Chapter 650: The Philosophy Behind the Bickering Machine

September 13th, Tuesday…

Zhang Lixian brought the videographer from the Finance Channel with her and arrived at the unique-looking building in the Dawn of Prosperous City.

Li Shi was already waiting for them on the 11th story.

“Boss Li, how are you?!”

Zhang Lixian shook Li Shi’s hand affectionately before Li Shi led her and the videographer in.

Once she stepped into the empty living room, Zhang Lixian became stunned.

Was this… the new house that Boss Li had just moved into?

The four walls were bare, and it looked like he had just been robbed. How was he living here?

Zhang Lixian was extremely confused.

Before this, she had heard that Boss Li wanted to be interviewed in the Dawn of Prosperous City. She had thought that they would be visiting Boss Li’s home. After all, it was in this district, and so it could not have been an office.

Yet, after seeing this house, Zhang Lixian became even more confused.

How did this look like a house?

It did not look like it had been lived in at all.

Based on her knowledge, Boss Li was already married, and his son was already in junior high school. Yet, this place did not show any signs of having been lived in by his wife or son.

In other words, Boss Li did not take this place as his home. Had he just rented an apartment in Sloth Apartments?

Why?

What was so special about this place?

Before Zhang Lixian could begin the interview, her mind was already filled with many questions.

Sensing her confusion, Li Shi smiled. “I know what you want to ask. Don’t worry, we can take our time to chat.”

There were a table and two chairs near the balcony, meant for people to drink tea at. It served as the perfect spot for the interview. The light shining through the full-length window would have caused a backlight in the camera, but Li Shi had adjusted the smart glass and resolved the problem.

This was not a formal news interview—it was closer to a discussion on camera. The program was lengthier, and the flow of the conversation was less restrained.

Zhang Lixian ran through the questions she had in her head as she studied the squarish black box on the coffee table.

What was that?

It caught her attention. The house was so big, but there were hardly any furnishings. Naturally, the black box on the coffee table looked particularly eye-catching.

Li Shi smiled. “I’ll explain this to you later.”

Zhang Lixian nodded and then decided to carry out the interview as she had planned. In any case, if she turned out unsatisfied with the end result, they could always redo it.

After putting all the preparations in place, the interviews officially began.

Zhang Lixian had many questions, such as why Boss Li set this place as the interview location, why there were so few furnishings in the house, what the black box was for, and so on. However, she found it most appropriate to start with the questions that she had prepared beforehand.

“Boss Li, one could say that you’re a veteran of the venture capital industry in Jingzhou—and perhaps all of Handong—and a witness to many finance legends. The establishment of your Fu Hui Investments has also helped many other businesses in Jingzhou, whether directly or indirectly.

“Recently, you have also responded to the call to invest a huge amount of money into the old industrial zone where Thriller Hostel stands.

“However, many businesses and investors in Jingzhou were so afraid that they steered clear of that place. What made you so determined to invest in it?”

Li Shi had a flashback. “Actually, I didn’t think much of that place at first. However, one day, Boss Pei asked me which place investors in Jingzhou were most unwilling to get involved in.

“After some thought, I told him that it was the old industrial zone.

“At the time, the old industrial zone was still a desolate plot of land. There were abandoned factory buildings, and it was far from the city center. Its location was extremely deserted.

“At first, I thought that Boss Pei had been joking. However, without any hesitation, he invested in it!

“That’s why I followed suit.”

Zhang Lixian was dumbfounded.

It was that… rash?

He only followed suit because Boss Pei invested? What if Boss Pei’s investment failed?

“Well… why do you trust Boss Pei so much, then?” Zhang Lixian asked.

Li Shi smiled. “If you research deeply into Boss Pei’s Dream Realization Ventures, you would notice that his way of investing is worlds apart from other people’s!

“When other people invest, they can only expect two outcomes: profit or loss.

“However, when Boss Pei invests, he has two other outcomes: profit immediately or in the future!

“If you ask me about Dream Realization Ventures’s most successful investment, I would point you to their purchase of shares in Finger Games. They had reaped benefits at every single step and ended up making returns of more than twenty times their investment!

“To succeed in investing, one needs both guts and foresight.

“An outstanding investor must first be able to spot opportunities, then know how to grasp them, and finally dare to grasp them!

“Boss Pei does outstandingly at every one of those stages. That’s why he always achieves great success in his investments.

“Of course, before I invested with him, Boss Pei repeatedly warned me that the project would have great risks. I thought about it. Risks were risks, and the old industrial zone had to be transformed sooner or later. Even if I had lost money, I would have taken it as my contribution to Jingzhou City.

“I was born and raised in Jingzhou and made my wealth here. It’s only expected that I return to society.”

Zhang Lixian nodded. “Boss Li, your mindset is very admirable. I noticed that you trust Boss Pei a lot. Does your trust come from Boss Pei’s brilliant investment results or from some other place?”

Li Shi remained silent for a moment and then said, “Actually, in the beginning, it was only because of his brilliant investment results. At the time, I did not really understand why Boss Pei and Dream Realization Ventures would achieve such great success.

“However, I recently began to understand the reason for all of it. I think that I should share this experience with other investors, as well as all the young people aspiring to establish their careers.

“Boss Pei could only achieve such great results because of the way he thinks!”

Zhang Lixian’s eyes lit up. “Please explain that.”

Li Shi smiled subtly. “This is Sloth Apartments, Tengda’s newest rented apartment arm. However, not many people know that Boss Pei lives here as well. He lives in the penthouse of this building. The furnishings in this house are exactly the same as those in Boss Pei’s!”

Zhang Lixian was dumbfounded.

She had not expected that at all!

Everyone knew where Tengda’s and Boss Pei’s offices were, but very few people knew how Boss Pei looked like or where he lived.

“Boss Pei lives in a place like this? Isn’t it too simple? How could anyone live here?” Zhang Lixian asked, confused.

Li Shi smiled. “That’s what I thought at first, too.

“When I found out that Boss Pei lived here, I was very surprised. The furnishings here are too simple, to the point that they would affect regular life to a certain extent.

“People who live here would easily think that this place resembles a temple or monastery because there’s no hint of life at all.

“That’s why I was confused at first.

“Given Boss Pei’s net worth, he should easily be able to afford a luxurious villa. Why would he live in such a place?

“With my mind full of questions, I stayed here for half a year. At last, I understood Boss Pei’s intentions.”

Li Shi purposely let the anticipation build up by pausing for a moment. Then, he said, “This place encourages focus and creative thinking. Boss Pei is only living here for so long to remain focused and think creatively!

“As opposed to saying that this is Boss Pei’s home, it would be more fitting to say that it’s Boss Pei’s training room or brainstorming room!

“Boss Pei’s success is no coincidence. It is the result of him thinking hard day after day.

“He minimized the amount of material enjoyment he could have and kept only the necessities in his home. He has been committed to living such a minimalistic life to prevent random things from interfering with his thinking process!

“Without those random things, he’s able to think in a more focused manner. Living in such an environment for a long time would cultivate better focus and more effective thinking.

“There’s no such thing as an investment prodigy in the world. Boss Pei has just been using all the time that he’s been given to think in a highly effective manner!

“That’s why I’m trying to learn how to think in that manner by making the complex simple as well.

“I often come here to think quietly on my own. Often, I find solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems once I come here to think about them. That’s because coming to this place rids me of all distractions. Nothing would distract or disturb me here.”

A realization dawned on Zhang Lixian.

So that was why!

She had been puzzled about this before. Boss Pei was the boss of Tengda Corporation, who could earn close to five hundred million yuan in a single transaction. What kind of house would he fail to afford?

This house was not small, but it still could not match up to Boss Pei’s net worth.

What’s more, Boss Pei had decorated his own house in such a minimalistic fashion. There wasn’t a single thing that was not a necessity. Naturally, one would think about ascetics and Daoists.

Did that make sense?

Who wouldn’t enjoy convenience and comfort?

Boss Pei’s Tengda Corporation was a huge business. It would be logical for him to choose to enjoy life.

Yet, Boss Pei did not make that choice.

Obviously, he had a special goal.

That riddle had been solved by Boss Li, an investor in a similar position as Boss Pei.

Now, it was clear that Boss Pei’s success was no coincidence. It was the result of him thinking hard day after day.

Boss Pei could only think deeper and further than ordinary people because he lived such a strict and minimalistic lifestyle. He had created an environment devoid of every distraction so that he could focus!

While others were at home quarreling with their spouses and children, Boss Pei was here, thinking hard about Tengda Corporation’s future direction. The accumulation of such thinking over time made a world of difference!

All of a sudden, Zhang Lixian thought of another question. She looked at the black box on the table and asked, “Well, what is this black box for, then?”

Li Shi did not say anything. Instead, he demonstrated it for Zhang Lixian.

He quickly pressed a couple of metal rods down, but the box’s mechanism restored everything to their original positions.

Zhang Lixian was stunned. “This…?”

Li Shi began to explain. “It’s an exquisite work.

“However, it’s rich in philosophy. It helps me to think better.

“There’s one that looks just like that in Boss Pei’s house. I expended a lot of effort to find the official platform for it. I didn’t expect to find that Dream Realization Ventures had invested in it as well!

“In other words, Boss Pei probably custom-made this.

“It is called the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine.”

Zhang Lixian remained confused. “A Fully-Automated Bickering Machine? What kind of philosophy does it contain? How does it help us to think better?”

Li Shi handed the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine over to Zhang Lixian and allowed her to try it out.

Zhang Lixian played with it for a minute and asked, “What’s… the meaning of this? It’s a complete waste of time.”

Li Shi smiled. “It’s meaningless.

“The fact that it’s meaningless is why it’s so meaningful.

“It contains the traditional philosophy of Daoism: the use of uselessness.

“It helps one to understand that a meaningless action is meaningful in itself.

“This thing is called a Fully-Automated Bickering Machine because it models the process of bickering with people online.

“There are more and more contrarians appearing online now, resulting in more and more meaningless debates. Public figures, in particular, easily find themselves falling into those meaningless debates.

“We’re so used to debating with others that, but most of the time, we don’t care about who’s right or wrong. We only care about who’s more powerful.

“Nobody is really trying to understand what the other party is saying, and nobody will really reflect on whether they’re wrong or not. Instead, they would try all ways and means to find loopholes in the other party’s arguments.

“That’s why we’ll discover that debating with other people online would never lead to a consensus.

“Debating with people like that is akin to playing with this Fully-Automated Bickering Machine. No matter how hard you work, the mechanism will lift the rods back into their original positions. You would only be wasting your time.

“Thinkers would find it tempting to engage in these meaningless debates… because the more they think, the angrier they would become about other people’s stupidity; the more they think, the more they would realize how stupid they themselves are and how much they don’t know.

“Whether you’re the former or the latter type, you’re in danger. Thinking could bring wisdom, but it could also cause paranoia or arrogance.

“This Bickering Machine serves as a reminder that those debates are meaningless and that you shouldn’t waste your time arguing with the contrarians online.

“Just think hard and do what you have to do—that’s enough.

“Thus, every time I feel frustrated, I would play with this machine. I’ll look at it fighting me endlessly and negating all of my efforts again and again. Finally, I would understand that I’ve merely been wasting my time doing useless work.

“With my negative emotions released, I would calm down and be able to continue thinking.

“Why does Boss Pei have no crafts or decorations in his house but this?

“That’s because this is neither a handicraft nor a decorative piece. It’s a machine that restores your thinking and emotions, and it fits in with the rest of the house because it helps one to settle down and think better.

“To me, this is the soul of this thinking space!”