A few days ago, my relative found out that there was 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 about the situation, but I clearly expressed my opposition and said, "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 discussing the 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 biopsy results, which said it was malignant. After that, the neighbors expressed 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 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, their education, and how their job was. 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 is working at a caterpillar field, he's the boss in Beijing, currently on probation, earning a monthly salary of 5,000, and it will gradually increase in the future." She also said that she bought a house in the county for over one million, and it will be paid off in twenty years. I said, "That house costs a lot of money each year." She said, "I pay 4,000 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 mortgage slave. How can she talk about this 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, not only did I tell my family about it, but I also wrote about it online, turning someone else's misfortune into my own good. From this perspective, everyone is a bad person.
The favorite topic of discussion in the village 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 type of person who has no prospects and is constantly being talked about by others. After going through so many things and hearing so many rumors, I gradually realized that generally, the things people talk about are usually bad things about others. They can talk about their own bad things, but the worse things are, the less they will talk about them. Through these conversations, people gain a kind of happiness by filling their own tragedies with other people's tragedies. Just like comedy, under certain predetermined conditions, people can fully enjoy other people's tragedies. However, in real life, this psychological enjoyment of other people's tragedies is packaged as sympathy, concern, and advice.
No matter how people evaluate Mo Yan, his descriptions of the village are extremely accurate, and even 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 the wealthy middle peasants. He was criticized at the age of twelve for stealing carrots. Coupled with 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 emotionally colored word to evaluate, then it is darkness, a dark village.
In the past, I couldn't understand how much hatred there must be for some people to hate their fellow countrymen on the internet. Aren't they also Chinese? But the dark village made me understand that your misfortune is someone else's good 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 anti-China or anti-human parties were given a chance, a chance to control the life and death of others, would they act with goodwill or malice? I think society has already sent them enough messages.
There is a saying circulating online, supposedly said by Mo Yan, "The ones who hope for your improvement are your parents, the ones who fear you being too good are your relatives, and the ones who wish for your misfortune are your colleagues. Most of the people who advise you to be magnanimous have ulterior motives. Most of the people who teach you how to make money want to make money from you." The ones who hope for your improvement are your parents because parents and children have a common interest, but hoping for your improvement doesn't necessarily mean you will improve. 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 actively contact them. 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 the various shortcomings of the city, it 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 follow the laws of the king. This gave peasants another choice, and free cities emerged. The greatest justice lies in allowing a group to exist eternally, and the core of this justice is substitutability. Just like the European peasants of 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 darkness of village politics. After the village chief finishes their term, they let their son continue as village chief; after the team leader steps down, 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, which pumps water, is subcontracted at every level, all based on 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 built on the relationship of 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 brilliant, 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 up the fact that the river flows eastward.
By now, I believe everyone has understood the solution I propose, just like in "The Three-Body Problem" when the "Bronze Age" calls out to the "Blue Space": "Do not return, this is not home!"