Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1157. Ten Thousand Dragons

The last time they met was at Dong Qiangqiang's house last Christmas. Nine months had passed, and Dong Qiangqiang almost didn't recognize that the person standing in front of him was Lu Shan.

The reason why I almost didn't recognize him was not because Lu Shan was carrying a bulging backpack, nor because of the few greasy stains on his temples, but because of his figure.

Lu Shan's fat body looks like an inflatable doll, but his temperament has not changed much. Although his baby face has become as red as a full moon, he feels a little more grown up than before. The lingering bookish air is still there, making him look honest and cute, and a lot younger than his actual age. Some people might believe that he is a high school student, but he has some dark circles under his eyes and a strong sense of fatigue.

"Brother Qiang, why don't you even bring a suitcase when you go out to play?" Lu Shan looked at Dong Qiangqiang who was only carrying a bag and asked puzzledly.

"What's going on with you? Why have you changed so much?" Dong Qiangqiang ignored Lu Shan's question, walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder, and joked, "Have you found a girlfriend?"

"Brother Qiang, your choice of words doesn't sound right to me," Lu Shan opened his arms and gave Dong Qiangqiang a bear hug, saying with joy, "You're finally here. I'm just a little fatter than before. What does this have to do with finding a girlfriend?"

"It is more enjoyable for a couple to eat three meals together than to eat alone all the time, so it is easier to eat more and gain weight."

"You and Sister Lan are a couple, so why don't you two get fat? Oh, by the way, you came here to see Sister Lan, right? Does she know you're here? Then I'll treat you two to dinner later."

"She knows I'm here, but she has a group to lead, so I can only harass you. Hey, there's a little oil stain here." Dong Qiangqiang pointed at his temples with his fingers and said, "Where did you get it so carelessly?"

"Oh, we missed each other again. Never mind, let's not talk about this. Let's find a place to eat first. Last time I said I would treat you, but you couldn't come. This time I won't let you go no matter what." Lu Shan wiped the oil stains from his temples.

"Okay, you decide what to eat, but I'll pay for the meal." Seeing that Lu Shan was still as enthusiastic as ever, Dong Qiangqiang couldn't bear to let this little brother spend money. After all, he was better off than him and shouldn't let the little boy treat him.

"That won't work. How can I ask you to treat me when we're already in my territory?" Lu Shan took the responsibility and waved his chubby hand in the air. "I owe you this meal a long time ago. No matter what you say today, I have to pay. Besides, I just got paid today, so we must have a big meal."

"We are not strangers. We haven't seen each other for a long time. It's good enough to have a place to chat. It doesn't matter what we eat. How about we have Turkish meat sandwich?" Dong Qiangqiang suggested, pointing to the barbecue shop on the street in the distance. "I haven't eaten it for a long time. I almost forgot what Munich Dner tastes like."

"Forget about Dner. If my sister knew I was making do like this, you would criticize me for being immature. If you really like it, I'll treat you when you leave. How about we go to the HB Royal Beer Hall?"

Dong Qiangqiang waved his hands when he heard this: "I really can't eat roasted pork elbow with pickled cabbage, let's just have something simple, I'm really not being polite to you."

After listening to this, Lu Shan thought for a moment and said, "If you want to eat pork knuckle, there is an Italian restaurant in the city center that Mr. Bai recommended. My sister and I have eaten there. It's not far away, only a five-minute walk. The food and quantity are excellent."

"That's it." Dong Qiangqiang quickly hammered down.

The autumn sun in Munich is bright, the heat has dissipated, the breeze is not dry, the streets are crowded with tourists, but there is no noise, giving people a sense of tranquility. Two brothers who have not seen each other for a long time walked towards the restaurant shoulder to shoulder.

"I haven't contacted your sister for a while. How is she doing recently? Is she still in Munich? If so, let's go together." Lu Shan mentioned Lu Wei just now. Dong Qiangqiang thought it would be unreasonable if Lu Wei was also in Munich and he didn't meet her, so he might as well take the initiative to say hello.

"My sister was busy with her Chinese class and went home early. I don't know where she is. Maybe Hanover, or Dortmund, or even Trier. It's like you two are swapping bases. No, my sister is not from Munich."

Hearing that Lu Wei was not there, Dong Qiangqiang was inexplicably relieved: "Is your sister so busy during the holidays?"

"Yes, my sister said that after SARS, there were suddenly a lot more Germans learning Chinese. She didn't expect that. She thought many people would stop learning Chinese because of SARS. You know the reason. Many Germans blamed us for SARS."

"Indeed." Dong Qiangqiang agreed. He knew that what Lu Shan said was true, otherwise he would not have taken the trouble to organize China Week. "What about your sister's university..." Dong Qiangqiang left the sentence unsaid.

"To be honest, my sister is more concerned about teaching Chinese than attending classes and taking exams. After all, no one here can escape from making a living. My sister also asked me to go to the university library and the city library to help her find ancient Chinese books. Isn't that exaggerated?" Lu Shan hadn't seen Dong Qiangqiang for a long time, and he talked one thing after another, without any murmurs.

"Ancient books? Germans have to learn classical Chinese? The Donkey from Guizhou or On the Love of the Lotus? Can your sister explain it clearly?" "I don't know, so she asked me to look for it. Look, it's the restaurant over there."

"did you find it?"

"There's none in the university (library), so I really got lucky with the city library."

"real or fake?"

Lu Shan shook her bag vigorously and said in a voice that couldn't be more proud: "Didn't you expect it? I'll show you later."

“I didn’t expect the Germans had this.”

"I didn't expect that either. Later, I checked and found that the Eight-Nation Alliance did rob a lot of good things. But the Germans were better than the other seven. They started returning our cultural relics in the 1950s. They returned several volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia, more than a dozen Boxer flags, and some of the Dunhuang manuscripts. Although there are still many things in their museums that have not been returned, it is better than some robbers who did not return anything at all."

Dong Qiangqiang knew that Lu Shan was referring to the other seven countries, but he was still surprised: "The Munich City Library can have such important Chinese cultural relics? Will the library in Hanover also have them?"

Lu Shan shook his head and said, "It's hard to say. The city libraries I just mentioned don't have them. They are all in famous museums in Germany. The ancient books that can be found in city libraries are mostly ancient Chinese prose and novels, mostly from the Qing Dynasty. But if you can find a book from the Ming Dynasty, it must be considered a cultural relic."

"What's in your bag?"

"Clear."

"Lend it to your sister?"

"My current strategy is to borrow one book after I find it, and return it on time," Lu Shan sneered twice. "Hehe, as for the future, I'm thinking that when I find a few more books from the Ming Dynasty, I'll find a chance to borrow them all at once, and then 'accidentally' lose them." Lu Shan revealed his true thoughts to Dong Qiangqiang without reservation.

"Is this still possible? Aren't you afraid of leaving a stain on your credit? Isn't it too risky?" Dong Qiangqiang was a little worried for a moment.

"If they are lost, the worst that can happen is that I can go to law and pay compensation. Besides, those books were originally ours. It was their ancestors who stole them. It is not my fault to return them intact."

"You dare to think and act, and you have courage." Dong Qiangqiang gave a thumbs up and praised.

"Brother Qiang, when it comes to daring to think, act and have courage, no one can compare with you, right? You don't know how much malice there was against Chinese students during the SARS epidemic. Of course, I don't know either. I heard from my classmates here that when your Chinese Monday started, not only did interested students pay close attention, but even newspapers in Munich reported on it for several issues in a row. I even kept a few copies of those newspapers. It really boosted our morale. Hey, I didn't say that. My friends around me all said that. They all donated money to you and received small gifts from you."

Dong Qiangqiang felt comfortable and uncomfortable when he heard the praise out of the blue: "Hey, it seems that praising each other is better than mocking each other. Anyway, thank you for your donation."

"How can this be flattery? I'm being realistic. Although our student union is not bad, it is still far behind yours. Of course, I'm not saying it's bad. For example, during this flood, the student union helped a lot of people, including me. I plan to get a position in the student union like you when everything is stable, and do my part to help other students. Sister Lan also supports me to give it a try."

Dong Qiangqiang couldn't help but smile bitterly. He didn't expect Lu Shan to be so easily excited. He really was still young.

"Does Du Lan support you too?" Dong Qiangqiang reminded, "The student union has a lot of things to do, don't let it interfere with your studies and part-time job."

"I have inquired about it clearly. It won't delay anything. Sister Lan told me that if every Chinese student only cares about his own little piece of land, it will be like scattered sand and nothing can happen. It can't really be true that 'one Chinese is a dragon, a group of Chinese are worms'. You should be like you and stand up bravely when the country and the people need you. Only then can you be called a qualified Chinese youth. You can't be a sophisticated egoist. A group of Chinese should be like 10,000 dragons."

A survey shows that a quarter of young people aged 16-24 say they never read, and half of adults do not read regularly. Will preferring videos rather than reading affect our brains? According to a study published in the journal Neuroimage, there are indeed differences between the brains of people who love reading and those who do not. People who love reading have different structures in two areas of the left hemisphere of the brain. These two areas are crucial for language. They are: the anterior temporal lobe and Heschl's gyrus. In the era of short videos, fewer people love reading. I have been on hiatus for half a year, but I still get a lot of votes from friends. I am very touched. You are people who love reading from the bottom of your heart. I can't keep updating daily for the time being, so I will try to resume weekly updates.