I am not Ximen Qing.

Song Yu consistently displayed a so-called absurdist black humor, but this absurd world was incredibly kind to him. He could afford a new house in Beijing, send his precious son to a prestigious school, and for the past few years, he'd been living a life far more extravagant than Hemingway's. After all, Hemingway was his idol; at least Song Yu's life was a lavish feast, far superior to Hemingway's impoverished Parisian extravagance. Only Meng Liang truly understood Song Yu's nature. He might live a life of luxury, but he enjoyed seeing Meng Liang embarrassed over a Prada bag, because that Prada bag determined whether Meng Liang and the girl's relationship would lead to marriage. Fortunately, Meng Liang withstood the test of the bag.

Finally, I've traveled the world. So many European and American writers, and even writers who love literature, suffered in Paris before they became famous! Paris may or may not be the world's true fashion capital in a powerful sense, but the Champs-Élysées described in "La Dame aux Camélias" is certainly famous. The women in "La Dame aux Camélias" are so tragic. The opening scene shows that even beauty is just an empty shell, and Armand is just a playboy. What's the difference between Armand and a Chinese playboy? When Du Shiniang was betrayed, I almost cried watching her. The most beautiful courtesan in the brothel was utterly betrayed and ruined by a wealthy young man, and the young man, in turn, lost both his money and his love. The lesson was equally tragic. Armand killed La Dame aux Camélias, just as Hamlet killed Ophelia. At least in that era, it was often the era of scoundrels who preyed on beautiful women. It seems China's culture was relatively advanced. In the era of Ximen Qing and *Jin Ping Mei*, it was an era of beautiful women preying on scoundrels. Hugo was arguably the number one scoundrel. Whatever poetry or literature one writes, how many aren't playboys? At least Paris is the literary capital, that's undisputed. Paris has so many writers who can't make a living, writers, poets—are they artists? Logically, "artist" is a vast concept, or perhaps a more general term encompassing the broader concept of "artist." Anyone who pursues freedom, possesses a great imagination, and has a profound intellectual spirit can become an artist. Paris is beautiful, because at least it has Shakespeare and Company, a literary salon that allows writers to live with dignity and continue creating great works of art. It also helps artists understand materialism and realism even amidst nihilism. Pure romanticism cannot lead to true greatness. The great Balzac needed the nourishment of fine wine and beautiful women to continuously generate imagination and fantasy. Balzac was not the bankrupt book boss we imagine, eating coarse food and salted vegetables in Paris. In reality, Balzac lived a very luxurious life, demanding the absolute best. The contrast between what we see and reality is absurdism. The gap between realism and Western nihilism is too great, creating the so-called absurd existence. Zhang Shengcheng praised Song Yu for having a bit of a literary temperament, at least a bit of a poet's flavor. It's clear that Song Yu had prepared for at least some time for his "Conversation of Arts" with his old friend, deliberately presenting a so-called utopian absurdism! Samuel brought him some ideas, so he always used fortune-telling as a pretext to boast about absurdism, showing off the greatness of his art. In reality, everyone is a narcissistic megalomaniac! Zhang Zhen suspected that Song Yu hadn't actually read any of Samuel's books, only flipped through them a few times. He only found that kind of flamboyant, absurd pleasure in this way. Zhu Jun thought about it, and if this situation did produce an absurd effect, since he hadn't read any of Samuel's so-called books, yet he and Zhang Sheng shamelessly discussed Samuel's absurdism! It was all to satisfy his vanity, for one purpose only: to satisfy his dignity, to win in the game, the inner ecstasy and joy of dignity!

He should read Samuel's *The Long Night*. Then he wouldn't emphasize Samuel's so-called absurdism anymore. How insignificant humans are! In the universe, they're not even a speck of dust, like a small boat adrift on the ocean in the long night. This exaggerates humanity's role; that's what's absurd. Humans really have no role in the universe; they're just parasites destroying the cosmic environment. Greedy parasites! Because in humanity's degenerate minds, there's only money, nothing else, no humanity at all. So-called universal love and compassion—yes, *The Long Night* is now in a similar state of mind to Song Yu's. It's truly laughable how this guy has been acting in front of Zhang Sheng. He may have made a considerable fortune in Southeast Asia, but he deliberately pretends he's suffering there. On the other hand, he enjoys a life of nightly revelry and countless beautiful women in Southeast Asia. Deep down, he still loves beauty. He pursues the so-called absurdist effect, his malice is so good, and he wins the so-called dignity and happiness in the game. Zhang Sheng has long seen through his inner world. He is an actor who can act, although he has not yet reached the standards of KC or the self-cultivation standards of a top-notch actor, but he has already mastered playing dumb. This is absurdism. He has truly learned to perform while wearing a skin. His so-called self-absurdism is perhaps because he is working hard all night writing scripts, and he should be having a so-called conversation of arts with Zhang Sheng about related subjects. Because this is his personality, this is human nature, and he wants to break through the barriers of human nature! This is the real absurdist game theory, so Zhang Sheng also plays dumb. This is a friend's version of House of Cards. Unfortunately, Song Yu is not a Frank who cheats and has affairs. The Home game should be for common interests and to unite against external forces. Zhang Sheng begins to doubt whether there is any point in meeting with Song Yu.

Zhang Sheng pondered deeply. From a philosophical perspective, Zhang Sheng and Song Yu jointly founded the absurdist philosophy school. Their status within this school should, in theory, be no less than that of Einstein and Bohr in physics. Imagine, at an age when they were essentially obsolete, they suddenly transformed into great absurdist philosophers, wrote several books on the philosophy of absurdism, sold them worldwide, and lectured at prestigious universities like Stanford, Harvard, and MIT—universities with no real absurdist philosophy to speak about. They ate Korean BBQ while simultaneously exhibiting Song Yu-style absurdist behavioral science. It was simply a case of, "This world is so absurd!" Zhang Sheng particularly loved the art of Korean kimchi! Could that be the interpretation? Suddenly inspired, Zhang Sheng began telling Song Yu about his childhood. Ignoring the wonders of ginseng, my father owned a large ginseng farm back then, harvesting sacks and buckets of ginseng every year like radishes and cabbages. My childhood memories are of adults exaggerating; they'd say eating ginseng would cause nosebleeds. Too much of a tonic is bad. Zhang Cheng, after reading *Journey to the West*, wanted to eat a dozen ginseng fruits a day like Sun Wukong, but the adults scared him off—they said ginseng would cause bleeding, nosebleeds, too much heat in the body—no, that's not good! Now, Zhang Cheng laughs at it, telling Song Yu that his biggest regret was believing the adults' nonsense! Actually, ginseng isn't that powerful. Koreans use ginseng and old hen to make a broth for fermenting kimchi. Koreans are healthy and can run fast, which is closely related to Northeast China. My dad's ginseng is almost all exported to Korea, and also to Japan. Japan loves the mountain vegetables from Northeast China, which is no secret. And then there's daylily. The daylilies from Northeast China are the most authentic daylilies in the world!

Song Yu was astonished by Zhang Sheng's story, displaying his so-called absurdism. Zhang Sheng immediately revealed the essence of the problem: later, the Koreans stopped buying ginseng, leading to bankruptcy. It wasn't that Korea didn't need ginseng; in fact, they desperately needed it. But even with this necessity, production had to stop. This illustrates the power of market monopolies—suppressing the market price of ginseng. The biggest regret is not having eaten ginseng like radishes and cabbage when I was young! That's the biggest regret. Adults didn't eat it either, because they were terrified of poverty and afraid of bleeding from ginseng. One could write a short story or even a novella about ginseng. One could learn from Lu Xun's creative approach and write about ginseng, a true ginseng nourishing pill. In *Dream of the Red Chamber*, the nourishing properties of ginseng are highly valued; it's so precious. Wang Xufeng, in order to kill Jia Rui, only gave him rotten human remains, which had lost their medicinal effect.

"Dude, do you get it?"

"Understand what?"

"I ate two ginseng roots a month ago, and I'm full of energy. I haven't had any nosebleeds or felt hot and bothered. On the contrary, my body is full of vitality. I really regret listening to those silly adults. Ginseng is clearly a good thing, the best thing for health, especially goji berries. Soaking them together with schisandra berries in water and adding some brown sugar at home is a real way to replenish your energy."

Isn't this the allure of the pork belly? Zhang Sheng wondered why, no matter how many high-quality pork belly he bought from the discount supermarket, he could never replicate the taste of Korean BBQ. He watched as Song Yu devoured large chunks of pork belly! It was truly a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate, sizzling with a golden-brown color. The oil was glistening, and the aroma filled the entire hall. Dipped in the sauce, this pork belly became the most delicious pork belly in the world, surpassing even the favorites of Lin Daiyu, Jia Baoyu, Qingwen, Xiren, Yuanyang, Ping'er, Wang Xifeng, Li Wan, Shi Xiangyun, and Xue Baochai… Back then, for young ladies, wives, and gentlemen, a meal of BBQ, especially grilled venison, was considered quite luxurious.

"What kind of pork belly did you make, buddy? It won't taste good when it's cold."

"Ah, it's clearly fatty pork belly!"

"Dude, what I want to emphasize is the taste of the pork belly yolk."

"I still prefer the kimchi here to the pork belly; maybe it contains ginseng or some ginseng-nourishing pills."

"Actually, buddy, didn't you tell me to read the Diamond Sutra? Whether it tastes good or not might just be the taste of the Diamond Sutra, maybe it's just an illusion of the world, a dream. It's all unreal emptiness, that's the essence of absurdism. I'm no longer attached to anything now, but I don't know how long I can keep it up. What should I do? I'm still a gambler..."

"Don't spout that 'nine out of ten gamblers lose' nonsense. That's the essence of your so-called absurdism. You always have ulterior motives; you're actually Ouyang Xiu's last disciple, aren't you? Buddy, I know you might be secretly making some capital and money in the Southeast, which is why you've become so hypocritical. That's just my guess."

"There's no other way but to gamble."

"You might as well study probability, study probability in mathematics."

"If we just reason things out, the world will collapse. So probability is harmful. Is this what you call enlightenment?"

Zhang Sheng had been pondering Song Yu's greatness, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to speak so arrogantly. His so-called "being fleeced" was purely hindsight, an excuse. Anyone who claims to have been fleeced is just making excuses. This world has absolutely nothing to do with being fleeced; it's merely a game of capital. What is there to fleece? Being fleeced, like Song Yu's so-called absurdism, is nothing but specious existentialism. If Song Yu truly felt utterly ashamed and wanted to disappear, saying he had no face left, then he might be a victim of Kafkaesque marriage and love. Human nature not only hides, but also fishes, sets bait. Since he's truly shameless, his absurdist bait is large enough—this is his consistent style. Li Zhongni was very dissatisfied with Song Yu's hypocrisy. His granddaughter used to find pleasure only in mocking others; he should take a look. "Man proposes, God disposes," another masterpiece of Korean human nature, a veritable Kafkaesque transformation for South Korea. To obtain insurance payouts, people crash cars, break legs, self-harm, jump off buildings, and stage various suicide attempts—anything is possible as long as they get money. They don't consider the consequences, only the money. This explains why many people dislike or distrust insurance; their hatred of insurance company executives is understandable. There are many powerful figures in the world who dislike insurance companies. Whether wealthy people buy insurance or not is irrelevant, but the world cannot exist without insurance, and there are insurance companies and insurance agents. This is the normal and legitimate manifestation of absurdity! Insurance plays a vital role in protecting the nation and all aspects of people's lives; the world cannot exist without insurance. The fact that insurance cannot exist without the world is itself a form of absurdity! Applause erupted. The Euryale of Dickens's David Copperfield was now being presented to what seemed like an invisible man cloaked in Euryale's clothing. This was at least better than being utterly ashamed and wanting to disappear into the ground. There was also the so-called moral absurdism, and Meng Liang's constant awe and admiration for Song Yu, yet ultimately, the absurdity of friendship. This too was a form of absurdism regarding death. Song Yu bluntly stated that even the death of a fortune teller was absurd. Like his novels, the absurdist dad, is a distorted existence, a game of power, or is it the absurdity of a woman's so-called dignity? Absurdism is currently in the midst of this game. What exactly are Zhang Cheng and Song Yu playing at? It's simply the insult of the insulted, the existence of dignity. This is something I didn't experience with authentic Japanese cuisine. Eating bluefin tuna and salmon is truly satisfying in real Japanese cuisine! Thinking back to the past, eating large quantities of sumptuous Japanese food in Jiangtai, feeling as comfortable as an ordinary person, eating tuna whenever I wanted, without the slightest hesitation—how comfortable, almost... Only after drinking a few bottles of fine sake can the sparks of literary poetry be ignited, and art emerge. Sun Yu is still performing his absurdist modern state—isn't this what he desires, isn't this what he strives for? Everything is a product of the world's irrational absurdism. Zhang Sheng understands that Song Yu doesn't understand anything related to education; he understands nothing. Why school district housing? Because of education! This is a logically connected existence, treated as a special reverence for the Analects. Teaching without weariness, learning without boredom, a spirit of diligence, perseverance, patience, willpower, and optimism—only by constantly learning can one continuously move forward. One cannot stop! Time flies! The appearance behind absurdism is the hypocrisy of humanity. Insincerity—Zhang Sheng has already lost all hope in humanity; life is merely a game. An endless game! The village doesn't want Song Yu to continue repenting; it hopes he can imprint the essence of Rousseau's Confessions in his heart. Rousseau only repented for women themselves; he didn't repent for anything else.