Chapter 637
People-to-People Exchanges
Chapter 637 People-to-People Exchanges (4000 words)
Stanton was so happy in Anning County that he didn't want to leave. He could just squat down in any alleyway and take pictures of many novel things.
One day, he even photographed a drone in the sky near Changhong Group.
Good heavens, can you believe it? Unmanned aerial vehicles?! Although they are small in size, they can fly at low altitudes.
It's outrageous and shocking.
During their stay in Anning County, Stanton and Mark often felt a sense of disconnect.
From all perspectives, Dongguo is home to many high-tech products, but the lives of its people are full of everyday life.
Especially after Grandma Ma took them to the provincial capital to broaden their horizons and experience a high-tech, high-quality community, Ston immediately wanted to buy a house there.
“Mark, the East is not in the same era as us. In some areas, they are at least 10 years ahead of us.” Ston was unsure whether he should publish the report.
Mark, with a candied hawthorn in one hand and sweet and sour pork in the other, ate with great relish: "Hey, Stan, what's wrong with your understanding of our strength? How long has our country been established? The Eastern Kingdom has 5000 years of history and civilization. In those 5,000 years, they only had a century of humiliation in modern times; the rest of the time they were the world's leader."
Mark tossed the bamboo skewer into a roadside trash can and said with great interest, "You know what? Ms. Ma is really interesting. I think many of her points are very interesting, especially about Leonardo da Vinci, which is quite terrifying when you think about them."
“Mark!” Stone interrupted Mark. “We’re journalists; we’re all about facts.”
Mark shrugged: "Well, hopefully your news reports will be factual."
Ston...
The tactic of provocation may be old, but it is still very effective.
The report by St. John was broadcast at 8 p.m. Washington time.
In addition to writing the written version, he also took a large number of photos and videos, which were unexpectedly used by the media.
The average American citizen is extremely curious about the nearly blockaded Eastern superpower.
Many people were glued to their televisions watching the news.
The camera simply panned quietly across the street, which was unexpectedly clean and tidy, with neat rows of trees and uniform shop signs.
The electronic screen in the hospital lobby shows volunteers in red vests bending down to help an elderly person; the square at dusk features crowds dancing and children rollerblading under warm yellow lights.
"My God, the great Eastern country has no mysterious wizards and magic."
"But they have AI-powered HeartPal."
"Not everyone in this great Eastern country knows kung fu; they are all ordinary people."
"Hehe, with a robot dog, one can take on ten."
"That's not true. When I was in the East, it was very poor and backward. Everyone was starving and emaciated." The yellow-skinned bananas with braids broke down their defenses.
Ugh, what are some organizations doing? They're given huge sums of money, how could they let videos like this leak out?!
Suddenly, talking about Dongguk became the trend in the country; anyone who didn't know Dongguk was considered out of touch.
Most ordinary, beautiful Chinese people are curious about East Korea; they don't particularly like it, but they don't particularly dislike it either.
In their eyes, the most disliked Asians are those from Japan.
The cars produced in Japan have dealt a severe blow to the American automotive industry, causing many Americans to lose their jobs.
Japan spent a huge sum of money to buy Times Square in the United States, which is a disgrace and a provocation against the American dream!
Fortunately, Gingrich was tough and used almost bandit-like methods to plunder the wealth of the Sakura Kingdom.
Ordinary people don't understand the dark clouds of war or the international political situation; they only know that Gingrich gave them jobs again and enabled them to fill their stomachs.
Therefore, they were willing to vote for Gingrich.
They'll definitely support Gingrich in the next presidential election. What? Gingrich doesn't want to be president and supports Trump? No problem, then support Trump.
Taking advantage of this trend, Clinton seized the opportunity.
The budget for people-to-people exchange programs was highlighted in bold red in the proposal for the next fiscal year, and no one raised any substantive objections during the congressional debate.
An application page has quietly gone live, offering exchange opportunities to China for US citizens aged 18 to 35 for periods ranging from three months to one year, covering a wide range of topics.
Kate Anderson was among the first to submit an application.
She was 24 years old, from Dayton, Ohio, and worked as a project assistant at a nonprofit organization. Her resume was unremarkable, she only had two letters of recommendation, and her interview performance was not outstanding. She was just an ordinary pretty American woman.
When the Eastern government was reviewing the qualifications of this group of exchange personnel, they looked at Kate's file several times and couldn't help but complain: "What is the United States thinking? This person is too ordinary."
"Don't try to guess what's going on in a madman's mind. We'll deal with whatever comes our way, and we'll have the security services keep a close eye on these people."
Why should we make peace with them?
The world is a better place without the US. The US is the biggest troublemaker and robber on Earth.
"Obey the Party's command and obey the organization's arrangements."
"As ordered!"
Kate's first stop was the capital, followed by Shanghai.
She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, carrying a crossbody bag, looking like an ordinary young girl walking among the skyscrapers.
She looked around, her eyes filled with surprise.
Skyscrapers, dense traffic, office buildings still lit up late at night—New York and Chicago have these things too, just at different densities and in different numbers.
She has been traveling in Dongguo for half a month. For the past day or two, she has been accompanied by a female staff member.
After she had a general understanding of the situation in Dongguo, the female staff member left her phone number and then left.
For the next ten days, she wandered around aimlessly, absolutely certain that no one was following her.
Kate took a deep breath, a glint of shrewdness in her eyes: "What foolish and naive people from the East. We Americans didn't become the leader because we're kind-hearted. They stopped watching me so quickly; their vigilance is really lacking."
Kate's lips curled slightly, her innocent smile vanished, and she slipped into the mall's restroom.
Not long after, a middle-aged woman with black hair and yellowish skin came out of the toilet.
She turned into a small alley.
There is an old locust tree at the entrance of the alley, and several children are playing cat's cradle under its shade.
The middle-aged woman squatted down and took out a few candies from her pocket.
The candy wrapper is a bright strawberry red and looks very sweet.
The children looked up at her, their eyes filled with no wariness, only the pure curiosity that belongs to all children everywhere.
The middle-aged woman spread the candies in her palm and said with a smile, "Little friends, I'm lost. Can you tell me how to get to the police station? As a thank you gift, these candies are for you."
The youngest girl reached out and took one, pointed to the alley entrance, and mumbled, "Go out, turn right, then turn right again."
The other children reached out their hands, chattering excitedly.
"The policeman has some good food, and there's a big black dog in the yard named Dahuang."
"How do you know it's called Big Yellow?" "That's the name I gave it."
"Wow, Big Yellow doesn't sound good. It should be called Big Black."
The middle-aged woman was annoyed by the noise, but she suppressed her temper and said softly, "Okay, thank you. Hurry up and eat, or the candy will melt."
Suddenly, a little boy appeared out of nowhere and shouted, "Don't eat her! She's a bad person!"
The middle-aged woman squinted and said with a forced smile, "Little friend, I'm not a bad person. I'll be very sad if you talk to me like that."
Guo Xiaoqiang remained unmoved: "Xinbao said that no adult would ask a child for help when they encounter difficulties, unless the adult has ulterior motives and is a bad person."
The middle-aged woman's face stiffened, and she said with a wry smile, "Little friends, you've misunderstood. I thought you were all kind and good children, that's why I asked you."
Guo Xiaoqiang wasn't easily fooled: "How can you prove it?"
The middle-aged woman was so angry she gritted her teeth: "How do you want me to prove it?"
Guo Xiaoqiang's eyes darted around, and an idea popped into his head: "Eat the candy first. If nothing happens, I'll believe you're a good person."
"Hehe, okay." The middle-aged woman was seething with hatred inside, but she smiled as she slowly unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth.
"Wow, that's great! Auntie is such a kind person."
The children cheered, unwrapped the candy wrappers, stuffed them into their mouths, and puffed out their cheeks.
The middle-aged woman finished distributing the remaining candy, stood up, and the locust tree leaves rustled above her head. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting shimmering spots of light on the back of her hands.
She stood under the shade of the tree, her expression unreadable.
The mischievous little boy simply stuffed the candy into his pocket and ran off as soon as his parents called him.
On the same day, Charlie Wilson landed at Taoxian Airport in the provincial capital.
He was twelve years older than Kate and was ostensibly the marketing director of a beverage trading company in California. His business card read "Charlie Wilson," with the title in gold foil, and the company logo was a silhouette of a palm tree.
He was not an exchange student; he entered the country through normal channels.
He took a silver-gray carry-on suitcase from the baggage carousel, hailed a taxi, and gave his destination: "Anning County."
The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror: "Where are you from? What are you doing there?"
Charlie frowned. Who said the people of the East were friendly? The way he was questioning him made it sound like he was a policeman.
Charlie patiently replied, "We're going to discuss a business deal."
"Oh, Anning County is indeed quite nice." The taxi driver breathed a sigh of relief and stepped on the gas.
The taxis merged into the traffic on the airport expressway. The poplar trees on both sides of the road stood straight, their trunks half-painted white, looking like a row of silent sentinels in the summer sun.
Anning County is not very large, but it is bustling with people everywhere.
Charlie awkwardly squeezed his way to the entrance of Pang Donglai, cursing under his breath but putting on a bright smile.
He finally managed to meet the head of the purchasing department at Pang Donglai, named Wang Shuxiang, who was Lin Xiaohe's mother.
Charlie placed the samples on the conference table.
The six bottles of fruit-flavored drinks are packaged in clear glass. The labels are designed in a hand-drawn style, and the ingredient list is printed on the side with small but clear font.
"Manager Wang, this is our company's flagship product this year. It sells very well in the United States. It's made with natural ingredients, a simple processing formula, and has zero additives," Charlie said with a hint of flattery.
Wang Shuxiang picked up a bottle, held it up to the light to check its color, unscrewed the cap, smelled it, poured out a small cup, took a sip, lingered it on her tongue for a moment, and then swallowed.
“Let’s send it for testing first,” she said. “Pang Donglai’s review of food ingredients is stricter than the national standards, and there’s no room for negotiation on that.”
Charlie smiled and nodded: "Of course, you should."
The samples were sent to Pang Donglai's own testing laboratory. The six bottles of samples were numbered, and samples were taken in sequence and injected into six test tubes respectively.
The centrifuge started whirring, sounding like a bee trapped in a glass jar.
Charlie didn't pay attention to the test results; he was informed about the technology in the United States.
In some respects, the East may be ahead of the US, but in others, the US has already left the East far behind.
Wang Shuxiang stayed by the door of the testing room, asking, "What were the results?"
"It meets our national standards and is even better than products from ordinary small factories."
Wang Shuxiang frowned: "Are you sure? Test it again."
Wang Shuxiang had absolutely no good impression of the beautiful country.
This Charlie, upon arriving in Dongguo, skipped the capital, Shanghai, and went straight to Anning County. Even though Pang Donglai was a nationally renowned department store, Wang Shuxiang still felt that Charlie had ulterior motives.
Could it be that he's trying to bribe Lin Xiaohe?
Wang Shuxiang's eyes sharpened, and she decided to give her family a talking-to when she got home.
My daughter finally made it to the top, so we can't let anyone hold her back!
Wang Shuxiang suppressed the test results for several days, and the final results were the same whether it was from her own laboratory or sent to the provincial food safety testing center.
The samples Charlie sent were perfect.
"Manager Wang, what should we do?" The assistant felt that Manager Wang was overthinking things.
Before Gingrich came to power, the United States had already entered the Eastern market, and Kuku made money.
Charlie is definitely here for the Eastern market this time too.
The bold eat meat, the timid starve.
A market worth over a billion—who wouldn't be envious?
Wang Shuxiang frowned deeply, as if she had encountered an age-old problem: "Wait a minute, I'm not at ease. My intuition tells me that Charlie is suspicious."
Although it's very mystical, Wang Shuxiang would rather believe it exists than not.
People trust Pang Donglai, which is why they buy things there. Wang Shuxiang cannot betray that trust and must strictly control food safety.
Wang Shuxiang thought for a moment, then called the Changhong Group Research Institute, and then went straight to the institute with the samples.
In the car, she asked, "What is Charlie doing?"
Assistant: "I guess he's very confident in the product. He's already doing promotions in the square before even signing a contract with us."
Wang Shuxiang's heart skipped a beat: "A promotion?"
"Yes, they're giving out free drinks in the square. The event is quite popular; it's only been three days, and there are already huge lines of people. Charlie is quite generous, giving out five bottles at a time. Many elderly people lined up to get theirs once, and then came back the next day."
Although life is better now than before, most people came from impoverished times and are used to being frugal. When they encounter free things, they always want to take them.
These elderly people received the drinks, but they couldn't bear to drink them themselves; they saved them for their children at home.
Wang Shuxiang's heart was pounding, and she felt that something terrible had happened.
She took out her phone, intending to call Lin Xiaohe, but couldn't get through. Then she remembered that Lin Xiaohe had gone into seclusion again, carrying out a secret mission.