Chapter 7 What Goes Well with Liquor (2)

  "Socrates met his death with great serenity and calmness, without any instinctive fear of death in the face of historical sorrow. His mind was so clear and quiet... His wisdom was so vast and profound, yet he alone dared to acknowledge his extreme ignorance... He condemned the famous and wealthy who acted solely on instinct without true knowledge or insight, proclaiming his philosophy to the world with unprecedented height, scrutinizing soulless art and morality with a critical eye... Is this not the most revered demigod?"

  In front of the grand podium, the white-haired old man was lecturing on the great philosopher Socrates to hundreds of students. The old man was already over sixty years old and had been rehired by the school after retirement to give lectures. He was a true sage, and his words that moved people's hearts made Long Bing listen with rapt attention.

  What is wisdom?

  This is a thinking question assigned by Teacher De Lao to everyone, requiring students who are interested in this topic to write an article about their own understanding and submit it to him. He will evaluate it in the next class.

  Long Bao didn't know what Professor De's surname was, only that his classmates and some younger teachers didn't call him Professor anything, they all called him Old De. Long Bao felt that this title seemed to better reflect everyone's respect for Old De, a respect for learning, wisdom, and age. Professors and scholars were everywhere, but among them, there were only a handful of people in the entire Changhan University who could be respectfully addressed as "Old".

  What is wisdom? This question seems to be too broad and vague, with many interpretations and statements. How can we understand the meaning that the Buddha wants us to understand?

  Long Bao thought for a long time, walking and thinking, attending other classes and thinking, chatting and thinking. He always felt like he was drifting in the ocean, unable to find a foothold or a place to stand.

  Liao Yexian had gone to eat already, while Haitao and others were having lunch with me in the dining hall.

  My appetite is a bit smaller than before, now each meal only needs about six taels, and I can also afford to buy more dishes. Moreover, Haitao Shiwei and others always intentionally buy more dishes every time, and then pretend that they can't eat so much, peeling some for me. All of these things are clear to me, but I don't want to refuse, my heart is warm all the time.

  Hai Tao and I always eat very quickly, we sit there waiting for Shi Wei and Qiu Qin.

  "Look at you two, eating like a couple of birds! You have to chew every mouthful dozens of times, no wonder you're as thin as a dry twig!"

  Qiu Qin looked at Haitao with a strange expression, chewed for a few more times in his mouth, then swallowed hard and said: "Isn't it written in the book that you need to savor slowly to help digestion? Why do all of you swallow?"

  "What the book says, what the book says, is everything it says correct? I've been swallowing since I was young, and I've never had any indigestion!" Haitao patted his chest loudly and continued, "I'm telling you, eating like this is the root cause of your thinness! Look at me! And look at Old Five and Old Six, that's how men should eat! Only then can they grow strong and sturdy! You guys look like women!"

  Shi Wei Zhang looked around at the girls' eating posture and found that his own eating style was really similar to theirs. He paused for a moment, then said loudly: "Damn! If it weren't for our great leader's wise and powerful education and guidance today, I really wouldn't have known that from eating habits alone, you can actually tell if someone has a masculine charm or not!"

  His face showed a painful expression of regret: "Thinking back, from kindergarten onwards, my teachers taught me to thoroughly mix saliva and food, to chew left and right, up and down, front and back, repeatedly chewing, fiercely chewing, until it's completely crushed before slowly swallowing, sending it into the esophagus, entering the stomach and intestines, passing through the appendix, and excreting from the anus! Damn! They misled me greatly! It's affected me to this day, forcing me to continue researching weight gain techniques!"

  Then again, with a look of surprise and admiration: "Oh my god, I never thought that the method to gain weight would be so simple! No wonder Farmer Uncle's pigs are so fat and chubby. It turns out they just swallow like you guys do! Eldest brother, your wisdom is truly profound and unfathomable! I'm in awe of you! I surrender to YOU!"

  Hai Lao Da didn't catch the sarcasm in Shi Wei's words and instead said with a self-satisfied tone: "Heh heh! Now you know my greatness? Let me tell you, don't listen to those nonsense nutritional science theories from books. It's better to not read books at all!"

  Shi Wei saw that his trick hadn't been discovered by Hai Lao Da, and he winked at us with his small eyes!

  "I've known this phrase 'it's better to have no books than to believe everything in them' for a long time, I've read it in books before. But at this moment, my heart is suddenly frantically asking myself: believing books - isn't that worse than having no books? Believing books - isn't that worse than having no books?"

  I have difficulty understanding many books, and I also can't grasp the thoughts, behaviors, words, and logic of many historical figures and characters in the books. Sometimes I get immersed in the plot but can't understand the deeper meaning behind it. For a long time, I didn't know how to solve this problem. Now, I understand.

  That day, Shi Wei called me: "Old Six, didn't you take many literature and philosophy electives? Come on, today a middle-aged female writer is coming to the College of Literature to give a lecture, maybe she'll also promote her new book. How about we go listen? Who knows, we might even see some beauties!"

  Shi Wei has been complaining all day that he's very handsome but girls don't like him, and although he's highly intelligent, there are no beauties to appreciate him. Although he's met a few online friends, until now he still hasn't found a girlfriend. I thought about it, surprisingly he actually wants to learn about literature, although his reasons for entering the literary world are somewhat base, but in any case, I have to support him.

  We arrived at the grand staircase classroom, and on a sign outside the classroom it was written that So-and-so is our country's famous young and middle-aged female writer, so far has published more than ten medium and long works, won **** awards and so on... giving people a feeling of surprise and admiration.

  There were at least three hundred people sitting in the classroom, and there were no more seats available. Shi Wei muttered to himself and had to stand with me against the wall on both sides of the aisle. The girls still made up the majority in the classroom, while all the boys were standing.

  Shi Wei's eyes were scanning around like many other boys, searching for a girl who was pleasing to the eye. He suddenly nudged me with his shoulder and whispered in a low voice, "Dude, Huang Qiuya and Du Cai are just two rows ahead of us! Whoa! The chick next to them is absolutely stunning! Unbelievable! Dammit, why didn't I come earlier!"

  I followed his direction and looked over, just as Huang Qiuya turned her head to glance back, she saw me and Shi Wei with one glance, and her face actually flushed red, immediately turning her head back.

  In Du Ci's mouth, this female writer is simply her idol. The works she wrote are always moving and touching, with tears streaming down her face. Huang Qiuya had read a few books under Du Ci's strong recommendation and thought they were not bad either. Especially the urban atmosphere in that book made people feel like it was a dreamy color, and the psychological description of the white-collar women was as delicate as poetry.

  Huang Qiuya was brought here by Du Cila today, she also wanted to meet this female writer and see what kind of talent and charm a woman needs to have in order to write such a book. In the casual chat, she got to know the little girl beside her, whose name is Su Jing'er, who looks very beautiful and is also from Jiangsu province, Wuxi, one year junior than herself, a freshman of 2000.

  She inadvertently turned her head to see this little devil, how could she suddenly have a heartbeat? His eyes were really fierce, as if he had electrocuted himself! Huang Qiuya thought of controlling the panic in her heart.

  Du Ci saw Huang Qiuya's face was a bit red and asked in confusion: "Qiuya, what's wrong?"

  Huang Qiuya stabilized her emotions and whispered: "That Shi Wei and Long Bao are right behind us, watching us."

  Du Ci asked in confusion: "Looking at us? What are we looking at?"

  She turned around and saw Shi Wei staring at her. As soon as he saw her, he shook his right hand at her and mouthed "Hello".

  She looked at Shi Wei's sly and cunning appearance and found it particularly amusing. She nodded to him as a greeting.

  Shi Wei was actually looking at the beautiful woman next to them, and just happened to greet her, Shi Wei even thought about how he could get to know that stunning beauty through Du Cai later.

  The female writer walked in with a smile, and the classmates applauded one after another. Some even stood up. Shi Wei's applause was the most powerful. He made a concave shape with both hands, and through the compression of air, the sound became particularly loud.

  Long Bao waited for Shi Wei to stop talking and then asked in a low voice, "Do you know this writer?"

  "Don't know her? Why should I know her? But now that I do, it turns out she's just like me, with one nose and one mouth!" Shi Wei never missed an opportunity to mock others.

  "Have you read her works before?" Long Bao continued to ask.

  "No!" Shi Wei was quite honest and wouldn't lie in front of knowledge.

  "Why did you applaud so enthusiastically just now?"

  "Haven't you seen so many beautiful girls applauding for her?"

  The writer began to talk about some topics related to literary creation after the opening remarks, and then the writer started talking about his own bitter creative history and life struggles. Some girls in the audience even shed tears and took out their handkerchiefs to wipe them away.

  Long Wan listened for a while and felt that it was meaningless. It's better to go to the library yourself. He whispered to Shi Wei, "Shall we leave?"

  Shi Wei shook his head. He wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity, and after class, he would go up and talk to Huang Qiuya and the others, and today he must get to know that stunning beauty.

  The author begins to introduce his new work "Life's Prairie", a book that tells the love life of several mountain village women and is written with a preface by a famous writer.

  The author's assistant put the recorded new book fragment tape into the player, adjusted the volume and played it. The voice coming out of the speaker was very beautiful and had a strong magnetic field, and the classmates listened with rapt attention.

  Long Bao listened and felt that something was wrong: how could it be July and the rape flowers were still in bloom? How could it be August and they would have to go up the mountain to dig sweet potatoes? This wasn't right! Long Bao looked around with questioning eyes, but his classmates were all immersed in the ocean of magnetic voices.

  Just as Long Bing was about to speak to Shi Wei, he heard a male classmate behind him say in a low voice: "Has she ever been to the countryside? How can she not even know some basic common sense?"

  The sound box continues to echo: I remember, I'm moved, I love, I remember the withered leaves falling, I remember the day the azalea flowers faded, I remember the gentle waves of rice in the fields, I remember the sunset that sent off the evening, I'm moved by my fiery life, I'm moved by the hardships and sufferings... I remember, I'm moved, I love.

  But is there really such a beautiful mountain village? Long Bao can know that the mountains and rivers of his hometown are beautiful enough, but after looking at them for a long time, who still has feelings, let alone some women who are busy with their daily lives? How could this feeling exist in rural women? Rural women generally admire cities! How is it possible to say that even carrying water is enjoyable? This is completely like an author forcibly adding his own feelings to the rural women, which is clearly unreasonable!

  Writers are indeed great people, and when I was young, I especially admired those writers, thinking they were too wise. But I never realized that there would be so many loopholes and mistakes in the books written by writers!

  At this time, the video had already finished playing. The whole classroom erupted in applause, and Shi Wei clapped loudly as well. Long Bao didn't clap, and when he turned his head back, that classmate also hadn't clapped. The two of them simultaneously exchanged a questioning gaze.

  The writer was apparently quite pleased with the performance of her classmates, and to show off her own wisdom and erudition, she asked them to ask questions at random, and then proceeded to answer all their queries about life, ideals, love, etc. on the spot.

  The speech was very lively, the atmosphere was very warm, and the writer also responded with ease. However, several classmates showed disbelieving expressions, and a few shook their heads and left through the back door. Long Bao looked at this classmate who had the same doubts as himself, this classmate raised his hand halfway to ask a question, but hesitated for a moment, then put it down again.

  Long Wan thought: If I point out the author's mistake, wouldn't that be impolite?

  At this time, Shi Wei raised his hand as high as possible. As soon as the writer's voice fell, he immediately shouted: "Teacher, I have a question!"

  The writer apparently noticed that he had not given those standing classmates a chance to ask questions, so he gestured for Shi Wei to speak.

  Shi Wei blinked his small eyes several times, seeing so many people staring at him at the same time, he became a bit nervous, and for a moment, he forgot his own question, stuttering: "Teacher... uh... I... forgot!"

  The whole audience burst into laughter, Shi Wei's face was still thick-skinned, his eyelids just jumped a few times and then he smiled like nothing had happened.

  The author's assistant said, "This time, the teacher has brought her new book. The author will personally sign the title page for the students. The new book is priced at 32 yuan, and we'll give you an 80% discount, so it's only 25 yuan. This is a rare opportunity, so please line up if you want to get your book signed."

  "Ha, I knew it was a sales pitch!"

  Long Wan felt that with such flaws, how could this work be sold to classmates? How could an author with so many mistakes sell their work?

  He saw his classmates get up and walk towards the bookstand on the right side of the podium, so he didn't hesitate anymore, and loudly asked: "Teacher, can I ask you a few questions about your new book?"

  The teacher looked at this tall and handsome boy with a puzzled expression, hey, what a fine young man! Wearing only two single-layer clothes on such a cold day, he felt a sense of affection and said: "This classmate, if you have any questions, just ask!"

  This was the first time in Long Bao's life that he formally challenged his authority on knowledge, and it was because he took the first step that he opened up his own ideological consciousness.

  This fifteen-year-old boy, facing so many pairs of eyes staring at him, didn't seem unnatural. He paused for a moment, organizing his thoughts in his mind before saying: "Teacher, I'm from a mountain village and may be more familiar with agricultural production. I think your article is good, but it seems to have some discrepancies with the rural reality." Then he raised those questions and asked: "Teacher, did you make a mistake?"

  The female writer had actually never stayed in the countryside for many days, but thought that writing about the emotional lives of modern rural women might be marketable, so she went to the countryside to gather some material. However, she was a bit impatient, perhaps it's a common problem for famous writers. As for the mistakes pointed out by Longbiao, she didn't quite understand them. But with so many students present, how could she admit her mistakes? If she admitted them, wouldn't all these books become unsellable, and how would she dare to come here again in the future?

  She thought for a moment, made up her mind and said: "No, it's impossible, I didn't make a mistake, you must have remembered wrong." She stood up with a determined expression on her face.

  Hundreds of students were all staring at Long Bao, wanting to see what he would say next.

  "Teacher, I absolutely won't get it wrong. When we do farm work, we must pay attention to the timing. If we don't pay attention to the timing, the crops will not have a good harvest." She ran into Long Bao's bad temper and deserved her misfortune.

  "Alright, that's enough, we don't want to dwell on this issue." The author was annoyed with the student who didn't know when to stop, and his previous good impression had vanished.

  "Teacher, since your statement is incorrect, you should correct it. If your book is bought by students, it will mislead them."

  Good grief, you even brought up the most sensitive topic of selling books for an author. She was somewhat embarrassed and angry: "What you said is in your place, not in my book."

  "No, teacher, it's absolutely impossible for crops to differ so greatly in different places." Long Bao's face turned red with anger as he saw the teacher unwilling to admit his mistake. In the eyes of his classmates, Long Bao was imposing and meticulous about knowledge, which made him fearless. Huang Qiuya and Du Cui, along with some other classmates, looked at him in surprise, his straight and upright figure, his dark face, yet radiating a kind of mysterious aura. Many girls suddenly realized that this boy was very handsome and unique, having something different from other boys.

  "How could the writer be wrong? No matter what, she has written so many urban stories. She can't fall flat on her face when she first ventures into the countryside, especially in front of these students. That would be a huge loss of face! She was furious, her sharp voice: 'If you don't want to come, please leave now, classmate.'"

  Long Bao's arrogant air was completely stirred up: "You lecture, I listen, this is a mutually willing thing. Moreover, you didn't say in front of us that no one is allowed to comment on your work. Your book has common sense errors, I pointed them out for you to correct, ridiculous! You actually took my kindness as ill intentions! A teacher like you, with such experience, and such lectures, I won't listen even if I don't have to!"

  He walked out of the lecture hall with a stern expression, his dark face looking very serious in front of hundreds of students. Shi Wei also followed him out, and the classmates burst into a commotion, loudly discussing it among themselves.

  Shi Wei and Long Bao walked to the entrance.

  Tian Sha's Shi Wei made a ghostly face at Huang Qiuya, Du Ci and that beautiful woman Fang Wei he yearned to know, shouting loudly: "I despise you!"

  Several teachers who came along saw the situation and ran out shouting: "Hey, you! Stop right there!"

  Long Bao and Shi Wei Yang left in a hurry, the whole classroom was in chaos. The books couldn't be sold anymore, the author stormed off angrily.

  Long Bao and Shi Wei suddenly became famous in the College of Literature, after all, this writer is a celebrity. As a result, classmates exchanged experiences with each other, some even went to the library to look up data, and the conclusion proved that everything Long Bao said was correct.

  Soon after, a person named Akio Akiyama pointed out all the common sense errors in the new work in detail on a major newspaper and made veiled criticism about it.

  The writer's reputation plummeted, but Long Bao and Shi Wei were well-known in the literature academy. Everyone commented: "Good guy, no wonder he's doing hydraulic engineering, he's got guts!"

  Especially Shi Wei, that classic sentence "I despise you" quickly spread and became popular online.

  Especially after the good things investigators found out about Longbiao's punishment and Shiwei's evil reputation, Longbiao and Shiwei became synonyms for cowardice in the College of Literature.