Qin Huai asked curiously: "Teacher Xiong, I just came and greeted you, didn't you see me?" He was not the kind of person who would keep silent after suffering a loss, so he started questioning Director Zhou directly in front of him.
Teacher Xiong was surprised: "You talked to me? I don't know when."
An old fox is an old fox. In front of so many people, he lied with his eyes open, as if he really didn't see anything. He was so shameless: "I'm old and my hearing is not good. Why don't you call a few more times and I will hear it."
He was pretending, but Qin Huai had achieved his goal of exposing his true face, so he followed his words and said, "Teacher Xiong is old, his ears and eyes are not good, you should take care of your health."
Teacher Xiong was not happy to hear this and immediately raised his eyes. He said that he was always capable, but others said that he was just not giving him face.
When Director Zhou saw the two men about to argue, he immediately tried to smooth things over, saying, "Teacher Xiong, please take a break. Teacher Qin, come with me. I'm going to criticize the newspaper staff. They're being really unreasonable."
He didn't wait for Teacher Xiong to speak, and pulled Qin Huai away. Halfway through, Qin Huai said, "Director Zhou, I didn't offend Teacher Xiong, why did he treat me like this?"
Director Zhou whispered, "Your poetry is famous throughout the province, and today the newspaper held a seminar just for you. He's getting jealous."
Qin Huai heard him say this, so he didn't know what to say. He pretended to understand and said, "No way, Teacher Xiong is highly respected. He would never do that. You misunderstood."
"That's possible, or maybe it's just a matter of intellectuals looking down on each other." Director Zhou thought to himself, "You're so young, yet you're so sarcastic. You're not someone you can easily mess with."
Qin Huai said with a smile: "I am not a scholar, I am just an old farmer with legs covered in yellow mud."
Director Zhou did not stand up for him. He took them to sit far away from Teacher Xiong. Qin Huai asked the two girls to eat whatever they wanted, but the two girls were reluctant to eat. It was not until he told them that it would be a waste if they didn't eat that they ate slowly.
It was more like a dinner party than a seminar. Most of the attendees brought their families and children with them. The venue was noisy and completely different from what Qin Huai had expected.
The newspaper office had prepared quite a few things. Qin Xiaomi ate a few pieces of cake and said with a satisfied, dreamy voice, "Brother, sister, I never dreamed that there would be so many delicious things in front of me, and that one day I would be able to eat so much to my heart's content."
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Continue eating."
Director Zhou, who was probably used to this kind of situation, said, "Teacher Qin, don't hold out too much hope for today's seminar. The experts who come here may not like your poems. It's good enough for everyone to just get to know each other."
Qin Huai shrugged and said, "The greatest reward today is that my two sisters can broaden their horizons and have enough to eat."
Director Zhou laughed and said, "You are really open-minded. This request can be met."
After everyone arrived, the people sitting in the main seats were all old. Not to mention Qin Huai, even Director Zhou, the leader of the cultural center, was not qualified to go up there.
After the seminar began, President Yu said, "I have good news for everyone. After the provincial newspaper published Teacher Qin's poems, it caused a widespread response throughout society. Readers wrote in and called. My classmates who work at the provincial newspaper said that the newspaper has never had such high attention. Teacher Qin has brought honor to our northern Anhui."
Qin Huai stood up and said, "President Yu, you are too polite. I just wrote something casually and I didn't expect everyone to like it."
This casual remark caused public outrage.
Teacher Xiong on the rostrum said bluntly, "Some of our comrades are already showing off before they've even made any achievements. This kind of thinking is unacceptable. Those of us who have spent our lives working with words must always maintain a reverent attitude towards words. Young people, it's just one or two poems, don't get too cocky."
Qin Huai was unwilling to accept his statement: "I think words are just tools we use. They are just tools, not weapons that some people use to attack others."
His direct confrontation caused dissatisfaction among the audience. Several old men, their faces flushed, scolded him, saying, "You are young and arrogant. We old men are still sitting on the stage. It is not time for you to speak yet."
Qin Huai immediately retorted without giving in: "In the new society, everyone has a say. Besides, if you're not arrogant, you're not young. I'm still young. If I don't act arrogant now, will I have to wait until I'm old like you to act arrogant? By then, I'll be annoying."
Several old men were furious, and two of them stood up and walked away.
President Yu and Director Zhou smiled bitterly.
Qin Huai didn't care. The worst that could happen was that he would just stop associating with these corrupt and self-righteous people. He had only offended them by writing two poems. Anyway, he didn't plan to have any more contact with them in the future. His goal had been achieved, so he didn't need to care about these people's faces.
At today's seminar, Qin Huai thought he would really have his own readers, but no, apart from a few people from the cultural center, there were only these veteran literary and art workers present.
No fans, no flowers, only scolding based on seniority. He is not a member of the system, so why should he indulge them?
President Yu kept saying, “How could this happen?”
Director Zhou said, "What's so unclear about this? They are jealous of Teacher Qin's poetry and understand that Teacher Qin's poetry may reach a level that they will never be able to reach in their lifetime. If they don't curb their arrogance, how will these people survive in the literary and artistic circles of northern Anhui in the future?"
Qin Huai also understood from these words that the world of Jianghu is everywhere, and where there are people, there are conflicts of interest. His sudden appearance blocked the financial path of some people, so of course they wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible to avoid being an eyesore.
The seminar ended in a bad mood. Qin Huai took the well-fed Qin Xiaoyun and her sister out of the venue. Qin Xiaoyun said, "Brother, don't quarrel with them in the future. They are all city people."
"Rural people are not inferior to others. Don't worry about it. I know what's going on."
Qin Xiaoyun said one sentence and then stopped talking, because the two sisters were holding their stomachs and couldn't walk. Qin Xiaomi was even more exaggerated, she vomited after walking a few steps.
She looked at the food on the ground with regret and said, "What a pity! I ate so much today. I thought I could survive three days without eating."
Someone who was attending the poetry gathering saw this and showed a look of disgust, but Qin Huai didn't care and said loudly: "Can you still eat? It seems there is still some at the venue. Why don't we go back and eat?"
Qin Xiaoyun said shyly: "Brother, please keep your voice down. Others will look down on us."
Qin Huai said: "If you want others to respect you, you must first have strength. If you don't have strength and are looked down upon, what can you do? If you have strength, others will take the initiative to make friends with you."
The two little girls had obviously never heard of this theory, and they looked thoughtful after hearing it.
Qin Xiaomi said, "Brother, it's so nice to be out with you. You'll confront anyone who provokes you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
