Chapter 287: One must have dreams

Zhou Ming's words reminded Ye Ning, and she finally reacted. You have to know that Lawrence is the president of Harvard University, and he has been the president of Harvard for 30 years. Such a person, not to mention how amazing he is, is even a figure who can run for president, but at least he definitely will not be a mediocre person who does not care about the overall situation and will make arbitrary decisions according to his own ideas.

But today, this is exactly the kind of person he is. He would actually change the commencement ceremony process without notifying anyone in advance, and he might not even have discussed it with anyone, and he would replace the student speaker without permission, directly putting the Chinese students in the limelight.

This is an absurd move by a frivolous second-generation rich kid, and it doesn't match the image of a stable 30-year-old president at all.

Because not to mention that from Zhou Ming to all the finance students, they all gave him face, even if he lost face and had an embarrassing experience, but these people are all studying at Harvard, and even if he is angry and wants to take revenge, there are at least 100 ways to do it, so there is no need to make a fuss at the opening ceremony. You have to understand that the opening ceremony represents the face of Harvard University, and it is absolutely not allowed to make mistakes. How can you be so casual? Could it be that the old president is senile, and truly believes that after being the president for 30 years, the Harvard Board of Trustees will not fire him?

It is said that people become wise as they get old. If Lawrence has a bit of dementia or is not in good mental health, it is possible, but with him in such a full state of mind, it is simply impossible.

So since something that is impossible by any logical deduction has really happened, then obviously there must be another explanation.

Just now, Teacher Zhou said that he was going to thank President Lawrence. Could it be that Teacher Zhou had reached some kind of agreement with President Lawrence beforehand, and that today President Lawrence did it on purpose?

This idea also made Ye Ning feel like it was a fantasy. Although she admired Zhou Ming very much and believed that as long as Zhou Ming gave a speech, he could definitely hold the audience captive, the key was that no matter how she thought about it, she just couldn't figure out what kind of bargaining chips Zhou Ming, who had only just arrived in the United States, could possibly use to make a deal with Lawrence, causing him to risk his thirty years of good reputation as the president of Harvard University by strongly promoting a complete stranger from China.

But if these are not the reasons, then why?

Ye Ning felt that she was faced with a chain of unsolvable problems that would drive anyone crazy.

Zhou Ming saw the doubt on Ye Ning's face and rubbed her head, saying, 'Don't think about it too much. Some questions I think may have answers when we get to our destination.'

Ye Ning nodded seriously. She was very glad that she had made the decision to follow Zhou Ming, otherwise she might never understand why this was happening.

Zhou Ming and Ye Ning got into his Buick and soon arrived at the principal's building, where Lawrence lived. Zhou Ming and the others had just arrived at the door when they saw the same Ms Lily they had encountered when they first arrived waiting at the door. Seeing Zhou Ming get out of the car and come over, she walked up to them and said, 'Hello, Mr Zhou Ming. The principal is waiting for you in his office. Please follow me.'

Ms. Lily's words came as a great surprise. Ye Ning was immediately astonished and said, 'Ms. Lily, you mean that President Lawrence knew we were coming and was waiting for us in the office?'

Ye Ning could not help being surprised, because she had come with Zhou Ming, and she knew very well that Zhou Ming had not made any prior appointment with President Lawrence and had just come directly. So how did Lawrence know Zhou Ming would come? Could it be that Lawrence was a prophet? This was a bit unbelievable.

Zhou Ming also frowned, and he also expressed his inability to understand this. However, at the same time, he was also thinking, today, Lawrence, as the president of Harvard, suddenly made such a capricious decision to replace the freshman representative to speak at the Harvard opening ceremony. Did the school board not ask him to investigate what was going on? He still has time to wait here for himself?

Despite his doubts, Zhou Ming did not say a word.

After looking at Zhou Ming and Ye Ning, Ms Lily said, 'Of course, but the principal has been hosting the opening ceremony all day and is very tired, so if you want to see the principal, you need to hurry.'

Zhou Ming nodded and said okay, and then followed Ms. Lily to Lawrence's office with Ye Ning. This time, they did not announce their arrival, but went directly to the principal's office in the back room. Lawrence was here, but this time, unlike before, he was not sitting behind the desk, but sitting on the sofa in the reception area in front. In front of him was a tea set and a pot of steaming black tea. Lawrence was holding a small teacup and drinking tea.

Zhou Ming did not rush to speak when he entered, because he understood that someone like Lawrence would not waste his time. Since he was waiting for him, he must have something to say to him, so why should he be in a hurry?

Lawrence was a little surprised to see that Zhou Ming could hold his tongue so well, but he just raised an eyebrow and then gestured for Zhou Ming and the others to sit down.

Zhou Ming sat Ye Ning in front of Lawrence, while the bodyguard ** stood guard behind Zhou Ming. Although this was the president's office at Harvard, and there was only the president Lawrence in front of them, it was still his duty to be vigilant.

'Tea is a specialty of China. It is the leaf of a plant, but when brewed, it has a refreshing aroma and is a very healthy drink. In Europe hundreds of years ago, the nobles were even willing to trade the same volume of gold for it. The so-called Opium War was actually China's dumping of tea, which made the British unable to afford it, so they had to use drugs to recover their trade deficit. Because if it continued, I'm afraid that in a few years, the British would no longer have silver to pay with. Even though the UK was known at the time as the 'sun never sets', The Opium War was actually about China dumping its tea on the market, making it unaffordable for the British. They were forced to use drugs to reverse their trade deficit because if they let it continue, they were afraid that in a few years, the British would no longer have any silver to pay with, even though at the time, Britain was known as the 'Land Where the Sun Never Sets.'

Lawrence was sipping his tea while he said, 'This shows that the Chinese are very capable. If it weren't for the incompetence of your rulers at the time, you would have been able to defeat the mighty British with just a little tea.'

'Tea is indeed a very good commodity, but without the corresponding means, it is not invincible. Starting with the Opium War, and then after the British brought tea-making technology to India, Chinese tea has been on a downward trend and has lost its initial competitiveness,' Zhou Ming said.

Lawrence suddenly smiled at Zhou Ming, and he gave Zhou Ming a thumbs-up, inexplicably saying, 'Zhou Ming's way of thinking is really special, not at all like the other Chinese people I've met.'

Zhou Ming waited for Lawrence to continue, but Lawrence only said this incoherent sentence and changed the subject. He then asked Zhou Ming, 'I can guess the purpose of your visit here. You want to know why I want to replace you Chinese...or to put it more directly, you want to replace me as the freshman representative to give a speech on stage, right?'

Zhou Ming didn't expect Lawrence to be so straightforward, but he still nodded directly and said, 'Yes, Mr. Lawrence, I don't mean to offend you. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak on stage, so that I can have the opportunity to prove that we Chinese are also excellent. But I can't understand why you are doing this. If you say it's just a moment of caprice, then I will have nothing to say.'

Lawrence laughed even more happily, 'Of course I wouldn't be acting on a moment of caprice, but please also give up the idea of trying to trap me, because I won't tell you the specific reason.'

'Why can't you tell me?' Zhou Ming was surprised.

'Although it's not good for you to say this, I still want to say that you are not qualified enough yet. Do you understand what I mean?' Lawrence said.

Zhou Ming nodded silently, but Lawrence said in a relaxed tone, 'However, Zhou Ming, perhaps the most important thing I cannot tell you, but I can tell you that I will do this today entirely because I was entrusted.'

After saying this, Lawrence thought for a moment, and then asked, 'I think there is someone nicknamed tiger, someone you should call Uncle Tiger, you have already met him, right?'

'Uncle Tiger?'

Hearing this name, Zhou Ming immediately became serious, because Zhou Ming still deeply remembered the pressure he had received in front of Uncle Tiger, and he also remembered that even **, the king of soldiers who was invincible on the battlefield, was also wary of him.

If it was Uncle Tiger, Zhou Ming would be relieved, because this person or the power behind him could influence even the President of the United States. Asking a Harvard president for a favour couldn't be easier, and although this favour might drag him down, if there was enough benefit to be exchanged, it wasn't something that couldn't be considered.

But the problem now was who this Uncle Tiger was, what power was behind him, and why had he been influencing him like this?

These questions made Zhou Ming feel as if he was here in the United States, surrounded by a huge layer of mystery. Although this force that he didn't know anything about had been helping him so far, this feeling of being controlled by others and not knowing their intentions at all made Zhou Ming feel extremely suffocated.

Damn it, I'm not anyone's puppet, I have to control my own affairs!

Zhou Ming clenched his fists and let out this cry in his heart.

Lawrence looked at Zhou Ming and said, 'Zhou Ming, actually, it is a good thing not to know some things. Isn't there a Chinese saying that ignorance is bliss?'

Zhou Ming smiled and said, 'It is indeed true that ignorance is bliss. At every stage of life, one should only know the things that one should know at that stage. It is better not to know anything else. Not to mention whether one can know it or not, even if one knows it, it may not be a good thing.'

'No wonder tiger would want to recruit you. You are indeed an interesting young man. I look forward to seeing how your studies at Harvard go,' said Lawrence.

'I am also very grateful to Mr Lawrence for saying all this to me. If Mr Lawrence has nothing else to say, I think I will take my leave and not disturb Mr Lawrence's rest. But perhaps I can say one thing to Mr Lawrence here: people are always climbing upwards. One day, I will stand on top of that mountain and gain enough knowledge.' Zhou Ming said.

'You are a very dreamy person,' Lawrence teased.

Zhou Ming, however, said seriously, "I don't know if Mr Lawrence has heard the saying that people need to have dreams. What if they come true one day? On the contrary, if people have no dreams, what's the difference between them and a salted fish?"