Chapter 546

This kind of gathering at Zhang Zhang Qiyan's home was not just a meal to get a free lunch, but also a place for mutual exchange. Li Ye's few fellow disciples would often argue until their faces were red over some economic issue.

And Zhang Zhang Qiyan, as an economics bigwig, would act as a commentator, pointing out and helping these few prized disciples as much as possible.

You must know that in the early eighties, the wind in the mainland blew east and west. For excellent reserve cadres like Yu Yu Xiufen and Zou Zou Mengcheng, once a judgment error occurred, it would affect their entire future.

And in every discussion, Li Ye was always the most "gentle" one among the fellow disciples.

He had always disliked engaging in meaningless arguments with others, but today, just as Cai Cai Minying showed her head, Li Ye went tit-for-tat.

Just now, Cai Cai Minying only expressed her views on the "Plaza Accord," and Li Ye felt the taste wasn't quite right.

She was too worshipful of Western economic policies.

The "Plaza Accord" was clearly a war of the West harvesting Japan, but Cai Cai Minying still felt the Lighthouse people were doing the right thing. Do we also have to listen to their opinions, fatten ourselves up, and wait for others to harvest us later?

However, just based on a few words, Li Ye couldn't be sure of Cai Cai Minying's thoughts, so he threw out the lead of "protecting the poor" to test her.

Of course, this was also Li Ye's consistent viewpoint—to do things beneficial to the ordinary masses to the best of my ability.

Even if it's like Brother Dong, providing five insurances and one fund for grassroots employees! That's also a contribution.

The result of the test made Li Ye quite disappointed.

"Protect the poor? How could you have such thoughts?"

Cai Cai Minying looked at Li Ye in surprise, then asked at an extremely fast speed, "Student Li Ye, are you a person living thirty years ago?

Don't you know that we need to let some people get rich first now? Do you think it's still the era where whoever is poor is glorious..."

"Although Lighthouse has a relief system for the poor, that's not a reason why the poor need to be taken care of. In Lighthouse, homeless people are also looked down upon."

"Senior Sister Cai, first of all, I very much agree with the policy of letting some people get rich first, but what about after getting rich? Is it to let the rich help the poor, or to let the system help the poor?"

Li Ye interrupted Cai Cai Minying's words, then said in a calm tone, "Poverty and wealth are relative, and they are also impossible to balance. The rich will always only be a minority.

This time, the agreement signed by Lighthouse jointly with the other four countries, the wealth ultimately plundered, most of it still belongs to the rich.

Senior Sister Cai, you said you want to research and learn Western economics, I think that's good; otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen the Western economics major in the first place.

But if Western free economics is completely copied to the mainland, it's definitely inappropriate, because Western free economics is still too biased toward the rich."

When Cai Cai Minying showed surprise at "protecting the poor," Li Ye knew that she had completely substituted herself into capital economics and forgotten the nature of the institution she served.

After Cai Cai Minying returned to the country, the place she entered was the mainland's Economic Planning Committee!

If you are poor, it's because you aren't working hard enough, and you deserve to be poor.

Perhaps Cai Cai Minying's thoughts were the same as the vast majority of pioneers now, wanting to change the situation in the mainland as soon as possible and take off the hat of poverty and backwardness.

And the prosperity overseas just happened to prove the advancement of free economics over the mainland's planned economy, so Cai Cai Minying firmly believed she was right.

But Li Ye knew that if Western free economics were allowed to run rampant in the mainland, then many years later, there would be real oligarchs in the mainland, and the increasingly rare homeless people on the streets would eventually reappear.

Although many people in later generations would curse for the wealth gap, and many rich people indeed act like tyrants, everything is relative. The mainland's investment in the grassroots people is greater than any other country in the world, and the restrictions on the rich have never been relaxed.

No matter how poor the poor are, the basic needs of clothing, food, housing, and transportation must be met.

Decades later, how many homeless people are left on the streets? How many people are starving to death?

No matter how rich the rich are, they cannot be lawless. It's no problem for you to have private jets, clubs, and models; nobody cares if you have eighteen illegitimate children. But if you dare to be greedy and always think about emptying the last coin in the poor's pockets, and even dare to touch the country's interests...

One finger can crush you; if you don't believe it, just try.

But Li Ye's "old-fashioned" thinking was a minority in this era, especially among young people who hadn't experienced the wind and rain; he was definitely an "alien."

Cai Cai Minying, whose words were interrupted by Li Ye, immediately said with anger after Li Ye finished speaking, "Student Li Ye, don't you know that interrupting others' speeches is a very impolite behavior?"

Li Ye answered in a second: "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Cai Cai Minying: "..."

What Li Ye was showing now was the so-called politeness of the West—moving your lips, not strenuous at all. Many things in the West are just this hypocritical, like the so-called free economics, which is only free for themselves; free for others... are you dreaming?

Cai Cai Minying stared at Li Ye for a long time, then asked, "You followed the teacher for three years, what exactly did you learn? Do you want to continue being poor? Do you want the people around you to be like you, to stay poor forever?"

Li Ye shook his head indifferently: "Actually, I am richer than the vast majority of people. If the economy is completely liberalized, I will earn more money.

But I still think that we must combine it with our national conditions and walk our own path; we cannot blindly trust Western economic policies."

"Heh."

Cai Cai Minying finally laughed.

She asked Li Ye with a smile: "You don't think that earning a large sum of manuscript fees really counts as being rich, do you? You should actually go abroad to see what true wealth looks like."

Li Ye glanced at Cai Cai Minying and didn't speak to her again.

In this world, there are indeed some people who can discuss the question of "whether one is rich" with Li Ye, but it certainly doesn't include Cai Cai Minying.

Because a person who can earn one billion US dollars will definitely not be blinded by the performance of Western free economics.

They have played free economics for so many years, and now they say they want to "take you along," and then you follow their baton—can you really play better than them?

Therefore, you cannot let others lead you by the nose, even if there is a carrot in front of your nose.

It's best to eat the carrot and still walk your own path.

But Cai Cai Minying was clearly not very satisfied with Li Ye's "lowering the flag and stopping the drums." After all, even someone with a sharp tongue like Yu Yu Xiufen said the little junior sister had a bad temper, and clearly, she hadn't been able to suppress her.

However, before Cai Cai Minying could speak again, Professor Zhang spoke first: "Alright, you two are both smart people. Cai Minying studied abroad for three years, broadened her horizons, and learned knowledge.

Li Ye has his own unique understanding of the mainland's economy. You two should communicate more in the future; you can benefit from each other."

Yu Yu Xiufen, Zou Zou Mengcheng, and the others looked at Li Ye and Cai Cai Minying, and then all couldn't help but purse their lips and chuckle, especially Yu Yu Xiufen, whose face was full of schadenfreude.

But Cai Cai Minying was just stunned for a moment, and immediately said: "Teacher, you called me here today just to have him persuade me of some viewpoints? Then you might have wasted your effort; I have no interest in communicating with him."

Everyone stopped laughing and all looked at Zhang Zhang Qiyan in surprise.

Professor Zhang looked at Cai Cai Minying silently for a few seconds, then stood up and took a document from the bookshelf.

"Cai Minying, you've been a bit floating recently. You didn't listen at all to the words I said to you a few days ago.

Not only did you not listen, but you also wrote it into a proposal and submitted it. Yesterday, someone forwarded the report to me and asked me if the suggestions inside were my intention."

Zhang Zhang Qiyan looked at Cai Cai Minying and said gently: "I was thinking yesterday, if I hadn't criticized you so loudly that day, would you not have been so reckless?"

"Although Li Ye hasn't studied abroad, his horizons are very broad, he is not unfamiliar with the situation overseas, and he has his own insights into the wind direction of the mainland."

"So I hope you can communicate with Li Ye. You think some of the thoughts of this old man are backward, then you young people should have a common language, right?

I remember you used to always argue with your senior brothers and sisters, but now, how long has it been since you discussed with them? They are in frontline positions, and many things are more thorough than what you see."

Everyone was stunned again, and Li Ye finally understood that the teacher wanted himself, this mud turtle raised in freshwater, to teach the sea turtle returning from saltwater how to learn "mixed farming"?

But why? Just because the mud turtle and the sea turtle are both of the order Testudines and family Trionychidae?

Li Ye somewhat impolitely reached out and took the proposal first, quickly flipping through it.

Anyway, there are only a few types of Eastern and Western theories at this time. Li Ye, who is familiar with history, understood it at a glance; there was no need to use a magnifying glass to pick at words.

A few minutes later, Li Ye exhaled and threw the proposal back onto the table.

Zhang Zhang Qiyan asked in surprise: "Li Ye, you've finished reading it already?"

Li Ye nodded without speaking.

Zhang Zhang Qiyan asked again: "Then what is your opinion?"

Li Ye shook his head and said very straightforwardly: "I don't understand it, no opinion."

Zhang Zhang Qiyan was choked.

Even Wang Wang Zhiyuan, who was the most honest person present, could see that Li Ye's words were insincere, and could even see a little bit of "disdain."

That's right, Li Ye was disdainful.

Studied abroad for three years, spent at least twenty thousand US dollars, and ended up learning this?

In her proposal, Cai Cai Minying hinted at the extremely sensitive issue of "privatization," and the example she relied on was Lighthouse and other developed Western countries.

Li Ye didn't oppose privatization either; after all, the private economy is an important supplement to the state-owned economy, and he is now one of the beneficiaries of privatization in the mainland.

But Cai Cai Minying, unfortunately, expanded the privatization target too much, even vaguely including railways and electricity.

Looking at it from the eighties, overseas railways and electricity were indeed more advanced than those in the mainland, because the mainland was experiencing power outages all day long at this time, and the electricity usage of units like hospitals couldn't be fully guaranteed.

As for trains, don't even mention it; you couldn't get on them, and you couldn't even get on them by drilling through the windows.

So Cai Cai Minying's suggestion seemed very correct.

But unfortunately, Li Ye happened to know the degree of development of these very backward projects, railways and electricity, in the mainland in the future.

It's just that Cai Cai Minying is an elite who returned from overseas, a master's degree holder, and a senior sister, so Li Ye couldn't spray her right away.

Anyway, with her ability, it's impossible to change such an important national policy and change the historical trajectory of these two world-class achievements. After all, those people who walked through the rain of bullets haven't all died yet! They will brake at critical moments.

So it's better to just pretend not to understand.

But Cai Cai Minying understood Li Ye's eyes.

"You don't not understand, you look down on it, right?"

(End of chapter)