Chapter 234 Resistors

Chapter 234 Resistors

Chapter 234 Resistors

This was the beginning of the prince’s heartfelt speech. After listening to it, Zhuang Die’s first reaction was: Is he crazy?

His speech had a strong flavor of the inheritance of Empress Dowager Cixi's spirit - "Declare war on Britain! Declare war on France! Declare war on all powers in the world!" - Otherwise how to explain that he fired at everyone and declared that everyone was a loser?

It's crazy.

Zhuang Die has a rather harsh personality, but someone as tolerant as Meng Xin doesn't think so directly.

She thought with a bit of pity: This is a stress-induced defensive reaction.

The pressure was too great, causing the psychological defense to collapse, and defense turned into hysterical indiscriminate attacks to maintain its own existence. It's a bit pitiful.

Of course, in terms of her behavior, she was also a participant in the siege of Wang Zixu, a wave in the tsunami. But she did not repent.

In her eyes, Wang Zixu was just like Sisyphus in Camus's works. Faced with the great absurdity and meaninglessness of this world, he chose to resist in vain and defend his dignity by attacking everyone.

But he did not have Camus's clarity. His resistance did not adhere to the necessary moral bottom line and was a tyrannical resistance.

The evidence is: How could we be bad?

No matter how you look at the people at this table, he is the worst.

At first, no one paid attention to Wang Zixu's madness.

Everyone thought he would soon be exposed.

But no one could have imagined that this was just the beginning.

Many years later, when people mentioned the speech at the seminar, they mostly used it to illustrate Wang Zixu's unruly character, that he was not bound by worldly relationships and was a carefree and arrogant person.

Some people praised him with admiration, saying that he was sharp-tongued. It would have been fine if he just said that people were bad, but he said that he was sincere and very sincere when he said that people were bad, "making fun of them with all his might, making those present sweat profusely."

Of course, some of his haters were more blunt, saying that he looked down on others because of his talent, that he had a terrible character, and that he deserved to be isolated by his peers.

No matter if they are crazy fans or haters, they don't believe that he is sincere. But in fact, he is very sincere. He thinks these people are bad from the bottom of his heart.

Wang Zixu felt that he was being more tactful. "Disgusted" was not enough to describe his feelings towards these people at the moment.

Their discussion is full of the prejudices of those with narrow vision. If Lovecraft discriminated against other races based on eugenics, Maugham misogyny because of his failed marriage, and Marquez was prejudiced against Chinese people because of immigration, then these people's prejudices are simply because they don't see enough.

Their views are a bit like taking the harsh comments on the Internet, remaking them decent, mixing in some extreme descriptions, and then stitching them together according to their own personality to create a biased and violent theory.

Anyone who reads more will not come up with such an untenable point of view.

"To be honest, when I heard it, I was a little bit incredulous, 'Is this really the level they are at?'

"You must be dissatisfied now. Okay, I'll take them one by one. Let's start with Zhuang Die.

“To summarize what Zhuang Die just said, it probably started with Quiet Flows the Don, talked about the conflict between Solzhenitsyn and Sholokhov, and then expanded on the general situation of Soviet literature.

"I want to explore this issue. Basically, you have to read the representative works of Sholokhov, Solzhenitsyn and Pasternak, right?

“For example, Solzhenitsyn, you have to read both his early work, The Gulag Archipelago, and his later work, Rebuilding Russia, to understand his ideological transformation, right?
"If I were to explain it more thoroughly, Gorky and Mayakovsky in the pre-Stalin era, the thaw literature in the Khrushchev era, the underground literature in the stagnation era, and Alexievich in the post-Soviet era...

“You need to read all of this to get a general idea, right?

“But after listening for a while I realized, no man, you haven’t even read Solzhenitsyn??

"Isn't this the same as not even passing the first level? Isn't this the same as not even bringing a pen to an exam?

"You haven't even read the most basic books, and you're still talking about Soviet literature? Isn't what you say just bullshit?"

There was an uproar.

Zhuang Die's face turned red and white, and her temperature was rising.

According to common sense, it is the other person who is mad, and you shouldn't get angry.

He felt a little embarrassed mainly because the other party was right about one thing: he had indeed not read the writers and books listed by the other party.

All discussion topics of the Guxuan Salon are kept confidential before the opening, and participants have no way of knowing them before they arrive. This ensures that the discussion on stage must rely on accumulation.

It's not that he doesn't read a lot, he has read many Nobel Prize-winning books, but Russian literature is indeed a subject he has rarely read.

The reason why he chose to use Russian literature, which he was not familiar with, as the entry point this time was, firstly, because he had just revisited "Quiet Flows the Don" recently; secondly, because Sholokhov's life experience is relatively niche in China and easy to become a hot topic; thirdly, in order to more smoothly lead to the criticism of Wang Zixu.

However, he thought that he had organized his speech in a brilliant and colorful way, and that no one other than a professional scholar of Russian literature would be able to see that he was showing weakness.

How did Wang Zixu know that he hadn't read it? Could it be that he specialized in this?
While Zhuang Die was still thinking about it, Wang Zixu changed someone to open fire.

"And you, Meng Xin," Wang Zixu turned his gaze to the woman in red, "You are also farting."

Meng Xin had a peaceful smile on her face, but after hearing these words, her expression suddenly froze.

“You chose an extremely grand topic, ‘French Literature in the Nobel Prize’, which shocked me when I first heard it.

"French writers have won the most Nobel Prizes, with 16 of them.

“I thought you were going to talk about Anne Ernaux, the recent winner, or about Patrick Modiano, the least controversial in recent years.

"Or you can talk about the controversial figure Gao Xingjian, or André Gide, who was brilliant but gradually faded from view.

"Or Saint-Jones Pace, who writes poetry like you.

“As a result, your final destination is Camus and Sartre, the two enemies.

“And what you said about their two views is still wrong!

“Have you only read Camus’s The Outsider and The Rebel? Your understanding of Sartre is not comprehensive at all.

"You haven't read his review of his writing career, The Life of Words, nor his creative analysis, Baudelaire. You haven't read The Age of Reason, Reprieve, or The Death of the Soul...

"It's just a topic between two people. You haven't even finished reading it. What is this? You can't handle this topic. Can you finish reading it first before you talk?"

Meng Xin was about to cry.

After all, she is a girl and is rather thin-skinned. She felt a little embarrassed when she was spoken to in such a harsh tone.

Xiao Mengyin saw it and was afraid that she would really cry.

Firstly, Xiao Mengyin herself doesn’t like to cry, and she hates other girls who like to cry; secondly, if Meng Xin cries, many flower-guarding messengers will appear on the scene, and the situation will be even more unfavorable to Wang Zixu.

After Wang Zixu finished speaking, she was the next to speak. He was satisfied with his scolding, but what should she do?
Such a wonderful debate just happened, she couldn't just pretend nothing happened? Wang Zixu said they were talking nonsense, she didn't take sides, would she still be able to stay in the circle in the future?

In short, she is very conflicted now.

This is her current thought.

After 10 minutes, she no longer had to worry about the problem.

Because later she found out that she thought that was the climax, but it turned out to be just Wang Zixu's opening remarks.

……

"Sorry, I'm late."

Gu Xuan sat down on the sofa opposite. His tall body made the sofa creak. The hem of his fitted suit trousers moved up one centimeter, revealing his grey socks.

Gu Xuan is over 50. As an older entrepreneur, he is not as pot-bellied as the stereotype suggests. His hair is combed neatly and his body is well-shaped after exercise. Chen Qingluo picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"You don't have to be so polite. I didn't make an appointment in advance."

Gu Xuan smiled and said, "You are a distinguished guest. I have invited you for so many years, but you have only come this year. Of course I have to come and take a look."

"I'm sorry, I don't really like dealing with this kind of situation."

Although she said she was sorry, there was no trace of embarrassment in her tone.

Gu Xuan patted his thigh, sighed, and said, "I understand you. In fact, I didn't plan to come this year."

"Why?" Chen Qingluo raised her dark eyes and looked at his face.

"Over the years, the salon's influence has grown, but it has also strayed further and further from my original intention," Gu Xuan said. "My original idea was to use business as bait to allow a group of interesting souls to collide and collide."

Chen Qingluo said: "So what do you think of the current salon?"

Gu Xuan smiled and said, “Now, the bait is about to become the fundamental purpose.”

Chen Qingluo said: "That's just because the fish has become smarter. It ate the bait and spit out the hook. Naturally, the fisherman will not be happy."

Gu Xuan's smile turned into a wry one: "You are still so sharp."

Chen Qingluo straightened up and said, "I came here to ask you for something."

"Beg me?" Gu Xuan raised his eyebrows, then smiled, "Ms. Chen, the talented lady, actually used the word 'beg'?"

Chen Qingluo nodded seriously: "Yes. This matter will not benefit you in any way, and it is also extremely troublesome. Apart from begging, I can't think of any other way to persuade you to do me this favor."

Gu Xuan crossed his legs, with a playful expression: "Then I'm interested..."

After saying that, he suddenly thought of something, clapped his hands, and said, "Where's Xiao Li? Give me a cup of coffee."

After a while, the lady at the front desk came back in a hurry. Her hair was a little messy. She was obviously a little flustered because she was caught slacking off by the boss.

She served Gu Xuan a cup of thick almond milk latte. While serving him, she glanced outside the door, her eyes revealing her lingering interest in the gossip outside.

Gu Xuan then said, "Tell me, who are you here for?"

"Wang Zixu." Chen Qingluo didn't waste any words and directly stated her purpose.

Gu Xuan thought for a while and said, "This name sounds quite familiar. Is it Wang Zixu who wrote "Fire in the Stone"? "

"Well," Chen Qingluo said, "He's in some trouble now."

"It's more than just a little trouble!" Gu Xuan raised his voice.

After he finished speaking, Chen Qingluo remained silent for a long time. She lowered her brows to watch the tea leaves floating in the teacup, and was organizing her words very seriously.

Gu Xuan slowed down his tone and said, "Shi Tonghe is an old senior after all. If he did that in front of everyone, people in the circle would definitely have opinions."

Chen Qingluo raised her head: "What do you think?"

"Ok?"

"What do you think of this?"

"Me? I think this person's behavior is a bit impulsive." Gu Xuan took a sip of coffee, his tone flat.

Chen Qingluo said: "What if I say that I can vouch for him and that what he said must be true?"

"Let's put it this way," Gu Xuan said, "even if Shi Tonghe really targeted a newcomer, there would be people willing to sit down and ask him if the newcomer had bad behavior."

"But……"

Gu Xuan interrupted Chen Qingluo, laughed, and said, "However, I am curious about what your relationship with him is. He has a problem that requires you to help him lobby."

Chen Qingluo said: "He is an editor in the same editorial office as me."

Gu Xuan said: "Just being a colleague is probably not enough, right?"

"He's also my high school classmate." said Chen Qingluo.

Gu Xuan tilted his head: "That's it?"

Chen Qingluo nodded.

Gu Xuan sat up straight: "I'm really curious. With your cold personality, no one should be able to impress you, and you are not the kind of person who would talk about human feelings. So I don't believe that he can make you come to me for help just by relying on a relationship."

Chen Qingluo was silent.

Gu Xuan added: "Let me put it this way. Although I don't like him personally, his book should still be worth publishing. If you tell me why you would help him, I will publish his book with top standards."

Chen Qingluo said: "He is my first love."

The room fell into an odd silence.

Chen Qingluo added: "I just have a crush on him. We haven't confirmed our relationship, and we haven't said anything. And it's all in the past. It's over now."

“Ahem… um…” The receptionist standing nearby suddenly cleared her throat and said, “Well, may I ask, the Wang Zixu you are talking about is the one who has become popular online recently, right?”

Chen Qingluo looked at her and nodded.

"Well, didn't you come here together?" asked the young lady.

Chen Qingluo frowned, a little confused.

Gu Xuan reacted: "He's here too?"

"Yes, she's here," the young lady pointed outside, "she's cursing outside."

……

If you attack one person, you are a troll; if you attack two people, you are a delusional person; if you attack a group of people, you are a cynical lunatic.

But if you criticize everyone, you will become a loner who is not understood by the world.

Wang Zixu didn't just criticize in general, he pointed at the grass one by one.

At first, Xiao Mengyin didn't think anything was wrong until Wang Zixu sprayed the third person clockwise, and then she reacted:

My goodness, did he remember everything everyone said just now?
When Wang Zixu sprayed the fifth person, she not only confirmed her previous thoughts, but also discovered a new problem:
How come he knows everything?

Not only could he accurately name the 16 French, 13 American, 10 German and 8 Swedish writers who won the Nobel Prize, he had also read them all, from Moliere to Hugo to Proust.

He is not simply criticizing, he is citing classics and making his criticisms with reason and evidence. For every point he makes, he can cite a corresponding work and even extract the corresponding plot from the work. He can even tell which chapter the plot is in and what the context is.

This is no longer just a lone wolf. This behavior has been elevated from simple insults, from a shrew's scolding, to art.

At first, everyone was dismissive of what Wang Zixu said, but later on, they couldn't help but start thinking about whether what Wang Zixu said about other people being bad was really reasonable.

When Chen Qingluo and Gu Xuan went out, they not only saw Wang Zixu standing in the middle of the hall and scolding people, but also saw An Younan upstairs who was laughing like a silver bell.

(End of this chapter)