Chu Jin suddenly threw the newspaper aside, panting, sweating profusely, and his heart was in turmoil. He stared at the newspaper as if he was looking at a monster.

[I'm going to be eaten by Xiaoshun! 】

These words kept lingering in his mind.

Chu Jin began to tremble. His skin was shrinking crazily, and goose bumps were dancing all over his body. His brain was filled with a turbulent sea.

He suddenly recalled many past events: the stick his father used to beat him with, because "a good son is born under the stick"; his mother insisted that he marry his cousin, because "if you don't marry her, you are not filial to me!".

It was hard to describe how he felt at that moment.

If I had to describe it in words, it would be like he was walking blindfolded on what he thought was a bright and spacious road, when suddenly a wisp of cold air came out from the ground and licked the back of his feet. He took off the cloth covering his eyes, only to find that the long night had arrived and the abyss was staring at him dimly.

What is filial piety?

Confucius said: "When serving your parents, if you advise them and they do not follow your advice, you should still respect them and not disobey them, and work hard for them without complaining."

This sentence means that if parents are wrong, children should point out their mistakes tactfully and respectfully. If parents do not listen, children should not disobey their parents' wishes and should continue to serve them respectfully and work hard for them without harboring any resentment.

Is this filial piety???

Is this kind of filial piety really right?

Does filial piety mean blind obedience? If parents are wrong and you still obey them blindly, isn't that just aiding and abetting the evil, making the mistake even worse?

Confucius required that no matter what their parents did, their children should "work hard for them without complaining". Confucius was a saint, so he used the saint's standard to require his students. But in the thousands of years of Chinese history, how many saints like Confucius have there been? The rest are just ordinary people like him.

When parents are not kind, who can willingly serve them for decades?

Li Jingran said in the book that filial piety is "pretending." Pretending to listen to parents and make them happy is filial piety. As for one's own thoughts and will, they are irrelevant.

A foreign sage once said that man is a thinking reed.

The reason why people are people is because they have thoughts. Without thoughts, what is the difference between people and reeds, and those emotionless animals?

But if a person goes against the wishes of his parents, he will be called a beast.

Isn’t this too ridiculous???

Li Jingran chose to resist. Even if it would make him be called a beast, he still chose to resist.

But how many "filial" people in China are puppets in the hands of their parents? Although they are not the beasts their parents say, what is the difference between them and beasts when they have lost their thoughts and will?

In other words, no matter which path people choose, will they become animals?

He thought for a long time, and seemed to have figured out some things, but also seemed to have figured out nothing. In the end, he only felt a sense of powerlessness and disappointment.

He suddenly felt a deep sense of shame because he easily believed what was said in the newspaper and actually thought that Mr. Night Watchman was such a despicable person.

Unlike the self-righteous attitude of the previous few days, now when he thought about how he had ordered the night watchman around and looked down on him, his face turned red as if he had just been slapped in the face, and he felt burning with shame.

He always thinks he is smart, but his little cleverness is not real intelligence at all! He is just a mediocre person who thinks he is great.

He is already old, but he doesn't think and see things as clearly as a teenager. It's really shameful.

The night watchman is truly smart! Although he does not have a high degree of education, he is a true genius that he needs to look up to! Although he is young, his thoughts are more extensive than many old pedants who talk about "benevolence, righteousness and morality".

He used to be one of those old pedants who talked a lot of nonsense, but after reading Mr. Night Watchman's article today, he also became one of the "beasts".

A foreign sage once said that life is precious, but love is more precious. If it is for freedom, both can be abandoned.

Man is born free.

Rather than destroying his free will because of "filial piety", he would rather be a free "beast."

…

…

The sun was rising above the pole, and the warm sunlight shone through the window, evenly falling on Fu Kemao, who was lying at the desk reading a newspaper. However, he couldn't help but shiver because of the cold.

This is a new article written by Night Watchman.

The name is "The Animal Realm".

It’s a very strange name. If it were the name in the past, Fu Kemao would not even have read it.

But a person's reputation is like a tree's shadow, and the author of this article is the night watchman. In recent days, newspapers have published a series of private stories about the night watchman, and it seems that the reputation of the night watchman has become infamous overnight.

The night watchman at the center of the storm remained silent, without any movement or publication of any articles in the newspaper to defend himself.

Fu Kemao also became more and more angry and disappointed from his previous half-belief.

This anger suddenly turned into a flash of inspiration when the name of the night watchman's brother was published in the newspaper one day.

Li Jingran's younger brother is called Li Jingliang.

And he happened to know a Li Jingliang.

Fu Kemao suddenly realized that Le Jing was Li Jingran? It turns out that the night watchman was quite handsome? And he was so young! He was actually his age!

Fu Komao admired the night watchman even more.

Thinking of the quarrel between the two brothers that day, the balance in his heart had completely tipped towards Li Jingran.

This must be a frame-up! Everything in the newspaper is fake! The author I follow is a good person!

As for the mastermind behind the scandal in the newspaper, Fu Kemao didn't need to think much and set his sights on Li Jingliang.

Because he smelled the same smell from the article in the newspaper as from Li Jingliang. If Fu Kemao was a modern person, he would know how to describe that smell - the article, like Li Jingliang, was filled with the strong smell of the prosperous white lotus.

Just when he was about to find someone to teach Li Jingliang a lesson in private, the night watchman who had remained silent finally spoke out in the newspaper to defend himself!

When he heard the news from his personal servant and book boy Zhang Shun, he couldn't wait to open the "Literature Newspaper", curious about how the author he was a fan of would personally fight back against the haters.

[I was born in a wealthy family in Northeast China and was a strange child since childhood.

…

…

So I started to observe my stepmother’s son.

Fu Kemao felt something strange in his heart.

It was as if a cold poisonous snake had wrapped itself tightly around his heart, its core extending out to gently lick the veins in his blood vessels.

He felt inexplicably panicked and frightened, but he couldn't tell why.

Then he continued reading.

[My stepmother’s son is my younger brother.]

My younger brother has always been a filial son in the eyes of my parents. He respects me in front of my parents and often flatters me. My parents are very satisfied with his performance, so they are increasingly dissatisfied with me, an incompetent and unfilial son who does not love my younger brother.

I believe I can learn the secret of filial piety from my younger brother.

My family is a big family, so we have to follow the rules when eating. Only the eldest son can enjoy the honor of eating with his parents. This is the moment I dread the most every day.

I sat in the seat closest to my father. In the past, I would be as silent as a ghost, just burying my head in my food, hoping to end this long punishment as soon as possible.

But today is a little different because I am determined to find out the secret of my brother's filial piety.

Eating is a painful punishment for me, but a joyful experience like an amusement park for my brother.

I watched his every move with curiosity. He recited to his father with great interest, he told his father about his life in school, and he picked up food for his father!

"Dad, this is delicious. Please eat more." The smile on his face seemed like it was painted on with paste, but he did not look angry.

The father also showed that standard smile, "You are really filial! Unlike your elder brother, this unfilial son never cares about what his father likes to eat!"

So the two of them turned to look at me, with the same coldness in their eyes, but a standard smile on their lips.

"If you can learn even 80% of what your brother does, I'll wake up laughing in my dreams!"

"If you don't eat, you will die." My teacher once warned me this when I was young.

But the younger brother gave his precious meal to his father, because that is what a filial child should do.

In a trance, I suddenly realized something.

This is not a dining table, but a small sacrificial ceremony.

The younger brother sacrificed part of his life to the sacred father in exchange for the father's evaluation of "filial piety".

I suddenly remembered the past.

The brothers studied hard because of their father's request, endured his scoldings with meekness, and were grateful for his discipline and punishment...

I finally realized that this kind of sacrifice was secretly carried out on different occasions at every moment. The more lives I sacrificed to my father, the stronger and happier my father became.

Realizing this, I suddenly lowered my head, a large amount of saliva began to secrete from my mouth, and my stomach churned, making me want to vomit even more.

…

…

I'm going to be eaten by Xiaoshun.

Just like Guo Ju in the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars who buried his son to serve his mother, now they are going to bury me too.

Whether filial or unfilial, the end result is death.

The only difference is whether you die as a beast in your parents' eyes or die as a filial child.

I don't want to die.

So I left home.

So I became a beast.

But I will die eventually.

Just like an animal, even if it has freedom, it is still an animal. 】

Fu Kemao's hands trembled as if he had fallen into an icy cave. In an instant, he was sure that he had seen something extremely terrifying. He stood up suddenly, feeling dizzy and his stomach contracted violently. He leaned over and retched, as if he wanted to vomit out his soul.

…

…

Zhou Dezhang put down the newspaper in his hand, stood up, put his hands behind his back, and stared at the remaining snow in the yard.

The warm winter sun cast a layer of gold on the dazzling new snow, and a few sparrows stood on the branches and chirped. There were children laughing outside the wall, and a few cats meowed in the yard.

A strange realization suddenly arose in his heart.

It turns out that the birth of a legend does not require any earth-shattering action.

Legends are often born in ordinary days.

It would be a long, long time before people could feel the earth-shaking aftershocks of the silent earthquake, until he was dead. But on the day when the legend was born, children were laughing and sparrows were singing.

Although he was convinced that he was a witness to a great legend, his heart was still immersed in a dull numbness.

Only time can eliminate numbness, just as only time can cause aftershocks.

He let out a long sigh and suddenly burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that his whole body was shaking and tears came out of his eyes.

He had been trudging in the darkness for so long that he himself had begun to get used to it.

If it were Li Jingran, perhaps he could really end the long night of this country.

Before that, he only needed to watch Li Jingran move forward step by step, watch him ascend to the sky, watch him turn into a torch, and watch him become a legend.

(First published on Jinjiang Literature City. Please do not read pirated works. The author needs to make a living. Please support the genuine article.)

The author has something to say:

There will be another update later, it will be very late, don't wait for me.

The doctor said I can't stay up late for my hair... If I become bald, will you still love me? QWQ

And fix a bug. In the last chapter, I said that Le Jing's "The Animal Way" and his father's clarification letter were published in the newspaper at the same time. I was confused when I wrote it. If they were published at the same time, it would not be conducive to the development of my plot. So I will fix it later. Remember that Li's father's clarification letter will be published after "The Animal Way" is published in the newspaper~