Unlike her previous years of amnesia, this time she remembered everything.
Moreover, the discomfort in my body vanished without a trace.
"How strange..."
Could it be that the trials of inner demons during the Golden Core stage are different from those before?
After an unknown amount of time, a hazy gray shadow appeared faintly in the thick fog.
But you can't see anything clearly, you can only make out a human silhouette.
An Zhengzheng asked tentatively, "Is anyone there?"
“Yes, it’s me,” the shadow said.
"Who are you?"
It sounded like a young girl's voice, and for some reason, An Zhengzheng felt it was familiar.
Shadow: "I am the one who created you."
An Zhengzheng was somewhat bewildered: "The one who created me?"
Besides a mother, the only other being in the world who can truly create a person is...
"The Goddess Nuwa?"
The shadow shook its head and nervously told her the whole story.
"...So, I'm just a character you created?"
An Zhengzheng found it unbelievable.
If she really is just a character from a storybook...
Wait, stop!
That was close! I almost got led astray by my inner demons.
This illusion was truly having a devastating impact on her mind.
She smiled and probed the shadow: "So, what do you want from me?"
The shadow was very annoyed.
"...There are some controversies surrounding you, which I find very troublesome and make it difficult for me to continue writing."
"But I know someone is waiting for me to write your story."
"So, I decided to come and talk to you."
And they said it so convincingly!
Based on years of internal trials, An Zhengzheng has figured out the patterns in solving the problems.
It seems that solving the shadow's troubles is the key to breaking the mind magic array.
Why don't you tell me about it?
"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."
The shadow seemed to sigh, very softly.
“Let’s begin, author.” An Zhengzheng spoke calmly, as if she were acting in the presence of a child. “You can tell me where I have caused controversy.”
Perhaps this is what I truly fear in my heart.
The shadow began to speak.
"The first point of contention is... your name."
Shadow said sadly, "I wanted to name you An Zhengzheng, which comes from 'unyielding spirit,' and also because I felt that the character 'Zheng' wasn't loud enough, it didn't have that continuous feeling. I hope that girls can speak out for their rights again and again."
An Zhengzheng nodded in agreement, thinking it was a good idea, and then asked, "So where is the point of contention?"
"An Abb-style name."
Shadow gave a wry smile and said helplessly, "I didn't know at first either. In my impression, Abb and A little b are commonly used by the Red Queen, which fits your background perfectly."
"But I didn't expect it to be a landmine... I can't blame them, after all, many sweet romance novels have overused names like Qianqian and Ruanruan."
"But I couldn't help but read those comments repeatedly. After reading them so many times, and with some people warning me about potential offenders because of them, I felt uneasy every time I saw your name, and I started to doubt myself again and again..."
"But I think there's nothing wrong with reduplication. What's wrong are words like 'shallow,' 'soft,' 'delicate,' and 'gentle,' which are associated with girls."
An Zhengzheng hadn't expected that this was what was causing the shadow trouble.
She sat down, trying to be as tall as the shadow so that she could look at it at eye level.
"If this is really a book as you say, then my experience doesn't count."
(Content deleted)
An Zhengzheng thought about it, and it did match what she remembered.
So, following the logic of the shadow, I deduced: "In my past life, my mother's family was in politics and my father's family was in business. This is the setting you gave me."
"Yes." Shadow nodded; that was how she had set it up.
An Zhengzheng immediately laughed.
(Content deleted)
"...How do you explain this? Do they think their great-grandchildren are less important than their great-grandchildren?"
Shadow didn't speak, but listened patiently as An Zhengzheng continued.
"In business terms, the world's richest people, I mean the world as a whole! The top ten richest people are: eight Americans, one Frenchman, and one Chinese."
"Guess what that Chinese guy's name is? He's the one who works as a porter of nature, and the water in his house even tastes a little sweet."
The shadow spoke the man's name.
The next second, she seemed to understand something.
(Content deleted)
I've really been led astray by a bunch of names like Qianqian, Jiaojiao, Ruanruan, Guaiguai, and Dudu!
Women can also use reduplicated characters, such as "铮铮" in "铁骨铮铮" (unyielding and resolute) and "昭昭" in "天理昭昭" (the truth is clear and evident)...
An Zhengzheng changed her name to An Zhengzheng, just like Qinqin changed her name to Qinqin.
Tu Youyou, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, has a name that is repeated in Chinese characters. Her contributions to the medical field are world-class, no different from those men in the political and business worlds who have reached the pinnacle of their careers.
Why does no one say that men's names with repeated characters sound rough and docile? Because they don't need to be delicate and sweet!
Is it a problem with the repeated characters?!
Never!
The more Shadow thought about it, the angrier she got, but she still whispered, "...That's why I said there's nothing wrong with reduplicated words."
Her confidence was tinged with a hint of grievance.
An Zhengzheng pursed her lips, as if she were coaxing a child.
In her eyes, the dream-eating beast that could tell her "you are a person I created from a storybook" must be a child.
Even the angle from which it tries to confuse and test people is full of flaws; who can believe this?
However, she didn't expose the shadow's nonsense, but patiently guided the other party.
"So you don't need to be upset about the name you gave me. I like it very much, I really like it. I like the character 'Zheng', and I especially like it when it's repeated twice. I believe that Ms. Tu Youyou will not feel bad about her name either."
Ms. Tu Youyou, (content deleted)
"Zhengzheng is a reduplicated character, representing the unyielding spirit of steel, the sound of clanging one after another. Zhaodi and Huiyin are not reduplicated characters, do you think they are better than Zhengzheng?"
Even the talented Lin Huiyin, whose real name Lin Huiyin[1] means the same as Zhaodi.
If it weren't for a male writer using Lin Huiyin's name to do that kind of thing and being severely criticized by Lu Xun, Ms. Lin would have shone brightly under the name of this cultural version of Zhao Di.
An Zhengzheng said, "What we need to fight for is a fair opportunity and an environment that allows us to become stronger, not to lose our rights."
"If you condemn women for using reduplicated characters as disrespectful, then women lose the opportunity to use reduplicated characters. Otherwise, why is it that men who reach the top can use reduplicated characters? No one criticizes them?"
"Isn't this putting shackles on women instead?"
The shadow immediately understood.
The reason for rejecting names that are shallow, soft, delicate, or gentle is that these are exclusively for women and carry a derogatory connotation of altruism. Men would not choose such names.
But if women lose the right to use reduplicated words because of words like "shallow," "soft," "delicate," and "gentle," then that would be a real loss.
Because men have the freedom to use reduplicated words without being reprimanded. At least, Shadow has never seen a man being pointed at or criticized for using reduplicated words.
(Content deleted)
Only when they choose names like Jiaojiao or Rourou will they be criticized.
They knew that such a name was too weak.
In other words, he was too “unmanly”[2].
Being too much like a woman will get you criticized.
When a woman is strong and brave enough to speak out for herself and fight for her rights, it will cause them panic.
"You're too much like a man, a tomboy, you'll never get married!"
They fear that men will not fight, because if too many men do not fight, there will be a lack of unity, and women will be able to turn the tables.
At the same time, they were afraid of women competing with them, so they resorted to all sorts of slander and ridicule.
"It's not a matter of reduplication, it never has been. Some words, like 'Zhaodi' and 'Huiyin'... their meaning is the most important thing."
——————
[1] The Book of Songs: "Thinking of Qi Da Ren, mother of King Wen; thinking of Mei Zhou Jiang, wife of the capital. Da Si inherited the beautiful sound, and then a hundred sons were born."
[2] Corrected by “The author who loves female authors makes a lot of money”.
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