Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三国演义Those with at least
some knowledge about Chinese literature won't be any stranger to the above novel. It is about war of the three Kingdoms in ancient China. Despite it being a story, the characters and events as illustrated in the book mirror that of the truth. That means to say, signature characters from the novel did exist, and significant events are pretty historical.
I'm not here to do a publicity for that novel, however sucky I am at publicities. Nor am I here to show off my next-to-limited knowledge about Chinese literature.
I first got acquainted with the book when I was in Junior 3 then. I was, 15 that time? That book was part of our Chinese lit lessons and every one of us was expected to learn it up by the end of the year (which, many of us did not, as expected). I daresay I know roughly the stories inside, but honestly, I have not read through EVERY page.
Yet, that little brother of mine who is always seen either jumping and running here and there, or squatting around his 'collection' of erasers, OR, slouching on the sofa (which I strongly disapprove of, what a posture!) playing with my handphone (which pisses me off occassionally because he flats my batt!), this brother of mine actually finished reading the same book of wars within a
week.
CANYOUIMAGINE oh my holy god!
That book - the same book I used for my J3 Chinese lit - he could read through every page and understand the story and even comment on the ending. He is merely 11. 10, to be more precise, since he read it before his 11th birthday. I was really in awe when my grandma told me that Primary 5 brother of mine actually gave his favourite tv shows (namely the one who lives in a pineapple under the sea), those HK dramas he'd complain if he misses, and football news a miss, just to catch the next chapter of the book. I was awestruck, dumbstruck, and whatever-struck, as long as, you know, I'm STRUCK.
I don't understand! It's not fair. He's only 11. Why can he solve Rubik's cube after only a FEW hints from me (when I took really long to learn it from Aulia and looked like a complete idiot), and now he could FINISH my book which I, myself, have not!
Now you know why I love this brother of mine so much?
And it's his 11th birthday in 5 hours and 40 minutes time!!!!!!
