Chapter 103 What Is Growth
Jane's days were the same as usual. Her daily itinerary was the same, and even the times had already been decided. The game of Oriental Journey was already officially online. According to Aaron Hunter, the response was very good.
She was already calm. Anyway, she could not change the course of such a big event, but Justin and Henry had been irritably in high spirits. In their worldview, one could not say right was wrong, wrong was right, or plagiarism was justified. They thought that no one should take someone else's money to squander or pretend to be a rich man.
Jane could only say, "Plagiarism is not right, so we don't do things against our will. But no one can guarantee that all others think the same, or the world would be a place of good people."
Justin said indignantly, "The companies that copy others' products should be exposed. How could such shitty companies boast of being passionate? So disgusting!"
Henry, who was older than Justin after all, thought pessimistically, "Are there only profits in the realm of adults? They don't have to care about being wrong or being right? To achieve their goals, they can do everything, right?"
"The minority can't represent the majority, and even the majority can't represent everyone. Why do the parents today fiercely struggle to provide the best resources for their children? Because they want their children to be outstanding, not only in school test marks but also in their judgment of right and wrong. If you alone want to take the wrong path, it doesn't matter. If you're a policeman, doctor, or judge, every one of your decisions is related to life and death, so don't crave kindness, but don't be a bad guy. You should have a just mind especially when the profit is on the other side of the scales," Jane said.
"Isn't the person in charge of Oriental Journey successful enough? He still made a wrong judgment," Henry asked.
"So, great achievements and performance are not equal to good morality or good behavior. I've met the so-called top students bullying the street vendors and the students with the poorest test marks spending about 30 dollars buying a van-ful of oranges from a vendor. Tell me who are bad and who are good?" Jane said.
"Of course, those with the poorest test marks!" Justin answered the question before the others did it.
"Having poor study performance is an embodiment of weak ability," Jane turned her head sideways and said.
"Then everyone should be great in every aspect? Only Uncle Edward is omnipotent!" Justin frowned and refuted.
Caught off guard, Jane said with a smile, "You really call your uncle daily!"
Justin turned his head to the side. With a strong will but without enough power, he said, "Whoever copies my uncle, may he be haunted by bad luck for eight hundred years: The women of his family shall never have the chance to marry, and their men shall be single for a lifetime!"
"Little child..." Henry commented.
Justin glanced at him, but Henry said calmly, "No matter who copies Brother Edward, if it is a she, her boyfriend or husband shall have a lover; if it is a he, his girlfriend or wife shall have relations with other men, he shall not be the blood son of his parents, and his children shall not be his own blood."
After hearing it, Justin stared at him unblinkingly, dumbfounded or baffled.
"Is this curse a little too evil?" Jane gasped and asked softly.
"Repay virtue with virtue, and repay grudge with a grievance. Is it not right?" Henry looked at Jane and asked.
Jane couldn't find anything to refute him at the moment, but she couldn't nod to agree, thinking that something was weird.
Justin reached out and gave Henry five, showing his support.
Jane thought for a while and finally realized what was wrong. She said, "Men are different from women. Women can delight themselves with their words, but men had better do it with their actions."
"I should go to the staff of Oriental Journey and chat with them?" Justin asked.
Seeing his absolutely serious and sincere eyes, Jane, forcefully preventing herself from laughing, answered with the same seriousness, "Don't do it! Adults have their ways of dealing with things. If the two of you want to help, what you can only do now is let your uncle Edward and elder brother worry less about you."
"Huh, your words are meaningless." Justin rolled his eyes.
Jane said, "My words are not used to fool you. Juveniles can handle few things. Quite a few times, they can only watch those around them be bullied, and they are angry, feel wronged, are unwilling to hold it, and want to take revenge, but they even don't know how to take revenge.
"This is not your guys' fault, let alone softness, but the yoke time gave the humans. You can't pick up a knife to stab yourself or someone else to prove that you're a grown man and have ability, because the one who accepts responsibility is not you but the one you want to protect. You can only silently hold and amass your emotions, putting all of them in the depths of your heart. You repetitively think about how you can become strong and how you can protect those you want to protect, but you find in the end that you only have one choice: Lay down the weapon in your view, pick up books, doing what you should do most at such an age, doing the best you can, and being the best among all the people, and then slowly wait for yourself to grow up."
Neither Just nor Henry was obedient. They hated preaching most. As early as when Jane said, "They even don't know how to take revenge," both of them had begun protesting in their minds at the same time. After all, the ways of taking revenge in their eyes were various. Yet, the words Jane said after that completely made them shut their mouths. Actually, their minds were also shut because they didn't even know how to refute by using their minds.
The three of them looked at each other. A long time after Jane finished speaking, no one said anything. Only when a long time had passed did Henry ask in a slightly cautious tone, "What's wrong with you?"
Jane was in a stupor for a few moments. She didn't know where she was, and her brain was full of broken memories. She seemed to be standing in her school corridor: The person she saw was a strange and irritable woman, who called her mother names while slapping her; and she also seemed to be standing in the old house of her family: With a fruit knife in her hand, she said in a tremulous voice that she was going to stab the man in front of her to death. That year she was less than seven...
She didn't mention it on purpose, but spoke of it when the course of their topic had come to that point. Having escaped from these memories with great effort, Jane faked being composed and asked in reply, "What are you trying to ask?"
Also looking at Jane strangely, Justin asked gently, "Are you going to cry?"
Jane knew that she would never cry. Not to mention on such an occasion, even when she was alone, she would not shed tears. Therefore, she claimed in a normal tone, "Why cry? Have you ever seen any teachers cry while telling their students the truths about life?"
Justin and Henry fell silent. It was unknown whether they were absorbed in the words she had said moments earlier or they thought that the words she said at the moment were unreliable.
Rarely, the two of them were silent. Jane changed her tone and earnestly said, "Don't hasten so much to grow up! Being an adult is really not as good as you think."
"We can protect the people we want to protect when we're grown men, can't we?" Justin asked.
"This is based on the condition that you can successfully grow into a qualified adult. For those who don't work hard, they'll only age, but their abilities won't grow."
And Jane didn't tell them these words: Not every adult had the chance to protect the one they wanted to protect. Therefore, when they slowly grew, they might not have the strength, but they would at least have company.