"Death of a Petty Civil Servant?"
When he saw the title, Wei Long subconsciously thought that this was a mystery short story. Because there was no limit to the subject matter, there were many mystery-themed short stories among the thirty short story writers who submitted their manuscripts.
Click it.
Wei Long glanced at the number of words and was stunned.
One thousand eight hundred words
He suspected that he had seen it wrong.
Although short stories generally don’t have many words, and I specifically suggested to Chu Kuang that short stories should be short rather than long, and the number of words should not be too many…
But isn’t this too little
The whole text is less than two thousand words
When I say shorter, I mean the novel should be around three thousand to five thousand words!
Could it be that Chu Kuang listened to his own advice and misunderstood it, so he deliberately shortened the number of words
He thought the shorter the better
If the quality of the work is affected because of this reason, I would be really guilty, Wei Long couldn't help but hold his forehead.
But he still read it word by word:
It was an ordinary night. The young civil servant sat in the second row of the main hall, watching a drama performance through a telescope. At this moment, he only felt that the years were peaceful.
The years are peaceful
This was the first time Wei Long had seen such a description, but it seemed that he could accurately understand the meaning of these four words without even thinking about it.
“Interesting description.”
The following description is even more interesting: But suddenly, his face wrinkled, his eyes disappeared, his breathing stopped, he took the binoculars off his eyes, bent down...
Is this a heart attack
Is this the death of a small civil servant
A small civil servant who doesn’t even have a name
Wei Long was puzzled until he continued watching, then he realized that the young civil servant had just sneezed.
"puff."
Looking back, the previous text description was exactly the state of a person when he sneezes. Chu Kuang's description seemed difficult to understand, but it gave people a strange sense of rigor, so much so that the image of a person sneezing appeared in Wei Long's mind.
Keep watching.
The young civil servant was naturally not panicked at all. Everyone sneezes, and the most serious consequence of this behavior is catching a cold.
Weilong thinks so too.
But the story takes a turn here: the young civil servant panicked because he saw a little old man sitting in the first row of the main hall in front of him rubbing his bald head and neck vigorously with gloves, muttering to himself.
Obviously.
The young civil servant's sneeze splashed on the old man.
The reason why the little civil servant was so flustered was because...
The young civil servant recognized the old man as a retired general working in the Ministry of Transport!
"He will be killed by the general?"
Wei Long inevitably thought of the title of the story again.
People who read novels always tend to imagine what will happen next.
Weilong continued to watch.
As expected, the young civil servant began to apologize.
However, the general did not get angry as Wei Long imagined, but expressed his understanding magnanimously.
"Is this general a smiling tiger? He shows his magnanimity in public, but takes revenge on small civil servants in private?"
This is a new association that Weilong has generated.
Naturally, this nameless civil servant had similar concerns.
So he apologized again, swore and said that he really didn't mean it.
The general seemed annoyed and said, "Well, please sit down! Let me listen to the opera!"
The junior civil servant became increasingly panicked.
He could no longer concentrate on the show on the stage.
It was not until the break when the general went to the bathroom that he followed him and apologized for the third time.
Oh, that's enough... I had already forgotten, but you keep talking!
The general was helpless and curled his lips impatiently.
Wei Long suddenly realized: "It seems that the general is indeed not angry."
Influenced by the title, he always thought that the general would kill the small civil servant for this, but according to the description in the novel, the general expressed forgiveness several times and was obviously not such a stingy person.
For the junior civil servant, the sneeze was just a false alarm.
Wei Long felt relieved.
The young civil servant was not relieved.
He was still in all kinds of mental activities: he said he had forgotten it, but there was a fierce light in his eyes, and he didn't want to talk much. I should explain to him that I really didn't mean it, and that sneezing is a natural law, otherwise he would think that I spit on him on purpose. Even if he didn't think so now, he would definitely think so in the future!
Are you too cowardly
Wei Long suddenly found the young civil servant somewhat funny.
When he got home, the young civil servant told his wife about his misbehavior. His wife was also frightened and advised him to apologize to the other party.
The young civil servant complained: "That's right! I've already apologized, but for some reason, he looked so strange, as if he didn't want to listen to my explanation."
You have been forgiven!
Aren't you suffering from paranoia
The little civil servant's imagination made Wei Long laugh louder and louder.
But this little civil servant just didn't understand. The next day, he actually put on his uniform seriously, brought gifts and solemnly went to the general's house, and apologized again.
Don't talk about the general.
Wei Long felt that if he were in his place, he would feel confused if he was pestered by someone and had to apologize endlessly.
The general was meeting a guest at the moment, who seemed to be an important one.
The small civil servant could only wait until the general finished his meeting before he could apologize again.
Same as before.
The general expressed his understanding, but he couldn't help looking sad while speaking.
"frown."
These four words almost made Weilong laugh.
Apologizing is a courtesy, but if you meet a civil servant like this who likes to chase you to apologize and no matter how much you forgive him, it’s useless, how can you not be sad
While feeling both amused and sad, Wei Long actually felt some sympathy for the general.
As a young civil servant with a weird imagination, he naturally saw the general's sad face. He was uneasy and felt that the general obviously did not intend to forgive him.
For the sake of the future.
Although he felt that the general was too petty for holding on to his mistake, he still wanted to make amends.
So he decided to write a letter to the general, explaining the reason from the bottom of his heart.
Unfortunately, his mind was so empty that he couldn't even write a letter.
He could only visit again on the third day to express his apology.
The novel basically ends here.
The last few paragraphs, with another apology from the civil servant, form a simple and concise ending, an expected ending.
"Get out!" the general yelled, his face turned blue and his whole body trembled.
"What?" asked the young clerk, his whole body numbing with fear.
"Get out!" the general repeated, stamping his foot.
Something seemed to be churning in the young civil servant's stomach. He could neither see nor hear anything. He retreated to the door and walked to the street, walking slowly all the way... He walked home without taking off his uniform, and lay down on the sofa... and died.
…
Yes, the little civil servant is dead.
This is where the title Death of a Petty Official comes from.
He kept apologizing and pestering the general, and finally completely angered the general. As a result, when the general got angry, he was scared to death by his own imagination!
This is a novel of more than a thousand words
It's not an imaginary reasoning, nor is it an imaginary general killing people.
Although it is only a little over a thousand words, the content is extremely exaggerated, yet it seems to fit a certain logic, allowing readers to naturally accept the setting of the novel, making the whole story full of fun!
This moment.
Wei Long was so happy that he slapped his thigh. He didn't expect Chu Kuang could be so humorous.
But halfway through his laugh, Wei Long's smile suddenly froze, and the picture seemed to be frozen.
It was as if an electric current was transmitted throughout his body, and Wei Long suddenly shuddered, his eyes widened as if he was possessed!
"Wait... this story..."