Chapter 900

The biggest difference between humans and animals lies in the fact that humans can think.

But the most terrifying thing about humans also lies in thinking.

Take the matter of working and getting paid; if people don't think and just work mechanically and numbly, then work is work, and there is nothing remarkable about it.

But if a worker thinks, will he feel dissatisfied with his current situation?

This is like a worker on an assembly line; every day, the goods he produces with his own hands might sell for twenty dollars, the boss can earn ten dollars from it, but only gives the worker two dollars.

Is it reasonable?

When you don't think about this question, it is very reasonable.

But once you think about it, it is unreasonable.

So the greatest thing about humans lies in thinking, but the most terrifying thing also lies in thinking.

Sometimes thinking will destroy a social system that, although perhaps unreasonable, can at least function normally; thinking possesses the power of destruction!

The bumpy cart finally stopped outside the library they had agreed upon.

Originally, Lan Si's idea was to host them at the La Pa Grand Hotel, but he changed the location.

There are some cheap hotels near the library, and Lan Si had already opened rooms for them.

In the invitation letter sent to them, besides the invitation letter itself, there was also the room key.

These hotel rooms only cost fifteen Para a night, very cheap.

It's not that the prices here are just this low, but that many La Pa people would rather sleep on the road for a night than spend money to sleep in a hotel.

Most hotels are in a semi-vacant state, and their decoration is not good, and there are no other services; even if the price is very low, it is difficult to recruit full guests.

On the contrary, the La Pa Grand Hotel, the price here is not cheap for locals, but the hotel's business is very good; one can always see foreigners and local middle-to-high-class people coming in and out.

Life is sometimes even more outrageous than the outrageous stories written by the most outrageous screenwriters!

With the help of the key tag, Pedro found his room.

After pushing open the door, there was a musty smell of decay, but he didn't complain about anything; he just quietly walked to the window, pushed it open, and then sat on the edge of the bed.

This is his first time participating in this kind of activity; he is a bit nervous, but he also vaguely feels that this might be an opportunity.

He stayed in the room all day; he brought some flatbread from home.

The kind made by adding a little water and salt to whole wheat flour, fermenting it slightly, rolling it into a ball, and baking it in an oven.

It is not very soft, a bit hard, but it has the advantage of being able to fill the stomach.

Not a word was spoken all night.

The next morning, someone knocked on the door; he scrambled up and walked to the door to open it.

Outside the door was a foreigner; these federal people have very white skin, which has a significant difference from the slightly brown skin of the local La Pa people.

"Mr. Lan Si is waiting for you in the library; we have a meeting this morning, a consciousness of mutual introduction; I hope you won't be late."

Pedro nodded repeatedly, "Of course, of course, I'll tidy up and go over immediately."

La Pa people don't have the habit of brushing their teeth, mainly because the price of toothbrushes is not cheap, and toothpaste is also not cheap; they cannot produce it themselves, and it is all imported goods.

Imported goods mean expensive; except for the true middle class, the underclass people cannot afford to use them.

They use tree branches, but they don't use them often, so most La Pa people's teeth are yellow.

He dealt with his teeth in the washroom for a long time; after confirming there was no overly obvious smell when breathing into his hands, he went out.

From here to the library, there is only the distance of one road; on the road, he also saw several people like himself, obviously carefully dressed, walking towards the library.

They should all be people invited by Mr. Lan Si to come here to participate in a... seminar.

Pedro nodded to them and greeted them, and the others also responded enthusiastically.

Zhuo Lan's National Library has some separate reading rooms, and Lan Si rented these independent rooms.

At ten o'clock in the morning, these gentlemen had already gathered in the room; they found their seats according to the staff's guidance and sat down.

At ten-ten, Lan Si rushed over from the outside, his face slightly apologetic, "Sorry, a little late."

The others naturally wouldn't express pursuit of his lateness problem.

Lan Si walked to his seat and sat down; he looked around, "I'm sorry I only rented the venue of the National Library to hold this seminar; my original intention was to rent a conference room or auditorium in the La Pa Grand Hotel, and I also arranged your rooms there."

"This would allow our seminar to look more formal and more vibrant."

"However, when I communicated with the hotel, they told me a piece of information that shocked and saddened me!"

When Lan Si said this, he paused, and his gaze lingered on these people's faces again, "They said that lower-class people are not allowed to enter the La Pa Grand Hotel."

Speaking of this, Lan Si lowered his head slightly, as if expressing regret for this news.

This sentence he said caused a brief commotion in the room; most of these people are educated people, and they can control their emotions well.

Pedro felt his chest tighten, as if he were wearing an ill-fitting shirt, tightly wrapping his body, making his breathing become unsmooth.

Immediately after, he couldn't help but smile and shake his head; it wasn't a happy smile, but a bitter smile.

He had never been to the La Pa Grand Hotel; he had originally been full of longing for this place; he even fantasized that if there were a chance in the future, he would also like to go in and see.

But now, this small dream that once existed was shattered.

At the same time, it also placed a bloody reality in front of people's eyes.

Lan Si leaned forward, his finger joints tapping on the desktop; the force was not great, but the sound tapped out could penetrate people's hearts.

"This is an ugly phenomenon."

"I asked the hotel doorman, and the lobby manager, how they distinguish whether a La Pa person is an upper-class person or a lower-class person."

"Who can decide whether this person is an upper-class person or a lower-class person?"

"Law, surname, or something else?"

"They told me a very intuitive method—"

He looked around at these people again; this time it was different from the previous two times.

The previous two times he looked at these people, they would meet his gaze and look at him, but this time, they all lowered their heads.

"He said, distinguish from clothing."

"He told me that ordinary people cannot afford decent attire, formal wear, ties or bow ties, and shiny leather shoes."

"Ordinary people cannot afford it, or can afford it but won't buy it; they have no way to use several years or more than ten years of income to buy a set of clothes, instead of letting family members live better, so this method is very effective."

"I have no intention of hurting everyone's emotions and personality, but after discovering this problem, I reflected."

"Are ordinary people just lower-class people?"

"If ordinary people are lower-class people, who is qualified to become an upper-class person?"

"Who decided who is an upper-class person and who is a lower-class person?"

"As a foreigner, a federal person, I shouldn't have said these words."

"But I want to talk about it."

"A country that cannot even take care of the most basic dignity of its people, and still uses upper-class and lower-class people to treat them differently, must be sick."

"When a person is sick, there is a doctor to treat them; when this country is sick, who will treat it?"

He left a question; this question was for them to think about.

People who can be selected to participate in the seminar are people with certain ideas; some of them have not received higher education, but this does not mean they don't think or don't have ideas.

"Alright, this topic ends here."

"Let us focus our attention on our seminar."

"This seminar will last for about five days to a week; as a promotion of exchange between the Federation and the Asian Alliance, our seminar process and content will be recorded in the form of images and text."

"I believe that after watching the movies and some text materials, everyone will have many ideas and viewpoints."

"As a less developed region, you have lived here for many years; what do you think is the biggest difference between the current La Pa and the Federation?"

"What caused two adjacent countries and societies to have such a huge gap?"

"Not to mention the Federation, even compared to the Republic of Jiede, there is a big gap."

"Also a country in the Ya Lan region, one of the member states of the Asian Alliance, where exactly does La Pa's problem lie?"

"This is the topic we are researching and discussing today."

"Later, I will invite everyone to the Federation to observe the society of the Federation, but now, let us talk about the people here and the things here."

A very formal seminar, research, and discussion.

This question is something they have never seriously considered, but it is possible that in some fragmented time, they had a momentary impulse to think about it.

Where exactly is La Pa worse than other countries?

Pedro really wanted to ask, can this also be considered research to promote cultural exchange?

But he also felt that perhaps this is the misunderstanding generated by the contact between two different societies; interpreting the badness here helps the Federation understand this place better?

He didn't know; others were all thinking seriously and expressing their viewpoints; he soon immersed himself in such an atmosphere.

He told himself that this was just an academic study.

As a teacher, who doesn't yearn for an academic study?

At noon, Lan Si had people send lunch, which was a very delicious lunch; there was even beef and pork!

Pedro had eaten bird meat, snake meat, wolf meat, and even leopard meat, but he had never eaten beef.

Because the former animals can be obtained from the wild, but beef is only artificially raised.

As long as it is something artificially raised, it costs money, and the price of beef is also relatively expensive; he cannot afford it.

He suddenly thought of a narration in the movie earlier—

"A worker's wage can satisfy his daily demand for meat; one pound of fresh ordinary ground beef only costs a few cents."

(End of chapter)