Orthodoxy of Three Views and Five Senses

Lin Yuan suddenly felt foolish. Why had he been worried about Liu Yifei going back on her word?

He wanted to see Liu Yifei wear white stockings, but did she really not want to wear them for him?

Had he forgotten that excellent hunters always appear in the guise of their prey?

Women truly understood the art of playing hard to get, Lin Yuan mused again. No wonder so many men always found themselves at a disadvantage in interactions between the sexes.

Men started at a lower level, and if they then acted like simps, they really had no choice but to accept their fate.

Indeed, relationships were only interesting when they were a mutual effort.

"I'll treasure it. With it, I'll feel like you're always by my side." Lin Yuan placed the wallet into the inner pocket of his jacket.

Liu Yifei also raised her left wrist, gesturing with her bracelet, indicating she felt the same way.

"What have you been reading lately?" Lin Yuan changed the subject.

Ever since that night camping at Big Bear Mountain Park, Lin Yuan had found himself enjoying casual conversations with Liu Yifei.

The intellectual connection they shared during their conversations was their true emotional bond.

"The Painted Veil by Maugham, do you know it?" Liu Yifei replied.

"Yes, I've read it too," Lin Yuan nodded.

It was a romance novel created by the British author W. Somerset Maugham in 1920.

Compared to this book, two of Maugham's other representative works were clearly more famous: The Summing Up and The Moon and Sixpence.

Lin Yuan knew of The Painted Veil because, after a century, around 2020, it suddenly became popular in China.

It resonated widely with artistic young women in China, hailed as a must-read romance guide for women.

The film adaptation of the same name, based on this book, even achieved a high score of 8.3 on Douban.

The most famous passage in The Painted Veil, which immediately captivated artistic young women, was spoken by the male protagonist to the female protagonist:

I have no illusions about you.

I know you are foolish, frivolous, and empty-headed, yet I love you.

I know your ambitions, your desires.

You are snobbish, you are vulgar, yet I love you.

I know you are second-rate, yet I love you.

I did not fall in love with the beautiful facade you strive to present, but with your flawed inner self.

"Does this taste pure?"

"Does this taste strong?"

"The Celestial Fairy's essence is off the charts, truly."

No wonder women liked it. What woman wouldn't want to be loved unconditionally by a man, even while being flawed in every way?

Lin Yuan's attitude towards this book was one of disdain.

Although he knew the author Maugham was critical of the vain female protagonist before her transformation, it didn't change his opinion that it was a work of self-indulgent, bourgeois sentimentality.

"Do you like this book?" Lin Yuan asked. Based on his understanding of Liu Yifei, it shouldn't have been her preference.

"No, I don't. My classmates were all reading it, so I just flipped through it."

As expected, the Celestial Fairy didn't like that sort of thing.

"Pretentious views on love, self-indulgent whining, and self-pity. I dislike it very much," Liu Yifei added.

"But I know many girls like this book," Lin Yuan said, wanting to hear her views on love.

"Many people believe love should be unconditional, hoping that someone will love them no matter how flawed they are.

This aligns with human selfishness and self-interest, but I cannot agree with it," Liu Yifei's opinions were always sharp.

Lin Yuan nodded, signaling her to continue.

"If I were foolish, frivolous, empty-headed, snobbish, vulgar, and had a flawed inner self, a second-rate person.

Then, no matter how beautiful I was, I wouldn't deserve anyone's love.

Love should not be a panacea for all ills, as if anything labeled as love should be done without question, becoming a given."

Her inner self was not as delicate as her outward appearance; on the contrary, she was an extremely confident and opinionated person.

Lin Yuan smiled and nodded. My Celestial Fairy has such upright values, a truly positive young woman!

"There's another aspect of this book that made me uncomfortable, although it has nothing to do with love," Liu Yifei said.

"What is it?" Lin Yuan asked.

"The more Maugham portrayed China as a pastoral, 'primitive' life in this book, the more I felt the arrogance of the Western world. It made me deeply uncomfortable.

I don't know if you can understand what I mean," Liu Yifei said worriedly.

Lin Yuan understood perfectly.

The story of The Painted Veil took place in old Chinese society, and both the original novel and its later film adaptations featured extensive descriptions of folk customs and the appearance of old China.

The author's words express a strong fondness for these Eastern elements, portraying China as a utopia.

Many Chinese people are aware of a phenomenon: foreigners are very interested in ancient Chinese things, such as our traditional architecture, traditional clothing, and folk customs...

The older and more "original" it is, the more they like it.

Logically, this should be a good thing. Shouldn't we be happy that foreigners like our traditional culture?

But why do many Chinese people feel subtly uncomfortable?

This actually touches upon a very fundamental issue:

What exactly do Western countries like about the "classical East"?

As a Chinese-American, Lin Yuan has no cultural perception gap between East and West.

Therefore, he can answer this question accurately:

What Western countries like is the Oriental paradise they've conjured up in their minds.

It's best if you always travel by sedan chair when you go out, not by car.

It's best if you wash clothes by the river with a wooden stick, not by using a washing machine.

It's best if you don't use air conditioning or electric fans when it's hot in the summer; it's much better to use a traditional hand-held fan.

They want us to live ancient lives forever, to embody their fantasies of a paradise.

As for whether we ourselves want to live better lives and embrace modernization, they don't care, and may even oppose it.

The essence of all this is a sense of novelty.

It's the same feeling we get when we see the "original" lives of indigenous people in African tribes; it's just novel and interesting.

If you say you like it, does that mean you like our culture?

It's not that they don't genuinely like it, but it comes with a condescending arrogance that makes people uncomfortable.

Lin Yuan deeply experienced this when filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

The more ancient China you portray, and the more backward the lives of its people, the more interested foreigners become.

If you film a modern, prosperous China, foreigners won't only dislike it, they'll also accuse us of destroying the tranquility of traditional life and losing our cultural heritage.

And they'll add: "It's so un-environmental!"

This condescending arrogance from Western civilization has always been widespread.

Lin Yuan's discrimination and exclusion in Hollywood are just one manifestation of this.

Actually, Lin Yuan was very surprised that Liu Yifei could perceive this so acutely.

After all, she's not old, and she truly has a sharp mind, seeing things more clearly than her peers.

"I understand what you mean. We will also have a day when we look at them this way."

"Really?"

"Yes! Trust me, so the roots of our careers must be in China in the future."

As a reborn individual, Lin Yuan naturally knows that looking at America in 2024 feels truly surreal, full of cyberpunk vibes.