"Be human! How can it be so casual? Confucius asked, puzzled.

"Be human! Why be so serious? The shopkeeper laughed.

"Be human! You have to have your own bottom line and image, it's too casual, what will others think of you? Confucius interpreted.

"Be human! Why do we need those false images? The truth of the heart is known only to those who have been together for a long time. The superficial image is all fake. Bad people often pretend to be good people and do good deeds. At last! That's how to get you. Isn't it? So! The image is fake! The truth of the heart is the truth!

As for the bottom line! Don't talk about the bottom line! Survival is the bottom line! Everything can be tolerated without affecting survival, so why take it so seriously? Isn't it? Life is a process of life, isn't it just to live? Isn't it? What's the name? What's the benefit? You can take it with you. Isn't it?

Don't say anything else! Within ten years of a person's death, even your descendants may forget you. Isn't it? Not convinced? Don't believe me interpret it to you! In this troubled world, we cannot live in one place for the rest of our lives, and we will live where it is more suitable for us to live. Isn't it?

Not to mention a lifetime, in this troubled world, there are many people who can't live to old age, right? So! In this troubled world, we don't know where we will die? It's true! More than ten years after death, maybe future generations won't even know where your grave is! Isn't it?

The bottom line, you say? What's the bottom line? The bottom line is to be alive! And then! It's to live happily!

The reason why you say these things is because you have not traveled far and lived in a strange place for a long time. Isn't it? In a familiar place, you are often afraid that others will say that you have a bad character or something. So! You have to pay attention to your image, and you have to have a bottom line of being a person. Isn't it?

So! Often in order to cater to others and let others give you praise, you have to disguise yourself, establish a good image of yourself, and have a bottom line or something.

And me! A person who runs an inn, I didn't have anything to do with you before! I don't know you! What image do I want? What's the bottom line? Isn't it? Didn't I just mean to play a joke on you? Does this also damage my image?

Furthermore! What image do I want in front of you as a stranger? Maybe you'll die shortly after you leave here, and you won't even get a chance to judge me. And also! After you leave here, you may not be able to find me in the future. Isn't it? What image do I want?

Furthermore! I didn't force you to stay, how much did I force you to pay? Isn't it? And he didn't blackmail you? Isn't it? Everything is voluntary! Isn't it? If you spread the word about it! There will only be two kinds of evaluations!

One! commented that you are a shrewd person, what is ten Song State knife coins, and you will not sleep on the street at night and be bitten by wild dogs. Two! The evaluation said that you are stupid, and you teachers and students are stupid! Ten Song State knives live in a firewood room, and you also live without beds and bedding? Isn't it? You tell me? ”

"I just said a bottom line and image, you said so much, you can really say it!" Confucius looked at the shopkeeper and smiled.

"Not for me to say! I'm explaining it to you! Did you understand what I just explained? The shopkeeper asked.

Confucius shook his head and replied honestly, "No! ”

"You still haven't understood that?" The shopkeeper was dumbfounded.

"Didn't understand!" Confucius interpreted: "Perhaps? I live in that kind of relatively stable social environment, right? There has been no war and displacement. So! I can't understand what you're saying! I just think that society should be like this, in this kind of peace, harmony, and calm. This is the life that people are looking forward to. And war, after all, is temporary......"

The shopkeeper interrupted: "There's something wrong with your settings!" If you really want to save the world, your setting is not only peaceful and prosperous, but also chaotic. Lao Tzu said that war will always exist until mankind has determined the correct outlook on life, worldview, and cosmology. The years of peace are relative and short-lived. And wars are protracted and long-lasting.

So! If you really want to save the world, you can't stand in the small place of Lu to look at the problem and set it! Do you understand? You have to stand in the perspective of the world and look at the world! You have to understand all kinds of life, all kinds of life, you have to be down-to-earth.

Didn't I say that earlier? If you stand in this small place and look at the world, you are like a frog in a well. The frog in the well saw the sky only as big as the mouth of the well overhead.

So! You have to jump out of the well and stand outside and look at the world! You have to leave the country of Lu and stand on the territory of the Great Zhou to see the world! You know what I mean? ”

"I, Kongqiu, may be shallow, most of the things I see from books, and I don't see much of the outside world. Yes! I admit it! I live in the little world I created, among the students. In those years, before I became a leader, I felt that I was very good and could save the world. Outcome! I just managed that place in the middle capital. Let me govern the country of Lu, and I can't do anything.

It's not that my theory doesn't work, it's that! My theory simply can't be implemented. Yes! I heard what you said to Min Ziqian and Zilu before! I've been wondering: why? Why? Such a good idea, the king and the hereditary nobility they do not accept? ”

"Why?" The shopkeeper interrupted.

"Why?" Confucius sighed: "Not yet? Kings and hereditary nobles were unwilling to give up the privileged life in front of them. Here's why! ”

"It's not that they don't want to give up! I'm telling you! It's that they don't see hope for the future! If you can make everyone in the world be like this in just a few years or ten or twenty or thirty years, in their lifetime, they are still willing to give up the superior life in front of them.

But! In fact, it is impossible to make the Great Zhou world the same in a few years or ten, twenty or thirty years. Since it can't! How are they willing to give up? To know! In this troubled world, giving up the privileged life in front of you is equivalent to giving up forever. Isn't it?

Since we can't complete the great harmony of the world in a short period of time, it is better to maintain the status quo, right? ”

"Yes! What you said is the same as what Fang Zhong said to me! Fang Zhong also said the same, let him give up his current superior life, the aristocratic life is okay, as long as I can maintain the same world in his lifetime, he is willing to give up. And in fact! How is that possible? Isn't it? So! He didn't want to give up, so he went against me, and secretly did something to prevent me from falling into the three capitals......"

(End of chapter)