Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 25 McEvans

"How was it seeing my mother-in-law again after so many years?"

In the office of the First Theoretical Group of the Deep Space Research Department at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Youyu and Yang Weining were chatting.

Yang Weining sighed, his eyes filled with disappointment. "I overestimated Shaolin."

Shao Lin is now an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and can be considered a colleague of Yang Weining.

I occasionally run into them in the hospital's public areas.

However, Shaolin never greeted Yang Weining, treating him as a complete stranger.

After what happened yesterday, the two are probably even more like strangers.

Yang Weining didn't want to talk about Shaolin anymore, and instead said, "The comrades at the Institute of High Energy Physics don't seem very willing to merge with us."

After Li Youyu took over the Deep Space Research Department, he first established the core position of quantum physics.

Quantum physics is the study of microscopic particles.

The Trisolarans' two major weapons, the Sophon and the Droplet, are insurmountable barriers at the microscopic level. One gives the Trisolarans an unparalleled information advantage, and the other gives them an unmatched weapon advantage.

As early as 73, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the Institute of High Energy Physics, and domestic research on quantum physics has been concentrated in the Institute of High Energy Physics.

There are only so many scientific and technological talents in China right now, and every research direction needs to be staffed with limited personnel.

Excluding Yang Weining and Ye Wenjie, the Deep Space Research Department only has ten people at most.

Li Youyu wanted the Institute of Physics to change course and be incorporated into the Deep Space Research Department, but the other party had its own considerations.

"The Institute of Physics is worried that its academic standing will decline after being merged into us."

"Didn't you tell them about our main research areas?"

Yang Weining curled his lip, "The Deep Space Research Department's main focus is quantum physics; nobody would believe that if I told them..."

Li Youyu glanced at him, and Yang Weining coughed and changed his words, "Our department is the most special one in the institute. We are short of funds and our research direction is unclear. The Institute of Physics is currently applying to the higher authorities to build a high-energy accelerator, which I heard will cost a lot of money, so they are even less likely to join us."

"It's just money."

Li Youyu didn't care at all.

Yang Weining paused, seemingly thinking that Li Youyu was being a bit frivolous. "Comrade Youyu, it's a lot of money. The proton accelerator costs 7 million RMB, and the electron-positron collider, which has a worse effect, costs 1 million."

"Seven hundred million, not bad."

"Comrade Youyu, do you have no concept of money?"

Yang Weining couldn't hold back any longer. A courtyard house near the city gate costs 10,000 yuan, and 700 million yuan is enough to buy all the courtyard houses in the capital.

"Seven hundred million? I can handle that."

Li Youyu said, "I'm going on a business trip to the Northwest. You stay here and get the Institute of Physics sorted out. Tell them we have the money to build a proton accelerator!"

"Please don't make things difficult for me!"

Yang Weining waved his hand, stating bluntly that he couldn't do it.

Most of the people at the Institute of High Energy Physics are senior figures, meritorious individuals who contributed to the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Going there like this is no different from asking for trouble.

"Then let's change it to Political Commissar Lei!"

Li Youyu called Lei Zhicheng over and said, "Political Commissar Lei, I have a difficult task for you and Chief Engineer Yang. He will explain the details to you. I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, they left the two of them staring at each other blankly and walked out together.

"Old Yang, what's the mission?"

Lei Zhicheng watched Li Youyu walk away before he came to his senses. "I might not be very good at theoretical work."

"That's really not it."

Yang Weining smiled wryly and recounted his conversation with Li Youyu.

"I would rather he had given me a theoretical problem."

Lei Zhicheng thought for a moment, but didn't express his opinion. He simply said, "I understand. Don't worry about this, Lao Yang."

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Li Youyu certainly understood how huge a number 700 million was. Even though prices had increased many times over in later generations, 100 million was still a unit that 99.999% of people could not reach.

At that time, the country's foreign exchange reserves were still negative, so it could not pay this money.

Li Youyu has to go to the Great Northwest to find a rich second-generation heir, Mike Evans, who is on a pilgrimage.

He is about to inherit a $45 billion fortune from his father, the president of a multinational oil company.

Despair for humanity?

They want to use the Three-Body Problem to take revenge on the world?

Okay, no problem. The Lord's contact information is worth a billion dollars. Come and buy it if you want.

Li Youyu had already found out Evans' whereabouts a few months ago when he left Red Coast.

After all, it's rare for a blond, blue-eyed foreigner to come to a remote rural village, even nationwide.

After buying a ticket, I boarded a green train bound for Northwest China, then transferred to a bus and a donkey cart. The surrounding scenery finally turned into an endless expanse of yellow earth.

The sky is yellow, the earth is yellow, even the wind is yellow.

The gullies carved out by the rain resemble a huge, cracked old face, with every wrinkle filled with dust.

After crossing the mountain ridge, near sunset, Li Youyu arrived at the small village.

After spending the night in a cave dwelling in the village, the next morning, as soon as the rooster crowed, Li Youyu, led by the village production team leader, climbed the small hill next to the village.

"Look, there's Norman Bethune."

Li Youyu looked in the direction of the finger and saw a thin layer of green suddenly appear on the barren mountain under the morning light, like paint that had been diluted many times.

All this greenery comes from the trees planted by Evans, who spent three years getting the saplings to take root in the wasteland.

Li Youyu followed the mountain path down the earthen hill, then climbed up the back hill. In the blink of an eye, the rooster crowed again, and he arrived at the mud-brick house halfway up the mountain.

Evans had just gotten up in the room. Years of ultraviolet rays had tanned his skin to a yellowish hue, and the only thing that distinguished him from the locals was his signature blond hair.

Evans didn't show much interest in Li Youyu's sudden visit. Locals often come up, say things that are hard to understand, and then inexplicably go back down the mountain.

He's used to it.

Evans glanced at Li Youyu, then lowered his head and continued with his own work.

"It wasn't easy for one person to plant these trees."

Li Youyu's English level is average, but it's enough for daily communication.

Evans still wasn't very interested in Li Youyu, who could speak English, and simply said, "At first I hired locals to do it, but soon I didn't have that much money. The saplings and irrigation were very expensive, so I had to do it myself."

"I heard you're rescuing a kind of bird?"

"A type of swallow."

Evans stood up, handed the binoculars to Li Youyu, and guided him to look for birds wandering in the woods. "Every spring, they return from the south, but the vegetation here is dying, and they can no longer find bushes to build their nests. If this continues, they will become extinct within five years. Now, the trees I planted provide them with a place to rest."

Evans got excited and waved his hand, "I'll plant even more trees and expand this Garden of Eden."

"It's no use."

Li Youyu put down his binoculars and poured a bucket of cold water on Evans, interrupting his daydreams.

"As long as humans exist, they will eventually perish."