Tian Mo asked Wu Dao to meet at a buffet restaurant near the school at 7 p.m., and Wu Dao arrived there ten minutes early, standing on the side of the store and watching the pedestrians coming and going. At seven o'clock five o'clock, a middle-aged man wearing a fat Tang suit, sweatpants, cloth shoes, short stature, and messy hair walked into his field of vision.

"Are you Teacher Tian Mo asking Tian?"

"My surname is Tian, are you a classmate of Xiao Wu?" Tian Mo asked.

"It's me, my name is Wu Dao, and I called you in the morning."

"Wu Dao, this name is good, there is no way, it is difficult and easy to achieve each other, and there is no way to really have a way. Your name is Wu Dao, my name is Mo Wen, it seems that this is also the fate of teachers and students. Okay, let's stop standing outside and let's eat and talk inside. You're so thin, you should eat more. This buffet meal is well done and I come to eat it often. Buffet, eat more and eat less is the same money, you can just take whatever you want. ”

Tian Mowen and Wu Dao walked into the store, chose a location, and then the two of them each took a plate to serve the meal. There are many types of meals, so it can be said that there is everything. When he was working in the Hecheng City Government, Wu Dao was afraid to avoid all kinds of banquets, and after leaving there, he stayed at home for a month, and suddenly felt that he missed those sumptuous banquets again. Seeing such a variety of meals in the restaurant, Wu Dao had the heart to serve more, but he was worried that eating so many things when he met the tutor for the first time would leave a bad impression on the tutor and make the tutor think that he was a rice bucket, so he served a plate according to his own amount of food. What he didn't expect was that Tian Mowen would have two large plates. Tian Mo asked Wu Daosheng that there were very few meals, so he said:

"Do you only eat so little? Young people should eat a little more. ”

"That's enough for me." Wu Dao said.

"No wonder you're so skinny. Would you like some wine? ”

"Don't drink it."

"With me, don't twist and pinch and say anything straight. Do you drink? ”

"Yes."

"That's fine, two beers for one person first." As he spoke, Tian Mo asked the waiter to bring four bottles of beer.

The two of them were eating, drinking, and chatting. Tian Mo asked:

"Xiao Wu, how old are you this year, where are you from?"

"I'm twenty-four years old, and I'm from Qicheng County."

"Qicheng is also in the province, not far away. What university did you graduate from? ”

"I graduated from Jeju University Maseong."

"Yes, I've been to that school a few times, and the environment is much better than here. There are not many other places in Jeju University, but there are many campuses, and you used to be able to see Jeju University by walking in the provincial capital, but now you can see Jeju University when you walk in different cities in the province. Where is this to build a university, it is clearly to open a supermarket chain. Are you a recent graduate? ”

"No, I graduated last year."

"And what were you doing the year before?"

"In a township government, I worked as a propaganda officer and a part-time secretary to the mayor."

"You're not ordinary, you're from the yamen."

"Teacher, don't make fun of me, what kind of yamen is a town government? The county magistrate is a sesame official, and the township government does not enter the stream at all. ”

"Don't underestimate the county magistrates, they have a lot of energy! The township and town governments are no longer in the stream, they are also first-level governments, and the township and town mayors still have a lot of power, and there are still countless people who want to be them, but they can't be them for the rest of their lives. You came out of the government, you should know all this, right? ”

"It's clear."

"Why did you leave the town government to study for graduate school, because you think the yamen is too small to be promoted?"

"No, it's that I don't think my personality is suitable for working in government. In the town government this year, there is often nothing to do all day, and time is wasted every day. When I'm busy, I'm really busy, but most of the time it's making up materials to cope with the various inspections above. Government officials have their own set of logic, and I really don't understand it. A car accident on the highway is a disaster for the person concerned, but for others, it is a work achievement. A poor place needs donations from others to improve the office environment, but it can use tens of thousands of yuan to do reception. What I want is to do practical things, and what they want is to deceive and deceive. The superiors came to check, whether it was a big feast, an inspection, or a wine pond meat forest, and a person fell from the upstairs after drinking and fell to his death. This kind of life is really unbearable for me. ”

"I'm not surprised by what you're saying. You say you eat meat and drink wine, aren't we also eating meat and drinking wine now? ”

"That's different, the government spends public money, in the final analysis, it's taxpayers' money, we spend our own money. If the government wine table talks about the national economy and people's livelihood, and the world's major events, they talk about promotions, salaries, etc. every day, and then who made a fool of themselves when they drank together a few years ago, etc., I am not interested in these at all. ”

"I didn't expect you to be a little angry, but I like it. In this way, it is the right choice for you to leave the institution and go to graduate school. ”

"Teacher Tian, I heard that you ran for district mayor a few years ago, why did you want to participate in the election?"

"You know quite a bit."

"I heard from my classmates in the same dormitory."

"It was all when I was young, and I had ideals at that time, and I felt that ideals had to be put into action. What is my ideal, many people don't believe it when I say it, and even laugh. The ancient Chinese literati said that if you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will help the world. The French literati emphasized that intervention was to influence politics through their own actions, and Malraux served as France's Minister of Culture. In this respect, the literati of the two countries are actually in common. I ran for office to help the world, to get involved. As a result, I actually thought about it from the beginning, but I still wanted to try to do it again. Not to mention me, why did you switch from modern and contemporary Chinese literature to foreign literature, and also chose the direction of French literature? Don't you know that foreign literature is the weakest subject in the Chinese department and has the worst job prospects? ”

"I didn't know very much at first, but after I changed majors, I heard from my classmates."

"If you regret it now, it's too late to turn back."

"I'll tell you the truth, there's a reason why I changed my major. Before enrolling, I thought of a mentor. But when I chose a tutor after admission, that tutor was already full. I want to study modern literature, and there are five tutors in modern and contemporary literature, and the other three tutors in modern literature are also full, so I can only choose contemporary literature. I didn't want to study contemporary Chinese literature, there were too many taboos, so I changed my major. At first, I wasn't sure if it was right or wrong to change majors, but now I'm sure it's the right choice. ”

"Why?"

"Because of your experience."

"You chose me as a mentor because you heard about my experience?"

"No, I only heard about your experience from my classmates after I changed majors. At that time, I felt that I had chosen you as a mentor and that I had made the right choice. I've just listened to what you said again, and I'm even more convinced of that. ”

"It's the first time I've met a student like you."

"It's also the first time I've met a mentor with such a personality as you."

The two looked at each other and smiled, Tian Mo asked and said:

"What exactly did you want to study, and why did you choose French literature?"

"I want to study literary intellectuals, and among foreign literature, my favorite is French literature, and more importantly, French literary intellectuals are the most typical in the world, and there are many places to study."

"You are right to say this, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature and giving it up voluntarily is something that only French writers can do. Why do you want to study intellectuals? ”

"Intellectuals should be the backbone of promoting social progress, but now China's intellectuals are far from doing enough, so I want to do research in this area."

"It's good that you want to do research on this, and French literature is the best choice, and Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir, Malraux, and the famous Foucault are very typical intellectuals. But I want to pour some cold water on you, although the study of foreign literature is very open, it is not without restrictions at all, and to engage in research, no matter what kind of research it is, we must take care of reality, and the reality here includes both foreign and domestic countries. This, you know, right? ”

"Understand that research must be of practical significance."

This practical significance, or contemporary value, should be grasped by oneself. Another point is that since the study of foreign literature is a foreign language, it is necessary to use a foreign language, the foreign language here is not only English, you must study the literature of which country must use which Chinese language, otherwise it is not good to do research. To study English literature, you need to know English, to study French literature, you must be able to use French, to study German literature, and so on. Have you ever studied French? ”

"When I was an undergraduate, I had a dream that I wanted to learn French well, translate all Sartre's works into Chinese, and teach myself French for a while, but I found it too difficult, so I didn't stick to it."

"Translating Sartre's works is not an easy task. Ordinary works are better, and works written by philosophers like Sartre and Foucault are very difficult to translate. You can start teaching French on your own right now, there are public French classes in the school, but they teach basic things, and it is not enough to do research, it is better to enroll in a class at the Alliance Française. If you have learned French, you can go to France for exchange and study in the future if you have the opportunity. ”

Chatting and chatting, the four bottles of beer were drunk before I knew it. Tian Mowen smiled and said:

"I didn't expect you to drink quite a lot, and after drinking two bottles of beer, you can't see it on your face at all. It seems that it is still good for you to stay in the institution for a year, at least to practice the amount of alcohol. Would you like another beer? ”

"Don't do it. I didn't expect that my alcohol consumption had become so large, and when I was working in an agency, I actually hated drinking very much, first, I felt very bad about eating and drinking at public expense, and second, I felt that I had nothing to say when I was with a table of petty bureaucrats. ”

"It's boring to drink with bureaucrats."

The two chatted together for nearly two hours, and when they were separated, Tian Mowen gave Wu Dao a book list with the names of dozens of books listed on it, and asked him to read them one by one. Walking out of the cafeteria, Wu Dao couldn't help but sigh that by mistake, he actually chose the most correct mentor, which was indeed his own arrangement.

Back in the dormitory, Wu Dao turned on the computer and saw that Zhao Wu and Jing Like had left messages for him on QQ, asking him about his enrollment. He briefly described the process of changing majors and choosing a mentor. The next day, Zhao Wu replied:

"It was my mistake. I should have told you earlier that I had to get in touch with my tutor before I started school, and I didn't contact my tutor until after the school started, and I was behind in time. This Tian Mo asked the teacher, although I haven't seen it, but looking at your description, it can be called a strange person, and he must be compatible with his brother, which is not a good result. ”

Jing Like replied:

"There is no right or wrong in many things, and doing it according to your heart is the best choice. I support your decision. ”

The matter of choosing a mentor finally came to fruition, Wu Dao went to the business hall to get a new calling card, and told his family, Tian Mowen, Zhao Wu, Jing Like and He Hua with the new number.