Chapter Fourteen: The Sudden Self

  From start to finish, Su Yifan never asked Zhang Yao why she wanted to go to the internet cafe, or why she wanted to surf the internet in a VIP private room. It's not that he wasn't curious, it's just that he thought everyone had secrets, and every secret should be respected.

  On Sunday, Su Yifan was hesitant about whether to go to the secret base to play "Resident Evil 5". Su Xiaqing's text message had arrived, asking Su Yifan to accompany her to an economics lecture.

  The keynote speaker, Professor Fang, is a well-known Chinese-American economist at home and abroad. His tune is roughly singing empty stock market and pessimistic about the economic outlook. This person said many depressing words before the financial storm, and after being verified one by one in the past two years, his reputation has become even greater. Many cities have spent a lot of money to invite Professor Fang to give public lectures, and those bosses who were confused in the economic downturn are particularly enthusiastic, with every session bursting at the seams. After Professor Fang lectured in many big cities, it was finally the turn of Binhaishi, a second-tier city.

  Su Yifan was not very interested in economics, but he went along with Su Xiaqing's suggestion without a word of refusal.

  The lecture was held in the largest public theater in Binhai City, and the auditorium with a capacity of nearly 2,000 people was packed. More than half of them were entrepreneurs who were well-off. Su Xiaqing and Su Yifan's two young faces stood out, and many people cast curious glances at them.

  Su Xiaqing completely ignored these gazes and pulled Su Yifan to find a seat.

  The entire theater's seating arrangement, of course, can be divided into first, second and third tiers. Su Xiaoqing brought Su Yifan to a location that was quite close to the front, but not the very front, one of the best seats in the entire theater.

  Su Xiaqing wore a cool windbreaker today, with a beige handmade sweater inside. When she first came in, she looked very British, but after taking off her windbreaker and sitting down, she looked delicate and charming. The strong contrast between the front and back made many so-called successful people stare blankly.

  The older ones, just take a glance and that's it. Not a few men in their thirties who think they're quite eligible, almost all of them stared at Su Xiaqing without blinking.

  Such a youthful and vibrant girl, such a beautiful face, and that refreshing and elegant demeanor. Which man wouldn't be moved by her, even if only for a moment or two?

  Surrounded by so many eyes, Su Yifan felt very uncomfortable. Su Xiaqing, on the other hand, seemed as if no one was looking at her, lowering her head to whisper to Su Yifan.

  "Don't you feel bored?"

  "It's okay." Su Yifan didn't say no, he wasn't very good at lying to people.

  Su Xiaqing smiled and said: "Originally wanted to find you to listen to the concert, unfortunately this week there is no... Large-scale activities are always staggered, today only have this one."

  Su Yifan looked up at the podium and said: "Our teacher once mentioned Professor Fang, saying he was the conscience of China's economic circle."

  Su Xiaqing snorted and laughed: "Most economists don't have much money themselves, just listen to broaden your horizons a bit, don't take it seriously."

  The two people's voices were not loud, but the person next to them could still hear some of it. The middle-aged man with a white face and no mustache in front had turned his head to look at Su Xiaoqing several times just now, and took this opportunity to interject very naturally: "That's not what was said, economics is not an all-powerful weapon, it only provides a theory. Besides, economists are neither particularly wealthy nor very poor."

  Su Yifan took a look at the man, whose long face wore a warm and friendly smile that couldn't quite conceal his triumphant air. In Su Yifan's opinion, this person's face might as well have had "I'm a successful person" written on it. A pair of not-too-large four-cornered eyes shone with an uninviting light behind thick lenses, their gaze fixed intently on Su Xiaqing's face.

  Su Xiaqing didn't take the middle-aged man's bait, and she was already used to being hit on by strange men. Su Xiaqing knew that if she started talking to him now, he would definitely launch into a long-winded self-introduction, combining it with examples from his own career to boast and argue with her for half a day.

  Su Xiaqing found it boring to waste time like this. The man interrupting her whispered conversation with Su Yifan was already very rude in her opinion.

  It was almost subconscious, Su Yifan felt that at this time he should stand up. No matter how strong and intelligent Su Xiaqing was, as long as he was by her side, he should solve this trouble for her.

  After some thought, Su Yifan said to the man who was still staring at Su Xiaqing: "Sorry, we're here to listen to Professor Fang's lecture, didn't buy your ticket."

  “……”

  The man did not expect the boy to be even more impolite, his face changed, and then he thought that after all, the beauty was still here, the two looked like siblings rather than lovers, so he didn't make a move.

  "Everyone is here to see Professor Fang, so let's just chat casually." The man maintained his demeanor and countered without losing his composure, trying to steer the conversation towards himself. "The collision of one's own theories with others', mutually verifying each other, is the most interesting aspect of combining economic theory and practice."

  Su Yifan felt like there was a devil awakened in his heart, and he, who usually remained silent and rarely spoke, suddenly had the urge to continue refuting the other person.

  Is this what many people refer to as "aggressiveness"?

  Facing the talkative bespectacled man, Su Yifan asked without thinking: "You came by yourself, right?"

  The man with glasses was visibly taken aback, stunned for a moment.

  Yes.

  "So..." Su Yifan's gaze turned to the two middle-aged men sitting on either side of the bespectacled man, both with big bellies and pretentious smiles on their faces. He asked back, "Why don't you ask the people around you for confirmation?"

  Before the bespectacled man could answer, Su Yifan had already spoken out on his behalf.

  "This pickup method is novel, but interrupting others' conversations is really too impolite. I think that a person without manners, no matter how successful their business is, is not someone from whom I want to learn anything."

  Su Xiaoqing beside her burst out laughing: "Haha, well said."

  Having been slapped in the face like that, Glasses Man was clearly a bit angry, but ultimately felt that Su Yifan was just a young boy and couldn't change his mouth and face, saying: "You kid... your current behavior is very impolite, isn't it?"

  The malice of a hypocrite knows no bounds. Su Yifan felt like he had crossed that line and immediately became radiant, retorting: "Oh, so in your world, being polite means interrupting others?"

  The man with glasses was about to retort, but suddenly came to his senses and realized that even if he won the argument against Su Yifan, it wouldn't do him any good. After all, she's just a young girl, and continuing to bicker would only make himself look bad.

  After some thought, Yan Zhi's eyes sparkled as he smiled sincerely at Su Xiaoqing: "Sorry, I always get excited when I hear this topic, didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."

  Su Xiaqing squeezed Su Yifan's hand lightly and nodded in approval of his courage to argue with others, then turned to the bespectacled man and said, "It's okay."

  "It doesn't matter" - these three words sounded casual, but almost suffocated the bespectacled man.

  In the glasses man's view, Su Xiaqing would always have to exchange a few pleasantries with him and show some elegance, after all, they could still get in touch and ask for her name. But Su Xiaqing lightly wrote three words, meaning she accepted the glasses man's apology, also indicating that she thought Su Yifan was not wrong.

  The bespectacled man was indignant, he turned around with a huff, and his heart was filled with infinite nostalgia for those little girls who would follow him just because of an LV. But thinking carefully again, wasn't it that he thought those little girls were not impressive, which is why he was so taken by the girl in front of him? Some men are just such contradictory and despicable creatures...

  Before the speech, there was even a warm-up performance, and a famous local female singer was invited to sing a song. In the auditorium where the heating wasn't very sufficient, that female singer wore a very French-style outfit and went on stage. The degree of exposure made Su Yifan wonder if her body was immune to colds.

  After the performance, the murmurs in the entire theater gradually subsided and disappeared. More than 2,000 pairs of eyes stared at the stage, with most people wishing that this female singer would collapse and die immediately, so that Professor Fang could take over.

  The female singer finished her performance stubbornly, and then there was a host who came up to flatter for about five minutes before the protagonist Professor Fang took the stage.

  Professor Fang is about fifty years old, the most charming age for a man who is getting older but not really old. His intentionally white hair is very eye-catching, and in fact, he takes care of himself extremely well, looking even better than his image on TV.

  Su Yifan didn't seem to have any interest, so Su Xiaqing started teasing his palm from below. Su Yifan was very patient and serious, allowing Su Xiaqing to tease him while listening to Professor Fang's pessimistic predictions about the economic trend for the next few years.

  "It's actually very simple why various theories all have data and actual examples to support them." Su Xiaoqing said casually to Su Yifan, also in response to the provocation of the bespectacled man earlier, "Theoretical researchers themselves already have a conclusion in their minds, then go collect cases and data based on this conclusion, and finally they will have very convincing arguments to support it. When all is said and done, it's just some tricks of the trade for those who make a living by talking nonsense."

  Su Xiaqing's voice was not small this time, and the bespectacled man who had been trying to strike up a conversation earlier turned around in surprise. He didn't expect such words to come out of the mouth of a girl so young.

  "There are so many immutable factors, yet we always want to determine that everything has a certain rule, which is absurd in itself." Su Xiaoqing continued to teach Su Yifan, "The economic theories before and after the Industrial Revolution were completely different, and technology played a huge role. Many current theories will also collapse if they encounter a technological advancement that changes the industrial structure."

  Having heard Su Xiaoqing's words, the bespectacled man in front was no longer just a little surprised. This insight is not particularly profound, but it simply and crudely points out some of the theoretical shortcomings that this era needs to go through.

  Su Xiaqing's words were easy to understand, and Su Yifan nodded along as he listened. He thought that his goddess sister was more interesting than Professor Fang on stage when it came to talking about these dry topics.

  "It's not like I must have you listen to this." Su Xiaoqing was still scratching Su Yifan's palm, her tone wasn't as relaxed as before, "Just want to show you whatever interesting things there are and try them out with you."

  When Su Xiaoqing said that, Su Yifan immediately felt that Professor Fang's lecture was not so boring. In fact, Professor Fang liked to use some very clichéd examples to illustrate current economic problems. This is just as Su Xiaoqing said, having a conclusion and then finding evidence.

  "We'll listen first." Su Yifan gave his goddess sister a tranquilizer, "I think it's okay."

  After listening for a while, Su Yifan began to think that the speech was quite interesting, although the views were extreme, Professor Fang's own level was still very strong. Just opening his mouth and being able to spout out various data from the past seven or eight years was enough to make people admire him to tears.

  Su Xiaqing smiled gently beside him.

  "There's something else I want to tell you."

  "What?"

  "I'm so happy to hear you speaking up for me," Su Xiaoqing said, scratching the palm of Su Yifan's hand. "I know how hard it is for you, and I don't want to change you too much. Everything depends on your own decision, as long as you stand up for me, I'm happy."

  Su Yifan scratched his head and chuckled, he found himself facing Su Xiaqing with a dumb mouth, more speechless than when facing Cheng Shuiheng.

  Professor Fang continued to speak, but Su Yifan basically didn't listen. He was still savoring the words of Su Xiaqing.

  The speech lasted about an hour and a half, with a 10-minute break in between. Someone came on stage to tell some old internet jokes related to economics and stocks, such as the secret of making millions from stock trading being that he was once a billionaire, which made everyone laugh awkwardly. At the end of the speech, there was also a Q&A session, where many bosses stood up with red faces to ask Professor Fang questions based on their own situations, essentially advertising themselves. Professor Fang patiently answered each question, and when faced with particularly tricky ones, he would tell a joke to gloss over it.

  Su Yifan sighed: "Professor Fang's eloquence is really good."

  Su Xiaoqing smiled: "Of course, he makes a living from this. The driving force for most professionals is not passion, but survival pressure."

  Su Yifan pouted, he was still in high school after all, and didn't feel deeply about it.

  The speech finally came to an end, and Professor Fang kindly took photos with the big and small bosses who came over to shake hands.

  "It's really tiring." Su Yifan whispered to Su Xiaqing, he also dared to be vicious now, "Like some small animal in the zoo, hug it, touch it, take a photo, pay some money..."

  "Let's go." Su Xiaoqing patted the young man on the shoulder. "You wouldn't want to take a photo with an old man, would you?"

  "Absolutely not."

  Two people walked out of the crowd surging towards the stage, and outside, the sun was shining brightly. Su Yifan unexpectedly saw a familiar figure in the crowd.

  Su Xiaqing was also sensitive enough to notice that Su Yifan's gaze had drifted away and then directly caught the target.

  "Ah, Yang Bingbing?"

  Su Yifan scratched his head: "Qing Jie, I feel like you're the one who's actually a student at our school... and a guy at that..."

  "Everyone likes to look at beautiful women."

  "How much time do you spend in front of the mirror every day?" Su Yifan deliberately and crudely flattered Su Xiaqing.

  Su Xiaqing smiled and patted the young man's shoulder: "Aren't you going to go say hello?"

  "No way, nobody knows who I am."

  Su Xiaqing looked at Yang Bingbing's profile, a girl with a classic beauty, her outfit was not trendy but slightly conservative, only her expression gave people the feeling of being cold and full of strong curiosity.

  These two completely opposite emotions are both embodied in Yang Bingbing alone, making people full of curiosity about this somewhat lonely and unsociable girl.

  Su Yifan did not expect that Yang Bingbing, such a beauty, would be interested in an economics lecture.

  Su Xiaqing looked at Yang Bingbing with her calm and gentle eyes, saying meaningfully: "It's okay, she will know, it's impossible not to know."

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  The essence is used up, too little, will replenish later

  Short vacation at home writing code without any activities, heard such a depressing and unhappy news don't know if everyone is happy or not...

  And I want to emphasize again, this story is a feel-good story, a feel-good story!