And speaking of writing something, I realised that unlike the first chapter, the second chapter of A Requiem From Winter Past (in its previous draft) has a longer word count. The first chapter lasted 2K+, but the second one actually lasted like less than 200 words short of my preferred 4K minimum mark (albeit I'm still not comfortable with stretching any chapter to the 5K territory, let alone doing a Rowling). Which means I'll most likely have an easier time pushing it to the post-4K boundary. Hopefully, I can get it up by next week. Knowing myself, however, I'd quite likely need a girlfriend armed with her Second Amendment rights.
Okay, the Second Amendment part was a joke. We all know guns are banned in Singapore because conceal carry is known to be every self-respecting cop's worst nightmare. For every moment of added security comes the additional risk of criminal acts, for every good guy with a gun comes at least one bad guy with a gun. Don't we all love basic mathematics?
So who's Johnny?
Don't we all love the name Johnny? Johnny isn't just a generic English name which no Singaporean millennial would like to have in order to look cool. At the same time, the term Johnny Foreigner has been seen as either another word for diversity or another excuse to endorse a divisive society. Then we have two other Johnnies. One was a Yank and the other a Brit.
Yet, it must be known that there's another Johnny apart from Shining Johnny and Dancing Johnny. Namely, Johnny Lu.
So why am I mentioning so many (?) Johnnies?
Because the reason is very simple: When we mention Johnny Chinese, the first person coming to mind would be Johnny Lu. However, history already gave us another Johnny Lu way before the showbiz industry introduced the current one.
Ladies and girls, I hereby give you Johnny Lu Su. Actually, it's not me but Chen Shou.
The complete package
It's very hard to find a guy blessed with physique, upright character, and brains. You can't have physique without an upright character because that'd make him a potential rapist and the next Brock Turner instead of the next Brock Lesnar. You can't have physique without brains because that'd make him a moron. But add all three together and you'd get the kind of guy every parent would love to have as a son-in-law. Hollywood enjoyed telling us there's no such thing as too much brawn. Don't believe me, go ask Johnny Rambo. History, however, tells us a very different story from Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The account stated by the Book of Wu was written as below:
[肃体貌魁奇，少有壮节，好为奇计。]
Trans: (Lu) Su had a strong physique with exceptional features. During his youth, he was already a man of strong principles and ingenuity.
In a world dominated by the unscrupulous, hypocritical, and utterly dumb, it's actually understandable why feminism has been occasionally associated with cynicism. From Brett the Hitman to 워마드, it's a no wonder why G.K Chesterton should be seen as a man of great foresight.
How the progressives sorely need Lu Su's voice of reason and how the conservatives truly need Lu Su's upright character. And note the italics. Whether the liberals are able to tolerate such a voice is another question altogether. Let alone the conservatives.
How Johnny Lu came about
[鲁肃字子敬，临淮东城人也。生而失父，与祖母居。家富于财，性好施与，尔时天下已乱，肃不治家事，大散财货，摽卖田地，以赈穷弊结士为务，甚得乡邑欢心。]
Trans: Lu Su, courtesy named Zijing, was a native of Dongcheng in Linhuai. His father passed away shortly after he was born and he later lived with his grandmother. His family was rich and he has a charitable character. At that time, the era was already one of chaos. Lu Su neglected the management of family affairs while freely giving away his fortune and selling his fields in order to help the poor and getting to know men of knowledge. As a result, he earned the admiration of the locals.
Does your life suck? Well, Johnny Lu Su's life also sucked. Yes, his family was rich. Very likely not as rich as those Crazy Rich Asians portrayed by Kevin Kwan Kong, but at least rich enough to give freely to the poor. But there's a problem: His dad died shortly after he was born, which by itself was a tragedy. It's like John Newton losing his mother when he wasn't even twelve. So the next time you're itching to complain about trivial things (and I mean trivial things like calling the cops for fun), remember that Lu Su lost his father and John Newton lost his mother.
In a true blue Daily Nas manner, Johnny Lu Su managed to find ways to make lemonade out of lemons. Not only that, the lemonade he made was a blessing to those around him instead of a stumbling block for the weak and suffering. But that's not all! If emulating a Jewish guy named Barnabas wasn't good enough, Johnny Lu Su went one step further by making friends with men of knowledge. If you're a regular churchgoer, surely there would be moments where visiting pastors would pop by and give a sermon. After worship, what would you do? Are you going to chat with your friends of the same fellowship group or will you be crazy enough to try initiating a conversation with that Korean pastor from the U.S?
Mr Chou sends his regards
I'm not referring to Jay Chou. Rather, it's another Chou. To put it in proper form, it's Zhou Yu. Forget about what you read in Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The real Zhou Yu was demonised in the novel even though he never disagreed with Luo Guanzhong. In fact, Luo Guanzhong existed in a much later era. Try calculating the distance between the Eastern Han dynasty and the Yuan dynasty. Zhou Yu was a magnanimous person who was unfortunately demonised because Zhuge Liang must be deified at all costs. As for history, what did Chen Shou say concerning the first meeting between two exceptional heroes of their time?
[周瑜为居巢长，将数百人故过候肃，并求资粮。肃家有两囷米，各三千斛。肃乃指一囷与周瑜，瑜益知其奇也。遂相亲结，定侨、札之分。]
Trans: When Zhou Yu was the chief official of Juchao, he sent a few hundred men over to Lu Su to send his regards in order to seek resources and grain. Lu Su's home had two barn houses of rice with each filling up to three thousand hus. Lu Su pointed Zhou Yu to one of the barn houses. As days went by, Zhou Yu got to know Lu Su's ingenuity. As a result, they became close friends.
So how much was a hu during the Han dynasty? One hu was equivalent to ten dous. One dou was equivalent to ten litres. Believe it or not, the litre is a legit measurement for grain. So how much would three thousand hus be? Astronomical by my guess. As we can see, Johnny Lu Su's family GDP was effectively America's GDP per year. Two barn houses' worth of astronomical value and one of them went to an army of hungry men. If people have the right to be stingy in times of peace, what then can we say when it comes to times of chaos! For Johnny Lu Su, there were no regrets in being his own Bill Gates. As a military man, Zhou Yu should understand the harshness of reality. In any environment where people are capable of becoming vicious animals for the sake of survival or kicks, mercy is a trait needed by the weak and despised by the strong. Zhou Yu wasn't a weakling, but he's surely a man of upright character. And a man of integrity would never allow great acts of mercy to be forgotten within the next 24 hours. So here we have a man of John Rambo's physique and the tenderness of the Apostle John.
Which now comes to the question of why Zhou Yu was impressed by Johnny Lu Su. Was it due to his exceptional kindness? Now it must be stated that most likely Zhou Yu would have heard of Lu Su's reputation as the most charitable man in Jiangdong, some (might) say the whole of China and even the whole of Korea. Otherwise, why would he send a hundreds-man brigade? To bust Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
The first impression counts a lot as anyone can tell you that. So what was Zhou Yu's first impression of Johnny Lu Su? Quite likely a charitable man of a great heart. Yet, first impression can only tell you and me this much. Say for example, Bill Haslam. What would be my first impression of him? Governator of Tennessee and the closest bloke to Guan Zhong and Xiao He. What about Ben Sasse? What would be my first impression of him? A man whose heart mirrors that of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin. But if there's no way for me to interact with them, it means my understanding would only stop at phase 1. Not that I'd get the honour to do so anyway since it'd be far easier for Eunice Olsen to be friends with Michelle Obama and/or Hillary Clinton. Or in Chen Shou's own words, 定侨、札之分.
To be continued because my sleep pattern has always been as dodgy as that of Kogami Shinya
P.S: Before I close this part 1, I need to point out the fact that when Zhou Yu first met Lu Su, he already rejected Yuan Shu's offer of employment. Guess who's the next one to reject the same guy?
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