'SEE YOU MORNING' 010 The Weakness of Human Nature

The days of plain happiness always flew by. In just a few days, the solar farm that Li Haojun had envisioned was already completed. It was all automated equipment, standard procedures. The entire process involved almost no human contact — earthworks excavation, underground concrete infrastructure, and then the clusters of solar panels and wind turbines on the surface.

With this big toy, Li Haojun spent more time on the farm, installing power storage capacitors, debugging circuits and voltage conversion electronics. With the surplus electricity, more lights were used for nighttime courtyard decoration. After several busy days, the two of them had dinner and began to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Decorative light strips were hung above the living room floor-to-ceiling windows and on the entrance porch. The dim warm light added a half-wall of coziness to what had once been a cold courtyard, leaving the other half of cold to the courtyard walls and corners. Just a few small lanterns were hung on the banana tree as点缀, letting light and shadow, warmth and cold balance perfectly.

Li Haojun and Qin Wenjing sat on the bench in front of the porch. On the right was the transparent, slightly curved vertical floor-to-ceiling living room glass window. Through the glass, the interior furnishings could be seen, and the glass's reflection also revealed the quiet gloom of the courtyard's earth and wood. On the left was the blue brick courtyard wall, bathed in the dim yellow of the interior lights, with the wall's base and the far corner of the opposite wall faintly hidden in the night. In the darkness, a few dim lights illuminated the dark green of some banana leaves.

At this moment, night had just fallen, and the sky hadn't completely darkened yet. Looking up, the black edges of the roof and the walltops divided the courtyard from the outside world, giving the people inside a full sense of security.

With his arm around Qin Wenjing's waist, Li Haojun sat on the wooden bench, enjoying the warm breeze of early summer night.

"Hey, look, there seems to be an airplane flying over there," Li Haojun pointed at the sky to the front left.

Qin Wenjing looked over. "That should be the flight path for flying cars."

"Oh, I was wondering why I couldn't hear jet engine noise. So they're electric."

"Mm, usually their flight paths follow the roads. It could also be security patrol drones. They're all the same type of aircraft," Qin Wenjing explained while looking up.

"They should be more reliable than human police, right? At least they won't be corrupt, collude with criminal organizations, or take lives for money and harm a region. After all, American police still have a lot of power when enforcing the law, and the profession is very dangerous. You can't rule out others with ulterior motives infiltrating the police force," Li Haojun said.

"Yeah, the drones now have replaced the old street patrols. They're still very effective in rural areas like ours," Qin Wenjing pulled Li Haojun's hand, rested her head on his shoulder, and gazed at the same sky with him, talking about the same topic.

"But the situation in cities is more complicated," Qin Wenjing added. "Human law enforcers are needed. In the past, people in each region would vote on what kind of laws to pass, but the implementation wasn't ideal, because ordinary people really can't effectively supervise politicians. They would use all kinds of pretexts to pass laws and use public power to pursue their own interests."

"Like what?" Li Haojun asked curiously.

"Hehe, like affirmative action. It claims to protect vulnerable groups and minorities, but the result is injustice toward the other side and reverse discrimination. And employment issues, women's rights issues. From a social perspective, emphasizing one side's rights is oppression of the other. Those organizations and individuals, by appealing to equality of outcome, erase others' efforts and competitive advantages, putting themselves in a favorable position to exploit and oppress others. This kind of reverse discrimination or moral blackmail used to be very serious, but it was also the reason blue states gradually declined. You see, some people who were originally in a dominant position in society, out of moral considerations, gave up some advantages to groups that were originally disadvantaged. But they gradually took what they received as a god-given right, demanding legal protection. Yet they don't have the strength to guarantee what they claim — it never belonged to them in the first place, didn't come from them."

"Mm, this is like, suck the milk yet curse the mother, right?" Li Haojun summed it up succinctly.

"Hahaha," Qin Wenjing laughed heartily, turned her head and looked at Li Haojun with a mischievous grin. "Did you curse me this morning?"

Li Haojun held her shoulders, pulled her upper body close, kissed her lips softly and said, "How could I bear to." Then he looked deeply into Qin Wenjing's eyes.

Qin Wenjing tilted her head up. The light from the living room just illuminated the contour of Li Haojun's cheek. The sky was completely dark now, and the contrast of light and shadow highlighted the masculine beauty of strength even more.

"Later, all that chaos gradually disappeared," Qin Wenjing continued. "Every city and region was divided into areas with different legal system preferences, for suitable people to move into. Basic human rights — like life, property, health, speech, freedom and dignity, and other constitutional rights — are protected in all residential areas. But some advanced rights, social ones, like equal employment, the principles for determining sexual harassment, and private relationship areas like marriage — favoring protection of one side. The protected party can voluntarily choose to pursue or waive those rights, declaring in advance, in order to live in regions with different legal provisions. This way, the path for some people to hijack the whole and gain power became ineffective. Individuals no longer have to pay for the outrageous behavior of others in their group."

"Hey, so what about trolls who just go to someone else's territory to protest their demands? Or even more insidious ones, who infiltrate from within to sabotage? Hahaha," Li Haojun suddenly thought of this bug and asked right away.

"Sure, what kind of people don't exist. Peaceful protest is allowed, but it gets recorded. Regions that hold the values he's protesting may not hire him. That's why the Accountable Act was introduced later — his publicly stated values are no longer protected as personal privacy."

"Mm, that's fair. Everyone should be responsible for the consequences of their own actions."

"What you mentioned latter, that's ideological subversion, which is illegal. You can publicly declare or self-execute the life you want. But destroying other people's way of life and value orientation is illegal."

"Ah! You've matured so much. Dad can let go with peace of mind now," Li Haojun quickly seized the opportunity to tease Qin Wenjing right back.

But she didn't argue, nor did she make the expected reaction like, "Oh, you're so annoying." Instead, she continued calmly, "It's what you taught me before. Women should focus on inner growth, or it will be very hard to face losing your looks in the second half of life."

Li Haojun couldn't help but feel ashamed of his joke just now, thinking, I was shallow. He quickly explained,

"Compared to the old me, I hope you don't mind — I don't remember before, I don't even know if I'm still the same me from before." After a moment's hesitation, Li Haojun added softly, "Please don't be disappointed in me, okay?"

Qin Wenjing smiled faintly, said nothing, and continued with the previous topic,

"It's what you taught me before. You said women's golden age is relatively short. For example, take age as the horizontal axis of a coordinate system, and in male-female relationships, the attractiveness or value to the other person as the vertical axis. On this plane, a woman's curve might start rising sharply from twelve, thirteen, fifteen years old, peak at twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six, then by thirty-five, drop to about half or a third of the peak. For women, attractiveness to the opposite sex in a relationship comes from their biological attributes — the curve peaks very high but starts declining relatively early. And women's evaluation of men is often based on his social value. A teenage boy is nothing, the curve's vertical coordinate is very low. By high school and university, as personal achievements in studies improve, it gradually rises. Then at twenty-five, twenty-six, entering society, the curve continues to rise gradually with small accomplishments, but it's still far below the peak of women at the same age. By thirty-five, thirty-six, if a man's career is developing steadily, the curve gradually rises. If a man is successful, his curve's peak might not come until forty or fifty. Even then, it would still be lower than women's peak, because male mammals pursuing females is a universal rule. But you could say the integral area under both curves is equal — what they call the way of heaven. God gave men and women fairness in its own way."

"But this also gives women a dilemma. Starting high and declining fast makes it very hard for young women without life experience to cope. The wisdom of the vast majority isn't enough to handle such a life. So from the very beginning, you reminded me not to become obsessed with feminine charm and lose myself, to transform early, so the second half of life can be easier to find happiness."

After saying this, Qin Wenjing looked up at Li Haojun silently.

While chatting, the sky had gone completely dark, and the night breeze carried a slight chill. Li Haojun picked up Qin Wenjing and set her on his lap, wrapped her thin clothes in his own jacket, held her in his arms, and continued listening to her talk about their past.

"You see, as long as I'm sincere to you, you'll cherish me. Your true nature has little to do with whether you remember the past." After saying this, Qin Wenjing smiled contentedly in Li Haojun's arms.

After a moment's hesitation, Li Haojun asked, "There are some things I don't know if I should say."

"What can't be said? Only communication can solve existing problems. You've always told me that."

"Alright, my mentality right now is equivalent to an eighteen-year-old boy, haha," Li Haojun laughed and continued, "This morning I had a dream, about women, actually two of them."

"Hahaha, when you have options, right?" Qin Wenjing laughed heartily. "We've discussed this before. Go ahead, let's see if you've changed your heart." After saying this, Qin Wenjing smiled with her lips pressed together and looked at Li Haojun, the dim light from the dining room direction reflecting on her face, making her look even more charming.

"It started at home. I had a female friend, just a casual acquaintance. My type — pear-shaped figure, oval face with phoenix eyes, fair skin and slim figure." After saying this, Li Haojun thought for a moment and asked, "Is that you?"

"You tell me. Does it look like me?" Qin Wenjing replied playfully.

"I don't know if my dream is from previous memories either," Li Haojun explained helplessly.

"Keep going, keep going," Qin Wenjing urged.

"Later the scene was at school. Classmates sitting front and back, my deskmate was a girl."

"Ohhh..." Qin Wenjing deliberately drew out the sound.

"That kind of ambiguity between a boy and girl, you know. Sometimes during conversation, a single word, or a gesture, whether to respond or not, there's a very subtle relationship. I was considering which one to choose... so while joking around, I kind of neglected my deskmate."

"Was she not as pretty as the one at your house?" Qin Wenjing pressed.

"Mm, but she seemed to have feelings for me. Sigh, maybe I'm just imagining things," Li Haojun explained the details.

"So did you have feelings for her?"

"A little, maybe."

"Eating from your bowl while eyeing the pot, right?"

"Not really. The pretty one hasn't been with me yet either."

"Hmph, so stubborn," Qin Wenjing gave Li Haojun a disdainful look. "If I were you, I'd get my hands on whichever one first."

Li Haojun looked at Qin Wenjing and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"Oh, I'm not that kind of person either," Qin Wenjing quickly explained seeing this. "It's what you used to tell me — that's the logic of scumbags. Hurry up and tell me."

"Oh, later it was evening study hall, not many people left. I don't know if she was retaliating for my coldness toward her, or if it was her choice, but right next to me, she and another boy started passionately kissing. Later it even got to the point where the guy pulled her pants down and she didn't object. Me and another underclassman were right there, and they did this stuff like no one else was around."

"Mm, in general, countries and conservative regions don't allow this kind of thing in public places. So later, all regions with different tolerance levels refined the rules in detail. Like public places, workplaces and other public areas — the freest regions allow everything," Qin Wenjing said.

"Kind of like Sodom, huh," Li Haojun added.

"Mm, in that kind of place, that kind of situation, you can't even file a rape charge. Whoever chooses to live there takes the consequences."

"So are there people in those kinds of places?" Li Haojun asked curiously.

"There were some at first, but those people couldn't sustain the local economy. So after a phase of social experiment, Sodom City is gone. It's only preserved in some open regions as a kind of ecological reserve, proving its failure."

"Yeah, without a living, failed utopia sitting there, there will always be people who yearn for it."

"What happened next in your dream?" Qin Wenjing followed up.

"Next? Haha, my deskmate's pants were pulled all the way down, her underwear was ripped off too, revealing her snow-white belly and thighs, and dark pubic hair," Li Haojun continued telling his dream.

"That was your... deskmate, though?" Qin Wenjing deliberately emphasized the word "your," fanning the flames from the side.

"Yeah, I'm a red-blooded man too. How could I stand that? There was an underclassman next to me who was already stunned. I thought, screw it, I can't control myself anymore. I pulled her over, thinking I'd check if she was a virgin. If she was, I'd treat her well. If not, I'd just have fun and be done with it..."

Qin Wenjing couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably, laughing until she was out of breath.

"Isn't that right?..." Li Haojun asked in surprise.

"Ah yes, yes yes," Qin Wenjing laughed loudly while agreeing. "That's exactly the kind of person you are."

"Later, just as I was about to lift her thigh to take a look, she turned into a white-striped chicken. Hehe," Li Haojun laughed too as he said this.

By now Qin Wenjing was laughing nonstop. She got off Li Haojun's lap, stood on the ground, and bent over laughing.

Li Haojun kept going, "Then the underclassman took it over, used a cleaver, one chop cut off the chicken's butt, and then showed me between its two legs..."

By now Qin Wenjing was laughing so hard she was squatting on the ground and couldn't get up. The two of them took a long while to recover, then sat back down on the bench.

Li Haojun looked up at the stars dotting the sky and murmured to himself, "Sometimes I think, some dreams are really strange. It's like the plot was designed for me, by another consciousness, because I had no idea how it would progress. It's like an experiment testing my thoughts."

"Mm, what do you think you'd do if this happened in real life?" Qin Wenjing asked.

"I'd be more restrained. Just leave. Why get involved with them?" Li Haojun answered without hesitation, then immediately asked, "How is this kind of issue regulated in the area where we live?"

"This is a conservative region. An adult going to someone else's home is equivalent to sexual consent. So unfamiliar people don't get too close, especially Puritans."

"Exactly. You can't use sex to seduce the opposite sex, enjoy their attention but not want to bear the consequences. That's just playing with people." After venting, Li Haojun quickly added, "So what I did in the dream was also out of necessity!"

"Hmph, and you couldn't help yourself too." After saying this, Qin Wenjing stood up. "It's getting late. Let's sleep."

Li Haojun dropped to one knee, wrapped his arms around Qin Wenjing's hips, buried his face between her legs and said, "This old subject wishes to serve the queen in her chambers. Long live Her Majesty, long live, long live, long long live beneath Her Royal Pussy."

"Oh, you're so annoying..." After saying this, Qin Wenjing broke free from Li Haojun and ran back inside.

The bench in front of the porch was empty now, only the wooden surface reflecting the dim light of the night. After a while, the decorative lights went out. Through the gaps in the bench's backrest slats, the lit living room was visible. Then the living room lights went out too, leaving only the quiet little courtyard in the stillness beneath a star-filled night sky.