Chapter 82: After Hope_1

Jiang Ying laughed and said, "You don't realize how expensive daily necessities are until you have a family. Later, when Lele goes to school, when you buy a house, where will you not need money?"

"If you really have money, you should leave some for your nephew. Don't let yourself live in a big villa while your nephew sleeps on the streets."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Jiang Yu opened the door and saw it was Di Fengyi: "Come in and sit down. I'll leave right after I finish this watery porridge. Hey, have you eaten?"

After more than a year of getting to know each other, Di Fengyi had lost his initial restraint: "No."

Jiang Yu then called out to the kitchen, "Mom, make another one... Do you want a vegetarian or a meat one?"

Di Fengyi wasn't picky: "Anything is fine."

"Make another one with meat," Jiang Yu said.

Hu Huilan in the kitchen laughed and said, "Feng Yi is here. Sit for a while, it will just take a few minutes."

Di Fengyi thanked her and sat down next to Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu asked, "I remember you saying that your parents were in their thirties when they had you. Have they reached retirement age yet?"

"They have," Di Fengyi answered with a smile. "But after retiring they found some other work. They can't sit still. They say it's to earn a dowry for my daughter, so that she won't be looked down upon by her future in-laws."

Jiang Yu also smiled: "A son or daughter that I don't even have yet is my mom's hope.

"Lele is my sister's hope, and Feng Yi's daughter is the hope of both Feng Yi and his parents.

"But what about after hope?"

Di Fengyi was already used to 'Boss Jiang' finding philosophical questions in daily life: "After hope, of course, comes the realization of that hope."

"Yeah, right," Jiang Yu sighed. "The realization of hope, all the descendants living a prosperous life.

"As long as they are doing well, everything is fine. Who cares whether they turn out to be impressive or not?

"I used to think that Americans, in order to control the Japanese and end the spirit of bushido, gave rise to the 'sissy culture' in Japan.

"Then the silly entertainment industries of China and Korea followed suit, much to the Americans' delight. I didn't expect that a casual move could serve multiple purposes at once.

"But I've just realized that each of us is a pusher of that 'better era.'

Hu Huilan brought out two freshly made pancakes on a plate: "From the sound of it, you don't seem willing to live a prosperous life?

"I've heard that we might need food coupons again in a couple of years. Then you'll still eat pancakes! No one will serve you even pickled vegetables!"

Jiang Yu smiled with understanding: "Right, being rich is better than being poor."

After breakfast, Jiang Yu and Di Fengyi took the car waiting downstairs to Beijing for the meeting.

In the car, Jiang Yu was silent. He had thought that the "better era" was still far away from him, but he suddenly realized, weren't the high-quality lives that people yearned for in that era exactly what people were aspiring for now?

Jiang Yu pessimistically predicted that as long as it was the majority's aspiration, it would inevitably develop in the direction everyone hoped for, and no one could stop the wheels of this popular will.

Moreover, the hope for a better life is not wrong; the mistake lies in the aesthetics after the material abundance.

Lighting a cigarette, Jiang Yu thought again that the future is decided by the present and that starting from now, something had to be done.

With this in mind, Jiang Yu said to Di Fengyi, "Find me an expert in image design. Ask him to help me shed this bookish aura and make me look more decisive and valiant."

Di Fengyi was startled, but without asking why, he immediately agreed to do so.

Jiang Yu added, "Set up a team to research the domestic aesthetic trends, and then produce a report for me."

Over the past two years, Jiang Yu's cultural communication company had grown larger and accumulated more and more power.

Sometimes, for convenience, Jiang Yu would assign some tasks to his team.

Upon arriving at the Star Defense Department, Jiang Yu first went to have a casual chat with Chief Ji and Chang Weisi before heading to the conference room together.

This casual chat, seemingly superfluous, was actually crucial, as on many issues, the three of them needed to be on the same page.

When the meeting began, Chief Ji started with a smile, "Comrades, thanks to everyone's joint efforts, we have achieved remarkable results over the past two years.

"Now the West keeps saying that the past two years were the 'years of disappointment,' but for us, it was only 'one year of disappointment.'

"We were able to step out of the mire of panic and disorder a step ahead and began the demonstrative work on planetary defense early, thanks to everyone's concerted efforts.

"You might have heard, many countries are envious of some of the demonstrative results we have just completed!"

Everyone smiled and applauded warmly.

Chief Ji continued, "General Chang and I have just returned from Geneva, and the PDC's main defense plan has started its demonstration, with the first step definitely being the construction of a space elevator.

"In addition, we have confirmed a series of auxiliary plans such as the Wallfacer Project, Strategic Intelligence Plan, Star Warrior Project, and Deception Plan.

"Today's meeting is mainly about discussing the preparatory work for these auxiliary plans."

Jiang Yu was beside himself with excitement; the appearance of the Wallfacer Project signified the beginning of humanity's real counterattack.

He had been engrossed in the work of stabilizing order and had not taken the initiative to promote the Wallfacer Project.

According to the intelligence about the Trisolarans obtained from the "Judgment Day," the Wallfacer Project was bound to emerge and did not need his push.

As for the Strategic Intelligence Plan, Jiang Yu found it somewhat familiar; he wondered if it was the Planetary Defense Council's Strategic Intelligence Bureau that Cheng Xin had joined?

He had never even heard of the Star Warrior Project and the Deception Plan.

Fortunately, before formally discussing these plans, Chief Ji distributed photocopied documents to everyone and made clear that the documents were classified and could only be read in the conference room and the archives.

They were not to be taken away or disclosed to anyone outside the meeting about their content or that of the documents.

The regulation seemed odd, for under Sophon's surveillance, there were hardly any secrets left.

However, Jiang Yu did not rush to inquire but went straight to reading the document, skipping over the Wallfacer Project and first glanced at the Strategic Intelligence Plan.

The main goal of this plan was to find a way to penetrate the Trisolaran World to gather more valuable intelligence.

Indeed, it was Thomas Wade's project, but it was still in the preparatory phase, and Brother Wade had not yet assumed his post.

The Star Warrior Project was entirely an auxiliary to the main defense plan.

Since Sophon had blocked human technology advances, causing the quantum computer to become stillborn and traditional computing power to be limited, it was impossible to conduct operations with multiple targets.

Take the control of drones, for instance; even the most primitive quantum computer could simultaneously control dozens of drones in coordinated combat,

But a traditional computer, although also capable of controlling dozens of drones, could only manage two to three drones in coordination, with the rest remaining in standby mode, merely maintaining their most basic function.

Therefore, in future space battles, it was improbable that there would be mass-produced intelligent soldiers; it would still be human soldiers going into battle.