The second volume is full of glory and splendor in the capital, and the spirit is full of vitality in the foggy city. Chapter 286: Lion's Roar (Part 2)
The subtitle of this chapter: Yuan’s warning and the divorce of Xu and Zhang.
"Hongjian, Tongbo. You two are here!"
"Qimori, you're here. Sit down."
Our Master Yuan took out a cigar and said, "Authentic Cuban. Want one?"
Xu Zhimo took it and said with a smile: "Brother Hongjian, you have now upgraded your weapons and even smoked Cuban cigars."
"Hahaha..." Yuan Yan suddenly laughed too, teasing, "Qi Sen, when you were in America you were still eating gummy candies, but now in England you're smoking bacon. You're not just upgrading, you 're growing up ."
"Hahaha……"
The three of them laughed out loud at the same time.
Xu Zhimo scratched his head and said defensively, "How can they be the same? When I was in America, I was a complete idiot. I knew nothing at all. I only knew how to attend classes, listen, take exams, watch movies, swear... and eat gummy bears."
"After arriving in England, I really felt like a different person, a different person. Every day I was busy walking, rowing, cycling, chatting, eating five o'clock tea, butter scones, reading... and smoking bacon..”
In essence, Xu Zhimo was a natural liberal intellectual.
He had little envy for the materialistic civilization of the then-infrastructure-crazed United States, believing that "the weight of utilitarianism would overwhelm human spirituality." He also disliked the credit-based nature of American university education; to him, a master's degree or a PhD was irrelevant.
In comparison, our Master Yuan is nothing more than a fake neoclassical liberal master.
“Snap!”
False Freedom lit True Freedom's cigar, then fanned out the match and nodded. "Honestly, Ashin," he said, "a gentleman like you is well-placed to come to England, the 'country of gentlemen.' I remember you once saying, 'New and old poetry have nothing to do with me.' And now you've even started writing poetry."
He winked at Xu Zhimo and said, "By the way, this is all thanks to your confidante."
"Zhen Free"'s character was so unrestrained that after he met Lin Huiyin at the end of last year, he not only pursued her openly, but also wrote a letter to his friend Yuan Yanshu, saying that he had found true love.
Of course, our Master Yuan knew what was going on without even reading the letter.
Xu Zhimo, quick-witted, replied, "It's a good thing for a prodigal like Brother Hongjian to stay in America. Not only have you settled down, but you've also got a Hollywood star as your confidante. I also love the films of Lillian Gish."
He winked at Yuan Yan and said, "When will you introduce your big star to us?"
"Soon, very soon." Our Master Yuan said very frankly: "She will be coming to the UK soon. I will introduce her to you then."
He changed the subject and said casually, "Qi Sen, I heard your sister-in-law is also coming to England?"
“…”
As soon as Master Yuan said this, Xu Zhimo's face froze and he lowered his head and took a few puffs of his cigar.
"I want a divorce."
"Qimin, what did you say?"
"I say..." Xu Zhimo raised his head, looked directly into Yuan Yanshu's eyes and said word by word: "I want a divorce."
"Master Ball, give me a chance."
"Host, how can I give you a chance?"
"Master Ball, I didn't have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person."
"Host, alright."
"Master Ball, there's nothing down there?"
"Host, there's nothing down there."
"Hey, Master Ball, why didn't you say, 'Okay, go talk to the judge and see if he'll let you be a good person.' Then I said, 'That's just asking me to die.'..."
"Host, you can stop now. We're not acting in 'Infernal Affairs.' You can do whatever you want with such harmless good deeds. The love affairs and family affairs of non-key historical figures cannot have any impact on the main body of history."
That's true. No matter how much Xu Zhimo struggled, he was just a scholar.
He is not the descendant of the Demon King and the Northern Leg of the Forest Cutter. If the former's "Jiao Yang" had not sacrificed himself and the latter had not married his darling, history would definitely have been distorted, and it would have been a major deviation.
To be honest, "Fake Freedom" really wants to be a good person for once, give "True Freedom" a hand, and stop him from becoming the scumbag of the Republic of China.
If one were to read history in later times, he would naturally be able to criticize those scumbags from a moral high ground.
But after traveling through history, he actually felt a little sympathy for these scumbags.
As the ancients of Serbia said, husband and wife are birds of the same forest. Spouses are not true blood relatives.
The marriage relationship between men and women is maintained by three factors: system, morality and emotion.
Now that the old system has been replaced by the so-called "new system", the old morality has collapsed and there is no replacement for it for a while. How can those marriages without love continue?
The saying "a wife who has shared your hardships will never be divorced" is because in the old system there were "seven grounds for divorce" and "three grounds for not divorcing", the latter including marrying someone with no place to go, mourning for three years after the marriage, and being poor at first but rich later.
At the same time, ancient men not only faced pressure from the entire society, but also had to abide by their own moral standards.
Moreover, "marry a wife for her virtue and take a concubine for her beauty". If there is no love, can you find one outside?
To put it bluntly, ladies of noble families like Lin Huiyin, and high-class housewives like Lu Xiaoman and Ling Shuhua, according to the Serbian tradition, such respectable women should not leave the house, and even if they want to be free (red), free (apricot), in love (out), they will hardly have the chance.
On the other hand, wealthy intellectuals like Xu Zhimo could seek love in high-end brothels and find high-class call girls like the "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai." If they did find "love," they would simply buy her as a concubine.
However, times have changed, or more precisely, they have progressed.
You know, every kind of "progress" of mankind has side effects.
The more frequent the interactions between men and women, the more troubles there will be. This is human nature.
"Huh!" Our Master Yuan blew out a smoke ring and said leisurely, "Qi Sen, do you remember the time you and He Juncuilian came to visit me in Brooklyn?"
"Hmm..." Xu Zhimo nodded silently.
Yuan Yan suddenly asked seriously, "Then, Qiasen, do you still remember the three questions I asked you back then?"
Without waiting for the other party to answer, he said seriously: "This time, brother, let me ask you again..."
"Is there any essential difference between your new relationship and reading with your mistress at night?"
"Does using so-called modern women to satisfy your own emotional needs mean it's not reactionary, backward, or Male Chauvinism?"
"Do your romantic interests outweigh your family responsibilities?!"
