Wang Xirou and Qin Jingru went home.

Wang Xirou was completely numb; knowledge had entered her mind in an extremely despicable way.

Qin Jingru, on the other hand, was excited. Even after returning home, she still played with Xiao Yuan and the dog with great enthusiasm.

Then, she asked Xu Weiwei with some surprise, "Where's Shouren?"

Normally, Wang Shouren would be at home at this time, let alone now that it's the weekend.

In every sense, Wang Shouren was a typical homebody; he would absolutely not go out unless someone invited him. As for inviting people out, he used to do so, but as he got older, he made fewer and fewer of those invitations.

Even if someone suddenly feels like going out for a walk, they will let you know in advance. Why are you all gone today?

He said he was going north, do you know where he's going?

"The North." Qin Jingru paused for a moment, then realized, "Oh! I know."

"You know?!" Xu Weiwei's eyes widened.

"Yes, I know," Qin Jingru said matter-of-factly.

"Then why didn't I know?"

Qin Jingru: ...

She rolled her eyes: "You didn't ask. Besides, you weren't even an expert yet, so you couldn't know about this. It had to be kept secret."

"And it has to be kept secret!" Xu Weiwei became even more curious.

"hold head high."

"What exactly is that?"

"I have no idea."

"No, why don't you know?" Xu Weiwei was speechless.

"Because it's a secret, she doesn't know," Wang Xirou said weakly from the side.

Qin Jingru stood to the side, looking perfectly justified.

Xu Weiwei: ...

————

Town A (code name, located at the border between China and Russia)

Speaking of which, "Big Brother" is a very characteristic term of its time. From the beginning, the relationship between China and Big Brother was quite good because they shared the same ideology. But in the 1960s, Big Brother started to trip us up. He was probably trying to figure out how to drain our resources.

Why?

Because he considered himself the elder brother, and capitalism was a worthless thing.

Therefore, he needs to take the lead, and any sacrifices are entirely worthwhile.

They even prepared to use nuclear weapons against our territory at certain times.

Of course, it didn't succeed in the end. We can say we watched the Big Brother go from its peak to its decline. There's a saying that goes, "A dead bear is a good bear."

This decline reached its peak, especially after a new leader took office there.

It's not that the newly appointed leader is incompetent; it's just that he can take some responsibility, but the main responsibility lies at the root of the problem.

They can't afford to waste any more time.

Since the beginning of the Cold War, the strategy of the bald eagle has been to see who has more money.

But who is the bald eagle?

That's capitalism. They sold weapons during World War I and World War II. Later on, even oil could breed mold. Both countries were engaged in arms races. The Soviet Union, with its backward light industry, was truly no match for the United States. It was only trying to save face by pushing its limits, and the result was that the entire country couldn't keep up.

Heavy industry is important, but light industry is crucial to people's livelihood.

If we have to buy everything from outside, it's only a matter of time before we can't keep going.

Wang Shouren, this man from the future, had Yuan Li and Yuan Wai constantly sell light industrial goods to the "Big Brother" (China) after the opening up of China, gradually expanding the business. Their aim was to gain some benefits when the "Big Brother" could no longer sustain itself. These benefits could be airplanes, pilots, fighter jets, or fighter jet researchers.

The higher-ups are aware of this.

Wang Shouren had also reported this to his superiors. He didn't elaborate on the plan, only saying that he would try to understand the situation through business.

The higher-ups didn't care.

This is not something he is doing alone.

Putting aside other matters, the Russians were short of light industrial goods, and trade continued as usual. While the two sides might not appear to be on good terms, in reality, they were simply using a different method of exchange. As long as Wang Shouren had the ability to procure the supplies, they didn't mind. Moreover, since Wang Shouren was willing to have some people placed in his team, it didn't matter to them at all.

After all, the amount of money involved in the transaction was neither a large nor a small sum, but compared to the things Wang Shouren sold outside, it was insignificant.

We still have to give them face.

Just yesterday, Wang Shouren received a phone call from Town A.

It was Yuan Wai who called.

Yuan told Wang Shouren that the person on the other side wanted to talk to him.

This was something Wang Shouren hadn't expected.

In the original timeline, the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred at the end of 1991. According to his thinking, even if he needed to take action, it should have been in 1990 or early 1991. Unexpectedly, someone wanted to come to China in 1988? This is certainly a good thing.

He had already given instructions to Yuan Li and Yuan Di: if anyone wanted to defect to China, they should assess the quality of the people there; technicians were welcome, but administrative staff were not. Blueprints were preferred, but not required.

Here's a little-known fact: the US Mars program repeatedly failed after the deaths of two of Big Brother's scientists. Big Brother's technicians were incredibly skilled, almost ridiculously so, but few people have heard of them.

On the other side.

Two burly men with thick beards were chatting in the room.

One was wearing a military uniform, while the other was disheveled, looking like he hadn't taken care of himself for months, with somewhat lifeless eyes.

"Andrei, buddy, pull yourself together." Officer Boris twisted open his own bottle of liquor, took a swig, and exhaled a few hot breaths. "I still prefer Rabbit's baijiu. It's not as good as ours, but it's flavorful enough. It makes your whole body burn after just one sip."

Andrei sighed: "Boris, I don't understand why you insisted on having me meet these people, these people..."

“Oh yes, these people helped me, helped my army, and successfully survived year after year. And you, Andrei, the chicken you ate yesterday morning was brought by them.”

Thinking of the chicken, Andrei couldn't help but lick his lips. The chicken was delicious, especially the sauce.

"Look, isn't it delicious?"

A series of reforms were implemented. Frankly, Andrei didn't think his country would run into trouble. However, things went wrong where he was; his research institute was being dissolved. Yes, dissolved, not anything else—there was no funding to continue research.