Chapter 96
Chapter 99:
Miss Pan De is very rich.
I probably have such an impression. Because among the classmates of my university, everyone who dares to study liberal arts, without exception, has some family background; let alone those who dare to study literature at the postgraduate level, after all, there is only Qu Zhizhi among the international students, and she is indeed Well-off family.
In addition, Miss Pan De has her own car, which is still a luxury car.
…And it’s still a luxury car with manual transmission.
I realized that she is rich.
But I didn’t realize that Miss Pan De was so rich.
Old Huang laughed and patted me: “What’s wrong? Your whole body is frozen!”
“No, I just…” I touched the back of my neck, “I thought she earned more.”
“How much can she earn as a partner? One million a year?” The boss actually laughed, I think I must be very funny now, “That’s not a person who can be a role model for us, you set the wrong goal. Don’t be discouraged, Yao, the level I have reached now, when you reach my age, I don’t think it will be a problem for you.”
I forcefully laughed: “Landed housing is already a grand enough goal, I’m afraid I can’t reach it.”
“Find a partner who is close to the target with you.” Old Huang winked his eyes.
“That’s true.” The boss folded his arms and patted his arm. “If you are interested in a while, I want to introduce a friend to you. Do you want to see the photos first?”
“I’m not on a blind date, you know, Rudra. But thank you anyway.” I smiled and shook my head. The muddy water brought by the dog on the boss’s body has all dried up, and it is frighteningly hot today.
Hearing what I said, Lao Huang didn’t take down the stage, but smiled meaningfully on the sidelines.
——I’m not saying that she can’t be rich, or she doesn’t seem to be a rich person. I will neither despise my dating partner for being impoverished, nor will I reject being close to a super rich man.
But I really didn’t expect that-at Dempsey Mountain that day, Miss Pande, like me, had a lot of criticism about the ten-dollar bottle of imported mineral water from Greece?
I remember she also mentioned that the mineral water in the supermarket is only three cents. I always drink a few brands of mineral water. The price of 500ml ranges from one dollar, which is a bit more luxurious than hers.
And the day before yesterday, we should have gone to Sentosa. The landed houses that foreigners are eligible to buy are all over there-isn’t her friend who lent us the villa to be her?
I still feel that my forehead is hot and the sun is too poisonous.
No, why would a rich man drink mineral water of three cents?
There was movement on the porch, and the children came out holding the ingredients. The Chihuahua was the first creature present to react, and immediately rushed to the wife of the boss. The children laughed, and the yard was instantly full of pure joy and the dog’s sharp barking.
“I ate a pack of snacks for you.” I helped Katya put the marinated meat on a high place for later use. “I was so hungry when I came today.”
“Is it delicious?” She didn’t seem to be very angry, looking at me with dark eyes.
It’s so cute-totally different from the boss.
“Not bad, your taste is very similar to mine.”
“That makes your taste very similar to mine, not the opposite.” Katya said, “I have two more bags. You can take it with you if you like.”
There is a strange mixture of coolness and innocence when she speaks. When I first entered puberty, I was definitely more awkward than her, at least I couldn’t calmly talk to adults as a child. I laughed blankly, arched slightly, and stared at her: “Thank you. But I have a salary, so I can buy it myself.”
“I want to get a salary, too.” She hugged her arm. “By the way, Yao, I’m learning “Etude in F minor”. Would you like to come over and listen to me later?”
I immediately agreed.
When she saw me nodding, the look of expectation immediately turned into a smile, revealing the metal brackets on the teeth. Katya might be a little embarrassed, and closed her mouth again.
I almost laughed, afraid of hurting her, and finally pretended to be a drink for her, and went to the refrigerator to pick a bottle of mineral water. They were all taken to her, but it was not good for the other children to ignore it, so I turned over four more cans of juice and came out: now it’s all beer inside.
So you can’t leave it to Lao Huang to buy drinks. The only ones present were him and the old man drinking beer.
I walked for a while for no reason.
She said she hated beer.
“Auntie!” Old Huang’s eldest son didn’t know where he got out, “What are you laughing at?”
“Laugh when you are happy.” I got a headache when I heard the voice, and patted him on the head.
“Kaja’s father called you over.” He carried his hands behind his back and followed me, only to come out for a while, his body was already sweating and his face was red. Lao Huang’s youngest son is even more wild, now you chase me with the ball and Chihuahua…
I looked at my sister-in-law. She was already struggling to death with her computer.
Correct. I should look after them this afternoon…
“Why are you sighing?” Old Huang’s eldest son said. But after he asked, he seemed to have forgotten what he was talking about, and his thinking jumped elsewhere: “Today we played VR tennis in the game, and I took the first place.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Normally. I like activities that test more brainpower.” He said coolly.
Really, one of the duo who has been in my house for just a week, because I got ping-pong-pong in the house and caused me to be complained three times, now tells me that he likes brain-testing activities?
I try to keep my facial expressions smooth: “Really? What are your favorite projects recently?”
“”Crusaders 2″.” He said immediately, “Just now we watched Katya’s mother play for two hours. I think it suits me well.”
The eldest son also echoed: “My mother is great, isn’t it?”
I refrained from targeting the parties who forced the child to watch her play strategy games. The eldest’s wife is also helping near the barbecue right now. I don’t know how she feels when she hears the children’s heated discussion.
When Internet cafes were just popularized, one of our family members opened one in the courtyard. There are indeed scenes in my memory when I went to an Internet cafe with a few neighbors’ kids when I went back from summer vacation. I had no impression of whether the game I was watching was “Red Alert” or “Age of Empires”. I just remember it was a real-time strategy game, playing games. It was the young man who came over by bicycle from a nearby area. He was very proud at the time, as if he was not interested in the magnificent game world itself, but the insignificant group of spectators attending elementary school around him.
However, the strategic depth of “Crusaders 2” is indistinguishable from the game at the time. How do these kids understand? In addition to Katya, the oldest Huang’s son is only nine years old.
“Boy.” Katya hugged her arms, made a nasal noise next to me, and slowly shook her head.
I looked at her, risking being despised, and whispered: “Do you still want to continue playing this afternoon?”
“I will not.”
“Neither will I.” The boys looked at each other.
“I can continue to play.” The boss’s wife suddenly said, “I haven’t got the’Integrated Carolingian’ yet.”
“The 1066 script?”
She nodded: “You can relax with them this afternoon. Leave it to me, the kids.”
Before I had time to say anything, Huang’s eldest son said, “Auntie, can you play?”
I shook my head: “I will be a little bit of its predecessors.”
Old Huang’s eyes widened: “You can play games?”
I took a breath: “You speak like a caveman. Of course I can play games.”
Old Huang was stunned for a moment, and his expression immediately became smooth again: “No, you must have some purpose.”
“My purpose is to relax, thank you.” I was secretly surprised. Lao Huang’s instincts are sometimes terrifyingly sharp.
I’m definitely not telling the truth, that would be too embarrassing.
“Playing games to learn history” is such a big truth that sounds like an excuse, even if I say it, Lao Huang won’t believe it. With so many children here today, let alone talk about it—otherwise I should become a debate material for a family meeting.
But it’s okay to talk to kids about the benefits of this type of game. In-depth strategy games have never been short of diehard fans. I took out my phone and searched for the passages I had read before. After checking the English translations of individual words, I said: “Have you heard Roman jokes?”
“What kind of?” Unexpectedly, Katya first greeted him. “Walk into a bar alone?”
That is an American joke.
I smiled and said, “Listen well? An infantryman, an armored cavalry, a Vardaritai archer, a soldier of the Varangi Guard, and a soldier of the Imperial Guard made an appointment to drink, and the infantry was late. .”
They just learned these words in the game this morning, and they are very familiar with them.
“The infantry said:’Your Majesty ordered us to go back and hold fast and charge at full speed.” The armored cavalry said, what is full speed?” I looked at Katya. She should still be watching seriously today, and now she has smiled.
I went on to say: “Vardaritai’s archers said, what is persistence?
“The Varangian guard said, what is an order?
“Finally, the soldier of the Imperial Guard said,” I sold it off before saying, “What is your Majesty?”
The few children didn’t know how much they understood, and laughed together. The boss’s wife obviously understands these stalks and laughed hard; the boss laughed too, and the most rare thing is that the old couple also joined the show, perhaps because my tone of “what is your majesty” is really funny.
After laughing for a while, Huang’s eldest son asked me, “Why would the Guards say that?”
“Well, what is the name of the Supreme Head of the Roman Empire, do you know?”
“Emperor?”
“You can say that. But at the time, people used the term’Augudus’ more often.” I tried to use simple words, “Augudus is generally elected by the Senate, and the Guards exist to protect Augustus. Yes. However, in the late Roman Empire, this system did not work well, because the Senate had no fists, and Augustus’s fists were not strong enough.
“At the most exaggerated time, the Senate elected four Augustus in a year, but they were all killed. Under such circumstances, how can you say that the Guards know what’Your Majesty’ is?”
“Then who is your majesty?” He asked a question that exceeded my expectations.
I took the children to sit down and thought for a while, and said, “It should be Diocletian. He used to be the head of the Janissaries. Later, I couldn’t understand that Augustus changed all the time. Made this “Your Majesty.” And he was a commoner at first, his father used to be a slave.”
“Wow.”
“Then he is great?”
“Very powerful.” I nodded. “After him, who is the next Augustus, the person who decides will change from the Senate to the current Augustus.”
“Who did he choose?”
“He selected several people. These people later refused to listen to anyone. One of them had the hardest fist and became the Byzantine Empire.”
“Oh!” The eldest son stood up, “The country my mother played today!”
“You are already very close to perfection!” I admire a little bit that I can describe “unachievable” as “very close to perfection”, but now it is not a time for self-praising after all, I continued, “Well, I was thinking , The country at war that you saw in the game today should be the Holy Roman Empire. Byzantium is on the far right and you have to run a lot of units to see it.”
“Isn’t Byzantium Rome?”
Started, I was preparing for the SAT World History nightmare.
I said: “If’Rome’ refers to the Rome we just mentioned, Byzantium is more like-more like its hand.”
“The Holy Roman Empire is one of its feet?”
“The Holy Roman Empire is a pork sausage made from its feet.” I said.
The boys opened their eyes wide: “Why?”
I took a breath: “Because there are a lot of pork sausages in Germany.”
After me, Katya completely changed the topic: “Have you been to Germany?”
“I went to school there for a year.”
“But what does it have to do with Germany?” Huang’s youngest son refused to let me go.
“Do you know where Rome is?” I looked at him.
This problem is still too difficult for a child who just started kindergarten, and he looked at his brother for help.
Huang’s eldest son said very confidently: “In Italy.”
Worthy of being Huang Xiuwen’s son, with new ideas for solving problems.
In the end, the boss rescued me from the pile of children. The food was distributed on the plates in advance. I distributed some chicken and onions, and a small amount of leeks. The leeks were brought by Lao Huang and they were the only comfort I got during this barbecue.
Of course, I am not going to ask why there is no beef. I still know that they don’t eat beef.
“You made a bad head.” The boss’s wife said, “Next we all have to prepare for the historical popularization of the Roman Empire.”
I laughed: “If the children are interested, they will check it out by themselves.”
“That’s why you accumulate so many crappy metaphors?” Lao Huang swallowed the leek, “Because of interest?”
“My metaphors are all very good.” I ignored him at all and looked at my sister-in-law, “My compatriots can prove it.”
“Yao’s Chinese metaphor is much better than English.” She doesn’t know if she is helping me or Huang Huang, “but overall it is very appropriate, but some need to think about it a little longer.”
Lao Huang was obviously dissatisfied, put down his plate, and slapped his chin at me: “You said, what did you say about the pork sausage just now?”
“What do you mean?” I frowned slightly. “Let me think of a few more analogies?”
“Yes. You can try to use metaphors that the Chinese can understand, or you can try to say that the Indians can easily understand.” Old Huang shook his head, “This is not what you are best at.”
“I’m good at everything.” I emphasized again, “Everything.”
The expressions of the boss and the children were almost the same, looking at me, their eyes…very awkward.
It’s like watching a Chihuahua.
Chihuahua was tired, now she was sticking her tongue out in the shade. I opened my mouth and said: “The Roman Empire is Ming, Byzantium is a bit like Nanming, and the Holy Roman Empire is the ‘Taiping Kingdom’ that claims to have inherited the Ming Dynasty—this is a fiction, it’s not like that in history.”
The sister-in-law raised her eyebrows: “Very precise.”
“What is the Taiping Kingdom?” Old Huang asked.
I don’t know how to translate “heaven” well, so I just used “kingdom”, which doesn’t hurt. I just said: “I made it up. I can’t think of it in Southeast Asia, can I skip it?”
Old Huang shrugged.
The boss saw me look over, and smiled slightly: “I don’t think you know the story of “Vedas”, but if it is an allusion to Indian history after the 13th century, I may not be able to understand it.”
Both he and his wife were born in Singapore, and the boss himself has never even been to India.
This is a bit troublesome. Before that, the native Indian written records were quite limited. I didn’t know about it at first, and the history of the Mughal Empire was learned in surprise this month.
After thinking for two seconds to no result, I simply stole a laziness and said: “Assuming that the Roman Empire is Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland under Henry VIII is understood to be part of it, then Northern Ireland is Byzantium, and the Holy Roman Empire is a bit Like the Republic of Ireland now.”
Of course, this is from the perspective of the United Kingdom. Standing on the Irish side, the metaphor was turned upside down.
The boss nodded slightly: “It’s easy to understand.”
“Is it easy to understand?” Old Huang looked over. It can be seen that he is not satisfied with either of these analogies.
I asked: “Isn’t the pork sausage convincing to you?”
Old Huang paused, and took a breath: “Okay.”
He may be downgraded to the same level as the children, feel uncomfortable, but have nothing to say.
The boss took a sip of beer: “Actually, Xiuwen-Yao can talk about historical topics with people of all backgrounds is a big advantage for her. The same cultural foundation is very important for building a sense of intimacy. Some People would say that Indians like to hold groups no matter where they are. If you look at the racial ratio of public officials in Singapore, the proportion of Chinese is unusually high, doesn’t it? In fact, these have something to do with culture. Conscious or subconscious, people always He likes to get close to people who have a topic with him.”
“Thank you.” I whispered, “I have done my homework in this area.”
Old Huang also nodded: “Yao is great.”
“If you have time, I think you can consider learning Mandarin.” The boss scanned me and looked at Lao Huang. “This can be very helpful for technical work, and for non-technical work, Mandarin is also Very important. You have natural conditions in this area, so try to grasp it.”
Old Huang thoughtfully, still nodded slightly, and said, “It’s very enlightening. I will consider it, thank you.”
The boss turned to me and said: “In the few private contacts, Sonia also left me with an impression very similar to you. Of course, you are more active and sharper, which also has something to do with your position. ”
I don’t know why, when I hear “position”, my cheeks are a little hot. Maybe the noon sun is too strong.
He analyzed a few words about Miss Pan De’s work style: “…I believe that the conversation between you will make both parties feel that they are facing each other. It is never wrong to be vigilant towards her.”
I refrained from responding: “She is indeed well-informed, and we can even interact with each other on many deep-level humanistic topics.”
The boss was dumb: “Of course, she is’Pand’.”
His wife laughed when he heard the words. My instinct is a Hindi joke, but they didn’t understand it either. I don’t need to pretend to understand it here.
“The last name of an Indian, you know what the family is doing, do you know this?” The boss patiently explained for us, “For example, my last name means ‘man driving a chariot’.”
I nodded, the traditional Indian surname is directly related to the caste system. Of course, this is a sensitive topic, and Indians don’t talk a lot, let alone foreigners.
“‘Pande’ translated from Sanskrit means’scholar’, someone who is proficient in the four Vedas.” Old Dadao, ‘so basically you can assume that she knows everything.”
I hesitated and said tentatively: “But Rudra, you don’t seem to have experience as a combatant?”
His beard moved and he laughed: “But my grandfather does. Until my father, almost all of our family members are making a living in related industries. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
not understand.
That is Sanskrit. Hasn’t Sanskrit almost died out?