Crossing boundaries happens only zero times or countless times.
If you’ve watched Japanese action films, you’ll deeply resonate with this.
What kind of outcome would Jack from *Titanic* have had without the protagonist’s halo? More likely than not, he’d just be a player who骗s sex—a scumbag.
What he brought to Rose was a strange kind of experience: teaching her how to spit, taking her to tap dance. Every moment with Jack felt thrilling, exciting, and boundary-breaking to Rose.
He’s essentially trying to撩 (pick up) girls, seeing how much they’re willing to break out of their comfort zones for him. If a girl won’t even spit, it’s hard to convince her into bed. But if she’s willing to push herself a little, he knows how to push her further.
Think about Wang Po’s plan with Ximen Qing—coaxing Pan Jinlian to make her funeral shroud. If she agrees to come, that’s two points in. Once she arrives, you feed her snacks; if she stays when you barge in, that’s four points. Then you sweet-talk her while Wang Po prepares lunch; if she’s willing to eat with you, that’s six points. After Wang Po excuses herself, leaving the two of you alone, if she doesn’t leave, that’s eight points. You then哄 (coax) her to drink wine, pretend to get drunk, and grope her little feet—if she doesn’t get angry, that’s a perfect ten.
The technique is simply to keep testing someone’s bottom line. If she doesn’t resist, you proceed; if she resists, you go around it.
Consider two companies: one is solid across the board, steadily rising, with great prospects; the other is terrible in every aspect—prices swinging wildly, and prospects looking bleak. A purely rational person wouldn’t even look at the latter. No matter how low the price drops or how high it once was, none of that should factor into his decision. But most people don’t decide this way. They never consider the real criteria for decision-making; all they care about is this:
“Look, this company used to be so high and now it’s so low—it must have hope of returning to those highs, so it’s worth buying.” That’s how the conclusion is reached. Both Wang Po and Jack operate this way. I deliberately set a high price you can’t easily reach—it flashes by, leaving you with a longing—and then I make you feel it’s a抄底 (bottom-fishing) opportunity, so you jump in. In reality, you’ve simply been managed by someone else’s expectations.