Chapter 418 Two swords combined
Chapter 418 Two swords combined
At least seven hundred native Americans came to attend the class today. The people at the embassy were not stupid either. They hung posters that read “I want to be Laozi”, explaining who Laozi is. “Come and become Laozi.”
With the development of the Internet, young people surfing the Internet have long known that laotze means father. Therefore, there are thousands of people who just walk in to take a look out of curiosity.
Luo Yujia, Yan Jing and other embassy staff members wished they could learn Zhang Daoling's technique of splitting themselves into two.
The main problem is that there are not enough people. Even though many international students have volunteered, the event still seems to be overloaded in the face of the skyrocketing number of people.
It’s not the “burden” of order, but the scarcity of talent in explanation.
"There are not enough tour guides, and many visitors in Baijia District need them."
As soon as the counselor hung up the phone, he started making arrangements.
"Let's lower the difficulty level in the Q&A area, and try to get all the audience members who answer the questions to get one question right. If we ask individuals to go over and make adjustments, who has the time?"
"Who will go to the conference room to receive guests later?"
The staff on site all have things on their hands!
"The corridor of Li Er's life has been tidied up. I'll go." Luo Yujia handed over the third safety inspection to the volunteers, and then agreed to one of the tasks.
Glasses also quickly finished what was in front of him, "Except for the last Chinese Food Festival, this is the most, oh my Pangu."
All the visitors are foreigners, so the employees communicate with each other in English.
It takes a while for the language to switch, just like when Gu Lu answered the phone, the Sichuan and Chongqing dialects automatically changed to Mandarin, and when he returned to the chat, he continued to speak Mandarin. Glasses's soliloquy was also in English.
Back to the event, the venue was the western banquet area of the embassy. The New Year's party that Luo Yujia mentioned was taking place here. There were six areas, including the [Li Er Life Corridor] [Tao Te Ching Lecture Area] [Question and Answer Game Area] and [Hundred Schools of Thought Basic Knowledge Area]. Luo Yujia walked quickly over there.
He had some skills. Although his lower body was three steps in two steps, his upper body was still decent. He went to the "Basic Knowledge Area of Hundred Schools of Thought". The embassy had issued a manual. He was familiar with it yesterday and the day before yesterday, so most of the questions could be explained.
To be honest, the problems faced by foreigners are something Luo Yujia had never imagined.
"There are a hundred schools of philosophy. Is there a philosopher whose name means mother?"
Luo Yujia: I really don’t have that.
"Is this philosopher very strong? Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that he will not be attacked if he bears the name of his father."
Luo Yujia: I heard that Confucius was very good at speaking.
"He only has one work of 5,000 words, but he has become one of the most famous philosophers in Chinese history. Is he not even the best? What on earth is written in these 5,000 words?"
Luo Yujia: That is the language with the highest degree of information compression in the world, classical Chinese!
During working hours, Luo Yujia still did not say what he wanted to say, but used the words in the manual to explain.
"In the history of Western philosophy, Laozi is very well-known. Nietzsche once said that the Tao Te Ching is like an inexhaustible wellspring, full of treasures, and you can get them easily if you put down your bucket," said Luo Yujia. By using a well-known European philosopher, the audience can have an understanding of Laozi.
Western philosophers and scholars who have read the Tao Te Ching have generally given it very high praise, including Nietzsche, Kant, and Hegel. Even the fan leader Duran said, "We want to burn all books except the Tao Te Ching." The sales leader Schroeder said that every German family needs a copy of the Tao Te Ching.
Even though he couldn't answer the tourists' questions very well, he conveyed the message very well that the philosopher, whose name means "Dad", has made a significant contribution to the modern philosophical system!
There are also normal audiences, like Jerry from Columbia University, whose questions are always to the point.
"Laotze is really amazing. He was actually from the sixth century BC, the same era as Sakyamuni and Socrates. But the Tao Te Ching is too difficult. I listened to the professor's explanation for an entire afternoon today, but I feel like I didn't even understand the basics."
The lecturer today is the famous Chinese scholar Xiao. There are many who have studied the Tao Te Ching more deeply and better than him, and there are countless people who have translated it from Chinese to English. He is the one who can explain the Tao Te Ching in a way that foreigners (a small number) can understand. Scholar Xiao is undoubtedly at the top of the pyramid.
"That's quite normal. The Tao Te Ching is very profound and only a few of us Chinese can fully understand it." Luo Yujia said. At least he didn't dare to say that he understood it.
"What? Mr. Luo is not comforting me?" Jerry said.
Luo Yujia continued, "Laozi is a very legendary figure in the history of Chinese philosophy. He had no intention of writing a book. He had already understood the principles of the world, and seeing the decline of a dynasty, he was ready to find a place to live in seclusion. It happened that the governor Yin Xi (Yi Xi) asked Laozi to leave a book. Therefore, Laozi left 5,000 words. Therefore, many of Laozi's remarks in it were written quite casually. Just one word [Tao] has many meanings in 5,000 words. If it is translated, it can be divided into Doctrine, Way, Highway, and later it was directly translated as Tao. Therefore, in China, if you are not a scholar who studies it in depth, it is difficult to say that you understand it all."
"That's so cool." Jerry couldn't help but exclaimed when he heard it.
Cool? Luo and Jia didn’t understand.
"I feel that Mr. Laozi's thoughts have surpassed many philosophers who want to leave their own academic themes. When he wrote the Tao Te Ching, he didn't care whether anyone understood him or not. Sir, you mentioned that many Taos were not separated. I think he didn't care." Jerry said, "I said it's so cool. Yes, even the works he wrote casually contain so many rich philosophical ideas. It's a pity that Mr. Laozi didn't leave other works."
Luo Yujia had never thought about this. Thinking about it carefully, it seems that Laozi really doesn't care whether anyone can understand the Tao Te Ching...
The message of 5,000 was to thank Yin Xi for his hospitality.
"Yin Xi will be remembered forever in Chinese history!" Jerry said, "Even if he didn't make any other contributions, he made a contribution to mankind by persuading Laozi to leave behind the Tao Te Ching."
It seems that Yin Xi has a very high status in Taoism, and he seems to have made other contributions, but I am not sure about the details, so I will not go into details.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Luo. Compared to the phrase "I want to be laotze", I have gained more from knowing a philosopher like Mr. Laozi." Jerry expressed his sincere gratitude and said, "Mr. Luo, I would be honored to add your contact information."
Need to add contact information? Luo Yujia was stunned and only heard the other party say.
Jerry picked up the English version of Tao Te Ching in his hand, "I still have some questions about Laotze that I want to consult Mr. Luo about."
Now that we have come to this, let's do this, this job is really troublesome! Luo Yujia thought, but he himself did not realize that there was no impatience on his face, even though he was very busy. At the corner of his mouth, there was even a barely noticeable smile.
The event lasted for the whole afternoon. By the evening, the colors of dusk had been splashed on Van Nuys Street, and the number of visitors gradually decreased.
The embassy staff's tense nerves also relaxed a lot.
After a tiring day, Luo Yujia returned to the dormitory. It must be a single dormitory. The building area of the Chinese Embassy in the United States is nearly 40,000 square meters, so the space is quite large.
After taking a shower, Luo Yujia went to the canteen to get some food. He was hungry after a busy day.
Sitting next to his colleague, Glasses may not have taken a shower, so he was one step faster. When Luo sat down, the former handed him a letter.
"What is this?" Luo Yujia didn't even pick up the chopsticks yet, so he read the letter first. He opened it and saw that it was a thank-you letter with the signatures of the ambassador and the minister.
The content is to thank the staff for their hard work today and hope that they will continue to work hard tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, we will be working with a local university to carry out related activities.
"We did a really good job today. It is said that more than 200 people took the initiative to receive the Tao Te Ching. The satisfaction ratings on the feedback form after the event were also good. Look, the ambassadors are all praising us." Glasses was very proud.
"It's more practical to raise the salary!" Luo Yujia glanced at the short hundred words three times before pretending to be indifferent and responded with this sentence. "You really are... Let's not talk about this. Today I am mainly in the game Q&A area. There are really many Americans who are willing to listen to my information. In the past, apart from food, tea and martial arts, other content was obviously ignored." Glasses was tired and happy today because he felt very accomplished.
Especially when foreigners say in English: To have such an arrogant name, your talent is really exaggerated!
"When the event just started this afternoon, didn't you say that we felt our work was not very efficient?" Glasses said, "Actually, I feel it is quite useful. It is difficult for Gu Lu's article to spread Chinese culture in depth, because if it is too in-depth, it will affect the content of the novel. Gu Lu tricked people in - and then we closed the door and killed them."
Indeed, it was Gu Lu's credit that so many foreigners were interested in coming in today. But going further, it was all the joint efforts of the Chinese Embassy in the United States and its staff.
"If the counselor hears what you said, he will punish you to clean the house again." Luo Yujia said that his colleague and friend was very rude. During the critical period of working in the embassy, your words and deeds represent the face of the country! You can't be careless.
"Ahem..." Glasses coughed twice, "Well, do you think what I said makes sense?"
"What's the reason? By the way, is Mr. Gu Lu's work published in the Los Angeles Times?" Luo Yujia suddenly changed the subject and asked.
Why did the topic change so suddenly?
My colleague with glasses shook his head, "There are no new works at the moment, and there is no fiction section in the Los Angeles Times these days."
They didn't want to admit it, but today's hard work made Luo Yujia realize that with Gu Lu taking the lead in creating hype and then promoting it, it was a perfect combination!
“Even if you can only write 2,000 words an hour, leaving aside the time for eating and sleeping, that means you should have fourteen hours of writing every day, right? Logically speaking, you still have 70,000 to 80,000 words in four days, which is about three or four short stories.” Luo Yujia didn’t understand.
"...I heard that Gu is still a college student and is studying at Peking University." Glasses said, "Although I don't think that studying is not what Gu should do."
"Even if you want to study, it would be easy to write more than 10,000 words a day, right?" Luo Yujia said.
"Indeed," Glasses said, "writers who can't write 10,000 words all need encouragement."
The two chatted and even suggested asking the leaders of the embassy to urge the manuscript...
After a while, Yan Jing finished eating first and asked if he wanted to go back to the room together. Yan Jing lived next door to Luo, and they had a good relationship, so when the counselor gave letters to each employee, he would pass Luo's copy to Yan Jing.
Gu Lu, who also received a thank-you letter from the think tank, was also very happy. He had no idea that he would soon have an extra car.
[Thanks to Gu Lu, the expert, for promoting the country’s cultural exports…]
We ordinary people are really happy today. Gu Lu happily decided to forgive this community for one day.
Why should we forgive the community? Remember the community property management and all the owners should organize some kind of celebration event.
As a spectator, King Guru was present. He went to watch what happened last night after calling Guo Dafa.
At that time, the small garden in the atrium and the open space in front of unit buildings one and two were all decorated in a festive manner.
As for the program - it was definitely better than the Spring Festival Gala. However, during the senior citizen ballroom dance performance, a certain aunt accused her uncle of having an unclear relationship with his dance partner.
Then they started to expose each other's explosive secrets, such as the old lady's past love affairs. For the first time, Gu Lu had a new understanding of the "conservatism" of the elderly.
Things had developed to this point, and it wasn't a big problem. It was just like eating spectators, but soon, the incident affected Gu Lu.
Gu Lu stepped back and fell without looking at the road. It wasn't a serious problem, it just hurt.
The next day, Gu Lu was carrying a small schoolbag. Going out so early on a weekend morning, one could actually predict what he was going to do.
"This time I want four pounds of apples and bananas, and a whole watermelon."
Gu Lu said to the owner of Lele Fruit Shop.
The shop owner immediately responded, "Okay, how about dividing it into two packages?"
"Well - that's best, that's troublesome." Gu Lu said.
"It's okay. I remember I always bought two pounds of apple bananas and half a watermelon to give away. Are you going to give away two families today?" The shop owner was busy with his hands, but he didn't stop talking.
Actually, it wasn’t, but Gu Lu didn’t want to explain too much, so he just nodded perfunctorily.
"Young men nowadays are very sensible. I still remember when I was young, I went to my parents-in-law's house for the first time. I was so nervous that I didn't buy anything. My wedding almost fell through," said the shop owner.
"Is that so? That's quite serious." Gu Lu's answer was quite human-like.
Finally, the fruits were distributed and Gu Lu left with two pink bags.
The destination is President Jian’s house. I go there at least twice a month to have something delicious.
The meal was quite cozy, at least for Uncle Jian and Aunt Fang, as the former tried to avoid talking about publishing matters at the dinner table.
Aunt Fang and Gu Lu shared the story of their two children.
Gu Lu noticed that the two elders were still very proud when talking about their children when they were young.
"When we saw them as children, we must have thought their future was bright. It is bright, but when we look at us, it seems that nothing we do is up to their wishes." Aunt Fang spoke with tears in her voice.
It seems that something happened today. Gu Lu looked at Uncle Jian. Should he continue talking about this topic?
"They called us yesterday and asked us to move abroad," said President Jian. "It's hard to leave your hometown. Besides, it's hard to change the living habits we've had for decades."
Uncle Jian gave a brief explanation, and Gu Lu understood the source of Aunt Fang's emotions.
Offering words of comfort even though you know it is useless but still saying them is depressing for the comforter, and the same is true for the person being comforted.
Ding—a familiar feeling flashed through my mind, triggering the synthesis list.
[A classic of sad literature] [A work that is hard to watch a second time] [An EMO masterpiece that doesn’t make you cry]
"?" But Gu Lu didn't have time to think about this for the moment.
……
On the day when Gu Lu went to President Jian's house, new developments occurred on the domestic Internet.
[Will "From the New World" be a poor sequel? As we all know, any literary work that involves a sequel is doomed to failure. So do you think this new world will be the beginning of Gu Lujiang's exhaustion?]
This kind of voting on the Internet and the discussion of related topics are sudden doubts. It is obvious that it is a publicity arranged by the publishing house.
Anyone who has studied media knows that the classic routine is to throw out a "question" for the audience to discuss on both sides. No matter what the result is, it can increase popularity.
There was nothing wrong with the publisher's methods, but the publisher underestimated Gu Lu's popularity and reputation on the Internet...
(End of this chapter)