Not Crossing

The new emperor ascended the throne and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Yongding. The first order Shen Du, a doctor from the Ministry of Industry, received was to build a "waterwheel that reaches the sky." No drawings, no budget, no precedent. He went to waste river beach to survey the site and dug out an iron plate in the mud. Eight words were engraved on the board: "This site cannot be built, the water will flow to the west." There is also a line of words on the back: "Whoever builds this car may be the scapegoat." Shen Du said nothing. He buried the iron plate back, drew the pattern neatly and beautifully, and handed it over. The imperial court was very satisfied and sent a young supervisor to "assist in management". The overseer was polite, meticulous, and didn't talk much, but on the map he drew, he marked an abandoned ancient canal leading to the west bank of the valley. He said: "Students just think that since they want to build a water tanker, they must first know where the water flows." Shen Du walked west along the ancient canal. He saw a private note carved by the former river engineer on the wall of the canal. One of the lines read: "This canal has been built for three years and not a drop of water has flowed. The superiors said that the water will come by itself." He felt that this sentence was somewhat similar to his own life. At the end of the canal, he saw an old waterwheel that had sunk under the water and was unclaimed. It was larger and older than the one the court wanted to build, and it seemed that it had been deliberately forgotten. He began to understand: If that waterwheel is built, it will not be the water that will be cut off, but the last breath of a dynasty. And he himself was being pushed towards a crime that had already been written. At the same time, a female medical officer from the Ministry of Industry came who rarely appeared. When she was changing his dressing, she never looked at him. She only said, "I walked through that ancient canal of yours." Shen Du asked her why she was walking in that canal. She said: "Going to find a man. It turned out that he was dead." She paused and added: "But the saw is still there." Some people want him to build it, some people want him to stop it, and some people want him to die on this canal. But he only wanted to know three things: who carved the iron plate, why she still had the old saw, and—if the water really flowed westward, whether he could bring the lamp back alive. A waterwheel, an ancient canal, a saw, a stream of water that has not been crossed by two generations. "Budu" is not a story about escape. It's one person who decides to stay where he is, light the lamp, and see how far away the truth is. Purpose: Some roads are not meant to be walked, but to let those who follow you know that someone has walked them before.