Chapter 18 seventeen

When Kang Cheng's career was in full swing, Li Jun, who had studied in the United States, came back from the United States.He fulfilled our prophecy, like all the people who went abroad for a walk and came back, he said that China is better than being a citizen of the world, you are as close to others as a family, others feel afraid, although in China, there are too many people everywhere , but you don't have to care if others ignore you. Li Jun only told us that he had returned after he arrived in Beijing, which is quite different from his style a few years ago, when he, as Lu Xun said, must have clamored to tear down the roof before opening the windows.The news of Li Jun's return quickly spread among us brothers in need. Everyone put off the matter at hand and made up their minds to get together at the busiest time.Kang Cheng, who was talking about business in Tianjin, was talking on his mobile phone while driving, and kept telling people, "I'm sorry, the appointment tonight is cancelled. I have an urgent matter at home." He canceled 8 business appointments by phone all the way from Tianjin to Beijing, Hawthorne arrived at the Bamboo Garden Hotel at nine o'clock in the evening.

A few of us arrived at the Zhuyuan Hotel one after another, and found that the Zhuyuan Hotel turned out to be a few dilapidated courtyard houses hidden in a small alley. We don't know what's going on inside.Li Jun has already been equipped with American-style equipment - NIKE T-shirt, Reebok shoes, and long cotton socks are waiting for us at the door. When I saw Li Jun go up, I punched him in the chest and said, "Don't be so fucking patriotic. Wearing American-made leather to pick up guests in a courtyard, why can't we go together?" Li Jun, who had gained a lot of weight, just kept laughing. , and everyone never forgets to greet each other with a "HI" and then give them a hug. Although this kind of etiquette is warm, it is very empty and exaggerated. I can't understand the tacit understanding between us before.A HI word fully shows the sense of distance brought about by a few years of absence.Obviously, he is still in the inertia of American culture, unlike before, full of complaints and curses all day long.The body also stood up straight, and every word showed respect for others.Sometimes respect is distance, especially for those who have slept in a dormitory like us, the contrast makes me feel a little awkward.

Kang Cheng didn't seem to feel the distance. He and Li Jun quickly found a common topic, chatting happily from the door to the courtyard.Of course, the current Kang Cheng is not the Kang Cheng who used to be less talkative and stronger in self-esteem. He talks a lot now and has a different identity. He is very professional in expression and language—the general manager is confident and steady, keeps a sense of distance from others and is humble, and occasionally makes a few jokes at the right place, which attracts a lot of laughter.Dark blue or gray suits, often with dark ground materials and ties embellished with light-colored flowers. For celebration occasions, a tie with a large geometric pattern is also used. The colors are very bold: light green, golden yellow, and vermilion. Bright-colored shirts: white, sky blue, iron gray, a bit suave and suave on the eyebrows.Kang Cheng has that kind of natural reserved quality, and the feeling of maintaining it is completely in line with his current position.He is now a tie collector, Italy, France, Sweden...he can say a thing or two about famous brands all over the world, and when you see his ties, there are no duplicates.To be honest, wealth has put some sour feelings between us, and this feeling is strongest mainly among those of us who are not yet rich.

Psychological feelings belong to psychological feelings, but with our brothers, apart from becoming a little more mature, Kang Cheng is completely useless for other things, drinking, eating, telling jokes, and occasionally getting numb, we will never watch Who is so pale, and when it's over, we go to the bathing center to take a sauna and take a shower, we are all naked, we all take off the cloak of society, and we are very happy with each other. Of course it was Kang Cheng's treat for Li Jun today, because according to our simple principle of treating guests, Kang Cheng was the group of us who got rich first.We don’t know exactly how rich Kang Cheng is. Since he drove a Santara 2000, we know that he is really different from before. We always turn a blind eye to rich people who have nothing to do with us, but we always turn a blind eye to Kang Cheng’s wealth. It's sluggish, I don't know what's wrong with me.We always have the contradiction between being happy and lonely about Kang Cheng's wealth.

At the wine table, Kang Cheng and Li Jun seemed to be the protagonists.The changes in personnel are very subtle, and the wine market is sometimes like a battlefield. People with strength can quickly identify each other, and then catch up with each other and have a drink.In the past, Kang Cheng, who was not talkative, and Li Jun, who loved to swear, were always supporting roles at the wine table. Li Guolin and Xiao Han could always control the direction of conversation and jokes. Li Jun slowly relaxed after drinking, and began to be able to talk about his experience of Beijingers in the United States in combination with local dialects.If I don't see Li Jun swearing, I feel bad, so I never forget to persuade Li Jun to drink.Sometimes you only know what someone is thinking when you listen to someone scolding, and only when you understand each other can you have a true friendship, so I hope he can listen to me, even if he scolds me after drinking, it is very difficult for people to listen to the truth now.

"In the United States, I spend very little time studying. I spend more time watching how Americans start a business." With a smile on his face, Li Jun talked about his experience in a more serious manner. Also began to listen carefully. "There are many self-made companies in the United States, and there are more companies in the computer field. Everyone knows Bill Gates, NETSCAPE, YAHOO, by the way, I once met Yang Zhiyuan, the president of YAHOO, a Taiwanese, and I asked him for advice. How can China start from scratch? He didn’t answer me directly, but he said that there are so many opportunities on the Internet. I saw those successful entrepreneurs in the United States and found that there are very few Chinese. They can only do top-notch technology. It is not so beneficial, because it is difficult to adapt to the whole social culture. I started to have the desire to return to China to start a business in the second year in the United States, and then I met Yang Zhiyuan, which made me want to come back to start a business even more, and FOCUS (focus) on the Internet." Li Jun talked about his ideas very seriously and rigorously, and the education of the American University of Science was reflected in him.

Kang Cheng picked up a glass of beer and said: "To be honest, I also wanted to go to the United States after you left. I felt that I was not suitable for the relationship culture in China. Later, in Dream Company, I found that China still has a vast place that does not care much about relationships. , talk about talent." After speaking, he took the lead in drinking a glass. We follow suit.Li Guolin said: "However, we still talk about relationships, come on, let's toast to our special relationship!" Everyone smiled and raised their glasses. "When I come back this time, it can be regarded as the beginning of returning to China to start a business." Li Jun said, "At a business conference, yes, there are some business conferences in the United States in the same industry. Everyone mainly builds relationships and broadens their horizons. I was there I met a professor at a meeting. He is the general manager of an Internet information provider company ICP. He is a sinologist himself. He graduated from the University of Chicago in computer science, but he is very interested in Chinese culture. He talked with me about Chinese culture, but I am very interested in Chinese culture. The culture is actually worse than him, Qin Han Tang Ming, I was not even sure of the order, so I had to talk to him about Chinese culture. Later I told him that I am from Hunan. There are still many pronunciations of Hunan. It is the pronunciation of the pre-Qin period, which retains the pronunciation of the ancients and the usage of ancient characters. He was very interested and chatted with me for more than two hours. We changed from serious to non-serious, and I tried to change the topic. He was able to talk about every topic in depth. When I saw that I couldn't talk about anything, I quickly changed another topic. Finally, I switched to my best topic. I know the most commonly used swear words in many places in China. I learned it from a university, but I didn't expect him to be very interested in it. He said that swearing is the most incisive culture, and American slang is the quintessence of the United States. The old professor's face was full of grease, he wiped his face with a napkin and said You want to take me home, and you want to talk with me all night about the commonly used swear words in various parts of China. Unexpectedly, I used the swear words from all parts of China to scold him once, and I actually made a career out of it."

We were amused by Li Jun's Arabian Nights.Think about it, when a young man keeps scolding an old foreign man, the old man is not only not angry, he keeps having fun, and when he is done, he decides to give him money and let him start a company.How unreasonable! Li Jun wiped his sweat with a paper towel and said vividly: "The old professor has a lot of books in his house. There is a study room of more than 100 square meters. The walls around the room are covered with books. There are more Chinese books than foreign books. "Four Books and Five Classics" , Twenty-Four Histories, many of which are in traditional Taiwanese characters, what you want, you can get what you want, it made me break out in a cold sweat, and I felt that he knew China too well, so well that I felt like I was walking bare buttocks in front of him, letting him see through me But slowly I found that he was still at the level of understanding China, and he was still very far from understanding China. His feelings about China were nothing more than a little boy who loves to collect all kinds of glass balls. He is not Really owns the joy of a marble boy, and his joy is collecting as many marbles as possible."

"Later, the old man often invited me to dinner, and he ate almost all kinds of restaurants in Silicon Valley, including a small French restaurant hidden in the bushes, a German-style restaurant with live beer brewing, Japanese cuisine, a Brazilian music house, and many more. After eating, I can’t forget to ask me to scold him. Whenever I scold him, the old man will be happy. For example, when the old man asks how the meal is, I will say in Sichuan dialect: “Hammer! "The old man happily said hammer, hammer, and made a hammer shape with his hands, and the two got up happily and left the restaurant.

"As I learned about the old man's career, I felt a little bit in my heart. I wanted to persuade the old man to invest in China, so I spent a month in the library and carefully prepared a business plan report. That day I took the business plan to the old man. I went home to find the old man, and saw that he was reading a thread-bound book with a magnifying glass. The old man said that he was writing a book about celebrities in ancient and modern China. When planning a cultural network site, the old man actually came up with a sentence: "Zizi is not conspiring with each other, and I am dizzy with scolding." The old man stroked his gray hair and said in broken Chinese: "Culture loses money. If you invest money in culture in the United States, Chinese culture is even less profitable. Do you know China’s Hope Project? China will definitely lose money on cultural websites. You must know that we are engaged in business, not culture. I like Chinese culture, but it has always been spent. Make money. Business is business, culture is culture, and yours must be separated. The old man uses Chinese characters very well, and even uses Japanese-style Chinese.

"I was very embarrassed by the old man's reprimand. I forgot that the old man is very proficient in China's national conditions and clearly distinguishes business and culture, so the old man completely rejected the business plan proposed for the first time. After the old man reprimanded him I went to bury my head in reading, and I was about to turn around and leave when the old man stopped me and asked me if I knew how Chiang Kai-shek scolded people. After being scolded by the old man, and a month’s hard work was in vain, I had nowhere to vent, so I threw it at him loudly. The old man said: "Niang Xipi! Go out happily. Unexpectedly, the old man was so happy that he was laughing forward and backward. The laughter was quite like Hong Kong star Zhou Xingchi, and he kept chanting: "Niang Xipi, mother Xipi, good!" "Later, the old man really wrote Chiang Kai-shek's name in the book, and it was published. The book was very popular at his alma mater, the University of Chicago. Everyone who read the old professor's book said that it was very rewarding, and everyone would scold him suddenly. How could it be an honor to say that." What annoyed Li Jun even more was that the old man actually used "Niang Xipi" for his own use, and often said "Niang Xipi" when he disagreed with Li Jun's views in conversations.Li Jun did not forget to reply with a very ugly insult in Hunan.After the two scolded each other, they looked up to the sky and laughed. They looked like celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, but their words were unbearable. After going back and forth like this for nearly two years, the relationship between Li Jun and the old professor is extraordinary.Li Jun revised his business plan many times. The old man decided to start a company in China, with Li Jun as the representative of the Chinese office, and then gradually developed into a branch company. The old man's business on the Internet is to provide information on various new materials and new technologies for the textile industry. It is equivalent to an information network for the textile industry. Many members are textile kings, fashion design masters, and clothing manufacturing companies from all over the world.The old man's website updates all its content every two days, and has real-time professional news releases. Through this very comprehensive network information service, it has won many member network users in the world.The old man used credit cards to collect information usage fees abroad, but credit cards in China are not very common, so he did not come to China to develop business, but he also intends to come to China to develop.After Li Jun's advocacy, he also felt that Li Jun was a creative person, so he trusted him very much, and decided to start business in China, and Li Jun was in charge of it. What Li Jun said made us feel emotional. "That's too fresh and out of character!" Xiao Han said with a northeast accent.I said nothing, no matter how weird things are, there is a reason. If the old man didn't like Chinese culture, Li Jun would not swear, and they would not be able to establish friendship. Without friendship, there would be nothing later. "Existence is reasonable! Come, drink!" Li Guolin invited a drink, and we all had a drink happily. Li Jun went on to say: "This Zhuyuan Hotel is also the idea of ​​the old man. He said that he knew from the tourist site that there is a Zhuyuan Hotel in Beijing. It is the place where Kang Sheng once lived. Before Kang Sheng, some high-ranking official lived here. I don't remember it." But it is said that the man bankrupted Hu Xueyan. The courtyard is very cultured, so the old man must live here." We played very late at Zhuyuan Hotel, and went to our own nests in the moonlight. One day later, Li Jun accompanied the old man and his wife on a silk tour. Chinese culture made their relationship extraordinary, and Li Jun naturally became the old man's full-time tour guide. When the plane flew to Lanzhou, Li Jun said to find a hotel to stay first, and then inquire about the way to Dunhuang.The old man took out a map from his large travel bag, which was about the same height as him, and said in Mandarin with a Sichuan flavor, I have already made inquiries. We took the overnight bus and arrived in Dunhuang early tomorrow morning. (The old man's first Chinese teacher is an international student from Sichuan.) Li Jun nodded and said, YEAH.Then he stretched out his arm and wanted to help the old man carry his travel bag, but the old man said NO, and he was determined not to give Li Jun a chance to work. Looking at the old man's wife in a blink of an eye, she was soon surrounded by a group of vendors selling luminous cups.Some women whose faces were reddened by the wind and sand surrounded the old woman and said: LOOK, LOOK, luminous cup, VERY GOOD! Madam just shook her head, and it took a lot of effort to break out of the encirclement. Li Jun also went up to rescue her, quite There is a state of traitor.After walking for about 100 meters, there was a red-faced woman chasing after her, shouting: CHEAP, CHEAP! After finally getting on the long-distance bus to Dunhuang, everyone has a bunk to lie down on.Li Jun lay there, already exhausted, but the old man was full of interest, and said: "The luminous cup is very good, but it's too heavy. We'll buy it when we come back." Li Jun said lazily: "Go to the handicraft store to buy, there are all fakes here. It is best to buy at night!" The old man laughed and said, "YES, you know luminous cups very well?" "NO, I read a poem in middle school about grape wine luminous cup." "YES! I know, the poems of Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty in China. Grape wine and luminous cups. If you want to drink the pipa, you will be reminded immediately. Jun Moxiao is drunk on the battlefield. How many people have fought in ancient times." The old man recited the whole poem in one breath. , turned around and asked Li Jun if he was right, Li Jun was already snoring.Seeing that Li Jun didn't answer his words, the old man asked, "YOU ARE TIRED?" Seeing that there was still no response, he also turned his head and fell asleep. When the car arrived at Jiuquan and stopped for water, the moon and stars were already thin.The old man got out of the car and stretched his muscles, and immediately many people gathered around and said: "Luminous cup, luminous cup, GOOD, REALLY." In the moonlight, these cups really emit a firefly light.The old man couldn't hold back and bought one for $10. As soon as the car arrived in Dunhuang, the first thing the old man did was to buy a bottle of Great Wall dry red, lightly poured it into a luminous cup, raised his neck and drank it all, and said, "VERY GOOD! Grape wine luminous cup." He blushed with choking, and Li Jun saw this and laughed. They saw the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes that day, and Li Jun's little English was useless to Mogao Grottoes, only gestures.The old man went to the travel agency to find a very professional tour guide to explain.Li Jun took the tape recorder for the old man, and all the stories about the Buddha in Mogao Grottoes were recorded in the tape recorder. Back to Dunhuang City at night, the old man chose camels as his means of transportation, and had to ride camels across Mingsha Mountain overnight.Li Jun complained frequently in his heart, but there was nothing he could do. He had to sit on the smelly and dirty camel and walk in the desert under the clear light of the moonlight.At midnight, the desert was extremely cold, and the wind was howling. Li Jun was shivering from the cold. He looked up at the sky and saw that the stars in the sky were crumbling.There was an unknown voice coming from afar, whining, long and distant, and a thread of unrequited love touched Li Jun's nerves that he had never noticed.He suddenly understood the old man's actions, Chinese culture, and China very well.If China does not last forever, no one should; if China does not prosper, no one should prosper.Thinking about it, I almost fell off the camel...