[The butterfly effect] should by now have become an overused pseudoscientific concept, one people might even laugh at you for mentioning.
But if you replaced it with another term-[karmic retribution]-didn't it suddenly seem much more acceptable?
Both emphasized that one event and another seemingly unrelated event shared countless intricate connections.
In Marxist philosophy, this would be explained as the universal interconnectedness of everything in the world.
"Whatever flowers you plant determine the fruit you reap. That is more or less how cause and effect work in this world."
At a noodle stall late at night, a white-haired old man in glasses held forth, spouting bookish quotations about cause and effect.
He spoke with extravagant eloquence, swaying his head.
The young man beside him merely kept his head down and ate his noodles, slurping loudly.
Clang!
The young man tipped his head back and drained the hot noodle broth, chopped scallions and all, then slammed the porcelain bowl onto the table, interrupting the old man's self-indulgence.
Kunxi wiped the broth from his mouth and abruptly asked, "Then who caused Stella to disappear?"
"Uh-"
The old man was momentarily speechless. He had only been making an offhand remark. Who could have expected Kunxi to jump straight to such a sensitive topic?
Seeing that the old man had no answer, Kunxi shook his head in disappointment and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, an old, feeble voice rang out. "S-sir, could you give the two of us a bowl of noodles...?"
Kunxi turned to look.
Beneath the dim yellow streetlight, an old woman in ragged clothes leaned on a bare walking stick and pleaded humbly.
Her silver hair stirred feebly in the night breeze, and her face was covered in wrinkles carved by suffering.
Beside her stood a girl with a vacant expression. Her face