[The Shawshank Redemption] Converted

Chapter 11

As usual, he handed over the project list for the next month to Norton, and Byron walked briskly back to the captain's office downstairs.

The warden, who is all about money, only cares about the advance payment slip under the roster, and naturally he never noticed that Andrew Dufresne, who did not have enough labor points, was secretly added 20 points for "assisting prison guards" and successfully Enter the team that goes out to build the wall.

The construction period of the project is from the beginning of March to the end of April. It is a good time for the recovery of all things in Maine. If you can get out of the prison, go out and enjoy the spring, no matter how hard and tiring the work is, no one will refuse.

Thinking of his friend, Byron took out a piece of letter paper from the drawer on the right hand side, which recorded the recent "chat records" of the two.

"Impressionism has the most simple charm, with bright and bright colors, dynamic and lively light and shadow, and relaxed and free pictures. It is an art without thresholds, and you can be instantly attracted without a lot of knowledge - the pursuit of beauty is everyone's instinct."

This is the last article Byron wrote to Andy, and it is all true.

From the 14th century to the middle of the 18th century, Italy has always been the undisputed palace of art in the entire European world—from the Florentine School of Painting to the Three Masters of the Renaissance, religious legends are still the subject of description, but real people have become the measure of all things , including gods in works of art.

But from Baroque to Rococo, while the brushstrokes are more delicate and light, the center of Western art has also quietly moved from Rome to Paris.

From the late 18th century until Byron’s current era, France has always been the vanguard of changing genres—neoclassicism, romanticism, realism, and even the latest darling of the auction house, Impressionism, all revolved around France.

So, when Byron was asked about his favorite works, he mentioned Impressionism, which was born less than a century ago, just following the trend?

Absolutely not, the reason for his preference is very simple, the king's coronation described by David, and the countess described by Ingres are too far away from ordinary people like Byron.

While capturing the scenes of daily life, Corot's landscape paintings and Miller's portraits are too realistic, not as dazzling as Monet's fog, shadow and water light.

"Yes, before I saw Degas's paintings, it was hard for me to imagine that I would be immersed in the ballet on paper. The ice troupe from St. Petersburg is not so fascinating."

Byron looked at the latest reply received the day before yesterday, raised the corners of his lips, and wrote: "It's not difficult to guess that you love the noble and elegant style, but I prefer the lady holding a parasol on the grass and looking back on the yacht." A girl who smiles lightly, full of warmth and playfulness'

Just as he put down the pen, Waley's voice came through the door: "Report, Captain"

Byron nodded slightly, motioning for the blond boy to come in.The other party quickly handed over a stack of newsprint printed with ink, and said, "Captain Hadley, this is today's."

Hearing the officer thank you softly, Waley rubbed the back of his head, walked back to the mail room with a bit of shyness, and continued his daily work.

Flicking through the pages casually with his fingers on the edge, Byron actually didn't care about the donkey-elephant dispute in the United States, but in a completely strange era, he always had to learn something to live in peace of mind.

Suddenly, a small piece of text in the lower left corner of the second page of the New York Times caught Byron's eyes.

'President Truman last week (February 2) proposed an economic aid of US$18 million for the Nanjing government of China, which has now been approved by Congress. The relief supplies will arrive in the second half of the year, but the budget will be cut by 13%'

In 1948, the presidential general election of the United States will be held as scheduled at the end of the year, and the Far East has become a new battleground for the confrontation between the two parties.

Nanjing has several times more troops and advanced equipment, but it still lost all the Northeast and 15 elites in the past winter. Therefore, even though the other side begged, Washington was always hesitant.

In the end, should I throw the dollar bills I saved into the bottomless pit on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, let the corrupt officials there exploit layer by layer, and rely on the remaining supplies to turn the tide of the war; How about replacing the pawn with Yamato, which has long been unable to fight back?

According to the historical "rescue money" that will still disappear until the red flag flies over the Nanjing gate next year, Byron can't help showing a sarcastic sneer.

He thought: "The donkey sitting in Washington is very shrewd. Seeing that the people of Huaguo are divided, how could they choose the former and go against the trend with no effort?" '

Now Nanjing is still able to resist stubbornly. In a few months, when the soldiers who won the three major battles at the end of the year join forces victoriously, the enemy will be defeated like a mountain and the rats will flee into Nanyang.

Byron's heart was beating fast, and even if he couldn't return to his homeland physically, he couldn't help feeling excited for the country of Hua, which was finally standing up again—in October next year, the ancient nation will announce its rebirth to the world with a brand new system.

But there is still a long and difficult way to go before Huaguo is recognized and respected.

Thinking of this, Byron's blood gradually cooled down, and the depression like a lump in his throat welled up in his heart.

Unknowingly, he walked out of the office building and followed his heart to the leftmost cell on the second floor. It was not yet the time for "opening a small stove" as agreed with Andy.

But Byron was eager to meet a real foreigner and hear what he said about China.

Captain Hadley didn't wait too long, and the banker's figure appeared beside the iron door of the prison cell.

"Good morning, Dufresne, how is your homework yesterday?"

"Sir, I actually did it"

"I can see that you've worked hard enough, why didn't you stay up all night?" Byron asked, pointing at the thin bruises under his friend's eyes.

"...The weather is getting warmer, and it's hard to sleep." Andy's heart was always tense, and his usually alert brain also went blank.

Fortunately, Byron was just asking casually, and his focus was on the back: "What do you think about the economic aid to the Far East? From a professional point of view, is this... a good deal?"

Andy has known this "do nothing" guard captain for a year.

He is very clear that Mr. Hadley, who is well-read and omniscient, is really not good at finance, and his personal wealth has always been stored in the bank.

Therefore, he didn't understand why Byron, who had a headache when he mentioned stock fluctuations and capital flows, would care about the post-war economic situation in East Asia.

After deliberating for a while, Andy warned: "Sir, if you receive a project from East Asia, try to avoid the list from Huaguo...

The war is still raging there, and the economic situation is like a quagmire under the collusion between the government and businessmen. Even if there is new assistance in place in the near future, it is only a matter of time before the overall collapse.

As early as two years ago, financial giants in the New England region had shifted their focus of investment support to Yamato.As the fulcrum of the Pacific Ocean and the Far East, the United States only needs one, and that is enough. "

Andy's implication is that even if Governor Dewey of New York State is hot-headed and really wants to win the neighbors to the south of the Soviet Union as campaign capital, the Republican plutocrats behind him will never agree to such meaningless financial appropriations .

In other words, no matter who is the winner of this year's general election, this seemingly certain huge amount of economic aid will not be actually sent out.

The banker's words confirmed the historical facts in Byron's memory, and he was slightly relieved: "The profit-seeking capitalists have done a good thing by mistake."

If the money enters the pockets of the Nanjing government, it will either become a sharp knife to suppress the people, or it will be turned into artillery fire to slaughter compatriots. As for stabilizing prices and maintaining people's livelihood, it is absolutely impossible'

Lost in his own thoughts, Byron traced the outline of the map with his index finger on the stone wall of the cell.

The floating ash on the wall was wiped off, revealing the figure of a strutting rooster.

"Jinzhou, Changchun, Shenyang...Peking, Tianjin...Nanjing...Hong Kong, Macau" muttered to himself, and his fingers traced the route of liberation to the land that could not be regained until the end of the 20th century.

The index finger continued to swipe to the southeast, where there should be a piece of lost ground that had not yet been recovered, but Byron only touched a sunken hole.

Suddenly coming back to his senses, he opened his eyes wide and looked at the gap in the stone wall - the size of half a palm, the shape is not regular, but in the eyes of the architect, the tendency to extend inward is obvious.

While groping for traces in the depression, Byron turned his head and said to his friend, "Aren't the stones I sent last month not enough for you to carve? Why did you start digging the wall?"

He was joking, but accidentally found that Andy's lips were tightly pursed, his eyes slightly dodged, and he didn't dare to look at him.

Byron's gray eyes narrowed, and he withdrew his right hand, twirling the stone chips between his fingers, and felt the hardness of the concrete that was obviously not up to standard, as if a novice had added too much water when mixing sand and gravel.

Looking around, he found that the coldness and dampness of Shawshank was obviously not enough to let this defective product dry, but instead "added bricks and tiles" to the dense cracks inside.

If the wall was just accidentally damaged, ordinary prisoners might worry that the prison guards would make trouble, but Andy didn't have to act like a frightened bird in front of Captain Hadley, with a tight body and no cover.

Byron patted Andy on the shoulder, talking about irrelevant topics in a calm tone: "Dufreland, is this a French surname?"

"Yes... sir" Andy was in such a state of confusion at the moment that he couldn't say a single extra word.

"Do you like Dumas's book?"

Andy didn't answer, he lowered his head slightly and remained silent.

"I think it's not bad, at least the Count of Monte Cristo is a good story..."

After speaking, Byron turned and left.

Behind him, Andy hunched over, sitting on the edge of the bed, covering his face with one hand. He was smart enough, so he naturally knew that Captain Hadley's guess was pretty close.

After a while, he walked to the pool, brushed back the shattered hair on his forehead, and wiped his face with cold ice water.

The author has something to say:

The writing of a stupid author is promoted by checking the information

Therefore, since the next few chapters deal with a lot of art history

I went to read the original book again, and found a lot of new material!

Example: Andy is an abbreviation/nickname for Andrew Dufresne

Another example: the year marked on the original work and the script is actually different

The lazy author didn't want to waste all his work, so he decided to make a hybrid version

It's the timeline of the movie

Part of the plot (especially about the witness evidence in the murder case) follows the original work

Another example: Andy has a good friend outside, named Jimmy (no name...)

Has been helping him manage money and prepare his identity

He is really a good friend of the nation, but it is a pity that he did not live until Dufresne was released from prison

Anyway, Jimmy should appear in the next chapter~By the way, show off Andy's family background

The painters and works involved in this chapter are as follows (listen to Byron’s nonsense, they are all good works, ranked in no particular order)

1. Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon I

2. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Countess of Ossonvilleau

*The above are the standard-bearers of neoclassicism

3. Camille Corot, Memories of Montefontaine

4. Jean-Francois Millet, Vespers

*The above are realist masters

5. Edgar Degas, The Ballerina

6. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Luncheon on a Yacht

7. Claude Monet, "Gare Saint-Lazare", "Frog Pond", "Woman with a Parasol"

*The above are the Impressionist representatives that the author also prefers, the favorite must always be the finale

In terms of historical data:

There are a lot of war data, so I won’t talk about them one by one here, let’s read history textbooks...

On the side of US imperialism, since 1947, there has been a clear tendency to regard the reconstruction of Japan as the cornerstone of power in East Asia and the Pacific

Therefore, the author speculates that at an earlier time, the business community in New England had inside information

Thomas Dewey, Governor of New York from 1943 to 1955

Ran twice as a Republican candidate for President of the United States in 1944 and 1948, but lost both

he had announced in June 1948 that if elected he would provide massive financial and military aid

Cough cough, the author did not run away!

On the great day of Valentine's Day, add another chapter

Of course, the follow-up development will not be abused, this article is a cookie~