Subtitle of this chapter: Reputation can be brushed, but forced character cannot be ruined!

I saw our Master Yuan crossing Erlang's legs, raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said disapprovingly: "Only 40,000? It's not early in the afternoon, it's still early! ”

At this time, Miss Helen Brown also said with a sad face, "Sorry, 40,000 is really a lot." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Our Master Yuan's heart is hot, this man and woman have two white skins...... Well, white friends are really good to themselves. He could see that if these two guys hadn't deliberately slowed down, how could it be that it was only $40,000 now.

Are there good people among white people who can't be the kind of racist who only looks at the color of their skin? Or is it true that a certain great man said that it is necessary to unite all the forces that can be united!

Thinking of this, Yuan Yanqian looked at Mr. John McCall, who had been watching the excitement beside him.

"Humph!" John McCall, who had never left, glanced at him and snorted coldly, "You persuaded in vain." This guy did it on purpose, and I want to see if the final amount will reach 400,000. ”

Wow, this guy really should be united, and he can actually see that I did it on purpose.

Yuan Yanqian gave a thumbs up and said, "We Sailis people have a proverb that the person who knows you best is your enemy. You see, it's our lawyer who knows me. ”

Mr. McCall said with a sneering smile, "Yes, Mr. Yuan is right. I can see why you're doing this. ”

"Oh." Master Yuan, who was greatly interested, asked, "Then tell me, what is the purpose of my doing this?" ”

“POTLATCH!”

Hearing this word from John, an economics layman like Miss Brown naturally didn't know why, but the expressions of the Stern College students present moved slightly.

Potlatch literally translated into Chinese is the winter gift-giving festival, which is actually the original origin of the custom of Westerners exchanging gifts at Christmas and orientals giving red envelopes. At the same time, it is also an academic term, that is, "the feast of the rich".

Strictly speaking, this should be the domain of anthropological research, but it is also a very peculiar economic behavior in some human societies. The custom was most prevalent among the Nordic Vikings, Eskimos, North American Indians, and the snowy plateaus of China.

Flaunting wealth is a common occurrence in human history, but it would be grotesque if it became a custom and was done regularly. However, some peoples have this grotesque custom.

At such feasts, the host invites guests from all over the world, deliberately destroys a large amount of personal property in front of the guests, and generously gives gifts. For example, in the ancient English epic poem "Beowulf", there is such a description, the tribal leader smashed gold and silver objects, piled up textiles and fish oil, food and fuel that were very precious to the Norsemen, and burned them to the ground.

This system seems to be the result of a simple profligacy, a childish waste, and a "delusional megalomaniac personality". Just like our Master Yuan, he inexplicably put forward a very harsh bet on himself, and also accepted a huge bet.

In fact, the feast of boasting has its own deep meaning.

“POTLATCH…… Hahaha...... Trade wealth for fame. Yuan Yanqian laughed, "Mr. McCall, I'm really going to be impressed with you!" ”

John shrugged his shoulders and said, "Isn't it?" Although I don't know how you will pay this compensation after you lose, but after today in NYU, no, who in the whole of New York does not know that there is such a crazy Chinese as you? Even if you file for bankruptcy, your reputation is earned. ”

Our Master Yuan said in his heart, this guy is really smart, no wonder he can get a New York State bar license. Once you are not blinded by jealousy, you will immediately see that you are seeking fame.

I want this little brother!

He had made up his mind from the outset that he would have to gain a certain level of prestige in the academic world, preferably in the way he is now, before he began to publish literature, especially popular fiction.

In fact, "Chocolate Love", which has been revised by him, is no longer a romance novel in the pure sense, but contains anti-war and anti-religious humanitarian concerns; "The Case of Di Gong" can be said to be an orthodox historical novel in the skin of a detective novel; And "Fifty Shades of Grey" ...... He never thought of publishing it under his real name.

Mr. John McCall's bet was really dozing off and someone sent a pillow, and the timing was so good. So he didn't resent his "rival in love" at all, but was grateful from the bottom of his heart.

This is because whether it is in the East or the West today, the popular fiction writer is a very low job, probably a little better than the drama and movie star.

For example, Gong Baiyu, a master of martial arts novels during the Republic of China, said, "I am not poor to the extreme, I refuse to write." He also said, "These boring words can be published and sold, which is a shame in today's North China literary circle, and I am not responsible." ”。

Shame on the literary world...... That's how everyone views their works in martial arts novels!

Although he made a good living from martial arts novels, he was not only ashamed of his martial arts creations, but even very contemptuous, and felt that he was a famous flower and a broken blue bridge. He deeply felt that he had failed to live up to Mr. Lu Xun's ardent expectations for him, and felt that he had no shame to see Lu Xun again, so he automatically cut off his relationship.

After talking about the East, let's talk about the West. A master of horror fiction like the Lord of Love Crafts is simply disdained by the mainstream literary world. Not to mention the "father of Cthulhu", even Edgar Allan Poe, whose literary status is much higher than him, is still poor all his life.

Edgar Allan Poe is the originator of mystery novels and science fiction novels, the pioneer of short stories, and the representative of romanticism, but because he was born in popular novels, he has never been accepted by mainstream American society.

To put it simply, Yuan Yanqian's thinking is like this. Master of Political Economy...... Well, it is still a very well-known master who writes popular novels out of interest, and that is his old man is versatile and informal; And an ordinary intellectual doing this kind of in order to make a living is willing to degenerate, in the eyes of cultural people at that time, it was probably similar to everyone taking the initiative to go to the sea.

In the United States, a relatively open capitalist society where everything is about money, the problem is not very big. But when he returned to China, a doctor in the United States who was world-famous for his political economy work "Socialism" and a fake foreign devil who came back to write "prostitution and theft" pulp novels, the Chinese people's evaluation of the two must be very different.

His principle is: reputation can be brushed, but forced character cannot be ruined.

Yuan Yanqian, who came back to her senses, said with a smile: "John, then I will borrow your auspicious words!" ”

"Alright, let's move on!"