Chapter 1409: Do Not Use Your Own Perception to Measure Others' Actions

"What kind of company does he run?" Sheng Hanyu asked.

Gu Zhihao replied, "I don't know." He answered quite readily.

Sheng Hanyu was speechless.

If he didn't even know what kind of company the other person ran, then he certainly didn't know what kind of business they were in.

Knowing nothing at all, yet being so adamant that it wasn't easy for the other person to make money—where was the standard for his judgment?

How did he even figure that out?

A good bottle of wine would be a waste if opened and left undrunk; feeling bitter inside, Gu Zhihao drank it cup after cup.

The more he drank, the more he talked.

As he spoke, he actually started crying: "How hard it is to make money! I'm an acting Village Chief in the village, and my monthly salary is only fifteen hundred—not even as much as a city Security Guard makes."

"A city Security Guard makes three thousand a month, and they give a thousand just for one person's vote? Bah! He's just bragging; there's no tax on bragging..."

Sheng Hanyu couldn't listen anymore and interrupted him.

"For some people, making money is very easy."

"Do not use your own perception as a standard to judge others. First, you must understand what this person does, what their goal is, and how much strength they have..."

Gu Zhihao stared blankly.

"If it's so easy for him to make money outside, why does he want to come back to the village to be Village Chief?"

Sheng Hanyu:...

If it weren't for the favor Gu Zhihao did by taking care of his parents, he would have really wanted to turn around and leave.

This person's brain was not enlightened; he was just a blockhead.

But the favor remained, so he couldn't leave.

For such a blockhead, one could only break things down and explain them bit by bit.

"Ergouzi wants to come back to be Village Chief; it's likely he has a backer. The person behind him has taken a liking to your village's land and wants to do something there..."

"Oh!"

Gu Zhihao slapped his thigh hard: "That's a good thing, isn't it? I should support it, right?"

Sheng Hanyu:...

Shi Youxuan:...

This time, the couple was speechless together.

How did such a stupid person manage to grow up to this age?

Although Shi Yuke didn't see through it, she could tell that what her husband analyzed and what Sheng Hanyu wanted to express were clearly not the same thing.

"Stop drinking, have some water."

She placed a large glass of plain water in front of her husband.

Drinking too much wine would ruin things; she couldn't let him drink any more.

Shi Yuke tentatively said to Sheng Hanyu: "Brother-in-law, why don't you tell me? I'll relay it to him after he sobers up. What do you think?"

"No need."

Sheng Hanyu refused, and said bluntly: "He doesn't understand even when I say it to his face; he'll understand even less if it's relayed." He didn't leave any face at all, but everything he said was the truth.

Seeing that Gu Zhihao had indeed drunk quite a bit, Sheng Hanyu decided to let it go for today; it was useless to say anything when he was like this—he would just forget it after hearing it.

The next day.

The two met in the courtyard.

"Morning, heh heh, sorry, I drank too much yesterday." Even though he was in his own home, Gu Zhihao was as reserved as a guest.

He had sobered up in the middle of the night, and after sobering up, he felt extremely regretful—regretful that he shouldn't have drunk so much.

He had originally invited the other person over to seek advice, but in the end, he hadn't asked about anything he wanted to know and had just gotten himself drunk.

"What time is breakfast?"

Sheng Hanyu didn't like small talk; he preferred to get straight to the point and express the subject in the least amount of time.

"Huh?"

Gu Zhihao was slightly stunned, but he quickly reacted: "Oh, it's the usual time for meals; it'll be ready soon."

After breakfast, Sheng Hanyu put down his bowl and said to Gu Zhihao, who was preparing to wash the dishes: "Leave that for someone else to do, come with me."

Gu Zhihao had a Study, but the Study was just a place where the children usually did their homework, or it was just for show; he basically never went in.

Now that Sheng Hanyu had brought him to the Study, he discovered that there was an extra mirror in the room, as large as a full-length mirror.

"Memorize this; half an hour should be enough."

Sheng Hanyu handed him a stack of papers, and he felt a bit dizzy.

He didn't know what it was, but he definitely couldn't memorize it in half an hour.

Since he was a child, he had hated studying, especially language arts; his temples would throb with pain whenever he saw a text, and memorizing texts was the most headache-inducing thing for Gu Zhihao.

"What is this?"

"The speech draft for when you participate in the election."

Gu Zhihao smiled, and the expression on his face became much more relaxed.

"I thought it was something else; so it's just a speech draft. No need to memorize it, I'll just read it when the time comes."

"No, do as I say and memorize it."

His previously relaxed expression turned miserable again, but he didn't dare not to listen; he was the one who had invited the person, so he had to follow the other's requirements.

Half an hour was, of course, not enough.

It took Gu Zhihao half a day just to go from reading it stumblingly to finally being able to read it smoothly!

Sheng Hanyu frowned; at this rate, he wouldn't be able to memorize it even in a day.

If he couldn't even memorize it, the remaining tasks would be even harder to handle; no, he had to speed up.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist; it was now 11:25.

Gu Zhihao said, "Brother-in-law, you must be hungry, right? I'll go make some food." Having said that, he started to leave.

"Come back."

Sheng Hanyu called him back and told him that if he didn't do the cooking, someone else would, and the most important thing for him right now was to finish the task at hand.

Gu Zhihao had no choice but to stay.

Another half hour passed.

Shi Yuke knocked on the door of the Study and called the two of them out to eat.

Lunch was cold noodles; the weather was hot, and eating cold noodles was very refreshing.

Gu Zhihao had just prepared to put down the speech draft when Sheng Hanyu frowned: "Finish memorizing it before you eat!"

"Huh?"

"Is that not allowed?"

"Allowed, allowed, you're the boss."

In truth, he had been hungry for a long time, and his heart felt restless, as if it were overgrown with weeds; he didn't want to stay in the Study, and he wanted to memorize the speech draft even less.

As for the speech draft, although it was his first time seeing one, it wasn't his first time seeing others read one!

Never mind running for Village Chief, even when watching those high-ranking officials speak on television, they were all holding a speech draft; why could everyone else do it, but he couldn't?

Sheng Hanyu gave the answer, simple and blunt: "They have already taken office, while you are still an unknown, so high-ranking officials can read from it, but you cannot."

"If you become a high-ranking official, never mind reading a speech draft, even if you just clear your throat or cough a few times at a meeting, there will be people cheering for you."

Gu Zhihao was left speechless by the retort and could only resign himself to picking up the speech draft and continuing to memorize it.

Another half hour passed, and Sheng Hanyu was also hungry, so he offered a few pointers.

"Come to the mirror, look at yourself, and ask yourself why you dislike memorizing this thing so much, yet you must memorize it?"

Gu Zhihao was stumped by his own question.

That's right, what was it for?

For the sake of the place where he grew up not being ruined beyond recognition, and for the sake of the old and young in the village who trusted him; soon, he had the answer in his heart.

He unconsciously puffed out his chest and held his head high in front of the mirror, and at this moment, Gu Zhihao was surprised to discover that he could actually memorize many sentences without looking at the draft!

"Speak louder, don't be restrained, say it just as you think it in your heart!"

"Turn the words on the paper into your own heartfelt words; there's no need for the content to be word-for-word, as long as the meaning is about the same..."