Chapter 656 Who is wearing the shoes?
"Watch your words, Xia Zhemin! Don't make those incorrect remarks in public."
Amid the surprised gazes of everyone around him, Jiao Yaqiang slowly stood up and confronted Xia Zhemin face to face.
He was not tall, half a head shorter than the tall Xia Zhemin, but his resolute aura subtly overwhelmed Xia Zhemin who was in an angry state.
"Incorrect remarks? Haha, that's ridiculous!"
The angry Xia Zhemin sneered and asked Jiao Yaqiang sarcastically: "Which of my words is wrong?
What do you think you, a top student in microelectronics from the University of California, will do after returning to the mainland? Research televisions? Radios? Washing machines? You don't think you will be asked to research satellites, do you? "
"No, you are wrong. You are wrong about Jiao Yaqiang. It is not your turn to study the radio."
Xia Zhemin's tone became sharper: "After you return to China, you will be assigned to a research institute and beg those people who don't understand technology at all to give you a chance to serve you.
This is not the 1950s anymore. If you return to China now, you can only be someone else's assistant and waste your youth in endless wrangling."
“.”
Li Ye's hand was held tightly by Wen Leyu's hand.
But Li Ye did not stand up immediately, because the people around him were all aroused by Xia Zhemin's words. Li Ye had no suitable reason to refute the objective circumstances that were deliberately exaggerated but actually existed.
Just like Mr. Ni, after returning to China from overseas, he successfully built Lenovo, but Liu Lenovo also seized the leading rights of technology research and development with the reason that "we must survive first".
So how can Li Ye make Jiao Yaqiang and others believe that mainland companies will give them enough rights to develop according to their ideas?
However, Jiao Yaqiang was not completely overwhelmed by Xia Zhemin. He raised his head and said in a low voice: "Zhemin, what you said is just an individual phenomenon, not all, and have you forgotten the oath we once made?
We didn’t come to Lighthouse to stay and make dollars.”
“.”
Everyone around was silent.
Because they basically all made similar vows before leaving the mainland and coming to the lighthouse.
This oath may be a thorn in some people's hearts, but in some people's hearts, it may be just a piece of paper to wipe their butts.
"Haha. Haha."
Xia Zhemin looked at Jiao Yaqiang with amusement, as if he had heard the best joke in the world.
"The vows you made? Which one are you talking about?"
Xia Zhemin said with a smile: "I failed to get into college for two consecutive years starting from 1977. The young and old men in the village forced me to give up the college entrance examination and forced me to work in the fields, because the village lost a laborer and production was disrupted.
I knelt on the ground and swore to them that I would not delay the work in the fields, and that I would give them two dollars each after I was admitted to university.
"I worked day and night, studied day and night, and did more work than all my peers, but they still laughed at me and said I was dreaming."
"Later, I was admitted to Tsinghua University and went to Dengta to study abroad. The young and old men in the village sent me a letter. Guess what they wrote in the letter?"
"They asked me if the two yuan per person commitment was too little, as no one in the village even has a TV."
Xia Zhemin laughed like crazy and said, "After I arrived at Tsinghua University, I ranked first in the exams every year, but when it came to selecting qualifications for studying abroad, I always failed. I swore a blood oath again. Then I came to the lighthouse."
"No, you are second, Jiang Minzhi is first."
“.”
Jiao Yaqiang repeated: "You have never surpassed Jiang Minzhi, you are second and she is first."
Xia Zhemin pursed his lips and looked at Jiao Yaqiang for a while, then waved his hand and smiled, as if he didn't want to argue with Jiao Yaqiang.
"Then let me ask you, Lao Jiao, now that I have returned to the mainland, how can I fulfill my promise?"
Xia Zhemin laughed and said, "People's greed will grow wildly. I promised them two yuan each, but now everyone asks me for a TV. I swear to fight for my life."
But how can I fight for it? Do I have to work day and night for a salary of several hundred yuan to help those people get what they want? "
"Why?"
"Why are all technical talents given different fates? I am now working at Boeing, I only need to work five days a week and have one month of annual leave, but I can get hundreds of times the salary. Why is that?"
“This is because only the civilized world of Lighthouse respects our personality and can realize our life value.”
Xia Zhemin said angrily again: "So tell me, Lao Jiao, why should I go back to that backward, ignorant, and unreasonable world? Why should I..."
"Pah~"
A large bowl fell at Xia Zhemin's feet. The soup inside stained his trouser legs and shoes, and also suppressed his indignant voice back into his stomach.
Li Ye stood up, pulled Jiao Yaqiang back, and stood opposite Xia Zhemin.
"If you want to fart, go find a toilet first, don't stink people up here."
“.”
"Oh, why does he talk like that?"
"Yeah! That's not very civilized."
After Li Ye finished speaking, the people around him were quiet for a few seconds, and then started to make a noise. Many people felt that Li Ye's words were too rude.
Xia Zhemin was furious and immediately shouted angrily: "What are you talking about? What did I say was wrong? Doesn't Lighthouse work five days a week? Doesn't Lighthouse pay us tens of thousands of dollars a year?"
What Xia Zhemin said was true. In 1926, Henry Ford, the legendary American automobile manufacturer, stipulated that Saturdays and Sundays were rest days for employees and implemented a 40-hour work week.
Later, driven by religious groups and trade unions, the eight-hour-a-day, five-day-a-week work system was formed and implemented in Western countries such as the United States and Britain starting in the 1930s.
The popularization of the five-day work week in China was decades later than in Western countries, and there is indeed no Sunday in the mainland at present.
But Li Ye said coldly: "Lighthouse workers do work five days a week, but this benefit is not innate. It is earned by the ancestors of the lighthouse workers who worked sixteen hours a day for their descendants."
“.”
Xia Zhemin was stunned for a moment and was at a loss for words. He was now enjoying the benefit of "those who planted trees will enjoy the shade", but he couldn't say that he was also the grandson of the ancestors of the lighthouse, right?
But Li Ye smiled and said, "You don't believe it? Then you can ask your friends around the lighthouse. What was the working hours in the lighthouse factory 70 years ago? Were there any child laborers there?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible?"
Xia Zhemin subconsciously began to deny it. After all, "child labor" is an absolute scandal and is absolutely incompatible with the civilized world.
However, after listening to the translation of the people around them, some of the lighthouse people around did not refute Li Ye.
Li Ye said calmly: "We are all educated people. You can check it out yourself. A hundred years ago, the most developed country on this planet was not the Lighthouse, but the British Empire."
"And two hundred years ago, the British Empire was not the world's number one. The number one was the fucking Qing Empire."
“.”
"Oh~"
The people around started to make noise again, but this time, no one disliked Li Ye's rudeness.
Li Ye exhaled and said in a deep voice: "One hundred and fifty years ago, the factories outside London that were emitting black smoke had a 14-hour work system."
"At that time, the Qing Dynasty had spring ploughing and autumn harvesting, two seasons a year, and rested at sunset."
"The British Empire used the 14-hour workday to surpass the comfortable Qing Dynasty and become the world's number one."
"A hundred years ago, the lighthouse used a 16-hour work system and child labor, surpassing the British Empire to become the world's number one in GDP."
"Now you only see the wealth and civilization of the Lighthouse, but did you see their ancestors fighting tooth and nail?"
"Look at the rising countries of Japan and South Korea in recent years. Which one of them did not make greater efforts than others to create better survival opportunities for future generations?"
“All the civilizations you see today are built on the suffering of our ancestors. If you are not willing to endure this suffering, you will never be able to keep up with the forerunners.”
In fact, the phenomenon of "roll" has existed for a long time. The British Empire was crushed to death by the British Empire, and America also crushed the British Empire to death. Now, the next king of roll... is about to become an adult.
Li Ye raised his voice and said to Xia Zhemin sternly: "You want to break your oath and stay at the lighthouse to work. That is the path you chose. You want to be rich and make dollars, but I can't do anything to you.
But a son will never despise his mother’s ugliness, and a dog will never despise his family’s poverty. Don’t stop those people with conscience from forgetting their oaths like you did.”
Li Ye suddenly stretched out his palm and gently slapped Xia Zhemin on the face, making a "pa pa pa" sound.
"The motherland has spent precious foreign exchange to give you the opportunity to further your studies, but you insult her, spit on her, and despise her like a mad dog. That's not acceptable!"
“.”
Xia Zhemin was stunned by Li Ye's "big pot sticker".
Although Li Ye used very light force and did not leave any marks on his face, it was an unbearable humiliation under the gaze of hundreds of people.
But when he was so angry that he wanted to fight Li Ye to the death, he was scared away by Li Ye's knife-like eyes.
It's hard for a scholar to explain himself when he meets a soldier. Xia Zhemin felt that Li Ye now was just a barefoot bandit with a machete, ready to attack him at any time.
So Xia Zhemin forcefully brought out his backer: "I warn you, this is not the inland, this is a lighthouse, I will sue you."
Li Ye smiled and took out a business card from his pocket with Elena's name and phone number printed on it.
"Call my lawyer! I'd be happy to help you gain a deeper understanding of the class rules of this civilized world, so you can understand exactly which class you belong to."
“.”
Xia Zhemin was confused.
Isn't he a "barefoot soldier?"
Who is wearing the shoes?
(End of this chapter)
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