Chapter 168: One Country, Two Systems

After Zhou Ming finished speaking, he stood on the podium where Li Yang had just been. Li Yang whispered, 'Teacher, that guy is quick-witted and good at exploiting his opponent's weaknesses, so you must be careful!'

Before Zhou Ming could say anything, Li Yang heard a firm voice in his ear: 'Classmate Li Yang, you can rest assured that with Teacher Zhou Ming here, no matter who the opponent is, he will definitely do his best to win back the pride of our finance class for us. Just wait and see, I'm sure of it!'

Li Yang turned his head and saw Ye Ning staring at the figure of Zhou Ming, her big, dark eyes shining with admiration.

This made Li Yang feel a little surprised, because he understood that although Ye Ning was a girl, she was a very proud girl. As one of the few girls in the finance class, she was not even convinced by her own vice monitor, let alone the other students. But now she actually believed in or admired the teacher Zhou Ming so much, who she had only met twice. This could not but make Li Yang surprised.

Li Yang also followed Ye Ning's gaze and looked at the figure of Zhou Ming. He suddenly remembered the last sentence Zhou Ming said, 'Leave the rest to me.' For some reason, Li Yang also felt a sense of peace, as if he had been under some kind of spell.

Zhou Ming came up to **, who looked him up and down and asked in a dismissive tone, 'Where the hell did you come from?'

Zhou Ming didn't care about **'s tone, he just smiled and reached out, saying, 'Hello, let's get acquainted. I'm the homeroom teacher of the finance class. My name is Zhou Ming.'

'Class teacher?' ** widened his eyes and then burst out laughing, "I see that your so-called finance class is really empty. You noobs have no choice but to call on the teacher? But your teacher is really young too, it seems that this toxic system really works!'

Before ** could finish, Zhou Ming said, "You're wrong, I can't be the class teacher because of connections or anything like that, but because I have my own understanding of the economic field. So since this gentleman wants an economic debate, the students are still young, and if you're not satisfied, I can accompany you.'

'Forget it. I see that you, a guy who can only stay here as a tutor, are no match for the students in your class,' ** said. 'But since you, the teacher, want to stand up for your class, I don't mind. You can come whenever you like, I'll be happy to oblige.'

**'s arrogance made the students in the finance class very angry: "** you foreign-worshipping son of a bitch, open your dog's eyes and take a good look. Our teacher Zhou Ming is the most powerful expert in financial warfare in China, a big shot who has made great achievements abroad. You are lucky to meet him. Teachers are not for you son of a bitch to judge.'

Someone else cheered for Zhou Ming: "Go, teacher Zhou Ming! Teach this foreign bastard well!'

Zhou Ming did not feel any resentment towards this. He simply once again extended his hand towards **: 'Let's formally get acquainted. I'm Zhou Ming, the homeroom teacher of the finance class. May I ask your name?'

Sun Lin gave Zhou Ming a faint look, and after a moment of hesitation, he also extended his hand. However, instead of shaking hands with Zhou Ming, he reached into his pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit it up.

Sun Lin's provocative behaviour of ignoring Zhou Ming instantly set off the entire Economics Lecture Hall. The students below immediately booed, and some even yelled, 'Is this how your parents taught you, Sun Lin? You have no manners at all, and you don't understand the least bit of courtesy or respect for others? I think you'd better go back to kindergarten and learn the meaning of life from the aunties before coming back to us.'

Someone else shouted at Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, don't talk to this kind of person with no manners or upbringing, don't let this kind of sickness infect you, we all know how to behave!'

Compared to the excitement of the crowd below, Zhou Ming on the stage did not react much. He just shrugged his shoulders and did not care about Sun Lin's impoliteness. He just withdrew his hand first, then made a gesture to indicate that the crowd should be quiet for a while, before saying to Sun Lin, 'It seems that Mr. Sun Lin is very anxious to get to the point, so let's skip the polite formalities.'

Zhou Ming's relaxed words made Sun Lin's expression suddenly become solemn, because he felt something completely different from Zhou Ming than the other students, and that was maturity and stability.

To be honest, Sun Lin deliberately did not shake Zhou Ming's hand, with the aim of provoking the other party, so that in a state of anger, the other party would be more likely to make a mistake, and it would be easier for him to find a breakthrough.

Because no matter how arrogant Sun Lin was and how much he looked down on these students, he knew very well that he could never compete with them in terms of academic knowledge. He knew that his advantage was his ability to improvise, and this tactic had worked for him countless times before. After all, college students, whether they were elites or not, were young and impetuous, and they attached great importance to their dignity. Disrespecting and despising him easily angered him.

The reason he was able to defeat Li Yang so easily was because Li Yang was so angered that he lost his composure. Otherwise, with Li Yang's abilities as a national collegiate debater, and the basic skills he had acquired from being selected into the finance class, even if he was no match for him, he would not have lost so miserably, unable to say a word while being ridden roughshod over.

But now, in the face of Zhou Ming, he seemed to have not bothered at all, or perhaps he had suppressed his emotions very well?

Either way, it's not good news for Sun Lin, so he narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhou Ming and said, 'It seems that this teacher is very confident! But this large finance class, which is made up of economics elites selected from across the country, has turned out to be like this, with all the students becoming shrinking turtles. In the end, there is nothing else to do but to let you, the homeroom teacher, take charge?'

Sun Lin laughed again as he said, 'It seems that I was right. This is the kind of system in China. People under this system are like walking corpses, with no vitality at all. And they still want to reform the system and learn finance. Go ahead and dream. It will never work as long as you have such rigid and outdated thinking!'

Zhou Ming curiously exclaimed, 'Why do you say that?'

'Needless to say?' **responded with great disdain, "As everyone knows, the United States is currently the most powerful country in the world, and it is because the United States has always followed Adam Smith's theory of the wealth of nations to ensure the freedom of the economic market. It is very simple: investors and entrepreneurs understand the market far better than government officials, and the planning of private institutions will always lead to economic prosperity, far better than official economic blueprints!'

'So, Mr **, what do you think should be done?" asked Zhou Ming.

'I think we should maximise the opening up of all markets and accept the baptism of the market economy!'

**first threw out his own argument, and then said, 'I think everyone here must have heard of Hong Kong City. Why is Hong Kong City so developed and rich, and has become the financial centre of East Asia? It is because it has maximally opened up its own market.'

'Then if the mainland wants to develop now, it must do the same. Only by opening up and accepting the world market and becoming a part of it can you mainlanders ever be anything other than the rubbish and barbarians spurned by the civilized world!' **said loudly.

Zhou Ming and the others immediately applauded after **had finished speaking, and they praised, 'Mr. ** is truly worthy of having returned from abroad. This ability to speak the truth is truly extraordinary.'

**was confused: "What is the one and only truth?'

Zhou Ming laughed, and then he remembered that the famous future book One Way or Another had not yet appeared, and action movies from a certain island had not yet become so widespread. However, Zhou Ming was still able to explain, "It is just serious nonsense. If you act a little more like it, I might believe it.'

**Only then did he react to Zhou Ming's teasing, and he immediately angrily said, 'Are you playing with me? I tried to reason with you, but you said something like this. How can I believe that you are the homeroom teacher of the finance class? Is it true that only trash like you can be raised on a trashy land?'

'My friend, before you call someone else rubbish, I would first ask you to take a piss and see what kind of person you are,' said Zhou Ming. "You always say that you are from the free world, and you always flaunt that you advocate freedom and equality, but have you really done so?'

'Why haven't I done so? I have always supported freedom and equality. Even if I was sent to this place where you people are poisonous, I still want freedom and equality!" **said.

Zhou Ming immediately pointed out, 'This is the place where you keep saying that you want freedom and equality, but you ignore the situation here and force us to accept your way of thinking. Is this freedom and equality? In my opinion, this is no different from a liar!'

'You're full of shit!' ** shouted angrily, 'I'm doing this for your own good, because freedom and equality are the symbols of the civilized world. If you don't accept them, you'll always be ignorant savages!'

Zhou Ming shook his head regretfully: 'It's tiring to talk to idiots. I might as well be direct. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is known as the gem of the Western world and an important theoretical origin of modern economics. I wonder if Mr. ** has read it?'

'What kind of nonsense is this? I'm American. As a member of the civilized world, how could I not have read the foundational reading of the civilized world?' **said disdainfully.

'That's good news,' Zhou Ming said, 'I remember that in the discussion of the monarch in the second volume of The Wealth of Nations, there is a passage that says that the Scottish MP asked him how he could gain the support and backing of the people of the county. Adam Smith told him that the approach was very simple: go out and greet your colleagues as if they were important guests, treat ordinary people as if they were important guests, and don't force others to do things you don't like. As long as you can do these things, you'll be fine.'

Zhou Ming finished and looked at **: 'As an American, I think you should know very well what Mr. Adam Smith meant when he said these words, don't you?'

** was stunned for a moment, and then said, 'Of course I understand the meaning of these words, but Mr. Adam Smith was referring to the cost of maintaining the dignity of the monarch, while what I am discussing now is how to help you transform the mainland. These are fundamentally two different things...'

** couldn't continue after saying this because Zhou Ming was already laughing happily across from him.

'I'm sorry, Mr. **, I remembered incorrectly. That saying was not from Adam Smith, but from the Analects of Confucius. It's really impressive that you can quote it verbatim,' said Zhou Ming.

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