CHAPTER 1859: CHAPTER 1684: ENTERING THE VENUE

Evening.

The villa became even livelier.

Chai Ren.

Zheng Lin.

Pan Yue.

Ge Feng.

And Mu Jian, who flew in from the United States, each brought their families. The women gathered to tease the children, while the men gathered to talk business. Before long, the conversation shifted to the hottest topic, the Olympics.

"How many gold medals do you think we can win?"

"Thirty."

"Forty."

"I think fifty."

"Sixty would be best."

"Seventy isn’t too much."

"Eighty is just enough."

"A hundred would be great."

"A hundred fifty... is pushing it."

"..."

Beside them.

Tang Qing was speechless. They were on a roll. As for how many gold medals they could win, it was uncertain. His rebirth had caused countless turning points in history. The butterfly effect made the future full of variables.

"What do you think?"

Pan Yue noticed Tang Qing was in a daze and asked.

"Fifty."

Tang Qing gave a number.

Not too few.

Not too many.

"Then let’s make a bet, fifty as the dividing line," proposed Mu Jian.

"Okay."

"Sure."

Soon after.

Mu Jian took out a hundred-dollar bill, signed it, and slapped it on the table. In doing so, he set a range. Signed money was no longer just money but a memory worth cherishing.

"Haha, interesting."

Chai Ren laughed.

Took out a bill.

Signed it.

"Snap."

"Above fifty."

Others followed suit.

"Below fifty."

"Above fifty."

"..."

Finally.

Everyone looked at Tang Qing; he was the only one left.

"By the way, does this count as illegal activity?"

...

The next day.

August 8th.

The whole of Huaxia was bustling.

The Olympics.

They had been eagerly awaited for so long.

Everyone was exceedingly curious about tonight’s opening ceremony. After all this preparation, what kind of spectacle would it be? CCTV’s news channel had transformed into a dedicated Olympic broadcast since dawn.

"In ’93, Beijing’s bid for the 27th Olympic Games was lost to Sydney."

"..."

"In ’98, they applied again. After three years of effort, in July 2001, it was finally decided that Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics. That same evening, 400,000 people in Beijing flocked to Tian’an..."

"..."

Successful Olympic bid.

Flame relay.

Behind-the-scenes preparations.

Venue construction.

...

Each item was presented to the audience. Tang Qing sat in the living room, quietly watching. In his previous life, he was still in school at this time and only watched the opening ceremony live in the evening.

The most beautiful.

Is not the result.

But the silhouette of striving relentlessly forward.

"Since yesterday, planes carrying political figures from various countries have been arriving in Beijing. According to the visitor list, political figures from more than eighty countries will attend this opening ceremony, with the number of heads of state surpassing any previous Olympic Games."

"..."

In the airport live link.

The journalist spoke a little excitedly.

In the living room.

Tang Qing glanced at the top right corner. They had almost all arrived—leaders from the United States, the Polar Bear, Japan, and other strong countries. It was indeed bustling. Ling had also boarded the plane and would arrive before noon.

Afterward.

Meetings with top officials.

And a banquet at noon.

...

11:50 AM.

The Great Hall.

"Hello."

"Welcome."

The meeting of the big shots wasn’t filled with too much small talk because it was a formal occasion, with photos and live broadcasts. The last time they saw Ling, he was still following Lang Cai, discussing a billion-dollar loan.

This time.

Ling was visiting Huaxia for the second time.

He had reached the pinnacle of power.

Such a variable, so many think-tank experts, none had predicted Ling would ultimately triumph. Yet, he did so, without war, he smoothly took over the scepter from Lang Cai.

"Please."

"Sure."

It was not surprising that Ling spoke Chinese.

English.

French.

German.

Japanese.

It was said he spoke a bit of them all, and it was no longer news. Among the visiting heads of state, he was quite eye-catching, with CCTV’s live broadcast giving a special one-minute introduction to Ling.

"What a talent."

"How does someone’s brain grow like that?"

"Amazing."

"No kidding, how else could he have transformed Myanmar like this? Look at his age, he’s only in his thirties and already at the pinnacle of life. When I was thirty, sigh... talking about it brings tears."

"Are you out of your mind comparing yourself to a national leader?"

"Exactly."

"This is the world’s wealthiest president."

"No way."

"Don’t be fooled by his resignation as chairman of the Myanmar Bank Group, but the company is still firmly under Ling’s control. His words will be executed without fail, although nominally disconnected."

"Myanmar? I think there’s a company named Myanmar in Huaxia too."

"Yes, cars, heavy industry. Their earlier support was inadequate, so they formed a joint venture with FAW to establish a car manufacturing company. Also, heavy industrial machinery, more than half is supplied to Myanmar."

"Semi-monopoly operations."

"Pretty much."

"Not bad, it provides job opportunities for Huaxia."

"..."

Toward Ling.

Huaxia’s netizens expressed strong goodwill and astonishment. Counting it up, Ling’s layout was far-sighted. During Lang Cai’s era, he had already invested in these heavy industries in Huaxia.

Now.

It’s starting to pay off.

"Where did their car technology come from?"

"FAW?"

"Impossible."

"Currently, it’s heard that the main technology comes from purchases and licensing, and they are actively developing their own technology. Their progress is fast, and their self-owned technology ratio is almost on par with domestic car companies."

"Is it a cheat?"

"I don’t know if it’s a cheat, but I do know they have a powerful research institution behind them, with over a hundred research institutes invested in Huaxia, and they are also the main patent holder for 4G technology."

"What institution?"

"Zhiya Natural Science Research Center, Myanmar’s National Academy of Sciences, also the... developing institution for filtering solutions and transcription fluids. Xinyue’s outer layer light sense coating is also their product."

"Amazing!!"

"Incredibly amazing!"

...

Afternoon.

Six o’clock.

"Let’s go."

There were still two hours before the start, and more than half of the audience had already entered. It wasn’t that crowded, though Tang Qing could get tickets, he couldn’t use the channels for high-level officials or athletes.

He had to line up like everyone else.

"So many people."

"Of course, tens of thousands of people, and there’s security checks, so they started checking tickets more than four hours in advance." Tang Qing held his ticket, standing in the long line. It’d been a while since he had to queue this long.

Quite nostalgic.

Fortunately.

Ticket-checking was quick; there were many entrances, and he only lined up for about twenty minutes.

No surprises.

Tickets checked.

Entered the venue.

Following the guidance of volunteers, they came to their seats on the second level. Each seat had a bag on it. ’One World, One Dream’ was printed on the bag’s front, along with the date and time of the opening ceremony.

"Wow, there are gifts."

Qin Shiqi eagerly opened it.

Seeing others put the Auspicious Clouds Bandana on their heads, she couldn’t help but tie one on herself. At the site, though the opening ceremony hadn’t started, the pre-show performance had been going on for over an hour.

Nearing the end.

Most of the audience had entered the venue.