Chapter 198 Not Simple
However, after two or three days, the old monk discovered something he had never expected.
A warrior came to the temple to do some business. He had an expression on his face that was even more ridiculous than before. He didn't even speak seriously, but just stared at the old monk's nose.
Not only that, the middle-aged boy who had accidentally had the old monk's nose stuck in the porridge in the past, when he passed by the old monk outside the lecture hall, lowered his head and tried to hold back his laughter at first, but later, he probably couldn't hold it back anymore and burst out laughing.
When he assigned tasks to the monks, they listened respectfully in front of him, but as soon as he turned his back, they would laugh secretly. This happened more than once or twice.
Li Qinglin was depressed. Why did these people laugh at him even more fiercely after the old monk cured his nose?
It was only now that he realized that the author seemed to have deliberately described the ridicule of these onlookers.
Why did they laugh even harder? The old monk's nose wasn't as long as before.
Is it because the old monk’s appearance has changed?
In the article, the old monk initially thought it was because his appearance had changed, but this explanation alone did not seem thorough enough.
Of course, this must be the reason why the boy and the monk laughed.
Although he was smiling, his smile was quite different from when his nose was still long.
If we say that the short noses we don't see often are more ridiculous than the long noses we do see often, that's fine, but there seems to be another reason.
While the old monk was chanting, he would often stop, tilt his bald head, and mutter, "Why didn't I laugh so openly before?"
The old monk even suddenly missed the time when he had a long nose.
At least, at that time, no one would laugh at him so blatantly.
In fact, there are two contradictory emotions in people's hearts. Of course, no one is without sympathy for the misfortune of others.
But when that person manages to escape from misfortune, he or she somehow feels as if something is missing in this regard.
To exaggerate a little, one might even want to make that person fall into the same misfortune as before.
So, although the attitude is negative, you unconsciously develop hostility towards that person.
Although the old monk did not understand the mystery, he still felt unhappy. This was simply because he also sensed the selfishness of the bystanders in the attitudes of the monks and laymen.
Li Qinglin suddenly understood and saw a hint of irony.
When the onlookers saw that the old monk had gotten rid of his troubles, instead of being happy for him, they all mocked him maliciously. Behind this collective behavior is the general decline of social morality and the inevitable ugly side of human nature.
So what will the old monk do next?
He then read on:
The old monk's temper became increasingly perverse. No matter who it was, he would scold them harshly without even saying a few words.
Finally, even the disciple who treated his nose said behind his back: "Master Zhichan will be punished for his violent crimes."
The naughty middle boy made him particularly angry. One day, the old monk heard a dog barking incessantly, so he casually walked out of the door and looked out. He saw the middle boy chasing a skinny, long-haired lion dog with a two-foot-long wooden stick.
It would have been fine if he was just chasing her for fun, but he also shouted as he chased her, "Don't let me hit you on the nose! Hey! Don't let me hit you on the nose!"
The old monk snatched the wooden stick from the boy's hand and hit him in the face.
Because this wooden stick was actually the wooden stick used to support the nose.
The old monk regretted not flattening his nose because it was too short.
Seeing this, Li Qinglin couldn't help but frown. Apart from other people, his apprentice was really eager to help him at the beginning, so how come their relationship became worse?
Li Qinglin continued reading:
One night, probably after sunset, the wind suddenly blew, and the noise of the wind chimes on the tower reached my pillow.
In addition, the weather suddenly turned cold, and the old monk couldn't sleep.
He tossed and turned in bed, and suddenly his nose felt unusually itchy. He touched it and found it was swollen and even seemed to be hot.
…
The next day, the old monk woke up early as usual.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that the ginkgo and horse chestnut trees in the temple had lost all their leaves overnight, and the courtyard was as bright as if it was covered with gold.
Perhaps it was because of the frost on the top of the tower that the nine wheels were shining in the morning light.
The screen was opened, and the old monk Chanzhi stood in the corridor and took a deep breath.
At this moment, the old monk regained some feeling that he had almost forgotten.
He quickly reached out to touch his nose, and what he felt was not the short nose from last night, but the long nose from before, which extended from the upper lip to the jaw, a full five or six inches long. The old monk knew that his nose had grown back to its old length overnight.
[At the same time, he felt, just as when the nose shortened, that his mood had somehow brightened again.]
The old monk swung his long nose in the autumn breeze at dawn, thinking to himself, "This way, no one will laugh at me anymore."
The description ends here.
But the ending is self-explanatory.
The old monk might have been in a good mood at the time, but if his nose grew longer again, he would probably be laughed at again.
The old monk still cared about his longer nose with complicated feelings as always, and fell into distress again and again.
Thinking of this, Li Qinglin was slightly stunned, and the expression on his face froze in an instant.
Recalling the story I had just read, I felt as if I realized something and my eyes widened suddenly.
"Wait... this story..."
Li Qinglin swallowed secretly and read "The Nose" from beginning to end again.
Finished reading it for the second time.
Li Qinglin's expression was filled with shock as he murmured, "This novel is not simple!"
The author of this novel is even more extraordinary!
This novel may seem like a short story about an old monk who is troubled and confused by his deformed nose, and the words seem to reveal humor and comedy, but in fact it is full of extremely sharp irony!
The humorous and funny description not only satirizes the hypocrisy of the old monk, but also writes about the sadness of the old monk who can never escape from the gaze of others and follows the gaze of others as a criterion.
Just like the last sentence at the end of the article: "This way, no one will laugh at me anymore, right?"
The old monk did not resist or criticize the monks' strange attitude, but simply followed them blindly. This blind obedience made the bystanders' selfishness even more arrogant.
Think about it carefully.
This is not a phenomenon that only happens in this novel. Isn't it the same in the era we live in?
The old monk's psychological process of feeling inferior and anxious because his nose was getting longer and shorter is actually a broad and true portrayal of the human psychology in the world.
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