Shang Yechu had absolutely no desire to see Sheng Wenzhi's works. If possible, she wished there were only Sheng Wenzhi's works in the world, and no Sheng Wenzhi himself.
Sheng Wenzhi was not surprised by this answer at all: "I knew it. Actually, I've had many pen names. The pen name I used when writing this book was... 'Heart Demon'."
"A demonic heart?" Shang Yechu pondered these two words. "Ashamed?"
“That’s right.” Sheng Wenzhi crossed his arms and held them to his lips. “Guilt. This book is actually about a person who feels fear because of guilt. As for the reason for his guilt, it’s because he bought an ice cream for his friend at a grocery store…”
Shang Yechu's eyelids twitched: "Enough, stop talking."
Sheng Wenzhi obediently shut his mouth, but after a while, he recklessly spoke up again: "So, if someone else wants to buy this book, I won't agree. But if it's you, there's really no problem with it."
Shang Yechu stood up and looked down at the man in the rattan chair: "I told you to shut up."
Sheng Wenzhi also stood up. He was much taller than Shang Yechu, and as soon as he stood up, the situation changed from offense to defense.
"We always have to face the past, don't we?"
"I don't want to reminisce about the past with you."
Sheng Wenzhi asked curiously, "Ye Zi, why are you still holding a grudge about that? If you were still the same person you were in junior high, that incident would indeed be a lifelong wound for you. But you have become who you are now, so that incident should be like a fly on a piece of jade, something you can easily brush off with a wave of your hand."
Even though the other person was speaking Chinese, Shang Yechu felt as if he was speaking some obscure foreign language: "Huh?"
Sheng Wenzhi said matter-of-factly, "Shouldn't it be like this? A pebble is a catastrophe for an ant, but for an elephant it's just a grain of sand under its feet."
Shang Yechu asked in a cryptic tone, "Who are you calling the ant? Who are you calling the elephant?"
“You and I are,” Sheng Wenzhi said patiently. “We used to be a pair of tiny insects, have you forgotten? That’s why you’re so bothered by the harm done to other insects. But we’ve changed now—”
"Stop, stop, stop." Shang Yechu felt like she was no longer a native Chinese speaker. "Speak like a human being."
“Alright.” Sheng Wenzhi wasn’t annoyed. He said seriously, “Do you still remember those boys who mocked and bullied us in junior high? I used to hate them so much I gritted my teeth. But now, I don’t hate them anymore. To be precise, I’ve even forgotten their names. I can use my pen to construct an endless and vast world, while they are just a bunch of pathetic worms crawling in the mud.”
Shang Yechu could understand the most difficult scripts, but she could never understand what kind of magical things Sheng Wenzhi was thinking: "What does this have to do with me?"
Sheng Wenzhi said frankly, “We are the same kind of people. If you were still that little leaf crawling in the mud, what I did would indeed be a lifelong wound for you. And I would indeed feel guilty about it for the rest of my life. But you are no longer. So, what I did back then is nothing more than a pebble hitting an elephant for you... Why should I feel guilty about it?”
Shang Yechu was dumbfounded.
After being tortured by the crew of "Half a Sky" for so long, few people could shock Shang Yechu anymore. But Sheng Wenzhi did. With a few words, he made Shang Yechu doubt the reality of this world again, and even wonder if he was filming an absurd comedy.
Shang Yechu tried to translate Sheng Wenzhi's theory into human language: "In other words... your guilt towards me was because a strong person made a mistake against a weak person. Your guilt is actually the self-reflection of the strong person—after discovering that I am not the 'weak person' you thought I was, the bullying of the weak by the strong has become a petty squabble between the strong and the strong—so you no longer need to reflect on yourself, right?"
Sheng Wenzhi paused for a moment, then showed a curious expression: "Your perspective is quite novel. I've never seen myself from this angle before. Xiao Yezi, you really do understand me."
Shang Yechu's brow twitched.
How can there be such a person in this world?
Narcissism, self-pity, arrogance, inferiority complex, pride, selfishness, self-love, self-destruction, self-reflection, ego... have all reached their peak! What's even more terrifying is that he has managed to make this entire set of logic completely self-consistent within his own world!
Shang Ye turned and left. She felt like she was suffocating if she breathed the same air as this person again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
