A/N: If Karanka wants the team to maintain competitive, then no one should force him to swap Butterfield as part of a 2 bloke for 1 deal. Period.
Question of the millennium: Born this way or not?
良尝间从容步游下邳圯上，有一老父，衣褐，至良所，直堕其履圯下，顾谓良曰：“孺子，下取履！”良鄂然，欲殴之。为其老，强忍，下取履。父曰：“履我！”
良业为取履，因长跪履之。父以足受，笑而去。良殊大惊，随目之。父去里所，复还，曰：“孺子可教矣。后五日平明，与我会此。”
良因怪之，跪曰：“诺。”
五日平明，良往。父已先在，怒曰：“与老人期，后，何也？”
去，曰：“后五日早会。”
五日鸡鸣，良往。父又先在，复怒曰：“后，何也？”
去，曰：“后五日复早来。”
五日，良夜未半往。有顷，父亦来，喜曰：“当如是。”
出一编书，曰：“读此则为王者师矣。后十年兴。十三年孺子见我济北，谷城山下黄石即我矣。”
遂去，无他言，不复见。旦日视其书，乃太公兵法也。良因异之，常习诵读之。
《史记; 留侯世家》
司马迁著
Trans
Once, Liang took a leisured stroll along the bridge in Xiapi. There was an old man shabbily dressed arriving in front of Liang. Upon his shoe fallen below the bridge, he said to Liang: "Unworthy boy, retrieve my shoe at once!"
Liang was taken aback, his anger compelling him to beat that elderly man up. Due to that person's age, however, he chose to swallow his pride. After retrieving the shoe, the old man demanded: "Put my shoe on for me!"
Even though Liang had retrieved the shoe, he opted to obey due to respect towards seniority. After wearing his shoe, the old man departed with laughter. Liang was shocked, hence deciding to follow him. Then the old man turned back, saying thus: "You are indeed worthy of being taught. Meet me here at the break of dawn."
Liang was left curious as he knelt in reply, saying hence: "Yes."
At the break of dawn five days later, Liang reached the destination. The old man was already there and replied angrily: "Arriving late for a meeting with the elderly, what kind of attitude is this?"
As he departed, he said: "Let us meet again five days later."
Five days later as the rooster crowed, Liang arrived. The old man was yet again already there, the reply remaining angry: "You're late again! Why?"
Again departing, he left behind those words: "Come here again five days later, but you must be early."
At the fifth day, Liang arrived by midnight. The old man also arrived at the same time, his joyful answer spoken: "You should have done that."
Taking out a tome, the elderly man said: "Read this book and you will surely become a talent worthy of a king, surely you'll be a great man after ten years. If you see my hometown Jibei thirteen years later, that yellow rock below the hill where Gucheng is will be me*."
Upon departure, the old man left no other words as he returned again no more. Reading the manual before him, Liang was amazed. For the book was Taigong's Art of War. Henceforth, Liang diligently studied the book.
《Annals of History; Marquis of Liu》
Written by Sima Qian
*In other words, it can be construed as certified mati after 13 more yrs of this.
Analysis
Born this way or made this way? When we talk abt jerkassery, surely this will be the first question in mind. Ever wondered why ppl like José "O Especial" Mourinho, Louis "van Goal" van Gaal or Ser A.Fergie are certified arseholes? Ever wondered why that jerkass colleague at work can nvr be the next Steve Jobs despite N years better than you experience wise?
If you're a jerkass, either you're a natural or artificial.
An artificial jerkass will make known to you that he/she enjoys taking advantage of nice ppl like you while badmouthing others behind their backs. Worst case wise, they'd have no qualms in starting a fight despite the danger of immediate termination. Barring both, it means you're most likely too free to start a logical debate. Cannot be arsed to say anything sensible means you're out to make money via online trolling.
A natural jerkass means you're indeed born this way. Contemporary findings discovered that if you're naturally one, it means a few things.
1. You're an egomaniac because you're Steve Jobs.
2. You enjoyed asking others around you difficult questions because you're Thomas Edison.
3. You're doomed to live like shit because you're Vincent van Gogh.
4. You feel that the society can never accept you because you're H.P Lovecraft.
5. You enjoy making mature boys and equally mature girls cry because you're G.R.R Martin.
6. You always ended up getting distracted by random girls because you're me. [2.1]
7. You tend to get attracted by random girls because you're Guo Jia. [2.2]
So was that old man fake jerkass or a real one? Everybody knows you don't go full arsehole, no matter what. That kiam-pah ah-kong was just that: a bedek kiam-pah ah-kong. So why he so wayang? What did he want from that poor emotional boy who had most likely spent the first half an hour or so of his exiled life crying like a girl?
It must be said that when it comes to evolution, I firmly believe that it's something personal. We all go through plenty of hardships, only a full retard will tell you life can/will be comfortable enough so long as you stay at one spot and jiak liaobi. Not everyone has the luxury of flashing branded stuff via Instagram, chances are that you're most likely earning less than 1.4K SGD just like me if you're reading this.
What abt Zhang Liang? Suffice to say, a leopard can never remove its spots. If some ah-kong suddenly shouted at you: "OI! LATE AH? YOU LIKE SHIT! I GIVE YOU COMPLAIN LETTER THEN YOU KNOW!" where in fact you're not late, but early, what will you do? What will you do if you just happen to be some kumgong scapegoat who has always avoided conflict? Zhang Liang wasn't that girly in terms of getting emotional. Can you imagine the type of scenario where you'd enjoy nothing less than kicking that kiam-pah ah-kong's knee until that knee goes bengkok? That was what Zhang Liang had in mind. Well sorta...
Still, Zhang Liang chose to give that old man some slack. After all, he had to adhere to his principles unless said principles allowed him to commit violence instead of just letting others doing so for you. [3]
This is the mark of a promising youth: the ability to separate the morally upright from whatever matters personal. In Marvel Heroes speak, it means you're either meant to be Black Panther or Nightcrawler.
But things didn't end that there! After everything being said and done, the old man just scooted off with a guffaw or two! Again, Zhang Liang could have tried catching up with that kiam-pah ah-kong so that his offending knee can go bengkok. But no! Zhang Liang only chose to follow that old man!
This is the mark of an intelligent person: the ability to ask questions, no matter how absurd others might view this question.
Dunno what I mean? Nvr mind, check this out this logic (?)...
If you nvr even know that ah-kong, why did he give you that reaction?
Is he kisiao?
Or maybe he has something in store for you?
Like his pretty granddaughter?
Maybe it's that vivacious girl yesterday who giggled at you w/o any apparent reason as she passed by?
Or maybe it's that attractive girl blessed with an equally attractive derriere?
Then again, it might be that beautiful Skaði conspiring w/friends and colleagues alike so that you ended up getting her name wrong?
Zhang Liang nvr though once, let alone twice or thrice that he might have been had. They say fortune favours the bold, this is why we have many a great personality gracing history and our current age alike. Hence, curiosity can and will NEVER kill the cat unless said cat is a stupid cat.
Ofc that ah-kong nvr made things easy for Zhang Liang. Poor lad followed instructions, but he failed every time he did that. Then came that defining moment:
"Come here again five days later, but you must be early."
[“后五日复早来。”]
The ah-kong must come early, but how early? Therein lies the last X-factor defining a true blue A*Star individual: **** the outcome, process matters most.
I still remember somebody saying a side story abt Steve Jobs. Want to hear?
When Jobs first introduced the technology which would become the iTunes during the early 90s, people laughed at him. Years later, nobody was laughing apart from Steve Jobs himself.
Imagine this: If result is really that important, if process is ****ing useless, would we have stuff like Microsoft and Apple? [4]
Zhang Liang's reward? Def NOT this:
Rather, it's a kickass manual written by an actual badass ah-kong alrdy mati.
Who da fuq is Taigong?
There's something in common between the ancient Chinese and the Roman Catholics, namely a firm belief in that C-word. No, I'm not talking women but rather canonisation. The Vatican has that one important process involving the canonising of saints, the ancient Chinese actually played a reverse one upmanship by canonising a pantheon. Ofc with us Chinese being Chinese, it's only natural for us to realise what I'm trying to say is something 100% fictional.
In the novel Canonisation of Gods, we have plenty of household names like Li Jing (李靖) and his son Nezha (哪吒), Yang Jian (杨戬) [5] and his heavenly wolfhound (哮天犬), Daji (妲己) and Leizhenzi (雷震子). [6] Then we have a badass boss named the Wu King of Zhou (周武王) and his kickass strategist Jiang Ziya (姜子牙). Jiang Ziya was also known in respectful terms as Taigong (i.e. the Grand Duke/Sage/Teacher).
Counting the years from actual history till the Qin dynasty would give you a fair idea on how long it had been ever since the Zhou dynasty successfully supplanted the Shang dynasty at the expense of that other Zhou (纣王).
[Relevant URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Secret_Teachings]
[Pls note that Wikipedia=/=reliable]
Times may change, warfare changes as well. Like a coelacanth, something will never change. The vast majority call it luck, the remaining minority prefer to call it creating circumstances in the name of usage+pwnage.
To be cont'd...
“张良之翼汉王，郭嘉之协魏主，宋武之得穆之，齐高之得褚彦：定策决胜，谋夫孔多。”
~薛稷
[1]: Quintessentially, it means events unspeakable committed by the relevant players in the field.
[2.1]: If you think I'm being an egomaniac, you need to get some life. Do you think I'm really that pandai? Hello, ppl enjoyed treating me like some full retard for the most of my last 10+ yrs, okay?
[2.2]: If you think this is real, then I got something to tell ya...
[3]: Have to put this lol!
[4]: Because I want to be a jerkass, let me say that whatever results we craved so much would nvr happen w/o ppl like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
[5]: Better known as the Erlang God (二郎神).
[6]: Best known as Leigong. To those guilty of heinous crimes and still at large, 坏事做多小心被雷公劈...
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