Chapter 523: Not in the Same Circle, Impossible to Squeeze In

"Xinyi, what exactly did you experience at Wen Lingyun's home?"

Du Xiaojuan asked with concern.

Zhao Xinyi's mindset changed too quickly; without a major setback, she could not possibly feel so defeated.

Zhao Xinyi smiled bitterly:

"I experienced nothing."

Du Xiaojuan felt even more bewildered.

How could she be like this if she experienced nothing?

But in fact, Zhao Xinyi was telling the honest truth.

That morning she went to Wen Lingyun's home full of anticipation, and Wen Lingyun warmly received her, taking her and friends like Wei Qian and Yun Shu to study Qian Zhongshu's manuscripts.

In addition, Wen Lingyun took them to his study.

There, Wen Lingyun, Wei Qian, and Yun Shu talked animatedly, while Zhao Xinyi could only stand blankly to the side like a fool.

Because she could not interject at all into the topics they discussed.

She could not even find a book she could understand.

Inside that study, there were either precious ancient books, academic research reports, or foreign literary works entirely in English.

Popular and easy-to-understand books like romance novels could never enter Wen Lingyun's study.

"Student Xinyi, didn't you say you were interested in literature? Then you can study this copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude; it's a genuine full-English edition, and you probably don't know this yet: Marquez has not authorized our domestic publication of this work to this day, meaning all Chinese translations on the market are actually pirated."

Wen Lingyun enthusiastically introduced this book in his collection to Zhao Xinyi and even offered to lend it to her.

Zhao Xinyi did not know what to say for a moment.

How could she have the ability to read this full-English book!

Let alone that One Hundred Years of Solitude is already a dull book.

"I'm returning to Guangzhou in a few days, so this probably..."

Zhao Xinyi declined tactfully; she worried that if she took the book, and Wen Lingyun later came to discuss its contents with her, she would know nothing when asked, and she would become a laughingstock.

"It's fine, take it back to Guangzhou, and mail it back to me after you finish reading; you can send it cash on delivery, you don't even need to pay the postage!"

Wen Lingyun was very enthusiastic and added:

"If you want to study literature, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a monumental work you cannot avoid no matter what; its influence is too great, having a very profound impact on both foreign and domestic literary circles!"

Zhao Xinyi gave a dry laugh, not knowing how to respond.

Yun Shu nodded in agreement at this time:

"Yes, although this book is hard to digest, it is indeed a literary monument one cannot avoid; our domestic avant-garde writers, such as Mo Yan, Chen Zhongshi, Yu Hua, and so on, whenever they involve magical realism writing techniques, are all influenced by this One Hundred Years of Solitude."

Wei Qian then said:

"It's a pity that when Marquez visited our country and saw pirated editions everywhere on the streets, he angrily refused to grant us translation authorization; otherwise we could see genuine Chinese translations."

Wen Lingyun, however, smiled and said:

"How could a Chinese translation be as good as the full-English original? Literary works must be read in the original to savor their authentic flavor; just like our Four Great Classical Novels—Journey to the West, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber—must be read in our original versions; once translated into foreign languages, they completely change; likewise, English originals translated into Chinese will surely change greatly in appearance."

Zhao Xinyi watched the three Tsinghua students talk animatedly, while she herself could not interject at all, and she inevitably felt some defeat in her heart.

After all, when she was Operations Director at Xiao Du Company, whether dealing with business partners, her subordinates, or her direct supervisor Du Xiaojuan, they all praised her eloquence and high emotional intelligence.

But now she was like a mute, unable to say a single word.

She could actually speak up to praise Wen Lingyun and the others' learning, but she feared that praising too shallowly might backfire.

At this moment, she suddenly deeply understood what "social circle" meant.

Social circles are not determined simply by money; a nouveau riche with tens of millions in net worth can never squeeze into the circle of an academic clan with the same tens of millions in net worth.

Just like now, she Zhao Xinyi; even if Wen Lingyun was willing to bring her to his home as a guest, throughout the whole process she could only stand there foolishly like an outsider.

This made her feel inferior involuntarily.

And inferiority would trigger sensitive self-esteem.

She even once suspected that Wen Lingyun recommending One Hundred Years of Solitude to her contained some other deep meaning.

It was a very tactful and obscure refusal of her.

After all, the four characters "One Hundred Years of Solitude" on the surface are very inauspicious, giving a feeling of having to remain alone forever, while falling in love is the opposite—it is about getting rid of loneliness.

But in fact she was thinking too much; it was completely groundless speculation.

Mr. Wen Lingyun was purely being kind in recommending a book to her.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, this classic work, is indeed a monument in the literary world that cannot be avoided, and indeed a work that every literature lover should study.

If Wen Lingyun knew Zhao Xinyi had misinterpreted his kindness like this, he would probably cry and laugh helplessly.

The several people stayed in the study for a good while, and in the blink of an eye it was lunchtime.

Wen Lingyun's mother came to knock on the door, asking Wen Lingyun to take everyone to the living room to eat, and said that quite a few guests had come today.

Wen Lingyun, upon hearing that guests had come, furrowed his brow:

"Mom, did you bring another family's daughter to our door again? I've said I only want to study now, I don't want to fall in love!"

Mother Wen smiled and said:

"Falling in love doesn't delay your studies; what are you resisting? Look at Wei Qian and Yun Shu, so sweet, making progress together; don't you envy them?"

Wen Lingyun rolled his eyes:

"What do I envy? If I envy anyone, I envy Wan Zhiyuan; he actually managed to get the qualification to do experiments at the Tsinghua chemical engineering laboratory—that's way more awesome than having a girlfriend!"

Wen Lingyun had always wanted to do research related to hydrogen energy; unfortunately, he had not yet applied for experiment qualification, and besides, the risk of this research was much higher than that of lithium batteries, lead batteries, and other chemical battery research, and the cost was also much higher, so for a freshman like Wen Lingyun who had just entered Tsinghua University, the school generally would not directly let them touch this research.

The higher the cost of a research project, the more one must first solidify the basic theory before being able to conduct in-depth experiments.

"Be patient; I've had your father arrange it; didn't you say hydrogen energy technology is all mastered by Japan? I'll have your father contact the big shots in the relevant fields over there in Japan, and then see if we can arrange for you to go to Japan for exchange and study."

Mother Wen said thus.

This is the difference between a capable family and an ordinary family.

A capable family like Wen Lingyun's directly contacts the most top-tier, most cutting-edge scientists, placing their children beside those top-tier, cutting-edge scientists to study.

This kind of resource cannot be measured by wealth.

It was precisely because the Wen Family had this kind of resource that when Wen Lingyun first enrolled at Tsinghua University, his parents Wen Ba and Wen Ma, as parents, disliked everything about Tsinghua's dormitories, even looking down on them.

Actually, if Wen Lingyun wanted to study abroad, his parents could find him the best prestigious foreign schools to attend, such as Harvard, Oxford, and so on; it was just that Wen Lingyun himself felt he should first finish his undergraduate studies domestically, then go abroad for further studies later, which would be more favorable for his own development, so in the end he chose Tsinghua.

Wen Lingyun immediately rejoiced greatly:

"Mom, I knew you treat me the best!"

Mother Wen laughed cheerfully:

"You are my son; if I don't treat you well, who else should I treat well?"

At this moment Mother Wen's tone changed: "But if that's the case, not only do you have to do well on the TOEFL and IELTS, you also have to learn Japanese; can you manage it?"

Wen Lingyun laughed confidently:

"Rest assured, Japanese and our Chinese have many things in common; give me two months, and I will definitely learn it!"