Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Whether or not 52 Hertz really did feel lonely was something that had always been argued over. A large proportion of people were more inclined to believe that it could feel loneliness; after all, whales had a certain level of intelligence and were considered social animals.
Scientists and oceanic enthusiasts had also tried to find 52 Hertz, wanting to see it in real life by playing sounds with a frequency around 52 Hertz in the water it often appeared in. The hope was to attract it to them.
Their effort was not successful; after all, the Pacific Ocean was really vast, and 52 Hertz was too mysterious. How easy was it to wait in the grass for the rabbit? When the limited funds were used up, they had to go home and give up for the time being.
Despite that, the method they were using was likely correct. When 52 Hertz, who was born to be single, heard a similar voice to its own, it was likely to approach it out of curiosity even if it did not understand the content of the voice.
52 Hertz had actually appeared in the open sea in Binhai City, and Sihwa could communicate with whales… The opportunity was hard to come by. As long as Sihwa learned its language, she could reply to its call.
Since Sihwa wanted to know how to help it, Zhang Zian explained his idea in detail.
“But this is just an artificial response. The truth is that another mixed-blood whale like it does not exist. Even if Sihwa could communicate with the whale, she still wasn’t a whale.” Fina exposed the gaps in Zhang Zian’s words without mercy. “It is just like you agreeing to a promise that would never come true. Without a doubt, this is tricking the whale.”
Fina’s pride made it accustomed to confronting everything directly. It disdained deception, which was not in line with its normal style.
Sihwa was originally ready to agree, but after she heard what Fina said, she could not help but hesitate. 52 Hertz was already very pitiful… It should not be hurt anymore.
“I don’t agree with that. Truth is not always needed. Sometimes white lies are needed instead,” Zhang Zian retorted, “Now 52 Hertz needs hope. If a lie can bring hope to it, then a lie may not be a bad thing… And who can confirm that in a few years or more, there won’t be no other whale like it? In that case, a lie will no longer be a lie.”
Old Time Tea, who lived a more rounded and flexible way of life, agreed. “Zian’s words are logical. I deeply agree with him. Consoling oneself on false hopes might be derogatory, but it is not necessarily a bad thing to hope that a plum will quench your thirst or that drawing a cake will ease your hunger. No matter what happens in the future, at least it really managed to stop your thirst and ease your hunger at that moment. 52 Hertz has been thirsty and hungry for 30 years… Perhaps our lie would be able to ignite a sense of hope for it. It could keep it going for another 30 years.”
Fina hmphed, but did not say anything to disagree with their opinions.
“Pi, what do you think?” Zhang Zian asked.
“Zhi zhi.” Pi also nodded and agreed. It pointed at itself, then pointed at the computer keyboard outside, meaning to say, “If it could know earlier that it would one day be able to finish typing the whole Shakespearean series, it would definitely continue to type. It would be even more hopeful.”
Sihwa saw that everyone was no longer objecting. She nodded and said, “All right, I know now… It’s just that, can I learn its language?”
It was no wonder that she lacked the confidence. Before, she could understand the languages of other whales because she had been born in their world. Her ears had been full of whale songs, and a white whale had accompanied her around, so unconsciously she had managed to learn their language. This time, she had to deliberately go and learn it, and she did not have a lot of confidence that she could do it.
Ever since birth, it had been unable to communicate with the other whales. 52 Hertz was like a wild child that grew up in the mountains; no one taught it how to talk, so its whale song could be said to be something entirely of its own. Whether it was the way of speaking or the pronunciation, it was all very different from other whales, so learning its language would be very difficult.
“Don’t worry,” Zhang Zian encouraged her, picking up the fairy tale book that was placed to the side. “You have even learned what is said to be the world’s most difficult language to learn: Chinese. What is 52 Hertz’s language in comparison?”
Sihwa was shocked after hearing that. “Is Chinese really that hard to learn?”
“Of course, Chinese has been said to be the most difficult language to learn by UNESCO. Did you realize that? A single Chinese word has a lot of different meanings; a single tone has a lot of different meanings; a word has a lot of different meanings; and a sound has many words. It is just like a piece of paper––you can write on it, use it to wipe your buttocks, and fold a paper plane with it. It has many uses!” Zhang Zian’s face was brimming with honeyed pride. “For example, if you hear someone saying a word ‘gou,’ you never know whether he saw a dog or wanted to recite a poem until you’ve seen which word it is.”
Sihwa’s facial expressions showed confusion while she listened to him.
For foreigners, Chinese was probably as unique and hard to understand as 52 Hertz’s song.
“Ga ga! I have specifically come to inform you that you’ve gotten onto the shot list for next year. Please check and accept it!” Richard saw that everyone was staying on the second floor. They hadn’t come down for a long time, so it flew up to join in on the excitement. It just so happened to hear Zhang Zian’s pretentious words, so it instantly cracked down on them.
Zhang Zian gave a dry cough, then brought the topic back. “Ke! Anyway, just be at ease and learn. If you need any help, like needing more recordings, all you need to do is open your mouth. It’s no big deal. I’ll just go record more sounds.”
“When it comes to learning a language, no one is better at that than me. I’m willing to provide you with all the tricks from the numerous language that I have accumulated free of charge––as long as after you have learned the whale’s language, you teach it to me,” Richard flapped its wings and called out.
Not being able to learn Pi’s sign language was one thing, but it had always been dissatisfied that it could not understand whale language, so it took the opportunity to make the request.
“What kind of know-how? Say it out for us to hear.” Zhang Zian, upon hearing that, was quite curious; after all, it was not bad to have more abilities. If he could learn some useful tricks, if the pet shop collapsed one day, then he could still go to New Oriental to be a teacher…
Richard jauntily called out, “Ga ga! The trick is––if you can’t die while you are learning, then you must learn until you die!”
Zhang Zian, “…Are you sure this is not some closed high school slogan of a closed Militarization Organization?”
Fina looked across them, then coldly spit out, “Noisy!”
Zhang Zian and Richard shut their mouths at the same time, both not willing to admit defeat as they glared at each other. They wished they could use their glares to kill the other.
“All right, I will try my best to learn,” Sihwa nodded and said. Her voice was not loud, but it was more firm than normal.
It was the first time that she had a strong determination not for herself, but for other lives besides her own. She did not bargain with Zhang Zian; she was purely selfless. She could not get anything in return from 52 Hertz, and she had to use time that she could spend playing on her phone to learn a new whale language. That was something that would have been unthinkable to her before now.
She seemed to see a shadow of herself from 52 Hertz: They were both so lonely, and both so misunderstood.
She wanted to help it, just like she hoped that someone would help her.
