Chapter 138 Father-in-law and Son-in-law
Looking in the mirror, Chen Yuqin's face was full of joy. She didn't expect the effect would be so good.
"Mom, you are so beautiful!" Lin Yan complimented sincerely.
"Nonsense, how can an old woman like me be pretty? " Although Chen Yuqin said this, she was very happy in her heart.
"Really? If you don't believe me, ask Dad! Dad, do you think Mom looks pretty after getting dressed like this?"
Lin Daoyuan was also looking at his wife from the side with a smile on his face.
It's true that after getting dressed up like this, Chen Yuqin did look a bit like her younger self. Lin Daoyuan couldn't help but recall the time when the organization introduced him to Chen Yuqin and he first met her.
Time flies, and 30 years have passed in the blink of an eye. The young girl back then has now become a mother of three children, and I have long since known my destiny from being a young and ambitious person.
Taking a look at his wife who looked much younger, Lin Daoyuan nodded happily in agreement, which made Chen Yuqin even happier. Her attitude towards Song Yuanchao also changed from being indifferent at first to being much more cordial.
Inviting Song Yuanchao to sit down, Chen Yuqin and Lin Daoyuan also sat down side by side on the sofa. Opposite them sat Song Yuanchao and Lin Yan.
Although Chen Yuqin's attitude softened and her opinion of Song Yuanchao changed, she still had to go through the necessary procedures, such as asking about Song Yuanchao's personal situation, including his family, relatives, etc., and of course his academic performance.
Lin Daoyuan had asked all these things before, so Song Yuanchao naturally asked them again. However, compared to Lin Daoyuan, Chen Yuqin asked more carefully in some aspects, especially when Song Yuanchao mentioned his past experience in the countryside in the northwest. Chen Yuqin asked many details. Song Yuanchao glanced at Lin Yan beside him and calmly recounted her experiences of that period. Although Song Yuanchao spoke very calmly, Chen Yuqin's eyes gradually became red as she listened to him.
Looking at Song Yuanchao, and then at Lin Yan sitting next to him, Chen Yuqin suddenly understood why Lin Yan had such deep feelings for Song Yuanchao.
How can such a relationship be compared with that of an ordinary acquaintance? From her daughter, Chen Yuqin seemed to think of herself. Wasn't it the same when she first met Lin Daoyuan?
They had gone through so many ups and downs hand in hand in the past thirty years, and had gone through so many hardships! Especially there were some things that even Lin Yan hadn't mentioned to her at the beginning, and today Chen Yuqin knew about it for the first time.
"It's hard work. How can you see the rainbow without going through the ups and downs? Uncle, aunt, although we didn't have the material conditions we have now during those years, I was lucky enough to meet Yan Zi and fall in love with her until today. This is a gift from God to me." Song Yuanchao replied with a smile. His eyes were flashing with brilliance, which made people feel his sincerity and honesty. Lin Yan beside him couldn't help but hold Song Yuanchao's hand tightly, her face full of happiness and pride.
Wiping away the moisture from the corners of her eyes, Chen Yuqin said with emotion: "You are right. The green pine is not afraid of wind and snow, and the winter plum blossoms bloom in the cold winter. Without experiencing the wind and clouds, you will never grow up. You young people really need such aspirations. It was like this when we conquered the world, and it will be like this when we build the country in the future. You must remember that everything you have now is hard-won."
"Thank you for your teachings, aunt. I will definitely keep it in mind." Song Yuanchao answered seriously.
Chen Yuqin continued to ask for a while, and suddenly found that it was almost noon. She quickly got up and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Song Yuanchao said he could help but was decisively rejected by Chen Yuqin. According to Chen Yuqin, men are used to do big things, how can they go to the kitchen? She called Lin Yan to go to the kitchen to work together, and asked Lin Daoyuan to talk to Song Yuanchao in the living room.
After Chen Yuqin and Lin Yan, mother and daughter, left, the heavy atmosphere in the living room eased a lot. Lin Daoyuan smiled at Song Yuanchao, picked up the cigarette on the coffee table and motioned to him.
"Thank you, uncle." Song Yuanchao quickly took the cigarette and struck a match to help Lin Daoyuan light it first.
"You kid are so cunning!" After taking a puff of his cigarette, Lin Daoyuan pointed his finger at Song Yuanchao with a smile and said.
Of course Song Yuanchao knew what Lin Daoyuan meant. He did not refute but just laughed.
"People sometimes need to be more tactful, but there is one thing you must remember: you can be smooth on the outside but must be square on the heart. Some bottom lines must never be lost! Your performance today was pretty good. You've barely passed Aunt Chen's test." Lin Daoyuan still admired Song Yuanchao very much. Of course, he hoped that his daughter would be happy, and he was also optimistic about Song Yuanchao, the future son-in-law. Otherwise, he would not have dissuaded Chen Yuqin from accepting Lin Yan's choice.
After giving Song Yuanchao a brief reminder and taking a puff of cigarette, Lin Daoyuan asked, "I heard that you've been close to the Luo family's kid these days?"
"Luo family? You mean Luo Yang?" Song Yuanchao asked after being slightly stunned.
Seeing Lin Daoyuan nodded, Song Yuanchao said, "Luo Yang and I are classmates, so it's normal for us to be close. What's the matter? Uncle, what do you think of Luo Yang...?"
Lin Daoyuan waved his hand: "The Luo family's kid is pretty good among the younger generation. Old Luo and I are old colleagues. Our two families used to be close, and the younger generations often interacted with each other. I don't have any opinion of Luo Yang, I just asked casually."
Lin Daoyuan's words put Song Yuanchao's mind at ease. He initially thought that Lin Daoyuan knew about his cooperation with Luo Yang. After all, Lin Daoyuan reminded him last time that Song Yuanchao was also very careful in his cooperation with Luo Yang. Neither of them had made it public that they were cooperating with each other. For Luo Yang, it was just "helping a friend", and the same was true for Song Yuanchao.
Regarding Luo Yang, Lin Daoyuan only mentioned it once and didn't say anything more. Maybe it was just a casual question as he said.
Lin Daoyuan's next words made Song Yuanchao at a loss for how to answer for a moment, because Lin Daoyuan asked him a question, which was a question mentioned by a professor in a lecture at the Imperial University some time ago, which caused internal controversy in the school, and this controversy has not been resolved until now.
"I heard that many students in your school think that the teacher's statement that only productive labor creates value, while circulation and service labor do not, is not in line with the reality of the increasingly developed tertiary industry, and have published articles to refute it. Is this true?"
Song Yuanchao knew about this incident, and it happened not long ago. Speaking of which, this incident was also related to Lin Yan's class. Lin Yan was a student of the Economics Department of the class of 1977, and the student who made this statement happened to be in Lin Yan's class.
With the gradual opening of the market after the National Day and the loosening of the market for individuals, many changes have taken place in recent days. The market structure has begun to change, not only has a large number of individual businesses emerged, but also the tertiary industry has begun to recover and develop.
Under such circumstances, college students in the Department of Economics were very keen to see this point. Moreover, as one of the highest-level universities in the country, Imperial University of Peking received more information from the outside world than ordinary people. Newspapers, magazines and academic papers from abroad could be seen within the school. After experiencing the impact of this social change, some college students naturally questioned and denied some of the original theories after deep reflection.
Lin Daoyuan worked in the Planning Commission, whose work was closely related to the economy. He had learned something about the academic differences within the Imperial University through other channels, but today was the first time he asked this question, and he wanted to test Song Yuanchao with this question.
"Uncle, your question is very big, and the discussion on this issue in school is far from over. I'm afraid that if you ask me this,..." Song Yuanchao looked embarrassed. Although he could answer this question, he didn't know Lin Daoyuan's position. If he said something wrong and made Lin Daoyuan furious, it would not be worth it.
"Today is just a private conversation between an elder and a junior. It does not involve other factors. We are just discussing from an academic perspective." As if seeing Song Yuanchao's concerns, Lin Daoyuan waved his hand and said.
In school, Song Yuanchao is particularly low-key. Although he was admitted with high scores, the level Song Yuanchao has demonstrated since the start of the school year can only be described as average. In many aspects, he is not as outstanding as ordinary students.
Song Yuanchao did this on purpose. Having experienced seventy years of life in his previous life, Song Yuanchao understood very well the principle that the ones who stick out will rot first. Being a campus celebrity was not a good thing for him, not to mention that he had never thought of a career in politics in the future. So being low-key was the principle Song Yuanchao set for himself from the beginning. If he hadn't met Zhao Minglei on the day of the report, Song Yuanchao would probably not be as conspicuous as he is now.
Song Yuanchao glanced at Lin Daoyuan, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "Uncle, if that's the case, I'll tell you, but please don't blame me if I say something wrong."
Lin Daoyuan nodded and waited quietly for Song Yuanchao's answer. Song Yuanchao organized his words and said, "From an economic perspective, the term value refers to the positive meaning and usefulness of an object to the subject. It can be regarded as the total amount that can fairly and appropriately reflect the value of goods, services or money."
"Value is an important property of a commodity. It represents how much of other commodities it can be exchanged for. Value is usually measured in currency and becomes price. The value in this view is actually the expression of exchange value..."
"We are not discussing surplus value today. This has been described in detail in Capital. We are only looking at the value itself from an economic perspective. Since price is considered to be the total amount that can fairly and appropriately reflect the value of goods, services or money, please note! The goods in this sentence can represent anything, including services. From an academic perspective, it is not limited to the so-called productive labor that creates value. Other statements that do not create value, I think the statement about value in the lecture is narrow."
"So, your opinion supports that of the students who oppose it?" Lin Daoyuan asked.
"You can say that, but I also think that the students who raised objections were too harsh in some of their words, or used a lot of Western data in their objections, which is somewhat different from the current economic structure of our country, and the use of these data and examples is not so appropriate."
"In your opinion, how should the discussion of value be defined?" Hearing this, Lin Daoyuan asked with interest.
Song Yuanchao smiled and shook his head: "Uncle, I am only a freshman now. I am afraid it is a bit too early for you to ask me to make such a definition."
"Hahaha, that's true. You still have a long time to learn." Lin Daoyuan laughed.
Song Yuanchao agreed, "Uncle, you are right, but value is value. The existence of value is not subject to human will. This is the definition and basis of value in economics. In addition, there is a saying in ancient times that has always been respected by feudal society. I wonder if you have heard of it?"
"What?"
"The wealth of the world has long been determined. It will not increase or decrease by a cent..." When Song Yuanchao said this, Lin Daoyuan's brows suddenly frowned.
"This is the simple idea of the ancients. From the perspective of holistic theory, it may be correct, and the ancients believed it so firmly. But the ancients forgot the most important point, which is the development of productivity. With the progress of society, production has been moving forward. When productivity develops to a certain level, wealth... or the price reflected by value will change, leading to an overall increase. Therefore, the ancients' idea is actually wrong, and this theory is also wrong. What do you think?"
