Insufficient balance

  "Whether we admit it or not, this is a fact. This is the best of times, yet the worst of times." Yiyizhe said bluntly without any reserve, "Because we don't have thoughts, our own thoughts."

  "Before, the old principal asked me a question, he asked what my dream was. I was stunned at that time, now I want to ask you all, what is your dream? Is it clear and are you willing to give up everything for it? Our generation has grown from childhood to today, everyone has thought many times about what they will do in the future, what kind of person they will become. Now that we have entered university and stepped into society, have the years dried up your ideals?"

  "Perhaps that's too vague, to put it bluntly, you all worked hard to get into Fudan University, and after graduation, you'll be working for others as a high-level white-collar worker, living much better than most people. After all, Fudan graduates will always have job opportunities, no matter how bad the economy is. But is this really your life's pursuit? The goal of ten years of hard work? As our old principal asked before, are you willing to give yourself a reason to lose to those who are not as hardworking or talented as you? In today's Huajing, which has slowly become a cradle for foreign companies, if Fudan University does not change this fact, where is our way out? At a time when Yanda can no longer bear the heavy burden of the Chinese nation, if we at Fudan do not use our dreams to take on some responsibilities, then where is the way out for China?"

  "Thank you, I've finished speaking."

  He said a few words and turned to leave the stage, but his last sentence was actually directed at the leaders on the stage. From what he had learned about Fudan University over the past few days, it wasn't as good as it had been made out to be, although this was within his expectations. However, there was still a bit of resentment. If not for special reasons, he wouldn't have come to Jiangzhou. He liked philosophy and had no reason not to go to Yanda instead. Yanda had the largest library in Asia and the beautiful Unnamed Lake, which was like a warm, soft jade. Ye Yizhe had always been drawn to these things, not to mention the majestic Boya Tower standing on the southeastern hill of Unnamed Lake, surrounded by the rippling waters. These were all treasures of Chinese culture, and they couldn't be found in modern cities like Jiangzhou.

  Ye Yizhe, who had just thrown out two sentences that he thought were very cool, quickly left the scene. As for what kind of reaction it would cause, it was no longer within his consideration. In such a situation, saying such things, let the old principal deal with the aftermath himself, who made him "frame" himself.

  Strolling around the campus, I thought about it and asked around where the principal's office was, then walked over.

  The building where the old principal's office was located was not high, only three floors. On the third floor, at the very end, was the old principal's office. At this time, most of the people in the building were on the playground. Ye Yizhe came to the door of the old principal's office without any obstruction and found that the door was half-closed. He pushed it open and walked in.

  The office was not luxurious, with only a desk, a sofa and a bookcase. On the desk were some small decorative items that didn't look expensive. Behind the office chair hung a simple grayish-white coat that looked like it had been there for some time. There was a stack of papers on the desk, next to which lay a Hero brand pen. Ye Yizhe didn't take a closer look at the contents of the papers; if he did, it would be considered snooping.

  The bookcase is very large, directly spanning one side of the office which was originally nearly a hundred square meters in size. It's stacked with all kinds of books, categorized and labeled on small cards.

  Ye Yizhe took out a book of conflicting literary award-winning works "The Funeral of Muslims" from the middle, sat down on the sofa beside him and started reading.

  "The Muslim Funeral" Ye Yizhe had read it a long time ago. He has always been interested in the culture of ethnic minorities and even studied the customs and folklore of the Hui people because of this. This book vividly portrays the culture of Muslims, the unyielding spirit of the Hui people, and their homesickness when they are away from home, which is one of the few modern Chinese literary works that Ye Yizhe likes.

  Opening the book, several lines of regular script entered my eyes.

  "The more hardships there are, the more we must strive to live. Although life may not be beautiful, it is still precious."

  The font is majestic and powerful, the pen is sharp and piercing, it's hard to imagine that it was written by an old man. Looking at the corner of the book, you can see the traces of being flipped through countless times, just one glance and you know that this book has been read by the old principal countless times.

  Faith drives humanity towards civilization, faith forces humanity away from civilization. Yī Zhé sighed, after civilization has reached a certain level, faith is just the straw that destroys the last nerve of humanity.

  Ye Yizhe quietly opened the book, although he had read it several times before, but still became immersed in it. Huo Da arranged each person's fate with a helpless clarity, and this book once made Ye Yizhe unable to extricate himself.

  Just after finishing the first chapter "Yu Mo", I heard the old principal's voice coming over.

  "I knew you'd be here."

  The old principal pushed the door and saw Ye Yizhe in the room without any surprise, picked up the teapot on the table and took a sip before saying: "Today's performance is not bad, but that last step was not good, I still have to clean up the mess for you. No way, I'll have to make a small report to Zheyang another day, you little scoundrel, framing an old man like me."

  Ye Yizhe raised his head and glared at him: "Who told you to frame me for no reason? Let's see who Master will help in the end."

  "Ah……" The old principal was stunned for a moment, and then smiled after a while, "Who doesn't know that your master is protective of you? How would I dare to touch this taboo? What's more, are you also reading this book? There aren't many young people who like to read Hoda's books anymore."

  Yi Zhe closed the book, put it back on the shelf and said to himself: "No one has ever truly understood and grasped their own destiny, they can only try in different ways and struggle with the unknown fate."

  The old principal looked at him with appreciation and sighed: "Faith is a thing that can both help and harm people, neither of which is trivial."

  Ye Yizhe snorted with a hint of disdain and said, "Humans respect ghosts and gods, but ghosts and gods deceive humans, isn't that always the case?"

  Upon hearing his words, the old principal exclaimed in surprise: "Aren't you afraid that your master will be furious with you for saying such things? Are you determined to ruin his life?"

  "All these years, I don't know how many times I've hit him, but the old man's skin is thick, and it doesn't make any sense to hit him." Ye Yizhe said indifferently, "By the way, his skin is probably as thick as yours."

  The old principal was drinking water, and after hearing his supplementary words, he spluttered out all the water with a "puff" sound, pretending to be vicious: "Disrespecting the principal, I have the power to expel you."

  He couldn't help but laugh at himself and burst into loud laughter.

  "These next few days get used to Fudan University." The old principal changed the subject and asked.

  Ye Yizhe nodded: "It's okay, these days I mainly just got familiar with the environment. My master asked me to visit you as soon as possible, but I called your office phone several times and no one answered, so this matter was delayed."

  The old principal waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter, your master had mentioned this to me before, asking me to take care of you. However, let's get the ugly words out first, if you commit any mistakes in school, I will still handle it according to the rules. Your decision to choose the Philosophy Academy has already caused a huge commotion in the school, and if not for my intervention, they would probably still be arguing about it. I don't want to see this kind of thing happen again. For any major decisions, please communicate with me first."

  If Ye Yizhe was just a junior of an old friend, he wouldn't have helped him out in this way. Having been the principal for so many years, he has accumulated many debts of gratitude, and if he really wanted to repay them, the school would have fallen into chaos long ago. Jiang Shiyu, who never compromises his principles, also genuinely likes Ye Yizhe, after all, such achievements are not fake, plus their occasional chats, his personality is very much in line with Jiang's taste.

  "Relax, it's over." Ye Yizhe was a bit embarrassed. If he could go back to a few months ago, he would not choose the Philosophy Academy even if you killed him. Not only did he attract unnecessary attention, but also brought about these troubles that seemed like good fortune to others but were actually a bunch of headaches for him. He didn't dare to show his face at the Philosophy Academy anymore, afraid of being taken advantage of by those "female wolves". And this was just the beginning of freshman year, he couldn't imagine what it would be like in later years. After all, not everyone was as pleasing to the eye as Yu Yitong. Actually, Xiao Yuling that day wasn't bad either. If he had to give them a score, both of them should have over 85 points, and with their personalities, maybe even higher. It seemed like this batch didn't have such high scores though.

  "What are you still doing here? You've finished visiting, and if there's nothing else to do, then go do what you need to do." Seeing Ye Yizhe suddenly dazed in place, not knowing what he was thinking with a strange smile hanging from the corner of his mouth, no matter how one looked at him it didn't seem like he was thinking about anything good. The old principal directly gave the order to expel him.

  "Ah!" Ye Yizhe was startled and suddenly realized he was still in the old principal's office, hastily saying, "Then I'll take my leave first."

  Yi Zhe turned around and was about to leave, but just as he was about to step out the door, he turned back and said, "In the future, if I want to read a book, I'll come here to find it. I've found that the books here are more to my taste."

  After finishing speaking, he didn't care about Principal Jiang's reaction and just closed the door and left, leaving behind Jiang Shiyou who was still standing there with a cup of tea in his hand.

  After crossing half of Jiang's world, Shiyou finally picked up the pen on the table and lightly wrote two words on the paper.

  "Pure Jade".