"Crazy": Revisit Gao Qiqiang's "3 major inflection points" to understand the truth of Li Xiang's help to Zhao Lidong

Wen 丨 Qing Xin Junyue

Did Li Xiang regret concealing that Master Cao Chuang was an inner ghost?

Regretted it.

An Xin asked Li Xiang this question at Cao Chuang's cemetery, and his answer was:

"I regret it every day, every day."

What exactly does Li Xiang regret?

Is it concealing the truth? Is it to help Zhao Lidong complete the abuse? Or is he unable to help himself now?

Maybe both.

But what is certain is that if he were given another chance to choose again, he would still make the same choice.

This is like the question that Xu Zhong, the head of the provincial education rectification guidance group at the beginning of this play, asked An Xin:

"If you go back twenty years, will you still send Gao Qiqiang Chinese New Year's Eve food?"

An Xin first said: "I definitely won't." After a long silence, he added: "It's not good, the question is who knows what is going on." ”

People are always like this, on the road they have already chosen, looking at another path they did not choose, feeling envious, or feeling regret. But in fact, the reason why you face the choice is because behind each option, there is a reason or meaning that you think is right, and the option you chose initially is the choice you think is the most right choice you made at that time, weighing the pros and cons or after careful consideration.

An Xin is like this, Li Xiang is like this, and Gao Qiqiang is actually like this.

So even if time can be turned back, An Xin will still help Gao Qiqiang, Li Xiang will still choose to hide the truth, and Gao Qiqiang will still walk on the road of no return.

Li Xiang's three options

In fact, when Cao Chuang told Li Xiang before his death that he was bought by Zhao Lidong, there were three options in front of Li Xiang:

Option one: Tell the truth.

That is, the identity of Cao Chuang's inner ghost and the fact that Cao Chuang was instructed by Zhao Lidong were made public.

However, the result of this will not achieve the so-called exchange of his identity for the future in Cao Chuang's mouth, and even affect Li Xiang's future future and life.

First, Zhao Lidong will not let him go easily.

Telling the truth means being an enemy of Zhao Lidong. It may not be scary to be an enemy, but the terrible thing is that he has no evidence, no witnesses and testimony, and his words alone are simply not enough to bring down Zhao Lidong, and even the threat to Zhao Lidong is not enough, at most it is just to add some trouble.

And if Zhao Lidong does not fall, then his life will definitely not be good.

Second, "name-calling" on the back.

Telling the truth also means making the identity of Cao Chuang's inner ghost public, and he is Cao Chuang's apprentice. In this case, he is likely to bear the infamy of "master for future", even if he is for justice, but except for An Xin will agree with him, in the eyes of others, he is just a ruthless and unscrupulous villain.

Option two: Say nothing.

That is, Li Xiang can claim to the outside world that when he arrived at the scene, Cao Chuang had already swallowed his breath, and he did not know anything.

The benefits of this option are:

He didn't have to push out his respected master with his own hands, and he didn't have to endure emotional torture. At the same time, the case will not be closed easily, which gives An Xin the opportunity to continue investigating, and Zhao Lidong will not target him.

As for whether Zhao Lidong can be found, I personally think that there is a possibility, but it is not large.

The biggest possibility is that Cao Chuang's identity is exposed, but Zhao Lidong will find a way to make Cao Chuang his scapegoat, that is, Cao Chuang colluded with Xu Jiang in private for money, and killed Xu Jiang for fear that the matter would be revealed.

Option three: Conceal the truth.

Concealing the identity of Cao Chuang's inner ghost and the truth behind Zhao Lidong's mastermind, he beautified the crime of killing people and killing people into a feat of "heroism and righteousness".

The advantage of this is that it not only protects Cao Chuang's reputation and final decency, but also makes Zhao Lidong owe him a favor. The disadvantage is: he needs to face his inner condemnation, An Xin's questioning, and he has to get involved with Zhao Lidong.

Because the moment he concealed the truth, Zhao Lidong would understand that Li Xiang knew that he was the mastermind behind it. In this case, Zhao Lidong is bound to try his best to win him over and make him his own. The position given to Li Xiang's detachment leader already shows this.

After all, there is no stronger relationship in this world than interests.

Of course, Li Xiang can refuse Zhao Lidong.

However, the result of the refusal was still to offend Zhao Lidong, and if Li Xiang really dared to offend Zhao Lidong, he would not choose to hide the truth in the first place. It was precisely because he did not dare, so he hid the truth, and also because he did not dare, he could not refuse Zhao Lidong's "invitation".

For Zhao Lidong, he could not allow a person who was not his own to know his secret, even if there was no real evidence. So, Li Xiang either became his person and was dragged into the water; Either he tried everything to make Li Xiang shut up and lose his threat. (This can be referred to the set for An Xin, or Xu Jiang's ending.) ）

Savor the above three options, from the perspective of benefits:

Option one is the most unfavorable for Li Xiang, which not only offends Zhao Lidong, but also cannot bring Zhao Lidong to justice; Option two, there is no benefit and no harm; Option three: There are advantages and disadvantages, the advantage is to maintain Cao Chuang's reputation and help Zhao Lidong save himself, and the disadvantage is to violate his conscience and collude with Zhao Lidong.

In fact, what is behind these three choices, Li Xiang knows from the moment he faces the choice. It was also because he knew the pros and cons that he chose the last option.

As he says in the play:

"I told An Xin that it was for the sake of your reputation, Master. In fact, it's because I'm afraid, I'm afraid I won't be able to fight Zhao Lidong, I'm afraid I'm afraid that I will lose everything I have worked so hard to gain for so many years. ”

When people are faced with choices, it is instinct and human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm.

The same is true of Li Xiang. He didn't want to help Zhao Lidong, he didn't want to be sorry for the police uniform on his body, but he didn't want to bear the price of offending Zhao Lidong.

And this also doomed Li Xiang to be carried forward by Zhao Lidong, and as for the final result, either he collected enough evidence and "died together" with Zhao Lidong, or he completely fell into the abyss.

Gao Qiqiang's three turning points

Many people feel that Gao Qiqiang has gone astray step by step and is forced to helpless.

But in my opinion, everything is his own choice. The so-called self-help is just an excuse to convince yourself and win the approval of bystanders.

This point can be analyzed from the three turning points of Gao Qiqiang's life.

The first turning point: use Anxin as a "talisman"

The reason why Gao Qiqiang is no longer bullied by the Tang brothers is due to An Xin's kindness, and also stems from his lies.

Since An Xin came out for Gao Qiqiang, Li Xiang hinted to Tang Xiaolong that An Changlin was standing behind An Xin, Tang Xiaolong's attitude towards Gao Qiqiang underwent a 180-degree reversal, not only unconditionally retaining the location of the fish shop, but also exempting the so-called sanitation fee.

For this "beautiful misunderstanding", although Gao Qiqiang had no bottom in his heart, in order to continue to enjoy preferential treatment and make the Tang brothers jealous, he chose to sit on this misunderstanding.

Therefore, he not only acquiesced to the close relationship with An Xin, but also solved the matter of the old horse brother in the vegetable market under the banner of An Changlin.

This was the first turning point in Gao Qiqiang's life.

At this time, Gao Qiqiang tasted the sweetness of "having a backer" for the first time, and this sweetness did not need him to exchange it with an expensive TV, but only needed to tell a small lie, and he could easily obtain it.

And this is also doomed to Gao Qiqiang will go further and further.

You know, a person who does his duty and acts according to the rules, suddenly one day experiences the benefits of taking shortcuts, then this person is no longer willing to be down-to-earth, step by step, shortcuts will become his best choice on the road of life later.

The second turning point: participation in Xu Lei.

If it is said that taking down Xu Jiang was forced to fight back out of self-preservation, then getting involved in this right and wrong is Gao Qiqiang's own choice.

When Tang Xiaolong told Gao Qiqiang about Bai Jiangbo's payment to teach Xu Lei a lesson, he had every reason and had the opportunity to refuse. At that time, Tang Xiaolong already believed in the relationship between Gao Qiqiang and An Xin, so there would be no situation of forcing him to wade through troubled waters.

And the reason why Gao Qiqiang should take this errand has nothing to do with being forced to have no half a dime is completely for money.

Because of this 20,000 yuan, he and Gao Qisheng's PHS store can open smoothly. When the store can open, they have the opportunity to make more money.

It's just that what Gao Qiqiang didn't expect was that it was not easy to earn 20,000 yuan, and it even put him on the road of crime.

It's never wrong to want to live a good life and make more money. However, if you do what you shouldn't do for money, abandon your bottom line, conscience, or even break the law for money, it is a big mistake.

"Huainanzi Miao Zhixun" writes: "A gentleman does not say that small goodness is not enough to give up, but small goodness accumulates and becomes great good; It is not said that small unwholesomeness is done without harm, and small unwholesomeness accumulates for big unwholesomeness. ”

No wicked person is born like this, and they all gradually develop from small evil to no evil.

People's compassion, sympathy, will always unconsciously make excuses or rationalize the mistakes of the weak. But in my opinion, our pity and sympathy should be reserved for those who, in the midst of suffering, still stick to their hearts and kindness.

The third turning point: giving up surrender.

Gao Qiqiang thought about turning himself in.

Whether it is out of not wanting his brother Gao Qisheng to sink deeper and deeper, or to repay An Xin's help and kindness, or to seek peace in his heart. He was ready to take the initiative to confess after Xu Jiang completely lost the threat.

As he said to An Xin in the play:

"An Xin, I've always regarded you as my best friend, in two days, I'll give you a gift."

The so-called gift is himself.

It's just that his idea was not approved by Gao Qisheng. In order to prevent Gao Qiqiang from turning himself in, Gao Qisheng first lobbied and made so much money that he should enjoy it. After failing to persuade, Gao Qisheng specially called back his sister Xiaolan, who was studying in a foreign university, and tried to bind Gao Qiqiang with family affection.

In the end, Gao Qisheng succeeded.

Faced with an innocent and innocent sister, Gao Qiqiang did not have the courage to tell the truth and his plans, and he gave up the idea of turning himself in.

It was also from the moment he gave up turning himself in that Gao Qiqiang's fate was completely rewritten.

After that, there was a plot of calculating Lao Mo to kill Xu Jiang, recognize Uncle Tai as his godfather, and become the second in command of the construction group.

Lu Yao once said: "No one's life path is straight, there is no fork in the road. There are forks in the road, and if you take a wrong step, it can affect a period of life or a lifetime. ”

This sentence is very appropriate in Gao Qiqiang's road of "blackening".

Every time he faced a fork in the road, Gao Qiqiang chose a path that he knew was incorrect, he thought that he could keep the bottom line and original intention, and could return to the right path after the matter was over, but he ignored the choice at that time, which already showed that his heart deviated from the right track, and the end point changed.

Perfect excuse

At first, I always thought that Gao Qiqiang gave up turning himself in because of Xiaolan. He is worried that the "criminal brother" will become a stain on Xiaolan's life and affect Xiaolan's future.

It wasn't until I saw Li Xiang confess that he was hiding the truth because he was afraid that he would not be able to fight Zhao Lidong and was afraid of losing everything he had now, that I understood that Xiaolan's appearance was just a reasonable excuse for Gao Qiqiang to give up and turn himself in.

There is such a detail in the play:

Xu Jiang was wanted, and before Gao Qiqiang was ready to turn himself in, he went to a law firm to consult his situation and would be sentenced to several years. And the lawyer's answer is:

"Your friend has been involved in a relatively serious criminal offense, and has committed many of them. Under normal circumstances, several crimes will be punished together, and the sentence will be at least ten years. ”

This answer is the real reason why Gao Qiqiang gave up turning himself in.

First, this act of consultation has shown that he has not fully made up his mind to turn himself in, and he wants to understand the cost before making a decision.

Second, when Gao Qiqiang and Gao Qisheng said that they wanted to turn themselves in, they said that he was relieved to leave for a few years. In other words, Gao Qisheng originally thought that he would be sentenced to three or five years at most, and ten years was far beyond the scope of his acceptance.

In other words, Gao Qiqiang, who got the answer, no longer wanted to turn himself in, but he couldn't convince his conscience, which is why he drank so much.

And then Xiaolan's appearance just gave him a perfect reason to convince himself: I don't want to turn myself in, I can't implicate my sister, I'm not afraid, I'm for my family.

This is the same as Li Xiang's convincing himself to hide the truth.

When he learned that the master was an inner ghost and Zhao Lidong was behind the scenes, Li Xiang was contradictory. On the one hand, professional faith, righteous conscience tells him that he should tell the truth; On the other hand, fear of power drives him to hide the truth.

In the end, it was Cao Chuang who convinced himself to hide the truth: I am not afraid of Zhao Lidong, I am a roundabout tactic and a manifestation of current affairs; I am not for myself, I am here to preserve Master's reputation and decency.

In other words, Cao Chuang, like Xiaolan, is a "tool man", a seemingly legitimate and reasonable excuse that Li Xiang and Gao Qiqiang found in order to convince themselves.

When doing something wrong, everyone wants to find reasons from others, or from the outside world, and no one wants to dissect themselves bloodily and face up to their inner weakness and evil.

Writing here, we finally think about a question: If it was An Xin who went to the scene of the Xujiang crime at that time, how would he choose?

I think there is no doubt that he will tell the truth.

Because in An Xin's eyes, good and evil, black and white, are forever and should be clearly distinguished. There are no gaps in his beliefs, and neither fame nor gain can be shaken, so even if there are enough reasons, he will not hesitate for a moment.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, Anxin is too "axis" and too easy to suffer, but in my opinion, this is where Anxin is valuable. Even if there are few people like him in real life, "less" does not mean wrong, and "more" does not mean wise.

In this world where many people only care about interests and personal gains and losses, there are some "silly things" in Anxin's world, such as faith, and this is the core of the entire show.

Qing Xin Junyue is an emotional observer, book critic and film critic. Warm you with words, me.