System: Master Your Life-Chapter 589 - 146: Classmate Rong’s Birthday

"Xu Lin, you’re trending again!"

After taking a shower that evening, Xu Lin received a message from Xia Xiyao sent just a few minutes earlier.

Xia Xiyao sent a screenshot over, showing it was about today’s startup ceremony.

This time Xu Lin trended because of the four characters he wrote.

Calligraphy is considered a relatively high-end art form that not many understand, so a lot of people just watch for fun. Coincidentally, Mr. Xu’s name pops up on trending lists from time to time, and gradually, many passers-by became familiar with it.

Trending topic: How good is Mr. Xu’s calligraphy?

"Xu Lin, your writing is really pretty. Many people say your handwriting looks great!"

"Why don’t they call me a calligrapher?"

"Many people do say that too!"

Xia Xiyao sent over a few more screenshots, indeed showing quite a number of people claiming Xu Lin’s skills have reached the level of a calligrapher.

The four characters Xu Lin wrote, "Dajing Dynasty," were in cursive script, majestic and powerful, with a force that penetrates the paper. Even a calligraphy prodigy would need decades to attain such skill, yet Xu Lin effortlessly achieves it. Even those who don’t understand calligraphy find his writing impressive, akin to "dragons flying and phoenixes dancing," which exactly describes Xu Lin’s characters.

"But there are also lots of people shading you, saying it’s fake, that you didn’t write it yourself, that you got someone else to do it, accusing you of being a persona like those fake scholars in the entertainment industry. It made me so angry, I cursed out quite a few people just now!"

Xia Xiyao fumed with indignation.

Xu Lin: "Ignore them."

"But I’m so upset that these people are insulting you."

"Don’t try to prove anything to them. Otherwise, you’ll never make it clear. They might dare talk about me online, but in real life, if I come out full force, they’d lose everything just by messing with me, got it?"

"Alright."

"Just ignore them and do things that make you happy."

Xu Lin simply didn’t like dealing with these online people. In fact, ever since he became famous, so-called fraud-busters have emerged to expose him, claiming his novels, songs, etc., were ghostwritten, labeling Mr. Xu as a con man.

Xu Lin simply would not bother with these idiots.

When Han Han was young, he was also exposed by Fang Zhouzi but fell into the trap of self-verification. No matter how he tried to prove himself, Fang Zhouzi insisted he was fake.

What is the trap of self-verification?

For example, if you’re into fitness, but you look average, someone jumps out and says you look like a troll goblin, not handsome. At this point, you try to prove, "What’s not good about how I look? My muscles obviously look good; I’ve worked hard to get to where I am today. Plus, working out makes me more energetic and improves my appearance." So on and so forth, you keep trying to prove yourself to them.

But people persistently label you a troll goblin, and you keep proving yourself, eventually ending like Han Han did back then, rendering yourself something neither here nor there while Fang Zhouzi was laughing his head off.

What’s the right approach? It’s to directly say, "F*** your mother, let her come and have a look, see if she likes my muscles, see if I dare to become your stepdad?"

What if they get angry? Are you kidding? You’ve got muscles; do they dare confront you? It’s only the non-fitness people who will criticize those who do. Human nature is to bully the weak and fear the strong; nine out of ten people are like that.

The self-verification trap is just that - first of all, I have no obligation to prove anything to beings like you.

There’s way too many people now shading Xu Lin online.

Xu Lin is handsome, wealthy, surrounded by the most beautiful women, living a happy, fulfilling life, like an Emperor, why would he care about responding to them?

"Xu Lin, what are you doing?"

"Went out for a meal in the afternoon, just got back not long ago."

"Oh, oh."

Xia Xiyao: "Did anything interesting happen today?"

"No, just had a simple meal and chatted."

Xu Lin didn’t mention going to the ’Beauty’s Charm’; it’s still a bit dark there, beautiful women, just have enough money and you can play however you like, play however you want, and it’s all outdoors - real goddesses that drop jaws when others look on.

The little girl’s psyche probably wouldn’t handle something like this.

Men, women, children, blood, organs...

Everything has a price - and price isn’t always monetary; it can also be exchanged for other forms of value.

Mentioning it does seem a bit dark.

Snap!

Xu Lin lit a cigarette.

Xu Lin thought of a long-debated philosophical problem - is human nature inherently good or evil?

He recalled when he was young, perhaps eight or nine years old, he would focus on women’s butts, and it had to be big ones.

So even as a kid, Xu Lin was lustful and nobody taught him, guided him, nor had he watched any clips or whatever; lustfulness was just there, naturally, possibly inherent.

Hence, Xu Lin felt that inherent evil in human nature might be the more factual side.

Thus, based on innate evil, people need morals and laws to tether actual human nature.

Xu Lin pondered many things.

What use is there in thinking, really? It seems useless, yet reading a lot prompted Xu Lin to enjoy thoughts on deeper issues.

"So what did you eat today?"

Xia Xiyao: "Xu Lin, can we video chat? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you."

"Sure."

Xu Lin thought it over; it has indeed been over ten days since he last saw Xia Xiyao. He’d been spending time with Ning Yuhuan recently.

Shortly after, a video call from Xia Xiyao came through.

She was in her dorm room, sitting on her bed, with sounds of other girls chatting in the background.