Chapter 328: Chatting with Ding Li

Because our car bears a license plate from Sijiucheng,

we can say it's smooth sailing.

We quickly got on the ring expressway, speeding from the Sixth Ring to the Fourth Ring.

Ding Li played the song "Five Ring Song" in the car, and Xiao Yueyue's voice floated out,

"Ah, Fifth Ring, you have one more ring than the Fourth Ring."

Ding Li asked me,

"Brother Zhao, do you like listening to crosstalk?"

"I like it."

"Brother Zhao, do you prefer mainstream or non-mainstream?" Ding Li asked again.

"Of course non-mainstream."

"Just like me, I also like the crosstalk of that old couple; I feel Mr. Guo has genuine talent.

All other mainstream stuff is just nonsense.

I just can't understand why those mainstream acts spout garbage, yet the higher-ups promote them and use them,

seeing them at the year-end gala makes me sick to death." Ding Li said.

"How should I put it? To do crosstalk well, one must put in hard work and also have childhood training.

One must be skilled in speaking, imitating, teasing, and singing; this isn't something you can learn quickly.

Nowadays who wants to put in that hard work? Everyone's basically just half-baked.

Those who become monks halfway and stay within the system can still earn a meal.

If someone truly had skill and did better than them, not only doing well but also exposing this,

letting people know that crosstalk is actually like this,

those performers inside the system would no longer be able to scrape by,

who could stand that?

So they banded together to curse Mr. Guo.

Boycott Mr. Guo,

plus their boss, who is also a super bully, just like the vegetable vendor at Xinfa Di who collects protection money.

His disciples and grand-disciples are all just scraping by, and he himself has no real skill.

If we were to prop up Mr. Guo, where would they put their faces, and how would his disciples eat?

This is an economic problem, or rather a matter of interests.

"Ding Li, have you thought about it? All problems are basically interest problems." I said to Ding Li.

"Brother Zhao, after you put it that way, I understand. Everyone is protecting their own interests, just like when I run a clothing wholesale stall at the market—prices have to be about the same,

if someone wants to sell at a lower price, I definitely won't agree.

because it would affect everyone's interests."

"Pretty much—this is what's called clique interests.

Sijiucheng is a city of culture; inside it there are many cultural cliques, and their interests are all tied together. That way everyone can easily get by.

Nobody wants to get up early to practice just for a few pennies."

"Brother Zhao, you're absolutely right—for example, my calligraphy practice.

I once won a major award in Zao Chengshi, but if I wanted to join the association above, I'd also have to go through connections and spend money.

Nowadays they don't even look at calligraphy works; they only check whether one's connections are in place.

Brother Zhao, currently ugly calligraphy is trending in our calligraphy circle.

What is ugly calligraphy? It's deliberately writing calligraphy badly so that no one can recognize it.

I call it "random scribbling eight ways."

This creates a foundation for others to scrape by. Anyway, there's no need to practice calligraphy basics—anyone can write, as long as they dare to scribble randomly.

As long as someone promotes you, you can become famous and make money.

Everyone mutually flatters each other, thinking of looking out for one another,

I'll ask you to be a professor at the university, you'll ask me to be an expert,

Nobody can break in. Everyone gets to eat.

Sigh, when I get angry I just stop writing characters altogether.

What's the point of writing like this?

What's wrong with society? I really can't figure it out.

"There really is that saying: clowns in the hall, masters wandering." Ding Li sighed.

"Ding Li, do you know that in society's lower stratum, wanting to move up is very hard? The hardest thing is crossing strata.

Whether past or present, this society is divided into four layers,

first is the physical labor layer, earning money by one's own strength, like migrant workers; the older they get, the less they're worth.

second is the knowledge layer, making money with what one has learned, such as professors, doctors, and corporate technical staff, etc. These people become more valuable with age because their experience is worth money.

third is the capital layer, relying on capital to drive the market, letting talent help one earn money. For example, my former identity was a real estate developer—using money to make money, using capital to shape the market, all talent belongs to me. There are also mining tycoons, financial capitalists, etc.

The most formidable is the resource layer; they are the ones who set the game rules, actually the true bankers. They are monopolistic operators, the behind-the-scenes black hands of all interest groups, and they can manipulate the entire market.

A single sentence can solve all problems.

Have you considered that moving from the physical labor layer to the knowledge layer costs an enormous effort? The college entrance exam is one of those gates.

However, this can still be achieved through one's own effort.

But crossing from the knowledge layer to the capital layer requires opportunity.

Opportunities are something you can encounter but not seek.

Think about our lives—how many big opportunities can we have? If you miss them, that's it for a lifetime.

Once you reach the resource layer, you must pay the price in blood.

Know that those who have the resource layer are just like the founding elders of a company; for the sake of establishing the company they could be said to have sacrificed their heads and shed their blood, with deaths even in their families.

They forever stand above the company's upper echelons, they formulate the company's rules and regulations, and they influence the company's direction.

They take the company's greatest profits.

Now the people of the resource layer are all descendants of the founding elders; compared to them, what are we?

Understand these, Ding Li, and you will see society clearly.

See clearly many places in society that you don't understand.

Calligraphy art is merely a microcosm,

You have no connections; what gives them the right to let you in and profit like them?

People, wanting to change fate, is truly difficult.

Because what today's society seeks is stability,

that is, the people of each stratum become fixed, no longer mobile.

People of higher strata maintain their resource advantages; after a teacher has children, it's highly likely they become teachers, and a doctor's children can also enter the medical field.

Likewise, those who exert great effort in society— their descendants basically also exert effort, remaining in the physical labor layer.

From the physical labor layer, one thinks of moving up to the knowledge layer,

There are only three chances—exams, marriage, and work. If you seize them, you can change a little; if you miss them, you can only remain forever in the physical labor layer.

Ding Li, you will just sell clothing for a lifetime—how much money can you earn?

That's just two apartments, nothing more.

Not even the problem of food and warmth can be solved.

The houses I once owned were dozens, even hundreds.

"These properties are something you could not catch up to in a lifetime, or even several lifetimes." I said to Ding Li earnestly from behind.

After Ding Li heard me finish speaking, he remained silent for a long time.

After a long while, Ding Li finally spoke loudly: "Zhao Ge, you are absolutely right; I met you too late."

Your words today suddenly let me understand a lot.

All my efforts, no matter how arduous the sacrifice, cannot even buy a single house, let alone a good car.

Being with you, you can easily give me this car.

This is the gap,

I want to cross strata,

I must definitely climb up from below,

Zhao Ge, you have no idea how painful life down there is."

After hearing Ding Li's words, I laughed heartily and said: "Ding Li, I certainly know—I too started from the very bottom."

I used to be just a foreman; only with good opportunities did I develop. But now I have been knocked back down.

I am even worse off than the physical labor layer; my current identity is that of a fugitive.

We certainly must strive; otherwise, we will spend our lives stuck in the bottom layer, and even our descendants will be the same.

All right, we begin to cross strata,

I want to change from a fugitive into a normal person. You, you need to go from the physical labor layer to the knowledge layer.