The Cross of Nothingness

I don't know if anyone has noticed a detail At the end, the baby's body, which was used as evidence of Saori and Nishina's murder, disappeared. The case was difficult to establish because there was no way to prove that they had killed the baby. And Sayoko is the only person besides the two of them who knows the baby's body. It would take 20 years for the baby's body to turn into soil, and it was unlikely that it would be dug up by an animal. So the most likely thing was that it was dug up by Sayoko. In other words, if Sayoko asks the two of them to surrender, they will also be punished without prosecution. If Sayoko had not died, maybe the story would have had another ending. They had faced the crimes they had committed, and Saori had been freed. All the while, both of them were carrying a heavy cross, and they were atoning for their sins, even though they were not sentenced. I think Sayoko already has her own answer. Only by truly feeling that she has been offended and atone for her sins is the real cross, otherwise even the death penalty is meaningless. They have atoned for their sins. I think this is a very good work. It connects seemingly unrelated lines one by one and finally merges them into this story. It also finally gives us a question, what is the real cross. Maybe I didn't understand White Night Walk, but I think this story is better than White Night Walk. The above is reproduced from Zhihu.

In the eyes of normal people, one is a heinous murder, and the other is a young and ignorant person who disposed of his own child. The two murders are two extreme murders in my opinion, but in the eyes of the criminal law, they can also be solved with the death penalty. On the other hand, one was sentenced to death but showed no remorse, and the other was not punished by criminal law but suffered a lifetime of pain. It reflects the contradiction and weakness of criminal law. Therefore, the law is just an empty cross, but the inner torture suffered after breaking the law is the real cross.

Keigo Higashino discusses the pros and cons of juvenile law in The Wandering Blade, and in this book he tells us how can we seek spiritual solace after a criminal kills someone, and what is the nature of crime and punishment? This is both an interrogation of the judicial system and a reflection on complex human nature. The structure of the story is also very simple. Nakahara and Sayoko were originally a happy couple, but everything changed because Sayoko went out to buy groceries and left her eight-year-old daughter Aimei at home. During this period, Aimei was killed by the murderer during a burglary. The murderer was quickly hunted down and confessed to his crime. However, because the murderer committed the murder by mistake, the law stipulates that he should be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death. Life imprisonment is usually about twenty years, which means that he can come out of society after twenty years, but who can guarantee that he can truly repent? Requiring murderers to punish themselves is a cross of nothingness. It is hard to say that they can only achieve self-relief through legal punishment. The Zhongyuan couple felt that only the death penalty could provide spiritual comfort, so they appealed again, and the murderer was sentenced to death. However, even if the murderer was brought to justice, the scars suffered could not be healed, and the lost daughter could not reappear in the world. A sense of loss ensued. Because her beloved daughter died, their marriage also came to an end. Through this incident, Sayoko transferred all the pain of losing her beloved daughter to focusing on social issues. This may also be her goal and motivation for surviving. Sayoko's biggest concern is the survival and abolition of the death penalty. She has collected a lot of information about the death penalty and punishment. She hopes that anyone who kills someone should be sentenced to death. The biggest advantage of this is that the murderer can no longer kill other people. In the process of continuous investigation and evidence collection, it was accidentally discovered that more than 20 years ago, Shi Ye and Saori gave birth to a baby when they were students because of their youth and ignorance. Because they were afraid of being known by their parents, they killed it alive and buried it in the woods of Aokigahara. The end of the story also throws up a suspense. The baby's body was not found in Aokigahara. I think the most likely reason is that Shi Ye secretly changed the location, because he knew that if Saori leaked the truth, all this would be unimaginable. The best way is to secretly move the destination, or it may have been burned by Shi Ye. Of course, it may also be dug out and eaten by wild beasts. Although she killed her newborn child, it still constituted a crime in a legal sense. After experiencing the pain of losing a daughter, Sayoko deeply understood that a person's life is precious and cannot be taken away by anyone. With this thought in mind, she decided to let Shiya and Saori surrender. It was because of such an upright attitude that Shi Ye's father-in-law was killed. When I saw this, I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't call the police directly, but what was the meaning of always instigating Shi Ye and the others to surrender? Do you want them to take the initiative to repent? Or should we say that only surrendering is true repentance? It can only be said that Sayoko oversimplified or idealized everything. She naively believed that Shiya and Saori surrendering themselves would solve everything and make up for the mistakes they made in the past. Since this incident happened twenty years ago, Shi also became a doctor in the past twenty years and helped many patients, including Hua Hui, who was deceived into becoming pregnant. This can be regarded as self-salvation in an alternative way. But can saving these many lives really repay the mistakes I made back then? Can the merits and demerits be offset? Maybe this is really difficult to judge. When a good person has done countless good things and done one wrong thing, but he still cannot be forgiven, what does it mean? Sayoko's actions were to destroy the happiness of other families. When she came to Shiye's house alone, she categorically said that not only should she surrender, but she should also be sentenced to death. This is undoubtedly another way to destroy a family. Sayoko's death seems to be inevitable. She just believes in her own dogma and completely ignores social sentiments. Rather than being stubborn, it is better to say that she has some resentment in the process of losing her beloved daughter. This resentment makes her view the problem a bit rigid. There are indeed very few people who have reformed like Shi Ye. Compared to Shi Ye, Saori became a thief in order to numb the pain caused by killing children. She felt that being spurned and scolded was the best punishment for herself. Should the death penalty be abolished? I don't think it is necessary. The existence of the death penalty has a deterrent effect on criminals, but it does not mean that everyone who commits a crime needs to be sentenced to death. The criminal law should determine the sentence based on the degree of repentance and contribution. Higashino also describes family in this book. Shi Ye and Saori made big mistakes, partly due to their indifference to legal knowledge, and partly due to lack of family education. Saori's mother died young, and her father was busy working every day, turning a blind eye to his daughter's pregnancy. Without correct guidance, he would naturally lead to the abyss of tragedy. Sin may be just a fleeting evil thought, but punishment may be a lifelong chain.

When I was sleeping last night, my husband suddenly told me that he wanted a baby and said he liked the feeling of a family of three. We have been married for more than two years and have never had a baby. However, my husband is still very good to me and always praises me for looking like an 18-year-old girl. In fact, I used to have a bad husband. Fortunately, I met the public account "Xiangruzi". I did a test for the husband there and learned about my husband's temperament. I am well raised, thanks to [Xiang Ruzi] who helped me, otherwise I would not be as beautiful as I am now. Thank you very much.

Does salvation really exist in the heart, or does it need to be broken in form? If the cross is nihilistic, is the death penalty the best way? But if the death row inmates are allowed to live, it will be a kind of injustice and suffering for the victims. It's hard to decide, this is a real problem, and we can only hope for a better solution. Law, after all, only regulates behavior, and morality must be measured by the cross. The law is the lowest morality. Life is precious, do it and cherish it, treat yourself and others.

There are some ambiguities in the translation, and what the hell is the last page of the second chapter? Is it piracy? I spent money to buy the genuine version. This is so irresponsible. If this is the original version, what happened in that section is very irresponsible.

I have read many books by Keigo Higashino, but this one disappointed me. I may be a rational person, but I can't understand Sayoko's nosy approach at all. People cannot be resurrected, so why would she want to destroy so many people's lives because of a baby that was killed 21 years ago. As a pediatrician, Shi Ye has used his actual actions to atone for his sins. He not only saved so many children, but also helped an abandoned pregnant woman. Aren't these enough to make up for the killed baby? Let's talk about Saori, why does she have to surrender herself to atone for her sins? Wouldn't other methods work? ? It's been 21 years, so the prosecution period has passed. Besides, the Japanese views in it are really unacceptable to me. My father-in-law killed someone, so he wants to divorce his wife? What? What kind of thinking is this? ? Besides, the discussion on the legal part is really unconvincing. To be honest, the logic is unacceptable. Overall... This book is my least favorite one by Keigo Higashino that I have read so far.

Maybe God saw that both Shiya and Saori were trying their best to atone for their sins, so the baby's body could not be found. . .

The plot isn't particularly great, but the thoughts on the death penalty are thought-provoking. And mmp, the childhood sweetheart in Higashino's works, is not having an easy time. . .

I finished watching this movie in 4 hours on and off. This is the first time I have read a novel by Keigo Higashino in a row. The three lines gradually became related and finally intertwined. Is a murderer worth one life, or should he be left to reflect in the years to come? "How many people who have been imprisoned have not reflected at all. The cross that such people carry may be very vain, but the cross that my husband carries is definitely different. It is a very heavy, heavy, mountain-like cross." "Penalty is full of contradictions." "Perhaps this means that humans cannot make perfect judgments after all." Apart from legal principles, there is not only human nature, but the most important thing is human nature. I finally understood the meaning of carrying the cross. It's not that I have committed a sin and asked Heavenly Father for forgiveness so that it can be written off. Instead, I carry my own sins, remind myself, restrain myself, and atone for my sins in the years to come.