Iron Snow Clouds

Chapter 7241 (Seven Thousand Two Hundred and Forty-One) A Brief Question

The brown-handed man said, "I suspect that this statement can be interpreted in other ways, don't you think?"

“Yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking, which is why I burst out laughing,” the gray-handed man chuckled.

The brown-handed man chuckled, “You asked me before in this tone, ‘What is the purpose of my questioning you? Do you think that’s normal now?’ I answered you, ‘My thinking hasn’t changed at all; it’s just not normal.’ What I meant was that I now also think that ‘what is the purpose of your questioning me’ is not normal. However, this time, I didn’t repeat the question you asked me before. I just said directly, ‘I said before, “My thinking hasn’t changed at all; it’s just not normal.”’ That makes it easy to hear a different meaning.”

The gray-handed man laughed and said, "You still haven't said that you understood any other meaning."

The brown-handed man said, "I haven't finished yet. If I say it directly, it's easy for people to think that I'm trying to say 'my thoughts haven't changed at all,' which is abnormal."

The gray-handed man laughed again.

The brown-handed man asked, "What's wrong? Why are you laughing again? Did I say something funny again?"

“I don’t see anything funny in what you’re saying this time,” said the gray-handed man.

"Then why are you laughing so obviously?" the brown-handed man said. "You even said 'temporarily,' what does that mean? Does it mean that you can find the joke as soon as you think about it?"

“No, when I said ‘temporarily,’ I was simply stating a fact, that I hadn’t yet discerned any other meaning. As for the future, how would I know? Isn’t it easy to understand what I’m saying? It’s not unusual for us to habitually say ‘temporarily’ when we’re so careful with our words, isn’t it?” said the gray-handed man.

“Hmm, that’s easy to understand,” the brown-handed man said. “But you just heard me say that directly, which could easily make people think that I was trying to express that ‘my thoughts haven’t changed at all,’ which is abnormal. Why are you laughing so obviously?”

The gray-handed man laughed and said, "Are you trying to get to the bottom of this?"

The brown-handed man said, “Obviously not. How can such a superficial question be considered probing?” The gray-handed man said, “Oh, so this counts as a ‘superficial question’? Then I should offer a ‘superficial answer’?”

“Not necessarily,” said the brown-handed man. “It’s my business to ask a ‘shallow’ question, and it’s your business to answer it. So it’s up to you whether or not to give a ‘shallow’ answer. In my opinion, I can also give a ‘deep’ answer when I hear someone else ask a ‘shallow’ question.”

The gray-handed man chuckled, "I'll just give a brief answer. I was laughing so obviously because what you said was very similar to what I had been thinking before."

The brown-handed man asked with a smile, "Just this reason?"

“Yes,” said the gray-handed man.

"You summed it up so briefly?" the Brown-Handed Man asked.

"Is it short?" the gray-handed man asked.

"Anyway, not many," said the brown-handed man.

“But I told you before that I wanted to give a ‘brief answer.’ Within the scope of ‘brief answer,’ what I said wasn’t exactly brief, was it?” Grayhand asked.

"When you say 'brief answer,' do you mean by word count?" the brown-handed man asked.

“It’s not all about word count,” Grayhand said. “I know that some longer answers can be considered ‘shallow’ and some shorter answers can be considered ‘deep.’ But it’s quite common for ‘shallow’ answers to be shorter, and for ‘deep’ answers to be longer, right?”