Chapter 46 Tea Party
As to why so many people in the military academy suddenly added him as a friend and initiated task sharing with him, Lin Guantang later learned a little bit about it from the group chat.
The main thing is that Wen Tiange took a screenshot of the military academy forum, which was full of discussion posts about "Lingchen", and then posted a sentence: I have no idea who this amazing classmate Lingchen is. Haitang, who do you think he is?
And @Lin Guantang.
Then Lin Guantang was shocked by the content of the picture.
He didn't expect that the Central Military Academy students could have such a big imagination and think so exaggeratedly.
No matter how he thought about it, Lin Guantang felt that he had only exchanged a few simple words with Yin Zhiyou. Why was it described as if they had had a very fierce quarrel? And how could it be seen that he had the ambition to conquer all departments of the military academy?
After seeing the three words "Intelligence Department", Lin Guantang quietly chatted with Sikong Tan privately, asking him if he was exaggerating.
The reply I got was: I just added a little bit of linguistic processing to the reasonable guess, and it’s totally okay for you to have such ambition, Xiao Haitang. Don’t you think it’s interesting that an omega is above all alphas?
First, is the guess really reasonable?
Secondly, please be clear-headed, senior. You are an S-level alpha yourself. To say that you can be surpassed by O, isn’t it a bit too broad-minded?
The more Lin Guantang read, the more he felt that every word Senior Sikong said was like, "It's fun to watch the fun. It's already such a mess, so I'll add fuel to the fire and make it burn even more vigorously."
Besides, Wen Tiange probably sent the photo and asked that question intentionally. They had added him as both the game friend and the system friend of the Intelligence Department, so how could they not know who he was?
——Besides, he was specifically @ed as someone who has nothing to do with the military academy to ask a question that even the military academy students knew nothing about. Isn’t the answer very clear!
Lin Guantang sighed. He and Wen Tiange had only met once in real life, but he had already begun to miss the old Wen Tiange.
At the beginning, Wen Tiange was still that soft and cute, gentle and considerate person, who would make Lin Guantang think that he was an A without any contradiction. But in just a few days, he has evolved into a funny person who teases him. It turns out that there is something wrong with the feng shui of your intelligence department, which will lead to moral decline (that kind of condemning tone)
But on the other hand, we have to admit that there are intelligence departments taking advantage of the situation and making all kinds of assumptions, whether true or false. The speculation on the forum about the "mysterious freshman in the early morning" has gone further and further.
Not to mention what the purpose of "early morning" is, just looking at the appearance, it is already completely unrecognizable.
The only definite facial feature is blue eyes, but it is of no use. According to relevant statistics, 20% of the people in the empire have blue eyes. Among the people Lin Guantang knows in the imperial capital, Wen Tiange and Ding Ruize both have blue eyes.
Although Liang Wei, who had looked Lin Guantang in the eye up close, expressed his true feelings in a very sincere forum, describing Lin Guantang's blue eyes as very different. His was not the kind of grayish, dull blue, but a pure, bright blue.
But no one cared, and everyone agreed that he was exaggerating because he was bewitched.
This is not some groundless speculation, but an inference from various impressionistic paintings released on the forum.
In fact, when people first drew the picture based on the guesses of eyewitnesses, the figure they portrayed was very similar to Lin Guantang in terms of body shape and appearance.
But after all the brainwashing speculations from Long Aotian such as "Lingchen wants to conquer the military academy and become the Emperor of Lingchen", the "Lingchen" that finally appeared was a two-meter-tall, burly, and upright double-door strong man. No matter whether it was Huo Shizhen or Yin Zhiyou, they were all not worth mentioning in front of him.
Of course, this exaggerated speculation was quickly ridiculed by the crowd, and everyone agreed that it was one black and three black people. However, because the picture was too impactful, many people still had the impression that "Lingchen was a burly blue-eyed man."
In short, if Lin Guantang were to identify it himself, he would genuinely wonder, "Who is this person drawing?"
Moreover, after seeing the bounty information that was finally banned, Lin Guantang became even more frightened and determined not to accept any task invitations from strangers at will and to keep his identity secret.
Speaking of other people's opinions and attitudes towards Ling Chen in the group, at first Lin Guantang thought that everyone should know that Ling Chen was him, but in fact it seemed that was not the case.
Jian Yinglai published a long paragraph criticizing the issue, mainly criticizing the text describing the early morning in the forum as being too straightforward and crude and without any literary or artistic quality - this is not what he meant to make you lament!
As for Ling Chen himself, Jian Yinglai didn't care too much. He just sighed in an official manner, "The empire needs such vigorous seedlings to thrive. It comforts my heart..." Then he was sarcastically scolded by Wen Tiange. The two sides started a new round of quarrels, which was another matter.
Tian Ye sighed that there are always people better than you, and ordinary A-level people also have the courage and opportunity to compete with S-level people. He cannot think that he is stronger than other ordinary alphas just because he has differentiated into S-level. He needs to work harder to live up to the S-level rating. Tian Ye's competitive spirit has been inexplicably aroused.
But thanks for the invitation. Actually, this classmate Lingchen is also S-level, but the direction of the S is different.
As for Shao Qingbai, he was even more straightforward. He said eagerly that after finding Ling Chen, he would definitely fight with him to see who was stronger. Considering that he was still avoiding Lin Guantang, this completely identical attitude also made Lin Guantang confirm that he did not know that he and Ling Chen were the same person.
Lin Guantang had thought about announcing in the group that he was Ling Chen, but before he could implement this idea, Sikong Tan had the foresight to tell him that not everyone had the talent to keep secrets, and that it would be fun to let everyone explore the truth on their own, and it would be too boring to reveal the answer too early.
So after thinking it over again and again, Lin Guantang remained silent on the matter.
Sikong Tan was having a heated conversation with Lin Guantang in private about topics related to the early morning, while he was also very skilled in pretending not to know him and fanning the flames in the group - Lin Guantang was very suspicious whether he had a dual personality.
But except when he had no choice, Lin Guantang would cooperate with him in the group with poor acting skills, as the other two people at the center of the incident, Yin Zhiyou still maintained his cold personality online and did not respond.
Huo Shizhen... Huo Shizhen also did not make any remarks, but just reminded him.
So Sikong Tan felt quite lonely as if he had performed a one-man show but no one appreciated it, and then he continued to go to the forum to harm other people - that's another story.
***
Regarding the weekend tea party, Lin Guantang finally followed Yuan Wenjun's advice and chose a topic related to the bow-wielding Cupid who represented love in the old era - after all, at present, his most eye-catching feature, besides his appearance and diligence, is his archery skills.
But Lin Guantang did not dress in an exaggerated manner. He just wore a commemorative brooch from the Old Era God series sponsored by Huo Shizhen.
Originally, Lin Guantang thought it was just a common brooch, but when he opened the box and saw the Cupid brooch made of gold and gems against the snow-white lining, he was still slightly dazzled. After Ding Ruize explained it to him, he realized that it was actually an out-of-print and priceless souvenir. Lin Guantang was so scared that he almost returned it on the spot.
If such a valuable thing is lost accidentally, you can’t afford the compensation even if you sell it.
Then Huo Shizhen replied to him: If you can lose a brooch and are so careless, then there is no need to consider letting you participate in any missions involving important items in the future.
This kind of topic can be so easily linked to the task...Excuse me, Senior Huo, are you a task maniac?
However, the effect was quite significant, at least it persuaded Lin Guantang to give up the idea of returning the brooch.
On the one hand, he was worried about losing it, but on the other hand - Lin Guantang asked himself, he was not the kind of person who would lose things, especially such a valuable item, he would take good care of it.
Although in the end Lin Guantang carefully returned to school holding the box in both hands.
Moreover, after searching through all his clothes, they seemed too cheap and could not match such a sparkling brooch, so he finally chose the school uniform which looked better made than all his clothes combined.
Fortunately, one of the purposes of the school uniform design concept of O College is to allow students to wear school uniforms to attend various formal occasions without feeling out of place.
But for the same reason, Lin Guantang was not used to wearing school uniforms on a daily basis. He felt that they were a bit too formal. Except for the freshman ceremony, he rarely wore school uniforms. When he wore this brooch, he was even more worried about whether he was too dressed up.
When he saw Yuan Wenjun wearing an extravagant dress and the same gorgeous gown as Pu Xinglan, he wondered if he was too plain and would it seem that he did not take this tea party seriously.
But apart from this school uniform, he had no other more formal clothes to wear.
Fortunately, Yuan Wenjun did not comment on his attire, but just asked a few more questions about the brooch. When he learned that it was a friendly sponsorship from the owner of the shop where he worked, Yuan Wenjun felt that the boss was not so inhumane and could barely forgive his behavior of exploiting his friend's labor.
Lin Guantang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
After arriving at the tea party venue, Lin Guantang saw how other people were dressed and felt that he had been worrying too much.
He was not the only one wearing a school uniform. There were also people with more exaggerated costumes and people with more simple clothes. There was a wide variety of people, and it was a feast for Lin Guantang's eyes.
It just felt like the atmosphere didn't quite match the tea party he had imagined it to be - in his impression, he always thought a tea party should be more relaxed and artistic.
There were also many people who had different ideas from Lin Guantang. After entering the venue, he heard several people making various uncomfortable comments, such as feeling that it was too noisy, or too messy, and even complaining that the threshold for participating in the tea party was a bit low. This inevitably caused displeasure to some people. Fortunately, the waiters were very tactful. When a conflict was about to occur, they would go over and mediate in advance to keep the atmosphere lively and harmonious.
After finding a seat and sitting down, Lin Guantang hardly moved. When someone came to talk to him, he responded. When Yuan Wenjun came back from reminiscing with Pu Xinglan and his fellow townsmen, he told Lin Guantang some new news about the initiator of the tea party.
"The initiator of this tea party is Zhu Hechang. Although he's a relatively unknown tech upstart in the imperial capital, he's a renowned self-made man in Fugan District. I just heard from others that no matter how shabby a business is, he can turn it around."
Lin Guantang let out an exclamation - although there was certainly an intention to show support, he also felt a little unexpectedly surprised.
If District 35 is the poorest place in the imperial capital, then Fugan District can be said to be the richest and most luxurious place in the empire. It is even more unscrupulous than the imperial capital and advocates wealth and freedom. It is conceivable how capable it is to start from scratch in such a place.
In this way, it is no wonder that this tea party was so free and different from traditional tea parties that were confined to a relaxed and quiet form.
If the imperial capital represents conservatism and rigor, then Fugan District represents freedom and indulgence.
Yuan Wenjun and Pu Xinglan were dressed so gorgeously because they were theatrical costumes, based on the costumes from the classic play "Romeo and Juliet" that has been passed down since the old era. They even performed a drama in public and won applause from the audience.
However, the two people's views on love are slightly different. Yuan Wenjun longs for an unforgettable and passionate love that can last for a long time, while Pu Xinglan admires the courage of these two people to resist confinement.
Others also used the various items they brought with them to tell their own stories about love. Along the way, there were many people who resonated with them, couldn't help but start a conversation, and then felt the joy of having a close friend.
Of course, there were also people who told stories that were too dry and boring, or whose stories were obviously perfunctory. This made Lin Guantang feel a little relieved - it was like someone was a role model or a bottom line, so even if his performance was not so good, it didn't matter, at least there was someone to keep him company.
Anyway, when it was Lin Guantang's turn, he gently pressed the brooch and said:
"Rather than experiencing love myself, I'm currently more interested in witnessing and promoting the birth and development of every pure and beautiful love. Just like the god of love in the old era, I wish every couple true love and am happy to help break through the fuzzy window paper."
Finally, he said with a smile:
"If anyone attending today really gets married because of this tea party, you can ask me to be the MC."
The slightly teasing words caused some knowing laughter from the crowd, and someone else jokingly said:
"I dare not let you come. You are so perfect. If you show up at the wedding, I'm afraid people will misunderstand who is getting married."
Lin Guantang chuckled, shook his head, and answered seriously:
"How could there be a misunderstanding? At a wedding, the newlyweds are the most beautiful beings. Bathed in the blessings of the god of love, they are undoubtedly the center of attention."
When Lin Guantang was about to sit down, someone else spoke boldly:
"Mr. Lin, would you mind telling me about your specific criteria for choosing a partner? I see that many people here are eager to become Mr. Lin's suitor."
Lin Guantang showed a helpless look, thought for a moment, and then said:
"Honestly, I don't have any specific requirements in mind. When someone I truly like appears before me, I think any pre-set criteria become empty talk. I'll just have the feeling that this is the one. However, it's not like I don't have any requirements. At least for now, what I still hope for is pure love without any special purpose, a love born out of genuine affection, rather than some other love strategies that are based on purposeful approaches and are born out of falsehood."
His voice was still steady and gentle, but the ruthless rejection of "purposeful approach" revealed in it was transmitted to everyone's ears very clearly. Although it did not make everyone give up the idea of approaching him, it made many people lower their heads in disappointment or guilt.
"Whether there's a difference in importance between love that comes from the heart and love that comes from a purposeful approach that ultimately leads to falling in love is a very interesting topic."
Another person started talking while walking towards Lin Guantang with a wine glass in hand - that was Zhu Hechang, the initiator of this tea party. He was wearing a rather formal business suit, but his behavior was quite casual. He looked very young, with a shrewd gleam in his eyes and a calmness that seemed to have won the battle.
He walked to a seat in front of Lin Guantang and stopped, looking at the young and beautiful figure in front of him with interest, and asked him a question:
"I hope you don't find it offensive, but I'm curious, if I gave you all the wealth in the world but asked you to give up love, which one would you choose?"
The other party was clearly smiling, asking the question as if it were just a normal joke, but Lin Guantang felt a sense of discomfort, as if he was testing something...
Lin Guantang became a little more cautious, and after a moment of silence, he blinked and replied in a slow tone:
"Isn't love a kind of wealth? This shouldn't be a problem that they can't coexist with."
This was a sophistry answer, which seemed to be evasive, but it was also impossible to refute. So some people chuckled softly, thinking that it was interesting that he could come up with such an answer - at least that was what Zhu Hechang thought.
But Zhu Hechang came to him specifically to ask questions, and didn't want to be brushed off with such an answer.
So after a light laugh, he asked again:
"Then let me ask you another question. I heard that you're from District 35, Lin. Imagine you're in dire need of a large sum of money. You have someone you're attracted to, but they're not wealthy and can't help you fill that void. Additionally, you have another person you could turn to, but they like you, and you don't like them. What would you choose?"
As Lin Guantang's eyebrows furrowed in careful attention, and as the people around him lowered their voices to discuss seriously what they would do if this happened to them, only Zhu Hechang, with a relaxed, prepared smile, spoke the second half of his sentence:
"In this predicament, do you choose to be with the person you're attracted to, letting them live a life of shoddy work and endless debt, or do you approach the latter with the intention of making money? Of course, because the latter likes you, even if they know you have ulterior motives, they will tolerate your deception and even be glad that you deceived him, so don't worry about any moral dilemmas."
The conditions for the choice have been stated so clearly that the answer seems very simple, and there is no need to even think about it - if you really need a large sum of money, then no matter how you look at it, it seems that the latter is right.
But bringing it up in the current situation, especially since Lin Guantang had just talked about his theory of love, would seem too subtle.
If he answered the latter, then he had overturned his own theory of love so easily, making the standards he stated seem like a joke, which can be changed at will and there is no need to care too much about it.
If he answered the former - it would make him look even more hypocritical.
As Zhu Hechang said, he was from District 35. This little information was enough for everyone to judge that he could not easily and freely say that he did not have to consider money. If he insisted on saying that he chose the former out of pure love, it would not only be stupid but also unrealistic. At the very least, he would not be able to convince the guests present that he was sincere. They would think that he was just forcing himself to say some polite words.
This was originally a small-scale tea party. The participants were either not imperial aristocrats or had only a small fortune. It was not impossible for them to encounter a wealth crisis. Many people were even troubled by related matters. Therefore, they could think about this problem with empathy and make choices from their perspective.
Think about it, if there is really someone who can pull you out of an unsolvable predicament, all it takes is a little fake, pretended love, then what's wrong with that? How can you give up on that?
Even if it's not for yourself, but just for the sake of your loved one, do you really want to drag your loved one into this bottomless pit of debt, knowing that it's the end? Regardless of whether they're willing to jump in with you, do you really have the heart to let the person you love fall into this predicament?
Lin Guantang thought about this, and he could even imagine that if he really chose the former, the person in front of him would immediately ask the next question - what you call pure love, is it to harm another person?
Then can such love still be called beautiful and is it worth being promoted?
That is a more difficult question to answer, a more difficult decision, and it will make him be looked at differently.
Before answering the other party's question, Lin Guantang began to think about another question - he had no relationship with the person in front of him, and today was even their first meeting, so why was he targeting him so much?
No matter how slow-witted Lin Guantang was, he could sense the other party's sinister intentions behind the so-called interesting topic.
Even Yuan Wenjun and Pu Xinglan, who were bystanders, noticed something was wrong and felt that this was a deliberate attempt to embarrass Lin Guantang.
How could a famous person like him make things difficult for a student?
However, when Yuan Wenjun wanted to speak up for Lin Guantang, Pu Xinglan stopped her and signaled her not to act rashly - it would not be wise to speak up when all the reasons were not clear yet.
After a long silence, with everyone looking on with concern or curiosity, Lin Guantang finally spoke:
"Sir, before I answer your question, could you please tell me clearly whether the theme of tonight's tea party is love or wealth and love?"
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