In the Li residence, the members of the Li family, who had lived behind closed doors for so long, finally had their grievances redressed and their names cleared.
"My Ah Zhao, Mother knew you never harmed anyone. Look, everyone, look! It was that Jap who fired the gun! My son Li Zhao is a good man, a good man; he was protecting Ip Man! Look, everyone, look! My son Li Zhao didn't harm Ip Man, just look..."
"Wuuu, big brother is a good person! You wronged my brother, and you even came to our house to throw rotten eggs."
"My brother protected Ip Man, yet you beat him to death, and now you still come to bully our family!"
The townspeople who were still lingering nearby lowered their heads in shame at these words. Looking at the vegetable leaves in their hands, they were filled with profound remorse.
The neighbors hurried over to comfort the Li family.
"I'm sorry, Mother Li. We misunderstood you."
"We were wrong. Everyone, hurry up and help clean up Mother Li's house!"
"I'm so sorry, Mother Li. Please, you must forgive us."
"Your Li Zhao is a good man, we all know it now. We are so sorry, Mother Li."
While some recognized the truth and sincerely repented, naturally others remained stubborn.
"What good man? Didn't Li Zhao serve as a translator and lackey for the Japs just the same?"
"In short, he worked for the Japs, so he's a traitor and a running dog."
Li Zhao's reputation was forcefully vindicated once more. Just as the Celestial Screen finished playing its broadcast, a wave of bullet-screen comments arrived, albeit fashionably late.
[Does anyone seriously think Li Zhao was a traitor? Seriously? Really?]
[Li Zhao never betrayed a single Chinese person. On the contrary, while working for the Japanese as a translator, he did everything in his power to protect as many Chinese people as possible from falling victim to Japanese cruelty. Not everyone can die as grandly and righteously as a national hero. Vast numbers of our compatriots died like lambs—humiliated and completely stripped of dignity—and Li Zhao was precisely the one doing his utmost to protect these people.]
[He was a clever patriot. In that kind of environment, he used this method to help the Chinese people; without him, Ip Man would have died long ago. But people like this usually meet a bad end, though as long as one's conscience is clear, that's enough.]
[Ip Man kept yelling abuse, calling Li Zhao a running dog, yet he still accepted Li Zhao's shelter and assistance. One wanted to attack while the other wanted to defend, and in the end, it still indirectly led to Li Zhao being beaten to death!]
[It's easy to die, but very difficult to live—especially living for the sake of others. Daring to die takes courage, but daring to live takes even more.]
[He wasn't a great man, but don't curse him either. He had no choice in the circumstances, and he tried his best to help the Chinese. That alone makes him better than most people back then. Let me ask you: were there more people watching Ip Man fight, or more people helping Ip Man?]
Mother Li wept with emotion. The entire family knelt on the spot, kowtowing repeatedly to thank the Celestial Screen for clearing their name.
The netizens' comments had arrived just in time, completely washing away the injustice and grievances against Li Zhao. Li Zhao's older brothers and younger sisters also wept tears of joy. The youngest sister, in particular, finally held her head high and spoke with triumphant pride:
"Heaven says my big brother is a good man! He never harmed anyone! You are not allowed to wrong my brother ever again!"
Sha Danyuan, who was hurrying back home, happened to be passing by. Hot-blooded and impulsive as he was, the moment he heard those words, his mind instantly flashed back to his older brother, Wuchi Lin—wasn't he the one tricked by Li Zhao into fighting the Japanese officer?
The nameless anger in his heart instantly shot straight to his head. He shoved aside the surrounding crowd, pointed at Li Zhao's little sister, and vented his grievances indignantly:
"You're lying! Li Zhao caused my brother's death! He's the one who got my brother beaten to death by the Japs!"
"Your brother is a murderer! He killed my brother! He's the reason I don't have a big brother anymore!"
Yet this time, before the Li family even had a chance to speak and defend themselves, someone from the surrounding crowd stepped forward to stand up for their family:
"Child, you're wrong. Li Zhao never meant to get your brother killed."
"That's right. Li Zhao actually... he just wanted to make sure everyone had something to eat back then."
"You kids just talk nonsense. Didn't you see that the masters of the other two martial arts schools had already conceded defeat? Only your brother Wuchi Lin stubbornly insisted on going his own way, and that's how he threw his life away."
"Really, you genuinely can't blame this on Li Zhao."
"If you want to blame someone, blame those damn Japs! Right now, I wish I had a gun in my hand—if any Jap dares to come to Foshan, I'll blow his damn brains out!"
Mother Li walked over and gently wiped the tears from Sha Danyuan's face with her hand. They had all lost loved ones; how could they not understand this kind of pain? Instead of blaming him, she comforted and advised him with deep compassion:
"Child, go on back now. Go back and have a good talk with your brother. Just like the heavens above said: daring to die is courage, but daring to live takes even more courage."
Sha Danyuan sniffled and nodded with a hint of stubborn pride: "I... I know. I'm going back right now to talk to my brother."
...
On the second day after the Celestial Screen broadcasted the video, Foshan seemed draped in a layer of shadow. Some people had already begun selling their properties, preparing to flee abroad with their entire families to escape the disaster. Others refused to believe the Celestial Screen, loudly claiming that all of this was fake. But the majority simply went on living their lives as they always had, realizing that with their own abilities, they truly couldn't change anything about the future.
As the days passed one by one, the date arrived: July 7, 1937.
The Japanese garrison stationed in Fengtai used a military exercise and a missing Japanese soldier as pretexts to demand entry into Wanping County. When the 29th Army garrisoning the county seat refused to let them enter for a search, the Japanese launched an attack on Wanping County in the middle of the night.
Local nibbling could no longer satisfy the ambitions of the Japs. They began a full-scale invasion of the entire Zhonghuajia.
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued a nationwide circular at the very first moment, calling upon the entire nation to unite and jointly resist the invaders.
At this juncture of life and death, the sons and daughters of Zhonghuajia set aside all differences and united as one heart against the Japanese invaders.
When Foshan received the news, the very things they had feared all along truly came to pass, one by one.
...
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Sitting in front of his computer, Gu Xiaobai's hands moved across the keyboard so fast they blurred into afterimages.
What is going on? What is this? Why is this writing flowing so smoothly?
He had never seen anything like this before! Why was everything so effortless today?
Anyone watching this would surely sigh in admiration at such a vigorous and unrestrained writing session.
Then, Gu Xiaobai's expression transitioned from ecstasy to chilling frost in an instant. A single finger rested on the backspace key, completely motionless.
"This writing is absolute garbage."
He slumped defeatedly in his chair, instinctively pulling out his smartphone. He might as well browse some videos to elevate his artistic sensibilities and purge the excess garbage data from his mind.
"World classical music? Hmph, people nowadays will cook up anything just for views and traffic."
"I want to see if he's actually bullshitting."
"...I admit I spoke a bit too loudly just now. Liked and saved."
....
[New video detected. Energy is insufficient to connect to the corresponding plane.]
[Currently broadcasting only to the Ip Man 1 plane.]
In the Ip Man plane, although the system's remaining energy was not much, it still added quite a few Celestial Screens across the entire land of China.
When slab after slab of dazzlingly radiant Celestial Screens appeared above the blood-soaked ruins amidst the fire of artillery, the whole of China was instantly illuminated.
At this very moment, anti-Japanese wars were erupting all across the country. In many regions, because rear-area resources and weapon supplies failed to keep pace, towns were already on the verge of being overrun by the Japanese military.
The appearance of the Celestial Screens was undoubtedly a ray of hope cast down upon the people who were stubbornly holding out in the war of resistance.
"It's lit up! Oh, Heavens, you've finally opened your eyes!"
"I'm so hungry! Heavens, I'm in so much pain, I'm starving and hurting, please save me, Heavens!"
"I hope the heavens drive this pack of dog-eat-dog Japs out and end this damn war early."
A line of text appeared on the Celestial Screen:
[This song has been etched into the very bones of every single Chinese person!]
[Inside a moving train carriage, a man appeared half-crazed, alternately crying and laughing, leading his fellow passengers to mistake him for a madman.]
[The man was so emotionally agitated that he didn't even raise his head when the conductor came by. The conductor asked him with concern, and the man excitedly handed over the lyrics and music he had written.]
[Astonished by the magnificent and imposing lyrics written on the cigarette pack paper, the conductor couldn't help giving a thumbs-up in praise. Seeing this, a group of students from the children's palace behind him pulled out a trumpet and began to play along with the sheet music.]
[The moment the melodious melody rang out, it moved the man—the author—to hot tears, and he couldn't help bursting into loud song.]
[Keeping rhythm with the train, the man sang as he crossed mountains and plains. The sights he witnessed along this journey seemed to shine directly into his lyrics. He sang from the front of the train all the way to the back, his voice growing ever more resonant with every verse.]
[This song is filled with power. No matter where you are in the world, whenever you hear it, it never fails to bring hot tears to your eyes.]
[“The five-star red flag flutters in the wind, how resonant the song of victory.”]
[“Singing for our beloved motherland, from now on marching toward prosperity and strength.”]
Bullet-screen comments:
[Resolute and forceful, unwavering in conviction, filled with happiness, hope, and joy. Millions of people united as one, pulling together to build a magnificent new China.]
[When I was little and listened to this song during the Monday flag-raising ceremony, I used to look down on it because it felt so tacky and every program made us sing it. Now that I'm older, just singing two lines brings hot tears to my eyes—the kind you simply can't hold back. It was truly not easy for our country to achieve the peace and happiness we have today.]
[The song "Ode to the Motherland" seems taught by no one and learned by no one, yet it feels as though every single Chinese person understands it and knows how to sing it.]
[Hearing this song and this melody abroad is just like a soul-stirring call to the sons and daughters of China.]
[Wuuu, old Mr. Wang Xin didn't get to witness the 2008 Olympics or the glory of our motherland stunning the world once more. I'm in tears.]