.
"Take Her Eyes" actually has a sequel. It has a direct "sequel" connection with another short story by Liu Cixin, "The Earth Cannon". Both belong to the "Liu Cixin Science Fiction Universe".
The core plot of this collaboration lies with the protagonist, "Shen Jing".
In "Take Her Eyes," she is a girl trapped in the center of the earth.
In the novel, Shen Jing is a young girl who has just graduated from university and is full of hope for the future.
As the navigator of Sunset 6, she ventured deep into the Earth's interior, but an accident caused her to sink to the Earth's core, forcing her into isolation from the world, where she could only experience the beauty of the outside world in despair.
In "The Earth Cannon," Shen Jing's identity becomes clearer: she is the granddaughter of scientist Shen Huabei and the daughter of engineer Shen Yuan.
Her accident was the catalyst for the whole story—her father, Shen Yuan, devoted his life's work to the "Antarctic Garden" tunnel project in hopes of saving his daughter.
But the rescue ultimately failed, and Shen Jing remained forever deep in the Earth's core.
Luo Jinnian's gaze then fell upon the Maginot Line that the young man had fought so hard to build.
The reason why the French's concrete and steel fortifications ultimately failed would certainly be attributed to "technological stagnation" in Liu Cixin's eyes.
Just by reading one of his novels, "The Earth Cannon," it's clear that Liu Cixin highly values "technologia."
Later, his "technological theory" even evolved to the point that old technologies would inevitably be defeated by new technologies, and that every old problem could be solved by new technologies developed in the future.
Luo Jin read many of Liu Cixin's interviews after his death. He made no attempt to hide his "technocratic" views, or rather, he used "technocratic" views to protect himself in the world of fame and fortune.
Smart people are the best at adapting to their environment.
Luo Jinnian pondered this point, and his pen made some marks on the paper:
"Maybe I should find myself a crutch."