Campus Drama: “Yan Zi goes to Chu as an Ambassador”
辽宁本溪市高中 赵唯尊 高一(十一届获奖作品)
Time: the end of Spring and autumn and warring states
Place: Chu
Characters: Yan Zi, (ambassador of Qi, King Chu, receptionist, two soldiers, minister of Chu)
(Qi and Chu are big countries, in order to keep good relationship between two countries, King Qi sends Ambassador Yan Zi to Chu. Chu is over self-confident, they want to insult Yan Zi in order to show off)
King Chu (complacently): Yan Zi is short, Soldiers, open a hole of five feet at the side of town gate, as soon as Yan Zi comes, shut the gate and let him in through the hole.
(Yan Zi comes to the gate of Chu, but is asked to come in through the hole instead of the gate.)
Yan Zi: (looking at it and says to the receptionist grinningly) This is a hole for dogs not for men. Only when visiting a “Dog Country”, can we enter through a dog hole. I’m waiting here and you may go and ask what kind of country Chu is.
(receptionist goes away to pass the words)
Receptionist : King, Yan Zi said that you opened a dog hole, not for men. Only when visiting a dog country, can men enter through a dog hole. He asked me to pass this word to you.
King Chu (looking pale): Hurry up, open the gate for him. Don’t let him look down upon my country, which is not a dog country.
(Yan Zi enters the palace and meets King Chu)
King Chu (glancing at him and laughing grimly): Doesn’t Qi have anyone better?
Yan Zi (seriously): Your Majesty! I don’t know what you are talking about. Our capital, Lin Zi, is full of people. If we roll up our sleeves, a piece of cloud will appear in the sky; if we jilt sweaty, rain comes. The streets are crowded with people who are walking side by side. Why do you say that no people?
King Chu (calmly): Since you have so many people, why do they dispatch you here?
Yan Zi (pretends to be embarrassed): It’s really difficult for me to answer your question. If I tell a lie, I’ll commit cheating you, if I tell you the truth, I’m afraid you’ll get angry.
King Chu: Tell me the truth, I won’t get angry.
Yan Zi: My country has a custom, that is, if the country to be visited is a superior country, great man will be sent to; if it’s an inferior one, humble person will do. I am the most useless, so I am here.
King Chu: Good, Good, Let’s have a banquet to welcome the ambassador of Qi.
(They are having their dinner when two soldiers took a prisoner passing in front of them.)
King Chu: What is that prisoner committed? Where is he from?
Soldier: He made a theft. He is from Qi.
King Chu: People from Qi are good for nothing, how shameful!
(The ministers laugh satisfiedly.)
Minister A: (in a weak voice) This time Yan Zi loses all the face.
Minister B: (softly) yes, yes, let’s see how he will explain that.
Yan Zi: (Standing up, remains calm) Your Majesty, don’t you know? Citrus from Huainan are large and sweet. However, as soon as it grows in Huaibei, its fruit becomes small and bitter, that is because of the different environment. In the same way, people from Qi can live in peace and work happily, but as soon as they move to Chu, they become burglars. I think it is also because of the different environment.
King Chu: (frightened and almost slipped from the chair) Originally I intended to make fun of you, on the contrary, I am mocked.
(From then on, King Chu respected Yan Zi from the bottom of his heart.)
