novelsite Chapter 72 Opposition
Chapter 72 Opposition
Chapter 72 Opposition
At the entrance of the Prime Minister's Office, the Fisheries Minister of Jacques, Dupont, was surrounded by reporters who asked him what he thought of Lu Cheng's telegram.
DuPont remained silent for a long time in front of the camera, then said, "I spoke up for them; they blocked my naval base."
The reporter pressed further: "So you oppose coexistence?"
DuPont did not answer, but turned and walked into the Prime Minister's office, closing the door heavily.
The owner of a bakery in the foggy city of New York gave a newspaper interview.
The owner of the bakery where the ape had given a tip told reporters, "Lu is right. It gave a tip, but it didn't come to my house for dinner, and I won't invite it. It's not that I don't want to, it's instinct. I know that if I eat the food it touched, I'll get a rash. I can sell bread to it, but I can't share a table with it."
The reporter asked, "So, do you think war should break out?"
The shop owner wiped the counter: "I don't want to hit anyone, but I also don't want to one day find that all the customers standing across from me are them, not a single human."
Taro Tanuki's country Kyoto.
Massa squatted outside the courtyard, watching the upright ape in a kimono sitting on a stone platform eating persimmons.
It ate very carefully, peeling the persimmon skin clean and cutting the persimmon flesh into small pieces, which it then picked up one by one with human chopsticks and put into its mouth.
After eating, put the persimmon peels and tissues into a garbage bag, and wipe the stone countertop clean with a damp cloth.
Then it saw Massa, who had carved a line of words on the stone slab:
Lu Cheng sent a telegram.
He said that red blood and black blood cannot share the same table.
He was right.
Massa's hand tightened slightly: "You agree with him?"
Upright ape carving:
We have known this since the beginning of civilization.
We have farmed the land with you, fought battles with you, and shared campfires, but we have never shared a table with you.
The campfire can be shared, but food should be roasted separately; tables are not allowed.
Only one type of food can be placed on the table.
You can have yours or ours.
Lu Cheng was the first human ruler to publicly utter these words.
Others are either deceiving themselves or being deceived by us.
He doesn't lie to himself, nor does he let us lie to him.
After it finished carving this section, it picked up a persimmon segment, put it in its mouth, and chewed it very slowly.
Massa looked at it: "Then why do you wear a kimono, buy persimmons, and learn human etiquette? Since you know you can't share a table, why pretend you can?"
The upright ape carving: It's not to pretend it's possible, but to confirm it's impossible. Previous civilizations spent three thousand years trying to confirm that sharing tables wasn't feasible; we've only taken ninety-odd days this time. Wearing kimonos, buying persimmons, and learning etiquette aren't about assimilating into your culture, but about confirming where the boundary between us truly lies. Once the boundary is found, there's no need to move forward any further.
Massa remained silent for a long time, then stood up and dusted himself off his knees: "Where is the border?"
The upright ape carved a single word: Blood.
That afternoon, Kerry flew from the Great Dragon Kingdom to the Winner Monkey Kingdom.
He was carrying two things when he stepped off the airship.
A jar of tea from the mighty Dragon Kingdom, and a wooden board brought from Botswana.
The wooden board is engraved with the fourth circle of the old chief Moser—an empty circle.
It neither greets nor bids farewell, neither closes nor opens its eyes; it's just a circle.
Kerry placed the tea leaves and the wooden board on Lu Cheng's desk.
Lu Cheng looked at the tea leaves, then at the empty circle.
"The tea is for you, and the empty circle was sent to you by Moser. He said you're the first person who dared to publicly say 'we can't coexist,' so this empty circle is for you." Kerry sat down and poured himself a glass of water. "He said the empty circle isn't about being passive, it's about not deceiving yourself. It's about not hoping for peace, but not giving up on preparation. Do you know how many circles he carved on the doorframe?"
"Four?"
"Twelve. He started carving one every day from the ninetieth day, and has been carving for seven days. The first three are farewell, walking together, and closing eyes, and the last nine are all empty circles. He said that if you carve many empty circles, your hand will stop shaking. If your hand doesn't shake, your heart will be steady when you hold the knife. He said you have reached the level of empty circles, where your hand doesn't shake and your heart is steady. So this empty circle is for you."
Lu Cheng ran his finger along the hollow circle on the wooden board. The engraving wasn't deep, but the edges were smooth, clearly indicating it had been drawn many times.
Kerry took a sip of water: "Your plaintext telegram was also received by Bertswana. Moser had Captain Zhao translate it for him, and after listening, he smiled and said something that if someone had dared to say that a hundred thousand years ago, they probably wouldn't have perished together with their enemy."
Why?
'
He said that pre-civilized humans and upright apes were too polite; both sides pretended to coexist, pretended to share a table, and pretended to be at peace forever. In the end, neither side could keep up the pretense any longer, and they stabbed each other to death. If someone had said "no" earlier, clearly defining the boundaries, perhaps things wouldn't have come to that. Without pretending, there's no need to accumulate resentment. Without accumulating resentment, there won't be a sudden explosion at some point.
Kerry put down his glass: "Mosel said you were the first to draw a boundary, not a boundary on the battlefield, but a boundary on the table. You said that red blood and black blood cannot share the same table, not a declaration of war, but a clear demarcation. Only by drawing clear demarcations can war be avoided, because both sides know where each other's bottom line is, so there is no need to guess, no need to test, and no need to accidentally start a fight due to misunderstandings."
Lu Cheng stared at the empty circle.
Moser is right.
He invented the code telegraph not to declare war, but to put the bottom line on the table.
The bottom line for upright apes is black blood, while the bottom line for humans is red blood.
There is no need to pretend that two bottom lines have no intersection.
It's safer not to pretend.
That afternoon, Lu Cheng received four replies to his plaintext telegram.
The first letter came from Wood in the United States, containing only one line: Agreed.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Waimeming Plain was imprisoned in the valley by the upright apes; my people can't get in, and their people can't get out.
For now, all is well. But if their people come out, or my people go in, the peace will end.
Before that, I agreed to draw a clear line.
The second letter came from King William of Hanscat Kingdom, and it was very short: Agreed.
The giant millipede has almost stored up enough venom, so it agrees to draw a line.
P.S.: Your telegram was a huge relief.
I've never dared to say this publicly before, thank you for saying it for me.
The third letter came from Vito in Giuseppe: Agreed.
The giant nautiluses formed a circle around the outer perimeter of Luocheng Port, as if they were drawing a boundary.
Both sides agree to draw the line clearly; once it's clear, things will be easier for everyone.
The fourth letter, from Vla of the Ivan Bear Kingdom, was the longest: Agreed.
The upright apes from the Ural mining area sent another copper coin.
It reads: "We received Lu Cheng's telegram, and we agree. Tables cannot be shared, but the mine can be shared."
The mineral vein is underground, not on the table.
Fra added his own words at the end of the telegram: "Ruler Lu, your telegram made my mining commissioner cry in the quarantine camp."
He wasn't crying from fear, he was crying from being moved. He said you spoke his mind for him.
Four replies, four countries agreed, plus Winner Monkey Country and Great Power Dragon Country, making a total of six countries.
David of the British Empire did not reply to the telegram, but did something else.
He had people reinstall the steps that had been removed from the entrance of No. 10 Tangning Street, restoring them to their original state. Then, he erected a bronze plaque next to the steps, inscribed with:
These steps are for all law-abiding citizens. Civilization is judged by actions, not by bloodshed.
But on the back of the bronze plaque, he engraved a line of smaller characters: This shop does not sell food to those with black blood. For those with red blood only.