User:Walk on wall/sandbox

(This article is about the Zhening Li in his current reign, when he is also known to other people as bệ hạ. For Zhening Li's early years, refer to the article Zhening Li.)

The rise of Zhening Li
The school year 2022-2023 would in retrospect be known as the first year of the Empire of Zhening Li. In the highlight of the year, Li assumed the crown in spectacular fashion during a seemingly peaceful meal at the Michelin-starred restaurant Maseeh Dining.

There is a proverb in Chinese, "知识就是力量," which can be translated as "Knowledge is power." Li knows this more than anyone, and he arduously studies the list of Vietnamese pronouns on Wikipedia together with Jonathan Huang, aided by their companions Quan Manh Nguyen and Alice Le. Once Li learned the pronoun used by kings to refer to themselves, "trẫm," and the pronouns used by subordinates to refer to kings, "bệ hạ," Li convinced his companions to acknowledge him as their King. From then on, Li is referred to reverently as "bệ hạ" among his large group of acquaintances. Ms. Le, who helped teach Li the pronouns, commented: "Mr. Li has an extremely good grasp of the language and how to use the pronouns. His pronunciation is also veeerrryyyy goooood!"

Grudge against Omar Costilla
Li has an ongoing (as of May 2023) grudge against Omar Costilla, who is his UROP Direct Supervisor. Reportedly, if someone asks Li about Omar, Li can recount 10 different stories about how Li has been frustrated with Omar.

Handwriting
During a quiz for 6.1020 (Elements of Software Construction) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Li was unsure of the answer for a True/False question. He decided to write an intentionally ambiguous word, which can be interpreted either way as True or False. This innovation in the field of Handwriting was later commemorated in the Physics Common Room at MIT, where Li is a frequent visitor.

Graduate student status in the Linguistic Department
After years of deliberation, Li decided to take 24.900, the Introduction to Linguistic class at MIT. Known to have "natural abilities in linguistics," it was no surprises that Li produced exceptional work. On his paper regarding phonology of Turkish, his grader commented that what Li did was comparable to the work of graduate students in the field of linguistics, who are really knowledgeable about their field

"This is wonderfully rich, knowledgeable and insightful. I thought I knew something about Turkish phonology, but obviously I didn't. [...] What you already have here is graduate-level work. Thank you."

Insightful remarks
During his reign, Li has produced many insightful remarks to impart wisdom and joy to his people around him. Examples include:


 * "i discovered that [the voiceless uvular trill but with influx of air] is the same thing as snoring which is the same thing as pig sounds"
 * "i need to get off drugs" - Li about phonology
 * "it is raining water"
 * "Cuz I'm bored" - Li's response to a friend questioning why he was still awake at 2 a.m. He later gained the nickname "bored" because of this response.
 * "i'll prob be working in the Z till adt practice. god i wished the word 'out' was between 'working' and 'in'."

Scandals
Despite his unmeasurable wisdom, Li's filter sometimes failed him and let out puzzling and intriguing sentences in the presence of another human being. The rare records we have of these slip-of-tongues present an invaluable window into the inner working of Li's mind.


 * "When you say 'MPS', does it include your mom?"
 * "i want to get reincarnated as a black hole, because then i can suck" - Li ended the sentence abruptly. Transcription provided by Quan Manh Nguyen.
 * "why would i take a class on syntax or semantics?! what are you cooking?" Transcription provided by Alice Le.

Misleading name
Li has also occasionally misled people about his name. He once shared a screenshot in which his teaching assistant referred to him as "Zed/Z" in an email, and acknowledged that "i may have confused her."

Puzzling assumptions
Li once concluded "6.031 was Antti" after the following exchange between him and his friend Antti:

"I'm doing 6.031" - Li.

"I'm doing Zed" - Antti. (Zed is Li's commonly called name)

When another friend Adithya Balachandran pressed on his line of reasonings and assumptions, Li stated he had assumed the axiom of reflexivity, then timed himself out. Mr. Balachandran casted doubts about Li's assumption, pointing out that Li was in fact assuming he "can only do one thing at a time."

Detach head
Li once executed a command to detach head.