Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 75
The breath of summer is getting stronger and stronger, and the end of the semester is coming soon, that is to say, Feng Jiu is going to participate in the graduation defense.

The title of Feng Jiu's graduation thesis was "Literary Comparison between Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare". The years of birth and death of Fong's comedy master overlap almost completely, both in [-] and [-].

Originally, she was eager to find Fengjiu who was suitable for her thesis topic all the time. At that time, it was as if she was awakened, and she was suddenly excited: because she immediately thought that if the two were in the same era, in the East and the West, and both It is a horizontal comparison of works of characters with unshakable lofty status in literature and drama to find out their similarities and differences, including national characteristics, social background, drama themes, humanistic thoughts... Will there be an unprecedented spark of thought?Feng Jiu is certain that this research is unprecedented.

When she told Professor Bu about her intention, the professor was also very excited—the direction of Feng Jiu's topic selection was actually the embryonic form of "comparative literature" that originated in the nineteenth century and flourished in the middle and late twentieth century.The ancestor of comparative literature is Goethe, whose mission is to compare the similarities and differences of literary works between countries and between nations, so as to devote themselves to mutual understanding between different cultures, and hope to achieve mutual respect and tolerance.

According to the classification method of the two schools of comparative literature, that is, law and beauty, Fengjiu is obviously inclined to the American style, that is, the research method that does not have a strong colonial flavor.

With the approval of his mentor, Feng Jiu immediately began to collect information, carefully studied the works of the two masters themselves and the background of the times, and replenished historical knowledge; Historical archives across the country and Harvard in the United States and Cambridge in the United Kingdom, two European and American Chinese historical and cultural research centers, helped her find useful supplementary materials for ancient books.

During this process, Feng Jiu did not forget to translate Tang Xianzu's drama "The Story of the Qinglian Pavilion" into English, which was greatly appreciated by Professor Ren, who praised her for her sense of mission to spare no effort to promote excellent works in her mother tongue.

Of course, only a person like Feng Jiu who has a solid background in both native language and English can translate Tang Xianzu's elegant and melodious libretto into a Shakespeare-like and rhythmic sense.

Feng Jiu was obsessed with writing her dissertation, and what made her even happier was that Ning Zheng bought her a typewriter.

Ning Zheng didn't expect that among the gifts he gave his wife one after another in the past few years, her favorite was actually this mechanical English typewriter, which was ordered directly from New York by Mr. Topride: Shining The shiny black body, 26 white keys for English letters and 26 other punctuation marks, and the line-feed clip that you have to manually pull at the end of a line, make a boring and beautiful sound without interruption.

She likes to use this typewriter to type out paragraphs of the first draft of thesis, English poems written by herself, or translate many Tang poems into English.

She spent so much time on the new typewriter that she could not leave her.As a result, it was confiscated within a month of use.

One day, after Ning Zheng came back, without further ado, he asked someone to put the typewriter into the warehouse, which was still Fengjiu's unused goods warehouse without a key.

The "separation anxiety disorder" that Fengjiu and his beloved typewriter had just cultivated immediately broke out, and she was a little angry: "Why is this?" She folded her arms to hold back her anger. Rein in your temper.

"Someone told me today that typewriters contain lead, which can lead to lead poisoning; if you conceive, it will also affect the intelligence of the fetus." Ning Zheng explained solemnly.

Feng Jiu was stunned when he heard that, is there such a consideration?Still, it sounds like it makes sense.

Fengjiu actually wanted to have a Chinese typewriter at the beginning, but Ning Zheng asked someone to inquire and said that there was one. In fact, an American missionary in China invented a Chinese typewriter decades ago, and then a Chinese typewriter. Chinese students studying in the United States and Mr. Lin Yutang, a literary giant, also invented and manufactured their own Chinese typewriters, but they did not become popular due to high cost, poor user experience, and inability to mass-produce.

Fengjiu felt sorry, and said to Ning Zheng: "You can even make such a complicated car, so a small Chinese typewriter shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Feng Jiu said this because she knew that Ning Zheng had asked Li Yichun, the director of the Fengtian Mortar Factory who proposed that "Chinese should build their own cars," to start manufacturing domestic cars, and hired American technician Miles as the chief engineer. , Formed a technical team to study day and night through repeated disassembly, disassembly, and restoration of Ford and General Motors, and purchased Ruixue truck parts.

Such investment has borne fruit after two years. The first self-produced, 70.00% domestically produced "Minsheng" [-]-type [-]-cylinder refrigerated truck in Chinese history has been born in Fengtian Mortar Factory.

Ning Zheng smiled, "There are too many things to build, let's think about making typewriters after all the important things are built." Feng Jiu nodded when he thought it made sense.Ning Zheng laughed. She never expected that she would be so easily persuaded not to use the typewriter.

In fact, his wife has always been reasonable, Ning Zheng leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Looking at it from such a close distance——Feng Jiu seems to realize that Ning Zheng has extremely beautiful eyes, no, not only the eyes, but also the nose is so beautiful that it can be painted.

His eyes can make people ignore whether they are big or small, single eyelids or double eyelids, and even the color of the pupils is dark brown or pure black, because when one looks at his eyes, it will only make people feel that all the stars in the sky have fallen into them, This is a sea of ​​two stars, anyone who takes a hard look at it will unknowingly indulge in it.

But Feng Jiu's words are wronged, and only in front of her, Ning Zheng's eyes will turn into a sea of ​​stars. In front of other people, especially women with strange thoughts, his years of experience have already frozen his eyes into a sea of ​​stars. There are two pools of stagnant water, and the ancient well has no waves.

And his nose is not too tall like Western whites, and it doesn't have the sinister eagle hook protrusions that are common, nor is it wide and flat like Asians. Viewed from the side, it is a perfect triangle with distinct nose wings.

In fact, the nose is the most special feature: it stands out from the center of the face. If it is not good-looking, then it should not be too ugly.On the other hand, Ning Zheng's fits perfectly with other items on his face, which only helps him to show a kind of elegance and nobility.

Feng Jiu looked at it for a while, and Ning Zheng couldn't help smiling: "Did you realize that I'm pretty?"

When Feng Jiu heard this, he stretched out a finger to scratch his own face: "Shame or not, you still bring 'Wang Po sells melons, sells melons, sells melons'."

Ning Zheng laughed and hugged her into his arms, "Have you forgotten that you are too? You said that I was trying to please your beauty...you, you don't know how to be blessed when you are blessed."

Feng Jiu sat on his lap, but couldn't help straightening his shoulders: "You are also in the blessing and don't know the blessing."

Ning Zheng tanned slightly: "Little heartless, I am not such a superficial person... I have always cherished you, how about you?"

What's wrong with me?Fengjiu said slyly, "Don't be sentimental. I just thought that children always have to be like father or mother. I haven't remembered what you look like - you forgot, I don't remember people face."

Ning Zheng patted her on the head helplessly: "You can continue to be angry with me."

Without the typewriter, it only took a few days for Feng Jiu to get used to it again, and this will not affect her enthusiasm for writing thesis.

However, Ning Zheng was terrified of her singing and advancing like chicken blood, especially one day when he came back early and saw his wife writing a paper while wiping tears, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed under his heartache .

Later, he explicitly prohibited Feng Jiu from "tearing homework". If you encounter a tragic situation, don't feel sorry for the life experience of the hero and heroine, otherwise, don't even think about participating in the defense.

Feng Jiu wished he could look at Ning Zheng's face for a long time, and he could see that he was serious, so he could only obey.After all, when pregnant with a child, the mother's depression is very likely to have a bad impact on the fetus.

Tang Xianzu lived a long life and was at odds with the rich and powerful. He called himself a "lost man in Pianzhou, a survivor of the prosperous age".

A few days later, Ning Zheng made a request and volunteered to copy the final draft of more than 100 pages for his wife. He also claimed that he was the only one who could see and understand the first draft of his wife's sketches and scribbles.

At this time, it was mid-June, and Feng Jiu had already successfully completed the work of writing the thesis. Under the guidance of Professor Bu, he revised three drafts before and after and he was done. Professor Bu, who teaches at the university, copied a copy by himself and kept it with him all his life. From time to time, he took it out for future students to watch, and admonished them bitterly, saying, how can you compare with your senior sister?With a look of pride.

Because the English department was established for the first time, the normal academic progress of the first batch of students was only in the second grade, which also meant that there was only one Fengjiu student in the English department's graduation defense this time.

In order not to affect the normal teaching arrangement, the department deliberately put the defense after the regular teaching meeting on Monday.

When the dissertation written by Fengjiu and Ning Zheng was handed over to the defense committee, the reviewing professor was taken aback—judging from the number of pages, this dissertation had already surpassed the undergraduate level, at least it was at the level of a master’s degree defense; After flipping through it casually, I had a premonition that the defense time would be very long.

In fact, no matter which country's intellectuals, most of them have a sense of arrogance: Ning Zheng was criticized and made things difficult by his classmates in the martial arts hall because of his status as the handsome son-in-law. Don't expect the high-minded professors to let Feng Jiu's early graduation defense lightly because of her special status.

Most of the masters and students of Fengjiu are already familiar with Fengjiu, and they want to weigh the truth of this famous young marshal and the wife of the current principal.After all, there are always some people who, with their usual harsh heart and the concept of "hearing is believing, seeing is believing", want to witness with their own eyes whether Mrs. Ning's attempt to graduate early is worthy of the name.

In order to avoid suspicion, Fengjiu's tutor Bu Duoma did not appear in the defense committee according to academic practice.

June [-] was Feng Jiu's twentieth lunar birthday, and it was also Ning Zheng's own birthday after the death of the old commander.

Waking up early in the morning, Feng Jiu and Ning Zheng gave each other the eggs prepared by Wu Ma, ate longevity noodles, and wished each other a happy birthday.

Ning Zheng looked down at her lower abdomen, rubbed it with his hands, and suddenly smiled.

The couple went downstairs and had some breakfast with vegetables and meat. Ning Zheng then sent Feng Jiu to Feng University, and agreed to come back early after finishing the defense in the afternoon.

Ning Zheng kissed the tip of her nose and put her off the car.

Just after two o'clock in the afternoon, the defense committee of the English Department of Fengda University, composed of five well-known professors, was sitting in the first row of the lecture theater. In addition, there were many teachers and students from foreign colleges who heard the news and came to observe, occupying the huge classroom to the brim, and many people came late and had to stand.

Because this is the first graduation defense of the English Department since its establishment, the department attaches great importance to it. Even if there is only one graduate, a banner is hung above the blackboard with the words "Graduation Defense Meeting of the English Department of Fengtian University Faculty of Letters".

At 02:30, the defense officially began...

Until decades later, old graduates majoring in English majoring in Fengda get together to recall their glorious youth, and they will still tirelessly think of Mrs. Ning's stunning brilliance. Two things that are frequently mentioned are: It was a volleyball game, and the other was her undergraduate defense.

Almost no student is not afraid of graduation defense, no matter what degree level it is, but for Fengjiu, graduation defense can be regarded as one of her favorite things to do: discussing with well-educated and knowledgeable professors about the topics she is most interested in On the topic, she had to suppress her wry smile and put on a calm look, but she still couldn't stop her high spirits.

When she was proud of herself, she couldn't stop walking back and forth on the classroom platform for a short distance with one hand behind her back, using chalk to write beautiful lines and supporting verses in various languages ​​on the blackboard. The blackboard writing was neat and sweet. Smooth, reasonable layout, and really lived up to the predictions of the reviewing professors. The undergraduate defense, which was supposed to last an average of 10 minutes per person, was stretched to three hours by the next group of professors who were full of interest.

Later, this defense has completely turned into a seminar on comparative literature. Some of the professors were not familiar with Feng Jiu, but halfway through the defense, even the eyes of the professor who was not familiar with her were shining with admiration: such a genius of language and literary analysis is hard to come by; As a mentor, who doesn't want to meet such an outstanding disciple in his life to honor his family and inherit the academic mantle?
Unexpectedly, such a good thing gave way to Dorma to catch up.

…………

Ning Zheng finished his day's work and returned to Yingying Alley, only to find that his wife, who should have finished the defense, was overdue. Sha's addiction can't stop, can it?

He has transcribed so many pages of papers for Feng Jiu with a brush, and he is also very novel about Feng Jiu's viewpoints. He, a man with a pure engineering major and a professional soldier, are very interested. Presumably, those professors who major in humanities should all understand Brighten up.

However, what time is it? She has been pregnant for more than four months, so don't be so tired, she has been working hard in the process of preparing the thesis.

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't sit still. Ning Zheng hurriedly drove to Fengda University to find someone. As soon as he entered the building, he heard Feng Jiuyang's hoarse voice from a distance, speaking German, French, and Italian calmly coping with people of different nationalities. Responding to various questions raised by the instructor, they also wanted to take the opportunity to examine Feng Jiu's multilingual ability to see if it was consistent with the rumors.

Later, because of Feng Jiu's in-depth research on the history of Chinese drama, the professors no longer "examined the school" but "asked for advice".After all, the members of the defense team composed of foreigners and those who stayed in Europe and the United States knew very little about the gorgeous, plump, grand and powerful Chinese dramas, and Feng Jiu's eloquent talk, as Ning Zheng expected, has aroused these people. Great interest for professionals.

At this stage of the defense, it has already become a stage for Feng Jiu alone. Ning Zheng slowly walked up the steps of the back door, staring at the girl in his heart from a distance: the loose fishbone braid, this morning Qiu Sheng specially asked Qiu Sheng to put on a western flower bud head to show his importance to the defense. There were more than a dozen round pearls scattered on it. There is a breath of early summer, and a pair of bead gray ballet shoes underneath. If it weren't for the fact that her lower abdomen is slightly raised when viewed from the side, who would have thought that she was four months pregnant.

Ning Zheng was full of pride in his heart. This unparalleled woman with extraordinary temperament and talent was his beloved wife.

Ning Zheng watched for a while, and realized that Feng Jiu was also tired, so he resisted the desire to continue listening, turned away, and asked Wang Kexian, who had heard the sound and came to observe, to remind him in a low voice.

Wang Kexian went to the front as the teaching principal, and quite legitimately suggested that the chairman of the defense committee should stop Yun Luwei's defense here.

Several professors also noticed that Feng Jiu was a bit tired, after all, they were sitting, and Feng Jiu stood the whole time, only drinking a few sips of water in between.

Of course, no one here knows that Feng Jiu is pregnant.

Some professors applauded Fengjiu first, and then other professors and students who insisted on staying also responded enthusiastically. This was a high-level academic discussion rather than a defense that they would never forget in their lifetime. Yunluwei showed The strong professionalism made all the people present heartbroken, and the slight doubts and sarcasm at first disappeared with her outstanding performance.

The results of the graduation defense will be announced on the next day. Feng Jiu bowed to the teachers and thanked them. When he looked up, he saw Ning Zheng leaning on the wall behind. After all, it was a university. There were so many teachers and students in front of him. He took off his hat; but fortunately, his wife was upbeat and firmly attracted the attention of other people in the classroom, so no one noticed him.

Feng Jiu hurriedly packed up his things and went out through the front door, while Ning Zheng had already stepped out of the classroom door to meet him.

Today's defense was so exciting, and all Fengjiu's undergraduate courses have ended, Ning Zheng simply took her back to the handsome mansion, and Wu Ma, who came back earlier, also breathed a sigh of relief, and used her carefully prepared light After the family-raising dinner, Feng Jiu's nerves were still very excited, and Ning Zheng accompanied her to the small garden for a while to digest.Fengjiu thought again, today is their birthday, but they haven't made a cake yet, and they didn't make it last year, so they can't save it this year.

When Ning Zheng heard this, he could only sacrifice his life to accompany his wife to Sizao.

In fact, since the old man passed away, great changes have taken place in the mansion: first of all, there are fewer waiters, including the original four kitchens, and now there are only two left.

Ning Zheng came back from studying abroad and belongs to the Western school, so his interpersonal style is naturally different from that of the old man who started as a barbarian.

Originally, the commander-in-chief's mansion was as lively as singing opera every day, except for high-ranking officials and nobles, ordinary soldiers were welcome and sent.

Since Ning Zheng took charge of the family, through the disarmament action that started last summer, he has changed the original rules in every way: those who send military information go directly to the military headquarters, except for very special needs in the mansion. Or generals, foreign officials or senior officials from other factions who went to Fengtian to work in Fengtian directly went to the four main halls of Fengtian, so the original four main halls who took turns to be the main kitchens of the commander's mansion also returned to their respective sites, and some even Went to Pingjin to open a branch.

This is especially true for Chef Wen of the Western Kitchen. He took a generous severance package and happily opened his own pastry shop on Siping Street.

After they entered the four stoves, Feng Jiu took out the small book that recorded more than twenty kinds of pastry recipes he had collected and looked at it, and directed Ning Zheng to go to the storage room to get six fresh eggs, while he pressed the Mist Wen Lin. Before leaving, I kept a carefully recorded list of baking utensils, found out the various tools I needed, separated the egg whites and yolks by myself, and then instructed Ning Zheng to beat the egg whites with an egg beater, and asked him to stop from time to time to observe the beaten egg whites. foam form, and then add the right amount of sugar.

This is really hard work. Feng Jiu's arms are so sore every time he whips until the thick fish-eye blisters are reached, but Ning Zheng is relaxed and at ease, until the egg white is just enough to lift a small inverted triangle on the egg beater. .

"Okay!" Feng Jiu hurriedly told him to stop, and then busily sifted flour, stirred egg yolks, added soybean oil...

An hour later, the two ate the cake with a sense of accomplishment. Although Feng Jiu didn't whip the cream, the chiffon cake alone was soft and silky.

Feng Jiu looked at Ning Zheng and secretly made up his mind that if he wanted to make a cake that needed egg whites in the future, he must watch Ning Zheng at home. This humanoid egg beater is so easy to use.

Ning Zheng looked at his wife smiling like a flower, and was satisfied. The worries that had arisen from the long defense today also disappeared.

After going back, the couple commented on a few paintings of Shi Tao and Yun Shouping that Lin Rulan had collected, and planned to go to bed.

Ning Zheng looked at his wife's eyes that were obviously brighter than before, and listening to her still talking like a cannonball, knew that she was still in a state of excitement, worried that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, so he tentatively suggested: "Sing for you to wake you up." , okay?"

Ever since Feng Jiu became pregnant, Ning Zheng's words became more and more repeated. He didn't feel that Feng Jiu always had goosebumps all over his body.

Feng Jiu shook his body and looked at him with unfriendly eyes, "Are you treating me like a child?"

"Aren't you just my child, marrying you is like having multiple daughters, come on, good boy, sleep well." Ning Zheng smiled sweetly.

"Nonsense, how could I have to listen to music to fall asleep?" Feng Jiu firmly denied it.

Ning Zheng could only say, "Then I'll pat you."

Fengjiu didn't refuse, she really likes to be tapped to fall asleep, so she imagined that it would be nice to have a machine that can automatically tap people to fall asleep.

It's a pity that after a while, no matter how gently Ning Zheng patted her on the back, Feng Jiu still said, "I can't sleep."

"Then what do you want?" Ning Zheng's hands paused.

"How about singing a song? I don't know if you can sing well."

"...What do you want to hear?" Ning Zheng looked into the unashamed eyes of the wife who was slapped in the face on the spot.

"Anything is fine." Feng Jiu didn't choose.

Ning Zheng cleared his throat, and then sang to her casually, "I want to become an embroidered shoe and put it on your golden lotus; I want to turn into a sweater to hug you; I want to become a bamboo lady and put it in your arms." Hug inside; become a master waist, restraining you; become a tube of jade Xiaoer, tune up your fingers; and change into a piece of fragrant tea, which is no less than your cherry."

As soon as Feng Jiu heard it, his drowsiness disappeared, "You are, this is what you learned in the hall?" Feng Jiu stared at Ning Zheng in disbelief, could it be that he...

Seeing that his wife was going to lose his temper, Ning Zheng quickly explained: "How is it possible, how honest I am... Didn't I learn this from reading "Ming Yue Fu Wu Diao" with you a few days ago."

"How can there be such obscene words and pornographic songs?" Feng Jiu found it inconceivable.She didn't have the time to read a few pages of that book, but Ning Zheng held it in her hand for several days.

Ning Zheng smiled, "What do you think? The common people are living in misery every day, so how can they still have the energy to appreciate your sunny spring and white snow? Naturally, they come here with energy."

Feng Jiu choked and had to admit that he was right.

"Since you don't want to be on the stage...you like to eat Shaanxi snacks, don't you also like to listen to Shaanxi ditties?"

Feng Jiu also felt that she became weird during pregnancy, from appetite to temperament, for example, now she seems to like to toss Ning Zheng occasionally, seeing him embarrassed and anxious makes her feel very comfortable.

Only later did she realize that it was purely because she was dissatisfied with the fact that the child was only pretending to be herself instead of his womb. If the mother could transfer the fetus to the father's womb after four months of pregnancy, the family would be responsible for half of the pregnancy. , how beautiful is that?
Feng Jiu also knows that he is a bit too serious about equal rights between men and women-going against nature and ignoring the natural differences between men and women, which is why many feminist movements fail.

During the first three months of pregnancy, Fengjiu had a very poor appetite and had obvious morning sickness. She basically vomited half of her food. Later, she found out that there was one thing that was okay after eating. It was the Shaanxi Qishan Liangpi that Wu Ma made by chance. It was sour, spicy and salty. , served with shredded cucumber and crushed peanuts, it was extremely refreshing, so Wu Ma rolled up her arms and sleeves and couldn't finish making it, and Feng Jiu couldn't finish eating it either.

Fortunately, after three months, the morning sickness was gone, and the appetite had already started, so all kinds of nutritious goodies could be enjoyed by the mother, otherwise Ning Zheng would have worried about giving birth to a poor little girl with a stomach full of cold skin.

Ning Zheng rubbed her back lightly, and his clear voice sounded: "

It is too low to build a temple on a high mountain
Sitting face to face, I still miss you
The elder brother is at the top of the hill and the younger sister is at the ditch

If you can't say something intimate, you just wave
Wanting to kiss makes my wrists weak
I can't hold the bowl with the chopsticks

Thirty miles of sand and twenty miles of water

I can't see my sister on the fifty-mile road

Tears and eggs are oily on the heart
Who doesn't live hard and who doesn't flow

Facing the loess and back facing the sky

Sitting face to face, I still miss you..."

In fact, Ning Zheng remembered wrongly, this is a folk song from northern Shanxi, not from Shaanxi.But it's not his fault, after all, that's what the classmate who taught him to sing this song said.

In the night, Ning Zheng's voice is like a silver wind chime under the moonlight, and like the continuous and calming pine waves in the summer wind. The silky drowsiness finally struck, and I couldn't help but yawned, and subconsciously muttered, "'I still miss you when we sit face to face', so what else? It's so disgusting, hey...Did I remember it wrong?"

Ning Zheng put his hands in front of her and gently rubbed her slightly raised belly: When he was traveling around the country, he once heard a classmate who was determined to collect folk songs sing a few Xintianyou songs in the Northwest region during the banquet. When I heard this sentence in "Xiao Quer, Singing to Explain the Heart", I also felt that it was unbelievably exaggerated: my sweetheart is right in front of my eyes, why do I have to "think" and "miss", this is just talking nonsense, right?

But now Feng Jiu, who had the same question, was sleeping in her arms, watching her deer eyes lightly closed, her moist mouth half closed, the corners of her mouth drooping slightly, her cheeks were rosy and plump after finally regaining her blood color, and her whole body was as beautiful as ever. He bowed his head and licked her lips lightly, and then pressed her tighter, wishing to rub her into his body, and whispered: "How could it be wrong, there is no way... That's right again, but how could you understand, you little white-eyed wolf... Happy birthday."

It's finally the summer vacation, and Feng Jiu has also obtained the undergraduate degree certificate that he has been longing for. Looking at the results of two years of hard work, how can he not be satisfied-the two years of work that were delayed due to engagement and marriage have finally equalized.

Wen Xiuwei also graduated from Yan University, and finally couldn't bear the serious and polite Ke Weili's astonishing stalking. The two were engaged in April, and they were only waiting for graduation to get married.

Zheng Li's studies that were suspended due to giving birth, did not expect to continue to stop, because she was pregnant with her second baby, and the expected date of delivery should be more than two months later than Feng Jiu.

At the beginning, Fengjiu was so envious of her classmates being able to continue their studies in colleges and universities, and lamented her poor fate; but now it seems that she has quickly made up for this regret.

However, it seems that Ning Zheng should be thanked a little - if he hadn't insisted on setting up a liberal arts college in Fengda, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to fulfill my long-cherished wish so soon.

But if he hadn't forced him to get married, he wouldn't have gone to Harvard to study long ago, so thinking about it this way, the two offsets, it's useless.

(End of this chapter)