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墨書 Inktalez
To be honest, attending Professor Min Zhengkai's class requires you to keep up with the leaps in his thinking. Just when he is discussing content from the textbook, he might suddenly take you miles away.
On this day, while talking about the prematurely deceased Lu Yao in modern literary history, Professor Min had a serious expression. "I personally do not have the qualifications to evaluate him and his literary achievements. In my heart, he is a hero whom I admire greatly! Today, we won't discuss Mr. Lu Yao and his accomplishments; instead, let's talk about marriage and love in his works.
In the novel "Life," the male protagonist Gao Jialin was doing well as a private teacher until he was replaced by the son of the village Party Secretary. He had no choice but to return to the village as a farmer. During this period of disappointment in life, Liu Qiaozhen, the village beauty who secretly admired him, confessed her feelings. The two quickly fell in love passionately, risking Liu Qiaozhen's father's wrath to be with Gao Jialin, despite his poor background.
However, Gao Jialin's uncle transitioned from military service to become the director of the Labor Bureau in the region. The county's Section Chief Ma and Gao Ming Lou conspired to get rid of Gao Jialin as a private teacher. Feeling guilty and wanting to please their superiors, they colluded again to have Gao Jialin recruited into the county's propaganda department as an official.
In the county town, Gao Jialin reunited with Huang Yaping, a high school classmate and daughter of an official, and they began a romantic relationship, severing ties with Liu Qiaozhen.
He asked everyone how they viewed Gao Jialin at this moment. Cui Shuigen, who rarely spoke up in class, stood up and said, "Gao Jialin is like a modern-day Chen Shimei; he should be morally condemned. Ultimately, being reported and returning to the village is what he deserves!"
Most of the classmates, especially the female students, expressed their agreement with his viewpoint.
After a brief commotion among the students subsided, Professor Min posed another question: "Let me ask you this: if Gao Jialin became a propaganda officer in the county town and ended up with Liu Qiaozhen to start a family together, do you think they would be happy?"
Thirty-some students chose silence.
Professor Min continued: "If no one else wants to speak, I will share my opinion. The relationship between Gao Jialin and Liu Qiaozhen was fundamentally flawed. Compared to Liu Qiaozhen, Gao Jialin and Huang Yaping share similar educational backgrounds and many common interests; in modern terms, they are well-matched.
Now let’s consider Liu Qiaozhen. She once told Gao Jialin that she made him a dogskin rug. When he refused it because he wasn't cold—after all, this was at the County Committee office where dogskin rugs were considered ridiculous—she joked about it.
Liu Qiaozhen said: "Galin's mother pig gave birth to twelve piglets; one was crushed by its mother."
Gao Jialin replied: "Oh dear! That means there are still eleven left?"
Liu Qiaozhen added: "Yes, but then another one died the next day..."
—Would they be happy living together?
Thus, the saying 'gold flowers match silver flowers; zucchini pairs with pumpkin; sweet potatoes go with potatoes' holds true!
The student who mentioned Chen Shimei earlier—should he be deemed utterly irredeemable? Whether abandoning his wife and children or failing to support his parents falls into moral territory; at worst, it could be seen as unjust or unfilial. But if you were in his shoes—being summoned by an emperor to become a son-in-law with promises of high office and wealth—what would you choose?
Then he called on Cui Shuigen again: "That student over there, what do you think?"
Cui Shuigen hesitated, not providing a clear answer.
Min Zhengkai's final words were almost deafening: "Damn it, it's not that he was unwilling to acknowledge Qin Xianglian and her child, but rather that he shouldn't have been so ruthless, so insane as to have Han Qi hunt them down!"
In today's world, how many people betray their marriages? How many have faced execution for it?
Thus, the saying holds some truth: "Men are indifferent to loyalty; loyalty is merely a low bargaining chip for betrayal. Women are unconcerned with propriety; propriety is just a matter of insufficient temptation!"
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