When Li Yiming reached the age where he should have had his feet bound, the flames of revolution reached Ruguan. The new government ordered the abolition of foot binding, and in theory, Li Yiming could be spared.
Of course, the stubbornness of feudal customs far exceeds anyone's imagination. In fact, Li Yiming's family still secretly bound her feet.
The subsequent records have been lost. From the limited remaining conversation materials, Shang Yechu only knows that Li Yiming ultimately did not bind his feet. As for what happened in between, there is no information in the existing materials, nor is it written in Zheng Bohan's script.
The reasons why Li Yiming embarked on the red path are also only briefly mentioned. The simple record only states that she went to Yaogang to study and was influenced by progressive publications at the time. After that, there's a large blank space; when they met again, she was already an outstanding member of the Communist Party.
Shang Yechu estimated Li Yiming's approximate age when he was in school and said to 103, "Could you help me retrieve the progressive publications that were popular in Yaogang City around 15 to 20 years ago?"
103 remained silent. After a while, a whole page of densely packed small text appeared on the computer screen in front of Shang Yechu.
Shang Yechu scrolled through the interface and couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
That's way too much!
103 explained, “Yaogang City was an important cultural stronghold at the time, and many burgeoning new ideas and theories were born there. If you want to read it, I recommend you read ‘Picking Stars,’ which is the budding of communism in Yaogang City. The prototype of Li Yiming should have read this.”
Shang Yechu then opened the magazine called "Picking Stars" and flipped through a few pages.
The gap between generations is a cruel thing. At least in Shang Yechu's eyes, the articles in this magazine called "Picking Stars" were written in a very stiff and dry style, with plenty of emotion but little appeal. The piled-up technical terms and obscure, long sentences in a semi-classical style made it very difficult to read, and there was absolutely no attraction or interest to them.
Shang Ye read a few pages but couldn't continue. He put down *Picking Stars* and opened a magazine called *Laughing Three Thousand*. Judging from the title, it should be a collection of jokes; perhaps it would be easier to read.
"Laughter of Three Thousand" is indeed a collection of jokes, containing many short jokes and humorous anecdotes. The opening joke is titled "Boasting":
Three men were having a race. One said, "From the city gate to Songxing Mountain, it will take me the time it takes for an incense stick to burn." Another said, "From the teahouse to Beida Mountain, it will only take me the time it takes to drink a cup of tea." The third man, upon hearing this, laughed and said, "You are all no match for me. I can leap from three feet underground to the sky in a single bound!"
The fact that this joke was placed at the beginning of the book suggests it must be of good quality. However, Shang Yechu didn't understand it and didn't find it funny at all.
"Do you know what this joke means?" Shang Yechu couldn't help but ask 103.
“Three people were competing in a race. The first person said, ‘I can run from the city gate to Songxing Mountain in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.’ The second person said, ‘I can run from the teahouse to Beida Mountain in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.’ The third person said, ‘None of you can compare to me. I can go from three feet underground to the sky in the time it takes to tiptoe.’” 103 Pingbanban said.
The jokes, which were already unfunny, became even more so when translated by 103, making people drowsy.
"Uh... can I request a joke analysis?" Shang Yechu asked, somewhat annoyed.
"This joke needs to be considered in the context of its time," said 103. "Back then, there was a warlord in Yaogang City who was tall and thin, with a head as pointed as a mountain. He called himself 'Three Feet Away from the Sky.' He usually bullied and oppressed the people in Yaogang City, imposing exorbitant taxes that angered both heaven and man. The people cursed him behind his back, calling him 'Scraping Three Feet from the Ground.'"
"As a result, after the invaders entered, they didn't fire a single shot even when the ground was only three feet above the sky, and then they abandoned Yaogang City and ran away."
"This joke is satirizing someone who is 'three feet from the sky.' Because he is 'three feet from the sky,' he can jump up and poke a hole in the sky, then slip away through the hole."
After 103 explained it to her, Shang Yechu finally understood the irony in the joke. But she still didn't find it funny.
“Every era has its own things,” Shang Yechu sighed. “But in that era, it was probably considered a very humorous joke. At least it was more entertaining than the previous one.”
103 calmly said, "There's nothing to it as to whether they're strong or not. The publishing houses that produced these two publications both disappeared less than six months after their founding."
Shang Yechu was somewhat surprised: "Huh?"
“They’re all dead,” 103 said calmly. “After the invaders came in, these young people sold their magazine and organized an anti-invasion volunteer army. I can’t find out how they died, but most of them were under twenty-five when they died.”
"These magazines you see are the only traces of their existence."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
