Chapter 333: Finding Fault

Yu Jiangu considered telling Guan Yilin not to interrupt Xiao Luo, as he was well aware of her overweening att.i.tude. Guan Yilin had a very high opinion of herself and often asked loaded questions to make her teachers look incompetent. She was a handful as far as Yu Jiangu and all the teachers were concerned. In their eyes, she was an excellent student, but at the same time, also a b*tch of the highest order.

But he held back on second thought since Xiao Luo had the floor, and wanted to see if Xiao Luo could subdue this conceited and arrogant student.

Everyone in the cla.s.s stared at Xiao Luo, many with wry smiles on their faces, waiting to see how he would respond.

Xiao Luo said, “Of course I have regrets, everyone has regrets more often than not, and a life without regrets is not a complete life.”

“And what are your regrets?” Guan Yilin pressed further.

“My regret is that I didn’t choose to go to graduate school or take the civil service exam in my senior year.”

Xiao Luo smiled and said, “In today’s society, there are too many college students entering the workforce, and there’s fierce compet.i.tion for jobs. Even many of the graduates from 221-tiered and 985-tiered colleges [1] are facing a crisis in the current climate of high unemployment. To get a better start and a stronger compet.i.tive edge, you must try to pursue postgraduate studies. But I didn’t do so and have lost that opportunity to improve myself.”

“I didn’t opt to take the civil service exam either. Many people are dismissive of the civil service, believing that while it offers stability, it’s at best a middle-income profession. But it represents an invaluable career for a new graduate, offering you a platform you to settle down and think carefully about a new career path before you embark on what you wish to achieve in the future.”

These were indeed his two regrets; if it wasn’t for the fortuitous integration of the genius system, he would still be toiling away as a hard-working, nine-to-five product engineer in some factory and would often have to work overtime.

Yu Jiangu agreed with Xiao Luo’s view, and as a senior teacher, he had come to the same conclusion for some time now. Nowadays, there were hundreds of thousands of college students graduating every year, and while the number of job applicants increased on an annual basis, job availability did not grow at the same rate. Hence a more significant number of graduates were now competing for a limited number of jobs.

Under such circ.u.mstances, choosing to pursue postgraduate studies or to take the civil service exam was a smart path. As a testament, one of Yu Jiangu’s students who pursued his postgraduate studies got into a large company with a starting salary of 10,000 dollars and often traveled on business trips abroad—although he had a late start, he quickly ran ahead of everyone else.

“Senior Xiao, what you mean is that there are only two paths for us graduates to take, one is to pursue postgraduate studies, and the other is to take the civil service exam, right?” Guan Yilin scoffed.

Xiao Luo shook his head as he replied, “No, this is just from my personal experience. It’s not suitable for everyone, it’s just information that you can use to form your own decisions. It’s for your reference only.”

“Oh, really? Then according to Senior Xiao, what should I do after graduation?”

Guan Yilin absolutely disagreed with Xiao Luo’s viewpoint, and with a smirk on her face, she said, “I am now a regional manager of CITIC Credit Services, and CITIC Bank has also offered me a position. As soon as I sign the contract, they will put a lot of resources behind me, and I will be able to develop quickly into a successful career woman. But, Senior Xiao, according to what you’ve just said, do you think I should turn down their offer and go to graduate school instead, or take the civil service exam?”

“Yi Lin’s salary now is already 8,000 or 10,000 dollars, at least, she must be crazy to give up on CITIC Bank.”

“Yeah, I thought he could preach some useful life lessons, but then he starts talking about going to graduate school and taking civil service exams, this guy is really something else.”

“Haha, looks like he’s just here pretending to be street smart!”

Guan Yilin posed her mocking questions and drew laughter from the cla.s.s, as to everyone’s eyes, Xiao Luo was making a fool of himself. As students who had successfully gotten through the challenging entrance exams to enter such a leading university, the students prided themselves as elites; therefore, they were not inclined to listen to anyone they thought was inferior.

Xiao Luo now understood that the overly confident girl sitting in the first row right below him was deliberately trying to undermine anything he said. Xiao Luo was usually a soft-spoken, accommodating person, though somewhat chauvinistic, once his temper flared up, it did not matter if the other party was a man or a woman, he would make them kneel down and admit defeat.

“I have to emphasize it again, that’s just my regret, and one must adapt according to one’s needs rather than blindly following what I have to say.”

“I see that Senior Xiao is cautious with his words, and I like it,” Guan Yilin said, “By the way, I wonder if Senior Xiao has read the book ‘Three Kingdoms,’ one of the four famous novels?”

“I’ve read it.”

“Then which one of the characters in the novel do you admire most, Senior Xiao?”

“Zhuge Liang.”

“Senior Xiao, I presume that you admire Zhuge Liang because of his loyalty, bravery, and wisdom? ‘Exerting himself to the utmost, carrying out his duty until his dying day’ is the perfect portrayal of his life. I actually like him too, but I like the wily and cunning Sima Yi even more.”

Guan Yilin dramatically stood up and presented her arguments, taking delight from the attention she was getting from everyone.

“Here we go, this girl’s old habits are acting up again, and she’s starting to find fault with Xiao Luo like how she does with the teachers!”

Yu Jiangu muttered under his breath, not pleased with how things were going at the moment. He had called Xiao Luo to share his experience about society to these students who were about to embark on their own careers. He hoped that they could get something out of it, and in some way, help prepare themselves in advance, but it now seemed unlikely. With Guan Yilin in the crowd, what hope did Xiao Luo have to showcase himself?

But just when Yu Jiangu was about to stop Guan Yilin, Xiao Luo gestured to him, indicating that he did not interfere.

Another student who had no qualms about stirring up trouble deliberately asked in a pretentious manner. “Yilin, why do you like Sima Yi? Wasn’t that the guy who was afraid of Zhuge Liang during the time he employed the ’empty city’ ruse?”

“You’re wrong, Sima Yi had actually figured out Zhuge Liang’s ’empty-city’ stratagem. The reason why he didn’t storm the city and capture Zhuge Liang alive was that he was smart—he knew the truth that ‘when all birds have been shot, the bow would be set aside, and when all hares have been killed, the hounds would be stewed and eaten.'”

Guan Yilin’s eloquent rhetoric not only caused a stir among her peers, but even Yu Jiangu was also swayed by her compelling argument, and he questioned his own understanding of the historical cla.s.sic. He thought to himself, surely he had not read an adulterated version of the Three Kingdoms? Was Sima Yi ever more formidable a figure than Zhuge Liang?

Guan Yilin continued, “As we know, Sima Yi experienced many ups and downs in his career, and his path was filled with hards.h.i.+ps. He was often the target of countless conspiracies as he had many political enemies that had been jealous of his successes. When Cao Cao was still alive, he was always wary of Sima Yi and once told Hua Xin, that ‘Sima Yi is eyeing the nation like a hawk or a wolf, he cannot be accorded military power,’ as Cao Cao wary that Sima Yi would become a significant threat to his own reign eventually.

“After Cao Pi acceded to the throne, Sima Yi was valued by his new lord and rose up the rank of the Great General, and when Cao Rui was later installed as emperor, Sima Yi led his troops against Zhuge Liang and became Zhuge Liang’s most formidable foe on the battlefield. In several confrontations, Zhuge Liang felt the full force of Sima Yi’s power.

“Zhuge Liang used the strategy of sowing discord among the enemy and spread rumors that Sima Yi planned to usurp the throne, and Cao Rui fell for it. But for General Cao Zhen, who loathed to lose a rare talent like Sima Yi and earnestly dispatched memorandums to the court defending him, Sima Yi would have lost his life.

“During a period when the situation was constantly evolving, Zhuge Liang marched from Mount Qi for the conquest of northern lands and repeatedly defeated Cao Cao’s army. No one in the imperial court could oppose him, and the reign of the Cao clan was in danger. Sima Yi was once again recalled at that time, for he was the only one who could hold off Zhuge Liang’s campaign.

“Being the talented person that he was, Sima Yi, having experienced countless ups and downs in his life, intimately understood the intricacies of politics. He could become useful again only because his arch-enemy Zhuge Liang remained a threat, for their relations.h.i.+p was a symbiotic one. The moment he eliminated Zhuge Liang, he would serve no purpose anymore, and the Cao family would undoubtedly have him killed.

“Therefore, the empty-city stratagem succeeded not because of how clever Zhuge Liang was, but because Sima Yi was way cleverer. People in later generations all have a deep misunderstanding and feel that he made such a ridiculous error in judgment because he was too paranoid.”

Footnote:[1] 985-tiered universities are considered the best in China, closely followed by 211-tiered universities.

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