"Of course, on another note!" Draco's thoughts jumped back, "Struggle doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a job."
"Does the fact that the competition among workers and laborers has stopped mean that those who are simply lying down will necessarily be able to step up? Not necessarily, because what exactly is work?"
"Work is all about experience."
"If you lie flat, you won't get any exercise. Then you'll be no different from a freshly graduated college student."
"They're even worse than college students who are like oxen or horses. After all, college students have the advantage of being obedient, having low expectations, being passionate, and willing to be oxen or horses."
"That's it..." Trillian laughed.
"So, those who just lie down and do nothing are even worse than college students."
"How can you compare these?" Kraven gave a wry smile.
"You can tell just from the title: 'Ox-and-horse college student.' You're expected to be a beast of burden the moment you graduate. Want a promotion and a raise? Fine, just bear with it. You might get laid off any day now..."
"..." Trillian had thought the other person would say something like, "Maybe one day the boss will take pity on you and lend a hand," but she didn't expect this unexpected turn of events, which almost made her throw up her back. After thinking for a moment, Trillian said, "After saying so much, it doesn't seem so bad to just lie down?"
Kraven nodded and said, "Yes, lying down isn't necessarily a bad thing. It avoids unnecessary internal friction, rejects involution, and protects one's body and mind from being exploited and worn down."
"On a larger scale, isn't it a good deed when someone lays down and withdraws from the competition, giving their position to someone else?"
Trillian was somewhat puzzled. "If that's the case, then why are there still so many people who can't stand others lying down?"
Draco pointed out:
Those who disapprove of the "lying flat" mentality are, of course, those whose interests are harmed. Whoever's interests are harmed opposes this mentality. For example, the beneficiaries—the employers. They naturally hope to profit as much as possible so they can enjoy cheap labor.
"Another example is someone who feels resentful. They might think, 'Why do I have to work myself to the bone while you get to eat, drink, and have fun every day?'"
"Then there are the elders; children represent a sunk cost. They've invested half their lives, only to see no return, so naturally they're unhappy. And then there's the macro perspective—the bigger picture comes first..."
"I completely agree with the elders' perspective," Trillian said, deeply agreeing. "I've also seen many elders react as if the sky has fallen when they hear their children don't want to work hard."
"I can't lift them up myself, I can't make arrangements for them, and I can't accept the child's choice in the end."
"There's a lot mixed in there," Kraven, knowing the reason, "Loss of face, emotional emptiness, concerns about family continuity, retirement, and so on, and much, much more..."
Draco nodded. "Yes, a parent's responsibility is to raise their child and ensure their healthy growth; to educate them and ensure they understand principles. Raising without teaching, or teaching without raising, is both unacceptable."
"But many parents go overboard with this responsibility," Kraven sighed, "Which creates a situation where things go too far."
"Because they also add another layer of discipline, which requires children to do this and that, creating a sense of coercion—that if they don't get good grades, they won't get into a good university, and they won't find a good job."
"Yes," Draco agreed.
"Making a request changes the nature of the relationship, because requests are usually made by superiors to subordinates."
"On the other hand, a child is born into a family and only asks for clothes to wear and food to eat; they don't expect their parents to be billionaires. The principle of 'Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you' doesn't apply to a family. Why can't this principle work?"
"Exactly!" Trillian exclaimed with feeling, "Does that mean the purpose of having children is to demand things of them? Just like you said, young master, then others can also demand that you not have children. Why have so many? The earth can't even support it, jobs are so hard to find, money is so hard to earn, isn't it because there are too many people?"
"That's right," Draco said.
"You can't make demands on others. Just like having children is your own choice, no one can stop you from doing so."
"As parents, we should help our children as much as we can. We should help them find a good partner, send them to school, help them find a good job, and give them money so they can have some confidence when they are out in the world."
"You're always making a scene at home, and you even help him find a partner? What kind of partner? Someone just like you?"
"If you can't help, then let him do it himself. What's the point of interfering? If it really doesn't work, we can figure something out together."
"If there's really no other way, let him lie down for a while. If he can't even tolerate this, what can we do? Family is about mutual tolerance."
To be clear, Draco added, to avoid any misinterpretation, "Of course, lying down doesn't mean giving up."
"People always need to find something to do; they can't let their spirits dissipate. A person relies on their spirit, and spirit is a form of energy. Once it collapses, it's very difficult for a person to recover."
"Anything is fine?" Trillian asked.
"Anything is fine—have some fun, grow some vegetables, raise some chickens, do some housework, take a walk, anything goes. Just make sure you get through each day and don't just drift through life aimlessly."
With that topic settled, Kraven took the initiative to steer the conversation back to the history of the vampires. "By the time of the 'lying-down' era, the Werewolf had already been defecting for many years."
"At this moment, Victor noticed the Werewolf population increasing rapidly and realized this was unacceptable. Coupled with the rising vampire numbers, this situation was bound to cause trouble sooner or later, jeopardizing human safety. If humans got involved, the vampires would likely also be doomed. Therefore, he needed to find a solution..."
"What should we do then?"
"Of course, we should proactively reduce it."
"Therefore, the Werewolf hunt has been restarted. This will not only reduce the number of Werewolf, but also the number of vampires, since vampires will also suffer casualties during the hunt."
"Furthermore, the morale of the 'cattle and horses' has reached a bottleneck, and they've begun to show signs of giving up. At this point, they need an external enemy, they need to divert attention from their own internal conflicts, just like the various media outlets, which must criticize other countries for this or that,"
"Like that saying,"
We must remember history.
"Now I understand why Victor's three elders, despite their immense power and ability to overwhelm Lucian, haven't completely wiped out the Werewolf. It's because their race needs an external enemy to divert attention from their internal conflicts."
It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Selene's mind.
"So... so the blood shed by the vampires generation after generation, the deep-seated hatred accumulated over time, was partly a pretext deliberately created by the upper echelons to stabilize the clan."