A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"Little girl, what...what did you just say?"

The old man's voice was hoarse and dry, like two rusty pieces of iron rubbing against each other.

He hadn't spoken such a long sentence to anyone in a very, very long time.

Lu Nianci raised her head and blinked her clear, big eyes innocently.

"Grandpa, I'm saying this book is too hard to understand." She pointed to the section on Kant's philosophy in "A General History of the World" and complained with a pained expression, "This old German man named Kant, how come what he says is more brain-twisting than the math problems our teacher gives us?"

The old man's cloudy eyes fell on the book.

When he saw the name "Imanuel Kant," his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

He remained silent for a moment, then looked at Lu Nianci with an almost scrutinizing gaze.

"A five-year-old reading 'A General History of the World'?" His tone was full of skepticism. "Can you even understand it?"

"I can understand most of it," Lu Nianci said, tilting her head as if it were a matter of course. "It's just that this old German man is so annoying!"

"Oh?" The old man seemed intrigued by her words. "Then tell me, how did you understand it?"

"Use your brain!" Lu Nianci pointed to her head. "For example, the book says that Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and established China's first centralized feudal dynasty. I wondered, why did he want to unify them? What were the benefits of unification? What were the drawbacks of not unifying them?"

"Then I went to the bookshelf next door and found a book called 'A History of Ancient Chinese Warfare' and another book called 'An Analysis of the Economic Structure of Feudal Society'..."

"Then I understood. Without unification, there would be constant warfare, and ordinary people would be displaced, starving, and freezing to death. With unification, everyone could live in peace and prosperity, farm, and do business, and the country could become stronger!"

"Now you understand, right?"

Lu Nianci used the simplest and most straightforward "childlike logic" to expound a profound methodology for historical research.

The old man was completely stunned.

For the first time, a look of horror appeared on his face!

Learn by analogy! Apply what you've learned to other situations!

In order to understand a historical event, they actually knew to actively seek out books in related fields for cross-referencing and verification!

This...this is hardly the learning ability and logical thinking of a five-year-old child!

Of all the so-called top students he taught at university back then, how many of them possessed such self-discipline and comprehension in their studies?

child prodigy!

The old man's gaze towards Lu Nianci completely changed.

There was no longer any vigilance or suspicion there.

Instead, there was a sense of...surprise and...frenzy at the discovery of an unparalleled gem!

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and tried his best to make his voice sound less agitated.

"Then... what is it about Kant that you don't understand?"

"I don't understand why he said the world we see isn't what it truly is?" Lu Nianci frowned, looking confused. "The table I see is a table, the cup I see is a cup. Isn't that how it's always been? What does 'the thing-in-itself' mean?"

This question is the most central and also the most obscure cornerstone of the entire Kant philosophical system.

The old man never expected that a five-year-old child could grasp the key to the problem so accurately!

He was silent.

Looking into Lu Nianci's clear, inquisitive eyes, a thought that had been dormant for many years suddenly surfaced from the depths of his heart.

He wanted to... teach her.

He wanted to impart all the knowledge he had learned in his life, all the knowledge in his mind that had been obscured by the tragedies of the times, without reservation to the person in front of him who might be the only kindred spirit he had ever met in his life.

But he couldn't.

His identity is too sensitive.

He was a "problematic" person, a "stinking intellectual" who had been demoted.

Getting involved with him is not an opportunity for this child, but... a disaster.

The light in the old man's eyes dimmed little by little, returning to that lifeless, murky state.

He stood up, picked up a broom, and prepared to leave.

"Grandpa, are you leaving?" Lu Nianci asked hurriedly.

The old man didn't turn around, but simply uttered a sentence in a hoarse voice.

"A table, to you it's just a table."

"For an ant, it may be a vast plain."

"But to a carpenter, it might just be a pile of wood waiting to be processed."

"You only see what you want to see, or what your abilities allow you to see."

That's all.

After saying that, he hunched over, picked up a broom, and silently disappeared at the end of the bookshelf.

Lu Nianci was left standing there, stunned.

She repeatedly pondered the old man's last words.

suddenly!

A flash of inspiration, like lightning, cleaved through the fog in her mind!

She got it!

She finally understood the meaning of "thing-in-itself"!

This is not philosophy!

This... is relativity!

This old man used such a simple metaphor to give her an epiphany about the ultimate problem that has troubled countless philosophy students in later generations!

Who...who is he?!

A tremendous storm raged in Lu Nianci's heart!

She could no longer contain herself, and she chased after him!

She absolutely had to find out who this old man was!

However, when she caught up with the old man at the library entrance, she saw two young men in military uniforms with "military police" armbands blocking his way.

Their attitude was extremely bad.

"Chen the Cripple! Hiding here to slack off again, huh?!"

"Hurry up! The latrine on the east side is full! Go and empty it for me!"

"If you don't finish picking them out today, you can forget about dinner!"

Chen the Cripple?

The old man did not resist or argue under the scolding and shoving of the crowd.

He simply lowered his noble head silently, picked up the carrying pole and manure bucket from the corner of the wall, and, hunched over like an old, silent animal, walked step by step toward the toilet.

At that moment, Lu Nianci's eyes reddened.

An uncontrollable rage blazed within her!

How dare they... how could they?!

How dare they humiliate and demean a...true scholar like this?!