That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1687 Weren't you confused back then?

"Li Ye, hurry up and go to the kitchen to cook a few dishes. We'll have a good drink with your Uncle Liu at noon today."

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away."

In his previous life, Li Ye had heard an "experienced person" say that a man's cooking skills are a "double-edged sword," with both obvious advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that everyone will like you. Whether it's a girl or a mother-in-law, they will all think you are a reliable and dependable young man.

The downside is that it's really miserable; you're constantly being ordered around to cook.

Go ask around, which real chef enjoys cooking?
However, Li Ye's life has been alright. He has a considerate wife who is always eager to cook at home, and a reasonable mother-in-law who, although she asks Li Ye to cook, does not treat him as a live-in son-in-law or a freeloader.

Moreover, Li Ye is a bit stubborn. He only cooks for people who are worth cooking for. Given Liu Zhengqing's friendship with his grandfather Li Zhongfa, he was happy to cook this meal.

However, Liu Zhengqing was a reasonable man. He said to Li Zhongfa, "You are guests. How can you let the children cook? There is food ready at home. You can just tidy it up and eat."

Li Zhongfa said nonchalantly, "How can that be? We're both getting on in years. Can our stomachs handle eating cold food in the dead of winter? We need something warm. This kid is good at cooking; he'll be done in no time."

"Okay, I'll have Hanwen lend him a hand."

"Hanwen, go to the kitchen and lend a hand to your brother Li Ye. Learn from him."

Liu Zhengqing arranged for Liu Hanwen, who was being punished by standing, to go into the kitchen. Then, he sighed and said to Li Zhongfa, "I know you brought three children here today to show off, but I'm convinced by your boasting. I wish I had a grandson like Li Ye."

Hahaha~

Li Zhongfa laughed heartily, then said reassuringly, "Old Liu, don't worry! This fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid hasn't settled down yet. He'll be fine in a few years when he understands things better. Did you think Li Ye was a good kid when he was young? Ha, I was just like you back then, worrying myself sick over him."

Liu Zhengqing sighed again: "Alas, if I were ten years younger, of course I wouldn't be in such a hurry, but now I don't know when I'll be buried."

"Shut up! What nonsense are you spouting during the New Year?"

"I'm telling the truth. Do you still think you're so young?"

"Don't tell me the truth, I want to live another thirty years!"

"."

While Li Zhongfa and Liu Zhengqing were arguing in the living room, Liu Hanwen reluctantly went into the kitchen and helped Li Ye wash vegetables.

Li Ye glanced at Liu Hanwen and asked indifferently, "What's wrong? You're angry but have nowhere to vent, so you're giving me the cold shoulder?"

"I didn't give them a hard time, I just don't understand."

Liu Hanwen lowered his head, looking as resentful as a wronged young wife.

While chopping vegetables, Li Ye casually asked, "What's so hard to understand? A sapling won't grow straight without support. Your grandpa's worried you'll go astray, that's why he's anxious!"

I wasn't talking about my grandfather.

Liu Hanwen stubbornly said, "I'm talking about my classmates. They were the ones who started the trouble first, so why should I be blamed for everything?"

Li Ye chuckled and said, "You started this? You went and stole someone's girlfriend, and you're blaming them for starting this?"

"I've said it so many times, I didn't steal anyone's girlfriend. I just didn't want to see her fall into a fire pit."

Liu Hanwen threw down the vegetables in his hand and said angrily, "Qi Xiuli and I have been classmates from elementary school to high school. We're like brothers and sisters."
But now she's fallen for Zhan Mingbo's temptation and insists on going abroad to study with him. What kind of person is Zhan Mingbo? He might even sell her off once they're abroad.”

"."

Liu Hanwen was really holding back a lot of anger, and he babbled on and on, which gave Li Ye a general idea of ​​what was going on.

It turns out he had a childhood friend named Qi Xiuli, and their relationship was rather complicated. However, after starting high school, Qi Xiuli was suddenly "bewitched" by a guy named Zhan Mingbo and began to consider studying abroad.
Liu Hanwen didn't want Qi Xiuli to study abroad, so he tried to persuade her, and then what happened was quite "teenage."

People believed that Liu Hanwen was jealous of Zhan Mingbo because he had a crush on Qi Xiuli, which is why he interfered and prevented the two from studying abroad.

"Brother Li Ye, didn't you say that studying abroad might be dangerous? So tell me, was I wrong to advise her not to jump into a fire pit?"

Oh, this whole thing has something to do with me!

For many years, Li Ye had been instilling the idea that "studying abroad is forbidden" in his daughters, which influenced Li Zhongfa as well. This idea then spread to the Liu family, so Liu Hanwen also "demystified" studying abroad.
But others don't see it that way. These days, if you, Liu Hanwen, stop others from studying abroad, you're considered narrow-minded, jealous, and unable to stand seeing others do well.

Li Ye continued chopping vegetables with his cleaver, saying calmly, "You're not wrong, and she's not wrong either. This is a misconception given to us by the times. No one is wrong."

Liu Hanwen, clearly confused by Li Ye's words, impatiently retorted, "Nobody's wrong, Li Ye. Do you know that almost all the girls in our class want to go abroad, and a large portion of them dream of having a mixed-race child?"

"But they just detained our Galaxy last year. Can't they tell friend from foe? And they call that wrong?"

"."

Li Ye finally put down the kitchen knife in his hand, and after a moment of contemplation, he said in a deep voice, "Hanwen, those at the foot of the mountain will inevitably look up to those standing at the top. This kind of looking up will distort their minds."

The once mighty Tang and Ming dynasties stood atop the mountain, overlooking only barbarians across the land. They wanted to have children with the Chinese, but the Chinese refused! Now, the lighthouse stands atop the mountain, while we have slid to the foot.

"."

Li Ye had encountered the same situation Liu Hanwen described in his previous life.

Many very beautiful girls dream of immigrating and giving birth to tall, banana-like people (young, unattractive men) for white people, and mainland Chinese men can't even refute them.

The beacon of this era is truly powerful.

They can be so powerful that they can humiliate and suppress China on one hand, and crush it on the other hand in terms of ideology and cultural export.

This has led to a very divided mindset among the Chinese people at this time. On the one hand, they hate the Chinese people with a passion, but on the other hand, they are eager to please them.

While we protest and shout "XX bastards," the most beautiful girl is dreaming of going overseas to give birth to a mixed-race baby for a white man.

In such a divisive environment, how could a high school student who is only sixteen or seventeen years old distinguish between heaven and hell?
Li Ye only succeeded because he had seen the dark side of the lighthouse in his previous life; otherwise, he would have been swayed by the ideological tide of the times as well.

"We slid down to the foot of the mountain."

Liu Hanwen repeated it to himself, then asked in confusion, "Do we really have to look up to them? Do we really have to have their children?"

"Heh~" Li Ye chuckled and said softly, "I can only tell you one thing: those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts. Also, those who stand on high ground will not regard those below them as their own kind; in other words, they will not consider those below them as human beings."

"."

. . . . . . . . . .

Li Ye is indeed very efficient at cooking. He served four hot dishes in about twenty minutes, along with some ready-made braised dishes, making for a small but sumptuous feast.

"Li Ye, fill it up for me. Your Uncle Liu isn't feeling well, so half a glass is enough."

While directing Li Ye to pour the wine, Li Zhongfa asked Liu Zhengqing, "Shall we start drinking now, or wait for Comrade Gao Shuyi?"

Liu Zhengqing waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Wait for what? Mu Han dragged her shopping. The two of them have been shopping all day long, and they're both such a handful."

"That's perfect! Nobody's bothering us, we can drink more freely. Come on, you take a sip, and I'll drink half."

Li Zhongfa quickly changed the subject, because he was afraid that if he let his old friend continue talking, he would say something that would make him sigh and lament.

Liu Zhengqing's life was undoubtedly quite successful, with both a son and a daughter and a thriving career.

The only drawback is that his daughter, Liu Muhan, is over thirty and "is a worry," as she hasn't brought home a suitable son-in-law for Liu Zhengqing.

What's even more infuriating is that Comrade Gao Shuyi, the sanitation worker, changed her personality after urging her daughter to get married for several years. She then indulged her daughter's carefree attitude and even lived like "sisters" with her daughter. As long as the two of them were close and happy, that was all that mattered.

This greatly displeased Liu Zhengqing, a "traditionalist," but he was powerless to do anything about it.

Although Li Zhongfa was also a traditionalist, he had no principles when it came to Gao Shuyi's affairs. He would never scold Gao Shuyi for being "outrageous" and would only advise Liu Zhengqing to compromise.

"Cough cough cough~"

Liu Zhengqing was feeling down, and his drinking went poorly. He accidentally drank too much and started coughing violently.

Sitting beside him, Liu Hanwen quickly massaged his grandfather's back, while pouting and complaining, "Grandpa, you're not feeling well, so drink slowly. Aunt and Grandma aren't home, why are you in such a hurry?"

Why should I be in such a hurry?

Liu Zhengqing took the handkerchief and wiped his mouth, his face full of desolation, and said, "Our generation is almost at the end of its road. The rest of the road will depend on you people. But I see that each generation is worse than the last. How can you not be anxious?"

"us."

Liu Hanwen was very indignant and wanted to argue with his grandfather, but with Li Zhongfa and Li Ye present, he could only lower his head in frustration again.

But Li Ye said at this moment, "Grandpa Liu, you're just worrying unnecessarily. There's an old saying in China—each generation is stronger than the last. Hanwen's generation will only be stronger than yours."

Liu Zhengqing frowned and looked at Li Ye, asking, "You think Hanwen is stronger than us? In what way is he stronger? Don't even mention comparing him to us, can he even compare to you? Look at those newborn children now, how spoiled they are!"

Li Zhongfa chimed in, "Kids these days are definitely spoiled. Even if you're strict with them, they still don't want to suffer. They're nothing like we were back then. I saw an article in the newspaper the other day called 'The Ruined Post-80s Generation.'"

The post-80s generation is often called the "ruined generation," but Li Ye knows that decades later, they will be the backbone of the country's rise.

So Li Ye explained very seriously, "Uncle Liu, don't you think that the situation these children in Hanwen are facing now is very similar to what you were going through back then? When you faced the Japanese soldiers, weren't you also very frustrated and confused?"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

Before Li Ye could finish speaking, his grandfather, Li Zhongfa, interrupted him, shouting, "Back when your Grandpa Liu and I killed Japanese soldiers, we risked our lives. We weren't afraid of anyone, and we weren't cowards."

Li Ye listened quietly to Li Zhongfa's reprimand, and only after Li Zhongfa finished speaking did he calmly say, "Grandpa, I didn't say you were afraid of death. I wanted to ask, when you faced the Japanese soldiers, did you know when you could win?"

"."

Li Zhongfa was stumped by Li Ye's question.

Although they now know that the Japanese soldiers surrendered in 1945, back then who knew when victory would come?
Liu Zhengqing understood Li Ye's meaning and nodded, saying, "We weren't afraid to die back then, but sometimes we felt lost. But we never wavered; we gritted our teeth and fought to the death."

"Yes, it's okay to feel lost, just grit your teeth and fight hard."

Li Ye pointed at Liu Hanwen: "Now Hanwen and his kids are also confused. The current Lighthouse is as powerful as the Japanese soldiers back then, leaving them unsure how to catch up with their opponents, or when they will be able to catch up."

"."

Li Zhongfa and Liu Zhengqing both fell silent.

Although the two veterans kept saying "as long as we fight with all our might," how many people were lost and desperate in that disadvantageous environment where they were completely crushed by the Japanese soldiers? And how many people were just struggling with their heads down because of a belief in not giving up?
The post-80s generation is also in a disadvantageous position, being completely outmatched in every aspect.

“Grandpa, the enemy you faced back then was the Japanese soldiers with real swords and spears, while the enemy that Hanwen and I are facing now is an enemy of thought. We are fighting them to the death in terms of thought. If you could win back then, why can't we win?”

"."

Liu Zhengqing and Li Zhongfa were dumbfounded, feeling that Li Ye was just bragging, but his boasting seemed to make a lot of sense.

Children born in the 1980s and 90s were indeed confused, and it wasn't just them; the whole country was somewhat confused.

The president who took office last year granted "most-favored-nation" status to the mainland once a year, treating it as a condescending bestowal of favors.

When his convoy drove through the streets of ancient Chang'an, and he reached out of the car windows to wave to the crowds on both sides of the street, he probably truly believed that he was the master of this world.

Fortunately, China has a unique characteristic: in every critical moment, a group of wise people always emerge to turn the tide.

While countless people yearn for the West, the mainland has already begun to quietly lay the foundation for victory in the details of food supply and food security.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Li Zhongfa and Liu Zhengqing were both drunk. When Li Ye took his grandfather home, he was scolded by his grandmother.

Li Ye didn't argue, but went home in silence, sat down at his computer, logged onto the light vehicle company's BBS, and typed a line under the pseudonym "Seven Inch Blade": "Every generation has its own Shangganling."

A hundred years ago, Daqing declined, and the great powers eyed us covetously, seeing us as fish on a chopping block. We were lost, we didn't know which way to go.
So we tried every possible path: constitutional monarchy, monarchical restoration, federalism, republicanism, and even the absurd idea of ​​inviting Itō Hirobumi to be the leader all appeared openly.
But what was the result? We paid the price of an entire generation to carve out our own space and make the world look at us with new eyes.

Now, perhaps our generation has once again reached a crossroads of confusion. We are dazzled by the prosperity and technology overseas, and everything we see seems golden.
But if everyone reads history carefully, perhaps they can find the answer: as long as we don't surrender, no one can defeat us. Five thousand years of cultural heritage can always point us in the right direction.
Therefore, gentlemen, please be patient and wait a moment to hear the dragon's roar!

(End of this chapter)