Chapter 9 chapter eight

After the two politicians left, Rich kept looking at Seldon, stroking his mustache with one hand.The feeling of stroking his beard made him extremely satisfied.Here in Sterling, some people have beards too, but their beards are often scattered and colorful-even if some are black, they look mottled.And many more have no beard at all, and the upper lip is bald.Seldon doesn't grow a beard, for example, but that's okay.Given the color of Seldon's hair, he would have looked ridiculous with a beard.He took a closer look at Seldon, waiting for him to recover from his contemplation, but after a while he found he couldn't wait any longer. "Dad?" he called.

Seldon raised his head and said, "What's the matter?" There was a hint of displeasure in his voice when his thoughts were interrupted, and Richie understood it. Richie said, "I think you really shouldn't see those two guys." "Oh why?" "Hey, that skinny guy, what's his name, that's the guy you fixed at the stadium. He's gonna hold a grudge." "But he has apologized." "He has no sincerity at all. And the other guy, Jo Ruonan—is a dangerous man. What if they're armed?" "What? In this university? In my office? Of course it's impossible. This isn't Dribotun. Besides, even if they want to mess around, I alone can deal with them both. It's just as easy as pie."

"I didn't know that, Dad." Richie said suspiciously, "You've—" "Don't tell me, you little bastard." Seldon pointed up his fingers. "You're talking more and more like your mother. I've had enough of her. I'm not old—at least not old enough Don't move your arms. Besides, I still have you by my side, and you are also an excellent gladiator, and your skills are already on par with mine." Ricky wrinkled his nose. "A gladiator is a bird." (Old habits die hard. Ricky realized as soon as the words came out that despite being out of the quagmire of the Dar area for eight years, he still slipped out from time to time A few Darren accents are like labels, and people can tell that they are from the bottom society. Moreover, he is short in stature, which makes him feel frustrated from time to time. —— But fortunately, he still has His proud mustache, no one can overwhelm him everywhere.) He said, "How are you going to deal with Qiao Ruonan?"

"For now, it's better to be still than to move." "Well, look, Dad. I've seen Joe Ruonan a couple of times on 'Trantor Vision.' I even made a few holographic tapes of him giving a speech.—everyone is talking about him, so I want to see it What he said. And, you know, he had a point. I don't like him and I don't trust him, but he does have a point. He wants all regions to have equal rights and equal opportunities— —That's damn true, isn't it?" "Certainly. A civilized person would find that justified." "Then why don't we do it like that? Doesn't the Emperor think so? Demerzel?"

"Emperors and Prime Ministers need to think about the whole empire. They can't just look at Trantor itself. It's easy for Joranan to talk about equality. Because he has no responsibility. Once he himself takes the seat of power, he will find that he His efforts will be diluted by an empire of 25 million planets. Not only that, but he will be handcuffed by the regions themselves. Each region wants to achieve more equality for itself rights - without wanting to give too much equal rights to other regions. Tell me, Ricky, do you think Joranan should be given a chance at power just to show him what he can do?"

Ricky shrugged: "I don't know, and I don't know.—But one thing is for sure, if he dares to touch your hair, I will cut his throat on the spot." "That shows that your loyalty to me exceeds your concern for the empire." "Of course. Because you are my father." Seldon looked at Richie affectionately, but felt a faint sense of uneasiness behind that affectionate gaze.How effective will Qiao Ruonan's almost hypnotic influence be?problematic. "