Why it never ends

Chapter 1184 Image
Kovicik glanced at Lu Qizhen coldly and was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly heard someone behind him say faintly, "You just said you were a duke?"

Kovicik turned around and saw Lu Qizhen staring at the badge on his chest.

"Is that your family emblem?" Lu Qizhen asked.

"none of your business."

"I'm just curious," Lu Qizhen said softly, "I almost thought it was a replica prop from some film crew. It looks like a replica of the national emblem of the Principality of Darway, but this family in District 3 died out in less than three generations - I was just wondering, why is this popular in District 12?"

"Imitation props..." Kovicik heard the other party's sarcasm and sneered a few times, "Which noble family are you from?"

"Ha, what noble lady? I'm not... If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn't have known that there are still people who take this outdated title seriously," Lu Qizhen's voice was a little teasing, "Only District 12 has always regarded District 3 as its cultural motherland. It can't learn advanced systems, but instead has learned the servile style that should have been eliminated long ago. It's too funny to worship the stinky foot binding in the colonial narrative as a holy relic... Have you ever looked at the outside world? Whether it's District 14 or District 1, this is no longer popular."

Kovicik choked on his breath. "What a big mouth... Where did you come from--"

"I'm a doctor from Arendt University." Lu Qizhen said, "You can call me Dr. Lu."

"...Get out." Kovicik was shaking with anger. "A woman who came out of nowhere thinks she can judge me here just because she read a few books!?"

Lu Qizhen curled her lips and took Chloe's arm: "The noble spirit of District 12 is really impressive..."

She paused and said, “Next time when I write a field survey, I’ll consider including it in the report.”

Kovicik's face turned from red to purple, but Lu Qizhen and his group had already turned around and left. Jiahoduolei turned back halfway and spat at the young duke and his servant.

Along the way, Chloe was a little dazed and didn't say a word. When they reached the door, Jia Heduolei couldn't help but look at Lu Qizhen: "What did you say you wanted to write him into?"

"Ah, that was just to piss him off," Lu Qizhen said. "I said I would include him in my field research."

"To piss him off?" Gahoduolei didn't understand. "So it's fake?"

"That's not necessarily the case, but my current research direction has nothing to do with him," Lu Qizhen shrugged. "If you are a scholar who focuses on identity performance or the remnants of colonial culture, you can completely regard the scene just now as a live observation."

Jiahoduolei absorbed it with some difficulty - what performance... what remnants...

Lu Qizhen looked ahead and spoke half jokingly and half thoughtfully: "For example, she might write: 'During a conversation with a local noble, I noticed that he was wearing a badge imitating the badge of the old nobles in the third district, although the family had been extinct at the end of the Silver Age.

"'In the subsequent conversation, the local nobles showed hostility towards my academic and gender identity', showing that the title of nobility is still regarded as a tool of social power rather than a symbol in District 12. This insistence on a similar colonial aristocratic identity may stem from a sense of cultural loss or a misplaced imitation of the central power...'"

Lu Qizhen laughed triumphantly.

"Anyway, I was telling him that his pretentious outburst just now was just a cultural phenomenon in my eyes. He is the material and I am the author... You see, he got mad all of a sudden." Although Jiaduolei didn't quite understand, she inexplicably felt a sense of pride and excitement - at this moment she suddenly felt full of respect for Lu Qizhen. This feeling was really strange, because Lu Qizhen seemed so reliable at this moment, as if she was completely different from the "weak girlfriend" who was timid in the theater some time ago.

Those high-level and difficult-to-pronounce words came out of her mouth so easily, and she didn't even have to say a single swear word to make the Duke, who seemed to have a lot of bad intentions, so angry that he jumped up and down...

Jiahoduolei's throat moved slightly. She suddenly imagined a scene where she would speak like this. For example, a few years later, in front of Younis, Manna, her mother, her sister - oh, and of course Teacher Boheng - they would talk about some topic, such as what they saw and heard in Emanlia, so she would talk freely and naturally bring out a bunch of big words, such as the power center, the loss of culture...

Jiahoduolei suddenly felt secretly happy in her heart, and she didn't even notice Chloe's staggering steps. She almost fell down with her. Fortunately, they both adjusted their positions in time.

Chloe walked very slowly on the road away from the Duke's Mansion.

She paid no attention to the conversation between Lu Qizhen and Jia Heduolei. Even the verbal battle between Kovicik and Lu Qizhen just now failed to stir up any waves in her heart. She felt her mind was in a mess and she was dizzy with the surging thoughts, but at the same time, her head was empty and she couldn't think of anything.

Never had any pain been as bitter as the one she tasted today.

Lu Qizhen also pulled Chloe. She suddenly realized that she was a little too proud of her conversation with Jiaduolei just now. At this moment when Chloe was so lost, keeping quiet was also a kind of consideration.

She looked at Chloe's profile. The girl's face was pale, without any extra expression, as if her soul had been temporarily taken away by something.

Lu Qizhen pursed her lips slightly and sighed in her heart.

She had a lot to say to Chloe. If she and Gahoduolei hadn't been present at this scene today, perhaps Chloe would never know how brilliant she was when she stood in front of Kovicik and spoke those words.

——But fortunately, she and Gahoduolei were there.

At this moment, Lu Qizhen suddenly remembered their conversation in Chloe's room not long ago. When she talked about the power difference, Chloe retorted so firmly that her feelings "were true love". Now thinking about it, it was not Chloe's misunderstanding or fantasy.

This young girl falls in love with her own reflection in others.

But she herself did not seem to realize that the reason why the reflection in the mirror was so moving was precisely because she herself was as bright as a burning flame.

……

Nearing three o'clock, Hesta entered the meeting room of the workstation. Everything was as she expected. Kende was already sitting there.

Hesta sat down, and the two of them sat opposite each other, and neither of them greeted the other.

At three o'clock, the blinds of the conference room automatically fell down, the whole room gradually darkened, and a dark red projection lit up in the center diagonally in front of the two people.

"Hello, both of you." The number 2 appeared on the projection. "This is Office ."