A few days ago, one of my relatives found out that they had a tumor the size of a fist in their stomach. We were informed of this news before the surgery. My mom wanted to find time to ask the person about the situation, but I clearly expressed my opposition, saying, "What help does it do to ask now? Wait until after the surgery to send money." After the surgery, we sent 1,000 yuan, and made a phone call to exchange pleasantries. We learned that the entire uterus had been removed and that they might age faster in the future... Of course, we all avoided that bad situation. A few days later, two neighbors came to our house to visit, and at that time my mom received a phone call about the tumor test results, which said it was malignant. After that, the neighbors expressed their sympathy.
A few days later, I was working with the neighbor mentioned earlier, and she asked me about the situation with my relative's cancer. I said, "Last year, they found out about this tumor, but because they were young, they didn't expect it to grow so big after a year." She then asked about the husband of this relative, what his education was, how his job was, and I answered one by one, "In 2017, he told me that the house might not collapse, but it would definitely be difficult to sell in the future. So in 2017, he liquidated the house. Although there were gains and losses with cryptocurrency in between, overall, he definitely had money." After hearing me say all these things, the neighbor suddenly fell silent and lowered her head to continue her work.
In the afternoon, I heard her being asked about the house by someone else, and then I suddenly realized. She said, "My son works at a construction site, he's a boss in Beijing, currently on probation, earning 5,000 yuan a month, and it will gradually increase in the future." She also said that she bought a house in the county for over a million yuan, and it would be paid off in twenty years. I said, "That house costs quite a bit each year." She said, "I pay 4,000 yuan a month."
The reason why this neighbor fell silent is because of the decline in real estate, and during this period, her own family has become a slave to the house. How can she talk about this kind of thing to the people around her? But ironically, she is very concerned about my relative's cancer. From this perspective, someone else's misfortune is one's own good. And the fact that this neighbor suddenly fell silent, I not only told my family about it, but also wrote about it online. I am also turning someone else's misfortune into my own good. From this perspective, everyone is a bad person.
In the village, the favorite topic of discussion is who is arguing with whom, who has good or bad crops, who is making how much money... how someone's son is doing, how their studies are, how their job is, if they are married, if they have children... Of course, I belong to the kind of person who has no achievements and is constantly talked about by others. After going through so many things and hearing so many rumors, I gradually realized that generally, the things others talk about are usually bad things about others. One can talk about their own bad things, but the worse things are, the less likely they are to be talked about. Through these conversations, people gain a kind of happiness by filling their own tragedies with other people's tragedies. Just like comedy, under a predetermined condition, people can fully enjoy other people's tragedies. However, in real life, this enjoyment of other people's tragedies is packaged as sympathy, concern, and advice.
No matter how people evaluate Mo Yan, his description of the village is extremely accurate, and after so many years, the village is still the same. He was deprived of the right to attend middle school because he offended village cadres and wealthy peasants. He was criticized for stealing carrots at the age of twelve. In addition to the various experiences of his family, we can definitely affirm the authenticity of the village he portrays. If we don't use a moral evaluation, I really can't think of any other words besides "authentic". If we use an emotional word to evaluate, then it would be "dark", a dark village.
In the past, I couldn't understand how much hatred there was that made some people on the internet hate their fellow countrymen. Aren't they also Chinese? But the dark village made me understand that your misfortune is someone else's fortune. In this society of mutual harm, since everyone can't see hope in the distance, it's better to fall into the abyss and curse each other. Compared to their personal hatred, what does a group, a country, a race matter?
Revenge on society is the ultimate outcome of this atmosphere. If these so-called "haters of the country" and "haters of people" were given a chance, a chance to control the life and death of others, would they be kind or malicious? I think society has already sent them enough messages.
There is a saying circulating online, supposedly said by Mo Yan, "The ones who hope you do well are your parents, the ones who are afraid you do too well are your relatives, and the ones who wish you bad luck are your colleagues. Most of the people who advise you to be generous don't have good intentions. Most of the people who teach you how to make money want to make money off you." The ones who hope you do well are your parents because parents and you are in a mutually beneficial relationship, but hoping for your success doesn't necessarily mean you will succeed, and there are many cases where good intentions lead to bad actions.
Just like the situation with my relative's malignant tumor, I won't say a word, and I won't contact them proactively. In my dark heart, I might think that no one will mock me anymore, and maybe my speculations about vaccines are true. But no matter what the reason, I try to remain silent. Ignoring a person's existence, ignoring the existence of a tragic person, perhaps that is the greatest redemption for oneself.
The stench of the city used to keep me away, and the dim lights at night used to make me feel lonely. But who knows that this stench is not a fragrance, and this loneliness is not happiness. Compared to the dark village, despite its various shortcomings, the city is a more civilized existence. In medieval Europe, the system of feudal lords prevailed, "My lord's lord is not my lord, my vassal's vassal is not my vassal." In order to expand their power, kings strongly encouraged the development of cities. People living in cities didn't have to obey the lords, they only needed to obey the laws of the king. Farmers then had another choice, the free city. The greatest justice lies in allowing the group to exist eternally, and the core of this justice is substitutability. Just like the European peasants in the Middle Ages, they could also choose to enter a free city. The so-called decentralization is also a kind of substitutable choice. I don't need to rely on any one thing to exist.
I can't fully describe the political darkness in the village. After the village chief finishes, they let their son continue as village chief; after the team leader is done, they let their daughter-in-law continue as team leader; after the younger brother finishes as team leader, they let the older brother continue as team leader. Even the pumping station in the village, it's all about reproductive relationships. These are not other people's villages, nor are they villages from the past, but the villages of the present moment.
Just like Mo Yan said in "Big Breasts and Wide Hips", "You say relatives, it sounds strange and sacred, but if you think about it carefully, so-called relatives are all based on the relationship between men and women sleeping together." And when reproductive organs encounter power, it's like taking Viagra, confirming the saying that "x deceives people". That's why when praising someone, people say, "You're really x."
I really don't understand why some people worry about the so-called hollowing out of villages, why some people mourn the disappearance of culture, why some people worry about declining birth rates... a dark village has its own value and meaning, but we definitely don't need to contribute to this darkness; a culture may have been splendid, but if it dies, then let it die, we don't need to hold onto its decaying bones and call out to its soul. Although humans come from the womb, they will not return to the womb. Mountains cannot cover it, after all, it flows east.
By now, I believe everyone has understood the solution I have in mind, just like in "The Three-Body Problem" when "Bronze Age Number" calls "Blue Space Number": "Do not return, this is not home!"