Brainoid

Regarding Anton's evaluation, Nick could only lament: "In the capitalist system, there are too few people who do not worship money."

"Just don't find a girlfriend." Anton didn't understand very well, "Why do you have to find a girlfriend?"

Nick was silent for a moment. Yes, why do you have to find a girlfriend? In a capitalist society, influenced by capitalist legal rights, there are far more money worshipers than non-money worshipers. Therefore, if there is no good material foundation, falling in love is very risky. It is said that in places with greater pressure, such as Japan, some young people have stopped dating.

He thought about it carefully and found out that he was deceived by the prosperity of the big city of New York and followed the wave of money worship to live the life the capitalists wanted people to live. Find a girlfriend, get married and have children, waste energy on internal conflicts with partners and same-sex competitors, increase consumption and produce the next generation of the proletariat.

In fact, there is no need to find a girlfriend at all. Just like him now, he can still go to Mexico without a girlfriend. Just because Karl Marx was married when he was working in the labor movement, we cannot hold current revolutionaries to this standard.

But there are always some benefits to finding a girlfriend. Nick said: "The girl in New York is very cute. Even if it doesn't last long, dating her is still good. And how did I know at that time that she was so money-worshipping?"

"The girl is cute?" Anton jokingly suggested, "You can try printing out her photos and plastering them all over your house and see how long you can last without feeling sick."

"How could this be disgusting?" Nick couldn't understand it at all.

Anton thought for a while, but the photos alone might not achieve that effect: "Then in addition to the photos, you can record an audio and play something like 'My girlfriend so-and-so is the cutest' every day. I believe it. You won't want to see that face again in half a month."

Nick thought for a moment, that might be too much to bear. After all, people have a rebellious mentality. No matter what it is, it will always feel boring if it is repeated too much. But he didn't quite understand how Anton came up with this trick: "Have you tried this method?"

"Do you think I'm trying this on purpose?" Anton complained unhappily, "I don't want to look at those 'ladies' at home every day."

"What JIE what?" Nick obviously didn't understand the Chinese word he said.

"It literally means 'older girl.'" Anton criticized as he drove into the parking lot of Qi Min School. "From this, I guess that this term was first used by those naive young fans."

Nick understood a little bit, but thought it was a bit funny: "Does your girlfriend like those subculture IDOLs? Does the doctor also like this kind of thing?"

"A doctoral student is not a doctor yet." Anton corrected him, "That shouldn't be considered a subculture, it's even a serious actor. In comparison, it's not as erotic as the [harmony] component of the ACG subculture. many."

"I think ACG has more positive meanings. The erotic [harmony] presented in the form of ACG is at least better than shooting with real people." Nick said fairly.

"That's true." Anton also admitted this. Human physiological needs cannot be blocked, and he even feels that he can acquiesce in the possession of ACG products with similar themes by some pedophiles who are truly unable to be interested in adults - as long as this person is not his girlfriend.

After the car was parked, Anton called Qi Min again. After ringing, the phone rang seven times but still no one answered. Finally, the phone hung up automatically after the time limit expired.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Nick asked, "Maybe something really happened."

Anton felt that he should go up to find her. Although the laboratory building could not open the door without a card, it was lunch time and it was still feasible to use someone else's card to get in - he often went to various places like this when delivering food.

However, when he just opened the car door, he saw the glass door of the laboratory building opened, and Qi Min trotted over, waving to him as if he had no idea how many calls he had missed.

Anton closed the car door, rolled down the passenger window, and said to the outside: "Hey, why don't you answer the phone?"

"Oh, I'm going to do some experiments in the morning and my phone is on silent." Qi Min still looked careless, "I saw the text message you sent. I'm quite on time. You guys just arrived, right?"

She looked from the passenger window to the back seat again, saw Nick, and said hello in plastic English with a rather hard accent: "Hi! Are you Anton's friend, Comrade Nicholas?"

Nick was a little surprised that Anton's girlfriend would call him "gay." But according to his understanding of China, "comrade" should be popular in former socialist countries as a gender-neutral honorific, and he also agrees that this is a more equal title system.

"Hello... Comrade Min." Nick shook hands with her.

Qi Min opened the door and got into the car. When he saw Anton's deliberately angry look in the driver's seat, he remembered that not answering the phone was wrong after all. But she couldn't empathize with the terrible feeling of the other party not answering the call. She just apologized with a smile: "Ah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have muted the phone all the time. You must be anxious, right?"

Anton couldn't hold back his smile when he saw her, and said a little unprincipled: "It's not too urgent. Nick wants to go to the steakhouse. Let's go to the restaurant opposite our restaurant today."

"Okay." Qi Min asked, "Should we go directly, or should we put our luggage home first?"

"Wait," Nick asked, "are you going to let me live in your house?"

"Of course, hotel room rates are not cheap." Qi Min said happily, "And as someone who has never been to New York, I also want to know about the experience of setting up workers' study groups in New York."

Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise and gave Anton, who was driving, a questioning look in the rearview mirror. He actually went to New York to join a workers' study group, and there was nothing to hide about it. However, in this small, broken town where the right wing was the majority, Nick still claimed that he went to New York to try his luck and make money for the sake of face.

"Don't be surprised, Min used to organize student study groups when he was in college." Anton explained, "The newly admitted college students also have high school degrees. I think this experience should be exchanged."

Nick immediately took a new look at this international student from China. He observed Qi Min for two seconds and found that she was really different from many first-generation Asian immigrants he had seen in New York - the biggest difference was that although her skin color was darker than that of white people, she had not been tanned at all. trace.

Whether it is out of persistence in native culture or disdain for the aesthetics shaped by capitalism, this reflects a certain sense of disidentification with mainstream American aesthetics.