Staying Righteous
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Feb 26, 2020
- 3 min read
Act 1
FADE IN.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
PETER's WIFE puts dishes of food on the table. One dish catches Peter's attention.
PETER: Is that Soy Sauce Chicken?
WIFE: No, it's 3-Cup Chicken.
As Peter looks curious, his wife takes a photo of the dish.
WIFE: There was a story about this dish. A prison warden cooked something good with limited resources for Wen Tianxiang before his chosen execution.
Looking excited, Peter can't wait to taste the dish.
PETER: Wow, that's yummy...
Peter's wife looks delighted. Peter begins to surf the web on his phone.
PETER: Wen was only 47 - born 1236 and died in 1283.
WIFE: He could fight and he could write.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.): He has everlasting honour too...But would any dish taste good before one's execution?
Act 2
WIFE: I studied his poetic works in my primary school days.
PETER: Of course, we learned to recite quite a lot of poems when we were young.
WIFE: Wen wrote great lines in "Passing Lindingyang":"...人生自古誰無死?留取丹心照汗青. (Who can escape death since time immemorial? Let my heart stay true in history with no sorrow.)"
PETER: Oh yes, that's from him.
WIFE: Wen also wrote: "正氣歌"(The Righteous Song).
PETER: I remember I studied that in my matriculation years.
Finding the Righteous Song on the web, Peter recites it, as his wife corrects his pronunciations.
PETER: I recall no public exam question on that piece was set from 1973-1974. I scored relatively well in Chinese Literature though.
They continue to enjoy the 3-Cup Chicken dish.
PETER (V.O.): If I didn't withdraw my role as a domain name dispute panelist in two matters, today was the deadline date for me to issue my decisions to the parties.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If my decisions weren't in favour of the same respondent, he threatened via hiredkiller12 to kill me - the first time I got such an outrageous threat.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For the perpetrator and conspirators, it was a straight and short path to hell because of the evidence trail. They might be doing such wrong things all the time, rendering them seemingly insignificant.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But how meaningless it is if I was to die just to do justice between some third parties' disputes, primarily over money matters!
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This meal shouldn't be my last one...
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's a memorable dinner at home, nonetheless. I should like to document it.
Peter uses his phone to take a photo of the half-finished dish.
WIFE: No, that's a misrepresentation of my dish. I let you have mine.
Immediately, his wife taps on her phone and Peter gets a WhatsApp message with a photo of the dish.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - DAY
PETER (V.O.): I'm staying alive alright. I'll stay as righteous as I can in my context.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Seizing the coronavirus-scare opportunity, I've more time to do things I like to do. I'll write more songs with righteous themes. Whether they would be appreciated or not or can stand the test of time, I wouldn't know. While I'm willing to be little, I'll try to leave a possible legacy of staying righteous.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yesterday was the first time that my wife and I had a dinner that blended food with literary flavour.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That I believe was what Chinese Kings and Queens did in the old days!
FADE OUT.
THE END.
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