“I’ve always greatly admired Chinese culture.”
Leo nodded, glanced back silently, then said, “By understanding the culture of Mainland China and comparing it to our Western culture, one can always find a lot in common.”
“Such as?” Chen Chen looked out at the sea and did not turn back as he asked.
“Such as… The culture of killing one’s children.”
Leo shot a look at Chen Chen. “You must know of The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, right?”
Chen Chen nodded.
“There’s a story in The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars that I find very interesting.”
Leo smiled. “In a catastrophic year, a filial son named Guo Ju decided to bury his son alive to have one less mouth to feed, so that his mother won’t go hungry. This was because he reasoned that, if his son died, he could have another child again, but if his mother died, she can’t be brought back to life.”
“Makes sense…” Chen Chen nodded.
Leo was stunned, then he laughed. “Chen, you’re too funny… This story is too simple. Let me tell you another one.
“In ancient times, there was a boy named Shun who was very capable, but his father didn’t like him and often beat him viciously for no reason. But Shun never retaliated. When he was beaten lightly, he endured it obediently; when he was beaten heavily, he would flee to the wilderness, crying alone bitterly.
“Later on, Shun’s father became worse. Once, he made Shun repair the roof, but when Shun climbed up, he took away the ladder and set the house on fire. Finally, Shun had to use the bamboo hat he was wearing as a parachute and jump down, escaping death…”
At this point, Leo observed Chen Chen’s expression again, but Chen Chen’s face was still stoic as he looked into the distance indifferently.
Frowning to himself, Leo continued saying, “Two days later, Shun’s father made him dig a well. Shun went, honest and obedient. When he reached the bottom of the well, his father hurriedly piled on the dirt, trying to bury Shun alive.
“Fortunately, Shun was vigilant and knew his father was up to no good. So he had already dug a secret tunnel in the sidewall of the well as soon as he reached the bottom. In this manner, he survived again…”
“Phew!”
After he finished, Leo finally could not refrain from asking, “Chen, don’t you think that Shun’s father is utterly abhorrent?”
“I guess.” Chen Chen nodded. “If I were Shun, I’d be very sad.”
“Yes, I think so too.” When he saw Chen Chen’s reaction, Leo was secretly pleased. Before he could say anything else, the captain’s voice boomed through the speaker of the cruise ship.
“Dear ladies and gentlemen, the Symphony of the Seas will leave Namibia’s territorial waters in half an hour and arrive at the high seas of the Atlantic.
“I repeat, the Symphony of the Seas will leave Namibia’s territorial waters in half an hour…”
This announcement rang out three times.
At once, the people who were still at the banquet erupted in a cheer. Many people directly left the banquet and headed to the deck below.
“We’ll be on the high seas soon.”
Leo looked delighted. At the same time, three people walked out of the banquet hall and came to both of them. “Chen Chen, Leo, how about we go together?”
Among these three, one of them was Davis, heir to the Wilson family while the other two were the heirs of the Alexander and Edwards families.
“Of course.” Leo turned to look at Chen Chen in invitation. “Chen, are you up for a round at the casino?”
“The casino?” Chen Chen inquired.
“Yup, and not just the casino. To celebrate your arrival, Mr. Chen Chen, the few of us have specially prepared something special. I believe it’ll be worth your while!”
The three others at the side also started to egg him on.
“I’ll be honored.” Seeing that the four of them were inviting him, Chen Chen nodded. “I also wish to see what sort of special program it is.”
Before boarding the ship, Chen Chen had already revised some information about cruise ships. Most of these cruise ships were so popular because of their casinos.
According to international law, the territories on aircraft, ships, and other vehicles belonged to the country of said vehicle. In other words, this cruise ship belonged to a particular country. If a criminal case were to occur on this ship, it would be investigated and managed by that country.
Therefore, as long as this country did not prohibit gambling, cruise ships of this country could operate casinos onboard.
Of course, if this ship entered the waters of a country where gambling was prohibited, the ship must immediately close the casino, which could only be opened when it left the country’s waters once more.
Before he left with the group, Chen Chen shot a final glance at the distance.
At an unknown time, the moonlight had faded.
A dark cloud slowly drifted across the sky, spreading outward with its thick, silent darkness, covering the pure bright moon.
It seemed that a storm was fast approaching…
As there was still a half-hour’s voyage to the high seas, in this time, Chen Chen was invited by the heirs of the four families to the opera house.
There were only a handful of people in the theater that could accommodate a thousand people. Still, the scene on stage was as grand as ever, with the group of actors performing with great effort.
Chen Chen thought that this opera was interesting too. It told the story of how Zeus became the king of gods in Greek mythology.
According to legend, in the realm of gods, Uranus, the god of sky, imprisoned his children underground. As a result, his son Cronus rose with the wind and used a sickle to castrate his father, thus replacing the rule of the god of sky.
However, the god of sky cursed Cronus before he died, saying that Cronus would be killed by his own children, just like Uranus was.
Thus, Cronus made the decision to devour every single child of his that was born.
That was what he ended up doing. When his first five offspring were born, they were swallowed into his stomach before they could even open their eyes.
This happened until the birth of the sixth baby, named Zeus. The mother, Rhea, hid Zeus, swaddled a stone in cloth, and offered that to Cronus, saying that that was their child.
Therefore, Cronus swallowed the stone in one gulp…
Zeus survived by luck. As he grew up, he began to understand his origins and decided to take revenge.
First, he spiked his father’s wine with emetics. The father vomited after drinking the wine, regurgitating his five siblings.
Among these five siblings were the well-known king of the sea, Poseidon, and the king of the underworld, Hades.
Ultimately, the brothers worked together to defeat Cronus and imprison him in the deepest level of hell while Zeus became the king of the gods.
“What do you think?”
After the opera ended, Leo asked with a smile, “Chen, have you realized that our Western patricide and your Eastern filicide shared the same message despite delivering it differently? As a person grows, they must overthrow the will imposed upon them by the previous generation. Only then would they achieve full personhood and become their true self.”
“It’s still a little different.”
Chen Chen shook his head and disagreed. “This is in fact a cultural difference. In China, we’re good at farming. The older one gets, the more experience one would accumulate in farming. Therefore, as society grows, we end up with a situation where the older you get, the more senior you are, the greater your right to speak.
“It’s different from Greek civilization. Greek land is barren and unsuitable for farming, but it can produce olive oil, wine, and wool. So the Greeks went to sea to do business, selling their goods to other countries in exchange for food.
“However, the sea is clearly the world of young people. Riding the wind to go out to sea and fighting the waves is something that old people can’t do. Therefore, Greek culture worships young people more, and so the father-killing myth appeared.”
Chen Chen analyzed. “As such, this is the ideological difference between the two civilizations. And in truth, our filicide in China isn’t as serious as the patricide complex in the West.”
Everyone exchanged glances. Their initially exuberant spirits had dropped into a death-like silence.
“Oh right, didn’t you say that there was something else planned?”
Chen Chen suddenly changed the topic and put on an interested face. “Can we go now?”
“It should be here soon. Let’s go to the casino lobby first…”
On one side, Davis broke the silence. “We’ll do a quick round there, then head to the boxing match!”