Analects and Chapter Commentary

The music on stage had been changed to Mai Mizuhashi's "Gokuraku Jodo" (Pure Land of Bliss). The three girls wearing Goldfinch cheongsams didn't change into the short Japanese yukatas commonly worn for this dance, which explains why the dressing room was empty earlier.

There were even more onlookers, but apart from the "professionals" keeping the beat, most people didn't know much about otaku dance and were just watching for the novelty.

Quite a few girls inquired about the otaku dance club, most of whom had been involved in anime and manga culture since high school. After all, there's more interest and free time in college, and many want to try something new or something they're already interested in.

Many new graduates are very proactive in socializing and integrating into certain circles.

Liu Chang'an saw Bai Hui talking to the girl who had just barged in. When Liu Chang'an opened the door and came out, they noticed him. So Liu Chang'an nodded, smiled, and turned to leave.

"Look... look how calm and collected he is, and that smile... to be honest, it's kind of charming." The girl clicked her tongue in admiration. "Good taste."

"I've already told you what happened," Bai Hui said, trying to remain calm. "Lu Lu, I really have nothing to do with him."

"Okay, I understand." The girl named Lu Lu nodded nonchalantly.

"Anyway, if any rumors about me and him spread in the club or anywhere else, I'll hold you responsible," Bai Hui threatened. "I'm the vice-captain now; you'll definitely suffer if you offend me."

Lu Lu chuckled. "I definitely won't spread it, but if you measure his hips, waist, or bust in other places next time and someone sees it and there's any gossip, that's none of my business."

Lu Lu's eyes darted back and forth over Bai Hui's body. She had seen Bai Hui's figure in the locker room, and it was truly breathtaking. Apart from her height, she could probably rival the two teachers with the most attractive figures in the school.

Moreover, isn't the greatest charm of mature women their fuller, more curvaceous figures? Compared to Bai Hui, they have no advantage whatsoever. Furthermore, the fresh, youthful allure of Bai Hui is something mature women simply cannot replicate.

"What? I was just so angry with him today that I did something stupid. I won't do it again." Bai Hui nodded confidently.

"When that 'Snail Rice Noodles says your legs are short, would you drag him to the dressing room, lift your skirt, and let him see for himself if his legs are really short or not?" Lu Lu stopped laughing and looked calmly at Bai Hui. "Snail Rice Noodles" was the online name of a boy in a dance club. He usually liked to ride on the coattails of girls with many fans, such as dancing with them and posting videos. He was particularly enthusiastic towards Bai Hui, but Bai Hui was not happy to let this kind of boy ride on her coattails. She preferred to record dance videos with other girls.

"I'm not even close to him, how could that be? That Liu Chang'an, we were high school classmates, we've always been good friends. He always teases me, that's why I got so angry today and lost my mind," Bai Hui said somewhat guiltily. She figured Lu Lu wouldn't bother to investigate whether she and Liu Chang'an had been good friends in high school.

"Fine, you're good-looking, whatever you say is right." Lu Lu wasn't stupid enough to be annoying and insist on making Bai Hui admit that her relationship with Liu Chang'an was unusual.

Bai Hui breathed a sigh of relief; she had finally managed to fool them.

No, it should be said that I've explained it clearly. How can you say I've fooled her? Fooling her is deceiving her. If I had something going on with Liu Chang'an, that would be fooling Lu Lu. I'm just revealing the truth.

After a moment's thought, Bai Hui realized she wasn't feeling so guilty anymore, so she immediately and confidently told Lu Lu some bad things about Liu Chang'an. For example, she said he was actually an annoying chauvinist, and that he also said she looked provocative sitting at the library entrance. After saying all that, Bai Hui was even more convinced that she couldn't possibly like this annoying guy, Liu Chang'an.

I glanced over and saw Liu Chang'an in the crowd mimicking the cheerleaders who had glow sticks and headbands tied around their necks, clapping along.

"That guy is so boring, "Bai Hui rolled her eyes at him.

The dance club is mostly made up of girls, but there are a lot of performances, so some men are always needed to do the work. So some men were recruited. Most of the members of this support group joined the club, giving them the opportunity to get close to the cute girls. They put in physical effort, it's a fair trade, and no one loses out... There are indeed cases of members of the support group winning over the cute girls in the club.

When a club is recruiting, if a cute girl dressed in an adorable outfit subtly mentions this, how can you not feel excited? It's as if joining means those cute girls bouncing around on stage will soon become your girlfriends.

The dance ended, and so did Liu Chang'an's experience as a fan. As he walked out of the crowd, he was stopped by a girl wearing a modified short ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress). She gave him a cute smile, "Hey, I saw you were really involved in our fan activities. Would you be interested in joining our club? We're recruiting right now. If you join now, you can be added to the club group chat and get the contact information of every cute girl."

What is the purpose of contact information?

"The girl will chat with you and interact with you."

"Do you have a group photo of your club?" Liu Chang'an asked after thinking for a moment.

The girl smiled somewhat shyly. She was quite straightforward and didn't pretend to be a fan of otaku dance or anime culture. So she took out her phone and took a group photo.

"I won't give you my contact information." Liu Chang'an glanced at it and left.

The girl stood there, stunned. What did this person mean? And that wary look in his eyes!

Liu Chang'an continued to stroll around the academy square. He had never seen such a scene when he was at Xiangtan University. He couldn't help but sigh that people's entertainment activities were so diverse now. No wonder no one was composing poems anymore. Those highbrow things were not as interesting as making up jokes and playing with memes.

However, upon closer examination, many ancient people were actually masters of creating jokes and memes. For example, "The Big Rat" and "Felling the Sandalwood" in the Book of Songs were jokes created by literati.

The era of the Hundred Schools of Thought was the time when comedians produced a high level of jokes and humor. The mutual attacks between these schools were not the kind of classical Chinese that people imagine today; personal attacks and regional discrimination were commonplace... Confucius was certainly a master of this. He and his disciples would often forward other people's jokes and add their own comments, which were compiled into a famous book of jokes. Now, we have to memorize and test these jokes in Chinese class, which is quite annoying.

So, Weibo isn't anything new; it's just that the medium and method of dissemination have changed. It's all stuff that the ancients already did. However, Weibo today can't give birth to the Analects.

Or perhaps two thousand years from now, people in the future will find a bunch of hard drives in some time capsule, decipher the data inside, and then compile a book called "Chapter Commentary" to study it.

This is quite interesting. Liu Chang'an would occasionally have some daydreams about the future. Anyway, he would just wait and see if they would come true.

Actually, this kind of chapter-based commentary isn't anything new. Jin Shengtan was Jin Shengtan this kind of commentary in the Ming Dynasty, and you can still buy his works like "The Romance of the Western Chamber" and "Xu Hu Zhuan" which are filled with chapter-based commentary.

Liu Chang'an stood in the academy square for a while, reflecting on the past and present. He then bought a roasted corn and a bottle of orange juice for lunch.

The place was packed with people, brimming with youthful energy and hormones. Only young people would have such a strong interest in participating in these things.

Eighteen-year-old Liu Chang'an was naturally interested. After finishing his roasted corn, he took his orange juice and went to the chess academy's recruitment point.

Compared to other clubs, the chess academy has far fewer members. Basically, those who want to join this club have simpler goals. The chess academy's poster, "Making friends through chess," better illustrates everyone's initial intention to join.

The chess academy's activities include organizing chess, Go, Gomoku, Western chess, and Shogi competitions. Although few people pay attention to the academy's recruitment process, the actual number of registered members is quite large.

"Professor Xu Zhancheng and Professor Ren Changhong, honorary advisors of this academy." Liu Chang'an couldn't help but smile when he saw these two names on the poster, and thus joined the chess academy.

These two terrible chess players probably only hold the title of honorary advisor; their actual instructor is someone else, a well-known chess player from Xiangtan University.

Liu Chang'an had just registered and received a club charter and activity schedule when he discovered that Yan Qingcheng had also just joined the chess academy.

"Liu Chang'an?" Yan Qingcheng seemed not to be very familiar with Liu Chang'an and was quite surprised, wanting to confirm if it was really him.

It wasn't that I was surprised that Liu Chang'an joined the chess academy, but I was surprised that I and Liu Chang'an had both applied to the chess academy; what a coincidence.

Liu Chang'an finished his orange juice, held the bottle in his hand, and nodded.

"You joined the chess academy too?" Yan Qingcheng asked uncertainly. Although Liu Chang'an was a bully-type academic genius at school, when he wasn't messing around with women, his quiet reading style wasn't too out of place with the temperament of a chess player.

This was a pointless statement, yet Liu Chang'an still nodded.

"What kind of chess do you like to play?" Yan Qingcheng seemed eager to have a match with Liu Chang'an.

"Various kinds, I suppose."

"How's your Gomoku game?" This is Yan Qingcheng's forte.

"So-so."

"Let's exchange ideas at the next club activity," Yan Qingcheng said confidently when talking about her strengths.

"Good."

"I thought you'd join the mahjong club. Our school performed exceptionally well in the international university mahjong competition last year." Yan Qingcheng paused, "I heard from my mom that your dad often plays mahjong, often until midnight. Once, he was supposed to be tutoring some students on their papers, but he ended up playing mahjong instead. My mom even prepared a whole table of late-night snacks for your dad and the others. After the students finished eating and drinking, they went home, leaving my mom to take care of your dad all night."

Is that so? Liu Chang'an thought about it carefully. He played cards and mahjong every few days, how could he remember clearly?

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