178: Chapter 178: Don't hang up, let him continue!

On the television screen.

The cameraman was initially startled by Jiang Zhe's answer, then immediately cut away, shifting the camera to the hundreds of audience members in the TV studio.

Their expressions froze almost simultaneously, a visceral reaction to hearing something outside their cognitive framework.

A few seconds later, the venue erupted in heated discussion.

"Did he just say that the path Zhang Qian took was prepared by the Earth?"

"That perspective is way too terrifying, right?"

"But I feel like it actually makes some sense, you know, the uncanny workmanship of nature?"

"Wait, out of curiosity, is this Xiaoyu's brother on the line studying geology or history?"

"..."

In the back row of the audience, a college student wearing black-rimmed glasses gasped sharply. "Holy crap, this guy is treating the Earth as a living, breathing super-consciousness, isn't he? Personifying the Earth, and yet I can't find any faults with it. The uncanny workmanship of nature is just the Earth manipulating the microscopic!"

The girl beside him muttered, "I'm just here to fill a seat. I get two hundred yuan for this New Year's Eve show, but I didn't expect that while getting my two hundred yuan, I'd also get to hear such insights. The key is, no one has ever taught us this in our textbooks!"

These reactions filled the TV studio.

Inside Jiang Xiaoyu's livestream room, it was a completely different scene.

"Hahaha, one of Xiaoyu's brother's classic moves: redefining your cognition!"

"The people at the scene are still too young; they haven't heard the lesson Xiaoyu's brother gave a few days ago about the Earth being alive."

"Waiting for the scene where the straight-A students' worldviews collapse!"

"Fun fact: Xiaoyu's brother previously said that human civilization might be the Earth's immune response."

"Don't spoil it for those above! Let the newbies be shocked on their own, wahahahaha!"

"..."

In the living room, Jiang Xiaoyu hopped in from outside the villa's French windows, her face full of excitement. "Hahaha, Xiaoyu's brother, did you see those people's expressions? It was like they'd seen a ghost."

Jiang Zhe, however, leaned back on the sofa, picked up the last strawberry, popped it into his mouth, and gave no response.

On the TV, the host took a long time to recover from the shock. "This... this audience member's answer is very... unique, making us feel..."

Before the host could finish, an urgent voice came from the judges' panel.

"Don't, don't hang up!"

The camera quickly shifted to the judges' panel. Sitting on the far right was a thin but refined elderly professor with silver-rimmed glasses, about sixty years old, whose eyes were currently fixed tightly on the big screen. He was the famous domestic psychology professor, Leng Qingsong.

"Host Xiao Li, let him not hang up first," Professor Leng strongly requested.

The host was stunned for a moment. "This, Professor Leng, our connection time is almost..."

"I ask him to answer two more questions on my own behalf." Leng Qingsong directly raised his hand to interrupt, his voice carrying through the microphone to the entire venue. "No matter how he answers, the next two questions will be ten thousand each, and the final hundred thousand is a thank-you fee. I'll cover the three hundred thousand in prize money!"

As soon as the words fell, the scene instantly exploded.

All the audience members looked at each other in dismay. Three hundred thousand, just to hear this person answer two more questions?

In the Huaqing University delegation's straight-A student seating area, a boy in a white shirt looked stunned. "Is Professor Leng crazy?"

The straight-A student girl beside him stared fixedly at the big screen. "He's not crazy. Think carefully about his answer just now. That wasn't an ordinary historical interpretation; that was... that was reconstructing the entire historical geography into a kind of systems theory—something I've only heard in public lectures by cutting-edge scientists abroad; you don't see many of these domestically!"

Another bespectacled male student in a suit looked embarrassed. "Our answers just now, in front of him, were like elementary students reciting textbooks... And his voice, it clearly isn't very old!!"

On the expert judges' panel.

The other three invited professors: Professor Liang of history, Professor Zhao of the philosophy department, and Professor Zhou of cognitive science, all had strange expressions.

Professor Liang narrowed his eyes and rested his chin on his hand. "The road is infrastructure prepared by the Earth—this metaphor is brilliant, brilliant enough to make one's back turn cold, yet it holds a certain authenticity!"

Professor Zhao gasped. "This mixture of grand narrative and historical determinism—I'm going to put this segment into the case studies for next semester's philosophy of history; it's enough for me to hold several public lectures."

Professor Zhou, however, was somewhat suspicious. "There are a few data citations in his chain of argumentation that were too fast, and the logic was too clear. I have to ask if he was a plant brought in by the production team."

After a long while, the host regained his composure. "Professor Leng, wouldn't this be too much?"

"It's my own money; the production team doesn't need to worry." Leng Qingsong waved his hands repeatedly, his gaze burning as he looked at the connected screen. "My friend, are you willing? Just two questions. I want to hear something... that isn't in the textbooks."

In the villa living room.

Jiang Xiaoyu covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes darting around. By the shape of her lips, one could tell she was saying, "Three! Hundred! Thousand! Ah!"

Jiang Zhe's eyebrows twitched slightly. In his past life, when those top international think tanks came to China for events, they would occasionally invite people from the Hidden Dragon Base to participate in some commercial planning. This was a legal form of [personal income] permitted by the Beijing Hidden Dragon Base, as long as it didn't harm the country.

For a single consultation, the quote always started at seven figures.

Now, one hundred thousand per question is actually quite interesting.

More importantly, he glanced at the puppy-like Jiang Xiaoyu beside him, who was so excited she was about to jump up. This girl's eyes were shining with the light of money; she was clearly treating this as an exciting game.

That's fine too; on New Year's Eve, I'll keep my little puppy sister entertained to the fullest.

He spoke calmly into the phone: "Sure, two questions!"

On TV, the camera shifted to Professor Leng Qingsong's face, which showed relief.

In the Beijing History Staff Quarters.

The four of them, including Old Chen, stopped drinking and eating meat, and began cracking melon seeds.

Old Qian cracked a melon seed and chuckled foolishly. "Hahaha, what is professionalism? Those kids from Dabei University and Huaqing University, no matter how neat their answers are, are just parrots."

The four professors, all over fifty, sat around the television. On the coffee table were melon seeds and peanuts, while their phone screens lit up with Jiang Xiaoyu's livestream room.

Professor Chen Runzhi also had a smile on his face. "That old rascal Leng Qingsong has a sharp eye; he knew he'd encountered the real deal the moment he heard it. After he pays the money, I'll quietly tell him, 'Actually, you can come to Jiang Xiaoyu's livestream room every night to listen for free,' hahahahaha!"

Old Wang looked at the countless barrage comments appearing in the livestream room. "This group of little ones is actually very calm; after all, they are old viewers who have heard the lesson about the Earth being alive."

Old Liu slowly took a sip of Wanglaoji herbal tea. "This is just the beginning. If he asks about time perception later, and our Xiaoyu's brother... oh no, if he brings up that topic about the revolving lantern and the fate of quantum delayed choice, won't half the people at the scene go crazy?"

On the TV screen, Professor Leng Qingsong cleared his throat. "First question. I study psychology. I have always been curious about a phenomenon—why does time feel like it speeds up as we age? In my psychology research career, I have found that no matter what kind of answer is given, it is very detached from the existing psychological structure."

Pausing for a moment, his gaze gradually sharpened. "It clearly felt like 2020 was just yesterday, yet in the blink of an eye, it's almost 2030. When we were young, time felt very long; as time passes, time gets faster and faster. Is it subjective, or objective?"

"No textbooks, no manuals. I want to hear your real insights!"

The venue went quiet, and everyone held their breath.

This question was both too personal and too universal; almost everyone felt the same way, yet no one had ever been able to provide a convincing explanation.

Also, Professor Leng, why did you assume in advance that this person would know?

What if he just happened to know some history, geography, and meteorology?

But unexpectedly, just as these thoughts emerged in the minds of the straight-A students and the audience, Jiang Zhe's firm voice came through on the spot.

"Sure. But I need control access to the big screen."

Leng Qingsong immediately waved to the control booth. "Give him the highest level of access!"

More than ten seconds later, the TV screen split in two. On the left was the studio scene, and on the right appeared a computer control interface.