Chapter 143: Stories from the Adults’ Perspective
Yu Sheng carefully introduced his construction plan in the valley to Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, including the magnificent temple in his mind and a series of ancillary buildings to be built around the platform in the future - although he had not yet figured out what these buildings could be used for, they needed to be built first - and then he explained why the square house next to the platform was not a toilet.
The two girls listened very attentively, and the most serious part was the second half when they were trying to hold back their laughter.
Yu Sheng was also helpless about this - because he also felt that the first phase of the project did look a bit like a toilet...
He could only end the topic awkwardly and try to divert the guests' attention.
"These are the chickens raised by the beaver," he introduced the other things in the valley to Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, "After the ecology here recovers, we can let them run around outside."
Little Red Riding Hood's reaction was the same as Irene's at the beginning. Her eyes widened immediately: "You let a fox raise chickens?!"
"It's a fox demon - there's a big difference," Yu Shengte corrected seriously, "I'm serious, she actually takes good care of them."
As he was talking, Hu Li had already added water and feed to the chicken coop, and then carefully checked the status of the chicks. Then he walked over happily, turned his head and groped in his tail, and took out two chicks to show Little Red Riding Hood: "They are boiled and salt-baked. I plan to let them be the leaders of the flock in the future~"
Little Red Riding Hood was stunned for a long time before she realized that Baiqie and Salt-baked were the names of two chickens.
Before she could say anything, Yu Sheng enthusiastically introduced other places to her: "I plan to grow vegetables in this area. Do you see the canal over there? It comes from the foot of the mountain and can be used to irrigate the land. Later, I plan to build a reservoir in the corner of the platform. I plan to raise pigs in the other area in the future, but I don't have the time for that yet. A little further away, there is an empty space over there, did you notice? I plan to set up a fixed 'gate' there, but it's just a preliminary plan now, and I still need to study how to implement it. Right now, my main focus is still on farming and building houses..."
Both Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel were dumbfounded. They just nodded blankly as they listened to Yu Sheng's series of introductions, especially Little Red Riding Hood. The impression in her mind was still that this place was "hungry". Every time Yu Sheng introduced a project to her, she subconsciously went through her mind "this place is a foreign land". Her three views were as shaken as if she was doing sit-ups in a coffin.
Yu Sheng didn't think too much about it. After introducing the two girls proudly, he looked at them happily and asked them expectantly, "How do you feel? How is this valley?"
The long-haired princess opened her mouth and uttered after a long while: "What kind of valley is this? This XingX Valley?"
Yu Sheng thought about it and felt that the other party’s summary was quite accurate, but he did not have the copyright, so he could not use the name.
A fresh breeze blew in from the depths of the valley, carrying with it the scent of grass and soil, as well as Xiaoxiao's cheerful laughter - the little girl was running around on the grass, chasing and playing with Irene happily.
Irene was also very excited. She ran and yelled, "Is there anyone who can take care of this naughty kid? Huh? No one cares about the human rights of puppets, right?!"
"I'll go and watch," Rapunzel looked up and said with a helpless smile. Then she picked up Xiaoxiao's schoolbag and walked away briskly. "Xiaoxiao! Take a break and drink some water before playing again!"
Yu Sheng sat down on the edge of the platform with a smile on his face. He looked at Rapunzel who was taking care of the child, Xiaoxiao who was talking excitedly, and Irene who was trying to communicate with the naughty child in a rage. Then he turned around and glanced at Little Red Riding Hood standing next to him: "Do you think tomorrow is worth looking forward to?"
Little Red Riding Hood was also quietly looking into the distance. After hearing Yu Sheng's words, she was silent for a moment before speaking: "Black Forest... and other subsets of 'fairy tales', can they also become like this?"
Her voice was very soft, as if she was afraid that a louder voice would shatter the tiny glimmer of light.
"I don't know how to fight the 'main body' of the fairy tale yet, but at least we can start with the Black Forest. As far as I can see now, although the Black Forest is a 'consciousness space', it still follows the rules of ordinary foreign lands in all aspects. Moreover, the entities it generates - mainly wolves - are not invincible and will be affected by my blood."
Yu Sheng spoke slowly and calmly.
"The key question now is how to find the most central and essential part of the Black Forest - I suspect that it is not a 'wolf'."
Little Red Riding Hood widened her eyes slightly: "Not a wolf?"
"What's so special about the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood?" Yu Sheng asked calmly.
Little Red Riding Hood was stunned, as if she couldn't follow the other person's train of thought.
"Little Red Riding Hood, add quotation marks," Yu Sheng continued, speaking out his thoughts, "Since the essence of 'fairy tales' is 'collections of stories', and each subset is a story, that means that no single 'element' in the story can be used as a 'representative' of the entire story. A single wolf cannot represent it, nor can a single hunter or Little Red Riding Hood. Even the dark forest... cannot represent Little Red Riding Hood."
Little Red Riding Hood finally looked thoughtful, as if she understood what Yu Sheng meant by "essence".
"That Black Forest is different from this valley. The 'hunger' generated in this valley is its only core. All the original rules here, and even the entire valley environment, are built around 'hunger'. This is also the characteristic of most 'conventional' foreign lands. However, the rules of that Black Forest are extremely complex. Any 'character' in the forest, including Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, the grandmother, the hunter, and perhaps the mysterious squirrel, are just a 'link' under this rule system, and are its 'surface' part."
As Yu Sheng spoke, he raised his hand and waved it gently in the air. Then, accompanied by a sound of friction between soil and rock, Little Red Riding Hood was surprised to see that a piece of ground at the edge of the platform suddenly bulged up, and then a small "stage" was formed on the ground. Some ugly and simple things made of stone rolled and ran on the stage. Some of them quickly collapsed, but new "actors" emerged from the stage and continued their blind and meaningless activities.
"I thought of these things after seeing Xiaoxiao's experience, but you, the person involved, are limited by the perspective of 'Little Red Riding Hood', so it is difficult for you to notice this point," Yu Sheng continued to speak to the girl beside him while controlling the simple little stage, "Your attention is always on the 'evil wolf', so you naturally regard the wolf as the only and final 'villain' in the 'Black Forest Subset', but from my perspective outside the story... I found that the villain I want to kill is not the villain in the story.
"Or to put it another way, I have successfully killed a 'villain' once - the wolf grandmother who devoured Xiaoxiao. It is the 'final villain' from Xiaoxiao's perspective. But in the process of killing it, I only felt... emptiness. The Black Forest has not changed at all because of the death of a wolf grandmother. The wolves are still there, the forest is still there, and I can feel those sights. Xiaoxiao will fall into the forest again next time, and a new wolf grandmother... will still be waiting for her at the end of the darkness.
"Because for this 'story', its script is intact from beginning to end."
The platform fell silent. Little Red Riding Hood quietly looked at the stone "actors" still rolling and running on the stage. Finally, she spoke in thought: "So, what needs to be killed is this 'story' itself..."
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"Yes, the story. It's just that we don't necessarily have to 'kill' it, because the story may not be able to be killed, but perhaps we can find ways to control it, tamper with it, or even dismember it. To do this, we can't limit our focus to the 'actors' on the surface of the story, but find the 'key' of the whole story," Yu Sheng nodded gently and pointed at the simple stage, "Just like this stage - what do you think is its true essence and 'core'?"
Little Red Riding Hood was stunned for a moment, her expression thoughtful, but it seemed that she didn't get the answer for a while.
"The answer is right in front of you," Yu Sheng laughed, raised his hand and pointed at his head, "It's me."
As he spoke, he waved his hand again, and the simple mud and rock stage suddenly disintegrated, turning into clods of earth and stone, and quickly blending into the earth.
Little Red Riding Hood suddenly reacted and took a deep breath: "You mean, there is a 'storyteller' behind the Black Forest?!"
"It may not be a person, but it must be a 'source'. It may be the essence of the 'fairy tale', or it may be a tentacle extending from the 'fairy tale'," Yu Sheng said slowly. "I have been looking for this 'tentacle' since the first time I entered the Black Forest. Originally, we found the 'special hut' in the deepest part of the forest. I thought the tentacle was there, but it turned out that it was not. It was just a special corner of the stage - we are still wandering around the 'front' of the stage, but the thing that shaped the Black Forest is hiding at the 'back' of the stage."
"I... didn't expect you to think so much," Little Red Riding Hood looked at Yu Sheng in surprise, "I have never thought about the Black Forest in this way before."
Yu Sheng laughed: "Because I am a hateful adult. Hateful adults always use this kind of rational thinking that is not interesting at all to expose children's stories. The phrase we use most often is - 'This is all made up by people.'"
Little Red Riding Hood was stunned for a moment, then suddenly she started laughing: "That's why fairy tales don't like adults."
"It doesn't matter. I didn't mean to let it 'like' it in the first place." Yu Sheng stood up and clapped his hands. "Well, the outing is over. It's time for the kids to go home."
(End of this chapter)
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