Chapter 33: Do You Really Like Racing? You’re Just Greedy—You’re Shameless!

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“Resentment of the rich?”

He Chen cut straight to the point. “Are you talking about me?”

“Who else would I be talking about?” Ji Yangyang was certainly not intimidated. Raising an eyebrow, he said bluntly, “Ever since you latched onto my three-million-yuan sports car and refused to let it go, haven’t all your words, one way or another, amounted to ‘I’m poor, so I resent the rich’?”

“Thank you for the compliment!” He Chen nodded with a smile.

“A compliment?” Ji Yangyang and Deng Xiaoqi stared speechlessly at He Chen, who had calmly admitted it and seemed to regard it as praise.

“Is there something wrong with your brain? How is that a compliment?”

“Isn’t it?” He Chen countered. “Is resentment of the rich really a derogatory term? If it is, then it is a ‘derogatory term’ whose original meaning has been twisted!

“You think resenting the rich is a problem, but have you ever asked yourself why people resent the rich?

“Since ancient times, there have been wealthy men who became rich through cruelty and selfishness, as well as noble legends of heroes killing the rich to aid the poor.

“‘Killing the rich’ is a commendatory phrase, an absolute expression of praise. What does it matter if I merely resent the rich?

“The reason this sentiment exists is that there have been far too many evil deeds committed by the wealthy—‘fine wine and rich meat rot behind vermilion gates while frozen corpses lie along the roads,’ and ‘if the people have no rice, why do they not eat meat porridge?’

“Yet the common people of this country have always been excessively kind. Unless they were on the verge of starvation—or unless the entire world was starving and unable to survive—they would never rise up in revolt.

“As long as they had something to eat, they could endure anything, even slavery and servitude, and would still praise the rich for their benevolence.

“But even so, throughout thousands of years of history, dynasties have been overthrown and replaced every century or two. Why?

“Because the rich became too extravagant and debauched, lost all sense of restraint, and wantonly exploited the poor, plunging society once more into that endless historical cycle of officials driving the people into rebellion.

“Precisely because this is a historical inevitability, ‘killing the rich to aid the poor’—despite having always been a criminal act—became a phrase of praise passed down from mouth to mouth among ordinary people, inseparable from the image of heroic martial artists who defied the law.

“Resentment of the rich?

“For most wealthy people who carry the bloody original sin of capital on their shoulders, resentment of the rich is naturally a derogatory term—shameful, hateful, even frightening and terrifying!

“History has already given you the answer.

“But for ordinary people like us, born into genuinely average families, resentment of the rich may not be an absolute virtue, but it certainly is not a vice.

“The people see clearly.

“Everyone knows, instinctively, who the enemy is. They know even better that this has nothing to do with a lack of effort or ability!”

“Nothing but crooked sophistry.” Ji Yangyang’s expression shifted, but he quickly dismissed it with contempt. “You just hate others for having what you lack. Envy, jealousy, and resentment! Not everyone relies on their parents!”

As he said this, he lifted his chin, coming just short of declaring: “I rely entirely on my own abilities, not my parents! That’s right—it’s me!”

“You’re as amusing and blindly confident as ever.” He Chen shook his head with a smile. “Do you really think you’re all that capable?”

“Am I not?” Ji Yangyang replied confidently. “Whether my grades are good or not, I don’t care. And you have no right to criticize me.

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“I have always been perfectly clear about my dream.

“And you? You’re nothing but a useless person who spends all day practicing martial arts and sleeping late. All you can do is resent the rich every day, then shamelessly insist that you’re right!

“So what if someone comes from a wealthy family?

“We work just as hard. Who is nobler than whom? Who is inferior to whom?

“You’re simply incapable, so all you can do is complain about the world.”

“So confident?” He Chen laughed. “You’ve always had a dream? Now that you mention it, I remember. This morning we had the Chinese exam, and by lunchtime everyone was saying that the teachers were discussing how you had written a single word in your essay—not one—and had drawn a racing car instead.

“Did you think that was cool?

“Did you think it proved that you had always possessed a clear dream of your own and had remained steadfast in pursuing it?

“I told you—you’re hilarious!

“Do you really love racing?

“No. You’re simply delighted that no one else is competing with you on that track!

“You’re pathetic!”

“What the hell did you just say?” Ji Yangyang flew into a rage and took a step forward. Deng Xiaoqi, who had been watching the spectacle with interest, reached out to stop him. He halted, then pointed at He Chen, looking utterly furious.

“Am I wrong?” He Chen sneered. “The college entrance examination is the fairest competitive arena in the entire world, relatively speaking.

“But you don’t dare face the challenge and compete on the same stage as the majority of people. You only dream of imitating Han Han and becoming a racing driver.

“That is because, deep down, you know you are not capable!

“So you want to take a crooked path. For what?

“Do you really do it because you love racing?

“Bullshit!

“The real reason is that you chose a track where no one else is competing.

“It’s just like in My Own Swordsman, when the third young master of Shopkeeper Hao of West Street, Hao Xiaohu, won second place in a youth qin competition held in Pinggu County.

“There were only three contestants, and the third-place winner was deaf, but that did not stop his father from throwing a lavish celebration and treating everyone to game meat.

“Do you think Shopkeeper Hao was stupid?

“No!

“That is exactly how reality works!”

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“Because a competition with as much padding as an ocean can still be useful. Once you win second place, unless someone explains the circumstances, who would know that you were actually second from last—or, for all practical purposes, last?

“With that certificate in hand, Shopkeeper Hao could arrange a brighter future for his son.

“The same thing happened with the son of Shopkeeper Qiu, who used gomoku to defeat a national champion of Go. To celebrate this supposed grand event in the chess world, everyone was treated to abalone!

“What were they doing?

“Exactly what you are doing now!

“It is no different from the children of wealthy families abroad who do not study, yet gain easy admission to top universities through awards in obscure sports, recommendation letters from wealthy and famous family friends, or records of long-term donations their families have made to prestigious schools.

“They do not dare compete fairly with everyone else, so they redraw the track themselves, making it impossible for most people to enter because they lack the money and energy. In this way, they eliminate the competition at its very root.

“Because everyone knows that you so-called elites, pursuing your supposedly unique dreams, simply cannot stand up to fair competition!

“And you still claim that you work just as hard and that no one is inferior to anyone else?

“Anyone who refuses to take the college entrance examination route and compete fairly with everyone, choosing instead to rely on crooked schemes and use money to raise the barriers until most people are shut outside—even barring them from entering the arena at all—that person’s so-called effort is inferior!

“You are clearly taking a crooked, disreputable path, yet you insist on dressing yourself up as something noble. Worse, you genuinely believe that being unusual makes you superior. That is the lowest of the low!

“Isn’t this exactly like the recommendation system that was discarded in ancient times after the imperial examination system was introduced?

“Only members of powerful clans could recommend people for office. There were no examinations—candidates were simply forced through.

“And what if there were too few positions and too many candidates?

“Then people had to see who could create the biggest sensation. Stories such as the tale of lying on the ice to obtain carp—absurd legends that could not withstand even the slightest logical scrutiny—were all produced in precisely this way.

“Look at you!

“You come from a family with officials in it, your grades are at the bottom, and you refuse to study. You only want to imitate Han Han and become a professional racing driver—a profession that most people have not merely never seen, but have barely even heard of.

“Isn’t it exactly the same?”

Ji Yangyang’s face flushed crimson with fury, and he looked ready to explode again.

He Chen’s words had trampled the dream he had always secretly taken pride in straight into the mud.

He especially remembered how proud he had felt moments earlier when, during the class-placement examination, he had drawn his dream directly on the essay page, using the picture to write his composition on “My Dream.” He had thought it was incredibly cool.

But now, looking back on it, he felt as though he were about to break down.

There was nothing he could do.

The truth hurts most.

He had never thought of these things before—or perhaps, deep down, he had been unwilling to think about them. But the moment He Chen pointed them out, he knew they were not lies.

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